Desig House: Inside the home of the Last Mitford

In March 2016 Sotheby's sold the personal collection of Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire. In honour of Chatsworth's new exhibition 'House Style', an exhibition exploring five centuries of fashion and adornment at Chatsworth, we revist our tour of her home in the grounds

The youngest of the Mitford sisters, she was a beauty - elegant, down to earth, English to her very core and mad for all things poultry. Her beloved hens are a motif to be found throughout the sale, an astounding 40 lots are poultry-related.

She once hosted Oscar de la Renta at Chatsworth and presented her hens and their chicks nesting in glass boxes as the table centrepieces. After 54 years as chatelaine of Chatsworth she moved to the Old Vicarage at Edensor and the pieces she took with her were deeply personal, her style and passions condensed into this collection of belongings.

'Debo', as she was known to friends and family, delighted in downsizing, writing in Wait For Me!, her autobiography, "For me it is an unheard-of pleasure for the kitchen to be just two steps away and for it to be two steps the other way into the garden". Her interiors had a typical Mitford wit and style, a playful irreverence. She mixed Meissen porcelain and fine furniture with cardboard cut-outs of Elvis - she was a huge fan.