Ivy eyesore goes at last as house is sold

Neighbour Molly Boland contacted Sandwell Council just over a year ago, and asked them to encourage the owner of Old Hill House, in Cradley Heath, to sell the property.

The 78-year-old said: "I thought I would phone them to see if they could do something about it. It took a while but I was delighted when they finally put it up for auction."

Mrs Boland said in the 10 years it had stood empty ivy had slowly crept up the walls covering windows, walls and the roof. The garden had become wild, and the grass had grown to over five feet. She said: "It was just horrible, and a real eyesore." The house was auctioned and sold for £116,000.

"The new owner, who did not want to be named said he plans to renovate the house and turn it back into a family home. He has cleared out the inside and employed specialist company Shirley Ivy Stripping, from Solihull to strip it of its ivy layer.

Company boss David Sidwell said: "This is the biggest job we have ever done, and will take around a week to complete.

"We will pull off all the ivy from the walls, and they we will have to work on the roof. That will be more difficult because I should think it will have gone under the tiles."

Mr Sidwell will then use his "secret method" of removing all the tendrils from the wall, and cleaning the bricks.

Until this is done, the owner will not know the extent of any brick work damage.

Edith Robinson, aged 71, who has lived in Sherbourne Road for 34 years said she remembered the house as once a busy family home. She said: "It was a lovely house, and I remember the owner doing it up. But unfortunately her health deteriorated and she had to move out, that's when it was just left. It became horrible, and it's at the entrance to the road so you can't miss it. This is such a friendly road so everyone has been talking about it."

Ann Shaw, aged 74, who has lives on the road with her husband said: "I am delighted that it is finally going to be worked on, and sorted. It will just make a real difference to the road."

Mother-of-two Laura Hays, aged 29, said: "I am just looking forward to see the work unfold, and see it being transformed. It will make such a difference." Mother-of-one Brigid Duffy, a solicitor who has lived opposite for 15 years, said the former owner had previously kept a rein on the vines. She said: "But when she left it got out of control because no-one was trimming it back. Then it just grew and grew and grew.

"It got to the point where you couldn't actually see the house any more. Every time we had visitors they would say my God what's that across the road. These workman cutting it down are my heroes."

Retired civil servant Helen Key, 55, who lives right next door, added: "If you looked into the street for a distance, it looked like there was a house, then a big tree, then my house."