In the spring of 2025, we received an invitation from Lady Mia Reay of Mia Reay Designs to lead a group of our top clients to Whittington Hall — her family’s estate that is set among England’s northern rolling hills, straddling the counties of Lancashire, Cumbria, and Yorkshire. Located at the edge of the country’s famous Lake District, the home has served as the inspiration for her eponymous wallpaper collection, which we are proud and honored to represent at Evans & Sheldon.
As we started planning, the itinerary for the trip blossomed into a week-long adventure covering three days in the Lake District led by Mia followed by three days in the Cotswolds, featuring extraordinary visits with Lewis & Wood, Saran Vanrenen, Fermoie, Anna Jeffreys, Volga Linen, and more.
Our Trip to the British Countryside
Photo of Whittington Hall (Tom Griffiths for House & Garden).
PART I: THE LAKE DISTRICT
For the rest of our days, we don’t think we’ll ever see a home as magnificent as Whittington Hall. Designed in the 1830s by David Webster and featuring many of his signature accents, the hall and surrounding estate is home to Aeneas Mackay, Lord Reay, and his wife Mia. Of her early years of decorating the home, Mia tells House & Garden, “I wanted to use hand painted wallpapers — I had always loved painting and I realized it was more cost effective to create my own. My friends wanted them too and my business was born.”
Fast forward fifteen years, and nearly every room of the house is adorned in Mia’s extraordinary papers. Together, they draw inspiration from ancient parchments, Islamic ceramics, Mughal textiles, Dutch tiles, Indian panels, botanical prints, and more.
The rest of Whittington Hall...
The home's hardworking mudroom is covered in Bukhara — an adaptation of an Uzbeck Suzani depicting lilies.
The range comes in one width of 52cm (20.47 inch) and features a smaller design and a larger design in three color variations: Steppes Blue, Chalk Blue, and Steppes Brown.
Painted by Mia and printed in Lancashire, all of Mia's wallpapers are made to order and take approximately 7 weeks to complete.
Mia's Tent Room is lined in her Picot Stripe — an elegant and classic design that takes its inspiration from a decorative textile and ribbon edge detail, with a repeating spaced loop of thread. The painterly dot edge, painted in contrasting color to the stripe, adds a textile feel to this timeless and versatile wallpaper.
One of our favorites at Evans & Sheldon, Picot Stripe comes in four colorways: Leaf Green, Lake Blue, Rose Pink, and Sandstone.
Inspired by textiles made for the Royal Courts of India, highly prized for their exquisite craftsmanship and rich materials, Maharaja's Tent enwraps one of Whittington Hall's many bedrooms. Decorative and inspiring, the ancient design comes in three colorways: Jodhpur Blue, Green Tourmaline, and Saffron Orange.
With Mia as our guide, our group was granted access to some of England’s finest homes and gardens, starting with the wonderful Gresgarth Hall, home to Lady Arabella Lenox-Boyd.
Widely regarded as the greatest landscape designer in England, Boyd has designed more than four hundred gardens worldwide, including six Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show winners. Her home at Gresgarth stands as a stunning jewel, marrying authentic British plantmanship with her Italian heritage.
Our next stop was Holker Hall, where we were treated to a private tour by the home’s owner Lucy Cavendish, the daughter of Lord Cavendish. Dating to the early 1600s, the neo-Elizabethan estate features world-famous interiors marked by incredible craftsmanship and fabulous furniture, much of which came from the Cavendish family’s home at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. Having been there, we now see why it has long been called “the best loved house in England."
Our favorite part? Undoubtedly the hallway in the estate’s private quarters that has been wallpapered in Mia’s Drottningholm Tree!
PART 2: THE COTSWOLDS
After our time in the Lake District had come to an end, our group made our way down to the Cotswolds, beginning with a visit to the Lewis & Wood headquarters in Stroud, just outside Tetbury. The Lewis & Wood team had prepared a delicious lunch complete with napkins in their brand-new “Baltimore” fabric, which had been personalized for each guest. We talked, shopped, and laughed for hours until it was time for a tour of the mill, where their fabrics and wallpapers are produced with unbelievable care, integrity, and attention to detail. Certainly, to purchase Lewis & Wood is to be a very happy customer, and a visit to their facilities proves why!
On our second day in the Cotswolds, we were treated to a private tour of Upton Wold — a place we had been lucky enough to visit in 2022 with friends and knew we had to return to. Carefully shaped over more than five decades by Ian and Caroline Bond, Upton Wold is set within the rolling Cotswold landscape, just outside Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire. Developed with a deep love of nature, the gardens have evolved into a quietly distinguished masterpiece complete with incredible florals, sweeping lawns, charming water features, and Queen Anne’s Lace that goes on for days.
After a delightful visit to nearby Daylesford Farm and Stow-on-the-Wold, our group arrived at Upton Wold for a seated lunch and a tour given by Ian and Caroline themselves. Evident in every corner of the property, the couple’s commitment to environmental stewardship had such an impact on all of us, offering a powerful example of how to design with intention and care.
On our final day in the Cotswolds, our group ventured to the country home of Sarah Vanrenen — a 300 year-old rambling farmhouse in Wiltshire, not far from the charming towns of Burford and Bibury. Together with her design partner Laura Hanbury, Sarah hosted us for a delicious breakfast and a presentation of her magnificent new collection. As one of the most sought-after design firms in the UK, Vanrenen Hanbury has mastered the art of incorporating color and pattern to make homes feel layered and lived-in — a fact that is apparent in every corner of Sarah’s home. After hearing all about the new collection, which includes some fantastic lighting (!!), we were treated to a tour, which had us all drooling and taking many notes!
PART 3: VANRENEN HANBURY
