Appletree Cottage

Their English Country Cottages

We actually talked ourselves out of buying it as we said it was too small and over budget, but by the next day we were back and making an offer

Katie Sant

Katie and her husband Paul fell completely in love with this over budget, way too small but utterly gorgeous and sweetly named cottage. The couple actually talked themselves out of buying it as they decided that it was too small and too pricey but the following day found themselves lured back by its charms and making an offer. “It had everything we needed and more, nothing else in the Cotswolds offered the same level of wow for the price”. Emboldened by their original search criteria, the couple offered under the asking price and it was accepted. – serendipitously the vendors had just found their dream home and didn’t want to miss out, so they gladly accepted the offer.

Appletree cottage was originally a cow shed, but was converted into a small cottage in the late 1800s, to include one bedroom and one room downstairs.  Thankfully since then it has undergone 3 additional extensions over the years, Katie and Paul bought the cottage in 2010 and eventually in 2017 created the latest and biggest addition.

The couple have also worked on numerous cosmetic jobs in the cottage: adding flagstone flooring, uncovering and restoring original wooden flooring and fireplace, but by far their biggest alteration was the main extension which added a large light drenched sitting room, a double bedroom, utility and shower room as well as a proper entrance hall to the cottage.  

Katie admits that she has “a very eager personality when it comes to interiors.  I can see, imagine and plan out a space before it’s been built, which spells trouble when I’m looking around antique shops! If I see something that’s perfect, I will buy it before the space is completed, but I also like to buy things that I know will work in other rooms, so I can have versatility”.  Unlike many interiors addicts, she doesn’t employ the use of mood boards but relies upon her natural intuition, trying to source a mix of old and new.  She prefers this method as she feels that this allows more of an organic process rather than replicating an image that she might have seen online.  

Katie’s preference is nearly always antique, “I love that it’s more unique and offers a natural feeling, that new things just don’t replicate.  I feel this is more sympathetic to the house and sits comfortably in the environment”. Her love for the Swedish Gustavian period and for the classic New England style shines through in her use of antique furniture and modern clean lines and muted colours “offering the perfect mix of rustic, simple, yet cosy feels”.

Katie’s Country Cottage necessity would have to be a of real fire. “Honestly the cottage just wouldn’t be the same without the log burner.  Winter in here is just magical and I don’t think you can beat that cosy feel from a real fire and offer a beautiful focal point”.

Katie owns lots of books on interiors but admits that she has yet to read most of them.  Instead she uses them as more of a visual aid, flicking through the pictures and pulling out key inspirational pieces. Her preference for interiors reading is to indulge in a quiet half an hours dip into a country homes and interiors magazine, enjoying the mix of personal stories and insights into how people adapt their own homes.

Interestingly when asked what her dream home would look like, Katie is one of the few cottage owners not to aspire to a Georgian windowed beauty. She explains that she has always loved barn conversions, adoring the mix of wood and stone, along with large open spaces and floor to ceiling windows: “I don’t think you can beat that combination.  In fact, our extension offered us the opportunity to add a barn style window in our hall, that linked to the old cottage to the new extension, so that’s my little bit of barn right there”. There are so many beautiful elements in this cottage that the couple have employed that would either look very at home in a barn conversion or are typically found in a barn that this comes as no surprise although Katie and Paul have worked so hard and created such a serene and stunning home that perhaps the dream of a barn had somewhat receded into the very distant future.

To see more gorgeous images of Katie’s stunning Cotswold Cottage, head to her instagram page https://www.instagram.com/home.at.appletree/