THINKING about buying an old property? The Society for the Protection of Ancient Building dishes out a few home truths.

Before you jump, pause a moment and consider. Is this building the right one for you? It may have magical qualities, but they may be distracting you from reality. If your preference is for vast, uncluttered spaces, don’t purchase a cramped cottage and then attempt to turn it into a double height hall, or vice versa.

Countless converted churches, schools and barns around the country are proof that standard domestic living areas rarely sit well in a building that once offered soaring space.

Don’t buy an old building unless you are prepared to accept its particular character, its quirks, even its warts. It is essential that you adapt to it, rather than trying to iron it into shape according to a completely different model.

There was no standardisation in old buildings; they followed the logic of their location, the dictates of materials and the skills of the period.

If you make those undulating plaster walls around the house plumb-straight, with every corner razor-sharp, your cob cottage will have disappeared. You will have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

Move slowly. Get to know the property thoroughly, find out everything you can about it. The more you know about your building, the better client you will be, the easier it will be to brief a professional adviser or to work with a builder.

Spend your money first on the essentials; repairs to the fabric can be expensive and mundane but ignore them at your peril.

* For more help visit www.spab.org.uk