Bibury residents complain about house renovations

Residents of Bibury are accusing owners of a cottage in the village of wrecking Britain's "prettiest street" and creating a "war zone", reports The Times.

The cottage was bought by a Turkish couple in 2022 and intrusive renovation work has been going on since 2023. At one stage the road was closed for almost a year.

There was particular concern that the work included creating an underground garage. This necessitated using heavy machinery and resulted in the road closure. A neighbour is quoted as saying "I mean, how many Cotswold cottages have underground garages?" (Answers on a postcard, please). Other work includes replacing the roof and building a conservatory.

It has caused great irritation that the couple are understood to live abroad and are therefore unaffected by the disruption.