A river runs through it
When Daisy and Rupert Lewis first crossed over the little bridge to view an unusual cottage, it appealed to them instantly and they knew there would be no going back
Bounded by a babbling brook, this pretty thatch has been lovingly updated for modern life
Certain houses cast a spell, and Bridge Cottage is one of them. Approached by a footbridge over a rushing chalk stream, and huddled, covered in roses, under a heavy thatched roof, its charm is unmistakable. Dating back to the 1600s, it creaks with history and character outside and in. Wonky beams criss-cross the ceilings, tiny windows peep from beneath the thatch, and ancient walls bulge, thick and sturdy. It was once home to Helen Thomas, widow of World War I poet Edward Thomas, who wrote about the cottage: ‘It is the most darling place… ancient, gnarled and nooky and cornery and full of character.’
Daisy and Rupert Lewis stepped into the cottage one June day and felt its appeal at once. They knew their search was over. An interior designer, Daisy was particularly drawn to the house. ‘As an army wife I’d got used to living in generic army quarters, which never felt like true homes,’ she says. Nor was she ever able to put her creative stamp on them. Brought up in a rambling, old country house, she craved not only a permanent home for her future children, but one with character that she could decorate herself and fill with antiques, heirlooms and quirky artefacts amassed over the years.
The atmosphere was perfect, as was the size and location. They wanted a low-maintenance place that they could easily lock up to make the dash back to London for work, yet still large enough to entertain guests. The cottage had three bedrooms, but it also had an annexe in the garden where overspill guests could stay. They had hoped to be rural yet accessible and Bridge Cottage, set in the rolling hills of west Berkshire but only 10 minutes from the M4, ticked this box too. ‘Of course, there were compromises, and work to be done,’ recalls Daisy, but the ‘feel’ was right and that was what mattered. Within two months, it was theirs.
The 400-year-old heart of the house sits comfortably among extensions added in recent years, by the former owners. Once a two-up-twodown worker’s cottage, accessed solely via the bridge, it was originally made up of the generous sitting room and a tiny kitchen downstairs and two bedrooms above. The previous owners added a porch, utility room and downstairs bathroom, and a conservatory joining the sitting room to the kitchen and leading to a study at the back with a second staircase to a new, third bedroom.
Daisy and Rupert moved into it as it was, but after a few months realised that improvements could be made. Despite opening onto the conservatory, the little kitchen had no windows and a very low ceiling. ‘It was very claustrophobic and often filled up with steam, so was not a place to spend much time in,’ says Daisy.
They decided to switch the ‘office’ and the kitchen around. The office, which they had intended to transform into a playroom one day anyway, had sloping walls, which made it impossible to furnish with freestanding furniture. They took out the units from the old kitchen, and then refitted them into the new space. ‘The slanting walls were no longer a problem – we got round it by simply cutting the worktops to fit the space.’
The room now works perfectly as a family kitchen, with a window at both ends – a sink under one and a breakfast bar and stools at the other, with views of the stream - and still opening onto the conservatory/dining room. The couple then carpeted and repainted the old kitchen space and transformed it into a casual, cosy TV room, which has since become Cecily’s playroom too.
Meanwhile, Daisy had fallen completely in love with the master bedroom, with its wonky beams, misshapen walls and thickset chimneybreast. To one side of it was a tiny windowless WC shared with the spare room opposite. On its other side was a long narrow dressing room, with a window overlooking the stream. It seemed a wasted space, so the Lewises decided to convert it into a bathroom. This came into its own when baby Cecily joined the family.
‘It’s the only bath upstairs, but is full of bath toys now, so is kept for family only,’ says Rupert.
‘Guests make do with the downstairs bathroom.’
However, guests don’t have it bad at all at Bridge Cottage. If they’re not in the cosy spare room in the main house, they have the annexe all to themselves. A stone’s throw across the garden, the annexe had one downstairs bedroom when the Lewises bought the house but they have since added two bedrooms in the attic and a snug/study and bathroom below.
The house has evolved with the Lewis family and life flows gently on, as it has done for generations before. The passage of time feels particularly noticeable here, and its feeling is of a well-loved place that shelters those who dwell here. As Helen Thomas wrote: ‘It shapes into an adorable home, full of character and all that life means – life and death and birth and joy and sadness and just the lovely jog of the woman who minds it for her folk.’