DREAM WEAVING

This former weaver's cottage in the Cotswolds is a downsizers' dream, featuring charm, character and convenience - in abundance

Equal measures of beauty and practicality create the winning formula for the pretty stone cottage that Stephanie Larkinson and partner Phil now call home. 'Although it's a cottage, it has decently proportioned rooms oozing with character, which was important to us coming from a large house. You know what they say about us downsizers,' laughs Stephanie.

The couple relocated from Berkshire to Cricklade in Wiltshire many years ago, when they bought a four-storey townhouse to renovate and live in with Stephanie's elderly mother. When her mother passed away, the couple needed something smaller; but while keen to stay in the area, they were under no illusion that it would be an easy search. 'Off-street parking, and a character property with good-sized rooms and a large garden, weren't an ideal set of criteria, Stephanie explains. Most of the interesting properties in Cricklade line the high street, so there is limited parking. And they are mainly terraced, which means smaller gardens. Then one day I saw a For Sale sign up at Weavers Cottage just 500m from our old house and the rest is history."