'A knock on the door led us to buy our dream home... but now we're selling it for £600k'

Choosing your 'forever' home is a huge decision and one not to be taken lightly. It's often the case that homeowners will find a property that has everything going for it, such as a good location with great transport links and schools, but the house itself needs work to turn it into your dream home.

After wanting to sell their new-build house, Roxy, 35 and her husband stumbled across their perfect family home by chance - a gorgeous detached three-bed Victorian house in Bury - which they bought for £250,000. It was steeped in history with a family connection, and so the pair spent eight years bringing it back to life and retaining all of its original period features.

But after an extensive eight year-long 'back to brick' renovation, the couple have now decided to put their beautiful house on the market - which has been valued at an impressive £600,000. Mum-of-two Roxy spoke to the Manchester Evening News as part of our Where I Live series, where each week we speak to a different homeowner to hear about their buying and renovating journey.

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Roxy, who is originally from Yorkshire, bought her first house together with her husband in Radcliffe. The pair opted for a new-build home, but soon regretted their decision.

"I couldn’t stand the traffic in the area, the house itself and everything that comes with a new build," Roxy told the Manchester Evening News. "We were always looking on Rightmove because we weren’t happy in our house. Then one day, my husband said his uncle’s old Victorian house in Walmersley village, named West Bank, was on the market. It was built in 1897. He used to play there with his cousins when he was a kid, and I thought it be amazing if we could sell this and buy something like that."

Not long after, the couple got a knock on their door from somebody interested in buying their home. "One day somebody knocked on our door who knew my mother in law. They wanted to buy a house on this new build estate but they couldn’t get one," Roxy explained. "They asked if we knew anyone who would be willing to sell, so we said 'yeah buy ours'."

This then encouraged the couple to do the same thing, so they went knocking on the door of West Bank and made an offer - which was accepted. "Within two days we’d sold our new build and bought a Victorian house which needed completely gutting," Roxy said.

"My husband's uncle actually came with us to have a look around it because he had lived here 30 odd years ago and he confirmed that absolutely nothing had changed," she added. "There was thick pile red carpet in the hallway, brown leaded windows and there was about three or four layers of wallpaper on all the walls and the ceiling. It was pretty bad."

Despite the condition, Roxy and her husband loved the area and could see the home's potential. "Walmersley is like the best of both worlds because you have the countryside on your doorstep yet you can still commute to Manchester easily. We fell in love with the area. It’s such a hidden gem," Roxy said.

"I had always looked at those dream Victorian properties on Pinterest and I just loved the fact it was detached. It stands out in the village as it's one of a kind. Although we were going from living in a brand new house to a very very old property, the bones of it were beautiful. I had the image and the vision but knew it was going to take a lot of time and money."

The couple got the keys to their new home in 2016 and decided to carry out a gradual renovation whilst they lived in the house. Roxy said: "We went into it thinking that it was our forever home so we weren't in a rush. One of the great things about taking our time renovating was that we got to live in the house and get a feel for what works."

"The first job we did was take off the four layers of wallpaper, then we stripped back, rewired and re-plastered every room. Apart from the smaller DIY jobs everything else we’ve paid contractor to do," Roxy said.

"One of the biggest jobs was we knocked through from the front to the back of the house for a large open plan kitchen dining space, and the decision to do that was because we wanted to get sunlight in there all morning and afternoon," Roxy explained.

"We pulled the original kitchen out and then we had no kitchen for 15 months because we decided to wait and save up for our dream kitchen, which was a wooden shaker style."

She added: "My constant theme with this house is that I wanted to go high spec but also in keeping with the house because I just wanted to it justice. I just couldn’t put a modern new-build style kitchen in a beautiful old house."

Roxy says that one of the biggest tasks was putting in a new porch which was one of the final jobs. "We moved the entrance from the side to the front of the house which was really difficult because instead of taking three weeks it took four months," she explained.

"We set a budget of £30,000 to finish the cellar, get the porch rebuilt and finish the hallway. It cost us £33,000 and we've only done the porch and the hallway. The reason being is I wanted to build something that was sympathetic to the Victorian building that looks like it had always been there. It cost four times the amount but it was worth it because it has transformed the house."

Speaking about their overall budget, Roxy said: "Our initial budget for the whole house just quickly went out the window. The most difficult thing was that because it’s an older house, there was a lot more involved in every job than we thought, but we have done everything properly.

"If you want that classic, timeless feel and to keep it in tone with the Victorian era, then you're going to have to spend a bit more. We've added all the original features back into the house. I could never do it to the house to go on the cheap.You just don’t get houses like this anymore."

After eight years of renovating, the pair finally finished their dream home last month. Giving us a tour, Roxy described: "You walk up the steps to the new porch which has beautiful arched windows and a traditional front door. You enter into the big grand hallway with a 12-foot high ceiling and a spindle wooden staircase. There are two doors on either side, one is the living room with a Victorian wood burning stove, bay windows and plantation shutters.

"On the other side of the hallway is the kitchen dining area which features a really good sized central island with a built-in wine bar. It has a fireplace with a hidden cloak room to one side and a hidden bar to the other as well as the pantry which is my favourite part. At the other end of the room is a door which leads out to a little side garden which is a sun trap and has a built-in bench where you can sit and have coffee in the morning."

Roxy continued: "At the back of the hallway is a downstairs toilet. The next room is an extension of the garden which we currently use as a playroom. It overlooks the entire garden which is a tranquil little hideaway. It’s low maintenance and it has views for days. Back in the hallway there's a little door that's looks like it's part of the stairs, but that’s where you go down into the cellar. It is basically the size of the living room. It has original wooden beams in there and has the potential to be converted.

"Upstairs there is a beautiful huge window area at the top of the hallway which I've turned into a little office nook, I love sitting there when I'm working from home. At the top of the stairs there's a large family bathroom and next to it was a separate toilet which we turned into a little office which my husband works in."

Roxy added: "Although it’s a three-bed house it has two office spaces and the cellar. The smallest bedroom even though it's larger than your average size bedroom is my son's bedroom. You've then got two very large bedrooms. The master bedroom has big wardrobes with a rail and a ladder which kind of looks like one of those traditional bookcases in a library. The other bedroom is my baby’s nursery."

Despite creating their 'forever' home, the couple have now taken the decision to put their house on the market. "I guess we got the renovation bug," Roxy said: "We absolutely love this house but we’re only young. With a growing family we’ve probably got another renovation in us.

"We’ve spent way more than what we planned on it so we had to consider whether to throw more money at it to expand it or take on another renovation project. It does make me sad to be selling it because I know I'll probably never find a house like this again. It’s now move-in ready for its new owner."

Plans have also been approved to convert the loft space into two extra bedrooms, an en suite and a walk-in wardrobe.

The couple are accepting offers over £600,000 on their home. You can view the listing here.

You can follow Roxy's home renovation journey on her Instagram @roxy_westbankhouse.