Eden: The changes over the years...

This post is dedicated to saying farewell to our little villa in town, as we look forward to the foundations being laid for The Carriage House at Willowbrook Park, and look back with fondness on the hard work that we have put into our little house and garden of Eden.

The original house dates back to 1910. The section, the first in the street and the largest remaining, was purchased in 1907. Many of the other sections have been subdivided and terraced house or flats have been built on them.

When we purchased the property in 2003, it looked like this...

It was brilliant white with blue eaves and window frames, and lots of wild shrubs in the front garden. Over time we painted the white and blue in off-white and cream, and repainted the royal blue door in high-gloss black. We removed all the shrubs and defined the garden border with boxwood hedges. We then planted standard iceberg roses around the front garden...

The back garden which was a little bare was eventually exposed to the same treatment...

Above: Before
Below: After

The drawing room...

The original wallpaper in the drawing room and kitchen was forest green (above and below)

The wallpaper was stripped and the whole room re-primed

before being painted a light parchment colour...

The kitchen got the same treatment...

Above: Before
Below: After

The worst room in the whole house was the master bedroom, which was being used by the previous occupant's daughter. It was brilliant white and lime green with purple striped curtains with hearts on them...

In a desperate attempt to sleep at night we initially painted over the nauseous green with white, then one night (after too much wine and too much Moulin Rouge) we entered the red phase...

This lasted from 2004-2008. We then grew tired of the melodrama, and opted to calm things down a bit with beiges and neutrals (but kept the gold accents to lux it up)...




The gold silk damask duvet, dust-ruffle, and pillow cases were all home sewn, and the crown and bed-head were self gilded. Needless to say, we will be getting professionals to do the painting at Willowbrook; and I can't wait for a bedroom with a flat ceiling and walls of equal heights!


Then there was the upstairs study, which was the custard yellow bedroom of another daughter.

This became the first study...

A small private space thoroughly overstuffed with books and curios which at the time had nowhere else to live...

Back downstairs again, there was the dining room. This was an original room from 1915 (dated from the newspapers found stuffed in the framing as insulation when we tore the room apart). It was weatherboard construction which had been covered with scrim and then coated in anagylpta, and then painted several times. When the wind blew in the right direction I swear I could see the walls bellowing from within. In its last incarnation it had been left a terracotta colour, which is what we made do with for a while...

In the big renovation of 2008, we tore all the walls, floor and ceiling out, and re-lined them with Gib-board...

We had the ceiling re-plastered with a period cornice moulding and centre medallion, banished the ugly hanging candelabra, and strung up an empire-styled basket chandelier...

Modern as the gray under-paint was, we went ahead an painted the room a Wedgwood blue. This has been our practice run for the Card room / China room at Willowbrook...

The Mandarin coloured downstairs bedroom was transformed into study number 2...

Still ridiculously over-stuffed (my need to hoard not curtailed by a mere lack of physical space)....

But by far our biggest challenged was bathroom number one, the fluorescent orange bathroom...

We immediately painted the bathroom in order to shower without fear of migraines. But no matter what shade we chose, we couldn't hide the fact that it was dated...

So we had the ceiling, floor and four walls ripped out, rebuilt, water proofed and tiled with a beige marble. We chose a nice new bath, loo and vanity (and tried to make the most of the modest space with which we were challenged.

All of this was made harder and doubly expensive when we found out that the first building company had done such a sub-standard job of rebuilding the bathroom that the tiler was not prepared to tile it. The building company, disagreeing with the tiler and a second building consultant, refused to fix the job, and we had to pay a second company to tear down their work and complete it to a professional standard. But I think it was worth it...

Back in the garden:

Just off the drawing room was a small cobbled space...

We thought we would convert it into an outside extension of the drawing room by creating a little courtyard. This was pleasant by day...

Above: A vista from the courtyard down to the swimming pool

and could be dramatic by night...

But despite the many changes, and the quirky charm of our little cottage, we found ourselves in need of a bigger venture and a grander space. Having lived with asymmetric rooms, 100 year old wooden joinery, and bijoux spaces for a decade, it was time to design a new home from scratch. This coupled with our love of entertaining, of antiques and art, and of Georgian architecture and gardens gave birth to Willowbrook Park.

The Great Country Estates of Britain Series. Part Eight: Althorp....

The Althorp estate has been the ancestral home of the Spencer family since the 16th century. Their fortune derived from its earliest known ancestor, Sir John Spencer of Wormleighton, Warwickshire, who bought Althorp in 1522 with the huge profits from his sheep-rearing business.

The house was originally a red brick Tudor building but its appearance was radically altered in the 18th century when the famous architect Henry Holland (under whom Sir John Soane studied) was commissioned to make extensive changes.

Above: Althorp in the 1820s
Below: Althorp in the 1920s

The interior decor of the house is generally considered its best asset, as the Spencer family has amassed an impressive collection of portraiture, including several van Dycks.

The 9th Earl Spencer in recent years has auctioned some of Althorp's 'best assets', realising £21.1m at Christie’s alone. The two major paintings sold were Rubens’s Portrait of a Com­mander (1614), which had been in the family since before 1802., which went for £9m; and Guercino’s King David (1651), acquired for Spencer House in 1768 but which went to Althorp in 1924, which sold for £5.2m.

Above: Rubens’s Portrait of a Com­mander

Above: 'War and Peace' - A double portrait of George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol and William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford. 1637. Oil on canvas by Anthony van Dyck.

A further sale at Christie’s of lesser items, including 19th century carriages raised a further £2m.

In his 1998 book on Althorp, The 9th Earl criticised his father for selling off family art treasures. He revealed that "dozens of paintings had gone to London art dealers in laundry baskets from Althorp’s back door". However, it is clear that he has been forced to do the same. In September 2009, Lord Spencer started a major restoration project repairing the roof, stonework and the tiles which clad Althorp. The up-keep on historic family estates remains steep and not all of the money can be made by 'opening your house to the public once a year on Queen Alexandra's day'. As Blackadder would say "needs must when the devil vomits into your kettle".

For a good in-depth post of the Christies Sales read Manner of Man Magazine's article.

Above: The Blue Drawing Room

Below: The Dining Room

Above: The Wooton Hall

Below: The Private Library

The stable block (below) has been converted into an exhibition devoted to the memory of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Diana is interred on a small island in the middle of the lake on the estate.

Above: The 'Temple of Diana' Memorial beside the lake

Below: An urn marking the site of her grave on the island in the lake

Above: A portrait of Diana

Althorp has extensive grounds and gardens, and even had its own railway station called Althorp Park on the Northampton Loop line until 1960. (c.f. my dream of Willowbrook Halt)

The estate was first opened to the public in 1953, by the 7th Earl Spencer, to mitigate against taxation, the 9th Earl, in order to maintain Althorp must continue to do the same.

Above: Charles Edward Maurice Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer

For the official Althorp website click here