By Francesca Peacock
Post-pandemic, many people reappraised their work-life balance. For some, this has brought a fresh allure to properties with a ready-made business attached — and given a whole new meaning to the phrase “working from home”.
Take this Grade II-listed Victorian house in West Sussex, (main picture, above) on the market for £1.25mn. The five-bedroom house is part family home, part shop, the shop having a large bay window and its own separate access on to the high street. Set up as an antiques and interior design business, the space could be converted to another commercial venture such as a café, yoga studio or pottery workshop — whatever would appeal to the pretty village of Cuckfield.
The current owner, Nicky Willis, moved into the house with her young family in 2012, swapping London for the Sussex hills. The family were looking for something in Brighton, on the south coast 16 miles away, but saw the empty house by chance. Willis was working as a printed textile designer but had “always collected antiques,” she says. Her love of textiles and patterns developed into an interest in interior design, and thus was born the antiques and interiors shop Willis & Co.
When Willis and her family moved to the village, they didn’t open the shop immediately — first, they had to complete a full renovation of the house. They added a bespoke kitchen, refurbished the original fireplaces and converted the attic into a multipurpose vaulted room.
With five bedrooms and a sizeable garden the house may be attractive on its own, even to those not interested in running their own business — as the shop has its own separate entrance it could be rented out, as it was when the family first moved in.
When asked what makes the house special, Willis stresses its comfortable living space and location: it’s “a lovely family home,” she says, but close to the hustle and bustle of a village teeming with independent shops and cafés. Willis launched her business when her son was young and juggled its hours around his pre-school and school.
In order to tie the two properties together visually, exterior woodwork for both the shop and house has been painted a shade of dark charcoal, a nod to the site’s Victorian heritage.
There’s a subtle difference in interior design between the two spaces — the shop is more “curated” — but there is also a sense of creative exchange between the two.
“I genuinely only put things in the shop that I love,” says Willis. “It’s part of the house, but not.” Antique furniture is moved from the family home into the showroom and vice versa. It’s this ease of movement — and the flexible boundary between house and business — that makes it work, says Willis.
The house in Cuckfield isn’t the only one of its type on the market. Head east, to the village of Castle Acre near King’s Lynn in Norfolk, and there’s an 18th-century home with a restaurant and shop for sale at £785,000. Parts of the three-bedroom apartment on the first floor date back to the early 16th century, and the whole building is dotted with period features, from historic beams to sash windows.
The restaurant below is well established in the village, but the living area is still quiet, with plenty of space and access to a private walled garden. With the current owners offering a full handover of the business, it’s another example of stylish period living matched with a commercial proposition.
Photography: Savills
