in association home insurance barge...the trip turned out to be more adventurous than rohan had...

Tuesday, June 9, 2020 | METRO | 15

bringing a 1960s cargo boat back from holland wasn’t without drama for one couple, but it’s been plain sailing ever since, as they tell EMMA WELLS

HOME INTERIORS / INSPIRATION / FOOD

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rob buckhaven picks the perfect pairings for a night in front of the tv

rEEL dEALS

HOME INTERIORS / INSPIRATION / FOOD

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BARGE

No half measures: Christina and Rohan

made bold renovations, splicing the boat in two

When Christina Miles pointed out a giant barge rotting on the Thames to her partner, Rohan Tully, she jokingly asked him if

he would be prepared to settle down on something similar.

‘After moving between different flats for many years, and a stint in hong Kong, I was desperate for some stability,’ says Christina, 33, who works for a brand experience agency. ‘I would pour over interiors mags, and craved a proper home, especially when we found out we were expecting a baby. But Rohan had never wanted to live somewhere conventional.’

Little did she know that her light-hearted question was all the incentive that Rohan − a keen sailor who had crossed the Atlantic with his parents when he was 12 – had been looking for. ‘Rohan was always desperate to be close to water, and with his entrepreneurial spirit, is always looking for a project,’ adds Christina. ‘I should have known how it was going to end up!’

In the months that followed that stroll, Rohan, 36, who works in fintech, convinced Christina to come and view several boat conversions. ‘They were incredibly luxurious, multi-million-pound vessels, with spiral staircases and home cinemas,’ she says. ‘Well out of our league, of course, but they showed me that you

can get every comfort on a boat that you would in an ordinary home.’

Two weeks after the birth of Christina and Rohan’s daughter, elara, who is now 19 months, Rohan, one of his best friends and their fathers flew to Belgium to collect a 40-metre 1960s cargo boat.

‘It had been owned by one family and was still a working vessel. I knew immediately it fitted the bill,’ says Rohan.

They took the boat to holland for steel work – it was spliced in half and had ten metres of its length removed,

continued on 6 »

16 | METRO | Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Ship-shape: The boat on the Thames. It was shortened to 30 metres-long

TRENDS // NEWS // REVIEWS TRENDS // NEWS // REVIEWS

ADVICE // HACKS // INVESTMENT ADVICE // HACKS // INVESTMENT

MUSIC // FILM // TV // COMEDY MUSIC // FILM // TV // COMEDY

STYLE // WELLBEING // CELEBRITY STYLE // WELLBEING // CELEBRITY

TRAVEL // CULTURE // ADVENTURE TRAVEL // CULTURE // ADVENTURE



TECHNOLOGY // GADGETS // GAMES // APPS TECHNOLOGY // GADGETS // GAMES // APPSpowered by

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to make it a more conventional 30 metres long, and had its hull treated for rust. They then set off on the ten-day journey home. The trip turned out to be more adventurous than Rohan had planned.

‘You have to pick the right weather with a flat-bottomed boat,’ adds Rohan, ‘but we got arrested and were taken back to port in Belgium to make sure all our paperwork was in order. We hit some bad weather at the start of the journey, but then, thankfully, it was beautiful.’

It’s been largely smooth waters ever since. The transformation from featureless floating container, with two simple ‘sleeping cupboards’ and no shower to an ultra-stylish, two-storey two-bedroom home, with underfloor heating, a smart home system and bespoke cabinetry, took just 15 months.

Today, the family are happily ensconced on their boat, along with their Alaskan klee kai, Aluki, as part of a River Thames island community of a dozen boats moored near Kew Bridge.

One of the main joys of the home, Christina says, is knowing they designed every inch of it themselves.

‘I was on maternity leave while the interior fit-out was being done in Kent so I could visit regularly from London and make key decisions.’

Christina used the app RoomSketcher to help design the floor plans. ‘We knew we wanted the spaces to be as open-plan as possible,’ she says, ‘but we did have to make some big decisions early on for features we had really only sketched out in our heads. We needed to decide how big the hole for the staircase needed to be, for example. We just Googled the answer!

‘We also overstepped the size of the glass skylight, creating a huge one that is three metres by one metre. It looks amazing, but it took ten people to get it on board.’

The end result is up there with the best of London’s interior-designed luxury pads.

On the top deck sits the kitchen, which features grey geometric cabinetry by Superfront and monochrome tiling under the island. Light cascades into the room through huge square black-framed windows, as well as bifold doors that lead on to

the deck. Downstairs, the open-plan living/dining room features pale, engineered wooden flooring. Six vintage dining chairs were bought from vinterior.co and reupholstered.

Artwork includes pieces by their friend, London-based contemporary historical painter Tarek Sebastian Al-shammaa. Down here, all is lit by vast, round portholes – giving extraordinary river views.

At either end are two en-suite bedrooms: Elara’s has its own

porthole, from where she can watch her father

kayaking or a newly hatched brood of goslings.

As soon as lockdown is over, the couple want to get on with their

next projects: creating a guest bedroom behind

the wheelhouse and a luxurious deck area. ‘But this

period has confirmed how great it is to be part of a boating community, as everyone supports each other, and drops off shopping when it’s needed,’ says Rohan.

‘The sense of space and openness you have, and being surrounded by nature, has also really helped.’

Their home has been so admired, and they have met so many incredible boat builders, skippers, contractors and craftsmen along the way, that they have formed a UK-based yacht design and build company, Isla Yachts (islayachts.com), which manages every aspect of a boat project from sourcing and building vessels, to fit-out and interiors.

Christina is now thrilled Rohan convinced her to take the plunge. ‘I just love watching the reflection of water dancing on the walls,’ she says. ‘I don’t think I could ever go back to living in a conventional home.’

n Instagram: Christina & Rohan @thisonefloats

Life afloat: Bifold doors open onto the deck

‘I couldn’t go back to a conventional home’

» From Page 15

Up in lights: Custom-made

neon

Light touch: Large windows and the massive skylight give the boat a bright and airy feel

16 | METRO | Tuesday, June 9, 2020 �

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Tuesday, June 9, 2020 |�METRO | 17










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Splashing out: The boat’s luxury bathroom. Below: A quiet corner for daughter Elara

GET THE LOOK

n Christina had the neon ‘La La Land’ sign made by a specialist she found

on alibaba.com. Neon Beach has a great range of signs. Let’s Stay Home, £120, Neon Beach, neonbeach.com. Buy it with the Ownable app

n Barlinek Sense Oak Gentle flooring is used through the boat. £45.99 per sq m, Flooring Supplies, flooring supplies.co.uk. Buy it with the Ownable app

n The couple

made the dining table from a hunk

of Californian redwood, then

added legs similar to these. £89.66 a

pair, Etsy, etsy.com. Buy it with

the Ownable app

n The low

coffee table is

Christina’s favourite piece of

furniture. If you like the look, check out

the Clear Nesting Coffee Table Set, with aged mirror surfaces,

£889, Notre Monde, notremonde.com. Buy it with the Ownable app

n Geometric kitchen cabinet fronts. Illusion in Cloudy Grey, £72 for a 40cm x 40cm front; Superfront, superfront.com. Buy it with the Ownable app

n The chairs in the main photo are from vinterior.co and reupholstered in Christopher Farr Lost And Found fabric. £130 per m, Susan Osbourne Interiors, susanosbourne.co.uk. Buy it with the Ownable app

n Churianna tiling under the island; £5 per 20cm x 20cm tile, Bert & May, bertandmay.com. Buy it with the Ownable app

Through the round window: Tranquil

views of the Thames

18 | METRO | Tuesday, June 9, 2020 Tuesday, June 9, 2020 | METRO | 19










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Lockdown is taking its toLL on the busiest room in the house - the kitchen. Nicola lewis, founder of this girL can organise, shows us how to regain controL

throw iN the tea towel...

1. Amy Winehouse Tea Towel, £12.99, Prezzybox, prezzybox.com2. Ulster Weavers Moroccan Tiles Cotton Tea Towel, £5, Dunelm, dunelm.com3. Bournemouth Pier, Dorset Tea Towel by Tabitha Mary, £14.99, Not On The High Street, notonthehighstreet.com4. Tropical Palm Tea Towel, £4.95, Rex London, rexlondon.com5. Third Drawer Down Magda Archer Tea Towel – Suckers, £35, Amara, amara.com6. Cool To Be Kind Tea Towel by That’s Nice That, £14.75, Amazon Handmade, amazon.co.uk/handmade. Until June 15 Amazon Handmade will donate 12 per cent of sales commissions to NHS Charities Together.

7. Victorine Pre-washed Linen Tea Towel in Natural or Caramel, £12 for pack of two, La Redoute, laredoute.co.uk 8. Pomegranate Tea Towels, £10 for Pack of two, John Lewis & Partners, johnlewis.com 9. Whales Statement Tea Towel, £9, Sophie Allport, sophieallport.com10. Artist Collection Tea Towel, Caviar, £9, Polkra, polkra.com 11. Bee Friendly Tea Towel, £10.50, Poppy Treffry, poppytreffry.co.uk12. Alvar Aalto kitchen towel in Linen-yellow by littala, £11, Nordic Nest, nordicnest.com

n Buy them with the Ownable app compiled by

Lara Sargent

Sinking feeLingWashing up isn’t high on most people’s fun list. And with three meals a day, the kids using every glass going, endless empty mugs from the working from home conference calls stacking up, the sink isn’t a pleasant sight. And there’s nothing more demoralising than trying to cook dinner when the worktops are still littered with the dirty pots and pans from the lunch-time feed. It’s best to clear up after every meal. Place what you can into your dishwasher. Get the kids involved and don’t forget to praise them. Then set a timer for 15 minutes and wash and dry it all in one go.

Snack attackHow many times have your kids ransacked the cupboards or fridge looking for snacks and drinks? Say hello to the This Girl Can Organise snack station. Give each child a designated container or lunch box and fill with their snacks for the day and a water refill bottle. This method teaches them that when a snack is gone, it’s really gone. This will also encourage them to eat and drink healthily, allowing you to keep

an eye on what they are actually consuming. It works well for grown-ups too!

HaVe a green StarSick of throwing away plastic fruit

containers that can’t be recycled? Then repurpose them as baskets for the fridge for veg or under the sink storage containers to give your small loose items – like dish-washer tablets, batteries, cloths, garlic or onions – a new home.

Glass food jars are useful for storage as they stack well in drawers and contents can been easily seen. Takeaway containers are great for leftovers. Batch cooking can also save hours at the stove.

cOLD cOMfOrtWhen it comes to organising your fridge, prep and plan will always save the day. Seeing what you have will ensure you use it, ultimately saving you money, time and waste. We tend to

buy the same food items each week so I recommend placing what you can into containers. This helps with food prep and keeps food fresher for longer.

cHiP anD BinWhat is it with cutlery and crockery? We keep acquiring more and wonder why we can’t close the drawer or cupboard! Lockdown is a good time to clear out to make more space. Empty the drawer or cupboard and place items into four piles: keep, donate,

Just look at the mess we’ve made!

2

1

4

5

6

8

7

Clear out: Nicola Lewis will help you reorganise your

entire kitchen

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recycle, bin. Start by getting rid of chipped plates, things you never use and anything you just don’t like. Then work out how many place settings you really do need. Keep the items you love. It doesn’t matter if there’s a mismatch, as long as you use them. This is also a good time to clear out your kitchen junk drawer using the same principles.

stow awayHow many random purchases have you bought during lockdown? Now you need

to consider where they’re going to live once they arrive. If appliances are only used once or twice a week, do they need to be out on your worktop? Store infrequently used appliances in a cupboard, making sure it’s in perfect view when needed. This will give you less clutter and more worktop space, which is crucial when spending so much time at home. If you have an appliance you don’t use, be ruthless: donate or recycle it.

oRDER, oRDERSave on time and frustration by bringing much needed calm to your cupboards with some serious structure. Remove the contents and sort into category piles, disposing of out of date items and donate unopened items you won’t use to your local food bank. If you’ve got lots of open bags of dried pasta, cereal and rice then consolidate them into clear storage containers with a lid to keep them fresh and visible for all to see. Cut out the expiry date on the food packet and tape it to the container.

JoB sHaRE During isolation the one thing keeping us going is structure and routine. Juggling expectations, school, work and home life is tricky – so discuss as a household what jobs need doing and then devise a low-key rota so everyone knows exactly their duties. That way the chores aren’t left to the first person to crack. Swap jobs around weekly for variation.

stop stockpilingMost of us go into autopilot when it comes to doing the weekly shop. Save time and money by writing an inventory of what you already have in the cupboards, fridge, and freezer to avoid stockpiling and being let down by expiry dates. I stick lists inside the kitchen cupboards to make it easier to monitor. You can also jot down items you’re running out of.

finD a HomE foR towElsTea towels get in the way, so find a practical home for them. It could be inside a container under a cupboard, amongst your cleaning products or maybe in its own kitchen drawer. I prefer to organise them into neat rectangle parcels and then place them into rows.

n Nicola Lewis is a professional home organiser. Her book Mind Over Clutter is

available from £5.54 at amazon.co.uk; Instagram @thisgirlcanorganise

NICOLA LEWIS WAS TALKING TO claRE moRRisRoE

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10

12

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Sorted: Nicola, above, says simple tasks such as putting under-the-sink items in plastic containers frees up space

Phot

o: A

lAm

y

THINGS YOU’LL NEEDn Shed with a sloping roofn Multi-purpose compost n Empty plastic compost bagsn Spare weather-treated decking boardsn An old sheet or duvetn Tape measuren Hand sawn Drill and screwsn Hammer and small roofing tacksn Gravel or pebbles

METHOD:1. To stop your shed from penetrating moisture, first you need to line the roof. Carefully cut the top of your compost bag and empty out the soil for later. Then make a plastic sheet from the bag by slitting the side seam. Use it to cover the shed roof, making sure there is a slight overhang all the way round. You may need more bags depending on the roof size. If so, make sure the highest bags are layered on top to enable drainage. Tack the overhang all around the shed roof frame with the roofing tacks, approximately every 20cm.

2. Starting at the front (lowest side of the roof), measure then cut a length from a decking board to fit. Holding it against the shed, pre-drill pilot holes which will go through both the decking board and also into the roof frame of the shed. The holes should be approx 15cm apart and drilled into the bottom third of the board to make it stable. Using exterior wood screws, screw into place. Repeat on the opposite (highest) end. Then each of the two sides.

When all four are in place, drill 2cm diameter holes at the lowest end (approx 15cm apart) to help drainage.

3. To add strength to the structure, insert a small block of wood in each corner, and using a drill, again make pilot holes that go through the blocks and into the new frame. Hold into place with exterior wood screws.

4. To improve drainage, pour a layer of gravel (2–3cm deep) into the frame – you could also use stone chippings from your driveway or any small stones you might find out on a walk. This will help to aerate plants.

5. Prevent the compost sinking into the gravel by cutting an old sheet or duvet cover to size and lay it inside the frame. This will also help to stop weeds.

6. Fill your frame with the multi-purpose compost – mix with any leftover gravel for added drainage. Bark chippings will also work if you have any in your garden. If your shed is old and can’t take the weight of the soil, place potted plants on the gravel instead and surround with bark chippings.










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get a shedload of wildlife in your garden...

The besT planTs for your green roofDrought and wind-resistant species work best. Go-to green-roof plants include sedums and succulents, but it’s worth experimenting with grasses such as Stipa. Herbs like oregano work well, and low-growing flowers like saxifrages are great for attracting insects and butterfies. To keep your roof well-maintained, only water in dry periods, as saturated green roofs can add unnecessary strain to the structure.

Remove unwanted weeds and check drainage holes are not blocked. Retreat the wood every autumn by brushing wood preserve onto the wooden structure. Sprinkle a handful of compost around

each plant in late winter/early spring to boost nutrient levels.

n Jake features in the latest edition of BBC Wildlife Magazine,

jakegraham.co.ukJAKE WAS TALKING TO

CLARE MORRISROE

Rules of attraction: Jake recommends herbs or low-growing flowers

to entice insects

Jake graham shows you how to make a living roof from stuff you have at home that butterflies will love

PHoT

oS:

JAkE

GRA

HAM

; EN

YA T

oDD

/ LU

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‘The first thing I did was visit my mum in her garden for tea’

AcTress Tracy Ann Oberman, 53, has worked with the royal shakespeare company and appeared in TV shows

including eastenders, Toast Of London and Friday Night Dinner. she can now be seen in YouTube drama Dun Breedin’.

What’s your daily lockdown routine like?My other half wakes up at 6.30am to do his yoga practice so I go back to sleep, then wake up, make some breakfast, walk the dog, then do voiceover work from my new home studio. I’ve turned into a master chef, so I’ll do some cooking and on Thursdays we clapped for carers. How has your working week changed?It used to be eclectic but busy, going from voiceover work to filming, to theatre rehearsals, to writing. All of that is now taking place from my house. I’m a complete luddite but Matt Berry told me what equipment to buy so I could do voiceovers from home, so now

I have a nice recording system in my office. I narrated a documentary the other day. And I’ve written a play for radio 4 about the making of Guess Who’s coming To Dinner, set against the backdrop of the 1967 Los Angeles race riots. Have you ever acted from home before, as you do in Dun Breedin’?No. It’s bizarre. My bedroom now looks like a Warner Brothers studio. It was going to be a conventional TV series, but we’re now doing it on YouTube. The production company delivered lights, a camera, tripods and I’ve had to learn how to set a camera up and light the shot. It’s been a real learning curve. I’m doing my make-up, hair, continuity, which I haven’t been great at, sound, and costumes. I feel like Orson Welles. I cannot wait to go back to work. Have you been doing any exercise in lockdown?We have a Peloton bicycle, given to us by a friend, which has been a lifesaver. I’ve also been walking the

dog in the park, tutting at joggers and picnickers.

Did you panic-buy anything?I once saw Jamie Oliver talking about the nutritional value of frozen vegetables. so I bought a few bags of frozen vegetables. They are still in the

freezer.

Have you turned to baking,

or other trends during lockdown?I do a regular Friday cocktail hour with friends, including Amanda Holden and Lisa

Faulkner. Angela Griffin is organising a bingo night, which

I’m looking forward to. I’ve discovered a skill for cooking I didn’t know I had.

What have you cooked?soups, broths, cakes, chocolate torte, plum tarte tatin, chicken korma,

pesto. I find it very therapeutic. I did celebrity Masterchef and only got to the quarter final, but if they’d do a rematch, I’d have another go. Has lockdown caused you any personality changes?I miss seeing my friends and family, but I’ve never felt so relaxed. With the world coming to a standstill, this need to be ‘out there’ achieving things has fallen away. We can’t really go anywhere, so we don’t need to be doing anything. It’s caused inner calm. We can’t do anything to fight where we are, so taking things on a day-by-day basis is the only way to go. I was never very good at that before. I’ve learned how to stay in the moment because no one knows what the outcome of this will be. Which non-essential activity do you miss the most?Going to restaurants, cinema, theatre, the gym and, above all, the hairdresser. My hair is massive and the colour is interesting.

Who have you met now restrictions have eased slightly in England? The first thing I did was visit my mum in her garden. No hugging, but we had tea and cake: my sister, her boys and my daughter having

an old-fashioned tea party. I also met my friend Paul Kaye in the park. He was recognised by a very cool female vicar due to his role in After Life, so we had an interesting socially distanced chat with a stranger about sweet-natured actors finding the darkness in really unpleasant characters. The easing of lockdown has felt exciting and also a bit trepidatious. No one clearly knows anything, so how safe is it? What about a second peak? Are we able to hug? How real is the danger now of catching it? It’s all been a free for all really. People are following their own conscience and instinct.

n Tracy Ann Oberman stars in Dun Breedin’ on YouTube,

every Thursday, 3pmINTERVIEW BY ANDREW WILLIAMS

MYTRACY ANNOBERMAN

voiceover work, cocktails and filming from home are keeping the actor occupied

Food for thought: Tracy Ann, far right, has been in shows like Friday Night Dinner

Hair-raising: Tracy Ann is missing her hairdresser

sex and the city

the hanGOVeR

Tiger Beer, Singapore, £1.80, Sainsbury’sA show that’s too mind-blowingly bizarre

to watch without a liquid sharpener in hand, frankly. Aside from a seamless link in terms of the name, Tiger Beer,

like Joe, is full of it. By that, I mean exotic fruit flavours and a citrus bite on the finish. See what I did there? To its credit, Tiger Beer has ethics,

creating the #3890tigers campaign, that fights the illegal tiger trade aiming to double their numbers by 2022.

tiGeR KinG










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TV WINNERS

Invivo X Sarah Jessica Parker Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand, £12, Sainsbury’sSpace to stream classics like Friends, Frasier and The Office has been one of the few benefits of lockdown. Sex And The City was that risqué show that both sexes would tune into, for a watercooler moment the following day. The Cosmo was Carrie’s drink, but SJP’s released a vino, so I’m going with that. Brought to us by Invivo, the celebrity-collaborating powerhouse behind Graham Norton’s wine range, this is a highly sippable New Zealand sauvignon.

Chapel Down Sparkling Bacchus, England, £11.99, WaitroseWe can only sip along to Masterchef with something equally British, and booze doesn’t come much more local than Kent-based Chapel Down. One of the biggest names in English wine production, they also produce Curious Brew lager as well as their own gin, vodka and brandy. Now they’ve fashioned a bubbly Bacchus, England’s sauvignon blanc equivalent, which delivers playful elderflower exuberance.

MasteRcheF

Bloody Classic, Four-Pack, London, £16, bloodydrinks.comThe morning-after ritual of curling up in front of a mindless comedy is nothing new, and if you’re in that space, prepping a Bloody Mary will be nigh-on impossible. Just leave it to the Bloody Drinks team, who’ve

done all the heavy lifting, nailing that tricky vodka-tomato-spice ratio. If there’s something comfortingly home-made about this hair-of-the-dog remedy, that’s because they’ve been uber-careful not to include any additives, bulking agents, binders, gums, colourings or flavour-enhancers.

ROb bucKhaVen brings the boozy magic to

your favourite films, streaming shows

and tv staples for the ultimate

binge-watching night in...










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MOULIN ROUGE

BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY

DANCING ON ICE


FLEABAG

ThE SILENCE OF ThE LAMBS

Black Cow Vodka, England, £22, Sainsbury’sThe postponed release of No Time To Die gives us time to catch up on Bond’s back catalogue. Turns out, 007 was a big fan of booze, shocker. Scotch and soda, vodka tonic, the Americano cocktail and the old fashioned all featured heavily in his drinking repertoire. Famously though, the vodka martini was a go-to tipple, and if he’d had access to Black Cow’s uber-smooth, lactic profile, he’d have been suitably shaken and stirred by it.

JAMES BOND

Gin & Tonic, £2, M&SAside from being one of the funniest programmes on TV, Fleabag is also super-dark. That in mind, the hot priest had it bang-on with his cans of M&S Gin & Tonic, which he keeps in the church sacristy and busts out when he needs ‘a proper drink’. Fun fact, M&S reported a 24 per cent rise in sales of canned G&T around the airing of the second series. Goes to show, these aren’t just any G&Ts...

Chianti Riserva, Italy, £6.49, LidlSpoiler alert, it’s always made me slightly uncomfortable that a movie about a cannibalistic serial killer makes me crave Chianti and fava beans. It does though, and here we are. For all his faults, Hannibal Lecter was a man of discerning tastes, and Italy’s most famous red wine would be a great choice to get us through a gore-fest. Cherry-forward flavours abound, and at below a tenner, you won’t be scared off by the price.

Kylie Minogue Rosé, France, £9, Tesco Newsflash, Kylie’s dropped her own pink wine, and it’s a corker. Deciding between Neighbours and Moulin Rouge was a toughy, but a musical’s way more rosé-appropriate. It takes a big name to take on Provence’s pantheon of pink production, but this strawberry-stashed blend of Carignan and cabernet sauvignon from the south coast of France came to slay. It’s the wine equivalent of gold hot pants, delivering all we’ve ever wanted from a £9 rosé.

Andrew Peace Chardonnay, Australia, £5.50, Co-opA singleton in her thirties, disastrously navigating the dating world... if only she’d had Tinder. At the time, Bridget’s love of chardonnay was blamed for the worldwide decline of the grape’s popularity. It’s taken 25 years, but chardonnay’s made a comeback and rightly so. With so many styles, saying you don’t like chardonnay is like saying you’re not a fan of cheese. Fans of chardonnay’s tropical side will lap this up, perfect for another night in.

Phillip Schofield Nero di Troia IGT Puglia Organic 2.25L, Italy, £24.99, WaitroseWe all love a dancing show, the fancy costumes, the cheek-by-jowl proximity, the ‘will-they/won’t they’ have a Gemma Collins-style mishap... As a host, Phillip Schofield has had an eventful year, even releasing his own range of box wines. Collaborating with the When In Rome team, responsible for some of the finest artisan boxed wines on the market, this punchy red is produced in Puglia, the heel of Italy. Expect sun-kissed black cherries and dark-chocolate-dusted figs.


London move: Terri took advice from Hollyoaks’ actor

Jeremy Edwards to buy in the capital

‘I’m not afraid of building and knocking walls down’the actor made huge renovations to her wandsworth home, adding a dining room and converting the basement with the help of her dad...










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TERRIDWYER

MY FIRSTHOME

TERRI Dwyer might have appeared in some of the UK’s best loved TV shows, but perhaps her biggest success was the profit that she made on her

first home in Wandsworth, which allowed her to buy her next home outright. The star of Hollyoaks, Loose Women and hit daytime show 60 Minute Makeover has recently completed filming on snooker-based crime drama Break, which stars BAFTA winner Adam Deacon, and features the final performance of Rutger Hauer before his death last year.

Where did you buy your first home?I bought in Wandsworth in 1998. I was in

Hollyoaks at the time and was earning a lot of money. My co-star Jeremy Edwards was smarter than me and told me to put money into London property. I bought a freehold property, which was a fairly standard two-up, two-down, mid-century property with a bit of land with it. I built a third of the property again, adding a big dining room and converting the basement, and drafted in cheaper builders from my home town [in Leicestershire]. My dad oversaw the project for me.

Did you make a profit?The profit I made from extending the property allowed me to buy my next property mortgage-free. I did spend money [doing it up] but no one was more

shocked than me when I got it valued. We doubled the price on the house.

Sounds like a clever move…I’d like to tell you it was a shrewd move but it was pure luck. I’m not afraid of building and knocking walls down, and I wanted something with a view to doing it up. I lost my dad not long after and we got to spend some time together – he made me self-sufficient around the house. It was real quality time when I wasn’t filming and now I look back with fond memories. The toolkit in the house is mine now, not my husband’s.

Did you spend much time at the London property?I was up in Liverpool filming all the time and came back to London for time off and weekends. I spent the whole Hollyoaks time commuting back to London.

Why did you buy in the capital?I wanted to buy in London. I just copied Jeremy, I knew he was smart. One of my friends rented it too, and I could stay there at the weekend. It wasn’t without its problems. The boiler always wanted to go wrong. Just as you get the house right then there is a big expense that you don’t foresee.

You make it sound easy!I’m not as stupid as I make out. London is the place to make money with property. If you have any opportunity to make money and extend, do it. I joke about it, but I know what I was doing.

You did 60 Minute Makeover. Have you always had an eye for interiors?I’ve always had an interest in properties. My dad was into houses and I watched and learnt from him. I like things that need work because I like to do it my way. I definitely know what I like when it comes to styles. I like textures, muted tones and I definitely have a minimalist but sparkly style. I’m a bit like a magpie. I like lush and rich carpets; 60 Minute taught me how to do loads around the house.

Did you keep the interior simple with an eye to selling it?I lived in it at times but kept it minimalist because I knew I might have people living there. I think my style has grown and developed with me. As a woman you get to know yourself better in your 40s. My home is my safe haven but I love to share it and have people over for dinner. I feel more confident in my look now. I had a blood-red bedroom and dark wooden floors in one house – I thought it was fabulous but I can’t imagine anything worse now!

Where did you go next?I bought a flat in London in Northwood. I went to see a friend there who said have a look around and I ended up going into an estate agent. Two hours later, I’d put an offer in. It’s good to have a clear vision of what you want and be decisive.

Where do you live now?I’m on The Wirral. It’s across the water near the beach. I bought a property in

Italy, too. I moved to The Wirral for my husband. I met him in Liverpool just as I left Hollyoaks and was moving back to London so I started commuting between London and Liverpool again. I don’t have any regrets, though. It was definitely worth moving here for. We have been married for eons so we must be doing something right. The next move would be a downsize. As long as I have Sean and the boys, I can live anywhere.

n Break is set for release later this year. Follow @break_film on Twitter and @breakukfilm on Instagram for updatesINTERVIEW BY OLIVER STALLWOOD

PHoTo: REx

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