Wildly REFINED

Inspired by happy childhood memories, British lifestyle maven Sophie Conran has transformed her Wiltshire garden into a rural idyll where elegant ornamental borders, gloriously overstuffed beds and a bountiful kitchen garden supply the handsome Georgian house with cut flowers and fresh produce

- text JODIE JONES photographs BRITT WILLOUGHBY

Visitors are invariably escorted to Sophie Conran's door by Mouse, her sweetly lolloping lurcher, past a collection of pot-grown box balls arranged elegantly up the curved front steps.

Together, the dog and the topiary perfectly embody the blend of high style and relaxed comfort that is Sophie's trademark. It's all about creating an atmosphere,' she says. 'I want this house to be a place where people are surrounded by beauty and can unwind and enjoy it all.'

When she first set eyes on Salthrop House, Sophie knew instantly it had all the key elements she was looking for - a Georgian house set in 70 acres of fields and woodland on the edge of the Marlborough Downs, with scope to create the sort of relaxed gardens she fondly remembered playing in as a child. 'I had been searching for a country bolthole for several years but when I saw this place I knew it was perfect. It just needed a little help to achieve its full potential.'

Fortunately, Sophie was very much the right woman for the job. As a designer of crockery and cutlery, garden wares and household linens (not to mention being the daughter of design legend and restaurateur Sir Terence Conran and cookery writer Caroline Conran), she is positively steeped in effortless good taste.

'I have wonderful memories of the Berkshire manor house my parents gradually transformed from its battered former life as a school into a magical home surrounded by rivers and woods,' she says. 'There were dogs, cats, chickens and geese, masses of flowers and a brilliant vegetable garden - my favourite place. I wanted to create something like that here.'