INTERIORS
Words by Sue Smith To keep body and soul together shewith the help of her fine-art student son,
started buying and painting furniture andOliver,to include floor cushions,bean bags
discovered a ready, insatiable market onlyand other accessories and operates as LenaHERE many of us
too eager to snap up her fresh ideas.Proudlock from an old coach house,just asee obstacles
Realising she was on to a good thing shefew doors away from Berkeley House.
begged and borrowed money from friendsWSwedish The walls of her bedroom at Berkeley
and started buying on a larger scale.For aHouse are covered in her beloved blackphotographer,designer and
while she was selling furniture from a shopdenim. There is a black lacquered four
in London’s fashionable Walton Street.stylist Lena Proudlock sees poster bed, dark grey carpet and glass
Never one to sit on her laurels,she alsochandelier and the first thing she sees thereonly opportunities.
turned her hand to photography -when she wakes up are two Hollywood-Two failed marriages and a
weddings and portraits - and eventually gotstyle black and white pictures of herbankruptcy after the Lloyds Insurance
herself back on track and in a position toparents taken in their youth.crash of 1992 when she lost everything
buy Berkeley House.“I love this room, it is my den, my escapeincluding her beautiful Cotswold
“You shouldn’t lose sight of the fact it isfrom everything,” she says.country mansion, Lasborough Park
only money,”she says.“It comes and itBut she doesn’t allow sentiment to get innear Tetbury, have not managed to
goes and what happens in between is yourthe way of her business head. Berkeleyknock this dynamo offcourse.
life.”House is rented out for weekend parties,Now 60, Lena has lived life in the fast
Her latest venture is a gym at the back ofweddings,birthdays,hen nights andlane,starting out as a model in the
her shop in her trademark minimalist, all-corporate dos when Lena is happy to1960s for Helmut Newton. She has
white style for fitness classes and pilates anddecamp to the bedroom above her office.made and lost fortunes along the way
yoga.“Business is business,“she says.“I lovebut like a rubber ball she just bounces
While Lena knows all about decoratingrenting the house out, the best bit is gettingback better and more flamboyant than
houses,gardens leave her stumped and forit ready - going to the market and buyingever.Lena is indomitable.She has an
Berkeley House she called in the expertiselots of flowers,usually white roses flowersinfectious enthusiasm for life and an
of Chelsea gold medal winner Philipto fill it,” she says.absolute refusal to be beaten.
Nixon to redesign it. The result is a calm,Berkeley House made the finals recentlyA few years ago she bought Berkeley
tranquil environment with a huge table forin the Channel 5 programme I OwnHouse,aJacobean statement in
eating,an outdoor fire and a BBQ areaBritain's Best Home but Lena was pippedTetbury’s The Chippings and had just
with a mixture of concrete and grassto the post for the £25,000 first prize.finished decorating it throughout in a
leading down to the orangery whichLena and her first husband, Douglaswhite on white Scandinavian style
provides even more eating and sleepingVilliers, hit the headlines when they boughtwhen it was gutted by a fire from which
space.Kenstead Hall on the Bishops Avenue inshe escaped just in time.
Lena’s eclectic mix of junk shop findsHampstead, London for £100,000 in theWhere many would have been
and antiques have become her trademark.1970’s. After two years they sold it todevastated, Lena saw it as a chance to
“I pick up things everywhere, “she says.shipping magnate Ravi Tiktoo forstart again and do it all in one go this
“It is important not to be a label snob.Go£500,000 which at the time was thetime.Second time around she kept the
with your own instincts.”highest price ever paid for a private house.white Scandinavian backdrop but
As yet there is no sign of Lena slowingDuring that time she was in businessadded a touch of old Hollywood
down. She is up at 5am every day andrunning a knitwear company with Edinaglamour with lots of sparkling
leaves a wake of electric energywhereverRonay and their shop in the Kings Roadchandeliers, mirror panels on the doors,
she goes,travelling like a bullet trainselling Fair Isle sweaters becamegiant black and white photographs and
through life and although she quite fanciessynonymous with everything that was hipsplashes of colour here, the odd zebra
the idea of a castle in Scotland now, theand hot at the time.print there, all pulled together with
most important thing in her life is herLena remembers flying out to Palmexquisite cushions and throws.
family.Beach before a trade fair in New York.Much of the furniture has been
Her priority is to always have enough“We virtually sold out of everything beforesprayed with car paint, which gives it a
money to be able to regularly unite her twowe even got to New York with thehigh definition glossy glamour.There is
older children, Charlotte in Australia andsamples,” she says.also plenty of denim, mostly dyed
Daniel in America, with herself and herThe success of the company triggered ablack, from the company she set up
two younger children, Laura who lives inflush of other knitwear designers and Lenawhen she couldn’t find what she was
London and Oliver who is at university inknew it was time to pull out of knitwear.looking for to decorate her last home.
Newcastle.“Nothing lasts forever,” she says,withTrue to formwhen Lena has an idea
“I never really worry about how thingsblinding understatement. When she wentfor a look, she doesn’t give up.What
will turn out,” she says.“My philosophy isbankrupt Lena tried her hand atshe wanted wasn’t on the market so in
to live life to the full and then giveeverything.a heartbeat she had set up her own
something back. It seems to work for me.”“I was down for a bit and I even hit thebusiness supplying the very denim
House is available for large group rentals.Forbottle for a bit, but you know, life is just toofabric she desired.
more information see: www.lenaproudlock.com ordamned short,” she says.That company has since expanded
telephone 01666 500051.
www.cotswoldessence.co.uk 11COTSWOLDESSENCE September - November 2008
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