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Old farm eases back to life
Couple restores old farm in southern Stafford County
Date published: 7/31/2007
EVERY TIME I drove past the "For Sale" sign in front of the old farmhouse, I hoped some family would move in and renovate it.
I hoped someone would save the beautiful old trees and flowers on the property instead of bulldozing the land and building a small neighborhood. All my friends felt the same way.
The house on Colebrook Road in southern Stafford County looked forlorn and lonely, with its very own garbage dump piled behind the back porch.
Then one day I drove by and the "For Sale" sign was gone. A fence had been constructed and the garbage had started to disappear.
The next time I drove by, there were chickens, goats and a miniature horse in the enclosure and the house was starting to look loved. The overgrowth had been removed to reveal beautiful flower beds.
A sign proclaimed that the property was called Cricket Knoll Farm.
I had to know who had done this miraculous transformation. My editor gave me the green light, and I stuck a note in the mailbox asking the owners to call me.
Apparently, I was not the first.
Jim and Rose Munroe said they have had more than 30 strangers knock on their door since they moved in last October. Like me, the visitors have all been enthusiastic about the couple's hard work and improvement of the property.
They've had people leave cookies, fertilizer and other gifts. Some people have even offered to help with the animals.
The Munroes have done all the work on the house, outbuilding and gardens themselves. It's their passion--this is the second rehab they have completed.
The first was a cabin they renovated in North Carolina, where they lived previously.
Rose, 43, a native of the Philippines, has had her own tool belt since she was 9 years old. She learned how to use tools from her father, who is a carpenter.
While Jim, a 39-year-old lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps, was deployed to Iraq, Rose and her father built a horse barn and put gutters on the house in North Carolina.
Read more stories about Stafford
Date published: 7/31/2007
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