GRAND REDESIGN

An eye for period detail led Philippa and James D’Arcy to return their home to its Regency roots

- Anna Tobin

The trappings of 21st century life are left behind as soon as you step into the grounds of Wickham House. Surrounded by beautiful formal English gardens and rolling farmland beyond, it is as if nothing has changed here since the house was built at the end of the 18th century.

Yet owners Philippa and James D’Arcy, who bought the Grade II-listed Berkshire property in October 2006, have not paused for breath since in their quest to return the property to its former glory.

The couple have always enjoyed dressing a home in its period costume. “Prior to Wickham, we owned a Jacobean hall house in Kent. All the furniture there was Jacobean, Restoration or William and Mary, but this house is of a different period, so we started from scratch here,” explains Philippa.

They weren’t looking to move to Berkshire specifically, but they wanted to leave Kent and move west of London closer to Philippa’s children’s schools and to where most of their friends had relocated.

“We appointed property finder Jonathan Harrington and gave him the task of finding us a beautiful house, in a quiet spot with plenty of land within an hour and a half’s drive of London,” says Philippa.

Fond of having a choice of rooms for different occasions, Philippa wanted several good-sized reception rooms and at least eight bedrooms so that each of her older children, Archie, Bertie, Fred and Hector, could have a room to call their own. The couple’s daughter, Jemima, now 16, also needed plenty of space to study and entertain friends.

“An important criterion, however, was that it had to be aesthetically beautiful – a canvas for us to fill with art, antiques, sculpture and porcelain,” says Philippa.