< Previous10 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAYHOMESSpacious chalet This month’s featured property is Clifton House, a secluded chalet perfect for families.10-13.qxp_Layout 1 15/04/2019 14:14 Page 1LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY 11HOMESIn the village Holbeach Bank, one will find Clifton House, a spacious four-bedroom chalet. Scott and his family have lived at the property for ten years. When asked why they chose the area and property Scott said: “I was actually brought up in around a 15-mile radius of where we are now. “The area had good schools for the children, and the home had a sizeable office that meant we would able to run our business from home and spend more time with the children. It’s also a very secluded property, it’s in its own compound, well set back off the road, and slightly hidden away, 12 Á10-13.qxp_Layout 1 15/04/2019 14:14 Page 212 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAYHOMESwhich is what really drew us to it.” Indeed the property is perfectly private, placed on a private road and behind an electric gate. After driving up a block-paved driveway, one will reach the house. Stepping inside the home, one is greeted by the entrance hall. The kitchen can be found to your left, which the family spend a significant amount of time in, sitting together around the table for the evening meal for often two to three hours. Meanwhile, the master bedroom is on the right of the entrance hall, featuring two built in double wardrobes and an ensuite bathroom with a deep spa bath, shower and stone tiled flooring and walls. At the end of the hall, past a cloakroom, is the living room and an adjoining conservatory. Full of light, and hosting an intriguing inglenook fireplace, the living room is Scott’s favourite room in the house. He said: “I absolutely love the living room. It’s the perfect room for all seasons. It has big sliding doors that go out onto the decking and into the garden, so on warm summer evenings you can have them open and mosey yourself in and out. Then in the spring, as the conservatory runs off the living room, you can sit out there. In addition on winter and autumn evenings you can turn on the fire and sit and watch movies - the room’s got a great fireplace feature! It is just a really lovely and quite large living room.” Upstairs one will find the three remaining bedrooms, two of which have a Juliet balcony and all three of which have an ensuite. On the ground floor, separate to the main building is the office, which has a small kitchen and toilet attached. The spacious and versatile office, converted from a double garage, is big enough that the family placed four desks in it, which has allowed them to not only work from home but keep an eye on the children doing their homework. The office could also potentially be converted into an annex. Outside, the house is surrounded by fields, and the family see plenty of wildlife. Scott detailed: “We have a big main drain at the bottom of the garden, which means you can hear the ducks. Around this time of year you can also hear the pheasants as they come to roost. We also have a lot of DDS Roofing We are a local and independent roofing firm with over thirty years’ experience. We have been serving the local community for over ten years. All our team are friendly and professional and take pride in the high standard of workmanship that we provide. For more information, call us today! We cater for domestic and commercial clients in need of quality roofing for their homes or businesses. Our comprehensive range of services includes: • Roofing service • Reroofing • Slating • Tiling • Fascias and Soffits • General property maintenance35 College Street, Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire DN34 4TN Telephone: 01472 267709 Mobile: 07980 962009 Email: derrick.saxby@homecall.co.uk10-13.qxp_Layout 1 15/04/2019 14:14 Page 3LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY 13HOMESblue tits, blackcaps, wrens and blackbirds.” The garden itself, as Scott says, is in a compound, meaning it is fenced and walled all the way around, so while rabbits and deer can be seen, they do not come into the garden, protecting any plants you may want to keep healthy. While the garden, which is set out with evergreen, is a big plot, Scott notes that it is not hard to maintain and is colourful throughout the year. As a relatively new build, the family has not needed to undertake much work on the home. In their time there, however, Scott noted that they have fitted 12 solar panels which are on the power network, and from which they get reimbursed, and recently took up and replaced all the outside decking. After ten years the family is now ready to leave Clifton House. When asked why Scott noted: “Our children are now old enough that myself and my wife can spend a great deal more time in our house in Spain. Last year we spent 22 weeks there, so for our UK residence we want to downsize to a property that we can lock up and leave or to a place that we can leave the girls to be confident to look after. I don’t think we would actually sell if we didn’t have our Spanish home, but we enjoy ourselves so much in Spain. We just love it over there.” Clifton House is now on the market for £499,000 and is being sold by City & County who can be contacted on 01733212305. 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Church Road, Boston PE21 0LG | Tel: 01205 310 327 E-mail: sales@bostonheating.co.uk | www.bostonheating.co.uk10-13.qxp_Layout 1 15/04/2019 14:14 Page 414 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAYHOMESThe Newton Bathtub from Maison Valentina is a luxury statement piece comprising the very best in contemporary design. © Shutterstock /ArtazumIf ever there was a room where design and style should not be compromised, it’s the bathroom. You’ll be spending a lot of time in the bathroom, so why not make the most of the available space. A few stylish décor pieces can go a long way, with a little ornamentation tucked here and there. Yet the best thing about the bathroom interior is that it’s where style and function come together. Think of the furniture pieces and storage solutions as decoration themselves. A cabinet for toiletries doesn’t have to be drab and uninspired, it can be a stylish design choice in its own right. Apply this same thinking to everything in the bathroom, right down to the toilet seat, and you’ll have a stunning space in no time at all. Getting a beautiful bathroom 14-15.qxp_Layout 1 15/04/2019 10:38 Page 11) This combination unit from Bathroom Takeaway adds an elegant modern touch to your bathroom interior. 2) This space-saving back-to-back bath from Waters Baths of Ashbourne features a luxurious, slim profile edge and a cool contemporary silhouette. 3) This smart mirror from MY Furniture is a beautiful and high-tech design solution. As well as offering ample space to enjoy your reflection, you can connect your phone via Bluetooth to listen to music in the bathroom. 4) With its edgy and traditional design, the Lucina Radiator from The Pure Bathroom Collection and available via Smiths Briten is right on trend. It also doubles as a towel rail, offering style and functionality. 5) Fashioned from solid wood, this timeless piece from Wooden Furniture Store will impart a contemporary country charm to your bathroom. 6) This simple yet stylish towel ladder from Garden Trading offers an elegant storage solution. 12345614-15.qxp_Layout 1 15/04/2019 10:38 Page 216 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAYARTISTIC LINCOLNSHIRE Heather Howe grew up immersed in the natural beauty of the Lizard Peninsula near Cadgwith in Cornwall. Here she spent her formative years, nurturing a relationship with the natural world and the dramatic landscapes of England’s southwest. It seemed fated that Heather would pursue a life in the arts, so having finished school she completed a Foundation year and earned a B.A in Fine Art at Falmouth School of Art and Exeter University respectively. After leaving art school, she worked as a practising artist in the South East honing her craft and earning admirers. At aged just twenty-two, she had one of her first solo shows at the Century Galleries in Henley-on-Thames. Although Heather undoubtedly has a signature style, her career is as rich and diverse as the In love with This month we take a closer look at the works of Heather Howe, one of the most accomplished and highly sought-after landscape artists working in Britain today. 16-17.qxp_Layout 1 15/04/2019 10:40 Page 1LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY 17ARTISTIC LINCOLNSHIRE landscapes she’s so adept in capturing. As well as fulfilling private commissions and exhibitions in the UK and overseas, she’s also dabbled in commercial design work during her impressive twenty-five-year career. Although Heather has successfully used watercolours, she has worked almost exclusively in oils for several years now, citing the “happy accidents” that occur with a palette knife as the colours blend and blur together. Her finesse with the knife makes for beautiful landscapes, usually incorporating a walk or path to entice the viewer into the scene. Therein lies her greatest joy, when a painting takes on a life all of its own. Heather says this element is essential to give each and every piece its own vibe and keep them fresh and individual. Since childhood, Heather has always THE LITTLE RED GALLERY Love art? Then we’d love to meet you, please call in for a cup of tea and a chat. The Little Red Gallery are feeling ‘Love’ with a fantastic range of pieces and perfect gift ideas.8 Bailgate Lincoln LN1 3AE 01522 589134 8 St Mary’s Hill, Stamford, PE9 2DP art@thelittleredgallery.co.uk www.thelittleredgallery.co.uk maintained a strong emotional connection to landscape and changing weather. Though obviously we’re biased towards Lincolnshire, there’s no denying Cornwall’s impressive open vistas of endless ocean and open skies. It’s something that’s felt as much in the body as seen through the eyes; physical as well as emotional. So for Heather, trying to capture and communicate this forms the central theme and thesis of her portfolio. Clearly she’s hit upon some fundamental human truth, sparking the need to interact with the natural world, given her work is highly sought after by collectors. Heather’s paintings each have their roots in the tempestuous beauty of England’s startling natural environment. Her starting point is less what she sees in front of her face, but more the emotions behind a scene and those it evokes. Think dappled sunlight, stormy skies or bright moonlight. These are the kinds of triggers which help Heather to instinctively settle on a view for her painting. Although she’s lived in many parts of the UK, Heather returned to her childhood home at the turn of the century where she can take in the natural beauty, live at her own pace and continue to produce highly sought-after landscape paintings. Perhaps Heather put it best on her Instagram account, where she wrote: “Painting is like breathing... I try and do it everyday!” If you’d like to see some of Heather’s paintings for yourself, head down to the Little Red Gallery in Lincoln. You can find more about the artist and her work on Facebook @heatherhoweart and on Instagram @hethhowe. landscapes 16-17.qxp_Layout 1 15/04/2019 10:40 Page 218 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAYGARDENSAs we’ve already mentioned, this unusual garden is double walled, which, as Sonia tells us, is something of a rarity. When we asked Sonia about this quirk, she was as uncertain as we were. “We don’t know why there are two complete walls but suspect the family may have been showing their wealth as bricks were taxed during this period, or it may have been quite simply to increase the growing space in the garden!” she says. Fortunately, we do know the long and storied background of the estate and its garden. The Stourton Estate was split up in the fifties, with the hall demolished shortly afterwards. Most of the land was snapped up by the tenant farmers at that time. One of these farmers, Harry Strawson, was Sonia’s very own grandfather, who tells us that Harry farmed the land before his son, Roger, took it over. It is now managed by the third generation Antony Strawson. The Walled Garden sits in the middle of the estate close to where The Hall once stood. The couple who originally bought it back in the fifties approached Roger many years later and asked him if he wanted to buy the garden and cottage. They wanted to retire to the local town of Wragby and have the luxury of electricity to watch television. Sonia tells us that a sale was agreed, and the garden then became part of the working farm. However, there were no free funds to bring the cottage up to rentable standards, so the gardens – which had not been formally managed for many years – became unused and overgrown. As the years passed, nature took over, reclaiming the land for itself. Buildings grew ever more derelict, the greenhouses and outbuildings started to cave in and the brambles and ivy grew wild, hiding everything in their path. But in 2004, Sonia – Roger’s daughter – returned to Lincolnshire to help run the estate with her brother so that their This extremely rare ‘double’ walled garden near Baumber was built in 1817 and finished in 1826, it was the walled kitchen garden that produced the fresh food for the Livesey family living at the hall on The Stourton Estate. We recently chatted with current owner Sonia Elton about this magnificent space. 18-23.qxp_Layout 1 15/04/2019 10:43 Page 1LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY 19GARDENSparents could retire. Needing somewhere to live, Sonia says she decided to tackle the cottage in the walled garden. After a long fifteen-month renovation project that saw Sonia undertake much of the work herself, she was finally ready to move in. The work, though, didn’t stop there, as Sonia explains: “Over the next few years the work continued, buildings were cleared and rebuilt, and areas of the garden we slowly cleared and set to grass. The ivy was peeled back to reveal the beautiful walls which were painstakingly cleaned and rebuilt brick by brick, wherever they had fallen or been damaged.” By 2007, Sonia had married David Elton and the two of them continued together working on the garden and buildings. However, they weren’t on their own this time around. They brought in specialists to help whenever there were spare funds, taking on some of the burden. Between juggling a young family, and while both were working on other projects to keep funds coming in, they kept the renovation work going. After a few more years, the Eltons had made the gardens and the buildings safe with most of the ground cleared and grassed. The wells had been filled in, the old blue asbestos 20 Á18-23.qxp_Layout 1 15/04/2019 10:43 Page 2Next >