Surrey Homes | SH37 | November 2017 | Gift supplement inside

Houseplants are found in every room
of the house, including the shop. David
loves plants. “When we moved we had
to have a separate removal van just
for the plants,” he says, smiling.
it. “We weren’t able to appreciate it,” he says. “I was always
too tired, busy working – and doing the daily commute.”
At first the couple tried using Hastings as a weekend
retreat, but it got harder and harder to go back. “We
bought a house in Ashburnham Road – we would come
down every weekend and go back on Monday. At first it
was Monday morning, but it got later and later. Then we
would take Tuesday off…” David smiles. Despite wanting
to move away from London, making the break was not
that easy. David moved down first to look for work. “I was
on holiday really though, at least that was what it felt like.
Then I saw this.” He gestures around him and says that
for months they must have walked past the shop, “It was
an invisible building, and then suddenly it was there.”
The property had been on the market for a while,
but David explains that he didn’t think it was easy for
people to see through the emptiness of the shop – and
the fact that the whole of the interior was painted black.
“It was like something from Harry Potter,” he laughs,
“more of an anti-show home.” The building was not
without charm though, with high ceilings, exposed
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