COTSWOLDS COTTAGE

BRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL

Set on a leafy cobbled lane in a friendly community, Alexandra Rishworth’s Cotswolds home offers her the perfect country bolthole

FEATURE ALISON GIBB

Alexandra Rishworth was looking for ahome in the West Country, close to her father and sister, where she could escape from London at the weekends. And it was ahouse in Tetbury that most appealed. With its pubs and restaurants, the charming market town would keep her London-bornand-bred partner happy, while offering the peace and community that Alexandra craved.

‘The house was in perfectly good condition when Ibought it, although alittle tired,’ Alexandra explains. She wanted the décor to be much more vibrant. Her London home is calm and soothing, alittle ‘vanilla’ she feels, and she wanted her country bolthole to be the opposite. ‘I wanted it to be fun and somewhere to entertain,’ she says.

Alexandra was delighted to find local interior designer, Sean Symington, who understood her requirements. ‘I found choosing paint colours very hard. Sean also introduced me to colour and pattern, with GP&J Baker and Schumacher fabrics and wallpapers. Iwanted the interior to be bold but not too bright, so it was ahard balance to strike. The whole journey was areal education actually.’

Sean started Alexandra’s project by opening up the interior spaces, removing afew of the internal doors and replacing some with Crittall options to allow more light to flow. He also installed tongue-and-groove panelling in both bathrooms and the kitchen. ‘This was very cost effective compared to the expense of tiling and gives the house alovely country feel,’ says Alexandra. Other additions were attractive window seats in the sitting room, the master bedroom and the shower room, with contrast piping to add to the vibrant result.

‘We stripped out all the carpets, replacing them with attractive large scale herringbone oak parquet downstairs,’ Alexandra recalls. ‘Upstairs, again we removed all the carpets and replaced them with sisal, with athick underlay which makes it feel more luxurious underfoot and is also important for warmth.’

The kitchen and bathrooms received the most radical treatment. ‘I researched these rooms very thoroughly, looking at magazines and Instagram,’ Alexandra shares. ‘I sent Sean loads of ideas that Ihad saved, and we put abold scheme for both bathrooms and the kitchen.’ Budget constraints limited the kitchen alterations alittle, and Alexandra kept the existing hob and oven, ‘I would love an Aga,’ she admits. ‘But the expense felt hard to justify for apart-time home.’

Family heirlooms can be found throughout the house. ‘It was really important for me