An 18th-century Cotswold house filled with colour and eclectic layers
‘I love old houses. They give off this amazing sense of all of the people that have lived and died there before,’ says Emma Pocock, one half of interior design studio Turner Pocock. If indeed these houses tell a story, then this one's has several chapters: the first sees it established as a 17th-century farmstead, the next finds it owned and rented out by St John’s College, Oxford. It was bought in the early 1900s by a family who lived in it for over 100 years, until eventually, in 2024, it was sold once again to its current owners: a creative, art-collecting couple with two children and plenty of imagination. They have, alongside Emma and her co-founder Bunny Turner, gently modernised the house while injecting a riot of colour, global influences and bags of personality.
Tucked away behind a church on a lane in rural Oxfordshire, the house is surrounded by gardens, stables and outbuildings. ‘The previous owners had lived here for as long as anyone could remember and so the house needed a big refurbishment,’ explains Emma. The first port of call was to create an open-plan kitchen, dining and sitting room where the family could hang out together. The house is Grade II* listed, and architectural additions need to be distinctly contemporary so there‘s no confusion between the old and the new. Thus, a modern, glass structure inspired by Salvador Dali’s house in Cadaqués was dreamed up by OEB Architects.
This space now takes up the back of the house, with large glass doors overlooking a bright and colourful garden by designer John Hill. The oldest spaces at the front, meanwhile, play host to a boot room, drawing room, sitting room, playroom and downstairs loo, while the two floors above house six bedrooms and a dormitory (the owners are keen hosts), all linked by a network of stairs on either side of the house and corridors winding their way around them.
When it came to decorating, Turner Pocock was an obvious choice: over the years Bunny and Emma have firmly established themselves as designers who can carefully layer surprising and playful elements with grown-up and sophisticated ones. For the travel-loving owners, it felt natural that the houses' spaces should reflect their favourite places: from the rich, pink sitting room decorated with masks collected from Sri Lanka, the Italianesque children's bedroom upstairs or the large open-plan extension, which feels like stepping into Ibiza.
The thread that runs throughout each of these spaces is colour – something Bunny and Emma do very well, and luckily the owner was prepared to be daring with it. ‘She loves art and is hugely inspired by Mexico, Spain and Sri Lanka, where the palettes are bold and bright. Pastels were out of the question, and so was anything too muted,’ explains Emma. ‘We'd show her a yellow and she'd say “yes but make it more acidic”. It really pushed us to be as bold as possible at every turn, and to establish a running thread throughout the house.’
The yellow in question is a suitably punchy archive colour from Farrow & Ball, which has been used on bespoke woodwork and cabinets in the pantry and larder. Here, the colour borders walls clad in hand-painted Spanish tiles. It forms a playful contrast to the kitchen, dining and sitting area in front, which are airy and white, more classically Spanish in feel. This space acts as a backdrop to the owner’s collection of art – some by her and others by her friends. Apparently holding the whole room up is a large stone pillar made of the same stone from which London Bridge is constructed. At the far end, a tactile plaster wall filled with curved nooks nods to the architectural style of Lanzaroteño designer Cézar Manrique. It holds ceramic objects and makes a feature of the television. ‘She didn't want it to be completely bare in here; we introduced neon colours on the upholstery and cushions, so that even when it is English winter outside it can feel like European summer inside,’ says Emma.
Further ‘explosions of colour’, as Emma calls them, are scattered thoughtfully throughout the house. The bright pink sitting room sits next to a teal-green loo, and in the drawing room, a large beam running along the ceiling provided a long rectangular canvas for the artist Tess Newall to apply a vibrant Aztec pattern. It sits happily in contrast with Pierre Frey's ‘La Fôret de Chantilly’ wallcovering, depicting a rural farmstead, which delicately incorporates the house‘s history and surroundings. Here as in the rest of the house, a carefully curated mélange of antiques tempers the walls and textiles. ‘The owner is also an avid collector: there are sculptures, artworks and masks everywhere’, adds Emma.
Among the plethora of accommodation upstairs, what was formerly two bedrooms is now a large bedroom and bathroom joined by a walk-through wardrobe. It perfectly exemplifies the duo‘s ability to combine comfort and refinement. While many of the downstairs spaces lean into a Mediterranean sensibility, the bedroom is unmistakably English, with its four-poster bed and eclectic mixture of antique, bespoke and new furniture.
The adjacent bathroom, painted in white, is enlivened by a shower clad in electric blue tiles and Pierre Frey’s kaleidoscopic ‘Carriacou’ design on the curtains. ‘Nothing was a simple two-colour solution. The owner was passionate about making sure everything felt joyful and colourful,’ concludes Emma. In this, the duo has succeeded.
Christopher Horwood1/20The fabric under the sink in the boot room is ‘Kalami’ in coral, by Fanny Shorter.
Christopher Horwood2/20A downstairs loo-cum-library features walls in emerald green polished plaster. On the chair is Manuel Canovas' ‘Frida Grenat’ from Colefax and Fowler. The Turkish kilim rug is vintage, as is the side table.
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Christopher Horwood5/20The pendant lights in the kitchen are from Urban Electric, painted in an archive Farrow & Ball colour (Yellow Cake).
Christopher Horwood6/20Tess Newall is also responsible for the theatrical decoration of the children‘s playroom. Designed to feel like a circus, an old fireplace now acts as a stage, with curtains and circus tent stripes painted across it. Opposite, a striped loveseat from UP sofas sits beneath a colourful wall light from Julian Chichester, with shades in a colourful array of fabrics from Fermoie.
Christopher Horwood7/20In the pantry, an archive Farrow & Ball colour ('yellow cake') frames walls clad in hand-painted Spanish tiles. The curtain under the counter is ‘Textile Mirakel’ in red, from Svenskt Tenn.
Christopher Horwood8/20The sitting room is a lesson in layering shades of one colour. The ceiling is painted in Papers & Paint's ‘Library Rhubarb’, while the walls are a limewash paint from Francesca's Paints, colourmatched to Papers & Paint's ‘Library Rectory Red’.GP & J Baker's ‘racing stripe’ fabric features on the armchairs, while an ottoman covered in Soane's ‘Qajar Stripe’ pulls the whole space together.
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Christopher Horwood10/20A bench sourced by the client provides a perch in the entrance hall.
Christopher Horwood11/20Another downstairs loo is covered in Walter G's, ‘Luxor’ wallpaper, in ‘Malachite’.
Christopher Horwood12/20A twin bedroom incorporates an Italianate wallpaper: ‘Citrus Garden’ by Schumacher. The mouth-blown glass lamp is a vintage find, as are the throws.
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Christopher Horwood14/20The same pattern, ‘Citrus Garden’, by Schumacher has been used for the blind of the internal window in the adjacent bathroom, neatly linking the two spaces. The woodwork is painted in 'Dulux 70GG 11/140'.
Christopher Horwood15/20A small spare room is papered in ‘Owl & Willow’ in Baylef/Orange by Morris&Co.
Christopher Horwood16/20A bespoke four-poster bed features posts painted in Papers & Paint's ‘Library Spruce’. The desk and chairs are antiques, from the owners existing collection. On the sofa is ‘Kintbury Stripe’ in Emeraldn from Guy Goodfellow Collection.
Christopher Horwood17/20An airy scheme in the bathroom is enhanced with a pop of colour in the form of curtains made from Pierre Frey's ‘Carriacou’ fabric.
Christopher Horwood18/20The electric blue tiles are from Balineum.
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