The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - The Telegraph Magazine
Far from the madding crowd
a gamekeeper’s cottage in Hardy country
When Paul de Zwart and his wife, ariel Childs, decided to buy a country house, they weren’t in the market for a project. at t he t ime, bot h were in their late 20s, working at Wallpaper* magazine (as publisher a nd creat ive director, respectively), and looking for a n escape f rom t hei r high-pres sure lives in london – a cha r ming, fa irly basic bolt hole t hat required a bit of doing up. But when t hey found t his 17th-century gamekeeper’s cottage on t he dorset-wilt shire border, t ucked away in the woods and with sweeping views over a valley, it was a challenge they couldn’t resist.
‘It was pretty ramshackle,’ explains de Zwart. ‘We had to do a lot of structural work, which wasn’t the plan at all, but once you start, you start. We kept
the walls and the roof, but that was about it.’
Embarking on a renovation that lasted almost two years, they gut ted the original stone cottage and replaced rickety lea n-tos with well-designed extensions that blend harmoniously with the old structure.
The main living space is in one of the modern additions: an open-plan kitchen-diner and sitting room with a wooden-beamed, vaulted ceiling that is smart and contemporary, yet in keeping with its rural setting .‘ I think in second homes it’s all about communal spaces,’ says de Zwart. ‘In your main home, your bedroom becomes your retreat, but in a house like this you just want to get up and be with family and friends, so the living areas always take precedence.’
Looking to add further space, the couple also built a separate garden annex on the footprint of an old garage, which now functions as a reading room and study, or a fourth bedroom when needed, wit h its own en-suite shower room.
A lt hough neit her de Zwa r t nor Childs had renovated a home before, their background in the design world gave them the confidence to revise the l ayout a nd decor ate it t hemselve s, working with a project manager and a builder. ‘ What’s rea lly rewarding is that ever y thing in the house – ever y switch, ever y piece of t imber, ever y windowsill or radiator – was chosen by us,’ says de Zwart. ‘It feels ver y familiar, very personal.’
The inter ior bea rs t he st a mp of a couple with design nous, but their aim was to respect the history and location of the cottage, rather than impose an ultra-modern Wallpaper*- esque look. ‘We wanted to feel like we were in the country, without living in a shack,’ de Zwart adds. ‘It needed to be different from a city place, but still with a sense of urbanity and taste.’
The couple’s sea rch for r ust ic yet
sophisticated furniture not only defined the interior of the cottage, but also formed the idea behind a business venture. De Zwar t was looking for a specific type of stool that could double as a bedside table :‘ something well made and proportion ally balanced, archetypal but contemporary–not cheap, but not hundreds of pounds either’. Unable to find it, he decided to design it himself, and commissioned local maker Dominic Parish – now one of his business partners – to realise it. A capsule collection of tables and seating followed, and became t he genesis of Another Country, the furniture company that de Zwart established in 2010. He now sells his own work along with pieces by a select group of designers, crafts people and brands that fit the Another Country aesthetic, which draws influences from classic English style, Scandinavian design and Japanese woodworking.
At the cottage, modern designs are combined with mid-century furniture, inherited antiques, finds from the couple’s travels, and artworks by the likes of David Shrigley and the Malian photographer Seydou Keïta. ‘We wanted to give the house a kind of soft contemporary look, with pieces from different parts of the world that reflected our lives,’ de Zwart explains.
Unexpected elements include an antique dark-wood cabinet, which serves to conceal the television in the sitting room, and a collection of Florentine furniture legs framed and hung as a work of art in the kitchen.
De Zwart and Childs have had the cottage for more than 15 years now, and as their lives have changed it has evolved with them. ‘It’s a place that has become resonant with good times; somewhere we can escape from daily stress ,’ says de Z wart .‘ Originally we would come here with friends to party; then it became a place for a young family; now our daughter is a little older and we have our dog, who loves it as well. It’s had different phases, but it’s always retained t hat specialness. It’s a house of happiness.’