UK Homes and Gardens
The July issue of Homes and Gardens hit the US newsstands last week with a photo of our sitting room on the cover. Inside are 10 pages of photos of MeadowWood, our home, and a cheeky article by Clare Weatherall. Clare is the owner (along with her husband, Richard Proctor) of the cool Briarcliff Motel in Great Barrington. A transplant from London, Clare had been a writer and editor before also becoming the guiding light behind the Briarcliff. At GB Clare’s suggestion, London photographer Claire Richardson knocked on my door last September and voila, a magazine spread was born. Claire had a day and a half to photograph and began immediately after asking if I was willing.
No staging, no flower arrangements, no make-up (I’m not sure that was a great idea), just walking through and taking photos. Clair is a seasoned interiors photographer so it went quickly and smoothly. I was off before the shoot was over to a design job I was working on in Manhattan, leaving Clair to finish up.
MeadowWood, which I designed and built 12 years ago is a tranquil home. Designed to live in close proximity to nature, there is natural light in every room, and easy access to the outdoors. The house is filled with books, art, places to read – I think you should be able to lie down in every room- and a kitchen where hours are spent cooking and eating. As time goes on I find it difficult to leave this country cocoon.
At MeadowWood we have horses, a mischievous pony, Scottish Highland cattle, chickens, a lily pond menagerie of frogs, fish and salamanders, and a great variety of song birds- MeadowWood teems with life. In summer, we are outside with all this nature, sleeping in our screened pavilion, a short walk from our winter bedroom. In cold weather we can be found reading before the fireplace or camped in the kitchen with good smells emanating from the AGA. I wish photos could capture the great feeling of this house, it is more than I had hoped for when I began designing and building.
UK Homes and Gardens can be purchased at Barnes and Noble , bookstores and magazine stands that carry foreign press. A quick look at the article is available on the magazines website too. You can see more of my art and design work on my websites: www.annefredericks.com and www.mermaiddesignllc.com
“We fell in love with Anne Fredericks’ beautiful home in the Berkshires, Massachusetts, from the moment we saw Claire Richardson’s stunning photographs of it. In fact, we loved it so much, it is the cover story for our July 2013 edition.
For a full copy of the July edition, buy it on the newsstand or download it from the App Store, Nook, Kindle Store or GooglePlay” ~ H&G
