ECLECTIC, ROMANTIC AND COLOURFUL, ALICE TEMPERLEY’S MAGICAL SOMERSET HOME IS EVERY BIT AS GORGEOUS AS HER CLOTHING COLLECTION
Alice Temperley is sitting on her sofa, gazing out at the view. She has just discovered her mobile phone is on the blink – and she couldn’t be happier. ‘Nobody can get hold of me right now, which is bliss,’ she says, with a mischievous smile. Because, as the renowned (and MBE-awarded) designer of unashamedly romantic dresses, Alice has always loved a bit of escapism.
The Somerset house that she shares with her son Fox, aged 10, and their new cockapoo puppy Guinness reflects her talent for creating an other-worldly feel at home, too. With its pillared portico, Juliet balconies, cupolas and twirling staircases, it already had a head start. It also came with an illustrious past. Newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook entertained Sir Winston Churchill in the library and the remains of a Tudor bear pit can be found in the basement. ‘Visiting children are regularly threatened with imprisonment, which makes them squeal with delight!’ jokes Alice.
“If you can wait until you find the right thing, you don’t need to spend a fortune on interiors”
She has given the house an inimitable Temperley twist, decorating it with deep colours, boho-feel furniture and gleaming chandeliers. In the living room, well-loved leather sofas are set against walls painted a rich plum, while a hand-painted chinoiserie mural decorates the powder-blue dining room. Then there are the rich fabrics and gleaming trinkets, picked up on her travels or in flea markets closer to home. En masse, it subtly reflects her love of pattern, colour and texture.
Alice’s week is divided between this house and a London base. ‘I do three days of concentrated office work and meetings, then four days here,’ she explains. She is well known for her work ethic – ‘My brain has always worked at 100 miles an hour,’ she says – but this is her haven, a place where she can ease into a more natural rhythm.
‘As soon as I get on the train from London, I feel myself relax – it’s like a physical sigh. This place nourishes my soul,’ she says. The house’s tucked-away location off a winding country lane is all part of its charm. ‘It’s so quiet here that I can really focus,’ she says. ‘If I’ve been away too long, I start to yearn for home.’
The fact that her exclusive collection for John Lewis & Partners is called Somerset by Alice Temperley is no coincidence. It pays tribute to the role that this county has played in nurturing her imagination throughout her life; she spent her ‘idyllic’ childhood growing up on a cider farm a few miles from here.
‘The word Somerset is very evocative,’ she says. ‘But I think my designs defy all expectations of sensible “country wear”. There are no corduroys or jeans in sight.’ In fact, Alice visibly winces at the idea: ‘I never wear jeans or tracksuit bottoms. If I’m stomping around a field with Fox, a 1940s tea dress and boots are much more my style. They’re easy to dress up or down, and wearing something that is well made and fits properly instantly makes you feel good.’
To prove her point, Alice reaches for a SS19 tea dress with a ruffled hem and a pattern of delicate flowers. ‘There’s a playfulness to this, with just the right amount of volume,’ she says. ‘And I always add detailing – be it buttons, a waist tie or gently puffed sleeves – to make it versatile.’
Alice is proud that, for all their romantic flourishes, the Somerset designs are also down to earth. ‘The clothes are fitted on a size 12 woman,’ she explains. ‘They are designed for real women with real curves, so they hug and fall exactly as they should.’
“To me, a beautiful dress deserves to be admired as much as a work of art”
Alice’s oak-panelled home office is where many of her designs come to life. It’s a magpie’s nest of fabrics, with a vintage haberdashery unit crammed with Victorian lace, intricate beadwork and trousseau silks. A favourite is a 1930s shawl in peach silk, embroidered with flowers. ‘It had been stored in a trunk for decades, so the colours stayed incredibly true,’ she says.
She has always used clothing and fabrics as a form of decoration around her home; an evening dress is draped over a screen so that it catches the afternoon sunlight, hand-stitched cushions cover the sofa and framed panels of embroidery hang in the hall. ‘To me, a beautiful dress deserves to be admired as much as a work of art,’ she says.
The fabrics, furniture and special finds dotted around Alice’s home have been acquired over time from a wide range of sources. A lacquered oriental screen was bought in Hong Kong, where Alice lived in her twenties. A pair of extravagant figural floor lamps were from a local auction house, while a painted sideboard was spotted on the way home from Paris Fashion Week and loaded into her van, alongside the rails of floaty sample dresses. ‘I’m a firm believer that if you can wait until you find the right thing, you don’t need to spend a fortune to get an interiors style that’s individual,’ she says.
With her unique eye for rich fabrics and delicate details, Alice has created a house that enjoys getting dressed up almost as much as its owner.
