For most of my life I’ve been a staunch supporter and probably even an honorary member of the Beige is Bland club. But having just swapped a Victorian terrace in the city for a Georgian country house, the style I loved in our East London life doesn’t necessarily translate in an historic home with roughhewn oak beams and ombre sunsets in giant Suffolk skies.

My old go-to neutral, a soft pure white, feels a little too clean for muddy boots and gravel drives. So I’ve been pondering ways to nail these earthier neutral schemes without a result that’s too safe or soulless.