British Houses

Just like her serenely composed drawings, the interiors that artist Tarka King's inhabits are similarly measured and calm – from her terraced house in Bayswater, to her studio that is a 20 minute cycle away on a pontoon in the middle of the River Thames.

Needing a weekend escape from their busy lives and stressful careers in London, designer Caroline Holdaway and her photographer partner, Fatimah Namdar, relish the peace and quiet of their eighteenth-century cottage in the Cotswolds. We revisit this story from 2019.

Francesca Gentilli spends her working life sourcing the best fabrics and textiles from India, Turkey, Morocco, Uzbekistan and beyond, and her own house is the best showcase of her finds. We revisit the house story from 2022.

Once two keepers' cottages, this eighteenth-century, flint-and-brick house was discovered on a visit to the South Downs by the owners, who have transformed it into their ideal weekend home, furnished with salvaged finds and contemporary art. We revisit the house story from 2019.

In this archive story from 2020, interior designer Louise Jones's extended home combines the charm and comfort of English country-cottage style with easy access to the centre of London

For artist Rachel Bottomley, this cottage's medley of 17th-century and 1970s architecture presented an exciting creative challenge

After 40 years at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, Wendy Nicholls is clear about what makes a good interior, and the decoration of her London flat reflects the style she has honed both personally and professionally

Building a new house in the Scottish Borders enabled artist Sue Phipps to capture the best light for painting, and add character with architectural details and her curiosities

Taking on a Victorian country house of grand proportions in Shropshire, the interior designer Henri Fitzwilliam-Lay has enhanced its original details and combined them with the mid-century aesthetic for which she is known.

Formerly owned by Howard Hodgkin, who had his studio in the attic, this Victorian house in west London has a bohemian history, which the current artist owner has carefully maintained, while introducing the comforts of a family home

Having lost out on their perfect house in Oxfordshire, designer Vanessa Macdonald and her husband James were delighted to find the owners later wanted to sell, and they could finally call the elegant Georgian property their own

On the edge of a Gloucestershire meadow sits a tiny barn filled with varied treasures collected by the antique dealer and designer Christopher Howe.

Leaving London for the Sussex countryside, Anna Phillips and her husband Jeff Kightly transformed this unremarkable Victorian cottage into a characterful family home, painting it in organic, earthy colours and adding texture with salvaged pieces

At this former rectory in the West Country, foraged Christmas decorations and salvaged materials enhance the sense of a house that has been made suitable for modern family life, while retaining its Victorian character

Interior designer Anahita Rigby brings a Regency house in London out of the darkness and into the light with her soft, airy and detail-oriented design

Ben Pentreath has given each room of this large house its own personality, combining colour and texture with interesting pieces from different periods.

With its Robert Adam interiors and Capability Brown landscape, Bowood is the epitome of an eighteenth-century English country house, formed by the taste and vision of previous inhabitants and now adapting gently to the needs of the twenty-first century

Navigating a clock house, coronavirus and a colour blind client, the design duo brought their signature charm to a family home

In a leafy enclave on the edge of London, interior designer Rose Uniacke has brought together the disparate elements of a historic house into a serene, harmonious whole that combines luxury and comfort

King Charles's first Welsh home, adapted from a former model farm in Carmarthenshire, bears witness to his philosophy of sustainable building, with a structure traditionally made from existing and locally sourced materials, an ecologically sound heating system, and elegant interiors that harmonise perfectly with the architecture