Sense of BALANCE

Having both grown up in the countryside, Emma and John Sims-Hilditch always knew they wanted to bring up their family in a rural setting. So in 1990, newly-wed and living in London, they began searching for a country property in Wiltshire. A trio of dilapidated Grade II listed cottages that had once been a village school soon caught their eye. “We were both really excited about the idea,” says Emma. “For the same money, we would have been able to buy a refurbished two-up-two-down terraced house in a village, so it was either that or take a gamble and go for something like this, which needed a full conversion. I remember family friends advising us not