Stories Vol 14: The Restoration Edition

STOR IES T HE R E STOR AT ION EDIT ION

STOR IES

Restoration (noun) The act of restoring, renewing, revival or reestablishment; a return of something to a former, original or unimpaired condition; restitution of something taken away or lost.

Of all the emotions that unite us now, after the turbulence of the year we’ve shared, it feels like the desire to restore our world, our homes, our treasures, and our wellbeing is high on the list. But not, as the dictionary definition proclaims, to a ‘former’ or ‘original’ condition.

Now we want to restore and improve. To absorb the lessons we’ve learnt; to ingrain our new priorities and revised values into our lives and our surroundings. Fashion holds no thrills. Joy is found in the appreciation of the well-made, the thoughtful gesture, the naturally beautiful. All sentiments we’ve always subscribed to at Neptune, but now, more than ever, part of the fabric of our everyday lives.

And this restorative process is exciting. Positive. Hopeful. It has a focused energy. A love for the past, a respect for the challenges along the way and a desire to create something wonderful again. It might be the enormity of painstakingly restoring a stately home, room by room.

It could be the revelation of kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken china with gold-dusted lacquer. Equally, it might be the simple pleasure of rescuing and reviving a colony of bees. Or breathing new life into an old dresser.

In this issue, we celebrate restoration in all its wondrous forms.

Now is a time to renew, regenerate and restore. And we welcome it.

CONTR IBUTORS Together with our fabulous team of in-house writers, we’re honoured to share this issue with...

Amy Moorea Wong Amy Moorea Wong is an interiors and lifestyle journalist, previously features editor at Elle Decoration and news editor at Livingetc.

She has a penchant for Scandinavian design and eco materials. @amy_moorea

Steven Short Hastings-based Steven Short is a freelance writer and editor. As well as editing Christie’s International Real Estate magazine, he publishes collections of short stories by established and new writers on themes including mothers, madness and animals. @seshort

Amy Bradford Amy Bradford is the former features director of Elle Decoration, now a freelance writer and editor. A regular contributor for Neptune, she lives on the Kent coast and also writes for titles including The Telegraph and FT How To Spend It.

Kassia St Clair Kassia St Clair’s book The Secret Lives of Colour was Radio 4’s Book of the Week. She is a broadcaster and writes for The Economist and Architectural Digest. Her Elle Decoration colour column has been running since 2013. @kassiastclair

Alison Starling Alison Starling, publisher at Octopus Books, commissions books on topics that bring joy to life – home, garden, food and fashion. Her interest in design dates to the childhood discovery of Terence Conran’s The House Book and she recently published Conran’s last book, a new edition of Plain Simple Useful.

Suzanne Imre For 17 years, Suzanne Imre was the influential editor of leading interiors magazine Livingetc; a renowned style pundit and trend leader. Today, she works as a brand consultant, content director and writer. @suzanne.imre

Pascale Smets Pascale Smets is an ex-fashion designer who turned her eye to interiors and is now a purveyor of unique homewares sourced from all over the world. Her shop, PASCALE is at New Street Market in Woodbridge, Suffolk. @pascaledepascale

Jo Rodgers Jo Rodgers is a journalist who lives in London and East Sussex with her husband and son. She is a contributing writer at Vogue, Condé Nast Traveller, House & Garden and Country Life. @jo_rodgers

Pip McCormac Lifestyle journalist Pip McCormac is the editor of Livingetc, and has previously worked for Elle Decoration, Red, Sunday Times Style and Grazia.

His next book, about the relationship between houseplants and architecture, is out in November. @pipmccormac

Claudia Baillie Claudia Baillie is a London-based design and interiors journalist. Formerly interiors editor at Sunday Times Style and editor at Elle Decoration Country, she writes for a range of publications across all areas from designer profiles to homes, trends and architecture. @claudiabaillie

Philippa Craddock Renowned florist Philippa Craddock works with private clients and fashion institutions, including Vogue, Hermes and The V&A. Philippa’s style gained attention in 2018 when she decorated St George’s Chapel, Windsor, for the wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Her flower school runs online programmes teaching flower enthusiasts to florists how to design confidently with flowers. @philippacraddock

Roddy Clark Roddy Clarke contributes to titles including Forbes, the FT and the London Evening Standard. His passion for interiors, antiques and sustainability stems from his childhood, learning from his father – a china and porcelain restorer. @roddyclarkedesign

Rhoda Parry Rhoda Parry is the editorial director of homes content at Future Homes. She lives on the East Sussex coast where she finds peace, comfort and pleasure in the small and simple things. @rhoda_parry

Giles Kime Hampshire-based Giles Kime is executive editor of Country Life magazine and author of four books including Nina Campbell Decoration and Homes & Gardens Decorating. His next book with Rizzoli will be about Neptune’s creative founder, Emma Sims Hilditch. @giles.kime

John Sims Hilditch John Sims Hilditch is the co-founder of Neptune.

His role covers that of inventor, maker and business leader. Following a career in the British Army, he launched Neptune in 1996 with a view to offering a better way of living for customers and the planet.

CONTENTS

4 The garden that grew from nothing Steven Short 10 On Burnt Sienna Kassia St Clair 14 A life changing home Suzanne Imre 16 Dear typewriter...

Jo Rodgers 20 Board masters Claudia Baillie 24 Perfectly imperfect Roddy Clark 30 Restored to new glory Giles Kime 32 If walls could tell stories Amy Moorea Wong 36 Inside goes outside Amy Bradford

38 Restore to order 42 Sleeping beauty Giles Kime 48 In the kitchen Our seasonal recipes 54 Book Club Alison Starling 56 Saving the bees Pascale Smets 58 The Camps & their Chichester kitchen 62 Moving into the slow lane Pip McCormac 64 The floral code Rhoda Parry 68 The bigger picture John Sims Hilditch

The garden that grew from nothing Charlotte Molesworth is something of a rescuer.

She has rescued several dogs and cats, chickens, tortoises, sheep and donkeys…and a decrepit cottage and its gardens in the chocolate-box pretty village of Benenden, Kent, as she tells journalist Steven Short.

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hirty-nine years ago, Charlotte and her husband, Donald bought what was once a farmhand’s cottage and some of the land around it. ‘Everyone said we were mad because it was so run down,’ she remembers. ‘We moved in on Christmas Eve, it was madness. The house was really in a bit of a pickle. We had to have the place underpinned and completely rewired.’

The outside space was also in need of TLC. The plot is on the edge of an estate that once belonged to the acclaimed Victorian plant hunter ‘Cherry’ Ingram. Sadly the gardens had been left untended for two years as the cottage stood empty.

‘It was wild and overgrown, with quaking grass and wild roses everywhere,’ says Charlotte. ‘I rather liked it as it was, but we knew it needed work.’

Over the decades, Charlotte and Donald have restored the land into a series of gardens, some formal, some more wild, as well as a meadow for their sheep and donkey. ‘We’ve built the place up on the tightest imaginable shoestring,’ admits Charlotte. ‘Virtually every plant, seed or cutting was from a friend or family member.’ There’s also a pond and several small buildings including a studio, where Charlotte paints and draws, and a holiday cottage the couple rents out.

But the star attraction is without doubt the amazing topiary garden that Charlotte created from scratch. ‘Topiary is the bones of a garden,’ she says sagely. ‘Yew is the king and box [hedge] is the queen.’ Charlotte has used both to create a series of expertly shaped bushes – chickens, stacked discs, bunny ears – that now stand in what was once the quartered kitchen garden of the Ingram estate.

(Previous page) Denham campaign chair £290

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Before starting this section of the garden, Charlotte had to clear the land – ‘we laid down bits of carpet to stop things growing’ – and map out roughly where the yew and box would be sited, though she says there has never been a masterplan for any of her designs here. Fortunately, she already had plenty of plants to work with as she and Donald had asked for yew saplings as wedding presents when they got married. The pond was also a gift, ‘and we got some towels that we still use.’

Although it looks imposing, Charlotte says topiary is low maintenance (‘you only need to trim it once a year’) and not as difficult as one might imagine. ‘It’s like sculpting with nature,’ she says, ‘you just have to be bold, and if you make a mistake you just let it grow a bit before having another go.’

Both her mother and her aunt were keen gardeners – ‘they used to go off in a pony and trap in search of cottage gardens and bring back wild roses and old-fashioned primulas’ – and were also fond of shaped hedges. Charlotte loves them because ‘they’re evergreen and give year round interest.’

Today, Charlotte designs topiary for estates and grand gardens around the country while also teaching topiary. ‘Teaching is all about encouraging, about giving something to someone else so they too can share it with others,’ she says with a gentle smile.

Charlotte and Donald share their beautiful gardens with the public on open days throughout the year. thepottingshedbenenden.co.uk

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ON BUR NT SIENNA Author Kassia St Clair explores the earthy heritage of this venerated shade.

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ate 19th-century artists like the Impressionists, who suddenly had access to hosts of modern, brightly saturated synthetic pigments produced by chemists in laboratories, were rather sniffy about earth pigments. To them, they suddenly seemed old fashioned, dull and muddy: relics of an artistic past they were eager to escape.

Perhaps they were too quick to judge. Earth pigments are a lot brighter and more varied than their name suggests. Take burnt sienna. Like its cousins umber and yellow ochre, sienna occurs naturally in special locations, most famously near the Tuscan town Siena, hence the name. When raw, it’s slightly translucent, clay-like in texture, with a yellow-brown colour it owes to high proportions of iron and manganese oxides. When heated to high temperatures in a kiln – or ‘burnt’ – some of the iron oxide is converted

to haematite, imparting a blush-brown undertone. Its versatility, unctuous texture and rich, warm colour have been endearing it to artists for millennia.

Similar earth pigments have been found in cave paintings, including the world’s oldest example: a life-sized image of a pig painted 45,500 years ago in Indonesia. The Romans used burnt sienna; it can also be found in paintings from the Renaissance and in works by artists like Caravaggio, Van Dyke and Rembrandt, all of whom were masters of using spare palettes, predominantly comprised of earth pigments, to create masterpieces.

Indeed, by the early 19th century, art could scarcely be imagined without it. Sir George Beaumont, who helped found the National Gallery, once declared that: ‘A good picture, like a good fiddle, should be brown.’

(Above) Duomo di Siena – Siena Cathedral – Siena, Italy 11

Recent artists, it seems, agree, because the past few years have seen a resurgence of interest in found and naturally occurring earth pigments. Heidi Gustafson, who has been collecting ochres in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Washington for years, has inspired many others – principally women – to do likewise. Stella Maria Baer, Lorraine Brigdale, Amanda Brazier, Nancy Pobanz and Caitlin French all research, produce and use found or wild pigments.

These colourants may not be as bright as synthetics, but they come in subtle, ever-changing ranges of tones and shades that would settle easily in our interior schemes. Much like Neptune’s Burnt Sienna. Then there’s the spiritual element. These palettes of place help us explore our relationship with the ground beneath our feet and forge a deeper, more meaningful connection to the spaces we choose to inhabit.

(Above) Eva sofa in Harry Rust, from £3,105 / Henley side table £320 / Highgate medium oak lamp £190 / Henry 15” shade in Thea Natural £78 / Grace scatter cushions in Orla Apricot £90 and Thea Natural £90 Longford Oatmeal rug, from £375. (Opposite) Chichester 5ft dresser in Burnt Sienna £2,605 / Arundel Darkened Oak four-seater table £1,970 / Wycombe dining chair £295 / Isabelle scatter cushion in Chloe Denim £104 / Keats conical pendant £92 / Whittington rug, from £295

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Discover Burnt Sienna for yourself online or at your local Neptune store. To find your nearest, visit neptune.com/our-stores

A LIFE CHA NGING HOM E

Charlotte Reiss found a holiday property in rural France that led her to a new business and a new life, as she tells writer Suzanne Imre.

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humble 200-year-old barn in a rural hamlet in south west France wasn’t the obvious prompt for a major life change, but that’s exactly what happened to LA-based Charlotte Reiss, her husband, Sky and their two children.

Ten years ago, sight unseen (for Charlotte at least), English-born Charlotte and American Sky bought the property, which had once been a store for straw to support local basket weaving businesses. ‘I was pregnant so my husband flew to France to look at properties,’ says Charlotte. ‘When he viewed the barn it was drab; no lush landscaping or gravel drive and no pretty shutters.

But, as a homebuilder, he saw the old fireplace and thick walls, and so we bought it.’

There ensued a restoration project to test the mettle of most of us. Working around time differences, budget considerations and distance, Charlotte and Sky slowly began their loving renovation. Focusing on bigger projects in the summer and Christmas holidays when they could be there, and making key decisions via email.

Fortunately, time was on their side. ‘When you’re renovating an old home, you have to let things settle,’ explained Charlotte. ‘At first the project felt overwhelming so we painted all the rooms white with French Grey woodwork which gave us a blank canvas to work out what we wanted.’ The couple tapped into the local network and were soon employing French and retired ex-pat tradesmen. Everything was finished to an exacting standard: panelling and door trims were meticulously fitted and each reclaimed floorboard was hand-milled.

When it came to choosing a kitchen, Charlotte wanted one she could repaint if she wanted. With Beaumont, a

Neptune partner studio in nearby Chamborand, the decision was made. ‘None of the walls in the house are straight and the expensive terracotta floor tiles were already down, but Neptune worked around this,’ recalls Charlotte, ‘and luckily I’m very decisive.’ In fact, the Chichester kitchen (and 12-seater dining table) were such successes that Sky organised for a Chichester laundry room to be built as a surprise for Charlotte.

The frequent trips to France soon took on another impetus, as former talent agent Charlotte began bringing back authentic French soaps, vintage tea towels and woven baskets to sell to friends in LA. ‘I could see there was a gap in the market for traditional French homewares and so I started an online shop and, after work on evenings and weekends, I’d upload my French finds,’ recalls Charlotte. Vivi et Margot was born, named after her young daughters. Today, the website stocks classic French brands and operates with a warehouse in the US and occasional pop ups.

The seeds of a pending life revitalisation were being sown.

With the house restoration nearing completion, including a garden makeover that saw wisteria and Virginia creeper reclaiming the exterior walls, it was time for another brave decision. During the pandemic, the couple made their plan: to live full-time in France while keeping Vivi et Margot running in the US. ‘We wanted a more authentic life, living in the moment,’ reflects Charlotte who is capturing the story of the move on her Instagram feed. ‘The house has been a gift to help us realise our new life.’

Follow Charlotte’s move to France through Instagram on @vivietmargot vivietmargot.com 15

Dear Typewriter...

Journalist Jo Rodgers asks why people are increasingly keen to revive an earlier form of correspondence.

The episode of Desert Island ‘Here’s what I get from a Discs that I’ve listened typewriter – if I am sending to more than any other is a note, or a letter, or a from 2016, when Kirsty Young thank-you or a memo, or even interviews the actor Tom writing a shopping list, Hanks. You probably know the the ink is not applied to one. After describing his the paper. A hammer with a first date with Rita Wilson letter on it hits a wet damp (they went – where else – rag of ink, a ribbon, and to the movies), Hanks imprints that letter, and mentions, like somebody that word, and that sentence, setting a hunk of Gouda on that paragraph, that thought, a mousetrap, that he’s an gets into the actual fibres, authority on ‘root beer and the rag content of the paper. typewriters.’ Young leaps in So it’s not on the paper, to say she isn’t going to it’s in the paper, and in ask about that, presumably that state, provided you because the interview is don’t burn it or set it out going pretty great and she into the sun or crumple it would rather not spend the and throw it away, it will remaining seconds talking last as long as the stones about spools. Hanks would. of Stonehenge.’

He is, of course, the Tom Hanks, Uncommon Type world’s best-known collector of typewriters, and owns over a hundred machines.

He taps out shopping lists, thank-you notes, newsletters.

It’s no surprise to Tom Lucas, who, like Hanks, bought his first typewriter in his late teens and didn’t look back. Lucas now runs The Typewriter Man in Luton, a business that restores vintage typewriters and sells refurbished models.

‘Contrary to popular belief,’ says Lucas, ‘most of my customers are not over 70 and unable to use a computer.

In fact, the majority are under 30 and discovering the pleasures of an “analogue” manual typewriter for the first time!’ Walid and Joujou Saad, who own Mr and Mrs Vintage Typewriter in Milton Keynes, note the same trend. ‘There’s an amazing surge in the demand for typewriters for young people from age five up to age 18,’ says Walid. ‘Christmastime is always a busy period for preparing light and smooth typewriters for them.’

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So what ails a vintage But where to start, if typewriter? ‘Rubber parts you’ve only ever composed – every time!’ says Lucas. on a MacBook? ‘It really ‘Rubber deteriorates in a depends what the user is way that metal does not, so wanting to do with the often platens and feedrolls typewriter,’ says Lucas. need to be re-rubbered ‘If they want to write a book and new feet made or or thesis for example, they obtained. Traditional catwould need a heavy-duty gut drawcords on portables portable at the very least. deteriorate over time (50 If it’s to write poetry or to 60 years) and break. I the occasional letter, a replace these with a nylon lightweight “flat portable” monofilament which should would do.’ Lucas also has last as long, if not longer.’ a warning for first-time Since new typewriter parts buyers: ‘Avoid online auction aren’t being produced, sites. They’re a minefield. repairs are often foraged, You get machines advertised or subtly upgraded with as fully working that have modern materials, like the been sat in a damp loft for nylon monofilament. ‘For decades and are seized up missing parts, we tend to with rust; machines with replace them from what we major faults being sold by call a “donor machine”, a people who genuinely think machine that unfortunately that they must work because has no chance of surviving. the bell rings.’

We use its parts to save others,’ says Walid. ‘On other occasions, we try to recreate or replace a part by using 3D printing technology.’

If you’re the one with the damp loft, wondering whether the machine you have is worth restoring, Walid’s favourite models are from Olympia (‘well built to be heavily used and survive’) and the Hermes 3000 (‘the smoothest typewriters to type on’), while Joujou’s is the sleek black Imperial Good Companion Model 1 from the 1930s. Lucas favours a 1960’s German Olympia SF DeLuxe Portable (‘one of the best designs of flat portable typewriter ever made’).

Once you’ve found your match, who can say how far that snowball will roll? By the way – ‘Tom Hanks hasn’t tried any of our typewriters yet,’ says Walid, a mind reader, ‘but we guarantee if he tries us he’ll never go anywhere else!’

The typewriter you’ll spot here is a meticulously restored Olympia SM3, kindly lent to us by Walid and Joujou.

To find the machine for you, head to mrmrsvintagetypewriters.com or thetypewriterman.co.uk

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Reinventing a classic British style, the new Clemmie headboard is fit for a queen, as design editor Claudia Baillie discovers.

BOA R D M A STER S

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hen it comes to British furniture, you probably know your Georgian from your Victorian, and your Arts & Crafts from your art deco. But beyond the rococo and the Regency is a more refined style of furniture that you may recognise too. Sometimes known as ‘late baroque’, Queen Anne style came into being during the monarch’s 1702–1714 reign and was so popular that it continued for several decades afterwards. More ‘designed’ and lighter than previous eras, it features curved cabriole legs and delicate, pad-like feet, as well as shell motifs, wing-backed chairs and soft, cushioned seats.

Distinctly more graceful and comfortable than the straight-edged and heavily ornamented William and Mary furniture that came directly beforehand, it was these pieces with their elegant lines and classic idea of luxury that inspired Neptune’s designers when they began creating the newest addition to the headboard collection. ‘We always like to look to history for inspiration, while at the same time thinking about how styles could be reinvented in a contemporary scenario,’ says senior designer Henry. ‘The Queen Anne style wasn’t overly represented within the rest of our collection, and so this was a great opportunity to rework it for a Neptune customer. Interestingly, it was also the period when upholstered headboards first became prevalent, so it really was a natural choice.’

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The result is Clemmie, a simple yet stately headboard that sits perfectly in any scheme. ‘A big challenge was to make sure that it would work in a variety of sizes,’ says Henry. ‘The design needed to sit well on a single, a double and on larger beds without feeling compromised, so we made it progressively simpler with each size down.’ Reminiscent of styles found in smart hotels, the curvaceous shape is also the perfect foil for the extensive collection of fabrics, which in turn can transform the appearance of the piece completely.

‘A velvet like Isla Finch or Isla Fox would be really striking, whilst a floral fabric such as Emma will give it a very English feel. Equally, if you favour a more classic Neptune look, Imogen or Hugo are modest choices that will emphasise the beautiful silhouette without dominating the space nearly as much,’ says Henry. ‘The front and back edges are also piped, which accentuates the shape and gives it definition, and our seasonal fabrics are available with contrast piping too.’ Undoubtedly a focal piece, the beauty of Clemmie is that you can decide how much of a statement you want to make with your choice of colour or pattern. ‘The fact that it carries fabric so well is absolutely key,’ adds Henry. ‘It gives it a huge amount of flexibility in terms of the settings it works brilliantly in.’

(Opposite) Clemmie king-size headboard in Lara Burnt Sienna with Harry Rust piping £630 / Rupert footstool in Harry Flax Blue £450 / Westmeath throw £220 Chedworth Off White rug, from £425 / Larsson bedside table in Navy £525 / wall painted in Flax Blue matt emulsion, from £38 for 2.5l

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Perfectly imperfect Design writer Roddy Clarke explores the Japanese craft of kintsugi, which celebrates the beauty of broken ceramics, and discovers it has emotional as well as practical resonance.

完璧に 不完全

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When discussing the term ‘repair’, we habitually think of an item returning to its perfect state.

However, through the age-old Japanese ceramic craft kintsugi, an alternative result is presented; one celebrating the damage visibly through the application of powdered gold and other precious metals.

Dating back to at least the 16th century and translating to ‘joining with gold’, kintsugi has seen a resurgence in recent years with artisans making it more accessible on a global scale.

Mending cracked or broken ceramic items with a combination of tree-sap lacquer (urushi) and rice glue, the positive philosophy behind kintsugi is also resonating with a new audience. Coupled with a rise in the desire for craft (The Crafts Council reported that the number of UK craft buyers had risen from 16.9 million in 2010 to 31.6 million in 2020), the love for kintsugi is blossoming, so much so that many organisations across the country are championing its cause. Locations are offering workshops, DIY kits, talks and presentations, helping us to become more acquainted with the craft directly.

線を飾ります 前進します 時間とともに

(Previous page) Thursfield tall vase £29 (Above) Olney Flax Blue teapot £27 and side plate £10

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Ryoko Mutasono, director of London-based Japanese design store Wagumi, has witnessed this recent surge first-hand and notes its sustainable element. ‘People want to engage with new ideas of beauty, and not see items being discarded,’ she explains when discussing the workshops she has been organising for London Craft Week. ‘To allow things to continue to be used, like patching socks for example, can be seen as a new stage of life for an object. Once you begin to think this way, there’s almost an excitement when you smash something while washing up! It can be the start of something new.’

Iku Nishikawa, founder of Kintsugi Oxford and a presenter of the craft at Japan House London, shares a similar determination to help spread the joy of this captivating art form, historically only accessible in Japan. Organising workshops, lessons and repairs for private clients, Nishikawa emphasises how the craft still needs further recognition, and experts of kintsugi struggle to make a full-time living from it.

‘We have to challenge the outdated image of crafts,’ she comments.

‘Craftspeople need to be recognised in the same way designers are, and utilise social networks to bring their profile up to date. This way, larger organisations and governments do more to support them.’

Kintsugi craftsman Iku Nishikawa at work. Photos on this page courtesy of Kintsugi Oxford.

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‘We decorate and celebrate the lines and move forward with time.’

That being said, the preservation of kintsugi is looking hopeful as homeowners become more attuned to investing in pieces they can personally connect to. ‘We’re narrating the moment of breakage,’ Mutasono continues. ‘It’s about accepting and celebrating it. Kintsugi acknowledges how we can live through fragile moments and yet still focus on the beauty which forms through them.’ As she speaks, I understand that by adopting this mindset we can find peace on a wider scale too.

‘Being broken is another stage,’ she concludes. ‘We decorate and celebrate the lines and move forward with time.’ Provoking a serenity within me, I’m left considering kintsugi as a representation of the human form: perfectly imperfect, completely unique and a masterful work of art.

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Bath

Belfast

Bournemouth

Bristol

Bury St Edmunds

Cambridge

Canterbury

Chesham

Chester

Chichester

Chiswick

Colchester

R ESTOR ED TO NEW GLORY Edgbaston

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Farnham

Fulham

Guildford

Hailsham

Hove

Knutsford

Reading

Southport

Tonbridge

Weybridge

Wimbledon

Winchester

York

Interiors journalist Giles Kime explores how the Neptune design team breathed new life into a historic property in Cheltenham to create an exciting interiors destination.

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common refrain of those who’ve restored the symmetry of the building. But the interior was a a listed building is that planners and different matter: ‘The house had evolved a great deal conservation officers are more of a hindrance over the years and very little of the original layout and rather than a help. That’s not the experience of Fred architectural detailing remained,’ explains Fred.

Horlock, Neptune’s head of design and build, whose job The project has also benefited from the expertise and it is to ensure that every building Neptune acquires is resources that Neptune has to offer. As well as working magically reborn as a showroom that looks and feels like with local reclaimed timber and stone, materials from the the home that its customers have an opportunity to create. Neptune collection were employed to sympathetically These buildings range from agricultural structures to a transform the house. Another invaluable resource was former tram yard, all of which Fred and his team work Neptune’s team of builders, overseen by Lukasz Krupa hard to improve while respecting who worked on the home the spirit of their past. of Neptune’s co-founder The Cheltenham John Sims Hilditch a store, which opened decade ago. in early 2017, is As well as the unusual in that involvement of the it started life as conservation officer, a picture perfect the benefit of the townhouse in the Grade II classification th late 18 century. was the deep seam Later, it became a of information offered Cheltenham pub and its architectural by the listed building merit attracted a Grade II listing, meaning that it’s of register, which included an overview of the building, special interest. ‘The conservation officers were a font of the original materials used and planning history. Fred knowledge who really helped us achieve the authenticity and his team worked with all the available evidence to you need when restoring a listed building,’ says Fred. The reinstate elements of the original layout, period cornicing exterior was exceptional: a classic flat-fronted Georgian and ceiling roses, while also maximising light to enhance house with beautiful proportions, sash windows and the the look and feel of the interior. ‘The greatest focus was original decorative metalwork canopy still intact (which on the architectural detail, both inside and out, and it the team sandblasted back to its original state). has been the real achievement of this project,’ adds Fred.

Working collaboratively with the planners, the upper The result is a seamless joining of old and new that creates floor was created over a single storey addition, restoring the perfect place to seek inspiration for the home.

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IF WA L L S

C OU L D TELL S TOR I E S

The building – and now restoration – of our stone and brick walls owes as much to the locality as to the craftspeople maintaining the traditions, says design journalist Amy Moorea Wong. When traversing the UK, the varying stone types used for building in different regions are at once apparent and easy to overlook. Britain’s buildings were hewn from the earth; our walls narrate our history, and – if you’ve misplaced your map – are an architectural indicator of your whereabouts. ‘Buildings were adapted to whatever material could be dug from ground nearby, and there are different construction traditions around the country,’ explains Tim Cambourne, senior project manager at The National Trust. ‘Historic buildings illustrate our development as a society. Well maintained, they have extremely long lives, but craftspeople who understand local techniques are becoming scarce as specific stones need specific skills.’

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R ED BR ICK

BATH STONE

One of the oldest human-made building materials, bricks date back to 7,000BC when they were blocks of mud dried in the sun. The Romans introduced kilns to the equation, and when machines took over in the industrial revolution, entire brick-built cities sprung up. Brick colours vary depending on the local clay, but thanks to scattered pockets of iron oxide, the distinguishable red brick comprises buildings nationwide, from simple terraced houses to grand universities and royal buildings such as Hampton Court Palace. ‘Red clay was very accessible and bricks are easy to make,’ explains Charles Reilly, owner of Georgian Brickwork. ‘They can be laid simply, in patterns or ornately carved.’ Blue-grey bricks were often added into red brick patterns in the south of England, while light and dark browns were more commonly mixed in the north.

Patterns can help date the walls, as Charles explains: ‘The two most popular styles are the English bond (common from the 1450s) – one row showing the long side of the brick, the next the short – and the Flemish bond (dominant in the late 1700s) where the bricks in every row alternate between long and short. Now we work to conserve each brick’s character to keep the heritage alive.’

A soft limestone formed when the area lay under water in the Jurassic period, honey-hued Bath Stone rose to prominence during the 18th century when Bath was a fashionable spot for Georgians taking to its thermal waters. Neoclassically styled, golden-toned residences were built to accommodate them, now comprising the city’s 5,000 listed buildings – including tourist-luring landmarks such as the Royal Crescent and Bath Abbey – and earning it UNESCO World Heritage status. ‘Because it’s so soft, Bath Stone is very easy to work, which lead to architects designing incredibly elaborate facades,’ explains Julian Burrage, owner of Bath Stonemasons. ‘Restoration is vital to combat weather damage and discolouration – Bath was black 100 years ago due to soot deposits on the stone.

It looked grim.’

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FLINT

YOR K STONE

Unusually, flint occurs in organic, pebble-shaped A sandstone cleaved from the quarries of Yorkshire ‘nodules’ along Britain’s south and east coasts. Typically since medieval times, ultra-durable Yorkstone has dark with a glassy shine, it breaks into sharp-edged been used widely across building, construction and pieces, was relied upon in the Stone Age for making landscaping throughout the country, from small homes tools (keep an eye out for ancient arrowheads if and manor houses in northern England to the streets you’re in these areas) and has been used for building of London, which it has paved for centuries. ‘Yorkstone throughout human history. ‘Flint is almost as hard as is excellent to carve, so there’s often a finish on it – diamond, so restoration generally involves repairing the usually more decorative rurally, such as herringbone mortar around it,’ explains Duncan Bain, co-director and chevron patterns, with simpler borders or rugged, of The Flint Wall Company. ‘Flinters in different areas natural effects in cities,’ explains Richard Bradley, had distinct styles, from laying it in neat rows in Sussex operations director of Bradley & Trotter Restoration. to more higgledy-piggledy styles in Surrey, or mixing it ‘It’s incredibly hardwearing but you can brush back with brick in Wiltshire. Preserving flint walls maintains erosion to reveal stone underneath that will last for a dialogue with the past and creates a sense of identity another 200 years. We follow in the footsteps of and local vernacular.’ stonemasons trained exactly as we are – every building’s got a story to tell.’

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Inside goes outside We may be meeting up outside, but it can still be cosy and inviting, according to interiors journalist Amy Bradford.

‘Garden rooms’ are in vogue: online searches for the term have gone up by 171% over the past year, according to Google. More than just impromptu relaxing or dining spots, they extend the layout and cosiness of your interior to the outdoors with proper furniture and thoughtfully layered accessories. With summer imminent, and pandemic-mandated outdoor socialising on the horizon for the foreseeable future, there’s never been a better time to create a restorative garden room of your own. With a few simple, versatile touches, anyone can have one – whether you’ve acres to play with or just a few square feet.

CONSIDER ED POSITIONING

H A R D WOR K I NG S M A L L S PAC E S

It’s not just about choosing the sunniest spot, says Annie, Neptune’s product developer for furniture and lighting.

‘I love discreet, shaded hideaways where an outdoor sofa makes for a little escape,’ she says. ‘The entrance to the garden is another place I’d recommend – this lends itself to an indoor-outdoor “bridge” for dining, with the convenience of the kitchen nearby.’ Another tip is to set up your outdoor room near a calming feature, such as a pond or scented planting.

For compact spaces, opt for foldable, stackable designs, says Henry, like the Denham campaign chair. ‘The Cheltenham dining chairs are ideal too, as is our new Ashcroft butler’s tray table – this indoor-outdoor piece is perfect for serving drinks now that we’re allowed to entertain outdoors.’ Furniture on wheels, like the new, graceful Cheltenham sunlounger, is another option as it’s easily moved when shifting the focus from sunbathing to dining. ‘It looks refined and nostalgic, but the wheels make it easy to find that last bit of sunshine,’ explains Annie.

OU TDOOR SIT TING ROOMS USEFU L ACCE SSOR IE S With furnishings, combine practicality and flexibility.

Think about how adaptable your outdoor room needs to be – if you have the luxury of space, go for enveloping shapes that replicate the comfort of your living room, like our new Bryher sofa and armchair. ‘This is our first collection mixing weave and teak,’ says Henry, Neptune’s senior furniture designer. ‘The deep cushions are wonderfully inviting. It’s ideal for larger gardens, where you can leave furniture in situ, and for pairing with indoor-style coffee tables.’

To make an outdoor room truly homely, it needs textiles and lighting. ‘This is why we’ve launched our Evie outdoor cushions, made from weatherproof yarn that suits the changeable British weather,’ adds Henry. ‘The geometric and stripe designs introduce a little colour and pattern, as you would indoors.’ We’ve also extended the Browning lantern collection, collection – a breeze-proof way to use candles outdoors for a relaxed evening glow.

‘Mix and match different sizes and you can use your outdoor room day and night,’ Annie advises.

Explore more of our outdoor collection at neptune.com/garden

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R ESTOR E TO OR DER A much-loved but rather tired Suffolk dresser gets a new lease of life.

R

estoration is as much about creating something new as it is about celebrating the old. It’s a breath of fresh air, a chance to change the scene. To make your surroundings reflect you and that lovely cross pollination of ideas and inspirations that change over time. A celebration of now, as you add a patina of the present with every new creative flourish.

For Pollyanna it was just that. A refresh of a beloved Neptune dresser that stands centre stage in her beautifully renovated schoolhouse kitchen (@the_old_school_house). It had been the inspiration, in fact the piece that everything else played second fiddle to, from the island layout to the position of the windows. Pollyanna was craving not only a new look but to give the dresser a different purpose, a focus other than storage, something to linger over.

Originally painted in Charcoal, then Dove Grey to chime with the rest of her Suffolk kitchen, it was all neutrals. And for someone who likes to play with colour, it just didn’t set the right tone anymore.

‘I wanted to switch things up and paint is the easiest way to do it,’ said Pollyanna. ‘I don’t want a new kitchen.

I love my kitchen! But I wanted something that will really make me smile. I knew Neptune could help.’

Pollyanna’s Suffolk dresser was, at first, painted in Charcoal before moving to subtle Dove Grey (above) and now, warm and gentle Old Rose.

(Opposite) Old Rose eggshell, £54 for 2.5l (Above) Suffolk 6ft glazed dresser, from £3,445

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Cue breakfast bar. Cue Old Rose. Elegant without being too feminine. Delicate yet earthy and warm.

Catnip for bold colour lovers who don’t want the full French boudoir. And on Pollyanna’s six-foot dresser it was a punch of colour. Set against the leafy green velvet William chairs and Olive-painted utility room, it proved that opposites really do attract. Senior stylist Meaghan helped Pollyanna choose Silver Birch for the interior – a paler version of Dove Grey – and carefully select pieces from her tabletop collection to design a more practical and appealing breakfast bar setting.

The final edit: chrome handles bringing a touch of the contemporary to Pollyanna’s vintage-inspired kitchen.

For Pollyanna, her new dresser reflects a new chapter.

One filled with friends and family, brunches and Buck's Fizz. A compelling reframing of daily life in beautiful bold strokes.

OU R PA I N T S E RV IC E When it comes to our painted furniture designs, like the Suffolk dresser, each one comes in one of our colours as standard.

But, you can also choose to customise yours with any of our timeless shades through our bespoke paint service. And, should you change your mind later down the line, it’s also easy for you to refinish your piece as we only ever use water-based eggshell paints.

(Opposite) Pollyanna’s Suffolk dresser repainted in Old Rose and Silver Birch.

To see more of Pollyanna’s kitchen, visit neptune.com/inspiration and look under ‘your stories’.

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Sleeping Beauty

Photography: Chris Horwood

Despite its distinguished past, Wolterton Hall in Norfolk was uninhabited for several decades. It’s now being brought back to life by a pair of ‘serial restorers’, as interiors journalist Giles Kime discovers.

A

cquiring Wolterton Park in Norfolk, Horatio Walpole’s magnificent Palladian home, was a once in a lifetime opportunity for Peter Sheppard and Keith Day. That said, they’ve been lucky enough to have had several once in a lifetime opportunities, notably buying a house designed by Robert Adam in Fitzroy Square, once home to the Omega Workshop where Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and Roger Fry created artworks and furniture. Then there was Sir Winston Churchill’s duplex apartment overlooking Westminster Cathedral, a 15th-century Venetian palazzo and a house with a mediaeval barn built

by Sir James Hobart, Henry VII’s attorney general.

But even in this distinguished company, Wolterton stands out: it was built for Horatio Walpole (younger brother of the first British prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole) by Thomas Ripley, the chief government architect who was project manager of nearby Houghton Hall. It is, without doubt, one of Norfolk’s architectural gems, and that subsequently passed through the hands of Walpole’s descendants until it was sold to Peter and Keith five years ago. Despite the fact that it had been empty for over 30 years, they found it tired but structurally in good health. The 1947 ship’s boiler still keeps the house warm but all the plumbing and wiring needed replacing.

Given their age, the fireplaces, door handles and walnut doors (a gift to Walpole from Queen Caroline, wife of George II) were all in good condition and the roof had been replaced after a fire in the 1950s.

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The rooms that needed the most pressing attention were more recent additions such as the bathrooms.

Elsewhere, the kitchen was in an adjacent building and food was carried through a tunnel to the state dining room. Because the couple spend much of their time in the library on the ground floor, a south-facing room overlooking the park, it was important that the kitchen was close at hand. It’s now accommodated in a former dining room, and its sympathetic character was recently celebrated in an award presented by Neptune, Country Life and Historic Houses. Around the estate, most of the ancillary buildings were in poor condition. Six of the properties have now been reincarnated to create holiday accommodation, recently described by Tatler as one of the ‘101 best places to stay in the world’.

As well as establishing a successful design agency with Keith, Peter has also had a parallel career as a kitchen designer, and this room is furnished with cabinetry from their former home in London. Although both trained as designers, they’ve appreciated the support and guidance of Historic England and the local conservation department, both of which have been vital to the success of the project. They were also fortunate that Norfolk still has a wealth of traditional craftsmen – such as those at Felbrigg Forge with the skills necessary to repair the Georgian hob grates – as well as joiners, plasterers and plumbers with an understanding of how an 18th-century building can sympathetically be brought into the 21st century.

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‘When restoring a period building, it’s important to let it speak to you; try and tease out what the building needs and be gentle.’

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Steve, one of the many craftspeople to work on Wolterton’s restoration, trims the fabric-clad walls of the state dining room with a hand-woven braid.

On the first floor are eight staterooms including the saloon which overlooks the lake in 150 acres of parkland designed by Charles Bridgeman. Up above, the second floor had been altered in the 1950s and had a layout that lent itself to being upgraded to create ten bedroom suites, each with creature comforts such as rainfall showers. This delicate balance between old and new is evident throughout the house. ‘When restoring a period building, it’s important to let it speak to you; try and tease out what the building needs and be gentle,’ Peter explains. ‘Georgian houses are quite easy to live in.

They are quite logical.’

While Peter and Keith have maintained the mood of the house by acquiring period contents, including an extensive collection of Walpole family portraits and Brussels and Antwerp tapestries, this has not been a slavish restoration. The kitchen has a contemporary feel and, nearby, another room that serves as a study is devoted to one of the couple’s particular passions – Bloomsbury painting. Much of its charm is that its new owners have a light touch. ‘I’m a bit dubious about some of the scholarly restorations that involve colours based on paint scraping and scraps of fabric,’ says Peter. ‘Sometimes they look too bright and rather dead.’

Instead, Wolterton is alive with its owners, builders, craftspeople and those who have come to enjoy the seclusion of this far flung corner of Britain. It’s the perfect example of an evolving country house with its roots in the 18th century that is now flourishing in the 21st.

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In the kitchen ‘Restoration’ isn’t an idea that lends itself easily to creating a menu.

But Georgie, the culinary creative behind our café, The Provenist, has married the two beautifully in this trio. While the salad and possets celebrate spring’s honey harvest (at this time of year, honey is light and delicate as the bees forage on blossom) and, in turn, support the restoration of bees to the land, her second recipe champions the legumes that are so wonderfully restorative for the soil. Indeed, between these two, the trout (one of the most sustainable fish) and those ingredients grown on local soils – the beetroot, apple, fennel and samphire – these might well also be dishes that prove to be restorative to the soul.

C A N D I E D B E E T R O O T, A P P L E & SMOK ED TROU T SA L A D WITH SHERRY VINEGAR & HONEY DRESSING Makes enough for: four as a side, six as a starter

W H AT YO U ’ L L N E E D

W H AT TO D O

3 large candy-striped beetroot 1 Braeburn apple 2 fillets of smoked freshwater rainbow trout A small handful of watercress 2 tbsp sherry vinegar 1 tsp honey ½ tsp Dijon mustard 3 tbsp good quality extra virgin olive oil A small handful of chives Sea salt and cracked black pepper

1 Start by washing and peeling the beetroot.

Then, using either a mandolin (watch those fingers!) or a sharp knife, cut each beetroot into thin matchstick-like pieces.

2 Next, wash and core your apple but leave its peel on and, just like the beetroot, cut it into matchsticks. Place both apple and beetroot into a large mixing bowl.

Y O U C O U L D A LWAY S

3 In a separate small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, honey, mustard and oil with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Swap the rainbow trout for goats’ cheese or oven-roasted tofu if you’re following a vegetarian or plant-based diet.

4 Pour the dressing over the beetroot and apple and give everything a good toss to make sure it’s all evenly coated before adding in the watercress.

5 Place your dressed salad onto a serving platter and then flake the trout on top. Finish with a sprinkling of the finely chopped chives and a touch more cracked black pepper.

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CHARRED FENNEL, SA MPHIR E & BEA NS WITH SALSA VERDE

Makes enough for: four as a light main or six as a side

W H AT YO U ’ L L N E E D

W H AT TO D O

2 fennel bulbs 2 jars of good quality butter beans 100g podded broad beans 100g samphire For the salsa verde: 100g mixed herbs (parsley, chive, coriander, basil and mint all work well together) 1 garlic clove grated The zest of 1 lemon 1 tbsp of capers rinsed 100ml extra virgin olive oil Sea salt and cracked black pepper

1 Begin with the salsa verde by adding all the ingredients to a blender and whizzing them up until they’re smooth.

G E O R G I E S AY S ‘Butter beans might not grow in Britain, but they’re still a really great source of fibre, protein and vitamins, and like all legumes, are wonderful for the soil too. Choose the best you can find – I love the Queen Butter Beans from Bold Bean Co. They’re a heritage variety that’s full of flavour and are jarred, rather than tinned, which involves slower cooking to preserve those nutrients.’

2 Taking the fennel bulbs and keeping their woody cores intact to help hold each piece together, slice them into quarters before coating in olive oil.

3 Heat up a barbecue or griddle pan to a medium-high heat and place the fennel on the grill, cooking for about three–four minutes on each side until slightly charred and softened.

4 Blanch the samphire and podded broad beans in boiling water for about two minutes, before draining and rinsing in cold water.

5 Peel the broad beans of their tough outer skins and throw these away.

6 Drain and rinse your butter beans. You can either gently warm them at this stage or serve them cold – either is fine because, from a jar or tin, they’re already cooked.

7 Combine the butter beans, broad beans, samphire and a couple of tablespoons of the salsa verde together, then check the seasoning.

8 To serve, simply pile the bean mixture onto a serving platter and top with the charred fennel. I like to slice a lemon in half and chargrill it flesh side down on the barbecue or griddle plan, and then add this at the end.

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LEMON POSSET W ITH HON EY OAT CRU NCH Makes enough for: four

W H AT YO U ’ L L N E E D

W H AT TO D O

350g silken tofu drained 3 tbsp maple syrup 2 tbsp coconut oil melted 1 large unwaxed lemon zested and juiced 50g almonds 25g oats 1 tbsp honeycomb or runny honey

1 In a blender, whizz together the tofu, maple syrup, coconut oil, lemon zest and juice until smooth, then pour the mixture into four ramekins or small glasses.

2 Pop these in the fridge and leave them to set overnight.

3 The next day, shortly before you serve, warm your oven to a medium heat. Blitz up the almonds in a food processor or roughly chop them with a knife before tipping them onto a lined baking tray together with the oats.

4 Crumble over the honeycomb or, if you can’t get hold of honeycomb, drizzle over the runny honey.

5 Give everything a good stir and bake in the oven for about ten minutes, stirring halfway through. Be sure to keep an eye on things as the honey can catch and burn very quickly.

6 To serve, remove the possets from the fridge and top each with a handful of the still warm oat crunch.

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BOOK CLUB R E S T O R AT I V E R E A D S

Just as people rediscovered the joy their homes and gardens could give them during the pandemic, so too did they reconnect with the simple pleasures of reading and of books.

As renowned book publisher Alison Starling observed, most publishers began the spring of 2020 in a state of anxiety but watched as sales stayed buoyant through the year, with non-fiction faring particularly well. And so far in 2021, our renewed love of the written word has continued to grow. Here, Alison selects her edit of books with the power to restore – be it a bare patch of garden, a tired interior or a broken heart.

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Curate: Inspiration for an Individual Home Lynda Gardener & Ali Heath (Mitchell Beazley, 2021) Australian stylist Lynda has a knack for restoring old buildings (an abandoned mattress factory, an 1850s’ miner’s cottage, a tired city-centre apartment) with a mix of repurposed finds, vintage treasures and simple contemporary pieces. The result is light, richly textured and timeless interiors. In this, her first book, she and interiors writer Ali Heath explain how to curate a home that’s true to you.

Dinner with Edward: A Story of an Unexpected Friendship Isabel Vincent (Pushkin Press, 2016) A life-affirming memoir by New York-based journalist Isabel Vincent celebrating the restorative effects of food and friendship. Each chapter describes the growing bond formed over martinis and delicious dinners cooked by her ninety-something, recently widowed neighbour, Edward. A short, warm, elegant read of the kind that one wants to gift to friends.

SOU N DTR ACK TO THE SEASON

Spring Cannot be Cancelled David Hockney & Martin Gayford (Thames & Hudson, 2021) An uplifting manifesto that affirms art and nature’s ability to divert and inspire us, even in the most challenging of times. Illustrated with Hockney’s vibrant new iPad drawings and paintings of his four acres of Normandy, alongside works by van Gogh, Monet and Bruegel, this book is also a fascinating conversation between the artist and his long-time friend and collaborator, art critic Martin Gayford.

The Flower Yard: Growing Flamboyant Flowers in Containers Arthur Parkinson (Kyle, 2021) It’s reckoned that more than three million people in the UK started gardening for the first time in 2020 and, as Arthur Parkinson’s sumptuous book proves, you don’t need much space to create a garden.

His Nottingham city-centre front path is lined with galvanized metal and terracotta pots filled through the year with jewel-coloured blooms – from crocus and parrot tulips to sweet peas and dahlias. Glorious.

A regular since our very-first volume, you’ll find our soundtrack for this season on Spotify.

Simply search for @Neptune_home or tap the camera icon in the search box of your Spotify app and scan the code to the left.

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Saving the Bees The bee whisperer Last summer, former fashion designer turned shopkeeper, Pascale Smets unexpectedly adopted a beehive, rescued from a wheelie bin, and has been nursing it back to health in her Suffolk garden.

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I like to think the tasteful wooden beehive, situated in the middle of our Suffolk orchard, is a step up from the wheelie bin we rescued our bee colony from last summer. Right now, after many tender ministrations throughout autumn and winter, entirely conducted by Anthony, my neighbour and right-hand man in the garden, the colony has survived and is set to have a happy and productive summer.

I feel ridiculously attached and affectionate towards our bees. In under a year, my nighttime reading has become The Haynes Bee Manual and my new favourite onesie is my bee suit. It didn’t always look this promising.

Our colony was discovered by my poor, unsuspecting nephew. When the bees swarmed out and stung him, he (unsurprisingly) let go of the bin lid which crashed down resulting in a broken comb, bees half drowned in their own honey, all mixed in with rotting grass clippings.

It was carnage.

Even without the ‘crash’, the bin, situated in the full glare of the July sun, had become a death trap, filled with damp, fermenting grass clippings. Nevertheless, thanks to the ensuing removal – messy as it was – there was a possibility of the colony surviving.

What was salvageable of the comb, Anthony wedged onto our frames and brought the colony back to the orchard, to our serendipitously empty and waiting hive.

We had no idea if the queen was in there or, indeed, if she had survived (she was and she had), and we had to wait weeks before we knew for sure.

The feeding and nurturing began immediately. With Anthony as my guide and mentor, I became familiar with terms like ‘brood frame’, ‘Candipolline’, and ‘nectar flow’. I can now distinguish a drone from a worker bee and, these days, when I plan the planting for my garden, I think about my bees first and foremost. Early spring is important when the bees are starting to emerge and are looking for pollen, so I’ve grown hellebores and crocuses for them. Equally, early flowering fruit trees are a fantastic source of pollen – I’ve favoured crab apple trees as they also provide winter food for birds.

The hive has captivated me. I think bees appeal so much because they’re so reassuring: busy, purposeful, organised. If you want to see structure, industry and hierarchy working in perfect harmony to achieve a common goal, might I suggest you spend a sunny afternoon observing a beehive?

I may be a complete novice, but I’m gripped. And I can’t wait for the sweet taste of my hive’s honey.

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THE CAMPS AND THEIR CHICHESTER KITCHEN

A family home with a history of renovation and restoration, and what a simple lick of paint can do for your kitchen…

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W

hen Kate and Adrian Camp found their home in Sunningdale, Berkshire in 2008, it had seen several extensions and was now three times the size of the original house. Built in 1831, it had gradually transformed over the years from a twobedroom cottage into a large family home, with all the character that comes along with that. The Camps then set about extending the house further, bringing a sense of light and space to the interior. And nowhere more so than in their kitchen – a room that they’d envisioned as open and inviting, overlooking the garden at the back of the house. ‘The space gets so much gorgeous sunshine and natural light, we just knew it would become the heart of our home,’ explained Kate.

Inspired by a French kitchen they’d spied, which was made from solid oak wood, Kate and Adrian decided on a freestanding layout rather than a slick run of cabinets to create the simple yet traditional feeling they wanted.

With rustic French charm in mind, they chose the Chichester kitchen, painted in soothing shades of Aqua Blue and Calico (one of the shades from our archived Earth palette, which we can still mix to order), and paired with a solid white oak work surface. ‘It was so important that we kept the rustic country house feel, so we chose distinctive wood floorboards, kept the original windows and styled the house to fit the aesthetic,’ said Kate. ‘In a way, it felt like putting back into the house the things it was asking for.’

Like so many, Kate and Adrian’s kitchen had become the centre of their home, but after ten years enjoying the space, they decided to repaint and restore the cabinetry.

‘Although the cabinets had lasted really well, and didn’t look particularly shabby, you could see the chips and bumps that come with everyday life, and we simply felt they needed refreshing,’ said Kate.

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While the couple were keen to lend their kitchen a more contemporary aesthetic, they didn’t want to lose the down to earth, bucolic feel that flowed so well with the rest of the house. The island and the wall cabinetry were the first aspects of the kitchen to be restored when they were repainted in Moss, the coolest shade in our Plant palette. Initially concerned that the kitchen was being overpowered by the green hues, it wasn’t until the remaining cabinetry was repainted in Smoke, a deep and chalky grey that takes on an almost teal blue tint in the warm light of this space, that the room was grounded and the earthy colours harmonised. ‘We’re so pleased with how it’s turned out, and love that we didn’t have to completely change the design of our kitchen,’ added Kate. ‘It feels brand new, but with all the wonderful aspects of the old house.’

What’s your favourite thing to do in your kitchen?

Making our morning coffees and gazing out to the garden. It’s so peaceful.

The best part?

The AGA. It’s where most people congregate to chat and socialise, and it brings such warmth to the house.

What’s next?

We’d love a new wicker lampshade for above the island, but it’s not urgent. We’re just loving the new design and feel, and spending more time in the kitchen as a family.

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Moving into the slow lane

A loving restoration of a Somerset house revealed more about himself than interiors editor Pip McCormac expected.

I

t was a low-stakes task, steaming wallpaper off a bedroom wall. Finite, manageable, unlikely to go wrong. We moved in just before Christmas, to a house in the country that hadn’t been decorated since the 1970s, that was loved and lived in but whose natural beauty had been slumbering, hidden under blankets of lino, woodchip and thin wooden board. As I peeled off the pieces, small strip by small strip, I peeled off a layer of the house’s life, revealing walls that had once, in another time, been painted a verdant, pastoral green, and a space for a fireplace that would have warmed toes at night-time, and now warmed my heart. It seemed we were getting to the essence of what the house had been. Of what it could be again, with just a little care.

My life was undergoing its own transformation. Gone was the one-bed flat in London, the rushing to the gym and to work and to dinner and to bed. Instead I was here, focussed on one thing only – the house and garden – present in the stillness of a moonlit night. Pastimes I thought were personality traits – working out, eating out, acting out – all gone, I was discovering who I really was as the house was telling me who it was too.

Misconceptions fell away. The sitting room didn’t need to be painted a greyed-out sage green, as the light there was too cool to stop it reading as blue. I didn’t need to go to a group fitness session at least six times a week: grappling with brambles in the hedgerow was just as strenuous and a lot more satisfying. We didn’t need to turn the cupboard under the stairs into a cloakroom as that space was, in fact, ideal for storing our vacuum. I didn’t need fancy restaurants on the doorstep because the AGA, with its loving heat, provided nourishing stews instead.

My world became, quickly, more quiet.

I didn’t see the difference for a few months. As with the initial work on the house, most of the changes were internal, and the alteration was slow to feel. Rewiring with ethernet cables meant a huge leap for the home, bringing its 1840s structure straight into the 21st century, but did nothing for how anything looked. My life was still the same really, I thought. I was still the same. Except, I was spending my evenings after work digging trenches for chitted potatoes, planting strawberries and blackcurrants. I was, almost completely, calm.

It’s not solely country life that has given me peace, though the rhythms of blossom budding and owls hooting have certainly lulled my mind. It isn’t just the bracing walks and the flowerbeds that have provided a tranquility I didn’t know I craved. My rebalancing act has come from truly noticing the seasons, from watching shoots appear in windowsill containers in our greenhouse, from appreciating the optimism of new growth implying a brighter future ahead. From seeing the sunset through one window for just two weeks before it moved around to another as it got higher in the sky. Time is a luxury you don’t need to slow down, awareness is all it takes for you to let nature soothe your flow. Listen, watch, recalibrate. That sound? It comes from you.

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THE

FLOR AL CODE

The renowned floral designer Philippa Craddock knows the power of a flower’s fragrance, colour and purpose. Here she tells interiors journalist Rhoda Parry how blooms can breathe new life into a room.

How do you make a room sing with flowers?

I like to create harmony. The flowers in a space should tell the story of the architecture, maybe echo the room decor and reflect the seasonal view outside. Don’t be frightened about scale – a small room can take a vast vase and vice versa.

What scents will liven up a summer room?

Lily of the valley with its exquisite spring-like scent.

Sweet peas in abundance will never disappoint.

Tuberose is incredible – it’s an interesting flower with a beautiful fragrance, and don’t underestimate the pleasure of potted plants such as flowering jasmine, herbs and scented pelargoniums.

Can flower colours restore your mood?

Absolutely! For an exuberant look, I would arrange a large vase with white viburnum (guelder rose), lilacs in pink, purple or white and fill out with long stems of vibrant euphorbia. If you’re after something more considered and calming, you can’t go wrong with delicate yet complex whites and greens. I love to combine orlaya, scabiosa, didiscus and cow parsley.

What uplifting florals are right for now?

The flowers that bring me joy are the delicate, yet robust, ones. Sweet peas, cosmos, Orlaya grandiflora, Japanese anemone – all have blooms that float on tall stems.

They may look fragile but they have real staying power in an arrangement.

(Opposite) Moreton table, from £1,790 / Wycombe bench £355 and chair £295 / Shepton cabinet painted in Flax Blue £1,460 / Helmshore throw £180 Grace scatter cushion in Burnt Sienna £82 / Emily linen tablecloth in Salt, from £95 / Whitton small ceramic vase £24 / Ella vases, from £11 / life-like Foxglove flowers £17 each English Rose, Warm Pink £16 / Dahlia, Cream £10 / Ranuncula, Warm Pink £12 / Coatbridge candlesticks £28 each / Alconbury Amber tealight holders, from £15 (Above) images courtesy of Philippa Craddock. Alconbury large vase £56

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Is a glass vase the best vessel?

I like the informality of a basket – just pop in a vase to make it watertight. A soup tureen filled with brightly coloured tulips, across different varieties, makes a good display. And be playful with jugs – add Neptune’s lifelike stems surrounded by a mass of real foliage. One stem of cow parsley in an empty fragrance bottle or classic milk bottle and placed in multiples, randomly, is heavenly; as are sprigs of budded blossom, wild grasses or anything abundant in the meadow such as buttercup and ox-eye daisy. Neptune’s small ceramic vessels, grouped, will make any flower look amazing.

Where should you position flowers for effect?

Centrepieces bring such meaning to a table. Why not tell the story of your guests in the flowers you choose?

I adore a bowl of roses in midsummer with the petals falling open. A favourite combination is the clotted cream coloured ‘Margaret Merril’ with rambling greenery such as silver birch, raspberry leaves or even geranium leaves.

Last thoughts…

Get creative, expressive and have fun!

Philippa Craddock’s Florist Fundamentals course launches on 26th June. philippacraddock.com

(Above) Ranuncula, Warm Pink £12 / Ranuncula and Dahlia bouquet with Bowsley jug £117 / Castleford bottle vases, from £24 (Opposite) Arundel console table £710 / Delphinium and Agapanthus bouquet with Charlton vase £333 / Richmond hurricane vases, from £50 Blyton Burnt Sienna pillar candles, from £5 / wall painted in Old Rose matt emulsion, from £38 for 2.5l

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THE BIGGER PICTURE

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For Neptune’s co-founder John Sims Hilditch, the act of restoring is more profound than simply renovating a building, a garden or a piece of furniture. It has emotional, lifestyle and environmental implications, as he explains to journalist Suzanne Imre.

R

etain what you can, add what you need.

That sage advice, handed out on a dusty building site by respected French hotelier Jean-Louis Sibuet many years ago, has always stayed with Neptune’s co-founder John Sims Hilditch and influenced his many restoration projects. For John, restoring buildings is something he’s been doing all his life, both for the business where many of Neptune’s stores are located in old buildings with former guises, and for his home life where the family cottage in Wiltshire – once the village schoolhouse – has been a 20-year plus renovation project.

Most recently, John applied the philosophy to some electrical renovations in a property where the original Bakelite light switches had been condemned.

John wanted to save them, loving their tactility and ‘the switch which had a beautiful mechanism like a Swiss watch’. Eventually John won the discussion: ‘It took quite a few conversations for me to persuade the builder to retain the switches and make them safe behind the scenes, but eventually even he admitted they were special,’ recalls John.

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The emotional satisfaction of restoring something is an important part of the process for John. ‘It’s lovely to hold onto history while bringing something up to date, knowing you’ve given it a new life ahead,’ he says. ‘And by engaging deeply with the details, you end up with a closer relationship with the project.

Before it was just a building. Now it has something of you in it.’ The Italian concept of bella figura also comes into play in John’s approach to projects – the idea that if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. And that can mean doing less, on occasion, as John explains: ‘A few carefully renovated details can be much more significant than rushing to do everything without enough thought.’

John’s ethos requires integrity. ‘When you start researching a project, you see how others once saw it. You can appreciate what the original designer wanted to do and if you stay true to that vision, while bringing it up to date, then you’ve kept the soul of the idea,’ explains John. ‘Otherwise the project is just a set of walls.’

But it’s not just bricks and mortar that John is focused on reviving. The Provenist cafe, adjacent to Neptune’s Bath store, is a chance to showcase how good food can be a restorative tonic. Following John’s belief in the advantages of a plant-based diet, the chefs at The Provenist aim to promote delicious, healthy food that has restorative benefits in a world where processed foods – and all the environmental concerns they create – have too easily become our default solution.

(Above) John’s family home in Wiltshire, which he restored together with his wife, interior designer Emma Sims Hilditch, from a schoolhouse and former barn. (Opposite) The Provenist café in Bath, Somerset.

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‘Our key objective at Neptune is to create beautiful furniture that, with a little care, will last. If something is treasured, it will be looked after, retained and restored – and help the environment too.’

These concerns for our lifestyles and the environment play out on a larger scale too, especially following the pandemic when the world’s sudden slowing down resulted in a sharp reduction in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. ‘Last year gave us the chance to consider the harm humans are doing to the world and understand that we’ve got the power to change that,’ says John. ‘We are on this spaceship called Planet Earth, there are no gas stations out there to replenish us, all we’ve got is here, on this planet, and we need to tread lightly.’

With that light touch in mind, John is keen that our ‘accidental restoration’ of the environment in 2020 is not lost. ‘We’re discovering that making changes without a negative impact can be rewarding,’ he says. ‘Whether that’s restoring something or buying something that is built to have a long life. Our key objective at Neptune is to create beautiful furniture that, with a little care, will last. If something is treasured, it will be looked after, retained and restored – and help the environment too.’

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Make yourself at home A Neptune store is so much more than a store. There’s the way they’re designed to feel like real homes. There’s the sense of calm and of being completely unhurried. And there’s our knowledgeable team – including our home and kitchen designers – here to guide and inspire, or just for a chat.

We’ve also got lots planned for our stores this year, including the return of our workshops, so stay tuned.

Find out more about our stores and design services online. neptune.com 72

We have Neptune stores across the whole of the UK, Ireland and Europe.

To see all of our homes, visit neptune.com/our-stores

OUR STORES

Bath BA1 5BD, 01225 465 301

Farnham GU9 0BB, 01252 713 047

Belfast BT7 3GB, 028 9691 9988

Fulham SW6 2TD, 0207 3719 997

Bournemouth BH2 5SL, 01202 555 024

Guildford GU1 3AJ, 01483 345 480

Bristol BS8 2QY, 01172 464 200

Hailsham BN27 1DQ, 01323 849 483

Bury St Edmunds IP33 3PH, 01284 731 025

Hove BN3 4QD, 01273 458 459

Cambridge CB22 7PX, 01223 643 535

Knutsford WA16 8TA, 01565 354 002

Canterbury CT1 3TY, 01227 209 300

Reading RG10 9SA, 01189 326 060

Cheltenham GL50 4DW, 01242 330 420

Southport PR4 6JA, 01772 812 812

Chesham HP5 1NG, 01494 398 472

Tonbridge TN9 1RF, 01732 351 866

Chester CH2 4JR, 01244 478 777

Weybridge KT13 8DX, 01932 901 234

Chichester PO20 2EW, 01243 904 417

Wimbledon SW19 1RX, 020 3362 8240

Chiswick W4 4HH, 020 3814 1220

Winchester SO21 1HL, 01962 850 556

Colchester CO3 8LT, 01206 212 650

York YO32 9TW, 01904 231 870

Edgbaston B15 3AA, 0121 437 4137

Wiltshire Outlet SN5 8YG, 01793 427 439

STORE IN STORE

Neptune by Treehouse Midmar Aberdeen, AB51 7NB 01330 830 101

Neptune by House of Wood Hereford, HR1 3NU 01432 820 612

Neptune by Creative Classics Ayr, KA7 2HD 01292 292 570

Neptune by Aberford Interiors Leeds, LS25 3DP 01132 813 209

Neptune by Sims Hilditch Bath, SN14 8JR 01249 783 087 (weekdays, appointment only) Neptune by Woods of London Blackheath, SE3 0TA 020 8852 1713 Neptune by Robert James Interiors Coventry, CV8 3HB 02476 544 818 Neptune by Hunters Derby, DE1 1SY 01332 349 285 Neptune by Richard F Mackay Edinburgh, EH11 2SG 01313 133 300 Neptune by Malone & Smyth Co. Fermanagh, BT92 9BL 02867 741 885 Neptune by Bridgewater Interiors Gateshead, NE8 2AJ 0191 477 6680

Neptune by Ben Heath Newbury, RG14 5SA 01635 523 123 Neptune by Appleyard Norfolk, NR25 6AR 01263 712 315 Neptune by Wilton Kitchens Salisbury, SP2 0HX 01722 743 332 Neptune By Closa Tetbury, Glos. GL8 8AA 01666 505 600 Neptune by Holloways Worcestershire, WR6 5DE 01886 884 665 Neptune by Bradley Gardens Wylam, NE41 8JH 01661 852 176 Neptune by Sacarello Interiors Gibraltar, GX11 1AA +350 (0)20 077 994

Get in touch stories@neptune.com @neptunehomeofficial We do everything we can to make sure Stories is as environmentally sound as possible. From the biopoly outer made from potato starch – which will biodegrade in your food waste or compost – through to the carbon footprint of the paper itself.

This is all FSC-certified as coming from responsible sources, and is also carbon balanced by the Woodland Trust, which means that this volume of Stories combined will create just over 458 square metres of new native woodland.

neptune.com

Some furniture is made for the here and now.

Some is built to stand the test of time.

At Neptune, we believe that the best can do both.

Because good design never grows old.

neptune.com