Edward Hurst brings colonial Williamsburg to a farmhouse on Guy Ritchie's Wiltshire estate
For antiques dealer and interior designer Edward Hurst, a narrative thread is a key part of the process for decorating a house. Called on by the film director Guy Ritchie to transform a farmhouse on his estate into a guest house for shooting parties and other gatherings, he found that the narrative for the house came to him immediately: it was to have the feel of an inn in colonial Williamsburg, the town that was the capital of the British colony of Virginia until the state voted for independence in the late 18th century. “As soon as Guy told me what he wanted, it was a clear vision to me,” explains Edward. "It needed to be ‘American inn meets English pub’, but comfortable. There's a slightly filmic quality to it.” That quality would seem almost inevitable, given that his client has directed, written and produced dozens of successful films and television shows over the past 30 years.
The pair had met socially at parties at St Giles House in Dorset, near where both Edward and Guy are based, and Guy had seen other projects that Edward had completed and was drawn to the quality and attention to detail on display in all of them. “He didn’t want a formulaic roll out, he wanted it to be a little bit different,” says Edward, adding that Guy was “a great client – he has a strong sense of his taste and idea of what he wanted. I’m not drawn to jobs where the client has no view – that holds no interest to me at all. I love a client with a clear vision that you incorporate into the project.” From Guy's end, that vision was based in the 18th century, and the brief also included the idea of open fire cooking (something Guy personally loves), simple, sturdy antique furniture, and quirky art.
The pairing was a match made in heaven, given Edward's passion for antiques. He has been collecting them since he was 12 and furnished the farmhouse from his own stock, as he does with every project. In fact, on an early visit to Guy's own house, Ashcombe, formerly owned by Cecil Beaton, Edward encountered a painting hanging up which he had recently tried to buy from a sale – evidence that their tastes were aligned in many ways. There are elements that look straight out of a Guy Ritchie film set, most notably the muskets above the fireplace in one of the two sitting rooms. “It was very immediate to me that there needed to be muskets there,” laughs Edward. They were not, however, directly influenced by Guy's approach to his sets – instead they emerged from Edward's “great love of 18th-century engravings where you have muskets and pistols on walls in that slightly Hogarth period. It was a great opportunity to do that.” Like practically everything else in the house, they were already in Edward's collection and have their own story. “I bought them on holiday in south of France in a vide grenier 10 years ago,” he explains. “One is French and one is English so they'd probably been there since the Napoleonic war. They cost nothing to buy but then they cost a fortune to get back to the UK. We couldn't exactly smuggle them in the car – I had my children with me and it would've been a bit risky.”
All the furniture and art in the house is in keeping with the narrative and history of the property. Most likely built in the 18th century, it was extended by Guy to include the bedrooms upstairs and a central spine of a corridor off which they all sit. “With this house you have very much the 18th-century ground floor elements and then we wanted to place the newly created bedrooms in the mid 19th century. We wanted to create some logic and present a narrative of the history of the house in the decoration – to make a reason for the house to have been extended, however make-believe it all might be. I like to time travel with a house a bit and romanticise it – it makes it more enjoyable, I hope.” Upstairs, that was achieved with a medley of wallpapers throughout the bedrooms, all different but all speaking the same decorative language. As with the colours throughout the farmhouse, they are “quite gentle, quite soft and in keeping with Ashcombe itself and Cecil Beaton's time there”.
As for the corridor joining all the bedrooms, that's a different colour story entirely, painted in a rich red brown ('Masai' from Paint and Paper Library) and covered in art. The most striking feature is a huge portrait of a wealthy man from the 17th century and his faithful hound at the top of the stairs. “The corridor was really missing something,” says Edward. “It needed a big character and luckily I bought that about six months before. I did wonder how we were going to get it up the stairs and whether we'd have to take it off its stretcher and roll it up but it just got up the stairs and it only just fitted.” He continues, “a lot of people would think 'there's no way we want this abominable big thing at the top of the stairs,' but Guy wasn't scared of doing that sort of thing. I always find when you have a cottage or a farmhouse, it works when you put a really grand thing or any big thing in that sort of space”.
There's an added element to the story of the portrait, as it was previously owned by Christopher Gibbs. “His taste was impeccable and from my point of view, he has always been my antiques, fine art and design hero,” remarks Edward. Hung with the portrait is an eclectic mix of prints and paintings, from Hogarth scenes to a group of pictures of French clergymen, which were already owned by Guy. His love of stick back chairs is also evident throughout the house, and Edward describes this as “adding to the pub side of things”. Nowhere is that part of the narrative more evident than in the dining room, where a large round table is surrounded by six wood and leather chairs from 1860, four of which have their original leather. “Everything in there had to be slightly indestructible really, as the whole idea of that dining room comes from a Hogarth print of people carousing in a fairly louche way.”
This approach neatly sums up how Edward sees projects and it's not at all dissimilar to how a director or scriptwriter would approach their medium. “I envision things in prints and 18th-century interior views and all those things feed into my head over the years,” he says. It's the same way a storyboard might come together and Edward admits that “Guy's reference points I suppose would come from a more filmic place, whereas mine are from poring over books and buying and selling paintings and furniture.” Regardless of their different perspectives, Edward and Guy's sensibilities have clearly aligned wonderfully here to create a house with real soul, a proper character and a story to tell. Time will tell how that story may develop across the estate.
Edward Hurst: edwardhurst.com | Ashcombe Estate: ashcombeestate.com
Alixe Lay1/15An early 19th-century mahogany coaching table makes space for a round 19th-century Delft jar, lamped by Edward and the team. A pair of 19th-century library chairs with slip covers made in a light brown herringbone sit front of image. On the island is a set of three 19th-century creamware jugs and mochaware mugs. The large leather Chesterfield was the client's own and the rug is a 19th-century sarouk mahal.
Alixe Lay2/15A charming 20th-century cow painting above the fireplace is from Guy’s own collection and sits alongside more lamped Delft tobacco jars. All the curtain poles in the house were designed by Edward and fabricated by Guy’s team onsite. The curtains are in Pierre Frey Amalfi - Carreaux. The check originated in the 18th century and is pure colonial Williamsburg.
Alixe Lay3/15Guy's team also made the island to Edward's design, who specified that it must be very slim so as not to intrude on the room.
Alixe Lay4/15A lovely worn 19th-century tin toleware tobacco jar was converted into a lamp by Edward's team. They used lots of 18th- and 19th-century vessels which they lamped to give height and structure to the many surfaces on the ground floor. An 18th-century polychrome Delft charger can be seen beyond, alongside interesting 18th-century brass two arm adjustable candlesticks. The early 19th-century painted chair is one of a pair, and Guy's own. The team organised the picture hang around a large early 18th-century Dutch pastoral scene, which is also Guy’s.
Alixe Lay5/15An early 19th-century painted stick back chair, and left hand Art Deco arm chair, clients own. The remaining furniture sourced by Edward Hurst; from left, 17th-century carved back hall chair, 18th-century brass candle sticks, 18th-century tripod table, the low elm circular table is 20th century but snuck is because of its exaggerated amusing chunky cabriole legs. 18th-century cabriole leg sofa. Antique hemp and linen covered cushions from Mahala, London.
Alixe Lay6/15Two of the Hogarth’s in their wonderful original frames can be seen here. A beautiful and very moving set of Hunt Tally boards from the Grafton Hunt surround a pair of gold leather painted screens. Guy’s portraits of French clergy men look down from above the master bedroom door. 19th-century brass ‘Queen of Diamonds’ candlesticks are lamped with small card shades. The long lantern roof lets huge amounts of daylight in, and was designed and fabricated by Guy’s onsite team. At night the hall is lit by several cream ceramic and glass rise and falls.
Alixe Lay7/15A collection of Zulu and Xhosa clubs on the left, were sourced from Tom Hurst Antiques. A 19th-century print of the Meltonian Hunt Breakfast faces the camera while an interesting Staffordshire flatback with a Crimean War solider and sailor sits on the window ledge. Cream enamel and glass rise and falls run throughout the hall and light the stairs. The stairs and hall are painted in Paint and Paper Library Masai.
Alixe Lay8/15Each bedroom has a different strong wallpaper, this is a Pierre Frey Boussac called ‘Odalys’. The carpets upstairs were sourced and supplied by Edward Marnier, who was an excellent rug dealer, and has sadly recently passed away. Soft painted 19th-century furniture mixes with stronger pieces such as the large Regency cheval mirror. The 20th-century pictures are Guy’s own.
Alixe Lay9/15A mid 19th-century simple pine desk is used as a dressing table in this bedroom, in front of which sits a painted Regency elbow chair. The wallpaper in this room is Pierre Frey Braquenie, Le Grand Corail.
Alixe Lay10/15Late 18th-century racing engravings sit with a pair of early 20th-century bamboo bedside tables.
Alixe Lay11/15This wallpaper is Pierre Frey ‘Papillions’. The chest of drawers is 19th century and sits under a mid 19th-century blue and gold japanned oval mirror, reflecting a late 19th-century rise an fall, and a Regency pastoral silk works.
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Alixe Lay13/15The Pierre Frey gingham check is repeated throughout the first floor in different colour ways.
Alixe Lay14/15A set of alphabet William Nicholsons, surrounding a 19th-century oak mirror carved in 17th oracular style.
Alixe Lay15/15
