Page 166 - home and garden

they found evidence of an ancient site; a
1,000-year-old yew tree grows beside the
church close by. The house was built on a
steep descent so, to take advantage of this
dramatic position, a curved lawn terrace
supported by a flint wall was built on a
high rampart in front of the house (the
garden in its entirety featured in the May THIS PAGE
2010 issue of House & Garden). ANTICLOCKWISE
Using local materials, an extension FROM TOP Large
was added to the left of the front door, German paintings
adopting the same banded flint and of dogs hang in the
brick as the original seventeenth-century hallway outside
part of the house. Traditional knapping the drawing room.
techniques were used to cut the flints. A stuffed bird is
The owner explains that she wanted to displayed on another
give the façade an eighteenth-century table in the hall,
castellated top in homage to her previ- which has a large
ous home a few hillsides away. A porch chunk of amethyst
underneath. A painting
was also added, the original dovecote
and barn were restored, and the old farm by Ivon Hitchens
hangs in between
buildings were knocked down to make two crenellated oak
way for a new second barn, which is used
and burr bookcases
when the owner’s sons visit. in the study.
Inside, the space was reconfigured,
OPPOSITE The
with six bedrooms reduced to only two. dining room is
Small rooms, false ceilings and a stair- painted in Farrow
case were swept away, and beams were & Ball's ‘Chappell
exposed. ‘I have a lot of oversize furn- Green‘ and has
iture, so felt that it was important to a Restoration
have one large room,’ explains the owner. portrait above
She turned to her old friend, the interior the chimneypiece

164 NOVEMBER 2015 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK