BEFORE RENOVATION


C


laire Handley and her husband Marco initially dismissed their beautiful home in the village of Woolton Hill, close to


the border of Berkshire and Hampshire, as “too much work” when they first went to view it. Having previously lived in new builds and with no experience of renovation, the couple (who have two young sons), quickly turned their house-hunting gae elsewhere. Circumstances eventually forced them to


reconsider and return to this early 1900s mock Tudor cottage, set on half an acre of land. “We were not intending to buy a project house at all, but we wanted to move to the area, and all the other houses we were interested in kept falling through,” says Claire. “We took an architect with us for the second visit to get a sense of what could be done to open up and extend the property. The location is so beautiful, and we decided it was worth taking on because of the potential of the place.” The couple took the plunge and agreed to


buy Tile Barn Cottage – once part of an estate with a manor house, stables and coach house, but which was broken up into several separate properties in the 10s  for 0,000. However, last-gasp drama nearly saw them fall at the final hurdle. Claire reveals: “On the day the whole chain involved was supposed to exchange the couple we were buying from got cold feet and pulled out.” The couple had half an hour of “sheer panic” when they had to decide to pull the plug on the whole move or rent for a few weeks and try to get the deal back on track. “We did the latter and, thank goodness, it paid off.” Another potential hurdle – getting planning permission – turned out to be straightforward,


54 www.sbhonline.co.uk


and Claire believes this was just one of the advantages of choosing the right architect. The house isn’t listed, but it’s of historical interest and just inside the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding atural Beauty. She says, “Our architect had previously worked for the local planning authority, so fortunately he was very aware of the hoops they needed to jump through.”


“That was brilliant,” she continues, “because as we went through the house renovation ideas, he was pointing out things we should – and shouldn’t  do. We were careful not to change the exterior appearance of the house too much, and limiting light pollution was something else we factored into our plans.” It was also important that the extension was in proportion – increasing the footprint by a bit more than a third to roughly 2,00 sq ft.


RENOVATION GOALS


So what did the couple hope to achieve with their renovation Claire explains: “We’d fallen in love with the location, but to achieve our dream family home, the challenge was the fact that the existing house was too dark and enclosed inside  and we also wanted to extend the property.” Central to their vision, says Claire, was the open-plan kitchen, dining and living spaces, with lots of new glazing installed to help bring in the light and make the most of views of the south- facing garden at the front of the property. They also wanted to create a new upstairs master bedroom.


At the same time as doing that, she says, they wanted to “retain some of the original period character of the house and smooth over an earlier 1980s extension, incorporating the whole


sep/oct 2023


LOW POINT


“There was a period when we were living in the house without central heating, and delivery of our bifolds and new windows was delayed, so we had openings blocked up with plywood. By October it was getting cold and with young children that wasn’t great. The new kitchen wasn’t ready either, but a kind neighbour allowed us to use theirs for a week while they were on holiday. We sought refuge there in the evening for a couple of hours before returning to the chaos!” – Claire Handley


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