Would someone like to rescue this house?

[Nemesis]

Hard to understand it's in the state it's in:

Building of the Month:
Balsam House

Pictures
Balsam House, Wincanton, Somerset

STATUS: GRADE II*

For Sale: £800,000

Can you rescue this beautiful house and make it a family home?

Wincanton, Pevsner says, is home to some handsome stone houses. Balsam House is no exception. Yet despite its good looks and great age, the house which lies at the end of a tree lined driveway, has been vacant for some years and is now being offered as a fantastic opportunity on the open market.

Located just off the high street of lovely Wincanton, Balsam House is a Jacobean property with two wings to either side of a narrow courtyard. The house dates to the late sixteenth or early seventeenth centuries and is set amidst large, mature gardens. It was built in local stone and the design boasts gables and mullioned windows. On the south side, a two-storey gabled porch projects from the building, an entrance is made through a semi circular arch.

Nathaniel Ireson, a very well regarded local architect, made alterations to the inside of the house in the eighteenth century but these were probably removed in the 1930s by the then owners whose coat of arms remains on the exterior. Ireson’s influence now remains solely in the separately listed garden walls outside, themselves a wonderful feature.

The house has lain empty for several years. It was boarded up but the vandals continued to affect the property and a lack of maintenance is now clearly evident. An urgent works notice was issued but sadly had little effect. The house has been further blighted by a previous owner and property developer who sold off much of the land, the positive side however is that the house has been left with a far more manageable 1.4 acres.

Balsam House is crying out for one lovely family who will bring the property back into use as a single residence (sub-division is not a satisfactory solution). Heaps of character and several outbuildings combine together to make the restoration of this house a very exciting possibility.

Pics and further details

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org


SAVE Building of the Month

 

[Penners]

In answer to your question:

If I wanted to live in Somerset, and if I had the £1.6m necessary to buy and repair it, then yes - I'd love to.

Balsam House eh... was it ever a Friary, I wonder? :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Craig]

Is this is?

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en-GB&geocode=&q=wincanton&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=8.97357,19.160156&ie=UTF8&ll=51.055202,-2.4053&spn=0.001165,0.002339&t=h&z=19

 

[plumbers mate]

Sorry, I need new glasses or a new monitor.
I wondered why the question as to whether I would like to rescue a horse should be on this forum.
I'll go and have a lie down, I'll be better then.

 

[Penners]

I'll go and have a lie down, I'll be better then.

Don't count on it. I've been kidding myself like that for years.

 

[Carol]

It's very well hidden! I thought I knew Wincanton quite well, it's my local shopping town and I have never noticed this place. I wish I had a spare million or so.

And Penners, Why would you not want to live in Somerset? Great cheese, lots of lovely stone and not everywhere is a flood risk?!!!!

 

[Nemesis]

The google maps pic is interesting - thanks!

Well, I want it even more now... could we club together possibly? See what cash we can find down the back of the sofa?

 

[another_richard]

The google maps pic is interesting - thanks!

Well, I want it even more now... could we club together possibly? See what cash we can find down the back of the sofa?

A bit like that fans consortium who bought Ebbesfleet United for a £35 share?

I have £2.62.

Is that a start only another 1599997.38 left to raise.

 

[Penners]

Penners, Why would you not want to live in Somerset? Great cheese, lots of lovely stone and not everywhere is a flood risk?!!!!

It's a lovely county, Carol, and I certainly wouldn't object to living there (more likely that Somerset would object to me). In fact, I have a sister living in Williton.

It's just proceeding in a south-westerly direction doesn't currently fit into the Penners Master Plan.

 

[Nemesis]

Yes but when we have all bought it and repaired it, we will need to install suitable tenants and a cook/gardener/handyperson to look after them. So maybe Penners family will do? Several generations? All those grounds in which to make dens... and I don't know if you can cook, but I am sure you can mow the lawns and be a handyperson.

The downside is that we will all expect to visit.

 

[shelli]

So maybe Penners family will do? Several generations? All those grounds in which to make dens...

Are Penners family all Foxes?

 

[Penners]

we will all expect to visit.

Damn! I have a diary commitment that day - elsewhere.

 

[bea2]

Somerset is lovely!

SAVE bought Castle House in Bridgwater for a small amount from Sedgemoor DC.

It is rumoured that some funds have become available through English Heritage and so maybe, just maybe work will commence - here's hoping, not before time.

 

[Nemesis]

Castle House- ask the Vivat Trust what is happening. I do know the vast number of hours and the work by SAVE which went into trying to build a rescue plan, to prevent demolition, and the heartache which went along with it. Funding promised by EH - well, ask EH the history.

As far as the roof - that went long ago, in the fires when the place was left derelict by a previous owner.

Sorry, but as one of those involved in the angst and aware of all the hard work with the place, I simply feel bloody angered by your remarks. I also am one of those who helped pay for the scaffolding - - as did many others. Bet you didn't.

 

[bea2]

Yes Nemesis, I do know all about the plans and it's a great shame none of them have worked.
A lot of wasted time it would seem to me - the latter not deliberately I might add.

I have been in contact with them very recently so am fully up to date.

 

[bea2]

It's no good feeling angered by my remarks Nemesis. I live with the place every day and I bet you don't!

You don't know what I've contributed so don't be rude to me.

I feel very sad that it's reached this point of deterioration.

 

[Nemesis]

Oh, for God's sake. You have no idea of the problems, clearly. It's easy to whinge though. you have no idea how much involved I may be with the financial information either...

So give an ****** great whack of cash, and volunteer your services to try to save the place. In the meanwhile, I've sent your post to the person who worked his bloody socks off to try to SAVE it, and so much else besides.

UPDATE - just had some interesting news about the site and the scaffolding.

 

[bea2]

Do you normally speak to people like your last post who have a differing point of view or who may question something?
Or is it because you have the anonymity of a posting board to vent your frustrations?

You know absolutely nothing about me. For all you know I could be involved with the project from a professional perspective. You need to be a bit more careful with your remarks and threats, which are not justified in my view.

I suggest you calm down...

 

[bea2]

I have just registered today on the boards and if this is the way people are here, then I don't think I'll be staying very long!

 

[Nemesis]

But you have posted on the old site about this. And I have said the same things.

I also wonder if you really appreciate the difficulties, and from what you have said, possibly not. So - I am totally updated in the past few minutes about all this. That's from those who have been genuinely professionally involved for a number of years.