English Home

THE ENGLISH HOME 51ten days before Christmas. It was a timely arrival,as Carol loves the festive season and celebrates itenthusiastically every year, invariably among a biggathering of family, friends and neighbours. Theway the house looks at Christmas is important to her,not least because she is an interior designer with anexperienced eye for colour and texture. She beganworking in interior design some 30 years ago, initiallyconcentrating on small projects. “Some time later,waiting at the school gate for my children, I becamefriends with another mum called Patricia Gribben,who also had interior design experience, so we setup a company together called C & P Interiors, andwe are still going strong,” Carol explains.An ‘autumnal person’, Carol is most comfortablewhen she has earthy hues around her. “I like to seenatural Christmas decorations in the house, so I``````always gather up leaves, branches and pine cones andbring them in from the garden, to mix with the glassbaubles. We like to support the local economy as muchas possible, so a lot of our food produce comes fromnearby farm shops, including the turkey.“As a family, we have established a few Christmastraditions – for instance, I love to serve Delia Smith’sfiggy pudding, whilst Peter’s special dish is spicedbeef, and, on Christmas morning, there is alwaysBuck’s Fizz,” she adds. Invoking the party-lovingreputation of the original lady of the house, Peter,who is a commercial property consultant, stressesthat, “Radford really is a perfect home for Christmasgatherings. The atmosphere feels so happy.”Before moving to Radford Villa, which they havestarted to share occasionally with bed-and-breakfastguests, Carol and Peter lived in what had previously``````ABOVE The kitchenhas been refreshedby painting theexisting cabinetry inFarrow & Ball’s NewWhite to complementwalls in Matchstick.The window pelmethas been covered infabric by Brian Yates.OPPOSITE Carolcherishes hergrandmother’s vast1920s collectionof Spode ItalianGarden china. “Wedo use it, but onlyvery occasionally,”she says.“I always gather up leaves, branches and pine cones andbring them in from the garden at Christmas”TEH UK DEC15 HOUSE - Richards.indd 51 23/10/2015 12:57