In recent months, reports of work at Tottenham House and Conholt Park,
two important Wiltshire houses restored to an exceptional standard, revealed
a wealth of artisanal skills. The aptitude of British craftspeople, architects and designers for breathing new life into buildings and their settings doesn’t only benefit their owners and our heritage, it also creates employment and preserves expertise.
The Country Life Top 100
Country Life's Top 100 appears in the March 11, 2026 issue of the magazine — find out how to buy your copy, or order one for delivery.
Each year, Country Life shines a spotlight on those practitioners with the knowledge and instincts to get it right. The result is the Country Life Top 100, which appears in this week's issue of the magazine.
John Ruskin’s belief that ‘hand, the head and the heart’ are key to creativity is as pertinent to achieving a beautiful house as any other artistic endeavour. It is for this reason that this year’s Country Life Top 100 includes a number of new additions specialising in artisanal skills, from plasterwork and willow weaving to carving and decorative painting that are some of the ingredients of a beautiful house and garden.
The perception of craft is shifting; within the context of architecture, interior design and gardens, it is recognised as the bedrock of distinctive, beautifully conceived design with a capacity for longevity.
The skills that these newcomers deliver are central to the renaissance of the English country house. So, too, are the materials they celebrate, including the stone, timber and plaster used to create designs in both the traditional and contemporary aesthetics that provide so much of the appeal of Britain’s enviable architectural heritage.
The full Country Life Top 100 for 2025 is published in the March 11, 2026 issue of Country Life magazine, which is out now. The fully-updated Country Life Top 100 list will be available online this weekend.
Interior designers
Studio Squire
In 2020, interior designer Angelica Squire joined forces with her husband, Richie, a construction specialist, to form Studio Squire. Today, this small London-based firm focuses on full-scale home renovations, taking on only a handful of projects each year across London and the South-East. ‘We love bringing clients’ aspirations to life, delivering a hands-on service in which we are usually involved from beginning to end,’ says Mrs Squire.
'So much comes from layering, often bringing in artwork, antiques and unusual objects' says Angelica Squire of Studio Squire.
The studio employs textures and paint colours to deliver interiors in a pared-back style with plenty of interest and character. ‘So much comes from layering, often bringing in artwork, antiques and unusual objects,’ Mrs Squire explains.
Currently engaged on several contemporary apartments in the Chelsea Barracks development, London SW1, the studio is also working on a major residential project in Barnes, SW13, which includes a swimming pool, basement night club and pool house with sauna and ice bath, and is updating a large farmhouse in Oxfordshire for a young family moving from London. ‘We will only grow the studio so much, because we always want to be personally involved in every project — it is important to us to maintain that connection,’ she says.
020–3848 7614; www.studiosquire.co.uk
Vanrenen Hanbury
Headed by Sarah Vanrenen and Laura Hanbury, this Berkshire-based studio has a reputation for creative English country-house design — with a modern twist. ‘We enjoy the variety of what we do, never having a set formula,’ says Mrs Hanbury.
Mrs Vanrenen is the daughter of interior designer Penny Morrison and she credits her mother’s skills as having a profound influence on her work. After studying fine art in Florence, Italy, and spending five years working at Christie’s in London, she set up her own interior-design studio. About seven years ago, she was joined in the practice by Mrs Hanbury, who had trained at KLC School of Interior Design and then worked at leading design studio Mlinaric, Henry and Zervudachi (now known as ZRM). In 2025, they became business partners.
A sitting room by interior designers Sarah Vanrenen and Laura Hanbury, who also have an evolving range of colourful furniture, fabrics and lighting.
Recent projects include the revamp of a Victorian vicarage in London, the overhaul and extension of a Wiltshire manor house and a new riverside flat in London. The studio also offers a boutique collection of fabrics, lighting and furniture, including the Bluey collection of sofas and armchairs as part of a collaboration with Boura & White.
This spring marks the launch of new fabric collections and brass lighting. ‘In all our work, we like to add a pop of the unexpected, which instantly brings a design up to date,’ explains Mrs Vanrenen.
01488 500206; www.vanrenenhanbury.com
Specialists
Alison Crowther
Alison Crowther is a contemporary sculptor and furniture-maker whose designs are a celebration of English oak. Working with unseasoned timber, she hand carves each piece from monumental trunks — often wind- or storm-felled trees sourced from responsibly managed woodlands in the South Downs National Park, close to her studio. ‘My work responds to the grain, the annual rings, the branches and the unique anatomy of the tree,’ she says. Using traditional hand tools, including carving gouges similar to those used in the 16th century, allows the form to evolve in response to the material.
Alison Crowther’s work celebrates the beauty of English oak, much of it sourced from the South Downs National Park.
Ms Crowther studied 3D design at Buckinghamshire College and then furniture design at the Royal College of Art, first coming to prominence with pews she made for the Prior Silkstede Chapel at Winchester Cathedral in 1996. Since then, she has created significant site-specific works, from a 16½ft sculpture for a new tower in Los Angeles, US, to sculptural seating for the gardens at Glyndebourne in East Sussex — together with numerous private commissions, spanning large-scale pieces to fireside chairs and intimate handheld pieces. Her book, Carved: Con-versations with Wood, was self-published in 2025 and is available via her website.
07775 991957; www.alisoncrowther.com
Bernard Dru Oak Flooring
Specialising in solid English oak flooring, bespoke parquet design and architectural joinery, this company is unusual in sourcing timber from its own sustainably managed woodlands in the Haddeo valley on Exmoor, Somerset. The oak and other native hard-woods were originally established by owner Bernard Dru’s great-great-grandfather, who planted on an extensive scale. The 19th-century tracks had eroded over the decades, so Mr Dru has dedicated more than 50 years of his life to making the woodlands accessible once more and to producing the best-quality oak possible. In 2025, his work was honoured with a Royal Forestry Society Bede Howell Silver Award for Excellence in Silviculture.
Catherine and Bernard Dru at the Banqueting House in Whitehall, London SW1, where their company has recently installed new oak floors.
Today, the company, founded in 1989, is run by Mr Dru and his wife, Catherine. ‘Our oak is admired for its flowery grain, which creates intriguing patterns, its biscuit colour tinged with a grey-pink tone, and the fine slightly etched quality to the grain,’ says Mrs Dru. ‘It also has a tendency to cat’s paw, producing attractive small clusters of knots.’ These are qualities that make its English oak a popular choice for listed and period buildings, with recent work including a new floor as part of the refurbishment of the Banquet-ing House, Whitehall, SW1, and the replication of an old parquet design for Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.
01643 841312; www.oakfloor.co.uk
Fretton Handley
Partners in business and life, Clunie Fretton and Felix Handley are capable of a wide range of classical and traditional carving and sculptural commissions. Operating from two studios in London, they founded Fretton Handley in 2016 after they both graduated with distinctions in Ornamental and Historic Wood and Stone Carving from the City & Guilds of London Art School. Ms Fretton specialises in wood carving, Mr Handley in stone carving and, together, they offer bespoke services, from carving and sculpture to gild-ing, restoration, letter carving and inscriptions, memorials and ecclesiastical work. By preference, they work in native British stones and hardwood, but also undertake commissions in a variety of other sculptural materials, such as bronze and plaster.
Clunie Fretton finishing a plaster sculpture at her London studio. She has worked at the Houses of Parliament and the V&A.
Commissions vary from coats of arms and sculptures for private clients to work for the Houses of Parliament and the V&A Museum. They have recently completed the carving of a fireplace cartouche as part of the restoration of the Tapestry Drawing Room at Castle Howard in North Yorkshire. Ms Fretton is a member of the Master Carvers’ Association, a body formed in the late 19th century to ensure that high standards of carving be maintained, and chair of the craft committee of The Worshipful Company of Joiners and Ceilers. ‘We enjoy continuing to develop these skills and in being part of the ongoing Western tradition of sculpture,’ she says.
Geoffrey Preston Sculpture & Design
Leading architectural sculptor and artist Geoffrey Preston works in plaster, producing highly decorative ceilings, wall panels and more. After studying sculpture at Hornsey College of Art in north London, Mr Preston trained as a stonemason and carver. As a founder director of two of the country’s most respected conservation companies, he worked on the restoration of the 18th-century hand-modelled plasterwork at Uppark, West Sussex, after the 1989 fire. ‘That’s when I realised the artistic potential of plaster,’ he says.
Sculptor and artist Geoffrey Preston runs his firm with his wife, Jenny Lawrence. He has worked at The Goring, SW1, and the Needle & Thread store, SW3.
In 2000, he moved to Devon and set up his workshop, which he runs with his wife, Jenny Lawrence, assisted by sculptor Kate Montagne. Most work is first modelled in clay, before a silicone mould is taken from the model and used to make a cast in plaster. He also works in stucco, a form of hand-modelled plaster-work that had its heyday in the 18th century. ‘It is a lime-rich material with its own particular natural beauty and it can be modelled to much greater depth for a bolder result.’
Projects include a high-relief, sculptural plasterwork wall, with mythical sea creatures and marine life, for the bar in The Goring hotel, London SW1, new ceilings for a Grade II- listed house in Dorset and an ornamental stucco panel for the Needle & Thread dress store on the King’s Road in Chelsea, SW3.
01392 811421; www.geoffreypreston.co.uk
Jay Davey Bespoke Willow
Jay Davey has been working with willow for 30 years. Based close to Taunton and the Somerset Levels, Mr Davey uses only locally and sustain-ably grown willow. ‘It is the flexibility of the material and its possibilities — including the opportunity to create curves and flowing lines — that inspire me,’ he says. Mr Davey runs the workshop with his wife, Theresa Decker, and has an order book that is full for months ahead.
Jay Davey runs a firm with his wife, Theresa Decker, weaving willow into structures that range from garden screens to the onion dome at Glastonbury.
He is known for his strikingly artistic creations, on-site weaving and bespoke garden screening and structures. A high-profile piece is the woven- willow onion dome atop the landmark Ribbon Tower at the Glastonbury Festival, which he originally created in 2014 and has looked after and re-woven ever since.
07983 783426; www.jaydavey.co.uk
Meg Boscawen Decorative Artist
In demand as a mural artist transforming walls and ceilings into delightful works of art, London-based Meg Boscawen works on projects all over the world. From large-scale designs to painted furniture, she is known for her delicate touch, considered use of colour and imaginative creations. Recent projects include a painted tented ceiling with striped walls and magical painted wardrobes for a child’s bedroom in Mumbai, India, a watery-blue-sky ceiling with meander-ing foliage in Geneva, Switzerland, a spring-themed mural for a conservatory-dining area in a house in Berkshire and dancing angels and cupids on a ceiling in London.
Ms Boscawen studied printed textiles at Leeds Art University in West Yorkshire before deciding in 2020 to combine her love of interior design and painting. Mentored by specialist craftsman and furniture-maker Rupert Bevan, she trained under leading decorative artists Lizzi Porter and Alistair Erskine. ‘They were so generous with their knowledge,’ she says, ‘and now I, in turn, enjoy training other artists.’ Her commissions come from both interior designers and private clients.
Stonewood Builders
This award-winning construction firm specialises in the restoration and conservation of buildings, as well as the construction of bespoke new houses. Stonewood is led by managing director Matt Aitkenhead, whose father, Neil, founded the business in 1972. The head office is in Castle Combe, Wilt-shire, with further offices in Castle Cary, Somerset, and Wantage, Oxfordshire. ‘We employ our own trades and labour, which makes us different, as we are not simply a management contractor,’ says Mr Aitken-head. ‘We have our own artisans who have been trained in house.’ Some 200 employees allow the firm to offer the full spectrum of building skills, including masonry, carpentry, roofing and plastering.
Notable work includes several projects at The Newt hotel and estates in Somerset and The Story of Emily visitor centre in Cornwall. (‘We supplied and fitted the largest single piece of glass on Earth,’ notes Mr Aitkenhead.) The firm has also completed construction of an award-winning rammed-earth house on the Somerset-Wiltshire border, courtyard accommodation, The Glasshouse restaurant at Estelle Manor hotel in Oxford-shire, a fine new house on a large scale in the Cotswolds and the restoration of a Grade I- listed house in Gloucestershire and another at Spetchley Park in Worcestershire.
01249 782293; www.stonewoodbuilders.co.uk