It is seven years since the auctioneer’s hammer came down on a disused water tower in the village of Flockton, leaving Chris Hudson victorious after a bidding war that saw the property’s guide price of £4,000 rocket to £110,000 by the time it was declared sold.
“I knew he would keep going,” she says. Meanwhile, when some of his friends heard of his latest buy, they questioned his sanity. “They say there’s a fine line between madness and genius,” laughs Chris, who has proved all the naysayers wrong by turning the redundant 1960s building into one of the most remarkable properties in Yorkshire. It took six years from start to finish but it has been well worth the wait.
“I also had to break off this project to do my own work,” says Chris, who was also laid low by a hip replacement, though he was back on site and working after six weeks, alongside John whose answer to the cold was to wear five T-shirts, two fleeces, leggings under his trousers and a woolly hat. It was that kind of Yorkshire grit, along with a wry sense of humour and a “can do” approach to problem solving that kept the pair going through the various challenges.
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