ELLE Decoration Country

‘The view through the picture window is utterly absorbing. You can lose hours just watching the birds pirouetting through the sky…’ These poetic words, uttered by Caroline Jenkinson, just one of the countryside-based creatives featured on these pages, may have only been an evocative throwaway comment, but they stayed with me long after we spoke. In a world that is more uncertain and upsetting than ever, what I would give to while away some time watching swallows dancing in the sky. That sense of romantic escape, retreat, renewal and solace is at the very heart of ELLE Decoration Country. It resonates with me and, given this is our 20th volume, it has clearly struck a chord with all of you, too. As ever, we seek to emphasise that, far from…

As the global pandemic hit, architect Scott Lewis and his partner Caroline Jenkinson, a former furniture buyer for Heal’s and The Conran Shop, were part of the mass exodus of creatives leaving London for the countryside. Unlike many others who continued with their stressful 9-5 city jobs from bucolic locations, the couple had a more radical life change planned. They chose to design and build perhaps the UK’s smallest and most stylish holiday rental, The Bide, which sits on farmland in the rolling Dorset countryside. Here, Caroline tells us how they did it… What made you decide to leave London? We hatched a plan to leave in 2019. Scott is from Dorset and we both hankered for a life by the sea. Having spent more than eight years in the city,…

The relationship between land and sea on this shingle headland, one of the most beautiful but extreme parts of the Kent coast, is direct and powerful. With its open panorama, it’s no wonder that Dungeness served as a maritime lookout station for centuries, and also as a place for launching and landing boats. The area’s fishing families played a pivotal part in establishing a community here, having built the first store sheds and timber houses to dot this remote landscape. Some have called this small hamlet desolate, and it’s true that in the depths of winter and in bad weather it does feel exposed to nature and the elements. But this is also a place that is rich in bird life, fauna and flora. The shingle comes alive with colour in…

Imagine the scene: you’re slowly making your way through still water on a sunny afternoon, greenery on all sides, while dragonflies hover overhead. This is the picture painted by a growing class of converts to the swimming pond. That traditional square of brilliant blue water may be an enduring status symbol, but those in the know are seeking natural highs. ‘One client described it as swimming through a Monet painting,’ says Paul Mercer, who founded the Norfolk-based Swimming Pond Company in 2006 in the hope of recreating the magic of swimming in rock pools in Australia and South Africa. ‘At that point nobody had heard of swimming ponds, so we had our work cut out for us.’ Sixteen years later and it’s a very different story – one that speaks to…

PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE LYTHRUM SALICARIA ‘I always use purple loosestrife because it looks amazing in mid-summer with its tall blooms, which flower over a long period. It’s an essential plant.’ YELLOW FLAG IRIS IRIS PSEUDACORUS ‘For early colour, this is simply a must for any pond in the UK. Its vibrant yellow flowers look fantastic when it emerges in late spring.’ WATER LILY NYMPHAEA ‘GLADSTONIANA’ ‘This variety of lily has wonderfully showy, large cup-shaped blooms. There’s something tranquil about water and white flowers. I use this in most of our projects.’…

STORM KING ART CENTER New Windsor, New York, US Since opening in the 1960s, this huge 500-acre site in the Hudson Valley has become an A-Z of contemporary sculpture. Originally dedicated to Hudson River School paintings (an American landscape art movement of the mid-19th century), the centre changed its focus after purchasing 13 works from the estate of sculptor David Smith, and began placing pieces within nature. Perhaps the most iconic structures to be erected here are by Chinese-born American artist Mark di Suvero, whose towering steel designs have an epic, agricultural quality that suits the vast landscape. Visit this year to see Fallen Sky by Boston-based artist Sarah Sze – Storm King’s first permanent commission in more than a decade. stormking.org DYLAN LEWIS SCULPTURE GARDEN Stellenbosch, South Africa When internationally renowned sculptor Dylan Lewis…