• COTSWOLDS VICARAGE
A Cotswolds-based book led Jutta Betz and Andreas Erbe to take a novel approach to rural life, splitting their time between Britain and their native Germany
After a quintessentially English property but without the common low ceilings, this couple found themselves a Georgian beauty
For Jutta Betz, loving this area of England started in an unusual way. While living in the countryside outside Frankfurt, she read an English crime novel based in the Cotswolds. The descriptions of rolling hills, bubbling streams, meadows dotted with sheep and ponies, and quaint villages filled with old stone cottages sounded so inviting, she decided to check it out for herself.
Soon, she persuaded her husband, Andreas, to book a holiday in a quintessentially English hotel in June, when the roses were in full bloom and lambs were still skipping in the meadows. That was back in 2016. ‘Our first few days in the Cotswolds far exceeded our wildest expectations,’ says Jutta. ‘We were both so smitten that we decided to live in the UK for half the year and spend the other half in Germany.’
Finding the right property took almost 11 months and proved tricky. ‘We have always loved period properties, but many homes we viewed had precariously low ceilings – as Andreas is quite tall, none of them worked for us. We almost gave up.’ Then, one day, the couple found an idyllic Georgian property online. It was located in the village of Bibury, which William Morris famously described as the ‘prettiest in England’. An old vicarage close to the nearby church, it had tall, elegant ceilings, square panelled rooms, original shutters and sash windows. The façade was romantically covered in Virginia creeper and it had every ingredient associated with the >
❝ I LOVE THE IMPERFECTIONS OF ANTIQUES. THEY HAVE CHARACTER AND THEY CONTRAST WELL WITH SILKY, GLAMOROUS TEXTURES, OR SURFACES❞ REFLECTIVE
classic Cotswolds cottage, even down to its landscaped garden and the roses growing around the front door. ‘It was as though the house had our names on it,’ says Jutta.
Previous owners had added a charming, Gothic-style conservatory to one end of the kitchen, which was a huge asset. ‘It’s an all-year-round room,’ says Jutta. ‘In winter, you can sit in it and count the stars and, in the summer, we are bathed in the coloured rays of the setting sun.’
On the downside, some elements of the vicarage had been overly modernised. Adding to this, the previous owners had a burning passion for pink – numerous walls, as well as the kitchen units, had been painted in this rosy shade. Many of the original features were missing, replaced with new fireplaces and modern laminate floors. ‘We had hoped to find flagstones below the laminate but, sadly, it was all concrete,’ says Jutta. ‘The kitchen presented other problems. It was rather dark and stark, dominated by an industrial cooker and modern units. I had so wanted an Aga, but the existing cooker was perfectly efficient and too expensive for us to justify replacing it.‘
Fortunately for the couple, Andrew Coombs, a first-rate local builder, came to their rescue. ‘Andrew understood the local planning regulations and had dealt with other period houses in the area,’ says Jutta. ‘He obtained permission to install two new sash windows on either side of the cooker, which has raised the light levels in the kitchen dramatically.’ Jutta found >