A Hither Green florist has stopped her "beloved" childhood cottage from being bulldozed and transformed it into a "fairytale" Airbnb instead.
Sophie Pinder, who runs You Don't Bring Me Flowers, took on a mortgage to save Horsegate Cottage after her late father passed away six years ago.
Located near Bedgebury Forest in Kent, the historic property dates back to around the 1860s and was originally formed from two cottages linked to the former Bedgebury Estate.
Sophie spent much of her childhood exploring the nearby pine forest before later returning to get married and create family memories of her own.
She said: "It was just a magical place for me, coming from Lee Green as a child.
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"I remember when I first saw it. It was painted pink at the time, and the garden was really established. It just looked like something from Beatrix Potter.
"I had such freedom here as a child because it was so safe."
Her father, who moved to Kent from south-east London, lived at the cottage for many years and battled cancer for around 15 years before his death.
Determined not to lose a place that held so much family history, Sophie embarked on a years-long journey to save and restore the property after learning a prospective buyer planned to demolish it.
When her father was diagnosed with cancer, Sophie and her family became increasingly involved in helping him remain at the cottage he loved.
"It was my dad's dream for us to live there," she explained. "It had such a huge part in my heart and it was such a huge part of my dad's life."
After his death, she faced the difficult challenge of keeping the property, eventually taking out a mortgage herself and spending years restoring the ageing building room by room.
Sophie told News Shopper that her decision to take on the cottage came after she had been "on the verge" of signing a house sale, only to be told the 19th-century cottage was set to be demolished by the prospective buyer.
"At that point I pulled out of the sale because I couldn't let it happen," Sophie said.
Sophie and her husband decided to take on the cottage renovation and later turned the property, along with its surrounding barn and land, into a business. However, she was not alone in her endeavours.
Hearing of her plight, Sophie's regular customers "rallied round" to help turn her dream into a reality, offering practical support, business advice and encouragement as she worked to transform the cottage into a holiday retreat.
Friends and customers from Hither Green volunteered their time to help with everything from gardening and painting to networking and developing ideas for the site's future.
Sophie said: "People have helped with gardening, painting, advice, networking and just encouraging me every step of the way."
She added: "It wouldn't have happened without the Hither Green community. I wouldn't have had the fire in me to keep going."
The support has now grown beyond the renovation itself, with several local business owners and wellbeing practitioners planning to use the space for retreats, workshops and events.
Among those involved are yoga and sound bath instructors, photographers, florists and celebrants, who are helping transform the cottage and its converted studio into a hub for creative and wellbeing-focused activities.
Sophie said: "I want my community that I love. If I could pick up Hither Green and bring it here, I would."
The cottage is already welcoming guests as a holiday let, while Sophie is also developing a new studio space, which she hopes will host a variety of workshops, retreats and community events.
Plans already in the pipeline include yoga and sound bath retreats, floristry workshops, photography exhibitions, natural fabric-dyeing sessions, forest school activities and small weddings, many of which are being led by people she met through her work in Hither Green.
Sophie said: "I can imagine it having a calendar of workshops and retreats. That's what I'd like, a space that people could just come and rent and do their own thing."
Looking to the future, she hopes Horsegate Cottage can become a creative and wellbeing hub where people can reconnect with nature while pursuing new skills and experiences.
Despite admitting the venture has been something of a leap of faith, Sophie remains optimistic about its future.
She said: "I'm really excited about the future. I feel like this is what I'm meant to be doing and I could have lost that really easily."
She added: "I just want it to be a special place for everybody. I'm so open to new things. Let's just give it a go."
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