Beaming with joy

Illuminated by lanterns and candlelight, Sarah and Andrew Charlesworth’s home is a magical evocation of Christmasses past, while also providing myriad reasons to raise a glass to their future here. Part of their home is an early 15th-century Wealden hall house, which would have paid host to village gatherings in previous centuries. However, this is but one portion of their unique and unusual home, which melds several architectural traditions. While respecting their home’s intriguing past, Sarah and Andrew have now added another layer to the house’s story, with a texture-rich style that perfectly suits the festive season.

This will be Sarah and Andrew’s third Christmas in their Grade II listed home in the heart of the Kentish countryside, a home they share with Monty, their Golden Retriever, Sindy, a rescue dog, and Floss, their Bengal cat. The first year they celebrated Christmas in their new home, the couple did so in flamboyant style. “We chose the biggest tree we could find – probably about 16-feet tall – and smothered it with twinkling white fairy lights,” remembers Sarah. This year she will be recreating this simple but very effective centrepiece, complementing it with similarly natural decorations, such as handmade evergreen wreaths and garlands of foraged winter foliage.

To update their historic home, Sarah and Andrew called upon interior designer Ben Stokes of Kagu Interiors, who has decorated it in a style that references the past but also suits its modern-day owners. With fabrics in neutral shades and pieces chosen for their natural textures, from stippled stone and earthenware vessels to chandeliers fashioned from antlers, Ben took a lead from the house’s own materials, then added a few modern outlines. “Ben has an amazing vision and excels in redesigning the interiors of historic properties,” says Sarah. “We love how his ideas were tailored to us and the house, with a strong emphasis on all things handmade and crafted.”

Their main living space is the great hall, a timber-framed building originally built by a wealthy yeoman farmer.