The romantic Cotswold cottage of shoe designer Penelope Chilvers
It was a romantic notion of emulating Laurie Lee's nostalgic world that sent footwear designer Penelope Chilvers and her husband Steve to look for a house in the country. Their search began in deepest Lee country around Stroud, but when they walked into this house near Burford, they fell in love with it immediately. “I wanted something authentic and in its original state, rather than something that had been modernised. My brief to the estate agent was if it had an island I wasn’t interested!” she laughs. Made up of three former workmen's cottages knocked into one five-bedroom house, this fitted the bill perfectly.
Penelope took on the interior decoration herself, having worked as an artist and interior designer in Spain before her career as a shoe and boot designer took off. “I made a pledge to myself that I wouldn’t buy anything new. I wanted to find a house we could fill with secondhand and old things that were given to us.” The house is the antithesis of the John Pawson house she used to live in in London. “I always found I created such a mess there because it had lots of straight lines and minimalist interiors. It’s not that I am a hoarder, it's just I like to have the stuff around that I am using as inspiration for the next collection.”
With their children grown up and no fixed timetable to follow, the couple split their time between here and their house in Notting Hill. “I ban the conversation about when we are going back until Sunday night. I am trying to be here more than I am in London.” Penelope spends a lot of time in her study on the ground floor. “Luckily I’ve got the room with the best view and I sit at the desk and look out onto the garden and up the hill.”
Although Penelope does spend plenty of time working here, it is very much an open house for their large family, and the couple's five children and their partners are constantly in and out. Penelope's daughter even got married here, when Covid restrictions prevented a wedding in Spain, and the mismatched blue and white china that dots the house played a starring role at the reception.
During the decoration of the house Penelope spent a lot of time picking up bargains, such as the leather desk chair in the study, from Station Mill Antiques in Chipping Norton. “That was my great passion and I used to go there all the time. I never actually planned a room. I’d go there and find a table and I just recently bought the dining room chairs.” Everything in the house is either inherited from family or friends or picked up from antique shops and markets. The only new things are the beds and bed linen.
The house is also filled with finds picked up from Penelope's travels. A period spent in Turkey learning how to make kilim designs for her bags yielded some beautiful finds, such as the suzani-style embroidery bought in Istanbul that now covers a side table. The glorious Persian rug in the drawing room came from a rug dealer in Cape Town. “He brought it out into the sun so I could see it in the sunlight as there was terrible strip lighting in his store!”
Whilst many of the rooms are small and cosy, the drawing room is an excellent entertaining space. The previous owners, who had lived here for 60 years, replaced a lean-to barn with an extension in the 1970s, so the proportions are quite different from the rest of the house. “The drawing room has a window in every direction on three walls and they are such big windows. This room came together organically. I inherited the sofa with the house and it looks much better without the back cushions. I filled it with softer cushions as it had a bit of a waiting room shape before and it was too short for my husband.”
Penelope’s expert eye for colour can be seen in the paint colours throughout the house, many of which she mixed herself, and she also painted all the rooms herself during the Covid lockdowns. In the master bedroom a lovely cloudy effect on the walls is achieved by mixing two paints and brushing over them with a large brush so it ends up looking “like a rhubarb fool”. Classic pink and white ticking curtains from Tinsmiths lend a classic feel and go perfectly with the brown and white striped rug picked up in a market in Marrakech. “I love brown and pink together, it's lovely, cosy and warm. This room is all about the two big windows though and I wanted to bring the green in from outside.”
Perhaps the most charming room in the house is the parlour that won Penelope and Steve over when they first viewed it. “The table, dresser and chairs were all bought with the house. I think the scale is right, I like it because it is not fashionable or pretentious.” Penelope used Farrow & Ball’s Middleton Pink for the walls and Setting Plaster for the dresser. Many of the blue and white plates from her daughter’s wedding fill the dresser. The garden outside complete with party lawn is stocked with pretty pink roses lovingly tendered by the previous owners. It may not be near Stroud but this lovely, country house is as charming as anything in Cider with Rosie and the ideal place to come up with inspiration for her new collections.
Simon Brown1/15The neutral work space in the study is warmed up by a vintage rug picked up in Spain and an antique leather chair. The desk lamp was made by her father-in-law and the shade is from Oka. The painting of an oak tree in a field above the fireplace was given to her by her parents, a summer view she’s grown up with all her life.
Simon Brown2/15This drawing room is the primary entertaining space. The leather Howard sofa with original silk velvet cushions was a find from specialist Instagram leather and chair dealer @threadgoldstudio. The Persian rug was bought in Cape Town, the pink antique chair is from Station Road antiques and the ottoman is from OKA.
Simon Brown3/15Penelope picked up this suzani-style embroidery in Istanbul and matched it with giant ceramic pears and an OKA lamp. The raspberry cowhide rug from Penelope Chilvers picks up the colour palette and goes with the red and white ticking curtains from Tinsmiths. The kilim cushions are from Graham and Greene.
Simon Brown4/15A duck egg blue cowhide Penelope Chilvers rug lies over the original flagstones. The woodburner was added in for extra warmth and the chairs were reupholstered in Penelope Chilvers conker leather. A mixture of ceramic plates above the fireplace adds a playful tone.
Simon Brown5/15This pretty kitchen has some lovely details, from the crockery and glass cupboard interior painted in Farrow & Ball's Picture Gallery Red to the three shallow baskets on the wall picked up in Buenos Aires.
Simon Brown6/15The serving bell box in the kitchen used to ring in two farm cottages across the road.
Simon Brown7/15The original elm floorboards were in great condition and helped inform the pink and brown colour palette of this room. The curtains are in pink ticking fabric from Tinsmiths, the chair was picked up at a warehouse sale at Soho House and the Moroccan striped rug is from Penelope Chilvers.
Over a chair picked up from a Soho House furniture sale is a rug designed by Penelope, and here her daughter loves to feed her baby son, enjoying the view from the window. Across the bed is an antique Spanish crochet bed cover. “It’s 100% cotton and will last forever,” says Penelope who spends half her time in Spain, going between their factories in Southern Spain and Alicante.
Simon Brown8/15Penelope created a rhubarb fool effect on the wall by mixing two emulsion paints and then brushing over them with a large brush. The headboard is made from an old kilim and the bed linen is from Piglet in Bed. The collage on the wall features a leather notebook found in South Africa, which she mounted on an antique Japanese watercolour of a kimono design.
Simon Brown9/15Penelope painted the bathroom six times in her quest for the perfect yellow. She wanted to capture the colours of the greens and yellows outside. The patterned curtains are from Tinsmiths and match the old stool, which she painted red.
Simon Brown10/15A mixture of prints adds interest to this dressing room. The curtains are from Tinsmiths and the ruched fabric on the curtains on the outside of the cupboards is from Pierre Frey. The old kilim matches perfectly and picks up the coral colour in the Pooky lamps.
Simon Brown11/15Colour and pattern are brought to the first floor corridor by some curtains from Portobello Road Market, which Penelope bought as inspiration for a slipper for her collection. A runner from Marrakech is laid over the sisal carpet from Fired Earth.
Simon Brown12/15The Old Oak wallpaper from Common Room is a charming addition and sets the tone for the cosy guest bedrooms upstairs.
Simon Brown13/15This is the only twin guest room in the house. The layered, comfrotable feel is achieved by mixing florals and stripes with the kilim rug. The beds are from Feather & Black, the stripy linen is from Piglet in Bed and the equestrian blankets are from Penelope Chilvers.
Simon Brown14/15A welcome burst of colour is introduced into this attic bedroom with a rich maroon kantha used as a bedspread. The mustard and white checked bed linen is from Piglet in Bed.
Simon Brown15/15An old bake house, originally the oven for the entire village, now houses the laundry, hidden behind a curtain. This most ancient part of the property is also the very important boot room where Penelope restores and polishes all her old leather boots.
