The Period House Store, in Richmond, has customers among the rich and famous. And no wonder, says Sharon Griffiths, who is amazed at the range of quality fixtures and fittings

WHEN Andrew Harburn was restoring an old Dales cottage, he struggled to find fixtures and fittings that would complete the authentic look and feel of a period house. He wasn’t alone.

Which is why, 12 years later, he and partner Sarah Pickering now have a successful business selling top quality period designs all over the world. Customers at their Tardis-like premises on a trading estate in Richmond include the rich and famous, such as Downton creator Lord Julian Fellowes, models Sophie Dahl and Kate Moss, Kevin McCloud – Mr Grand Designs himself – and rich Russians who have a special passion for the huge, gleaming free-standing copper baths…

The couple, who started off selling reclaimed radiators, are thrilled with their success. “When I started looking for things I needed for the cottage, I found that the reclamation world is like a network – people would tell you about people who had some stock and you’d follow that up and they’d tell you about something else,” says Andrew, who was working at the time in a Land Rover dealership. “And because of my own experience, I knew there was a demand.”

So when the couple had acquired more than they needed, they started a weekend business selling mainly reclaimed radiators and floorboards in an outbuilding at a farm shop. “Basically, it was an old pig shed,” said Sarah. “Cold and mucky.”

They also discovered the problems of supply and demand. “We would have two matching radiators, but people want five or six and we wouldn’t know if we could get any more," says Andrew. "That’s why we started looking at new period designs. They are cast iron radiators, well-made to the old designs and come with a ten-year guarantee – you don’t get that with reclaimed.”

They also made old-style batten doors. “I’d spend Saturdays drilling holes,” says Sarah, who was working as a secondary school teacher.

Once they made doors, it was only logical to start sourcing the proper ironmongery door handles and fittings. Then they did kitchens, stoves, floors… Each successful step led to the next, but slowly and surely as they discovered suppliers whose work they could trust and recommend.

Andrew had by now quit his job, moved the business to Richmond and renamed it the Period House Store – “because that gave a better idea of what we were doing”, and soon Sarah – a Canadian whose family came from Barnard Castle – gave up her job too. It’s a family affair: their small children Lucy and James are often around and Andrew’s dad and sister work for the firm too.

The Period House Store doesn’t feel a bit like your average showroom. It’s more like going into somebody’s very nice house - warm and welcoming with a wood fire burning and Toby the Jack Russell skittering around the floor. It’s also a bit like the Tardis – much much bigger than you think. One room leads to another in an ever-expanding warren of rooms which show off a huge amount of stock. It’s a far cry from the old pig shed.

The collection of cast iron radiators is a splendid exercise in nostalgia – all those big fat radiators you might remember from school, ornate Victorian jobs that you’ve noticed in stately homes. Their flooring – as supplied to stately homes – includes limestone flagstones in all styles and shades as well as terracotta tiles and solid oak flooring, including some English oak from a small mill in the Lake District.

Sarah has long since stopped making doors. Now they have a team of specialists to make everything from bespoke oak front doors – from £600 to £1,700 – to pitch pine doors from £165.

Bespoke kitchens are made from solid tulipwood, cupboards from reclaimed pine, all painted with paints from the Little Greene Paint company. And a display of hand-made richly coloured glass knobs for cupboard doors – around £20 each – look like a small art installation on their own.

“They’re made by a firm in Cornwall. We’ve got to know lots of small specialist suppliers,” says Andrew.

Prices, inevitably, aren’t cheap. “We’re not B&Q,” admits Sarah. “But we try and keep prices reasonable. And we like to work with people on a project so we can get the best for them.”

“We hate it when we go to places and the first thing you see is salesmen with that look in their eyes, waiting to pounce,” adds Andrew.

There are stoves – Aga, Carron, Esse and Morso - and grates and cast iron fireplaces. They keep opening up a few more rooms to show off more pieces. They’ve just expanded into lighting – including those Bakelite switches that Granny had and your parents got rid of. They want to show off dining room furniture and have a yearning to go into soft furnishings. “I love materials,” says Sarah “and they would fit in so well.”

Although they have a good local following, most of their customers are in London or the South or abroad. Many are happy to buy through the website, “but we’re more than a website,” says Andrew. They encourage people to talk to them or come to the showroom whenever they can.

So much so that if you’ve come a long way and spent a lot of money, they’ll pay for customers to stay in the Hack and Spade, at Whashton, or at Middleton Lodge, near Scotch Corner. “We’ve had customers driving up from London and back in a day,” says Sarah. “That didn’t seem right.”

We keep coming back to those baths – the copper-plated ones or the huge free-standing natural stone baths big enough for a small child to swim in.

“It doesn’t matter how good a bath looks, you’ve got to try it to know if it suits you,” says Sarah. “So we say, ‘Hop in, give it a go. Find out if it’s comfortable'.”

There are some things you just can’t do online.

  • The Period House Store, 3-7 Simpsons Buildings, Borough Road, Gallowfields Trading Estate, Richmond, DL10 4SX. W: periodhousestore.co.uk