‘Running water was in the garden before the kitchen’
Edward and Emma Bulmer had their hands full with Court of Noke in Herefordshire, which now acts as a proving ground for their successful natural paints business. By Arabella Youens
Court of Noke was a “sleeping beauty” when it was discovered by Edward Bulmer. The architectural historian, decorator and natural paint specialist and his wife Emma moved from London to the sticks to start a family in 1995. The house in Herefordshire not only touched their artistic ambitions but, crucially, had outbuildings to house their embryonic natural paint business.
Structurally and decoratively, however, it was a mess. The rear side of the house was falling down, little detailing remained, the walls were painted in a lime yellow, the kitchen had no running water and only a few gasping radiators tried (and failed) to heat the ground floor (the system was never connected to the upper floors).
Built in about 1700 and standing in 200 acres, the house’s position, nevertheless, was undeniably spectacular. It stands alongside a calm bend of the River Arrow, which spills gently into the ancient water meadows, surrounded by apple orchards that were planted in the 19th century. Deep in Herefordshire’s apple and dairy country, the geographic location was no accident: in 1887, Edward’s great grandfather, HP (Percy) Bulmer, established the cider-making business, Bulmers, in Hereford.
In 1924, the business acquired a 100acre wood with a river valley attached for the workforce to enjoy during their time off. When Bulmers was floated on the Stock Exchange in 1970, the family bought the asset and used it as a place to fish and picnic. Just a mile short of this spot stands Court of Noke, which Bulmer vividly remembers seeing from the car set in a field of daffodils. “It became the daffodil house in my mind.
When it became available decades later, we set our hearts on the house.”
Today, he is regarded as among Britain’s most knowledgeable historic house decorators. The restoration of some of the best-known Grade I listed buildings have been entrusted into his care, including White’s, Pitshill, and Kenwood.
It was his father Esmond who fostered an interest in architectural history in his son. In 1970, the decorator David Mlinaric – who had just completed a project for Mick Jagger – was asked to work on the Bulmers’ newlyacquired Georgian family home. Young Edward’s interest in the project didn’t go unnoticed; after taking a degree in history of art from the University of East Anglia, Bulmer was offered a job by Mlinaric.
His first role was to research Spencer House with Tom Helme, who years later went on to buy the paint manufacturer Farrow & Ball. He then went to work with architectural historian Gervase Jackson-Stops and the picture conservator Alec Cobbe. “It was all a fantastic education in understanding interior schemes and how to use evidence-based research to inform each project,” explains Bulmer. “I also built up a respect for working with goodquality traditional materials, such as wood, paper, silk, wool and cotton.”
It was one commission that sparked an idea that led to the move to Court of Noke. Asked by Lady Alexandra Gordon-Lennox, the Duchess of Richmond, to work on a decorating project at Goodwood, Bulmer was instructed to make sure that everything used was environmentally sound. “Their son suffered from eczema and so she wanted to ensure there were no toxins in the house. While I was used to working with natural materials, I hadn’t until then given much thought about paint.”
Early investigations to uncover the ingredients used proved worrying. “It didn’t take me long to realise that modern paint making relies on plastic binders and acrylics that are byproducts of refining crude oil. I began to get the sense that there was something not healthy about the use of paint in the home.”
Bulmer turned to the York-based decorative restorers Hesp & Jones for help. They were using traditionally-made plant-based (and breathable) paints, which would suit the walls at Goodwood. That ticked an important box, “but it also had an aesthetic advantage, too,” adds Bulmer. “When it was up, the surface also had more of a living quality to it than modern paint; after that, I couldn’t use anything else.”
After that experience, the couple set about starting their own natural paint business, using base paints made in Germany and colours that rely on earth and mineral pigments that tone well with natural materials. At the same time, they were also camping in the house. Before the restoration project began, they were diverted by another task – restoring the remnants of their 18th-century water garden. “The joke is that we had running water in the garden before we had it in the kitchen.”
No records were found for the house, whose redbrick facade and window arrangements echo the traditional Dutch house style of William & Mary, but it was clear that it had been built for a family. “That gave us the licence to regentrify it,” says Bulmer. Negotiations over the details of its restoration went on for several years with English Heritage (now known as Historic England), while the Bulmers reorganised some of the layout of the entertaining rooms.
Now, the house is a proving ground for his new colours. The kitchen is painted in his Dove hue with cabinetry in Vert de Mer, which is free-standing in order to respect the wishes of the previous owner. “She gave us two maxims: not to put in a fitted kitchen, and not to hang any Laura Ashley wallpaper. The latter was because Bernard Ashley apparently had, without asking, landed his helicopter on the lawn and tried to buy the house.”
The Bulmers have eschewed typical estate diversification methods such as hosting weddings or B&Bs. “That’s not possible here as the layout doesn’t lend itself to it and, despite the imposing exterior, it’s actually not a vast house.” Instead, Bulmer hosts house visits largely made up of Americans who are interested in the concept of a new dynasty establishing itself in the house. As the natural paint business grows, more and more outbuildings are “colonised” and converted into workshops.
Cultural tourism and further education are where things are going next, says Bulmer. “If we can develop a meeting and exhibition space, there’s a range of artisanal and ecological training we could do and make Court of Noke, and the wider Herefordshire countryside, a destination for that.”
‘I began to get the sense there was something not healthy about the use of paint in the home’