When we bought our house, The Burrow Escape sat empty and neglected next door – like its ugly little sister! With the smell of her previous inhabitants still lingering; (I assume a very territorial Tom cat that had insisted on marking every square inch with his delightful spray) it was not a pleasant experience to even enter.
But from day one I had big dreams of turning it into a beautiful holiday cottage.
It took a few years to get my butt into gear though (and get some jobs sorted in our own house first!), but just as covid was a distant murmur on the news in China we got started ripping down the partition wall downstairs; opening up the whole space and making quite a lot of mess!
Then obviously things changed quite a lot for everyone; with several lock downs; making having any workmen a bit of a challenge! But we carried on stripping the place and painting what we could (I thankfully had the foresight to bulk buy my Farrow and Ball paint when things started looking serious on the news – we had no flour or pasta mind you!). The lockdowns whilst troublesome in many ways actually allowed me to get quite a lot done myself in there (with lots of help from my family too) whilst I was furloughed from work.
It was a very slow process but eventually The Burrow started to bloom! We had a bespoke kitchen made and upon installation found out that it was a blimmin good job too because nothing in The Burrow is straight or square!
Our wonderful chippy managed to do some quick problem solving and the kitchen is a total work of art that I often wish was in my own house instead!
Once all the basics were in (new radiators/boiler & heating system /bathroom /kitchen/LVT flooring) it was time to get going with the fun stuff! I managed to convince our chippy to make some beautiful wooden panneling for the lounge which really transformed the space. Then we got very liberal with the F&B paint!
It was such a lovely feeling to FINALLY be doing pretty things in there, after years of all the messy, expensive boring stuff! Luckily mum has a beautiful home and gift shop over at Clarkes Farm that I could source plenty of bits at a great price (clarkesfarm.com).
During the renovation we added a new member to the family (much to the dogs disgust!) and I decided I really wanted The Burrow Escape up and running in time to allow me not to go back to work from my maternity leave.
Im happy to say that with lots of help from my lovely family we did manage to make this happen and shortly after my sons first birthday The Burrow Escape welcomed its first guests!
I got really good at doing a changeover during nap time, and ironing the bedding after his bedtime! Now I often have to pinch myself that this is my life! Every time I get a new booking it makes me smile, and Im so thankful to every guest that inadvertently helps me live my dream.
