When Cathe and John Wheatman moved into their generously proportioned Victorian town house four-and-a-half years ago they were only the third family to live in it, since it was built in 1870.
That must be a pretty rare record – but it doesn’t seem so surprising in the very special little enclave where the house is situated. It’s in the esteemed borough of Royal Tunbridge Wells, but has an atmosphere all of its own, tucked away on a ‘dead end’ street – meaning dead end in the good sense that you can’t drive along it and hook up to another road, so it’s a destination in itself, not somewhere to blindly pass through en route to somewhere else.
A clutter-free entrance hall leads into the dining room on one side and sitting room on the other
It’s certainly one of things that the Wheatmans love about their home. “We love the area, love the community,” says Cathe. “There are painters and creative people here. We had a street celebration for International Women’s Day, we had a socially distanced plant swap during lockdown and our neighbours ran a djembe drumming circle to bring the community together earlier in the year. When we left our last property in Bromley we realised there was no one to say goodbye to there and we wanted to change that in moving to Tunbridge Wells.” “We call this ‘real’ Tunbridge Wells,” adds John.
The community spirit really came into its own during lockdown, when Cathe was shielding, so couldn’t leave the house to shop for food. “Gerald and Jo from Camden Butchers and the fruit and veg shop Locality, which are all just down on Camden Road,” – which is the road their street runs off – “delivered food to us, for no extra charge. It was fantastic.”
Although the couple shop in high street stores, they source most of their furniture and decor from local charity shops
“We like to source things from charity shops,” says Cathe. “Particularly the Ellenor Hospice one, which is very close. I think every lampshade we have came from there…”
The special character of the locality has definitely influenced the décor of the house – not least because so many of the interesting things in it were sourced in the unusually good charity shops in this part of Tunbridge Wells. “We like to source things from charity shops and combine them with vintage textiles or ceramics or prints which we find when travelling, to create a more global look,” says Cathe. “We support Ellenor Hospice shop, I think almost every lampshade we have was bought from there…”
With a professional background in healthcare herself, Cathe is keen to encourage others to make the most of this great local resource too.
Setting the dining table at a diagonal angle makes it much easier to get around the room and adds dynamism to the space
The kitchen is still in its original place in an extension at the back of the house. Cathe and John decided to keep the old plasterwork, where the bread oven used to be, and commissioned a new sky blue and wood contemporary kitchen with a herringbone parquet floor
A colourful guest bedroom is filled with artworks collected on the couple’s travels
“We held an open day at the house, with £1 entrance in aid of the Hospice, with tea and homemade cake, to help people understand that everything doesn’t have to be new, when furnishing a home, upcyling is a fantastic option to try as is combining furniture of different eras. We wanted to show how you can repurpose things, save money, save the planet – and help a very worthwhile charity.”
And it’s not just the local charity shops that provide local sources. They bought a John Sankey chaise longue and two armchairs as well as the dining room chairs from Hoopers, in addition to mixing in brands from the local high street such as Oliver Bonas, Anthropologie and Dassie Artisan to add a contemporary flavour into their mix of homewares.
Even the piece of furniture that first struck me when I entered the house, a very stylish set of shelves, made from industrial piping and old scaffolding boards, is of ultra local provenance. “It came from The Bicycle Bakery just down on Camden Road,” says John. “Jamie used to sell his bread off them. He was changing things round and he sold them to us and they show how you can build a whole room round one piece.”
Another thing to note about those shelves, is their position in the room. In use as a TV stand, they are on the wall opposite the fireplace. So rather than facing the chimney breast, you watch telly from the comfy grey sofa with your head turned away from the woodburner – while your body still benefits from the warmth. It is a great improvement on the very unappealing TV-fixed-to-the-wall over the mantelpiece, which is becoming all too commonplace in today’s homes.
“We didn’t want the TV to be the focal point,” says John, very simply – summing up their very independent-minded approach to the entire house. This is immediately evident in the hallway outside the sitting room, where a downstairs loo has been very cleverly sneaked in under the stairs, so you would never know it was there. To the right as you come out of it, opposite the front door, is another hidden space, where they hide away coats, hats and boots.
John’s lateral-thinking engineer brain is behind these very pleasing details, making the absolute most of every bit of space in the house, without ever compromising the overall aesthetics.
This is very clear with their approach to bathrooms. They didn’t want a shared ‘family’ bathroom, so instead in both the guest bedrooms on the top floor, they have shaved off a narrow strip of space to create very contemporary shower rooms, opposite the beds – not that you’d know they were there.
By making them slim spaces, the width of the room, they don’t create that painful en suite bathroom effect you sometimes see, with a corner of a room carved off. Here the proportions of the space are not damaged at all and because the ceiling slopes down in a curve at that end of the room, the effect is softened and looks ‘meant to be’.
Especially, as in the downstairs loo and coat cupboard, the outsides of the bathrooms are panelled with broad slats hung horizontally, concealing the push open doors, so they look like feature walls, rather than dividers. “I like things hidden,” says John and he’s certainly good at achieving it.
In the bedroom on the east side of the top floor, the far wall has been left unplastered, with the wooden lathes showing, all painted white, as are the floorboards, which switch to dark grey out on the landing – which Cathe uses as an office – and then to pale grey as you enter the other bedroom.
All these touches give the space a very cool warehouse kind of groove, which is hard to achieve in a house of this era, where people usually get caught up in ‘original features’. Cathe has something to say about that, “We like bohemian modern as an interior style, a blend of many textures and layers which works well with any age of property with or without original features.”
The artistic loft atmosphere continues on the stairs, where the facing wall is exposed brick – which John tells me are characteristic, “Tunbridge Wells bricks, so we decided to keep them on show.”
In the bedroom on the east side of the top floor, the far wall has been left unplastered, with the wooden lathes showing. The floorboards switch from white to dark grey out on the landing – which Cathe uses as an officeThe bedroo
Which seems a nice tribute to the Victorian builder who constructed this place, making this particular house for his own family, the first of the three to live in it.
The painted floorboards also continue as a feature on the stairs, with dark grey on the treads and white on the risers – and the staircase is even more interesting, when viewed from beneath.
They have put nothing behind the steps, not rendering them like a smooth white ceiling, as is usual, instead leaving them exposed and visible from below, as in a 20th century modern house. It has a striking effect, creating more space and, as John puts it, “It adds shape and texture.” Atmosphere, too.
John’s lateral-thinking engineer brain makes the absolute most of every bit of space in the house, without ever compromising the overall aesthetics. This is very clear with their approach to bathrooms. They didn’t want a shared ‘family’ bathroom, so instead in both the guest bedrooms on the top floor, they have shaved off a narrow strip of space to create very contemporary shower rooms, opposite the beds – not that you’d know they were there.
The whole first floor has been created as a master suite, with the bedroom styled as a cosy second sitting room, with a woodburner, against another wall of exposed brick, and armchairs.
Out on the landing, where there was a loo and a door to the other bedroom, there is now an intriguing ceiling-high opening leading to walls lined with elegant contemporary grey-wood built-in cupboards. These conceal the laundry on one side (John hiding things again) and floor-to-ceiling clothes storage on the left, all the way on to what would have been the window of the former back bedroom. As John puts it, “We use landings as rooms.”
You then arrive at a door, to the right, which opens onto a very chic luxury shower room, with double basins atop grey wood cupboards, Moroccan-inspired tile splash backs and mirrored cupboards above.
The house has a distinctly artistic loft atmosphere with exposed brickwork and a palette of whites and greys.
The whole first floor has been created as a master suite, with the bedroom styled as a cosy second sitting room, with a woodburner, against another wall of exposed brick
As here, storage has been so well thought out in this house, there is no extraneous clutter anywhere. No visible scruffy toothbrushes, combs and body lotion, no scattered wellies, shoes and scarves, there is a place for everything – and everything is in its place. Japanese clutter banisher Marie Kondo would very much approve.
This all helps make it the perfect showcase for the intriguing collection of objets and artworks Cathe and John have collected, many of them on their travels to Vietnam, Mexico, Morocco and Egypt. Not forgetting the wonderful brocantes of France, where they have recently bought a second home, which it is clear they are relishing the prospect of making over.
“We are recent interiors people,” says Cathe, “it’s a new hobby.” And one they perhaps approach with all the more originality, for coming to it later.
“We are recent interiors people,” says Cathe, “it’s a new hobby.” And one they perhaps approach with all the more originality, for coming to it later
Some of the artworks, though, like the lovely bright painting in the hallway are from closer to home – produced by their artist neighbour, Beth Barker.
Back there on the ground floor, it’s a right turn from the bottom of the stairs into the dining room, where a large square table – from a school and found at the YMCA furniture store, just down the road – is set at a diagonal angle, which makes it easier to get past en route to the kitchen and adds dynamism to the space.
A large mercury mirror with appealing foxing (it came with the house) leans against the wall next to the opening to the kitchen. It’s in its original place in an extension at the back of the house, as per the Victorian vernacular.
A chic luxury shower room is concealed behind another of John’s well-thought-out doors. Featuring double basins atop grey wood cupboards, Moroccan inspired tile splash backs and mirrored cupboards, everything is in its place and storage has been so cleverly considered, there is no extraneous clutter anywhere
Here they have left the old plasterwork, where the bread oven used to be, lovely with the messed-up patina of time, set off by a new sky blue and wood contemporary kitchen and a new floor of herringbone parquet.
From here you step out onto a deck, which is like a second kitchen, with a Belfast sink set into raw brick ‘units’, with old fruit crates below and a mirror above. Perfect for summer meals in the magical garden they have created where once there was a barren wilderness.
Just as the house was “in a bit of a state” when they bought it with, as Cathe explains, “all the renovations that had been done in the 70s with a lot of sauna wood and lowered ceilings, the fireplaces all taken out and a loo opening off the kitchen…” the garden was in a sad mess. However with the help of local architects, designers and a landscape gardener it has been turned into a contemporary space with a hint of a Marrakech garden, and feels more in keeping with the house.
The garden was in a sad state when John and Cathe moved in. It is now a plant-filled haven for the couple and their dog, Mr. Mont, with rosemary hedges inspired by a visit to Le Jardin Secret in Marrakech
Now it has brick-paved paths – a nice link back to the exposed walls in the house – and a circular area defined by rosemary hedges, which Cathe says was inspired by their visit to Le Jardin Secret in Marrakech, planted round with verbena, tall with purple pom poms, hibiscus, bottle brush and other plants from Cathe’s native New Zealand.
Sitting at a table on a west-facing second deck outside a contemporary studio building that is John’s office, Cathe relates their inspirations for planting. “We filled it with wildflowers, to make it appeal to bees and during lock down, we planted potatoes and onions. We opted for a green wildflower meadow roof on the office to replace what we had removed within our garden redesign and include lots of bee friendly plants and fragrant lavenders.”
“We filled it with wildflowers, to make it appeal to bees and during lock down, we planted potatoes and onions.”
John and Cathe have lavished their attention onto both the indoor and outside space. A west-facing deck outside a contemporary studio building that is John’s office is the perfect place to relax on a sunny evening
Looking out over it with contentment, she tells me how they decided to make the move to a new life, in this old house. “We always wanted to move here, we often visited and loved it, but we were going to wait for our retirement. Then we came down one weekend and we were having tea in Juliet’s and I turned to John and said, “What are we waiting for? Let’s do it now…””
And it seems like this house – clearly very choosy about its owners – and this very special little community, had decided it was time for them to move in.
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