‘The pair drove to Belgium in their Mini and returned with the chair wrapped in duvets’: The mother-and-daughter duo that brought a converted Cotswolds barn back to life
Arabella Youens speaks to Laura Berkeley-Hawkes and her daughter Gracy about working together and breathing life back into a converted Cotswolds barn.
When former model Laura Berkeley-Hawkes and her husband, a feng shui consultant, decided to leave London during the pandemic, the move had an accidental outcome: it became a catalyst for a new family business.
Having looked at nearly 50 houses in a variety of locations within two hours’ drive of the capital, the couple landed on an early 18th-century Grade II-listed converted barn with four bedrooms that had once been owned by the Bathurst Estate in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. As soon as they drove through the gates, they knew it was the one. Up until that point, all three of their children had been raised surrounded by floor plans, as the couple moved around the capital, renovating run-down houses and turning them into successful shoot locations for commercial and television productions. The experience had impressed on Gracy, the eldest, the impact of good interior design. This new property presented the perfect opportunity for mother and daughter to join forces and set up their own eponymous design studio, Berkeley Hawkes.
Reclaimed oak flooring in the hallway, from Lubelska, is laid in different directions as a nod to the former agricultural building. An Art Nouveau chandelier hangs over the table, which is covered in a fabric by Watts 1874. The map prints are from The Old Cinema and the Italian leather and iron Savonarola chair sets a decorative contrast.
The barn was several steps away, both in design and layout, from their previous home — an Edwardian semi-detached house in Ealing. Originally two buildings standing back-to-back — a cart shed and a threshing barn — it had been turned into a house in the 1990s when the estate converted a farm into separate houses and sold them off. There had been, at the time, and remained, limitations as to what could be changed as a result of the listing; nevertheless, it had the bones of an attractive home, once elements, including a bright yellow kitchen and vinyl grey floors, were removed. ‘When we arrived for the viewing, there was a rather eccentric owner who had never watched TV and the place was crammed with antiques and pianos,’ says Laura. ‘But it had a stunning garden and there was something special about the house; we knew it was right for us.’
The kitchen cabinets were designed in a classic style in a nod to the main farmhouse’s Georgian origin and were made by a local joiner. The worktops are in honed Carrara marble.
Carved out of a corridor that used to run behind the kitchen, the pantry holds a collection of chinaware, including plates by Astier de Villatte. An Annapolis Flush ceiling light by The Limehouse Lamp Company hangs above.
Unlike many barn conversions, there isn’t a vast, double-height room at the centre of the property — an aspect which immediately appealed. Nor is there a large amount of glazing, which typically replaces what would’ve been the opening for farm machinery when the building was still in agricultural use. ‘The layout was quirky, because it was two structures in one,’ explains Laura. The original conversion had been done with small windows and the bedrooms were all in the steeply pitched attic space. ‘While the listed status prevented enlarging the windows, except in the kitchen, we aimed to ensure that the rooms had as much natural light as possible, so we reorganised the layout, removing some of the stud walls that had been put up in the 1990s,’ says Gracy.
Work began a year or so after the couple moved in and involved creating a large, broken-plan kitchen and dining room and converting a back corridor into a new, glazed china room, or pantry. They also created a guest bedroom and bathroom downstairs and reorganised the master bedroom that had previously been a succession of small spaces into one generous suite with a bathroom and plenty of built-in storage. Standard radiators were replaced with cast-iron versions throughout.
The duo sourced six elegant Regency rosewood and parcel-gilt carer chairs designed by John Gee to contrast against the rustic antique Catalan refectory table. Beyond is an area for games and the room is painted in Canvas IV from Paint & Paper Library.
Upstairs, wardrobes form a divider between the bedroom and the bathroom. The Camden chair by Lorfords Contemporary. The pair came up with a clever device that allows for Roman blinds to hang on the conservation roof lights.
Decoratively, the aim was to nod to the original Georgian farmstead while maintaining a firm handhold on the property’s agricultural roots. Hence, the quiet yet impactful contrast between rustic oak boards and chunky sisal matting on the bedroom floors against the elegant wall panelling in the main living rooms and classically inspired kitchen cabinetry. The result is a deftly managed balance between rustic and refined, the old and the more modern. ‘Ultimately, it’s not just how everything looks, but how the space flows and feels to touch,’ says Laura. ‘We’re drawn to natural materials,’ continues her daughter. ‘The oak floors were crafted using beams salvaged from agricultural buildings across Europe to quietly honour the barn’s history. We love to work with honed marbles, soft wools, velvets, materials that feel grounding, human and that become more imperfect over time.’
This room didn’t have as much light, so Laura and Gracy played into the moodiness and leaned into a deeper end of the same colour palette in this bedroom. The headboard was designed to bring the bed out from the eaves and was made by Lorfords Contemporary. ‘The bath, which is an antique, was extremely heavy and a nightmare to take up the stairs,’ says Gracy.
There’s a serenity awarded to each of the spaces that comes from an approach that is the opposite of cluttered: maximalist and busy rooms are not within their design DNA. Each piece has its own space so that it can be seen and appreciated. One stand-out element is an unusual shellwork chair that was spotted in the auction catalogue of the Belgian antique dealer Paul De Grande, who was selling off his collection from his base in Bruges. It now generates the most interest of all their work on social media. ‘My mother has a near obsession with shells and so I knew we had to have it,’ says Gracy. No courier was prepared to deliver such a delicate item. In the end, the pair drove to Belgium in their Mini and returned with the chair wrapped in duvets.
Neutral walls throughout provide a backdrop to lots of carefully chosen works of modern art, antiques, 20th-century furniture and a selection of sofas and chairs upholstered in warm velvets and textured linen. The kitchen cabinets were designed in-house and made by a local joiner and hand-painted in a warm burgundy red gloss to match the La Cornue cooker. In the hallway, a trio of framed maps of London found in the Old Cinema in Chiswick stand leaning up against the wall, while pattern makes a rare appearance in the form of a tablecloth made by Studio Blackwall in Sainval velvet by Watts 1874 — a design taken from a 16th-century verdure tapestry.
The shell chair was sourced directly from an antique dealer in Bruges.
The fireplace in the living room is new and lends the space a much-needed focal point. ‘There is pattern here,’ the pair counter, ‘it’s just that we’re drawn to particular types of patterns such as European damasks in rich colours and English stripes. You won’t find any block prints or chintzes.’ The dining room was too large just to house a table, so they created a games area where people can sit on slipper sofas from Lorfords around a woodburner from Charnwood. ‘A lot of people end up with a dining room they rarely use, so here we’ve given this space a dual purpose,’ says Gracy. ‘It works, too. At Christmas, people play games while others are cooking in the kitchen.’ The rustic table sitting alongside the Regency chairs is an example of that desire to make spaces look good but too precious. ‘The result is a home shaped by contrast, history and touch. One that’s rich in atmosphere and deeply attuned to its setting.’
