13/06/2026
The truth is, I wasn’t desperately trying to keep it at all.
At that point in our lives, we’d been through a really rough few years. Financially, things were becoming difficult and keeping this beautiful old house going no longer felt realistic.
So I put it up for sale.
I was sad, of course. This is where my children have grown up. This house holds so many memories. But I was also ready. Ready to downsize, simplify life, and start fresh with my two kids.
The problem was… nobody wanted it.
We quickly discovered that what we saw as our dream home, other people saw as a huge commitment.
It’s a Grade II listed Georgian mansion. Four storeys. More than 20 rooms. No huge garden. Undesirable School catchment area. Eye-watering energy bills. Beautiful? Yes. Practical for the average family? Not so much.
We dropped the price.
Still nothing.
Then we got desperate. We even tried raffling the house for £1 on social media. That didn’t work either.
Then along came a very strange man who offered to buy it. At the time he felt like a saviour. We got our hopes up. We’d even chosen the house we were going to move to.
Then it all unravelled.
Turns out he was a complete crank who’d apparently done the same thing to other people. To this day, I still don’t really understand what he was getting out of it.
So there I was.
House unsold.
No buyer.
No plan.
And only one option left.
If we couldn’t sell it, we’d have to make it work.
So I put it on Airbnb.
What happened next completely changed my life.
I discovered there was a huge gap in the market for beautiful period properties where groups of women could come together to celebrate, reconnect, and make memories.
The house that nobody wanted to buy became the business that saved it.
And that’s how Norfolk House became what it is today.
