Wealden Times | WT165 | November 2015 | Gift supplement inside

This page: The open-plan living room and office have original Arts and Crafts windows which capture the morning sun. On the walls are paintings and
drawings by Francine’s husband Jean-Francois and her French-Canadian father-in-law, Maurice, who painted the portrait above the fireplace
On the kitchen table sits a blue-glazed vase that belonged
to Francine’s grandmother and which, at this time of year,
is filled with artichoke heads from her garden and cardoons
from nearby Macknade’s farm shop. In the window is a
wreath of autumnal leaves which Francine made by pressing
and drying the leaves, between newspaper, under a doormat.
You can’t escape these hand-made touches – nor
would you want to – and upstairs in the main bedroom,
Francine has embroidered the bedstead, armchair and
pelmet of the window. “I used to do lots of tapestry and
needlepoint,” she says. “It’s very quick.” Balanced along the
top of the bedstead are curvy pieces of salvaged leadwork,
bought at the Wincheap boot fair in Canterbury.
Francine goes to the boot fair most weeks, but somehow
manages to edit her purchases, so that her home never
feels cluttered. “I do chuck things out,” she says, “or
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