Glyn Rayson counts himself among the minority of people who have never bought anything from modern furnishings stores.

“I like to have things in my home that I know are going to last a long time,” says the former maths teacher.

“Older things are usually better quality and I see 1930s roof tiles that still have 300 years of life left in them, whereas new will last 30 years. As people feel the effects of the credit crunch, fewer are selling their homes and instead staying put and improving the house they have.

“But instead of going for cheap items they want to make a real investment and, at the same time, return their homes to its original condition.” Glyn, who lives in Green Heath Road, Hednesford, taught in Wolverhampton before starting his business, Rayson Reclamations. “I worked at Wednesfield and Coppice high schools in Wolverhampton, and my last post was at Chase Town High School,” says Glyn, aged 50.

“If teaching was about educating children, then I would still be there now, but you end up having a lot of meetings and talking about targets. One day I started to make some furniture from reclaimed timber.

“When I found I couldn’t fit making furniture in around my job, I put an advert in the Express & Star to sell the timber.

“As soon as the advert went in, the phone didn’t stop ringing, and I realised that salvage was a good business. I was at Hednesford before moving to Pillaton Hall Farm in Penkridge, where I am now based.”

Among the hundreds of reclaimed bricks and roof tiles, there are items such as 1950s grocery shop weighing scales and cash register, fireplaces, kettles, sewing machines, mangles, door handles, lamps, axes, old school desks and a chimney sweep’s broom.

So, are there any drawbacks to having a reclamation yard? “I’m married with three children, and my problem is keeping my wife Gillian from taking things from the yard for our house,” he says. “If I let her have everything she liked the look of, I would have more antiques at home than I do at work!”