After Hanna and Martin Kinsella had their children, Maximus and Kimia, they knew their days in their Hale ‘bachelor pad’ were numbered. Now, six months after moving into their five-bedroom detached Bowdon home, the couple have put their stamp on the property and are looking forward to spending their first summer here.
‘We’ve gone from one extreme to another, from an apartment to a complete family home,’ says dental practitioner Hanna, who owns Icy Bear Dental, the Cheshire-based brand.
‘It was really hard to leave our old place. We had such a lovely time there as newlyweds, and when the children were born, but as they were growing we needed more space,’ she says. ‘Maximus is three, and Kimia is nearly two. We wanted a big garden for them to run around in, with places to play and space for all their toys. We needed a family home and this ticked all the boxes for us.’
Before the move, the couple made some changes to the décor, stripping out the stair carpets, redecorating each room, and painting over some of the dark woodwork downstairs.
‘It’s a beautiful house, and the work we had done was largely cosmetic, but we wanted it to feel like our home. Also, we brought some of our furniture from the apartment, so we made it more neutral, bringing in the natural light and making the most of the house’s features.’
Top of the list when they chose the property was finding somewhere family-friendly, with plenty of outdoor space.
‘We knew as soon as we saw the big garden with a massive climbing frame it was the place for us,’ says Hanna. ‘It's a kid's paradise. Inside it's spacious, too, with lots of different little areas.
‘We have two playrooms downstairs – one right by the kitchen so I can keep an eye on them while I’m making dinner – and there’s a little table where they can sit and eat and I have a chat with them about their days.
‘We've got a little snug area where we watch TV and movies, and then there's a room right at the back which is lovely and bright. And – a huge thing for me – I have my office downstairs,' says Hanna, who has stepped back from her appearances in the Real Housewives of Cheshire. 'There’s space for all the Icy Bear team to come in during the day, and it means I’m able to drop the kids off in the morning and pick them up after nursery and I get proper time with them.
‘My day-to-day has changed so much since we moved. I feel like I'm finally mastering the work-life balance. Well, I say that... I’m still a workaholic, but I'm definitely feeling more in balance, and the time I used to spend commuting, I can now have with them and that makes all the difference.
‘Everyone says it, but the mum-guilt I get if I don’t see them enough is awful. I’m lucky, we have help, but the children are changing all the time and I don’t want to miss them being little, so I make sure I have time every day to spend time with each of them and enjoy all the little stages.’
Hanna says the new house has changed every aspect of her day. ‘I wake up, and the kids are straight into our bedroom,’ she says. ‘That’s usually about quarter to seven, and we have a lovely cuddle. Then we go downstairs, get the breakfast ready and Martin and I have our coffees. It’s chaos in the mornings, but I love it. We get them ready for nursery and he goes to work. I'll drive them to nursery, drop them off, come back and then I'm in the office.’
The new location is also perfect for Martin’s work as a cosmetic surgeon.
‘Martin's clinic is less than a 10-minute drive from here. He's always been a Hale boy – he was born and brought up here and a lot of our friends live around here.
‘We met at university in Liverpool, and we love it over there, but this is very much our home. We go for walks and we love the bars and restaurants. We know it really well. So when this house came up, five minutes around the corner from our old apartment, it seemed like a sign.’
Like all new homes, it came with its surprises.
‘I'll never forget when I first walked into the kitchen after we had bought the house and I looked around and thought, where’s the oven? I was like, there's no oven. There's no digital, modern cooker. What do I do?
‘There was this beautiful AGA, and I had no choice but to learn how to use it. It took a while. There are no knobs, you move the food rather than change the temperature of the oven. But now I love it. It cooks food in such a different way. I am definitely a convert... for the roast dinners alone.
‘My mother-in-law bought us an air fryer for Christmas, so I’ve been using that a lot too.’
When she’s not looking after the children and running Icy Bear and her dental practices, including Kiln Lane Dental in St Helens, Hanna spends her spare time riding.
‘I made a commitment in January to go out riding every week. I wanted to make some time for myself and it’s my favourite thing to do, so I've been enjoying that. I try to squeeze in trips to the gym, too, to see my personal trainer. She's amazing, and very used to my hectic timetable.
‘I go to the gym around the corner, but now that the weather is warming up I’ll start using the gym in the garage here.'
Hanna and Martin have also installed an ice bath in their new garden. ‘Martin and I did a crazy retreat in Iceland, called Into the Wild Within, which was all about cold plunges and it was a real test of physical, spiritual and emotional resolve and a mind-body-spirit connection,’ says Hanna. ‘It was amazing. I'd recommend it. We fell in love with the whole cold-water therapy concept, and as soon as we got back we decided to get one, so we have it next to the hot tub, which came with the house. I’ve not braved it as often as I should, but when the weather warms up, we’ll be in there more.’
The grounds also include a pretty stone terrace, perfect for the children to ride their bikes. 'The bifold doors in the kitchen open up to terrace so I can watch them,' says Hanna.
‘If we have friends over, it’s lovely to have the doors open, and I bought a big dining table from Arighi Bianchi, which we can make bigger or smaller depending on how many guests we have, so I’m looking forward to barbecues there.’
After the children have had dinner, it’s time for bath and bedtime, and the house transforms for the evening. ‘Martin tends to work late, so I usually eat with the children and then take them up,’ says Hanna. ‘I love story time. It’s a little connection at the end of the day.
‘If I get time, I’ll watch a bit of TV in the snug before he comes home. It’s a really cosy room.
‘I’ll usually do some work in the evenings too. I’m often on a live social chat at 9pm. A lot goes into running an e-commerce brand that people don’t see. But we’ve had some big successes recently such as Icy Bear Dental being stocked by Harrod’s, which has been incredible. Going down to London for the launch of that was a real pinch-me moment.’
This year the family has also welcomed another member Lulu, a Maltese toy poodle. ‘Everybody said I was mad to get a dog with a new house and two small kids – Martin included,’ says Hanna. ‘But she is so well-behaved and easy to look after. She fits right into the family and the kids love her. She’s my other baby and I’m so glad we got her.
‘Martin is not a dog person at all. When I got her I said she would be my dog, he wouldn’t have to do any of the feeding or the walking or the looking after.
‘Now I come into the snug and she’s lying asleep on his chest on the sofa and he daren’t move in case he disturbs her. He loves her just as much as the rest of us. She has made the new home complete.'
