See inside this unique Scandi-chic home in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds 

With a quirky ‘witches’ staircase, kitchen worktops sourced from the Natural History Museum, and a parquet floor rescued from a pig sty, George Fisher’s beautiful Oxfordshire home truly is a one-off

Snug with woodburner and original flagstone floor (Image: savills.com)

Sunlight streams in through the generous bay window (Image: savills.com)

Craftsman George Fisher returned to Oxfordshire to create his beautiful family home and business. 

George Fisher Woodwork has been designing and creating kitchens, boot rooms and bedrooms for many years, but it was only when George found The Nook in Hook Norton that he realised he could bring his dream of living and working in one place to life. Over many years he has thoughtfully turned an almost derelict Victorian home into a Scandi-chic-inspired family home with an additional annexe for guests and an onsite workshop to design and build bespoke woodwork.   

The house boasts many original features that had been hidden away for many years, including original flagstone floors that were covered in four layers of roofing felt and carpet, two original fireplaces that had been boarded up, and bespoke wooden shutters throughout. The kitchen worktops were once archivist shelving from the Natural History Museum, dating back to 1910, whilst the parquet floor in the separate office was once the sarking boards from the roof of the pig sty.

Kitchen/dining area with parquet floor (Image: savills.com)

The island unit created from archivist shelving sourced from the Natural History Museum (Image: savills.com)The annexe has the unusual feature of ‘witches’ steps – to a double-bed mezzanine – and the workshop hosts George Fisher Woodwork machinery as well as his much loved hand-crafted cedar strip canoe.  

George says, ‘For years I had wanted to be able to combine my business and home, and it was only when we found The Nook in Hook Norton that I realised it would be possible to create a family home to showcase my work, and have a workshop on site so I can avoid commuting and the costs of renting a workshop.’ 

George Fisher originally studied Forestry at Bangor University before pursuing a career in motor sport engineering. In his late twenties, he combined his love of wood with the technical precision of engineering to develop George Fisher Woodwork. Over the years he has designed and created hidden entrances to ensuite bathrooms disguised as wardrobes, sweeping oak staircases, bespoke boot rooms, kitchens with 160kg steel worktops, panelled rooms, and even renovated an Oxford punt.  

The interior of the workshop, complete with George's much loved hand-crafted cedar strip canoe (Image: savills.com)

The exterior of The Nook's workshop (Image: savills.com)The Nook, in Hook Norton, has been a labour of love. By the time George came to work on the Victorian ironstone house, it had been occupied by the previous owner for over 50 years. The house had no central heating, no hot water, the windows were leaky and rotten (you could see daylight through the window frames), and the upstairs bathroom hadn’t been used for years.  

He began by stripping out the carpets and wallpaper, and was delighted to discover, under many layers of flooring and even roofing felt, the original flagstones dating back to the 1890s. Hidden behind hardboard in three of the rooms were the original fireplaces as well as beautiful wide floorboards in the bathroom, which he hand stripped and waxed. All the windows were replaced with wooden double-glazed units in keeping with the original design of the house, including the sitting room bay window. 

The ‘witches’ plywood staircase leading up to a double mezzanine bedroom in the annexe (Image: savills.com)

The parquet flooring in the office is made of boards from the roof of the original pigsty (Image: savills.com)

Exposed Victorian bricks make a feature of the hallway (Image: savills.com)To extend the house, George project-managed the side return extension and then designed and built a bespoke kitchen, with floating birch plywood cupboards and integrated appliances. He repurposed National History Museum archivist oak shelving into hardwood worktops and an island unit showcasing the 1910 shelves. The kitchen is painted throughout in Farrow and Ball Blackened. The solid oak parquet floor is made up of over 720 separate boards that were individually sanded. The bedrooms have bespoke window shutters ensuring a good night’s sleep, and woodwork throughout creatively maximises space, featuring beds with built-in storage drawers and bookcases, and one of the bedrooms has a floor-to-ceiling wall of bookcases painted in Farrow and Ball Downpipe.   

George’s next job was to convert the dilapidated potting shed into a separate office/boot room, replacing the roof and installing cedar cladding to the newly insulated interior walls.  

Bespoke floor-to-ceiling bookcase in one of the bedrooms (Image: savills.com)

Shutters on the windows help keep out the elements, and the handmade bed with integrated shelves adds to the snug feeling (Image: savills.com)

George then decided to realise his dream of bringing his workshop to his home – he gained planning permission for a commercial workshop for light industrial use on an under-utilised piece of land adjacent to The Nook’s garden, that was mostly filled with leylandii trees. George designed and built a sound-proofed and insulated 750 sq foot workspace that could house his woodwork machinery and showcase his cedar strip canoe. Now clients come and see his work and discuss designs with him in his workshop, and can even pop into the house is see some of his craft.

The original wide elm floorboards in the bathroom (Image: savills.com)

Finally, George converted the original pigsty into an annexe for guests – he created a ‘witches’ plywood staircase up to a double mezzanine bedroom, and a kitchen/lounge area painted in Farrow and Ball Hague Blue. The annexe also houses a separate office – the parquet flooring here is made of the sarking boards from the roof of the original pigsty.  

‘Hook Norton is a wonderful village with a really strong community, says George, ‘and it’s fantastic to be able to combine my family life with my thriving business.’ 

The time has come, though, for him to move onto another project, giving someone else the opportunity to enjoy this unique family home. 

The Nook is currently on the market for £850,000 with Savills. The annexe and workshop offer potential additional income, and the property also benefits from two drives laid to gravel, providing ample off-street parking.

Find out more about George Fisher Woodwork here: georgefisherwoodwork.com