Two up – two outside

Moving to a bigger property would mean leaving the idyllic and secluded rural spot near Selby, so she and husband John have used their design and DIY skills to create an eclectic collection of “garden rooms”.

“I’ve got my inside on the outside and fortunately we’ve got a big garden area,” she says.

The yard is used as a sitting out/storage area and is furnished with a sideboard and chairs. It also doubles as display area for her fair-trade jewellery and gift business, Sugar Pie Lemon Drop.

Beyond is an outdoor sitting room with chairs, table, parasol and bunting, plus a fountain Donna made from an old barrel.

Then there’s John’s “mechanical” workshop, a field shelter converted to create storage, a play house for their son Finlay, the chicken shed and the spare room. The latter is an ex-military Land Rover 101 forward control vehicle and is both a camper van for the couple and Finlay, six, and a guest bedroom.

The much-loved vehicle, which John converted, is also a reminder of the Cameron’s trans-Africa road trip. They spent almost two years travelling the vast continent.

“It’s about 30 years old now but really strong. John is a gifted mechanic, maker and all round action man and he made a little house out of it for the Africa trip.

“It was an amazing experience and you certainly learn a lot about each other doing something like that,” says Donna.

“A lot of places we visited are now off limits to tourists and quite dangerous, but we met the most wonderful people.”

Reminders of that adventure are all around the house, including a model truck from Tanzania, a wall hanging from Zambia, a condiment set and some baskets made by Coptic Christians in Ethiopia,

The zebra skin on the stairs is from Zimbabwe and was a wedding present from a friend.

“I’m a great collector of things. I love to have things to gaze at. I saw the condiment set when we were driving in Ethiopia and shouted at John to stop the truck.

“He warned me not to buy anything big or breakable, but I couldn’t resist it and I somehow got it back home in one piece.

“John is as bad as I am. He brought back an old grinding stone from a trip to Egypt and it weighs a ton.”

Furniture is a mix of charity shop finds, a high street sofa and family pieces including the refectory table in the kitchen.

“It’s huge and too big for the space, but it means I can cook dinner and do a jigsaw with Finlay the same time. It’s intimate,” says Donna, who could give Kirstie “homemade home” Allsopp a run for her money.

She’s made everything from curtains to a rag rug and her latest project was making table mats with Finlay.

“I bought some plain ones and we decorated them with decoupage using images that are bright and meaningful.”

She also loves colour, which is why she has decorated the rented cottage in warm, vivid paint.

“When I got back from Africa, it was winter and cold and it felt like someone had turned off the colour, so I painted the sitting room bright orange and bright blue,” she says.

Her bedroom is dark pink and features an ingenious use for a lamp, whose fringes hold her vast collection of earrings.

Donna, who was brought up in Devon, went to art college and trained as a jeweller before being offered a modelling contract.

She modelled and worked in event management, while selling her jewellery in Camden market.

When Finlay was born, she wanted child-friendly work and began Sugar Pie Lemon Drop sourcing and selling unusual and contemporary fair trade jewellery, gifts and clothes, while designing and making some pieces herself.

“I enjoy finding something different and buying from little co-operatives. My latest find is little gift bags made from recycled newspaper. They’re made by a street co-operative in India,” she says.

John is an outdoor instructor and mountaineer and enjoys being outside in the garden.

The land surrounding the house was overgrown, but they have turned into a useful space with a lawn, a veg patch and free range chickens.

“It’s great for parties. We got married at Gretna Green and had a ceremony under a mountain ash tree. That was really special,” says Donna, who has lived at the cottage for 15 years, before which she had a nomadic life, which included a long spell in the Rocky Mountains.

“I never thought I’d stay here for that long, but it’s a lovely spot and we’re really happy. The cottage is small and I’m fighting a battle with a mountain of stuff, but when we run of space again, we’ll build another shed.”

Sugar Pie Lemon Drop www.sugarpielemondrop.co.uk