My Houzz: An 18th Century Cottage on a Tiny Island in the Cotswolds
Once somewhere for the miller to store his cart, this tiny old building is now a cosy home, skilfully redesigned using reclaimed materials
‘Everything was upcycled, recycled, reclaimed or handmade in this house,’ says owner Mouse Martin. ‘I didn’t find it all, it all found me!’ A celebration of what you can discover in reclamation yards (and sometimes lying in bushes!), Mouse’s home is packed with character. Everything from old front doors to French grain sacks have been given a new lease of life here as stylish and practical pieces. ‘It’s a real joy to use old materials,’ says Mouse. ‘I had never done anything like this before. Half the world is full of plastic now, but there’s no plastic in here!’
When Mouse took on the house last summer, it was tired and cluttered, with a configuration that made poor use of the tight space. ‘I knew I had to just pull it all out and start again,’ she says. ‘I ended up with four walls and a roof!’
Some of the original stone wall is visible, beautifully exposed up into the apex. ‘The house had ceilings, which we took out,’ says Mouse. ‘We didn’t know what we would find above them, but in fact there are lots of beams and all with no woodworm!’
The chest below the TV is an old cheese safe with a mesh door, found at a car-boot sale.
Some of the original stone wall is visible, beautifully exposed up into the apex. ‘The house had ceilings, which we took out,’ says Mouse. ‘We didn’t know what we would find above them, but in fact there are lots of beams and all with no woodworm!’
The chest below the TV is an old cheese safe with a mesh door, found at a car-boot sale.
‘I spend a lot of time in Australia,’ says Mouse, ‘and many of the houses are insulated with corrugated steel. I love it and had seen it work out there, so I thought, why not!’ This wall is actually a fire wall, which Mouse had to install for safety, and it also conceals useful insulation. ‘The corrugated steel makes a fabulous splashback, too,’ she says.
Mouse worked with builder Colin Weeks and his team from Devon. ‘They were great,’ says Mouse. ‘They raised their eyebrows a bit at some of my ideas, but we were all happy with the results.’
Mouse worked with builder Colin Weeks and his team from Devon. ‘They were great,’ says Mouse. ‘They raised their eyebrows a bit at some of my ideas, but we were all happy with the results.’
The floor was laid with basic pine boards that have been painted white. They help bounce light around and maximise the feeling of space.
Mouse discovered the sofa at the tip and had it re-covered. The light was made by her carpenter and electrician, using a bulb fitting and offcuts of wood from the porch. There are similar lights in the bedroom, too.
One of Mouse’s neighbours owned an old barn that she was clearing out. ‘Her father was a hoarder and it had absolutely everything from here to Timbuktu in it,’ she says. ‘That really started the ball rolling on this house. Up until then, I hadn’t got a vision for how it might look beyond just knocking it all out.’
All the doors on the kitchen cabinets came from the barn, and were originally larger, internal doors. ‘We chopped them down to fit as cupboard doors and I sanded them down to a point where I couldn’t be bothered to sand them any longer!’ she says. ‘That’s what they look like when you reach that point!’
The kitchen worktop is made from scaffolding planks, sanded smooth and sealed.
Read expert secrets of successful upcycling
All the doors on the kitchen cabinets came from the barn, and were originally larger, internal doors. ‘We chopped them down to fit as cupboard doors and I sanded them down to a point where I couldn’t be bothered to sand them any longer!’ she says. ‘That’s what they look like when you reach that point!’
The kitchen worktop is made from scaffolding planks, sanded smooth and sealed.
Read expert secrets of successful upcycling
This partition is a fire wall, so it’s quite thick. To create a doorway through it to the bedroom, Mouse fitted the door and part of an old wooden larder. ‘This worked with the slightly deeper wall,’ she says. ‘It’s a bit The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe when you step through it.’
This armchair was a Victorian child’s chair that Mouse also found at a rubbish tip and had re-covered. She made the dog bowls, and the side table is actually an old milking stool.
The kitchen table is made from an old mangle, also discovered in Mouse’s neighbour’s barn. ‘The cafe chairs have cushions made from French grain sacks,’ she adds.
The river runs to the right of the property and the mill stream flows to its left. Mouse worked with local architect Matthew Edwards of Cotswold Architects to create a new porch. While plans for this were being approved, and permission to install handmade wooden windows to replace the UPVC ones was being granted, Mouse employed a dry-stone walling specialist, James Harris Contracting, to build up the land alongside the streams to protect against flooding.
There is a space for a car at one end of the house, and Mouse has moved the front door. ‘It was configured very differently when I bought it,’ she says. ‘There was a door where you now park your car and you walked immediately into the bathroom!’ A corridor then led into the kitchen. ‘I took the corridor out to double the size of the bedroom,’ explains Mouse.
Anything to do with the plumbing, heating and electrics in the house was bought new, for safety reasons, and Mouse sourced small task lights to illuminate the worktop.
‘Once I ‘d found the doors in the barn that would become my kitchen, everything seemed to find me,’ says Mouse. ‘I would walk into a shop and see just what I needed.’ These fire buckets were piled up inside one second-hand store Mouse visited. ‘I thought, wow, they could make great shades,’ she says. ‘Everyone said don’t be ridiculous, but now they’re up, people love them and they have become a major feature of the property.’
Wall storage in the kitchen is made from old German wine crates. ‘The shelves inside are made from a reclaimed bit of oak beam from the roof,’ says Mouse.
Mouse picked up the chunky iron handles on the kitchen cupboards from a local farrier’s.
An apple crate makes useful storage above the kitchen table.
Check out 10 great uses for wooden crates
Check out 10 great uses for wooden crates
Mugs, teapots and jugs are just some of the ceramics Mouse makes for her Made By Hands studio. She has also designed a selection of ceramics bearing her distinctive name in animal form!
Mouse has collected these pieces of Tala Ware over the years. ‘The three-tier cake tin was my mother’s,’ she says. ‘The rest I found here and there.’
This door in the bathroom leads into what Mouse calls the engine room, which contains the boiler. ‘It’s an old Tudor door,’ she says. ‘To think someone all those years ago touched that same handle!’
Mouse had a sliding door fitted between the bedroom and bathroom. ‘I found an old front door with a letterbox on it and thought that would be the ideal way to go between the two rooms.’ A mezzanine above the bathroom is used for storage.
The bedspread was made from an old World War Two Union Jack ensign. The ceiling light is by Australian artist Harriet Goodall. ‘She learned how to weave from aboriginal tribespeople,’ says Mouse. ‘It throws the most beautiful patterns across the room.’
The bedspread was made from an old World War Two Union Jack ensign. The ceiling light is by Australian artist Harriet Goodall. ‘She learned how to weave from aboriginal tribespeople,’ says Mouse. ‘It throws the most beautiful patterns across the room.’
‘The bath was the first thing to go in when we were working on the house,’ says Mouse. ‘Once we could see what length it was, we could build in the rest around it.’
She found the bath in a bush in a reclamation yard. ‘It was covered in brambles and the yard owner just wanted £100 for it,’ she says. Once Mouse had got it home, she discovered it had beautiful brass taps. ‘I re-enamelled it and painted the underside red.’
The walls in here are clad with basic pine floorboards painted white. Mouse found the branch hooks in Australia – they’re made from wattle wood.
She found the bath in a bush in a reclamation yard. ‘It was covered in brambles and the yard owner just wanted £100 for it,’ she says. Once Mouse had got it home, she discovered it had beautiful brass taps. ‘I re-enamelled it and painted the underside red.’
The walls in here are clad with basic pine floorboards painted white. Mouse found the branch hooks in Australia – they’re made from wattle wood.
The front door used to be in this wall, but now a simple window lets light, rather than visitors, into the bathroom.
The basin came from a salvage yard and Mouse’s carpenter created a stand for it.
Old milk bottles hold bathroom essentials. Mouse made the ceramic stars that hang from their necks to identify the contents: shampoo, bubble bath and conditioner.
The bed is from Ikea and has useful storage below. ‘There are no cupboards as such in the house, so I have just had to be clever, adding lots of hooks here and there, so there is hanging space,’ says Mouse. The cushion cover is made from a Hungarian grain sack.
The wheel in the window dates from the Industrial Revolution, some 150 years ago, ‘so it’s very modern compared with the age of this house,’ says Mouse. ‘All these old pieces seemed to be dangled before me like carrots when I was working on the house, all going pick me, pick me!’
The wheel in the window dates from the Industrial Revolution, some 150 years ago, ‘so it’s very modern compared with the age of this house,’ says Mouse. ‘All these old pieces seemed to be dangled before me like carrots when I was working on the house, all going pick me, pick me!’
Mouse obtained planning permission to build a porch at the back, which now makes a wonderful place to sit and enjoy the view with dogs, Sid (on the chair) and Maisi. The cushions on the chairs were made from old coffee bean sacks.
When Mouse is travelling overseas, she rents out the house on Filly Island for holidays. To find out more, visit uniquehomestays.co.uk.
TELL US…
What do you think of this reclaimed little home? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
TELL US…
What do you think of this reclaimed little home? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
Who lives here Mouse Martin, a ceramicist who runs the Made By Hands studio, and her dogs, Sid and Maisi
Location South Cerney, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Size 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, in a space approx 32ft x 10ft
‘The house is called Draycott,’ says Mouse. ‘Dray meant horse and cott meant cart, so originally it was a cart shed next to the watermill.’ The mill no longer exists, but since the cart shed was built in the 1750s, it’s been an apple store and a garage until, in the mid 1970s, it was converted into a house. Mouse bought it in early June 2014. ‘I had always coveted that little island,’ she says. ‘As soon as I found out the house was for sale, I put in an offer. Two hours later it was mine.’
An old bridge spans the river to Filly Island. ‘It’s so peaceful here,’ says Mouse. ‘Ducks waddle up onto the grass and there are two otters in the river – Squeak and Whistle!’