In late 2021 we decided to take the plunge and cash up retirement savings to buy a cheap, derelict house and transform it into a warm, secure family home for our friends. This blog is the story of The House and its restoration and renaissance as a desirable residence.  

We had spent the previous 2 years unsuccessfully helping our friends look for suitable rental accommodation – they needed a 4-bedroomed house with one bedroom on the ground floor – in a south coast town in East Sussex. But there are not many 4-bedroom houses for rent in this area and lots of demand! Our friends are from Syria. They fled after their house and business were destroyed and family members and friends were killed or seriously injured in the civil war – a war that still continues today. They came to the UK with their 3 children and Amir’s elderly parents * in 2018 full of hope of creating a new life for their family.

* Names have been changed