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CRAGGY

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David Brockbank fulfilled a decades-long ambition when he bought hisgrandparents’ former house at Staveley near Kendal. David and his

partner, Annabel Williams, tell Michaela Robinson-Tate how they turned itinto a contemporary, light-filled home – now up for sale for £2.5 million

Photography by Phil Rigby

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When David Brockbank and his partner, Annabel Williams, set about renovating hisgrandparents’ former home,

they knew they wanted to take advantage ofits views.

After buying the property, called Craggy,five years ago, David, who owns Staveley MillYard, and Annabel, who is a well-knownphotographer, gutted it and refurbished it tocreate a streamlined and comfortable interior.

Large expanses of windows let in lots oflight and make the most of Craggy’s elevatedposition and its 180-degree outlook overStaveley, the Howgills, parts of Kendal, ScoutScar and Coniston Old Man.

David believes his grandparents, Edwinand Alice, who had the house built in 1920,fell in love with the spot.

“They must have sat here when there wasno house, looking at the view, and saying:‘What a great place’,” says David.

“I can’t take credit for the location; hedecided that.”

Edwin’s study, which has been made intothe fifth bedroom and is used by Annabel asher office, overlooked the site of Staveley milland the wood-turning business which wasowned by Edwin and is now the thrivingStaveley Mill Yard centre.

David says: “His study looked down on tothe mill so he could tell if the machines wererunning right or something was wrong.”

Annabel and David now spend about six months a year in Key West in Florida. It’s a good base for Annabel, who hasphotography work in the States and who can run her interactive website –www.annabelwilliams.com – from anywherein the world.

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While they’re away, David communicateswith his team at Staveley Mill Yard via Skypeevery morning and can fly back if necessary.

With their children now grown up, Davidand Annabel have decided to sell Craggy andlook for a smaller property in the village. Thehouse is on the market with Fine & Countryfor £2.5 million.

David’s family sold Craggy in 1970 and hehad long wanted to buy it back. He asked theprevious owner if she’d think of him if sheever wanted to sell.

When she was ready to move, sheremembered David’s request and he andAnnabel bought the house without it going onthe open market.

They set about remodelling the buildingbut opted to keep Craggy on the samefootprint so that it would still feel like Edwin’shouse and so features such as its distinctiveround chimneys would be retained.

David and Annabel designed the layoutthemselves and used SID Designs, based atStaveley Mill Yard, to produce a 3D-image ofwhat they had in mind. The designer SarahJane Nielsen, who also runs her business fromthe mill yard, worked with them on theinteriors and the colour scheme.

Although five conservatories had beenadded to the building, the house itself didn’tmake the most of the views and – as wastypical in the Twenties – the kitchen had beenlocated at the back of the house.

Annabel and David moved the kitchen tothe front and took down a wall to open up theoutlook.

Three staircases were taken out andreplaced with the main staircase in the middleof the house plus a second staircase leading tothe fifth bedroom.

Main picture: the house in its elevated position above Staveley; above: Annabel and David in thestreamlined kitchen (also pictured right); far right: Annabel in her office, which was once used as a studyby David’s grandfather; previous page: large windows make the most of the view from the main bedroom

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The ground floor is mostly taken up withone large, open plan area, which incorporatesthe kitchen, a dining area, a sitting area and arow of concealed cupboards. Zoffany paint inParis grey has been used throughout.

David loves to cook and designed thekitchen so that the hob, rather thanthe sink, faces towards thewindows.

“I like the cooker being where I can look atthe view; when the sun does shine, having thewindows open is fantastic,” he says.

The kitchen was supplied by Webbs ofKendal with streamlined units from theGerman company Rational and Corianworktops.

David’s specifications included a centralisland unit; two fitted fridges; a flat gas hob toavoid the problem of pans toppling over andan extractor system which is fitted flush to theceiling.

“I didn’t want a hood hanging down partlyobscuring the view,” he says.

There is a remote-controlled log-effect gasfire in the dining area and another in the mainsitting area, where Italian marble flooringgives way to soft carpeting.

The area at the back of the house, whereDavid’s grandmother once had her kitchen,has been used for a cloakroom, a utility roomand a boiler room.

David installed a wood pellet boiler andmade the system flexible so the hot watercapacity can be increased when theirdaughters – they have three between them – or friends are visiting.

The main staircase, which is finished withstainless steel banisters and glass panels, leadsto the first floor and four bedrooms, includingDavid and Annabel’s suite.

Annabel admits that visitors tend to bebowled over by the suite’s bedroom, whichhas a high vaulted ceiling and three walls ofwindows.

Remotely operated blinds rise horizontallyto make the most of the view whilemaintaining the couple’s privacy.

“We wanted to be able to sit in bed andread the papers in the morning and look at the

From top: floor-to-ceiling windows and patio doors open on to a large, slate-tiled terrace; the sittingarea, with a marble staircase leading to the bedrooms; the main bedroom has a leather bedhead

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Annabel and David on the terrace

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view,” she says.Buzzards, an owl, rabbits and sparrow

hawks are some of the wildlife that can beseen from the windows.

The en-suite bathroom includes a doubleshower – so there’s no waiting for the otherperson in the mornings – with a power showerhead for Annabel and a rainfall head forDavid.

The window above the bath has beendeliberately left without a frame or anycurtains to draw attention to the view.

“It’s like a piece of art every day,” saysAnnabel.

The suite also has a separate dressing area.There are three further bedrooms, one with

an en-suite shower room and two which sharethe family bathroom.

One of the rooms, which is occupiedby Annabel’s daughter, Pollyanna,who is a fashion student in London,has a mezzanine area accessed by a

spiral staircase.Pollyanna uses the mezzanine for sleeping

and the area underneath as a sitting room. Outside, Craggy has a large terrace tiled in

slate. The grounds run to 11 acres and includetwo paddocks, a tennis court and access to, aswell as a small part of, Craggy Wood, whichbelongs to the Lake District National ParkAuthority.

David’s grandfather, Edwin, was a millworker at Staveley who rose to becomemanager and eventually owner of StaveleyWood Turning Co, producing reels forLancashire’s cotton mills. It also madewooden tool handles, becoming the largestmanufacturer in Europe.

When foreign imports made the businessunviable, David decided to redevelop StaveleyMill Yard as a centre for businesses such asHawkshead Brewery, Wilf’s Café, Wheelbase,Waters & Acland furniture makers and More?The Artisan Bakery.

David wanted to replace the jobs whichhad been lost so that people would be able toafford to live in the village and the communitywould thrive. Today 400 people are employedat the Mill Yard, which is about four times asmany as during its wood-turning days.

Now that David’s daughters, Catherine,28, who is a teacher and Sarah, 26, who is adoctor, have moved away and Pollyanna isstudying, David and Annabel have found thehouse is too large.

David doesn’t like to leave Craggy emptywhen they’re in the States and says it would bea fantastic place to bring up a family.

“When you sell the house everybody thinksyou’re selling up and disappearing,” he says.“I’m not selling the Mill Yard, just the house,because we don’t use it enough.

“I’m really sad in one way but I just think it’s such a shame to see a house empty;there are so many empty houses in the LakeDistrict so it would be really good if a familybought it.”

■ www.fineandcountry.co.uk

Life From top: a spiral staircase leads to a mezzanine; the window above David and Annabel’s bath frames the view; David and Annabel in the open-plan sitting area

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