Country Homes & Interiors

WE HAD HAILSTONES, TORRENTIAL RAIN and gales during our garden party shoot for this issue (page 76). Fortunately, the sun also shone on the stunning flower displays and styling ideas created by my friend and talented florist, Sarah Crosier. The idea

SARAH CROSIER created the stunning sustainable floral displays and ‘wearables’ for our In a Country Garden feature. ‘Wearables are custom pieces designed for a special occasion. Each one is unique and tailored to the individual,’ she says. Take a loo

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Smart yet pretty, blue and white earthenware has never fallen out of fashion – as proved by heritage pottery brand Burleigh’s latest Blue Willow collection. Originally launched in 1924, the iconic design continues to charm country tablescapes. Blue W

As the great-niece of Nancy Lancaster (the founder of Colefax and Fowler), Jane Churchill has always been immersed in exquisite design taste. Her fabrics and wallpapers made her a household name in the 1980s and she still runs her interior design pra

Norfolk-based rug studio Bombay Sprout and interior designer Laura Stephens have channelled their joint passion for eclectic design into a whimsical – and sustainable – collection of jute rugs and runners. Woven by hand in northern India, each rug ta

22-23 JUNE Borde Hill Garden Festival, West Sussex. Set in historic parkland, Borde Hill Garden features formal gardens, wide lawns, a plethora of unique plant species and one of the UK’s largest collections of rare trees. Discover it all, alongside

While an artful arrangement of accessories on a tray can be a beautiful focal point in a room, the collection of pieces also offers a moment to pause and reflect. You could change the display seasonally, to mark the progress of the year. Or use your

When Annabelle Smyth’s future husband Rob introduced her to the place he’d spent his childhood – an idyllic rural pocket between Exmoor and the Quantock Hills – it was love at first sight. ‘It was peaceful and unspoilt, like going back in time,’ she

By chance, Andrea Prichard and her partner Steven spotted Broadheath House on the Rightmove website 20 years ago, and decided it would be their home. They had been living in an old rectory in London and were contemplating a change of location and lif

The reinvention of Belle Hadley’s family home belies its setting in the English countryside, drawing on style influences from her childhood in South Africa and from living on America’s East Coast. ‘Growing up in the southern hemisphere, light and spa

Leaving behind their lives in London wasn’t an easy choice for Jane McCarthy and her husband Johnny, but a move to a picturesque village on the Jurassic coast in Dorset gave them the opportunity to complete a dream renovation and restore some balance

Instead of bunting for a summer garden party, why not make this beautiful fresh flower garland instead? Cut the carnations where the stem meets the green base of the bloom, then put a dot of floral glue over the cut to keep the flowers fresh. Push a

TIP As you arrange flowers around your chandelier, aim to make the blooms ‘talk’ to each other – like these three peonies, interspersed with filler flowers TIP Add flowers to the balloons first, then fill with water. You can gently squeeze and turn t

Garden furniture is a significant investment, so it must be able to grow and adapt as needed. ‘Modular designs typically consist of individual components which can be rearranged and combined in various configurations to suit different needs and space

The colour of sunlight, harvest and nectar, yellow is one of nature’s most positive shades. It energises, brings joy and is a bold – even brave – colour choice. Yellow is seen in religious imagery, symbolising gold in the Roman Catholic faith, highli

Wet rooms can be the ideal solution for older or smaller country homes, working with awkward spaces, unusually shaped rooms and unconventional floor plans. ‘The advantage of installing a wet room is the power to choose the shape and size of your show

‘An outdoor bath allows you to connect with nature,’ says Bee Osborn, of Osborn Interiors, who has recently added an open air tub to her cottage. The bath must be made of a durable material, as Barrie Cutchie, design director of BC Designs, explains.

A water feature will quickly become a favourite part of your garden. Wall fountains are perfect for courtyards or to bring shady corners to life. A still pool or decorative cascade can be a tranquil centrepoint, while more sculptural designs or refle

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Golden shadows stretch across the chestnut field on a glorious summer’s evening at Woodfire Camping’s site just outside Petworth in the South Downs. As the sun bleaches the sky white, backlighting each individual blade of grass, husband and wife Stel

Protect yourself and your pooch from ticks when you go walking. Wear long sleeves and tuck trousers into your socks, and check your clothing for ticks before coming inside. Take a tick removal tool and antiseptic with you, and feel your dog’s fur for

From beaches to lakes, hilltops to riversides, saunas are popping up in wild locations across the UK. What many in Scandinavia have long enjoyed as a daily part of their lives, we’re now wholeheartedly embracing. Is it any wonder, when sweating it ou

My grandparents, in the latter stages of their lives, lived in a small corner terrace two-up two-down house. Every Sunday, my mum would pile us three kids into the car and drive over to them for lunch. Lunch was a 30-strong family affair with all the

Bring the pizzeria and ice cream parlour to your home with Cuisinart’s summer must-haves: its Indoor Pizza Oven and Soft Serve Ice Cream Maker. Cook up restaurant quality pizzas from the comfort of your kitchen with Cuisinart’s new Indoor Pizza Oven.

Even lovers of English wine often can’t quite believe how good our native productions are. But if proof were needed, surely it’s in the fact that the Champagne houses of Pommery-Vranken and Taittinger have bought land in southern England to make thei

SERVES 6-8 Pile the beautifully charred vegetables onto a large wooden board with the grilled toasts and serve. 1 head Radicchio Treviso, quartered1 head cos lettuce, quartered2 small fennel, quartered6 courgettes, halved160g cherry tomatoes6 Japanes

Take the time to paint your garden pots and not only will you add vibrancy to your outdoor space, you can carry the container indoors to bring the outside in. ‘Our new colours work with favourite interiors styles, so they look like a natural extensio

A short distance from Tunbridge Wells, down Tea Garden Lane, you come across The Beacon restaurant and rooms. The building has had a varied past, as tearooms and pleasure gardens, a bathhouse, a pub, and a hostel for refugees during World War II. Mos

Lilies are our sizzling summer stalwarts. The most dramatic types, large-flowered Oriental and Asiatic hybrids, come in a cocktail of bright colours and markings. Grow them in pots and you can admire the exotic blooms or smell their sweet fragrance u

A peppering of shrubs, mainly laid to lawn and uninspiring,’ is how Annie Georgiadis describes her first impression of the garden of her mid-1880s coach house. Having moved from a larger family home nearby, it was far from the beautiful, plant-filled

The concept of decluttering and throwing stuff away is something I struggle with. I prefer to find new uses for unwanted items, and the garden is usually my destination of choice for reinvented things. There’s an innate kinship between old, worn item

I first became absorbed by gardening nearly 40 years ago, growing troughs of salads and pots of herbs on my doorstep in west London. I was – and still am – a passionate cook and just-picked food, straight from the garden, is a great life enhancement

FROM £14.99, SAVE £15 WISTERIA FRUTESCENS ‘AMETHYST FALLS’, also known as American wisteria, produces dense clusters of trailing lilac flowers throughout May, filling the air with perfume and attracting bees and birds. ‘Amethyst Falls’ is an ultra-co

I live in Edinburgh’s New Town and moved here almost 10 years ago, with my husband, James, and beagle, Darwin. We relocated from a remote farming village in North Yorkshire but it didn’t feel like leaving the countryside as the city has such superb a