Wealden Times | WT170 | April 2016 | Garden supplement inside

Above: A collection of humorous Vanity Fair prints of famous Victorian
cricketers highlights Ben and his father’s passion for cricket. The sofas are
from Graham & Green, as is the convex circular mirror Right: Trompe l’oeil
wallpaper depicting a bookcase hides a secret door which leads through to a
less formal living room and children’s play area
farmhouse. When they first saw it, it was clear that
it needed easing gently into the 21 st century if it
was going to work as a true home for a growing
contemporary family. “It wasn’t a wreck,” says
Perrine, “but it really did need a lot of updating.”
Its listed status meant that brain rather than brawn
was going to have to be the order of the day. This wasn’t
an environment where simply swinging a sledgehammer
was going to be allowed or, indeed, was going to
produce the end results the couple hoped for. It was
soon evident that imagination was going to carry the
day – the imagination to take a collection of tired,
300-year-old spaces and truly make them their own.
As with so many successful renovations, light was
going to be the key and, of course, the elegant and
generous Georgian windows gave them all the raw
material they needed. It was a matter of putting this
light to work, ensuring it was free to explore and
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