Where was it?
In a village on the edge of Cornbury Park estate in Oxfordshire
A quick description.
It must have been one of Charlbury’s oldest cottages, built of Cotswold stone with a slate roof. I’m 6ft 3in and the main bedroom door was only about 5ft high. There were two further tiny bedrooms, a large attic, which was used as an office or spare room, and a small garage that I sometimes used as a sculpting workshop.
How did you find it?
Through an estate agent in Chipping Norton.
What made you buy it?
It was quite a lot of house for the money and was conveniently close to a friend who had a barn that I rented as a studio for my work.
Best memory of living there?
Two of our three daughters were born when we lived there and the house had a really good vibe, which both my wife, Laura, and I could feel from day one. I also owe it a favour. One night, a tree fell down in the garden during a storm and the cost of having it chopped up for firewood prompted me to buy a chainsaw — the ultimate boy’s toy.
Anything unusual?
Our dog, Pepper, would regularly wee at night if left alone in the kitchen, which had steps down to the cellar. It turned out that the cellar had once been used as the village morgue.
Why did you sell?
It was always intended to be a stepping stone and was never going to be big enough for our whole family. I also really wanted somewhere I could actually stand up in. We eventually found a derelict barn in Cropredy near Banbury, a bit closer to the foundry in which I used to cast my work. The property had trees growing out of a shed and an ancient Land Rover rusting in the yard, but when I walked to the perimeter and put up a snipe, I knew that it would be our next home.
Hamish Mackie is an award-winning wildlife sculptor known for working in bronze, silver and any other castable metal using the lost-wax casting method. Find out more at the Hamish Mackie website.
This feature originally appeared in the October 14, 2026, print edition of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.