A Gothic Tale

Inspired by the extravagance of gothic, a couple found the perfect place in Much Hadham to create their fantasy home

- Pat Bramley

THE gothic house with the grey slate roof and turrets in Kettle Green Lane, Much Hadham looks like a château in a wine region of France. Appropriately, owner Colin Sullivan says he and his architect designed it one evening over dinner and two of bottles of red.

‘We drew it on a sheet of paper. The finished result isn’t that much different. I still have the original sketch.’

If that sounds a bit off the wall, the pair were well qualified to dream up the fairytale property. Colin is a builder. Today he focusses on commercial buildings, ‘but in a previous life I restored listed buildings,’ he says. ‘I have a complete affinity with them. Historic stuff is done for love.’

In his ‘previous life’ his architect worked for English Heritage. He and Sullivan first teamed up in the early ’80s. Architect and client were already on the same wavelength when he drew up the plans to remodel the first property Colin and his wife Jane bought together when they married 31 years ago.

They’ve owned their present gothic pile, Wheatfields House, since 1991. It stands in 11 acres on an elevated spot on the west side of the village. Jane found the site.

‘We were looking for somewhere with land,’ Colin remembers. ‘There was a 1955 chalet bungalow on the plot. We bought it without looking inside – just from viewing the exterior. We knew as soon as we came through the gates it was what we were looking for. Too much acreage can be a burden unless you’re going to work the land on a business basis. There was enough land to give us a high degree of privacy which was important to us and it’s in a fantastic position. What it was like inside was irrelevant.’