hunters valley | Clune Gap Years

27.12.24-14.01.25

We had decided to sell our holiday let house. Lots of good reasons to sell:

Last tax year, it made less than £5,000 profit.
We had paid for an expensive repair of over £5,000 for a leaking roof. But being part of a C17 Devon long house with daub and wattle walls ( insulation in parts was hair, as we discovered on the last roof repair!), there was an almost certain expectation of further costly repairs.
We had also had trouble with our housekeeper, who seemed to believe I worked for him. Not easy to manage when one is abroad or travelling.
Holiday rental prices have plummeted with oversupply of holiday properties, and competition from overseas holidays where sunshine is guaranteed.
Guests are now demanding and damaging. Definitely a lack of respect. So repairs and extra cleaning costs are higher. And much more likely to give poor reviews, often completely unjustified.
When we bought Tythe Barn House, we had thought we would retire to it when we were done with travelling. Devon is too wet with too many grey sky months (I suffer with SAD). We’ve made a home in Crete, certainly sunnier! 🌞

Yes, the right time to sell. For us, but not for the market. Every 6th house in Combe Martin seemed to sport a for sale board. We priced to competitivly. And hooked a buyer. Unfortunately, the sale did not go through before Christmas as everyone expected. Our buyers’ solicitor was rubbish, not returning calls or dealing with difficult enquiries. The up side of the delay, was that a) I did not have to fly home from our Morocco trip to clear the house, leaving James with Corrie alone and b) that we got to use it twice once we returned to the UK.

We do absolutely love the house, and it enveloped us like a blanket. We stayed over New Year, and Lin, Craig and Evie came to supper. Then Maddy and Jordan came for a few days and New Year.

With guests, we did not get much time to sort out what we might take to Crete in our motorhome, with an international removal company, or to dispose of items. So we returned on 10th January with the Aged Ps for 4 days. Robyn also popped over for a night. We managed to Facebook Marketplace a couple of items, a couple of charity shop and dump runs, and returned with a fully laden car … quite a lot of bulky but light stuff is now in Jez the motorhome for our return trip to Crete.

Whilst we were out and about, we reflected what a fabulous area North Devon is … when the sun shines! I took pix as I can’t see that we will return to the area. So this post, I guess, is an obituary to Tythe Barn House. No apologies for the number of pix; they are just for us.

COMBE MARTIN