There are homes that boast of wealth and there are homes that whisper a story. The home of Cordelia de Castellane, artistic director of Dior Home and Baby Dior and one of Paris's most esteemed interior designers, is definitely of the second school. Set in the heart of the Oise region, an hour north of Paris, it is her personal and creative refuge - a place where, as she herself says, "nature always has the last word."

Half French, half Greek, a descendant of an aristocratic line tracing back to the Belle Époque, Cordelia began as an intern with Emanuel Ungaro at just 16. But beyond fashion, her real passion is flowers and gardening - the subject of her two books. And it's exactly that which you feel in every corner of this home.

"I tried to keep it as authentic and thoroughly family-oriented as possible," she says of the design process. "I restored a lot of things, but I didn't want to create too much new decor. I was careful to preserve its soul." The result is a home where inherited furniture mixes with finds from antique markets, with fabrics and objects collected over the years.

Flowers are a key element - but not the way you'd expect. "I don't like things that are 'in their place' and too arranged," Cordelia explains. "So besides on the tables, I put them in the hallways, in the bathrooms too. I often pick them that same morning and arrange them with complete freedom, almost as if they had grown there themselves."

Ask her the secret to well-arranged flowers, and the answer is disarmingly simple: seasonal flowers, that's the only thing that matters. And artificial flowers? "Let's avoid them - nature already gives us plenty." The same philosophy of honesty and imperfection runs through the entire space.

The garden is the heart of the home - "with a French side, clean and symmetrical, and a very English side, with a cheerful mess that's well organized." The Oise region, she says, is beautiful, with small hills, valleys, and incredible forests; not far off are the Chantilly château and the historic town of Senlis. She comes here almost every weekend to switch off from Paris.

And when she has guests - which she does often - the most important thing is for people to feel good. "To be family-like and natural. I don't like receiving guests in a stiff or formal way, that's not me. Only people who matter to me enter this house." The menu that never disappoints is her eggplant cake, served on large tables, sometimes in the middle of the garden.

In the end, asked whether her work at Dior influences the way she designs her home, the answer reveals the real hierarchy. "Maybe it's the other way around. This house influences my work at Dior. The garden is my laboratory, because I have the same love of flowers that Mr. Dior had." Luxury, it turns out, isn't in the price of the objects - it's in the story they carry.