Exotic taste

A passion for the unconventional is reflected in almost every aspect of this bucolic Tudor home, from its strong colour combinations and surrealist art, to natural history collections from around the world

FEATURE AMANDA HARLING

Set within its own delightful walled garden, the 16th-century farmhouse, dominated by its tall brick-built chimney stack, is sheltered from the outside world by a screen of trees and agricultural buildings. Viktor and Hannah are the first owners to actually live in the rambling six-bedroomed property, which previously housed generations of tenant farmers. The exterior is painted in a delicate shade of traditional Suffolk pink.

Collectors come in many guises. Some are drawn to art, others books, or maybe jewellery or coins, stamps or ceramics… The direction taken by Viktor Wynd defies definition. He maintains that he collects whatever he finds interesting. ‘I grew up in a small flat in London’s Muswell Hill and collecting always played a big part in my childhood. But whilst most children lose interest in whatever their passion is, I’ve never lost that urge to acquire more.’ The Suffolk home he shares with his wife, Hannah, their three small daughters and Hannah’s teenage son, is filled with examples of his wide-ranging interests that oscillate between the macabre, the scientific, and the natural world. He is never more delighted than when the three are combined, as with the two-headed lamb, preserved in formaldehyde.

Viktor Wynd and his wife Hannah, seated in the dining room on the 17th-century oak bench they acquired in a Sworders auction. ‘We particularly liked the seat cushion made from a bright Caucasian rug, which came with it,’ says Viktor; PHOTOGRAPHS ANDREAS VON EINSIEDEL
although the Tudor farmhouse, which is thought to date from the early part of the 16th century, has undergone few alterations, the front door was moved to its present position during the 19th century when the vaulted ceiling was installed, creating the entrance hall. Walls painted in Oxford Blue by Dulux Heritage are hung with photographs by Cecil Beaton and drawings by Stephen Tennant. On the left-hand side of the arch is a trio of prints by Viktor, and on the right from top, prints by John Buckland Wright, Kurt Seligmann and Leonora Carrington.

That particular treasure is one of hundreds of exhibits to be seen in his eponymous subterranean Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art and UnNatural History in London’s Mare Street. The couple’s country home couldn’t be more different from the urban setting of the museum. Shielded from view down a leafy country lane, the spacious 16thcentury Tudor hall house had been mouldering away for decades when the couple first saw it, six years ago. ‘Conditions were somewhat primitive,’ Viktor recalls. ‘The building had been occupied by generations of tenant farmers, and little had been done in the way of maintenance for years.’

However, with good-sized rooms downstairs, half a dozen bedrooms on the floors above and an idyllic setting overlooking fields and woods, it was an irresistible proposition. Once some of the more urgent maintenance issues had been taken care of, the house became a feast for the visual senses, filled with colour and Viktor’s collection of art and craft, and discoveries from his travels.

In the pale-pink sitting room, prints and paintings were hung with elegant precision by Matt Humphrey, who organised the picture hanging throughout the house. A Moroccan kelim adds a decorative accent to a contemporary Knole-inspired Heal’s sofa bought on eBay. The Mexican embroidered cushion was bought by Hannah at Milagros. A cabinet of curiosities is flanked on the left-hand side by a painting by Scottish artist and writer, Alasdair Gray. On the right is a Graham Sutherland lithograph;
a giant tortoise, native to the islands of the Indian Ocean, is observed by lurcher Bathsheba, seen relaxing on the chair;
shells gathered on Viktor’s far-flung travels to Benin and elsewhere are displayed on the shelves of the glazed-front corner cupboard.

Learning more about art, wildlife and culture in the most remote parts of the globe has always been a fascination of Viktor’s. Gone with the Wynd, his travel company, specialises in taking small groups of intrepid travellers to remote destinations such as the hinterland of Papua New Guinea. This year there will also be expeditions into the Benin jungle and, later, he’ll be exploring the nature reserves of Madagascar. ‘The island is larger than France, with terrain ranging from jungle to desert and everything in between; there are many species of flora and fauna which are unique to Madagascar, so it will be interesting.’

Back home, the hippo skull that greets visitors in the hallway, the turtle shell on the floor in the sitting room, the skeleton of a cassowary standing in a bedroom fireplace and that of a macaw on a window sill, point to his taste for the exotic. Viktor points out that he is not a trophy hunter – those pieces date from the Victorian era, when Darwin’s voyage on HMS Beagle and the publication of his work, On the Origin of Species, led to growing interest in natural history and vast numbers of fish, birds and mammals being stuffed, or their skeletons being preserved.

The Anglo-Indian four-poster bed, a find at TW Gaze Auctions in Diss, exploits the lofty height of the beamed main bedroom that is open to the rafters. The bentwood rocker came from Hannah’s childhood home, while the embroidered Mexican bedcover was sourced at Milagros.

Hannah chose pale pink for the walls of her eldest daughter’s bedroom, with a patchwork quilt, rugs, art and painted furniture adding flourishes of stronger colour.

Along with those items associated with the world of nature, Viktor has assembled a highly individual collection of work by 20th-century artists, including Modern British artists Mervyn Peake, Stephen Tennant and Austin Osman Spare, and surrealists Grace Pailthorpe, Leonora Carrington, Reuben Mednikoff and Ithell Colquhoun. ‘The macabre and the occult have always been of interest to me. Death plays a big part in life, after all,’ he muses, adding with a smile, ‘and the occult means secret, so one doesn’t talk about it.’ Quite so.

When it came to decorating the house, Hannah says that its Tudor origins had little influence over her choice of colours. ‘I enjoy what could be described as ‘library’ colours – billiard room greens, Venetian reds and cadmium yellows – which are more redolent of the Georgian era than Tudor. I’m also influenced by strong pairings of colours, such as pink and orange, often seen in Indian textiles. So, rather than try to impose a Tudor look, my thinking was to paint key areas in strong, deep colours, creating an interesting contrast when the doors are open from one room to another.’ In Tudor times, the walls and beams would have been limewashed in natural pigments: ‘That is something I may do in the future, in some of the rooms,’ adds Hannah.

The doorway to the lobby. On the wall, to the right of the door, are a framed poster and works by Grace Pailthorpe and Ithell Colquhoun.
In the lobby between kitchen and sitting room, playful articulated bunnies share the cocktail-corner shelf space with bottles and decanters. The walls are painted in Charlotte’s Locks by Farrow & Ball –a vivid shade of orange;
Hannah’s choice of strongly contrasting rosy-pink walls and cornflower-blue woodwork gives the kitchen a vintage country look and forms the backdrop for layers of art and objects;
the balanced hang of the prints and plates give a sense of order to the mix of items on display, including pots, pans, stuffed fish and an aquarium of colourful tropical species. Little was retained from the old kitchen, apart from the Aga, which was kept for use during the winter –a custom-made wooden work surface covers the top during the summer.

The kitchen underwent a refit, although the existing Aga was retained, with a wooden work surface covering the top during the warmer months, when a conventional oven is used. While some items, such as the dining table and chairs and the richly coloured Oriental rugs in the sitting room and hallway, came from Hannah’s childhood home, much of the furniture has been acquired in local auctions. It’s a collection that has grown by accident over the years. ‘Occasionally, in order to finance something I really want for here or the museum, I’ve been tempted into selling, but I’ve never wanted to be a dealer,’ says Viktor. ‘I’m more of a collector really.’ The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art and UnNatural History & Cocktail Bar, 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP. thelasttuesdaysociety.org

‘Collecting always played a big part in my childhood. But whilst most children lose interest in their passion, I’ve never lost that urge to acquire more’

The skeleton of a cassowary from New Guinea makes an unusual focal point, displayed in front of the 16th-century stone fireplace in the yellow guest room;
the existing pale-blue wall colour was retained in the twins’ bedroom, where patchwork quilts, a pair of classic iron beds and rows of books add to the country charm;
against walls painted in Farrow & Ball’s Dayroom Yellow, the beamed guest bedroom is furnished with vintage finds, from a 19th-century chest of drawers to a 1950s black metal mirror;
paintings, including a portrait by Maeve Gilmore of her husband Mervyn Peake holding their baby son, hang on the Jacobean staircase, where the original spindles and newel post survive. The colourful wall hanging to the right is a lap-lap, from New Guinea.

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