HIDDEN TREASURE
An enchanting house lled with curios
Concealed in the centre of a Kentish town for more than 50 years, this house has been lovingly brought back to life by its owners – John Cramp and Martin Ebrey – who have lled it with their fascinating collections
When John Cramp ! rst came to view his future home, a Victorian co "age in New Romney, Kent, the house was so hidden behind a tangle of greenery, he had to return to the estate agent to ask how to ! nd it. ‘ What looked like a hedge was actually an entrance hidden behind bushes,’ he says. When he eventually made his way through, he found the front door ajar and a tiny old lady beckoning him in. It was a strange and magical experience, he says. ‘ Like a fairy story, and somehow I’d found myself in the gingerbread house. I had such a strong feeling about the place. Concealed in the heart of the town, it was like a treasure waiting to be found.’
This was 20 years ago and John, a semi-retired headteacher with a background in ! ne art, was hoping to leave London for a new home where he could indulge his passions for creating and collecting. ‘I was moving from a huge four-bedroom apartment, so this li "le co" age wasn’t a practical choice.’ But he soon discovered there was more to it than there ! rst appeared. ‘ The owner had shown me the kitchen and a narrow curved stairway that led to a bedroom under the eaves, but she
‘I had such a strong feeling about the place. Concealed in the heart of the town, it was like a treasure waiting to be found.’
then took me through a door that I’d assumed was a cupboard.’ In fact, it led to a ground-!oor bedroom and si"ing room, with a garden beyond. It turned out she hadn’t set foot in this part of the house for 20 years. ‘ The !ooring sagged and it was draped in cobwebs with yellow paisley wallpaper from the 1970s. “There are a few jobs to do,” she said, and then we shook hands and agreed the sale that day.’
At the time, John’s relationship with his now-husband, Martin, had just begun. ‘ He came to visit, looked around the house and said, “You’re crackers, but I love you and I love this place”,’ laughs John. ‘ We’ve never looked back.’ Together, they’ve created a home that’s true to the property’s quirks and original features, while also making it absolutely their own. ‘ This is our # rst home together,’ John says. ‘ Both of us adore unusual objects, the adventure of # nding them and the people we meet on the way. My choices are driven by impulse and emotion – Martin is the more considered, practical one. And he does the dusting!’
The house needed essential renovations to replace the ancient
plumbing and electrics, leaking windows and ro!en "oorboards. ‘ Neither of us could stand up in the original bedroom, so we took out the ceiling and opened it up to the beams. It’s now the study, where Martin, who is a textile artist, sews and I produce my ceramic pieces, including the shoreline-inspired forms that hang in the windows,’ says John. They installed French oak "ooring
‘My choices are driven by impulse and emotion – Martin is the practical one. And he does the dusting!’
‘Once you have cupboards, tables and dressers with drawers, they cry out for objects to display on them.’
throughout. ‘The workmen wanted to level out the !oors and take away the li"le steps between each room. But, for us, they’re part of the history of the house so we kept them,’ John says.
Each weekend, John and Martin toured !ea markets and antiques stores, looking for furniture for their home. ‘I’m obsessed with patina and the neglected pieces that other people don’t look at,’ says John. ‘And once you have cupboards, tables and dressers with drawers, they cry out for objects to display on them.’
Gradually, the couple’s collections began to shape. John bought smokedglass frames for their paintings and photographs and that love of glass led to them buying mirrors, which in turn led them to mercury-glass candlesticks and votives. ‘ We’ve always had candles – we light them in the evening instead of using electric lights,’ says John. ‘And the mirrors re!ect the candlelight around the room.’ They bought apothecary bo"les and # lled them with coloured liquids. ‘A $er a while, we realised the furniture we’d chosen had a similar pale"e of deep greens, greys and blues, and that inspired the paint choices for each room,’ John says. Vintage fabrics add even more colour and texture and, recently, Martin’s love of houseplants has reintroduced the essence of tangled greenery that # rst enveloped the house.
‘Some items are valuable, others cost pennies, but we’re drawn to pieces that have a story – like the name boards from a Methodist Sunday school, or the meat cupboard that was kept in a barn because the family who owned it said it had witches’ marks on the top,’ says John. ‘Our collections celebrate beautiful pieces but also the people who made them, and our own narrative becomes a part of each object.’ John can remember the history of everything they have in the house – where they bought it, what the weather was like that day, their mood and the people they met. ‘ This house felt like a treasure, and now we’ve # lled it with precious memories,’ he says.