Glen Hill doesn’t have to pay an expensive health club membership fee to keep his waistline in check.

He just walks outside, climbs some scaffolding and starts painting his Liberty Road historic home, Montpelier.

And when he finishes that home, he’ll move to another and start from scratch.

&uot;I’ll get another,&uot; Hill said. &uot;So I won’t get fat.&uot;

Hill came to Natchez from east Texas about 14 years ago because of the town’s old homes and antiques business.

&uot;That’s why I moved here, I wanted an old house,&uot; Hill said. &uot;Old in Texas in 1920s.&uot;

Five years ago Hill moved to Montpelier from downtown Natchez. The house, on the National Register for Historic Places, dates to 1844 and was never a bed and breakfast contrary to the sign at the foot of the driveway.

Hill said a previous owner once planned to make the home a B&B, but sold the house before doing so.

A diary kept by one of the homes’ original owners has given Hill some history on Montpelier. The home burned on July 4, 1857, but Hill does not know to what extent. It still has the original slate roof, though.

Those slates were one of the reasons Hill started the restoration project himself. Because the slates are easily breakable, Hill said he didn’t really trust the job to anyone else.

Paint scraping has revealed that the house originally had gray siding, apple green shutters and an antique white trim, Hill said.

Hill started the outside paint job last March and hopes to finish before winter, but has slowed much of his work due to summer heat.

He has also replaced a modern garage that was behind the house when he purchased it with a brick patio and a dependency building.

Plans to add a circular driveway in front of the house have been put on hold pending the arrival of the electric company to relocate a light pole in the yard.

Hill said he has no timetable for completing the renovations, but will sell the house when he does.