Saturday 7th March 2015

Suddenly in the night recently I had a vision. Have we wrecked homes in our generation? Only the Multis have always lived in new-build places. Otherwise we’ve been in agreeable period property. Into which we’ve installed minimalist bathrooms, halogen lights, sliding glass doors, glass extensions, concrete floors, shiny new kitchens, worktops. I fear all my life my decor has been itsy bitsy. Only Angus Willis and the Multis have achieved a whole decor. Angus Willis would have found electroliers to light my hall. He would be retained and re-created a period feel.

On the other hand, many of the great Statelys, including Chatsworth, have varying styles on a room-by-room basis. The private apartments at Chatsworth were done by some Belle Epoque person who also did the Ritz. Somehow the residents of Chatsworth have managed to keep going in this hotch-potch. The whole house, from the outside, is a bit…well… heavy. I’d rather have a charming Georgian front any day of simple classical proportions. Widecombe Manor House outside Bath is perfection, only low-lying and without extensive grounds. Combe Florey is divine although it has now been ruined, ironically, by some rellies of Angus Willis’s. Also magical is Reddish House in Broadchalke, Wilts, formerly home of Cecil Beaton, but Anthony Mottram (‘consultant’ of Prague), his mother said the other day that it was filthy inside.