The Old Manor House

14/03/2026

14/03/2026

SUMMERLEY LANE RENOVATION – Part 2

FOUR MINUTES THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

THE AUCTION DAY WAS GETTING CLOSE

September 26th, 2018 was getting closer and closer. We had never bought a house at auction before, and the date sat constantly in the back of our minds.
We were only allowed to view the property under supervision because it was still being used as offices containing sensitive information. It wasn’t the kind of relaxed viewing where you wander from room to room imagining furniture placement. It was controlled, brief… and slightly tense.
However, we did manage to arrange for a surveyor to inspect the exterior. The outside walls showed numerous cracks — enough to make anyone nervous. But after a careful look he reassured us. In his professional opinion there was no sign of subsidence or major structural movement. That was a huge relief.
Jan and I had studied our finances carefully. We knew our absolute ceiling was around £450,000, and we could not stretch beyond that. That figure wasn’t just a guideline — it was our limit.
Then, six weeks before the auction, the Governor of the Bank of England appeared on television with a stark warning: if Brexit negotiations failed, house prices could potentially fall by as much as a third.
At the time we had no idea how significant that statement might prove to be.
Then suddenly — auction day arrived.
Jan, our daughter Lisa and I drove to The Ship Hotel in Brighton, where the auction was being held. We arrived early to register and take our seats. The room was already busy, filled with well-dressed bidders chatting confidently over tea and coffee.
I leaned towards Jan and whispered,
"There are so many people here… I don’t think we’ll be able to afford it."
Inside, I was extremely nervous. My heart was racing and my mouth felt dry.
Then our lot number was announced.
The bidding opened at £300,000.
Almost immediately — £310,000.
I raised my hand — £320,000.
Without hesitation another bidder responded — £330,000.
I went straight back in at £340,000.
They countered with £350,000.
My heart was pounding. This was happening in seconds.
I lifted my hand again —
£360,000.
Then… silence.
The auctioneer scanned the room.
"Any advance on £360,000?"
Nothing.
The pause felt endless.
The auctioneer raised his gavel.
"Going once… going twice…"
Bang.
"Sold!"
Just like that — in barely a few minutes — we had bought the house for £360,000, plus stamp duty.
I was stunned.
As it turned out, there had only been one other serious bidder. Many of the well-dressed people in the room were simply observers. The Bank of England’s warning about falling house prices had clearly unsettled buyers — which, temporarily at least, worked very much in our favour.
Driving home, the reality began to sink in.
We hadn’t just bought a house.
We had bought a massive challenge.
A huge opportunity.
A large characterful property full of potential — and unknowns.
We had no idea at that moment how demanding the journey would become.
But one thing was certain…
The Summerley Lane renovation adventure had officially begun.
Please let me know if you would like to see more photos of our progress during our ongoing renovation .

15/02/2026

I have been looking at the old photos early on when we started our renovation and thought I should share them to show the poor condition of our house before we bought it in September 2018

15/02/2026

BEFORE AND AFTER

Our Renovation Journey Began With a Birthday Surprise
Back in 2018, Jan and I were perfectly comfortable in our little two-bedroom bungalow in Ruislip.
The children had long flown the nest, our daughter was settled in Portsmouth, and—with no close
family tying us to the area—she had started gently (and sometimes not so gently!) nudging us to
move closer. We laughed it off at first… but the idea slowly started to take root.
One afternoon, on a whim, I set up a Rightmove alert for East and West Sussex. It felt like the
smallest of steps—until fate intervened. On Jan’s birthday, 7 August 2018, an intriguing new listing
appeared in a place we had never even heard of: Middleton-on-Sea.
Curiosity got the better of us. We jumped in the car and headed south.
The moment we arrived, we both felt it—that “oh, we could live here” feeling. The sea air, the quiet
streets, the gentle charm of the area… it surprised us. The house itself was a definite no, but
Middleton-on-Sea had planted a seed. As we explored further, we discovered its neighbour,
Felpham, and fell in love even more.
We drove home buzzing with excitement. At last, a place we could picture ourselves growing old
in—close enough to family, and close enough to the sea to make every day feel like a holiday.
But finding the right house proved tricky. Nothing on the market sparked that same excitement,
despite registering with every local estate agent we could find.
Then, unexpectedly, another email alert from Rightmove grabbed my attention: “Auction property –
Former West Sussex Autism Centre, Felpham.”
It was large. It was pebble-dashed. It was tired and rather neglected. But it had something
special—potential.
We drove down to see it. The building stood there, slightly forlorn, clearly in need of a lot of love…
and even more work. We drove home uncertain, torn between excitement and fear.
A few days later, we went back. This time, standing in front of it, we both knew. We were going to
bid at the auction.
We set a strict limit, took a deep breath, and stepped into a journey that would change our
retirement forever. And I’ll be honest—my heart was pounding.
To be continued…

16/06/2024

William Blake’s cottage in Felpham near Bognor Regis is in serious disrepair and needs to be saved as William Blake wrote the hymn Jerusalem here where he lived between 1800 and 1803 .
The new chairman of Blake’s Cottage Trust needs all our help promoting this iconic building to be able to raise the necessary funds for the renovation project.
Please share this important video to help this overdue project .
At the present time in the William Blake’s room in the Tate Gallery in London there is not one reference to this important cottage in Felpham which needs to be addressed.

14/06/2024

*** ATTENTION BLAKE COTTAGE NEWS ***

New Chairman of Blake’s Cottage Trust, Doug Nicholls is doing a great job off promoting Blake’s Cottage in Felpham. He has produced this footage of the cottage and needs our help and support.

Please share this post with as many people as you can and then they can start fund raising to save this wonderful cottage where William Blake wrote the hymn Jerusalem between 1800 and 1803.

Thank you in advance for all your likes shares and support 🙏😀

www.blakecottage.org/donate

01/07/2023

The bald builders did some roof work for me about 3 years ago and the seagull had different ideas and it was so funny I thought we should share it again

07/07/2022

Looking for something to do this Saturday for all of the family?

02/01/2022

More progress pictures..

02/01/2022

Progress pictures..