Martin Angove wrote in
:

I suppose that *if* the house had been structurally sound, and *if*
none of the timbers had needed replacing then £70k would have looked a
little more realistic, but you only needed two facts to be able to
guess that this wasn't the case: the house was several hundred years
old, and had had no work done on it within living memory.

Good answer, Martin.

There have been many GD programs where money has not been splashed around
(classics being the Welsh hillside and the wooden house in the woods). But
did you really feel that these Gloucester lawyers would have appeared at
all for nothing? (Remember, lawyers simply don't appear for nothing.)

Over the years I have seen several GD houses in various places (GD's own
website and magazine as well as other 'style' publications). I reckon that
the total exposure achievable is quite significant.

I totally agree with Martin that 70k was a joke in the circumstances. That
the extra money was found was not a surprise. But from where? Their
resources? Or payments of various sorts, possibly including knock-down
prices on some items?

OK, so lime and wood are classics. It is nice to seem them being used. But
I am damned sure that the house is riddled with copper, plastic,
plasterboard, etc. It is no purist's dream house.

--
Rod