Restoration Home

An imposing, three-storey Georgian house towers incongruously above the low rise, modern housing development that surrounds it. The Elms, a Grade II listed building in Derbyshire, is in a dreadful condition – no stairs, no floors. It’s defied a string of developer attempts to turn it into a money-spinning property. Empty for eight years, it’s slipping into a state of ruin which will soon be beyond help. Enter three generations of the same family who live just 200 metres away and had been thinking about the Elms for years. They fell in love with it and bought it. As the restoration gets underway, it emerges that one of the most influential past owners of the house turned accepted convention on its head that would have shock waves through the society of the day. Meanwhile, finances have become stretched to the point where the builders have been laid off.