Upon first moving to Devon, founders of design studio Feldspar, Cath and Jeremy Brown, were forced to adjust to a much slower pace of life. Their house, up on the moor with, had no internet or phone connection to speak of; however, “it was just what we needed with a 3-month-old baby though, and we ended up starting Feldspar [their design studio] because of it”.
Cath, Jeremy and their children pose together in the garden of their house in Devon.
Michael Sinclair
Undeterred from their disconnected start to life in the country, they cannot fathom returning to city life (“perhaps when we’re oldies and have our free bus passes,” says Cath, “or only if I could live in the Barbican…”). Living in the space and quiet of Devon is a “huge luxury,” says Jeremy, “one that was emphasised massively during lockdowns”. Indeed, the couple have traded traffic jams for loose livestock traffic (“always when you’re running late already”) and, despite the irony of being geographically further away from their neighbours, there is still a mighty community in Devon. “People really support each other, and it’s not weird to invite strangers round for coffee, it’s just a lovely thing to do,” says Cath.
The only issue with countryside living for the couple? “As our home is right in the middle of fields and farms,” Jeremy says, “so it’s a constant battle to keep the mice and squirrels out of it. We even have birds regularly joining us in the kitchen, taunting Bernard the dog”. However, no matter how many vermin require chasing, the couple’s move to Devon has fuelled Cath’s newfound obsession with wildlife: “I’ll sit in the oak tree of a summer’s evening to see the resident barn owl fly past, and I’ve invested in a night vision camera to find out just what is eating my broccoli plants and to spy on the deer in the fields. Whenever I see a new bird I’m obsessed with finding out what it is, and what it’s doing and why”.
Rémy Mishon, Assistant Decoration Editor at House & Garden
Moved from London to Rye (and later moved back to London)
Assistant Decoration Editor at House & Garden, Rémy Mishon, left London for practical reasons: “I was priced out of London, so my partner, rescue dog and I packed up and moved to Rye, straddling the countryside and wild seaside in a rented cottage in a quiet village on the edge of a nature reserve”. Rémy explains that life as she knew it completely changed – “a total 180 compared to my previous flat (and life)”; a stone’s throw from the majority of my friendship group, a short walk to three stations, amenities aplenty and wearing silly shoes most days,” she says.
However, no matter the issues that inevitably accompanied her move, Rémy found comfort in the mantra, ‘it’s romantic’, a phrase she “muttered under my breath as I missed the bus that comes once an hour and only between 9am and 5pm”. ‘It’s romantic’, Rémy would repeat to herself, as she made the two-mile trek home carrying a sack of potatoes in the rain. ‘It’s romantic’, she would hum as she walked her dog under the cloak of darkness, shoes squelching in dog mess not once, not twice, but thrice. ‘It’s romantic’ Rémy and her partner chimed in unison, “waddling down the stairs three jumpers, a jacket, hat and scarf when [they] couldn’t get the temperature in our house above 5 degrees”.
Rémy explains that she is not “completely useless”, but having only ever grown up in cities, her default is “a little bit useless”: “I don’t drive, roadkill upsets me, I’m needlessly frivolous – I’m working on all three,” she says.
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