This English Country House Was Designed to Make Staying Home More Exciting Than Going Away

There are plenty of reasons to escape to a country home for the weekend. This family, however, had a rather different ambition: to make staying home feel more exciting than going away. With five children, the owners of this historic Surrey estate had reached that familiar point when grown-up children start disappearing off for weekends with friends, checking into hotels rather than coming home.

So when they briefed Linda Boronkay of BORONKAY Studio, the request wasn't really about a particular look; it was about creating a house everyone would actually want to return to. 'A place where the children would bring their friends and where spending the weekend at home felt more exciting than going away,' says Linda.

So, rather than treating this grand historic property as a collection of formal rooms to be admired, Linda designed it around the rituals that make a house a home: cooking, reading, long lunches and late-night parties, music, cocktails and quieter moments of retreat. Two new wings now anchor the house, one a generous kitchen and family hub, the other a glamorous party room complete with piano, DJ console, bar and concealed wine room. But while it boasts all that grandeur, this isn't a home dressed up to impress, but one to be really used. 'It isn't a house created to be looked at; it is a house created to be lived in,' she adds.

'The history of the house was one of the things that fascinated us from the beginning,' says Linda. The original building dates back to the 16th century, although it was later destroyed by fire and rebuilt closely following the language of the original architecture. There are still remarkable traces of the property's earlier lives: an old fives court, an aviary and, across the grounds, magnificent Cedar of Lebanon trees all remain. Even the guest list has its own pedigree. 'We discovered that Charles Darwin had spent time at the property and worked on his final book there, which gives you a sense of the many lives the house has already had,' she adds.

The house was already in very good condition when the clients bought it, having been refurbished only a few years earlier, so Linda and her team could approach the new chapter with much more freedom. 'This wasn't really a restoration project in the traditional sense,' she explains. 'Internally, our work was much more about creating a new identity and a home that genuinely reflected the family, while externally the historic character of the architecture remained very important.'

The trick was knowing what to preserve and what to play with – to let the architecture retain its presence while bringing in enough personality, color and whimsy to reflect the family today. 'Historic houses can become terribly serious if you are too respectful of them,' Linda continues. 'Of course you need to understand the architecture and know which rules you are breaking, but once you do, I think there should also be room for humour, surprise and things that perhaps don't immediately seem as though they belong.'

The existing bones of the house might have been substantial, but for this family, size didn't quite equal usefulness. BORONKAY Studio made significant changes to the way the property works, extending two wings to create very different social spaces: one for day-to-day family life, and one nicknamed the 'red room' that works for when family life becomes considerably more lively. 'Both were conceived around how this particular family actually wanted to live rather than simply adding more formal square footage,' explains Linda. The aim was to create reasons to use every part of the house, rather than simply adding more rooms to a grand country-house plan.

'The kitchen, for example, is deliberately much more than a kitchen,' Linda continues. 'There is a large communal table, but also a reading nook, a fireplace and comfortable seating, with doors opening directly towards the garden and pool. The idea was that ten people could be occupying the space in completely different ways – someone reading, someone cooking, people talking around the table – and they would still feel together.'

At the other end of the property, the second wing turns up the drama. Coined by Linda as the 'evening counterpart' to the kitchen wing, this is a glamorous multi-functional space designed for entertaining. It boasts a baby grand piano, DJ console, home bar, and concealed wine room. 'Creating these two anchors allowed the more historic rooms in between to remain intimate rather than forcing every room to perform every function,' Linda explains. Rather than asking every room to be everything to everyone, she has given each space a reason to be enjoyed.

If the layout was dictated by the way the family lives, the interior design style was guided by something rather less prescriptive. Linda finds it difficult to give the house a single definition – and that, she says, is part of its strength. 'It is unmistakably an English country house, but it also contains references to Italy, Asia, Scotland, South Africa and many other places that have been meaningful in the clients' lives,' she explains. 'The Victorian idea of collecting was an important influence for us,' she adds. 'We wanted it to feel accumulated rather than decorated in one moment, even though in reality we had a relatively short period in which to create it,' she adds, referring to the client's Christmas deadline. The sense of playfulness is also deliberate. 'I like interiors where you discover something slightly unexpected and where not everything has been resolved into one perfect stylistic language,' says Linda. Instead, the house moves between drama and restraint, with each room offering a slightly different view into the family who lives here. 'It makes a house feel much more human,' she adds.

'Color was very much about rhythm rather than establishing one palette and repeating it throughout the house. I think when you have a property of this scale, every room being equally dramatic becomes exhausting, but equally, if everything is restrained, you lose the sense of discovery,' Linda explains about the color scheme for the house.

The formal living room is perhaps one of the quieter moments in the house, bringing together the traditional architecture with a layered, collected approach that runs throughout the home. A carved deep red marble fireplace, ornate chandelier, and patterned curtains provide the classic country-house backdrop, while deep green upholstery, richly patterned cushions, mirrored surfaces, and eclectic artwork keep the room feeling warm rather than overly stately. 'I wanted walking through the house to have a rhythm – compression and release, drama and calm, formality and playfulness. That variation is what keeps a large house feeling intimate and alive,' she adds.

The kitchen wing, or the 'daytime heart of the house', may be one of the newest interventions, but its details are deliberately far from sleek or showroom-like. At its center is a substantial black kitchen island and range, softened by traditional off-white cabinetry, warm timber floors and tiled walls, while the sociable lounge and dining zones make it clear that this is not a room designed around cooking alone. The detailing has a pleasantly old-fashioned quality – glazed doors, brass hardware, classic cabinetry – but the oversized island and generous proportions give it a much more relaxed, social-first feel.

There is a similar attention to the everyday in the adjoining pantry and separate coffee nook (accessed via arched doors) where open shelving has been used to display rather than hide the family's collection of crockery, glassware and kitchenware. Rows of mugs hang beneath brass rails, alongside colored jugs, green glass and copper pans. Together, the two spaces capture something Linda returns to throughout the project: even the most practical corners have been given enough character to make you want to linger.

In the red wing or 'party room', the scheme takes the idea of entertaining somewhere altogether moodier. 'Everything becomes glossy and glamorous, with an antique mirror, the marble mosaic bar, piano, and hidden wine room,' says Linda. Rich timber cabinetry wraps around the space, its glass-fronted shelves filled with ceramics, glassware and collected curios, while patterned bar stools bring a hit of graphic pattern to the otherwise enveloping scheme. A glossy ceiling adds to the idea that this is a room intended to come alive after dark. It feels somewhere between a country-house cocktail room and a very good private members' club – only considerably more lived-in.

Upstairs, the mood shifts from the theatricality of the entertaining spaces to something softer. 'The primary bedroom is intentionally calmer and more restrained', Linda explains of the warm neutral tones, paneled walls, and flowing drapes that provide an elegant backdrop for the striking four-poster bed. At the foot of it, a patterned upholstered loveseat introduces a little more color and personality, echoed by the muted blue-green cushions and dark bedside lamps. There is pattern and texture aplenty, but nothing is competing for attention, allowing the proportions of the room and the quality of the materials to do the talking.

The primary suite continues the quieter mood, but with plenty of detail to keep these spaces from feeling overly tonal. In the dressing room, dark oak cabinetry with curved glazed doors gives the closet space a boutique-like quality, while the ensuite bathroom opens out into something lighter, with a freestanding tub positioned beneath the windows and a dramatic marble dado running around the room that Linda says brings a 'subtle English eccentricity'. The combination of the polished timber, stone, antique-style fittings and patterned upholstery manages to feel luxurious without becoming too glossy.

The guest bedrooms take the opportunity to be a little more playful, and this one is particularly immersive, wrapping the walls in a delicate botanical print that makes the room feel almost garden-like. Against it, a softly curved striped headboard, antique wooden furniture, and a richly patterned armchair bring in layers of traditional character, while deep burgundy curtains add a touch of drama around the window. The palette is earthy and muted rather than sugary, allowing the abundance of pattern to feel surprisingly restful.

If the previous guest room embraced pattern from floor to ceiling, the bedrooms beyond it take a slightly quieter approach – but they are no less characterful. 'The bedrooms allowed us to lower the volume, where the palette becomes much softer, and the emphasis shifts towards texture, proportion and comfort,' says Linda. Each has its own palette and personality, with the first pairing a softly scalloped, patterned headboard with jewel-toned blue-green bedding, while next door, the mood becomes deeper, with warm brown walls, striped curtains and a tactile blue bedspread balanced by an antique chest.

Elsewhere, the bathrooms provide some of the house's more unexpected design moments. The powder room goes all-in on atmosphere, with a verdant tapestry -style wallcovering enveloping the room and a sculptural green marble basin sitting atop a simple oak vanity. A sunburst mirror and antique-style brass fittings add to its slightly theatrical character. The steam room takes a more graphic approach, pairing deep teal and pale blue-green tiles in a striking checkerboard effect, with a timber-lined shower floor and brass detailing adding warmth.

The same sense of occasion extends outdoors, where the backyard has been designed as an extension of the family's entertaining spaces. A traditional pergola shelters a green outdoor kitchen and dining area, with a generous table set up for long lunches and summer suppers. Beside the pool, rows of upholstered loungers and fringed parasols create an altogether more glamorous spot for summer days at home.

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For Linda, the success of the project comes down to something much more personal than its scale or decoration. 'Ultimately, that is what I hope people notice about the house: beneath the scale and decoration, everything was designed around the rituals and personalities of the people living there,' she says. The red party room perhaps captures that balance best: 'It has confidence and a sense of humour, but it is also incredibly personal to the family.' Which, given the brief was to make staying home more appealing than going away, feels like a rather perfect result.

Interior Design: BORONKAY Studio

Architecture: OSP Architecture

Garden Design: Landform Consultants

Photography: Martin Morrell

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