RUSTIC CHIC.

Designer Cath Kidston freely admits to plundering childhood memories of the country to inspire her carefully crafted version of retro-domestic bliss. 'I was raised in such a typically English background -- going to Pony Club and wearing a Shetland jersey and a kilt until I was 15 -- so it makes sense that I would put it into my designs,' she says. Cath's passion for rose print fabrics, polka dot wallpaper and shabby chic became a business in 1992, when she opened her first shop in Notting Hill. Now the company comprises nine shops, a mail order business and a fan base that spans Japan, the U.S. and most places in-between. Her weekend home in the Gloucestershire countryside perfectly reflects the quintessentially English charm of its owner. 'I remember every single print from my house when I was a child -- the lilacs in the guest bedroom, the magnolia chintz in the nursery, the very pale pink walls. As a grown-up, I wanted to go back to that style, but in my own way: to take it and re-do it,' she explains. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]