I
f Carly and Tom Holliday had known what
they were letting themselves in for when they
started renovating their 19th century farm
cottage, they would probably never have
bought it.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing,” says Tom.
“Our biggest mistake was not sitting down at
the beginning of the renovation and working
out exactly what we wanted, how much it would
cost and how we were going to fund it. The
reality was that we spent far more than we
anticipated and it took a lot longer than we
thought it would.”
In spite of that, Carly and Tom have achieved
everything they wanted thanks, in no small
measure, to their friend and architect, Tim
Hatton of York-based Carve Architects.
When they started looking for a home within
a 10 mile radius of York, property manager Tom
and Carly, a project manager who works for the
NHS’ private events arm, turned to Tim for help
and inspiration.
“We were living in London at the time andwanted to be closer to friends and family,” says
Tom. “Tim drew up a list of villages we might
be interested in and eventually we found this
place. It wasn’t what we had in mind, but as
soon as we saw it we realised this was the one.
It wasn’t the house so much as the surroundings
that really appealed to us.”EXTERIORS
The brick cottage has been
given a modern new facelift in
the design by Carve
Architecture, with a light-filled
kitchen extension that opens
directly onto the gardenLOW POINT
“It was a very steep
learning curve and
we have learned a
huge amount along
the way, but there is
very little we would
change”
Despite having an architecture degree, Tom Holliday and his wife Carly
turned to an architect friend to help them transform a dark, dated cottage
into a light and spacious family home near York
TEXT HEATHER DIXON IMAGES HEATHER DIXON & TIM HATTON ARCHITECTURE
STEPPING INTO
THE LIGHT
CASE STUDY
“Realising just how much
the budget had run away
with us and having to
find ways of cushioning
the cash flow.”- Carly & Tom Holliday
48www.sbhonline.co.uk september/october 2019