A couple were horrified to find the stunning estate they bought for £1.5 million was stripped of its most valuable assets by the previous owner. Martin and Sarah Caton were over the moon when they sealed the deal for their new Grade II*-listed mansion in Cornwall .
Bochym Manor came with a gorgeous Jacobean oak staircase, a walnut-panelled library and an incredible history dating back to the Domesday Book. The ten-bedroom gothic-revival house even boasted secret passageways, historic stained-glass windows and came with 13 beautiful holiday homes as part of the estate. Everything about it was the stuff of dreams.
But when the couple set foot inside for the first time since buying the property , elation quickly became devastation. They discovered that former owner Dr Mark Payne had ripped out doors, windows, fireplaces, floors, guttering and even the plumbing and electrics. Three of the four baths were gone and the magnificent stained-glass windows had been taken out, as had some of the library’s panelling, which had been carved by the same firm that rebuilt the Houses of Parliament.
It wasn’t just the manor that was stripped bare: the holiday homes were completely gutted and the staircase from the estate’s clock tower was torn out by workmen hired by Dr Payne. To make way for builders to get their trucks in and out as the historic house was ripped to pieces, the entrance pillar at the end of the drive was also knocked down. Mr Caton said: ‘I was distraught.
It was lik.