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

Above left: An antique French florist’s bench makes a wonderful desk-cum-sideboard at one end of the dining room – which was once part of the restaurant
Above right: A decorative glass panel disguises the door to the downstairs loo and utility room
headboard of a contemporary bed from Bentley and Hall
in Hastings is perfectly flanked by two very pleasing
chrome and black 1950s French table lights standing
on black lacquered bedside cabinets. Atop a white 18th
century Swedish chest of drawers stand silver-framed family
photographs and a pair of French gold leaf cloches.
In the window, is an old leather travelling trunk
flanked by two of Simon’s grandparents’ chairs on which
recline a pair of mink-covered cushions. “The mink came
from my grandmother’s mink coat, which, of course,
nobody wants to be seen wearing today,” says Simon.
“But we thought this would be a nice way to use it.”
When the house is rented out, the couple’s suite is
closed which leaves five other bedrooms for visitors
– four with double beds and one with twins. They
all share the considerable style of the couple’s own
bedroom but each has its own distinctive bed and
period furniture. One for instance, has a sleigh bed from
Coach House flanked by Victorian bedside cabinets,
another also has a Coach House bed but flanked by
wonderful bedside lamps made from carved figures
that probably came from a Belgian fire surround.
Simon notes that good-sized antique beds are not easy to
come by, which is why only one of the bedrooms has one –
a lovely thing with both head and tail boards embroidered
with delicate flowers on gold silk. It’s kept company
by a Swedish period wardrobe and botanical prints.
My favourite though, has to be the bed Simon
bought for his first-ever flat, a terrific soaring wroughtiron
Gothic number complemented by table lights
– from Foxhole Antiques – that probably started life
as part of a decorative wrought-iron staircase.
Without so much as a by-your-leave the farmhouse became a pub, the White
Horse, and a watering hole of the infamous smugglers, the Hawkhurst Gang
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