TUDOR CHARM

Crooked ceilings and wonky floors, not to mention original wooden beams and iron-studded doors, are all part of the appeal of Jo and David Cox's 16th-century farmhouse

- ALICE HUMPHRYS

Viewing the 16th-century farmhouse in a quiet country lane, Jo Cox felt as though she’d stepped into another world, despite it being only half a mile away from her home. ‘I’ll never forget that feeling of excitement when I pushed open the gate in the middle of the beech hedge,’ Jo recalls. ‘Seconds later, I caught sight of the old farmhouse and was entranced.’

Back in 2017, Jo and her family had been living in Brentwood, Essex. ‘My husband, David, and I had done quite a lot of work to that house, but since moving there, I’d developed a passion for growing owers and vegetables, and I yearned for a larger garden and an older property,’ she reveals. ‘We were also keen to live somewhere more rural and peaceful.’

While David was browsing property sites, he noticed the pink, timber-framed farmhouse, set in six acres, complete with mature gardens and a stable block. ‘Properties like this don’t come to the market very often around here and, although the amount of work needed was daunting, we could see the potential,’ says Jo. ‘Every room was bursting with period features and charming touches, such as the inglenook replaces. The contours of the ceilings mirrored those of the doors above, and the fact that nothing was straight added to the sense of being immersed in the house’s history.’