Wealden Times | WT170 | April 2016 | Garden supplement inside

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Above: The formal dining room, to the front of the house, is painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Hay’ which, paired with blood red damask curtains, makes a
wonderfully atmospheric space in which to entertain. The magnificent fireplace is one of many sourced from Chesneys in London
Not many of us ever get the chance to build
our own homes, but if we were in that lucky
position, beyond the obvious, what would
be the one thing you would insist on having, however
ditsy? When the Carsons – Helena, Julian and their
two daughters Philippa and Katie – found themselves
with a blank sheet of paper and a house to build, they
all added their own ‘must have’. So, when being shown
round this fabulous house it was fascinating to see who
had chosen what. You would never have guessed the
girls’ choices but in Julian’s case it was probably what
every man would choose if he could! More later.
When the girls were still young the Carsons had
moved further from London to find a larger family
home with a bigger garden. They found what they were
looking for, outside a thriving village, but the garden
backed on to another collection of houses. So, the
dream of coming home from London on a summer’s
evening and sitting out in the garden with a glass of
wine was slightly marred by the sight and sound of
neighbours doing exactly the same. Before long the
hunt was on for better views and more solitude.
Helena explains that at the time, the late 90s, Grand
Designs had just arrived on our TV screens inspiring us
all with fabulous and exotic buildings. By comparison,
everything the estate agent showed them seemed rather
pedestrian. Then they hit on the idea of building
their own dream home and started looking for the
ideal plot. It wasn’t long before they found it.
What they found was a rather unloved 1920s
house, sitting in a large plot of land with fabulous
south-facing views over unspoilt farmland. They
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Working closely with the architect, Stephen Langer, the family ended up building
a symmetrical, classic house in the style of a Georgian rectory, with a central
section of three floors flanked by two matching single-storey wings
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