Page 51 - Country Homes & Interiors (August 2019)

Kitchen
Rather than hiding
your bits and bobs in
cupboards, display them
on open shelving instead.
Scaffold board shelves, TC
Industrial Vintage at Etsy

Kitchen
For a unique look, Zara
used salvaged materials
for her storage. Similar
potato chitting trays
(used as drawers), WBC

espite having been one of the first
Norfolk villages to get a railway line,
Docking has been without a passenger
D service since the 1953 East Coast floods.
What remains is a row of pretty railway worker’s homes,
tucked down a quaint country lane. ‘This little dingy
cottage was crammed full of burgundy crushed velvet

sofas and dark pink carpets, but I just fell in love with
it,’ says Zara Dawson. ‘It sits on the end of the row so it’s
an odd shape, but its quirks are what makes it unique.’
Zara grew up in Norfolk but left when she was 16
to attend drama school in London, where she met
her partner Lex James. ‘Norfolk is such a beautiful
place, with miles of flat fields, soft golden sandy AT HOME WITH...
beaches and the coolest little cafés and restaurants,’
she says. ‘And since having our son, Jax, we see it Owners Zara Dawson and Lex
with fresh eyes and love to spend lots of time here.’ James live here with their son, Jax,
As Zara’s father and brother run a renovation three. The couple are directors of
Golden Ticket London (goldenticket
business, Dawson Building Contractors, they had
london.com), a property search and
plenty of help throughout the four-month renovation concierge company that finds
of the cottage. ‘I’ve inherited Dad’s love of history,’ houses for actors and crew to
says Zara. ‘We love going to vintage fairs together and live in during movie shoots.
second-guessing where the old pieces come from.’ House A Victorian railway worker’s
The cottage was stripped to a stone shell and the cottage with three bedrooms.
windows, electrics, plumbing and pipework were >

CouNTry homEs & INTErIors 51