Mum creates cottagecore lifestyle on ‘tight budget’ in 400-year-old home attracting thousands of online followers

A mother-of-two living in a 400-year-old cottage with her family has nailed a “cottagecore” aesthetic and lifestyle on a tight budget – earning thousands of online followers.

Rebecca Lovatt, 49, has resided in a Grade II-listed cottage in the countryside on the Cambridge-Suffolk border for 11 years with her husband, Jamie, 52, who owns a joinery contracting and manufacturing company, and their two children, Freddie, 15, and Verity, 13, after the family relocated from Cheshire in 2013.

The columnist for Preloved Magazine and content creator said while they muddle through with single-pane windows and the £30,000 requirement to get their roof thatched, their cottage is “magic” and “definitely worth” the upkeep.

Since moving in, Rebecca has shifted her aesthetic towards cottagecore – which celebrates a return to simplicity and a rural lifestyle – and which she has managed to achieve on a budget by purchasing items second-hand on eBay or Facebook Marketplace, sometimes for just £5, and upcycling them herself.

Rebecca started sharing her dreamy decor online during the Covid-19 lockdown, posting photos and videos on social media of her picking apples in her garden, baking a cake in her quaint kitchen or making wreaths, which has earned her 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.”

Rebecca, her husband and her two children relocated from Cheshire in 2013 to their three-bedroom cottage located in the countryside on the border between Suffolk and Cambridge.

“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 sparkling when they first moved in however.

“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 obtained furniture items which fit her aesthetic on a budget, using second-hand pieces often purchased from eBay or Facebook Marketplace which she would then upcycle.

In one instance, Rebecca purchased a dark wood bookcase for £5 which she then transformed to fit into her aesthetic.

“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 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.

Of her family’s response to her content creation, Rebecca said they have been “amazing”.

“I was worried when the children got older they might be embarrassed but they’re really supportive,” she said.

“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.

While Rebecca has a wealth of “lovely” and “positive” followers, she has 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.”