Leap of FAITH

Tackling the sensitive renovation of a historic house has been a challenging but rewarding journey for Alison and Daren Hall

- JANET MCMEEKIN

Embarking on a major renovation journey takes a special kind of couple, especially when it is a neglected property that many other house hunters have walked away from. However, from the moment Alison and Daren Hall set foot in an unloved Jacobean house, they were determined to become its next custodians. ‘Since the house is Grade II* listed, we didn’t know whether planning permission would be granted or not,’ says Alison. ‘Although it was a huge gamble, we just had to buy it.’

The couple had been scouring the UK for a suitable area to live with their daughters, Lilybet, 15, Clementine, 13, and Constance, 11, when Daren came across this neglected three-storey property in a Somerset village. Lured by the wealth of period features, he arranged a viewing. ‘Behind the front door lay a spectacular home with a labyrinth of rooms steeped in character,’ Alison says. Built in 1653 for a successful wool merchant named John Horsman, it was extended on the north side in the 19th century and altered through the years, particularly during the 1970s.