'The house is slightly falling down': Inside David and Samantha Cameron's £1.5m Cotswolds home

The couple have owned the Cotswolds cottage for 16 years and Samantha Cameron says it's "slightly falling down".
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Kristy Gray4 August 2017

Samantha Cameron is known for her impeccable fashion sense, but now she's shown that her effortless style also extends to her tastefully decorated Cotswolds home.

Cameron runs her own fashion label having worked as creative director for luxury stationery brand, Smythson, for 16 years and is married to former prime minister David Cameron. She has given us a rare glimpse inside their family home in the hamlet of Dean, near Chipping Norton, in an interview with glossy magazine Harper's Bazaar.

The couple bought the house for £650,000 in 2001 when David became MP for Witney, Oxfordshire. It is now said to be worth about £1.5 million.

The sprawling honey-coloured stone 'cottage' covered with climbing roses is set in the the idyllic Cotswolds countryside.

Mrs Cameron told Harper’s Bazaar: "To be honest, the house is slightly falling down. The windows are rotting, the roof needs replacing, but it’s lovely and it’ s where we brought each of our children home from the hospital. It’s our family nest."

The living room is comfy-luxe with faux fur throws and large scatter cushions
Pictures courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar/Harry Cory Wright

Blending old and new, the living room is decorated in muted hues, complemented with stone, wicker and faux fur. The Oka sofas, strewn with cushions and throws, are said to be David's favourite spot to unwind.

A trail of string lights and paintings bought from antiques shops add to the room's lived-in character and surfaces are peppered with candles, photographs and piles of magazines and books.

The designer garden shed David Cameron bought earlier this year as a writing retreat while he works on his forthcoming book is in the cottage's garden.

The insulated shepherd's hut was reported to have cost £25,000 and is kitted out with a wood-burning stove and sofa bed. It's painted in similar Farrow and Ball-style tones to the rest of the house.

The shepherd's hut in the garden of the family's Cotswolds home has been purchased as a writer's retreat for the former prime minister while he works on writing his first book
PA

The house's West Oxfordshire neighbourhood is made up of rural market towns, villages and hamlets, of which Witney is the largest with a population of 23,000.

Many of the nearby manor houses, converted barns, farmhouses and stately homes are owned by friends of the Camerons including prominent media, political and celebrity friends known as the "Chipping Norton set".

Chipping Norton is located approximately 75 miles from London.

The full interview appears in the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar, on sale 4th August

Pictures: Harper’s Bazaar/Harry Cory Wright