TO THE MANOR BORN
Keen to bring up their children in the country, Joli Wright and her husband Alex turned this period property into an idyllic rural home
A desire to give their children a rural upbringing led one couple to buy an idyllic Cambridgeshire house
When Joli Wright and her husband Alex were planning to move back to the UK, they began their property search in the countryside. ‘I grew up on a farm in the Swiss mountains, just like Heidi,’ says Joli. ‘In the winter, we went to school by ski or sledge, and in summer we swam in the lakes. It was so idyllic, and Alex and I wanted a rural upbringing for our children, Oliver, Louis and Ophelia.’
Their house-hunting was focused near Cambridge, as Alex was taking over the family business in the city. ‘I looked online and spotted a potential home almost immediately,’ says Joli. ‘It was a manor house, right in the centre of a village. When I found the house, it smiled at me.’
On viewing the property, the couple’s first impressions were equally favourable. ‘It was beautiful and spacious, and the location was lovely, so it ticked all the boxes,’ says Joli. ‘It felt warm and welcoming, although the interior was rather dated. But because we were running a property and interiors company at the time, we had our own builders, so I was confident I could turn it into our dream home.’
Considerable work was required, however, and there were many hurdles to overcome. ‘Fortunately, the house wasn’t listed, because a fire 35 years earlier had destroyed a large part of it,’ says Joli. ‘But since it was located in a conservation area, planning permission was needed for some of the changes.’ Another challenge was managing the project long-distance. ‘It took eight months and I flew in
every three weeks to oversee things,’ says Joli. ‘Once we’d moved back to the UK, we stayed with Alex’s parent for six weeks until the work was finished.’
As well as gutting the house, renewing the wiring and plumbing and installing new bathrooms, the couple decided to reconfigure the layout. ‘We wanted to make it more practical,’ says Joli. ‘We reduced the number of bedrooms from seven to five to give ourselves more breathing space, and we also changed the use of some of the rooms. The hallway was originally a dining room, but we turned it back into a large and welcoming hallway. The kitchen had been a greenhouse with a central well, but we knocked it down and built a lovely kitchen-diner. It has a living area, too, so it’s now our main family space.’
As Joli is an interior designer by profession, she knew exactly how she wanted the interior to look. ‘Life is hectic, so we wanted a peaceful and calming palette for our home,’ she says. She combined neutral shades, elegant textiles and painted furniture with durable finishes to produce a relaxed classic scheme. ‘Practicality was at the top of our list,’ says Joli. ‘Nothing is too precious, and it’s an open house for children, grown-ups and dogs, too.’
And village life has more than lived up to expectations. ‘The children’s friends come and knock on the door and ask them to play,’ says Joli. ‘The previous owners handed us an amazing garden and we love spending time in it. This is absolutely our home and we’re very happy here.’