C
arl and Rachel Philips’ house is so old, and so ‘wonky,’ that they had to saw off the legs of their beds at different heights just to get them level on the uneven floors. One bedroom wall is so bowed, it is virtually impossible to hang pictures on, and the stone floors – laid on bare earth – are covered with jute rugs to allow the flagstones to ‘breathe.’ Such challenging quirks and foibles, along with some eye-wateringly expensive structural work to the gable end, would have deterred most people from buying the 500-year-old house in Stratford-upon-Avon, but for Carl, a festival organiser, it was nothing short of a dream home. ‘I am a big fan of anything to do with Medieval
history, so when this house came up for sale for £250,000 I couldn’t believe it,’ he says. “Rachel and I had been looking for a place to run as an Airbnb, and this was a fantastic opportunity. We came to see it on a cold wet morning in January 2018. It smelt damp, there was water running down the inside walls and the carpets were covered in mildew, but I walked into the sitting room and the first thing I saw was a 16th
century
wall painting…I felt so emotional I wanted to cry. It sent shivers down my spine. I just had an overwhelming sensation that this house was meant to be ours.” Mason’s Court is certainly a fascinating
property. The long frontage of the Grade II* listed property dates back to the 15th
century,
and is believed to be a ‘Wealden house.’ It was owned by the town for centuries, until 2016 when it was listed for private sale. The brick
nov/dec 2021
chimney stack is thought to have been rebuilt in the 1920s.
century. Judging from the state of it when Carl and Rachel took it on, it hadn’t been modernised since then. There was no heating, walls were shifting, and there were blocked chimneys and a year’s worth of accumulated damp. It was going to take determination, a huge amount of effort and some serious positive mental attitude to bring the precarious old building into the 21st
century, without losing any
of its character and working within the restrictions of its unusual listed status. They went so far as to spend hours researching similar historic buildings, understanding the complex expectations of the various interested
www.sbhonline.co.uk 71
But Carl and Rachel struggled to pull the money together to buy it, and although their offer was accepted, they were gazumped by a cash purchaser. Carl was devastated – until the cash buyer pulled out because of the amount of structural work required to prevent the crooked old house from falling down. Carl and Rachel were back in the running – and this time secured the deal directly with the vendor. They explained their financial difficulties and, between them, they came up with a payment system which worked for everyone. Carl and Rachel were, finally, the proud owners of the three bedroom, Grade II * listed Tudor cottage which had been described by historian Dr Robert Bearman as ‘Stratford Upon Avon’s Finest Medieval House’. The property was built in 1481 and extended in the 17th
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