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...

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...

Escape to the Country

The refurbishment of an elegant Georgian farmhouse has been a labour of love for talented interior designer Jessica Bax It was Monday morning and I was excited to be travelling to somewhere with a familiar name. Shoreham village in Kent...

Time To Shine

Liz Cruttenden has updated a much loved listed family home with her own skilled eye for interior design I’m not sure why this is, but country dwellers seem to use the back, or side entrances, to their homes rather than...

Pamper & Preen 

We take a look at the relaxing treatments and experiences on offer at some truly memorable retreats and spas The Spa at Green Farm, Shadoxhurst Set amongst idyllic ancient woodland and meadow pastures, Green Farm is a wonderfully rejuvenating place...

Follow the leader

We talk to Neilson Projects, a long-established property consultant practice to find out what makes a project manager so valuable What are the benefits of hiring a project manager?   Most clients begin their focus on the intricate design of...

Family Comforts

We take a look inside the home of the creative founders of Maker & Son Despite the picturesque central front entrance and wonderfully rustic path, flanked on either side by some cloud pruned box trees, we are entering through the...

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...

Case Study: Bringing Back the Barn

Architects Theis + Khan tell us the tale of a recent masterpiece of a barn conversion Burwash Barn was a real project right from the offset, it had enormous potential but was obviously going to require lots of work to...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Comfort and Joy

It can sometimes take a while to find a rewarding occupation, especially one that has to fit around a busy family, is both creatively satisfying and enables a connection with people. [showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] But when the stars...

Light and Bright Kitchen Inspiration

In need of some inspiration to revamp the heart of your home? Take a look at a few of our favourite light, bright kitchens to help you on your way to a brilliant new kitchen. California Styling [caption id="attachment_1582" align="aligncenter"...

Intriguing Historic Farmhouse

Anyone who has ever read The Secret Garden will understand the magic and intrigue that can be conjured up by a sprawling, ancient building surrounded by an equally fantastical garden. Immersed within three acres of glorious gardens, Peter and Jane’s historic family...

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...

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...

Country Home Filled With Natural Light

In an area famed for its atmospheric, timber houses, Mark and Tara were hard-pushed to find one that provided the light-filled home they were after. After a year of searching and a year of negotiating, they finally moved into this...

Smugglers’ Haunt Becomes Rural Retreat

In the 18th century, Ingram House was a coaching inn and a favourite haunt of the infamous Hawkhurst Gang. Fortunately for its owners, Anthony and Simon, shoot-outs are a thing of the past. It is now a tranquil rural retreat,...

Farmhouse Renovation

A childhood love of horses led Jenny and her husband Dave to look for a home near to where they stabled their horse in the Sussex High Weald. After much searching, they finally found the perfect project – transforming a...

Goudhurst Country Refurbished Retreat

Despite moving to London and starting a family, the Weald will always be home to Ben Parker. So, when he and his French wife, Perrine spotted a large Georgian farmhouse in need of refurbishment, a deal was struck and the...

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...

Wonderful Whitstable Chalet

Francine Raymond’s house on Joy Lane in Whitstable is proof that the Arts and Crafts movement didn't come to an end in the early 20th century. An appropriate address for such a joyous home, this ‘chalet house’, built in 1906...

Beautiful Farmhouse and Wedding Venue

Rob, Caroline and family brought the Woolpack Hotel in Tenterden to life and since then, it has also won plaudits for its décor, which is no real surprise – Rob originally trained as an interior designer. So, with such obvious...

Spacious Family Farmhouse

Peter and Jilly Burnet’s spacious farmhouse has provided the couple with a glorious family home for over twenty years. Spread over three floors, this stunning beamed property has borne witness to many a party, celebration and even church fêtes.[showhide more_text="READ...

Luxury Coach House B&B

When Nina and Nick found Chilverbridge House, a stunning 17th century, Grade II-listed manor house with a semi-converted granary and coach house in Arlington, they knew it was exactly what they had been looking for. Over the last eight years...

Vibrant 60s Design Home

  Using her keen eye for vintage and unusual design, Sam, with the help of her husband Richard, has transformed her family’s award-winning sixties-built home into a haven for unique and fascinating finds.[showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"]   A...

Contemporary Gadget-Filled Home

When Katie and Richard yearned for a change from their 1960s family farmhouse, they embarked on an epic project to realise their dream home from scratch. Twenty-one months, and 35 tonnes of Turkish marble, later the couple have created a...

Artist Luke Hannam’s Residence

When Luke Hannam and his wife Tess decided to relocate from their South London home to a sleepy village near the South Coast, they found the perfect place for their young family to grow and stumbled upon an ideal opportunity...

Lidham Hill Farmhouse Near Rye

Sally and Rob yearned for a change of scenery, making the decision to move from bustling city to tranquil countryside. After a two year search, they finally found their dream home near Rye and embarked on a considerable renovation which...

Georgian Farmhouse Transformed into Colourful Family Home

Much is written of the Georgian house – its perfect proportions, its soaring rooms, its windows that allow light to flood into every nook and cranny. However, these eulogies tend to be about grand Georgian town houses or elegant country...

Humble Garage to Gorgeous Guesthouse

Converting a building that was never designed for human habitation into an attractive home can be a rewarding challenge. Oasts, barns, coach houses, urban industrial or commercial buildings – all have proved popular with architects and their clients and have...

Renovated Period Cottage

Renovating a period cottage is always a challenge. The lives we lead are very different both from those of the 17th century villagers and farm workers for whom these homes were originally built and from the families who have updated...

Coach House Conversion

Arriving at Alli Williams’s home on the Kent-Sussex border, it’s almost impossible to remember that you’ve come to write about a house and not merely draw up a garden chair, pour yourself a glass of something crisp and white and...

Wow-Factor Wealden New Build

Philippa and Stephen’s new house in East Sussex re-ignites – should it need any re-ignition – the important debate surrounding the question of how and what should we in the Weald be building for the future. Houses are not ephemera....

17th Century Farmhouse

Stella Hayes initially fell in love with the property's glorious garden. She has gone on to create a beautiful home filled with her impressive art collection. [showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] “I walked in through the gate, saw the...

Walnuts Farm: Film Location and Family Home

There must be those among you that occasionally, in a quiet moment, stroll through your homes and think that, yes, after all the planning, plotting and hard work, you’ve at last got it right – on a good day this...

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...

A Family Affair

It is a pity indeed to travel and not get this essential sense of landscape values,” once said poet Lawrence Durrell. “You do not need a sixth sense for it. It is there if you just close your eyes and...

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...

A Darling House

We actually found this house for my husband Richard’s sister and brother-in-law, Hilary and Jeremy,” recalls Moyna Edmondson as she divides up a wonderfully fragrant Italian orange cake that she has just baked. “But they got cold feet and in...

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...

Speaking The Same Language

"It's true what they say," muses financial analyst Sam, "children are like sponges – they soak up the language and then just start speaking it." The mother of three saw this extraordinary ability at first hand with her own young...

Artistic Licence

There is no better air than here for work.” Is how John Maynard Keynes described the atmosphere at Tilton House in East Sussex, the country residence that he shared with his wife Lydia for many years. Just a little further...

The Homemade Home

Mandy and Phil Shaw have lived in their East Sussex home for 26 years and in that time, they have transformed it from a fairly anonymous late Victorian semi-detached villa into a space that is the ultimate expression of them...

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...

Grand Dutchy

Having rung the bell at Sarnia’s cottage, seemingly without result, I am beginning to wonder whether I have made a mistake about our appointment. Knowing that she is an interior decorator, I am at least in no doubt that I...

Food For Thought

Food has always been important to my family,” laughs Mary Gwynn. So it’s not surprising that, after attending Leith’s School of Food and Wine in the year between school and university, Mary decided not to pursue her university place.[showhide more_text="READ...

A Love of the Land

Moving out of the Georgian farmhouse that has been your family home since 1968 might seem a daunting prospect for most people, but Steven and Emily Hall saw it as just another stage in their lives together. The couple had...

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...

A Gardener’s World

Sometimes, no matter how hard you are looking, the right house for you just doesn’t seem to be available. Sophie Hall, chairman of Oak Park Landscapes, had been house-hunting for some time when a friend mentioned a converted barn that...

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...

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...

Up The Garden Path

Among the well-kept front gardens of a Wealden high street, the garden of one pretty Georgian villa stands out. This one features a few slightly more unusual plants and the space has been carefully utilised. Perhaps this should not be...