A Private View: a healing hideaway woven from yurts, cabins and countryside joy

Wendy’s home on the rural fringes of Bath feels wonderfully unconstrained. Her Persian cat, Misty, seems to have taken this in her stride. “She skims up trees and is always in the bushes,” she tells me. “The groomer couldn’t believe it: she’s an absolute pedigree, but she’s always outside. She’s a bit like all of us here – everyone always wants to be outdoors. We’re totally immersed in nature.” 

This uninhibited atmosphere is also built into the remarkable cluster of spaces that make up Wendy’s home. Quite unlike anything else, it presents a wonderfully composed, perfectly attuned set of buildings that provide an extraordinary flexibility of use. Just as the structures are in constant conversation with one another, they’re also connected with the age-old landscape that runs around and between them. 

Wendy’s relationship with Mall House and the wider Bath area is multi-dimensional and took root in her teenage years. As a young child, she lived abroad, moving to “the borders of Wiltshire, Dorset and Hampshire” with her parents at the age of seven. When she was 14, Wendy travelled to Bath by train for the first time. “My heart skipped a beat when I got to the city – I really loved it,” she recalls.

As a teenager, Wendy joined Student magazine and its evolution into Virgin Records in London. She was then involved with the first Virgin Records shops in Oxford Street and Notting Hill, before moving to Bristol. “I’d moved to set up a shop there and went to stay with a friend.  He said, ‘I want to show you something special that I know you’ll love.’ We walked into this beautiful verdant country estate and my heart skipped another beat. I just thought: ‘This is home.’”

A decades-long relationship with the land and its then-owners ensued. “I knocked on the door of the big house and I spoke to the woman whose husband owned the whole valley. A nearby cottage was available to let, which I rented, and in 2004 I was eventually able to buy the cottage called the Mall House … I absolutely loved this piece of land. It’s like when some people meet a partner and go, ‘That’s it!’”

Over the years, Wendy has gradually restored and transformed the cottage and buildings that now make up the Mall House. Cabins, yurts and a traditional showman’s wagon can now be found in the garden – a tapestry of roses, wisteria, vegetable beds, fruit trees, wild flowers and wild woods. “It’s a very inside-outside house,” she explains. “Children love it because they can run in and out and around the house, and there are plenty of play areas. You start to feel like you’re in a treehouse, particularly in the wagon. I’ve tried to make it wild and comfortable. But at the same time, I’ve never felt lonely being here on my own.” 

Since her 20s, Wendy has worked as a healer, travelling all over the world, while always keeping the Mall House as her base. As a result, her home is full of objects gathered on her travels: doors, door frames, windows and stained-glass panels from far afield are woven into the fabric here.

Mall House has, in no small part, informed Wendy’s practice. The yurts have been host to healing ceremonies, and they are particularly well-loved by her oldest daughter and her grandchildren. The hubbub of activity from visiting family and friends is a crucial part of the place for Wendy. “It’s been a home for so many people,” she says. And then there are the legendary parties: “We’ve had parties with 300 people. We’d put up marquees and everyone would park up in the field. I have had great fun restoring and creating this house. It has been a joy to make a place that so many people love.”

Throughout our conversation, Wendy returns to the surprising tranquillity that Mall House has, despite its proximity to two of the south west’s liveliest metropolitan centres. “You could hear a pin drop here,” she says. “But at the same time, it’s 10 minutes from Bath and half an hour from Bristol. You’re in the middle of nowhere, but everything you’d want is within reach.”

Wendy also reflects on the possibilities that Mall House’s future holds. She hopes that someone will treasure it as much as she has. “I would like someone else to find this house and paint on this canvas,” she muses. “I believe we’re custodians of the land, and it’s time for this place to find a new caretaker to enjoy the spectacular views and sunsets over Bristol, the two bridges, the distant sea, the Welsh hills, and all the countryside in between.”