TO THE MANOR BORN

Keen to bring up their children in the country, Joli Wright and her husband Alex turned this period property into an idyllic rural home

- VIVIENNE AYERS

When Joli Wright and her husband Alex were planning to move back to the UK, they began their property search in the countryside. ‘I grew up on a farm in the Swiss mountains, just like Heidi,’ says Joli. ‘In the winter, we went to school by ski or sledge, and in summer we swam in the lakes. It was so idyllic, and Alex and I wanted a rural upbringing for our children, Oliver, Louis and Ophelia.’

Their house-hunting was focused near Cambridge, as Alex was taking over the family business in the city. ‘I looked online and spotted a potential home almost immediately,’ says Joli. ‘It was a manor house, right in the centre of a village. When I found the house, it smiled at me.’

On viewing the property, the couple’s first impressions were equally favourable. ‘It was beautiful and spacious, and the location was lovely, so it ticked all the boxes,’ says Joli. ‘It felt warm and welcoming, although the interior was rather dated. But because we were running a property and interiors company at the time, we had our own builders, so I was confident I could turn it into our dream home.’