Tracing the history of your house with Dr Nick Barratt

A conversation-starting history can add thousands onto the value of your house, but digging it up is a laborious and costly process. Dr Nick Barratt, resident historian of BBC TV's House Detectives, can show you how to uncover not just the secret history of your home, but of its location, previous occupants and the surrounding communities.

On this entertaining and highly informative full-day course, you'll learn how to find and access numerous sources of historical information, that offer a wealth of insight into when and how your home was built, how the local area has grown and developed, and special architectural features that may affect the carrying out of repairs and alterations.

The price of the course also includes additional research assistance from Dr Nick's own House Detectives Research Agency. With a full property dossier by the agency costing up to £2,000, this event represents outstanding value for money.

This course is for you if...

• You're interested in the history of your house, and how it fits into the history of your area, but have no previous research experience
• You're planning to sell your house and want to maximise its value (or just have interesting stories to tell potential buyers)
• You're planning alterations to an older property and want to learn about any special structural or architectural features or materials your property may have
• You're a fan of House Detectives and want to know more about how they work

Course description

The course will enable you to start researching the history of your house, focusing on when it was built, who owned it and how to identify previous occupiers. It combines theoretical tutelage with practical exercises, illustrated with real case studies from TV shows including the BBC series House Detectives. Topics covered on the day include:

• Getting started – and realistic expectations
• Maps, plans and land surveys
• Owners and builders
• Occupiers: how to find out who lived in your house, and when
• The house and the local area

Attendees will also be given access to limited advice after the session via Sticks Research Agency and its associated House Detectives brand.

Tutor profile

Dr Nick Barratt is a leading broadcaster, author and medieval historian, best known for his work on BBC TV's Who Do You Think You Are?, as well as appearing on programmes such as House Detectives, Hidden House Histories, Secrets from the Attic, Live the Dream: As Seen On Screen and Missing Millions. His published works include Tracing the History of Your House, Lost Voices from the Titanic and Greater London: The Story of the Suburbs. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, President of the Federation of Family History Societies and a Trustee of the Society of Genealogists. He is an international lecturer, regularly giving presentations on a wide range of historical topics.