ennhandly's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
3.5
notesonbookmarks's review against another edition
4.0
This was fun! I was delighted to travel through a funny book.
bookchic71's review against another edition
4.0
Uproot your entire life to take on the restoration of a long forgotten family castle in England? Sure, why not?! That's exactly what Hopwood Depree did in this interesting auto-biographical account of the joys and challenges of connecting with family history. The ending felt rushed with little speculation of what's yet to come for Hopwood Hall. I'm left wondering what the plan is once it's completed. What will the Hall become to support itself and the surrounding community?
nnjack7's review
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
4.0
If you’re looking for a book that has a really cool genealogical story, this would be a great pick.
If you would love to learn how money gets fundraised to restore a British castle, this would be a great pick.
If you want to learn what it actually takes to tackle the renovation of bringing a 600 year old castle to today’s livable standards, you won’t get that here.
It’s abundantly clear that the author’s background is in Hollywood film producing: that’s exactly what he did for this castle. But it’s a bit deceiving calling this an “ultimate DIY” when he did extremely little of the labor himself. Overall, I enjoyed it well enough because I’m a huge sucker for ancestry stories that go centuries back; and I totally felt transported to Northern England and all their wonderful culture and nuances that separate them from the rest of the UK.
If you would love to learn how money gets fundraised to restore a British castle, this would be a great pick.
If you want to learn what it actually takes to tackle the renovation of bringing a 600 year old castle to today’s livable standards, you won’t get that here.
It’s abundantly clear that the author’s background is in Hollywood film producing: that’s exactly what he did for this castle. But it’s a bit deceiving calling this an “ultimate DIY” when he did extremely little of the labor himself. Overall, I enjoyed it well enough because I’m a huge sucker for ancestry stories that go centuries back; and I totally felt transported to Northern England and all their wonderful culture and nuances that separate them from the rest of the UK.
nferre's review against another edition
3.0
Light on the restoration and heavy on the cultural differences, this was a quick, enjoyable book - however, I would have to say, not memorable. I felt like DePree pretended to not know what a jumper was, or that the 1st floor in England is our 2nd floor in the States. Really? He had just travelled through Europe and that's fairly common all over Europe. Being from Hollywood maybe he had never seen a British movie? It felt like he put it in there for laughs from folks equally ignorant of British idiosyncracies. Having said that, some of the characters were terrific - specifically the caretaker and the undertaker - both gems.