Past, Present & Future

A MIX OF COTTAGE CHARM AND CHIC MODERN TOUCHES MAKES THIS SPACE WORK FOR THREE GENERATIONS OF THE LILLEY-JESSON FAMILY

Freestanding kitchens designed to come with you when you sell up are a brilliant idea, unless you are the ones moving into the kitchen-less house! This was the situation Charlotte and Matthew Lilley-Jesson faced when they upsized to gain more space. ‘Of course it was noted on the sale agreement so it wasn’t a surprise, but it did feel odd to move into a house with no kitchen at all,’ says Charlotte. Fortunately, the pretty stone cottage, with its lovely gardens, rustic outbuildings and fields beyond, more than compensated. The couple had been living in a two-bed property that they had renovated, but when Brodie came along it felt too small. ‘The cottage is big enough for mum to live with us, too, which is really lovely, not to mention handy on the childcare front. Plus, Brodie gets to grow up in the countryside with all the space and fresh air,’ says Charlotte.