A former vicarage near Bath with characterful, layered interiors by Anna Haines

Perched on a ridge a mile-and-a-half south of the centre of Bath, and now very much part of the city, Combe Down was, in the 1800s, a village that the city’s inhabitants would head to for respite. Originally the site of a quarry that provided most of the honey-hued stone used to build Bath, it became a solace for city folk after the closure of the quarries in the early 19th century, thanks – to quote one contemporary commentator – to its ‘very fine air’ and ‘groves of firs’.

The sense of peacefulness that so enticed 19th-century city-dwellers is perfectly embodied by the 1840s Grade II- listed limestone former vicarage in Combe Down. Set back from the road amid rambling grounds with a couple of outbuildings, the Gothic and Jacobean revival house, with its star-topped octagonal chimneys, is likely to have been designed by Henry Goodridge, the architect of the church that it accompanies. (He was also responsible for other Bath landmarks, including Beckford’s Tower and The Corridor retail arcade.) With generous proportions, weathered wooden floors, a harmonious palette of whites and greens, and a thoughtful array of furniture and textiles – think deconstructed armchairs and antique rugs – the house feels as if it could always have been this way.

In the sitting room, deconstructed antique armchairs upholstered in Claremont’s plain oyster ‘Toile Chenonceau’ and Bennison Fabrics’ ‘Benjelloun’ linen complement a vintage Tabriz rug sourced from Farnham Antique Carpets.

Mark Anthony Fox

That, of course, was all part of London-based interior designer Anna Haines’ plan. Along with Ailtire Architects (now based in Australia, but originally from Bath), she spent two years working her magic to create a comfortable and inviting house. ‘We didn’t want it to feel overly done, nor did we want to impose a heavy stamp on it,’ explains Anna. Before she joined the project, the owners – a couple and their two teenage sons who left Wimbledon for this house in 2013 – had commissioned the architects to gently rework the space with contemporary family life in mind, while celebrating and respecting the house’s original 19th-century fabric. It is spread mainly across two floors, with a basement that now contains a cinema room. The kitchen, sitting room and dining room are on the ground floor, while there are four bedrooms and three bathrooms upstairs.

Even if there had been no constraints dictated by the house’s listed status, the owners wanted any interventions to sit lightly. ‘Our focus was more on stripping it back to reveal the bones,’ says the wife. ‘It is a house that feels as though it will look after you and we felt it was our responsibility to look after it in return.’ At the rear, the conservatory was replaced with a metal Crittall-framed orangery, which was more in the spirit of the greenhouse built in the same spot in 1853. This space, which frames a view of a bountiful quince tree, now functions as a lovely, light-filled dining room.