Wealden Times | WT216 | February 2020 | Interiors supplement inside

This page: The master suite is entered via its bathroom. The
loo, basin and shower sit either side of a central pod
kitchen, which Bronwen explains “...is great for dinner
parties, because you can leave the messy stuff in there.”
There are two open doorways into the second kitchen,
which I later discover on our tour, is one of the themes of
the layout. It allows the cook direct access from the main
cooking area, while someone on the other side of the central
island can pop in for a glass, or something. It also invests
the whole space with a lovely flow – apart from loos, where
you want privacy, there isn’t a dead end in the whole house.
Popping into the storage kitchen for a peep – and
then coming out through the second entrance, because
I can – I notice a clever detail: shallow shelves built
into the sides of the entrance spaces, very handy for
jars at the kitchen end and glasses at the table end.
This rhythmic articulation of space is also evident in
the kitchen layout, with three parallel rectangles – the
long dining table (made from French oak floorboards),
the central island and the drawers and worktop
against the internal wall – dividing the room.
This repetition of shapes gives a sense of order, which is
further increased when Bronwen shows me the wonderfully
wide, gliding drawers which store all her equipment and
spices – she’s a keen cook. The joinery, with no handles, was
all by Matthew Smith, a friend and extremely talented joiner.
With a cup of tea inside me and feeling less overwhelmed
by the scale and fabulousness of the house, Steve
81 wealdentimes.co.uk