The Captain’s Cottage Blog

After a seemingly endless delay, finally the planning permission for the balcony on the top floor master bedroom at The Captains Cottage came through today !

It’s been an epic quest, in which our architect has worked tirelessly to push the plans through what seems to be a desperately overstretched Torbay planning department, but now it’s all in the clear – so our builders can start work on replacing and remodelling the loft room to give the cottage a proper master bedroom with floor to ceiling windows looking out across the harbour.

Trust us, this is a big deal!

We always knew renovating a house might not end up being a straightforward project, but we never for one moment imagined that we might be asked to call in the Bat Man !

However that’s exactly what Torbay Council planning team asked us to do last week as part of our planning permission application.

Why?

Well, it turns out that Brixham – or more accurately, a 400 million year old limestone cave in the famous Berry Head Geopark and nature reserve a couple of miles away from The Captain’s Cottage – is one of only a handful of places in the UK where the Greater Horseshoe Bat roosts and breeds, meaning that any roof-type development in the whole area will be asked to have a “bat survey” before work can be undertake – hence the need to get in a local “Bat man” – aka Ecological Consultant David Wills.

Luckily David discovered no evidence to suggest that bats have ever used the roof of the property as a roost or resting place (an outcome which is hardly surprising as it was converted into an attic room many, many years ago!) but anyway, it’s good to find out that Brixham and it’s surrounding area is not only beautiful, but also home to some of the rarest flora and fauna in the whole country.

If you’re visiting Brixham in the summer you can go on evening Bat Walks and see the bats at Berry Head on a Bat Cam as they nest – details available online on the Berry Head website. You can also take part in September’s Bat Festival, or learn more about these fascinating and elusive creatures at the Devon Bat Project

The one place however we can guarantee you absolutely, definitely will not find any Greater Horseshoe Bats is hanging upside down in The Captain’s Cottage – we’ve had The Batman in to check they aren’t any there!

Another trip down to Brixham this week to check on progress with The Captain’s Cottage – and the good news is that the interior work is progressing well, with all of the walls replastered and new wiring installed throughout the house.

Still waiting on some feedback from the planning office in regard to our plans to re-do the loft room and add a balcony and patio doors to the front of the room though.

It’s also been another fabulous few days in Brixham – hard sometimes to remember this is a working trip with weather like this.

Calm seas in Brixham harbour

Progress with the lounge – it’s already looking a lot more light and airy without the pine ceiling.

Fingers crossed for planning permission to replace these windows with patio doors and a balcony.

Well, we’ve only gone and completed on The Captain’s Cottage, meaning we’re now proud (and a little shocked to be honest) owners of a house in Brixham.

We’ve been coming down to stay in Brixham whenever we could over the last couple of years, having stumbled on the town as part of a holiday in the West Country initially. On those trips – as seems to be almost mandatory – we started peering in estate agents windows in between visiting restaurants and picking up a pint of milk in the Co-op, wondering if it might make sense for us to actually own somewhere of our own down here.

And now its come true!

In proper “Grand Designs” style, The Captain’s Cottage is actually far more of a “project” than we were initially thinking of, but the combination of having made tentative bids for a couple of places only to see them snapped up quickly, and the absolutely killer views from this particular house persuaded us to take the plunge. And here we are…

There’s a lot of work to do from here we’re sure – finding builders to refurbish the house (especially that 1970’s interior!), decorating, kitting it out with furniture and the like… but hey, the adventure starts here!

Sadly, this staircase isn’t particularly legal in 2018..

The view from the loft conversion

That stripped pine ceiling is going as well..