Happy Arrivals

August 2009

Claudia and Anthony Dempster, high flying lawyers in the city, loved their life in St. Katherine’s Dock; that was until they started to have a family. Quite rapidly with one toddler in tow, and another on the way, their focus switched to having space, space and yet more space. But they still wanted all the sophisticated trappings they had grown used to in their familiar city habitat.

Friends of the Dempsters started to lure them out from their London boundaries, where large kitchens, playrooms and rolling grounds seemed to be limited to those of royal personage or oil tanker magnates. Which is how they came upon Burwood Park, near Weybridge in Surrey, a particularly lovely private estate, known for its large areas of natural woodland, wildlife ponds and beautiful individually built homes, but still only 25 minutes train ride into London Waterloo. Claudia Dempster recalls, “We didn’t even know of Burwood Park’s existence, and of course, once discovered, along with a fabulous new house that seemed to more than meet our needs, we felt we had come home.”

Their 5 bedroom 4 reception detached house is an Octagon ‘classic’, combining mellow stock bricks with elegant Portland stone dressings, and inside, the Dempsters’ much dreamed of space, along with Octagon’s usual galaxy of sophisticated interior features and fittings; the bespoke kitchen lined with Gaggenau appliances, linked to the large open informal family dining area and playroom space. In this super room of a space there is still an area for Claudia’s computer and office paraphernalia, leaving the dedicated home office/study for Anthony.

Outside, the Dempsters are surrounded by the wide open spaces of an Octagon designed and fully planted garden, with areas of lawn, stone terraces, and bordered with mature trees, so totally secluded.

Claudia has been rather busy since they purchased the house, having successfully produced a baby son to join their delightfully chatty two year old daughter, who is already enjoying socialising at the local nursery.

“We now have all the space we could ever possibly need,” concludes Claudia, “so now I am having fun devising interior schemes and choosing furniture to fill our dozen or so rooms.”