An intimate celebration of British country life with all the hallmarks of how design and dogs are as intertwined as roses and Wellingtons. This dreamy look into some of the most beautiful country homes and gardens in England, lived in by many of Britain's brightest design stars and their dogs, is brimming with inspirations. At Home in the English Countryside showcases a mix of glamorously bohemian and casually aristocratic country homes captured in original photography and lively text. Presented are the striking and chic houses of several of Great Britain's top international designers, from Paolo Moschino and Kit Kemp to Anouska Hempel and Veere Grenney. Beloved canines of several sizes and breeds, among them whippets, Labrador Retrievers, lurchers, Cavalier Kin Charles spaniels, and Jack Russell terriers, are shown in their picturesque homes and gardens of fragrant flowers. The designers offer ideas on how to live stylishly with their dogs. Seen are dog collars (one of custom leather and green malachite), dog bowls of antique Spode porcelain, and chic and comfy napping spots. Anglophiles will be inspired by the lives of these designers, who are devoted to their canine companions.
Sixty-two stunning houses in a range of architectural styles spanning seven centuries are brought to life through glorious imagery from the photography library of Country Life magazine.
A highly detailed look at the English country house interior, offering unprecedented access to England’s finest rooms. In this splendid book, renowned historian Jeremy Musson explores the interiors and decoration of the great country houses of England, offering a brilliantly detailed presentation of the epitome of style in each period of the country house, including the great Jacobean manor house, the Georgian mansion, and the Gothic Revival castle. For the first time, houses known worldwide for their exquisite architecture and decoration--including Wilton, Chatsworth, and Castle Howard--are seen in unprecedented detail. With intimate views of fabric, gilding, carving, and furnishings, the book will be a source of inspiration to interior designers, architects, and home owners, and a must-have for anglophiles and historic house enthusiasts. The fifteen houses included represent the key periods in the history of English country house decoration and cover the major interior fashions and styles. Stunning new color photographs by Paul Barker-who was given unparalleled access to the houses-offer readers new insights into the enduring English country house style. Supplementing these are unique black-and-white images from the archive of the esteemed Country Life magazine. Among the aspects of these that the book covers are: paneling, textile hangings (silks to cut velvet), mural painting, plasterwork, stone carving, gilding, curtains, pelmets, heraldic decoration, classical imagery, early upholstered furniture, furniture designed by Thomas Chippendale, carved chimney-pieces, lass, use of sculpture, tapestry, carpets, picture hanging, collecting of art and antiques, impact of Grand Tour taste, silver, use of marble, different woods, the importance of mirror glass, boulle work, English Baroque style, Palladian style, neo-Classical style, rooms designed by Robert Adam, Regency, Gothic Revival taste, Baronial style, French 18th century style, and room types such as staircases, libraries, dining rooms, parlors, bedrooms, picture galleries, entrance halls and sculpture galleries. Houses covered include: Hatfield - early 1600s (Jacobean); Wilton - 1630/40s (Inigo Jones); Boughton - 1680/90s (inspired by Versailles); Chatsworth -1690/early 1700s (Baroque); Castle Howard - early 1700s (Vanbrugh); Houghton - 1720s (Kent); Holkham - 1730s-50s (Palladian); Syon Park - 1760s (Adam); Harewood - 1760s/70s (neo-Classical); Goodwood - 1790s/1800s (neo-Classical/Regency); Regency at Chatsworth/Wilton/C Howard etc - 1820/30s; Waddesdon Manor - 1870/80ss (French Chateau style); Arundel Castle -1880s/90s (Gothic Revival); Berkeley Castle - 1920/30s (period recreations and antique collections); Parham House - 1920s/30s (period restorations and antique collections). The range is from the early 17th century to present day, drawn from the authenticated interiors of fifteen great country houses, almost all still in private hands and occupied as private residences still today. The book shows work by twentieth-century designers who have helped evolve the country house look, including Nancy Lancaster, David Hicks, Colefax & Fowler, and David Mlinaric
This book reveals the decorative and architectural richness to be found in the English country house. Changing styles are traced from medieval manors to Baroque constructions and the Georgian period. The work of the most influential architects from Inigo Jones to Robert Adam is discussed, and the treasures in their creations captured. Drawing on houses from all over England, including Castle Howard in Yorkshire and Stourhead in Wiltshire, the English heritage is explored.
Featuring exceptional photographs from Country Life, the renowned magazine of English country living, The Cotswold House profiles over fifty of the region’s signature stone houses. The region is the second most popular destination in Britain for Americans, and these stone houses have inspired American residential architecture and landscaping for generations, making this book a must-have for anyone interested in architecture and interiors. The book spans centuries of stone masterpieces. The first section focuses on the earliest medieval houses, such as Sudeley, and manor houses, such as Owlpen and Snowshill, as well as important Jacobean homes. The second section looks at the classic country houses, like Badminton and Dyrham Park, while the third documents stone houses up to the present, including Arts and Crafts masterpieces like Ernest Barnsley’s Rodmarton Manor and William Morris’s Kelmscott. Also included are notable recent additions such as Rosemary Verey’s Barnsley House and the "New Classicism" houses of Quinlan Terry.
The brilliantly restored St. Giles House, in the idyllic Dorset countryside, offers high-point Georgian architecture and interiors that bridge many historical styles. The 12th Earl of Shaftesbury, 39-year-old Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, invites the reader into the house that his family has called home since the fifteenth century. In recent years, his award-winning restoration has brought the house back to life, transforming exquisite spaces that honor the past while being suited to twenty-first-century living. English country-house splendor, through the hands of some of the world’s top artisans and craftspeople, returns to the house in the form of re-created wallpapers, customized paints, revived furniture from the Georgian and Victorian periods, reworked antique Brussels tapestries, restored plasterwork and textiles, and a complete overhaul of the landscape, with its sunken garden, woodlands, avenue of beeches, lake, and shell-encrusted grotto. With stories of noteworthy architecture, beautiful interiors, and centuriesof a single family’s involvement in British and world history, this book will appeal to devotees of country living, the aristocratic life, historic houses, and English interior design.
"There is nothing quite like the English country house anywhere else in the world." So pronounces Vita Sackville-West in the beautiful essay that opens English Country Houses, a brief history of the English country house from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. People may know of Sackville West's novels, or her passion for gardening, or her relationship with Virginia Woolf, but few know of her efforts to boost the morale of her beloved England during World War II. Sackville-West spent her childhood years at Knole House, a stately country home that deeply influenced her life and work. In entertaining and accessible prose she brings a deep affection to the task of boosting the morale of a country beset by war. This volume in the Britain in Pictures series is a love letter to the elegant homes of the English countryside and served as a balm to a besieged country. Writing at the height of the Blitz, as cities lay in smoldering ruins after relentless bombing, Sackville-West demonstrates a yearning for the safety provided by these exceptional buildings. We discover the architecture of the stately houses, with details conveyed in such entertaining and vivid prose that the buildings and surrounding areas come to life. The story is not just about the buildings, however, but also about the people who built and lived in them, from the most common of squires to the highest-born kings and queens. Equal parts architectural history and cultural history, this insider's view is quintessentially British. Its elegant package, with a ribbon for bookmarking, makes it the perfect gift for any Anglophile.
For anyone interested in interiors, there is so much inspiration available online and in magazines these days of carefully curated spaces and contemporary homes. But what sort of spaces do interior designers themselves live in? British Designers at Home is for anyone curious to find out more about designers, and glean ideas and practical information for their own homes. This engaging and visually enticing book profiles 26 of the most important names in British design and decoration in their own personal spaces. Names include: Alidad; Sarah Barker; Edward Bulmer; Emma Burns; Nina Campbell; Jane Churchill; Octavia Dickinson; Mike Fisher; Veere Grenney; Beata Heuman; Gavin Houghton; Roger Jones; Kit Kemp; Robert Kime; Rita Konig; Penny Morrison; Paolo Moschino; Wendy Nicholls; Guy Oliver; Colin Orchard; Max Rollitt; Carlos Sanchez-Garcia; Daniel Slowik; Justin van Breda; Phillip Vergeylen; and, William Yeoward. Each designer has been profiled and photographed at home - alongside details of their working life and the story of how they became interested in design, they talk at length about the house itself and the thinking behind its design and decoration. From the unexpected to that classic British look, this is an exciting look at modern British interiors.
