I bought a patch of land on Homes Under the Hammer because of a bag of chips – things didn’t go to plan
VETERAN Homes Under the Hammer presenter Martin Roberts has been taken aback by one developer’s reasoning behind a major purchase.
Buyer Diana from Derbyshire, had originally attended an auction with the intention of purchasing an old church, but when she missed out on that she decided to switch her focus.
Instead she successfully bid on a derelict half-an-acre plot of land in the village of Cromford, Derbyshire.
Diana appeared on the daytime series proudly telling Martin all about her purchase but her reasoning behind buying the land left the presenter stunned.
She told the programme: “I didn’t get the church in the auction which I really wanted. Then I saw this in the brochure. I thought my husband loves Cromford’s fish and chips, so I’ll buy it for his birthday. They are really good crinkle chips.”
To make matters worse Diana hadn’t followed the programme’s famous guidelines to read the legal pack and do your research before any purchase, so she’d bought it completely blind.
On top of that the property developer revealed that she’d had to pay out a whopping £41,000 to buy the land as a present for her husband.
Presenter Martin was stunned but did see the funny side to the tale saying: “That has got to be in my top five best reasons for buying a property at an auction on Homes Under the Hammer because it’s close to a fish and chip shop. That doesn’t mean it’s not a valid reason.”
As the show continued it turned out that Diana had more problems as, on top the derelict sheds and overgrown vegetation, the land also came with shared access across it.
She told Martin: “It’s not really going to plan. It’s a shared access, so I don’t like that. So it’s not going to work out as planned as I wanted to bring our motorhome and use it as a retreat.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do now… Either get planning permission or clear it, get planning permission and build some Cromford cottages and have them as holiday homes.”
There was a nice surprise though when the production team returned to see Diana eight months later to see what she’d done with the project.
It turns out it had become a lovely project for her and her husband after all. Diana said: “Every Thursday, during the summer, I’d pack my flask, get some sandwiches and some chocolate biscuits, and I’d meet John with the digger.
“We’ve come over, clearing the rubbish, the metal, the sheds, probably 7 or 8 days in total.”
She continued: “I’ve enjoyed having it and coming as a bit of a place to hide away. We’ve renovated the old garage, kept the frame and put recycled wood on it to keep it authentic.”
There was one final surprise in the adventurous project as Diana had made a discovery whilst clearing out the site.
She explained: “We found a bag of old silver shillings. But I was cleaning them up in vinegar, but someone said not to as it devalues them. So, I’ve got a bag of silver. Got about £350 of scrap.”