Small house,big ideas

Architect Sophie and civil engineer Sarah certainly brought their work home with them when they took on the tricky extension of their own Victorian end-of-terrace. Making use of every centimetre of space possible, they designed side and rear extensions which...

Performance Power

Eastbourne College and Bede’s School discuss opportunities which give their students time to shine Director of Music at Eastbourne College, Dan Jordan, sings the praises of music at the school. It is 6.30pm, the night before a well-needed half-term holiday....

Reaching out

Kat Portman-Smith, Tonbridge School’s Director of Community Engagement, takes a look at some of the initiatives and partnerships that form part of their students’ all-round education At Tonbridge we ensure our students are connected to the wider world: an important...

A Place in the Country

A true labour of love, Ian and Penny Ledger have tirelessly renovated their idyllic farmstead in Mayfield to be able share a slice of their beautiful, rural seclusion with groups who hire their multi-award winning retreat venue Tucked away in...

A house, transformed

Following her appearance on Season 4 of Interior Design Masters, Charlotte Fisher’s interior design confidence has rocketed. Here, she guides us round her own home, a complete renovation project that she’s tackled over the past five years with her husband,...

’Tis the Season

Jen Stuart-Smith – co-founder of Blooming Green – gets real about truly seasonal flowers “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere,” people sometimes say, as an excuse to have a daytime tipple… The expression always pops into my mind when I see a...

Meet the Head: Parkside School, Nicole Janssen

We enjoyed finding out about Nicole Janssen, Head at Parkside School What or who inspired you to go into teaching?I had the most incredible piano teacher growing up who was so outside the box that she challenged my thinking from...

Fair stands the wind

A history lover’s dream, Abbots Cliff House in Capel Le Ferne, near Folkestone, is full of stories waiting to be discovered by guests who book a stay at this very special clifftop house Iconic landmarks don’t come up for sale...

Paving the way

Jo Arnell discusses what you need to consider when embarking on a quest to create the ultimate hard landscaping in your garden Lawns are lovely to walk and sit on in the summer, but not so tempting when the weather...

Through the looking glass

A magical lodge nestles amid ancient woodland, creating a perfect haven – with minimal impact on the precious environment In the many years I’ve been writing about lovely houses for this magazine, there has been one constant: the outside is...

Style Council

Angie Bunyan has lavished a terraced cottage in the heart of Rye with her signature look that has cemented her success as an interior designer  Style can come in all shapes and sizes. To be a great designer it’s often...

Dates stuffed with goats cheese, pistachios & pomegranate seeds

Serves 4 approx as part of a canape selection  These decadent Medjool dates take moments to prepare, but are so delicious and look beautiful. The Medjool date is the king of dates in both taste and size, with a chewy...

Cut  Dried

Jo Arnell spreads the love of a new generation of preserved blooms Everlasting Flowers It’s been a while since dried flowers were in vogue – but after years in the interiors wilderness they have finally shaken off the dust, spruced...

Cool-on-sea

A Rye-based couple have succeeded in turning an aesthetically challenged 1980s bungalow into the coolest beach house The outside of this building is so unprepossessing, you’d hardly notice it, strolling along the sandy track that leads from the main road...

New Tricks

We explore the Canham family’s kitchen, a barn conversion transformation that mixes traditional touches with modern a twist to make a truly timeless space The Canham’s kitchen was once a cow shed and haybarn, but it’s now a bright, modern...

Finding the light

Alex Jørgensen guides us around his Edwardian townhouse, a renovation project that he’s managed to complete in just one year It was a Monday in November and despite some unseasonably good weather recently, the rain had settled in today. Nevertheless...

Take me to church

Jane Robinson has worked with the unusual fabric of a former church to create a comfortable and stylish family home   Church conversions can be tricky. The windows – although beautiful and large – are a peculiar shape and size,...

Symmetry & Balance

This Kentish kitchen beautifully balances warm and cool, industrial and elegant, modern and classic The owners of this new build property in Kent, already had plans and designs created with an alternative high-end kitchen manufacturer, when they stumbled across Poggenpohl’s...

Natural Identity

A unique family home – which also doubles up as an impressive holiday rental through Bloom Stays – caters for the needs of multiple generations in the idyllic Kent countryside  Over the past two years it has been the lack...

Past, Present, Perfect

The renovation of an early nineteenth century house was a labour of love for Caroline, Stephen and their family, who strove to keep the integrity of the building, whilst sensitively updating the interior for modern living  If you’ve found an...

Chef’s table – Daniel Lee – Executive Chef at Seasons

Meet Daniel Lee – Executive Chef at Seasons, a beautifully bright space in Windlesham, Surrey that champions local ingredients with modern and fresh menus What’s your favourite cuisine?Asian, French, Italian and Middle Eastern flavours are all firm favourites. But my...

A Whole New World

Loving local doesn’t mean you can’t explore a whole world of global flavours and cuisines Curry Favour Rameeza’s Repetoire Indian Cookery Workshops are held by local expert Rameeza in her purpose-built kitchen in West Byfleet, and are designed to empower...

Home Grown

These eateries prove local ingredients make for the finest dining The Rose Inn has been brought to life by Chef and Publican Billy Stock, who vowed to bring his passion for food and community to the village of Wickhambreaux, in...

Such a Perfect Day

Treat yourself to the perfect foodie’s day out For the Adventurer... From Afternoon Tea to Sunday Lunch, bespoke Heli-Dining experiences with Polar Helicopters are perfect for any occasion. Flying from Manston Airport to one of the company’s specially selected foodie...

Walk it off

Round off a tasty pub meal with a circular countryside walk Enjoying a big hearty meal in a country pub is one of the great joys of British summertime, but it can leave you sat feeling weighed down by all...

The G Plan Clan

A 20th century house in Rye has been made over with fabulous mid-century flair – groovy, baby In recent times, the ancient town of Rye has become something of a centre for home style, with lots of fabulous shops and...

Meet the Captain

Meet Ludo Kolade who balances sport, learning and a position as Captain of School at King’s School Canterbury What is your role as Captain of School? My role largely consists of coordinating my team of Purples (prefects) and acting as...

Forever Colour

Give your garden’s hues true staying-power by selecting blooms that will provide a vibrant display all summer Where have all the flowers gone? It seems like only last week that the borders were full of colour, and now they’ve faded...

Wild at Heart

Wedding florist, Becky Morris, celebrates the glories of the natural world in her village family house The morning drive through the springtime High Weald countryside, to this house in the village of Mayfield, is one of the most beautiful I’ve...

Super Tiling!

We ask three industry experts what trends to look out for in bathrooms  Time for Terracotta “Terracotta is a real trend, warm, organic, and full of character. But natural terracotta is rather absorbent, so not ideal for wet areas. Fortunately,...

Case Study: The Chocolate Factory

Because who wouldn’t want to live in a chocolate factory? This new development by Sunningdale House is a real treat Where is it located?  In Quarry Road, Tunbridge Wells within the exclusive TN1 postcode, on the old factory site of...

Kitchen Drama

Interior designer Ben Stokes’ family cottage, painted in deep, rich shades and accessorised with natural woods and sumptuous textiles, is a wonderful example of the bold transformation of a small space   There’s no introduction to this three storey cottage....

8 Ideas to Bring the Indoors Out

It’s a new age of garden rooms – filled with indoorsy luxuries but also seamlessly integrated into the outdoor world Lockdown left us all itching to get outside more, wishing our homes had a little more space, and desperately looking...

Meet the English Teacher: Dr Leo Mitchell

Introducing Dr Leo Mitchell, Head of Year 7 and English Teacher at Dulwich Prep Cranbrook What is your favourite school memory? My favourite memory is performing in Blood Brothers. I was cast as Eddie, the posh one. I was immensely...

Coastal Drama

Interior masters, Fred & Ginger, have taken on the renovation of an incredibly positioned seaside property, transforming it from tired care home to design spectacular Not all period properties pass gently from owner to owner, sympathetically updated and treated with...

Rooms with a View

Having decided to make Hastings their home, writer Sue Dawson and her architect husband Paul Gammon were struggling to find the right spot, until they chanced upon a tumbledown bungalow with huge potential The great charm of Hastings Old Town,...

A touch of Beverly Hills

An interior designer adds contemporary glamour to a Georgian family home It was the pool that did it. Out there on the pristine white non-slip flagstones, with the groovy all-weather sofa and armchairs, the dining area and the pool house,...

Blackberry & hazelnut mini baked Alaskas

Hints of autumn suffuse this version of the classic ice-cream cake. I’ve made 4 mini Alaskas here, but the recipe should adapt to one larger (which might stay solid in the middle for longer). This is not difficult to make,...

Home at Dormestone

Kim Partridge's vision for a Grade II listed farmhouse has seen its tranfsormation from a dark and gothic interior to an informal and relaxed space with a strong family vibe The dream of finding an idyllic rural retreat steeped in history and...

Haven Sent

Belinda Benton’s home is as elegantly calm and welcoming as the interiors she designs for others By the time you have wound your way along the almost impossibly beautiful country lane that leads to Belinda Benton’s house, you are already...

Show Time

EM Forster Theatre is at the heart of the Tonbridge community, and is delighted to be opening its doors once again It is great to be open again. There is nothing quite like live performance, and the excitement and buzz...

Meet the Music Teacher

Introducing Miss Sophie Brack, Director of Music at Lingfield College Have you always been musical? Since a young age I just knew I wanted to do something with music. My family are all musical, so it was always around me growing...

Life in Colour

Brimming with pattern, colour and panache, Charlotte Guercio’s Kentish oast house is an interior to remember Charlotte Guercio loves colour, she loves print and she most definitely loves interior design, which is lucky for the large Kentish oast house that...

Artful Restoration

Utilising the skills of a hand-picked team of talented local trades, Tim and Eve have realised their dream of a home to grow old in with the carefully considered renovation of a pair of cottages with huge potential Down a...

The House That Instagram Built

Kooky, unique and oh-so-memorable, Margate Suites’ collaboration between local artists, interior designers and tradespeople has resulted in a vibrant collection of holiday apartments which provide the perfect place from which to explore this seaside town, alive with creativity For some...

Case Study: Vintage Outlook

Urban & Grey talk us through a fabulous project installing vintage style windows into a Surrey home Claire McFadyen, owner of Louisa Grace Interiors, approached us with an exciting brief, a clear vision, and some design requirements, for the glazing...

Form & Function

A classic verandah is a stylish and worthwhile feature to add to a renovation, striking a pleasant first note for all those entering a property Porches were originally created hundreds of years ago to offer shelter when entering a property....

Agri Culture

The carefully thought out transformation of a derelict barn has resulted in a unique and sophisticated new home for a couple who were keen to preserve its agricultural history and heritage Driving past a derelict barn every day and dreaming...

The same, but different

With her eclectic vintage style Susan Chester put her own mark on a Victorian terrace house – while allowing it to keep its own character It never fails to amaze me, that while 26% of British houses are terraces –...

Island Escape

With a focus on sustainability and conservation, Georgina Fulton and her husband, Gareth, ensure that Elmley Nature Reserve and its working family farm preserves the natural habitat on the Isle Of Sheppey, sharing their portion of beautiful marsh landscape with...

Pretty in pink

Treasure hunter Cat Ridley knows what she likes – and if it’s pink, glittery, neon or gold, she’s in (preferably all of them) My first glimpse of the gloriously pink, glittery, neon, petal-strewn world of Cat Ridley was when I...

9-5 In Style

If you’ve made the decision to continue to work from home, why not invest in a beautiful outdoor space that will allow you to take control of your working life, maintain work/life balance and provide a gorgeous focal point in...

Meet the Head: Cranbrook School

The Cranbrook School student who grew up to be its headmaster, we get to know Mr Will Chuter Why did you choose to go into teaching?  I was late to teaching. After university, I worked in offices and found it dull. I missed...

The Haven

After buying buildings they had admired for years, a couple well-versed in renovating properties have created a uniquely peaceful and welcoming home they now open as a B&B sanctuary It’s hard to pinpoint what determines the atmosphere of a house....

House of Beulah

Using her own professional skills, Zoe Joannou has transformed a classic Tunbridge Wells villa into a glamorous space for modern living I started off interviewing interior designer Zoe Joannou about her own house – but I was soon asking questions...

Join the Club

We talk to schools about what goes on outside the classroom Mayfield School, East Sussex “Mayfield School has a tradition of developing academic excellence. Our curriculum encourages questioning, reflection, creativity and the freedom to learn from mistakes.  While maths and...

The House of Magical Objects

Maggie Alderson takes a step through the looking glass into this Hastings writer’s home Sally Gardner writes award-winning children’s books of extraordinary imagination – and has the house to match. Some houses are family homes, some are private havens, others...

Hillside Haven

Maggie Alderson explores the ultimate fantasy home – an architect-designed eco self-build, complete with indoor pool Making my way along the impressive tree-lined drive to this house, I feel like Kevin McCloud when he goes back to revisit the owners...

A House to Truly Love

After documenting the transformation of her Victorian villa on social media, Olya Lammas decided to trade in her career in fashion to follow her passion for interiors  “I wasn’t planning on buying a home like this!” says interior designer Olya...

Grow Your Own Sun

Jo Arnell injects some mood-lifting yellows into the winter garden  When most of the colour has withered back into the earth and the natural world is dark and dormant it can seem a bit bleak outside. We can admire the...

Return to Splendour

Alex Jørgensen has worked a design miracle on this Tunbridge Wells property, transforming it from fluorescent strip-lit office space to contemporary home In the heart of one of Britain’s most classic towns a great change is afoot. In a Tunbridge...

A Classical Approach

With their lifelong love of design and architecture, Toby and Megan Osborne have restored a down-at-heel guest house to its stately elegance After enjoying an early morning coffee in the picturesque country town of Cranbrook, I can wholeheartedly understand why...

Village Person

A six-month sabbatical in the countryside turned into a whole new life for Kate Monckton, in an old village house lovingly brought to its full potential There is a special kind of satisfaction in visiting a beautiful house, when you...

A Family Affair

Inspired by travels across the world, interior designer Alexis Wylie has delivered her signature warm, vibrant, lived-in style with a redesign of a much-loved family home, combining old and new furnishings whilst retaining the house – and family’s – vivid...

Longtooth Gimlet

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and pour in the Longtooth Gin, lime juice and simple syrup. Stir vigorously with a long cocktail spoon until very cold.Strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass, or strain over a rocks glass...

Quinoa Power Porridge

Melissa Hemsley is on a mission to prove that it’s possible for everyone to eat well on busy nights, using store-cupboard staples and speedy, fuss-free recipes that really deliver on taste. Before seeing Melissa on the Open House Live Stage,...

Heads Down

When it comes to successful exam revision, it’s all in the motivation, as Hilary Wilce explains. For some students, the new school year means retake exams looming ahead. For many others, there will be new tests and exams coming down...

A Changing Climate

Jennifer Stuart-Smith takes a look at how gardeners are having to adapt to extreme weather conditions. Whether you are a farmer, fisherman or gardener, there’s little point battling Mother Nature. She always has the upper hand. So, rather than railing...

Green and Pleasant

Childhood memories and favourite holiday haunts are the inspiration behind Karen and Rafe Easter’s charming family home. It’s difficult to believe just how much of England’s green and pleasant land lies a mere hour’s train journey from the capital, and...

Poetry please

We are thrilled to share the winners of our poetry competition, judged by award-winning children’s author Sally Gardner One word sums up our response to the entries to our first poetry competition: WOW! And not only because the pile of...

School of Rock

Violins and flutes are all very well, but a great way to engage a wider swathe of young people with music is to allow them to play the style they most identify with. [showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] Claremont...

A fine vintage

Claire and Henry Warde take us inside Squerryes, the splendid historic home of the award-winning Kent sparkling wine . All houses have a vibe – but not many have one you can bottle. Squerryes, however, is not only the splendid 17th...

Open House

Interior architect Susie Pfeiffer has breathed contemporary life into an old farm building, whilst celebrating its original features, in her incredible barn conversion. After many happy years in a barn they had converted into a family home, interior architect Susie...

Wander around the garden

Sue Whigham takes a stroll around her own garden to pick a few of her treasured plants. We walked through one of The Woodland Trust’s small parcels of woodland early this morning for the usual dog walk only to hear...

Make History

Part of the Leeds Castle estate, Battel Hall has been given a makeover by interior designer Francesca Rowan-Plowden in keeping with its 14th century origins – and its 1930s party heyday. Anyone with a penchant for the roaring Twenties is...

Light and Space

When a seaside house long-coveted by art director Clare Clarkson came onto the market, she jumped at the chance to rework its interior to create an open-plan home, perfect for her large extended family. [showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"]...

Holidays in Sussex

Welcome to one of northern Europe’s best surviving Medieval landscapes. The south east of England is a pleasant land of plenty; green and luscious, criss-crossed with sunken droveways and cut through by the steep-sided little streams known in this part...

Material World

Mix a touch of medieval with a helping of Georgian – and throw in some thoroughly modern touches. The result? A unique family home perfect for 21st century living. Tucked away in a pretty Kentish village, The Den has been...

Elegant imperfection

A textile conservator and an antique dealer combined to create a home where patina is prized. There is cold – as in chilly – and then there is cool. The Tunbridge Wells home of textile conservator Charlotte Casadéjus is definitely...

Sport outside the box

Not all kids love the classic team and gender-assigned games, so forward-thinking schools are introducing different activities to inspire a lifelong love of exercise. [showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] Dulwich Prep Cranbrook recognises that team sport is not for...

Stairway to heaven

A gloomy 1930s chapel has been brilliantly converted into a light-drenched modern townhouse. Back in 2011, when Ian and Lisa decided to make the move from Tunbridge Wells to Hastings, they had an offer accepted on an old pub which...

Smoked salmon and cucumber bites

Peel, then slice the cucumber into about 20 rings - 1cm thick. Place about ½ teaspoon of the cream cheese on each cucumber slice. Then take each slice of smoked salmon and cut them into strips, (with 200g of salmon...

Bone broth

Makes approximately 1 litre* Use bones left over from a Sunday roast, or ask the butcher for some. If using a chicken carcass, make up the weight with added chicken wings. If you are using raw bones, roast them first...

Anatomy of a kitchen

Jones Britain The vision In a large space, in the middle of a converted barn, the homeowners were looking for a contemporary but traditionally inspired kitchen, with up-to-date functionality.  A working kitchen with a mass of storage, which is a...

The new kitchen mood

Whether you prefer a country feel, or a more contemporary vibe, there is a fresh new mood in kitchen design, packed with great practical ideas. Trends in kitchens move much more slowly than in other areas of the house. Not...

Recipe for your perfect kitchen

Putting in a new kitchen is very exciting – but with so many choices to make, it can be daunting. So we’ve asked expert kitchen designers for practical advice on how to ensure you make the very most of your...

Bold and beautiful

With a background in set designing, event styling and painter-decorating, Annemarie St Vincent Farr has transformed a Victorian terrace into something extraordinary [showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] Annemarie St Vincent Farr likes to make things. Whether it’s from her...

In full bloom

Jennifer Stuart-Smith of Blooming Green shares her expert knowledge on how to start your own cutting garden and fill your house with flowers Nothing gives a house a lift like vases of fresh flowers – there’s a reason interiors stylists...

Home on the farm

It’s often said, by the owners of very grand houses, that they are not so much the owners of a property but more its custodians. For those of us of a romantic nature, the same could be said for any...

How does your garden show?

The Chelsea Flower show is the floral equivalent of the Paris catwalk says Jo Arnell Often bizarre, occasionally radical, always brilliant, the Chelsea Flower Show is the most prestigious and talked about event in the gardening year. It is the...

Picture perfect

One of the wonderful things about East Sussex is that as soon as you think you know the place, you will quickly realise that you don’t know it at all. Nestled at the bottom of that lane, the one you drive...

The mother of reinvention

Sassy Luke cites her two big interior loves as “the ridiculous and the sublime”. That’s her approach to the wonderfully idiosyncratic paintings, etchings, icons, greetings cards and cushions she makes. But it’s also true of her home. The Georgian flat...

A Passage from India

A bona fide legend of British interior design, Sasha Waddell has embarked on a charitable project designing beautiful textiles which will benefit impoverished children in Delhi – and are used to glorious effect throughout her own home. As soon as...

The House of Many Words

As Hastings launches its very first literary festival, we visit the extraordinary home of a theatrical collective where the house itself is an inspiration and performance space. Some of the most celebrated houses in the world have become such, not just...

God’s acre

Every house has a story – but it’s very rare to find one that feels like a story in itself. With this dwelling, in the south east corner of Kent, even before you turn into the gravel drive that slopes...

House of scarves

Textile designer and pattern maker, Melanie Laslett, has transformed a 19th century fisherman’s cottage in Hastings into a light and airy home peppered with mid-century modern finds. It was William Morris, who said “Have nothing in your house that you...

Good Garden Bugs

Early summer is the time for maximum growth in the garden. The new stems and leaves on our plants, plumped out by rain, fertilisers and human kindness are luscious – and irresistibly delicious to some of our garden visitors. Pesky...

Taking the lead: Longacre School

In Taking the Lead, we talk to school head teachers and heads of department. Matthew Bryan, Headmaster at Longacre School, tells us about his work and his own school days Favourite subject at school I always loved Latin and Greek, and...

Park Life

A stunning Georgian townhouse, next to a royal palace, combines modern flair with sublime elegance. It is hard to beat the elegance of a large Georgian house. We love them because they tap into something deep within us; a naturally...

The rebirth of cool

Houses by the seaside always have a special atmosphere. It might be the marine light and big skies, or perhaps it’s the sense of finality to the view, knowing that nothing will ever replace the seascape that ebbs and flows...

Pots of love

Jo Arnell shows how easy – and enjoyable – it is to make a Mother’s Day treat for mum yourself. The garden centres are packed full of springtime loveliness, much of it already made up into generic containers in readiness...

Easy Easter Bake Recipes

Grab your pinny and forget the calories, it's time to get baking. Here are some of our favourite Easter bakes. From super-cute flock cakes to Rosemary Schrager's simnel battenburg, we've got your Easter treat recipes covered. Flock cakes Who could resist...

Simple Soup Recipes

Look no further for some healthy and hearty soup recipes to pep up your autumn kitchen repertoire. It's easy to keep falling back on all your old favourites but if you fancy a change we've got just the thing. These...

Savoir-flair

After years of living abroad, Mike and Caroline decided to move back to England. It was to be a permanent move, but they still travel extensively and so needed to find a place that would be easy to extricate themselves...

New Year’s Resolutions

Do you have a beauty regime? Mornings I wake myself up with a ‘chemical-free’ shower followed by a light cream for my sensitive skin. We’ve created a gentle Calendula Cream so I’m tending towards using that everywhere. I prefer the natural...

Classic Pizza Dough & Tomato Sauce

For The Classic Pizza Dough Pour the water into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, then add the flour on top of the water and add the yeast and salt in separate piles. Mix for...

Creatives’ Rye Home

Backing straight onto the River Rother with uninterrupted views across the salt marshes, the unique collection of buildings that creative director and film-maker John Carver and branding and personal curator Anna Carloss call home are testament to the couple’s creative...

Slide into September

Do you have a beauty regime? I absolutely do and it starts on the inside with nutrition and hydration.  I consider that paying attention to what I consume is a part of taking care of my physical appearance. When your insides...

A Way With Words

Poetry, particularly in the form of nursery rhymes, is crucial to children’s language development. As a relatively new mum, I have found myself in the throes of learning to recite once more: suddenly I know a whole litany of poems...

Stylish Seaside Home

Karen Hahnel’s apartment is a stunning example of how to successfully employ proportion and scale. She has cleverly combined design classics with online finds to create an enviably stylish seaside home.[showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] From the moment you...

Twin Peaks

In some families, things seem to go in twos. When Susie McLean told her older sister that the flat directly underneath her weekender on the West St Leonards sea front had come up for sale, Caroline Egan jumped at the...

The Home of ‘Posh’ Storage

Fuelled by a shared passion for block printing, Trudi Savin and her friend Sophie Morton created Yateley Papers. Trudi’s own home in Surrey is a showcase for their ever evolving range of beautiful storage solutions and accessories.[showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ...

Simnel Battenburg Cake

Cream the butter and sugar until very pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs, vanilla paste and flour until you have a smooth batter. Divide the batter exactly in half, and put into two bowls. In one bowl add...

Wreck Of The Week Remarkable Refurb

Originally built to house the poor in the nineteenth century, Cheyneys Almshouse is now home to Fortnum & Mason in-house milliner Adrian Howard and his partner Sven. After stumbling across it in The Guardian’s ‘Wreck of the Week’ feature and...

Spring has Sprung

I went to a talk about Sissinghurst Castle Garden a few evenings ago and we were reminded that Vita Sackville-West would have little pots and posies of flowers on her desk to inspire her as she wrote about them. I’ve had a...

Home of Victorian Curiosities

The fabulously curated Winkenhurst Manor, near Heathfield in Sussex has one marvellously curious room, leading into another. The owners, who work together in the antiques and interior design business, have made an art form out of creating unique displays of collectables...

A Spacious Villa

Kent houses can be deceptive. Many of those that appear to be classical Georgian and Regency structures like the ones that line the high streets of towns like Tenterden and Cranbrook are actually, upon closer inspection, much older than those...

Monochrome Kitchens and Bathrooms

Interiors stylist and journalist Hilary Robertson explores elegant kitchens and bathrooms decorated in a monochrome palette... [showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"]I have an embarrassingly voracious eye; I want it all. I love colour. I love texture. I love combining...

Vintage Style Ideas

Emily Chalmers and Ali Hanan explore kitchens and bathrooms with a contemporary spin on vintage style in an extract from their book, Modern Vintage Style... The modern vintage cook-eat space is the beating heart of the home. It juxtaposes the...

Farmhouse with African Heartbeat

Through her inventive and unique approach to interior design, Alexis Wylie has sensitively updated her ancient farmhouse to create a quirky, yet organised, family space. The Wylie family's delightful Bodiam farmhouse is a breath of fresh air. The eye catching...

Historic Family Home

This house, down a rough farm track near Staplehurst, is not a show home, neither is it a designer home full of the latest interior trends. It’s not bling and doesn’t have electric gates with an intercom where visitors have...

The Wallpaper Designer’s Home

Wallpaper and fabric designer Louise Body and her husband Jonny's Hastings home is testament to ten years of ‘doing it themselves’ and to Louise’s incredible creative talent. They wouldn’t have it any other way. Their home reveals a passion for...

The Quirky Townhouse

Anthropology, Arabic, art history… the lady of this house is erudite, well-read and widely travelled and it shows at every turn. Being a landlord can be a stressful business, especially when the building you are renting out is a stunning,...

Industrial Glamour Comes to St Leonards

The regeneration of St Leonards is hitting the news. Stuart and Sarah Taylor's house, a classic redbrick late Victorian villa with decorative plasterwork, is an excellent example of the kind of properties which attract couples with young families to decamp...

Gorgeous Goodnestone Park

Built in 1704 by the current owner's ancestor, Sir Brook Bridges, Goodnestone is a truly lovely Palladian country house enjoying that uniquely Georgian combination of welcome, warmth and elegance. Jane Austen was a regular visitor and wrote of the ‘great...

Francesca Rowan-Plowden’s Beach House

The interior design work of Ms Francesca Rowan-Plowden is in need of serious celebration. In Field View at Winchelsea Beach she has created an idyllic beach holiday home.[showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] Every month, when I walk into yet...

Whether the Weather

Back in July I was trying to count the swifts swooping over Wye – five, six, seven. They moved so fast that it was very difficult. But just a few days later there were none and Dave King, the retired...

Harvest Home

It’s been tricky in the veg patch this year. We’ve had plenty of rain, and winds, low temperatures and not much ripening sunshine, combined with attacks from an ever-increasing army of pests. But if you’ve been lucky enough to get...

Crispy Oysters with a Wasabi Mayonnaise

First open the oysters and pat dry. Place the flour in one shallow bowl, whisk the eggs in another, and put the breadcrumbs and a pinch of seasoning into a third. Evenly coat each oyster in flour, then beaten egg,...

The Cowdrey Cricketing Family’s Offham Home

Few things are as quintessentially English as cricket. The same could almost be said of the Old Rectory at Offham, with its ragstone gateway, sweeping gravel drive and classic Georgian facade. It’s the perfect setting for a period drama –...

Arts & Crafts Surrey Home

When Victoria and David left London for Surrey they had no idea that such a wonderful home was just around the corner, down a pretty leafy lane. An expansive Arts & Crafts house, with more than a touch of Betjeman...

Georgian Style Grand Design

Grand, imposing and seemingly a Georgian rectory, this family home in the heart of the High Weald is not what it seems. For, behind the rambling roses and historic facade lies a thoroughly modern house – built only 10 years...

From Blank Canvas to Family Home

Leaving behind an Arts and Crafts house to move nearer their boys’ school, the Smith family were faced with a huge, unfinished shell of a building – but one that was surrounded by wild-flower meadows and incredible rolling hills. This...

Coffee and Toasted Hazelnut Sponge

Sift the flour and baking powder four times and set aside. Cream the butter, vanilla and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add both mixes together and beat slowly adding one egg at a time to ensure it doesn’t curdle....

Apple and Butterscotch Cake

Pre heat oven to 160 oC/140 oC fan/gas mark 3. Sift flour and salt three times, set aside. Whisk together the egg yolks and half the sugar. When the eggs are pale in colour, add your spices and vanilla. Whisk...

Lemon Drizzle

Start by zesting and juicing all the lemons. Sift the flour four times and set aside. Cream the butter and caster sugar together until pale and soft. Add the eggs one at a time, along with half of the zest....

We talk to Amanda, a fitness instructor and beauty expert…

Do you follow a beauty regime? I’ve always loved the ritual of cleansing, toning and moisturising and I’ve been doing it since I was about 12 years old. My mum taught me the importance of taking care of your skin from...

Restored Rustic Wealden Farmhouse

When Sarah and Dean made the decision to move to Kent from Hertfordshire, they agreed that they would only buy a house they both truly loved. When they found this 16th century Wealden farmhouse near Ulcombe, in need of restoration...

Smoked Salmon Roulade with Cucumber Salad

Place the smoked salmon, butter, lemon juice & black pepper in a food processor and, when mixed stir through the crème fraîche & chives & check the seasoning. Lay out the 250g of smoked salmon on parchment paper in a...

Beef Wellington with Mushroom Duxelle

Fry the onions in the butter until soft, add mushrooms, garlic & thyme & cook for 15 minutes. Add the crème fraîche, mustard, salt & pepper & check the seasoning. Bake the puff pastry squares for 15 minutes or until...

Splendour in the Grass

It won’t have escaped your notice that the quality of the light changes at this time of the year – it’s now softer, more golden and the sun hangs lower in the sky, shining through the plants rather than at...

Mark Hammond, Deputy Head Teacher, Skippers School

What’s your earliest memory from the classroom? Our earliest memories are intricately linked with our emotional experiences: many of mine are grounded in the great stories that my teachers brought to life for me. I am certain that my lifelong...

Monochrome Home – Remarkable Rebuild

After years of rural living, seasoned property renovators Catherine and Rupert decided to move their growing family to a spacious Victorian townhouse in the heart of Sevenoaks. After extensive modernisation, in a very short timeframe, they have succeeded in creating...

Informal Design

Classic herbaceous perennials, like Delphiniums and Geraniums have been gracing our gardens for centuries and have come to symbolise our ideas of high summer and of simpler times (those happy days when most of us lived in cottages and toiled...

Port Lympne’s Dramatic Restoration

When John Aspinall acquired Port Lympne in the 1970s, he rescued the impressive mansion from decades of neglect. Flanked by endangered species on all sides, this grand building opened as a hotel and wedding venue in 2014, and offers a...

The Christmas House – Tudor Restoration

After five years of painstaking restoration, chef, writer and photographer Alastair Hendy has succeeded in returning his Grade II listed 16th century merchant’s house in Hastings Old Town to its pared-back Tudor glory.[showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] Come with...

Creative Couple Relocate to the Countryside

When creative London couple Roni and John decided to relocate to the country, they initially set their sights on a Kentish Georgian property. But once they’d happened upon a pretty 17th century cottage they knew they had found what they...

Seagulls & Stripes Hastings B&B

Following the birth of their first child, Jon and Sara decided they would like to return to England from Stockholm to begin a new life. Having always talked about starting their own business, the couple decided on Hastings to begin...

Do It Yourself

Back in June, WT's Lucy spent a satisfyingly crafty day in at Sew Not Strawberry Jam's fabulous workshop near Tenterden making a summer tunic dress. After cutting, pinning, machining and overlocking, she left with a super piece which felt like...

Vibrant Georgian Home of Ragged Rose Furnishings

Keen to embark on a new challenge, Dawn Rose has capitalized on her experience as former head of Home Buying for both Selfridges and House of Fraser to launch her own homeware and soft furnishings business, Ragged Rose, which she...

Beetroot & Goat’s Cheese Tart

For the savoury shortcrust pastry: First make the pastry. Put the flour, butter and lard in a large bowl and rub together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the whole egg and use a round-bladed knife in a cutting...

Interior Designer’s Tunbridge Wells Home

Phoebe Oldrey and her husband Miles knew that they wanted to move out of London, but were adamant that, unlike many Londoners, they didn’t want to ‘escape to the country’. They wanted to live in a nice rural town, somewhere...

Heritage Conversion Success Story

Taking a building that has lain derelict or neglected for decades, perhaps centuries, and breathing new life into old stone and brick can be a hugely rewarding experience. At first, there is the realisation and then conviction that the potential...

An Enduring Legacy

Decimus Burton was quite a gent. Born in 1800, the son of James Haliburton, one of the most significant builders of Georgian London, he studied under John Nash and designed his first major public building – Colosseum in Regent’s Park...

State-of-the-Art Country House Apartment

It’s an impressive approach to David and Louise’s apartment, through large gates and into immaculate country house style grounds. It’s situated on the third floor of a large, elegant block so we take the lift. There are stairs, of course,...

Remodelled Victorian Home

As a six-year-old child, I had just one ambition. Not to be a train driver or super-hero, not to slay dragons and rescue damsels in distress, not to ride into the western sunset with the Lone Ranger. My ambition was...

The Last Hurrah

  It’s autumn. I’ll spare you the poetry, cut to the chase, seize the (ever shortening) day, and head out to the garden. There are lots of good reasons to be outside now – before the bad weather sets in,...

Art Collector’s Inspired Hastings Home

It takes many of us a lifetime to discover that treasure lies closer to home than we think, but when Robert Amstad was trying to find a property to live in a few years ago, he realised that a building...

Q&A

G.I. Landscapes’s Adam Idle’s tips for perfect pergolas... What are the benefits of having a pergola? They have a multitude of uses, to add interest and height; provide privacy; to draw the eye to a certain point; create a semi...

Bouillabaisse

Roughly chop all the vegetables and sweat until soft, add the tomato puree and cook to a ‘jam’. Add the brandy and flambée. Add the rest of the alcohol, bring to the boil, then put in the plum tomatoes and...

Kaffe Fassett’s Colourful Home

Without doubt, a visit to the Hastings home of internationally renowned contemporary craft artist Kaffe Fassett and his partner and studio manager Brandon Mably, would bring joy to even the most downhearted of people. Filled with an explosion of colours...

Delightful Modern Country Cottage

Building new houses in traditional Wealden villages has always been a problem and one with which architects are still grappling today. Just how do you design a home that satisfies the varied needs of a modern family while ensuring it...

Outside In

Less,” famously said architect Mies van der Rohe, “is more.” Arithmetical nonsense, perhaps, or an architectural truth that becomes self-evident when you see, for the first time, either his sublime 1929 Barcelona Pavilion or The Farnsworth House, a retreat he...

Georgian Home

When talking about the enduring popularity of Georgian architecture one can bang on endlessly about its classical heritage, its proportion and balance and the strict mathematical rules that govern every detail but the truth is that when we see a...

Cultural Retreat

At first glance The Cloudesley is an ordinary, if imposing, bed and breakfast establishment, with nothing much to hint that something more exotic lies within. We walk up the path past a whispering curtain of bamboo, over the inauspicious threshold...

Town & Country Home

Living the rural dream, yet within walking distance of a vibrant town community are surely mutually exclusive ideas. Paul and his wife Jane certainly thought so, until a 17th century moated property nestling off a busy Wealden High Street, reached...

Opulent Oast Conversion

Oast conversions are not uncommon in Kent, but few have been as skilfully updated for modern family life as well as Claire Horrell’s. The box edged front garden and sparkling white weatherboard façade hint at a sophisticated approach to country...

A Passion for Arts and Crafts

Part of the great attraction of a town like Rye is that with its ancient walls, cobbled streets and buildings, it seems almost suspended in time, but while many such towns can fall into the trap of becoming rather twee...

Summer Cottage

There are many adjectives that are easily associated with an English country cottage. Cottages are warm, charming, quaint, atmospheric. Light, bright, airy or spacious rarely make it into the top 10 – and yet these are exactly the descriptors that...

Hailsham Grange

Hailsham, in East Sussex, has like most English market towns, seen a number of changes to its building stock over the centuries, but the 15th century St. Mary’s Church still rises above all other newcomers and seems to draw the...

Colonial Style Kentish Home

A house of the New World seems to have sprung up in the Old. Along a meandering Kent lane, a white picket fence is not so unusual, but the huge white weatherboarded house with its wide verandah and shiny corrugated zinc...

Life at the Top

Some of the grandest Victorian houses in Hastings and St. Leonards were built on quite a different scale to what we are now used to, so it takes some stamina to reach designer Charlotte Elfdahl’s flat at the very top...

Russian Royalty’s Kent Home

Kent seems a rather unlikely spot for Russian royalty to choose to settle in. Its gently undulating landscape is more likely to be filled with apple orchards than fir or birch forests. But one branch of the Romanov dynasty came...

Renovated Retreat

We have loved Rye for a long time,” says Rosemary as she ushers the WT team into her home in the centre of the historic ‘citadel’. “Every year for about 20 years my husband Richard and I came to stay...

Elizabeth Sponge

Cream together the butter and sugar till pale and fluffy. (A Kenwood mixer is the secret to a light airy sponge. If you haven’t got one, use an electric hand whisk). Add the eggs and sifted flour bit by bit...

A Love of Reading Starts at Home

A love of reading starts at home. We all remember the joy of being read to, snuggled up while a parent soothed us with a story, and we continue this bedtime tradition with our own children, to instil in them...

Laura Oakes’ Vibrant Home

It is said that to be creative one must have an inner life, a kind of storehouse of impressions, ideas and feelings to draw upon and reinterpret. That notion certainly seems appropriate to Laura Oakes an artist and designer who...

Sugar and Spice

For some, the idea of a tea party conjures images of a rather staid affair, with matronly ladies sipping Earl Grey while enjoying a slice of Victoria sponge, but Anastasia Hutton-Summers, the founder of Kent Vintage Tea Parties doesn’t exactly...

Softly, Softly

Joanna Osborne and Orlando Gough’s Brighton home is a classic late Regency gem. Icing sugar white with a wrought-iron and zinc fan-like canopy over its upper ground floor bow window and balcony, its decorative flourishes epitomise the early 19th century...

Sleeping Beauty

Gabby Eagar’s house could be viewed as the stuff of dreams or nightmares, depending upon one’s enthusiasm for a ‘project’. It’s dreamy, because it is a classically proportioned Georgian grange that looks as if it has sprung to life from...

The Old Curiosity Shop

On a rainy winter’s day, a journey across Romney Marshes easily evokes images of Magwitch emerging from the mists to frighten poor Pip in Dickens’ Great Expectations. Patchily inhabited, and with its ancient churches and little new development, it somehow...

A Grand Design For Living

Most people who build their own country houses take one of two approaches: either opting for high design and commissioning an architect to create a ‘statement’ house which usually means that it is contemporary in style and quite unlike those...

A House Reformed

Our friends thought we were mad when we moved here,” says Sally Russell as she and her husband Brad show us around their home. “Not because they didn’t like Tunbridge Wells, but simply because for eleven years we had lived...

A Towering Achievement

Anyone who knows Tenterden will know The Tower House. One of the Georgian lovelies that line the east end of the High Street, the building was so named because the classically fronted square doll’s house of a residence also sports...

Back Home

Coming back ‘home’ to the Weald has been good. It righted a lot of the wrongs,” Louise Dean tells me after just a few minutes’ acquaintance. She has a disarming, if not slightly unnerving, frankness of manner that perhaps comes...

Designed for Living

There are some period houses that seem, over the centuries, to have drawn the short straw. Time and again, caring, loving, well-meaning owners have extended and modernised, re-decorated and re-furnished with such breathtaking insensitivity that immediately one steps through the...

Room With A View

Finding the right house has never been easy. Typically, it means kissing swampfuls of frogs before one finally compromises, moves in and, with a little or a great deal of TLC, ultimately coaxes out the promised prince. On rare occasion,...

Contemporary Twist

Behind the red brick façade of an early 20th century building, is a contemporary piece of architecture that is home to Anna Deacon and John Taylor, artists and designers with a prolific creative output and an extensive collection of art,...

A Miller’s Tale

Approached from its leafy drive, Hedera House looks like a perfect Regency villa: a confection of pale plasterwork and neo-classical mouldings. With its white louvred shutters the house almost looks as if it belongs in a warmer location and this...

A Rich Tapestry

Helen Grant welcomes us into her seaside home with hot coffee and irresistible, honeyed baklava. While she kindly makes sure that she has made everything just as the WT team like it, I nose around her kitchen. It’s made up...

A Passion For Pattern

Tucked away, at the end of a leafy driveway, is a typically Kentish house. Its fish-scale hanging tiles are that particularly rich orange-red that produces a sentimental glow in the heart of almost every Kent resident (though perhaps it is...

Decorative Living

It’s odd, perhaps, but the expression ‘living over the shop’ somehow now seems to conjure 1950s images of a middle-aged, Fair Isle-sweatered tobacconist and his aproned wife settling back, Horlicks in hand, while on the black and white television Percy...

Roast Pork with Apple Mint Sauce

Remove the pork joint from the fridge an hour in advance to let the meat come to room temperature Preheat the oven to 220C gas 7. Pat the skin of the pork dry with kitchen paper then rub well with...

Talking Heads

Nick Dorey - Bethany School I loved my time at school. Life for me both at primary and secondary school was always busy, fun and fulfilling. There were many reasons for this, but the key ones were excellent teachers who...

By George They’ve Got It!

It may not be advisable to move house with a newborn baby, but many of us do. But how many of us exchange a comfortable life in London for a run-down hotel with 24 bedrooms – and all the hard...

Take Note!

We all feel the power of music ' how it can change mood, make one feel better about oneself - but for many teachers, music is a critical 'tool' in giving children an all-round education, enabling positive development in other...

Roses are Blooming in Picardy

Over the centuries there have been times when the Entente Cordiale has been anything but cordial and the French have been not a little dismissive of things English, truly taking only Shakespeare and rugby to their hearts. But suddenly and...

The Linen Shed B&B

Many of the houses we feature are English thoroughbreds, their lineage proudly evident and easily discernible – Medieval, Tudor, Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian. They may have moved with time and fashion – an addition here, an alteration there – but the...

A Pocket Full of Rye

At the summit of cobbled Mermaid Street, Rye’s most famous thoroughfare, stands Lamb House. A quintessential Georgian town house, it is quietly elegant, almost modest, but when one climbs the stone steps and prepares to knock, the enormous size of...

Former Editor Of Elle Magazine’s Colourful Home

Despite its quaint seaside charms, Hastings Old Town on a grey blustery day, is, well, just that, grey. But as I step over the threshold of Maggie Alderson’s handsome Georgian house, it’s rather like when Dorothy in The Wizard of...

We’ll Gather Lilacs

At first glance, Edenbridge House looks like something from the pages of a P.G. Wodehouse comedy or Agatha Christie mystery – the kind of rambling, well-appointed country house where well-to-do types gathered for “house-parties”. It’s part Edwardian and 1930s mock-Tudor,...

All’s Fair

Ahandsome front door stands squarely in the centre of a gorgeously pretty house on the Kent/Sussex borders. It’s a classic Georgian farmhouse, broad and solid, though it contains a few surprises and the low set windows offer a clue to...

Baked Mushrooms with Goat’s Cheese and Pesto

Preheat the oven to 200C Gas Mark 6. Remove stalks from mushrooms. Spread pesto over inside of mushrooms and place on a small baking sheet. Slice goat’s cheese and arrange over mushrooms and scatter over sunflower seeds. Drizzle with olive...