25 Beautiful Homes 10-2015

The housing market is definitely moving fast in our village, where homes that would normally take a good few months to sell are now getting snapped up. It appears that 1970s properties are the most popular – most likely because they have the best views of the valley and they come with a large plot of land. My hope is that the buildings are restored and the gardens remain, rather than being demolished to create space for more houses with less land attached. But I do understand that not everyone enjoys looking after a garden – on some days, when we’re reconfiguring space or re-laying gravel, I’m hard pushed to defend my love of gardening. We’re in the middle of reorganising our outdoor space, which has partly been driven by…

1 TEA TIME Loveramics Willow Love Story cake stand, £36, Houseology 2 SURFACE STYLE Early English Delft Egret handpainted tile, 21.5 x 21.5cm, £21 each, Fired Earth 3 TABLE MANNERS Party Porcelain blue-and-white paper napkins, £4 for 20, Talking Tables 4 POT LUCK Fagel blue-and-white large planter, £39, Skandi Home 5 BEAUTY OF BIRDS Summer Palace placemats, £18 for a set of four, Laura Ashley 6 FLIGHT OF FANCY Butterfly cushion, £40, Joules 7 SMART STORAGE China Blue set of three boxes, £40, Laura Ashley 8 CHIC SEAT Stuff Kentwell armchair in Spring Rhythm Lotus Blue, £1,322, Sofas & Stuff 9 PITCHER PERFECT Russia floral jug, £13, Homesense…

1 OFF THE WALL Fox chalk board, £20, Wyevale Garden Centres 2 CREATURE COMFORTS Hare print cushion, £14, Next 3 ENGLAND AT HOME Fox handpainted ceramic door knob, £20 each, Graham & Green 4 SILVER SERVICE Cake slice, £12, Butterfly Home by Matthew Williamson at Debenhams 5 FALL UPDATE Woodland oven glove, £14, Cath Kidston 6 PRETTY PERCH Rustic dipped stool in yellow, £55, Vincent and Barn Ltd 7 AMBER AUTUMN Ambassador sofa, £4,478, Delcor 8 PERENNIAL FAVOURITES Dorthy cushion cover, £9, Ikea 9 SO TWEET Celia Smith robin wire bird craft kit, suitable for beginners, £50, Twenty Twenty 10 GOOD WOOD Preservatives wooden storage drawers, £35, Homesense…

SQUARE DINING TABLE After desperately searching for a square dining table that can seat eight people comfortably, I have had no luck finding something suitable – can you help? LOUISE BUCKLE, BY EMAIL If you prefer contemporary designs, Nest (0114 243 3000, nest.co.uk) has a few offerings, including the ultra-sleek Vanity table by Stefano Giovannoni for Magis, which comes in white, black or a polished frame and top, 140cm sq x H74cm, from £1,768. Calligaris (calligaris.co.uk) also has a few square tables such as the Sigma, which comes in a choice of finishes including a white tempered glass top with a wooden frame, 140cm sq x H75cm, £1,987. It also has the advantage that it can be extended to become a rectangular table of 200cm if you have a larger gathering. Finally, Maisons…

UNIQUE HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY Converted chapel, built in 1823 LOCATION Wiltshire ROOMS Drawing room, sitting room, kitchen-diner, utility room, four bedrooms (one en suite), two bathrooms, plus a shepherd’s hut and potter’s studio in the garden PURCHASED 2001 PREVIOUS PROPERTY ‘We moved here from a house in north London,’ says Amanda. When Amanda Bannister and her husband Edward bought a 19th-century former Baptist chapel in Wiltshire back in 2001, it was in dreadful repair. ‘Crumbling, riddled with deathwatch beetle and wet rot’ is how Amanda describes it, while the front ‘garden’ was a graveyard with collapsing headstones. What’s more, the couple had no guarantee that they would get planning permission to turn the Grade II listed building into a residence. That didn’t put them off buying it, though. ‘It was an enormous stone building in the middle…

REPLANNED HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY Detached 19th-century farmhouse LOCATION Pembrokeshire, Wales ROOMS Hall, sitting room, kitchen-diner, TV room, gym, two cloakrooms, four bedrooms, two bathrooms PURCHASED 2010 PREVIOUS PROPERTY ‘We have a house in London, but we bought this place to use as a holiday home as we love this part of Wales,’ says Kathryn. Kathryn Clement and her husband Dai had been casually looking to buy a home in their favourite county, Pembrokeshire, for several months. ‘We were expecting it to take quite a few years until the right property came along,’ says Kathryn. ‘Farmhouses in this area are often passed down through generations and rarely come on the market. So when this place came up for sale, we had to make a lot of quick decisions.’ Very little had been done to the Georgian farmhouse in…