All the new entries in Country Life's Little Book for 2025

The full Country Life Top 100 for 2025 is published in the March 12, 2025 issue of the magazine, which is out now. The Top 100 list will also appear on the website on March 14.

Here, we take a look at this year's new entrants to the definitive list of the best country house specialists in the country — from country house architects to interior designers, and from garden designers to craftspeople and specialists.

Architects

Fleming Architects & Partners

Based in a barn conversion in the Cotswolds, Christian Fleming shuns ostentation, preferring to produce designs that blend elegant proportion and authentic detailing with an understanding of how to make a comfortable home geared to modern living. Mr Fleming specialises in private houses, many in the Cotswolds and Home Counties and now also further afield, undertaking new-build houses and extensions and renovations of historic properties with a team of 20.

‘I don’t want the practice to become so big that I don’t have an eye on everything we do,’ he says. ‘A project is such an individual journey, so we like to ensure each design is imaginative with a little off-centre personality.’ For this reason, services can extend to interior detailing when required, although the practice is also a favourite among leading interior designers.

01451 861044; www.flemingarchitects.co.uk

SPASE

Led by founder Stefan Pitman, an adviser to Historic Royal Palaces, this practice of architects and surveyors is based in Dorset. It is known for the sensitive preservation of listed buildings, as well as new-build developments, extensions and adaptations. It is also fast earning a reputation for developing environmentally progressive solutions for heritage sites. A shining example is the pioneering and award-winning net-zero transformation of a Grade I-listed Tudor manor house, Athelhampton in Dorchester, Dorset, achieved with solar, Tesla batteries and ground- and air-source heat pumps.

‘Older buildings often embody the culture, values and craftsmanship of their time—and preserving these features honours the local heritage,’ says Mr Pitman. ‘At the same time, renovation offers a chance to address modern issues, such as energy efficiency and building health, by carefully updating materials, systems and layouts.’

The firm recently won an award from the Georgian Group for its restoration work on Sherborne House in Sherborne, Dorset, bringing a building that had been listed on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register back to life. Using local, traditional and sustainable materials, the restored town-house—including a medieval wing—is now open as an Arts centre.

01305 301302; www.spase.co.uk

William Smalley

William Smalley is particularly admired for his ability to combine a pared-back aesthetic with a sense of homeliness and warmth, evident in a range of projects, including a new house in an 18th-century park, the updating of Liscombe House in Buckinghamshire and the full refurbishment of a thatched cottage in Berkshire near Henley-on-Thames, including a new extension and detached outbuilding, all with contemporary thatched detailing. The practice has also recently completed the restoration and conversion of a listed building in Pimlico to create the new London gallery space for antique dealer Christopher Howe.

Mr Smalley oversees each project, offering a rare sensibility for combining old and new. His first book, Quiet Spaces (Thames & Hudson), places his own work alongside buildings that have inspired him, creating an uplifting collection of tranquil, light-filled spaces. ‘For something so solid, architecture is strangely emotional,’ he says. ‘I like spaces that give peace, visually and emotionally.’

020-7242 0028; www.williamsmalley.com

Interior designers

Kit Kemp

Kit Kemp, co-founder and creative director of Firmdale Hotels, has long been admired for her colourful, comfortable and inviting interiors. ‘I believe the best rooms never want us to leave,’ she says. Her hotels now include 11 in London and New York; the latter celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Now head of her eponymous design studio, which she runs with daughters Minnie and Willow Kemp, Mrs Kemp brings her magic touch to residential projects, including homes in London and the country, villas in the South of France and expansive properties in Barbados and the US. ‘Reappraising surroundings artistically and colourfully is not work; it is a way of life that I embrace,’ she notes.

As a respected champion of British art, craft and sculpture, she has collaborated with design brands, such as Wedgwood, Spode, G. P. & J. Baker, Andrew Martin, Christopher Farr, Chelsea Textiles, Fine Cell Work, Porta Romana, Annie Selke and more, on tableware, fabric and wallpaper collections, with new ceramic, lighting and rug designs due to be launched this year.

020-7907 4040; www.kitkemp.com

Lonika Chande

An appealing approach to multi-faceted interiors rich with colour, texture and pattern ensures Lonika Chande stands out from the crowd. Known for her spirited designs, which are backed up by plenty of practicality and technical know-how, she creates warm, inviting interiors that combine a distinctive mix of antiques and art with a modern edge.

Specialising in residential projects in London and the South-East, the studio is a favourite with young families. ‘I enjoy the energy that comes with these projects,’ she explains.

As a mother of three, Mrs Chande understands the demands of family life and the changing requirements as children grow, so many projects include clever layout and storage solutions.

Currently engaged on period houses in London and the country, the studio takes on no more than five projects at a time to ensure a personal service. ‘I like to work closely with clients to develop the design and create a layered and individual result,’ she says.

020-7627 0472; www.lonikachande.com

Sean Symington

As the designer of the drawing room of a house in Bath, Somerset, which last year graced the cover of Country Life on December 4, 2024, Sean Symington is a young designer fast earning plaudits. After starting his interior-design career in his native Canada, Mr Symington worked with leading design firms in North America and the UK on residential, hospitality and commercial projects, before establishing his own studio in Bath in 2019.

He recently relocated to Tetbury, Gloucestershire, taking on houses across the UK and abroad, from a charming country bolthole to a substantial Georgian rectory in Kent. Adept at preserving a building’s character at the same time as infusing it with elegant style, Mr Symington describes his design approach as ‘classic with a fresh whimsy’. He says: ‘I love layered interiors that are collected over time and feel personal, collecting lots of antiques and mixing them with more modern pieces, creating a traditional undertone with a more youthful edge.’

07918 080355; www.seansymington.com

Thurstan

The former European design director of Soho House, James Thurstan Waterworth now heads his 20-strong interior-design studio, which is based in London’s ancient Charter-house Square. He is particularly adept at bringing history to life, celebrating the beauty of antique finds and the patina of aged materials, to create atmospheric interiors with a pared-back style and modern edge. In June, he will unveil a room at WOW!house at the Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour, London SW10, with leading lighting brand Hector Finch.

The Thurstan studio’s unfussy style is evident in the transformation of several properties on the Wiltshire estate of the Duke of Somerset, including the charming renovation of a 19th-century coaching inn, The Bradley Hare. Currently working on the family home and ducal seat, Bradley House, as well as The Zetter hotel in Bloomsbury, London WC1, an estate in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, a Georgian house in Dorset and a ranch in Wyoming, US, Mr Thurstan Water-worth expects to open a Wiltshire outpost of his studio later this year, as well as a capsule furniture collection. ‘The pieces will be inspired by my favourite antiques, sourced over the years, each with a subtle, modern twist,’ he reveals.

020-8129 5855; www.thurstan.co

Landscape designers

Angus Thompson

Oxfordshire-based Angus Thompson describes his approach to garden design as ‘quietly contemporary’. Expect an elegant simplicity and deep understanding of plants, creating calm and personalised landscapes that subtly unify with the architecture of the houses they surround, as evidenced in the geometrically satisfying contemporary garden with loose natural planting at a cart-house conversion in Northamptonshire (‘Shaping the view’, February 19). He is known for a meticulous approach and reflective water, including pools and rills.

Mr Thompson founded his practice in 2004, counts a Gold medal at RHS Chelsea among his awards and continues to offer a personal service to UK-wide clients, focusing on Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and London. He is also currently working on creating a wildlife-friendly oasis of Nature at a town-sized property in Cambridge. ‘My role is to marry practical considerations with elegant solutions,’ he says. ‘It is the relationship between proportion, plants and movement through the garden that makes it purr.’

01865 552446; www.angusthompsondesign.com

Emily Erlam Studio

Headed by television producer-turned-landscape designer Emily Erlam, this London-based studio was founded in 2010, earning a reputation for designs that are in harmony with their surroundings, be it a Georgian townhouse, a rooftop in the city or a large country estate. ‘I like to create plant-led designs that relate to their locality, often creating structure using plants and trees, rather than leaning too heavily on hard landscaping.’

Her ability to create gardens with a relaxed, natural style ensures a wide variety of projects, often presented with beautiful hand drawings. Designs include the garden at Emmetts Mill in Surrey (‘Bourne to run’, June 19, 2024), which cleverly blends a contemporary clean-lined terrace of pale sandstone, interspersed with colourful beds of perennials, with wilder planting beside the mill stream.

The studio has also worked at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire and is currently creating a large family garden with natural swimming pond at a property in Hampstead, London NW3. Commercial projects include working with Heatherwick Studio on a science park in Surrey, featuring a medicinal garden, and a culinary garden at Hambledon Vineyard in Hampshire.

07973 419097; www.erlamstudio.com

Miria Harris Design

With an MA in contemporary art and curation, London-based designer Miria Harris says she was drawn to landscape design by the ‘slippage between architecture and the natural world’.

She is known for elegant, artistic gardens, featuring a painterly sense of colour, made with low environmental-impact choices and carefully sourced materials that blend well into the overall scheme.

Her boutique studio was founded about a decade ago and the portfolio of projects includes a dramatic and highly successful reinvention of the garden of a Decimus Burton villa in Kent (‘The odd couple’, July 24, 2024); current gardens include ones in Suffolk, Cornwall, Norway and Jersey, as well as London.

After suffering a stroke at the age of 44, Mrs Harris used her experience to design the Stroke Association Garden for Recovery at RHS Chelsea last year, considered to be one of the most calming spaces at the show. ‘I wanted it to be as close as possible to the experience of a real garden, within the context of a temporary exhibition space,’ she explains. ‘One of my greatest delights was how alive with Nature it became, with visits from bees, butterflies, hoverflies and even a duck.’

07887 993197; www.miriaharris.com

Studio Bristow

Dan Bristow is known for his work in harmony with the landscape and for incorporating environmental awareness into his designs. He set up his Snowdonia-based practice, Studio Bristow, in 2008, and won a Gold medal and Best All About Plants Garden prize at RHS Chelsea last year for the Size of Wales garden, which featured more than 300 different plant species. ‘I want to encourage everyone to make planting in their own gardens more diverse, in order to benefit wildlife,’ he explains.

Known as ‘Propagating Dan’, he is a widely travelled plant collector with extensive knowledge of using unusual species to suit specific locations, which may be why he is currently working on the design of a low-nutrient, high-exposure garden on the wind-swept rooftop of a multi-storey car park in St Austell, Cornwall. Mr Bristow is equally at home creating private gardens that celebrate his bold and irreverent approach, always designed to suit the surrounding context. ‘We create landscapes that are human-focused and eco-conscious,’ he says.

www.studiobristow.com

Specialists

Graphenstone

Although many paint manufacturers have moved towards recipes made with more environmentally friendly materials over recent years, Graphenstone still stands out as a leader in the sustainability charge. Its ‘Purifying Paints’ are manufactured from a combination of lime, calcium carbonates and natural minerals, fused with graphene—a non-toxic material made from pure carbon, discovered in 2004 by two Nobel Prize winners at Manchester University.

‘Our paints gently combine time-honoured materials, such as lime and silicate, with 21st-century graphene technology, ensuring they are ecological, sustainable and highly durable,’ explains Patrick Foulkes, CEO and chairman of the UK arm of the highly certified Spanish company, founded in 2013. Such credentials make Graphenstone a favourite among designers (Tim Gosling, Michelle Ogundehin and Rose Uniacke all have colour collections with the company). Clients include The Ashmolean in Oxford, Grosvenor Estates and Historic Royal Palaces, with a range of 16 colours created in partnership with London’s Royal Ballet and Opera, which was launched last autumn. In April, Graphenstone will unveil a new collection in collaboration with English Heritage.

01379 772940; www.graphenstone-ecopaints.store

Jack Badger

This traditional joinery company comprises a team of skilled craftspeople, known for its experience of working on prestigious projects—and is a firm favourite among leading architects specialising in the heritage sector. Taking its name from the traditional woodworking plane, Jack Badger was founded by managing director Ben Naylor 15 years ago.

The company is admired for the full gamut of period architectural joinery and carving, including internal and external doors, flooring, gates, kitchens, staircases and bespoke pieces, made at its workshop in Old Glossop, Derbyshire. Projects include panelling, doors and furniture made for Plumpton Place, an Elizabethan manor house in East Sussex that was once the home of the first editor of Country Life, Edward Hudson.

Last year, Mr Naylor and master carver Rob Poole won the inaugural ‘Outstanding Craftsmanship’ award from the Traditional Architectural Group for their work on a medieval manor house in Oxfordshire. ‘By choosing authentic, handmade joinery, owners of period buildings can not only do what’s most appropriate for their homes, but also help preserve traditional skills,’ notes Mr Naylor.

01457 854440; www.jackbadger.co.uk

ZOTA

This Cirencester-based construction company is known for its work in the Cotswolds, taking on both new-builds and renovation projects across a variety of traditional buildings. It works closely alongside leading architecture and interior-design studios, including Simon Morray-Jones and Sims Hilditch, to deliver a co-ordinated and well-executed result. Founded in 1997 by director Nick Moffat, who now heads a team of 40 staff, ZOTA provides a complete service, from initial planning to realisation.

In addition to construction, the company’s services include bespoke cabinetry made by its in-house joinery workshop, plus audio, lighting and home technology, heating systems, solar energy and other sustainable solutions. It also has an in-house decorating team that offers specialist techniques and a spray workshop. ‘We bring 28 years of expertise in blending historical architecture with modern adaptations to deliver exceptional results,’ says Mr Moffat.

01285 708708; www.zota.co.uk

Country Life Top 100 picture credits: Jack Badworth; Jo Thompson; Yiangou; Max Rolle; Research by Amelia Thorpe; Adrian Lambert; Jason Ingran; Tom Mannion 2018 Andy Manshalt Claire Takach Photography Simon Brown Chris Walteld Photography, Clive Rose, Oukar Proctor; Kally Marshall, Marry Crowder, Paul Manuey; Helen Cathcart; Martin Monelt Marianne Majerus Garden Images; Eva Nemeth/Country Life Picture Library Future Pie; Simon Uptor; Harlet Chalis; Richard Bloom, Rachel Warne: Nick Smith, Jake Easthan;