Surrey Homes | SH30 | April 2017 |Gardens supplement inside

And it needs to be that size to showcase just a tiny
fraction of their collection of china. The day we visited
Sven had it dressed ready for Easter with figurines of Peter
Rabbit, Jemima Puddleduck and various sheep, decorative
eggs in egg cups and a whole set of china resplendent
with running bunnies, alongside at least four other china
services – and that’s just the tip of the porcelain iceberg.
Adrian opens one of the cupboards and takes out a plate
which he holds up to the light of the French window, revealing
the head of a geisha painted on the underside. “It’s Japanese,”
he says, “I got the whole set at Elm Tree boot fair…”
Under the kitchen’s central work table there’s a
glorious Fortnum & Mason crate, full of more
“When we lived in Germany,” Adrian
explains, “I had a shop called ‘Brit Bits’
selling bric-a-brac I would bring over from
England. I used to get bored sitting in
there, so I got a sewing machine and started
making cushions. That led on to door
sausages and aprons and then I made some
tea cosies out of bits and pieces I had lying
around. People would always put them on
their heads, so I started making hats...”