Three years ago Jane Prichard-Jones and her husband Richard, with twins on the way, decided it was time to leave London for the country. Having made the decision to go, however, house hunting proved to be harder than they expected."The property was either on a noisy road or too far from the motorway, or the rooms were dark and too small," says Richard. "Eventually we approached a home-finder company and they came up with this house."

When Jane first read the particulars she was not at all inspired. "The house only had 4.75 acres, which did not sound a lot to me," she explains. "And moving to the country somehow I expected to buy a sizeable chunk of land." But her initial reservations melted away when she saw the house. "The garden was far bigger than I had anticipated and beyond the old garden wall there is a sweep of meadow leading to the river. To the left, there is an orchard, vegetable garden and greenhouses, and we decided it was quite enough for us to manage."
What Richard liked most about the house was the size of the rooms. "They all have high ceilings and pleasing proportions," he says. "I particularly like the hall with its sweeping stone staircase and graceful iron balustrade."

The whole house had been sensitively and creatively restored by the previous owners."They had replaced all the old metal windows, which had been installed in the 1970s, with Georgian sashes and the hall and kitchen floors were re-laid with old reclaimed stone," says Jane. "They put in the staircase and all kinds of interesting architectural details, such as wooden columns on the landings, sandblasted doors and the odd corbel or two."

Nevertheless the couple did undergo nine months of building work while they converted a second attic for the twins, Lucas and Daisy. Although Richard had hoped there would be very little to do in the rest of the house, there was plenty of redecorating to accommodate Jane's creativity.

"Provencal style is really my favourite and my inspiration," she says. "This house has quite a French feel with its shutters and faded Cotswold stone, and I have always loved French furniture, which we had been collecting for years, particularly from the antiques shops at Isle-sur-la-Sorgue in the South of France." Some of the couple's most exciting buys, however, were made in this country, such as the 15th-century stone arch in the hall, from Antiquus in Pimlico Road, and the huge pots, which Jane found at Lynda Franklin Antiques, Hungerford."We are blessed with good shops in our area," she says. "I am the kind of person who stops the car whenever I see something nice."

There is sound evidence of Jane's shopping abilities throughout the house. Her choice of fabrics, colours and furniture make a vivid yet restful impression and she is particularly good at finding the right accessories — but equally Jane tries to resist the temptation of cluttering up the house. "Sometimes I visit friends' houses, admire their pictures and think I must find more for myself. But when I get home I think that empty spaces should not be underestimated."

WORDS MAGGIE COLVIN
PHOTOGRAPHS SPIKE POWELL

• JANE AND RICHARD'S ADDRESS BOOK
• BATHROOM CABINET DECORATIVE LIVING, (020) 7736 5623; WWW.DECORATIVELIVING.CO.UK.
• COFFEE TABLE THE ORIGINAL ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUES COMPANY, (01285) 869222.
• FABRICS CHELSEA TEXTILES, (020) 7584 0111; WWW.CHELSEATEXTILES.COM. COLEFAX AND FOWLER, (020) 8877 6400. NOBILIS, (020) 7351 7878; WWW.NOBILIS-FONTAN.CO.UK. OSBORNE & LITTLE, (020) 7352 1456. ZOFFANY, (08708) 300350; WWW.ZOFFANY.CO.UK.
• LANTERN-STYLE LIGHT PARTRIDGE FINE ARTS, (020) 7629 0834; WWW.PARTRIDGEFINEART.COM.
• PAINT FARROW & BALL, (01202) 876141; WWW.FARROW-BALL.COM.
• POTS, SIDEBOARD AND CANDELABRA LYNDA FRANKLIN ANTIQUES, (01488) 682404.
• SHUTTERS APPLEY HOARE ANTIQUES, (020) 7730 7070; WWW.APPLEYHOARE.COM.
• SIMILAR DINING CHAIRS LE GRANGE AT HARRODS, (020) 7730 1234.
• SOFAS AND CHAIRS ANDREW MARTIN, (020)72255100.
• SOFT FURNISHINGS DESIGNED INTERIORS, (020) 7376 5163.
• STONE ARCH ANTIQUUS, (020)77308681.