The Heart of England
TraditionThe patterns of English life play across the year. Every season has its certitude ( lingering over Sunday lunch in winter, with Yorkshire puddings steaming on a plate; golden summer afternoons, when punters pole their way on sun-dappled waters. Tradition gilds each moment, as time slides by in its silent stream.To the Manor BornIf there is an art at which the English excel, surely it is the art of the home - a glorious celebration of domesticity which, over the centuries, has resulted in architecture that invites and interiors that welcome. In country houses such as actress Jane Seymour's home. St. Catherine's Court near Bath, the elements that make a house a home are preserved for each generation to enjoy - the mullioned windows that open to fragrant blossoms, the paths that lead into the well-tended garden, the fireplaces where coals glow, the chimney pots that top the peaked roof where the doves coo.These are charms that reside in houses where countless lives have been sheltered over time.  The walls could speak of vanished families - of weddings that filled the halls with laughter, of tears that accompanied sons and brothers off to war, of toasting crumpets in the nursery fireplace, of a rose bush blooming for its hundredth spring.  This is bedrock beauty, the sort that lasts forever.  For a nation that sent so many across sea, surely it was the thought of these home fires burning that warmed their journeys.In English county houses, perfection is never the goal.  It is comfort that lies at the heart of English  domesticity and county-house style.Copyright  (c) 1999 by Hearst Communications, Inc.