This Is The Worst house I’ve Ever SEEN | Country House Rescue | Abode

[Music] there's a way to make an entrance my destiny it was now a conspiracy of witches download veli today kelly house has been in the kelly family for 31 generations but after years of neglect this once magnificent building is near derelict the kellys are holding onto their birthright by their fingernails if we can't make it work at them at the moment the only option will be to sell the family has called in businesswoman ruth watson to help turn their fortunes around it's her biggest challenge yet this is the worst case i have ever had to help with after more than 900 years of history could this be the end of the line for the kellys at kelly house this building is literally falling down do you feel you've been a servant to the kelly family oh yes definitely it's so rotten i can see the sky [Music] kelly house is a grade one listed mansion in the far west of devon the estate and even the village itself are named after the kelly family generations of kelly's have lived here for nearly 1 000 years the family has fallen on hard times and this proud house once the heart of the community now stands neglected isolated and in a severe state of decay 67 year old warren the 31st squire of kelly is at his wit's end the stumbling block to turning it round has been simply a lack of money the advice we were given a long time ago from one of the english heritage people was you need to win the lottery [Music] warren and his wife liz live next door in the converted stable block warren took over the estate in 2007 when his mother died but over the years as the heir and not the owner warren looked on as the house gradually deteriorated i think we probably survived by keeping our heads down the estate once owned swathes of devon cornwall and somerset but generations of warren's ancestors have been forced to sell most of the land to keep the house going all the farms that would have supported the estate have long been sold off so we're left really with buildings and nothing very much to support them the kelly's circumstances reached crisis point when they were hit by crippling death duties just after the second world war when two heirs died within a year of each other my father inherited two lots of inheritance tax and sort of struggled through the rest of his life trying to sort things out with the recent death of his mother there's now a third tax bill warren's daughter sophie and boyfriend chris have uprooted their lives in yorkshire and have returned to help save kelly far from leading a comfortable country lifestyle couple find themselves instead camping out in the main house it's not unusual to find half a ceiling on the floor sometimes as the newcomer chris realizes that the kellys need more than money if they're to survive we need focus and direction i'll be honest it's gambling really we're gambling with our family home which way do we gamble and is it actually going to pay off more than ever before the future of the kelly family at kelly house hangs in the balance one can't go on just pouring money in if there's nothing coming out at the other end we're trying to make the best of what is here there must be something something we can do in a last-ditch attempt to preserve this important part of our heritage woman ruth watson's been called in [Music] feels quite difficult to have got to this stage none of us want to be the last kelly at kelly hello hello good morning you're warren i am yes welcome to kelly is this as bad as it gets um possibly all around well we live with it anyway this is the victorian entrance i really ought to take you around and show you how the house was designed to be because there's obviously a more fabulous view somewhere warren's seen the sad decline of kelly house and well remembers the time when this grand arm was loved and lived in and this really is the angle this part of the house was designed to be seen from why have we sort of part painted well we're in the process of slowly painting it um we're doing it ourselves at the moment how long has this bit taken to do we started about 18 months ago and eventually we shall work our way around that's the intent for another millennium i hope not but probably two or three years there's been a kelly living on this site for over 900 years and its remarkable history is something that warren is very proud of from here we went through into the main staircase area okay so with your lovely venetian window yes and the stars on the ceiling too very decorative a little putty in the corner this horrible vertical crack going down well it's been there for years does it make you sad seeing how fine it should be and how not fine it looks i suppose i've lived with it so long and i just feel it's an old house you don't see it anymore no we don't i don't think we see it i'm not all that worried in a way i like a house which is sort of shows that it's been around for a long time and has history it doesn't fall down [Music] warren's lived at kelly for most of his life and has witnessed the generations of gradual decline and this is the bullseye window that's beneath the pediment that's right so we're right in the center of the house when warren was young this now derelict part of the servant's quarters was his playroom well i think largely through lack of money the place has deteriorated and of course you know there are less people around in the house and [Music] that's what you know we need to tackle again warren's daughter sophie is desperate to see kelly kept in the family returning to live in the main house has given her an insight into the true state of decay we've had a rather bad attack of dry rot because the prevailing wind comes and this gets most of the weather it's sort of the waters seeped through and attacked the woods and then you get the eventual dry rot which unfortunately you don't notice until the worst of the damage is done you feel your fire fighting all the time rather or dry rock fighting maybe very much so yeah there's always the worry if you open the door is the ceiling still up with such a long and illustrious history ruth wants to find out from the family why they're in such trouble today [Music] now i don't want to be ruined but you've had 900 years to get this right well only only yeah i mean not you personally but the kellys have had 900 years if we sort of just even go back 25 30 years do you think any progress has really been made on [Music] patch and passion and mending not a huge amount of progress no we're a family in decline but we're still here if we can find a way out of that then all well and good i mean elizabeth you must be a fairly sanguine kind of person and actually the reverse of me because i would have been nagging like crazy for 30 how many years 43 i think it just falls on deaf ears all right okay okay then an attempt has been made to paint the house is there any reason why we can't get a letter or a bit of scaffolding and actually just finish that job you can see the level you can get to with ladders above that unfortunately um it is rather dangerous but scaffolding again there's a cost involved in getting scaffolding set up with no funds available at the house in such disrepair kelly house finds itself again in crisis sophie have you thought about this we've looked at things like team building events and things like that and um then sort of work away sort of weddings and stuff like that yeah what kind of brand do you think's gonna wanna be married here come on inside that's why we were doing the outside you'd have to be a kenny bride if the kellys are to stand a chance of saving their ancestral home they'll need to raise their game or face selling it i'm not sure whether warren really realizes the desperate streets he's in will the kellys be able to meet ruth's exacting standards it's just partly finished or should i say partly started the kelly family was given this land in devon at the time of the norman conquest and they've lived here ever since but despite its long history 31 generations later the future of the kelly family hangs in the balance [Music] the present house was built in 1742 and formed the centerpiece of a farming estate with land in three counties it's a fine example of a georgian country manor with a venetian window characteristic 18th century moldings and an impressive 19th century book collection the georgian house was attached to an earlier tudor building that incorporated a medieval hall but after years of neglect many of the estate buildings have fallen down [Music] at the heart of the village kelly house used to employ most of the community but today it's seen as a forbidding place it's always been a bit of a mystery really kelly house as to what's behind the gate and what's inside the door it always seems to be the sort of place that you you go past rather than want to go in all i knew was it was a fantastic building that looked like it was falling down around everybody's ears desperate to maintain the family's heritage ruth watson's been called in to help if we can't make it work at the moment the only option will be to sell if that happened um we would certainly move a long way away and i don't think we'd ever come back you know just wouldn't want to warren's the 31st squire of kelly a semi-retired architect when he's not carrying out essential house repairs he's enjoying his various hobbies he and wife liz don't live in the main house but in the stable block which warren converted into a flat soon after they were married [Music] gosh this is an extraordinary building and the first thing i think is how cold must this be in the winter you've got no insulation what i don't mean was is once the temperature exterior temperature goes below 45 it starts getting very cold and you start putting more wood on and trying to catch up with it but it's hopeless when the couple first moved in there was no glass in the windows warren planned to glaze them himself but never got round to it the windows were a mistake i rather stupidly thought well as a compromise we could have these plate pieces of plate glass cut out and hinged in just to cover for the time being that was in 1974. he still hasn't done the windows the bottoms yes they were all earth right i said i've got two children i can't have that i'm and i hauled all the cement up and cemented these windows yourself yes you let me do this do you feel you've been a sort of servant to the kelly family oh yes definitely general fact totem but anyway that is a wife and a mother and what else right know we i think you're a very nice person liz i don't normally do this thank you get a bit of a hero and a martyr oh dear i don't like to be forward to that but yes what needs to be done try and do it to the best of your ability okay i'm sorry i'm feeling a bit careful about this i'm just going to leave not many women would put up with what liz has been through i only hope that her future involves not just windows that open but somebody else to do the building work for her daughter sophie and boyfriend chris have moved back to help save the house they hope to start up small businesses chris selling bespoke picnic blankets and sophie making homemade chocolates currently camping in the main house the couple want to move into a flat in the derelict tudor wing once they've renovated it this is hopefully the park we're going to live in the ceiling is down at the moment because it was bowing quite dramatically and we decided to take it down before it fell down what needs doing is the electrics that's already on the way a kitchen we have a good quote from a reputable companies come by by way of recommendation we're going to have to do a lot of work on it and we're going to do the work we're going to get into into a state where there's going to be a bed roughly where you're going to i have to say that you're the only person and i'm sorry about this sophie but who actually i believe might get on and do something here there does seem to be a real kelly thing going on about just i i don't know it's just not it's not even just an action it's a kind of almost a a denial of what's happening do you do you feel that i think my dad's very good at it and it's sort of come through my dad has a lot of hobbies he's built himself a canoe he's learned how to do stained glass and he's built a classic car he's built a classic car but he's let his house rocked yes i think it's very much they can't possibly spend enough time on the house to be able to make a positive impact now we're here hopefully it can change having met sophie and chris ruth sets off to explore the extent of decay for herself beneath the tudor flat at the rear of the house she discovers an elizabethan kitchen with original paneling the fireplace over here would have been the place where they originally did the cooking for the house but in it is a lot of residue from the jackdaws building their nests and i have to say they look to have been a lot more industrious than the kelly family [Music] one of the latest additions to the house is a victorian annex which has another self-contained apartment that warren started refurbishing this area could be let out whether it's for a long-term tenancy or whether it's for holiday let's this is a space that could be earning some money and at the moment it's just partly finished or should i say partly started with not one but two rentable flats on site it's clear that there is potential to bring in a healthy revenue stream at kelly back in the main house ruth discovers that every shower of rain threatens another fallen ceiling or outbreak of dry rot oh dear lord it's so rotten i can see the sky through the first floor up to the second floor and all the way out so what do you do you put a curtain in front of it ruth's worried that the kellys are way out of their depth she wants to know exactly how close to collapse the house is and has asked local english heritage official francis kelly to visit francis kelly are you related no connection at all no no that's extraordinary my goodness you have an at-risk register don't you we do and has kelly reached that register kelly's been on that register since it began so here we are kelly house so the condition is poor and their priority is c but it was bracketed a it means that to slow decay with no solution agreed previously it was rapid decay that's kelly house itself but i do notice that the stable block which is where the kellys live is a a so it's been at great risk and it continues to be a great one regrettably yes it's not in good condition the real issue is that we've got a house in very serious state of decay and stable block in even worse state of decay it's these are heritage assets of immense value to the nation we've got to try and help family to do something or we've got to try and help the house i mean english heritage is really our remit is to bat for the building really rather than the family without urgent action the future at kelly house looks extremely bleak i'm not sure whether warren really realizes the desperate straits he's in so i'm going off to a house called woodchester where they have a number of very particular problems which they're dealing with in an innovative way i think this could be somewhere that he really could learn from worchester mansion in gloucestershire is a country house with a difference ruth's here to meet stephen davies it's chairman hello ruth nice to meet you come on inside what's extraordinary building it well when the trust was founded it had a very far-sighted and visionary idea which was to make the mansion available to students to train on and it was the only building in the country where student masons could come out of their classroom and come down here and actually fix stone learn to cut it and then to fix it on the building and you've got plenty of stone for them to play with we're not going to finish i don't think they're going to run out are they construction of the mansion started in the mid 19th century but was never completed today apprentices get to practice their skills here on a real building while the house benefits from their work and it brings in tourists too how many visitors do you currently get a year we get between five and six thousand what kind of revenue are they producing they're bringing us over thirty thousand pounds a year well that's not to be sneezed we don't sneeze at it although in this house we sneeze at quite a lot of things [Music] the severity of the kelly's predicament is evident having done her research ruth heads back to devon to present her findings to the family hello hi [Music] i have to tell you that this is um probably the worst case i have ever had to help with i don't know whether that gives you a sense of pride or foreboding but anyway this is this is difficult it's quite obvious that money is the problem um i think also that really has been a lack of focus as well about how to go about doing this and i don't hold you totally to blame warren for this i think this has been going on for probably 100 years or so it can't be left to just be talked about and to be sort of darned and patched what we've been doing really isn't it well it is yes ruth starts with the most critical problem kelly house is on the brink of collapse having seen the scheme at worchester she wants warren to focus on a major restoration program to be undertaken by supervised apprentices i know of at least two or three organizations all of which have courses and schemes whereby people who are wanting to train in all the crafts and arts that are particular to period houses have to come and work on live buildings and the obvious thing is that chris stays behind also to learn some of these skills because you can be both labourer because there will always be some neighboring work required but also you can learn how to do some of these skills because they will be there and the marvelous thing about that is that first of all you get the work done but it gets done to the kind of standard that warren really likes and approves of and that way i think you actually could end up not having to go to bed at night worrying about which part of the house is going to fall next ruth is also keen for the isolated estate to renew its historic links with the village she wants the family to organize an event before the years out that will relaunch kelly house and connect them with the locals once again i would suggest definitely opening the house for certain days of the week while the work's going on to see the work in progress that again gets people involved in the project i also think that you need to involve the village in a way that actually you're inviting them to come and help you need to investigate what labour's out there what craft skills are out there that might actually just be prepared to come and do a couple of hours every week but getting apprentices in and enlisting local volunteers is only the start saving kelly house will need a regular income and ruth has thought of how this can be attained what i really think needs to happen first and foremost is to complete the work that's been started on the annex and the flat above the kitchen instead of just starting it doing a bit in a bit there it's really got to be finished because that's income and you need income sophie and chris plan to move into one of the apartments on site but ruth thinks this is a luxury they can ill afford coming to the flat i don't want to disappoint you but i really don't think that you two should take up occupation there that is a source of revenue and i think what you should be doing even if it's just for the next one two three years is actually camping in this house i've got to be a speaker on a personal level yeah i'm i'm not very happy about not being able to live in the flat it might be a selfish thing but at the moment sophie and i feel like we are camping it's not just camping in our own home we're camping in someone else's house i understand that emotionally but this family desperately needs income and sophie you're not going to want to hear this either but i think in the short term you should go out to full-time employment because i think that's where you can best serve the interests of the family lastly after generations of procrastination ruth wants to see the family pull together i really would love to see before my next visit i would really love to see the outside of the house properly finished painting [Music] ruth's visit has reignited warren's enthusiasm for his ancestral home and just weeks later restoration work begins in earnest the prince's foundation for the built environment specializes in teaching fledgling craftsman historic building methods because of the the importance of the house and the importance of every piece of the fabric within it we've got to conserve and save everything we can nice and gently and just work it in that's lovely the apprentices will work throughout the summer it's the first step on kelly's road to restoration but will the family follow ruth's advice and finish what they've started paint works rubbish the floor hasn't been done and will ruth's compromise prove too much for chris it all seems at the moment like someone else is going to be reaping the benefits and i'm not particularly happy with that [Music] there's been a kelly at kelly house in devon for nearly 1 000 years but this historic lineage could soon end as after years of neglect this fine country mansion is on the verge of collapse with no money to pay for vital repairs drastic action is required ruth watson's been called in to help realizing the gravity of the situation she's given the family a wake-up call liz kelly thinks it's just what they need we're just sort of dragging our feet what should we do what should we do and i think it's given us a shot in the arm if you like or a kick up the butt got us moving with little revenue coming in warren has seen the house deteriorate over the years but ruth's come up with a no-cost solution that will herald the start of restoration a team of apprentices from the prince's foundation for the built environment has begun a regeneration program at kelly and they've made a start repairing precious 18th century walls yeah we're about ready to get this stone back in there we slide it in fill it with as much of the open water as you can as well as learning their craft the apprentices are also creating a living museum of historic building methods [Music] tutor henry rumble is delighted that his pupils get the chance to hone their skills on such a significant building the greatest thing for me about the house is that for this three weeks the house has come alive we've had these 10 or people working here and it's become livable and and enjoyable and and so it just shows by by bringing crafts people into the house and doing this work that it's regenerating the house [Music] buoyed by the progress warren kelly's called in a group of building surveillance students from plymouth university to do some of the heavy work they make a start clearing years of neglect in the tudor kitchen [Music] i think it's quite nice for the kelly's because we get really excited about things like beetles and it's probably not very nice but we really like seeing beetles and rot and so hopefully it makes them feel a little bit better but if kelly house is to survive it urgently needs a regular income with two flats on the estate ruth wants to see both refurbished and let boyfriend chris and daughter sophie were hoping to live in one of the properties chris is far from overjoyed in the prospect of having to give it up well it wasn't entirely happy days for me because i did want to be moving in here we're doing all the work on it at the moment and getting everything sorted out to be able to move in we just spent thousands of sophie's savings on the electricians um and another a couple of thousand more on the um kitchen which is going to go in here eventually and uh it all seems at the moment like someone else is going to be reaping the benefits and i'm not particularly happy with that without an urgent cash injection kelly house is doomed despite his disappointment chris realizes that at least in the short term compromise is necessary local holiday letting agent adam bolt has been called in to assess the tudor flat located in the heart of kelly's historic estate sophie and chris hope this will get them a premium this is going to be the kitchen area straight dining room expected yes real estate is two bedrooms sleeps sleeps four to eight depending on whether they want sort of um uh additional sleeping in the uh in other rooms so really it's for this room i think is getting close to completion i'll have a look around and we can have a chat afterwards that sounds good fantastic okay [Music] but chris and sophie are only part way through their refurbishment i mean our clients now we're looking for really a minimum of what they've got at home nowadays um if not looking to surpass that really um and so yes uh where we are now there's still a long way to go [Music] without obviously seeing an end product but i would look potentially in the region about 600 pounds that we would advertise the property at now obviously charging that sort of money our clients are going to be expecting a certain finish you know you haven't got a ceiling in the other room so it's quite difficult to tell as yet but we'd be there or thereabouts but you know the selling points obviously the history um and so on are going to help to balance that out for you the valuation comes as a big disappointment i'm not happy with the price um i think he's wrong i'll be honest 600 pounds a week is less than 100 a night for four people this isn't a travel lodge and it will never be a travel logical you know we wanna this is this is a four-star accommodation five-star accommodation that's what we're aiming for it's three months since ruth's last visit with only four weeks until the kelly house relaunch she's back in devon to check on progress and is surprised to discover that change is in the air joy of joys there are people working on the stonework and that is really good news because they look like they know what they're doing improvement is being made as work takes place all over the estate and chris has been busy learning new skills with the apprentices hello hello hi you're getting the master class well we can see we've prepared the background guys here we've uh we've got a fairly good key on this wall unless we want to see it all running down all right it's all running down the jumper already um which way am i going to run this then um take it on that side on that that blade like so yep and then in and upwards yep push it on hard and then just wipe it on oh that's it that's okay i'm just trying to force it in there because it seems to be coming back out again well it's a technique that uh it isn't easy to understand and to use it is quite tricky isn't it it is it's trickier than i expected but kelly house needs to earn its keep ruth has suggested the family renovate and rent out two [Music] work has yet to flats on the victorian annex but chris and sophie have been making some progress on the tudor flat they want to live in it but ruth's hoping they've changed their mind how do you feel about the notion of camping in the house rather than occupying this flat i'm not sold on it per se i don't really want to be in there um but um as a means to an end in terms of getting this place rented out definitely good for you because you've moved your position and because you've been very honest about this initially this was the dream to live here i suggested the house you were very auntie that so i have to give you full marks because you know it's nice that you realize that compromises have to be made in order to get where you want to be yes at the end the price that we were given by the estate agent was roughly 600 pounds a week for a weekly and that was with two bedrooms yes yes we're still looking at two and a half thousand pounds a month or so which is income you currently don't have ruth's pleas to hear about their change of heart but like the letting agent she's concerned that the flat is far from finished i don't want to pour water on your endeavors because i i'm really impressed that you've come on so far i think you're quite away from a stage of letting this out because i do think that anybody whether it's a long-term rental or a holiday rental do require finishing touches as well as working on the flat sophie has been busy looking for full-time employment sophie what about you in the job i did suggest that perhaps you went out and got paid employment yeah i've i found a few jobs that i would like to have but i've applied for about 10 so far and nothing's come back but a couple of them have still got their deadlines ruth's becoming increasingly anxious not only are the flats unfinished sophie still hasn't got a job and any thought of revenue coming in is a long way off ruth wants to find out what warren's been up to looking at fabrics really for possible use in the annex in the first floor room right you don't think that's a bit the cut before the horse i mean these kind of papers go for about eight pounds for a roll retail you're looking at probably 20 30 rolls i mean it's it's not like doing the downstairs lou no have you got enough money amongst the family members to get the flat done and the annex done we're going to struggle i think yes is the answer kelly house desperately needs an income and ruth's afraid that warren's got his priorities wrong i really would like to see that flat done because as long as that's done then you've got some revenue coming in and i think that is really really important that's what i'm looking to see from you and from the whole family i'm looking to see that flat done okay yep yes perturbed by the lack of progress ruth departs worried that the procrastination that has rained here for generations is set to continue the kellys still seem to be pottering around too much there is no overall plan no structure no feeling that they're working as a cohesive unit to get this work done in a structured fashion so really as i leave i actually feel a combination of frustration and disappointment over the next month kelly house undergoes something of a sea change the apprentices have restored crucial timber and masonry while the student surveyors have brought a new lease of life to the once abandoned elizabethan kitchen sophie and chris continue renovating the tudor flat and warren almost finishes painting the front of the house kelly house might be slowly emerging from its slumber but ruth wants to see the estate reconnect with the local community the family has organized a re-launch to showcase the recent renovation program and attract much-needed helpers invitations have been sent out and with a lot riding on today ruth watson's back to oversee proceedings [Music] today is the day of the launch party at kelly and i don't know how it's going to go i have no idea i have no idea where they've done anything at all actually um it all looks the same i can only hope the kellys are launching their work in progress museum how much people have left putting it together until today oh hello i thought i'd find you in here how are you we're fine this is some parts of this part of the museum work in progress museum so we're just assembling items for people to look at and these ones just putting up are the joints right because we've had the students from the prince's foundation here doing a lot of work so we've got quite a lot of examples to show people of all the horrible problems we've found and now don't be picky when i've only just arrived but there isn't a lot here and i know you have got enormous amounts so we've got more to bring into the room for today why is it being taken to the last minute before the last minute is because i've only just been finishing so we've been taking photographs this morning what time are you expecting people to come and what are you going to be giving away three o'clock we're sort of doing tea and cake yeah and then the probably the dining room and then have this on display and we're going to project the website onto in the next room to bring in revenue the kelly's urgently need to let two dormant apartments on the estate chris and sophie have been redecorating the tudor flat but ruth discovers that it's still nowhere near finished lucy this is where i have a big problem because i was told on my last visit the flat was nearly ready and they only had to do a bit in the bathroom i don't know what they think they've got to do but it's an enormous amount the finishes are so poor the bath is stained it needs re-enameling the paint works rubbish the floor hasn't been done the basin and the unit probably it needs a lot more work but above all it needs more professionalism ruth wants to know from chris why it's all taking so long i have to say that i am concerned i've just walked through this flat this flat and the annex are meant to be the first things to be finished and completed in order to get revenue in in order to have some money coming in to do things yeah there's so much that is still of such poor quality i think that actually what's required is for you to go to a bath store of some description and actually tell them to come in and make a bathroom in there you know it might cost a thousand pounds but it would be done deal finished you did hit the nail on the head it's a thousand pound yeah that's a thousand pound we don't have and in order to get even close to that we need sophie and i need to actually be working drawing an income so that either we've got the income to put that thousand pounds in as an investment or however that works or we can borrow against the the ability to repay it without a cash injection the flats will remain unfinished but chris has come up with a timely solution to the problem we've both decided that the best way to move this forward is for us both to be drawing an income what's happening on that front have you been for interviews or have you been looking for jobs what's been happening i have a job waiting for me and that starts fairly soon it starts as soon as i want it to and in fact i started yesterday right good how is sophie progressing with her job search believe it or not she's been offered a job manufacturing chocolates is this for sophie to go and work with a chocolate producer chocolate supplier no it's actually a company that produces dairy products locally um and she took them some of her chocolates right and they basically said we want you to work for us manufacturing chocolates but also selling their products alongside our own while i was certainly surprised that chris announced that he was going to go back to work and sophie too it's a jolly good thing because really they're not achieving very much here and at least it will bring some money in with the grand relaunch of kelly house due to begin warren and sophie are way behind schedule [Music] and a sudden storm threatens to turn weeks of planning into a washout [Music] kelly house in its heyday used to employ most of kelly village but for generations the mansion has been in decline isolated from the community thanks to the help of ruth watson this handsome house is undergoing a revival it is once again opening its doors to the public it's the day of the kelly launch party and although it's wet and miserable the family is still hoping to draw in the locals in a bid to sign up volunteers but warren kelly and his daughter sophie are running out of time ruth wants to ensure that the new work in progress museum due to be unveiled today looks professional um guys can i stop you um these look very good but let's move this right down the middle of the room this here so it's right in the center so people can go around either side of it okay you know i think we need to spread our treasure the kellys have no idea how many people will turn out but ruth's convinced they need to make better use of the space [Music] okay that's better [Music] the intentions are really good right i approve of that and applaud it it's the presentation which is just not great oh that leg's a bit dodgy be careful despite the dreary weather the relaunch of kelly house has attracted hordes of locals after years of seclusion the doors of kelly house are once again open to the public [Music] the mansion has been gradually falling into disrepair for years but not all the guests share ruth's sense of urgency when it comes to restoration you know behind there you can actually see up through the next floor and up to the ceiling and out you just sort of seal this off and go and live in this obviously the same culture so you just sort of resigned to it yes you have to be don't you why no you don't family and friends are hard at work promoting the house and signing up as many volunteers as they can we're going to do tours sort of by appointment you know for small groups i can't believe they've done it so quickly well experts i mean they're all qualified there will be guided tours which we'll publicize for you know groups to come warren's going to do a short speech in a little while um just outlining what it is that everyone's here for this is the visitors book have you signed over to this book despite the rain nearly 200 people turn out the relaunch has proved a huge success the purpose of today's launch really is to display the start of our work in progress museum and this is really going to record the work that we're doing on the house over the next few years there are sheets around if anyone would like to become a friend of kelly house and receive our newsletter which is quarterly or indeed become a volunteer and we have plenty of jobs for volunteers thank you all for coming [Applause] the people of kelly are delighted to see inside the house after all these years i think it's absolutely overwhelming it's amazing how many people have turned up to support family and the house and the projects that are undergoing and it's just what the community needed support back for all the support that the kellies have given the community brilliant for one man it's a chance to visit the property his father worked on in the 1930s and we've always said it's a shame that a state like this had to go down like you know but you know so it's more or less if it can be rectified and you know yeah five months ago kelly house was in peril today thanks to the hard work of the family the first steps have been made towards a brighter future so a successful afternoon lots of people yes anybody signing up to be a volunteer give money help do anything useful we've had about i think 15 people sign up to volunteer and reason more more signing up to be friends yes so we might be up to about 75 that'd be good how have you found this whole experience has it been good or bad yeah very good absolutely it's it's given us an incentive to get on and do something that's given us the energy as well i do think you have now got the opportunity to do this and really it is going to be down to your energy and drive yeah it is hard work warren and you come from a long line of people who have idled their way around and now you know it's got to change because that's the only way this house and you within it will survive you can do all of these things it's just a question of whether you will do them [Music] so [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: Abode

Views: 221,331

Keywords: Abode, antique house, architectural marvels, architecture, business woman Ruth Watson, century-old property, country living, energy-efficient homes, garden renovation, grandeur revival, green gardening tips, heritage preservation, historic architecture, historic landmark, home improvement, home inspiration, home makeover, property maintenance, real estate renovation, stately home, vintage estate

Id: bpc2bZ5VNaY

Length: 47min 43sec (2863 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 30 2022