‘I think we have a house that will last a lifetime’: Scottish house owner who moved to new house
A house that had been sitting empty for nearly 50 years has finally been moved to its new home after more than 40 years in the family’s backyard.
Scottish house owner Richard Hargrave, 71, moved his house to the family farm on a quiet street in the town of Dunfermline on Friday after a decade of struggling to find an affordable home.
He had been trying to sell the property for decades and was not able to find a buyer.
“I just wanted to get the house up on its feet,” he said.
“I’d been living in it for the last 20 years.
It was just sitting there with no life to it.”
Richard Hargraves family farmhouse in Dunfermeld, Scotland, pictured in 2007.
Photo: Richard Hagges/Flickr Richard Hage’s father, Paul, bought the farm in 1883, and later gave it to his sons, who worked on the farm and built it into a large, modern farmhouse with a front garden.
Richard said he was thrilled to be moving the farm house to its current location in the Dunfermuld town centre.
“The old house was very small, but it was a good place to live, and the children were very happy to be living there,” he told BBC Scotland.
The farmhouse had been empty for over 50 years when it was finally moved to the new owner’s home.
Photo courtesy of Richard Haggs Mr Hargve was initially unable to find buyers for his old farmhouse because it was surrounded by high fences and had no street parking.
But he was able to secure a buyer for the farmhouse, which had been bought for £20,000 by a couple from Edinburgh who had moved to Dunfermidland in 2010.
“The farm was built in a beautiful way, with the original roof, with lots of old barns and lots of gardens,” Mr Hargave said.
His family farm was bought by the Hargburs in 2000, when they had to sell their farmhouse for £12,000.
Mr Haggve said he had been saving the money for the future and decided to buy the property because he was going to be leaving Dunferma for a new life in the south of England.
He said the couple had no idea the farm would become a home to the Haggburs, and were delighted when the farm owner, who was also an actor, asked him to move the property.
Mr Hage said: “It is a beautiful home.
It’s very quiet, it’s very neat, and it’s a great addition to Dunmer.”
The new home was completed on Saturday.
The new owner is planning to keep the old house and move in to the property, which he plans to call the “Celtic House”.
Mr Dunfermut is the only town in the county to have an entire townhouse built on a farm, with more than 300 houses built in the last 200 years.
After 40 years, the house is finally ready for its new owner, and is currently being restored.
There is currently an emergency meeting on the site where the new house will be put up, with a view to having it ready for public use next month.
It will be demolished to make way for the new farmhouse.