'I bought a 400-year-old home and created a cottagecore lifestyle on a tight budget'

A mum-of-two has transformed her lifestyle with a 'cottagecore' aesthetic after buying a 400-year-old property. Rebecca Lovatt, 49, moved into a quaint Grade II-listed cottage in the countryside on the border between Cambridge and Suffolk 11 years ago.

She has since spent time making it her own.

Rebecca, her husband Jamie, 52, and their two children, Freddie, 15, and Verity, 13, relocated down south from Cheshire back in 2013 after having a desire for a 'quieter and slower way of life'.

Since moving in, Rebecca has shifted her style towards cottagecore – which celebrates a return to simplicity and a rural lifestyle – which she has managed to do on a tight budget by purchasing second-hand items and upcycling them herself.

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The columnist for Preloved Magazine and content creator has now attracted thousands of followers and millions of likes for her content on her beautiful home, which she describes as 'magic' and 'definitely worth' the upkeep.

Rebecca started posting her cottagecore decor online during the Covid-19 lockdown, sharing photos and videos on social media of her picking apples in her garden, baking a cake in her quaint kitchen or making wreaths. She has now amassed more than 210,000 Instagram followers and more than one million likes on her TikTok page.

“It’s a moment in time when you can escape from the scary, real world and just pretend that you live some years ago, when it’s just about picking apples and having a restful moment,” Rebecca told PA Real Life.

“I think there are lots of romantics out there, modern life is really hectic and I think we all look for places to escape to. We were on a really tight budget when we moved here so it’s all been just bit by bit," she said.

“Having children really did make me slow down a lot and we were looking for a quieter and slower way of life,” she said. “When we first saw the cottage, we knew we had found somewhere extraordinary and I don’t know how many places have that feel of magic and calm – we are beyond lucky.”

Rebecca said the cottage was not quite as picture-perfect when they first moved in. “It had been empty for a year-and-a-half and it was completely stripped to nothing,” she said.

“We were starting from scratch and it was a case of getting rid of dead rat bodies, scrubbing the brick floors and getting the wood back to how it would have been.

“The wind comes through the beams and it’s single-pane windows so the curtains are thick, blanket-lined and the roof currently needs thatching too, which is terrifying because it’s so expensive. It is a lot of work to maintain, there’s always something to do, but it’s definitely worth it.”

After moving in, Rebecca said she started to focus on the decoration of her new home, opting for florals, pinks and natural, earthy tones.

She sourced furniture to fit her aesthetic on a budget, using second-hand pieces often purchased from eBay or Facebook Marketplace - some as cheap as £5, to upcycle.

“I took it all apart and wallpapered it at the back so it tied in with the floral, painted it a really muted grey and then limewashed it so it looked really old,” she said. “I find things on eBay and Facebook Marketplace but we’ve also got quite a few antique places around here.”

To lean into the cottagecore lifestyle, Rebecca said she undertakes a variety of activities which allow her to “maintain that simple life”. “I spend a lot of time planting, cutting flowers from the garden and arranging them, a lot of baking and cooking, crafting, wreath-making, upcycling – I feel it’s quite cottagecore as it’s about trying to maintain that simple life,” she said.

During the Covid-19 lockdown, Rebecca said she noticed the trend of cottagecore began to boom online. “Everyone was just desperate to escape from reality and I think that’s when cottagecore really took off,” she said. “People have stayed with me ever since.”

Rebecca has been sharing photos and videos of her cottage with her 210,000 Instagram followers and 96,000 TikTok followers – where her account has 1.1 million likes and her videos gain thousands of views.

One of her more popular videos, with more than 800,000 views, offers a slow, sweeping look over her dining room and kitchen, showing exposed wooden beams, a shelving unit scattered with jars and vases of fresh flowers, and her dog, Dottie, sleeping lazily on a chair in the sunshine.

“I was worried when the children got older they might be embarrassed but they’re really supportive,” she said, speaking of her content creation. “It was literally just me taking photos when I first started and they can see that I’ve grown something that has actually now given me a career – I think they’re proud of me.”

While she lives with two males, Rebecca said the amount of pink does not bother them. “They get quite passionately cross about the cushions and the amount of them but other than that, they’re really supportive,” she said.

Despite having wealth of “lovely” and “positive” followers, she has often been subjected to critical comments. “I will occasionally get people saying how disgusting the books are and how they attract dirt and dust, and a lot of comments saying ‘it’s all too much’,” she said.

“I do find it really hard sometimes and I’m not very thick-skinned – but this is my home, this is what I’ve created and what makes us happy. I’m really lucky and my followers do tend to be really lovely, positive people.”