PROPERTY: Downley cottage owned by Anne-Marie Januszeski on sale

The former Wycombe High School student and her friend Melanie King became the first female pair to row the Atlantic when they made the 3,300-mile trip in a 26ft carbon fibre boat in 2009.

After pushing off from a beach at La Gomera in the Canary Islands it took them 77 days in sea conditions which varied from tranquil to terrifying before they reached Antigua to be greeted by a huge crowd of flag waving, cheering fans.

Annie, as her friends call her, grew up in South Bucks. Her parents lived in Seer Green from the time she was born until they died. Her mother was the much loved headmistress of St Augustine’s Primary School in Daws Hill Lane, High Wycombe for 30 years. She was known by one and all as Mrs Jan.

Remembering the huge welcome she and Melanie received at the end of their epic voyage, Annie says: “After three months at sea when there were just the two of us it was surreal suddenly to see family and friends from England standing on the quayside along with a whole crowd of people, all waving and cheering.”

The pair left the Canaries in early January and made landfall in the West Indies towards the end of March. “I was 40 at the time,” she says. “The boat was built for us by our sponsor. You could just about get two people in the cabin if you needed to shelter from extreme bad weather. 

“We had some almighty storms to contend with and, yes, one does fear for one’s life but there’s not much you can do about it. You can’t get off. Once you’ve started, there’s no going back. You’ve got to stay with it.  

“I have a broken oar spoon in a frame on one the walls in the cottage. It broke when I was trapped underneath during a nasty capsizing incident.”  

With two watertight cabins and an open deck, a carbon fibre boat behaves like a cork if it rolls. Fortunately it re-surfaced and the crisis was over. At other times the Atlantic was a mill pond.

“The boat had two sliding rowing positions so we could row together or separately.

“We worked out our rowing rota pretty much on a daily basis depending on sea conditions. Good rolling waves were excellent friends as they would help carry us towards the finish line. 

“I lost two-and-a-half stone and got the best suntan of my life. 

“A  machine on board converted sea water into drinking water. We mixed it with the dehydrated food sachets supplied by a firm that makes food for astronauts. It tastes like slush but it’s packed with protein and vitamins. It kept us going.”

She hasn’t forgotten the time she whipped out her camera to take a shot of what she thought was some sort of sea mammal. “It turned out to be a yellow plastic bag from Sainsburys –  it was the only plastic bag I saw in all the time we were at sea nine years ago.”

Annie bought her two bedroom mid-terrace period cottage on Downley Common in 2014.

It’s one in a row of period cottages facing the 56-acre common  in the local conservation area.

There’s been a settlement at Downley since Anglo Saxon times. It forms part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. 

It’s like living in the country in this part of the village but it’s not out in the sticks.

It’s on the bus route for Wycombe. The bus stops in the same road as the cottage. By car, it’s only about ten minutes to the town centre and station.

Annie’s cottage had already been extended and updated by the previous owner when she bought it. “There was a dividing wall with an arch in the middle between the two reception rooms.

“I took down the wall to open up the space but otherwise I haven’t changed the layout.”

The rejigged living room is now 28ft long and over 13ft wide. The refitted kitchen overlooking the common is off the hall at the front of the house.

The back end of the living room opens onto a paved courtyard. In weather like we’ve been having this summer it’s an outside room.

Beyond that is the double car port. Upstairs are two bedrooms and the bathroom.

The reason she’s put her cottage on the market is because she fancies moving to Gloucestershire and opening an art shop.

She has her eye on a Grade II listed Cotswold stone house in the high street of Minchinhampton. The front part  of the ground floor has been used as a shop by the present owner.

Annie’s latest plan is not as off-the-wall as it might sound. 
After leaving Wycombe High she gained an English degree at Bristol University.

It was only after she’d left uni and still living in Bristol in her 20s that she took up rowing.

She remembers: “I was reading a newspaper that had an article under a headline saying Get Fit for Summer, something like that. Rowing was one of the sports listed and I thought why not? I’m an outdoorsy type anyway and love being on the water.”

Her interest in art deepened when she took an MA at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland while her then husband had a job in Seattle. The marriage didn’t last but her love of art did. 

During a life in which she’s pushed herself to the limit she has worked in Afghanistan, cycled across China, climbed Kilimanjaro, abseiled, leapt out of planes, competed in a triathlon, risked her neck countless times.

She was working for the Amateur Rowing Association before she packed it in to take on the biggest challenge of her life. 
She gave up her last salaried job to become a full time carer for her parents in their final years before their deaths from cancer.

During and since that period her interest in art has been re-awakened partly due to living where she does. “A lot of inspiration for my artwork comes from the Chiltern landscape – I do love a good tree,” she laughs. 

Now, having discovered a shop that would be ideal as an art shop – “I won’t be selling my stuff” – she wants to get going, especially as it’s not far from Bristol, a city she loves.

It’s for this reason Annie’s much loved cottage in Downley which she shares with her dog Zebedee is for sale through the Wycombe office of JNP for £339,950.