Especially as, whilst still a student at Leith’s, she was spotted by Good Housekeeping magazine who offered her a position on their food team. After working for GH and a period spent travelling and cooking in the Far East, Mary returned to the UK where she worked on the food pages of various magazines before being offered the chance to launch Vegetarian Good Foodmagazine for the BBC. Such was the success of the magazine that it won a host of awards including a Glenfiddich Food and Drink Award. “I think the achievement of the magazine was that it was filled with recipes that were vegetarian but created so that everyone, meat eaters included, would really enjoy them,” Mary explains.
After time spent as editor-in-chief of the M&S magazine, Mary worked as a consultant editor for Waitrose’s customer publications and for Editorial Training Consultants as a trainer. Since moving back to the Weald, she has returned to her original love – food writing. Now, as well as creating recipe cards for Waitrose and writing for the supermarket’s Weekend newspaper, she has just started work on a new cookery book to add to the three she has produced in the past. And sitting on the committee of the local farmers’ market allows her to pursue her interest in locally sourced food. But Mary says, “Really it was meeting my husband Derek that led us both to realising that the hectic life we were leading in London wasn’t one we wanted any more.”
The couple initially moved to Midhurst where they bought an organic farm with 40 acres. “The farm had a wonderful 16th century barn which we bought with planning permission to convert into holiday accomodation,” Mary explains. “Our plan was to create a luxurious space for guests to stay in and attend cookery and photography courses based at the farm. But when we submitted new plans, it was discovered that there were several species of bats in the barn. This meant that a special survey had to be carried out.” After a year of monitoring, the planners decided that a special bat loft would be required. “That was all fine but the plans then all had to be re-worked which meant our build cost was going to double. We simply couldn’t afford to carry on with the plan so decided to scale down our ideas and move.”
At first, Mary and Derek thought they would have to move into rented accommodation as the sale of the farm happened very quickly. In fact, they stumbled across a converted oast house for sale only twenty minutes away from Mary’s parents and her sisters. “In the past, both of us have lived in houses that we have renovated ourselves,” Mary says, continuing the story. “This oast had been converted from agricultural use way back in 1890 and extended and modernised again just after the turn of the Millennium. So it was a first for us to find a house that we liked that didn’t need much major building work doing.”
The oast is set in an idyllic valley and is a relaxing and peaceful house that is flooded by light in every room. Mary comments, “there are lots of windows and wherever you sit, you can see a view that is visually satisfying.” Originally, the garden was rigidly fenced giving the appearance, Derek laughs, of “a rural railway station”. Over the three years that they have lived there the picket fencing has disappeared to open up the space and make the use of the views. Now, the eight acres are filled with an orchard, a flourishing vegetable garden, and a small flock of hens. “It’s starting to be the way we want it,” Mary smiles.
Not surprisingly for a family for whom food is so important, the kitchen is the hub of the home. “The layout of the kitchen and the units are pretty much as they were when we moved in,” Mary comments. “But we have changed details like the cupboard handles and also added the fabulous larder cupboard that my husband designed specially for me. As you can imagine, cookery books are something of an obsession so he created a library cupboard at one end and then there are drawers and large cupboards for storing food.
The spacious kitchen has an extensive eating area, as well as a sitting area where the whole family can gather when everyone is at home for family meals. A dining room leads off from the kitchen, which means that at Christmas, the two antique tables, bought at auction for the farmhouse and now looking purpose-bought for the oast, can be linked to provide spacious seating for the extended family. Two beautiful dark oak side tables adorn the dining room and came from a collection of furniture put together by Mary’s grandfather.
The former scullery is now transformed into an internal hallway and coat room whilst the original entrance into the oast houses a boot room that is essential for a busy family of five and the many guests that visit.
A glazed link connects the main house to a stunning sitting room that forms the main part of the extension to the property. Three enormous sofas tempt visitors to relax as they sit in front of the large inglenook. “When we moved here there wasn’t a functioning fireplace,” Mary points out, “so we put in a large wood burner with doors that open out so we can get the best of both burner and open fire.” Another addition is the picture rail that spans the room. “I dislike hanging pictures straight onto a wall,” Derek explains. “I like to be able to move pictures around or replace them”. On the walls both here and in the rest of the house are Derek’s own photographs and paintings, as well as those of friends.
Upstairs, there are five bedrooms, including a dream of a boy’s bedroom in the cowl of the roundel. “The great thing about this house is all the children have great bedrooms,” Mary says. “You know how there’s always one room which is really small or hasn’t got enough windows or somewhere to put your clothes? Here, all the children are happy with their rooms!” The master bedroom is not only spacious but has the benefit of especially fine views from the window. “Actually, the views dominated our search for a bed,” Mary explains. “We knew we needed to buy one that was not only big enough to fill the available space but that was also high enough to allow you to see straight out of the windows as you sit and sip your tea in the morning.”
Both the en suite and the family bathrooms were part of the major changes that Mary and Derek have made. “When we bought the house,” Mary says, “both bathrooms had free-standing slipper baths with overhead showers and voluminous swags of curtain tumbling down. All very beautiful to look at but anyone with one teenager, let alone three, will instantly appreciate that they were a disaster. If you had a bath, the water got cold very quickly – and you know how long teenagers can be in the bathroom. Then, every time one of them showered, the water cascaded down the curtains onto the floor and down into the kitchen below. In their place, new baths and showers are now attached to walls and have fixed glazed screens that keep the water in.
Standing outside in the newly planted cottage garden, one can fully appreciate why the family settled here. “It’s a wonderful space for all of us,” Mary confirms, “and it’s slowly turning into the home that we had all been searching for. Since we moved here, so many things have happened that have drawn our extended family together. My parents have both been ill so it’s been essential to be so close to them. And I love being near to both my sisters again. Plus the kitchen has been just perfect for my recipe writing. I really think that this is a place that we are meant to be.”
