FAMILY AFFAIR How careful conservation of a historic Oxfordshire cottage has created a treasured family home

Family AFFAIR

Robyn and Peter Christie’s careful conservation of a treasured family home filled with memories has secured its heritage for future generations

FEATURE CHRISTINE STOVELL ADDITIONAL STYLING CLAIR WAYMAN PHOTOGRAPHY NICK SMITH

The plaster mouldings above the fireplace in the sitting room are thought to have been collected by Robyn’s grandfather, architect Arnold Silcock.

ABOVE The cupboard in the sitting room belonged to Robyn’s grandmother and the painting above it is by Edward Wakeford, who along with his wife Eileen was a close friend of Robyn’s aunt Ruth. Marvic’s Indigo Mood Pila Charcoal and Pila Red cover the sofa sourced from Claire Langley Antiques. RIGHT In the snug, a portrait by Raymond Coxon of Robyn’s mother, Diana, hangs above the chaise longue covered in Bayberry Strie by Brunschwig & Fils.

‘With the blessing of my three siblings, my husband Peter and I decided to purchase the cottage and keep it in the family’

In a rapidly changing world, a sense of continuity can be easily lost. However, for architectural heritage consultant Robyn Christie and her family, a picturesque eighteenth-century thatched cottage in a small Oxfordshire village has provided an anchor of stability, having passed from one generation to the next over the course of a 100 years.

“My mother and her sister, Ruth, inherited the cottage from their aunt,” explains current owner and custodian, Robyn. “As my mother had moved to Australia, married and had four children, my aunt lived in the cottage, and we stayed with her on our regular trips to the UK. When I left school, I even lived with Ruth for several months whilst I made my way in the world.”

This happy arrangement continued for some 40 years, until Robyn’s aunt required nursing-home care and it looked as if the property would have to be sold. “Instead, and with the blessing of my three siblings, my husband Peter and I decided to purchase the cottage and take on the responsibility of keeping it in the family, although we were still living in Sydney,” says Robyn.

ABOVE Robyn originally bought the rush chairs in New Zealand, then brought them over from Sydney and had them repaired by Dovetail Restoration. The sisal rug is from MB Carpets.

‘The sink in the laundry room has such character, I couldn’t bear to lose it’

ABOVE The bespoke kitchen was made locally by C&G Joinery. Open shelving topped with bright cookware gives the room a light, airy feel. LEFT The laundry room, which used to be the kitchen, looks out onto the kitchen garden. The porcelain sink serves as a reminder of the room’s original use. The listed cottage had been carefully maintained, but work was necessary to provide a serviceable kitchen and a new upstairs bathroom. “The existing kitchen, now the laundry room, was a nightmare if we were all trying to use it,” Robyn recalls. “And in the only bathroom, off the kitchen, the room was always freezing and the bath water was cold by the time it filled.”

Working with conservation architects Rodney Melville & Partners, Robyn and Peter drew up a series of plans to expand the property for modern needs whilst respecting its history, carefully retaining the existing layout and patina of the small cottage within a conservation area. A sun parlour added to the cottage in the 1950s offered an obvious solution to the problem of creating more living space, but the decision to replace it was not made lightly in a house imbued with memories.

The south-facing extension is suffused with natural light. A Circus pendant light by Corinna Warm hangs above a classic Clifton table from Benchmark. The painting by Frederick Brill is of Rowfant Mill, West Sussex, where Robyn’s grandmother had a cottage. The flooring is European Oak, Novar Rustic, from Havwoods Wood.

“It was built by my maternal grandfather who was an architect in Bath,” Robyn explains. “Ruth would have kept it for that reason, and it was difficult for me to contemplate demolishing his work, but I believe the cottage is more habitable as a consequence.”

As a graduate architect and having spent her career in Sydney advising on new additions to old buildings, Robyn was guided by her own principles for the design of a new two-storey addition to replace the former sun parlour. Her philosophy, that new fabric should be distinguishable from old fabric, and, also, that it should not obscure the reading of its past is evident in the new extension, which is a separate structure with a glazed link tucked snugly under the thatch. “It doesn’t add to the bulk of the original cottage and takes a subtle abstract language from vernacular wooden barns,” says Robyn. “And, importantly, because the cottage sits sideways to the street, the new structure is hardly visible from the village.” 

The eighteenth-century thatched cottage sits in a conservation area. A sympathetic two-storey extension, with a glazed link to the main building, houses the new kitchen and upstairs bathroom.

ABOVE Previously accessed by another bedroom, the original master bedroom is a serene sanctuary. An Etienne quilt from The White Company is in keeping with the cottage feel. The painting above the bed is by Charles DuBack, a New York artist who was then married to the artist Daphne Mumford, Ruth’s cousin. Inside, Robyn has enhanced the rhythm and layout of the original cottage. Upstairs, a new bedroom and bathroom bring cohesion and allow each of the three bedrooms their own space. Downstairs, the southern light that floods the two-storey extension has lifted the dark and occasionally claustrophobic feel of the original ground-floor rooms. “I’m delighted with how well it works all year round; the new extension sits comfortably within the garden, and sunlight pours in through the French windows,” Robyn remarks.

The cottage is filled with an abundance of heirlooms and mementoes which pay touching tribute to the women who inspired Robyn. “I feel I am with my mother and my aunt whenever I am here,” she reflects. “They were both extraordinary people and had quite different and sometimes difficult lives.” Most of the furniture in the cottage belonged to Robyn’s aunt or grandmother and she has been exacting in her care to preserve pieces as she remembered them for future generations, even waiting patiently until the perfect shade of green fabric came along to replace the existing one on a tired chaise longue. Working with “the best furnishing person”, Jane Adams – whom Robyn is quick to thank for partnering her on a “thoroughly enjoyable journey of discovery” – fabrics were selected on the basis of what had been there before and would work best in the cottage.

“My grandmother had a cottage in Sussex and, when she passed away, my aunt brought some of her things here. I knew both cottages intimately, so I even know which china and which cutlery set belongs to which cottage,” Robyn continues. “All the objects and paintings here were my aunt’s. She and my grandmother had a coterie of artist friends who included Raymond and Gin Coxon [née Edna Ginesi], and Frederick Brill and his wife Deirdre Borlase who visited them regularly. Although my aunt worked as a social worker – as did my mother and my grandmother – her love was literature. She was an author and poet, publishing her third anthology of poems Biographies,

‘I feel I’m with my mother and my aunt here. They were both extraordinary people’

etc, at the age of 80. Ruth was someone with an amazing ability to make cross-generational links with everyone she met.”

In 2018, Robyn marked the creative and sociable legacy passed on to the family through the cottage when she, her three siblings and their partners gathered there to celebrate the centenary of it belonging to the family. “It was the most special time and full of magical memories,” she says.

Although none of the family was sorry to lose the original kitchen and having to work around one another in the cramped space, one element of it remains to serve as a reminder of the past. “The ceramic sink in the laundry room is where I stood and washed up over many years,” Robyn says. “It has such character, I just couldn’t bear to lose it.” n

ABOVE Robyn purchased the twin beds in Australia. Bowood fabric by Colefax and Fowler is used for the cushions and curtains. RIGHT The trunk under the window was brought back from China in the 1920s by Robyn’s grandparents. Her architect grandfather was there to build a Quaker university in Chengdu.