Art of the East (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Art of the East

The LotuVirginia Lloyd flew out to Singapore simply to visit her daughter - but returned with an Oriental business idea that fits perfectly with her Cotswold stone home. Katie Jarvis reports.

There's a beautiful wooden cabinet that stands in the ballroom of a Cotswold stone house on the edge of Minchinhampton Common. Both the dresser and the ballroom itself have their own stories to tell.

Examine the dresser closely, and you'll see why it fits into this rural setting - because it's quite obviously country furniture. Gloucestershire craftsmen would recognise the care and skill that went into the making, and even identify with the hills and woods among which it was made.

But look more closely, and you'll see strange characters painted onto the wood - exotic characters that tell a story most Westerners wouldn't be able to read.

"It's a 19th century antique Chinese wedding cabinet, which would have been used to store wedding presents," explains Virginia Lloyd.

"It's rare to find one covered in calligraphy like this. I don't know what it says - it's in a local dialect - but the whole feeling is of optimism and happiness."

It's one of a number of pieces that form The Lotus Collection - a range of Chinese antiques, reproductions and home accessories Virginia is selling from her Cotswold stone home.

And, in a sense, it was a wedding that brought the furniture here in the first place.

For when Virginia's daughter, Sophie, married a businessman in the motor industry, she found herself whisked off to live thousands of miles away in Singapore.

"When my husband and I went to visit her, we fell in love with the furniture we saw in the antique shops over there," Virginia says. "We bought a few pieces for our home, but the shipping costs were so great, I ended up filling a container and bringing it home to sell.

"Although Sophie remains thousands of miles away, we set up in business together."

Each piece Virginia chose is fascinating in its own right. There are 90-year-old shutters, which make ideal wall hangings; scroll holders in elm; original hatboxes and antique necklace holders.

"You might imagine this sort of furniture wouldn't fit into a Cotswold stone house, but it does," Virginia says.

"It's to do with the simplicity and workmanship - a purity of line. It's Zen philosophy in wooden form!"

The newly-created showroom is the ballroom of the magnificent gentleman's residence in which Virginia lives - a ballroom which boasts the largest oak-sprung floor in a private house in the South West of England. Indeed, it possibly once celebrated some English country weddings of its own.

But if this Cotswold stone house has taken readily to these Chinese antiques, perhaps there are sneaky clues that it might not be such a stranger to exotica after all.

"It was built in the mid-19th century for the local MP," Virginia says, "and it's pretty eclectic. The marble for the fireplace in the drawing room is from Italy, and the balustrade comes from Austria.

"And, I don't think we're the only travellers who've ever lived in this house. For, interestingly, the door knocker - which is original - is a sphinx from Egypt!"

The Lotus Collection, which includes cushions from £14.50, is open from 10am to 4pm every last Thursday of the month, or by appointment. For more information, ring 01453 873404 or visit www.thelotuscollection.co.uk