We live with our three children, 20 chickens of varying shapes, sizes, ages and colours, two collie labs and a tortoise, Sydney, in a Grade II listed farmhouse built in 1699, and surrounded by two acres of overgrown garden and, bizarrely, six garages, left over from when it was a farm and now filled with stored furniture for our new hotel and two classic 1960s cars.
The kitchen is fairly small, in an awkward L shape, with the staircase to one side and an old fireplace in the middle, opposite a white Aga. We inherited the design from the previous owners and have painted the original oak cottage-style doors
