FILLED WITH COLOUR AND SURROUNDED BY NATURAL BEAUTY, ARTIST NELLIE SHEPHERD’S PEAK DISTRICT HOME IS A PASTORAL MASTERPIECE
FEATURE CARRIE MITCHELL AND KAREN DARLOW
Living area
‘The dresser was my mother’s – we gave it a new lease of life with a lick of paint. The brick wall was discovered when the ceiling was raised so we decided to make it a feature and had it pointed in sandstone.’
HOME NOTES
WHO LIVES HERE?
Artist Nellie Shepherd and husband Andy Charlton, a physicist at Oxford University, as well as a menagerie of animals, including cats, dogs, sheep and chickens.
THE PROPERTY
A renovated six-bedroom farmhouse set in seven acres in the Peak District National Park.
THE LAYOUT
On the ground floor, there is an openplan kitchen-diner/living area and a hallway leading past two more reception rooms and utility area to a second prep kitchen and a small bathroom tucked in beside the conservatory. Upstairs, there is a snug, four bedrooms and two bathrooms, with two further bedrooms on the second floor.
It took seven years for Nellie Shepherd to find her dream property, and another four to renovate it. But today, her picture-perfect 17th-century farmhouse makes a fairy-tale home for her and husband Andy, as well as the ideal spot for Nellie’s art school.
WHY DID YOU BUY THIS PROPERTY?
‘This house was well priced. We certainly got a lot of home for our money, and I found myself drawn to it. It was just magical. People say it’s in the middle of nowhere, but I say it’s in the middle of everywhere. It’s easy to get to the Peak District from all over the country.’
WHAT WORK NEEDED TO BE DONE?
‘I was passionate about restoring the house and bringing it back to how it should be, so I waited a year for heritage builder Andrew Preston to be free and take on the project. He told me it had to be taken back to the original brick and done properly. The roof had to be removed, all the ceilings were brought down as most of the rafters were rotten, and every single lintel needed to be replaced. Andrew sourced salvaged rafters, beams and stones for the windowsills to retain the character of the building.’
WERE YOU DAUNTED BY THE RENOVATION?
‘I’ve done a few renovations before, and I knew it would be a challenge. I just hadn’t realised how bad it was. I used to create elaborate sets and build Venice - or even Rome - in a day, so it drove me mad how slow it was. Houses have to evolve and suit the way we live today, but you need to get the bone structure right – so th
