If the name Smedmore House doesn't ring a bell, then perhaps the photo of its ravishing pink dining room, copiously adorned with blue and white Fürstenberg china, will. (See above.) Has there been a prettier dining room in recent memory?
I was first introduced to Smedmore House, the ancestral home of British author and historian, Dr. Philip Mansel, in World of Interiors, followed a year later by an article in Country Life. An 18th-century Georgian house located in Dorset, Smedmore is especially appealing to me because, although effusively decorated, the interiors have maintained a comfortable amount of breathing room between objects and furnishings. Because country houses suffocating with stuff disconcert me, I appreciate the fact that Dr. Mansel took a measured approach to decorating his home.
Also enticing is the home's stately environment- not surprising, perhaps, considering that Dr. Mansel is a founding member of The Society for Court Studies, an organization that encourages the study of royal courts. The yellow drawing room is equal parts elegance and coziness, while the dining room, whose dignified shade of pink was chosen by architectural historian Gervase Jackson-Stops, is a picture of refinement.
If you find these photos enticing, you're in luck. According to its website, Smedmore House can be rented for holidays and events.
All photos from World of Interiors, September 2014, Tim Beddow, photographer