Sail Away

Tim James and Nicole Thompson took on a rundown farmstead in North Norfolk and have transformed it into a sociable family home, reflecting the colours of the nearby coast.

- Alex Reece

When the weather is good and the tide is right, tim James and Nicole Thompson load all their boat gear in the back of a pick-up truck and head to freshes creek in Stiffkey on the North Norfolk coast to go sailing. It’s a 10-minute drive down country lanes past saltmarshes to the quay where their cromer crab boat is moored. ‘We go and spend the whole day down there,’ says Nicole, whose two children, Molly and spike, aged 13 and 11, also love being on the water. ‘We go mackerel fishing and we cook on the boat, and there’s always someone we know down there, it’s a very sociable place.’ the traditional working vessel, which tim co-owns with a friend, is called Why Worry – a sentiment very much in keeping with the family’s easygoing outdoor lifestyle. It also chimes with the can-do attitude they employed when transforming an unloved cottage and two derelict barns nearby into a spacious and characterful family home.

Tim, a retired consultant in orthotics who has roots in North Norfolk, had often driven past the brick-and-flint buildings of Ellis Farm while working on his first renovation project in the village of Field Dalling, just inland from the coast. ‘I thought the property looked interesting, but I never really knew anything about it,’ he says. Then, four years ago, he saw a ‘For Sale’ sign on the gatepost. By this time, Tim had met Nicole, and the family, who divide their time between London and Norfolk, were beginning to outgrow his cottage a mile away. ‘Also, when Tim and I met, we wanted to do something together,’ says Nicole, a lifestyle and food stylist.