Life at Broadspear House, the beautiful Georgian home which chef and TV presenter Clodagh McKenna shares with husband Harry Herbert and their two dogs, is peaceful and filled with all the good things a rambling English country estate has to offer.
“When we came along, there wasn’t anything here,” Clodagh says of Broadspear’s blank canvas. “There were no vegetables growing, no flowers, plants or orchards.” While many people would begin a restoration project with the house, the couple focused on the land first. “It’s because it takes the longest to mature,” she explains.
“We restored the walled garden and I decided I wanted to start rearing animals, so we got beehives first, then chickens, then cattle, ducks and pigs. It’s been a 10-year project, really.”
They have also lovingly restored some of the outbuildings. “I was working on the gardens, and then there would be a shed that was falling down and I’d think, what can I turn that into?”
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Clodagh’s creativity has served her well, as one of the restored buildings is now a pickling shed, with another functioning as a pretty pub where friends and family regularly gather. “All the family lives nearby, so that’s really lovely,” she says.
As a chef, food matters, and being able to grow her own produce is a huge boon. “I buy very little. I’ll go in the garden about 5 o’clock, and see what’s there, and I’ll just pick and cook,” she says. There’s a lot to choose from, with a rainbow of variety including broad beans, peas, spinach, kale and carrots.
The work they have done on the grounds over the years is paying off, with an orchard producing fruit too. “Now it’s just keeping it all maintained,” she laughs.
And so, with the big tasks completed outside, Clodagh has the head space to think about Broadspear House itself. The couple has done what she calls “soft renovations” to the interiors, but they have left the structure as is.
“Definitely, the outside has a huge influence on the inside,” she says. That instinct led her to remove all the window dressings on the first floor. “I like that the windows are a picture frame for the outside, so about a year ago, I took out all the curtains and blinds, and it’s really worked so well. Because we’re so private, there’s actually no need for them.”
Having come through a recent renovation of their London home, she has picked up a lot of expertise along the way. “I’m quite decisive about what I like and I know quite instinctively what colours I like. I love warm, soft colours,” she says.
“I love making a space feel more spacious than it is. I like using every corner, and I’m trying to get the best out of a room and really understand what I want the room to be, and how I’m going to live in it. I’ve made the mistake before of creating rooms for guests or family, and actually, the most important thing is that it’s for yourself,” she says.
That learning is what has led her to the redecoration of the couple’s bedroom, which she previously had painted in a dark sage green. “We moved in here at the end of the summer and I thought, ‘oh, it needs to be warmed up’,” she recalls. “But actually, the opposite was true.”
Darker, cocooning paint shades, while cosy, can have the effect of making rooms feel smaller and darker, a drawback in a period property where light can often feel at a premium. As a result, Clodagh is pivoting towards colours that are lighter, brighter and bounce light around the rooms.
A heritage home deserves heritage hues, and in the bedroom, she has swapped the previous green for the Dulux Heritage shade, DH Linen. It’s a warm white with just a hint of yellow, pairing perfectly with the house’s beautiful old bones.
Getting the right colour was crucial, and Clodagh was methodical with her process. “I got a colour chart first, and then I got about 12 different sample pots, and then I got A4 cards, and I painted each one of them in the different colours,” she explains.
She stuck these to the walls and let them sit for a few days while she made her final decision. “They were all different variations of a lovely soft white. And it’s interesting how they all just have a tiny little difference,” she says.
“At the beginning, you’re thinking that they’re all so similar, but actually, when you put them up and live with them for a little bit, you see the differences in them, especially that textural feeling. That’s why I really like the DH Linen. The texture is so soft, I’d describe it as a milky white, and it’s just super fresh.”
The results have been truly transformative. “It’s just so much brighter. All of a sudden, it feels like there’s a lot more light in the room and it feels so much more peaceful than the green.”
That was vital for Clodagh, because what she wants from her bedroom has changed as she’s got older. “It is very different from what I wanted in my 40s. Then, I’d have dresses hanging on the walls and everything like that, and now I don’t want any of that, and my sleep is so important.”
A calming, clutter-free environment for relaxation is the ultimate goal. “I’ve taken everything out, except for one armchair, so that it’s a really clear space. The bed is facing the windows, which is important for me as well. Then it’s just two bedside tables with lamps. It’s very pared back and anything that doesn’t need to be in there is not in there. No clutter, nothing, so I can really get the best of myself and my husband can get the best night’s sleep.”
With proper rest comes renewed inspiration, so what’s next for the enterprising, ever-creative Clodagh McKenna? A new ITV show, Clodagh: Cooking at Home, will air in October, along with a new cookbook.
The show will feature Clodagh doing what she does best, and will also showcase Broadspear’s beauty and its bounty. “It’s very much for entertaining, so I do all different types,” she says of the show. “I’ve got a big gathering party, a lovely pub lunch with friends, and then it’s how to make quick, easy suppers. Everything is tied around the animals and vegetables. So we use all the different locations – one day I’m cooking in the pickling shed and next day I’m in the walled garden.”
As for Clodagh’s home and garden restoration odyssey, what’s next? “I think we’re done,” she laughs. “It’s been a long 10 years of working on it, and now, we’re so happy just to live it.”
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