"The house had been lived in by a couple with seven children, so the rooms had been divided up," she says. "It has been fun to restore it and let the high ceilings and proportions come out." She asked her cousin Alex Findlater, whose projects include Mario Testino's and Keira Knightley's homes, to reconfigure the rooms and spaces.
She is right to wave the flag for British design because in recent years we have flirted outrageously with all things Scandinavian (thank you, Ikea) and luxury properties now tend to present themselves like hotels with an international style belonging nowhere in particular. We easily forget that we have a ready-made brand in the English country house look with its mixture of delicate chintzes and flowery patterns, admired around the world and produced by masters like Colefax and Fowler.
Even during the recession, craftsmen and women have continued to carry on the tradition of making chairs, wool, lampshades and other gorgeous things. The great houses run by English Heritage and the National Trust have kept the heritage flame alive and the specialist skills going. Wallpapers, for instance, can still be made as they were in the 19th century with the original hand blocks at Cole & Son.
I catch the award-winning interior designer Katharine Pooley on a trip to the Far East where she is working on houses in Phuket and Bangkok, promoting British, and sourcing products. "The quintessential British look did go out a bit when people went more modern and started to love the hotel look," she says. "Now they want to go back to British. We have such incredible designers, fabrics and pieces, and can create a kind of exquisite timelessness."
In China she finds that the price of cheap goods is rising fast and she believes this will lead us back to British craftsmanship. "It is coming back into fashion because if people have to pay more they might as well buy British and get good quality rather than high gloss."
She has recently launched a new fabric collection with Fox Linton in lovely pewters, charcoals and taupes, and believes grey is now the key colour. "I love grey," she says. "It is neutral but very smart, and suits both male and female."
Modernist designers have brought extraordinary wit and utilitarianism to the British scene as well. Sir Terence Conran blew away the post-war cobwebs and introduced us to bent plywood chairs and chicken bricks in the Sixties, then warehouse living made modernism seriously fashionable. Habitat is celebrating its 50th anniversary next year and is busy collecting shoppers' accounts of memorable moments (that first time you used pasta bowls, or the wild time you had on a sputnik table?).
The roll call of British design names is impressive, from Lord Rogers, who has changed the way buildings are made around the world, to Emma Bridgewater, who is not afraid to cover her plates and mugs in spots, to Tom Dixon, who does amazing things with lighting and chairs. His Wingback Chair (£4,650) has a kind of sinister chic like no other. And Bethan Gray has just been voted Best British Designer in this year's Elle Decoration awards with her celebration of natural materials like stone, wood and marble. Organic and smart at the same time, Conran says she is "the designer to watch".
Get the look: the great craft tradition
1. Blankets from Yorkshire: snuggly blankets made by Scarlet & Argent in a Yorkshire mill that still uses traditional looms and natural spring water. It has a royal warrant and has been run by the same family for seven generations. The Albion throw, based on the colours of the Union Jack, is woven from Shetland wool, £105.
2. Sofas from the Midlands: made near Nottingham by Sofas & Stuff. A spare Georgian style called the Midhurst from £910, the sleek Oxford from £940, in linens, tweeds, wools and crushed velvets.
3. Lampshades after the Bloomsbury Group: fabrics, rugs, lamps, from Cressida Bell, granddaughter of the Bloomsberries Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, who created the colourful interiors at Charleston, Sussex, which is now open to the public.
4. Mugs from Norfolk: white, green and blue bowls, plates and mugs, patterned with seed heads, made by Norfolk potters at Gresham, using a white glaze with tin added to give it lustre (Young Pottery).
5. Sanitaryware from Kent: beautiful baths, taps and towel rails from Catchpole & Rye in the village of Pluckley, Kent. The Nickel Bateau free-standing tub, main picture, starts at £4,500, the Throne at £2,500.
More British stockists
Kingcome Sofas
Timorous Beasties
Jane Churchill
De Gournay
Alex Findlater
Source : http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/564649/s/345f929f/sc/4/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cproperty0Cinteriorsandshopping0C10A4879530CInteriors0Eshow0Eoff0Ethe0EBest0Eof0EBritish0Edesign0Bhtml/story01.htm