The background
"The bottom of the garden was always a quiet and peaceful place with the sunlight shining through the trees, It overlooked the school playing field and I always felt it would have been an ideal place to live.
After mentioning my thoughts to Paul he thought there was plenty of room. We really should see if it was a possibility.
First I needed to know if we could we get planning permission? A visit to the Council Offices confirmed that we could get building permission on the land provided we could gain access.
Our first thoughts were that we could remove our garage and re site the conservatory. We applied and got planning permissio for a chelet bungalow. But adjoining our bungalow was a strip of neglected land
beteween us and the school playing field which, for the most part, used to be ours before it was compulsory purchased in 1969. (That is another story). This small strip would give us access and mean we could keep the garage and conservatory with our present home.
This turned out to be a long and difficult process. Searches to find out who did in fact own the land now. Trying to persuade them to sell it back to us. There were many meetings, many people to consult not least the School governors. Delays whist people were on holiday or away sick. Objections course. I must say that if we had not had the help of some very kind people we would have given up. We actually bought the land in January 2006. By this time Bill's health had deteriorated and we were now going to be building a bungalow that would make life easier and more pleasant for him."
Jean Letley