Jack Hill's colourful life started on a farm near Leicester before the war, and since then made many moves. Here he recalls his move to a house called Brookside in Chalford.

Our first glimpse of Brookside in 1961 was sufficient to tell us that this was to be our destiny. But how to find a deposit on a house with an asking price of £4250? Answer: beat down the price, particularly as the house had been standing empty for six months or more since the Friths had moved to Slimbridge.

We cited the poor state of the interior, the closeness of the railway, and the condition of the roof and so a figure of £3750 was agreed and a deposit of £850 rustled up.

The two rivers aspect was at that time more important than the house itself so we only gave it a cursory inspection prior to taking over.

Unlocking the door and walking in gave us a shock when we saw how dilapidated it really was. Nevertheless, I carried out a survey, produced drawings and got a Planning Application under way. Being indoor work there was no objection, so a new kitchen layout, hall way with draught lobby and the utility room got approved.

The first stage was to eliminate the floor slabs with hollows, which the Friths had filled with wads of newspapers and covered with a sheet of bitumen felt, over which they had laid rush matting.

The lack of damp proofing had caused the bottoms of the kitchen cupboards to rot, as too had the plaster and lath partition between kitchen and hall. This wall could be pushed to and fro when the door was opened.

Flooring boards around the fireplace in the lounge, hall and in the utility room were rotten where the support joists had been resting on the wet earth, and had to be dug out and proper ventilation created.

Upstairs, the flooring in the attic had been covered for many years with oilcloth and so the woodworm had worked their way through the timbers and then been unable to move further but had created a surface completely riddled with grooves.

Worm attack in the 100x100mm joists was amazing and in many instances there was no strength in the wood where it could be broken by hitting it with a hammer.

So the real problem was where to start and which rooms had priority.

I decided that it would have to be a ten-year programme, bearing in mind the anticipated work of building up the office at the same time.

For the first Christmas, Valerie, George and Martin & Helen came to stay and George had a great time keeping the lounge fire blazing with lumps of floor joists.

Owing to the woodworm attack, many of the beams had lost all substance within the stonework of the walls and the detritus could be sucked out with the vacuum cleaner. Because of all the woodworm, I decided that cupboard doors would be made of metal, and any woodwork hidden or new would be liberally dowsed with Rentokil solution.

Thus the house soon took on a very antiseptic smell which deluded us that all was getting better.

Beryl was pregnant by this time, by some mysterious means, and it was important that one of the bathrooms should be made cosy as soon as possible.

To be continued.