COTSWOLD HOUSE
Dating from the 17th century, this Cotswolds house was reimagined by designer Pippa Paton to honour its past and highlight its surroundings
DINING AREA
The striking extension offers mesmerising views. Oxburgh table; Gallery lanterns, all Matthew Cox. Dining chairs, Fameg. Platters, Lise Herud Braten. Flooring, Town Country Fine Flooring
HALLWAY
This stone-flagged space reveals the age of the house and leads up to double doors into the drawing room beyond. A contemporary console table brings simple style to the pared-back interior
KITCHEN
Muted greens on woodwork and the splashback reflect the surrounding countryside. A vintage baker’s table was altered to make it flush with the island. Bespoke kitchen design, Pippa Paton Design
Liike many Londoners considering a move to the Cotswolds, interior designer Pippa Paton’s clients had eased their way into a rural lifestyle by first owning a holiday home. ‘This is my second project with them, the first being a smaller cottage that they bought five years previously,’ explains Pippa, who is known for her sensitive Cotswolds restorations. ‘They were looking for a larger rural base where they could entertain and have guests to stay before eventually moving to the country. After finding this beautiful Grade II listed property, the clients asked me to join them on the second viewing to see what was possible.’
The house dates from the mid 17th century and had been extended periodically over the years. Externally, it appeared as a series of dwellings huddled together. ‘What attracted the clients was that the house seemed in itself like a very small village and had a quintessential English charm,’ recalls Pippa. But despite its outward appeal, significant design vision was needed from both Pippa and her husband Scott, who oversees the construction work of her design projects, to correct its faults.
‘Inside it was a warren of rooms connected by long, tunnel-like corridors. There was an adjoining barn and an extension at the back of the kitchen but it was all on different levels and didn’t flow well,’ says Pippa. Ambitious structural decisions were made, and Pippa and Scott oversaw a two-metre addition across the 10-metre rear of the kitchen for a dining and seating area, complete with huge, uninterrupted picture windows.
‘The valley behind the house leads down steeply to a stream at the bottom so we built right up to the edge of the drop using lots of underpinning. The result is that you’re suspended over this beautiful valley with a paddock of horses on the other side. It’s so unexpected when you first walk in – you feel as if you are floating in the view.’
