ENGLISH HOME The
Best of British
Celebrating the essence of English style
BUCKINGHAM PALACE Enjoy a private tour with a royal relation
DOWNTON ABBEY STYLE Lady Mary’s bedroom Mrs Patmore’s kitchen Lord Grantham’s study
CREATIVE BRITAIN 30 great brands for timeless interiors
h
DECORATING WITH ICONIC FABRICS Morris’s Willow Bough to Colefax’s Bowood chintz
SENSE OF PLACE Makers inspired by heritage, landscape & location
Retreat indoors
Beautiful homes decorated with style and charm
February 2020
U.S./CAN $7.99
CONTENTS FEBRUARY 2020
56 38 68
Beautiful Buys
76 A SENSE OF PLACE Celebrating quality, authenticity,
6
86 30 GREAT BRITISH BRANDS Our selection of brands
12 LADY MARY’S BEDROOM Downton Abbey delights. 14 MRS PATMORE’S KITCHEN Period-style ingredients. 16 LORD GRANTHAM’S LIBRARY Inviting touches.
English Homes 18 ENCHANTING PERSPECTIVE A home in the heart of
PHOTOGRAPHS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT © JAKE EASTHAM; DAN DUCHARS
Exmoor National Park has new life breathed into it.
28 NEW CHAPTER A North Yorkshire grange is updated
to reflect a family’s changing lifestyle.
sustainability and provenance from around the UK.
respected for their heritage skills and innovations.
92 A PERSONAL TOUR OF BUCKINGHAM PALACE
Insights by interior designer and artist Ashley Hicks.
Quintessentially 101 WARMING INDULGENCE Heavenly hot chocolate. 102 NATURAL HAVEN Planting to attract birds, bees
and small animals to the garden.
108 HOUSES WITH CHARACTER Fine listed properties.
38 CROSSING THE FINISHING LINE A Grade II listed
111 THE ART OF MAKING VOWS Mrs M on approaching
46 CREATIVE EVOLUTION An eighteenth-century
114 MY PASSION FOR Sarah Rotheram, CEO of
56 WHERE THE HEART IS A romantic timber-framed
Regulars
64 MY ENGLISH HOME Artist Sheree Valentine Daines
4
Victorian country house on a stud farm in Suffolk.
the New Year with verve.
fragrance house Miller Harris, on her design love.
antique-filled longhouse in Northumberland.
home in West Sussex is a magical haven. on what makes a house a home.
A LETTER FROM HOME A warm welcome from
our Editor-in-Chief.
Style Inspiration
66 INTERIOR DESIGN GUIDE Treat yourself to The
67 BOLD & BEAUTIFUL A fresh way to introduce pattern
75 READER TRAVEL OFFER A tailor-made luxury trip
68 ICONIC DESIGNS REVISITED The history and locations
113 ADDRESS BOOK Useful contact details.
to a decorative scheme.
behind much-loved fabrics and wallpapers.
English Home’s essential 2020 decorating bible. to the Channel Islands, part of the British Isles.
ENGLISH HOME The
Best of British
Celebrating the essence of English style
BUCKINGHAM PALACE Enjoy a private tour with a royal relation
DOWNTON ABBEY STYLE Lady Mary’s bedroom Mrs Patmore’s kitchen Lord Grantham’s study
CREATIVE BRITAIN 30 great brands for timeless interiors
DECORATING WITH ICONIC FABRICS Morris’s Willow Bough to Colefax’s Bowood chintz
h
HOME COMFORTS Set the mood with rich hues.
SENSE OF PLACE Makers inspired by heritage, landscape & location
Retreat indoors
February 2020
U.S./CAN $7.99
Beautiful homes decorated with style and charm TEH US JAN/FEB 19 COVER FINAL.indd 1
29/10/2019 10:01
COVER IMAGE: © CHRIS CURL/ CLOUDBASE PHOTOGRAPHY/SAVILLS ILLUSTRATION: © SOMARTIN/123RF
THE ENGLISH HOME 3
A Grade II listed Victorian country house at the heart of a stud farm in Suffolk (page 28). WRITE TO US AT
The English Home, Cumberland House, Oriel Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL50 1BB, UK Tel +44 (0)333 014 3215 Email: theenglishhome@chelseamagazines.com
www.theenglishhome.co.uk EDITORIAL
Editor-in-Chief Kerryn Harper-Cuss Executive Editor Samantha Scott-Jeffries Managing Editor Sarah Feeley Art Editor Claire Hicks Contributing Art Editors Matt Griffiths, Mark Bradley & Rebecca Stead Sub Editor Lea Tacey Decorating Editor Katy Mclean Features Editor Eve Middleton Homes & Lifestyle Editor Clair Wayman Editor-at-Large Kate Freud
ADVERTISING
H
ere at The English Home we have long focussed on cherishing a specifically English approach to decorating. Namely, a quirky, eclectic way of amalgamating pieces from both our own nation and from around the world to create rooms that place both comfort and style at their heart. In my own home, it is the things that tell a story, bring forth memories and offer a sense of place that give me the greatest pleasure – be that pottery, a beautifully made light or fabric from a designer I have had the privilege to meet. This issue we celebrate indigenous British makers, highlight home-grown talent and reference historic style. Anyone who has watched Downton Abbey will recognise many decorative ideas that are still much-loved and used today. Mrs Patmore’s kitchen, for example, with its copper pans, earthenware crockery and scrubbed work table, is a look greatly desired by modern-day homeowners. I sincerely hope this edition will delight and inspire you, our dear ex-patriot and Anglophile readers, with its decorative ideas and a rather fabulous insight into Her Majesty The Queen’s official London residence, Buckingham Palace. With warmest regards,
Kerryn Harper-Cuss, Editor-in-Chief Follow us on Twitter @englishhometeam Pinterest at pinterest.com/theenglishhome Facebook at facebook.com@theenglishhome Instagram at instagram.com@englishhomemag
4 THE ENGLISH HOME
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© The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd 2020. All rights reserved. Text and pictures are copyright restricted and must not be reproduced without permission of the publishers. The information in The English Home has been published in good faith and every effort has been made to ensure its accuracy. However, where appropriate, you are advised to check prices, opening times and dates, etc, before making final arrangements. All liability for loss, disappointment, negligence or damage caused by reliance on the information within this publication is hereby excluded. The opinions expressed by the contributors of The English Home are not necessarily those of the publisher. www.chelseamagazines.com: Publisher of Artists & Illustrators, Baby, BRITAIN, Classic Boat, Cruise International, Discover Britain, The English Garden, Independent School Parent and associated Guides, Little London, Popshot, Racecar Engineering, Sailing Today, Scotland Magazine, Yachts & Yachting and Wedding Ideas.
PORTRAIT RACHEL SMITH PHOTOGRAPH © DAN DUCHARS
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WESTLAND
LONDON
SPECIALISTS IN ANTIQUE FIREPLACES & FINE ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUES SINCE 1969
New showroom now open.
295 WILLESDEN LANE, LONDON, NW2 5HY TUBE: WILLESDEN GREEN (JUBILEE LINE)
www.westlandlondon.com
TEL: +44 (0) 207 739 8094 e-mail: westland@westlandlondon.com
irds of a
HOMEComforts Set the mood with our selection of beautiful buys in rich hues and textures
6 THE ENGLISH HOME
OPPOSITE PAGE Silk expression Providing natural texture and an intense depth of colour, silk wallcoverings from James Hare can be created bespoke with a paper-backed service. Orissa Silk (Paprika), £76 a metre (min 10m per order), James Hare CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT Sleeping soundly The inky-blue shade of this streamlined four-poster bed is a perfect pairing for soft rose hues. Wardley four-poster painted bed in Ink, from £1,615; Cotswold Herringbone throw in Old Rose, £120, both Neptune Bathroom beauty Now available in a smaller size, this stylish bath creates a chic focal point for maximum impact. Copper boat bath 1500mm, £3,780, BC Designs Birds of a feather Introduce the rich hues of avian plumage to the home with these new ceramic delights. Pheasant Feathers mug, £19.95; small mug, £14.95; 1½-pint jug, £34.95; 8½-inch plate, £17.95; 10½-inch plate, £19.95; Handpainted Pigeon, £125; Game Birds large dish, £89.95, all Emma Bridgewater
THE ENGLISH HOME 7
Apollo bath in burnished bronze - 2 sizes manufactured
What’s unique about an Albion Bath? We first began making fine free-standing baths over 20 years ago using our own special material: Iso-Enamel, keeping your bath hotter for longer, and at only a third of the weight of cast iron. Request our 276 page brochure for our range of 50 beautiful traditional bath tubs.
+44 1255 831605 | albionbathco.com Export to the U.S is our speciality.
ALBION BATH COMPA N Y
HAND MADE IN ENGLAND
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Colour by nature Farrow & Ball has collaborated with the Natural History Museum to create 16 new hues inspired by entries discovered in a nineteenth-century archival text. Walls in Sap Green No.W56, £46.50 for 2.5l Estate Emulsion, Farrow & Ball Homage to heritage The inspiration behind Ian Mankin’s new 1485 collection is The Landmark Trust’s properties built between 1485 and 1603. For every purchase made, Ian Mankin will make a contribution to The Landmark Trust. Herringbone braid, Russet (left); Gatehouse braid, Monarch in Blue (right), both £24.50 a metre, 1485 collection, Ian Mankin Geometric design Pattern and colour in stylish shades of pure wool provide subtle interest underfoot. Geometric Collection bespoke rug, Wren in Granite, £5,030, Grosvenor Wilton China bird Abstract florals and bird motifs meet in this smart new collection Wallpaper, Amazing Mandarins, Deep Pink, £85 a roll; headboard and front cushion, Where’s Cocky, Deep Pink; other cushion, Dancing Daphne, Rose, both £59 a metre, all Charlotte Gaisford
FEATURE EVE MIDDLETON PHOTOGRAPHS P16 © (FARROW & BALL) © JAMES MERRELL
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE Bathroom beauty Patterned accent tiles make a bold statement in strong geometric designs and a monochrome colour palette. ODI handmade encaustic cement tile, £6.72 a tile (20cm x 20cm) (minimum order of 125 tiles, which is equal to 5m²), Otto Tiles Green is the colour This aluminium-based kitchen splashback is said to be made using less energy and water than glass alternatives, and is also completely recyclable. Solid Collection, Warm Grey, from £109 a panel (900mm x 600mm), AluSplash Tailored to fit With different colour options for both top and bottom, as well as for piping detailing, each blanket from linen specialist Once Milano is custom made to order. Linen Blanket with Piping, from £325 for single size (140cm x 220cm), Once Milano n
10 THE ENGLISH HOME
WHY HARTLEY
Bespoke Victorian Glasshouse, Wyoming, USA
EXCEPTIONAL DELIVERY OF SERVICE Once your order has been handmade to your personal requirements, and to our exacting standards, your delivery and installation will be exceptional. The proud team at Hartley Botanic are there to ensure the process runs smoothly, providing you with the information you need and keeping you up to date throughout. Bespoke Victorian Glasshouse, Wyoming, USA
For more information please call 781 933 1993 or visit www.hartley-botanic.com
HANDMADE IN ENGLAND CHERISHED IN AMERICA The only aluminium Glasshouses and Greenhouses endorsed by the RHS Š The Royal Horticultural Society 2018 Endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society. Registered Charity No 222879/SC038262 rhs.org.uk
DOWNTOWN ABBEY SPECIAL
Frill Edge cushion cover (30cm x 40cm), £32, with Heirloom monogramming, £9 an initial or £22 a word, Volga Linen
BeauVamp Inca Gold Silk Tiffany Lamp Shade, from £295, Rockett St George
BEDROOM
Whatever drama may be unfolding in Lady Mary’s life, she can rest assured her bedroom will always be an elegant oasis of calm where even the flowers never fade (the Downton Abbey film crew use faux flowers for continuity). The maids busily keep the mahogany furniture and accessories pristine, plump the pillows, air the newly introduced eiderdown and provide a ready supply of tea.
Wonderlust Jasmine Bloom teacup and saucer, £55 Wedgwood
The Friar’s chair (bespoke), £4,440 plus fabric and fringe, Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler
Mahogany dressing table, dressing stool and triple mirror (RL.23535), £7,745, Titchmarsh & Goodwin
Faux White Rose stem, £16, Neptune
Waterford Lismore Diamond perfume bottle, £90, John Lewis
Belle Epoque photograph frame, (20cm x 16cm), £55, India Jane
12 THE ENGLISH HOME
Double Indian & Organic cotton eiderdown (160cm x 145cm), £490, Cave Interiors
FEATURE CHARIS WHITE PHOTOGRAPHS (DOWNTON ABBEY) © JAAP BUITENDIJK/COURTESY OF FOCUS FEATURES; (FRIAR’S CHAIR) © BARRY MACDONALD; (EIDERDOWN) © LUCA PIFFARETTI
LADY MARY’S
Gardenia Green paint, £45 for 2.5l Active Emulsion, Sanderson
WWW.COXLONDON.COM
+4 4 (0)203 328 9506
DOWNTOWN ABBEY SPECIAL
Fortnum’s Provisions tea towel, £12, Fortnum & Mason Svend Bayer jug, 2.8l, £95, David Mellor
MRS PATMORE’S
KITCHEN
Fisher wall light in antiqued brass, £102.90, Jim Lawrence
Wooden pot brush, £3.99, Cotswold Trading
Mrs Patmore runs a tight ship in the kitchen at Downton Abbey, not just creating delicious treats for Lord and Lady Grantham, their family and guests upstairs, but also keeping a close eye on all the kitchen staff. Whilst deeply suspicious of any new gadgets and inventions, preferring instead to stick to her trusty copper pans, jelly moulds and mixing by hand, Mrs Patmore has had to acquiesce to having electric lighting fitted.
Croft Collection Copper Saucepan with lid, from £70 (for 16cm diameter), John Lewis
Leeden handle basket (small), £14, Daylesford
Spitalfields kitchen, from £45,000, Plain English
14 THE ENGLISH HOME
Traditional cast-iron balance kitchen weighing scale, £79.99, Lakeland
FEATURE CHARIS WHITE PHOTOGRAPHS (MRS PATMORE) © JAAP BUITENDIJK/COURTESY OF FOCUS FEATURES; (LAKELAND) © MIKE COOK IMAGING; (DAYLESFORD) © AC COOPER
Sweet Treats notebook, £2.50, Re-Found Objects
DOWNTOWN ABBEY SPECIAL
Kala Cushion, £85, Soho Home
LORD GRANTHAM’S Islay Whisky Connoisseur Set, £299.95, Annabel James Labrador notecards and envelopes, £8.50 for a set of 10, Annabel James
LIBRARY Designed for the 4th Earl of Carnarvon (1831–1890), The Library (below left) at Highclere Castle contains 5,650 books, the earliest dating from the sixteenth century. It is where Downton Abbey’s Lord Grantham deals with correspondence at his desk, has meetings with the estate manager and also where Lady Grantham and other family members gather on the red sofas on either side of the fireplace to discuss family matters or have pre-dinner drinks. Leather-bound, gold-blocked limited edition of Love is Enough by William Morris, £250, The Folio Society
Highclere Castle will be running special tours for small groups during January and February 2020 including The Library (below) and State Rooms used as sets in Downton Abbey
16 THE ENGLISH HOME
Silver embossed metal service bell, £25.95, Melody Maison
Boston three-seat sofa in Albany Redcurrant, £5,020, Brights of Nettlebed
Men’s Kilim slippers, £165, Pickett
Ships Decanter, £115, Dartington Crystal
FEATURE CHARIS WHITE PHOTOGRAPHS (LORD GRANTHAM) © JAAP BUITENDIJK/COURTESY OF FOCUS FEATURES; (THE LIBRARY) © HIGHCLERE CASTLE
Book Shelves wallpaper, £150 for three 3m rolls, Mind The Gap
Rosa ‘WISLEY 2008’ (Ausbreeze)
Breeders of exquisite English Roses since 1961 Shop online at www.davidaustinroses.com
18 THE ENGLISH HOME
Enchanting
PERSPECTIVE The warm tones of timber provide a natural setting for art and antiques in Sam Godsal’s Devon family home FEATURE JO LEEVERS PHOTOGRAPHY NICHOLAS YARSLEY STYLING CLAIR WAYMAN
Parsonage Pink by Papers and Paints adds to the warm tones in the sitting room. The pair of mid-century Spanish gilt sconces frame the fireplace, above which are ceramic plates by local artist Jacqueline Leighton Boyce. The sofa is covered in a fabric by Nicholas Herbert.
ABOVE LEFT A 1950s Italian walnut card table and an Edwardian canebacked chair, which was bought at a local auction, suit the timber tones of the airy hallway. The table lamp is by Vaughan. ABOVE RIGHT This painting in the sitting room is of Sam’s beloved horse Hutch and is by Miranda Johnston.
S
tanding in the heart of Exmoor National Park, is an unusual weatherboarded home that has views of undulating hills and russettoned moorland from almost every window. Inside, the natural beauty continues, because owner Sam Godsal has decorated her family home with tones and textures that subtly echo the natural setting, along with some special finds of her own. This former farmhouse now feels very rooted in its landscape but when it was built, it broke with the traditional architecture of the area. Sam takes up its story: “We think it was built in around 1939 from a double A-frame kit and every beam bears the stamp of the Canada Log Company,” she says. “I don’t think the National Park would allow anyone to put up such a house today, especially in such a prominent position.” Sam, her husband Hugh and their five children, Clover, Cary, Harley, Grey and Stanley – ranging in age from 21 to 12 – found their Devon getaway five years ago, drawn by the area’s wild, escapist feel. Sam grew up abroad – mostly in Spain, but also in France
20 THE ENGLISH HOME
and Italy – so the first time she visited Exmoor was in her late twenties. “I immediately knew it was a place I could fall in love with,” she says. Returning to it more recently, Sam realised that the high moorland reminded her of rural Spain, a landscape she was familiar with from her childhood. “Castile is high and fenceless and great riding country. Exmoor is similarly open and bracing, so it’s always thrilling, whatever the season,” she says. Sam, Hugh and their children all love to ride, so an added attraction of this house was that it came with stables and a paddock. However, there was plenty of work to be done on their new home before they could settle into the rhythm of outdoor country life here. The house’s elevated position meant that over the years the original steel-framed Crittal windows had taken a battering from the elements and the previous owners had replaced them with practical, if rather inelegant, uPVC ones. This meant that one of Sam and Hugh’s priorities was to reinstate steel-framed
ABOVE The oak dining table in the kitchen is complemented by two vintage Heal’s glass-fronted cabinets. The painting above the fireplace is by Clarisse Loxton Peacock. LEFT Sam chose bespoke kitchen units topped with marble for the generously sized kitchen. The glass pendants above the sink area are art deco pieces and the row of photogravures are by Karl Blossfeldt.
‘There’s no English decorating idiom or style that naturally lends itself to a Canadian cedar cabin on the top of windswept Exmoor hill’ ABOVE Natural greens and russet tones come together in the snug. RIGHT The portrait of the dog above the vintage sideboard in the dining room is by Jonathan Delafield Cook. FAR RIGHT The wallpaper in the cloakroom, Waldemar by Sandberg, suits the rural English setting. The vintage mirror is Swedish.
versions that more closely resembled the original architecture. “We also had to insulate the house, which involved removing the cedar shingles outside, inserting modern insulation and then putting the shingles back on,” says Sam. Whilst this was time consuming, it was worth it in the long run: “It is now a fabulously warm and dry house, whatever the weather throws at it,” Sam says. When it came to the decor, Sam was faced with something of a conundrum. “There’s no English decorating idiom or style that naturally lends itself to a Canadian cedar cabin on the top of a windswept Exmoor hill,” she says with a smile. Sam’s solution was to take a very instinctive and relaxed approach, furnishing it with pieces that reflect the family’s own likes and loves, rather than following any prescribed style. “This means we’ve used a mix of things, from antique English and French oak to highly patterned Turkish rugs,” she says.
22 THE ENGLISH HOME
Vintage and antique furniture complements the warm wood that characterises this home. “I used a lot of pieces in oak and fruitwoods and I’m particularly fond of cherry and walnut,” says Sam, who visited local West Country auction houses as well as online sites for furniture. An Italian walnut veneer table looks very much at home in the high entrance hall, whilst a French oak table is a fitting centrepiece in the kitchen, partnered by two vintage Heal’s oak cabinets that Sam is particularly fond of. “They are a delight – light to look at and not blocky at all. They don’t seem to take up any space, but can store the endless amounts of china and glassware that I tend to buy at auction,” she says. On the other side of the kitchen is a run of cabinets, made bespoke by Sam’s local carpenter. They have a slightly more contemporary feel but blend in seamlessly due to the sensitive choice of materials. Finishing touches include art by local artists, often
Large windows run along one side of the dining room, where an oak table welcomes friends and family. The white ceramic lamps are vintage Casa Pupo and the candlesticks on the table are Spanish.
THE ENGLISH HOME 23
ABOVE & LEFT In the master bedroom, Swan Lake wallpaper by Nina Campbell works alongside an embroidered bedspread bought in Delhi on the couple’s honeymoon. OPPOSITE The master bedroom includes an open-plan bathroom with views over the moorland.
24 THE ENGLISH HOME
reflecting the whole family’s love of animals and country life. In this way, a style has been created to suit the lofty A-frame proportions of the house that feels personal whilst paying tribute to its Exmoor setting. But that’s a perspective that has always felt right for Sam. “Most of the houses I admire could only ever have been created by their owners,” she explains. “I’m drawn to homes with character and a sense of place. That is what works for me rather than anything self-consciously ‘smart’,” she says. Then there is that feeling of comfort and ease which comes from a home that is well used and enjoyed. In part, Sam says, this is gradually acquired with the passage of time, but it can be fostered by choosing furnishings that exude what she calls “a sense of generosity and warmth”. Sam’s favourite ways to create this comfortable atmosphere include candles, an open fire, deep armchairs – and somewhere for people to put their feet up. Textiles also add to the layered, easy luxury of this home. She has a keen eye for vintage and artisan textiles: a cover on their bed was bought on
 THE ENGLISH HOME 25
their honeymoon in India and a Turkish kilim brings rich tones to the living room. But she also loves British fabrics by Nicholas Herbert, Soane Britain and Robert Kime for their timeless elegance. Upstairs, wallpapers in the bedrooms perform a similar alchemy, with a nostalgic swan motif by Nina Campbell casting an escapist mood over the master suite. From this double-aspect space, Sam can watch their horses in the paddock, with views of wilder moorland beyond. In the opposite direction lies a valley. “Sometimes, I see red deer coming up out of the little cleave in the rock and picking their way through the new hardwood plantation we’ve created,” she says. Sam and Hugh divide their time between here, London and Barbados, where they oversee the running of the luxurious Cobblers Cove hotel, which has been in Hugh’s family for over 50 years. But winter weekends in Devon also have a special place in the family’s heart. “A Sunday ride, followed by a hearty stew and an evening spent reading by the fireside is something we all love to share together,” says Sam. n
26 THE ENGLISH HOME
ABOVE & LEFT Hummingbirds wallpaper by Cole & Son forms an uplifting backdrop in daughter Clover’s bedroom. The cross-banded commode is a late-Gustavian Swedish antique and the dressing table is an early nineteenthcentury bonheur du jour lady’s writing desk from France. Sam’s characterful home is available for holiday rentals via Kate & Tom’s.
Luxury Lighting
Design Studio
Lighting Consultancy
www.villaverde.london Collaboration with Plum Interiors www.pluminteriors.com - Photographed by Sam Gray
Made in Italy
New CHAPTER A North Yorkshire grange is updated to reflect a family’s changing lifestyle and to incorporate a collection of inherited antiques and paintings FEATURE RACHEL LEEDHAM PHOTOGRAPHY RACHAEL SMITH
28 THE ENGLISH HOME
The sitting room lies in the oldest part of the house which dates to the 1720s. Existing pieces have been repurposed, including a sofa re-covered in a blue-grey wool – Byron in Plain Steel from Style Library – and an ottoman that now sports a vintage Turkish kilim. The silk and wool Catella rug by Emily Todhunter for The Rug Company adds a note of luxury to the space. The painting Girl And Boy By Bridge is by Henry John Yeend King.
A portrait of a Polish airman hangs above an antique chair in the entrance hall. It was painted by Bunch’s greatgrandmother, Olive Snell, a prolific artist who was based at Arundel during the Second World War. The bespoke side tables in walnut and maple are by James Scott-Harden of Damn Good Furniture.
30 THE ENGLISH HOME
H
enrietta and Mark Stroyan have very little information on the history of their North Yorkshire grange but what they do know is that the earliest parts date to the 1720s, and that over the years the house has expanded – and also contracted. “I have a photograph, which probably dates to the 1920s, showing a ballroom attached to the back of the house,” says Henrietta, who is known to friends and family as ‘Bunch’. “We know that this had disappeared by the 1950s as someone knocked on the door to tell us that she had lived here during that time. She recounted that back then, the bay window of our kitchen was a pair of garage doors and her father kept his boat in there.” The Stroyans may not be throwing grand balls – or, for that matter, storing boats – but theirs is still a very sociable home that is regularly filled with family and friends. With their three children – Clemmie, 22, Archie, 20, and Otto, 18 – now at university, the weekends can often prove a busy time. “We never quite know when one or more of the children is going to descend on us with a group of friends,” says Bunch. “It is very erratic.”
ABOVE The library, which used to be the family’s formal dining room. On the sofas from Sofa.com are cushions made up in Boreland tweed, named after Mark’s family estate in Perthshire. The artwork above the console table is Lonely Sandhills near Trevose Head by JHC Millar. RIGHT The walls of the entrance hall are in Paint & Paper Library’s Stone V. The Hector glass globe lantern is from Hector Finch; the antique mahogany table was picked up at local auction house, Tennants.
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‘I love the way that by simply moving certain pieces around, we are seeing our possessions in an entirely new light’ ABOVE The classic Mark Wilkinson units were installed nearly 20 years ago when the Stroyans relocated the kitchen to the former drawing room. RIGHT When the couple created the back hall in 2001, they kept the arched window which was originally part of the exterior facade. The rich blue of the walls is a bold counterpoint to a portrait of Mark’s father, Angus Stroyan, as a child, painted by Ralph Peacock.
The grange is on a country estate close to the market town of Richmond. It came into Bunch’s family when her grandmother purchased it in the 1990s, decamping from the rather grand hall a couple of miles away. “She was a very stylish woman and she did up this house with lots of chintz curtains and seagrass on the floor, which was very much of its time,” Bunch recalls. When her grandmother passed away, the grange was inherited by Bunch’s father, who let it until 2001, when Bunch and Mark decided to ask if they could buy it. “We were living in London, but we had reached a point with Mark’s job where it made sense to move back to North Yorkshire,” she explains, adding, “I grew up in this part of the world, and although Mark was raised in Scotland, he also had a home here – we met when we were both still at school.” At this stage, the couple made a number of changes to the building: “My grandmother had never cooked and so the kitchen was tucked away at the back of the house, in what is now the utility room,” Bunch says. “We decided to move it into her formal drawing room, which is a lovely big, bright space. Some may consider
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this sacrilege, but we tend to live in our kitchen and so, for us, it made sense to relocate it to one of the best rooms in the house.” The couple also added a back hall and a boot room to the property, together with a second staircase and galleried landing, to provide access to the children’s bedrooms in the west part of the house. “Before this, you would wind your way through the upper floor to reach these rooms,” recalls Bunch, who modestly describes her approach to furnishing the house at this time as “cobbling it together” whilst juggling the needs of three children under the age of six. Fast forward to 2017, and, with the children grown up, the couple decided it was time to rethink some aspects of the house. “Mark’s father passed away in 2015 and we inherited a number of antiques as well as some substantial paintings, which we were keen to incorporate into the rooms,” Bunch explains. “This precipitated our decision to reorganise and redecorate parts of the house.” She decided to enlist the help of Tor Vivian of Tor Interiors, who she had known ever since she
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OPPOSITE Pocket doors are a clever space-saving solution for this guest en suite. They have been painted in Green Blue by Farrow & Ball to match the bath, and finished with studded detailing for a contemporary touch. The panel of antiqued mirror helps add to the sense of space. ABOVE & RIGHT Cushions in Brisa and Carnival, both by Christopher Farr Cloth, lend a dynamic feel to this scheme. The cane bed is a French antique. The artwork above the bed is by local artist Tim Brown.
moved to Yorkshire at the age of eight. “Tor had already worked with us on the children’s rooms in the house a few years previously, and had helped us renovate our flat in London,” Bunch says. Tor is adept at bringing colour and pattern to rooms, often reimagining existing pieces with an unexpected fabric that ties the entire scheme together. In the sitting room, for example, a vintage Turkish kilim was used to re-cover an ottoman, and a selection of striking patterns in a palette of reds was chosen for sofa cushions, pulling in the rich red hues of the seagrass wallpaper the couple had hung in the adjoining space a few years previously. “We had been using this second reception space as our formal dining room but we aren’t formal people, so we asked Tor to transform it into a sitting room-cum-library,” Bunch explains. Artworks from Mark’s family estate, most of which are large Victorian oil paintings, were propped up against the walls throughout the house in order to deem where they would best fit. Tor suggested a dark stone hue to offset the paintings, and different gradations of this colour were chosen for much of the house, providing a unifying backdrop to the art as well as a subtle foil to views of rolling countryside from the windows. The exception to this rule is the back hall, which is painted an atmospheric blue. THE ENGLISH HOME 35
ABOVE Elegant built-in joinery creates a sense of calm and order in the master bedroom. The colour palette includes subtly masculine hues such as elephant grey velvet for the upholstered bed and a steel blue for the chests of drawers from Chelsea Textiles. RIGHT The bench in the master en-suite bathroom is covered in Facet, Fjord Blue by Ian Sanderson, the bespoke mirrors were made by Westgate Fine Art and the bath is from The Cast Iron Bath Company.
Meanwhile, upstairs, a configuration of two guest bedrooms and one bathroom was improved with the addition of a further bathroom in a Jack-andJill arrangement so that it also serves one of the children’s rooms. The main guest bedroom was transformed into a luxurious suite decorated in soft blues and greens; it was given a contemporary edge with lively prints and smart, studded pocket doors to the bathroom. The couple’s master suite was also entirely overhauled, and here Tor replaced a collection of brown antiques with built-in cabinetry, giving a more manageable scale to this large room and also imbuing it with a pared-back, serene feel. More clever fabric combinations in varying shades of blue add character to the predominantly pale space. Bunch describes the redesign of her bedroom as “life enhancing” and this can be said of many of the tweaks that have been made during this new chapter in the grange’s history. “The house functions really well for us and our guests and I think it better reflects our tastes,” she says, adding, “I also love the way that by simply moving certain pieces around, we are seeing our possessions in an entirely new light.” n
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As well as being panelled, the walls in the sitting room are covered in wallpaper with a linen texture by Arte to add a further layer of cosiness to the room. The velvet sofa in the sitting room is from Caravane and the rug is from Sanaiy Carpets in London.
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Crossing the FINISHING LINE A Grade II listed Victorian country house at the heart of a historic racing stud has been skilfully decorated to show both old and new on fine form FEATURE & STYLING SARA BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY DAN DUCHARS
The walls in the dining room are given texture with wallpaper from the Flamant collection for Arte. The table was bought at auction in Paris and the antler chandelier is from Clockhouse Furniture. The curtains are in a Nina Campbell fabric from Osborne & Little.
‘For the design, we tried to draw from the house’s surroundings, and the history of the town and of the stud; it is grand but cosy’ ABOVE LEFT The blue armchairs in the sitting room came from Andrew’s family home in London. ABOVE RIGHT The tiles for the hallway were an impulse buy. “Andrew and I were in Aix-en-Provence and I spotted an endof-line sale at tile specialist Carocim,” says Alexie. RIGHT The brickwork has been stripped of white paint to return the house to its original incarnation.
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hilst all listed buildings have a sense of history, few are as steeped in sporting glory as Egerton Stud in Newmarket, Suffolk. The late-Victorian property, which features a Grade II listed house at its heart, was built for Lord Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere in 1891 and played host to the some of the racing industry’s finest and brightest for more than a century. At that time, the stud was run by trainer Richard Marsh, whose stables produced many British Classic Race winners, including three for King Edward VII. The current custodians of the 10-bedroom house are French interior designer Alexie Azoulay and her fiancé Andrew, whose family have owned it for almost 20 years and initially let it to horse trainers. However, in 2015, Alexie took on its restoration to create a beautiful, inviting home in the countryside. “When Andrew’s family took on the house, it had original features but very little else,” explains Alexie. “The previous owners had divided the second floor into two apartments and updated other parts THE ENGLISH HOME 41
ABOVE Salvaged scaffolding boards have been used to cover the walls in the boot room. The wallpaper is by Linwood and the cushions are from Nkuku. LEFT Alexie in the kitchen where the cabinetry was repainted in Farrow & Ball’s Green Smoke and given new handles sourced at a Paris market.
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of the house, such as adding laminate flooring. Other than that, the house was completely unfurnished and it really did need some proper care and attention.� Alexie worked on the design with her architect mother, Dominique, who is also her business partner in Azoulay Interiors (her interior design company), and the project took just over a year. Structurally, things were reasonably sound and the largest structural change was moving the staircase leading to the second floor to create enough space for a bathroom under the stairs on the first floor. The house also needed substantial rewiring and new plumbing for additional bathrooms. Another early decision was to remove the paint from the exterior, restoring the house it to its natural red-brick beauty. This process had to be done brick by brick, all by hand, and took over six months. On the second floor, Alexie had a bathroom installed, partition walls removed and new corridors created to improve the sense of flow. Fortunately, this
part of the house has fewer original features so was relatively easy in terms of Listed Building Consent. Downstairs, the ground floor was dominated by a vast open-plan reception room. This has now been divided into a sitting room and dining room which are connected by double doors sourced from salvage. “Then, because you could only access the dining room through the sitting room,” explains Alexie, “we created a new doorway for it by using a door frame from another part of the house as a reference to create an exact match.” With a listed house of this scale, making the most of what is already there is key, something which Alexie and Dominique embraced wholeheartedly when they removed the carpets downstairs and discovered some of the natural oak flooring had been marred by previous changes and repairs to the services that run beneath. “We decided to sacrifice the flooring in the smallest room to provide material to make seamless repairs in the other rooms,” explains Alexie.
This was also the case when it came to the kitchen. The original plan had been to replace the cabinetry, but their contractor persuaded them otherwise. “It was good advice, as they are good quality units,” concedes Alexie. “So we simply changed the layout a little and had the cabinetry sanded and repainted, and replaced the worktops.” In creating the decorating scheme, Alexie and her mother looked to the history of the house and at magazines to hone a quintessentially English style. “We did a lot of research, as it was the first project of this size for me, and my mother, an architect from Paris, is used to working in a more contemporary style,” says Alexie. “Plus, of course, Andrew had his own ideas, which were altogether different. He wanted something very cosy with lots of colours, lots of patterns and a bit of a mismatch. We spent a lot of time going through images together to refine the vision.” The completed design is a perfect balance of traditional with a contemporary twist and French
ABOVE As well as having two ovens, the kitchen has a waist-level fireplace which is used as an indoor open grill. Tiles by Emery & Cie are used for the workstops and splashbacks. The dresser from Flamant is vintage and the farmhouse table and benches were made to order. The house is available to rent for events and holidays and can comfortably accommodate up to 20 people. The framed artwork is by Douglas Adams.
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ABOVE The striking chinoiserie silk wall covering was already in this room. “It was a happy surprise to find the matching headboard and cushions in storage elsewhere in the house,” says Alexie.
flair. “You can tell straight away it’s not a classic English interior, but it’s not something that you would find in Paris either,” says Alexie. “For the design, we tried to draw from the house’s surroundings and the history of the town and of the stud. It is grand but cosy, elegant but not pretentious, and despite all of our research on traditional English interiors, it does have a French twist.” The wood panelling which appears in some of the rooms is a new introduction. “In France, it’s very
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traditional to have panelling, especially for rooms that have very high ceilings as it breaks up the expanse of plain wall,” explains Alexie. “Traditionally, it is there to protect the walls, so you find low panels at around sofa height in sitting rooms and taller panels at dining chair height in dining rooms. We planned that here, but then we had to swap the rooms around as there was a later issue with the fireplace installation.” Much of the furniture came from Andrew’s family home in London and Alexie is a regular at auction
ABOVE Alexie added panelling in this bedroom for a cosier feel. The wallpaper is Flamant Flower from Arte and the handmade, bespoke headboard is by Abraham Moon. The framed artworks are from a book published by Arthur Ackermann. LEF Traditional fittings were chosen from Lefroy Brooks for this bathroom. The wall tiles are by Fired Earth and the floor tiles by Emery & Cie.
houses. “I buy a lot in Paris and one time saw an enormous dining table that I knew would be perfect for Egerton,” she says. “Andrew said to buy it, so I did. But, of course, you have to take it away that day, so there I was, in Paris, with a three-metre-long table and just my little car. I had to squash it into my Paris apartment until I could figure out how to get it to England.” Alexie’s instincts were right as the dining table is the perfect size and style for the dining room and can comfortably seat up to 20 people. The reconfiguration on the first and second floors has provided eight en-suite bathrooms, plus two more separate bathrooms, each with their own character. Each of the 10 bedrooms is subtly themed, too. “It is not overt theming, but we wanted each room to have its own identity,” says Alexie. The restored house is now full of charm and stylish, appealing touches. From the enveloping mood of the sitting and dining rooms to the rustic charm of the boot room and the country style of the kitchen, Alexie, Dominique and Andrew have struck the right balance to create a clear winner. n
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Creative EVOLUTION
An eighteenth-century longhouse in Northumberland, filled with antiques and lovingly hand-crafted features, reflects its owners’ passions and interests FEATURE ANNABELLE GRUNDY PHOTOGRAPHY COLIN POOLE
The kitchen, which was built by a local joiner, was installed 15 years ago. “I mixed the pale aqua colour myself, more or less by accident, and I love it,” says owner Dee McGowan. “It works with the light in here, and connects to the garden too.” The painting of a Highland cow is by Dee’s daughter Rosie. The painting of onions is by Enrique Azocar.
Rattie the Sporting Lucas terrier lies by the woodburning stove in the drawing room. The warm coral hue for the walls was chosen by Charles when he first moved in. For a similar paint colour, try Farrow & Ball’s Blazer.
ABOVE RIGHT The former kitchen is now a cosy snug with a huge stone fireplace that was revealed when the old Aga was removed. RIGHT The original longhouse, built from local sandstone, has been extended several times. The porch was made by Charles’ father, who turned the wooden pillars that form the structure.
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hen Dee McGowan moved to Southlands Farm in Northumberland 30 years ago, it was the start of a new life for her. Recently married, she was about to exchange a successful, London-based career in fashion design for rural living with her husband Charles. “Although Charles had had the house for a short while, I’d only visited it briefly before I arrived here as a newly-wed,” Dee explains. “And even though I grew up outside Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and we’re not that far from my parents’ home, at the time I felt I was coming to quite an unknown place.” The property, set in over 30 acres of tranquil farmland, comprises a 300-year-old sandstone longhouse and several farm courtyard buildings. The house, which has been extended and added to over the years, would originally have been a single-
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storey dwelling, with people living at one end, livestock housed at the other end and a cross-passage running from front to back, separating the two sections. Over the years, Dee and Charles have worked hard not only to improve and extend the house, including adding a fifth bedroom and bathroom upstairs, but also its immediate surroundings. They have developed the garden – adding herbaceous borders and an ornamental vegetable garden – and converted the farm courtyard buildings into four luxury holiday cottages. However, when Dee first came here, things were quite different. The ground floor consisted of a tiny, old-fashioned kitchen, pantry and larder, and two reception rooms. Upstairs there were four bedrooms and a bathroom. “An elderly lady had lived here for many years,” Dee says. “The kitchen just had an old Aga and a lino floor, and there were layers of wallpaper
to strip off everywhere. Even so, the house was full of charm and had a lovely atmosphere. Charles and I have made it our project, doing as much of the work as we can ourselves. Our children – Hector and Rosie – have grown up here, and it’s just gradually evolved with our family.” The creation, about 15 years ago, of an open-plan kitchen and living area, is amongst the most significant changes the couple have made. Originally a large milking parlour, over the years the space served as a storage area and then a spacious, practical playroom, which Dee and Charles decided to repurpose and extend once the children (now grown up) had no need of it. They designed and fitted a new kitchen, built a mezzanine office above it for Charles, and added a bright conservatory, where Dee loves to paint and look out at her much-loved garden. THE ENGLISH HOME 49
A large, richly coloured scarlet rug covers the dining room’s original floorboards. Charles mixed the vivid teal-green wall colour and also made the wrought-iron candelabra over the table. The painting of a bird on a branch is by James Alder. 50 THE ENGLISH HOME
ABOVE The new conservatory, which leads off the dining room through the part-glazed double doors. LEFT Painting has always been part of Dee’s life and she discovered oils about 15 years ago. “I’m inspired by Northumberland’s big skies, sunsets and coastline,” she says. “I work in an impasto style, with a palette knife and thick paint, which I love.”
As a final touch, Charles converted the dining room window into an entrance, fitting elegant glazed doors that he salvaged from a friend who was throwing them out. The result is a seamless link into the new conservatory, which has improved the flow of movement around the whole ground floor. “The dining room had always seemed dark and isolated at the end of the house,” says Dee. “Now that we’ve opened it up, it’s lighter and has better access to the kitchen, so it gets used much more.” The changes have had a substantial impact. In contrast to the old, north-facing kitchen, the new rooms face south and are flooded with natural light. “The conservatory and kitchen have become my favourite rooms because they’re so sunny and everyone gathers here,” says Dee. “This is the heart of the home.” Although the kitchen is a newer addition, its cream Aga, flagstone floor and farmhouse-style cabinetry painted in a soft blue are timeless. So, too, are the deep teal-green of the dining room walls and the drawing room’s rich coral scheme, both of which were Charles’ initial choices some 30 years ago. Antique furniture and traditional decorative pieces, including oriental porcelain and glass, perpetuate a sense of continuity. “We’ve just gathered things over the years, and once we have something, we tend to THE ENGLISH HOME 51
The master bedroom has a serene country style that chimes with the age and feel of the house. Dee made the pretty valance and padded headboard.
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‘Although it’s quite eclectic, it’s firmly rooted in an English country look’ keep it, ” says Dee. “Some have been inherited or given to us, and some we’ve simply found, but each one has a story or a memory attached.” The drawing room’s stone fireplace came from Charles’ parents’ home nearby and its cherry wood surround was made by his father from timber grown at a family property in Somerset. Other items, such as the hefty oak dining furniture, have come from local sources. “You can have a wonderful day out visiting the fantastic antiques shops we have around here,” says Dee. “Charles loved that table as soon as he spotted it, and we use it all the time. When we entertain, it’s one of my favourite things to decorate it with flowers from my garden and make it look amazing. We debated whether to buy the chairs as well, but I’m very glad we did.”
ABOVE The tongueand-groove panelled cupboard doors add a rustic cottage edge in the guest bedroom. The walls are painted in Farrow & Ball’s House White. RIGHT Muted tones, floral motifs and soft linen-type fabrics are Dee’s signature look. Her mother made these pretty cushions for the guest bedroom.
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ABOVE The couple’s grown-up daughter Rosie’s bedroom, which she still uses when she returns to visit. The bed came from a friend of Dee’s and the elegant bedside table adds a feminine touch.
In making her choices, Dee has always taken cues from the house’s own distinct character, aiming for a sympathetic effect that enhances its solid, traditional charm. The rustic stone floors and antique furniture are complemented by colourful kilims and classic soft furnishings. Upstairs, the cottage-style bedrooms are all decorated in muted, buttery creams and pretty, washed pinks. “Nothing here is perfectly straight or regular, but I’m happy to go with the flow and fit in with the house,” Dee explains. “Although it’s quite eclectic, it’s firmly rooted in an English country look. If I started again, I might go more
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contemporary, but I’d always choose faded florals and soft, linen-mix fabrics.” Over the years, Dee and Charles have developed their home into a unique place that truly reflects their personalities and interests. Alongside her painting, the flower-filled garden remains Dee’s passion, whilst Charles runs an on-site car restoration business with son Hector and manages the beef cattle herd he shares with daughter Rosie. “We’re always busy, but completely content because home feels so cosy, safe and familiar,” says Dee. “It’s as if the house were wrapping its arms around us.” n
A love letter, owls’ nests and a large, abandoned, hornets’ nest were found in three closed-up rooms at the top of the house.
Where the HEART IS When designer Harriet Anstruther peeled back the layers of her historic Sussex house and let it speak for itself, she created a unique country retreat brimming with personality FEATURE CHRISTINE STOVELL PHOTOGRAPHS JAKE EASTHAM STYLING LOU EASTHAM
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The scullery is one of the oldest rooms in the house and is where Harriet dries linens and keeps cuttings. Harriet found the butler sink in the garden.
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Simple units from Habitat sit quietly against limewashed ancient beams and white painted walls in the oldest part of the house.
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ouses, it is said, are made of walls and beams, but homes are made with love and dreams. For interior designer Harriet Anstruther, it was her sensitivity to her West Sussex property’s past, both as a repository for centuries of personal stories and in terms of its architectural history, which she used to stunning effect to create a unique and enchanting country retreat for her family. “You have to listen to a house and allow it to speak to you,” observes Harriet, who is a full member of the British Institute of Interior Design. “Every space will tell you what it needs if you let it. That’s where creativity begins.” Harriet is married to portrait and interior photographer Henry Bourne and has a 25-year old daughter, Celestia. During the week, she lives and works in South Kensington where she runs her own highly successful multi-disciplinary design studio. Weekends in the country provide respite from city life and an opportunity to reconnect with nature. “Without romanticising it, it’s a slice of time where life is simplified. It’s about collecting wood for the fires, clearing ditches, mending hedges, making and doing and spending time together outside,” she remarks appreciatively. The family’s sanctuary is a three-storey farmhouse which was given to Harriet by her father on the day
ABOVE All the exposed woodwork has been limewashed by hand and organic paints, pigments and plasters have been used to allow the wattle-and-daub walls to breathe. The table and chairs are from Petworth Antiques Market. Harriet bought the brass arms holding torches from a junk shop in France. RIGHT Harriet discovered the York stone flooring under layers of 1930s newspapers and carpet tiles.
‘I sometimes think I would love a big fancy shower, but that’s not possible here. The building is what it is and that’s what makes it magical’ ABOVE A welcoming fire burns in the huge hearth of the sitting room which was an eighteenth-century addition along with two upper storeys. The large ottoman is from George Smith. RIGHT The house’s laid-back mood makes it a relaxing weekend hideaway for all, including the family’s dogs – Pearl, a whippet (seen here), and Maudie, a terrier. The modern sconce above is by Tobia Scarpa for Flos.
she was born and subsequently occupied by tenant farmers. The timber-framed property sits at the heart of 100 acres of farmland, garden and woods and is deeply rooted in its rural past. The oldest parts of the house, which date back five centuries, are the kitchen, scullery, dining room and library. A later wing, added in the eighteenth century, provides a sitting room and two upper storeys. However, it was not history or architecture which piqued Harriet’s curiosity when she first visited the house as a young girl, but a far more immediate question. “I was about eight or nine and keen to get to my riding lesson, but my father had to call in first to speak to the farmer,” she explains. “As we sat there, a little mouse ran across the floor and straight up the farmer’s leg. I kept wondering where it had gone and why no one was mentioning it.” Less intrepid souls might have been disturbed by memories of free-range mice, but when Harriet moved in with her small daughter some 20 years ago in the aftermath of a difficult time, she relished the challenge of a house that had remained untouched for decades.
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“There was no central heating, so I bought dozens of cheap, brown felt Army surplus blankets to nail up as draught excluders. We wrapped ourselves up and nestled in front of the fire,” Harriet says. “We called ourselves Bidge It and Bodge It,” Harriet continues, laughing as she recalls how she and Celestia removed piles of rubbish and lifted dank carpet tiles and layers of 1930s newspapers smothering the ground floor. “We had huge bonfires.” There were what Harriet refers to as the “necessary, unglamorous jobs” – the installation of new drains, rewiring, replumbing and installing central heating. Her own interventions have been subtle – a half-height wall to create a ‘snug’ area off the dining room and a new bathroom on the second floor. “I sometimes think I would love a big fancy shower,” Harriet says, “but that’s not possible here. The building is what it is and that’s what makes it magical.” Respect for the building has been paramount throughout every stage of the renovation, even to the extent of removing old plugs from holes in interior doors to allow the fires to draw freely and redistribute heat.
The windowsill in the sitting room plays host to Harriet’s collection of candlesticks and candles alongside a bust with a paper crown playfully placed on top of it.
In the snug, the gilded antique chair, playfully described by Harriet as a throne, was a serendipitous find by the side of a skip. The fabric (discontinued) is by GP & J Baker.
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The master bathroom’s clawfoot tub, a flea market find, is somewhere to luxuriate on dark, rainy nights, and sits beneath an inherited Scottish landscape painting.
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The Campbell tartan throw on the chest in the guest bedroom is a reference to Harriet’s Scottish heritage.
Gradually the bones of the house were revealed; the original brick-and-stone floors downstairs, weathered York stone flags in the kitchen, and magnificent oak beams. There were other discoveries too, from a hand-painted scene tucked almost out of sight at the bottom of a door, to three hidden rooms at the top of the house, sealed off, presumably to keep out the cold. Harriet then lime-washed all the exposed woodwork by hand and used organic paints, pigments and plasters to allow the wattle and daub walls to breathe. The calm, quiet interior is representative of a new chapter in the story of this unique property. As a designer, Harriet focuses on creating a style which evokes feeling and prompts response, a philosophy extended to her own home with its harmonious blend of graceful, witty and playful notes. She has, with great flair, combined an eclectic collection of family heirlooms and found objects to create an elegant and very personal home where everyone can relax, including the family’s dogs, Pearl and Maudie. “It was a marvellous gift from my father,” Harriet says with feeling. “I was very close to him and, for me, this house epitomises his generosity of spirit, his life as a countryman and his love of nature, which I’ve inherited. As a child, I grew up watching and listening to nature’s rhythms and I continue to draw inspiration and impetus from Mother Nature’s monumental designs.” n
Elegant family pieces furnish the second-floor guest room in the eighteenth-century wing. The modern wall light is Tau by Flos.
Sherree Valentine Daines MY ENGLISH HOME
The renowned impressionist artist, who counts members of the Royal family amongst her collectors, lives in a Victorian rectory bursting with colour and objets d’art
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herree Valentine Daines has been at the forefront of modern British impressionist painting for over 35 years. She became a professional artist in her mid-twenties and her paintings have been exhibited at such prestigious venues as the Tate, the Royal Academy and the Barbican. As well as depicting scenes of everyday life, Sherree is a portrait artist and recent subjects include HM The Queen and HRH Prince Phillip, Joanna Lumley OBE, Sir Michael Parkinson and Sir Ranulph Fiennes. She lives in Dorking with her husband, Mark Rowbotham, also an artist, and youngest daughter Felicity. Can you describe where you grew up and who with? I grew up in Surrey and I’ve lived within a five-mile radius of where I was born ever since. I’ve never moved away. I’m one of five children – I’m the fourth – and I’m very close to my family. I see them a lot. Were either of your parents creative? My father trained as a stone mason and my mum was always very good at drawing. They were both into art and music and it rubbed off on us all. We were always drawing and sketching. All five of us were very good at art, but I’m the only one who has made a profession of it.
FEATURE NIKI BROWES PORTRAIT © ALUN CALLENDER
How many children do you have? Four. One boy (Charles) and three girls (Lettice, Bunty and Felicity). I had a large family because I came from one; I wish I’d had more, actually. My husband and son are also artists, whilst Lettice is a professional violinist – she’s played for Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace before – and the other two girls are into sculpture. So we’re a creative bunch. Who do you live with today? My husband. The children come and go. The youngest is still at home and Lettice has a base here because she works abroad a lot. We also look after Lettice’s dog, Celery, who is a sprocker – a cross between a springer and a cocker spaniel. How would you describe house? It was built in 1688 and is an old rectory with high ceilings and thick walls. The people who lived here in the Victorian times did quite a lot of work on it so it has a Victorian feel.
growing up or other family members. It’s the same with my husband’s work. His particular strength is colour; he works in pastels and oils, whereas mine is more about energy and light. Where do you shop for interior items? Nowhere in particular; it’s very ad hoc. My husband has a very good eye for unusual bits and pieces. We just buy what we like when we see it. Even so, the Montpellier area in Cheltenham is a particularly nice place to shop. I first saw the house when Lettice came to play here with a friend and I told my husband I’d just seen the house of my dreams. When it finally came up for sale, we had to borrow money from everywhere. It was a struggle, but it was worth it. It needed a lot of work; the first time it rained, we ran out of buckets and saucepans. That was 25 years ago and we’ve only been been able to decorate in the last five years. With a young family, we didn’t have much time, but now they’re leaving home, we’re more able to. It’s a labour of love and we’re looking after it for posterity. We also believe it’s haunted, but we think she’s a very friendly female ghost who likes children. She seems to appear when there are children around and when people are visiting. We’ve had some people pack their bags because they’re so scared! What is a favourite room in the house? The kitchen because it’s quite big and is a real family room. Sadly, it’s north-facing, but that’s how they were positioned hundreds of years ago to keep them cool. Then our drawing room is very attractive. It’s got curved walls and is structurally rather stunning.
Do you have any family heirlooms? We have a beautiful art deco cupboard from my grandparents. What has been a favourite recent purchase for the home? We were in an antique shop and spotted this lovely high, orange wooden seat that was made for a fairground kiosk. We loved its handmade nature and how worn it was. That’s now in the kitchen. Is your house colourful? All the walls are white because of all of the artwork on display, and not just ours. My husband recently bought an eight-foot by three-foot stone mural from a reclamation yard. It’s very heavy but we managed to get a blacksmith to help us get it up. It’s in the hallway and is a real show piece. If you did not live where you do, where would that be? My mother was born in Cheltenham, so we used to visit a lot when I was a child. My daughter Bunty lives there now, so it would be an obvious place to move to. If my husband had a choice, we would definitely live by the sea, perhaps in Cornwall, which is a favourite holiday destination for us because he loves water.
If we didn’t know what you did for a living, would it be obvious if we came to your house? Yes. There are paintings everywhere and art bits and pieces. Also, because my father was a stone mason, we like buying stone that’s been carved, so there’s lots of stone and sculptures.
Finally, what should no English home be without? Babies! My mother, who is now 90 (my dad is 95), has always kept a cot in her house and has 15 grandchildren. I think I’ve picked up that maternal instinct. It’s lovely having a dog, too.
How much of your own artwork do you have at home? Everything I have in the house has sentimental value – it’s of the children
Visit clarendonfineart.com to view Sherree Valentine Daines’ artwork. For news, catalogues and exclusive invitations, visit sherreevalentinedaines.com n THE ENGLISH HOME 65
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how to us
ALL THE WAY FROM THE UK
DECORATING GUIDE 2020
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INTERIOR DESIGN
Versatile pink 2 1
CREATING THE PERFECT ENGLISH HOME
SUCCESS WITH COLOUR
Comprehensive guide to choosing & using perfect tones
Ranging from an almost neutral plaster pink to mid-tones of rose and peony to lively corals and vibrant fuchsias, pink has many characters. The colour seemed to be having a ‘moment’ a couple of years ago and its popularity has not waned, with tones of blush sweeping into interiors in beguiling combinations and myriad styles. Feminine, floral schemes naturally suit the delicate romance of rose pinks, but pink can also be smart, sophisticated and punchy. It provides a graceful counterbalance to grey decor; adds dynamic contrast to greens and blues; and produces classical echoes with yellow, also suited to fresh, uplifting rooms.
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Collating moodboards & planning layouts
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FEATURE KATY MCLEAN PHOTOGRAPHS (4 & 6) © KIP DAWKINS, (8) © ADAM CARTER
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WHICH HUE? The choice of pink will tend to set the mood and energy for the room. Shades differ so vastly, each creating its own ambience and tone. To avoid a saccharine look, steer away from pinks that tend to have a blue base note and evoke the feel of a young girl’s bedroom. Pinks with a yellow or muted brown undertone have a far more grown-up effect. Earthy plaster tones are barely pink but an almost nude colour that can provide a soft introduction to using pink and, alongside cosseting hues of beige and brown, result in a warming, neutral look. Or they can be prettied up with accents in deeper pinks or smudgy blues which, being soft, gentle and slightly dirty tones, suit quiet, restful spaces. Edward Bulmer Natural Paint’s Cuisse de Nymphe Emue is popular for this look. For a deeper shade, Farrow & Ball’s Sulking Room Pink has a moodier appeal. Petal pinks instantly feel more feminine and bring a brighter approach. If desired, they are perfect for a more romantic country look full of charm: think ditsy patterns, faded antique linens and rose prints. Alternatively, used in a more graphic way, for instance contrasted against whites and greys, they can look modern and crisp. Teaming green with mid-pink tones creates a striking combination. Bold botanical motifs in a deep evergreen hue can be exquisite against a rose backdrop. Blues, from deep navy to powder blue, work well with most tones of pink; particularly interesting is contrasting sky blue with a deep coral pink. A ‘hot palette’ – including pinks, reds, oranges or yellows – whilst usually avoided due to the thought that these colours clash, can produce bright and dynamic, or rich and comforting results when the right balance is used. Pink can provide a classic backdrop to traditional furniture whose warm wood, antique brass and gold tones sit comfortably with most shades. For a contemporary lift, try cooler nickel and silver finishes and geometric patterns. And for the eternal romantic, pink will always look perfect on florals. 1 Wallpaper, Batali, Pink, £79 a roll, and all fabrics, Jane Churchill 2 Wallpaper, Trellis, Pink Sand, £356 a roll, No9 Thompson 3 (From top): Espinillo Hot Pink Patchwork cushion, £45; Espinillo Hot Pink Oxford pillowcase, £15; Espinillo Pink throw, £75, all Clarissa Hulse 4 Manor collection, Pale Pink Series, Anna French 5 Blind, Margot, Pink, £78 a metre, Kate Forman
6 Chair and curtains, Merabu, £140 a metre, and all other fabrics, Travers 7 Wall, Josephine, £25 for 1l Chalky Interior Matt, M&L Paints 8 Bespokeupholstered full bed in Embroidered Pink Rosebud Linen, from £1,995, and all other fabrics and furniture, Susie Watson Designs 9 Chair upholstered in Rivoli, Rose Ancien, £78 a metre, and cushion fabrics, all Manuel Canovas
THE ENGLISH HOME 79
TEH 2020 BOOKAZINE Decorate with Pink.indd 78-79
22/10/2019 15:55
CARLOS GARCÍA
How to use pattern successfully
DECORATING ADVICE
Using pattern Adding focal points Attention to details Incorporating antiques
The founder of Carlos Garcia Interiors explains the importance of pattern in the home and summarises his considerations when employing beautiful prints
ABOVE Carlos loves Middle Eastern fabrics, chinoiserie, pattern and plenty of bold colour. Here a golden yellow armchair looks striking amidst the blend of pattern and antique furniture. RIGHT Here, classic English country house fabrics are deftly combined with spicier hued tones from warmer climes. ABOVE RIGHT An eye-catching suzani forms a backdrop for the assortment of cushions on the sofa. A rich red in the patterned elements unites the scheme.
BUY PLUS INTERIOR DESIGNER CASE STUDIES & INSIGHTS YOUR COPY
What does the addition of pattern give to an interior? And why is pattern an important element to introduce? My aim when decorating a house is to transform it into a home. Pattern adds warmth, softens, makes wide spaces feel cosier, rooms feel comfortable and it can be an economical way of filling a room without much in it. Do you have favourite types of pattern, and why? I can’t conceive of a room without pattern. I love pattern. I’m terribly fond of small geometric patterns. I also like patterned weaves as they provide both pattern and texture. When adding patterns to a room, where do you start? For example, with the colour, the mood, the period of the room? Wendy Nicholls [a director at Sybil Colefax & John Fowler] once told me houses tell you what they want. I wholeheartedly concur. Listen to a house/room and you’ll know what to do. If starting with a blank canvas, I always begin with walls, whether colour
or pattern, and build up from there. Otherwise an existing object – a rug, a painting, etc – may be a good departing point to inform the rest of the design. Do you have any personal rules for using pattern. For example, odd numbers of different patterns, never mix X and Y, etc? I tend to mix antique and new patterned textiles to add a lived-in feel and I always introduce a stripe in a room to let pattern ‘breathe’. I sometimes use a profusion of small geometric patterns to bring ‘order’. What helps different patterns sit comfortably together? And are there ever any that will never be friends? Ideally, although not necessarily, I maintain an almost imperceptible thread running through. One small area of a pattern can inform the next. However, I tend to throw in something ever so slightly dissonant to add interest and/or wit, to take seriousness away.
THE ENGLISH HOME 15
TEH 2020 BOOKAZINE Carlos Garcia.indd 14-15
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Interior Design is the ultimate guide dedicated to helping readers create their perfect English home. From the publishers of The English Home magazine, it features invaluable advice from some of Britain’s finest designers and interiors experts on success with colour, pattern, design details, focal points & more. Order online or seek out a copy at Barnes & Noble
Buy online for $10.95 (plus shipping and handling) and have it direct to your home. Visit chelseamagazines.com/interiordesign 66 delivered THE ENGLISH HOME
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STYLE INSPIRATION
FEATURE KATY MCLEAN PHOTOGRAPH © ANDY GORE
Our special section dedicated to design and decorating inspiration begins here
BOLD & BEAUTIFUL
Create impact with a swathe of decorative wallpaper between the dado and picture rails. Positioning the pattern here keeps the decorative detail at eye level, whilst the paint colour can be used to emphasise an accent colour within the design. Wallpaper, Newill, £99 a roll, Morris & Co; paint, Cadet Blue, £45 for 2.5l, Sanderson. (See p104 for iconic Morris & Co designs.) THE ENGLISH HOME 67
Iconic designs
REVISITED
Here, we look at the fascinating history behind some of the most enduring fabric and wallpaper designs, and the locations that inspired them
ABOVE LEFT Willow Boughs captures the intersecting movement of willow branches just as Morris observed them as he walked beside the stream near Kelmscott Manor. Here, in its best known original colourway, £61 a metre, Morris & Co.
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TOP RIGHT William Morris (18341896), father of the Arts & Crafts movement. BOTTOM RIGHT Reducing the colour in Pure Willow Bough Embroidery (23606) offers a modern interpretation of the original design, £126m, Morris & Co.
WILLOW BOUGH & STRAWBERRY THIEF Kelmscott Manor Imagine the garden at Kelmscott Manor in Oxfordshire, where William Morris lived with his wife Jane and daughters, Jenny and May, from 1871 until his death in 1896. It must be June because strawberries are ripening and thrushes are flying in and helping themselves to the fruit. William is resigned, but his gardener is hopping mad, as May Morris describes. “You can picture my father going out in the early morning and watching the rascally thrushes at work on the fruit beds, and telling the gardener – who growls ‘I’d like to wring their necks!’ – that no bird in the garden must be touched.” The experience is relived in fascinating pattern repeat on the Strawberry Thief design. Morris enlisted the help of his architect friend Philip Webb to draw the birds, including the guilty ones with fruit hanging from their beaks. Strawberry Thief was registered as a design in 1883, and cut into blocks of pear wood and hand-printed using natural dyes including indigo which Morris described as “the only real blue dye”. An early Morris & Co catalogue describes the sequence: “The cloth is first dyed all over in an indigo vat to a uniform depth of blue, and is then printed with a bleaching reagent which either reduces or removes the colour as required by the design. Mordants [fixatives] are next printed on the bleached parts and others where red is wanted, and the whole length of the material is then immersed in a madder [red dye] vat calculated to give the proper tint. This process is repeated for the yellow, the three colours being superimposed on each other to give green, purple and orange.” With finishing processes that followed extended block printing, it was not surprising that Strawberry Thief was more expensive than some of the other Morris prints. Morris was alert to many aspects of nature he encountered in his surroundings and his designs live by his belief that “love of nature in all its forms must be the ruling spirit”. Willow Bough, designed in 1887, (far left) is another design indebted to Kelmscott Manor, first as a wallpaper, then a fabric. May Morris was with her father on an outing and recorded how the design came about. “We were walking one day by our little stream that runs into the Thames, and my father pointed out the detail and variety in the leaf forms, and soon afterwards this paper was done, a keenly-observed rendering of our willows that has embowered many a London living room”. Tinkering with the work of a master is risky and attempts at recolouring William Morris designs over
the decades have not always met with approval. But when in 2016 Morris & Co offered some of his designs in off-white tints and called the collection Pure Morris, it gave new perspective on the brilliance of his patterns when colour is taken away. Pure Morris has attracted new followers who understand the value of the patterns without distraction, amongst them interior designer Henry Prideaux who chose Pure Strawberry Thief when decorating a master bedroom. “The beautifully understated Pure version – a delicate, white sheer – is ideal for the feeling of serenity that one hopes to achieve in a bedroom,” he says. Arts and Crafts architect WR Lethaby had a point when he declared Morris to be “the greatest pattern-designer we ever had or ever can have”. Well, he was certainly the genius of the pattern repeat. Modern-day proponents of the original Willow Bough design in its green colourway include the architect and interior designer Ben Pentreath, and the author and fashion journalist Plum Sykes.
ABOVE Wallpaper, Strawberry Thief (216476), £68 a roll; cushion, Strawberry Thief (220312), £62 a metre, both Morris & Co LEFT Willow Boughs wallpaper in the guest bedroom of architect and interior designer Ben Pentreath’s home.
RIGHT Interior designer John Fowler (1906–1977) of Colefax and Fowler. FAR RIGHT A chair upholstered in Bowood chintz looks at ease in a country-house setting with rustic flooring and elegantly simple curtains.
ABOVE Grade I listed Bowood House witnessed the discovery of a fabric that has taken its name. The East Lawn and gardens opens to the public between April and November. OPPOSITE The serenity of the pattern has made Bowood chintz a favourite for curtaining, but, as here, it is equally lovely used as a wallpaper.
BOWOOD CHINTZ Bowood House Bowood House has been home to descendants of the 1st Marquis of Lansdowne since 1754, many of whom have called on acknowledged masters of the age for its design and decoration. With an orangery designed by Robert Adam and a park by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, it comes as no surprise that, in the 1950s, John Fowler of Colefax and Fowler was called upon to supervise the decoration of a number of rooms for the 8th Marchioness of Lansdowne. During the project, Fowler discovered a fabric – some say when he lifted an old cover on a chair – and was instantly captivated by its design. The pattern of pink roses and green leaves faded to blue is the one we know now as Bowood chintz. Interior designer Imogen Taylor, who worked with John Fowler, explains how it came to become a part of Colefax and Fowler’s fabric collection. “John asked Lady Lansdowne [the Marchioness] if he could copy the fabric to use it at Bowood and sell it to others, too. At the time we printed very few chintzes to sell, so they remained rather exclusive. It was not until many years later that fabrics became part of the business.” Bowood chintz went on to become one of the most celebrated patterns of the following decades and is still much loved on both sides of the Atlantic. Although the design has been printed in several colourways over the years, the currently available one
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has grey-tinted white roses and green leaves. This was first produced in 1964 and is now also a wallpaper. “It is a classic design,” says Taylor. “The original pattern must have been drawn around 1860, a very inventive period, and would then have been blockprinted. The white-and-green colourway is particularly pretty and I have used it on many occasions.” Fiona Shelburne, the present Lady Lansdowne and an interior designer who worked under Imogen Taylor at Colefax and Fowler, keeps the association with Bowood chintz close to her heart. “Soon after I came to the house, I unearthed some Bowood chintz loose covers in a trunk,” she says. “As they didn’t fit any of our furniture, I had them remade for our garden furniture. I love the design in the white and green colourway; its purity and simplicity is perfect for decorating a bedroom. I also like to give it a contemporary context, for instance, by mixing in oatmeal cushion covers with lime green velvet spots and coffee-coloured suedes.” Recognition for the design has even spilled into Lord and Lady Lansdowne’s private walled garden, where the gardener has designed a pair of Bowood chintz borders planted in a related colour scheme of white roses and shades of cream and green. This section of the grounds is open for guided tours on select dates between April and November. Modern-day proponents of the design include esteemed interior designer Veere Grenney.
THE ENGLISH HOME 71
SCOTLAND
— 2020 TOUR PREVIEW — British Isles
Scotland: Dumfries and Galloway England: Hadrian’s Wall, Lake District Wales: Snowdonia National Park, Welsh Castles Ireland: Dublin, the magnificent Neolithic site at Knowth in Bru Na Boinne, Belfast
May 9-22, 2020 • 13 Nights • $5,795
17th Annual Outlander Tour® Based on the book series by Diana Gabaldon. Time travel back to the 18th-century Highlands, where history and fantasy come face to face. See secret places & magical sites off the beaten path.
June 25-July 6, 2020 • 11 Nights • $4,995 Sept. 26-Oct. 4, 2020 • 8 Nights • $3,995
Deluxe escorted tours 16-guest maximum
Western & Northern Isles of Scotland
A combination tour of the popular Lords of the Isles and Viking Treasure. Skye, Lewis, Harris, Orkney, the Northwest and Northeast coasts, and the Highlands. Includes the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
August 12-27, 2020 • 15 Nights • $5,995
703.941.6455 • www.CelticJourneys.us • Email: Judy@celticjourneys.us
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REDDISH CHINTZ Reddish House Glamour will always be associated with Reddish House, a Queen Anne house in Wiltshire purchased in 1947 by Sir Cecil Beaton, the celebrated photographer, stage and costume designer, writer, gardener and interior designer, who lived there until his death in 1980. In 1956, Beaton redesigned the drawing room (right) in an Edwardian style and this room has since been variously described as a fanfare of Edwardian pomp and, more kindly, as a nostalgic essay in the Edwardian elegance that reappeared in his stage designs, including, of course, for My Fair Lady. Beaton himself described the room as his “Lady Windermere’s Fan-decor drawing room”, so it is clear he knew very well what he was doing here. As part of his plans for the drawing room, Beaton commissioned an exclusive print run of the textile now known as Reddish Chintz. He had the design copied from a fragment of a vintage rose print he had acquired on his travels, possibly at a Paris flea market, though his diary gives no clues. Once printed, the fabric was made into slip covers for seating and curtains to hang under shaped pelmets (not shown). Historian and designer Andrew Ginger, whose book Cecil Beaton at Home: An Interior Life explores Reddish House in detail, points out that Beaton’s use of this fabric was ahead of the chintz revival of the 1960s, adding that the drawing room has been hailed as an icon of English country-house taste. Ginger also had a hands-on part in a further chapter of the Reddish Chintz story when the curtains were removed from Reddish House to be sold in 2013. “Before they were auctioned,” he explains, “I was able to measure and photograph the design with colour charts, in order to reproduce it accurately in both its fresher and its more antique versions. Some of the curtains had had no direct sunlight on them, and some had, so there was a range of tones, from fresh to antique.” Reddish Chintz is available in original and antique faded versions by Beaudesert.
ABOVE Photographer Cecil Beaton in the drawing room of Reddish House, which he transformed when he lived there from 1948 until his death in 1980. LEFT Reddish Chintz, £140 a metre, printed to order, Beaudesert. FAR LEFT Reddish House, the former home of Cecil Beaton, in Broad Chalke, Wiltshire.
THE ENGLISH HOME 73
VALE OF BELVOIR Belvoir Castle
ENDURING STYLE When a design’s life spans decades, as those featured here, it will usually have undergone changes in colour, printing techniques and even scale. For each, its story is its family tree, as well as an illustration of our changing styles and tastes. Sometimes it is good to look back and restore what has been lost; at other times it is good to revive and update the design in a way that will suit our homes now. In their own way, each of these designs has proven how it can be done. n
ABOVE Looking out from a hill top, Belvoir Castle, its gardens and lakes are open to visitors on selected dates between March and October each year.
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ABOVE In the style of a Jacobean crewelwork, the detail and texture in Vale of Belvoir (also known as Abbotsford) captures the essence of the original embroidery in the quite different but equally exacting medium of block printing. Abbotsford/Vale of Belvoir, £350 a metre, Hazelton House collection, Rosebank Fabrics Vale of Belvoir is seen here covering a chair in the Library at Belvoir Castle.
FEATURE CELIA RUFEY PHOTOGRAPHS P68 (WILLIAM MORRIS) © IAN DAGNALL COMPUTING/ALAMY; P70 (BOWOOD HOUSE EXTERIOR) © ANNA STOWE; (BOWOOD CHAIR) PHOTOGRAPH © MARK BOLTON/GAP INTERIORS, INTERIOR DESIGN BY MELLONEY SUTHERLAND; P73 (REDDISH HOUSE EXTERIOR) © JAMES MCMILLAN
Lost and found is at the heart of Belvoir Castle’s textile story. Overlooking the Vale of Belvoir in Leicestershire – its French name today pronounced ‘beaver’ – the fourth incarnation of the castle was designed by James Wyatt in the early 1800s for the 5th Duke and Duchess of Rutland, and is among the finest examples of Gothic Revival architecture in England. In 2009, Emma, the 11th Duchess of Rutland discovered a fabric sample in the castle’s linen cupboard that had been there for decades. It was a printed interpretation of Jacobean crewelwork and the Duchess wanted to find out if it could be printed for the castle. The name on the ticket attached to the sample was Rosebank Fabrics and she discovered that this was the trading arm of the fabric’s printers. Once Rosebank Fabrics had the sample, it was able to trace the path of the design from the date that it was drawn – July 1919 – and discovered the original blocks cut to print it, which date back to 1926 and were in good condition. The design requires the application of 56 blocks and 14 colours, applied in the correct sequence, and is printed in the original colourway at the rate of just 15 metres a week. Now named Abbotsford/Vale of Belvoir, the print has been used to cover seating in the Wyatt and Tapestry rooms in the castle. Tiffany Duggan of Studio Duggan is one of the interior designers who has chosen the print recently for an updated interpretation of an English country house bedroom. “I would describe the combination of the scale and painterly quality of the fabric as both soft and striking,” she says.
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A sense of place MAKERS OF BRITAIN
Throughout the British Isles beautiful work is produced that reflects our heritage of traditional skills and techniques, abundance of raw materials and colourful landscapes
Melin Tregwynt is a family company that has been weaving at Tregwynt Mill in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, for over 100 years. Its throws, blankets and cushions are an appealing combination of traditional and contemporary.
M
aking is so often intimately linked to place. Local geography, weather patterns, livestock, trades and acquired skills all played a part, historically, in determining who made what, where and why. Cutlers based themselves in Sheffield because it had all the necessary ingredients for their craft: rivers to drive water wheels for grinding, coal for smelting and forging, and iron ore for making the blades. The Potteries in Stoke-on-Trent developed into a centre for ceramics thanks to the plentiful supply of clay, lead, salt and coal in Staffordshire. Furniture-making became a specialism of the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire due to raw materials from the surrounding beech woods and a local labour force that was skilled in turning bowls, spoons and other small items, and subsequently parts for chairs. Whilst it may seem unnecessary in this day and age, many modern makers base their work on geographical location, particularly if they wish to make use of traditional skill-sets, machinery or locally sourced materials. Adapting a heritage craft for a modern aesthetic or simply taking inspiration from the nearby landscape, whether it be rural or urban, is also a reason for being in a specific area. As the ever-increasing pace of life provokes a corresponding desire to slow things down and celebrate quality, authenticity and sustainability, provenance is becoming increasingly important.
LEFT FROM TOP One of the two lino cuts carved by Angie Lewin and used to create her two-colour Clover fabric for St Jude’s, shown here as a print (turn to page 79 to view the fabric). The rugs and runners by Roger Oates Design are reinventions of eighteenth-century twill floor coverings, woven on narrow-width looms. Rapture & Wright hand-prints fabric and wallpaper in its Gloucestershire workshop. Anta’s carpet designs are inspired by Scottish landscapes and woven in Scotland from British wool. THE ENGLISH HOME 77
Made in England “These days it might be possible to make anything anywhere,” says Kate Hills of Make It British, “but when a specific skill-set has developed in a particular place then relevant industries tend to be based there.” She cites, for example, Stoke-on-Trent for its ceramics, Somerset for products in leather and sheepskin, Macclesfield for printing and Sudbury in Suffolk for silk. Known as the silk capital of England, Sudbury is where around 95 per cent of the nation’s silk is woven and in 2015 Sudbury silk was awarded protected geographical status. Four prestigious silk-weavers are still based in the town: Gainsborough Silk Weaving Company, The Humphries Weaving Company, Stephen Walters & Sons and Vanners Silk Weavers. North West England, traditionally the home of cotton spinning and weaving, helped make nineteenthcentury Britain ‘the workshop of the world’. There are still several thousand textiles companies in the area, including family owned weaving business John Spencer, jacquard specialists S Dawes Weaving, and Ian Mankin – which produces timeless fabrics in natural and some organic fibres at its own factory, one of the last surviving cotton mills in Burnley. In 2016, English Fine Cottons reopened a restored Victorian cotton mill near Manchester and launched as the only commercial cotton spinner in Britain, bringing together a supply chain from dyers to weavers to finishers. The company is responding to what it sees as an enormous appetite for provenance, and last year launched a range of bed linen in collaboration with Peter Reed, making the Albion range the first bed linen to be entirely British-made in decades. England also has a fine heritage in carpet making. Kidderminster is known as the heart of the British carpet industry, with Brintons, our oldest continuously manufacturing brand, having a major base there, whilst Victoria Carpets, Adam Carpets and Brockway Carpets have also all been manufacturing in the town for over a century. Axminster Carpets in Devon has been making fine woven carpets for over 250 years, using British wool and skills passed down from generation to generation. The firm is not, however, sitting on its laurels – it recently launched a British first in the form of Aalya, a carpet that blends sheep and alpaca wool for sumptuous softness. When it comes to flatweave carpets, the British cheviot wool blend used for Roger Oates Design’s distinctive rugs and runners is spun and dyed in Yorkshire before being woven on specially adapted narrow-width looms and hand-finished in the company’s workshop in Herefordshire. As Roger 78 THE ENGLISH HOME
Galvin Brothers employs traditional joinery techniques to create contemporary forms. (Completely) Imperfect side table in European oak, £285, Galvin Brothers
Peter Reed’s Albion bedlinen, the first to be entirely made in Britain for decades thanks to English Fine Cottons. Albion king-size duvet cover, £1,050; Albion pillowcase, £259 each, both Peter Reed, available exclusively at Harrods
FAR LEFT, TOP Marthe Armitage produces handprinted wallpapers and fabrics from linocuts as well as working with Ivo Prints in West London. Wallpaper, Willow, £360 a roll, at Hamilton Weston; chair, Marrow, £96 a metre, Marthe Armitage FAR LEFT, BOTTOM A hand-block-printed design inspired by the decoration on fifteenth-century Italian tin-glazed pottery. Curtain, Majolica, Dusky Rose, £96 a metre, Rapture & Wright TOP LEFT Stuart Scott furniture is built by hand in Wiltshire and each piece is signed and numbered. Fleure three-seater sofa, from £3,960, Stuart Scott LEFT One of Angie Lewin’s joyous screen-printed designs for St Jude’s. Curtain, Clover, Meadow Green, £72 a metre, Angie Lewin, St Jude’s BOTTOM LEFT Hand-woven silks by Gainsborough adorn the walls of rooms at The Goring Hotel in London. From left: Lullingstone (special colour), silk/cotton, £339 a metre; Saluté (special colour), silk/linen, £259 a metre, Gainsborough MIDDLE RIGHT Tom Raffield’s products are hand-shaped in Cornwall using sustainable wood. No 1 Pendant Giant, £875, Tom Raffield
Made in Tom Faulkner’s workshop in Wiltshire, this table’s ribbons of powdercoated bronze steel give it a quiet energy. Ariel dining table (D120cm), £6,650, Tom Faulkner
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Oates says: “It’s all about truth to materials; there’s an honesty to how things are made, how they’re finished, how they’re presented to people.” The printing of fabric and wallpaper is very much still alive in Britain, a legacy of London’s pre-eminence in hand-block-printed wallpapers from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, followed by the emergence of Lancashire as a centre of mechanised printing in the mid-1800s. One of Britain’s leading printers of wallpapers and interiors fabrics is Ivo Prints, which launched in West London in the 1960s and has worked for a veritable roll call of renowned names, including Christopher Farr Cloth, Bennison Fabrics, GP & J Baker, St Jude’s, Marthe Armitage, Paolo Moschino for Nicholas Haslam and Lewis & Wood, as well as producing a fabric collection in collaboration with The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Stead McAlpin in Cummersdale, Cumbria and Bruce Fine Papers near Lincoln are two other important printers which print many of Britain’s best-loved brands. On a smaller, more artisanal scale, Rapture & Wright – winner of the Rural Business Awards Best Creative Business in the UK 2019 – is one of the few remaining studios still printing by hand in Britain. Based in a workshop in Gloucestershire, Peter Thwaites and Rebecca Aird screen-print fabric and wallpaper in contemporary and classical styles. As they say: “Small-scale, artisan production is time-consuming and physically demanding, but the results are personal and subtly different, reflecting the hand of the maker.” The furniture hub of Britain is, historically, High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, but there are, in fact, many small, highly skilled furniture makers up and down the land. From Tom Raffield in Cornwall, who specialises in steam-bent furniture and lighting, to Galvin Brothers in Yorkshire, who celebrate the unique properties of English oak and other hardwoods and place traditional joinery techniques at the centre of contemporary forms, to Tom Faulkner in Wiltshire, whose small team meticulously handmakes furniture in metal and stone for private clients and interior designers, and Stuart Scott whose team creates beautiful handmade seating and occasional tables also in Wiltshire. 80 THE ENGLISH HOME
Based in the Scottish Highlands, Angus Ross fine furniture combines traditional woodwork, the ancient process of steambending and the latest cutting technologies. Y Light Table in Scottish oak (also available in Scottish ash), from £890 (made to order), Angus Ross
Large Ochil Rug (170cm x 240cm) with St Andrews binding, £1,150, Anta
‘The demand for UK products with provenance is growing. It’s seen as an investment and, like slow food, or organic food before that, it’s a movement that is only going to increase.’ Kate Hills, Make It British
Made in Scotland
TOP The artisan manufacture of Harris Tweed is protected and can only take place in the Outer Hebrides. The makers work with Tetrad to provide fabric for its fine upholstered furniture, which is made in Lancashire. Shown here is the Bowmore compact sofa (contact Tetrad for stockists). ABOVE Faolchú’s hand-crafted luxury furniture is made by a small team of skilled craftsmen in its Glasgow workshop,
where they fuse traditional methods with innovative techniques. Rathan bed in turned leather and brass, £25,000, Faolchú LEFT Kevin Gauld makes Orkney chairs and other furniture at his fourth-generation family farm, where he also grows his own oat straw for use in the chairs. He sources Scottish-grown hardwoods felled from sustainably managed woodlands. Gent’s chair, from £1,050, Kevin Gauld
The textile industry was as important for Scotland as it was for Lancashire in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries – and not just in terms of cotton manufacturing, but also for linen, silk, wool and iconic tweed, tartan, cashmere and paisley-patterned shawls. In the 21st century more than 500 Scottish textile companies still contribute to a notably buoyant industry. Leading brand Anta is renowned for its luxury interior textiles that reflect contemporary Scottish style. Callum Fisken, co-director of Edinburgh interior design studio Ampersand and of furniture designer Fisk, also picks out Brora and Johnstons of Elgin for their modern cashmere, Harris Tweed for its iconic branding and global reach, and MYB Textiles for its heritage of niche skills in Scottish lace and Scottish Leno Gauze weave, now known as Madras. MYB is the only producer in the world manufacturing patterned lace with original Nottingham lace looms, some of which are more than 90 years old. Fisken says: “Some of the last remaining traditional weaving skills are to be found at such companies, cheek by jowl with cutting-edge processes and inventive design.” Exceptional furniture makers of Scotland include Angus Ross in Perthshire, which manages an ancient woodland as a source for the company’s oak furniture, Glasgow-based Faolchú, whose choice of materials is influenced by an appreciation for Scotland’s rich heritage, and Edinburgh-based Fisk, which uses the country’s urban and rural landscapes as inspiration for characterful, individual designs. “Sustainability plays a part in our use of materials as well,” says Fisken. “By-products of the farming industry such as sheepskins, as well as naturally shed antlers, are both used in Fisk designs.” THE ENGLISH HOME 81
Llio James is a weaver who creates her textiles on a traditional dobby loom in her small attic studio and in collaboration with one of the remaining mills 30 miles from her home in West Wales. Dyfi throw, ÂŁ210, Llio James
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Made in Wales
Basketmaker Mandy Coates cultivates coloured willows to use in her work.
TOP & ABOVE RIGHT Limitededition collection of blankets either hand-crocheted or woven on traditional looms in West Wales. (Top): Handcrocheted blankets, from £240; (above) Woven blankets, £165, both Damson & Slate LEFT Trefriw Woollen Mills manufactures traditional Welsh ‘tapestry’ patterns, all from the raw wool, using machines which are over 50 years old and powered by a vintage water turbine. Throw, £180; half throw, £100; cushion, £48, all Trefriw Woollen Mills
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Whilst weaving springs to mind first and foremost in terms of Welsh craft – wool having once been the country’s most important industry – Philip Hughes, director of the Ruthin Craft Centre in Denbighshire, points out that Wales has a strong tradition in other areas too. These include ceramics, basketry and furniture-making, and Hughes says that there are young makers producing a range of interesting work that draws on the rural craft heritage of the country whilst also looking at using new methods and styles. “In some ways the change has been happening since the 1950s and 1960s,” he says. “There are interesting things going on, a reinvention of rural crafts, and people are starting to do things differently.” Late last year, an exhibition at the Ruthin Craft Centre explored the sense of belonging and home through objects made from natural materials. Exhibits included pieces by basketweaver Mandy Coates and weaver Llio James, who works both by hand in her studio and in collaboration with one of Wales’s few remaining weaving mills. Other Welsh companies of note include Solva Woollen Mill, the only mill in Wales to specialise in flatwoven flooring, Damson & Slate, a collection of interior accessories edited by designer and stylist Hilary Lowe, and Felin Fach, which makes Welsh blankets and throws using natural dyes. Melin Tregwynt is one of the best-known names in Welsh weaving, producing contemporary products based on traditional designs at its historic, family-owned mill. Hughes sums the picture up, saying: “Provenance has long since been important in Wales, but there is definitely a sense of change at the moment. It’s linked with mindfulness, a concern with the environment, avoiding waste and buying local. People are looking to buy pieces that are unique, that will last a lifetime and that they can cherish and then pass on to someone else to cherish.”
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland, whilst strictly speaking not part of Great Britain but of the UK, plays its part in the British Isles’ tradition of beautifully crafted work. Its linen industry developed in the late-seventeenth century, and was the focus of the country’s industrial revolution. Today, Irish linen is more a luxury than a household staple, but is still highly regarded both for its rich heritage and its contemporary appeal. Makers include Thomas Ferguson, jacquard weaver for more than 160 years; William Clark, the last authentic linen beetler in the world (it pounds the linen with wooden blocks to create a unique sheen), and John England, supplying linen to interior designers and the film, theatre, TV and opera industries. THE ENGLISH HOME 83
The Luachanna (‘shared values’ in Gaelic) collection, a collaboration between London-based furniture designer Pinch and Northern Ireland weaver Mourne Textiles, showcases hand-loom weaving and the beauty of natural materials. Cushions, £185 each, Mourne Textiles
FEATURE KATHERINE SORRELL PHOTOGRAPHS P76 © EFION GRIFFITHS. P78 (MARTHE ARMITAGE) © JON CEFAI. P79 (STUART SCOTT) © DANIELLA CESAREI, INTEIOR DESIGN BY IMRAAN ISMAIL INTERIORS; (TOM RAFFIELD) © KIRSTIN PRISK; (TOM FAULKNER) © ANDREA FERRARI. P83 (MANDY COATES) © ROBERT HEATON; (TREFRIW WOLLEN MILLS) © ANTHONY ROBERTS. P86 (MOURNE TEXTILES SPOOLS) © TARA FISHER.
Collaborations across the borders Across Britain, makers are also collaborating to bring together the benefits of their specialisms and innovations in design and technology alongside age-old techniques. The New Craftsmen in London was founded in 2012 with the aim of championing British makers and is a firm believer in the forming of partnerships to create new pieces. “Collaborations that bring together traditional skills and modern designs can work really well,” says creative director Catherine Lock, “particularly where both sides show respect for each other and share a singular vision and an open mind.” Lock cites as an example the Brodgar chair, an Orkney chair combining the oak Windsor chair vernacular with a traditional straw back, made for the gallery by Dalston furniture maker Gareth Neal and Orkney chair maker Kevin Gauld. The latter’s work is utterly imbued with ‘sense of place’, his chairs and other pieces – made by him and a small team – are directly inspired by traditional styles, techniques and materials found on his home of Orkney, including the use of straw that he has grown himself. Bute, whose award-winning, internationally acclaimed contemporary woollen fabrics are inspired by the island’s natural colours, textures and patterns, has collaborated with eminent designers including Tom Dixon, Barber Osgerby and Timorous Beasties, the latter of whom is praised by Fisken for having almost reinvented wallpaper with its edgy, often rebellious designs and modern colours. Welsh contemporary weaver Heather Shields recently collaborated with Roger Oates Design to produce a collection of blankets, cushions and upholstered benches based on designs from the company’s archives and its signature rugs and runners. Family run Mourne Textiles in Northern Ireland is a hand-weaving studio producing creative designs that reflect time-honoured techniques and the rich colours and textures of the local landscape. For London Craft Week last year, Mourne Textiles collaborated with London-based furniture designer Pinch to create a limited-edition collection of cushions and wall hangings to celebrate artistic making and their shared values of putting craft at the centre of British manufacture. n
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ABOVE Heather Shields is a Scottish textile designer and weaver specialising in vibrant, contemporary fabrics, homeware and accessories, all either hand-woven by Heather in her home studio or in small batches at a local mill. Paperchain and Puzzle blankets, £280 each, Heather Shields RIGHT Spools of yarn used by Mourne Textiles for its creations ranging from rugs to scarves.
CLASSIC AND ELEGANT BRITISH CUTLERY from Glazebrook & Co - designed for modern living
This delightful range is Old English mirror finish stainless steel with Dishwasher Safe Cream Handle Knives. Set for six people at £350.00 (GBP) including delivery to US, this includes six 7 piece place settings (as shown) & 2 Table Spoons
For further information: visit www.glazebrook.com or call +44 (0)20 7731 7135
LA CENERENTOLA
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
M A N O N L E S CAU T
RO S S I N I
BRITTEN
PUCCINI
‘the star of the summer’s country house offerings’
DA N C E@T H E G R A N G E
M Y FA I R L A DY LERNER & LOEWE
THE MONSTER IN THE MAZE D OV E
5 JUNE 1 9 J U LY 2020
Music OMH
+44 (0) 1962 791020 www.thegrangefestival.co.uk
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Parker Knoll
Marking its 150th anniversary year, British furniture manufacturer Parker Knoll continues to make 100 per cent of its sofas and chairs in England, at its manufacturing base in Nottinghamshire. Its recent Collection 150 takes inspiration from the 1920s and 1930s and was created in collaboration with Metropolitan University’s Frederick Parker archive and the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers.
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BRITISH BRANDS In celebration of specialisms in manufacturing across the nation, we consider a selection of fine British brands (in no particular order) respected for their heritage skills and modern-day innovations
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HALCYON DAYS Proud holder of the Royal Warrants of HM The Queen, HRH The Prince Of Wales and HRH The Duke Of Edinburgh, Halcyon Days crafts exquisite enamel and fine bone china items, all made in Britain. Founded in 1950, the firm’s recent Aragon Collection is influenced by the Historic Royal Palaces fabric collection designed by GP & J Baker.
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AGA Shortly approaching its 100th anniversary, Aga was established in 1922 in Sweden, before moving to Britain in 1929. Its ranges are made in Shropshire where they are cast in molten iron, and then finished in multiple coats of enamel that take three days to apply. Their longevity is renowned – the oldest working Aga is more than 70 years old.
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FERMOIE Friends Martin Ephson and Tom Helme founded Fermoie in 2012. Named in The English Home’s ‘Ones to Watch’ list in 2016, in 2018 they were awarded the OBE by HM The Queen for services to Design and Manufacturing. Fermoie’s products are designed and printed in Wiltshire and clients include Soho House and Firmdale Hotels.
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Jo h n sto n s o f E l gin
Creating desirable cashmere and fine woollen textiles from its weaving mill in Elgin and its knitting mill in Hawick on the Scottish borders, Johnstons of Elgin is holder of a Royal Warrant for manufacturing estate tweeds for HRH The Prince of Wales. Founded in 1797, it still proudly makes 100 per cent of all its products in Scotland. Its Herringbone-weave fine merino throw is its best-selling product.
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BURLEIGH POTTERY Founded in 1851 and manufactured at Middleport Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent since 1889, this British brand is said to be the only remaining pottery to use a transfer technique that takes seven years to learn. The pottery is best known for its Asiatic Pheasants design, featuring delicate avian forms.
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ROGER OATES DESIGN Instantly recognisable for its iconic stripes, flooring by Roger Oates Design is all made in England, and sold globally. Based in rural Herefordshire, Roger and his wife Fay founded the firm in 1989, rediscovering and reimagining 100 per cent wool Venetian flatweave and transforming humdrum hallways and staircases forever.
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G e o r g e S mi th
Named after the celebrated nineteenth-century furniture designer, known for his eclectic, fashionable designs and immaculate craftsmanship, George Smith was founded 40 years ago, and its namesake’s exacting standards and style still inspires and informs the brand today. Using prime beech and birch, the company makes 100 per cent of its furniture in its workshop in Newcastle, using both traditional and modern techniques. It also continues to pass down upholstery techniques through the generations via its award-winning apprenticeship scheme.
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THE NEW CRAFTSMEN Championing craftsmanship across the UK and Ireland, including furniture, lighting, textiles and ceramics, The New Craftsmen is much admired for its innovation and commitment to promoting the importance of supporting artists and local businesses in a global economy. It has also garnered the influencial craft patronage of Kit Kemp from Firmdale Hotels.
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IAN MANKIN Best known for its precision woven ticking and founded in 1983 by Ian Mankin, this fabric house uses a weaving mill in Burnley, Lancashire that has been in the same family for over 160 years. Its traditionally woven, natural fabrics include an organic range with Global Organic Textile Standard accreditation. Last year saw the launch of the brand’s first licensed collection with The Landmark Trust, comprising 34 designs.
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THE ODD CHAIR COMPANY This Lancashire family business, set up in 1969, creates reproduction pieces alongside modern and bespoke furniture. Founder Susan Cook’s background in antiques ensures that the on-site archive provides a wealth of accurate information as well as inspiration for the hand-turned, hand-cut and hand-polished designs. THE ENGLISH HOME 87
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JOHN BOYD TEXTILES Weavers of horsehair fabrics since 1837 for upholstery, wallcoverings, lampshades and screens, John Boyd Textiles originally supplied famous furniture designers such as Lutyens, Chippendale and Hepplewhite. Today it supplies top-level designers and royal households worldwide with weaves still made on looms dating to 1870 from its base in Castle Cary, Somerset.
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THOMAS CRAPPER & CO With four Royal Warrants over the company’s 158-year history – starting in 1886 with the future King Edward VII – Thomas Crapper & Co is an iconic name in sanitaryware. Its eponymous founder started a plumbing and sanitary engineering business in 1861, and soon realised there was a sizeable market for high-quality bathrooms and toilets. This led him to open the world’s first bathroom showroom in 1870 on London’s King’s Road. Today, the firm makes 95 per cent of its products in Huddersfield, has celebrity clients, supplied Westminster Abbey and top hotels such as The Goring, and its 2019 sales grew 50 per cent compared to 2018.
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ESSE Loved by names as diverse as Hugh FearnleyWhittingstall, Florence Nightingale and Sir Ernest Shackleton, these handbuilt premium heating stoves and range cookers are crafted in Lancashire. The company was established in 1854, and continues to uphold the ethos of creating cleanburning and efficient products designed to last.
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Ti m o ro u s B e a st ie s
“We have weaved our way through recessions, made the best of ridiculous situations, grown the studio, employed people, opened our own showrooms, made great friends and connections around the world, and importantly stuck to our guns by producing designs that we want to – and have been able to remain in Glasgow to do it all,” says Alistair McAuley, co-founder with Paul Simmons of Timorous Beasties. Globally known for boundarypushing wallpaper and fabric, with a focus on quality, craftsmanship and attention to detail, they hand-print in Glasgow and have collaborated with the likes of Ercol, Nike and Fortnum & Mason.
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Ti tch m a r s h & G o o d wi n
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ORIGINAL BTC Winning a Queen’s Award For Enterprise in International Trade was a huge accolade for Original BTC, founded in 1990 by Peter Bowles. A specialist in the design and manufacture of interior, exterior and LED lighting under its own name, Davey Lighting and Beadlight, it has also designed bespoke lights for Belmond’s luxury train Grand Hibernian.
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BENCHMARK Sir Terence Conran and Sean Sutcliffe started Benchmark in 1984 to make innovative, modern English furniture, all crafted in Berkshire and Dorset using traditional techniques. One of the first makers to gain the Forest Stewardship Council Chain Of Custody Certification, it has also won The Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development twice.
Using traditional techniques and English oak, maple and walnut, Titchmarsh & Goodwin has been hand-crafting wooden furniture from tree to table for 90 years in its Suffolk-based workshops. Its skilled teams of cabinetmakers, guilders, carvers and wood-turners handmake each piece to order and keep their skills alive by passing them on to apprentices. With an archive that now contains 45,000 designs, the company also offers a bespoke design service.
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SOANE BRITAIN Founded by Lulu Lytle in 1997, Soane Britain produces furniture, lighting, fabrics, wallpapers and homeware from across a network of workshops specialising in artisanal crafts. Known particularly for its rattan pieces, the company initiated an apprenticeship programme to help keep the tradition alive, creating new and adapted designs.
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SAVOIR BEDS Founded in 1905 when the beds were first commissioned for The Savoy hotel, Savoir Beds are 100 per cent hand-crafted in Britain, each one bespoke and made from the finest natural materials, cleverly combining traditional techniques with the latest innovations. Quintessentially English, the brand has 15 showrooms around the world, from New York to China and Germany to Russia.
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Co le & S o n
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WILLIAM HOLLAND Established in 2003 and operating from a tithe barn in Dorset, William Holland produces hand-crafted copper baths fashioned at its on-site workshop by a team of creative experts and craftsmen, and counts Soho House and members of the Royal Family amongst its devotees.
Transforming interiors with its colourful and witty wallcoverings and fabrics, Cole & Son is a brand that fuses forward-thinking design with both traditional and innovative printing techniques. Founded in 1875 in North London – famous for the 190 hand-blockprinting companies located there – today the company’s archive holds designs from its entire history, including 1,800 block-print designs. Best known for its more recent Woods and Palm Jungle designs, along with its collaboration with Italian design atelier Fornasetti, Cole & Son is also a Royal Warrant holder for the supply of wallpaper to HM The Queen.
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EMMA BRIDGEWATER Known for cheerful designs hand-painted onto cream earthenware, Emma Bridgewater proudly manufactures all of its pottery at its factory in Stoke-on-Trent, welcoming over 50,000 visitors a year for tours. Founded in 1985, its Polka Dot and Black Toast designs have become iconic, with a new range of kettles and toasters recently launched with Russell Hobbs.
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SAMUEL HEATH Solid-brass bathroom fittings and architectural hardware form the mainstay of this brand, founded in Birmingham in 1820. Be it a window latch, a door handle or a bathroom tap, each is completed by hand and can be plated in various finishes to fit with the interior scheme of any home.
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COMITTI Describing itself as creating ‘horological art for the home’, Comitti was originally an instrument maker (barometers and thermometers) when founded in 1850, but specialised in making exquisite clocks and time pieces from 1890 onwards, and works with high-end clients and partners such as Asprey to create bespoke pieces from its workshops in Ongar, Essex.
FEATURE KERRYN HARPER-CUSS, SAMANTHA SCOTT-JEFFRIES, SARAH FEELEY, EVE MIDDLETON PHOTOGRAPHS P87 (BURLEIGH) © RACHAEL SMITH. P88 (ESSE) © ED OVENDEN. P89 (BENCHMARK) © PETR KEJCI. P90 (HYPNOS) © DOMINIC BLACKMORE; (COMITTI) © PETER TOMEY
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HYPNOS Manufacturing luxury handmade pocket-sprung mattresses and divans for more than 100 years, Hypnos holds the Royal Warrant of HM The Queen and was the first carbon neutral bed manufacturer in the UK.
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EVERHOT Established in 1979 in Gloucestershire by the Goring family, an environmentally responsible ethos lie at the heart of Everhot. Designed to work using a trickle feed of energy, the cookers are suited to renewable sources.
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A br a h a m M o o n & Sons
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LEPORELLO Founded in 1998, Leporello designs and produces an exceptional range of bespoke furniture handmade to order in hardwood using traditional methods, 99 per cent of which is made in Dorking, Surrey. The company’s best-selling ranges include The Karelian Collection, The Evo and Elysian.
The high-quality, natural wool fabrics crafted and finished by Moon have been entirely made at its mill in West Yorkshire since 1837. Today, it is one of the last remaining vertical mills in Great Britain. Known primarily for its fashion fabrics, the last 10 years has seen the company grow its interiors range from just 10 per cent of its turnover and production to 50 per cent in 2018. Its best-selling Skye Check, launched 11 years ago, is now the cornerstone of its Classics collection, whilst recently it has collaborated with the National Trust on a collection of sustainable wool fabrics and accessories.
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I & JL BROWN Herefordshire-based specialist furniture maker I & JL Brown, founded in 1984, produces pieces created by hand with minimal machinery, highlighting the pride in craftsmanship so synonymous with the company name. It also offers an interior design service and carefully selected lighting, upholstery and accessories. n
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A personal tour of
BUCKINGHAM PALACE Interior designer and artist Ashley Hicks shares his vibrant photographs and in-depth knowledge of Her Majesty The Queen’s residence’s interiors
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ome of Britain’s Royal family since 1837, Buckingham Palace is an important representation of Regency, Victorian and Edwardian styles – the work of such noted architects as John Nash and Sir Aston Webb. Here, Ashley Hicks records a number of the formal spaces, capturing the magnificent rooms furnished with treasures from the Royal Collection. THE THRONE ROOM (right) Here, on a crimson-carpeted dais, is the literal Seat of the Sovereign: the throne, or rather the Chair of Estate, used by Her Majesty The Queen at the beginning of her Coronation in 1953, made by royal decorators White Allom & Co in an exuberant 1660s style inspired by the Coronation Regalia [also known as The Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom]. Beside it sits a matching chair for The Duke of Edinburgh, produced slightly later. Each has their own cipher embroidered onto silk damask. In 1984, the walls were hung with red silk – as they had been when the room was completed in 1833 – before Edward VII’s desire to paint everything white took its toll. Queen Mary had them painted a light stone colour in 1928. Flanking the throne canopy are four giltwood trophies of the Seasons of around 1785, said to have come from the Throne Room at Carlton House [a former royal residence, demolished in 1826]. Below the trophies, beside the 1937 Coronation Throne Chairs, are the massive, gilded Roman-style chairs, carved with sphinx arms and chariot backs, made for Carlton House in 1812 and later seen in the Throne Room there.
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The Royal Alcove in the Throne Room, framed by George IV’s cipher, garlanded by Francis Bernasconi’s winged figures of Victory. By the window, Baron Carlo Marochetti’s marble of Prince Arthur, aged three, 1853. THE ENGLISH HOME 93
ABOVE Henry Holland’s 1788 marble fireplaces from Carlton House stand here in the Marble Hall against John Nash’s plain walls of scagliola, now crowded with gilt mouldings. RIGHT John Nash’s dome, tympana with paster figures by William Pitts, and endless reflections in the mirrored reccesses in the Music Room.
THE MARBLE HALL (above) The Marble Hall, so named because it was planned as a sculpture gallery in the tradition of English galleries of ancient statues, or ‘marbles’ as they were known, follows the lines of the Picture Gallery on the floor above it. It, too, is formed of the garden-facing rooms of old Buckingham House [around which Buckingham Palace was built] knocked into one by Nash to make a connecting ‘spine’ off which additional rooms could be built out into the garden. In this sense it is hugely successful. As a gallery, it is slightly less so, as its only daylight is filtered through from the Grand Hall. Like the Grand Hall, it was originally all golden tan scagliola [a form of plaster that imitates decorative stone], polychromed by Ludwig Grüner in 1848 and then whitewashed in 1903. Edward VII’s decorator Bessant had great fun here, enlivening the dull expanses of plain wall between Nash’s columns with all manner of gilded plasterwork moulding, dangling Georgian-ish trophies and even installing – above the pair of exquisitely simple, Neoclassical marble fireplaces designed by Henry Holland for Carlton House – the overscaled, carved festoons, possibly remnants of the Duke of Buckingham’s original Saloon of 1702, that had more recently decorated
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Queen Victoria’s Tapestry Drawing Room, now the Centre Room, in the East Wing. Flanking the central door to the Bow Room, in the key vista from the Grand Entrance, are the official portraits of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert by Winterhalter from 1859, the Queen with the Imperial State Crown beside her and Westminster Abbey, where she was crowned, in the distance. THE MUSIC ROOM (right) Nash’s Bow Drawing Room is the least changed of his three new state rooms. Its great columns of scagliola imitating lapis lazuli – which cost £900 in 1828 and an additional £315 for the ‘metal granula being introduced’ into the mixture – are the only surviving pieces of Joseph Browne’s scagliola work that was such a feature of the original interiors of the Palace. Recently restored by Hayles & Howe, the columns, with their gilt-bronze capitals and mouldings by Samuel Parker, give an air of Imperial Roman splendour to the domed space. The dome itself and the half-dome that covers the elegant bow sticking into the garden have trellis plasterwork studded with the English, Irish and Scottish national emblems of rose, shamrock and thistle. These are above tympana filled
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with groups of putti sculpted by William Pitts, representing Harmony, Eloquence and Pleasure. If the carpet is pulled back, the superb parquetry floor is revealed, with George IV ’s cipher bound in laurel wreaths, all in tulip and rosewood inlaid into satinwood and white holly by cabinetmaker George Seddon. The room is furnished with a set of fauteuils and four sofas made around 1780 by the great Parisian ébéniste Georges Jacob and supplied for the Great Drawing Room at Carlton House around 1790 through [Dominique] Daguerre [a dealer-decorator], whose label is still fixed to some of the pieces. A view of the room after it became the Throne Room in 1811, shows the chairs around the table and the sofas in their original positions, each in a columned alcove, which suggests they were ordered expressly for the room. Were the mirror-filled recesses in Nash’s new room at the Palace designed to accommodate these treasured sofas, which fit them so perfectly? Today the Jacob furniture is covered in cerise silk damask. The walls, now painted cream, were originally hung with bright yellow silk in a Palace that was very definitely not colour-shy, although already by 1843, as seen in a watercolour by Douglas Morison, the silk had gone and the parquetry floor was completely hidden by plain crimson fitted carpet. THE WHITE DRAWING ROOM (left) This is the first of the run of State Rooms on the garden front of the Palace and the first of John Nash’s three new reception rooms opening off his Picture Gallery, to all of which he gave strong architectural form through inventive ceilings held on grand columns or pilasters of strongly coloured scagliola. These survive intact only in his Bow Drawing Room, now the Music Room. Here, in the White Drawing Room, his pilasters were originally Siena yellow; in the Blue Drawing Room (not shown), the columns were ‘raspberry coloured’ imitation porphyry. LEFT Queen Alexandra surveying the White Drawing Room, as she has since 1907, below the plaster friezes of putti, made by William Pitts in 1828 to symbolise poetry and music but described by Parliament as ‘The Sports of Boys, costing £800’.
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RIGHT The Green Drawing Room, with Allan Ramsay’s portraits of King George III, c.1761–2, and Queen Charlotte with her two eldest sons, c.1746–9, flanking the door to the Guard Chamber, over which is a portrait from 1618–19 of three childen of Elizabeth of Bohemia, James I’s daughter whose grandson was the first Hanoverian king, George I.
The pilasters here, with Mughal Indian–inspired floral bases and capitals featuring Garter Stars, originally framed walls hung with gold-and-white-figured damask. In 1860, the silk went, the walls were embellished with plaster festoons and overdoors, and the pilasters with recessed panels of ornament, all of it painted cream. The huge mirrors in their baroque gilt frames were designed by Edward Blore when he was completing Nash’s rooms for William IV in 1831. The placing of the ebony and pietre dure cabinets below them, one of them fixed to the jib door from the Royal Closet, is just the sort of extravagant conceit that would have appealed to George IV. In pride of place is one of the finest pieces of furniture in the Royal Collection – the desk by Jean-Henri Riesener bought by George IV in 1825, then said to have belonged to Louis XVI. Almost everything in the room was acquired or commissioned by him, from the candelabra stands of cranes that stood in the Crimson Drawing Room at Carlton House and the sofas from its Blue Velvet Room, to the Roman-style military candelabra by Napoleon’s favourite bronze-maker Pierre-Philippe Thomire, purchased by the then Prince Regent in 1813, at the height of the war with France. Over the fireplace hangs a sumptuous fin-de-siècle portrait of Queen Alexandra, famed royal beauty, painted by François Flameng in 1908, when the Queen first sat for it in February. In April of that year, the Prince and Princess of Wales [the future King George V and Queen Mary] saw it in progress in Flameng’s Paris studio, and it was shown in London at Agnew’s exhibition of Ladies Well Known in Society that summer. Formerly at Windsor, the picture has hung where it is since 1949, seen throughout the magnificent vista formed by the enfilade of Nash’s State Rooms. THE GREEN DRAWING ROOM (right) Originally built between 1702 and 1705 as the Duke of Buckingham’s Saloon, this is essentially the same room that Queen Charlotte used as her Drawing Room [during which time Buckingham House became known as Queen’s House, prior to becoming Buckingham Palace] and in which courts were held. Nash had built his deep portico outside, which blocked the upper windows and shaded the lower,
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and he made a door into his new Throne Room beyond, but otherwise the space is unchanged. It has been called the Green Drawing Room since 1834, when it was hung with green silk tabinet from Ireland at the suggestion of Queen Adelaide, who was moved by pity for impoverished Irish silk workers. In Queen Charlotte’s day, the room was hung with the Raphael Cartoons until 1787, when they were replaced by eight large looking glasses and the walls were decorated in grisaille by [Giovanni Battista] Cipriani to designs probably by Athenian Stuart and Sir William Chambers. Nash’s design keeps the deep coving to the ceiling and the walls divided by flat pilasters, so that it must have seemed very familiar to his client George IV, despite the very different, bold detailing of his new plasterwork. The sofas and chairs are from a huge set of 56 pieces, among them 12 sofas, ordered by George IV from Morel & Seddon in 1826 for Windsor Castle. The great French ébéniste François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter was invited over from Paris specially to help Nicholas Morel design the furniture for Windsor. Other treasures in the room include: the Neoclassical lamp pedestals from the Throne Room at Carlton House, probably made in France; the famed boat-form Sèvres pot-pourri vase, most likely bought by Madame de Pompadour in 1759; and two Parisian cabinets from around 1780, set with old pietre dure panels, one by Adam Weisweiler with inlaid botanical panels from the Opificio in Florence and the other by Martin Carlin, with panels from the Gobelins workshop in Paris. On the walls hang Allan Ramsay’s great Coronation portrait of George III, from which so many copies were produced, and the enchanting group of his youngest daughters by John Singleton Copley. n
This extract is taken from Buckingham Palace: The Interiors, text and photographs by Ashley Hicks, $55, published by Rizzoli
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LENNOX CATO ANTIQUES & WORKS OF ART Est. 1978
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Lighting for all the senses. handandeyestudio.co.uk
QUINTESSENTIALLY
Inspiration for seasonal pastimes and making the most of life at home starts here
FEATURE EVE MIDDLETON
WARMING INDULGENCE
Curling one’s hands around a mug of hot chocolate in front of the fire becomes the perfect foil to the drop in temperature. Try adding a sprinkle of cinnamon or a grating of nutmeg to the pan for an added aromatic touch, or serve with cream and marshamallows for an indulgent treat. Barbecue forks, £18 for a set of two; enamel mugs in Carbon and Orange, £12 each; enamel milk pan in Warm White, £25; Drinks Anyone tray, £20, all Garden Trading
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Natural HAVEN Attracting birds, insects and animals to the garden offers myriad benefits for both us and them all year round
As well as taking care of domestic birds, set up a bird table to encourage wild ones to visit. October to April will be when natural food is in short supply for our feathered friends, so make sure the bird table is well stocked, particularly if it has snowed or the ground is frozen as birds will be unable to forage for insects and other natural food. 102 THE ENGLISH HOME 102 THE ENGLISH HOME
FOR WHERE TO BUY SEE ADDRESS BOOK
No wildlife can resist the draw of water, whether it be a pond, stream or bog garden. Blur the boundaries with native marginals to ensure safe passage and easy access for small mammals, birds and amphibians. Garden design by Claudia De Yong.
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ABOVE The National Trust has a selection of habitats for birds, bees and mammals. On steps, from left: Garden Solitary Bee Hive, £30; Terracotta Acorn Bird Feeder £15; Bat Box, £22; Multi Species Box, £25; Log Bird House, £22, all National Trust TOP RIGHT Whether to feed squirrels or not is a muchdiscussed topic amongst gardeners and wildlife experts. If erring towards feeding them, test their ingenuity with a feeder such as this one from Wildlife Garden.
S
avouring the sights and sounds of nature is one of life’s simple pleasures. Hearing birdsong on the wind, birds and butterflies flitting overhead, the soothing hum of bees and the unexpected sound of the occasional frog or snuffling hedgehog awakens the senses, calms the mind and – as some experts claim – lowers the heart rate. But besides enhancing our personal well-being there are other reasons to welcome wildlife into our gardens. In recent years, the loss of natural habitats due mainly to housing construction and agricultural changes has escalated and had direct negative effect on many of our native species. Results from the RSPB’s 2019 Big Garden Birdwatch illustrate that some birds are steadily declining in numbers, with the house sparrow population down 56 per cent and song thrushes down 77 per cent over the last 40 years. Whilst there is no quick fix to remedy the situation, there are small positive changes every gardener can make to help conserve our country’s precious wildlife. Kate Christman of wildlife product company Green & Blue explains: “It’s easy to think the problem of species loss is too big for us to help, but we have tremendous
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power in our own gardens. If we stop paving our green spaces, avoid using weedkillers and sprays and plant with consideration for varieties that will attract pollinators, we can make a real difference.” CREATURES GREAT & SMALL When we think of enticing wildlife into our gardens, it is natural to focus on the more dramatic characters such as the swooping barn owl, but it is vital to realise that their visits depend on the presence of much smaller creatures. James Hewetson-Brown of Wildflower Turf explains: “Biodiversity and the number of different species in the garden is allimportant, and this starts at the base of the food chain. Planting a diverse range of plants with a long flowering period will attract pollinating bees, butterflies and insects which in turn feed smaller mammals such as bats, birds and amphibians. These creatures are all essential for encouraging larger garden visitors.” Planting a small copse of trees in a secluded corner will introduce shade, shelter and a food source for many insects and birds. The Woodland Trust is an expert source of information and can advise on trees
ABOVE Plant a wide variety of flowers to attract pollinators, avoiding multi- or close-petalled species as they are harder for bumblebees and others to access. LEFT Autumn crocus (Colchium autumnale) not only brings a splash of late colour to the garden but is rich in nectar and invaluable to pollinators such as bees and hoverflies.
for a specific site as well as those that produce fruits, nuts and seeds for wildlife. Swapping a fence for a hedgerow is another rewarding project, as Nick Mann, founder of Habitat Aid, outlines. “Not only are hedges fantastic food sources and shelters for invertebrates, small mammals and birds, they are handy corridors for wildlife too. One issue exercising the conservation lobby is the fragmentation of good-quality habitat. Hedges are a good way to join these areas up. Animals don’t just use them as ‘wildways’, but also as navigation features. Bats use them to find their way and bumblebees fly along them too.” Plant whips (young hedging plants) of traditional varieties such as blackthorn, hawthorn and hazel, and weave in Lonicera periclymenum (honeysuckle) and Rosa canina (dog rose) for added blooms. Creating a meadow area is also instantly effective. With adequate ground preparation, wildflower turf will quickly establish and start attracting insects and butterflies. Ensure the meadow area appears integral rather than an afterthought. Mown paths leading to a lakeside jetty, log cabin or simple stone seat overlooking a rural view can all become truly special places. THE ENGLISH HOME 105
The buff-tailed bumblebee is the largest bumblebee in the UK. Nesting in underground colonies, it feeds off open daisy-like flowers from March to August.
Providing clean water for drinking and bathing is as important as putting out food. Ensure birdbaths are kept free of algae and leaves to stop harmful bacteria building up.
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ATTRACT POLLINATORS The decline of the UK’s bee population is a topic that has received much publicity in recent years. It has been the focus of debate in Parliament leading to country-wide pollinator strategies being put into place. Gardeners can also make a valuable contribution, as Royal Horticultural Society entomologist Andrew Salisbury explains. “The more flowers a garden can offer throughout the year, the greater number of bees, hoverflies and other pollinating insects it will attract and support.” Plants native to the UK and the Northern Hemisphere are the most popular, but also include a few from the Southern Hemisphere – such as buddleia and Verbena bonariensis – to extend the flowering season. Providing shelter for bees and insects is also key. “Unlike honeybees and bumblebees, most UK native bees don’t live in colonies but are solitary,” says Dr Damian Bubb of The Nestbox Company. “Solitary bees are a gardener’s friend and really useful pollinators. You can help by providing a beehive or bug hotel. Place it in a sunny spot and wait for the bees to move in.” SUPPORT FEATHERED FRIENDS We are a nation of bird lovers and there is much we can do to help them thrive. There is a huge range of nest boxes available – go for a mixture to encourage diversity. Sparrows love to be sociable and prefer ‘terrace’-style boxes that have a number of nesting compartments close together, whilst mud-nest builders – such as house martins, swifts and swallows – like cup-style designs tucked up under the eaves. Some nest boxes come with built-in cameras enabling us to remotely observe the feathered family’s movements. All bird boxes benefit from care, as Heather Gorringe, founder of gardening supplies company Wiggly Wigglers, explains: “An annual clean-out of nest boxes is a good thing to prevent a build-up of nesting debris and to remove any parasites like fleas. Adding a handful of clean hay or wood shavings may encourage winter birds to roost.” Where to site a nest box is also important: make sure it is well away from predators including cats, and ideally face it between north and east to shelter it from strong sun and winds. Providing food and water is another way to attract and help birds. When adding a birdbath to the garden, think carefully about its position. “Birds will only use a bath if they feel safe,” explains Vanessa Amaral-Rogers from the RSPB. “Place it where they have clear visibility and away from thick bushes from which cats can sneak up. Clean regularly with diluted house disinfectant and rinse thoroughly.” Experiment with different feeders and foods too. “Nuthatches have a weakness for peanuts, goldfinches and siskins love nyjer seeds whilst chaffinches adore sunflower hearts,” she says.
LEFT Whether growing from seed or ready-grown on turf, native wildflowers boost local species of plants and insects. Hampshire-based company Wildflower Turf specialises in wildflower meadow, green roof and river bank turf. BELOW LEFT Even the smallest of ponds can attract a wide range of wildlife. The common frog is a protected species and will hibernate in pond mud or a moist log pile. It will also devour garden pests such as slugs and snails.
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THE ALLURE OF WATER Having a pond, stream or lake in a garden is a failsafe way to encourage insects, mammals and amphibians to take up residency and will quickly become a feeding place for birds, bats and hedgehogs. Consider aesthetic and practical factors when considering where to site such a water feature. Garden designer Claudia de Yong, revered for her wildlife pond designs, has some suggestions. “Preferably locate a pond on a level site, away from trees whose roots may affect the liner and from leaves that will drop into the water causing a build-up of algae and debris,” she says. “Choose a site that gets sun for at least half of the day and decide early on whether you wish to include a walkway or jetty.” A ramp or gradual slope will ensure wildlife can easily access the water, and adding a duck house or floating island will provide a safe nesting site. Add oxygenating plants such as hornwort and water moss to keep the water clear. Floating plants create handy perches for frogs and bees – frogbit and water soldier are both native varieties – and marginals such as marsh marigold and water plantain around the fringes create shelter and shade. Find more information in the Wild About Gardens booklet on ponds, published jointly by the RHS and Wildlife Trusts, available from wildaboutgardens.org.uk n THE ENGLISH HOME 107
FEATURE JILL MORGAN PHOTOGRAPHS P106 © PEEPY/SHUTTERSTOCK. 105 (COTTAGE GARDEN) © ANNA STOWE/ALAMY; (CROCUS) © PHOTOSTUDIO F ACTION/IBULB. P106 (BEE) © WWT/CHRIS GOMERSALL; (BIRDBATH) © TERENCE A R WATTS/ SHUTTERSTOCK. P107 (POND WITH BRIDGE) © PAUL BRIDEN/SHUTTERSTOCK; (FROG IMAGE) © WWT/MARK HAMBLIN
Whilst siting a pond in a sunny part of the garden is desirable, shade is also important as it helps reduce problems with algae. Consider a viewing platform from which to observe the various species of wildlife. Always ensure children are supervised on such a structure.
PROPERTIES FOR SALE
HOUSES WITH CHARACTER This issue our curation of charming properties are all listed, denoting architectural and historical merit
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QUINTESSENTIAL QUEEN ANNE Dating back to 1704, The Old Rectory in the Midlands village of Tatenhill is believed to have been built as a hunting lodge for Sir William Binckes, the then Dean of Lichfield. Testament to the Grade II* listed house’s origins is the large inglenook fireplace in the morning room, which was previously the old kitchen. Other exceptional period features include fluted Doric stone pillars on either side of the front entrance, sash windows and stone quoins. There are Adam fireplaces in both the double drawing room and the dining room, as well as a majestic oak staircase that leads up to the upper floors, on which lie seven bedrooms. The grounds are expansive, boasting a woodland area, orchard, brook and tennis court. The Old Rectory, Staffordshire, £1,500,000, Savills
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BLISSFUL RETREAT Believed to date originally from the seventeenth century, Grade II listed Pilgrims Cottage has exposed timber beams throughout the interior, and an inglenook fireplace in the sitting room – a welcoming nook on a cold winter’s evening. On the first floor, the larger of the thatched cottage’s two bedrooms boasts a vaulted ceiling, whilst the second bedroom has an en-suite shower room. The property is situated not far from the charming medieval village of Ashwell in Hertfordshire and is surrounded by countryside, with all of the rooms offering delightful rural views. The separate, self-contained annexe is perfect for welcoming visitors. Pilgrims Cottage, Hertfordshire, £550,000, Strutt & Parker
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PAST PERFECT Located in a secluded position in the Suffolk village of Wickhambrook, Commerce House is a delightful sixbedroom residence which is believed to have been built in the mid-eighteenth century and was originally the village shop. Settle in comfort beside the bressummerbeamed fireplace in the spacious kitchen, which benefits from plenty of light from the former shop window. Alternatively, find a cosy spot by the open hearths in the well-proportioned reception rooms, which afford views of the countryside from the period sash windows. The Grade II listed property also features a lawned garden, a heated swimming pool and two paddocks. Commerce House, Suffolk, £995,000, Jackson-Stops THE ENGLISH HOME 109
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GEORGIAN GRANDEUR Tucked away on the edge of the Somerset village of Higher Odcombe, The Old Rectory was built in the eighteenth century of local ham stone and retains many of its original features such as the flagstone floors and fireplaces. Inside, the Grade II listed property is light and airy with reception rooms that have high ceilings and tall sash windows that look out over the sweeping lawns and mature trees in the garden. The elegant staircase leads to a galleried landing on the first floor, off which are four bedrooms, and to two bedrooms on the second floor. The grounds include a tennis court, swimming pool and wildflower meadow. The Old Rectory, Somerset, £1,950,000, Knight Frank 110 THE ENGLISH HOME
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FULL OF CHARACTER The Brook House is a Grade II listed Tudor residence located in the rural village of Himbleton in Worcestershire. The interior features oak panelling, flagstone flooring and open fireplaces. The dining room’s large fireplace with its stone pillars, timber mantel and carved panels is particularly impressive, as is the carved archway of the snug, which leads to the inner hall. On the first floor are five bedrooms, all of which have outstanding views of the garden, which includes formal yew hedging and topiary, established fruit trees and swathes of lawn. A clockhouse with a restored moving clock adds to the historic splendour. The Brook House, Worcestershire, £1,500,000, Fine & Country
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PERIOD PIECE There is no shortage of character features in Netherton Hall, a Grade II* listed residence in Yorkshire dating to 1765. In the reception rooms, admire the period fireplaces, bay windows and wooden detailing, including original oak panelling in the sitting room. The spacious family/ living room opens into an orangery, which has underfloor heating as well as doors that open onto the garden. Upstairs on the first floor are three bedrooms, whilst the second floor offers potential for four additional double bedrooms or use as a children’s playroom. The property’s views from the gardens and summerhouse, particularly at sunset, are spectacular. Netherton Hall, Yorkshire, £825,000, Carter Jonas n
FEATURE JANINE JORGENSEN PHOTOGRAPHS P108 © CHRIS CURL
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Mrs Minerva Writes...
The art of
MAKING VOWS Passionate about quintessential English customs, our incognito columnist reminds us to do the best things in life in the most elegant fashion, always with a twinkle in her eye
BELOW Figuier room spray, £47 (150ml); Figuier candle, £47 (190g), both Diptyque
M
r M is allergic to New Year resolutions. This was underlined when I started to tell him of the changes I wanted the advent of 2020 to bring about. He put his whisky glass down to avoid any spillage, then simply held up his hand as if to stop traffic. This approach may work with errant spaniels and the occasional toddler, but, as he found to his cost, it provokes an altogether less positive response from a wife on a mission. There was no place for rudeness, I told him, adding that supper would not be leaving the range until we had discussed our respective commitments. He did, however, go on to say something rather interesting and so I was forced to take stock and listen. He told me that he had heard a very sensible girl on the wireless discussing how resolutions merely set oneself up to fail. He had, he explained, been trying to tune into the cricket but found her tones soothing and not a little seductive, so listened on. She had suggested one makes vows rather than resolutions as they are easier to keep and feel positive rather than negative. “Carrot versus stick,” Mr M said, returning to the drinks cabinet. I endeavour rarely to agree with Mr M, but in this instance he may be on to something and this year I am going to try a different approach. Rather than resolutions destined to be jettisoned by March, this time I will try creating lovely rituals to stick to. “Do not even think about making one of your vows to get me to give up my evening snifter,” Mr M said tiptoeing out of the room as if negotiating a minefield. Rather like charity, it is sensible for one’s rituals to begin at home. I am going to start by creating small oases of sanctuary in a number of places throughout the house. Mr M’s idea of a refuge is
one awash with chaos. His study is full of strange bits and pieces of cannibalised machinery and the garage is home to at least three half-finished projects. I really do not know whether he is a frustrated engineer or simply a veteran hoarder. I need calm, clutter-free corners in which to relax. A reading nook is my first priority, somewhere I can curl up under a cashmere blanket and read poetry late into the night. Lighting is all important here as it needs to be bright enough for one to not strain the eyes, but dim enough to not feel like one might be forced to confess under duress. Building 20 minutes into my day to read and think is a vow I will definitely be sticking t I am also looking for a new armchair for my bedroom; I want to be able to sit and enjoy my morning tea looking out over the lawn. A very wise woman once told me that one should invest in shoes, a bed and bedding. “After all,” she said, “when you are not in one, you are in the other.” With this in mind, I will also be replacing the rather tired pillows I have been using for far too long. I also vow to ensure my bedroom always smells delicious. For as long as I can remember my signature scent – both personal and for the home – has been from Diptyque’s Figuier collection. I shall not be changing this as being enveloped in a smell that feels like home provides great calm. In the sitting room, however, I do feel as if I need something different and have promised myself I will try a new scent every couple of months or so until I find one that fits. I want to feel refreshed and lifted by it. Mr M has always said he will never buy a scented candle unless he can find one that smells of either wet spaniel or the particularly piquant smell of engine oil from a 1948 Series One Land Rover. Thankfully, THE ENGLISH HOME 111
Mrs Minerva Writes...
ennifer Dear J
Take time to relish the quietude and deep concentration that comes with writing a letter to a loved one.
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Create calm, cossetting spaces in which to relax in the home. This soothing bathroom scheme (above) includes refined wallpaper and luxurious fabrics from the Residence collection by Thibaut.
SETTING GOOD INTENTIONS Put a positive spin on the year ahead by starting new routines and hobbies SNUGGLE UP
As I am going to try to use the heating only when absolutely necessary, I shall be investing in a gorgeous cashmere blanket to snuggle under when reading or watching box sets with Mr M. Top of my list is the Cashmere Cinema Blanket by Soho Home. It is as soft as butter and as cosy as one can imagine. Cashmere Cinema Blanket in Natural, £225, Soho Home PHOTOGRAPHS P112 (LETTER) © SLAVA17/SHUTTERSTOCK; (COMPUTER) © FOXYBURROW/SHUTTERSTOCK
I do not think the team at Jo Malone London will be taking him up on his offer to act as a ‘nose’ anytime soon. In a world that seems able to argue over absolutely anything right now, I vow to indulge in random acts of kindness in the hope of bringing people together. So I am going to set up a lending library in the disused phone box at the edge of the village. People will be able to take and leave books and I am hoping it will start many literary discussions in the pub. I am also going to encourage Mr M to be kinder to motorists who park selfishly or ignore the handpainted signs unofficially installed by the parish council’s health and safety committee urging low speeds through the village. I am hoping in 2020 that the number of parking-related arguments Mr M enters into with incomers or tourists can be kept in single figures. The advent of a new year is a marvellous time to clear out clutter. Perhaps, Mr M, pondered, this is why more people file for divorce in January than any other month. I know this is just his little jest, so I will not be deterred. Back on the home front, I am going to institute a one-in, one-out policy on all beauty, clothing and homeware, starting with the bathroom, where the bottles seem to multiply in the night. Living a clutter-free life is good for one’s emotional well-being and the planet. Small things can make a big difference. Delightful handwritten letters, for example, are a pleasure to both send and receive, so I shall be writing a lot more this year. One hears a lot about gratitude journals, but I am going to add my own twist by instead writing letters to those I am grateful to have in my life. My wonderful friend Jennifer is a good example. Always on hand to offer wise advice – whether on getting ink out of a cream carpet or how to deal with a husband in the grips of a midlife crisis – she has been a rock through many a difficult time. I shall, then, begin fulfilling my vows by writing to Jennifer about how I am determined to create calm, cossetting harmony wherever I go. Except, of course, Mr M’s study. n
EMBRACE JOYOUS ROUTINES
A lovely friend sent me a gorgeous book, Prajñā: Ayurvedic Rituals for Happiness, which offers the perfect way to kickstart the New Year. Offering beautifully simple, age-old rituals that enhance life and bring happiness, this tome – whose title means wisdom in Sanskrit – is rather wonderful to buy as a present either for oneself or a friend. Prajñā: Ayurvedic Rituals for Happiness by Mīra Manek, £12.99, Headline Publishing
LIFELONG LEARNING
Vowing to learn something new each year is a great way to keep life interesting and to do something more useful than endlessly scrolling through social media. Try udemy.com for a wonderful global resource to learn new skills or find an interesting and uplifting hobby.
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Abraham Moon Tel 01943 873181 moons.co.uk Aga Tel 0800 111 6477 agaliving.com AluSplash alusplash.com Angus Ross Tel 01887 829857 angusross.co.uk Annabel James Tel 0345 548 0210 annabeljames.co.uk Anta Tel 01862 832477 anta.co.uk Arte Tel 0800 500 3335 arte-international.com Azoulay Interiors azoulayinteriors.com BC Designs Tel 01206 827100 bcdesigns.co.uk Benchmark Tel 01488 608020 benchmarkfurniture.com Brights of Nettlebed Tel 01491 641115 brightsofnettlebed.co.uk Cave Interiors Tel 020 7722 9222 caveinteriors.com Charlotte Gaisford Tel 01434 689583 charlottegaisford.co.uk Chelsea Textiles Tel 020 7584 5544 chelseatextiles.com Clock House Furniture Tel 01620 842870 clockhouse-furniture.com Cole & Son Tel 020 8442 8844 cole-and-son.com Comitti Tel 01277 367670 comitti.com Cotswold Trading Tel 01386 853331 cotswoldtrading.com Damn Good Furniture Co Tel 01434 675416 damngoodfurniture.com Damson & Slate Tel 07960 753633 damsonandslate.com David Mellor Tel 01433 650220 davidmellordesign.com Daylesford Tel 01608 731620 daylesford.com Emma Bridgewater Tel 01782 210565 emmabridgewater.co.uk Esse Tel 01282 813235 esse.com Everhot Tel 01453 890018 everhot.co.uk Faolchú Tel 0141 387 8176 faolchu.com
Farrow & Ball Tel 01202 876141 farrow-ball.com Fermoie Tel 01672 513723 fermoie.com Fired Earth Tel 01295 812088 firedearth.com Fortnum & Mason Tel 020 7734 8040 fortnumandmason.com Gainsborough Tel 01787 372081 gainsborough.co.uk Galvin Brothers Tel 01482 679862 galvinbrothers.co.uk Garden Trading Tel 01993 845559 gardentrading.co.uk George Smith Tel 020 7384 1004 georgesmith.com GP & J Baker Tel 020 7351 7760 gpjbaker.com Grosvenor Wilton Tel 01562 701456 grosvenorwilton.co.uk Habitat Tel 0344 499 4686 habitat.co.uk Halcyon Days Tel 01782 652805 halcyondays.co.uk Heal’s Tel 0333 212 1915 heals.com Heather Shields heather-shields.co.uk Hector Finch Tel 020 7731 8886 hectorfinch.com Hypnos Tel 01844 348200 hypnosbeds.com I & JL Brown Tel 020 7736 4141 ijlbrown.com Ian Mankin Tel 020 7722 0997 ianmankin.co.uk Ian Sanderson Tel 01635 017810 iansanderson.co.uk India Jane Tel 020 8799 7166 indiajane.co.uk James Hare Tel 0113 243 1204 james-hare.com Jim Lawrence Tel 01473 826685 jim-lawrence.co.uk John Boyd Textiles Tel 01963 350451 johnboydtextiles.co.uk John Lewis Tel 0345 604 9049 johnlewis.com Johnstons of Elgin Tel 0344 252 2252 johnstonsofelgin.com
Kevin Gauld Tel 01856 871314 orkneyfurniture.co.uk Lakeland Tel 01539 488100 lakeland.co.uk Lefroy Brooks Tel 01902 390894 uk.lefroybrooks.com Leporello Tel 01483 284109 leporello.co.uk Linwood Tel 01425 461176 linwoodfabric.com Mark Wilkinson Tel 01380 850007 mwf.com Marthe Armitage marthearmitage.co.uk Melin Tregwynt Tel 01348 891225 melintregwynt.co.uk Melody Maison Tel 01302 741000 melodymaison.co.uk Miller Harris Tel 020 7629 8791 millerharris.com Morris & Co Tel 020 3457 5862 stylelibrary.com/morris&co Mourne Textiles Tel 028 4173 8373 mournetextiles.com Neptune Tel 01793 427450 neptune.com Nicholas Herbert Tel 020 7376 5596 nicholasherbert.com Nina Campbell Tel 020 7225 1011 ninacampbell.com Original BTC Tel 020 7351 2130 originalbtc.com Osborne & Little Tel 020 8812 3123 osborneandlittle.com Otto Tiles Tel 020 3488 3205 ottotiles.co.uk Paint & Paper Library Tel 0161 230 0882 paintandpaperlibrary.com Papers and Paints Tel 020 7352 8626 papersandpaints.co.uk Parker Knoll Tel 01773 604121 parkerknoll.co.uk Peter Reed Tel 01282 616069 peterreed.com Petworth Antiques Market Tel 01789 343178 petworthantiquesmarket.com Pickett Tel 020 7493 9072 pickett.co.uk Plain English Tel 020 7486 2674 plainenglishdesign.co.uk
Rapture & Wright Tel 01608 652442 raptureandwright.co.uk Re-Found Objects Tel 01434 634567 re-foundobjects.com Robert Kime Tel 020 7831 6066 robertkime.com Roger Oates Design Tel 01531 632718 rogeroates.com Samuel Heath Tel 020 7352 0249 samuel-heath.com Sanaiy Carpets Tel 020 7730 4742 sanaiycarpets.co.uk Sandberg sandbergwallpaper.com Sanderson Tel 020 3457 5862 stylelibrary.com/sanderson Savoir Beds Tel 020 8838 4838 savoirbeds.com Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler Tel 020 7493 2231 sibylcolefax.com Soane Britain Tel 020 7730 6400 soane.co.uk St Jude’s Tel 01603 662951 stjudesfabrics.co.uk Tennants Auctioneers Tel 01969 623780 tennants.co.uk The Cast Iron Bath Company Tel 01723 585896 castironbath.co.uk The New Craftsmen Tel 020 7148 3190 thenewcraftsmen.com The Odd Chair Company Tel 01772 691777 theoddchaircompany.com The Rug Company Tel 020 3369 3916 therugcompany.com Timorous Beasties Tel 020 7833 9867 timorousbeasties.com Titchmarsh & Goodwin Tel 01473 252158 titchmarsh-goodwin.co.uk Tom Faulkner Tel 020 7351 7272 tomfaulkner.co.uk Tom Raffield Tel 01326 722725 tomraffield.com Tor Interiors Tel 020 7043 2410 torinteriors.com Trefriw Woollen Mills Tel 01492 640462 t-w-m.co.uk Vaughan Designs Tel 020 7349 4600 vaughandesigns.com William Holland Tel 01305 251930 williamholland.com
THE ENGLISH HOME 113
MY PASSION FOR...
REFURBISHING FURNITURE
“
When I was a young girl of about 14, I was very lucky to work for an amazing woman called Miss Hanley, who was an interior designer and spent her weekends living in a cottage on the Audley End estate [in Essex]. She opened my eyes to beautiful antiques, silver and fabrics. I would scour junk shops and make wild lampshades for old lamps, buy old lace to furnish a chair or give tables to my parents that I had refurbished with gold leaf or painted. I loved the idea of something having been used before and with its own story to tell. For my own home, the first pieces I reworked were a pair of 1950s chairs that I purchased when I was about 20 for £20. These sat for almost a decade in my parents’ garage until I had a place of my own and could afford to have them properly refurbished. They are still two of my favourite pieces today. My home is full of things that have had a life before. I rarely buy new; even my bed was bought at auction 20 years ago, but my 114 THE ENGLISH HOME
home still feels modern. I have things passed down from my mother and grandmother and I wouldn’t part with them because they are so full of memories. There’s something beautiful about sipping from a cup that you remember your grandmother using when you were a child. However, the pieces in my home also have to function for family life today. If elements of an heirloom, auction or eBay find are worn out or the colour palette doesn’t work in a modern home, by changing the colour or stripping an ornate piece back it is possible to appreciate the shape and quality of the original craftsmanship and for it to feel relevant again. If it’s painting a piece of furniture, sewing or upcycling, I do that myself. I currently have my son’s paddling pool full of dye for a rug. When it comes to upholstery, I get an expert to do it. It’s well worth spending money on something well constructed and unique to add character to a home.” millerharris.com n
TOP LEFT Sarah at home on an upright settee – a present from her grandmother. Her love of refurbishing pieces fits with her values on waste and craftsmanship which also inform her work at Miller Harris. TOP CENTRE & TOP RIGHT A bedside cabinet Sarah has covered in hand-printed paper from Japan. She has made several more as gifts. ABOVE CENTRE One of Sarah’s grandmother’s chairs covered in a Designers Guild fabric. ABOVE RIGHT One of the 1950s chairs Sarah had reupholstered when she had her first home and still treasures.
FEATURE SAMANTHA SCOTT-JEFFRIES PPHOTOGRAPHS © DARREN CHUNG
Sarah Rotheram, CEO of London-based fragrance house Miller Harris, on her design obsession
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