Epsom

Epsom Holiday Cottage stands as the mirror-image of Goodwood across the courtyard, built for the stable grooms. The front door opens into a quarry-tiled entrance hall. The drawing-room/dining-room is on the left, 19' square and flooded with light on three sides from the large windows, which look onto the courtyard and the garden, and the parkland of Bruern Abbey beyond. Epsom's drawing room has been completely transformed. Curtains, upholstery, loose covers and tablecloths are all new and different- the colours are blue, beige, black and white, taken from the Malabar stripes of the curtains, and it's given it a wonderful lift.

At the dining end of the room, there's an antique mahogany dining-table and rope-back chairs, next to an oak serving-table. A couple of writing tables offer an array of Tourist Board leaflets and brochures. Prints, books, blue-and-white lamps with pleated silk shades and a ravishing collection of flower-printed plates make Epsom feel like someone's cherished home rather than a holiday cottage.

The kitchen, hall, stairs and landing have been painted in Farrow and Ball New White, now my favourite colour. It looks astonishingly different, lighter, and with a seaside feel to it. The kitchen, with its marble surfaces, Belfast sink, blue-and-white Spode on the walls, and blue-and-white tiles over the off-white wood units, is decorative enough to eat in but a dream to cook in as well. As with all our holiday cottages, you will find every kind of machine and utensil you might have at home.

On the first floor, the master bedroom, which is colour-washed in pale pink, is dominated by a splendid carved 18th century four-poster with pink-and-white Colefax & Fowler hangings in rough linen. The ensuite shower-room is a dazzle of white tiles from floor to ceiling, including the vast wall-to-wall vanity unit.

To the left of the stairs is the twin-bedded room, wallpapered in Farrow & Ball blue-and-white stripes, with chair and headboards upholstered in a rosy red-and-blue batik print. To the right of the stairs is the single room, with a white-painted faux bamboo four-poster bed, a little antique stripped pine 18th century washstand with running water, Nina Campbell wallpaper in pale blue, walls covered in prints, and a pink-and-blue rose-strewn Colefax & Fowler fabric on the headboard and blind.

Opposite is their large and decorative shared bathroom, which has a blue-and-white John Stefanides wallpaper, and an Austrian blind.

One of the reasons for Epsom's popularity is its large pretty garden. It's just a step through the French windows in the kitchen to the vine- and rose-covered pergola, from which you can admire the wide borders blooming in every shade of pink and white and crimson.