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'When we bought it, some friends rudely joked that it was so small, we’d never need to downsize': Hugh Petter on his first house in the country

The ADAM architecture director and architect for the Duchy of Lancaster and Cornwall finds joy in Hampshire.

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The First City Bridge, called the Soke Bridge, crossing the River Itchen in Winchester, England, built by St Swithun. It's an idyllic scene, with lots of red brick buildings
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Where was your first house in the country?

On the edge of a village south-east of Winchester, overlooking the Itchen valley.

A quick description

A typical 18th-century Hampshire cottage, one room wide, with an overshot roof and corridor at the back. It was originally a forge.

How did you find it?

My wife spotted an estate agent putting up a picture on a Friday. We went to see it that evening and offered the asking price. We were talked up an extra £5,000 and bought it the following Monday.

What made you buy it?

The location — the view from the garden is spectacular — and the fact that the cottage had huge potential. We knew we would buy it even before we stepped inside. I can always fix an interior, but you can’t improve the setting.

Biggest indulgence

When we bought it, our children were small and could sleep in the two attic bedrooms, but, by 2014, they had grown too tall to stand up in them. It was time to extend. We removed the conservatory and overshot roof and replaced it with a large kitchen, with two bedrooms and bathrooms above.

A profile shot of Hugh Petter sitting in a window

(Image credit: ADAM Architecture)

Favourite aspect

It’s tailored to our pattern of living. When we bought it, some friends rudely joked that it was so small, we’d never need to downsize. Now, it has plenty of room for friends and family to stay, but we don’t rattle around when there’s only two of us.

Best memory of living there

My daughter’s time studying medicine at university was interrupted by covid. We held a wild party for her and her friends in a marquee on the lawn afterwards, with a pre-party for our friends on the evening before.

Biggest mistake

The house had an oil-fired Aga when we moved in, which we loved. We changed to an electric Aga when we did the extension. The model we bought has some unsatisfactory functions and is no longer sold. For a family that loves cooking, this has been a disappointment.

What happened to the house?

It’s still home

Hugh Petter is an architect and master planner. He has been a director of ADAM Architecture since 1997 and is architect to the Duchy of Cornwall and the Duchy of Lancaster. In 2025, he received the Arthur Ross Award for Architecture from the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art in New York

Julie Harding
Julie Harding

Julie Harding is Country Life’s news and property editor. She is a former editor of Your Horse, Country Smallholding and Eventing, a sister title to Horse & Hound, which she ran for 11 years. Julie has a master’s degree in English and she grew up on a working Somerset dairy farm and in a Grade II*-listed farmhouse, both of which imbued her with a love of farming, the countryside and historic buildings. She returned to her Somerset roots 18 years ago after a stint in the ‘big smoke’ (ie, the south east) and she now keeps a raft of animals, which her long-suffering (and heroic) husband, Andrew, and four children, help to look after to varying degrees.