The Restoration of Rise Hall

Rise Hall was built in the early 19^th Century and is situated in Yorkshire in the UK. Unfortunately, like many country homes in the UK, Rise Hall was left to fall in to a state of disrepair for many years because the previous owners did not have the inclination nor the funds available to maintain the hug property. Lucky for Rise Hall, TV presenter and property developer Sarah Beeny and her husband Graham Swift, along with their 4 children, two cats and a small dog decided to buy and move in to Rise Hall in 2001 with the view to restoring the property to its former glory.

Sarah Beeny has hosted many property programmes covering large repairs, such as “Help My House is Falling Down” and “Property Ladder” where she has helped other home owners to manage their restoration projects. The restoration if Rise Hall was a major undertaking for a restoration project, and because of this Sarah was able to create an entire new television series following the project in the early stages.

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The television series was enjoyable to watch on several levels. Anyone interested in history would have been pleased by the fact that Sarah and her husband went on a journey to discover the roots of their home and to restore as many original features as possible. Anyone interested in property development and make good stories would have been very satisfied to see Rise Hall go from what was a terrible state in some areas to a stately home. Those with an interest in family life would enjoy following the Beeny clan on their adventure – which at times could be quite dramatic.

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Watching the children play a part in the restoration works and building their own tree house and play room was a real highlight of the series, as was seeing their reactions to finding bird skeletons in one of the old fireplaces in the house.

What was interesting and frustrating to watch about the restoration of Rise Hall was the couple’s struggle with the local council to gain their cooperation on changes of licences and health and safety matters.

The documentary of the restoration of Rise Hall teaches a lot of valuable lessons both in property development and family life. Property development is something that appeals to many UK adults as it can be considered a “quick” way to raise large sums of cash profit. It’s not uncommon for internet estate agents to highlight property for sale that has the potential to be “refurbished” or “restored” to attract more viewings to run down properties.  Now that nearly all estate agents and auction houses sell property online , some purchasers will even buy a property on a whim without going to visit it! Of course this is always a gamble, but if one has the expertise to carry off a property development effectively, the results can be a dream come true as is demonstrated by the restoration of Rise Hall.

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