THE MERCHANT’S TALE

Behind the mellow brick façade of a Georgian property in Kent is an interior filled with elegant furniture and antique finds that give it a charming French flavour

Behind the mellow brick façade of a Georgian property in Kent is an interior filled with elegant furniture and antique finds that give it a charming French flavour

OPPOSITE Sophie with her cat Poppy in the doorway of her Georgian home that was once a seed merchant’s premises THIS PAGE In the kitchen, metal folding chairs and an enamel pendant lampshade introduce industrial touches that complement the antique weathered shutters, simple wooden trestle table and original York stone flags

with its stylish French grey-shuttered windows and matching long barn to one side, it’s hard to imagine that Waterlock House was once an agricultural seed-merchant’s premises. Elegantly Georgian, the property is now the home of antiques dealer Sophie de Bouvier de Cachard, while the barn shows off her distinctive collection of decorative pieces, distressed painted furniture and vintage industrial wares.

In the typically Kentish village of Wingham, near Canterbury, Sophie’s shop Branching Out is a constant source of temptation for those who love quirky brocante finds, and the perfect showcase for her purchases. She keeps the best pieces in her home for a while and displays the rest, often a little reluctantly: “I buy things that please me. Sometimes it breaks my heart to sell a special treasure, but I have to remind myself it’s a job.” Then, when stocks are low, she sets off to Detling, Faversham and Kempton or the French markets of Rouen, Lille and Amiens in her big white van to replenish her merchandise, sometimes bagging fascinating ecclesiastical and taxidermy pieces or unique gardenalia, all as likely to end up in her kitchen or spectacular garden as in the shop.

The kitchen is unmistakably Gallic, with metal chairs from a mairie (town hall) set around an industrial work trestle table,

but the honey-coloured York stone floor is original to the house. The pigeon-hole factory storage units were painted and waxed by Sophie, who is an expert at breathing new life into old pieces. Antique interior shutters, still with original peeling paint, filter light softly through the large front windows (and act as cupboard doors elsewhere), giving the house an abundance of atmosphere.

For smarter meals, the dining room – home to an atelier table, scrubbed and softly waxed on iron trestles, with upholstered chairs from John Lewis and lit by oversized grey enamel lights – leads through to the comfortable living room. The mood is eclectic, mixing metal garden furniture and an 18th-century door used as a table top, with gilded wood mirrors and ornate plaster putti made from early-20th-century moulds. Warmed by an original Georgian painted pine fireplace, with extra heat supplied by old, traditional column radiators, these classically dimensioned rooms for entertaining run the entire depth of the house.

The floorboards are painted chalky white to lighten what was originally a rather dark interior and the colour palette has been restricted to stylish off-whites and greys (Sophie uses Brewers trade paints such as Pevensey from the Albany collection) with occasional earth tones or daubs of pale blue. This scheme continues throughout the house, as well as in the characterful beamed loft, where the striking black-and-white diamond

chequered floor, drawn freehand by Sophie, was created with emulsion paint, then given a varnished finish to protect it.

Upstairs, the bedrooms – their generous beds covered with striped vintage linen – lead on to a spacious bathroom and dressing room with rattan chairs and table. Fitted wardrobes add a Scandinavian note, enhanced by the chalky grey paintwork. Collections of old hatboxes, wooden hat-blocks and shop-window mannequins lend a subtle fin de siècle atmosphere. The large rooms of the loft apartment above the shop, rented out for B&B, are decorated in a similar style, with an antique deconstructed wing chair showing various layers of stuffing and upholstery, next to a vintage tailor’s dummy. Surrounded by these atmospheric French objets trouvés, you could be in a Parisian atelier overlooking the rooftops of Montparnasse – if the views from the window weren’t of green English fields.

Outside, the intimate courtyard garden enclosed by high brick walls is like a theatre set, with a fountain centre stage surrounded by Provençal planting. Inspired by the south of France, and by the gardens of renowned French textile designer Nicole de Vésian in the Luberon area of the region, the plot is filled with a minimalist collection of clipped box, lavender and santolina against the backdrop of the Kent countryside. Set among mature potted olive trees, the brick-paved terrace is the perfect place for lazy outdoor lunches, overlooking a stylish tableau of stone statuary, weathered wooden cherry-picking ladders, 19th-century wirework furniture and an ever-changing array of vintage delights.

Branching Out Antiques and B&B, Waterlock House, Canterbury Road, Wingham, Kent. For more information, call 01227 721792 or visit branchingoutwingham.co.uk.