Ten of the most enchanting Cotswold houses from the pages of House & Garden
The Cotswolds is a place of undeniable beauty. Set within the rolling hills of England’s west country, it’s nestled between Gloucestershire, Oxford and Bristol and is a picturesque example of the English countryside. There is a distinct charm to the houses found in the Cotswolds too, with characteristic honey-coloured stone, pitched roofs and mullioned windows. Over the years, the Cotswolds attracted a creative crowd, including artist Damien Hirst and writer Jilly Cooper, who no doubt found inspiration in the houses and their surrounding landscape. It has also been memorialised in film, with many a Cotswold house being used as a filming location for modern pictures such as Pride and Prejudice, Bridget Jones’s Diary and The Remains of the Day.
Unsurprisingly, it is often top of the list for those looking to live surrounded by rural idyll. We’ve rounded up the seven most enchanting Cotswold houses from House & Garden’s archives.
Mark Anthony Fox1/30A film producer's house with interiors by Emma Burns
In film and TV producer Pippa Harris' Cotswold house, joint managing director of Sibyl Colefax Emma Burns has designed calm, comfortable interiors with textures and colours that echo Pippa's array of paintings and ceramics by members of the Bloomsbury group.
Mark Anthony Fox2/30In the sitting room are bespoke curved bookcases and curtains in Guy Goodfellow’s rosewood ‘Olive Sacking’, along with a sofa with antique textile cushions, all from Susan Deliss.
Helen Cathcart4/30A classic cottage extended and transformed by Isabella Worsley
This cottage was the perfect house for its new owners in many ways, but the modest footprint and disjointed layout made it unsuitable for modern family life, so they brought on interior designer Isabella Worsley to oversee an extension and make the house flow more smoothly.
Helen Cathcart5/30New flagstones were laid in the hallway, and a door curtain made from Claremont's ‘Tree of Life’ fabric. An antique table from Collinge Antiques serves as console, with a bespoke mirror in oxblood lacquer above, and lamps from Vaughan, with gathered lampshades made from Guy Goodfellow ‘Olive Sacking’ in cocoa.
Helen Cathcart6/30Isabella's team worked with the Cotswold architect Robert Hardwick to design a large extension that now holds that essential feature of modern life, the open-plan kitchen, dining room and sitting room, along with a spacious main bedroom above. This completely transformed the house. “We essentially doubled the footprint,” explains Isabella. “It had been a cottage before, but it's now a proper family home.”
Mark Nicholson7/30A 17th-century house in a hilltop Cotswold hamlet, remodelled in exquisite Arts & Crafts style
In an extract from her book At Home in the Cotswolds, author and Cotswold house hunter Katy Campbell takes us on a tour of a beautiful Arts & Crafts house in the hamlet of Snowshill.
Mark Nicholson8/30The zinc pendant lights hanging over the dining table are from The French House. Robin, the owner, found the antique Italian refectory table at Lorfords antiques in Tetbury. The walls are painted ‘Inferior Grey’ by Edward Bulmer.
The dining chairs are a mix of vintage pieces and Tollix-inspired copper and wood chairs. The ceiling is painted with Little Greene’s ‘Roman Plaster’.
Mark Nicholson9/30
Dean Hearne10/30“Iam a firm believer that you should not kowtow to practicality. Decoration should always come first,” says Alexandra Tolstoy, surveying her tiny cottage in Oxfordshire. Liberally bedecked with chintz, Staffordshire pottery, embroidery samplers, lustreware and willow pattern ceramics, it could easily be the ur-cottage of all English cottages. Yet in many ways it is supremely practical–very much a “dogs on the bed, children running in and out of the garden in wellies” house–and also incredibly personal, scattered with the artefacts of a life spent adventuring in Russia and Central Asia.
Dean Hearne11/30In the sitting room, an antique armchair has been recovered in Colefax & Fowler's relaunched ‘Lilies and Geraniums’, and stands in front of a dresser filled with lettuceware and Staffordshire figurines.
Dean Hearne12/30In the main bedroom, he wallpaper is 'Alice' by George Spencer. Emma Burns recommended Décors Barbares to Alexandra in the business' early days, and one of their fabrics forms the valance on the bed. An American patchwork quilt and large cushions in Russian roller prints, made by Alexandra, complete the bed. The armchair was part of a collaboration Alexandra did with Love Your Home.
Mark Anthony Fox13/30A former groom's cottage in the Cotswolds with deeply personal interiors
Drawn to this cottage in the Cotswolds by the charming additions made by its previous interior-designer owner, the current custodian was keen to make her own mark with a sympathetic extension and interiors that reflect elements of her life in Portugal and her Scandinavian roots.
Mark Anthony Fox14/30Howard & Sons sofas in a Claremont linen, with cushions in GP & J Baker’s ‘Seacliffe’ in sky and Blithfield’s ‘Wicklewood’ in blue, flank an Oka coffee table in front of the French 18th-century limestone chimneypiece.
Mark Anthony Fox15/30On the landing, Braquenié’s painterly floral ‘Petit Parc’ wallpaper in nutmeg/blue from Pierre Frey creates an enveloping effect, which is balanced by woodwork in ‘Samphire’, a restful sage green from the Paint & Paper Library archive. Gilt scrolled brackets, used to display antique Italian porcelain plates, and a circular 19th-century gilt-framed Italian mirror lead the eye on to the daughter’s bedroom. A French 19th-century mirror hangs above a birchwood chest of drawers from the early 1900s, with a table light from Vaughan topped by a Lucy Cope lampshade.
Paul Massey16/30A Cotswold cottage that embodies modern country style
In this rentable cottage in Ramsden, designer Laura Stephens has combined all of the mod-cons of contemporary living with country comforts. Just an hour and a half from London, it's the perfect weekend getaway.
Paul Massey17/30There are two entrances, one into this living room, with a boot room to the right. Cotswold stone features throughout, creating an enclosed, warm feeling.
Simon Brown19/30A Cotswold house designed with understated glamour by Joanna Wood
When the interior designer Joanna Wood fell for an irresistibly pretty house in the Cotswolds, she was able to put her decorating expertise to good use, sensitively improving the layout and creating effortlessly lovely interiors.
Simon Brown20/30The double-height kitchen has original beams and a ‘Buscot’ limestone floor made by Artisans of Devizes.
Simon Brown21/30This space incorporates the former entrance hall, a wall having been removed at some stage. Curtains and blinds were made from an imperial silk taffeta woven specially by George Spencer Designs. The Gainsborough chairs are upholstered in Robert Allen’s ‘Delhi Delight’ from Simon Playle and a Fortuny fabric from Claremont.
Simon Brown22/30At home with Penelope Chilvers in her romantic Cotswold house
Looking for a country retreat as an antidote to city life, Penelope Chilvers found this charming house in the Cotswolds, and set about making it the perfect place for working and entertaining.
Simon Brown23/30A mixture of eclectic patterns brings this room to life. A Pooky lamp and two ceramic Katryn Moye candlesticks found at Tinsmiths stand on top of a Biedermeier cupboard, under an Emma Hardy photograph of Spanish Cowboys bringing rare breed wild houses down from the mountains.
Simon Brown24/30The table, dressers and chair were left by the original owners and are the perfect size for this traditional parlour kitchen. The walls are painted in Setting Plaster from Farrow & Ball. The dresser is painted in Farrow & Ball's Middleton Pink.
James McDonald25/30The 17th-century Cotswold cottage of former Sotheby’s specialist James Mackie
Having found and bought this 17th-century Cotswold cottage in the space of a week, former Sotheby’s specialist James Mackie has created a charming art-filled home that reflects the interior-design skills he is now capitalising on.
James McDonald26/30Antiques in the book room include a Twenties Revival sofa in Bennison’s ‘Wabi Sabi’ and an armchair in GP & J Baker’s ‘Rockbird’
James McDonald27/30In this space off the main bedroom, the ceiling was opened up to reveal a pitched roof. James teamed woodwork in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Salon Drab’ gloss with Howe’s ‘Knurl’ wallpaper. The ‘Soho’ basin is by The Water Monopoly. Framed intaglios flank a George II mirror – all auction finds.
Martin Morrell28/30A 17th-century Cotswold cottage with a distinctly Welsh aesthetic
Faced with the daunting task of reviving this 17th-century cottage in the Cotswolds, Ben Adler and Pat Llewellyn enlisted the help of historic building consultant Hilton Marlton. Together, they restored its original features without losing sight of the need to make it a comfortable weekend base
Martin Morrell29/30Traditional pieces, including the yoke back chair were sourced from Welsh Vernacular Antiques. The Welsh wool blanket is from Jane Beck.
