{"id":4457,"date":"2022-01-30T12:00:15","date_gmt":"2022-01-30T11:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homesandantiques.com\/?p=25926"},"modified":"2022-01-30T12:22:21","modified_gmt":"2022-01-30T11:22:21","slug":"a-careful-restoration-of-a-georgian-home-on-the-coast","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/a-careful-restoration-of-a-georgian-home-on-the-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"A careful restoration of a Georgian home on the coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Molly Malsom\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 30 January 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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\u2018Being Australian, I love the sea and a big horizon,\u2019 says artist and former archaeologist Jane Dickins<\/a> of her move from London to the seaside town of Deal. \u2018London was really making me feel constrained,\u2019 she explains, and discovering Deal\u2019s Georgian streets was a blessing that came at the right time \u2013 the result of a chance visit to catch up with a friend.<\/p>\n

She was struck as much by the quality of light and the big skies as she was by the well-preserved streets. \u2018Every house is different and fantastically cute,\u2019 she says. \u2018I just thought it couldn\u2019t be more lovely. There are practically no cars, and everything is so close. You\u2019re within five minutes of wonderful places to eat and independent shops, yet you\u2019re tucked away with hardly anybody walking past \u2013 the high street on one side, the sea on the other. It seems almost too good to be true.\u2019<\/p>\n

Add in the town\u2019s rich maritime history \u2013 Captain Cook moored the Endeavour<\/i> near the Goodwin Sands just off Deal, and Admiral Nelson was garrisoned in the town \u2013 and it seemed like the perfect place to put down roots.<\/p>\n

But would her husband agree? \u2018I brought Jonny down for the weekend, knowing that he didn\u2019t really want to leave London, but he fell for Deal too \u2013 I didn\u2019t expect him to like it so much.\u2019 The fast train to St Pancras makes it possible for people to commute fairly easily and, like many others before them, they eased themselves into living on the south coast.<\/p>\n

The initial plan was to downsize to a flat in London and buy a holiday house in Deal. \u2018Within a year of trying that out we couldn\u2019t bear to leave the coast,\u2019 she recalls. \u2018So we decided to move here full time.\u2019 The key was finding the house that would resonate with their mutual passion for history.<\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s appreciation of the past would prove pivotal to the move. \u2018I loved my years as an archaeologist, and my adventures working on Aboriginal designs in the Central Desert,\u2019 Jane says. But after moving to England to study for a post-graduate degree at Cambridge, she realised academia no longer appealed.<\/p>\n

\u2018The idea of devoting myself to a narrow area of expertise simply wasn\u2019t for me. I had always been passionate about the visual arts, studying art all the way through school and then history of art at university but, despite this life-long enthusiasm, I still had a big mental block about making art myself. It\u2019s strange, but I just didn\u2019t think that becoming an artist was ever something I would be \u2018allowed\u2019 to do.\u2019<\/p>\n

After Cambridge she spent several years teaching and working in television, but in the end the pull of the visual arts became too strong to resist, she says. \u2018I threw myself into living the life I truly wanted \u2013 as a full-time artist. I have to say that my background in archaeology has\u00a0 <\/span>definitely had a big influence on my work, particularly in my fabric designs, which are inspired by ancient mark-making techniques and patterns.\u2019<\/p>\n

The search for somewhere to call home became intrinsically intertwined with Jane\u2019s aesthetic vision and her ability to look beyond the surface. \u2018We saw a few places together but when I saw this house I was on my own.\u2019 The property was clearly much loved but had been untouched for years and was incredibly down at heel. There were no estate agent\u2019s details because there wasn\u2019t much access to the rooms \u2013 it was very much \u2018at the buyer\u2019s risk\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018The owner had lived there for 50 years and the person who was to own it next was very important to him. He adores the past and is a metal detectorist, so he loved the fact I was an archaeologist.\u2019 In an act of extreme trust, Jonny agreed to put in an offer without ever having visited the property. \u2018I didn\u2019t want him to see it,\u2019 Jane laughs. \u2018I knew he would\u2019ve been horrified.\u2019 He didn\u2019t see it for the next 18 months.<\/p>\n

\u2018I look back now and think I must have been mad. I had no experience of this level of renovation. But because it hadn\u2019t been touched for 50 years and had hundreds of years\u2019 worth of wallpaper, paint and carpets<\/a>, I felt that the original materials might be there underneath. Basically, I wanted to excavate it! It\u2019s my dream \u2013 you don\u2019t get houses as old as this in Australia.\u2019<\/p>\n

It reminded her of Dennis Severs\u2019 house<\/a> in Spitalfields and she could see the potential was all there to create something magical. \u2018It\u2019s a privilege to live somewhere so old. A huge bonus was that the previous owner had details of everyone who\u2019s lived here since 1782, which is rare.\u2019<\/p>\n

So, after six months of getting planning permissions and a year getting it back to its roots, the big day came. Fortunately, Jonny approved. \u2018He particularly loved the kitchen, which is quite urban \u2013 sort of Georgian steampunk \u2013 and his study. He says he feels like Charles Dickens when he\u2019s working in there.\u2019 The study is a history lesson in itself. Stripped back to the original 1750s paint and panelling, it has been preserved and the surfaces protected so they won\u2019t deteriorate.<\/p>\n

\u2018Having to renovate on a tight budget was a challenge but it also tests your creativity. We had to reuse whatever was to hand \u2013 old Georgian furniture<\/a> to build the kitchen and dining room, stone from the garden for hearths. Patching something up from salvaged<\/a> and found materials, repairing and rebuilding is the same approach I take to my art. I love to find things other people have thrown away and take another look at them \u2013 discovering something beautiful to drive my work.\u2019<\/p>\n

Three years in, Jane and Jonny both agree that this was meant to be. As well as giving her plenty of inspiration for her art, Deal has spawned a series of fabric designs, the first of which were inspired by the old town and based on the principles of Central Desert Aboriginal design.<\/p>\n

\u2018Sometimes it feels like we\u2019re living on the inside of a seashell \u2013 the colours are so exquisite,\u2019 says Jane. \u2018And it is wonderful to know that, if Captain Cook had looked in through our window when he stopped off in Deal on his way back from discovering Australia, he would have been looking at the same walls!\u2019<\/p>\n

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