This property is a delight. It's bigger than it looks in the photo, having 3 floors instead of the normal two. The ground floor consists of a hallway and a living room/studio occuping the entire rest of the footprint. Upstairs are 3 bedrooms, and downstairs is a large dining room, beautiful hand-fitted kitchen with solid oak furniture, the latest ceramic hob and built-in oven, and hard-carved solid wood work surfaces, and a large bathroom and loo. 119 is in a small terrace of 5 houses, all well maintained and attractively coloured. This little island is lovely!

When I first saw it, I fell in love with the proportions and interesting layout. I had looked at dozens of Victorian terraced houses and I knew none of these were for me. I didn't like their narrowness, the central position of the stairwell in many cases, and the cramped feeling I got. Also a big factor for me was that many of them are on narrow streets where parking is a nightmare. The last thing I wanted after a long day's work and a lengthy journey was to have to troll up and down cramped streets looking for a parking space.

In contrast, my house is a sheer delight. My friends and I have parked 6 cars in front of the house and at the back without a problem. In Norwich this is a very unusual.

Look at that parking space!

The house is on several bus routes to the railway station and the centre of town. It's within 10 minutes or so walking distance to Thorpe Railway Station. This is a big bonus if you use the train a lot as it means you don't have to find a parking space near the station: leave the car at home and walk or bus to the train. Access from points north or south is very simple, you can take the bypass to either the Thorpe exit or the one that comes out at County Hall on Boundary Road. In either case you'll have a straight run to the house in a few minutes.

Being set back from the road allows you to have the joys of a pretty front garden, something a lot of Victorians don't allow. My sister and brothers laid the garden out for low. The bush at the front of the house is beautiful when in flower and the cotoneaster on the front wall is very pretty.

The front door is an antique door. The door is fitted with 2 separately keyed Chubb locks.

The hallway is heated with a large radiator, and indeed the entire house is well served by radiators. When I installed the heating system I made sure to oversize all the radiators on the principle that you can always turn heat down but you can never turn it past its maximum.

I love the entrance hallway and at one time had a suite of narrow bookshelves running down it which was very attractive .

The interesting stairwell goes down to the kitchen and dining areas. This stairwell always holds an element of intrigue for me: whenever I approach it I imagine what might be down there waiting for me. My beautiful girlfriend maybe (I hope so). A special selection of cheeses? Or a fine bottle of wine? Or friends around the dining table already playing music and yakking away: this house has been loved by me and my friends and you will on a quiet night maybe hear the distant strains of music played in the past.

At the top of the stairwell, a door on your right brings you to the living room area. The door to this room is the original pine door. The living room has been newly floored with quality tongue and groove and treated with clear varnish. The flooring is over joists that were either removed and replaced or treated for wood pests when I bought the house some 20 years ago.

The front half of the room is served by a working open fireplace which I always find a pleasure. The sash window removes easily to allow large furniture to be moved in. I will show you how to do this, it just takes a few minutes.

There is a satellite TV socket in the back half of the room connected to the outside satellite dish on the rear wall, and a socket to the roof antenna on the side wall. Every room in the house (except the kitchen and bathroom) is served by a TV connection to the roof antenna. There is a phone socket in the front room and again, every room is connected to the phone line. The back half of the living area is served by a wood/solid fuel burning stove which I use when I don't want to heat the entire house.

From the hallway, go down the stairwell, noting the handrail with brass fittings. The ceiling above this stairwell is finely timbered and set with downlighting.

At the foot of the stairwell you will see the original back door (before the kitchen area was added about 20 years ago I think), through which is the kitchen. Note the Spanish tiles. The kitchen furniture is made from solid oak cupboard doors and drawer fronts, not laminate.

The worktop is hand made with a complex curve to add visual interest, and is hand finished with Danish oil..

The kitchen is newly tiled. Note the window is secondary double glazed as is the entire house.

The fitted oven is state of the art. The hob is the latest ceramic style, covered by a vent hood. The fitted fridge is a high efficiency model, hidden behind a matching solid oak door.

I hand carved the oak window sill and dressed it in a hard wearing clear varnish.

The draining board is also hand carved and finished with Danish oil and then clear varnish. Note the rebate at the junction with the sink, which ensures a clear run for water from the board into the sink. I have tried to add details to my house as I lived in it that add visual interest as well as serving a practical purpose.

In the photos the kitchen looks small, but it's a bit like a Tardis: bigger than it looks. There is plenty of storage space and it's all close to hand so working in the kitchen is easy and convenient. My brothers and I are keen chefs and have frequently cooked for 8 people in this kitchen. The floor is Spanish tile, hard wearing and easy to clean.

I use a lot of electrical apparatus so the kitchen had to be well served by sockets and you will find more than enough for your use (as you will through the entire house). The hob is wired separately on its own high amperage circuit, controlled by an isolating switch under the countertop complex curve. The vent is fused separately up by the vent top and is switched from the socket/switch combination to the left. The oven and fridge are socketed behind the fridge.

The kitchen is well lit from the window and from a 4-element ceiling light.

Through the kitchen is the bathroom and toilet area. Note again the Spanish tile. The bath is about 2 years old as is the sink. The shower is fed by an on-demand electrical heater switched by the pull switch on the bathroom ceiling. This was installed prior to the installation of the whole-house on-demand water heating system. The bathroom is well served by a radiator, and an extractor fan. Windows are PVC double glazed. Through the kitchen is the toilet cubicle. There are connections for a washing machine. This makes the entrance to the loo a little cramped but I soon got used to it. I put the dryer on top of the washing machine. The cubicle is served by its own radiator.

Coming back through the kitchen to the left is the dining room. The flooring of this room is the original pine floor. There is a storage cupboard behind louvre doors and an original pine door to storage space beneath the stairs. This contains the modern electrical control panel, which serves the whole house. All electrical work is modern, every trace of old wiring was removed some time ago. The understairs storage space looks a bit rustic but it works and it's dry.

The dining room hosts the on-demand water heater and central heating system. This is new and fully guaranteed. Control is from a room thermostat located above the stair storage area.

Rising up the stairs and turning left into the living area, continue to the foot of the stairwell leading to the bedrooms.

The main bedroom is to the left as you reach the top of the stairs.

The larger front bedroom has an open fireplace which can be blocked off if desired. A louvre door hides a useful cupboard. There is a hatchway into the roof area which is dry and clear of defects.

The third bedroom is a small room.

The backgarden is a delight. I have many a dinner party out there with my friends. The shed is quite new and in very good condition. Back gates allow entrance to the parking area inside my garden. Otherwise there are 2 private parking spaces outside the gates.

Being solidly built it is quiet and you're never bothered by the neighbour. This is in stark contrast to the average Victorian terrace where noise can be a problem.