PERFECTLY FRAMED

A pared-back mix of vintage and antique pieces lets the oak frame do the talking in Tamsin and Paul Clarke’s barn home

Living room

The Monterosso blue velvet corner sofa from Made is the perfect fit between beams, while the old groyne pillars from a docking yard were from Hadlow Down Antiques, along with the lamps. Tamsin chose the antique cow in homage to the barn’s history, from an antique shop in The Netherlands

Exterior

Tamsin and Paul moved out of London 12 years ago so they could bring up their children in the countryside.The barn is their second home in the Sussex countryside and was once a cowshed on a farm estate

AT HOME WITH

Owners Tamsin and Paul Clarke run a lettings business and bought the property in 2015 for themselves and their sons, Zach, 14 and Jake, 10.

House A six-bedroom barn in an East Sussex hamlet with a Norman church at the heart, at the foot of the South Downs.

Tamsin and Paul Clarke love a project and can’t help but feel the itch to move every six or seven years – they’ve owned Victorian houses in London, a Georgian house in Ramsgate and sold a farmhouse in East Sussex to buy this barn. ‘We can’t imagine moving to a modern property because our furniture and belongings are antique, vintage or repurposed, they’re our passion,’ says Tamsin.

Even so, the couple had reservations when they first saw this building. ‘It wasn’t love at first sight,’ Tamsin admits. ‘Although the old beams were incredible, the beauty of the oak was lost in the busy decor. Three of the bedrooms were downstairs and the huge living room was on the first floor.’