NOW AND THEN: Dreamy English Country Cottages by Colefax and Fowler
Wendy Nicholls’ back hall
Anyone who takes a serious interest in design has heard of Colefax & Fowler and can recollect their charming look: chintz, botanical prints, nuanced layers and plenty of real life plants and flowers. Out in the English countryside it oozes romance and serenity.
But today, it is rare to see a home done by the firm in publication. Colefax & Fowler clients tend to place a high value on privacy.
In fact, while all design afficiandos know the firm’s founders Sibyl Colefax, John Fowler and Nancy Lancaster, even today’s current managing director Wendy Nicholls keeps a very low profile. She has been at it for 40 years, yet you may have never heard of her.
How lucky we are that she let World of Interiors in to shoot her country cottage—only permitted because she just sold it.
She explained in the magazine that said she refused publication before because it wasn’t very representative of the work she typically does for clients
OK, if you say so Wendy. A peek at John Fowler’s beloved country home, Hunting Lodge, shows marked similarities to Wendy’s place in the country. So much so that, without a caption, you might mistake these images as coming from the same house.
Come on in to this dreamy idyllic world.
Entry at Wendy Nicholl’s house
Entry at Hunting Lodge owned by John Fowler
Wendy Nicholls’ dining room
Sitting room at Hunting Lodge
The hall and staircase at Hunting Lodge
Dining room at Hunting Lodge
Wendy Nicholls’ main bedroom
Main bedroom at Hunting Lodge
Ready for a summer visit?
Wendy Nicholls’ guest room
Photo credits: Wendy Nicholls’ house photographed by Simon Upton for World of Interiors. Photos of the Hunting Lodge scanned from the book, John Fowler, Prince of Decorators by Martin Wood