Real home: a thatched cottage with an intriguing past

Set in a quiet village behind a picket fence and enveloped by garden, Chris and Alison’s thatched cottage is at its best on a glorious summer’s day; its front borders brimming with a mix of rose bushes, petunia-filled hanging baskets, fuchsias and hollyhocks bobbing in the breeze. 

Inside, the house has all the ingredients of a rural English cottage: low ceilings with rustic beams, a deep inglenook and flagstone floors, bound with a timeless country charm.

Find out how they transformed the cottage, then browse through more real home transformations and find out how to renovate a house. 

 'We’re never living in a period property,’ said Chris Young to his wife Alison, after helping to renovate their daughter’s 16th-century home. But when it came to relocating from Cornwall to Wiltshire to be closer to family in 2010, Chris and Alison were charmed by the original features of a 1700s chocolate box thatch, which they have since discovered has far more to it than meets the eye.

Set in a quiet village behind a picket fence and enveloped by garden, the cottage is at its best on a glorious summer’s day; its front borders brimming with a mix of rose bushes, petunia-filled hanging baskets, fuchsias and hollyhocks bobbing in the breeze. Inside, the house has all the ingredients of a rural English cottage: low ceilings with rustic beams, a deep inglenook and flagstone floors, bound with a timeless country charm. 

It’s hard to imagine that this cottage originally consisted of just two rooms, an upstairs and a downstairs, cobbled together within a day. ‘We commissioned a historical survey and it found that the cottage had been built using squatter’s rights under Common Law in the 1700s, which declared that if a house could be built within 24 hours, with smoke coming from its chimney, then the builder could claim the land as his own,’ explains Chris. ‘It was a hurriedly constructed timber-frame building with wattle and daub walls – luckily these features are still intact today, so it’s a rare gem.’

The survey also revealed details of the cottage’s piecemeal evolution, including a wing added in the 1800s and the conversion of an adjoining barn into a kitchen in the 1950s. Unlike previous generations, Chris and Alison were determined to limit structural changes to essential maintenance, seeing themselves as custodians tasked with preserving the property’s pretty period features. 

Instead the pair have made their mark by refreshing the tired interior and transforming it into a homely, welcoming space, in-keeping with the age of the property. Fascinated by pieces from the past, and keen archaeologists, Chris and Alison enjoy wandering antiques shops and fleamarkets for vintage finds to bring their home to life. ‘We try to only buy things that have a purpose,’ says Alison. ‘We want it to look lived in, not like a museum, but sometimes it’s hard to resist. We’re running out of space, so Chris has set a rule that we can only buy something if it fits in my handbag!’

The pair have also focused their efforts on turning the uninspiring outdoor space into a pretty garden befitting the charm of the house. Step outside and you notice the garden is a continuation of the living space, cleverly zoned by strategically placed plants, fencing and furniture into a series of outdoor rooms. Everywhere you look quirky planters and garden antiques are dotted to create humour and interest. ‘We can’t imagine living anywhere else – it’s perfect. Except we’re even starting to run out of space in the garden now!’

In the master bedroom an exposed beam partway through the wall indicates the original roof line of the cottage before it was raised and new windows were installed by later generations.  

Low ceilings and narrow access meant that it was tricky to accommodate big pieces of furniture, so Chris and Alison extended an existing wardrobe and picked up a selection of old leather luggage cases from flea markets, which can be easily stored above the wardrobe and under the bed. 

Chris and Alison have also turned the uninspiring outdoor space into a pretty garden befitting the charm of the house. Step outside and you notice the garden is a continuation of the living space, cleverly zoned by strategically placed plants, fencing and furniture into a series of outdoor rooms. 

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• A stylish renovation and extension of a Victorian townhouse in London
• A factory converted into a family home