Caroline Holdaway's dream Cotswold cottage

While she was working on an interior-design project in the Cotswolds, Caroline Holdaway and her partner Fatimah Namdar, who is a photographer, rented a cottage in the Windrush Valley and, growing to love the area, started a long search for a place of their own.

Two years later, they found Mullions, a tiny 1710 farmer's dwelling situated in a hamlet running along the upper valley of the River Coln. It still maintains its agricultural ties with two working farms at either end and no street lights, and in recent memory the cows used to be driven up the lane by 'our darling Val', who died a couple of years ago. Until only a few decades ago, the village school educated just six pupils and Mullions - then a one-up, one-down cottage - had housed a mother and five children.

Caroline and Fatimah had previously seen Mullions only from the outside, dismissing it on the grounds that it had no garden to speak of, and had a rear extension built into the bank, which they feared might be dark. However, after more disheartening months of searching, they decided to take a look inside. It was the feel of the place and the unexpected light inside that won them over.

They quickly laid bare the interior, leaving a blank canvas to work on. 'I always start with the floor,' explains Caroline. 'We found this one on Lochnagar Street, in the East End - planks from an industrial building that still showed yellow numbers and the imprint of machinery. It was summer, so we laid the board out in the garden and Velcro-padded the lot. This technique removed the yellow numbers while keeping the rest of the character and markings in the boards. Just what we wanted.'

Once laid, the floor was coloured and finished. Care was taken to change the direction of the planks in different areas to add authenticity, so that it looks as if the floor has always been there. They worked with just one 'wonderful builder' called Gordon Anderson, now retired. 'Gordon absolutely shared our aesthetic,' explains Caroline. 'He too rooted around reclamation yards and found the deep stone for the window sills, which had previously been laminate.' Clyde radiators were installed, although the Scandinavian wood-burning stove in the sitting room is so effective that they barely need them. 'It's essential in the winter when we suffer frequent power cuts, because the stove ensures you can have heat and even fry an egg on the marble top.'

The kitchen is tiny 'but perfectly formed', with the same floorspace as a larger kitchen with an island would have, and it adequately suits their needs. They cook on an oil-fired Rayburn, which stands in an alcove - '20 minutes and you can have boiling water', says Caroline. Charles Hurst built the kitchen cupboards, and the elm shelves, of which they are especially fond of, were made by Gordon's son, Gordon junior. As were the shelves throughout the house that are used for simple but effective display.

Upstairs, they replaced an avocado bathroom suite with a white one and took out the low modern ceiling in the main bedroom. The first planning request to reveal the apex was turned down, until Caroline spotted that the original timbers held a trace of distemper. This settled any argument that the timbers had not originally been part of the room, and consent was given. Now the bedroom is light and airy, the apex clad in reclaimed matchboarding giving it a period feel.