On his frequent trips criss-crossing Romney Marsh, antiques dealer John Ruler often used to pass a modest farm. With a couple of small barns and a meadow where hens foraged under fruit trees, bounded by a stream, it was a rare sight, even in this idyllic landscape.
During one such journey, John was excited to see the farm was up for auction: ‘I’d always had my eye on it,’ he explains. And, after a nail-biting sale, it transpired that his was the winning bid.
Planning to use the space for housing and restoring pieces for his shop, John was surprised by the richness of wildlife that inhabited the plot. ‘I’ve recorded the first cuckoo every year since I’ve been here,’ he says. ‘I love the little owls at dusk, and we have all three of the woodpeckers: the green, the great spotted and the lesser spotted.’
As a result, he spent time slowly moving in, before finally converting the largest barn into a place where he could spend the occasional night. He did all this while being careful not to disturb the resident creatures.
A Londoner-turned-countryman, John has a lifetime’s experience of buying and selling antiques. He made his way to the Kent coast in the early 2000s and nowadays specialises in industrial, garden and agricultural items, buying from farm auctions and local markets; though anything that grabs his interest finds its way onto his Instagram grid or into his antiques shop in Tenterden, Kent.
His line of work has helped turn John into the ultimate recycler: nothing is wasted, and even tiny items are squirrelled away in drawers, boxes and containers, in case they might one day be useful.
‘I have a great respect for the craftsmanship that used to be invested in everyday items,’ he explains. ‘I use them myself and they’re not just for show, they’re all functional as well as pleasing.’
The barn itself has grown organically from its original A-framed shape. Today, an office extension to one side brings in more light, and mismatched doors and windows from every period under the sun add quirky rusticity.
Walls are clad in distressed corrugated iron panels or painted matchboard strips from a local village hall. While the rooms, lit by vintage industrial lighting, are heaving with books, paintings and furniture from John’s ever-changing stock. Shop signs and educational school posters add decorative touches, and the sturdy floors are constructed from reclaimed boards.
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Under the eaves nestles a cosy breakfast room. Here, an enamel-topped table featuring John’s collection of blue-and-white Cornishware and vintage Judge cookware manufactured by Ernest Stevens is surrounded by chairs from his extensive collection.
‘I like a good chair – anything from Ercol to Windsor, plus industrial stools, old school seating and church pews,’ he says. Pride of place on the wall is given to a flower study by Kent outsider artist Drew Bauer.
The main dining room features a generous workbench-cum-table displaying a pair of harbour lantern lights from a riverside wharf, overseen by another painting by Bauer.
Meanwhile, the tiny galley kitchen plays host to a butler’s sink, a mix of windows and a 1920s Beanstalk storage unit that houses John’s collection of kitchenalia – all regularly used, including his many housemaid’s boxes. ‘I pick these up whenever I can, as they are really useful and can be repurposed to store anything,’ John explains.
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The covered porch outside provides a sheltered space in which to relax, while also storing many of his garden wares. The recent lockdown galvanised John’s building ambitions, and he’s just finished the light-filled bedroom with its stained-glass window bedhead and access into the orchard through metal French windows.
The house’s amenities are completed with a charming bathroom, incorporating a suite of salvaged sanitaryware, including an impressive water closet by Thomas Crapper, with matching cistern, brackets and ceramic chain pull.
There seems to be no limit to John’s constructing achievements: ‘I’ll just keep adding to what’s here, repurposing, restoring and bringing the farm back to life. I’ll plant more trees, grow more veg and enjoy the life I have here,’ he says.
Surrounded by a small flock of sheep, with his own recently completed shepherd’s hut taking pride of place, John seems very much at home here in the Kent countryside, among his array of galvanised steel water tanks, baths and agricultural containers – all much in demand by gardeners as plant containers and rainwater cisterns.
His barn is sheltered by ancient fruit and nut trees, and a small vegetable garden is fenced against the depredations of rabbits and sheep.
John grows and forages much of his own food in season from the plot, but has yet to make the final step to return the farm to its original purpose – a goal that will finally be met once he has his own flock of hens to scavenge beneath those fruit trees. @oldebonyschoolantiques