TIM WOOD: Heinz Dark Oak Kitchen

Tim Wood designed and built this dark oak kitchen in 1992. George Spencer Design and Drue Heinz supplied the brief, which was based on our unique solid octagonal framework design. Drue Heinz particularly liked and requested that concept.

The worktops are made of solid maple for durability and finish, and we chose it for these qualities. We built solid maple upstands and integrated flush wooden sockets to create a clean understated look. Together these details complement the octagonal framework and the overall warm, contemporary aesthetic.

We made all the plinths with pull-out drawers to maximise storage and accessibility. We wedge-fixed and glued the gobstopper-style wooden knobs giving them durability and a distinctive finish. Together, these features reflect our commitment to practical elegance. The result is robust, easy to use, and visually refined.

Tim Wood designed the kitchen.

Additionally, Fyfield Manor was also worked on by interior designer Robert Kime, who supplied rugs and antiques for the house.

David Hicks extensively designed the garden.

Fyfield Manor was described by Pevsner as ‘a remarkable survival’.

It is the exquisite 14th-century manor house built for Sir John Golafre in about 1325.

Moreover, the ‘survival’ relates to the substantial part of the original hall that still exists.

It is flanked by the grand gables of the 16th-century wing to the right.

The left side is the 16th-/17th-century wing.

Golafre descendants lived at the manor until 1448.

Afterwards, the De la Poles, Dukes of Suffolk, owned it for a time.

In 1510, Henry VII gave it to Lady Catherine Gordon, the widow of Perkin Warbeck.

Perkin Warbeck was executed for trying to seize the English throne after the Wars of the Roses.

After her death, the manor was purchased by Sir Thomas White, a wealthy London merchant. He subsequently donated it to St John’s College, Oxford, which he founded in 1555.

From 1978 until 1992, the property served as an antiquarian bookstore operated by Oxford bookseller Blackwell’s.

In 1992 our client, the American heiress Drue Heinz, acquired the manor and later sold it in 2002.