An eccentric pair of Georgian follies transformed into a gloriously creative family home

The couple called on architect Giles Holland to sensitively restore the gatehouses and devise a layout that allowed the two lodges to read as one dwelling. Each lent itself well to particular functions. Gog became an impressively proportioned, double-height entertaining and sitting area after the original domed ceiling was discovered behind a fake ceiling. ‘It was so exciting to uncover this amazing, quite glamorous space,’ recalls Cruz. The dome was meticulously restored and the space’s geometry informed the decoration. ‘We kept it very simple with lime wash paint walls that feel like something from an old Italian church,’ says Cruz. A fireplace and surround – based on a contemporary design at Petworth House – were added, giving the room an anchor. Now, the space that was likely used by the 3rd Earl of Egremont for many a dalliance – rumour has it he had 15 mistresses – is where George and Cruz’s children bounce on huge bespoke sofas and where they entertain friends below 16th-century Flemish tapestries that they found in the attics at Petworth House. ‘We love to sit in here with a glass of wine when the children are in bed and look up at those tapestries,’ Cruz explains. It is a serene space, aided by the grand piano, which Cruz often plays, mesmerising her children in the process.

If Gog is the space for dreaming and drinking, Magog became the space that did the hard work, containing an open-plan kitchen, dining and sitting area on the ground floor and a new mezzanine level bedroom and bathroom. ‘It’s the family space,’ says Cruz. An elegant contemporary spiral staircase leads up to the mezzanine where the geometry of Gog is echoed through the hexagonally arranged walls, with jib doors set into them and concealing the bathroom and dressing room. The latter often doubles up now as a tiny childrens bedroom when they decamp here at weekends. ‘It’s quite a challenging set-up, but we make it work,’ admits Cruz. ‘It’s a bit noisier than when it was just the two of us,’ she adds,’ with a laugh. ‘The lodges both felt like they had very different characters, so I embraced that and wanted it to feel a bit more modern and bright in Magog,’ she explains. As such, a colourful painting by Chilean artist Nicolás Morrison – a nod to Cruz’s native country – hangs above the dining table, while the bespoke kitchen cabinets are painted in a Edward Bulmer's ‘French Blue’. ‘You need a pop of colour to contrast the winter in England,’ reasons Cruz. Upstairs, the bedroom is painted in Edward Bulmer’s ‘Cuisse de Nymphe Emue’, named, as chance would have it, after the shade George’s grandmother had the family rooms at Petworth House decorated in.

What’s most charming, perhaps, are the personal mementos and objects dotted throughout the lodges. Plates, glasses and textiles from Anūt Cairo’s latest collection, as well as a gramophone that now sits on the piano in Gog, which the couple bought from Dongtai Market in Shanghai when they lived there 15 years ago. Equally meaningful are the copper 1970s sun and moon that now hang up high either side of the fireplace in Gog, which George found at Petworth Antiques Market just before the couple hosted a spectacular Equinox party last September. In a feat of engineering, they had them hoisted them up onto the stone gateposts that flank the entrance to the lodges, so they could look down on a night of revelry and burning hay effigies. ‘I guess these lodges are a combination of what we stand for as a couple,’ explains Cruz. ‘It’s folky and creative and completely represents us,’ she adds. ‘It’s such a magical escape for us all.’