It really depends on your budget and how much you’d like to discover – each package travels a little deeper into the records.

The Highlights house history package includes several facts from records about the history of a house. This is presented in a beautifully-designed A3 wall print, alongside which you will receive a digital file including full references to the records used, images of the records themselves and further research suggestions. This package is a great entry into house history and makes a perfect housewarming gift.

A Highlights house history package is suitable for any historic house built pre-1920 (for houses built post-1920, please see the Highlights package for ‘modern’ houses), however, it doesn’t aim to provide a full or chronological house history. If you wish to fill in the gaps of any existing research or are looking for a chronological history, please choose a package which provides a deeper level of research.

The Classic house history package goes a little deeper, with ten hours of historical research in five key online sources. The research is presented as a narrative story of circa-1000 words on a beautifully-designed, A2-size wall print. Also included is an accompanying printed storybook including a copy of the story and outlining the research undertaken, and a digital file of images of the archival documents and material uncovered.

The 'Classic' house history package also works well for any property built before 1920. The focus may be more on the period post-1800 (for which, more records are available online).

The Comprehensive and Premium house history packages both include archival research alongside online research – which provides access to many more useful records for house history – particularly for older properties.

The Comprehensive house history package includes twenty-five hours of historical research, including online research and one day at local or national archives. The research is presented as a narrative story of circa-1000 words on a beautifully-designed, A2-size wall print. Also included is an accompanying printed storybook including a longer version of the wall print story, a timeline, a report of the research undertaken (with full source details and content), and a selection of images of the material found, plus a digital file of images of the archival documents and material uncovered.

The Premium house history package includes fifty hours of historical research, including online research and two to three days of research in local and national archives. The research is presented as a narrative story of circa-1000 words on a beautifully-designed, A2-size wall print. Also included is an accompanying printed storybook, including a longer version of the wall print story, a timeline, a report on the research undertaken (with full source details and content), and a selection of images of the material found, plus a digital file of images of the archival documents and material uncovered.

The Comprehensive and Premium house history packages are also for any historic property built before 1920. The combination of online and archival research provides the best chance of uncovering the fullest possible history of a property, as archives provide access to many records not available online, such as manorial records and deeds.

There is always the option to begin your house history journey with a lower-level package and upgrade later at the cost of the difference between the two packages.

In over 90% of cases, there are enough records for a House History package, and I provide a full refund in the case that there aren’t enough records.

But if you’d like to check there are enough records for your House History package before booking, you can book a House History Records Check for your property for £50.

This cost will then be either taken off the cost of your package upon booking, or refunded if the search is unsuccessful. You can book your Records Check here, and I’ll be in touch with the results within a week.

Once you’ve booked your package online, I’ll be in touch to gather more information.

Once complete, I’ll send your finished house history package, including your wall print, storybook (for the Classic, Comprehensive or Premium packages) and digital files.

All house history packages are available to book online (on each package page) via several payment options.

You can choose to pay in full up front or via monthly payments using a debit or credit card or Paypal (2 months for the Highlights package, 4 or 6 months for the Classic Online package or 4,6 or 12 months for the Comprehensive or Premium packages).

This allows you to receive your house history package when its ready and pay for it in a way that suits you.

If you choose a pay monthly option, your payments will be taken automatically each month from the card used to make the booking.

While not necessary to complete your commission, I love to visit the houses I research and if you’ve booked an ‘In the Archives’ package I may ask if I can pop in on my archive research trip (unless of course, it’s a surprise gift!).

The proportion of historical records now available online (some of which are on the big subscription sites, but many are elsewhere) is much higher than it used to be, making it possible to conduct some house history research online (for example, the Highlights and Classic house history packages are both solely online research packages).

However, many useful records for house histories are only available to view at local and national archives, meaning that research in physical archives remains vital in uncovering the full history of a house (archival research is included in both the Comprehensive and Premium house history packages) - which isn’t to say that online research isn’t worth it; it can provide lots of very useful information and interesting stories, but there will always be lots more to discover in the archives.

The main focus of my work is the social history of a house; however, I hold a postgraduate degree in Historic Building Conservation, so I do have knowledge (and lots of interest!) in the architecture and design of historic buildings, and will bring it into my research where possible.

I will ask you to share anything you know about the house and it’s history and development before I begin your commission – as any information you have could be very useful in my research and in building a fuller picture of the house’s history.

I offer a ‘Local History Highlights’ package for houses built post-1920. Please find out more here.

However, if your post-1920s house is significant in terms of architecture, its usage or the people who lived there, I may be able to research the house itself in local archives, which would require a Comprehensive House History package.