After buying buildings they had admired for years, a couple well-versed in renovating properties have created a uniquely peaceful and welcoming home they now open as a B&B sanctuary
It’s hard to pinpoint what determines the atmosphere of a house. Happy people are important and being in beautiful countryside is conducive to a general sense of wellbeing, but it takes much more than that to create a home that seems to welcome you into its sheltering arms.
Capel Manor Courtyard gives you that feeling. From the moment you drive into the gravelled forecourt through gates at the end of a private road, off a country lane, and take in the long low buildings with arches and a lovely terrace to one side, you breathe out and think: I’m here, just where I need to be.
Perhaps it is the glorious golden Wealden sandstone it’s built from, the windows framed in that most treasured British limestone we all know from Bath.
Or maybe it’s the residual pleasure of the people who enjoyed the luxury of the 26-bedroom Victorian manor house – demolished in the 1970s, like so many others – for which these were once the stables, hayloft, carriages and coachman’s quarters. Or even the ones from the early 19th century house, a Kent family rich from textiles and wool, who were the wealthy relatives of the poorer Austen family of Jane Austen fame.
The sitting room is a lovely lofty space, with a stone mantelpiece flanked by three generous sofas piled with kilim cushions
In the ten acres of woodland gardens behind the buildings you can still see the levelled lawns where residents and guests of the Victorian manor played croquet and tennis and it’s so easy to imagine the swish of long white skirts, the thwack of wooden ball on mallet and a tinkle of laughter.
But back here in the present day, the full nurturing impact of Capel Manor Courtyard is focused exactly in the beautiful brick-paved, gravel and flag-stoned area of its name, nestled at the centre of this compound house, with the repurposed buildings enclosing it on four sides.
With a lovely old stone fountain playing in the middle, surrounded by neat topiaried box hedging and sweeping upstrokes of Russian sage – like a supermodel form of lavender – it has the feeling of a Moroccan riad. A garden within a house, creating a very particular nurturing sense of protection.
Floor-to-ceiling bookcases offer the perfect opportunity for guests to select a book to curl up with in front of the fire in the room next door
This area has a very high ceiling – it was once the hay loft – and French windows at either side, looking out to the courtyard one way and the garden the other. The perfect spot for guest breakfasts when it’s not warm enough to be outside.
Book one of the four rooms available for overnight stays here and on a sunny morning you could be eating your breakfast in that very spot.
It was exactly this central area which made the current owners fall in love with the house, twenty plus years ago, which they already knew from visiting friends who are now their neighbours.
“We love Ightham Mote,” they say, referring to the medieval manor house near Sevenoaks, run by the National Trust, “and we’ve always wanted to live in a house built round a central courtyard. We knew the people who lived next door to this and one day they told us ‘they’re selling’. We looked round, fell in love with it, waited nine months and then secured it in August 2000.”
But this was not so much a happy ending as a happy beginning, leading to two years of heavy work, connecting the buildings – which were then in four separate parts – round the courtyard. The cart shed section was open and now serves as the large kitchen diner.
“We started with the annexe,” they say, referring to the building opposite the kitchen of the main house, “and we moved in there. Then we gutted the whole place. It was a labour of love.”
Having previously tackled projects in London, Tunbridge Wells and north Norfolk, the couple have worked on houses in France and Mallorca since the restoration of Capel Manor Courtyard.
“Before we started here, we sat and thought about the layout. We were starting from a completely clean slate, so we decided to create zones. We have two sons, so they had their zone on one side, us in the middle with the kitchen and sitting room and then guests at the far end, overlooking the garden, finishing off with the more separated annexe.”
When it comes to the style of the interiors, they are much too modest, saying that neither of them comes from a creative background (they were in finance and headhunting, before devoting themselves full time to the house and garden). “We don’t follow fashion in interiors. It’s classic, with natural materials. We like colour and we love original art. Luckily we have similar taste – and we both bring something to the equation.”
The couple approached their friend, interior designer Alie Carter with the brief for updating the buildings to create a warm, welcoming interior in which their guests could relax in comfort. “They were keen to reference the sandstone of the original building in the design as well as the surrounding gardens with the use of natural materials and the colour scheme. They also wished to build as much sustainability as possible into the project by sourcing goods from local suppliers and supporting local businesses,” says Alie.
One step through the Gothic-arch double doors into the library, used as a sitting room by B&B guests and it is instantly apparent how well their collaboration has worked.
It’s a lovely lofty space, with a stone mantelpiece, put in by the stone mason who was working on the buildings, flanked by three generous sofas piled with kilim cushions. The walls – of what could have been too big a room to be cosy and inviting – have been broken up with panelling they put in, the beading picked out in a warmer yellow than the walls. “It’s a Farrow & Ball colour, but we mixed it up a bit. India Yellow was too dark,” they add.
An airy corridor leads to the guest wing’s two bedrooms
The Rose Room previously served as a garage before its transformation
For the same reason, the pale green wall paint stops at picture rail height, but what really strikes you in this room is the vibrancy of the collection of paintings on the walls – and they weren’t kidding when they said they love art.
“We have collected art – original paintings – for years. We both love colour and we buy particular paintings just because we love them. The majority of the artworks are by Scottish colourist artists, bought primarily from galleries in Scotland and from Lyon & Turnbull auctioneers.”
Straight across from the door into the library is a larger stone-mullioned Gothic arch, through to the bookshelf area, with blue/green-painted shelves from floor to ceiling with a library ladder. Perfect for guests to select a volume from, to curl up with in front of the fire.
Situated in the main house, the Lilac Room exudes luxury and comfort. Pale pink panelling coupled with natural stone tiling and warm woods gives the en suite bathroom cosy appeal
This area has a very high ceiling – it was once the hay loft – and French windows at either side, looking out to the courtyard one way and the garden the other. The perfect spot for guest breakfasts when it’s not warm enough to be outside.
But whatever the weather, there is no risk of shivering at Capel Manor Courtyard. With the great benefit of that blank slate they started with, all the windows are double glazed, all walls and floors fully insulated.
From the library area a wide door leads to an equally wide corridor – characteristic of the breathing-out sense of generosity in the whole place – which has sage green tongue-and-groove panelling up to dado rail height and sisal on the floor, where there are two guest suites.
“Before we started we sat and thought about the layout. We had a completely clean slate, so we decided to create zones. We have two sons, so they had their zone on one side, us in the middle with the kitchen and sitting room and then guests at the side, finishing off with the more separated annexe.”
The Lilac Room is a double, with floral paintings and lovely crewel work curtains, while the Rose Room (which was formerly a garage, but you would never know) is a twin, with pictures on a rose theme, cosy plaid blankets on the beds and views onto the planted garden, with lavish flower beds. Both guest rooms have splendid shower rooms.
Heading back to the breakfast library, we then step out across to the Annexe, known as ‘The Clockhouse’ which has its own entrance and very much feels like a separate residence, although joined to the rest of the dwelling by the central courtyard. It has to be booked in its entirety and is a perfect option for two couples to enjoy their own space and private garden.
With wide-planked floors, a dining table and chairs from Heal’s and steps down to a conservatory sitting room, it has a more contemporary feel. To the left of the dining area there is a very cool tea and coffee making unit, housed in a Shaker style cabinet, designed by Alie Carter and built to order by Richard Wigdahl of Fine Fitted Furniture. It’s painted Farrow & Ball Inchyra Blue.
French Bulldog soaks up some sunshine in the kitchen.
The archway entrance to the Italianate stone courtyard gives views through to the central fountain
An open doorway leads on to a very snug sitting room, painted a restful rich pea green, with the wood panelling theme repeated again, this time Shaker style and coming higher up the wall. With a log burner, stacked bookcases and very comfy armchairs, this would be a very cosy spot to recover from a hearty country walk and Sunday lunch in one of the excellent restaurants in nearby Kilndown, Matfield and Brenchley.
As we walk through to look at the two bedrooms, one double, one twin, both with en suites featuring very chic Matki showers and handmade geometric tiles sourced by Alie Carter from Burt & May, I comment that the whole place has a lovely smell and am pointed towards a White Company diffuser. Just one of the small details which make the whole place so deeply pleasant to be in.
The next stage of exploration takes us back into the courtyard then left and through a wrought iron gate in a stone wall to the lawned garden area, which has borders with those stylish layers of plants leading back and up in height in swathes of colour, that you see in properly designed gardens.
They have been opening the gardens here for visitors for several years, with the bed and breakfast a new development this year – with an unscheduled break for lockdown, but now open when restrictions permit – and a lot of the guests they’ve welcomed already chose it because it has lovely gardens of its own and is also near several famous ones.
“It appeals to garden lovers because they can go to Great Dixter, Pashley Manor and Sissinghurst very easily from here. But it can also be a retreat with no TV… they can grab a book from the library and chill, or play one of the games we have supplied.”
For guests who want to venture out more rigorously there are Ordnance Survey maps to hand showing local walks and details of outings, such as the wonderful Bodiam Boating Station (actually just outside Northiam) from where you can hire canoes, rowing boats and kayaks, for wonderful exploring on the River Rother – a treat for which I can personally vouch.
But if I was staying at Capel Manor Courtyard – and after my exploratory visit I am seriously keen to do so – I know I would find it very hard to tear myself away from that very special atmosphere at all.
“It appeals to garden lovers because they can go to Great Dixter, Pashley Manor and Sissinghurst very easily from here. But it can also be a retreat with no TV… they can grab a book from the library and chill, or play one of the games we have supplied.”
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