The magical Welsh country house of designer Penny Morrison

The bucolic estate of London-based interior designer Penny Morrison and her husband, Guy, in Wales is the quintessential country house. In spring and summer, every room on the ground floor opens to one of the many terraces or gardens. In winter, a fire blazes in every room. Penny fills the house with bouquets of flowers from her walled garden or wildflowers from the fields. “A room is not alive without fresh flowers,” she insists.

Inside, floral prints abound. Her own prints, Penny Morrison Textiles, mix with embroideries of oversized tulips or leafy vines from Turkey and carnation-strewn suzanis. In one of the bedrooms, a tree of life pattern covers the walls and a cabbage rose Bessarabian rug lies at the foot of a bed adorned with a tonal, carnation-stripe canopy. In the kitchen and breakfast room, the cupboards and shelves display a collection of ceramics and porcelain, many featuring bouquets of flowers or landscape scenes. Her dining room chairs are upholstered with a multicolored palm-frond print. Whether fresh, printed, painted, or embroidered, the flowers have no common theme, color, or origin. Instinctively, Penny assembles a colorful world rampant with patterns, all inspired by nature and travel.

In the formal living room, a pair of French gilt chairs and two upholstered sofas surround a suzani-covered ottoman, where Petal, the Morrisons’ Labrador, relaxes. The walls are covered with a collection of silhouettes, portraits, and landscapes. A collection of blue-and-white Delft and English porcelain is displayed on a demilune table. Wherever she happens to be, Penny spends every weekend combing markets and shops.

Miguel Flores-Vianna

The Morrisons embrace the old-fashioned country-house tradition of spoiling their guests. Visitors typically arrive on Friday evening for cocktails on one of the terraces, followed by dinner, which often lasts past midnight. In summer, lunches are usually served outside in one of the gardens or on a terrace facing a garden or a field of wildflowers.

Before guests arrive, fresh flowers are placed in every bedroom and a strict protocol is observed: white bed linens and towels, down pillows, a fluffy white terrycloth robe for every guest in winter, a white cotton waffle robe in summer, and a hot water bottle between the sheets each night. Penny’s personality, like her house, is big and bold, yet warm and cozy, and exudes creativity.

This extract is taken from Near & Far: Interiors I Love by Lisa Fine, photography by Miguel Flores-Vianna. Published by Vendome Press, available in all good bookstores and online.