EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS
DONNA IDA THORNTON
OPENING THE DOORS TO DEVON’S MAGNIFICENT LANGDON COURT
THE ‘JEAN QUEEN’ AND HUSBAND ROBERT WALTON ON LIVING THEIR ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE DREAM
Donna and Robert pose outside their grade II-listed Jacobean manor house in South Devon, which they renovated after buying the property in 2021
DONNA’S SKIRT: MAX MARA. SHIRT: ME+EM. SHOES: SAINT LAURENT. ROBERT’S SUIT & SHIRT: SIMON DOWLING. SHOES: DUKE & DEXTER.
DONNA’S DRESS: DONNA IDA. BOOTS: HUNTER. ROBERT’S JUMPER & SHIRT: POLO RALPH LAUREN. JEANS: DONNA IDA. BOOTS: HUNTER. (BOTTOM RIGHT) SUIT: SIMON DOWLING.
‘Everything leading up to turning 50 was my training ground. I’m armed and dangerous now, and I feel amazing’
Donna
Hands-on homeowners Donna and Robert live alongside a menagerie of animals, including free-range chickens (left) that produce their eggs in the property’s ten-acre grounds
When Donna Ida Thornton celebrated her half-century last year, it marked a turning point in her life.
“Everything leading up to this was my training ground, and now I’m executing everything I learnt in the first 50 years,” the Australian fashion designer tells HELLO! as she and her husband Robert Walton open the doors to their magnificent 16th-century manor house in Devon.
“I’m armed and dangerous now, and I feel amazing,” adds the businesswoman, now 51, whose denim empire Donna Ida has earnt her the nickname “Jean Queen” and a celebrity fanbase including Amanda Holden, Jodie Kidd, Anthea Turner and Millie Mackintosh.
Part of Donna’s new chapter in life is living out her dream of setting up home in the English countryside at Langdon Court.
With her creative flair and Robert’s status as the godfather of hospitality, counting top chefs Raymond Blanc and Heston Blumenthal among his inner circle, the couple had all bases covered when it came to overseeing a multimillion-pound restoration of the beautiful grade II-listed Jacobean manor house they bought in 2021.