Wealden Times | WT188 | October 2017 | Kitchen & Bathroom supplement inside

Top and below left: The girls’ bedrooms Below: Dave’s boat
collection includes beautiful maritime storm scenes enclosed in
mechanised wooden boxes
cry from the scrubby patch it must once have been.
The decisions the couple make about the house are
joint ones and they tend to agree on most things. “You
would love to start again from scratch I think, though,”
Dave says to Sue, who grins and looks around. “Well, I
do like a modern look, but I couldn’t have a home where
everything is put away and minimalist. I admire it, but
I couldn’t live in it. Objects have memories – of special
friends that have given them, or things that we have brought
back from holiday. You have to be able to see them.”
Many of the objects on display in the sitting room belong
to Dave, most of them model boats; he turns to Sue with a
sheepish smile, “but I only collect them because I thought
you liked them…” She laughs and shakes her head as we
peruse the beautiful sailing boats that Dave has made. There
are also cabinets of Dinky Toys and Matchbox cars – one
with a quantity of model 2CVs, which appear to belong to
Sue; she is particularly fond of her characterful car. It is in
the sitting room that one can see the original purpose of the
building most clearly. “There were stable doors on either
side of the room, and all through the house,” explains Dave,
while he carefully replaces the fan that was resting on the top
of the wood-burner. The fan is not just for cooling purposes,
apparently. “It makes a big difference having this here on top of
the wood-burner, as it distributes the heat, moving it down to
the other end of the room. It’s important in such a big space.”
He pauses and looks around. “Yes, this was a great party room,”
he says, “and now, well, it gives me room for more boats!”
Upstairs the bedrooms are colourful and charming
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