Chocolate & rum mousse with lemon & rose shortbread hearts

For the mousse: Makes 6 mini cups (but can be doubled easily) Melt the chocolate over a pan of barely simmering water. Beat the eggs whites until stiff, then add the sugar a tablespoon at a time. When the chocolate...

Retiring Naturally

Jo Arnell speaks to Pegasus Homes CEO Steve Bangs and floral designer Jonathan Moseley about the wellness benefits of interacting with plants, especially as we age As we age, our need to connect with nature and with plants remains a...

All is Calm

Architect-trained interior designer Hannah Benton’s relocation from London to Deal has opened up lots of new opportunities for her and her young family, including the chance to combine expertise with her interior designer mum, Belinda, to rebrand Evernden Interiors as...

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,...

In the Frame

An art-filled house overlooking Alexandra Park in Hastings has provided the perfect living space for a couple who split their time between two properties in this creative town Camilla Ruiz Ramirez is a textile designer who was previously based in...

Interior with real identity

Justine Hodgson-Barker’s personality-led approach to interior design has ensured the success of her interiors business. Here she shows us inside her own home which epitomises her love of combining different eras and styles to great effect On the day I...

An Artists’ Retreat

Creative couple Alexa and Robin Easterby have escaped the city to turn their lockdown relocation into a thriving artists’ community that continues to flourish The serious desire to change their lives and focus on new creative endeavours was one of...

Camber Caper

Step inside Dixie Daydream, a caravan with an interior that’s a riot of colour and pattern, a stone’s throw from the beach Something about the British seaside encourages us to let our hair down, throw caution to the wind and...

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...

It’s a Colourful Life

Bedroom designer Evelyn M Lindley describes her journey to realise her creative passion, sharing how she incorporates playful colour into her dark-toned interiors I did something quite exciting recently, well I thought it was exciting. I did my first ever...

Something Blue

Amanda Lafontant, senior designer at Aston Matthews, explains how she transformed this family bathroom into an elegant retreat Creating a family bathroom in a period property is always a challenge. The bathroom needs to function, but there are also architectural...

Boys Own Adventure

A Kentish lass and her husband have restored a historic house near Ashford to create a magical dream of a hotel  Well, this was a new experience. All the houses I’ve had the pleasure to visit for this magazine are...

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...

Meet the School Principal

We’ve been getting to know Claremont School’s new Principal, Severine Collins What excites you most about joining Claremont School? Claremont’s principles align with my own belief that every child is an individual who needs to be nurtured, developed and challenged...

The best laid plans

The Surrey Homes house writer shows us round her own home – which didn’t turn out as she expected, but better When you buy a new house which is a bit of a project, you think you know exactly what...

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...

Welcome to the Fun House

Justin and Imogen open the doors to their fabulously cool renovation project, tucked away behind the shops in Rye High Street It takes a brave man, or woman, to leave the buzz of East London for a quiet coastal town...

Art of the Home

There’s more to interior designer Charlotte Luxford’s suburban semi than meets the eye, with its charming, art-filled interiors – not to mention the view On the face of it, Charlotte Luxford’s 1930s home in central Sevenoaks is much like any...

Going Home

I didn’t have much information about the person I was going to meet, just a name, address and a few emails arranging our interview, so it was with more than a bit of intrigue that I travelled to north Kent’s...

Changing Rooms

Berni and Peter Leach constantly tweak and switch up their house in Hastings Old Town – and their wonderful shop too The usual set-up for interviewing people about their beautiful houses for this magazine is one-on-one, because in the vast...

Happy Hour

Cheers to these tasty local tipples Old Dairy Beer Old Dairy Brewery is an award-winning brewery that uses only the finest English malts and hops to brew their beers in cask, bottles, keg and can. Sitting just moments from Tenterden High...

Eat Sleep Breathe

These local stays are great for an evening meal and a sound night’s sleep Bliss at the Bell - The Bell in Ticehurst Location: A public house on the Kent-Sussex border, in what was a rather showy Tudor property around...

Dine with a View

From the airy blue of a far reaching seascape to endless heaps of rolling hills, one of our favourite things about living in the South East is the amazing scenery. And what better way to enjoy the many sights our...

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...

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...

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...

Wild Wine

Foraging expert and self-sufficiency instructor Michael White explains how to reap the rewards of making your own wine – no grapes required!  Do you enjoy drinking wine? Of course you do, but have you ever considered making it yourself? Very...

New Shores

Social worker Ashia Redhead explains how her house renovation has been the outlet for her creative energy, embellishing her passion for interiors and antiques into a warm family home with character It was the start of the hottest weekend of...

Dressed to Thrill

Artist and designer Louise Hamlin-Wright’s vibrant home is a wonderful riot of colour, pattern and craft   I drive straight past Louise and John’s house. I think I’m looking for a larger or more outlandish building. Turning around, I see that...

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....

New Victorian

Driven by a love of colour and vintage, Sarah Hazebroek has stamped her signature style on a Victorian cottage, whilst her passion for interiors paid off during lockdown with the creation of her home accessories range, Huddle Collection  Situated right...

Windows on the World

Karen Hahnel’s grand apartment on the St Leonards seafront has views as impressive as its interior It’s always fascinating to visit someone’s home and see all the lovely things they have and find out where they got them from (that’s...

Expanding Horizons

Interior designer Cassie Williams’ family home is a masterclass in clutter-free accessorising – mixing new and upcycled seamlessly and stylishly You can tell a lot about a home – and its owner, from the front garden and as we approach...

History in Colour

The complete refurbishment of British Army General Sir John Moore’s Hastings home provided an irresistible project for George and Charlotte Rendall A long the East Sussex and Kent coast some of the country’s greatest military landmarks make their mark, from...

Knock on Wood

The combination of bespoke woodwork and choice mid-century pieces creates chic sophistication in this St Leonards maisonette When it comes to the dream team of people to transform a run-down maisonette into an apartment with the kind of quiet sophistication...

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...

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...

How to: Personalise a new build

Transforming a white-walled, brand-new tabula rasa of a new-build can be a real mission! So we asked SGS Architectural Interiors for some expert advice We are fortunate enough to work with clients who are constructing architect-designed new-build homes, but it...

Story Teller

Find quirky styling and artworks aplenty at one of the most interesting and magical places to stay in the South East, The Bell in Ticehurst   “The Bell’s ancient bricks could talk, they’d have a tale or two to tell.”  In...

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...

Welcome to real Tunbridge Wells

When Cathe and John Wheatman moved into their generously proportioned Victorian town house four-and-a-half years ago they were only the third family to live in it, since it was built in 1870.  That must be a pretty rare record –...

Cover Girl

Former Fashion Director turned upholsterer, Sadie Dorchester takes Antonia Methuen on a tour of the interior of her spacious Victorian terrace, the gorgeous result of a seven-year renovation project Like many people who move to Hastings, Sadie Dorchester and her...

Dressed to Impress

The transformation of a Grade II listed building, which once served as a public house before becoming an oriental restaurant, has been 20 years in the making for creative couple Jane and Rob – enlisting the help of many talented...

The Forever Home

When it came to renovating their dream house, Andy and Ran turned to their friend and interior designer Justine Hodgson-Barker to ensure they ended up with a home fit to start the next chapter of their life Andy Clark and...

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...

Treading Lightly

A rental property has become a stylish stop-gap for a family in search of their dream home in the country. Creating a beautiful, personal home doesn’t always involve a wrecking ball – simply decorating can transform a space. Every house...

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 box of delights

There is a particular joy in returning to visit a home you have seen only very much in the ‘before’ stage. In this case, the last time I saw Kimberley Watson’s flat in a Regency terrace on Hastings Old Town...

All that Jaz

Jaz Rosten-Edwards had always wanted to have an art gallery – so she turned her house into one. Houses on a residential street can blend into one. Especially if there is a row of them built as a set at...

Off the Scale

With soaring ceilings, contemporary décor and the most beautiful views across the Kentish countryside, Bayham Hall’s restoration has allowed the building’s original features to shine through whilst providing an enviably spacious family home for owners Jaime and Justin Cooke.  [showhide...

Too Cool for School

The colourful history behind Juliet Maingay-Cooper and Jake Mintrim’s Hastings home, part of a mansion built by eminent Victorian travel writer Augustus Hare, saw it once serve as a convent and school before its current incarnation as a chic and...

Fairground attraction

When Laurie and Sol bought a derelict listed building in St Leonards they’d never done a renovation before, but with boundless resourcefulness they have created an unforgettable family home. All the houses that feature in this magazine have required leaps of...

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...

The Outbuilding

Journalist Amy Maynard’s effortlessly chic converted outbuilding is the result of her ‘warehousey, not twee’ vision for a holiday rental that is a home away from home. The Danes call it hygge – meaning the feeling of contentment that comes...

Pattern Repeat

Just along the coast from Margate, with views out over Westgate-on-Sea’s sandy seafront, Hamilton Lodge was chosen by its current owners as the perfect foil to the bustle of London, making it the ideal weekend retreat. Everything you’ve ever read...

Points of interest

Looking for a horticultural day out with a difference? Explore WT’s pick of glorious gardens, garden centres and nurseries, each offering something a little unique. Garden Style Run by garden designer and plantsman Tony Howard and interior designer Sebastian Haywood,...

All Aboard with Heart of Kent Hospice

Heart of Kent Hospice is bringing the style and glamour of 1930s steam travel to Kent with an exclusive trip on the magnificent Northern Belle. The Hospice is chartering Britain’s finest luxury vintage steam train for a unique, lunch-time excursion...

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"]...

A cocktail of grandeur

Will and Nick live in a one-bedroom flat, decorated in glorious palatial style (and have great parties…) Above an antiques shop in the picture postcard village of Alfriston sits a very special home indeed. The moment the door opens to...

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...

Make Your Home Come Alive at Bagham Barn Antiques

There's nothing more thrilling than planning a new look for your home. Whether you're lucky enough to be moving into a brand new home and can create the dream rooms of your choice, you're thinking about redecorating your existing home...

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...

Gothic glamour

Cinematic, dramatic, palatial... it’s hard to know where to start describing the bold interior style of this historic building and family home, inspired by the films of Jean Cocteau – and Hammer horrors. It was Valentine’s Day when fashion designer,...

Baked Camembert with cobnuts and honey

Preheat oven to 180C. Take the cheese out of the wooden box. Score the top of cheese crossways to make an ‘X’ pattern. This helps the heat penetrate to the middle. Wrap it in parchment paper and place onto a...

Personal space

A converted malthouse, with soaring ceilings, provides ample growing room for Rachel Ford and her family. Destiny, chance, karma or plain old coincidence… it’s interesting how some things in life just happen to fall mysteriously into place at just the...

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...

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...

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...

Retro Chic Ideas for your Kitchen

The kitchen has endless scope for retro chic, with accessories, fixtures, fittings and furniture galore. You can take it as far as you like – from a subtle nod here and there, to in-your-face time warp – celebrate your favourite era...

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...

A Slice of Heaven

She has a shop called In House Junkie – and we’re finding Samantha Bruce’s Tunbridge Wells house very hard to resist. The devil is in the detail as the saying goes. But in Samantha and Dougie Bruce’s house the details...

New England Style Beach House

Converting a tired old weatherboard cabin into a spacious coastal retreat, Atlanta Bartlett and Dave Coote were sure of one thing - that it would end up pale and interesting... This talented husband and wife team are behind the company...

Hollywood Glamour

This Hastings house is a glorious tribute to high fashion, Hollywood’s golden era and – of course – Mr Elvis Presley (thank you very much...) A notice hanging in the kitchen of this Victorian terrace says it all: ‘Some girls are...

Let There Be Light

While the words ‘barn conversion’ sound very romantic, the resulting homes can be a bit problematical – no longer a barn, but not quite a house, with furniture sitting slightly oddly within. Dark, oddly proportioned rooms in unexpected places, windows...

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...

Home to Shop

Craving a dramatic change from the stresses of London life, David Page and his partner, David Baker, chose to set up home – and shop – in Hastings Old Town. And they couldn’t be happier that they did. [showhide more_text="READ MORE"...

Award-Winning Mushroom House

Children often have dreams of making a magical space of their own, but it’s not often that they are able to make their dreams come true. Elsie Swanborough has been able to do just that, making the story of the...

St Benedicts Victorian B&B

Over time, Paul Oxborrow and Stephen Groves have succeeded in buying each floor of a grand nineteenth century St. Leonards house. Staying true to the period of its construction, Paul and Stephen have completely refurbished its four floors and now run several rooms...

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...

Instagram Interior

Having decided to swap London life for a home in the countryside, Lucinda Mitra took to Instagram to document the refurbishment of her new family home. After rapidly amassing over 30,000 follows, Lucinda’s account, nest_twenty_eight, is now an online destination...

Gorgeous Seaside Home

Since opening her first store in the late 1970s, Helen Robinson has consistently been ahead of the game when it comes to cool locations for her to share her effortless sense of style. Her current project, SHOP in St. Leonards...

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...

A Treat in Store

Picture the perfect getaway. Where do you fancy? Paris? Rome? Or perhaps somewhere exotic and further away? Well, yesterday I might have been imagining a faraway place too, but today I want to stay in Rolvenden Layne. I only live...

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...

New England Seaside Styling Comes to Camber

If you've ever wondered how to give your home a beautiful seaside look, this is how it's done. This 1970s bungalow has been transformed into a nautical New England style holiday home, by the inspired owner, Nicola. Camber, famed for its long...

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...

My Cool Kitchen

We take a look at this fresh and inspiring kitchen design book from the author of the ‘My Cool’ series and co-author of George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces... My Cool Kitchen – a style guide to unique and inspirational kitchens – is a breath...

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...

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...

Californian Styling Comes to East Sussex

Hollywood inspired glamour has arrived in Hastings, courtesy of Alexa and Sebastien and their Chaletfornia home. Following a huge renovation project, the couple have succeeded in creating an interior as stunning as the East Sussex views which inspired them to...

Ultra Modern Scandi Styling

After several sunny years downunder Jenna and Andrew didn’t want to leave the light and airy mood they loved in Australian houses behind when they moved back to the UK – so they re-created it in Hersham.[showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ...

Creative Home in Hastings

With inspiring views looking out to sea and glorious opened-up spaces within, Ginny and MJ have made a commanding terrace house in Hastings as harmonious as the choirs they run.[showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] There’s something rather charming, and...

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...

Country Lodge Guest House

Setting the scene has been Emma Clarke’s professional role for many years. So, when the opportunity arose to create her own, domestic show-stopper, she was more than qualified – as her magnificent home demonstrates.[showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] Very...

The Stylish Family Home

After spotting the potential of this Victorian house near Camden Road in Tunbridge Wells, Justine Hodgson-Barker, an interior designer, and her husband James set about transforming it into a stylish yet functional family home.[showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] They...

Seeds of Success

Hark! Is that the merry thud of the Christmas post, or rather, the post-Christmas post landing on the mat? The arrival of the seed catalogues is - for sad old me anyway - part of the magic of the season....

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...

New Build Home with Scandi and 60s Design

When Jenny and Doug Branson decided to make a move to Dorking they initially set their sights on Victorian properties. But for interior designer Jenny, a chance viewing of a new build property proved to be an irresistibly blank canvas.[showhide...

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...

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...

Treasure Trove in Tenterden

Having downsized from a large Georgian property where they ran an award-winning bed and breakfast, Pippa and Mike Carter decided to move to a small cottage just down the road in order to buy a place in France. Having devoted...

Flamboyant and Creative Seaside Family Home

Carmel and Mick have transformed their seaside home into a flamboyant and creative space perfect for their family to pursue their musical talents. Bexhill-on-Sea is better known for bungalows than for period houses – even the seafront boasts a long,...

Stunning Renovation

Grasping the potential of a spacious Georgian or Victorian house, whatever its condition, is not exactly brain surgery. The basics are all there. A little re-modelling here and there to adapt it for 21st century living, an eye for colour...

Victorian Townhouse Doubles As Antique Showroom

An American catching sight of a friend’s particularly fine painting, sculpture or piece of furniture would have no hesitation in paying the appropriate compliment and casually adding ‘Waddyagiveforit?’ We Brits are considerably more reticent when it comes to discussing money....

Promenade Paradise

There are things in this world that go effortlessly together. Things that seem made for each other. Bagels and cream cheese, Bogey & Bacall, Champagne and caviar, Farrow & Ball – and it’s the same when we walk into one...

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...

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...

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...

Kitsch & Chic Family Home

Hannah Gee’s house is set back from the road, much further back than all the others, hanging back, in case anyone notices that it doesn’t look like the rest, that it isn’t a period house. Hannah was curious to know...

Boutique Bouquet

Brought up in the tropics, I have never lost my awe of the beautiful chameleon landscape in which I now find myself nor have I lost my admiration for those who work within this landscape to create gardens so at...

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...

What’s Hot in the Garden

Thankfully even at the Chelsea Flower Show most gardening trends tend to last more than a year and it often takes a while before a fashion really sets in, which is a relief, otherwise by the time the feature is...

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...

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...

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...

Seared Tuna Tartare with Wasabi Mayonnaise and Pickled Ginger

Mix all the ingredients together and let tuna marinade for a couple of hours. Heat a griddle pan until smoking hot. Griddle the tuna for 1 minute on each side until nicely coloured. Remove from pan and refrigerate until ready...

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...

Jubilee Chicken

Slowly fry the chopped onion with a pinch of salt in a little plain oil (sunflower or rapeseed) until soft and translucent. Do not char or burn. Add curry powder or paste to taste (a tablespoon should suffice, less if...

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...

Textile Artist’s Beautiful Home

The entrance hall to Nancy Nicholson’s home is enticingly adorned with intriguing objects and ‘finds’. There is a sun-bleached sheep’s skull, an apothecary’s jar filled with shells and several sprigs of dried wild flowers and sea grasses. [showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ...

Venison Steak with Juniper Berry and Rosemary Marinade

In a pestle and mortar grind the garlic, rosemary, juniper, salt and pepper. Add just enough oil to form a loose paste. Season each venison steak with a spoonful of the mixture and keep the rest aside for later. Rub...

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...

Basil & Shredded Filo Wrapped Prawns with Pine Nut Sauce

Combine the lemon juice, Tabasco, coriander and garlic in a bowl and marinate the prawns for at least a couple of hours For the sauce: • 1 slice of bread, crust removed (standard slice) • 200g pine nuts • 1...

Deck the Halls

For some people Christmas comes around all too soon, but for others, it can neither be too soon or too often. Jacquie, or ‘Kitty’ as she is now more commonly known, definitely belongs to the latter category, which is probably...

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...

Life on Mars

"I was on Britain’s Best Dish!” says Alastair Fairley with a grin, as he shows me into his kitchen. “I cooked pear and frangipane tart with homemade vanilla ice cream, and John Burton-Race said my ice cream was the best...

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...

Vintage Calm

Few find what they want in life right under their noses and some of us have to travel a lifetime and many miles to find what we are looking for. But Madeline hasn’t even had to step foot outside the...

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...

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...

East/West Home’s Best

When Phil Russell’s job brought him back to London after 18 years of living and working in Tokyo and Hong Kong, he had only a short time to find his family a new home in England. But the house that...

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...

At Home With Style

Glamour” is not a word usually associated with the country cottage, but Andrew Fionda’s home is rather different. Andrew is one half of the fashion duo Pearce Fionda. Having met in the mid-1980s, and established their partnership in the mid-1990s,...

Ship Shape

Sophie and Jason both confess to having led nomadic lives until they met. A former divorce lawyer and ski instructor, Sophie is now a massage therapist and reflexologist, working in London, Sussex, and Kent, visiting clients in their own homes....

On Location

One might expect a house belonging to both a film and television set designer and a professional gardener to be well-presented, and Derek and Tony’s Regency town house in Hastings does not disappoint. [showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] No...

Vintage Values

Hospitable though home-owners are when the Wealden Times team visits, not many could match the welcome afforded by Flora, the wire fox terrier puppy who greets me in Stella Wilson’s garden.   [showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] Flora races...

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...

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...

Calm and Collected

The first clue that I have arrived at the right house is the gleaming paint on the front door with its incredibly highly polished brass handle and spotless front step. Dee Martyn is a stylist and interiors expert, so I...

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...

A Butterfly Unfurled

When Sally Harrington opens the huge front door of her Kentish weatherboard home I assume that the 1950s bungalow that once stood here was demolished to make way for the new house. “No,” she says, “it’s still in here somewhere,...

Business As Usual

Arriving at John and Sandy Schofield’s house in the heart of the Weald, the welcome is a picturesque one. A flock of pure white doves take off from their dovecote and flutter above our heads before settling on the red...