Shedding preconceptions

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There couldn’t be much more of a contrast between Roshi and David Ingram’s home today and how it looked in the past.
The clean, contemporary lines of the interior of their Longstock house speak of spotless perfection, light and purity.
The white walls throughout are a superb counterpoint for the beautiful, hand-made green oak beams in this open-plan building with its Scandinavia furniture.
There’s both character and space as well as a satisfying attention to detail and appreciation of how good modern design can live happily with this most traditional of buildings.

Humble beginnings
In fact it’s a very far cry from the days when it was just a humble cowshed on the Longstock Road. But the thick cobb walls remain as superb insulation for this three-bedroom conversion which the couple fell in love with when they were searching for a modern home.
“We were living in a 400-year-old barn conversion in Windlesham in Surrey, and had been looking over a very wide area for something quite contemporary,” David explains.
“We thought it was perfect for us, even though at that time we had no idea that we were also moving into such a beautiful area. We bought it as an almost complete project and we did the garden landscaping and the room above the garage as well as some small bits of interior work.
“It is a Grade II listed building, with the original cobb walls, but it has a brand new green oak, hand-made timber frame.”
Added Roshi: “We wanted something very, very modern and we love the open plan design. There is also an amazing lighting system.”
Natural light floods into The Cowshed anyway, through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows which form one wall of the dining and sitting areas, while there are vaulted ceilings upstairs and downstairs.

Light and airy
There are lights in the steps between the kitchen, dining area and sitting room, up lighters on the beams and down lighters along the windows, as well as inset lights along the floor of the landing.
The kitchen is all white, combined with brushed stainless steel. It has German Pronorm units and Miele appliances, including an induction hob, oven, combination microwave, plate warmer, dishwasher, fridge/freezer, and an AEG washer/drier, all nearly tucked away. There’s an island unit, crushed quartz worktops and polished porcelain tiles on the floor. Outside the kitchen is a small walled courtyard.
Flooring throughout the rest of the house is solid oak, with underfloor heating downstairs and radiators upstairs.
You walk through the breakfast area and into the dining area, with access to the large downstairs cloakroom and oak stairs to the second storey.
Then it’s down again to the sitting area, where pride of place goes to a 300-year-old Indian door which the couple once used as a dining table, then decided to cut the legs down to make it a coffee table.
The gas fire works by remote control as do the electric blinds for the floor-to-ceiling windows in the dining and sitting areas.
“The windows are made of special glass to give excellent insulation,” says David. The vaulted ceilings emphasise the impression of space and, Roshi, points out, there is room to hang a chandelier above the main entrance area. 

Views of the cows
Upstairs, the guest bedroom boasts a very large ensuite shower room with superb travertine marble tiles. Lights are set into the landing floor. The smallest bedroom has its own shower room.
“We can see the cows looking over the fence when we are in here,” says Roshi, as she took me into the master bedroom, which has plenty of room for the couple’s 7ft round bed. It also has a freestanding bath in its spacious bathroom area.
“We made this into a wardrobe, but you could use it as a small office room,” David says, showing me a very long and deep-doored recess next to the bedroom.
The impression of light and airiness continues throughout this second storey of the house, with its vaulted ceilings, white walls and light oak beams.
And that’s not all the accommodation in this impressive dwelling. Roshi works for a developer selling property in Cyprus while David is products director for a small software company and they both spend part of the week working from home.
They do this above the double garage in the large room which also boasts a bathroom, and could be used as guest or staff accommodation.
“There’s also a lot of storage space up here,” says David, as he opens the doors of the cupboards built into the eaves of the room.
Just outside is a decked area where, David says, you can enjoy the sun throughout the day.
“We have fields at the back and wonderful walks and all our water comes from Waitrose’s springs on the Leckford Estate,” says Roshi.

All about location
The couple enjoy being part of the village of Longstock and only minutes away from the lovely market town of Stockbridge.
“There’s something wonderful about arriving in this area and driving into Stockbridge, with the hills behind,” says David. “It’s really relaxing.”