A few years ago, when I moved from Photo Byline to editor of a bi-monthly magazine, my mother was upset. ‘What have you been doing all this time?’ No words or pictures are credited to me other than the editor’s letter, she asked. I was reminded of that question when one of the House & Garden art team was feeling uncomfortable putting together a particularly large special section that I had the patience to tinker with. several times. ‘If only people realized how much work goes into these pages,’ she lamented. I think obsession (bordering on obsession). House and Gardens The staff clearly shines in the way that projects are so thoughtfully and excitingly documented. Each submission is considered and discussed by several editors—diverse interests keep things interesting—and then the work of planning and execution begins, not to mention what comes after. My point, more succinctly, is that we are passionate and dedicated to performing the best of the best.
With all this in mind, the 2026 House & Garden x Savills project has been taken very seriously indeed. The in-house team and a large judging panel – including (from second left) Savills UK Head of Lettings Amelia Green, contributing editor Sophie Dahl and Savills Private Office Country Director Crispin Holborough – examined the longlist gathered from an open call. Houses across the land, like the one shown here by Peter Joseph (far left) of P Joseph Architects, submitted by homeowners and design professionals, were visited and rated against strict criteria. Narrowing down the properties to the four finalists was challenging – and heatedly debated over the course of a day. By the end, I ranked them as the most talked about houses in England.
