The property guru's move to the county from the city is being shown on Channel 4 as part of Sarah's Beeny's New Life In The Country - the second series is airing now.
In the first series, viewers saw Sarah and her family make the big move and build their own eco-friendly house in Somerset. Now, the second series is showing their mission to complete the interior design of their home.
The self-confessed city girl had lived in London for 30 years but relocated with her family to Bruton, which is fast becoming a magnet for the rich and famous. Together with husband Graham she has ploughed a considerable sum into buying a 220-acre former dairy farm with no less than 1,000 sheep grazing in its 12 fields.
‘My husband and I have a development company with my brother,’ she explains. ‘I’ve been in and out of a lot of houses and we have always talked about the perfect house. The perfect house would have a kitchen that was south west facing. Throughout the year such a kitchen gives you more of the sun,’ she enthuses. ‘The perfect house would have doors out of the sitting room so that you could get into the garden… What I hadn’t realised is that Graham had been really seriously thinking we were going to build this house whereas I was just thinking hypothetically.
‘When he said ‘I’m serious, let’s go and build’ my main concern was that I’m terribly impatient. I think you get more done if you are like that. My husband always says there is no such thing as multi-tasking; it’s called doing everything badly. I rush through things really quickly and I haven’t got time to be patient, otherwise I’ll get less done so I think that’ll do and let’s move onto the next thing.
'So, I’ve had to learn patience; the countryside and the building process have both helped with this. The country way of life has slowed me down. It’s made me look at nature more and it is slower although the years still go by as fast. I think I’m getting a bit more patient with age, too.’
It’s the worry about not achieving that fuels Sarah’s impatience, she thinks. ‘My fear is that I’ll wake up one day and the kids will have grown up and left home and I’ll be old and I won’t have done some stuff that I meant to do. So I’m paranoid and fearful that if I don’t say ‘yes’ to everything, I might miss an opportunity. I had the fear of missing out before social media was invented.’
Did you know?
Sarah set up her first property development company aged 24 along with her brother Diccon and now husband, Graham. In 2005, Sarah launched Mysinglefriend.com, the dating website. In 2012, Sarah, Graham and their four sons opened the doors of Rise Hall to allow viewers of Sarah Beeny’s Restoration Nightmare to follow their long-term restoration project. In 2014 she launched the Tepilo estate agency platform.
The following year she collaborated with living solutions specialist, Hafele UK, to launch the Sarah Beeny Home Collection. Her latest book is Sarah Beeny’s 100 DIY Jobs, a guide to the most frequently tackled household DIY jobs.
Watch Sarah Beeny’s New Life In The Country on Channel 4 on Tuesdays.
