HOMES & INTERIORS A beautiful

THE DETAILS No17, Eastgate, Uphill Lincoln

Location: Lincoln Cathedral, 50 metres! Bailgate, 100 metres! Provenance: Late 17th century Grade II listed property, a former coaching house renovated in the mid-19th century. Rooms: Four receptions currently arranged as living kitchen, dining room, sitting room, and study. Five bedrooms, all en suite.

Guide Price: £1,250,000.

Find Out More: Mount & Minster, Atton Place, 23 Eastgate, Lincoln LN2 1QA, call 01522 716204 or see www.mountandminster.co.uk. n WHAT’S THAT SAYING? Location, location, location? Well, you’ll be hard-pushed to find a family property in a better position than this month’s featured home. Currently on the market with Mount & Minster, it’s a unique proposition by virtue of being a country house right in the heart of the city of Lincoln. “It’s 50 metres to the Cathedral!” says Philip Pearson. We’re not sure whether he and wife Helen have actually measured it, but it’s a pretty close guess if not, and an exceptionally pretty view of the Cathedral’s Chapter House and north green. The couple have lived in Lincolnshire pretty much all of their lives, mostly north of Lincoln and have worked throughout the Midlands providing services for youngsters with special educational needs. In their personal lives, the couple have renovated a couple of properties before, but never on the scale that Eastgate necessitated. “It was in a bit of a sorry state when we saw it a decade ago,” says Philip. “It was to be our forever home as the children were enrolled

in Minster School which is right on the doorstep, and also because of the location; as well as being really pretty, it’s also really practical.” We reckon that the property sits in a quarter of an acre – possibly more – which isn’t a bad amount of space in the heart of Lincoln. It affords a good-sized garden which wraps around the house, plus stone walls that provide privacy and electric gates into a remote operated double garage, so you’re never stuck for parking or outdoor space, despite being right in the city. “The location was fantastic and that the layout of the house was ideal, but we knew that it could also be modernised. We created a layout comprising five bedrooms arranged on the first and second floor, each of which have their own en suite bathroom.” “We also created a large orangery which provided the space for a good-sized living kitchen which is ideal for a busy family to conduct their life in.”

“The kitchen was created by Peter Rhodes of Market Rasen and features bespoke cabinetry and granite work surfaces. We’ve appliances from Miele plus a big range cooker with teppanyaki and griddle. There’s a separate utility room, but also a pantry with a curved stone wall which is excellent for keeping food cool.”

“Being an older property, and one that’s listed too, it threw a few surprises our way during the refurbishment. There were few period features to reinstate but we managed to use as many rosemary tiles as possible, and to refurbish the roof as part of a backto-shell renovation.” >>

>> On the first floor there’s a large master suite with two additional bedrooms and a further two bedrooms on the second floor, so plenty of space for guests and plenty of privacy, too, thanks to a bathroom being allocated to each bedroom. The wiring and plumbing is new and the stone wall surrounding the property has had its concrete replaced with lime mortar, to ensure it’s faithful to its original construction. The stone fireplace in the sitting room was created by the stonemasons just opposite the house who work at Lincoln Cathedral in the building’s Works department, giving it real provenance. “We’ve landscaped the grounds too and they catch the sun during both the morning and later on in the afternoon. There are also fruit trees, lilacs, and a mature acer in the grounds.” “The location appealed from the moment we first set eyes on the house and we’ve loved it ever since,” says Philip. “Our children are now teenagers, in the senior school of Lincoln Minster. They’re keen to have a horse and so we’re looking for somewhere outside of the city with additional grounds. It’s a shame though: we’ve loved living here, and the space, the location and the style of accommodation that the house provides is super... we’ll miss the place a great deal.” n

n Fenside Road, Boston

Guide Price: £595,000

With 1.5 acres, this former farmhouse has paddocks, stables and a manège plus four bedrooms. It’s ideal as a smallholding or equine property and has a large living kitchen plus a formal sitting room too.

www.fairweather-estateagents.co.uk

n Fulstow, Louth

Guide Price: £895,000

A beautiful bespoke home created in December 2011 with fruit trees and greenhouse as well as farmland views. Four double bedrooms with two en suites and three reception rooms.

www.movewithmasons.co.uk

n Little Bytham, Grantham

Guide Price: £1,300,000

Substantial property sitting in eight acres with barns, three Monarch stables and manège, ideal for smallholders or equine pursuits. Four bedrooms, four receptions, swimming pool.

BOLT FROM THE BLUE

This month suggestions for beautiful furnishings will reach you This month suggestions for beautiful furnishings will reach you like a bolt from the blue. They’re cool, calm and extremely stylish... like a bolt from the blue. They’re cool, calm and extremely stylish...

The combination of white and blue remains absolutely timeless, and our featured fabrics all have a really appealing tactile element to them...

Top: Pimpernel wallpaper in Woad from Morris & Co. Above/Right: Clarke & Clarke, Renaissance Velvet in Seafoam. Right: Zoffany, Eastern Palace in Indigo.

Acanthus fabric in Woad from Morris & Co.

Lincolnshire Interiors: Aitch Interiors: 01522 810961, www.aitchinteriors.co.uk. Anelise Home: 01522 530400, www.anelisehome.co.uk. Delcor: 01780 762579, www.delcor.co.uk. Richard Sutton Interiors: 01472 268377, richardsuttondesigninteriors.com. Simply Stamford: St Mary’s Street, Stamford, 01780 481852, www.simplystamford.co.uk. Stevensons: 01472 233111, www.stevensonsgroup.co.uk. n

FURNISHING as a DARK ART

This month Grimsby’s Stevensons presents a range of new design-led furnishings for stylish properties, featuring brushed metal, natural stone and glass...

Design led and created with unmistakable Italian style... this month Stevensons presents its newest ranges of modern home furnishings...

All products available to order through our website with a range of sizes and colour variations, or speak to one our representatives at Stevensons, based at 143-151 Cleethorpe Road, Grimsby DN31 3AY. Call 01472 233111 or see www.stevensonshome.co.uk.

EUROPA: An opulent sideboard that incorporates a mixture of painted matte wood framing accompanied by a varying range of palatial porcelain stoneware panels, all of which establish a sense of durability and style.

n Shown here in Alabastro with matte black frame, 2300mm wide.

LEFT: Stratos console table with choice of walnut, burnt oak, or natural oak top, and four metal base colours, 2000mm wide. ABOVE: Terminal console, choice of 13 tops; six base colours, 1300mm.

TALL BISTRO TABLE SET featuring Isabel stools, 780mm tall, in leather, synthetic leather, nubuck or fabric; Nido Ceramic table, three base colours, nine ceramic tops. n

BOUTIQUE ALTA an ultra-modern glass sideboard conceived by Alberto Danese. The piece has internal glass shelves plus a quilted upholstered backrest in leather or synthetic leather combined with internal LED lighting to turn the items inside into a feature. Fumé glass, with feet and frame in lacquered steel, colour options for the internal upholstery include shades of warm grey and black, plus ‘Rosso’ burgundy or soft gold. n 1280mm tall, 920mm wide.

n Skorpio is a metal and glass/ceramic dining table available in eight different sizes from 100mm x 200mm to 138mm x 320mm. Base in five different finishes including titanium, bronze, graphite, white or black. 12 different ceramic tops, including Makalu shown here.

A STRIKING DESIGN FOR DINING

We love Reef, a striking table with matt white cristalplant base. The top is in matte white Carrara marble. The sculptured base is reminiscent of a wave reaching its maximum height. n

Pole Position

A little over 200 years ago, one of Boston’s most well-recognised businesses, Calders & Grandidge, was founded. Today you can see their products everywhere… from Hogwarts to Buckingham Palace, even if you don’t instantly recognise them!

Did you know, for instance, that the firm still holds the Royal Warrant as a supplier to the Royal Family...?

Above: At the heart and pole – sorry, soul –of the operation is the heated and pressurised vessels which force creosote or equivalent preservatives into the timbers, ensuring a life span of up to 60 years. ANY BOSTONIAN, even those new to the town, will very soon become familiar with the name of Calders & Grandidge. For over 200 years the firm has been respected in the town as one of its longestestablished and most well-regarded businesses. But how much do you really know about one of the town’s best-known names? Did you know, for instance, that the firm still holds the Royal Warrant as a supplier to the Royal Family, or that business is still booming two centuries on thanks to an increase in demand for telecommunication lines, and for fencing products for both the domestic market and for agricultural and equestrian customers too?

“Many people know that we’re suppliers of pressure-treated timber,” say the firm’s Commercial & Finance Director, Shaun McGarry. “We’re synonymous with the technical performance of our products and our understanding of the demands that are placed on them. For our customers – utility companies, for instance – only the best quality will do.” “The company was established in 1820 and it used to have 11 sites, mostly around dock towns which had good international transport connections.” “Those sites have now been consolidated and having arrived in Boston in 1896, and established ourselves at our current site in the 1930s, the town is now very much our home.” Today, the company’s London Road site employs 60 people as well as an eight-strong transport fleet.

The whole site spans 46 acres and walking around the site, it’s every bit as vast as its numbers suggest, with hulking machinery and massive piles of products awaiting delivery to customers. The business has had to cope with huge increases in demand, such as during WWI when Sir James Calder provided timber to the war office which were used to create trenches. Timbers were also provided during the Second World War, and in the post-war era. When electrification of homes took place, demand increased for poles to create new electricity infrastructure, and from the 1950s to the 1970s – with the installation of telephony in homes and businesses – demand surged once again. The company’s latest renaissance has seen Calders & Grandidge helping utility firms to keep up with the demand for poles to carry the latest fibre-optic technology not only for established companies like BT’s Openreach but also for a new generation of suppliers promising ultra-fast communications.

In fact, Calders & Grandidge’s biggest ‘problem’ is the sheer longevity of its products… today, about 70% of its business is in creating telegraph poles for electrical and telephony utility companies, and though the quoted lifespan of its products is fifty or sixty years, the oldest Calders & Grandidge telegraph pole replaced was a venerable 108 years old.

Their products are even tough enough to secure a starring role at the National Pole Climbing Championships at Newark in the early 2000s, for which the company supplied its largest pole ever; 35 metres tall. It was also the widest pole they’ve ever produced and the most expensive too. The company imports a whopping 100,000 poles a year, of which 60,000 end up in Boston to be pressure-treated. They’re produced in Sweden, Finland and Norway, where the Nordic climate and the sun nice and high in the sky guarantees a straight, tall, knot-free pine… given a hundred years or so. Forests are responsibly managed, with three trees planted for each one felled and space around each left to facilitate self-pollination. These fellows, with their checked shirts, chainsaws and Nordic moustaches have been managing forestry long before the establishment of any international forestry certifications. >>

>> They understand and remain committed to ensuring a sustainable future for Europe’s vast forests and the timber market.

After agreeing what’s known as a felling contract, the correct specification of trees will be felled for companies like Calders & Grandidge, according to how many ‘light,’ ‘medium’ or ‘stout’ trees the company requires. The three specifications of pole require six, nine or 12 months to dry out to 28% moisture and are ready for shipping, by sea, to Boston Docks, arriving in August, October and January respectively in shipments of 6,000-9,000 poles, transported to the yard by Calders & Grandidge’s fleet. The trees arrive with their outer bark having been stripped off, but their cambium (or inner bark) remains in place, helping to prevent moisture ingress. Poles can range from 6m to 24 metre in height – a typical spec for BT, for example, is 8-11m tall – and 124mm to 150mm in diameter. They’re also tapered to ensure they’re slightly wider at the base. Once on site and sufficiently dry, the cambium is removed by what is essentially a much much larger and far more complicated pencil sharpener. It’s the next process for which Calders & Grandidge is so well-respected throughout the industry. Stacks of timber are loaded into two horizontal pressurised vessels with one of two different distillations or mixtures of creosote is pumped into the vessels. For nine hours, at up to 115°c, the preservative is forced into the timber, creating its water-repellent properties and killing any bugs or bacteria which may eventually weaken the pole once it’s in place. A separate process utilises a so-called ‘green’ process uses a water based treatment to ensure the product is fit for domestic projects such as decking or hard-wearing fencing around a domestic property. This is the process used for adventure play grounds. In addition to being weatherproof the timbers aren’t oily to touch, which mean they can be used to create high-wire adventure playground courses and so on. Green treatment offers a 15-30 year service life. The use of creosote is today a greener process than before, and it is a by-product of the coal industry. Its continued use is also justified given the longevity of the resulting products and the trees’ carbon capture over 100 years. Creosote is predominantly used in agricultural fencing for its longevity, because it is hardwaring and horses do not like the taste! The product (creosote) which results is a good deal sturdier and has a vastly extended life span. Calders & Grandidge’s poles have been used to create animals enclosures at safari parks – including those at Friskney’s Lincolnshire Wildlife Park. They’re also visible in TV programmes like Emmerdale and Peaky Blinders, having been supplied to TV studios like Elstree and Pinewood. The timber poles used in the games of Quidditch in the Harry Potter films? The picnic tables at Buckingham Palace including the one the Duke of Sussex sat at, announcing the arrival of the Invictus Games? All Calders & Grandidge’s handiwork. Today, too, if you’re purchasing timber for your garden decking or planters, there’s a strong possibility that Calders & Grandidge will have provided the timber to the UK’s garden centres. Latterly the company has been part of the St Gobain group, which generates revenues of over €40bn each year and provides pretty much every kind of materials necessary for the construction and automotive sectors, from glazing to insulation, across more than 75 brands… the company is also owner of UK builder’s merchant Jewson. For those a little closer to home though, hoping to secure their horses, protect their farm, make the most of the garden or just drive down the road knowing that a telegraph pole won’t make an unexpected appearance through the sunroof, it’s the 200 years of history and thoroughly modern expertise of Calders & Grandidge that we have to be thankful for. Even after two centuries, the firm remains in pole position in terms of its place in the market. n