My fascination with all things English was renewed last night as I watched Holly Holden’s “You Are Cordially Invited” PBS tours of Highclere Castle and Blenheim Palace. (The must-see tours are now available on DVD!!!) Another magnificent English country estate is Bowood House, located in Wiltshire… House & Garden published an extensive tour in 2016, and I thought it would be fun to revisit.
Bowood House was commissioned in 1762 by William Petty, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, and the 2,000-acre landscape was designed by Capability Brown, known as England’s greatest gardener. (Brown also designed the spectacular grounds of Blenheim Palace, which you can see in Holly’s tour.) In the 1950s, the legendary John Fowler designed several of Bowood’s rooms, and his masterful touch remains intact. Today, Bowood House is the home of Fiona and Charlie Lansdowne who opened the grounds and the Adam wing to the public in 1975. Serendipitously, Fiona trained at Colefax & Fowler, later establishing her interior design company under the name Fiona Shelburne. In 1987, she redecorated much of Bowood working in synergy with the rooms Fowler designed for Charlie’s mother Barbara in the Fifties. The result is a quintessential 18th century English country house, created by the taste and vision of generations past and now beautifully adapted to the needs of the 21st century…
Photography by Simon Upton and writing by Virginia Fraser for House & Garden.
The garden fountain is edged with white geraniums, and the house is draped with white wisteria. Charlie and Fiona meticulously steer the development of the park and the gardens with the help of the garden designer Rosie Abel Smith, constantly working to improve and add to them.
The dining room is painted the color of “tomato soup.”
The 5,000 bound books were mostly collected by the 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne. Through the double doors is the drawing room.
The hall, with its cantilevered staircase, was converted from a dining room in the Fifties, under the direction of John Fowler
The Adam wing, which runs the length of the terraces, is now public, and used by the family during the winter months.
The terracotta-hued Cole & Son wallpaper was specially printed from its archive collection.
John Fowler designed the drawing room with walls lined in cotton cream damask. The trefoil stool is an addition by Fiona.
John Fowler’s decoration of the drawing room remains almost unaltered.
Beautiful “Old Rose” chintz by Colefax & Fowler (sadly now discontinued) envelops the Lake Room.
Fresh roses from the garden echo the print of the chintz.
The main bathroom features a chintz-covered free-standing bathtub and several pieces of antique furniture, including a Georgian writing table and a chair featuring the Prince of Wales’ feathers, which belonged to Fiona’s mother. Fiona chose the large-scale lilac chintz from Colefax & Fowler, which has also been discontinued.
A bedroom enveloped in Bowood chintz, decorated by Fiona. John Fowler is said to have originally discovered this iconic chintz at Bowood House, which he then had manufactured.
A view of the lake from the Doric temple.
Blue wisteria covers a gate in the walled garden, which leads out to the parkland.
The Italianate terraces in front of the public part of the house were laid out by the architect Robert Smirke in the mid-19th century.
The vegetable garden with rose beds and a rhubarb patch with terracotta forcers.
A red brick archway overhung with roses and clematis links two garden rooms.
The Italianate Terrace at the front of the house was an addition by Robert Smirke.
Part of the Robert Adam exterior of the orangerie wing.
A view of the Robert Adam-designed orangerie wing from Italianate gardens.
Pink climbing roses scale the exterior of the Adam-designed orangerie.
A loggia adjoining the private wing with woven wicker furniture featuring cushions covered in Colefax & Fowler’s iconic Bowood chintz.
A wisteria-clad doorway leads into the drawing room from the terraces.
The facade of the house is draped in climbers – an elegant white wisteria and white and pink roses.
Additional information on Bowood House can be found here and here. I also highly recommend this book on John Fowler, who you may recall was the mentor of Mario Buatta. The legendary Buatta forever changed the course of American interior design when he brought English country style design across the pond. And for tours of two more spectacular English country estates, you won’t want to miss Holly Holden’s “You Are Cordially Invited” PBS exclusive.
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Ashley Whittaker Decorates a Sunny Westchester Home
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Golf Legend Raymond Floyd’s Southampton Estate
Such a gorgeous place, and they photographed it at the height of its summer beauty. Love the English country style interiors. Haven’t been to this house yet, but it’s on my list.
I am fascinated by that bathroom. Chintz covered tub in the middle of the room and an antique writing table! That’s amazing
Thank you! Incredibly beautiful.