RADICAL £600,000 EXTENSION ADDS 21ST CENTURY TOUCH TO RURAL GEORGIAN HOME ALL GOOD THINGS MUM...
EMMA WELLS TOURS A GRADE II-LISTED HOME THAT BLENDS HISTORY WITH MODERNISM TO GREAT EFFECT
THE GLASS ALONE FOR A ‘FRAMELESS BOX’ COST £77,000 AS OWNERS BLOW RENOVATION BUDGET
We’ve found some great gifts to send her this Mother’s Day
FAMILY CAMPED OUT IN THE OLD KITCHEN AS MAIN HOUSE’S PERIOD FEATURES WERE RESTORED
JUST as the UK was plunged into lockdown last March, Mike Parker hit a critical stage in his house renovation. After years of planning a radical extension to his historic Grade II-listed Northumberland home, he had the Bristol-based building team finally on its way, with the acres of glazing required. But they would have nowhere to stay with all the hotels set to close. There was no way Mike, a leading light on the North East tech scene, was prepared to be thwarted, so he simply invited the builders to move in.
‘I told the four lads they should just come and stay at the house,’ he says. ‘I just didn’t want to put it off any longer, and luckily we had the space for them to be safely self-contained. So they moved in for a week and got the job done.’
The frameless glass kitchen extension, which received its finishing touches last September, was the final piece in Mike’s careful coaxing of his heritage home, South Hall, into a 21st-century mini-estate for himself, his wife, Hannah, and their three children, Gabby, 14, Reuben, eight, and Nancy, two.
‘The original kitchen was at the back of the house, so our vision was to create a kitchen and family space that could really embrace the incredible views to Newcastle and across the Northumberland fells,’ Mike says. ‘I knew I wanted to do this the second I saw the house, in 2016, so before we bought it we made sure our architect thought it would be feasible.’
It would mean working closely with Historic England and local planners on the early 18th-century house in the hamlet of Ingoe. It was rumoured to have been built by the 1st Duke of Northumberland’s master builder as his own home, and certainly has a positive embarrassment of period architectural features.
The classic, Georgian rural home has high ceilings, a Venetian window with Tuscan columns over the original, ornately carved staircase, and an inlaid marquetry sunburst at the half-landing, plus grand fireplaces and all the trappings of a grand country home: six acres of land, stabling, kennels, former servants’ quarters and a kitchen garden.
Specialist architecture firm Doonan (doonanarchitects.co.uk), based in nearby Hexham, were called in, as they had experience of getting planning permission for important homes in the area.
‘They talked us through the options, although, of course, we were not allowed to alter the original fabric of the house, or run an extension along the house’s original profile,’ says Mike, who grew up in the nearby village of Corbridge. ‘It had to very clearly be a modern addition, not a pastiche of the past, so a frameless box was the ideal answer.’
Today, the light-flooded, green-hued glass extension, which opens on to a huge terrace and comes with a doubleheight atrium, sits in striking contrast to its textured, weathered historic counterpart. A slick, grey-green handcrafted kitchen, made by local firm Mowlem & Co (mowlemandco.com), takes centre stage, with Danetti’s midnight-blue velvet Clover bar stools, propped at the ivory-coloured kitchen island, adding instant glam.
With the same attention given to designer detail throughout the rest of the three-storey house, just a 30minute drive from Newcastle, it’s no surprise that Mike went over budget.
‘We bought the property for about £1.2m, and have spent about £600,000 altogether,’ he says. ‘The glass for the extension alone cost £77,000 and the white-washed wooden ceiling beams, which came from the Netherlands, about £14,000. We kept track on spending, but it was soon blown out of the water.’
Being prepared to live on a building site while he project-managed the renovation of the main six-bedroom house – which was the first part of the restoration – was one way that Mike saved money, but he says it’s not a choice he would make again.
‘We lived in the old kitchen for a lot of the time, and moved a sofa and TV in there,’ he says. ‘It wasn’t great. But at least there was nothing structurally wrong with the house when we bought it. It just needed a complete overhaul. The aim was to create a contemporary country home that still gave a nod and a wink to its historic past.’
Living spaces were reconfigured, creating five reception rooms including a traditional piano room, library and pantry, as well as a hightech cinema room.
Carpets were ripped up, and elaborate wooden parquet floors laid, worthy of an Austen-esque ballroom, and the last owners’ painted and papered walls were then stripped back to be given the classic period home renovator’s palette of choice: Farrow & Ball.
Ceilings and skirting boards have been painted throughout in All White or Strong White, with the hallway in fossil-grey Ammonite, the piano room in delicate grey Dimpse and the living room, with its vast green emeraldgreen velvet sofas part of a collection by Louise Redknapp, in the dramatic dark lead-grey Down Pipe.
Glossy, boxy bathrooms were eschewed for a look more in keeping with the house, with geometric tiling on the floors and pretty wildflowersprigged wallpapers, such as Boråstapeter Flora wallpaper (wallpaperdirect.com/brands/ borastapeter).
Contemporary lighting was used elsewhere to modernise the general look, with the drop cluster chandelier by FritzFryer (fritzfryer.co.uk) in the hallway one of Mike’s favourites.
But despite having only lived in the completed home for six months, Mike
Reflected glory: The glass extension has a double-height atrium
Beautiful shades: is now dreaming of swapping South Hall for the South of France, and has put the home on the market for £1.75m – a price tag that could easily be pinned on a two-bed flat in central London with no garden.
Here, there is still plenty of scope for a new owner to create their own paradisiacal mini estate.
Subject to planning permission, the unconverted outbuildings could house a swimming pool, studio, swanky gym or further living space.
In the six acres, there is room for the green-fingered to get creative, with
room for formally designed gardens and a wild swimming pond (there’s a freshwater spring on the property). Mike suggests it would even be an idyllic small farm.
But whatever incarnation South Hall takes next for the next generation, the Northumberland night time starscapes won’t change.
‘There is no light from neighbouring houses, so on a clear night, it’s completely dazzling,’ says Mike. ‘That’s something I will miss.’
STAND-UP comedian Geoff Norcott, 44, is renowned for his appearances on TV shows including The Mash Report, Live At The Apollo and Mock The Week. His UK tour starts in September.
What was the first property you bought?
An end-of-terrace, two-bedroom cottage in St Neots, Cambridgeshire in 2004. They were renovating it when we went to look at it and my wife offered the estate agent the asking price on the spot – and he was so shocked he suggested asking for a little discount. It was built in the 1840s and they were redeveloping the interior.
What attracted you to it?
I was born and bred in South London but I met the love of my life and moved into her flat in Bedfordshire. We looked at buying something in that area but couldn’t find anything we liked. The estate agent mentioned there were some cottages being redeveloped in St Neots. I drove over the bridge into St Neots and saw there were some swans on the river and, growing up where I did, I thought if I lived in a town that had swans I’ve made it.
What was your criteria?
I didn’t want a place that needed a lot of work, so the fact it was being renovated was good, I’m not a handy guy. And it meant we could decide on things they were doing, such as where they were going to put the stairs. It was a busy year – we were getting married, buying a house and I was having a career change going from advertising to working as a teacher. So it was all the most stressful things you can do put into one year.
How many places did you go and see?
Quite a few – at the time the trend was for courtyard gardens and decking everywhere. I was very focused on how much living space the places had.
Did you make any changes?
We didn’t make any. We asked them to make any changes while they were redeveloping. They moved the stairs, but we kept a very nice old fireplace in one of the bedrooms. We got some blinds – when I go past the place I notice that they’re still up.
Did you do any DIY?
I put some shelves up in the spare room, which went up at an angle to reflect the slanting ceiling. I thought that was the height of design. I can put a shelf up, don’t worry about that, but all those people you see on Grand Designs making a house out of cat manure, no, I’m not that ambitious. I like relaxing as much as possible rather than spending years trying to create the perfect chimney breast.
How would you describe your taste in interiors?
It’s my wife’s taste. She knows how to make a home look like a home. I don’t like clutter at all. If I’m staying in someone’s spare room and they’ve got loads of trinkets and ornaments it really bothers me. I don’t know why. If I had my way most houses would look like a Radisson Blu – I like clear surfaces. My wife is more astute in making it feel like a home.
Did you like to keep items of sentimental value when you move?
We like to chuck stuff out. My sister is brilliant at keeping family stuff – and it’s great to have someone in the family who does that – but I get a thrill out of putting stuff in black bin bags and taking them to the tip. I’ve kept some Star Wars figures and a few Wimbledon Football Club jerseys but I have been a bit hasty with some things. Moving house is a great opportunity to throw crap out. There’s no worse indictment of human procrastination than having unpacked boxes of stuff in a house months after you’ve moved in – if you haven’t used it by then you obviously don’t need it.
Has lockdown inspired you to make any changes to your life?
It has for work – my office now has lighting, microphones and cables everywhere so I can do podcasts and appear on TV shows from home. I always had an office in my current house but I only used it to write in before. Now there’s cameras, a lot of extension leads and a green screen. I’ve written my book in there, I’ve done my Mash Report appearances from there and I do my podcast, What Most People Think, in there every week.
What’s your dream home?
I don’t understand having a massive house just for the sake of it but I would like somewhere with a swimming pool. It’s such a great way to exercise. But I’d probably use it for a month then I’d use it to keep beer bottles cool. When I see shows like Selling Sunset I don’t care about the size of the houses, but I do like the pools.
■ Geoff’s latest tour, I Blame The Parents, starts in Nottingham on September 8, geoffnorthcott.co.uk