Nymans is full of stories and snippets of information. Like the house,  disparate components come together to build a picture of what once was  and no longer is.  I visited Nymans several times, getting a feel  of the place, listening to the stories told by the  staff. I learnt about the Pinetum and the Monkey  Puzzle Tree, and was drawn into the forms and  geometric patterns in the plants. I was intrigued  by the witch’s marks1 at the entrances to the  house, the beautiful panels of embroidered floral  designs produced by the Sewing Group. I learnt  about the Messel-Rosse collection of fans, now in  the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

Many of the stories grew from the family’s love of  plants and I wanted to make something inspired  by these. Light caught my attention; I was aware  of visual layers, being able to look through  to different spaces. I liked the way in which  archways, entrance-ways and empty windows  framed the view to other parts of the house or  the grounds beyond.

The porch in the forecourt garden had a special atmosphere. A place to  shelter, or to meet, it linked the inside of the house to the garden, a bridge  between the two parts of the site that were important to the Messels. The  curves of its arches echo around the gardens in the natural and manmade  structures. A light had once existed but was no longer there. It seemed  appropriate to design a new one for this space, inspired by the curves of  the urn, the patterns and forms of the plants and the shapes of the fans,  making use of components to form a larger whole. At night a light would  make the place feel safer. It offers an opportunity to re-tell some of the  stories of the house and family and for a new tale to begin.