From Caravan To Cosy Cottage

Not everyone would think 19 months living in a caravan with two small children, a couple of dogs and incubating chicks was fun, but fortunately Lisa and Ryan Tucker have a keen sense of adventure

- Victoria Jenkins

Not everyone would have bought the 1820s cottage. “It was virtually uninhabitable,” says Lisa Tucker who, with her husband Ryan, DID buy the cottage - then had to spend the next 19 months in a caravan while the renovation work went on.

“The caravan was in the cottage garden and with us were our two children - one a baby - and two dogs,” says Lisa. “And later we incubated some chicks in it too! Looking back it was fun!” The couple did not find it quite so much fun when they discovered a family of field mice had somehow gained entry too.

It all began back in 2014 when the couple spotted the cottage on a drive through the countryside. “We’d been looking for a long time,” says Lisa. “It wasn’t beautiful and we didn’t exactly fall in love with it because it was damp, very cold and had been empty for some time. But we could see the potential.”

The cottage consisted of a two-up, two-down core with two extensions one added in the 70s and the other in the 80s. Then a conservatory had been built on in the 90s.

“It also came with a field,” says Lisa. “An old railway carriage stood in it where someone was keeping their horse! And when we tackled the very overgrown garden we were astonished to find another railway carriage - no idea it was there when we’d bought the place.”

In fact it had been quite a battle even to buy the cottage, never mind rescue it.

“I was expecting our second child Francesca (now five) when we’d first seen it,” says Lisa. “But the thought of all that work put us off at such a crucial time. But then after she was born we found ourselves driving past the cottage one day and saw a SOLD sign up.”