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Catch a falling star

Soon after artist Lesley Holmes and her partner Ivan Semenenko bought their Victorian lodgehouse, they called in a water diviner.

"We wanted a borehole instead of using mains water, so we called in an elderly chap called Charles who wandered about with his divining rods and finally told us where to drill. He not only predicted that we would find water at a depth of 95 feet and the speed of the flow, but the mineral content of it too. When the drilling rig was brought in, Charles proved to be spot-on," says Lesley.

He also announced he had discovered two 'ghosts' attached to the lodge - a man who died in 1835 and a 15-year-old girl who died in 1818.

"There must have been a dwelling here before, as our place dates from about 1880," says Lesley. "Charles explained that the spirits had accepted his offer to 'assist the completion of their life cycle' and allow them to return to their creator. I must say we've never felt anything remotely creepy about our house as, if they had been here, Charles had helped them onwards before we'd even moved in."

The couple bought their Gothic home in the Cotswolds 12 years ago when it was, says Lesley, still a tiny woodsman's cottage. It is one of about a dozen similar lodges belonging to a local ducal estate. "Apparently a family of six once lived here," says Lesley. "But it wasn't big enough for the two of us, not to mention our two dogs, two horses, six Jacob sheep, three pigs, five geese, eight ducks and two chickens. However, at least they can spread themselves over our five acres."

The couple's first impression was that it was a sad little cottage with a horrid 1970s flat roof extension, very overgrown, damp and unloved, but with a superb aspect. "Right in front of the little house was a huge 20-acre field with horses in it, surrounded by a fantastic wild wood. I was smitten and I said to Ivan 'buy it'," says Lesley.

This despite the fact that she hadn't even entered the place. "But I knew what Ivan could do to it," she says. "I'd seen him turn a house around before, and I had complete confidence in him. So I never did go inside the building until it was signed and sealed and I'm very glad I didn't as it probably would have put me off. It had been on the market for a long time and was pretty grim." Fortunately, the lodge is not listed so planning permission for rebuilding the extension was quickly granted. "I think the planners thought that anything we could do to improve the 1970s version had to be better," says Lesley.

"Ivan did all the drawings as he is amazingly creative, and we were allowed to double the size of the place. Basically, we gutted the lodge and began again, adding a two-storey extension and adding extra length to the kitchen and the bedroom above. Then we rewired, replumbed and replastered."

So although there are still only three bedrooms, one is considerably bigger. The single downstairs bathroom has gone, but two more have been added upstairs. The entrance hall has acquired a sweeping cantilevered staircase made of Bath stone and the entire ground floor has been laid with a Cotswold limestone polished floor which extends to the landing upstairs. The rest of the upper floor has been laid with reclaimed oak.

During the building work the couple discovered a stream running underneath what is now their dining room and hallway, and a well which had been concreted over - in fact, one of their builders nearly fell down it.

The new sitting room has acquired two fireplaces - one an inglenook that the couple copied from a pub in Chipping Campden; the other a Victorian-style design made of stone. The kitchen, too, has been fitted with a Rayburn, which now provides all their central heating and hot water.

"It meant we had to get two chimneys built, but it was well worth it," says Lesley.

So that the new-build would match the original Lodge, the couple went to a lot of trouble to get old stone mullions for all the new windows.

"Ivan put an advert in the local paper offering top prices for stone and an amazing assortment of people contacted him. In the end, a chap turned up with stone mullions that originally came from a chapel in Worcester. He also supplied us with our very ornate iron-studded front door from the same source." The project took a year. The couple not only enlarged their home, but also built a stone barn containing Ivan's office, stables and a carport. They also dug out a very sizeable pond 12 feet deep in the centre (and fed by water from the borehole) in which they can swim and keep carp. "We've seen wild ducks, wild geese and herons here too," says Lesley.

While the building work was going on, Lesley and Ivan retreated to their hut beside the pond, bought for that purpose. The hut is roomy enough to contain a living area (with a woodburner on which they can cook), a bathroom and a sleeping platform above. "And if you walk round to the back of the hut, there is a sauna," says Lesley. Living here meant they could escape the chaos of the renovations. "Not a blade of grass could be seen," laughs Lesley. "But it also gave us an idea of which way the prevailing winds blew and where the sun came up, which did affect the way we planned the new rooms."

The hut has decking overlooking the water and the couple still retreat there. Lesley can paint, Ivan can think and there are no phones or TV to disturb them. The project was full of discoveries. "The house was damp when we bought it because the rain would run off the fields and head for it," says Lesley. "When we built a ha-ha at the end of the garden it had the magical effect of cutting the flow - result, a warm, dry house."

Their builders - two brothers Simon and Martin Peachey from Moreton-in-Marsh - came back triumphantly one day bearing a stone bath which they'd found in a ditch. "We believe it originally came from one of the other lodges on the estate," says Lesley. "It's very old and very unusual, but also very comfortable."

The couple scoured reclamation yards and junk shops for fittings and furnishings. They found an old prison door from Shipston jail with huge bolts and a peephole; another discovery was the set of elaborate gold radiators from Cox's yard.

"We both love being surrounded by fields and being able to look out across open country with no neighbours, whichever direction you look," says Lesley. "It's wonderful to see the fantastic wildlife and birds. Having our own woods means we're never short of firewood - this summer we lit fires in the evenings on dreary, wet nights. In fact, we never watch television, we just gaze at the fire!"