Jill and Allan Hymers have renovated and extended their traditional Cotswolds home to create something modern, but still packed with character

WORDS VICTORIA JENKINS 

The Shaker kitchen design is topped with a white granite worktop and complemented by the porcelain floor tiles

PHOTOS WILLIAM GODDARD

Allan Hymers and his wife Jill met by chance in Quito, Ecuador, when they were separately travelling the world. When back in the UK, Jill was based in London and Allan in Witney, Oxfordshire, so they looked to move somewhere new to start their lives together. They decided on the Cotswolds and put an offer in on a stone cottage in picturesque Burton-on-the-Water. “It took some finding, but we loved it as soon as we walked in,” says Allan. Positioned at the end of a three property terrace, the quaint house dates back to 1740. “It’s referred to as a farmer’s hovel in the deeds,” he says. “It was probably originally built as a one-up, one-down, but had been extended into a three-bed home by the time we found it.”

The cottage had been a holiday let for years and was dark and dated with a ramshackle leaky conservatory at the back. “We could see its potential – even past all the old furniture that it was sold with,” says Allan. In December 2018 the couple got married in the Caribbean and it seemed like fate when they heard on the same day that they’d exchanged on their new home.

‘‘ The first lockdown caused endless delays with materials, delivery and trades’’

Coming up with a plan

Allan and Jill’s stone cottage is positioned within an area of outstanding natural beauty, meaning that formal planning was required to make any changes. “We even needed permission to cut down trees,” says Allan, who has removed a 4.5m tall maple that was filling up the front garden and making the house very dark.