{"id":97266,"date":"2025-08-27T21:55:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T21:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/97266\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T21:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T21:55:12","slug":"i-tried-to-sell-my-victorian-mansion-for-1-but-no-one-wanted-it-now-i-move-out-every-weekend-to-rent-it-to-strangers-just-to-cover-the-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/97266\/","title":{"rendered":"I tried to sell my Victorian mansion for \u00a31 but no one wanted it – now I move out every weekend to rent it to strangers just to cover the cost"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Charlotte Hughes bought her dream home 20 years ago she imagined bringing up her children and growing old there.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

She didn’t imagine sharing her bed with 20 strangers each weekend while she packed up and moved to a tiny cottage down the road.<\/p>\n

But that’s exactly what the mother-of-two does.<\/p>\n

Every Friday, the former interior designer, 53, packs up her wardrobe in to a suitcase, and with her husband\u00a0Darren, 58, and her two sons Hugo, 22 and Jasper, 19, she trots down the road to an Airbnb<\/a> where they spend their weekend before returning on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

The family home in Holmfirth, Huddersfield is a four-storey Grade II* listed Victorian mansion which Charlotte and her husband, the founder of dance and festival brand Cream, bought in 2003.<\/p>\n

And as well as being a family home, it’s now an events venue which Charlotte rents out to large hen parties for luxury weekend getaways.<\/p>\n

During the week, Charlotte and her husband rattle through the 26-room house but during the weekend it’s transformed into a hotel where bridal parties can enjoy painting, yoga, hot tubs and even a DJ.<\/p>\n

And while the business is booming with the house booked every weekend until March 2026, this wasn’t always Charlotte’s dream.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Every <\/p>\n

Every Friday, Charlotte Hughes, 53, packs up her wardrobe into a suitcase and moves down the road to an Airbnb with her family where they spend the weekend\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"While <\/p>\n

While they’re away their Grade II* listed family home in Holmfirth, Huddersfield is rented out to hen parties who book in for a luxurious weekend of craft evenings, pizza parties and yoga<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The family relocated from Islington, North London to Huddersfield to raise their children and fell in love with the six-bedroom mansion, built in 1866, buying it for \u00a3575,000\u00a0<\/p>\n

The family decided to relocate from Islington, North\u00a0London<\/a>, to Huddersfield to raise their children and fell in love with the six-bedroom mansion, built in 1866, buying it for \u00a3575,000 after selling their Georgian townhouse in the capital for\u00a0\u00a3795,000.<\/p>\n

And while the property seemed like a bargain at the time, over the years it’s proved expensive to maintain and after the family fell on hard times Charlotte turned to drastic measures to keep the lights on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Initially Charlotte put their home on the market but being near a main road, in a poor school catchment and with a small garden, they were not inundated with offers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And Charlotte explained she had become so attached to the property she couldn’t even contemplate selling it to a developer who wanted to subdivide it’s spacious rooms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The businesswoman explained: ‘We’ve had this house for 22 years and it’s huge but it’s\u00a0not in a great catchment area and it was just too big, people wanted to divide it up and we didn’t want to sell it to someone who would just carve it up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a desperate bid to divest themselves of a house which was quickly becoming a financial headache, the couple decided to offer their home in a raffle after Charlotte saw an advert on Facebook.<\/p>\n

But she confessed even then, with a price tag of just \u00a31 she couldn’t give their beloved house away.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The couple then turned to Airbnb in 2015, offering a single room for just \u00a350 per night and found they were quickly booked up and over Christmas the following year earned \u00a33,000 in just five days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"But <\/p>\n

But the house became a financial burden and in a bid to divest themselves of it, the couple decided to offer their home for \u00a31 in a raffle without success<\/p>\n

\"After <\/p>\n

After failing to sell their 26-room Victorian mansion, Charlotte started up Scarlet Hen to offer luxury hen parties and now makes \u00a34,000 per weekend\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Now <\/p>\n

Now Scarlet Hen is a family business with Charlotte’s sons Hugo, 22 and Jasper, 19, helping out their parents when they come home for the holidays<\/p>\n

\"As <\/p>\n

As part of the experience, Charlotte offers a pizza pyjama party with karaoke on Friday, a private chef, yoga and craft night on Saturday before seeing the guests off on Sunday morning at 10am<\/p>\n

After that Charlotte and Darren realised they could turn their home into a business and five years later during the first Covid lockdown they seized the opportunity to do some much-needed renovations\u00a0and Scarlet Hen was launched.<\/p>\n

Now, Charlotte say, it’s a full-time job and the family don’t have to worry about paying the bills.<\/p>\n

The entrepreneur explained that they make \u00a34,000 per weekend with just one hen party and generally charge \u00a3250 per person per night.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

As part of the luxury experience, Charlotte offers a pizza pyjama party with karaoke on Friday, a private chef, yoga and craft night on Saturday before seeing the guests off on Sunday morning at 10am.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other activities include life drawing, chocolate-making classes, bottomless brunches, laser tag and vineyard tours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And after all the fun Charlotte and Darren move back in, cleaning up after the guests, sorting out admin and getting ready for the next booking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the business owner emphasised that for her it doesn’t feel like a huge chore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She explained that she often returns to her home to find very little mess.<\/p>\n

\"After <\/p>\n

After all the fun Charlotte and Darren move back in on Sunday afternoon, cleaning up after the guests, sorting out admin and getting ready for the next booking<\/p>\n

\"Charlotte <\/p>\n

Charlotte described sharing her house – and her bed – with strangers each weekend as a joy and is over the moon her business is booming<\/p>\n

\"Charlotte <\/p>\n

Charlotte explained the family even prefer their strange living situation and described moving out each weekend like having a weekly mini breaks<\/p>\n

‘They often leave it spotless and I’ll look in the bin and there’ll only be one or two bottles of Prosecco,’ the Scarlet Hen owner explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And that’s the reason Charlotte only accepts hen parties, having had some unpleasant experiences with stag-dos at the start.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘In the early day we did have stags but they weren’t great. With hens they have bigger budgets and they’re just better to have in the house.’<\/p>\n

She also described getting in trouble with neighbours after a particularly rowdy party tried to hire their own DJ and damage caused to their immaculately presented mansion.<\/p>\n

‘Sometimes [stags] have wrecked the house and damaged the wallpaper,’ which is why Charlotte now has strict rules including no beer pong, no DJs or live bands and a 10pm outdoor curfew.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the business is doing so well Charlotte has a whole team to get the gorgeous mansion back in to shape.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With two cleaners along with herself, Darren and her two sons, a gardener and a window cleaner, the house is ready for its next booking in just a couple of days.<\/p>\n

And the former designer explained she loves sharing her home.<\/p>\n

\"Charlotte <\/p>\n

Charlotte also revealed that they have locks on their personal wardrobes to stop guests snooping and extra storage space in the basement for all their personal items<\/p>\n

Charlotte said: ‘I’ve become quite detached now and we have to make it work but I do feel it’s a joy to share the house.’<\/p>\n

And she doesn’t mind the idea of people sleeping in her bed.<\/p>\n

She explained the family even prefer it and described moving out each weekend like having a weekly mini breaks.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘We almost prefer it,’ Charlotte said, ‘We rent out a couple of little cottages and when we get there there’s a bottle of Prosecco and everything is there.<\/p>\n

‘We pack up on Thursday, check in guests in Friday.<\/p>\n

‘When we move out now it’s just part of the routine. And my husband has OCD and is very efficient but we have a capsule wardrobe to make things easier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘And it’s flexible – I can work when I want and on my own time.’<\/p>\n

Charlotte also revealed that they have locks on their personal wardrobes to stop guests snooping and extra storage space in the basement for all their personal items.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And now Scarlet Hen is a family business with Hugo and Jasper, who are both studying events management at Manchester Metropolitan University, helping out their parents when they come home for the holidays.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the house is till their home and the Hughes family make sure to take off at least two months around Christmas.<\/p>\n

In the future, Charlotte confessed they may buy a cottage locally and move out of their mansion but for now they’re happy to live the best of both worlds.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Charlotte Hughes bought her dream home 20 years ago she imagined bringing up her children and growing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[24277,97,59,50,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-97266","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-airbnb","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-gb","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-technology","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}