The old with the new
When Helen and Andrew Shaw took on Old Purves Hall, they had an almighty task ahead, but the gamble has certainly paid off, says Nichola Hunter
Andrew Shaw readily admits he bought Old Purves Hall ‘in a moment of utter madness’, but four years later it doesn’t seem such a crazy idea after all. Growing up in the Borders, Andrew knew the property from childhood. ‘I can remember it being set up as a toffee factory and then it was split into two flats with a dog grooming parlour and kennel. Over all those years it had little done to it. The roof and windows were in good order, but the internal structure was becoming difficult.’
Andrew was living down south when the property near Coldstream came on the market. ‘I wasn’t ready to return to Scotland and it was too big a project. However, about 18 months later it was still for sale and I’m afraid I fell in love with it. It was such a glorious building and it was on its knees. I thought it would make the most extraordinary holiday let. With the scale of restoration required, it would have to sing for its supper and that’s the approach I took from the outset.’
While Andrew could see what to do in terms of structure, when it came to interiors, he had no idea. ‘I relied very heavily, well actually entirely, on my sister-in-law, Helen Bateman. Helen has renovated several properties and she also had her own shoe shop in Edinburgh. She has great design flair and it was her input that I needed. I showed her around before I bought it and asked her what she thought. We thought rather than making it into a glorified castle with suits of armour it would look stunning if we completely restored it.’
Fortunately, Helen was as excited as Andrew. ‘Initially we looked at ways of bringing the house into modern usage without an extension but downstairs only had two rooms. I also wanted to ensure we had six bedrooms as the bigger beats on the Tweed are six fishermen or rods. Once we decided that we would extend downstairs it meant that upstairs could just be bedrooms and bathrooms, this made the layout decisions relatively simple.’
The decisions may have been simple but renovating a 16th-century peel tower with a Georgian extension was anything but. ‘It’s a complex house. We put the extension on the front to hide some horrific structures that we reckon were
“With the scale of restoration required, it would have to sing for its supper and that’s the approach I took from the outset
added about 130 years ago to prop the house up. The Venetian window, which was blocked up when I purchased it, has never been part of the original construction of the house, it’s just a feature. The arch at the top is below the floor level of the next storey.’
Further discoveries showed that the weight of the roof was being held up by two windows and several ceilings should really have collapsed. There were also some interesting features that had been covered up. ‘As a peel tower it had had an external staircase and we uncovered beautiful curved walls on the inside of the building. There wasn’t a massive amount we could do to showcase them so we’ve exposed the stone wherever we could.
‘As a peel tower, the ground floor was for animals and storage, but at some point it’s been used as a living area too as there’s a huge inglenook fireplace. It’s not original but it’s been there a very long time because the chimneys go all the way to the roofline. However, in the Georgian extension where the kitchen is now, these alcoves all have chimneys to the roof and were definitely built for ranges.
‘I think with any old building you should try to use what you’ve already got when you can. In this building this was actually really easy. There’s a lovely stone wall in the corridor when you come in and it was so damp, we couldn’t get it to dry out and ultimately it was easier to repoint it and keep it uncovered.
‘In the drawing room and kitchen, the oak beams had been stencilled by a previous owner, they’re a bit like Marmite. You either love them or hate them. We decided to keep the stencils in the drawing room but paint them out in the kitchen. The beams are lower in the kitchen, and we wanted to draw attention away from them.’
Although Helen was keen to celebrate
the original features, she also wanted to play on the drama that the old building offered. ‘We only used six paint colours throughout the house. I try and keep a colour palette to a maximum of seven.
‘If you reverse the colour palette in a room that has a different type of light, it can look completely different. It’s also much easier in a holiday home to add touches of drama in different places which I’ve done with the chair in the bathroom which I covered in fabric by Matthew Williamson, and the wool panelled chair in the hallway. These are statement pieces that perhaps you wouldn’t live with every day.’
This approach, and a timescale of almost two years, allowed Helen to ensure that the finished look is something rather special. ‘It’s a diverse mix – from high-street finds to designer brands. I love how the kitchen has turned out, it’s a very tranquil room and great to cook in and I’m very pleased with the dining table and chairs which came from Coach House.
‘The choice was driven by the width of the room, which is quite narrow. The table is 80cm, which is narrower than standard, but I didn’t want guests having to clamber around it. The table also extends and folds up on itself. It’s a bit like a pasting table – it was a great find.’
The project was finally completed in 2017 and Andrew is still just as much in love with it as he was when he had his moment of madness. ‘It still needs to pay for the renovations before I can live in it, but I’ll move in at some point.’ Old Purves Hall has found its knight in shining armour.
I try and keep a colour palette to a maximum of seven