Surrey Homes | SH15 | January 2016 | Health & Beauty supplement inside

Above: The view from the kitchen window, across the lawn to the oak-framed,
cart-shed-style garage Right: The kitchen’s flag-stone floor was already in place
when the couple bought the farmhouse and is ideal in a household where
visitors often have muddy wellies – or muddy paws
businesses, and we liked them and their family business
instantly,” she says. “They did a stonking job, especially as
none of our walls are straight – and I kept on changing my
mind on colours!”
It’s certainly an interesting space in which to fit a kitchen
– but with gorgeous existing features, including long, low
windows under the eaves and an original, reconditioned,
Aga at its heart.
A Welsh ‘deuddarn’ cupboard next to the Aga, which
Sarah and Dean brought with them from their old house
(their Herts home was dated 1595, whereas their current
home is even older, dating from 1525) would originally have
been a larder in the top half and clothes storage in the
lower half. Today it holds crockery. They also brought an
old-fashioned clothes airer with them, which hovers,
perfectly, high above the room.
At the pantry and utility end of the kitchen, there is a
charming loo, decorated with quirky chicken wallpaper,
designed by the artist Belynda Sharples. “I’m not making
it up, but I was on a hen weekend in Norfolk, and met the
artist,” says Sarah. “There was this fantastic craft market
in Burnham Market – I was nipping round – and was
61 www.wealdentimes.co.uk