Words Rebecca Cope
Photography India Hobson

With over 40 acres of land, plus a multitude of outbuildings, she knew that owning the farm would afford her the opportunity to not only have her own home office on site (something she has always done) but also perhaps build her dream home one day. As their enchanting home comes to market, Annabelle describes the time they’ve spent immersed in the beguiling landscape of Alderley Edge.

Annabelle Russell: “I grew up on a small holding nearby, with our own cattle and chickens, growing our own vegetables and keeping bees, so I knew a farm was a nice place for children to grow up. It was August 2022 that we moved in. That first week, all of our belongings sat on the front lawn as we set about redecorating at rapid speed ...

“I converted the cart barn into our studio for my architectural practice, Annabelle & Co. It’s such an inspiring and beautiful place to work and is probably one of my favourite places to be when I’m at home, even though it’s my job. It was important to me that the studio was our shop front, typifying how we work as a practice, and making you feel something. It’s our sixth home studio – the practice is 14 years old this year. We work on small and large homes, in both a traditional and contemporary vernacular, and we’re particularly invested in country homes in a rural setting, with heritage, land, conservation and art at their core. What unites all of our projects is that they feel timeless and beautifully proportioned, and that they are sustainable too. It was vital this space encapsulated that for us.

“A great example of this was the ceiling. The acoustics of a space are always important, so we insulated the ceiling to a really high level, and then we had a guy that made us the linen and lath combination that runs between the trusses. We thought it would be a unique acoustic treatment that would not only give us character in here, but would also be something that people hadn’t seen elsewhere. Texture is really important to us, so we just white-washed the exposed brick walls and added stone floors – this was during Covid, when timber prices skyrocketed, so that was off the table unfortunately. One of my favourite aspects of the studio is the hay doors, which we kept intact, despite having no use today. It reminds people of the history of the building.

“In the farmhouse, we removed all the carpets and recarpeted, white-washed the walls with Farrow and Ball Wimborne White and painted all the woodwork. There was a lot of purple and green before and carpet in places we might not usually have carpet! We wanted to modernise it and I felt that the best way to do that was to have a blank canvas. I added built-in wardrobes for my children and raised the window seats in the bedrooms so that they sat closer to the windows, but I didn’t make any major structural changes.

“A farm is about the animals and the people for me, I love that it’s a constant hive of activity, working and making things. And you can’t drive up the lane from the school run without stopping at least once to talk to a neighbour. In the summer, when all the doors and windows are open on the ground floor, you can really sense that. The front elevation faces east, so you always feel that morning sunlight coming through and we’re at the top of a hill, which is nice for sunset. I love seeing walkers on Bradford Lane, and we leave a bin out with food in for if people want to feed the pigs. It’s easy to make a farmhouse cosy at Christmas too, with the lights and the fires, we’re hosting 11 people this year. We always go for a gallop on Christmas Day and get some fresh air.

“For me, a home is about how the children will remember their childhood. It was important to me that they were outside as much as possible. Now we’ve got 40 acres, nine horses, four pigs and 20 chickens, plus two dogs. We’ve had calves and piglets here, and when chicks are born, we keep them in a wallbox in the porch. Living on a farm, the year is punctuated by the seasons more so than ever, so there are always important dates on the calendar, like hay day, when we always have a picnic and cider afterwards with all the people that we’ve asked to help. On Halloween, we had a party in the courtyard with over 65 people, and my daughter had a birthday party for 40 friends in my office. My boys have set up their own den in the barn, with a hob, and when they have friends over they will collect some eggs and fry them for breakfast up there after a sleepover. They must have slept outside in the fields about 20 times in the summer.

“There are endless possibilities with what you could do with the space. A car fanatic could have a garage, someone else could have a recording studio, there’s a courtyard of buildings here. My dream was to surround myself with creatives here, for example. Not only is my architectural practice here, but we’ve also got a florist in the office below us too. I had the idea of converting some of the timber shelters into writing retreats. I’d just like whoever ends up here to have as much fun living here as possible.”