Poet, novelist and celebrated gardening writer Vita Sackville West (1892-1962) was born at Knole in Kent, considered by many one of the greatest of all the country seats of England. She wrote ‘there is nothing quite like the English country house anywhere else in the world. France has her chateaux, Italy her villas but the [...]

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The decorative arts were never considered secondary by Augustus Welby Pugin. As an architect he might design the structure of a house, church or institution, but he conceived of the building, its fittings and furnishings as a ‘complete work of art.’

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It is hard to judge the impact of Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley novels published over an eighteen-year period from 1814, except to say it was more than considerable. Rousing tales such as Rob Roy, Ivanhoe and Quentin Durwood fuelled a Gothic Medieval architectural revival elevating the romantic view. By way of contrast descriptions of the [...]

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