HOME PROFILE

WHO LIVES HERE Anna Beauchamp, 41, an A&E doctor, her husband,

Jon, 42, who works in the pharmaceutical industry, and

their children, Mabel, eight, Barnaby, six, and Wilfie, three THE PROPERTY

A six-bedroom Georgian farmhouse in Rotherwick, Hampshire

PRICE £850,000 MONEY SPENT £400,000 WHAT IT’S WORTH NOW

£1.5m

Having returned from Switzerland, where her husband Jon had been working for a couple of years, Anna Beauchamp found herself sitting in their London home trawling the internet, looking for a family house in the countryside. ‘We had got used to the and greenery of Switzerland,’ explains Anna. ‘The children loved it and, with a baby on the way, we decided it was time to move out of the capital.’

It was during one of her searches that Anna saw a five-bedroom, red-brick Georgian farmhouse that looked promising. She drove to the village, saw the surrounding landscape and fell in love. ‘One of my requirements for a country home was that it be within walking distance of a pub, and the village had two. I sat in one of them and I could see the roof of the house across the fields,’ smiles Anna.

Even though the farmhouse was a wreck, Anna discovered that 22 people had viewed the property at an open day and it was going to sealed bids. It sold, but she refused to give up. ‘I became slightly obsessed with it, phoning the agent every two weeks to ask how the sale was going,’ she says. Fortunately for her, it all fell through two months later, so Jon and Anna swooped in and bought it.

In their haste, they hadn’t even viewed the inside – the property was derelict with a tree growing through the living room and ivy climbing up internal walls. An ugly double garage had been tacked onto the side, but Anna was confident she could turn it into the home she wanted.

One of the first structural changes was to turn the old garage into a modern, open-plan living space, with a kitchen-diner and an informal seating area. ‘We knew the garage would need extensive renovation work, but were shocked to discover the builders had knocked it down due to a misunderstanding over the plans. Luckily, they had kept the roof tiles and lintels, so it wasn’t a complete disaster,’ explains Anna.

As the room was a key part of the build, Jon had clear ideas about what he wanted in the kitchen, including weathered wood units, a combination of concrete and marble worksurfaces and a polished concrete floor, as a nod to the old garage. He found what he wanted at Blakes London. The large bifold doors were another must-have, so the family could enjoy the fabulous views. Plus, Anna insisted on a

boot room for all the coats and shoes. ‘When we were living in London, I dreamed of having a boot room – and I love it! Every member of the family has their own cubbyhole with hooks with their initials on. I used Scion’s Mr Fox wallpaper to add a touch of fun.’

In the original part of the property, the inglenook fireplace in the living room was coming away from the house as there were no foundations, which is common in Georgian properties. It had to be taken down and rebuilt brick-by-brick with new foundations, and at one point the whole room was open to the fields. The ceiling had to come down and be replaced too. All of the brick walls and wooden beams were sandblasted to remove years of dirt and grime.

Amazingly, the original windows were still intact, so Anna had them repaired. Referencing old pictures, she also reinstated a door where the original entrance had been. There were no floors anywhere, so the couple decided on wooden planks for the drawing room and flagstones for the rest of the ground floor, sourcing them on the internet and driving up to Cotes Mill in Leicestershire to choose the ones they wanted.

A playroom was created next to the living room for their three children. It was once the old dairy and still has the original metal hooks in the beams. A log burner was installed to give it a cosy feel.

Between the old and new parts of the house is the staircase, built from scratch with a metal balustrade and treads made from old floorboards from one of the bedrooms. ‘Our builder fell through the floor as the boards were rotten, but I salvaged as many as I could for the staircase,’ Anna explains. ‘He thought I was mad!’

Upstairs, a spacious main bedroom and a guest room are in the new extension above the kitchendiner. Both have ensuite bathrooms, although

Anna insisted on a bath in the bedroom, which is positioned so that she can see a huge oak tree from the middle window pane. The three children’s bedrooms and a further guest room are located in the original farmhouse.

The building work took a year to complete, and during this time the family stayed in their London property, then, the day after Wilfie was born, they moved in. ‘I wouldn’t recommend moving house with a newborn!’ laughs Anna. ‘But our new home is perfect and everything we could wish for. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.’