We have only ever lived in old houses,’ says Ruth Taylor, explaining the move from National Trust property Hinton Ampner, which came with her husband James’s job as an estate manager, to
the Wiltshire cottage that is now their home.
'While it was fun living in a grand house, we really needed a place of our own, and it was important to us to find somewhere with immense old age, character and style.’ This Grade II-listed, 18th-century thatched farmworker’s cottage fitted the bill exactly. With much of its original character intact, the couple could embrace their naturally custodial attitude, while also having the freedom to put their own stamp on the place.
They handled changes with a light touch, says Ruth, apart from the hall, where they felt they had to rip up ‘an awful wooden block and tiled floor’. The travertine flags they installed look as if they have always been there, she says.
At the time of their search, Ruth was also working for the National Trust. But these days she runs a locations business, Peagreen Locations, specialising in contemporary, country-style houses for photography and film – properties not unlike her own, in fact.
As soon as the renovations were complete, shegave her love of sourcing and styling full rein. Inspiration for the interior came in part from the pretty garden, which comes into its own in spring, with apple blossom and vintage pots filled with flowering bulbs. Throughout the year, the cottage itself is cloaked in pale yellow roses and there is also a little vegetable patch to tend.
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Once inside the pretty thatched cottage, a sense of the outdoors is reflected in the colours used in the house – dusky pinks, duck-egg blues and soft sage greens in luxurious velvets and slubby
linens and on lime-rendered walls. This calming backdrop is enlivened with cottage-garden florals that appear on cushions, curtains, lampshades and wallpaper: ‘I love how florals add life to old properties,’ says Ruth. ‘Large-scale rose patterns and blousy floral designs bring a relaxed informality to a space.’
This is most notable in the sitting room, where a formal arrangement of two Chesterfield sofas, either side of a large inglenook fireplace, is softened by cushions and curtains in a vintage-style cabbage-rose print. This combination of soft florals within an otherwise restrained scheme is a strategy that Ruth has taken throughout the entire house.
In the tiny attic bedroom, where the bed is butted right up to the triangular back wall under the eaves, pretty rose-print bed linen from Cabbages & Roses and floral cushions are joined by a cheerful knitted blanket made by Ruth’s grandmother.
More florals appear in the kitchen, adding to the vintage mood, as well as continuing the subtle link to the outside. ‘We put in the new kitchen and also added the big doors that lead out to the garden,’ explains Ruth. In the summer they can be opened to create a generous space for entertaining.
Meanwhile, during the winter months, the wood-burner in the living room warms the house, and the cosy intimacy of that room feels more in-keeping with the age of the cottage and its history, which is what appealed to the couple in the first place.
Ruth’s approach to interiors hinges on a clever blend of antique and vintage items, paired with well-chosen high-street finds, and she generally favours local independents. ‘I particularly
love Phillips & Cheers for their vintage floral lampshades, and Freckled Petal for their
beautiful seasonal flowers,’ she says of two nearby favourites. The more florals the merrier, it seems, both inside and outside, is the key to the charm of this quintessentially English country cottage.
peagreenlocations.com
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