THE BIG PICTURE

Philippa Thorp’s unwavering vision has turned a Grade II-listed country house with a 1960s extension into a unified home with timeless appeal

- WORDS KAREN WILSON

When Philippa Thorp first laid eyes on this Grade II-listed country house in Hampshire, she knew it was 'the one' the minute she arrived at the gates. 'The setting was utterly gorgeous,' she explains. 'And it had the most lovely bones, even though one room was bright blue, another was orange, and another one was red.'

Having tasked Bobby Hall of The Buying Solution to find a suitable home within 50 miles of her Knightsbridge design practice, Philippa ended up moving just seven miles from her previous home. Purchased in 2008 following her divorce, the house comprised two buildings set three metres apart with seven small bedrooms and two tiny bathrooms. 'It was a long building as every generation had stuck another leg on the end of it,' she says.

Having been at the helm of Thorp Design, a global architecture, landscape and interior design studio, since 1985, Philippa instantly saw potential in the structure, the wonderful ceiling heights and the rural setting. Such was her vision and decisiveness, that straight after the viewing she sketched a new layout on a paper napkin at lunch. 'I can normally see what needs to be done pretty quickly,' she says.