The door is original to the 1869 house. It was complete with its rim lock, which opened from the outside by turning the knob. The original knob was iron, this had lost its fittings. It was odd how hard it was to find replacement parts in the UK. All that could be found were static, pull knobs.
One quick trip to Quincaillerie Belot an ironmongers in the old town in Lille, Northern France. I showed him the old one and he went and pulled a brand new brass turning front door knob with the mechanism to fit to my rim lock from out of his stock.
He’s now sourcing a period bell pull from Paris to match the original one. It was really fantastic, after trawling through quite a number of specialist ironmongery shops in London over several months. I’ve finally found a shop where the proprietor is interested in the eccentricities of his customers. Has lots shelves of samples and catalogues going back years, which he went through to find what I needed.
The brass sign was ordered online from Stockholm. It covers a letterbox opening that had been hacked through the door in recent years. I had the letterbox removed and the opening block filled. However, the door will always show an outline of the letterbox, the perfect solution, to place a name plate on the door.
The Old Vicarage B&B, Little Ouse 
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