The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - The Telegraph Magazine
In love with the past
Book dealer Simon Finch’s Arts and Crafts manor
THE ECCENTRIC Arts and Crafts manor house Voewood has had numerous incarnations. Built between 1903 and 1905 as a family home, it was quickly rented out as a boys’ school, then requisitioned during the First World War, and sold to Leicester Health Authority in 1919. When its current owner, Simon Finch, found it 20 years ago, it was an old people’s home, but he could see the architectural gem that lay beneath.
Finch is considered one of the top antiquarian book dealers in the world. He bought his first rare book when he was 12 years old, and by the time he was 17 was earning a substantially higher salary than the average 1970s teenager. He started his own business in Fulham in 1983 and went on to open shops in the West End and Notting Hill (the film of that name was loosely inspired by this loveable, discombobulated character).
By 1998, he had decided to become a country gent, and made a perfunctory decision to follow up some house details he had picked up from a friend’s coffee table. He set off with his young son, Jack, and his dog on the three-hour journey that would take them to Voewood, which lies south-west of Cromer in Norfolk. Finch was immediately struck by the proportions of the house, its complex brickwork and the potential in the sunken garden, but he knew it would require a huge effort to return it to its original character.
Still, he went to the local agent to place a deposit. ‘I paid significantly less for the house than I have been known to pay for a book,’ he says. ‘I had no clear plans for it. All I knew was that it was one of the most extraordinary houses I had encountered, and it would be enormous fun to restore.’
‘I paid less for the house than I have been known to pay for a book’
To carry out this task, Finch called on the talents of his friends, among them artist Chloe Mandy, whose husband, David Garramone, took charge of the building works, removing partition walls, fire doors and a lift. They and their children lived at Voewood for two years, during which time Mandy painted what has become the Green Room, ‘one of the most beautiful bedrooms in the house’, according to Finch. Another friend, textile designer Annabel Grey, who lived in the house for over a year, added further decorative detail, including paintings, hand-painted fabrics and murals. ‘She had started doodling on the wall of her bedroom one day, and I came in and said, “That looks fabulous, why don’t you continue?”’ recalls Finch. ‘She gave a modern interpretation of the Arts and Crafts movement. People have remarked that the house has the feel of Charleston [the Bloomsbury set’s Sussex home].’
In the summer of 2011, Finch and the literary agent Clare Conville hosted the first Norfolk literary festival at Voewood, a three-day event that was
‘She had started doodling on the wall of her bedroom and I said, “That looks fabulous, why don’t you continue?”’
repeated in 2012 and 2014, featuring writers and artists such as Antony Gormley, DBC Pierre and Kate Mosse.
But just as Voewood was gathering momentum, Finch’s business went through a troubled time resulting from the sale of the bank Coutts, which held his business accounts, leading to the closure of his shops.
The past few years have been a time of retreat and renewal, and Voewood has proved itself a refuge. Once again, Finch’s head is churning with new ideas for the house: he is now dealing from it as Voewood Rare Books, and is in the process of launching Voewood Vaults, which will deal in art and objects. He is also staging an antiquarian book fair this summer.
‘Voewood will never be static or finished,’ he says. ‘My experience of owning it is that it has a positive impact on those who visit. People leave with a smile on their faces, and I feel privileged to be its custodian.’
Extracted from The Maverick Soul by Miv Watts (Hardie Grant, £30)