BBC DIY SOS: Widow 'amazed' as unfinished home is rebuilt

A woman whose family home was left uninhabitable when her husband died from an aggressive form of cancer said she was "happy and amazed" after it was transformed by the BBC's DIY SOS team.

Lindsey McAuley's husband Shaun died two months ago with work on the property in Kettering, Northamptonshire, left unfinished.

Volunteer builders and trades people joined forces to transform the home.

Mrs McAuley said it was "really beautiful".

The DIY SOS team took a week to renovate the house, which had been left "unliveable" without a kitchen or bathroom.

Mrs McAuley, who is a midwife, married ex-Royal Engineer Shaun on 12 December 2019.

The couple had two children of their own, as well as two daughters from Mrs McAuley's previous marriage.

They had planned to have an extension built on the house in Pine Road before installing the kitchen and bathroom themselves.

Work had started in May last year, but Mr McAuley fell ill in mid-September.

Initially he had an operation on his kidneys and bowel, but was then struck down by an aggressive cancer and died in November.

Mrs McAuley said: "I'm feeling really happy and amazed at what all these people have come to do.

"It's an absolutely beautiful house. Shaun would be absolutely blown away by how beautiful it is. He would have loved it.

"It's open, airy, comfortable and cosy."

Members of the Royal Engineers, Shaun's old regiment, also helped out on the project.

One of them, John, told BBC Radio Northampton: "This is definitely somewhere that has a good community.

"It's been really lovely to see the community come out and support people."

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