Cath Kidston has spent more than three decades shaping how people think about English country style, and her own home in the Cotswolds reflects that sensibility — muted, layered, and deeply connected to the natural world.
Now 66, Kidston stepped away from the retail empire she founded in 1993, but she never stopped designing. Her Cotswold farmhouse, which she shares with her husband Hugh, is a lesson in restraint and personal taste.
A Farmhouse with an 18th-Century Extension
The home sits at the head of a valley, a former farmhouse that was extended by a wealthy mill owner in the 1700s. “It has a smart front and rather rambling sides to it,” Kidston said.
She and Hugh found the property 14 years ago, with its original fireplaces and floors still intact. That gave them a solid foundation to work from.
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The designer has tried to keep the interiors “timeless as possible.” Most of the personal stamp comes from the pictures and furniture they have collected over the years. A pair of antique Dutch panels from her parents fit perfectly either side of the fireplace, which is original to the extension. The cast-bronze branch over the fireplace is by Daniel Chadwick.
The kitchen is a simple room with an ever-changing tablescape. Modern Windsor chairs — wide and comfortable — surround a table that seats six. “We have purposely kept to just six seats at the kitchen table so we have to use the dining room when we have more guests,” she said. The leaf-pattern plates are from John Derian, the tablecloth from Shenouk.
Bringing the Garden Inside
For Kidston, the place doesn’t feel “awake” without plants and flowers. She works in town during the week, so Friday is the day she hauls in cuttings from the garden. She tries to have something flowering that can be picked year-round. Her love of flower pictures is also evident: she recently bought a pair of Rory McEwen tulip prints from a local auction house.
She keeps chintz upstairs, in the bedrooms. “The artworks are unknown and I would love to know who did them,” she said of a pair of paintings bought years ago in a house clearance shop. “Everyone asks me and tries to guess who they are by.”
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That instinct — letting the building evolve rather than forcing every piece into a predetermined slot — is central to her approach.
This is where the house feels lived-in, not curated. Random finds become the happy accidents a home needs. It’s a philosophy that runs counter to the polished, one-stop-shop aesthetic that her own brand once epitomized, and that’s probably the point. After running a corporation, she wanted a space that felt personal, not corporate.
Kidston’s current work includes C.Atherley, a body-care brand named after her maternal grandmother. The fragrances are made in the UK, matching plants she has grown — “from greenhouse to bottle,” she said. It is a continuation of the same impulse that drives her home: let nature lead, but edit carefully.
This article is adapted from an interview in The Nature of Decorating by Jenny Rose-Innes, published by Quadrille. Photography by Abbie Mellé.
