Living in a house that's 200 years old

We moved into our family home when one of our sons was nearly 3 and the other was one month old. They have grown up here - had parties through primary and secondary school, 18ths, my brother’s 40th, Mark’s daughter’s wedding, mine and Mark’s wedding reception, my mum’s special birthday (a year late because of Covid and she’d kill me if I told you her actual age) and a million amazing Christmases with loads of us - brothers, sisters, partners, nieces, nephews, cousins, friends. It’s SUCH a good party house & garden.

I love old houses, & I love antiques - I’ve inherited that from my mum who could find a relatively decrepit period house and transform it with love and creativity.

Over the years she has given me antique cupboards and tables and candelabras that have been passed on down the decades and will hopefully continue to be - buying antique stuff & handing it on is the original recycling.

We reckon our house is a little over 200 years old - it was built in the Regency period and the charming intricate details above the doors, the pretty coving high above handsome marble fireplaces, the carvings on cupboards - are the things that made us fall in love with the house in the first place. Also it’s not perfect - how could something 200 years old be ‘perfect’ - but I love that too. It’s ‘lived in’ with all the history that brings.

It felt dark when we moved in, and because it’s listed we couldn’t knock any internal walls down (not that we’d have wanted to), so we very slowly went about lightening everything with paint colours that were in keeping the style of the house.

I’ll share more over the summer when I’m on leave..