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Come into Christmas

"The day we moved in there was torrential rain," says Scott Carlton of Hambrook House, "and we found out that the van filled with our furniture couldn't fit through the gates! There were only two removals men and the two of us and we had to move absolutely everything from the van, up the long drive and into the house; we ended up with a pile of damp furniture in our sitting room. I thought we must be mad."

Scott's partner Graeme Alexander first spied the 'For Sale' notice of Hambrook House on his way to a meeting in the Cotswolds and fell in love with it on sight. "He wouldn't hear a word said against it," says Scott. "All he could think was what a lovely property it was. I had reservations as it looked like it needed a lot of work." Reluctantly, he agreed to make an offer if a survey didn't show up anything too severe.

That was 22 years ago and since then, Hambrook House, situated within the conservation area of Hambrook near Bristol, has undergone a major transformation thanks to the dedication of Scott, a retired university lecturer, and Graeme, a retired art advisor. It is warm, welcoming and at Christmas is resplendent with decorations and delicious food cooked by Graeme, who is very inventive! They have a kitchen garden where pretty much anything for Christmas dinner is grown - herbs, vegetables, fruits. They enjoy entertaining, so often have people round for most of the festive season. But the process of renovating Hambrook House was not easy. "The first surveyor only said that he thought we were brave taking on the decorating, which I thought was rather simplistic," explains Scott. "So with some misgivings, we proceeded. It turned out to be very stressful, as the surveyor really under-estimated what needed doing, and the whole process became increasingly expensive. Unfortunately, we ended up having to sue."

The floorboards throughout the house were riddled with woodworm and the beams infested with deathwatch beetle. It took two weeks for Graeme and Scott to get rid of them with repeated treatment. Also, the house wasn't structurally sound. "I think I almost reached the end of my tether when one of the upstairs sash windows completely smashed when I opened it. The cords had rotted so much that the top half was just balancing on the catch," says Scott.

Their problems didn't end there as they uncovered a few more surprises as they set about renovating the 17th Century Grade II listed property. "We realised the vaulted cellar had an arch which had distorted. It was below the sitting room where all our furniture remained stored while the woodwork was treated for beetle infestation. The arch appeared so weak that at any time the furniture might have crashed through the floor. Soon afterwards, we had two kind friends visiting with a bottle of champagne, but when they saw us, they said we looked like a couple of dishevelled displaced people!"

Although the house dates back to the 17th Century, it was given a Georgian front in 1794. "I don't think whoever did the work really fully appreciated how they were affecting the structure," says Scott. "The beams on the ground floor were covered in decorative plasterwork as it wasn't fashionable to have them visible. Underneath the plaster, the main beam in the hall going from back to front proved too heavy for its supports. At one end it made the lintel above the front door sag and at the other it threatened the Georgian arch at the foot of the stairs. All of this 'modernisation' actually caused the subsidence, which remains a potential problem."

Still, Graeme and Scott have tried to retain as many of the original 18th Century features, such as shutters, window glass and fireplaces, as possible. The floor in the hall was almost certainly wood, but due to the ravages of deathwatch beetle, all of the boards were replaced in the 19th Century and covered with tiles. "A nice touch is that spares were stored in the cellars so they could be replaced. On the back of them is inscribed 'Maw and Co', which is a famous ceramic company based in Shropshire, and still operating," says Scott. Adjacent to Hambrook House is a cottage that served as the servants' quarters. "We had to move in there for a time while we carried on renovating, it was like living in limbo. In desperation, we turned to Paul Baldwin, a local builder who did a wonderful job," says Scott. "He became a great friend as he was so enthusiastic about the house and obviously cared about the restoration of the property."

One of the first things Paul did was to lift some of the floorboards in an upstairs bedroom. Instead of replacing them as they aged, the previous residents in the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries just put new ones on top, which meant there were multiple layers of rotten floorboards. "We made a big bonfire of them!" says Scott. "Also the roof had been leaking badly in the early 20th Century. Former residents told us that there were buckets everywhere catching the drips. It was very sad to see how the house had gone completely downhill. We had to take the entire roof off and repair it, which took a whole summer." Despite the obstacles Scott and Graeme faced with renovating their new home, there was no problem furnishing it. Graeme has a love of collecting and, as a result, they have displays throughout the house which their friends often admire. In the dining room, there is Japanese Imari ware dating from the 18th and 19th Centuries, some of which Graeme bought from Dreweatt Neate, a Bristol-based auctioneer. Most pieces have been restored at some point and some of the repairs date back to the Victorian era. There is also a 'Harlequin' set of flatware in the Old English style which Graeme discovered in a Bath antiques market.

Twenty two years on and work is still being done on the house. Scott and Graeme plan to completely strip the upstairs shower room and install a wet room. "The kitchen also needs revamping - it's never ending! says Scott. "But I love the house now because it's become the house we first dreamed of."