The owner of a quirky one-bed cottage, located around ten miles from Norwich, will be hosting 'Christmas for one' at her home after 18 months of renovations.
Christmas doesn’t look the same for everyone, and when Sophie Britch and I speak at the beginning of November, I’m reminded of just how diverse and different it can be.
This year, she will be hosting ‘Christmas for one’, although she won’t be alone. She’ll spend it with her three dogs and cat in their small but loved one-bed cottage – a place she’s grown especially fond of over the past year or so.
Although some people might find the idea of spending Christmas alone “a bit depressing”, Sophie says, she’s determined to enjoy it. “Dad died nearly two years ago,” she explains. “Last year was the first one, so I didn’t really know what to do. I didn’t make any plans and then sort of made plans and then it was all a bit higgledy piggledy, so this year I thought ‘right, I’m going to do something’."
This year is different than the last, when grief was still so raw, and she says she feels more inclined to celebrate.
She says she’s gone through every conceivable idea for what to do, from spending a few days in north Norfolk to going somewhere further afield – “but then I came back to the idea that I actually didn’t want to spend most of my time off travelling, so I thought ‘well, actually, I’ve got a really lovely cottage, I’d quite like to spend a few days off there with the dogs’. It’s a sort of Christmas with a difference.”
Sophie has in fact spent the past 18 months renovating her cottage, which she says is still very much a work in progress. She shares snaps of her home on Instagram – it’s actually how we meet, my eye caught by the cosy yet rustic interiors and inches of Norfolk charm.
She bought it around eight years ago. “It’s one of the original Georgian poor cottages in the village,” she explains. “The original part of the building is clay lump. It’s early 1800s but there’s not a lot of information about it – the more recent history from the 1900s is much better documented.”
Since Sophie has lived in the cottage, she’s seen photographs of it from the 1930s and 40s, complete with some of the family who lived there. But the fact that the cottage is still standing is, in some ways, an odd twist of fate.
“It was part of a row of cottages, and it’s the only one now left still standing,” Sophie says. “[During the Victorian era] the landowner bought all the other cottages and essentially demolished them, this whole row of four cottages apart from mine, and a built a new row of Victorian terraced properties in front. My cottage is now quite quirky because it doesn’t have a back garden.
“The way they kind of shoehorned it all in [meant] that the cottage that’s now technically behind mine has a little yard and then sort of immediately [there] is my lounge wall. It’s really unusual, [and] really amazing – it’s typical Victorians shoehorning stuff wherever they could.”
Despite its age, Sophie says there are hardly any original features inside – although there are lots of quirky reminders like wonky floors. “It’s a funny place but I like it,” she laughs.
Around 10 years ago, the then-owners put a large extension on the front, transforming what was a one-up, one-down cottage into something a bit bigger.
Sophie bought it, lived in it and then spent a year renting it out while she cared for her dad. When she returned at the beginning of last year, she put it on the market.
“I hadn’t found anywhere that I wanted to move to, and it got me thinking ‘well, hang on a minute – this is really silly. It’s going to cost me this much to move house, why don’t I spend that money on doing [up] the cottage?’”
Since then, she’s put in new walls and taken walls out, used some of the space from the upstairs landing to create a bathroom, had the electrics re-done and landscaped the front garden – and, of course, added a big new kitchen. “That’s been probably my favourite part,” she says.
Naturally, there have been challenges along the way, including going over budget and even struggling to find people to do the work. “It has been challenging trying to project manage whilst you’re at work,” she says. “It was entertaining, but [I’m] not sure it’s great for the stress levels – not great for budget management either.”
The ‘quirks’ of the cottage have meant some things, like getting the right doors to fit the space, have been more difficult than she expected – and have pushed costs up – and she thinks the latter stages of the project will probably take longer than the first six months. But she says she feels more settled in it now, having moved on to the more “fun” elements, like decorating and furnishing.
In fact, for such a small space, it’s been a big renovation. “There isn’t a piece of the house that hasn’t been renovated in some way, shape or form. Although it’s impossible to kind of bring back the original character because that’s long gone, I’ve tried to. The cottage that I bought was very magnolia and so was the garden – now it’s a lot more characterful.
“I sort of ummed and ahhed about what to do with it. I love colour and it’s kind of a mix of styles – I don’t have one particular style, and it’s not the kind of house that lends itself to one particular style, either.
“I’ve tried the kind of shabby chic, working cottage type and that doesn’t really work because it just seems a bit twee and it’s quite a practical cottage.
“Then I’ve tried to do kind of Scandi-ish, almost minimalist [style], and that doesn’t work either. I thought being a small property, maybe going down that line would kind of work, but then it just felt a bit impersonal and not really homely.”
The answer? A tin of very dark green paint.
“I thought ‘well, it’s either going to work or it’s not and if it doesn’t, what’s the worst that can happen?’” she laughs. “And actually, I love it.
“I’ve got black on the bottom half of the walls in the main living areas, like the utility room, boot room and the front hallway – and soon the kitchen as well. It works quite well getting that darker bottom third and then the rest of it being cream. It gives you quite a strong contrast and I think you kind of need that in a small house sometimes.”
Last year, after the bulk of the bigger renovations was done, Sophie commissioned a Christmas card from Emma Lawrence Designs (emmalawrence.com). It featured her dogs, her cat and her recently installed Everhot cooker, and was the “only” Christmassy thing she did. It reflected the work she’d put into the cottage but also its eclectic, rustic, homemade vibe – something she says she’s hoping to also bring to this year’s festivities.
So far, she’s made a wreath for her door, snapped up two light-up beech trees from the Cox & Cox sale and has plans to make her own Christmas bunting for the kitchen. “I'm determined with my Christmas decs – it's going to be my enjoyment project,” she says. “I'm going to take some time out at the weekends and have some little making sessions.”
She also says she’s going to treat herself to some icicle lights to hang along the front of her “quite pretty” cottage. “When you come in the gate – especially if you get home from work or whatever and it’s dark – there it is, fully lit up. I just think it’s so cheerful.”
On the day, Sophie says she’ll enjoy a Christmas Day walk with a friend but will forgo the traditional lunch in favour of other food she likes a lot more – including a bottle of champagne and her favourite wheel of cheese. The dogs will be treated to their own steak supper – cooked, no doubt, on her beloved Everhot.
See more of Sophie’s cottage renovation at her Instagram account at @norfolk_cottage_girl.
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