Well I’m back to a 50mph wind off the sea and a flat full of damp chalk dust (coastal erosion is real folks and it’s collecting on my ornaments). To take the sting out of leaving Corfu I was immediately Googling rustic ruins to buy. The beautiful old olive presses and cottages of Corfu has been thoroughly developed, but hidden in the olive terraces are a few little buildings like this one. And no, hands off, it’s bagsied.

Back home however another charming, unrenovated property caught my eye. This tin tabernacle in Hackney is going to sale at auction. Guide price a modest 2 million. The church is Grade II Listed but that doesn’t seem to bother today’s generation of developers, so if you have some spare cash and a passion for the ecclesiastical – or tin – then bids have to be in before 8 June.

Image from LovingDalston

We have covered the glory of the tin tabernacle on the blog before. There was one in my village where school discos used to happen, gone to the great junk yard in the sky now. And Scotland is still full of them. But this city-centre cutie is a real one off, and surely so much more charming than literally anything that could be built in it’s place? Find out more about it here.