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Photography by Brittany Ambridge

After years of family getaways on Long Island,  Lucy Sykes and Euan Rellie decided it was time to buy a vacation home of their own in the Hamptons. So in 2007, after touring a string of state-of-the-art abodes that offered bells and whistles galore but remarkably little character, the couple happened to attend a dinner party at a charming cottage in Bridgehampton. “We looked at each other and said, ‘Now, this is the sort of place we’ve been looking for,’” Sykes recalls of the moment they first saw the cozy, Georgian-style home, which, among other amenities, boasts three working fireplaces and French doors opening onto lush English-inspired gardens. “And to our surprise, the owner was ready to sell!”


Photography by Brittany Ambridge

The family unwinds in the kid-friendly sitting room.


Photography by Brittany Ambridge

These days, the family, which now includes sons Heathcliff and Titus, spends most weekends in Bridgehampton watching movies, playing video games, and strolling along nearby Ocean Road Beach. Scattered throughout the home are touches of the couple’s English bohemian style: vintage fashion photographs, love-worn Turkish blankets, and art collected during Rellie’s travels through Asia. But, despite the cottage’s treasures, the muted walls, oak floors, and wooden beams reveal its rustic charm. “The floorboards might moan and the windows creak,” Sykes says. “But it’s the soul of the house that really matters.”


Photography by Brittany Ambridge

Some of the home’s exposed brick and wood dates to the 1760s. “By US standards, it’s old,” says Rellie. “It was built before America’s independence.”


Photography by Brittany Ambridge

The dining room’s working fireplace and ceramic tiles contribute to its old-world ambience.


Photography by Brittany Ambridge

In the master bedroom, a chandelier scored on eBay hangs above
a bed dressed in linens from Calypso St. Barth and Cath Kidston.


Photography by Brittany Ambridge

Check out Sykes’s hilarious new book!
“The Knockoff” by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza