Wealden Times | WT184 | June 2017 | Kitchen & Bathroom supplement inside

Previous pages: Diane sources unusual and interesting objects in high street chain stores and charity
shops Above: There is a nod to the apartment’s previous incarnation as the village stores in the form
of a statement set of scales that sit on the counter between the dining and cooking area
Picture the perfect getaway. Where do you fancy? Paris?
Rome? Or perhaps somewhere exotic and further away?
Well, yesterday I might have been imagining a faraway
place too, but today I want to stay in Rolvenden Layne. I
only live down the road from this wonderful little bolt hole,
but within two minutes of meeting Diane and glancing
quickly around her gorgeously quirky apartment, I’m already
wondering whether I could slip away for a few days. It is to
die for – or at least, to lie down and dream in for a while.
Diane’s dream, twenty years ago, was to move out of
London and set up a business. “I wanted to move to the
country and have an antique shop with a tearoom,” says
Diane. “The idea was to mix and match; selling antique
furniture while providing tea and cake.” The Old
57 wealdentimes.co.uk