That’s me, back in the 1970s – I’ve been waiting for years to use this pic!
I was going to go for a black and white photo – a professional photoshoot, looking pensive. I decided against it – it just wasn’t Insta ready! Not everyone can rock a green collar on tartan. My only regret is you can’t appreciate the depth of that collar!
That actually is me, about eight years old. I’m sitting on my bike outside our new ‘home’. I didn’t know it then, but my love of old buildings was about to begin.
My mum and dad had built our first house from scratch when I was just a baby. This time they had found a corker! They wanted to renovate and extend what to most people would have been a lost cause.
But my mum and dad shared vision! They saw what this place could be not what it was.
So, after sorting out planning applications and finance, my parents sold our modern semi and bought an abandoned cottage – an old toll house on a crossroads of the A1 in Musselburgh.
It was in really bad shape, the roof had all but gone, the beautiful, original, diamond windows were smashed and totally rotten (sadly, they proved beyond repair at the end). It came complete with every kind of rot imaginable and the walls were soaking with dampness.
Did I mention it was creepy? Really creepy!
My dad set about ripping the place apart with my older brothers. Skip after skip filled with debris, rubble and old rubbish. The scaffolding went up, the roof came off and the old windows were removed. What was now a few stone walls became less ‘creepy’ and more appealing. It was now more of a shell than a building, even an eight-year-old could see what it could become.
My dad opened up one of the walls to the rear of the cottage and added a large stone extension. This doubled the size of the cottage and gave us an open plan kitchen leading into a large lounge with an open fireplace.
Then he went upwards; a brand new roof was added. He added dormer windows and created three large bedrooms – two to the front and one to the rear of the house and a bathroom upstairs.
Downstairs, there was a fourth bedroom with an en-suite bathroom, a formal dining room and even a playroom for us kids.
Even sitting here now, it is still hard to imagine what dad saw when he looked at that ruin. What looked like a building only fit for demolition, was transformed into a beautiful 4/5 bedroom home. A blot on Musselburgh’s landscape was now something to be proud of – and a terrific family home too!
Since then, I’ve always loved old buildings. My dad taught me to appreciate the quality of the original craftsmanship when the house was first built. I learned to appreciate how an old building could be brought back from the brink of demolition with some vision (and a budget of course).
The house still stands today – I pass it fairly regularly and it still brings back great memories.
