A cottage left empty for decades. Time to wake it up.

A traditional stone cottage in County Mayo. Empty for decades. The roof’s going, one of the chimneys is full of ivy, and there’s a sycamore growing right out of the middle of the shed. I’m Dan — I’ve come over from Australia to bring it back to life.

My family’s from Ireland, but I’ve never lived in Mayo, and I’ve never done a full renovation before. So this is all about learning out loud — lime mortar, stone masonry, traditional methods, and the bits I’ll figure out as I go.