Sas and Ashley Petherick moved from London to Bristol to lovingly revive and extend a characterful Victorian terrace

WORDS VICTORIA JENKINS

The exterior of the newly enlarged kitchen-dining room is clad in black cedar with a zinc roof.

PHOTOS WILL GODDARD

Sas and Ashley Petherick spent Christmas 2017 sitting on their living room floor eating tacos. “We’d only just moved into our new home and had barely started unpacking,” says Sas. “Christmas was followed by a terrible cold spell – the Beast from the East in March 2018. This was the point we discovered the kitchen lacked insulation and the French doors didn’t fit.”

The previous owners of the house, an 1890s Victorian end of terrace in Bristol, had lived there for at least 50 years, barely upgrading it over the years. “There was one tiny bathroom with an electric shower over the bath, a dark and poky dining room and a small kitchen with a gas oven, which looked post-war. We called it the death-trap and stood well back when lighting it,” says Sas.

“There was also a second sitting room, which was dark, windowless and had been a storeroom. Plus, the stairs had rickety banisters and a stair lift. The house felt like it had been ignored for a long time.”

Origin story

The couple first spotted the house for sale on Rightmove on Ash’s birthday – they were on holiday in the Cotswolds at the time. “We’d been thinking of doing a house project for some time; we had both done them before in our native New Zealand,” says Sas. “But it meant leaving London after 20 years, as it was too expensive. The house we spotted was in Bristol, which we felt was a liberal and progressive place. So on the way home, we made a detour to view it.”

It was pretty much love at first sight. The couple were struck by the high ceilings, the intact coving, the light that flooded into the front windows and the generous size of the rear garden. “It was in a quiet street, but close to the shops and had a real neighbourhood feel,” says Sas. “And one good thing was all the windows had been refurbished recently – still single glazing though!”