Kath's Story
This is a tale of two ruins - one an old but infinitely appealing house of great character, the other a unique Victorian fernery.
In 1986 when Ascog Hall came on the market, we could not wait to view this intriguing place, which could only be tantalisingly glimpsed through a wall of vegetation. We were, however, totally unprepared for the scene that met our eyes on entering through the front gate - a forest of brambles and ivy made the place look as if it had been abandoned under a spell! Most of the rooms had no floors (and indeed some had no windows!) these having been removed during the Second World War.
It was dark, damp and musty and the roof leaked. Any romantic notions of it being our dream home were quickly dashed by the realisation that a bottomless purse would be needed, and that what we could see was probably only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Here, the story should have ended because a "bottomless purse" was something that we did not possess, but, as is often the case, it is sometimes difficult, even with the benefit of hindsight, to know why one ventures down a certain path. Let's just say that we had fallen under its spell and, against our better judgement, taking a deep breath we plunged in at the deep end and bought it!
Alas dear reader, there was no fairy waving a magic wand, or even a handsome prince to kiss the sleeping beauty awake. But we did finally "get there", moving in to Ascog Hall in 1992, six years after our first peep at the ruin that was to eventually become the house of our dreams.
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