An Elegant Touch

Grand period buildings can not only be a joy to their owners but also, on far too many occasions, a tyranny, dictating not only physical spaces but décor and ultimately even the lifestyle of the families they should be serving...

Living The Thai Life

A quintessential 19th century English country estate majestically surveys the gently rolling scenery that surrounds it.

Rustic Charm

As an Australian, Michael Ristic had been making trips to the UK for a few years.

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

Staycation House

Tim and Sue Ball’s house seems to hug the hill that it is not so much built upon, but into.

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.

A Miller’s Tale

Approached from its leafy drive, Hedera House looks like a perfect Regency villa: a confection of pale plasterwork and neo-classical mouldings

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

A Rich Tapestry

Helen Grant welcomes us into her seaside home with hot coffee and irresistible, honeyed baklava.

A Passion For Pattern

Tucked away, at the end of a leafy driveway, is a typically Kentish house.

Decorative Living

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

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...

Home From Home

After a lifetime of running a successful catering business, most of us would relish the thought of putting our feet up and taking it easy, which is exactly how Fanny Brogden felt after retiring from Fanny’s Kitchen in 1998.

Barn Free

Access to the barn isn’t by any means impossible but if you’re lucky enough to be invited to dinner, take the Humvee.

A Gardener’s World

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

By George They’ve Got It!

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

Art House

the enormous inglenook, like a spine, stretches through the house to the magnificent, vaulted master bedroom...

The Linen Shed B&B

The Linen Shed started out as a Great War army drill hall where, on still summer evenings, the deadly rumble of the Flanders guns across the Channel could clearly be heard...

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...

Portrait of a Lady

Do people find houses or do they find us? By any yardstick, the story of how artist Victoria Threlfall came about hers is fortuitous. Married and living in Brixton with four young children, the urge to give her girls the...

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,...

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.

Taking A View

Making the decision to downsize can be daunting to consider, but Margaret and her husband David seem to have embraced the process.

We’ll Gather Lilacs

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

Welcome Aboard

On a cold, rainy day, Eileen and Tony’s houseboat offers a ray of sunshine and a stark contrast to the greyness of the landscape of Kings North power station and a restless wintry sea. The boat was bought fourteen years...

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...

All’s Fair

Summer and Christmas fairs are held in the house every May and November. The events began fairly modestly but have steadily grown both in size and reputation...

A Rural Retreat

this beautiful three-bay hall house dates back to 1490 with Georgian additions...

Full of Eastern Promise

In the heart of the Weald stands a medieval house, the home of Jemima, her husband and two daughters.

Up The Garden Path

Among the well-kept front gardens of a Wealden high street, the garden of one pretty Georgian villa stands out.