The Old Police House
A short slideshow of the works undertaken between November 1998 and April 1999 at the Old Police House in Milton Ernest Bedfordshire.
Uploading information regarding this development was prompted by a good friend of mine bumping into the present occupier (January 2011) who mentioned that she would be very interested in anything to do with its history. Well, regarding its recent history since I purchased it from the Bedfordia Group in 1998, I know a great deal. But further back that that is a tad sketchy. I do know that Bedfordia used it for the accomodation of its Farm Manager up until they were relocated nearer the man facility a little further down the road towards Bedford. I was quite surprised to find this for sale actually. It was a small "bite" of land from the otherwise agricultural fields owned by the same organisation.
I paid £125,000 for it and that was an excellent price for my proposals. It allowed me enough margin to spend good money on what I would call a "proper job" without skimping. The purchase did have a slight hiccup though. After agreeing to purchase the place at £125K, Bedfordia's selling agent called me to say they had received a higher offer by some £3000. I asked of the relevance of such an offer after the deal had been struck and was informed that Bedfordia wanted to know if I wished to match it? Hmph! It seemed Bedfordia's land department would entertain a further offer even though mine had been agreed. Gazumping no less. I called one of the directors who I happen to know through business connections and at various breakfast club events and stated this was hardly cricket. Surely two local businessmen who make a verbal deal do not need to commit this in blood to make it of value. I was informed that the property was mine as agreed verbally and both land department and selling agent were not to entertain any further offers. Let no man say that the mighty Bedfordia organisation are anything less than of good moral standing! I have been flying the Bedfordia flag ever since as the word being a bond goes a long way with me :-)
S&S Developments from Kimbolton had built a few nice projects that I had designed in the preceeding few years so they were the only choice for my own development at that time. Brilliant job. However, anyone who knows buildings will tell you that "once you are out of the ground, its all plain sailing" and actually getting out of the ground did prove to be a bit of a problem! The feilds behind the dwelling slope down to the highway and the land drains all run through the site to a drain that runs adjacent the highway. That was collapsed. When did we find out? When we excavated for the sunken lounge and cut through the pipe! For several weeks, milton ernest had its very own lake. Thousands of my development pounds went into the lake and never came out :-( But another well know building expression is "throw enough money at a problem and it will go away" and this seemed to do the trick - even though it was an undisclosed 5 figure sum!!
The rest went swimmingly (sorry, affected badly by the lake it seems!) and i am only sorry that I do not have any more images of the completed property. You will simply have to go see it in the flesh :-)
ENJOY!
Peter
PS - Found a few images after producing the slide show so have added these - Hope you like these CG :-)
Read MoreUploading information regarding this development was prompted by a good friend of mine bumping into the present occupier (January 2011) who mentioned that she would be very interested in anything to do with its history. Well, regarding its recent history since I purchased it from the Bedfordia Group in 1998, I know a great deal. But further back that that is a tad sketchy. I do know that Bedfordia used it for the accomodation of its Farm Manager up until they were relocated nearer the man facility a little further down the road towards Bedford. I was quite surprised to find this for sale actually. It was a small "bite" of land from the otherwise agricultural fields owned by the same organisation.
I paid £125,000 for it and that was an excellent price for my proposals. It allowed me enough margin to spend good money on what I would call a "proper job" without skimping. The purchase did have a slight hiccup though. After agreeing to purchase the place at £125K, Bedfordia's selling agent called me to say they had received a higher offer by some £3000. I asked of the relevance of such an offer after the deal had been struck and was informed that Bedfordia wanted to know if I wished to match it? Hmph! It seemed Bedfordia's land department would entertain a further offer even though mine had been agreed. Gazumping no less. I called one of the directors who I happen to know through business connections and at various breakfast club events and stated this was hardly cricket. Surely two local businessmen who make a verbal deal do not need to commit this in blood to make it of value. I was informed that the property was mine as agreed verbally and both land department and selling agent were not to entertain any further offers. Let no man say that the mighty Bedfordia organisation are anything less than of good moral standing! I have been flying the Bedfordia flag ever since as the word being a bond goes a long way with me :-)
S&S Developments from Kimbolton had built a few nice projects that I had designed in the preceeding few years so they were the only choice for my own development at that time. Brilliant job. However, anyone who knows buildings will tell you that "once you are out of the ground, its all plain sailing" and actually getting out of the ground did prove to be a bit of a problem! The feilds behind the dwelling slope down to the highway and the land drains all run through the site to a drain that runs adjacent the highway. That was collapsed. When did we find out? When we excavated for the sunken lounge and cut through the pipe! For several weeks, milton ernest had its very own lake. Thousands of my development pounds went into the lake and never came out :-( But another well know building expression is "throw enough money at a problem and it will go away" and this seemed to do the trick - even though it was an undisclosed 5 figure sum!!
The rest went swimmingly (sorry, affected badly by the lake it seems!) and i am only sorry that I do not have any more images of the completed property. You will simply have to go see it in the flesh :-)
ENJOY!
Peter
PS - Found a few images after producing the slide show so have added these - Hope you like these CG :-)
