Keeping It In The Family

Annabelle Everard didn’t have far to look when it came to finding her perfect country home.

Finding their forever home was relatively straightforward for Annabelle Everard and her husband Anthony. They decided to move from London to the countryside to give their children a rural upbringing when their son Ralph was 10 months old and Annabelle was newly pregnant with Matthias. At the same time, Anthony’s mother decided to downsize from the elegant period-style new-build in Hampshire that she was living in.

‘We decided to take over the house,’ says Annabelle. ‘It is an amazing place – it’s grand and lovely, but because it’s relatively new, it’s warm! This is a country house where you don’t feel cold all the time. Plus, it’s ideal for a family as the layout flows really well and there’s a playroom off the kitchen. It also made sense to move here because Anthony’s mum would be living nearby – my family live in Jamaica, so it was important for us to be near family here. Added to that, there are good schools in the area and it’s only an hour by train to London.’

Annabelle was keen to update the house and put her own stamp on it. ‘I started work on it straightaway. I wanted to make sure it was done by the time Matthias was born in September, so we had a big deadline.’