By Sarah Beeny
Last updated at 2:33 PM on 27th December 2010
The Property Ladder presenter contemplates selling the 'star' of Restoration Nightmare...
We all have mad dreams. Once or twice in a lifetime a number of elements come together at a critical moment and you get the chance to make that dream a reality – and that’s how we ended up owning 97-room Rise Hall.
Actually, in comparison to some of my dreams, Rise Hall wasn’t quite as silly as it sounds.
Ten years ago it was relatively cheap. Of course, it would have been expensive if it was just outside London, Edinburgh or Manchester, but it’s not. Rise Hall is just outside
Hull, the city that everyone forgot to rebuild after the Luftwaffe bombing of the Second World War.
Mixed feelings: Sarah and husband Graham are undecided about the future of the 97-room Rise Hall
Hull is a test of human resilience though. Despite the bombs, the shocking town planning and being the butt of jokes, it is actually a city stuffed with some of the nicest
people you are likely to meet.
It has an aquarium that gives the London Aquarium a run for its money, a football team that is (about to start) doing really well and a very highly regarded university.
Hull also happens to be only eight miles south of Rise Hall so, more relevantly for a working mother of four boys, it has a great A&E department and a direct train to London King’s Cross.
Eight miles to the west of our home is the delightful market town of Beverley which seems to get as much good press as Hull gets bad.
For £430,000, the same price as a 2,000 sq ft three-bedroom semi in South London, we bought 40,000sqft of house with a sweeping staircase, steps up to the front door with four Ionic columns and 30 acres of land.
Lovingly restored: In terms of conservation it is always better to try to use the building as it was originally intended - but Rise Hall could generate an income as a venue for weddings, events, photo and film shoots
It was no coincidence that the house had been empty for ten years while being extensively advertised for rent and sale.
A mixture of its size, condition and location baked a sticky problem for the house and anyone taking it on.
However, it’s a hell of a house and my husband Graham and I were convinced that it wasn’t beyond the wit of man to make the dream come true while making such a huge building pay its way.
We rather put the ‘pay its way’ part of the plan on hold when we first moved in with no cold – let alone hot – water and a roof so leaky that every time it rained action stations were taken with piles of buckets rather like a submarine about to dive.
Having been empty for ten years, black mould covered most walls and we had to put in a new water supply because the old village supply had been cut off several years before.
Sweet dreams: One of the 32 bedrooms at Rise Hall with wood panelling
A few years and one new roof later (which cost the best part of a house itself), we had secured the front half of the property, the cornice work had been largely repaired, we had central heating, and the windows refurbished, but the back half was going downhill and fast.
But we needed to fast-track a solution for our biggest problem – what was the building standing for? It was too big to be a standard ‘home’, and probably too far north-east to have the passing trade required for a hotel.
'With not much effort, one could create an annual income of more than the £430,000 the house cost - surely continuing the restoration would be even more rewarding'
It didn’t really stack up financially to divide it into flats but we were also unable to reduce it in size due to its architectural and historical importance (the house is Grade II listed) so there were a limited number of solutions available.
In terms of conservation it is always better to try to use the building as it was originally intended – in terms of restoration we needed it to earn an income to support itself and fund the improvements.
Weddings, events, photo and film shoots seemed the way forward.
This meant it could continue to be a home the majority of the time and have an income all with little disturbance to those living there.
Restoration Nightmare: Showing the house to 3.2 million people was not comfortable for Sarah
So last year we decided to push forward with arresting the rot in the back of the house, give the building a cosmetic facelift and, armed with a licence for civil ceremonies, rent it out to make it earn its keep. Channel 4 made Beeny’s Restoration Nightmare following our progress.
Showing the house to 3.2 million people was not comfortable for me. In fact, it was a little like hanging out your underwear for all to see.
But it also gave us the opportunity to talk about all the issues with buildings such as this and their restoration. This seemed the perfect solution in every way, except for
one, or rather four things – my young sons.
I have businesses in property including Tepilo.com that enables people to sell their homes for free, as well as a dating website called mysinglefriend.com and these, combined with TV filming, mean that for one reason or another I need to be in London on a regular basis.
Here, everything starts to unravel.
Buying Rise Hall fitted with my dream of a Waltons-style family but it didn’t work unless I spent enough time there. I underestimated how much I would miss my children.
In the interests of spending hours a day with my little boys instead of on a train to meetings, we sent them to school in London and now the story of Rise Hall becomes even more complicated.
So the answer to the ‘what next?’ question I am often asked is, truthfully, ‘I really don’t know’.
A decade of my life has been happily spent in this secret corner of our country. But to get the benefit of all Rise Hall has to offer – financially and in terms of lifestyle – you need to live there 365 days a year.
Labour of love: Sarah, pictured on the programme, tells how black mould covered most walls and a new water supply had to be put in because the old village supply had been cut off several years before
A hell of a house: A mixture of its size, condition and location baked a sticky problem for Rise Hall
There have been occasions when we would happily sell the house to someone able to invest that time in it. Then there is the odd day where I remember the beautiful sunsets, clear skies, football on the lawn, campfires in the woods and the dear friends we have made.
And I think that, with not much effort, one could create an annual income of more than the £430,000 the house cost, and now we have broken the back of it surely continuing the restoration of Rise Hall would be even more rewarding.
If I were advising anyone I would tell them to take the £2.5million you’d probably get and leave someone else to carry on.
Derelict: The house had been empty for 10 years before Sarah and her family took it on
After all, there is much to do – the stable block is pretty much derelict, there are endless rooms that need refurbishmment, but when you think where we’ve come from it’s been a high mountain and we have climbed most of it.
Will I heed my own advice? Again, I really don’t know – if there was someone who approached us then we’d consider it very seriously.
I feel fate brought us here and it will play its part in whether we are still at Rise Hall running a wedding venue in a few years’ time or we will have handed over the mantle to someone with fresh energy.
One thing I am in no doubt of now, though, is that Rise Hall stands a good chance of carrying on for future generations to enjoy.
If we did end up leaving, my husband and I would be exceptionally proud of that legacy.
