Deef's Dad and Mrs Silverwood are off on a major mission today, a 2 hour run from here to the top end of Co. Roscommon to look at an old farmhouse, long abandoned. The outside, they tell me, is gorgeous; to die for. Look at these byres for example and the one-time cattle yard. Dad was going weak at the knees, practically, it being so much like the kind of buildings in which he used to work when he was a lad in Sussex. Look at the old shed in picture 3 -you can see the three bays where the cattle would have had their noses in the food troughs and the gulley at the bottom where their waste product would drain out onto the land. To the right of picture 2 is the cattle race where the cows could be contained in a narrow passage way while you stopped them at the crush and did whatever worm-drenching or vet procedures you needed to do.
The old house attached was a small farm run by an old man and his son, with the three sisters upping sticks and moving to the more glamorous city. Eventually Dad passed away and then the son fell ill and had to spend some time in hospital. His three sisters held on, hoping that their brother would recover and return to the farm, but he didn't so it all fell into disuse. The 3 sisters then umm'd and ahh'd over what to do about the property. The months turned into years and suddenly 20 years had gone by with no-one living there, and the resultant mould and damp taking its toll. Luckily the walls, windows and roof were reasonably sound, so no rain was getting in but the house is still, in 2011, a sorry picture of mould stains, flaking paint and some suspiciously 'soft' areas of floor on the landing. Even some heaving, erupting plaster.
So that's why it's so cheap. What Deef's Mum and Dad, assisted by Mr and Mrs Silverwood need to decide, is "is it do-able". This place is now one of 2 left on the short list. The third, which was there up till this morning, is now "Sale Agreed" and has disappeared off the website.
Ahh, the stress
Lily
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