A brand-new house with a century-old garden? At this Perthshire home, they’re made for each other

It all began with the garden. This glorious family home stands on the ashes of a grand Victorian mansion, destroyed by a fire more than 70 years ago. All that was left behind was an established garden created in the 1900s by Thomas Hayton Mawson, a prolific landscape designer of the Edwardian period. He had transformed the challenging Perthshire site into a series of garden spaces that included formal areas, burns and water features, woodland paths and an abundance of flowering beds. When the mansion fell to ruin, the garden looked set to be abandoned as well, but no one could stand to see such a thing of beauty destroyed. Part of the purchase agreement for this site was that any new owner had to return the gardens to their original design. By extension, the interiors and architecture of this new build are heavily influenced by the magnificent grounds.

Cotswold-based design studio Sims Hilditch was brought in to take charge of the interiors. “The gardens influenced everything,” says senior designer Clemmie Collyer-Bristow. “That was always what we referred back to. We created a palette that allowed nature to be at the forefront, and ensured those fantastic views weren’t obstructed. When you enter a room, it’s the view that you’re drawn to; the gardens become the artwork.”

The new owners are longstanding clients of Sims Hilditch, so it was easy to get on the same page quickly. “They’re the kind of clients everyone wants – really friendly, and so relaxed,” Clemmie says. “Since they’d worked with us a lot, they really wanted it to be a collaborative project. He took the lead in the more formal areas, providing inspiration from lovely hotels and various different members’ clubs. She’s a chef, so her main request was for a super-functional, practical kitchen, but also for plenty of family-oriented spaces. They both wanted the house to be fit for purpose – they didn’t want a place that looked great but had rooms that aren’t actually utilised.”

The entrance to the property immediately sets the scene. The walls are coated with a sweet pink (Edward Bulmer’s Jonquil) which changes as the day lengthens. “In the morning, it looks so fresh and pink and by the afternoon it has transformed into a cinnamon colour.”

An antique tapestry draws the eye up an impressive staircase carpeted in a subtle tartan from Anta, and just round the corner hangs an enormous piece of Aboriginal art that the owners picked up in Australia. The space feels like a room of its own thanks to a plump sofa beneath the staircase and a circular table displaying a selection of art books and fresh flowers from the garden.

In the dining room, a hand-painted wallpaper by De Gournay was the starting point for the design. “The family have Scottish and Chinese ties, so we concentrated on combining these in this space. The red sideboard and intricate florals nod to the Chinese aesthetic. We wanted to make this feel like a really special room, not stuffy like some formal dining rooms can be. The brighter pieces of furniture help with this.”

Spot the elaborate Georgian-style cornice in the dining room and you’d be forgiven for forgetting this house is a new build. This was a deliberate approach from Sims Hilditch as the clients wanted the house to feel it had always been there. “I’d describe the project as elegant, yet comfortable and lived-in, and beautifully British,” Clemmie says. “Many of the choices we made were to suggest the kind of personality you find in a lot of old homes – that feeling of it having passed through many families and absorbed some of the energy of the people who once lived there.”

A Plain English kitchen was installed, including a generous island. “We took a step back at this point and let the specialists do the layout,” says Clemmie. “We then took care of the colours and decoration, particularly the fabric that’s used for the curtains and blinds. The artichoke design from Rosebank Fabrics was our inspiration with its earthy greens. We wanted to make this room feel a little more established, so we brought in a dresser painted in Farrow & Ball’s Indian Yellow which really complements the green. The rest of the joinery was kept nice and neutral. The kitchen is the hub of the house, so we wanted to ensure it felt relaxed even while someone is cooking.”

This is an excerpt from issue 163 of Homes & Interiors Scotland. Want to read more? Buy your issue here.

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