Wealden Times | WT179 | January 2017 | Health & Beauty supplement inside

Above: In the dining room the walls and bookcases are painted
a dark grey – though Ally has managed to keep the room from
feeling dark and oppressive by painting the ceiling and its
beams off-white Left: Despite its ancient origins, the house has
been sensitively updated over the years. Fans of classic Wealden
buildings are in for a treat, as the eye is led upwards by the most
enormous chimney of local brick and lime mortar which juts
into the roof space
“We’ve got most sports covered! Tabby loves riding, Finnbhar
is into adrenaline sports including kayaking and mountainbiking,
and Jonjo tennis, golf, cricket... then there’s kite
surfing, scuba, shooting...” The photos continue next door,
in the magnificent dining room, although an impressive
oil painting – a portrait of a 19th-century lady in an offthe-shoulder
gown – is the first thing to catch your eye.
Equally eye-catching are the upholstered dining chairs
which surround an antique refectory table, each in an entirely
different African fabric. The startlingly bright patterns of
the chairs are set off by dark grey paintwork on the walls
and bookcases – though Ally has managed to keep the room
from feeling dark and oppressive by painting the ceiling and
its beams off-white. Another huge inglenook dominates one
side of the room but has been left relatively unadorned –
wealdentimes.co.uk
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