A Letter from Home

Falling in love with a house is a little like falling in love with a prospective husband or wife. No matter how well considered your ideal checklist is, the ‘perfect’ outcome almost always contravenes many preconceived criteria. You may have believed that your heart’s desire was a light and airy elegant Regency property with lofty ceilings, and yet there you are suddenly and unexpectedly feverish over a beamed farmhouse with inglenook fireplaces and miniature orchard to boot!

I say this from wry past experience, having discovered quite how much one’s so-called essentials can bend upon discovering ‘the one’ (home rather than husband, that is!) – and really isn’t that exactly as it should be? Because falling for a home is only realised when your heart skips a beat every time you enter it. If you find yourself reasoning whether the pros outweigh the cons, the process becomes a much more detached deliberation over an investment purchase. Some will throw up their hands in horror at the idea of going with your heart, and I am not advocating total unreasoned abandon (there are always unsuitable houses for each of us, just as there are unsuitable other halves). But I firmly believe that your heart should thump with joy at what, with vision and love, your home has the potential to become. All of the homeowners in this issue are passionate about their homes: some have grown to love them, others have developed deeper relationships with their properties on the second or even third phase of restoration and evolution. I hope you enjoy their stories as much as I did. With warmest regards,

Warm regards,

Kerryn Harper-Cuss, Editor