A fairytale 16th-century Tudor house in Hastings goes on sale – see inside the Grade ll-listed house

In his search for a Hastings home, creative polymath Alastair Hendy was initially reluctant to view this Grade ll-listed sixteenth-century house in the Old Town of Hasting, East Sussex, on the coast of England. “Too many houses in the area had been modernised and in the process lost much of their character,” he said. From the beginning, however, the house took a grip on Alastair and, although much had been obliterated, the bones of the house were all original and he was able to see its potential. He bought the house and began an intensive five-year restoration project that ended up being featured in House & Garden. But after almost two decades in the house, it has just hit the market with Inigo.

Alastair’s work produced a beautiful three-bedroom house with carefully reinstated Tudor features and exposed timber frames throughout. The project revealed patinated oak studs and moulded beams, and Alastair also added period-specific diamond mullioned windows, wooden staircases and a fully functioning chimney stack and fireplaces.

Tudor Kitchen – Alastair Hendy’s talent for evoking the past is displayed in his Tudor home and Victorian shop – kitchen design on HOUSE by House & Garden.Paul Massey

Fireplace – Alastair Hendy’s talent for evoking the past is displayed in his Tudor home and Victorian shop – real homes on HOUSE by House & Garden.Paul Massey

The house was originally two dwellings, positioned in the middle of a terrace of similar houses, with the main building on All Saints Street built around 1580 and the back wing built in the century before. Now flanked by more contemporary Victorian houses, the quaint Tudor structure stands out, even in Hastings’ picturesque old town. The facade is made of close studwork and lime plaster, with leaded windows and a plank-panelled front door with hobnail fixings.

Make your way inside and the house opens up straight into the parlour, which features a box bay window and an open inglenook fireplace. The walls and floor were restored or reinstated by Alastair in the form of boarded panelling and flagstones underfoot. Follow through a higgledy-piggledy doorway and you’ll reach the informal dining area, where an original timber frame has been filled with a period-appropriate mix of horse-hair, lath and lime plaster.