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Go with the Flow
Sue Whigham shares some valuable new-to-gardening advice I’m sure that by now we should be used to the rain but I’m not entirely sure that we are. We had a dry, sunny day the other day and how everybody’s mood...
In praise of maximalism
Sarah Jane Morris is not afraid of pattern, colour, doing it herself – or anything really – as can be seen in her St Leonards house which sings as joyously as she does In one of the rooms in Sarah...
Get with The Times
The world is changing apace, so how do our schools equip children for the future? Somerhill tell us about their innovative engineering tuition. Recent experience during the Covid pandemic made it clear how vital scientists and engineers are to our...
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...
Communication is Key
Mike Piercy, educational consultant and former Head of The New Beacon, shares advice on how parents can support their children at school Trust is such a fragile thing. It can take an age to build; but a moment to break....
Stalwart Friends
Jo Arnell edits down a selection of her favourite reliable plants to see you through the whole season 'That can’t be your favourite plant, surely?’ People are too polite to say this to me out loud, but they may well...
View Finder
Photographer Mel Smith has combined his work and home requirements to create the ultimate welcoming studio – a homely and stylish space to work from where his creative approach to reuse and recycle takes centre stage It is a rare...
Natural Blend
Recipe developer and cookery teacher Charlotte Butterworth’s house is centred around her spacious Neptune kitchen, where she has created a new heart for this impressively proportioned family home Sometimes, when buying a house, it’s all about a feeling. You’ve only...
Buried Treasure
Jo Arnell applies cooking principles to the garden this month, as she starts planning her bulb lasanges I’m doing my best squirrel impression this month, scuttling around, digging holes and burying bulbs in the hope that, come the spring, welcome...
It’s all in the preparation
Emily Pavey heads to The Small Holding to improve her gardening skills at a Grow the Seasons session Perhaps I’m not cut out for gardening – don’t tell anyone, but I find weeding a bit upsetting. Who am I to...
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...
Message in a Bottle
Jo Arnell finds out that there’s so much more to terrariums than first meets the eye when she meets Sebastian Tribe, founder of Terrapy Making a self-sustaining botanical world filled with beautiful, miniature plants is – if Sebastian Tribe has...
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...
We built a zoo
Never work with animals or children, they said. Forget that! We’ve been so excited to hear all about Bede’s zoo. If you go down to Bede’s Senior school, you’re in for a big surprise. In the heart of its 120-acre...
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...
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...
High Flyers
Sarah Maxwell explores circus skills for every BODY Before you skip this page, I’d like to reassure you that aerial fitness is much more fun and accessible to everyone than you would think! Hammocks, silks, hoops, trapeze and pole are...
The Glasshouse Project
Sue Whigham goes behind the scenes at a social enterprise which enables women approaching the end of their sentences to develop skills in horticulture before their release from prison 'I believe everyone should have a second chance,’said the lady in...
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...
Green Attraction
Jo Arnell looks into houseplants with benefits Keeping houseplants will make you more attractive. This is not just a ploy by the houseplant marketing board – according to some research commissioned by The Joy of Plants, all you need to...
Curves in all the right places
Jo Arnell takes a look at the (frustratingly) skilled art of topiary There’s something soothingly barbaric about topiary. A tightly pruned tree growing exactly how we want it to grow – forced into submission and yet still happy enough to...
Living Over The Shop
A creative couple found the perfect spot for their home – and their boutique – in the very centre of Hastings In a first for all the many (lovely) houses I have written about for this magazine, my visit to...
Skandi Style
Sue Whigham reflects on the natural beauty of Sweden Rain at last and I think that we’re all sighing in relief and that goes for our gardens too. We were in Rye when it started yesterday and we passed a...
Totally Tropical
Work with nature to create a lush oasis in our unpredictable climate, as Jo Arnell explains Making a tropical garden or border means choosing plants that will give the impression of the humid tropics – a lush-leaved oasis dripping...
Round and Round the Garden
Dulwich Prep Cranbrook tell us about their wonderful Sensory Garden project During our wellbeing week in January 2022, Dulwich’s SEN team looked at additional projects which could enhance our wellbeing and the seed of an idea took root – to...
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...
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...
Glorious Geum
Sue Whigham delves into the background of this hardy perennial Bearing in mind what sparkle and zing the bright flowers of geums bring to the garden, I’m wondering why we don’t have more of them here but the three G....
The Game of Life
PSHE has to evolve to reflect contemporary issues. We find out how schools are adapting Mayfield Mayfield School tell us about how their Lifeskills programme helps students ‘meet the needs of the age’ At Mayfield our aim is to develop...
Maker’s Motif
Relocating from Surrey to Kent, Alec and Sarah stumbled upon a beautiful barn conversion – not a style that they had been on the hunt for – and fell in love with its space and character Frittenden, that pretty village...
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...
Cottage Garden Style
Jo Arnell explains how to create your very own country haven with cottage garden plants for a dreamy summer look Arches festooned with romantically billowing roses, paths lined with lavender and borders bursting with colourful perennials, the cottage garden is...
Quiet Command
A family home that keeps things cool, calm and collected Sometimes it’s not what you put into a house that makes it special – but what you leave out. In the Staplehurst home of interior decorator Esther Bauer and her...
On the Wild-ish Side
Jo Arnell gives her tools a well earned rest and lets the garden do what it does best – embrace nature Stop weeding. Stop mowing. Dig a pond and plant a tree – then relax while the wildlife looks after...
Small but Mighty
Jo Arnell makes sure mini spaces pack a productive punch Give me land, lots of land under starry skies above…’ Well, sadly most of us do have to have fences and aren’t able to ride through the plains on a...
Part time Veg
Get into the growing groove with Jo Arnell’s tips for fuss-free vegetables No time to grow vegetables? Not much space? Feeling daunted? Well – you don’t have to be rich to grow some veg, you don’t have to be cool...
Early Birds
Jo Arnell recommends jobs to get ahead with in the garden this month, and those to leave for the onset of warmer weather If you’re an early bird and in the habit of catching worms, February might not be the...
Nougat
1. Roast the nuts on three baking sheets at 160˚C for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Take out the oven and leave to cool. 2. Put 400g of the sugar in a thick-bottomed saucepan with the glucose and 125ml...
Pan Seared Scallops, Cauliflower & Crispy Chicken Skin
For the cauliflower: 1. Cut the cauliflower into florets. 2. Slice 2 large florets thinly on a mandolin and place in a separate container. Add 100ml white wine vinegar over the sliced florets and 60g caster sugar. Carefully stir, ensuring...
Make Your Winter Garden a Wildlife Haven
Follow Jo Arnell’s expert tips for a thriving outside space all year round Imagine sleeping in the garden all through the winter months. Where would you sleep? In the shed? Under a hedge? I could possibly eke it out for...
A Taste of the Mediterranean
It is possible to bring a little holiday magic into your own garden, as Sue Whigham explains As the nights draw in, the thought of a Mediterranean holiday becomes more and more appealing. The image in one’s mind of being...
Wild Harvests
Jo Arnell is scouring the English countryside for all its treasures General foraging rules Make sure you can identify the plant – poisonous plants can look edible and some may look almost identical to edible varietiesDon’t pick from roadsides polluted...
Top Trunks
Sue Whigham takes a closer look at native trees and hedging and explains how we can all do our bit to provide year-round sustenance and shelter for wildlife What a peculiar year it has proved to be weather-wise and every...
Slow, Grow, Eat
Hairdresser-turned-shepherdess, Zoë Colville farms nearly 100 acres of land near Maidstone with her partner, Chris Woodhead. With prime focus on their animals’ wellbeing, together they rear cows, sheep, goats and pigs, eventually selling their meat through The Little Farm Fridge....
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,...
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...
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...
Planting Plans
Planting Plans Jo Arnell gets ahead of the bulb game with fuss-free picks for every part of the garden I had an aunt who, as soon as the longest day was over, would start talking about Christmas. ‘The nights are drawing...
Keeping Up Community Spirit
How have schools been maintaining their bonds with the local community during a very difficult and isolating year? We find out how a pandemic hasn’t stopped The King’s School and Sevenoaks School staying connected A brother and sister team from...
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...
Which extra-curricular activities will look good on my UCAS application?
Just how important are impressive lists of hobbies and copious amounts of volunteer work to universities? Dr Kirsten Dickers, Higher Education, Careers and Research Leader at Ashford School explains In nine years as an admissions tutor, this was probably the...
Endive, orange & mozzarella salad with balsamic dressing
Endive, orange & mozzarella salad with balsamic dressing This easy salad is so quick to put together and is utterly gorgeous. The slight bitterness of these small red endives complement the sweetness of the orange. Add beautiful creamy mozzarella, and...
Butternut squash with roasted Mediterranean vegetables & goats’ cheese
This is a stunning vegetarian main course that can be made in advance and sat in the fridge ready to go in the oven. You can even roast the squash and veg a couple of days before your guests arrive,...
Fruitful
Jo Arnell picks the juiciest soft fruit for a summer of plentiful natural sweetness I must grow some more fruit next year. I’m saying this as I sow seed and set out yet more little vegetable plants. Most vegetables are annuals...
Grow your own medicine cabinet
Jo Arnell investigates the healing properties of plants Tense, nervous headache? Try chewing on a piece of willow bark. Indigestion? Difficulty sleeping? Just pop into the garden for some fennel to settle your stomach and a bit of lavender to...
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...
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...
Nourish to Flourish
Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach Charlotte Lau explores the link between food and mood... The brain, a powerful but fragile organ that accounts for just 2-3% of our body weight yet makes up for around 20-25% of our daily energy requirement....
Forget-Me-Not
Jo Arnell explores how biennials are the often overlooked heroes of a successful planting scheme Imagine a plant that looks after itself, one that will flower early, that will grow in difficult shady situations, that after flowering will quietly, sometimes...
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...
Stepping Stones
Sue Whigham investigates the appeal of gravel gardening In the spring of 1986, Derek Jarman, film maker and life long gardener, was on the hunt for a bluebell wood to use in a film that he was making (The Garden)....
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...
Feed Me!
Jo Arnell gives her soil-enriching recommendations to ensure your garden plants never go hungry Above: Sweet peas are greedy plants Restore, Replenish, Renew This is not the beauty page, or an advert for skin cream, but I do want to...
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...
Canopies of Wonder
Sue Whigham shares her love of native trees and their regional differences Wayland’s Smithy is a Neolithic long barrow in Oxfordshire built about a mile and a half along the ancient Ridgeway from the Uffington White Horse. History has it...
Sow a meadow
With many options to choose from, Jo Arnell talks us through the basics A dreamy meadow full of poppies, cornflowers and ox-eye daisies is a lovely thing to behold, but perhaps more fantasy than reality in the countryside these days –...
Fables from the Farm :: April
It’s April, Easter is upon us, and that of course means we’ll be busy lambing The rams went in with the ewes on Bonfire Night and five months later, April Fool’s Day, the lambs start arriving. And every year we...
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...
Retire in Style
Stunning Surroundings at Wildernesse House A collection of 31 one- and two-bedroom apartments in the historic Grade II listed Wildernesse House, and eight new mews houses set in the sprawling Wildernesse Estate, Sevenoaks, are now available from luxury retirement home...
The Evolution of Beauty
How does the way we look after our skin and hair change as we age? We go straight to the experts for tips, tricks and treatments to maintain optimum condition Hair... Russell Barradell, owner of William Charles Hair, Tenterden How does...
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...
It’s a Wild World
Sue Whigham discusses the measures we can all take to protect biodiversity Last week, squeezed in amongst the newspaper supplements, I spotted a report on comments made by the new President of the British Ecological Society. In it she urges...
Naked Attraction
Jo Arnell strips the garden back to beautiful winter basics Winter can stretch on into spring sometimes, remaining colourless and drab for longer than necessary, dragging its grey heels even as the days lengthen and the green shoots start peeking...
Structural Assets
Jo Arnell shares her recommendations for plants with year-round staying power A herbaceous border in full swing at the height of summer is a wonder to behold, but come the autumn it does rather collapse into a heap of old...
10 minute fitness
Being healthy isn’t just focusing on exercise or diet, it’s about lifestyle and mindset, too, as Sarah Maxwell explains. Prior to a summer break, many of us think about sprucing up in readiness for the beach, family fun, great food...
Beyond the Classroom
University, college or straight into a career? Reigate Grammar School and ACS International Schools discuss what help is on hand when it comes to making choices for life after secondary education. Matthew Buzzacott, Head of Careers at Reigate Grammar School,...
The Forever Plants
Jo Arnell explains what makes succulents such strong survivors. Technically, a succulent is any plant with thick, fleshy (succulent) water storage organs. Succulents store water in their leaves, stems, or roots, so they can go for long periods without needing...
Join Our Club
We explore the vast range of after-school activities on offer across schools in the South East. From tug of war to mindfulness colouring, there's no shortage of options. [showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] Dulwich Prep Cranbrook At Dulwich Prep...
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...
The whole person and nothing but the whole person
Dr Adrian Rainbow, Deputy Head (Co-curriculum) of Sevenoaks School, describes how the whole person education philosophy is applied there and the benefits pupils – and society – enjoy from it We live in precarious times: climate change, species extinction, tariff...
Educating the whole child
Our education writer Hilary Wilce explains the new – and ancient – philosophy which is coming back to the fore in British schools. A radical and exciting revolution is taking place in education and it’s one guaranteed to produce happier...
Meet the matrons (or house parents as they are now called)
Boarding can be a wonderful experience, producing independent young people, ready to go out into the world – but the prospect can be daunting, so who better to ask for advice about it than matron? (sorry, house parent) [showhide more_text="READ...
Mad about the BEES
Jo Arnell explains why, in a world full of pesticides, making your garden a destination for bees provides them with the ecological haven they’re crying out for. Insects are in crisis at the moment, their numbers declining at a frightening...
Early Harvests
Jo Arnell explains how you can reap the rewards of a little forward planning when it comes to the most productive crops in the veg patch. The unstoppable rush of growth pushes on in the garden, as the plants race...
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...
Border Basics
Jo Arnell strips back the foliage to put in the groundwork for beautiful borders When we look at a beautiful garden border, packed full of shapely shrubs and perennial colour it’s hard to imagine that they haven’t always been there...
An edible paradise
Jo Arnell tells us how to make a productive garden beautiful with deliciously attractive plants. There are a couple of boring old phrases that hover, Jiminy Cricket-like, in my ear when I’m plotting out my vegetable garden: ‘cut your coat...
Print perfect
Textile designer Molly Mahon and her husband Rollo have created a family home and thriving business in a cottage in the Ashdown Forest. Textile designer Molly Mahon’s woodsman’s cottage is tucked along a wooded lane on the edge of the...
Borders with backbone
It’s all a matter of balancing the outrageous show-offs with the quiet achievers, says Jo Arnell. Garden borders can be tricky to get right. ‘I’ve looked at borders from both sides now,’ Joni Mitchell might have sung, had she 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...
Winter’s promise
The days are lengthening and Jo Arnell is getting excited for the new gardening year. [showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] The light is slowly streaming back and I’m beginning to get excited for the spring. It’s usually a false...
Vinehall School
Address: Vinehall SchoolRobertsbridgeEast SussexTN32 5JL Telephone number: 01580 880413 Admissions email: admissions@vinehallschool.com School website link: www.vinehallschool.com Vinehall is a traditional prep school with a 21st century approach. The school is a co-educational day, boarding school and nursery located near the...
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,...
Restore Your Feminine Wellness
As a result of childbirth, and the natural aging process, experiencing looseness, dryness, and other symptoms in your vaginal area is common. The side effects of which can be diminished physical sensation during intercourse and urinary incontinence. Stress incontinence (releasing...
Dahlias, darling!
Sue Whigham celebrates and investigates the most joyous of late bloomers. Whether the name ‘dahlia’ was bestowed by the great Carl Linnaeus himself – the Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist who formalised ‘binomial nomenclature’, the modern system of naming organisms –...
Summer’s embers
Jo Arnell finds plenty to look forward to as the season turns From where I’m sitting on the parched and dusty plains of this summer, I have to tell you that I am pinning all my hopes on September. I’m...
Talking the talk
Being confident in another language – or two – will bring your child multiple benefits. Two schools talk us through it. Northbourne Park School The learning of languages in school can bring a mixed reaction from many people. For some...
Harvest home
Jo Arnell celebrates the traditional early autumn festival. It’s hard to remember a time before Wilderness, Latitude, Glastonbury etc, but not so long ago there was only one major festival in the British year – Harvest Festival. Once a major...
On good terms
There’s a lot you can do at home to keep your children happy at school says Hilary Wilce Now we are stuck into the new school year, a time for fresh beginnings, in the great tradition of new pencil cases...
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...
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...
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...
10 things I wish I’d known when my kids were young…
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. With the wisdom of looking back, we’d all be perfect parents. Now that I’ve had the chance to watch my children grow up, navigate through university, embark on their careers, find partners and start their...
Jump to it
The end of term is coming over the horizon, which means that in the school calendar it’s the season for sports days, swimming galas, and outdoor trips and challenges. So maybe it’s also the time when we parents should turn...
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...
Gut Instinct
Have you noticed recently that a lot of people seem to be talking about the importance of good gut health? So why so much fuss – and what actually constitutes the ‘gut’? The G word refers to our entire digestive...
Cool veg for warmer days
It’s the moment Jo Arnell has been waiting for since October – time to get going in the veggie patch It’s all about to take off in the vegetable garden and the first of the summer harvests are just around...
Coastal haven
This old coastguard’s cottage is gloriously free of all those corny seaside decor clichés thanks to interior architect Marta Nowicka’s sophisticated vision. If it’s not wall-to-wall tongue-and-groove it will be the pots of beach stones and assorted weather-beaten flotsam and jetsam...
Ready, Steady…VEG!
On sunny days in February I’m sorely tempted to rush out and get cracking in the veg patch, but then hesitate – in the nick of time. I’m forced to remind myself that frosts can threaten for many months to...
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...
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...
The House on the Hill
Going round a house with the owners for this magazine is always a journey. How they came to live there, the changes they’ve made to tailor it for their needs, the lovely things they’ve collected along the way... Touring the...
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...
Lavender’s Blue
Lavandula (common name lavender) is a genus of forty-seven known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, and surely must be one of the best known and versatile plants in the world. I expect most of you know...
What’s New?
A four minute walk from Victoria Station takes you to Eccleston Square, a wondrous three acre garden tended by Roger Phillips for the past twenty-four years. Roger is not only a long term resident of the square but a complete...
The Ripple Effect
Is your child well connected? I don’t mean, do they go to nursery with triple-barrelled playmates, or lounge through their older years alongside celebrity teens. Neither do I mean, are they permanently on superfast broadband with an iPad attached to...
Plant Therapy
It’s official. Gardening is good for you. How do I know? Well apart from a lifetime’s gardening (and you could say that gardeners are biased) there is significant evidence from organised research that gardening is one of the best, and...
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...
What is Yoga?
The yoga that we practise in the West today developed over thousands of years from a series of postures designed to help Indian holy men sit for long periods in meditation. The Indian sage Patanjali wrote the first user manual...
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...
Beat The Bugs
Anna Parkinson explains the natural use and versatility of herbal medicines... What are the benefits of using a herbal product over pharmaceutical drugs? Pharmaceutical drugs are crisis medicine, while herbal remedies and tinctures tend to be slower acting but far...
Exquisite Design in a Victorian Hastings Home
Retail brand consultant James, stylist David and their Boston Terrier, Cooper, moved into their Victorian property in the heart of Hastings Old Town just one year ago. In that time they have completely transformed the interior with their bold...
Kitchen Flooring Ideas
Looking for kitchen flooring ideas? We've got you covered. Whatever flooring you opt for will set the tone of your kitchen. There's plenty to consider including durability, how easy it'll be to clean and, of course, look and feel. 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...
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...
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...
From a Tiny Acorn
On the first day of college we were instructed that the only book we would need at this stage was The Hillier Manual of Trees and Shrubs. We were pretty horrified to see that it didn’t have any pictures. But...
Gone to Seed
I love September. The nights may be drawing in, but the days still feel like summer and there’s the sweet poignancy of still being able to make the most of the last few golden days - and I’m busy thinking about...
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...
Contemporary Coach House Conversion
Mix together an interior decorator and a bespoke kitchen designer and you have the perfect recipe for creating a 21st century home from a Victorian coach house.[showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] However hard we try to think outside the...
Country Cottage with Alpine Inspired Interior
There can be few weatherboarded cottages in the Weald of Kent that offer visitors such a welcome and refreshing surprise. Forget low ceilings and dark corners, or chintzy, rustic styling, and prepare yourselves for a trip to the Alps.[showhide more_text="READ...
Keep Calm – There Will Be Bumps Along The Way
Your child looks a bit pale. They've gone very quiet. They don't want to see their usual friends, have lost their appetite, and seem reluctant to go to school. You can't get much out of them, but you can sense...
Out Of School Education…
If the key to making the most of your child's education is broadening his or her experience, and keeping as many options open as possible for as long as possible, then out-of-school clubs and extra-curricular activities have a vital role...
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...
Containing Your Joy
I don’t know if any of you have been down to Hanham Court Gardens near Bath. Julian and Isabel Bannerman, Chelsea Gold Medal winners and whose commissions include incredibly imaginative creations at Highgrove, bought the house, part of a glorious mediaeval...
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...
Gut Instinct
The nutrition & lifestyle coach Fiona offers consultations in both Optimal Health and Sports Nutrition... What is healthy digestion? Healthy digestion requires adequate chewing to allow stomach acid and digestive enzymes to chemically break down food particles small enough to pass...
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...
Fisherman’s Cottage Turns Coastal Retreat
Linda Carter’s Hastings retreat has provided her and her family with a convenient coastal bolt hole, not too far from their main home in Kilndown. Filled with finds that she has tracked down at French brocantes over the years, Linda...
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...
No Shrinking Violets
With thoughts turning to autumn I thought I’d mention a few shrubs and trees which are invaluable for the quieter time of the gardening year whether it be for the promise of scented winter flowers, stem colour or their evergreen...
Hedge Your Bets
At the beginning of July we went camping in South Devon. All went swimmingly until the Sunday morning when the heavens opened as only they can do in the West Country. It was impossible to get out of our tents...
Whats Cooking at Holmewood House School?
Can you talk us through a typical lunchtime meal? Every day we offer: a healthy, traditional main course meal using fresh seasonal ingredients; homemade soup and rolls; a freshly prepared salad bar with a choice of protein; pasta or baked...
Mynthurst Mansion – Victorian Splendour
After deciding to sell a home in Camberwell and let another in Canterbury, Dan and Chris made the decision to settle in a graceful apartment in an elegant Victorian house. A little over three years later, and after an extensive...
Strong Front
I’ve been driving up to London on the South Circular Road for about thirty years and, despite being not much fun, it gives you a chance to look at front gardens when you are sitting at endless sets of traffic...
Summer Bounty
Remember back in the spring when nothing was growing and every pea was precious, when five courgette seeds didn’t seem enough to plant out and the bean seedlings were thin and straggling? Well, I’m eating those words now, and trying...
Novelist’s Charming Victorian Home
For twenty-six years Debbie Rix and her husband Tony have been evolving their generously proportioned Victorian home to suit the various stages of family life. Peaceful and calm, the beautiful gardens which surround the house now provide Debbie with the...
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...
Victorian Townhouse with a Modern Twist
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...
Harry Potter Jeweller’s Magical Home
When jeweller Catherine Hills and her family decided to relocate from the hustle and bustle of Islington to Tunbridge Wells they happened upon a Victorian villa tucked away down a peaceful street. Several years later, and with a wonderful new...
Home From Home
Knowing I was to write a feature on boarding, I recently subjected my elder son to a viewing of Lindsay Anderson’s 1969 film If, a limited but not entirely unfaithful depiction of public school life in the 1960s and based upon...
Courtyard Cottage Open-Plan Living
When Christine and her partner Kevin decided to downsize they chose to design and tailor the perfect space to meet their new requirements. Through careful planning and a knack for maximising on space, they have transformed a small courtyard cottage...
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...
Passion Fruit Cheesecakes
For the base: Mix together the digestive biscuits and the melted butter and press into the bottom of ramekins, refrigerate to set. For the cheesecake: Beat the cream cheese and caster sugar together until smooth. Add 75ml of the cream and...
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...
Little Treasures
Buds are already forming on the Sarcococcas ready to burst into flower just when it seems that nothing else will. And this small genus is really my Number 1 amongst winter treasures. It should be compulsory for all of us...
Recycle Your Garden
To everything there is a season (‘turn, turn, turn’ – you’ll be singing that all day now, sorry). A time to live and a time to – let things softly and quietly decompose back into usefulness. This is the season...
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...
The Three Rs Get a Makeover
The transition to secondary school is a massive leap - for most children the new school involves a host of new experiences, from getting there independently to working from a timetable for the first time. Having spent the last year...
Fantastic Eco Conversion
Vicky and James have converted a cluster of former farm buildings into a superb, eco-friendly 21st century family home that won them the Ashford Borough Council 2009 Design Award for Building Conservation.[showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] Over the 17th...
Adult Education – Qualifications
Sign Language Level 1 Course Code: ASH/12808/C/FF Duration: 22 September 2014 - 1 June 2015 Location, time & cost: Ashford Gateway, 7-9pm, £399 This is a one year-course leading to the Signature Level 1 Award in British Sign Language. At...
Adult Education – Catching Up
The Weald of Kent Computer Club Dates: Monthly, throughout the year Location, time & cost: New Village Hall, Biddenden, 7.30-9.30pm, guest members £3 per evening: free on first visit, full members £10 annually and £2 per evening The club is...
Victorian Grange Transformation
Philippa MacKinnon has employed her enviable organisational skills to sensitively transform her Victorian grange from a dilapidated space, untouched since the 1960s, to a chic and functional family home with ingenious storage solutions.[showhide more_text="READ MORE" less_text="READ LESS" hidden="yes"] On the...
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...
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...
Woodland Wonders
Oak (Quercus robur) We’ve always had an affinity with trees and with none more so than the oak, and it is impossible to imagine our landscape without them.The oak has always been voted our favourite tree although a survey taken...
Medieval Hall House
If one is looking for a historic Wealden building that has provided some of the most attractive and practical homes in our corner of the world it wouldn’t be the oast but a considerably more ancient contender – the medieval...
Memories Are Made Of This
"It is so important to keep a history of a school, or any building." These are the words of Karen Brock, who took it upon herself to become the archivist of Dulwich Preparatory School, Cranbrook. Now, seven years later, this...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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,...
Neat & Tidy
Gridlocked on the M25 recently, we were consoled by the thought that when we eventually reached home, half an hour’s blackberrying would revive the spirits. But no, we were greeted with the ominous sound of the hedgecutters at work 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....
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...
Rural Retreat
It’s a steamy and umbelliferous (as in lots of floaty cow parsley) morning in the Weald as we arrive at Wendy’s secluded house, which is tucked away from view down a narrow leafy lane. We’re warmly greeted with a, “Mind...
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...
Back to Basics
When you’re starting from scratch with a new garden, it’s quite useful to peer over your fence to see what your neighbours are growing or what sort of trees are growing in the nearest piece of woodland to you but...
Over the Rainbow
It is raining. As we walk towards the old brick building, heads bowed to shield us, the landscape looks grey, and early summer's lush green fields have taken on that dull, flat hue of winter months. Bustling in, we receive...
White Christmas
Steph Virgo’s house is getting dressed early for Christmas and even from the outside, bathed in winter sunshine rather than snow, it looks appropriately festive. The handsome 18th century lodge house with its stucco walls rather resembles a giant Christmas...
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...
Here To Help
Claremont School What's on offer for pupils after school? Our working day incorporates both the children's needs and those of parents. Children may be dropped off any time after eight o'clock in the morning and collected, after supervised homework, up to...
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...
For Sale
The number of students applying for places at university this September has dropped by around 50,000 according to the University and College Admissions Service (UCAS), a fall which has been partly attributed to the increase in tuition fees - but...
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...
The Siren Sound of the Sea
Sea Gem is aptly named and a Modernist treasure. It echoes the style of 1930s English seaside architecture but is no imitation or pastiche. The angular forms and spiral outdoor stairs, reminiscent of an ocean liner, have the elegance of...
An Agricultural Gem
Converted oasts can be rather like those childhood Christmas presents from Great Aunt Hermione – they look the biz from the outside but inside they are too often architectural socks. Oasts are, after all, industrial buildings built for hops not...
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...
Butterfly Borders
Last year was a bumper butterfly year. The unusually warm, dry spring we had benefitted those species that breed early in the season. This is heartening news, as the overall theme in the butterfly world is one of decline, due,...
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...
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...
Mosaic Artist’s Home
Second-generation artist-craftsmen are not common in the 21st century, but mosaic artist, Oliver Budd is just such a rarity, and although he fulfils commissions as far away as Oman, his extraordinary creations are designed and made from a quiet village...
Colour Burst
I thought it was cold this week until I heard what the temperature had dropped down to in Eastern Europe, but biting north-easterly winds and low temperatures rarely deter professional gardeners from their winter jobs. And at Hole Park in Rolvenden,...
Restoration Dream
A move to the country from London can sometimes make an interesting career a little more difficult for some professions at least. Job opportunities for Art Historians (of the university academic variety) are not to be found in many villages in...
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...
Pick & Mix
Next to having a baby and clearing out cupboards, there’s not much I’ve found that’s more satisfying than sowing seeds. My compulsion is under control at the moment, but by April it will be a different story. Behold the tiny...
Heritage at Home
For some people demolishing any period cottage is heresy, a loss of irreplaceable national heritage, and, certainly, serious questions must always be asked before swinging the wrecker’s ball. But one must remember that many rural cottages – particularly those built...
A Snapshot of Family Life
It’s a slightly odd feeling to be writing about a house that belongs to someone who is normally occupied with photographing other people’s. David Merewether is the Wealden Times’ photographer at large and the sort of man who quietly charms...
Artist’s Impression
In Victorian times, Britain was a manufacturing colossus, the workshop of the world. A new architecture was born, the architecture of the machine. Strength and space were the new priorities but the Victorians were, of course, never above a little...
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...
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...
Real Life Therapy
Ann Edwards opens the door of her East Grinstead late Victorian villa with something of a flourish. As she asks about my journey here, her face is animated and kindly enquiring and I get the distinct feeling that she is...
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...
Restored with Love
When a grand house falls into decay, there is rarely any shortage of worthy bodies and individuals to rush to its rescue, lavishing cash and compliments and ensuring it’s saved from the bulldozers. There are, however, hundreds more properties, more...
Natural History
Claudine and Robin Cecil’s brick and timber cottage is situated on a twisting East Sussex lane. It sits almost in the centre of an unspoilt valley, surrounded by farmland and small copses of oak and beech. Birdsong and the hum...
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...
Continental Chic
If Sevenoaks seems a typical English commuter town, not all its residents are quite so predictable. Candy is really Catharina, but her Dutch parents always called her Candy and it has stuck. Living in the Kent town with her Dutch...
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...
Let There Be Light
Having spent twenty years living in a huge, draughty and quite dark Tudor pile, Bill and Ingrid knew that their next home would be full of light, warm and cosy! This ended up being in Gothenburg, Sweden where all the...
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...
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...
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,...
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,...
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...
Pretty in Pink
As I write, peony time has not quite reached us in Kent and Sussex but seeing Kelway’s award-winning stand at Chelsea and then the peony collection at Kew all in the same week, I was reminded of how beautiful a...
Rustic Charm
As an Australian, Michael Ristic had been making trips to the UK for a few years. “I absolutely loved it here,” Michael explains. “So, in 1972, I decided to move to London for good.” For the next thirty years or...
Living The Thai Life
A quintessential 19th century English country estate majestically surveys the gently rolling scenery that surrounds it. The vast red brick house has recently been restored and converted into large apartments, with new buildings constructed in similar style to the west of...
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...
Staycation House
Tim and Sue Ball’s house seems to hug the hill that it is not so much built upon, but into. While only one storey rises above the highest point of ground, Tim, an architect, cut away the earth on one...
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,...
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...
Food for Thought
It is hard to believe some of the surveys about children, their eating habits and their knowledge of food. One wonders whether they liven up quiet news days or are simply to infuriate those adults who grew up before main...
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...
Through A Georgian Looking Glass
To step into the house we are visiting today is like time-travelling and I am fortunate to have a most amiable guide in the form of Bob, an engaging Australian who left his native land for England for good when...
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 Courting Couple
The courtyard gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show this year were, as usual, incredibly popular with the public. Once the Show was in full swing it was hard to get near them to admire the sheer ingenuity, imagination and love...
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...
Doddington Place Gardens
To escape from the dreariness of the A20 up into the lanes of the North Downs was a treat in itself but to arrive at Doddington Place Gardens, with its really quite fabulous collection of mature trees lining the, drive...
The Glass is Greener
I hadn’t realised that I had much in common with a darting ruby-throated hummingbird until last autumn, when, meandering along the late-flowering borders at Wisley with a friend, we simultaneously spotted a particularly scrumptious velvety burgundy salvia. Being delicious to...
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,...
Degrees Of Light
Although it’s formidable from the outside, Martyn, a specialist in Russian art, and his partner Käthe have created a calm, family home within. Käthe is an artist and the daughter of renowned artists, Eric Doitch and Mary Fitzpayne. [showhide more_text="READ...
