Zen and Now
Reflecting on his tenure, the designer Jasper Conran describes it as “a spine chillingly real Baroque country house with a massive double height hallway and, in the front, an enfilade of rooms”. He’d bought Ven House in 2007 for £8 million from the decorators Thomas Kyle and Jerome Murray. Jasper sold the house eight years later, making a £2 million profit, to architect Mike Fisher and businessman Charles Lord Allen of Kensington. It has continually been placed in safe hands for several decades now. The 1990s maximalism has given way to classic interiors with contemporary Diarmuid Kelley portraits in place of ancestral paintings. Every en suite bathroom has been fitted out by Drummonds.
It’s as if Buckingham House (the brick nucleus of said Palace) has been transplanted into the rolling Somerset countryside. The postcard pretty town of Sherborne is a 15 minute Rolls Royce drive away. Despite its magnificence, Ven House was likely designed by the relatively low profile West Country based architect Nathaniel Ireson in the early 1700s. The educated household name of Decimus Burton was responsible for internal alterations and the glorious orangery linked to the main block by a glazed gallery.
The tranquil gardens are as fine as the house and form a series of interconnected yet standalone works of horticultural art. Over afternoon tea in the stables, Mike mentions that he has commissioned the garden designer Iain MacDonald to refashion the west courtyard. He enjoys showing people round the property: “Houses like Ven need to be used and should be part of the community. Ven has been an important part of village life for three centuries and we want to maintain that.”
Ven House – inside, outside and all around – has entered its golden era.
