I’ve just returned from a few days away, visiting my best friend’s North Yorkshire hometown. She’s from a picture-perfect village where cottages and manor homes carved from honeyed stone are folded into hills dotted with sheep. It has become my favourite escape from the city, for when I want to fill my lungs with something other than car exhaust and hot garbage. There, Barbour-clad locals always seem to have a hunting dog in tow and every long lunch of pub classics concludes with sticky toffee pudding.
As I spent my afternoons sunk into capacious sofas, surrounded by ruffled linens, story-telling heirlooms and table lamps with delicate fabric shades, I couldn’t help but lust over the countryside’s charming, tradition-steeped style. The look isn’t restricted to rural estates themselves though – according to the experts, it can look just as at home in Clapham as it does in the Cotswolds. Here are their tips for how to soften city living with laidback country design.
