After have spent the past 35 years transforming the Windmill in Little Saredon, Staffordshire, into their ideal home, Neville and Linda Faultless have opened up the doors of the historical gem after putting it on the market for £650,000 ($1 million).
A bright pink exterior and garden complete with post box and phone box conceal a delightfully quirky three-bedroom house. The unusual property boasts stained glass windows, a bar, metal spiral staircases and a cleverly-designed split-level living room. The three-bedroom property includes a lounge with gallery, a sitting room, study, family bathroom, refitted kitchen and even a hot tub and sauna. Each room is uniquely designed and includes items that Mr Faultless has picked up during his working life including the stained-glass windows from a church in the en-suite bathroom and the giant doorbell.
The Windmill at Saredon has over the years undergone many changes and is referred to in several publications as having been in existence certainly by 1816 if not before. It is reputed to have had four sails and a boat cap. It is believed that it was worked by sail until the 1870’s when it was converted into steam. It became derelict by 1938 after which time was converted to a residence with significant rebuilding/extension works undertaken in both 1978 and 1985.
For the first two years after buying the four-storey building, a determined Mr Faultless lived in a caravan in the garden. I had to start with the garden, because I didn’t have any money to start work on the house, said the 70-year-old. It was terrible; I remember my father kept asking me to come home and live with them, but I was determined to get it done. Mr Faultless met his wife Linda not long after he bought the building and they have spent the past 35 years transforming it into the quirky, unique home they have today. I remember I couldn’t believe it when I first saw it, but we have worked on it together and it is, and was, a real labour of love, Mrs Faultless, 60, said.
Mr and Mrs Faultless have designed the house with entertaining in mind, as each room has its own music system, there are flashing red fairy lights throughout, and the mill even has its own bar. I designed the house for parties, Mr Faultless said. That’s why I put in the bar. It’s great fun and excellent for entertaining. It is brilliant at Christmas. The creative former hairdresser accessorised the mill with stuffed stag and moose heads, a clocking-in clock from a leather factory and Amazonian blow darts. The couple even burnt off the roof, so they could redesign the building to their taste.
Now they intend to leave their much-loved family home, in search of a fresh challenge. Mrs Faultless said: We’re leaving it because we feel we’ve reached the point where we have done all we can to it. ‘There is nothing more we want to do to the building, and we want to find a new project. Where we will go, we are not quite sure, but we will move on somewhere else. [Boot&Son]
