The early months of marriage are, traditionally, wrapped in an atmosphere of carefree rosescented romance. Giles and Sheila Udy took a different approach. ‘One of the first things I did after we got married was to enrol on a soft furnishings course,’ recalls Sheila, who was then working in insurance. Giles, a historian, was dispatched ‘not unwillingly’, he says, to learn woodworking.
The pragmatism has paid off. To say that the pair have done work on their Edwardian house, in a tree-shaded corner
