Couple move from Cirencester to buy grade two listed home with well

Emily, 48, and Phillip Jones, 51, bought The Old House, a grade two listed 1670 property back in May 2021.

When they bought the seven-bedroom home, Emily said it needed "tonnes" of work doing and it looked like it was "going to fall down".

Since they moved into the property, Emily and Phillip have insulated the property, installed new heating - repaired and replaced windows.

They have also, renovated their kitchen, decorated two bedrooms and renovated the sun room.

Earlier this month, Emily and Phillip decided to "investigate" the well and discovered it was 20 metre deep - and are planning to restore it a working well.

Emily, a hairdresser, from Upton upon Severn, Worcestershire, said: "When we moved in we knew the well was there.

"I had nightmares about it as we didn't know how deep it was.

"We covered it with decking and recently we pulled the decking up to investigate how deep it was.

"It was shocking, it is incredibly deep, looking down terrifies me."

In May 2021, Emily and Phillip, moved into the seven bedroom, 16th Century house with their six year old son.

The pair wanted to escape town life in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, and get more bargain for their buck.

But, when they moved into the home, Emily said it needed a total renovation.

Emily said: "We have done tonnes of work on it, it looked like it was going to fall down.

"Everything in the house needed doing. We have repaired and replaced some windows.

"We added a new kitchen, insulated the property, installed new heating and renovated two of the upstairs bedrooms."

When Emily and her husband bought the property, they always knew it had a well but didn't think anything of it until they opened it up earlier this year.

The well is 20 metres deep and currently not in use but Emily and Phillip would love to cover it in glass and restore it.

Emily said: "We would love to put some glass over the top of the well but it is an absolute fortune.

"To cover our well it would cost us £3k in glass and as we have other stuff to do it is going to have to wait.

"With the well we would like to use the water, we want to get a pump down there.

"Our water rates keep going up and up, either way we would like to use some of the water for washing or gardening."

Emily admits that there still is a long way to go when it comes to their renovation project.

With the property being grate two listed, that comes with its extra challenges as you need to get everything approved by the council.

Emily said: "It is really difficult, you can't just go knocking down walls and ripping things out.

"We have a second summer kitchen, which is the oldest part of the house.

"That needs a lot of work doing to it. That would be a complete renovation.

"We have renovated two bathrooms upstairs and have five more bedrooms to do.

"Our main bedroom is a low ceiling, we would like to take the attic ceiling out to have a larger space.

"We have big plans, it is going slowly but surely."