Izzy Dennis from Crowood House

October 2024. Crowood House

Good Morning from My Life in the Wind!

A lot of the time I find instagram a real drag. Producing content for it is exhausting and I don’t even know if anyone sees what I post because I never look at the stats. I have a time limit set on my phone of 45 mins a day and in the summer when I close my shop I am hardly on it. But the truth is I wouldn’t have a business without instagram nor would I have built some of the relationships I now cherish. Living in a rural place far from my friends and family, my online community has been a source of learning, comfort and solidarity and I’ve met some really interesting people. I mean THANK GOD for the internet.

I have a few of these newsletter lined up this year. Mostly women/mothers doing something different. The thing I always say I miss the most about a more sociable metropolitan, pre-children life is that I don’t go to parties or events anymore and so I don’t get to ask people about their life and work.

Izzy, please tell us your story. You make bespoke lampshades and cushion and have transformed your home into a location house for photoshoots.

How did it all come about because didn’t you used to be a teacher? 

Yes! I taught Classics for 10 years. After I left university I felt like I needed a sensible and reliable job – teaching ticked both of those boxes. And yet it turns out that teaching and farming are not the happiest of companions; my lovely long holidays were always my husband’s busiest times. Throw kids into the mix and like so many families my entire salary was consumed by the cost of childcare. Juggling two very separate careers with small children (during a pandemic…) was stressful and it became increasingly clear that we both needed to rethink what was important and how we were committing our time.

Separately, we had moved in to Will’s very beautiful family home straight after we got married. By the time my career crisis came, we had already tackled some of the major restoration and renovation projects. We had a new kitchen, new floors downstairs, modernised some of the paint colours, repaired and relined most of the curtains. But largely, the house remains as it was when it was decorated in the 80s by Will’s mum Tina. She has bold style, incredible taste and loves wallpaper. Both Will and I felt strongly that to redecorate would not only be prohibitively expensive, it would also destroy the layers of texture and pattern that make Crowood so special. I knew nothing about the locations industry, but I just felt in my gut that this amazing home would make a great shoot location.

So there was this moment: I had had two children and three miscarriages; my whole life had changed and I knew I had to quit my job because there was no way that Will could quit the farm. I retrained as a bookkeeper. I started contacting location agencies and to my delight a few liked the house. I spent a lot of time sewing, making lampshades, cushions and curtains for the house and thinking about what was next. I wanted to work, but I also wanted to be present for my children and to be able to step back from work immediately if one of them needed me. I had my much longed-for third baby. And then somehow, slowly and feeling my way, I have created this fragmented but wonderful working week: I spend half of my week in the farm office, the other half making bespoke lampshades and cushions to order for clients, and we host one or two photoshoots a month. Every autumn I run a series of creative events. It’s a bespoke job that I have created around our farm, family and house.

Now that you run a location house, has it made you think differently about styling? Can you think of two things you’ve learned about what looks good or rules of the game? Must be fascinating watching the stylists and photographers at work.

It really is amazing to watch a shoot team at work. Shoot days are my absolute favourite; there is an electric buzz in the air and the whole house feels alive. I love seeing how stylists reorganise our furniture while adding in their own props. The most important things I’ve learned is to make sure all the angles are straight on and in line – a square on image looks best and frames the shot nicely. Also lighting – the pros often come with a whole lighting team, but I only work with what I’ve got. I don’t have any lights or specialist kit, and I take all my own photos on an iPhone. Sometimes I set my alarm at sunrise and wander around the house to make sure I can capture the best light. 

Motherhood. Three boys. How is it going?

Boys are intense and three is a lot. Often my brain can’t cope when they’re all talking at me at the same time. I wear earplugs often but my heart is full and I know that my family is complete. My happiest moments are when I’m not trying to work, the boys are bobbling around entertaining themselves and there’s somehow harmony. As a family, we’re at our most content on a beach. I am also truly grateful for our amazing nanny who really keeps the show on the road.

Can you think of three meals you cook routinely that we can all copy?

I like cooking things that my children can eat and that I can then jazz up for grown up suppers – think of a bolognaise that becomes chilli con carne, or a roast chicken that then becomes ramen. My favourite ever recipes that I cook on repeat are: Nigella’s chicken orzo, Jamie’s 5 ingredient lamb with olives& Diana Hendry’s Chinese pork (I can’t find the exact recipe online but this is the same process). If I have people over, I’m keen on a statement pudding – lemon posset served in the lemon is admittedly a bit 80s but always a hit. For meal inspiration I really recommend following Margie Nomura and Kitty Coles. Everything they cook is delicious and their recipes are sensible – no crazy ingredients.

How do you feel about aging?

My hair turned grey when I was young – it started changing colour in my late teens and by my late 20s I was definitely salt and pepper. Now I’m in my mid 30s and mostly grey. I’ve never died my hair. At the moment, I don’t mind aging but I am obsessive about skincare and SPF and maybe when my skin looks noticeably older perhaps I’ll feel differently. My father died in his early 40s when I was 7, so his aging is something that I was never able to witness. I think it’s a privilege to age.

What type of brands come and shoot at Crowood? 

Mostly home and fashion brands. It’s astonishing how different our backdrops look through different lenses and with different styling approaches, but I feel very blessed that so often the shoot aesthetic aligns with my own.

One thing you would recommend as a gift for almost anyone (non junk/useful)?

I love giving tissue box covers. Sometimes, if I have time, I make them myself. Otherwise Nina Campbell sells really lovely ones. Alternatively a pair of really sharp secateurs – useful for the garden or for cooking. These ones by Niwaki are my absolute faves. Similarly, for kids, gardening tools are always a hit. Lastly, for my girl friends, a facemask slipped into a birthday card always goes down well – I like these ones.

Style. What do you wear and has this changed after motherhood and changing your work?

Since having children my hair has rapidly changed colour from mostly dark brown to mostly grey. The colours that suited me also changed completely almost overnight. I used to wear a lot of black and had work clothes for my teaching job. Now I wear a lot of bright red and jeans almost every day. I’ve worked out which fits suit my body shape and I buy the same styles on Vinted on repeat. I try where possible only to wear natural fibres – 100% cotton or wool – and I shop for myself mostly on Vinted. I think my wardrobe has become more curated and I absolutely love wearing a tank top with a statement-sleeve blouse underneath.

What do you really care about? Imagine me starting to rant about polyester school uniform. What would be your rant?

I really think that the transition to motherhood is not valued enough. The change is SEISMIC. Pregnancy is its own difficult journey but then once a baby arrives, there is also a necessary birth of a new self. Everything changes. It’s not possible to stay the same once you’ve had a baby. I think every person who is a mother, who knows a mother, who has a mother (yes, that’s everyone in the world then) should read or listen to Matrescence by Lucy Jones. It’s completely mind-blowing to me that society expects new mothers to continue to function as before when their entire biology has changed.

How do you market your location house and do you have any tips for people wanting to do this?

I run an Instagram account to act as my shop window and to showcase the house. I am also lucky to be represented by some amazing agents. My suggestion to anyone interested in setting up their home as a location house would be to talk to agents, to work out whether you have the right spaces and also to think carefully about how you would negotiate the inevitable disruption that comeswith booking your first shoot; where would you go? What would you do while your house was occupied? I retreat to my office, or for longer shoots I take my children away to the Isle of Wight.

What's something you've always wanted to learn how to do? 

I’ve always loved learning new things and have been an obsessive course taker for as long as I can remember. I now host creative courses at Crowood, which definitely feels more like fun than work for me. We’ve got some really lovely events coming up in the autumn, including embroidery, lampshade making, paper-cutting and wreathmaking. You can see details of all our courses here.

Which was the hardest transition 0-1 child, 1-2, 2-3?

Every transition point is hard but I really think there’s nothing that can prepare you for the leap into parenthood. Having my first baby made me completely reevaluate everything that I thought I knew about myself. It’s a cliché but it’s true – motherhood changes everything.

Where is home?

I grew up in South London. Now, home is North Wiltshire. We inherited our house and moving in to someone else’s family home, full of their possessions and memories, is a strange and sometimes isolating experience. I do now feel very at home at Crowood, but it took time; slowly we have put our own stamp on the interiors and the house is filled with the noise and joy of our children. But the place I genuinely feel most at home is looking over the Solent from the north coast of the Isle of Wight towards Southampton and Portsmouth. It’s a view that has been a constant in my life and it’s where I feel most at peace. I can watch the container ships lurking in the Solent for hours.

What keeps you awake at night with worry?

Childcare. Logistics. That there won’t be enough hours in the next day. VAT returns.

One thing you wish you had done differently (I wish I’d had the confidence to start my own work sooner)?

Me too – I so wish that I had been confident enough to pursue a creative career sooner. And then the other side of this same coin is that I wish I had been braver and started working for myself sooner. Proper, sensible jobs are often overrated and it’s amazing how many opportunities present themselves when you’re hungry for work. It’s terrifying but also incredibly freeing to work for yourself.

What did you want to be when you were young (I wanted to be a vet but kept feeling dizzy when we dissected hearts in biology lessons)?

I never had my heart set on a particular career. I suppose I wanted to be secure in my work and have a reliable job. My mother was widowed when she was in her late 30s with three small children and had a super reliable, sensible job that she leaned in to and was really successful at. I wanted to be in a similar position should disaster strike.How can people work with you if they want lampshades or cushions?

How do you feel about your tank top. Do you love it?! 

I am OBSESSED. I have two Lily Gray tanks from last year that I wear all the time. They are the most useful items of clothing. Perfect for all seasons, I wear them on repeat underneath jumpers in winter or over a dress on cooler summer evenings. I’ve worn my tanks on the beach, on the farm, to a wedding, over a swimsuit, to the pub, on the school run, to the office, under jumpers, over dresses, instead of a jumper, instead of a coat…. You name it, they’re the most versatile garment. They’re the perfect shape, they hardly ever need to be washed and when I do wash them, they wash really well. No bobbling, incredibly warm – they’re the best.