At home with Q&A: Julie Dodsworth

Describe your home and its style? Home is a three-bedroom, 18th centurty cottage, which was once the village Smithy. We have added out buildings, sheds and pergolas to help with the overflow of our busy artisan living. We have restored the property to its original, simple cottage style and have white, chalk painted walls and exposed beams and timbers.

I bring the outdoors indoors with flowers and plants arranged in upcycled containers, jars and pots. The wall decor reflects our love of family, our travels and the special times of our lives. A warm welcome is everything

for me so I keep the flowers fresh, the fire lit and the coffee flowing.

What is on your interiors wish list and why? More and more the garden is my focus. I'd absolutely love a girly shed just to sit in really. It would be a warm nook in a quiet corner. I'd love to paint it and decorate it with my own fabrics.

Which household items could you not live without? My old red Rayburn stove. It's my Ferrari. It seems to create the heart of the home. I'm really into doing things the old school way as I was taught to cook my my grandmother, who was an Edwardian maid in service. Thanks to this I'm pretty gadget~less. I don't possess a freezer or a microwave but every day I try to practise something new associated with clean eating. My new-found recipes really suit my lovely old heritage oven too.

What is your favourite building and why? York Minster without any doubt. I stand in awe and I think of all the artisans who built it. The trades and skills involved are beyond our imagination. Stonemasons, the stained glass artists and makers and the carpenters were amazing. They passed on those skills to future artisans down the generations and that is a beautiful, amazing legacy to those who work in those professions today.

Is there anything exciting you at the moment in terms of interiors and design? What is exciting me most in the homeware industry is the inclusion of more and more reusable products to replace our single use water bottles, coffee cups, shopping bags etc. I can see the 2019 launches will include these items to a much greater extent and that is something to celebrate. I hope we see more of it.

What and where is your ideal home? Our ideal home is our beloved home from home, which is a narrowboat called Calamity Jane. Calamity Jane reflects our love of history and restoration and we can move her to any location, location,location!

With simple furnishings, exposed timber and another Rayburn at the heart of her, she is a wonderful place to be and a great way to travel. With no room to bring the outside inside, the florals are all on the roof. It is a floating garden on our beautiful English waterways.

Who would you invite for dinner and why? It would be Dolly Parton. What a business woman she is and so much talent too. I love her quote “Find out who you are and do that on purpose”. She is a wonderful example of a rags to riches story with family, charity, humour and a strong work ethic at the heart of all she does. She is everything I admire about a lady in business.

For more information on Julie Dodsworth design products visit www.juliedodsworth.co.uk