A woman renovating a house dating back over 100 years was shocked to discover a mysterious door to a building previously hidden away at the back of her new garden.
Nelly hasn’t yet moved into the property purchased in Treharris, an old mining town located in Wales, back in September, due to the state of disrepair she found it in. “The house had been neglected and unoccupied for a decade, if not more,” she told Newsweek. “It requires a lot of work. I’m converting it into a bakery with a two-bedroom apartment upstairs.” But she’s already finding unexpected surprises.
The property dates back to the 1920s and Nelly has been steadily working to return the home to its former glory. “The state of it now is very close to what the house would have been almost 100 years ago,” she said.
Renovating a home can be stressful, not least when it comes to managing finances. A survey of 1,000 U.S. homeowners conducted by Clever Real Estate found nearly 80 percent went over budget on their last renovation while two-thirds were left in debt trying to fund theirs.
It can also be exciting though. Not only is it a chance to start afresh, it can also serve as an opportunity to learn more about where you live and make some exciting discoveries along the way.
For Nelly, that discovery came not in the property itself, but rather the garden. That was when she saw something that changed everything: a mystery door to a small building that had previously hidden in the undergrowth.
“I noticed the door when I was working my way down clearing the overgrown garden that was covered in brambles,” Nelly said.
Nelly has been documenting her renovations on TikTok, posting under the handle @thebakeryproject. She posted a clip on the platform of the moment she, with a little help from her mother-in-law, finally reached the mysterious door and took at what was inside. It wasn’t what she expected. In fact, it left her “speechless.”
“Contrary to my fear and presumption that it was an outside toilet, it is another room, looks very much in its original form with the fireplace still there,” she said. “Apparently back in those days it would have been used to cook food and as a living room.”
As the video posted online shows, the room appears to be full of old furniture and is a decent size. “Another room, we didn’t know about it and the sellers wouldn’t have known either?! Absolutely unbelievable,” Nelly wrote alongside the clip.
It’s a discovery that is sure to add some value to the property. Not that Nelly is interested in selling up anytime soon. Right now she’s focusing on the ongoing work, and working out what to do with this additional space.
“I haven’t decided what to do with it yet as there are a lot of options,” she said. “But it certainly helped with making the decision of turning the first floor of the main building into two bedrooms rather than one as I was planning to save some space for a different use.”
