Ian and Kieley Hanmer’s self-renovated historic cottage in Whitstable was the result of patience, hard work and a healthy amount of learning by mistake. As their cottage comes onto the market, they tell us how they managed to turn a patchwork structure – comprised of parts dating from the 17th-century to the 1930s – into a sensitively-restored modern living space, and why gardening has won over their hearts. Check out the sales listing here.

Ian: “From the outside, it looked like an idyllic quintessential British cottage, inside it was a wreck… perfect!

“When searching for our next project we didn’t have any geographic boundaries, we just knew we wanted something special. We were actually on our way to view a house in Edinburgh when we heard our offer had been accepted on this one and we couldn’t have been happier.

“We have renovated several different styles of houses over the years, but none like this and certainly this is the oldest house we have worked on.”

Kieley: “According to the listing it was built in the early 1600s and has undergone multiple changes over the years. It was great fun peeling back the layers and trying to work out what it originally looked like.

“We could tell that it was originally part of the building next door and that, strangely, the first and second floors were added later. We found a few coins from the 1700s under the upstairs floorboards, so it was definitely an early addition.

“There was also a 1930s extension on the rear and later a garage was added to the side, so it really was a mismatch of add-ons. This worked in our favour, though, as it presented an opportunity to make the house feel more cohesive with a contemporary renovation while respecting its roots and retaining the 17th-century cottage look we fell in love with at the front.”

Ian: “As we both have a lot of experience in building and carpentry we were able to do all the work ourselves apart from the brickwork. It meant we were able to give our architect, Jonathan Sargood at Urban & Rural, free rein and simply asked him to make the design as good as he could, because we didn’t have to worry so much about build costs.

“We set up a workshop in the ground floor and made everything from the kitchen and staircase to the door frames and oak patio blocks in the garden. It enabled us to focus on quality and design, rather than deadlines.”

Kieley: “As work got underway, we quickly realised that it wasn’t going to be easy wrestling the different components of this house into a cohesive home. In the end, all we managed to keep of the main house was the façade and a couple of metres of the side-wall. Everything else went: the roof, chimney stack, all the floors and the entire back of the building had to be re-built.

“We lowered the floors quite significantly to gain headroom and added a contemporary extension across the rear of the building to link the garage with the main house and the ground floor bathroom.

“Then we created a new roof over the entire building, specifically to replace the flat roof on the 1930s extension with a steeply pitched roof to match the look of the original house and nestle it neatly into the conservation area.”

Ian: “But, in the end, we’ve come to value the garden the most! As we live a long distance from the house, and the renovation works meant the building would be uninhabitable for a long period, the first thing we did was build a garden studio that we could stay in temporally.

“We found that we enjoyed being connected to the outside and the garden so much that we wanted to bring this experience into the design and link the indoor and outdoor spaces in a way that made the garden part of the everyday experience of living here. Now I’m not even sure the robins know where the line is drawn as they often pop into the kitchen to grab our attention when the bird feeders are empty!

“We appointed the garden designers Farlam and Chandler, who did a great job of using materials that feel well rooted to the coastal heritage of the building such as concrete, oak and steel – all found in abundance in the nearby harbour and coastline.

“We spent nearly as much time and effort on the garden as we did on the internal works, but it was an absolute pleasure working in such a lovely space and it has left us with a love for gardens that we will have for the rest of our lives.”

Kieley: “Interiors, we think, should be flexible to suit the different modes of modern living: entertaining, working from home, raising a family. They should be comfortable and evoke positive feelings without diminishing functionality in return for aesthetic.

“We were lucky that the bones of this house – the height changes, the exposed brickwork and natural light – gives the interior a tranquil feeling without having to add anything. We just wanted to amplify that, so we focused on pared-back materials – concrete, wood and steel – to keep things light and simple.

“Although the main living area is the focus of the house and aesthetically the most beautiful, we love the feeling of the loft room with its elevated view over the town and the wooden windows that seem to create a lovely feeling of cosiness and solitude. It has its own staircase leading up to it, adding to the sense of privacy.”

Ian: “Early morning is our favourite part of the day in the house. We love having the doors wide open onto the garden and the morning sunlight is angled perfectly into the kitchen. The garden is lit up beautifully at night too, with accent lighting on the main features, making it a little too tempting to sit out late drinking wine.

“We never anticipated how much we would fall in love with the town. We are only half a mile from the beach and the sunsets are incredible – we try and catch them every time it’s a clear night and it never gets old. We highly recommend a glass of wine at sunset at the Neptune pub on the beach as it has a bustling atmosphere in the summer.”

Kieley: “We wouldn’t change a thing. Because most of the work in this house has been re-done two or three times until we got it right, its actually become a running joke that it’s impossible to do anything on this build just once. We were committed to making this house the best it could be, without compromise.”

Ian: “We always say to each other, this is a once in a lifetime build. We have renovated numerous buildings in the past with plenty more to come, but we really committed to this one in a way that I think you can only do once in a lifetime. Whenever the house gave us an opportunity to make a part of it special, we took it, and we built it with love.”