Grove Cottage

Their English Country Cottages

On first sight, before I had even gone in, my feelings were confirmed: I loved it.

Naomi Stuart is the Marketing Director for Snowbility that provides snow sports coaching to people with additional needs and mental health challenges. She has also just launched Ambre Clothing, a sustainable and ethical casual wear brand for men, women, and gender neutral. When she isn’t being superwoman, Naomi and her partner Richard live here with Radley, an English Springer Spaniel and two rescue cats.

Interestingly, like last week’s Wibbly Wobbly cottage, Naomi initially dismissed going to view Grove Cottage as Richard felt it was going to be slightly too far for him to travel every day to work. Naomi knew it was the one simply from seeing the brochure and after viewing 45 properties, Richard finally decided to view the cottage at which point he called to tell Naomi that she had to view the property!

Before the couple had even walked through the front door, they knew it was the cottage for them.

Grove Cottage was once the village Minister’s home, it was built in 1830 and is set in a conservation area of a pretty Buckinghamshire village. When Naomi and Richard moved in, the main work involved stripping back many years and layers of decoration to get back to the bare bones of the cottage. From there they were able to deal with the woodworm problem, install beautiful new cast iron radiators and restore all the original doors by hand.

The second phase of the work came later once they had lived in the cottage for a while and established how they used all the rooms. Naomi and Richard added French doors to replace a window in the kitchen, and built a double-dormer in the main bedroom to allow for a small en suite wet room upstairs.

Naomi adores French antiques and styling, she believes that is is really important to consider the interiors carefully, to plan each room using mood boards and keep a consistent stylistic flow through the house. She often refers to her favourite interiors book is ‘A life less ordinary’ by Zoe Ellison and Alex Legendre for inspiration https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-life-less-ordinary/zoe-ellison/alex-legendre/9781782495833?msclkid=44cee70d9a1d195ef6c0b8c6d5f79181

Country cottage necessities for Naomi include wellies, “as we are right in the countryside”. Warm clothes in the winter “we still have the original windows”. Savings: “there is always something that needs doing in an old property.” She also recommends torches and candles as there are so many power cuts and “a lot of patience as the mobile connection and WiFi is not brilliant”!

Upstairs continues the feeling of calm and serenity. The thick plastered wall cossseting and the soothing neutral pallette creating a haven of relaxation.

Naomi’s says that her dream home would be a Georgian manor house with far-reaching views across the countryside; this beautifully styled cottage surrounded by gorgeous fields and a tiny village seems like the perfect place to dream of Georgian manors whilst snuggled up by the logburner with Richard, Radley and their two elderly cats.

To see more of Naomi’s home have a look at her gorgeous Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/grove_cottage_/

To ogle Naomi and Richard’s brilliant new company “Ambre clothing” which is a beautifully stylish collection of certified organic, recycled and regenerated casual wear click here https://ambreclothing.co.uk/