Wealden Times | WT172 | June 2016 | Kitchen & Bathroom supplement inside

Above left: A huge, more-than-full-length mirror takes pride of place on the upstairs landing, reflecting the natural light which floods into the bedrooms
through traditional sash windows Above right: Chalk pastel depictions of Simon’s grandparents, outside the master bedroom suite, add a personal touch
On one wall, over a Swedish desk is a lovely oil painting of
a rabbi. The painting once belonged to Simon’s grandfather,
Norman Ingram Hollowood, and on another, there is a
collection of beautiful woodcuts by a great uncle and aunt.
Another contender for attention is a huge gilt starburst
mirror and a pair of mirrored side tables from R V
Astley, which flank one of the deep and comfortable
grey sofas gathering around the coffee table. In the front
window is a grey and chrome table on which stands a
vase from Zagreb and super spiral chrome light which
once graced a five star hotel in Paris and which was
bought, despite stiff competition, at an auction in Rye.
The dining room table looks a million dollars but
was in fact being thrown out of a local golf club when
Simon rescued it, painted the top F&B ‘Railing’ and the
legs an absolutely shocking pink. The cash saved on the
table was then spent on the elegant R V Astley chairs.
Above it hangs a great 1950s Murano glass ceiling lamp
and at its head is a superb French oil and velvet triptych
screen. In one corner is an excellent glass-fronted ebonite
cabinet bought “for virtually nothing” at a Bentley’s
auction in Cranbrook. On the walls are the heads of
And so to bed. Though, unless you’ve been made a particularly exciting
promise, the upstairs landing is not merely somewhere to gallop through
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