Willow Crossley has packed a lot into life. The author, designer, florist and stylist – you might know her as @willowcrossleycreates, or as the creator of The Seedling newsletter – began her career as a fashion journalist at glossy magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, then Tatler, before embarking on a French adventure with her husband, Charlie. While Charlie was working as winemaker, Willow wrote a blog, then a book, on the back her brocante-trawling there. Having returned home, where she and Charlie took over the Bull Inn at Charlbury (Willow – naturally – did the interiors), she embarked upon her second career, as a florist. Having started off with friend’s weddings, she blossomed – quite literally: in 2018 Willow was asked to do the arrangements for the royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Frogmore House. No wonder she’s been dubbed the UK’s “queen of flowers”.
Willow credits her idyllic childhood in rural Wales with her love of glorious greenery and the countryside. Home for her now, however, is in a tiny village in the Cotswolds, where she shares a Grade II-listed farmhouse with Charlie, their three boys, a treasure trove of trinkets and, of course, a profusion of potted plants. All this and more we discovered when we quizzed her on her Home Comforts.
My most recent home improvement…
I’ve been wanting to redecorate ever since we first did the house up 12 years ago – I was pregnant and made terrible, dull decisions! We’ve finally started redoing it. Our bathroom is now papered in blue ‘Maharani’ wallpaper from my collection for Barneby Gates, and in our spare bedroom, we went for cream ‘Botanica’, also from the collaboration. Downstairs, we replaced the grey walls with hand-painted checks in soft green and lilac, which have totally transformed the space. It’s now light and airy. I spend a lot of time just staring its beauty.
The latest addition to my wardrobe…
The collection I designed for Brora earlier this year. I’ve barely taken it off.
