THE English country-house aesthetic, in its most classic form, comprises an evolved interior that is the result of generations constantly adding and adjusting. In other words, they are the product of collecting, but not in the systematic way the word might suggest. Be they of high value or sentimentally valuable, collections can include anything from assorted ceramics or pieces of silver to rare fossils and wax seals, they immerse a space in their owners’ personality.
Will Fisher and Charlotte Freemantle, the couple behind Jamb, one of London’s Pimlico Road’s most celebrated treasure troves (020– 7730 2122; www.jamb.co.uk), have frenetically collected since they met more than two decades ago. The results are displayed all over their 18th-century house in Camberwell, south-east London. Fragments of ancient sculptures, Renaissance vases and antique textiles fill the sitting room. On the chimneypiece is the head of a Roman boy, among other Grand Tour-era mementos. ‘That small landing strip is an important part of our lives: all the objects hold personal meanings,’ says Mr Fisher, who admits to being a compulsive buyer. ‘We have what I’d call an “accidental interior”, filled with things we are drawn to like moths to flames.’
What makes a piece into something you want to live with? ‘Value has nothing to do with it,’ he continues. ‘It’s about being surrounded by things that trigger something deep inside.’
この記事は Country Life UK の April 10, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Country Life UK の April 10, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Put some graphite in your pencil
Once used for daubing sheep, graphite went on to become as valuable as gold and wrote Keswick's place in history. Harry Pearson inhales that freshly sharpened-pencil smell
Dulce et decorum est
Michael Sandle is the Wilfred Owen of art, with his deeply felt sense of the futility of violence. John McEwen traces the career of this extraordinary artist ahead of his 88th birthday
Heaven is a place on earth
For the women of the Bloomsbury group, their country gardens were places of refuge, reflection and inspiration, as well as a means of keeping loved ones close by, discovers Deborah Nicholls-Lee
A haunt of ancient peace - The gardens at Iford Manor, near Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire The home of the Cartwright-Hignett family
After recent renovations, this masterpiece of Harold Peto's garden-making must be counted one of the finest gardens in England
It's the plants, stupid
I WON my first prize for gardening when I was nine years old at prep school. My grandmother was delighted-it was she who had sent me the seeds of godetia, eschscholtzia and Virginia stock that secured my victory.
Pretty as a picture
The proliferation of honey-coloured stone cottages is part of what makes the Cotswolds so beguiling. Here, we pick some of our favourites currently on the market
How golden was my valley
These four magnificent Cotswold properties enjoy splendid views of hill and dale
Mere moth or merveille du jour?
Moths might live in the shadows of their more flamboyant butterfly counterparts, but some have equally artistic names, thanks to a 'golden' group, discovers Peter Marren
The magnificent seven
The Mars Badminton Horse Trials, the oldest competition of its kind in the world, celebrates its 75th anniversary this weekend. Kate Green chooses seven heroic winners in its history
Angels in the house
Winged creatures, robed figures and celestial bodies are under threat in a rural church. Jo Caird speaks to the conservators working to save northern Europe's most complete Romanesque wall paintings