Rising From The Ashes

This ancient manor house had been renovated following a fire, but it was Sarah and Charles Jarman’s finishing touches that turned it back into a family home

- Anna Tobin

When Sarah and Charles Jarman began hunting for a house three years ago, they told their estate agent they wanted a period home with a large kitchen and a lot less land than their existing property. ‘We had a very big garden plus outbuildings at our old house, and with four young children we found we just didn’t have the time to manage it all,’ explains Sarah.

This 16th-century house ticked all their boxes bar one: the kitchen was quite compact. ‘I fell in love with it nonetheless,’ says Sarah. ‘It’s even older than our previous home, with parts dating back to the 12th century, but because of a terrible fire that took place here, much of it is brand new.’

The elderly lady who lived here had to be rescued by firefighters when the flames took hold in 2011. Although the stone work survived, the wooden frame, fixtures and fittings were completely destroyed. The owner, who escaped unharmed, never returned to the property and it was left to her son to put it back together again. This took nearly five years and once completed, it was put on the market.