Rose Cottage was in a poor state of repair before Sue and Paul Brereton undertook a hands-on labour of love to transform it

WORDS VICTORIA JENKINS

Rose Cottage is one of the oldest homes in Snowshill, dating back to 1635. To the far right of the main house is the old 1950s garage, which was previously converted into an extra ensuite bedroom

PHOTOS WILL GODDARD

On the day the Breretons moved into Rose Cottage in the little village of Snowshill, the location really lived up to its name. “It snowed so heavily that all the power went off and we couldn’t get the old log burner to work,” says Paul Brereton. “Luckily the local pub has its own generator, so we took refuge there and managed to meet all our neighbours in that one day without even moving from the pub fire.”

Sue and Paul, along with their cavapoo Harry, moved into the grade II listed Rose Cottage in 2017 – which dates back to 1635. Paul recalls that it was Sue’s decision to purchase the home; he didn’t even take a proper look around it as he already loved the location. The cottage has a Worcester postcode, but the village is up on the North Cotswold escarpment – so it’s actually in Gloucestershire. It is an end of terrace and, with its neighbour, is one of the oldest in the area. “The listings officer told us it began as a one up, one down, then in the 1700s it acquired a second room at the rear, with a bedroom above,” says Paul. “But this second room lacked a fireplace so he thought it might have been a workroom.”

The couple were later given confirmation of its function, and discovered that Charles Kyte had lived there in 1842. He was the inventor of one of the earliest sewing machines, an example of which can be seen on display at the Science Museum in London. His lineage remains very much linked to the property, as one of his direct descendants still lives next door. Fast forward to the 1950s and the owner at the time had converted an adjoining garage into an extra bedroom, and there’s also a ‘bothy’ at the end of the garden.