New look, hot stuff
This house in Helmsley has been transformed and is now a no expense spared holiday let with some surprising additions in the newly landscaped gardens. Sharon Dale reports. Pictures by Olivia Brabbs
WHEN Christina Brion launched the luxury Yorkshire holiday property brand Gorgeous Cottages in 2012, the response was nothing short of phenomenal. She had studied English Literature at Leeds University and knew all about the power of words to seduce, inform and engage the reader.
So the descriptions of the properties she chose to take on to her books were beautifully written and enticing while providing everything a prospective guest would need to know. The other key ingredient that ensured her success was imagery. “Very few, if any, similar businesses were using a professional photographer at the time but I knew it was a must because pictures are vital in promoting the properties,” says Christina.
While she eventually sold the thriving business, she is now back in the game but this time as a holiday property owner. Her time assessing holiday lets and advising clients on improving their offering while gathering feedback from guests has been incredibly useful for her new venture, Yorkshire Velvet.
The first home in her portfolio is testament to all she has learned and to her natural flair for interior design. The Velveteen Bath House in the market town of Helmsley has been a mammoth project and no expense has been spared on it.
The property began life as a much-loved but dated 1930s semi-detached house and Christina and her husband Phil arranged a viewing purely because they love the market town.
She says: “Helmsley is our favourite place to visit in Yorkshire and it’s only half an hour’s drive from where we live near Stokesley. The house wasn’t a looker from the outside but inside it had a lovely feel about it and we could see it had a lot of potential, plus it had parking and a large garden. I knew that we could make it special.”
The ensuing two-year project, which started in 2021, has completely transformed the property and involved extending it to the side to create a ground floor shower room and a cinema room/snug with access to Sky, Netflix and Nintendo Switch.
A rear extension provided space for a large, light-filled kitchen/dining area with a corner booth and glazed doors onto the garden. The kitchen cabinetry is bespoke and made and fitted by Northallerton Dixon and Cowton joiners.
“Kitchens from Wren and Howdens were coming in at £20,000 and we paid £30,000 for ours knowing it will last a lifetime, so in terms of value it was a great buy,” says Christina.
The sitting room had a gas fire, which the Brions replaced with an open fire featuring an antique surround from Old Flames in Easingwold. “I grew up in Northern Ireland and we always had an open fire. I love the warmth and cosiness they bring,” says Christina, who has left instructions for the uninitiated on how to light it
Upstairs, there were three bedrooms and one bathroom but the space has been redesigned to create two large ensuite rooms with beds and mattresses from Simply Beds in Northallerton. This was done on the basis that to achieve the best letting rates, guests have to have their own bedroom and their own private bathroom.
Interiors store Niche Living in Barnard Castle made all the cushions, curtains and blinds and worked with Christina to create a calm and restful colour palette for the house.
Sage green and terracotta paints from Fenwick and Tilbrook were a favourite for the walls with pattern added on headboards, cushions and the wallpaper in the hallway. Again, no expense has been spared, with Mark Hearld’s Wren fabric used on the headboards in the twin room.
Panelling was also used to great effect and the furniture is a mix of new investment buys, including the Arlo and Jacob sofa plus antique finds like the chairs, which Niche Living reupholstered, and the Victorian desk that the TV sits on. Vinterior and Etsy were also favourite shopping sites while many of the pictures were bought from Tennants in Leyburn and the lighting is from Jim Lawrence and Pooky.
Outside was also a major project and the garden, which looked a sorry sight after the building work, is now a work of art, thanks to investment and a template created by Christina’s sister, professional garden designer Jackie Cahoon of seedoncesown.com
The cherries on top are the Swedish sauna and a Japanese style Ofuro Hot Tub housed in a timber shelter. Christina