National Trust - The Children’s Country House at Sudbury - Talbot Room World Map Carpet

In October 2022, Sudbury Hall re-opened as the National Trust’s first property design for children. I was commissioned to illustrate a world map carpet for the Talbot Room, a library where children can discover how objects, ideas, and information from around the world (often in the form of books) informed the styles and imagery used in country houses over the centuries.

Depicting a full map of the world, the carpet allows children to plan and imagine their own global travel (complete with six wooden ships for children to move around the carpet ‘sea’, planning their own travels reflecting 17th, 18th and 19th century designs.

I used imagery inspired by myths and old world maps, interwoven with illustrations of objects and paintings which can be found at Sudbury Hall, and plants, trees, animals, ships and all sorts of things that have been traded over the centuries.

The world map carpet measures 5.1 x 3.6m in total and is the largest scale complete illustration I have ever produced!