Grand designs (From Living Northeast)

Grand designs

12:36pm Monday 23rd November 2009 in

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Crackling fires, hearty roast dinners and winter strolls through beautiful gardens. Charlotte Percival finds warmth in a lavish family home.

WHEN Steve and Emily Davis spotted their dream property in York, there was only one thing on their mind – making it into a comfortable family home.

The couple were expecting their daughter when they found the nine-bedroom house in five acres of gardens in Middlethorpe, and wanted somewhere spacious for Jessica, now aged seven, and her brother George, ten, to grow up.

It was love at first sight for Emily, who was won over by the beautiful gardens, tranquil setting and welcoming interior, and she set about filling the huge rooms with squashy sofas, candles and family photographs.

“It’s taken a while to decorate the whole house. In fact, it’s still ongoing,” she says, strolling through the gardens, near the children’s freshly-painted den. “We concentrated on the downstairs at first, it was more a priority than the bedrooms, and the first thing we did was the kitchen.

I remember the work started two days after Jessica was born and finished on Christmas Eve, when we had 15 people over for Christmas.”

Middlethorpe is a lovely place to spend Christmas, says Steve, who is managing director of Grantside, “This is what made Steve buy the house,” jokes Emily, perching on a leather bar stool.

“When we first came to see the house they had this door open with opera music playing here and it was surreal,” adds Steve.

They decided to make it a real gentlemen’s club, decorating it with tartan wallpaper, leather chairs, bottles of champagne and low lighting. The snooker room takes on a similar theme, with long tartan curtains and wooden flooring. “We tend to spend time in here when we have parties,” says Steve.

“The bar gets quite busy then and everyone congregates in here.”

It is a great party house, says Emily, and they have had fantastic dinners and barbecues in the garden.

Both Emily and Steve enjoy cooking, and George helps, too, making pancakes or bacon sandwiches.

“Steve and George make a Sunday roast together quite often,” says Emily, admiring the red, yellow and purple flowers bobbing outside the kitchen window.

The dining room, decorated in shades of gold and green, with a huge table lit by a chandelier and chunky candles and menus of favourite restaurants on the patterned walls, is a great place to enjoy their concoctions.

Steve works long hours, so is not at home as much as he would like, he says. But when he is at home, he loves to play with the children, spending time as a family, be it board games, cooking or playing in the garden.

“It’s a beautiful house and it is a family house,”

he says. “It’s in such a beautiful location and just five minutes from the city centre. I love the openness of it and having parties and because we are on the doorstep our friends can all come here. I love it.”