The renovation game

Jane and Craig have bridged the centuries with an imaginative link between an ancient cottage and its outbuildings

Welcome to the house of fun - a home of secret slides, hidden doors, pop-up screens, and wonky dimensions. Nothing is quite what it seems in Jane Fordham and Craig Bonner's extraordinary home of two halves.

Their period house welcomes you with its low-slung front windows and blossoming climbers round the door. Head round the back, however, and you'll spot a contemporary zig-zag glazed corridor that links the Grade II-listed building with its revamped and very contemporary stables and garage block.

"Our initial plan was to self-build," says Craig, a financial director. "We had always dismissed the idea of buying a period house because we always thought they could be oppressive with their low ceilings and small windows, but we fell for this as soon as we saw it. It had a really positive feel to it."

Not only was the property in the right location, but it also had planning permission to convert the stables and garage, offering scope to fulfill at least part of their self-build ambition.

"The only thing we needed to address was how to create a link between the two and how to modernize the outbuildings without faking it," says Craig.

With no deadlines or time constraints, the couple moved into the old cottage with their young children and started to plan for a home which, above all else, would be fun to live in.

"We created a significant mood board that included space, light, fun, and play," says Craig. "Then we broke every rule in the self-builder's book by just making it up as we went along. I was happy to adjust things 'on the go', while Jane is much better at planning and detail."