ESSEX – A lot had changed since the TV crews arrived at the cottage on the hillside above rural Apple Street last spring.

By early December, the brushy, overgrown lot had been partly cleared to open up the view; a modest lawn sodded; new stone paths laid. An ugly dormer addition is gone, replaced by a more logical roofline. There’s still a lot to do, inside and out, but it was clear that PBS’s “This Old House” was working its magic once again.