Rebecca Bond

Name: Charlotte Starling, her husband Boris, their children Florence and Linus and rescue greyhounds, Velvet and Dash. Location: Dorset, United Kingdom Size: 4,000 square feet Years lived in: 5 years Driving into the pretty Dorset village of Frampton, I feel as if I have unwittingly gate crashed the set of a Richard Curtis movie.

Name: Caro Ritchie of Corita Rose, her husband Josh and their three children Blue, Tiger and Kit. Location: A village near Shaftsbury; Dorset, UK Size: 2,400 square feet Years lived in: 21 years The Ritchie’s family home in a former-brewery in rural Dorset is a riot of color and pattern. You may remember Caro Ritchie from Corita Rose’s Vibrant and Colorful Studio, where she creates bold and brilliant fabrics under the name Corita Rose.

Name: Abigail Ahern, her husband Graham Scott, Mungo the miniature schnauzer, and Maude the Welsh terrier Location: Dalston; London, UK Size: 2,200 square feet Years lived in: 13 years Imagine if Vermeer and Rousseau got to share a canvas, the Dutchman filling it with his trademark dark interiors, soft light filtering in through a window, and the Frenchman adding lush ferns, copious flowers, birds and animals peeking through the foliage.

Name: Gigi Eligoloff, editor of Gransnet, her husband John and their children Kit and Delphi Location: Barnes; Southwest London, UK Size: 1,000 square feet Years lived in: 1 and half years; owned When the money for Gigi’s kitchen fund was stolen, she didn’t despair. She got straight onto Gumtree (UK’s answer to Craiglist) and tracked down another kitchen at a fraction of the price.

Name: Caro Ritchie of Corita Rose Location: Shaftesbury; Dorset, UK Size: 400 square feet Years in business: 4 years Caro Ritchie’s studio, located in the heart of one of Britain’s most ancient towns, is an explosion of riotous color and bold prints. Stepping inside is a bit like cracking open a piñata and releasing the colorful candies and confetti in its centre.

Name: Stephen Turner Location: The Beaulieu River; Hampshire, UK Size: 6 meters long, 3.6 meters wide Years lived in: 9 months At the head of a creek somewhere in the South of England, a weird and wonderful structure bobs up and down on the tide. It is a giant wooden egg, polished smooth by the wind until it shines like silver. A round window on the top and a hatch on the side are the only clues that this may be something more than an otherworldly sculpture dropped down in a remote salt marsh.

Name: Lesley Greening Lassoff and Pea Crabtree of Aardvark Location: Hastings Old Town, Sussex, UK Size: “It’s one room in an old brewery.” Years worked in: 6 years in business and 3 years in this studio Step inside the wonderfully wonky world of Lesley and Pea, creators of old-style letterpress prints, enthusiastic tea drinkers, and champions of all that is homemade, folksy, imperfect and authentic.

Name: Ekaterina Yaschuk of Meystyle Location: Waterloo; London, UK Size: 750 square feet Years lived in: 5 years; owned Tucked away at the top of a flight of narrow and twisting stairs, over one of the best tapas restaurants in South London, is the glamorous and glossy apartment of the equally lovely Ekaterina, a wallpaper designer with a difference — she makes bespoke papers and fabrics studded with LEDs and crystals. I admit, I was hoping for floor to ceiling shimmering opulence.

Name: Lesley Greening Lassoff of Aardvark, and her two lurchers Ernie Spartacus Crabtree and Peggy Pansy Pearl Location: St Leonards, UK Years lived in: 5 years Lesley is one half of the creative force behind Aardvark, the printmakers who came up with the warm and witty Kill Your TV manifesto. She lives in the seaside town of St Leonards on Britain’s south coast in a converted Victorian Sunday school with her two lurchers Ernie and Peggy.

Name: Hannah and Dave Bullivant and their daughter Frankie-Rose Location: Brockley; London, UK Size: 750 square feet Years lived in: 10 years; rented Hannah and Dave’s south London flat is proof that a little creativity and lateral thinking can turn a down at heel rented property into a cozy family home. The couple moved in ten years ago as students. Since then they’ve embarked on careers as a freelance writer and blogger at Seeds & Stitches (her) and music video director (him).

Name: Philip Oakley, his wife Olivia, and their two cocker spaniels, Joe and Jarvis Location: St Leonards; Sussex, UK Size: 6,000 square feet Years lived in: Owned 4.5 years, lived in 3 years Philip and Olivia’s home is a great hulk of a building painted top to toe in gunmetal grey. From the outside, it looks almost hermetically sealed. The front door blends in to the wall, and most the windows are shuttered.

Name: Charlie Cosby, creative at Farrow & Ball Location: Southbourne; Dorset, UK Size: 860 square feet Years lived in: 3 years I was bursting with curiosity to see Charlie’s house — I tracked her down after falling in love with her incredible flamingo-tiled bathroom on Pinterest. I was even more intrigued when I found out that she is a creative at paint company Farrow & Ball and lives only a short drive away from me.

Name: Sophie Crocket, her partner Scott and kids Casey and Callum Location: Lymington; Hampshire, UK Size: Three-bedroom house Years lived in: 6 years The pink flamingos standing sentry outside the front door give a clue to what lies inside this tiny 1960s red brick cottage tucked away in the English countryside.