Monday: my dream house

I have a dream house; I won't say exactly where it's located for reasons of security, but I walk past it on a fairly regular basis.  Why do I like it you may ask?  Well, it's a dream - take a look at the castellated writers' turret in the right hand frontage - it's truly amazing.  Also, it's Victorian and best of all, detached.  I have always adored period properties, although I've never really lived in one because I am rubbish at DIY and cannot really afford the upkeep on such an old building.

My aunt lived in a Victorian detached four bedroomed property in Berkshire and my word, wasn't it nice?  It featured three main bedrooms plus a fourth, somewhat smaller and narrower 'maid's room'.  I thought her shabby chic decor was brilliant too - Italian posters (derived from her time living out there), wooden furniture, books galore and just a really nice feeling about it.  I think that personally, I've managed to recreate the shabby, but certainly not the 'chic'.  One thing is true though - I have far too many books cluttering up my shelves, but as I read in one of my mother's 2008 copies of Saga Magazine(!) the other week, Bernard Levin was exactly the same, as was Keith Waterhouse, so I'm clearly in good company.