On a picturesque village street of half-timbered medieval and Jacobean buildings in the Kentish Weald sits one that served hard time as a bed and breakfast before its timely rescue. The challenge for the new owners, already armed with a treasury of art and furniture amassed over the years, was to remove the heavy-handed additions of latter times and revive its unique historic spirit. A hefty task needing a sensitive touch.
So ensued a mammoth overhaul... structural and decorative. The forest of exposed beams and timber struts, defining features in themselves, were carefully stripped of mock Tudor black paint, to liberate their natural wood hue. While the kitchen and five tiny bathrooms were gutted and remodelled from scratch. Every inch of the house is refloored and repainted. Gone is the gloom and in its place a warm, beguiling home, sensitive to its origins and history, full of comfort and conserved for generations to come.
" We did wonder whether the toll
of recent years was too much to undertake initially. But the historic soul of the house felt like a call we could't ignore.
And we forged a deft team together with Cid designing and Jonathan building to help us navigate the usual restoration nonsense. It feels like a reawakening and a mission accomplished."
Ian and Sarah 2026
