Family Gathering

Annual traditions, three generations and plenty of space make Christmas at Rebecca and Kieran Pavey’s home very special

- Hazel Dolan

Our first Christmas here was chaotic,’ recall Rebecca Pavey and her husband Kieran. ‘Just two days before, we had 15 vans on the driveway and 24 men working flat out to finish converting the coach house annexe for my mother.’ The imminent arrival of Rebecca’s father and stepmother, too, made the deadline all the more pressing.

Finding a property that would work for three generations – including their children Anna, now 11, and Francesca, 8, and Rebecca’s mother Catherine – had been a priority for the family, so when she came across this elegant Victorian townhouse for sale in County Durham, they were ready to act fast. It had high spacious rooms, a host of original features and a pretty garden, plus it already came with planning permission for the outbuildings. ‘I viewed it after work one night,’ she says, ‘and Kieran hadn’t even looked around when I put an offer in the following day.’