Interior designer Patrick Williams on the sensory landscape, rhythms and rituals of home

“We still feel like we belong to that place,” says Patrick, recalling the Gascony region of south-west France where, after a four year search, his parents eventually found their dream home: a rundown, “lowly, simple place that had been lived in by a combination of humans and animals”. In term time, the family lived at Winchester College, where his parents were both modern languages teachers, but as soon as the holidays started, they would race to Berdoulat - the house in France that went on to gift its name to Patrick’s uniquely beautiful shop in Bath that he now runs with his wife Neri.

“The stars at night were so clear, watching the moon rise above the hillside, these magical moments outweighed the trials and tribulations,” he recalls. “There were moments when it was really hard - you’ve got young kids, and it’s a building site, and life is demanding,” recalls Patrick. “But coupled with that was the exhilaration and joy when something was finished or beautiful.” To this day, Patrick maintains the family tradition of a celebratory drink and nibbles in a space that he has newly finished.

Food played a key role in forging a connection with the house and region, explains Patrick, describing a meal they called ‘The Truth’ - a continuous coil of sausage with hot new potatoes, lots of olive oil, parsley, spring onion, salt and pepper. “That dish means so much to me, it really serves to illustrate the way in which my parents wanted to approach the restoration of Berdoulat - the simplicity of local ingredients and being honest and telling the truth around what they were doing.”

“Cooking that dish for my children now, I love how recipes, and any kind of sensory engagement can connect you back to a place or people. The sight, the smell, how it feels in the mouth.”

In the episode, Patrick shares his journey from studying art at Oxford University to his life now in Bath, with Neri and their two daughters, Wren and Bonnie. Drawn to Bath by the Georgian architecture with its “correct, classical proportions”, they first ran a B&B in a restored townhouse, before - nine years ago - taking on another big restoration project that would eventually become their shop and, behind a door at the back, their home.

The restoration was a labour of love, celebrating local materials and traditional building methods. “There’s a sensory landscape in these traditional buildings,” says Patrick, “whether it’s the visual aspect, or the sound of your footsteps on hollow floorboards, the creak of a floorboard, or a door closing into its frame. They’re things that we really engage with in a bodily way.”

One thing Patrick’s father taught him was to honour the building: “the building is the boss” he says. “This building is alive and it has a loud voice. We spent so much time worrying about the restoration and getting the right timber, the right detail but actually what we ended up doing inadvertently was to restore the spirit of the place as well. It loves to host people, when the local community comes in to chat and shop. I feel honoured to be part of this building’s trajectory, a layer, the link between the personal and the architectural.”

The shop showcases items made by local artisans and craftspeople, and which are all things Patrick and Neri would have in their own home. And it’s items like this, Patrick says, that make a home a home. “Place holds the memory of people but the objects - books, furniture, random little things - they are what makes someone’s home their home. As we go through life our interiors are like nets, they let unimportant things pass through but the really vital things remain. I love the way when you inherit pieces of furniture they carry the memory of the person you inherited them from. So there’s lots of things in this home that link back to people who have passed away.” (You can discover more about the special items and their stories in Patrick’s house, on the exclusive video tour on Patreon, available for members priced £6 per month.)

Forthcoming episodes of Homing feature Anna Jones, Sophie Hicks, Sean Anthony Pritchard, Erdem Moralioglu and Phin Harper. Subscribe to Homing or become a member of Patreon and as always, happy listening.