The Martineaux are still there 23 years later but she says they were very lucky had to work hard and had

General — July 24, 2010 at 10:17

The Martineaux are still there 23 years later, but, she says, they were very lucky, had to work hard and had to make sacrifices to keep a large house with 12 acres to maintain.”True and lasting love at first sight is as rare when it comes to houses as it is in humans I don’t think there is such a thing as the perfect home You have to make compromises. I take people through a series of questions to make sure it’s the right compromise.”Consider, says Brigid, if you really want to travel that far to work. Brigid Martineau, housebuyer for East Anglian agency Bidwells, is an expert with the cold flannel when it comes to steering a buyer away from the house they are convinced they were meant to have but which could prove disastrous which is rich, she admits, coming from someone who decided to buy a house having only seen a picture of it in Country Life.”I would never, ever, let a client do what we did,” says Brigid, who with husband William had been house hunting in Somerset when she spotted the picture of the Georgian rectory in Suffolk. Knowing what you know about houses, he said, you should know better But my heart was ruling my head I don’t regret it.

I know it is the right house for me.”Trying to talk someone out of a love affair is a thankless task. Not only don’t they pay any attention, they hate you for your words of cold common sense. There was another person looking at it but I would have been devastated if anybody else had got it.”I did it all the wrong way Even my solicitor told me off. So I know I should be laid-back about house buying, but I was hyper about this one I loved it from day one It was a bit foolish in hindsight I let the agent know right away I wanted it I was mad keen.

When she did make an appointment to go inside, there was nothing to cause a change of heart.”I deal in building society repossessions, I know the property market. Local estate agents Bruce Munro knew we were on the lookout and told us about the cottage It is a gem,” says Gillian. “I was quite prepared to make an offer without even going in.”Luckily for Gillian, who is quite tall, the rooms are not of the usual 16th-century headbanging height. Four months later, Gillian and her partner are happily choosing curtains for their 16th-century, three-bedroom cottage near Saffron Walden.”We knew what we wanted but there isn’t much on the market. Act as though you’d be doing the owners a favour by taking the place off their hands. All the while, of course, manoeuvring to knock a few thousand off the price Gillian knows all these tactics. Gillian is a building society manager.
“I want it,” she said.The rules of the buying game go by the board when love strikes.

The house in Helions Bumpstead wasn’t even officially on the market and she hadn’t set foot over the doorstep But this was a classic case of coup de foudre. The accepted wisdom when buying a house is to play hard to please. Point out the faults to the agent, back them up with a picky surveyor’s report that makes woodworm sound as sinister as the Black Death Never sound too keen. GILLIAN Ashbridge sat in her car looking out at the pink-washed thatched cottage and knew she had to have it.

Bikes can be hired from Lock Inn Cottage, Bradford-on-Avon (01225 868068).Bath is the nearest main-line railway station, connecting with local services to Bradford-on- Avon and Trowbridge. Cycles can generally be carried free of charge on local services, but on main-line routes you need to reserve a place in advance and pay a pounds 3 premium.For information on Sustrans tel: 0117 926 8893 (this is the correct number; we inadvertantly published a wrong digit last week).. He was a Kazak, a nomad inhabiting what the Chinese call “a moving country”. We sat cross-legged in a yurt, a round felt tent, among carpets and trunks, the furniture of journeys. Horses snuffled outside.My host was a charismatic fellow who seemed to own whole counties of sheep. He asked me how many sons I had, and when I said none he wondered what I had been doing with my time He went on to enquire about the size of my flocks.