It could be Corfu, the Costa Brava, or even fabulous Florida. But a peep over the garden wall of the O’Gorman’s family home tells a different tale.
Their palatial corner house which boasts some six bedrooms, an en-suite sauna and, wait for it, a heated swimming pool out the back, is in fact in downtown Wednesbury on the edge of the Friar Park Estate which is in the heart of the industrial Black Country.
The family manor in Crankhall Lane has more going for it than the average home because when Mark and Deborah O’Gorman moved into the three-bedroomed semi with an unused garage and a sloping garden seven years ago they immediately embarked on transforming it.
Within a couple of years builder Mark had erected a two-storey extension, giving the family a second living room, a fourth bedroom and a much bigger kitchen.
Finally the loft was converted to accommodate bedrooms five and six, pushing the value of the property up to £283,950. But the first piece of the makeover was digging up the sloping lawn to build the pool.
At 18ft by 10ft, it’s hardly Olympic size but it does nicely for a summer evening dip or a weekend pool party.
As a mother of six, 39-year-old Deborah has little time herself for a swim but her five strapping sons and two-year-old daughter Mollie-Anne love it.
Deborah said: “They were never out of it last year. The weather was so good that we didn’t drain it until the end of October. I’m happy on a sun lounger. Just looking at the water is relaxing.” But poolside cocktails – in Crankhall Lane? “Why not?” says Deborah. “I don’t suppose there are many back gardens round here with a swimming pool though,” she added.
Estate agent Lee Morton, area manager for Paul Dubberley, who are selling the house in a road where the average price for a home is £135,000, said: “The value of a house is the price people are prepared to pay for it and Black Country people are very insular, they don’t like moving away from their roots.
“I can see someone who wants to move up in the world but not necessarily out of the area falling in love with this place.”
5 Comments
Why on earth would you do that to your house in the Friar Park area? I suppose it makes a change that they actually work round there!!
wouldn´t it simply have been better to have moved to a hotter country?!? wouldn´t have any problems filling the pool with all the rain you´re having. Oh well back to the sun for me. adios
Good for them! People do that kind of thing here in the USA all the time. Nothing negative said. The British always try to put things down k.
P.S I am an ex pat.
Good for them!! Its actually nice to hear of a family with six kids who chose to work hard and fix their home up rather than sponge of the state and expect the council to do all the work for them. Good on em!
Totally agree with dynamite. I work in Friar Park quite a few times each month and have seen the house a few times. Good on Mark and Deborah for showing people what can be done if you are willing to work for it.