From the world over

Above: A picture in stone- but it wasn't always like this

When she is not rushed off her feet, Debbie Liggins likes to relax at home with her partner Ray Morris and her two daughters Jenny, 18, and Emily, 13, plus Mitzi their rescue dog, a cross collie-spaniel. Ray is the developer of the Roserrow Golf and Country Club in Cornwall. They live in a beautiful 17th century Cotswold stone farmhouse but when they first saw it, it looked very different.

"Hardly anyone had looked at the house when we came to see it," says Debbie. “It was in a bit of a state both inside and out. It was very dark with 1970s features such as Crittal windows, archways and lino and the kitchen was basic with an antique boiler and a lean-to.”

The couple were looking to start a new life together as well move to an area of good schools and Debbie had found the house on the internet.

That was just over 18 months ago and since then the old farmhouse has been transformed.

With the help of architect Franco Scimeca of ADS Debbie redesigned the layout. She moved or demolished walls and doors so the original seven bedrooms have become four while the two bathrooms have increased to four.

But the biggest project was to turn a double garage into a big open-plan kitchen and add a new-build oak-framed conservatory which they use as a dining and living area.

"Luckily it’s not listed,” says Debbie of her home. “The oldest part began as a four room cottage in the 1600s but has been extended over the centuries. What we liked were the original stone mullioned windows, flagstoned floors (hiding beneath the duck-patterned lino) and vaulted cellar. We also found an inglenook fireplace behind a wall in the snug. Unfortunately it was too damaged to use so we have had to convert it into a smaller fireplace with a wood-burning stove inside.”

To keep the character Debbie and Ray have replaced the Crittal windows with reproduction mullions, moved the staircase into the hall and created a new front door.

In the new kitchen and conservatory they installed underfloor heating then laid a Cotswold limestone floor above it. A new oak floor was laid throughout the rest of the ground floor.

A team of builders called Arrow Developments did the bulk of the work from giving the fire doors a period look with panelling to building a window seat in the Drawing Room and hand-carving all the oak for the conservatory.

The kitchen design had to revolve round one of Debbie’s favourite items which is a Chinese cherrywood wardrobe now serving as an armoire holding her china. “I found it in a wonderful antiques barn in Shipston-on-Stour which has now also become my favourite shop,” she says. "It’s called the Richard Harvey Collection, a sort of Aladdin’s cave of items from all over the world."

The rest of the kitchen was supplied by Barn & Brook of Shipston-on-Stour and consists of units painted in cream or avocado green with black granite worktops. The big island has an oak worktop. Debbie and Ray brought the gas-fuelled Aga from their previous home plus an electric module with hob for summer use. Barn & Brook also made the hood above the Aga which Debbie had copied from a fireplace in a French chateau.

"I saw it in a magazine and always keep photographs of nice ideas to use in my home,” she says.

The couple also bought a Bosch dishwasher and a Bosch electric oven. There are two Blanco sinks, one in the island, both with waste disposal units; all the other appliances were supplied by Barn & Brook.

The oak-framed conservatory had to be strengthened with steel supports and left unglazed while it settled. “When we moved into the house in March last year we found it absolutely freezing,” says Debbie. “But now we hardly use the underfloor heating as the house is so well-insulated we don’t need it.”

As for the bathrooms, the couple refurbished them with fittings from Aston Matthews of Islington which does a wide range from traditional to contemporary - “which is why I have a Victorian-style claw-footed bath and modern limestone basins in the main en suite,” says Debbie.

When it came to furnishing the house Debbie had quite a few items from her parents who had travelled the world when Debbie was growing up. “We lived in Argentina for four years,” she says. “And Ray and I have built a quincho - an Argentinian roofed-over barbecue area - at the bottom of our walled garden. But we also have a teak desk and wardrobe from Thailand, an African chieftain’s chair, Japanese cabinets and Chinese chests.”

However, most striking is the couple’s four poster cherrywood bed which was handmade for them by The Country House Collection at Preston Court, a Ledbury interior design company. “I wanted it to be very simple without any heavy drapes,” says Debbie.

Throughout the upstairs is cream wool carpeting, supplied from a friend who has contacts in the carpeting business because as Debbie says, “a neutral palette means our furnishings and paintings would stand out.”

She finishes, "I think our old farmhouse now has a timeless elegance and a wonderful feeling of space, something we all need with our busy lives."

At this time of the year Debbie is madly busy. She is administrator for the Worcester Three Choirs Festival, the oldest choral music festival in the world which has now become an international classical music festival. Held every August, (this year August 2-9), it rotates between Worcester, Gloucester and Hereford; this year it is Worcester and will include a world premiere - Andrew Gant’s "A British Symphony."