COTSWOLDS COTTAGE
Actress Danielle Bux found the ultimate escape from her hectic US lifestyle with this 17th-century cottage, which she renovated remotely during the pandemic
KITCHEN
This space is pretty yet practical with built-in chopping boards and plenty of storage. Cabinets, made by local carpenter, in Mouse’s Back, Farrow & Ball. Try deVOL for similar. Delft tiles, Fired Earth
EXTERIOR
The seamless kitchen extension in Cotswold stone created an L-shaped courtyard area, which is ideal for entertaining. Vintage table, chairs and tablecloth, Vinterior. White jug, Betty’s Barn Interiors
Actress Danielle Bux is a true Brit at heart, so it’s no surprise that being stuck on the other side of the world during a global pandemic made her feel more than a little homesick. She had decamped from London to Los Angeles eight years previously to further her career and had acquired a new husband, Nate, and a second daughter, Romy, along the way.
‘We live most of the year in the mad metropolis that is Los Angeles and during lockdown it brought home to me that I wanted us to be in the UK countryside for part of the year,’ she says. ‘Somewhere close enough to London and to Wales where I grew up, yet a place that was a total antidote to city life.’ Danielle had lived in Burford many years ago, and her elder daughter, Ella, was born at Old Chipping Norton hospital, so she was drawn to the Oxfordshire/ Gloucestershire area and concentrated her search there.
Maybe it was a subconscious rebellion against their modern Californian lifestyle that lead the family to a 17th-century chocolate box Cotswolds cottage? ‘It was actually intentional,’ she smiles. ‘It’s exactly what I was looking for – acosy cottage with a thatched roof, inglenook fireplace and beams; all the essential ingredients.’ It was missing an Aga but that was the first thing Danielle added when she revamped the kitchen.
Not able to leave Los Angeles until Covid restrictions lifted, she bought the cottage via FaceTime with the help of a property developer friend in the UK who viewed it for her. ‘It was a little bit scary but also quite fun, and knowing it was mine massively helped with the feeling of being cut off from England,’ she says. Once Danielle had acquired the cottage she confesses that she initially had no idea about what she wanted to do to with it, apart from stay true to its integrity and honour its history. ‘I gave myself time to get a feel for the house and let my ideas evolve as I went along. I don’t like to rush,’ she says. On her first visit she began walking in the countryside outside her front door and that became her inspiration. ‘I knew then that I wanted it to be earthy and grounded with muted hues – shades of brown, stone and olive – really bringing the outside in.’
Viewed from the street, the house looks deceptively
