IT’S always fascinating when TV features local items and this week was no exception.

Viewers who are into houses, renovation and DIY tuned into a new series of “Nick Knowles Original Features” on Tuesday to find a fascinating local home involved.

The programme helps families restore traditional features in their homes and looks at the history of the houses, unlocking a few secrets along the way.

Episode two featured a house on the picturesque Prom at Leigh Road, Howe Bridge, where a young IT worker tackled the renovation of his mid-terrace ex-miner’s cottage.

As the DIY novice attempted to transform the drab décor of his home, Nick helped out with some great design ideas and encouraged him to restore and reinstate all the original features.

But the real story here was the area's past dependence on coal, and the intriguing connection between the house's history and the budding DIYer's own ancestry that made this project truly personal.

I’ve always be intrigued by those neat, little houses and it was nice to be given that long wanted glimpse inside.