José lives in Oxford in a terrace of cottages built for railway workers in 1890. She decided to buy her cottage in 2006 at the time when her children, Emily, Tom and Georgia had left home. “This terrace is in Oxford’s golden triangle, ” José says, “and convenient to everywhere in the city without stepping into the car. ” From the outside, it was a pleasingly solid little three-bedroom house but the interior was far less engaging. The ground floor had a series of inter-connecting rooms with a bathroom clearly visible beyond the kitchen. “When you came in through the front door, it looked like a caravan!” José exclaims.