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Nick Knowles finds "dream property" as he downsizes to tiny cottage in the Cotswolds

Photo credit: David M. Benett - Getty Images
Photo credit: David M. Benett - Getty Images

From Country Living

Nick Knowles recently swapped his four-bedroom Georgian home for his "dream property" – a small cottage in the Cotswolds.

Nick, who is the long-standing TV presenter of BBC's much-loved factual entertainment programme DIY SOS – where he's often mucking in with real builders to help transform the homes and lives of families across the UK – describes his home as minimal, eclectic and snuggly, filled with a collection of mementos from travelling.

Nick's busy work schedule means he's not at home as much as he would like, but while his newest abode may be, as he describes it, "tiny" in size, it certainly ticks all the boxes.

"After having huge ambitions to have a big home, oddly, the small country cottage I live in now is my dream property," reveals Nick, who enjoyed a stint in the Australian jungle on ITV's I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here last year. "It’s in the Cotswolds and I have a vegetable patch. It’s exactly what I want."

With a garden filled with vegetable plots and wild flowers, Nick makes a point of spending time in his outdoor space when he's at home, but admits that "it’s pretty low maintenance". Embracing the Grow Your Own trend, Nick says he 'cooks all the time' using fresh vegetables from his garden, adding: "My little boy and I pick peas and carrots and cook them there and then."

Running through five counties (Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire), the Cotswolds is a splendid rural area best known for its golden stone and rolling hills. Unsurprisingly, it's the "beautiful view" that makes Nick's bedroom his favourite room of the house, and because he has "a bed the size of the Isle of Wight".

Photo credit: Martyn Ferry - Getty Images
Photo credit: Martyn Ferry - Getty Images

Like any house move, it was a pretty big job for Nick, especially as he was essentially downsizing. At a time when Marie Kondo's KonMari method is encouraging the nation to clear the clutter and discard items that no longer 'spark joy', Nick says downsizing meant he had to "get rid of 80% of my possessions". He explains: "I gave my belongings to friends, charities and recycling. It was the most cathartic thing I’ve done in years. We carry around so much stuff we don’t need."

And he may not have kept much, but one prized possession is a rocking chair made by a blacksmith in Devon, bought some 20 years ago. Nick describes it as 'both lovely to sit on and it’s also a piece of art to talk about'.

Ideal Home Show, the world’s longest running exhibition, will return to Olympia London from Friday 22nd March to Sunday 7th April 2019. Nick Knowles is hosting Q&A’s on stage throughout the week. Visit www.idealhomeshow.co.uk.


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