17 minute read
HOMES New season style with botanical home inspiration.
A NEW SEASON for BOTANICALS
Inky shades from indigo to botanical are on-trend for spring 2023, so we’ve chosen our favourites from leading designers’ new collections...
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To make the best of these fabrics, seek out one of the county’s leading interior design specialists to create bespoke soft furnishings and decoration for your interiors...
Top: William Yeoward cushions, Somerley and Paddy Velvet. Top/Right: Silverwood fabric in navy from Jane Churchill. Right: Emerald Forest bedding, Clarke & Clarke Wedgwood.
Exotica Passiflora from Clarke & Clarke, in Midnight & Spice colourway.
Lincolnshire Interiors: Delcor: 01780 762579, www.delcor.co.uk. H-Works: 01780 754605, www.hworksdesign.co.uk. Richard Sutton Interiors: 01472 268377, richardsuttondesigninteriors.com. Stevensons: 01472 233111, www.stevensonsgroup.co.uk. n
MAKE YOUR HOUSE A HOME THIS WINTER
SOFAS, CHAIRS & ACCESSORIES FROM OUR FAVOURITE LOCAL BUSINESSES
1. Duresta Horatio chair from a selection of Duresta and own label chairs and sofas at The Sack Store, Boston £call.
Sack Store, 01205 310101, www.sackstore.co.uk.
3. Kilburn & Scott throw, 130cm x 170cm, in herringbone, £59.99, from Gates Garden Centre.
Gate Garden Centre, 01664 454309, www.gatesgardencentre.co.uk. 2. Metal globe and crystal chandelier, with eucalyptus wood and five bulbs, 900mm tall x 780mm diameter, 1,700mm chain.
Richard Sutton Interiors, 01472 359559, richardsuttondesign.com.
4. Bespoke sofas and chairs, designed by you and made in England by Delcor of Stamford, £call.
Delcor, 01780 762579, www.delcor.co.uk.
Haven footstool in Pistachio £839, and Chesterfield sofa from £3,035, Stevensons of Grimsby, 01472 233111 www.stevensonshome.co.uk.
Beautiful Bathrooms BROUGHT to LIFE
Breathing new life into your home, Lavish Bathrooms is revealing its beautiful new brands and design trends for 2023...
AT A POINT where form and function meet, is Lavish Bathrooms. When you invest in a new family bathroom, en suite, cloakroom or wetroom, it needs to look great, but also fit beautifully, be aligned with your requirements and last for years to come. Furthermore, it should incorporate the imaginative use of space, storage, and all the after-care knowledge required to ensure lasting functionality. Owner and Director Simon Tisseman has over a decade worth of experience within the bathroom industry. In addition to possessing an eye for quality and a knack for making the most of sometimes smaller & quirky spaces, Simon considers there to be only a certain number of brands he’s happy to use, to ensure quality and longevity in a bathroom. He’s also acutely aware that the higher the quality of fittings provided, the better a product will perform over a longer period of time. That’s why, in 2017, he and partner Nicola Dixey-Chambers set up Lavish Bathrooms in Louth, with a manifesto of providing only the best quality products, a truly thoughtful and collaborative approach to design, and an insistence on providing only the most exacting standards in customer experience, from a customer’s first visit to the showroom to the installation of a new bathroom.
In June 2022 the team moved from their original, smaller premises into a new 4,000sq ft purpose-built showroom, with 20 bathroom displays available to view – and more still to be unveiled!
“We believe this makes Lavish Bathrooms the county’s largest independent bathroom showroom, and the one with the most sought-after brands in terms of being high quality, sustainable, practical and design-led.” “Alongside plenty of choice and brands that we know we can recommend for their quality, appearance and their functionality, we take our time to understand our customers and their needs, investing in customer care right from an initial enquiry to full CAD design creation and through to full installation.”
“We use our own in-house installers and local subcontractors, to offer a full project management service – although we’re also happy to work with a client’s own contractors too.”
“Affording the time necessary to avoid rushing your installation means it’s right first time, and by using our own installers plus a regular team of tradesmen, clients benefit from continuity and accountability.” “Our halo brands include Utopia, which has such a diverse range of cabinetry, styles, colours and accessories as to make its products virtually bespoke to each customer.” “The company design storage and utilise clever thinking to give as much practical storage and room for your toiletries and cosmetics as possible.” “It also covers the whole sweep of freestanding and wall-hung designs. Plus it’s manufactured in the UK”
“We’re expanding our range of Porcelanosa products for 2023, too. With luxury, design-led products like on-trend large-format tiles and their own in-house designed sanitaryware – making us Lincolnshire’s only Porcelanosa dealer with such a huge range to choose from.” “For the same reason, we love Dansani’s latest ranges of sustainable and design-led products, including furniture available in any RAL colour for the ultimate in choice. Meanwhile, Laufen provides ceramics and brassware that combine exceptional manufacturing and cutting-edge design, while Roman provides all of our shower enclosures, designed and made in the UK.”
From the right products to the right design insight, to the right installers, we also commit to the right amount of time and effort for each job and every customer.
Achieving a new bathroom has never been more reassuring. And with more choice than ever before, Lavish Bathrooms will make choosing and commissioning your new bathroom an experience of unrivalled, worry-free ease. n
Find Out More: For a free, no obligation chat about your project with no pressure-selling guaranteed, visit Lavish Bathrooms, established since 2017 and now at Units 1-4 Risby Court, Bolingbroke Road, Louth, Lincs LN11 0WA. Appointments are preferred to give you the time and attention you deserve. Open 9.30am-4.30pm, call 01507 201161, or see lavishbathrooms.co.uk for more design inspiration.
PRACTICAL, SUSTAINABLE, BEAUTIFUL
Beautiful, practical, sustainable and affordable... We think that Top Barn Timber Frames’ buildings are the future for many Lincolnshire people looking to enhance their home...
Images: Dean Fisher, deansaerialphotography.co.uk.
AT THIS TIME OF YEAR, it’s common to look to the future. A new year beckons with its unfulfilled potential and its unrealised possibilities. Oliver and Charlotte Penn are also looking to the future as the order books for their timber-framed structures are already looking really healthy. And their clients, too, are looking forward to enjoying their new garden rooms, extensions, kerb appeal-enhancing porches and carports, all due for completion in 2023 and all made in the company’s workshops from beautiful, sustainable oak. “It’s 10 years since Oliver set up his business as a joiner,” says Charlotte. She’s speaking to us from the couple’s beautifully converted 100-year old barn, rescued from dilapidation by Oliver using timber-framed building techniques and heritage joinery. “Whilst he was working as a joiner, he always loved the traditional methods of timber framing, so when we set about transforming the barn Oliver really capitalised on his talent and has built a full oak frame incorporating sling brace trusses to support the roof and remove the stress on the old brick walls. After we’d completed our own home, we set up a new business specialising in the creation of timber-framed buildings.” “The plan was to keep the general joinery and construction business running alongside. However we’ve experienced such demand and such a warm response to the style and quality of the buildings that we have closed the other business and are concentrating purely on Top Barn Timber Frames.” “In line with such interest, we’ve taken on a couple of new members of staff and a new partner, James. James learnt timber framing from his Dad and has worked at some of the largest framing companies in the country so brings a wealth of experience with him and enables us to run two teams of staff to keep multiple projects progressing. We’ve now got over 30 years collective experience in the company of creating timber-framed structures, as well as our junior staff coming through the ranks. We’re looking forward to an exciting and busy 2023.” To say that the foundations of Oliver and Charlotte’s company, Top Barn Timber Frames, is rooted in traditional techniques, materials and workmanship, the company is surprisingly relevant to the 21st century. >>
Right: The couple even married in the oak-framed barn they created for their own home.
>> For a start, there are few building materials more sustainable than oak. The company plants trees to replace those it uses, and the business is run entirely on renewable energy. In addition, the glazing used in the company’s structures and new building materials that the firm is adopting such as its hempcrete –lime mortar and dense hemp fibre – means its buildings remain breathable, sustainable and energy efficient. One of the biggest advantages, though, in using the traditional timber-framed construction techniques in which the company specialises is an ability to pre-fabricate structures off-site in the company’s workshops. “Some clients already have an architect’s drawing ready to go, and other clients want us to produce technical drawings ourselves. Either way, we can produce millimetre-accurate drawings, and design beautiful structures, either adjacent to or completely independent of existing buildings.” “Our bespoke structures are pre-fabricated in our own workshops, which means we’re free of disruption from bad weather and can do trial build runs, ensuring when we get on site everything will fit perfectly together. We cut traditional mortice and tenon joints, and when we assemble the structure on site, everything is pegged together with timber pegs which are, again, made in house.” Typically a garden room takes around four weeks to make in the workshop, then its timber frame can be erected in just a day. Roofing and glazing follows, along with other work like plastering, but the disruption on site is kept to a minimum. Charlotte and Oliver’s own home is testimony to the potential of timber-framed construction methods and with every structure able to be built to completely bespoke specifications, there’s a terrific amount of scope in the construction method. Timber-framed structures are especially suitable when adjacent to listed buildings, or those in conservation areas, and of course, they blend equally well and look great adjacent to new structures too. “Our barn must be over 100 years old.” says Charlotte. “Oliver’s skills have enabled us to bring an old, run-down farm building back to life, and though our initial plan was to live here for a few years and move somewhere else, neither of us have any intention of moving anywhere else, we love the place so much!” “We even hosted our wedding here, and we’ve brought our daughter into the world here. It’s a beautiful family home that we really love and the timber frame is taking all the support from the walls which means it will happily stand for another 100 years.” “If we can offer the same solutions to our clients too, and create beautiful, high quality, sustainable structures that are energyefficient, and less hassle for our clients than conventional building methods, we think the future will be bright both for our business, and for this approach to construction, too!” n
Find Out More: Top Barn Timber Frames produces garden rooms, timber-framed buildings, extensions, porches and carports using sustainable oak and time-honoured construction methods. Call 07501 087593 or see www.topbarntimberframes.co.uk for a free, no obligation, pressure selling-free discussion about your project.
Carefully selected artists from the Royal Academy, Royal Institutes, Federations and Societies
Sir Peter Blake CBE RDI RA | Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band |Signed Limited Edition Screen Print |19” x 19” | POA
5-8 The Mews • The George Hotel • Stamford • PE9 2LB Tuesday - Sunday from 11am to 5pm | 01780 480800
Also at Lees Yard • Holt • Norfolk | Monday - Saturday 10am - 4pm | 01263 713883
Please visit the website to view and purchase our artworks www.adrianhillfineart.com
WINTER NATURE
A WINTER of WILDLIFE
Lincolnshire comprises towns, villages, it’s city... and vast expanses of countryside in-between, in which a diverse amount of wildlife lives. And the best time to enjoy the natural world? Winter, unfortunately, so wrap up warm and be sure to take a flask of coffee along!
THIS JANUARY what could be a better antidote to all that shopping, wrapping, cooking and cleaning the house ready for family to visit, than enjoying the stark, crisp tranquillity of the new year, and watching the natural world go about its business. Mammals, birds, they’re all oblivious to the festivities, as each species adopts its different techniques and strategies to survive the winter. It’s a sort of silent wonder, going on all around us, life or death for so many creatures, and yet we’re busily oblivious to it, unless we make time to notice nature this month.
Lincolnshire’s expansive countryside, towns and villages are ideal places from which to enjoy observing the natural world, and there’s so something mindful about watching animals with more to concern themselves about than all of the self-induced stress of festive preparations.
Hedgehogs It’s widely stated that hedgehogs hibernate. In fact, their state is more accurately one of torpor. The creatures build thick-walled nests known as hibernacula and rather than sleeping, lower their body temperature and slow their bodily processes to enter a sort of silent running state. Hedgehogs will, occasionally, venture out of their hibernacula, especially if it’s particularly cold, and can sometimes relocated to a warmer place. Hoglets are typically born in midsummer but can make an appearance as late on as mid-autumn. That being the case, the race is on for hoglets to reach about 750g, the weight that experts reckon is sufficient to allow them to survive in the winter.
Badgers If there’s one species akin to humans in their winter habits, it’s badgers. Whilst they don’t hibernate per se, badgers nonetheless put on weight around Christmas and then live off that bloat during January and February. Living with their kin, a badger’s sett can be shared by anything from three or four to 15 badgers.
Foxes Whist many mammals take it easy during the cooler months, though, vulpes are very much up and about during the winter months, even in daylight. >>
>> There are about 350,000 foxes in the UK and their sense of derring do often leads them into urban areas as much as the countryside. The winter months are mating season for foxes and so they’re more vocal than at other times of the year in winter. A vixen in heat makes the most extraordinary blood-curdling screech, usually late in December and into January before she retreats to a den or ‘earth’ to give birth typically to four or five cubs in March or April. Foxes may look cute but can, of course be very territorial and vicious! Starlings The collective term is a murmuration of starlings. But the sight is extraordinary. The flock can number up to 100,000 birds and later November into December is usually the most prolific time for murmurations of starlings, most of which are native, although some migrate to the UK from Northern Europe, arriving via the East Coast.
Owls Barn owls are the UK’s best loved owls, seen at dusk around farmland and woodland. You’ll see them more often during winter given that their prey tends to be less active and therefore trickier to hunt. Meanwhile barn owls are poorly insulated and require extra energy to survive over winter. Starvation for barn owls peaks between December and March.
Garden Birds Every January, the RSPB launches its Big Garden Birdwatch campaign, one of the UK’s largest surveys of native birdlife. This year’s survey asks members of the public to spend one hour counting the number of common bird species observed in their garden, park or local woodland. Last year’s survey revealed that the region’s top five bird species are the House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Starling, Blackbird and Woodpigeon. Among our most conspicuous garden birds this month is the robin, which is far less tolerant of others as temperatures drop.
Despite their demure appearance, robins are territorial birds and can be highly aggressive… to another bird they’re hardly the friendly little fellow we’re used to seeing on our Christmas cards!
Wildfowl Lincolnshire’s RSPB and LWT managed marshlands are among the UK’s most unique bird habitats, with Frieston and Frampton near Boston, Donna Nook and Gibraltar Point on the East Coast, Covenham and Barton Claypits in the north all great places to see species like Curlews, Plovers, Lapwings and Avocets. Insects People often question what happens to spiders during the winter, having seen so many during the autumn. Most simply die. Those that do survive the ravages of winter will either do so in a comfortable nook in our houses or outbuildings (some that live in our centrally-heated homes may continue to be active if there’s sufficient food) or in torpor in the leaf litter. Deer October and November mark the deer rut, so in December, they tend to be a little calmer, making spotting deer a little easier. The best time to see deer is early morning or late evening, and the area’s estates are the best places to observe deer. Photograph them with a long lens and keep at least 50 metres from them.
Flora and Fauna If you’re handy with a camera, winter interest isn’t simply limited to mammals and birds… walk off your Christmas pud in one of the area’s patches of woodland will enable you to admire the range of underappreciated mosses and lichens that create startling displays on the forest floor. Meanwhile mistletoe, a parasitic evergreen species, adorns the branches of other trees this month and holly is a regular bedfellow of oak and beech tree... not to mention a species synonymous with winter, with some mature holly bushes dating back nearly 300 years in age. n
