“I came here to Suffolk for a holiday when my children Miriam and Edward were young and we stayed in a pretty little cottage for a week. All the time I was daydreaming about having a cottage here, a traditional old cosy one. The house I bought was designed in the 1960s by Rudy Mock – it came up for sale later, at a time when I was becoming interested in mid-century design. I bought it as a second home, when Miriam and Edward were off my hands about eight years ago, from a schools inspector from Croydon. She had good taste in furniture but it had bright blue ceilings and geriatric handles everywhere. My son Edward said ‘you should hang on to those Mum’.

Having a picnic up here on the coast is much more meaningful to me for my last meal than a restaurant or something. I always come here for a decent walk and a picnic. I’m good at making tasty picnics from the leftovers of the previous night’s supper. I’m not really one for a sandwich. I take lunch to work in London as well, I’d hate to buy food every day that someone else has made. I’m not one of those people who won’t cook just because it’s for one, living alone. I cook a proper meal and enjoy having a glass of wine with it. For this picnic, I’d poach the locally caught kipper in water with a bay leaf for about five minutes. They’ve a very strong taste, kippers. That’s why they’re nice with just lemon and bread and butter. I like the simplicity of it.

We do most of our business in Japan. I’ve always presumed it’s because of the quality of the clothes and the Englishness. The team of people there come over twice a year and our design team go there twice a year. It’s through going to Japan so often that I’ve learnt to appreciate the simplicity of food. They’ll serve just one vegetable ­incredibly well and they still respect seasonal and fresh food.

I have a small-ish house in London, and a small-ish house here. I come up here from London when I have gaps really. I think that when one is away from one’s normal workspace you empty your head of all the everyday things you’re doing and you get ideas. I do see myself as a country person ultimately.

I was brought up in Surrey and moved to London when I was 19 to study fine art at Goldsmiths. I thought I’d never like London then. I lived with an eccentric old painter-landlord who liked having art students around. When my husband and I split up towards the end of the 1980s I moved to Lewisham [an area in south London]. I have more friends up here than I do in London now, for parties and things. We have nice get-togethers. At the moment I don’t feel ready to leave London completely. I don’t type and I can’t do emails at work. If I was computer literate, I’d be more likely to be based here.

I find walks quite cleansing – I walk every day, even in London from Charing Cross station to the office at the Wigmore Street shop. On my walks up here, you see all the tankers coming in from China going to Felixstowe, they’re all sorts of shapes and sizes on the horizon. At night the sea is alight, there’s another world out there waiting to go into dock.

I like to have a swim up here before breakfast. I did last year right up until the end of October, though I do get numb fingers. It’s very wild, there are tremendous waves but there’s something so nice about battling against it and then finding a nice spot to take shelter for a picnic. When you’re really hungry, when you’ve been walking or swimming, that’s when you appreciate the simple things.”