Victoria English Cottage 2019

Perhaps every homeowner dreams of uncovering hidden treasure—a secret staircase, a forgotten cache of handwritten letters, or some other clue to the storied past of her abode. I believe that this longing for a deeper connection to heritage is, in part, what draws us to England, where country houses and stately manors often harbor intriguing vestiges of history. In this issue, we visit the former residence of British poet Edward Thomas’s widow, a thatched cottage that she described as “the most darling place … ancient, gnarled and nooky and cornery and full of character.” When an interior designer crossed the footbridge that leads to this seventeenth-century dwelling, featured on page 61, she discovered a storybook haven that offers escape from a busy London life. Another woman set up housekeeping in a…

Tall hedges line the winding lane that leads to artist Georgie Maynard’s property, where a two-story stone manor settles into the scenic southern England landscape. Although Georgie remodeled previous homes from the ground up—six in England and four in France—former owners had already carried out a thoughtful renovation, combining a farmhouse and a cottage into one handsome structure. “They had a meticulous eye for detail and made quality decisions using top-notch materials,” explains Georgie. “The house had all the right bones, so, apart from decorating and furnishing, there was not much more to do, except make it all look pretty.” With her enumerable creative talents to draw from, she got to work, sanding the orange-tinted floors and applying a lime wash with chalk paint. The sunlit kitchen received a polished makeover,…

As the world welcomed in the new millennium in 2000, Chris and Neil Myers decided it was the perfect time for a change of address. They wanted a place that offered rural surroundings and good local schools for their two sons yet was an easy commute for Neil’s job in London. Though Chris dreamed of the wood-clad dwellings with airy rooms and wide porches she had known growing up in her native Canada, the brick-and-stone structure they found in Buckinghamshire fit the rest of the couple’s criteria. “To be honest, I didn’t like this house when we first saw it,” says Chris. “It was dark, and I wasn’t very keen on the Edwardian style, but the garden was large enough for the boys to play in with their friends, and that…

Christine Marriott-Smalley had waited decades to find the right cottage, and when she found this stone-façade, four-bedroom charmer in Yorkshire, she asked the estate agent if she could spend a bit more time there to investigate a matter of great importance. She went from room to room, looking at window placement, and then she proceeded to the courtyard, where she promptly took a seat and turned her face to the skies. “Light and sun are really important to me,” says Christine, who runs Lavender & Moor Interiors in Hutton-le-Hole. On this particular day, overcast conditions made it difficult to determine how much illumination reaches the property. She had waited so long to find a place like this, though, that she decided it was worth waiting a few more hours to see…

With its stately stacked-stone and brick exterior, this circa 1710 Wiltshire cottage near Swindon belonged to a range of owners over two centuries. But in the 1960s, it was acquired by the Peploes, and the deed remains with their descendants to this day. Jon Peploe’s grandparents purchased the property and lived there for two decades; after they passed away, newlyweds Jon and Kerrie took over as caretakers and have now lived there for nearly thirty years. “I LIKE TO BE A BIT INVENTIVE, AND I’M ALWAYS REFRESHING AND REARRANGING SMALLER BITS AND PIECES.”—Kerrie Peploe “Our three boys have grown up here,” says Kerrie. Her sons are the fourth generation to make memories at this address, roaming the halls and surrounding countryside in the days of their youth. Now that the lads have…

Although Debbie and Steve Fenwick certainly enjoyed dwelling amid the excitement of England’s capital city, the frenzied pace and traffic congestion was taking its toll on their patience. When they learned of a characterful Georgian villa for sale in Debbie’s hometown of Westoe, the two realized the neighborly feel of a smaller community had great appeal. A native of the village, Debbie had admired the property since childhood, when she and her sister often passed the stately brick building on their way to the park. As portrayed in a celebrated 1830 painting by artist John Wilson Carmichael, the property was originally two structures; they were later joined to form one terraced house. After just one viewing, the Fenwicks returned to London and put their flat on the market. It quickly sold for…