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

Right: A secluded and tranquil
seating area, concealed by
borders, can be found at the
back of the garden Below: A
striped water container has
been re-purposed as a display
shelf for succulents
and perhaps more reflective of Sue’s personality. In the large
master bedroom above the sitting room there’s a striking
patchwork screen made by Sue and on the bed a beautiful
handmade quilt that was created locally. It coordinates
well with the screen. There’s also a wonderful collection of
teddy bears, great and small, which are much sought after
– especially by the grandchildren. The couple are admirers
of other artists’ work too and a well known local artist, the
late Anne-Catherine Phillips belonged to the art group that
Sue is a member of. When she died in 2014, Sue was asked
if she’d like to come to her studio and choose a painting. “I
said, don’t choose anything too big,” remembers Dave, so
Sue came back with an impressively large view of Hastings,
which now hangs in pride of place on the landing.
Back downstairs and into the WC, as the two enormous
letters (retrieved from the demise sale of Woolworth & Co)
dictate we should call the smallest room. It’s an amusing
room and could easily be called the PC, or Politicians’
Closet, due to the number of political caricatures in model
form on display in here. Dave points out a particularly
unnerving model on the bottom shelf. I’m not sure I’d
really want it leering down at me in this room, somehow.
We move on to safer ground in the pale green calm of
the dining room, where all is harmony, with symmetrically
retro cupboards and two very stylish serving trollies. “I nearly
got a third trolley,” admits Sue, gazing fondly at the Italian
mid-century chrome and glass beauty next to us, “but I
suppose there’s only room for two,” she sighs, as we admire
it. If only trollies could be pinned to walls like boats.
Once in the large studio at the end of the house, it’s
immediately clear that there are two distinctly different
artists at work here, as their unique styles shine out from
the walls and from every surface around the studio.
Dave’s paintings are of rural and village street scenes,
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