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tablet duphaston After buying the house from Pilkington’s parents 10 years ago, the couple embarked on a year-long renovation project to transform it from an elegant but formal former rectory into a modern family living space. As well as being rewired and replumbed, the Grade II listed property was brought into the new millennium with an overhaul of the back of the house. ‘We essentially kept all the Georgian formality at the front, but moved the kitchen into the largest room in the house, which used to be a huge but very dark playroom,’ Stapleton says. In addition, an inviting back hallway, now littered with wellies and dog baskets, was created from an impractical jumble of defunct utility rooms. Today it serves to funnel visitors towards the kitchen. ‘We all know that everybody wants to hang out in the kitchen, so we made it as cosy and as big as possible. And of course we end up hardly using any other room.’