Surrey Homes | SH101 | June 2023 | Education Supplement inside

“Our son used to sleep in there when he was
little,” Cherry smiles, adding, “it would be
a tight fit now, as he’s over six foot tall.”
This page: A small door at the foot end of the master bed opens
to reveal a tiny cubbyhole, just large enough for a child’s bed
rich velvet sofas – by Sofa Workshop.
The beautiful teal of the sofas is quietly
picked up in a small detail of the large
illustrated map of Rye on the main
wall – by artist Richard Adams. “We
posted it on Instagram,” says Cherry,
“and he got in touch – he was happy
to know that it ended up in Rye.”
They have installed panelling in here,
which adds another layer of depth to the
room and an air of grown up formality.
The deadening wall to wall carpet
has been taken up and the original
floorboards have been carefully restored.
A new wood burner was fitted into
the impressive inglenook fireplace, but
“the inglenook chimney was in a bad
state,” says Heather. “We went to install
the wood burner and really struggled
to find a scaffolder – as it turns out
that the chimney is three times higher
than those in the rest of the street.”
They used local builder John Fairhall.
“He has been great,” she says. “It makes
such a difference to have someone on
board who knows the area and the
idiosyncrasies of the citadel – especially
the no parking, no loading or unloading
after 10am.” Not at all simple when
there is building work going on.
The large window lets the morning
light into the room, which, for a low
ceilinged cottage, makes it feel open
and airy – “I did think about opening
up the little cupboard at the other end
of the room too,” says Cherry, “to let
some light in during the afternoon.” She
opens the door to a quirky little space
with a window, that must have once led
out to the rear of the building – now it
makes an interesting storage cupboard.
“We did some extra rewiring in
the sitting room,” explains Heather,
“and put in a 5 amp system to enable
the side lamps to be linked to the
circuit.” The sitting room wall lights
are by Jim Lawrence and the lamps
from Cox & Cox. “We source many
items from local bric-a-brac and
antique shops too,” says Heather.
Upstairs in the master bedroom there’s
a tiny cubbyhole just large enough for
a child’s bed. “Our son used to sleep
in there when he was little,” Cherry
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