25bh | former vicarage
inspir ation ‘We didn’t want something so smart
andgrand that you felt too frightened to sit down’
T
he short reign of Queen
Anne, at the beginning
of the 18th century,
produced some of
England’s most beautiful houses –
balanced and symmetrical with a
wonderful lightness and elegance.
Such period gems do not come on to
the market often, so when Claire and
Mark Batten saw the estate-agent’s
details of one such property, they
had no hesitation in making an
appointment to view. ‘We had been
looking for a house for a while,’
explains Claire. ‘We were living
in London but, as our boys were
growing, we reached a point wherewe needed more space. Kent is easily
commutable to London, so the good
houses all get snapped up as soon as
they come on to the market. We were
almost at the point of employing a
property finder when, luckily, we
had a chance to look around this
wonderful old vicarage.’
Once the couple’s offer was
accepted, Claire suddenly felt
quite daunted at the scale of the
refurbishment project. The layout
had to be reconfigured and there was
a separate annexe which needed to be
brought back within the main body
of the house. ‘We had never used an
interior designer before, but I hadT H EP R O P E R T Y
QueenAnnevicarage
L O C AT I O NKent
ROOMSHall,sittingroom,
kitchen-diner,utilityroom,
cloakroom,sixbedrooms
(twoensuite),bathroom
PURCHASED 2012
PREVIOUSPROPERTY
‘Beforelivinghere,wehada
houseinLondon,’saysClaire.home truths
INSPIRINg
74 | 25bH June 2019