‘Undeniably grim and, in fact, rather primitive in parts,’ says Stephen Pardy, recalling his not entirely unhappy assessment of the 18th-century townhouse he and his wife Clare now call home. Despite this unpromising' description, the house was exactly the sort of renovation project the couple were looking for: architecturally intact but in need of work, and on the quiet, leafy square they had set their sights on.
However, it was only by pure chance
