Julian’s first glimpse of the pretty redbrick house was from the canal boat that he and Jane own. Since then, the couple have made a lot of improvements. They’ve opened up the garden to allow a clear view of the canal, they’ve added a Victorian-style glasshouse from Hartley Botanic, and a smaller greenhouse from Woodpecker Joinery where they raise seeds for their vegetable plot
Unusually, Julian had taken the canal boat out on his own that day. Jane was playing the piano for a church tea party and the boat had been booked in for a service that same afternoon. ‘I had just passed under a bridge and saw the For Sale sign. I caught the briefest glimpse of this lovely redbrick home at the far end of a big, canalside garden,’ says Julian. ‘I looked up the details on my phone as I continued my journey and decided it might be worth a quick look.’
As chance would have it there was an open day at the house that same afternoon, and by the time Jane and Julian had fought their way outside past all the other viewers, they’d made up their minds to buy it. ‘As soon as we saw the garden with all the outbuildings we thought it was fantastic,’ says Julian, ‘and if I’d gone to the church tea party with Jane, as I usually do, I would never have known the property was for sale.’