Learning the ropes

Love at first sight’ isn’t exactly the phrase Alex and her husband, J, would use to describe their initial reaction to this 1970s house in a village near Leeds. Having sold their previous home, and with Alex pregnant with their second child, they were under pressure to find a new place to live – quickly. ‘We ultimately bought this house for the location,’ says Alex. ‘The village has a good school and we have a really big garden – but really, the area we live in was the nicest thing about the place. Sometimes I’m not