SHADES OF BOHEMIAN BLOOMSBURY
At the foot of the South Downs in East Sussex, The Dower House is a whimsical testament to the celebrated family that has lived and worked within its colourful walls
Once home to the literati, The Dower House is a masterpiece in creative colour
Tucked in a pocket of emerald farm and parkland, with the gentle hills of the South Downs rising up around it, The Dower House holds a fascinating literary and cultural history beyond its cornflower-blue front door. Just a mile’s drive down the road, or an easy amble along country footpaths, is Charleston: celebrated home of Bloomsbury Group artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. The Dower House was home to Vanessa’s son, author and ceramicist Quentin Bell, and his wife Anne Olivier Bell, a scholar best known for editing the diaries of Vanessa’s sister, Virginia Woolf.
Unsurprisingly, there are echoes of Charleston’s colourful and painterly decoration throughout the house. With its vibrant colour palette and cheerful, hand-painted furniture, the property is both a warm country home and something of a secret museum. The walls are covered in pictures, and Quentin’s exuberant, expressive pottery enjoys pride of place on the mantels, windowsills and pine kitchen dresser. The quirky, snug rooms are filled with secondhand books and handmade textiles, many of which are the work of Quentin and Anne’s daughter, the acclaimed designer Cressida Bell.
LABOUR OF LOVE
“My parents moved to The Dower House once their children had flown the nest,” says Cressida, over a cup of tea at the generous kitchen table. “It became my mother’s pet project – and it was quite a major project, too. The place had been split into three very small cottages, and her plan was to turn them back into one house, taking out two of the staircases and creating a lovely big kitchen.”
The result was magical: a rambling property with an invigorating colour scheme and eclectic bohemian flourishes. The kitchen is graced with a stately inglenook fireplace, a well-worn pine table and charming handmade ceramics gathered over a lifetime of travels. Olivier, as Anne was known, cleverly chose to paint the ceiling beams white
(to the horror of the decorators), so the space is free of the oppressive heaviness that besets many houses of a similar age and style. A frequent entertainer and capable cook, Olivier wanted to create a kitchen in which people would feel as at home preparing a meal as engaging in convivial debate. One can imagine the host of mismatched chairs around the table imprinted with the lingering spirit of the many vivacious and erudite guests who would have counted themselves friends of the Bells.
Cressida and her siblings, writer Virginia Nicholson and artist Julian Bell, inherited the house in 2018 when their mother died at the age of 102. They set about modernising it for holiday lets but were careful to protect its rustic charm. “Although the house has always had a Bloomsbury/ Charleston aesthetic, it was really our mother’s creation,” says Virginia, who also serves as president of the Charleston Trust. “The decorative additions, such as the eccentric and colourful tiled bath surrounds, and idiosyncratic sculptures, were contributed by my father.”
COLOURFUL LIVES
A coral hallway leads to a fresh yellow drawing room in which ceramics and books compete for space on the shelves. One can imagine spending hours here in front of the fire, absorbed in the warmth and quiet. The bedrooms are painted in soft greens and blues, with muted, screenprinted curtains and bedspreads creating layers of comfort.
Throughout the house, the lampshades draw the eye like gemstones, each one hand-painted in a whimsical fashion by members of the Bell family. (Cressida teaches occasional workshops on lampshade design and cake decorating.) A lemon-meringue-yellow bathroom upstairs is finished with Quentin’s witty hand-painted tiles. No doubt a hot bath here after a day out rambling on the South Downs would enliven the senses and revive the spirit. “The
Unsurprisingly, there are echoes of Charleston’s colourful and painterly decoration
house is very comfortable,” Cressida points out, “something Olivier always complained Charleston wasn’t – what with its lack of radiators and hot water. The Dower House is full of carpets and rugs, comfy armchairs, reading lights and books galore.”
Around the garden are enigmatic pieces of statuary, mostly female busts, which imbue the space with a feminine quality. While the women of Bloomsbury are becoming more visible on the world stage (the film Vita & Virginia was released in 2019 and the Dulwich Picture Gallery recently hosted Vanessa Bell 1879-1961), here is a home, like Charleston, that quietly celebrates the traditional realm of women: the small-scale domestic. Dower Houses were always the domain of women, built for the widows of wealthy landowners when the manor house passed to the eldest son upon his father’s death. But Olivier wasn’t just a homemaker. She was the world’s leading expert on Virginia
Woolf ’s life and an authority on the Bloomsbury Group. Her home was for entertaining in, but also for studying, writing and creative pursuits. Art and life were organically intertwined here.
With the old chalk grasslands of the Downs stretching from the south-east coast to the forests of the Weald further north, a dreamy backdrop exists for The Dower House and the wider Firle Estate. Sheep amble across the landscape. Sea air intermingles with the scent of grazing land and wheat fields. The occasional pine tree, magisterial and solitary, cuts an impressive silhouette against a vast expanse of blue sky. The Dower House certainly promises to provide a warm and unique retreat for those after an inspiring getaway.