The family most associated with Cherwell in the last century were the Hawksleys, who came from London and bought it in 1929 for the grand sum of £500. They spent the rest of their lives there and are both buried in the churchyard. They had five children, one of whom, Bob, lives in Sydney and has written "Snapshots"an entertaining account of his childhood in Bulmer (see below for details) illustrated with photographs taken by his Father. A nephew is the noted BBC foreign correspondent, Humphrey Hawksley.

For her birthday in 1963, Bob's mother received an unusual present from her husband: a weather vane with her initials forged into the tail. It still stands there today as a reminder of the life of Joan Constance Seaton Hawksley.

Today its old timbers resonate to the sound of music (played by family or guests), for Peter Owen is a maker of very fine clavichords — (click here to view his work, or even place an order)  and much of the interesting furniture seen in the rooms. A hexagonal table with a complex pattern of end-grain triangles is his; so is a throne-like chair of elm, its secured with wood pegs only; and also a dolls’ house — which is in fact a scale replica of Bulmer Tye House itself.

His wife is an authority on antiques, about which she writes articles and books (under the name of Noel Riley); so not surprisingly there are some unusual period pieces in the house. Instead of using furnishing fabrics with a traditional look, the Owens have contrasted the antiques with strong modern patterns — a Bauhaus design for curtains in one room, an Aztec-style pattern in another, in colours such as tangerine and blue. A Chinese sunshade, inverted, makes an unusual ceiling lightshade. There is a large Bechstein in one of the sitting rooms and log fires in all three. In one bedroom, with a handsome bed, l9th-centuty Persian curtains and a Laura Ashley pattern co-exist happily.