At home with Kingham Cottages
Having lived in Kingham for over 20 years, Chris and Delphie built three of their five holiday cottages in 2011 on an abandoned building plot. They knew they wanted to build to a high standard with a high-spec finish that would be a pleasure to visit and endure as heavily used holiday cottages. With an impeccable eye for detail Chris and Delphie designed and managed every aspect of the build and continue with that high standard in the running of the business today.
Wherever possible, local craftsmen and traditional materials were used with modern technology to create beautiful buildings that fit into their historic surroundings and appear ageless, but inside benefit from the highest levels of insulation, under floor heating and air recycling.
The older properties in Kingham were built with stone from two quarries on adjacent hills, red quarry and white quarry. The houses show a mixture of stone, sometimes arranged in strong alternating bands, sometimes solely of one colour and often a mixture of the two. When designing the holiday cottages Chris tried to emulate this mixture using stone from three different quarries.
Throughout the cottage interiors, English oak gives a clean, yet rustic feel and is used for stairs, doors, skirting boards and occasionally floors. We have found the lack of paint in these areas has made cleaning much easier as there’s nothing to chip as the hoover whisks around the corner! A supplier of reclaimed oak in Sussex has provided lintels and beams that give a wonderfully aged feel.
During the design process Chris and Delphie discussed with their children what they would want from an ideal property and so features such as high pressure showers in wet rooms and double ended baths under windows with views of the stars pop up around the site. A plethora of plugs in the bedrooms is thanks to the girls input that you can never have enough sockets for a phone charger, baby monitor and a hairdryer…on both sides of the bed! Every bedroom has a wardrobe with hanging for long dresses. Well, of course…
The properties are furnished to be stylish, comfortable and ageless using antique furniture, arts and crafts pieces and sumptuous fabrics from Colefax & Fowler, Nina Campbell, Sanderson, Romo, The Isle Mill and many other well-known fabric houses. All the sofas have been made in the village by Wescote Design and the beds and mattresses have been made for us in Lancashire ensuring an excellent night sleep even away from home.