Buy One Get One ( Almost) Free

Lydia and Lawrence restored a 1950s conversion of two 18th-century cottages into one home back to its original form — though updated for the 21st century. “The second we walked in we could see its potential — it was very authentic and the bare bones were there,” says Lydia.

Not only were the couple able to remove many of the 1950s additions to uncover original features, the restoration work transformed a claustrophobic house into two light-filled homes by ‘peeling back the layers’ of work that had been done over the decades. “This was almost an archaeological project as much as an architectural one,” says Lydia. “We had to evaluate and assess what was worth keeping.”