Character, history and style

Columbine Hall, Suffolk The home of Hew Stevenson and Leslie Geddes-Brown A medieval moated manor house has been lovingly re-imagined as the beau idéal of an English country home. Jeremy Musson reports on this remarkable achievement

- Jeremy Musson

ALONG, L-shaped timber-frame house, set within a wide moat, Columbine Hall is a very English and beguiling house. From its late-14th-century origins, it has evolved, as manors do, modestly adjusting and adapting over time. But the building’s medieval character still predominates, the gabled form reflected in the encircling water (Fig 1).

Columbine Hall has been subject to a tactful and well-informed programme of restoration since the house and 30 acres were acquired by Hew Stevenson, formerly chairman of a large group of regional newspapers, and his wife, Leslie Geddes-Brown, a writer with a long association with COUNTRY LIFE, not least as a gardening correspondent. They have worked to provide a fitting degree of modern comfort, as well as bringing out the best of the house’s historic character. In 2014, for example, modern cement render that was damaging the ancient timbers was entirely replaced by traditional lime.

It is not only the house that has been transformed; the surrounding gardens, outbuildings, and landscape have all received careful attention. The large timber-frame barn, its walls painted in a terracotta wash, is now used as a function room, and for wedding receptions; the next-door gig house has been converted into a comfortable cottage. Most impressive are the changes to the farm office overlooking the moat on the north side. A workaday 1960s brick box now reads like an elegant late-17th-century building with sash windows and a jaunty cupola. Within the moated site itself, a new semiformal garden has been created, giving the house a fitting background and frame.