A French-style house in Essex has been sympathetically restored by owner Victoria Single, who has added rococo flair and connected the interior to the garden and views beyond
FEATURE ANNETTE WARREN PHOTOGRAPHY CLIVE NICHOLS
A French-style hunting lodge is not the usual architecture for rural Essex, but hidden down winding, wooded lanes lies a house with unmistakable Gallic features. At the end of an espaliered-lime avenue and overlooking a sweeping valley, this house has had an injection of joie de vivre from its owners, who could not wait to start renovating when they bought the property five years ago.
At the time, Victoria Single and her husband were living overseas, making property hunting tricky. “The agents soon knew how serious we were when they realised how far I was travelling to view properties,” she remembers. The first thing the couple did was to convert the black-painted weatherboard cottage annexe in the grounds, giving them a temporary base while the house underwent major refurbishment, with the help of local architect Roger Balmer. “What is now our kitchen and boot room was previously a warren of smaller rooms. Designed by architects Quinlan Terry and Raymond Erith, the 1970s house had hardly been touched since it was built and didn’t have central heating, so we knew were embarking on a big project,” she adds.
Victoria collated mood boards for each room, maintaining her vision that the interior would retain a light and airy feel. “I wanted to highlight the enfilade aspect of the linking ground floor rooms, and ensure the decor didn’t detract from the beautiful view,” she explains. Painting each reception room in complementary neutral tones and dressing the rear French windows in the same cream linen curtains was the starting point. Two of the reception rooms were blessed with original parquet flooring, so Victoria arranged for the dining room to be laid with reclaimed parquet to match and continue the feeling of flow through these spaces.
Victoria relished the task of project managing the grittier parts of the renovation but admits that bringing her mood boards to life, sourcing antique furniture and finding the perfect paint shades were the most enjoyable aspects. Luckily only one attic room had to be redecorated after a colour error. “It was supposed to be celadon green but turned out grey and depressing,” she says. Prior to installing heating, the house
