Page 165 - home and garden

n the undulating foothills of
the Chilterns, barely an hour’s
drive from London, is a hidden
gem: a castellated flint and
brick restored farmhouse with
a seventeenth-century core.
It perches high on a bastion,
jutting out into the landscape
Ilike the foredeck of a great
ship, and overlooks a magnificent open
view of the English countryside with
hardly a building in sight.
When the owner started restoring the
house and its dilapidated barn and farm
buildings in 2004, she decided to sweep
away the modern pebble-dash and cement
additions. Although the house is not
listed, she wanted to restore it within its
BOTH PICTURES At
historical context.
one end of the drawing
With the help of the architect Ptolemy
room, two Soho
Dean, who is the surveyor of the fabric
tapestries hang on
at Westminster Abbey (a post once held
either side of the
by both Christopher Wren and Nicholas
chimney breast. An
Hawksmoor), and the garden designer
Anglo-Indian sofa
Jinny Blom (whose own garden features
covered in ‘Antalya’,
in this issue), they set to work unpicking
an embroidered linen
by Vaughan, and many years of neglect. The idea was to
four armchairs simplify the design of the house and to
upholstered in a green celebrate its spectacular position.
mohair velvet make Researching historical documents and
up a smart seating area old tithe maps in the county archives,
HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2015 163