Michael developed a passion for kitchenalia, pottery, and old garden tools. “There’s something really compulsive about ordinary domestic objects that have been loved and used,” he states. “They have a simple charm about them and some of them, the garden tools in particular, are often unique to an area or county. The problem is, though, that the more you find, the more you look for them…” Michael settled happily in a two-bedroom house in Wimbledon and filled it with his collection. “I had a lovely home – it was tiny but perfect for the train and the underground which was just what I needed for work,” he continues.
‘Work’ is an understatement as Michael was running not one but two restaurants in the West End, having started as a waiter and worked his way through the hospitality industry right up to management. As well as the restaurants, he also managed a bakery. “After thirty years though,” he says, “I’d had enough – of work and London but not the UK. I suppose I was worn out. I’d always said that I would retire to the country. So I took stock of my life and just decided to retire early.”
Michael had no particular ideas about where the ‘country’ should be. “Lots of people want to be near schools, work or transport,” he comments. “But I was fortunate in that I’d decided that none of those things mattered. My only priority was that I wanted lots of land for my dogs.” At the time, Michael had a lurcher and two retired greyhounds. The ‘country’ was going to be in the South East and Sussex appealed. “I thought it was beautiful but then I saw the cost of the houses there,” he laughs. “I was about to sell my house in London for a good profit but I still wanted to get a lot for it when I settled again. So I searched across the border into Kent.”
Michael then began to look at properties a few miles from the coast, finding lots of great houses with very small gardens as well as vast plots with tiny properties. But after five weeks of searching, he found a house with land. “It dated back to the sixteenth century and I fell for it immediately,” he states. After seeing the three acre plot in which the house sits, Michael fell in love with the vast open countryside the area offered. He immediately made an offer. Unfortunately, so did a cash buyer and, as Michael’s own house had not yet been sold, the offer was not accepted. “I was so disappointed, but continued my search – and found nothing. Meantime, my own house was under offer and the sale was going through quite quickly.” A few weeks later, Michael received a call from the Kent estate agent; the cash buyer’s offer had fallen through. The house was going back on the market and Michael was the first call of a list of 17 interested parties. “I asked for twenty-four hours to think about it. But, six weeks later, I moved in.”
As the Poor House for the nearby church, the property was divided into two, with one, perhaps, being for the woman who was in charge of the destitute of the parish. “Who knows how many people lived here over the years?” Michael wonders. “Originally there were a lot of other farm cottages nearby as well. But, I think with the decline in agricultural work over the years, they fell into disrepair and the house is now on its own.”
Michael was installed in August and quickly discovered that much of the cosmetic decoration was hiding work that needed to be done. “I opened the windows and some fell off the hinges,” he laughs. “And if you turned on the dimmer switches, you got strobe lighting – but not by design! Re-wiring and re-plumbing the property was a case of urgency. The bath was disgusting so I decided that I wouldn’t bother with a proper bath until it had been replaced with a shower. As I said, it was a case of urgency!”
For nine months, a local builder became an almost permanent resident at the house. Having once been split into two, the house had a central staircase but also an unattractive spiral one which led from the hall to a bedroom. “I didn’t like it and, anyway, it shouldn’t have been here because the property is listed,” Michael explains. “So I had it taken out – which was when the ceiling dropped down because it was being supported by it. It was all a bit precarious.” Most of the house needed to be replastered and a new kitchen and pantry were put in as well as the replacement bathroom. “The other main problem was the floor in the living room. The original floorboards had been removed and the whole floor had been concreted and carpeted, so I had to remove the carpets and put in new joists and a brand new English oak floor.”
Internal and external doors also had to be replaced and these were sourced from reclamation yards. After the replastering, Michael then painted the rooms himself, using a range of colours from Farrow & Ball. “I think their colours work really well in older properties because they adapt to the light,” Michael says. So, nine months after moving in, the house was fully restored and ready for retirement. Only, Michael had, by now, realised that he wasn’t ready to put his feet up in front of the recently installed woodburner. “Now that the house was finished,” he explains, “I had more time to search for my tools and things. The only problem is that, after finding so many things over the years, they do tend to take over the house.”
Over the years, Michael had sold some of his surplus collection to various shops in London. The move to Kent prompted him, with more time on his hands, to sell things through local outlets. “I decided that I had far too many kitchen items and, after deciding which pieces I wanted to keep, I sold the rest of my collection through shops in Rye. I still love the pottery but I confess my real passion is the garden tools,” Michael explains. “The mix of metal and wood is very tactile and I love the fact that the Victorians appear to have created a tool for just about everything in the garden. I’m always discovering new ones and it’s great when I meet someone at a fair who tells me what something is for.” Michael travels across Sussex and Kent sourcing more tools and pottery but finds it increasingly hard to find items of quality. “I often get asked to come and search through a shed only to discover that the tools aren’t garden ones but carpentry kit. Or the wood is completely riddled with worm or simply worn out. But then I find something special and I figure that if I love it, someone else will too.”
Michael’s ‘retirement’ means he is just as busy as ever. “I sell things through various venues, including The Old Forge in Appledore, and Halcyon Days and Café des Fleurs in Rye.” He has also used his artistic eye to restore painted furniture. “I started finding game racks and fruit ladders and, of course, they make great coat hooks and towel rails. But I also renovate and paint chairs, tables, cupboards and mirrors, using original colours as much as possible.” Never being one to sit in front of that woodburner, Michael’s love of cooking has led to him baking cupcakes for weddings, christenings, and parties. “They aren’t like the big American-style ones with all those sprinkles and spronkles on them – more like large fairy cakes made with organic flour, free-range eggs, and natural ingredients.”
After four years in the Kent countryside, Michael is more than happy to have escaped London. “I was such a Londoner before that all my friends said I’d never settle here. But I think I moved at the right time for me, to the right house for me. I love it here and have no intention of moving away. I can safely say I’ve proved my friends wrong!”
