Owner revisits Gloucestershire home as it goes up for sale almost unchanged since 1940s
A rare grade II listed property that is more than 200 years old has been put up for sale - left almost untouched since the 1940s.
Now, the owner's wife has come back to the farmhouse to say her last goodbyes. It had been her home for more than 60 years.
89-year-old Barbara Maw recalls having to boil waters for baths upstairs, using buckets to catch rain water when it came in through the ceiling, and using the outside wash house and mangle.
But despite that, Barbara has happy memories.
To look at it from the outside, Burleigh Court Farm near Dursley in Gloucestershire, has not changed much since it was built in 1812.
Inside, the North Nibley home has been left pretty much the same as it was in the 1940s. Some possessions have even been left where they stood.
The current owner, Colin Maw, is in a care home, suffering from Alzheimer's disease. His family is selling the farmhouse, with a guide price of £450,000.
The family say they had huge problems with the rain getting in - an abiding memory for Mrs Maw as she toured her old home.
The owner's son-in-law, Martyn Slater, says Mr Maw climbed onto the roof on his own to try to fix the problem. He was 87.
He added: "He fell off the roof and got tangled up in the scaffolding, and since then his health deteriorated and he's now gone into a home and been diagnosed with Alzheimer's".
The property will need a huge amount of work. There are holes in ceilings, rotten floorboards and woodworm. Some estimates put the cost of renovation at almost half a million pounds.
The agents marketing the farmhouse say that buyers must be under no illusions about how dilapidated it is.
Much of the property seems to have been frozen in time. Life was hard for the Maws when they lived there.
Barbara Maws says, "We had the bath upstairs but there was no running hot water on it and I was taking the buckets of water, getting it hot in the old washtub and then carrying the buckets up into the bath.
"Then I'd get them in one at a time and it was a bit of a job".
The sellers say that ultimately they would love to see the old house turned into a lovely home for a family who enjoy a rural lifestyle.
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