For this room the reinstatement of just one element was all that was needed as a hook to recreate a whole historic interior. 20 years ago, exquisite 18th century hand-painted Chinese wallpaper was discovered, fully intact, in an outbuilding on the estate. Research revealed that the rolls formed a complete scheme that had been installed by Chippendale?s workers in 1769. The decision was taken to re-install the wallpaper in the room below its original location which, unlike the this room, which had been redecorated in the Victorian era, did not already feature a historic scheme, and moreover was already on the public route at the house. The new scheme happily includes a suite of green and gold furniture and a Chinese-style mirror, fully conserved and on show to the public in some cases for the first time, which were designed for the original room by Chippendale. New wall and bed hangings were created using the 1795 inventory as the historical basis.
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'Just look at those stairs. Just as an art form, they are bewitching, like the shell of a nautilus': The lure of buying a stairway to heavenIt seems like madness to buy a house purely because you fall in love with the staircase — but sometimes, they are simply so beautiful that it's impossible to resist. Toby Keel takes a look at some glorious examples of staircases we've seen in Country Life in the last couple of years.
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'I found myself in a magical world of a sun-dappled forest, speckled with wild flowers of kaleidoscopic colours and brilliant mosses': Solo walking in the PyreneesThe Pyrenees reserves its best treasures for walkers prepared to venture off the well-beaten trail, says Teresa Levonian Cole, on a solo holiday in Ribes de Freser.
