A rustic replacement

Andrew and Paget Briggs have transformed their 17th-century Cornish farmhouse with a sympathetic kitchen built using local materials

- Alexandra Pratt

HOMEOWNERS Andrew and Paget Briggs

LOCATION West Cornwall

PROJECT Kitchen renovation in a granite farmhouse

BUILD COST £65,000

VALUE Unknown

Replacing the kitchen in a granite farmhouse dating from 1640 was always going to be a challenge on every level. Not only were there no straight lines to work from, but designing a space that meets 21st-century needs while respecting the existing building, required careful consideration. Andrew and Paget’s new kitchen manages to meet all these demands, and it does so using locally sourced materials.

A FARMHOUSE WITH POTENTIAL

When the couple first saw the Cornish farmhouse in 2017, they were captivated by its views and the setting: an historic building surrounded by an even older landscape of woods, grazing and moorland. “We were looking for a complete change of lifestyle,” says Paget. “Although it was very tired, it had the makings of a great family home.”

The five-bedroom property needed attention throughout, but after living in the house for just over two years Andrew and Paget knew what didn’t work and decided to tackle the kitchen first. It is a large room with an impressive inglenook fireplace in local granite and a hardwood conservatory added by the previous owner with homemade kitchen cupboards to match. “Everything had to fit around the inglenook, which originally would have had the range, so there were limits to what we could do,” explains Paget. The wall of exposed granite suggested materials that would fit with the building and be substantial, but not grand.