Country property & rural estates
Kate specialises in researching the social history of country properties and rural estates for private individuals, land agents and country house consultancies. Over the past eight years, commissions have included an eclectic mix of properties comprising gentlemen's farmhouses, country villas, old rectories and manor houses.
Whether isolated in the rural landscape or located in the heart of a village, every country property has a story to tell. Historical documents such as title deeds, Census returns, wills and inventories can be brought together to recount the lives of previous owners and their (often over-looked) domestic servants. If a past inhabitant was from aristocratic stock or landed gentry, a family archive, often containing personal letters and diaries, may have survived. If so, an intimiate portrayal of daily life can be told.
Estate archives, cartographic sources and old sales brochures can reveal lost outbuildings or confirm the route of a now disused driveway or approach. Old engravings, lithographs and early photographs capture a moment in time and allow the current owner a glimpse of how their home looked in the past. Subject to copyright consent, such source material can be supplied to a heritage architect or planning consultant for interpretation, in order to support or inform Listed Building and planning applications.
