A woman is selling her childhood home where she has lived for 102 years — her family bought it for about $250 at the time
Nancy 'Joan' Gifford's family bought the house in Somerset, southwest England, in 1921, when she was two years old. It cost about $250.
Holland and Odam
- A 104-year-old woman is selling the home she has lived in for the past century.
- Nancy 'Joan' Gifford moved into the house in Somerset, southwest England, when she was two.
- When her family bought the property in 1921, it cost about $250.
A woman who turned recently turned 104 is selling the house she lived in for more than a century.
When she was two, Nancy 'Joan' Gifford moved into the house in Somerset, southwest England. When her family bought the property in 1921, they paid only 200 British pounds (about $250) — it is now on the market for 169,950 pounds (about $210,000), according to Somerset-based real estate agent Holland and Odam.
According to the Bank of England's inflation calculator, 200 pounds in 1921 would be worth about 7,800 pounds (or $9,600) today.
Born a few months after the end of World War I, Gifford has lived through many significant moments of history in the house in the village of Street — including the invention of the television, the Wall Street crash, and World War II.
Gifford met her husband Bert in the 1930s while walking between Street and nearby Glastonbury, and the couple has two children, one of whom still lives in the village.
"When I was a youngster, there were so many lovely families that lived along the road, and we all knew each other," John, Gifford's 79-year-old son, said.
"Back in the day, most children our age knew everybody, and we all had an open house, and it was fine to leave your door on the latch. We were all poor, but everyone was happy," he added.
When Gifford's home was originally built in 1882, it featured a communal well for those living on the road, according to the estate agent.
Besides a kitchen installation and bathroom extension, the house remains essentially the same since it was built "except for a lick of paint in the early 2,000s," Holland and Odam said.
After many decades spent in her home, the centenarian is now moving to a nursing home nearby.
"There aren't many who live to the great age of 104, let alone have lived in the same house for 102 years," Jack Bartram, the manager of Holland and Odam in Street, said.
"That house must hold so many lovely memories for Mrs. Gifford and her family, but now, after more than a century, it's time for another family to make some memories."