HYLAND
In a 2008 article for Country Life, Mary Miers describes
Isabel as "passionate and tricky," a Bohemian interested in
Theosophy among other intellectual pursuits, who filled the
house, during the Blitz, with waifs and Basque refugees
whom she would not allow,
however, to descend the
main staircase.
Isabel's heritage is tangible
t h ro u g h o u t t h e h o u s e i n
the form of the beautiful
toile de Jouy pattern, a red
version used in the dining
room, a blue one in a guest
bedroom. Isabel's mother
was descended from the
Oberkampf family who de-
veloped the pattern; much
of the living room furniture
at Copse Hill comes from
their house, the Chateau
de Jouy. The dining room
toile is printed with Travaux
de la Manufacture design,
showing the Oberkampfs'
Jouey-en-Jonas textile mills.
The blue toile in the bedroom
is a romance, entitled L'Offrande a l'amour, the votive offering
to love.
Since taking over the house in 1994, Alexander Creswell and
his wife, Mary, have become at once custodians and ongoing
