Category Archives: English Country Houses

St Giles House

Posted October 27, 2015. Filed in English Country Houses

Personal events in the years of 2004 and 2005 and their memory will forever be emblazoned on the psyche of one Nick Ashley-Cooper of Dorset, England. It was in the year of 2004 that the then twenty-four year old Brit, a techno DJ and events planner living and working in New York City, learned a […]

Permalink         Comments (8)        

Country Comfort

The spirit of autumn is on my mind but, thus far, not in the air. The countryside, with its abundance of tress, possesses the promise of changing color. It’s only a matter of time. In the meantime, the comfortably charming and stylish West Sussex country house of interior designers Paolo Moschino and Philip Vergeylen is […]

Permalink         Comments (0)        

The Temple of the Four Seasons

It is believed that The Temple of the Four Seasons, also referred to as The Temple in Stoke-by-Nayland, was built by architect Robert Taylor sometime around 1750 after he returned to England from his studies in Rome. Resembling his Asgill house, The Temple represents the influence of Italy on the development of his architectural vernacular, […]

Permalink         Comments (5)        

Prince Charles’ Trematon Castle For Lease

In case you are wondering, I haven’t entered into the arena of real estate nor do I have any agenda from which I may benefit by promoting the sale of one of Prince Charles’ properties, in this case Trematon Castle. No, not in the least, any more so than would The World of Interiors, which featured […]

Permalink         Comments (0)        

Wilbury Park Dressed for Christmas

In 2003 Lady Iveagh, widow to Benjamin Guinness, opened the doors of Wilbury Park, her neo-Palladian country house in Wiltshire, England, to House & Garden for a Christmas holiday feature. One of the earliest examples of neo-Palladian architecture in England, Wilbury Park was built in 1710 with classic proportions and a symmetrical layout inspired by […]

Permalink         Comments (0)        

Gervase Jackson-Stops: The Menagerie

The late architectural historian and writer Gervase Jackson-Stops is probably most remembered, in our contemporary virtual world of visual literacy, for the single extraordinary room he restored and decorated for himself at The Menagerie, his grand folly at Horton in Northhamptonshire, England. The one-story structure with flanking pavilions is attributed to Thomas Wright, designed as […]

Permalink         Comments (0)        

Swangrove at Badminton House

In the last chapter of three posts featuring the houses of Badminton in Gloucestershire, England, we visit Swangrove, the Duke of Beaufort’s hunting lodge on the Badminton estate. Several years ago the Duke commissioned the venerable Robert Kime to revamp and refresh the neglected “hovel”, as the Duke referred to it, into a respite of […]

Permalink         Comments (0)        

The Cottage at Badminton

Today’s post is a continuation of the story of the Somerset’s at Badminton, their ancestral home in the countryside of Gloucestershire, England. In Badminton Revisited we dropped in on David Somerset, the Duke of Beaufort, and the current duchess, at the grand and imposing Badminton House, built in the reign of Charles II and later […]

Permalink         Comments (0)        

Badminton House Revisited

As a follow-up to the last post, Design Focus on Vivien Greenoch, I want to share more of the grandeur that is Badminton House, and the commission that Greenoch and her senior, the legendary Tom Parr, received in 1984 when the Somersets moved from Badminton Cottage to Badminton House as David Somerset succeeded the Duke […]

Permalink         Comments (0)        

Design Focus on Vivien Greenock

You may recognize some of the rooms featured in today’s post but most probably, like myself, until now you didn’t know the name of the designer behind the look. The name of the designer in question is Vivien Greenoch. Vivien worked at Colefax and Fowler for twenty-seven years until 2000, at which juncture she broke […]

Permalink         Comments (0)        

To The Manor Born

Posted January 5, 2014. Filed in English Country Houses, Victorian

With the much anticipated return of season 4 of Downton Abbey I couldn’t resist posting some near-vintage photos of Highclere Castle situated in Hampsire, England, the real seat of the Earl of Carnavon and the ficticious seat of the Earl of Grantham, the Viscount Downton. If those towering spires look vaguely familiar then you are correct: […]

Permalink         Comments (0)