Country & Town House - Nov-Dec 2022 by Country & Town House Magazine

A LIFE IN BALANCE

CANDY CRUSH Dafne Keen is oh so sweet and serious

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CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS

NOV/DEC 2022 £4.95

THE QUEEN

An icon like no other

NINE LIVES

How Bellingcat is uncovering Putin’s crimes

GOOD NEWS!

Yes, there’s more to life than doomscrolling Cover-V6-PB.indd 2

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Discover the HIGH JEWELRY COLLECTION

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LONDON, 171 NEW BOND STREET 0207 907 8800 LONDON, FINE JEWELLERY ROOM HARRODS 0207 907 8899 HARRYWINSTON.COM

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BREITLING BOUTIQUE BATTERSEA

LONDON

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Erling Haaland Pro footballer, member of the all-star squad

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Contents

NOV DEC 2022

COLUMNS 34 36 216

THE GOOD LIFE Alice B-B arms herself at London’s latest members’ club THE RURBANIST Elle Macpherson LAST WORD The spirit of adventure with Michael Hayman

STYLE 41 42 50 52 54

YOUR MOVE Make Chanel your party plus one THE EDIT Style updates TREND Mariella Tandy dresses to impress THE MAGPIE Jewellery news WELL GROOMED Men’s style

HEALTH & WELLBEING 57 58

60 64 66 68

SLOW DOWN It’s time to hibernate BODY LANGUAGE Olivia Falcon prefers sun to snow – but loves cosy stateside resorts BODY & SOUL Get creative THE SCOOP Natural – and unnatural – beauty TAKE TEN Festive fixes BEAUTY BUZZ What’s up in beautyville?

CULTURE 71 72 80 82 84 86 88

90 92

SWEET DREAMS The return of Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty CULTURAL CALENDAR What to see, read and do STOCKING THRILLERS Richard Hopton selects his books of the year THE EXHIBITIONIST Ed Vaizey celebrates Cézanne at Tate Modern ARTIST’S STUDIO Artist duo Arthur and Erica Timothy LITTLE GREEN BOOK Tackling poachers with Rachel McRobb THE CONSERVATIONIST Should you switch jobs for the planet? asks James Wallace ROAD TEST The new Maserati is a relic from the past – but it’s super cool SCARFES BAR The ‘accidental’ Duchess of Rutland opens up to Charlotte Metcalf

FEATURES 94

103

MATERIALS GIRL His Dark Materials’ star Dafne Keen talks growing up – and smooching on screen IN BETTER NEWS... It’s not all doom and gloom out there

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F A M I L Y

S T O R Y

Yasmin and Amber Le Bon wear ASHOKA

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Contents

NOV DEC 2022

FEATURES cont...

106 CAT & MOUSE Lucy Cleland meets Bellingcat’s Eliot Higgins, the cyber-sleuther who’s tracking down Putin’s crimes 110 A VERY DIFFERENT BALL GAME Rosalyn Wikeley heads to Monaco to discover the appeal of modern-day balls 115 THE QUEEN Lucia Van Der Post reflects on how much change Queen Elizabeth II witnessed throughout her reign 119 GREEN GREEN GRASSE Jan Masters loses her senses in the home of scent-making 123 ALL THEY WANT FOR CHRISTMAS The gift guide that keeps on giving

INTERIORS 147 148 150 152 154

TAKE A SEAT Graham & Green’s cosy AW22 collection DESIGN NOTES Interiors news FOCUS Bathrooms THE ECO ENTHUSIAST Harriet Pringle on tablescaping for Christmas CASE STUDY Matilde Mourinho’s pad

ON PISTE 157

What’s cold and white and gives us a buzz like no other? The ski slopes, of course. Discover the C&TH guide to skiing this winter, edited by Felix Milns

HOTELS & TRAVEL 180

182 188 193

THESE ENCHANTED ISLANDS Lauren Ho traces the steps of Darwin himself in the Galápagos THE ESCAPIST The latest travel news HOOFING IT Nigel Tisdall discovers why HNWs hotfoot it to St Moritz THE HIGH LIFE Back in the Big Apple

FOOD & DRINK SPICE IT UP Vivek Singh’s garam masala Christmas pudding 200 GASTRO GOSSIP Foodie news 197

PROPERTY ON THE COVER Dafne Keen wears dress and chain mail top, Encommùn; boots, Jimmy Choo

TEAM Fashion director: Nicole Smallwood; Photographer: Rachell Smith; Make-up: Sara Hill @ The Wall Group using Dior Capture Totale Super Potent Serum and Dior Forever Foundation; Hair: Narad Kutowaroo @ Carol Hayes Management using Unite Hair; Digital cover: Tracer Ital @ Adrenaline Photographic

203 PROPERTY OF THE MONTH A manor house that comes with its own castle 204 LET’S MOVE TO... A hometel 208 FIVE OF THE BEST Party palaces

REGULARS 20 EDITOR’S LETTER 26 CONTRIBUTORS 202 STOCKISTS

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investigators completely focused on finding out what is really happening in countries such as Russia, wading through the tide of misinformation, and finding evidence through social media clips and geolocation that proves or disproves the official narrative. He is a hero of our times (p106). Have you noticed how Schiaparelli pink is the colour du jour? We might blame Barbie but it was Elsa who first made it fabulous. And who doesn’t love shocking pink anyway? My hallway is plastered in it. Plus, it makes a brilliant backdrop to our shoot with Dafne Keen, the girl who’s growing up in front of our very eyes as Lyra in the TV adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, which is back for a final season this December. Given her litany of talents, including clothes-making, street photography, and writing, this is one serious young woman to keep your eye on (p94). Did you ever go to the Feathers Ball as a teenager? It was the night when many of my friends had their first kiss with some spotty youth or other. Of course, the aim of the traditional ball was to introduce eligible young women into society – and thence to snag a husband. Thankfully, this tradition has been swept away, so what is the point of the ball nowadays? Rosalyn Wikeley heads to Monaco (where else?) to find out (p110). Our beloved monarch, the late Queen Elizabeth II, would have witnessed umpteen other traditions change and fade throughout her long reign. Editor, author and journalist Lucia van der Post, who shared most of those decades with her, reflects for C&TH that it’s generally all much for the better (p115). As this is our last issue of the year, we wanted to subvert the usual tradition of doing a mainstream news round-up – I mean, I can’t honestly think of another more tumultuous year (except perhaps 2020), what with Ukraine, the death of the Queen, the acceleration of the climate crisis, and the catfighting of the Tory Party, as your starter for ten. No, we know that beneath the screaming headlines there is so much good stuff going on out there, so on page 103, we invite you to delight in some stories from around the world that will actually make you happy. And we’ve decided henceforth to do this every issue too. Our Christmas present to you.

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Editor’s LETTER

here are people in life who just grab your attention – and for the right reasons. For me, one of them is Eliot Higgins, founder of the most remarkable – well, it’s hard to describe them really – global group of internet sleuths? Factcheckers extraordinaire? Accountability bandits? Whatever they are, they work under the name of Bellingcat, and they work in the name of truth and justice. They are a new breed of open-source

EDITOR’S PICKS LISTEN Christmas crooning comes courtesy of Live at the Bon Soir, Barbra Streisand’s intended 1962 debut album and just released – 60 years later

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GIFT Who could refuse a bit of dazzling Dior under the Christmas tree?

SNUGGLE With the thermostat still set to low, Olivia von Halle’s fluffy slippers will see me through the chilly evenings

A HAPPIER 2023 I feel bruised and battered after this year, so here’s to a bit of peace and harmony for one and all

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A S P R E Y. C O M

THE COSMIC COLLECTION

3 6 B R U T O N S T R E E T , M AY F A I R , W 1 J 6 Q X

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To g e t

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Friend t s

B Ho oke

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CON T R I BU TOR S

Hoofing It, p188

The Queen, p115

NIGEL TISDALL

LUCIA VAN DER POST

Your ideal Christmas? The nine-course festive julbord at the Grand Hôtel Stockholm. A formidable feast featuring poached salmon, baked ham, smoked venison, spiced cabbage and aquavit flavoured with fennel, caraway and sherry. All you want for Christmas is... A berth on the world’s longest river cruise, just launched, which spends 51 days sailing India’s Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers on a 18 suite luxury riverboat. Highlight of 2022? The reopening of Antwerp’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts after 11 years of restoration. Packed full with Flemish masterpieces, it’s easily reached on Eurostar. What are you looking forward to in 2023? BA starts flights from Gatwick to Guyana on 27 March. The only Englishspeaking country in South America offers terrific rainforest adventures, the world’s largest water lilies and excellent rum.

Your ideal Christmas? A rather glam party for friends plus children on Christmas Eve, a brisk walk on Christmas morning, smoked salmon and champagne at about midday while opening the presents round a proper fire – and then turkey and the trimmings with the family. All you want for Christmas is.. My family (truly) and perhaps some of my favourite scent – Frederic Malle’s Le Parfum de Thérèse devised by Edouard Roudnitska for his wife. Or Guerlain’s l’Heure Bleu, which seems not to have deviated as much from the original as some of the others have. Highlight of 2022? A family holiday in a charming villa in Tuscany. What are you looking forward to in 2023? Another great holiday with as many of our grandsons and their gorgeous girlfriends as possible.

White Out ski special, p157

The High Life, p193

FELIX MILNS

LUKE ABRAHAMS

Your ideal Christmas? Intimate, innocent and magical, seen through my children’s eyes. My wife’s Singapore heritage means we have roast hoisin duck with our turkey. All you want for Christmas is... A cold and snowy December to kickstart the ski season and, if Santa is listening, a max global temp rise of two degrees... Highlight of 2022? We drove down the California coastline along Route 101, one of the most scenic roads in the world, including a stretch in a vintage Fifties Cadillac. The lauded hikes through the national parks around Big Sur were incredible, but so too was horse riding through the vineyards of Slo-Cal, the under-the-radar region of San Luis Obispo. What are you looking forward to in 2023? Booking flights in the expectation, rather than the hope, that they won’t be cancelled.

Your ideal Christmas? Me hunched up on the sofa by the fire reading a book with the dog on my lap... Idealistic but true. All you want for Christmas is... In all honesty, to see the people I care about most have a smile on their faces. It’s been a rough few years for us all so I think we are all in need of something that bring a dose of positivity. Highlight of 2022? Learning to surf down in the Algarve in Portugal. I was terrible, and the board hammered in my face but it was a great experience nonetheless... And one I will not forget in a hurry as it was the first time I swam in the ocean in about 16 years! What are you looking forward to in 2023? Adventures that lead me out of my comfort zone, challenge me and really push my body and mind to the limits. Maybe I will jump out of a plane? Just for the thrills.

WA N T T O K NOW W H AT ’ S ON ? Get the C&TH editor’s edit and our weekly guide to What’s On — and you’ll never say you have nothing to do. Sign up at countryandtownhouse.com/newsletter countryandtown

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LUCY CLELAND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR EDITOR-AT-LARGE ALICE B-B ASSOCIATE EDITOR CHARLOTTE METCALF MANAGING EDITOR AMY WAKEHAM SUB EDITOR & FEATURES ASSISTANT TESSA DUNTHORNE SUB EDITORS KATIE BAMBER & RUBY FEATHERSTONE FASHION DIRECTOR NICOLE SMALLWOOD BEAUTY DIRECTOR NATHALIE ELENI INTERIORS DIRECTOR CAROLE ANNETT CULTURE EDITOR ED VAIZEY EXECUTIVE RETAIL EDITOR MARIELLA TANDY SUSTAINABILITY EDITOR LISA GRAINGER PROPERTY EDITOR ANNA TYZACK MOTORING EDITOR JEREMY TAYLOR ONLINE CONTENT DIRECTOR REBECCA COX JUNIOR ONLINE EDITOR ELLIE SMITH ONLINE WRITERS CHARLIE COLVILLE, OLIVIA EMILY, CHARLOTTE RICKARDS ONLINE ASSISTANT NAOMI GRANT SOCIAL MEDIA EXECUTIVE ZOEY PHOON CREATIVE & PRODUCTION DIRECTOR PARM BHAMRA PRODUCTION DESIGNER MIA BIAGIONI FILMMAKER TRACER ITAL ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER ELLIE RIX HEAD OF FASHION EMMA MARSH ACCOUNT DIRECTORS PANDORA LEWIS, SERENA KNIGHT ACCOUNT MANAGER SABRINA RAVEN DIGITAL MANAGER ADAM DEAN BRAND PARTNERSHIPS MANAGER CHRIS HOLT SALES SUPPORT & OFFICE MANAGER XA RODGER TECHNICAL DIRECTOR MARK PEARSON FINANCE DIRECTOR S JILL NEWEY & EMILY O’MALLEY FINANCE CONTROLLER LAUREN HARTLEY FINANCE ADMINISTRATOR RIA HARRISON HUMAN RESOURCES CONSULTANT ZOE JONES PROPERTY & MARKETING ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AND B CORP PROJECT MANAGER GEMMA COWLEY CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER TIA GRAHAM CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER JAMES THROWER MANAGING DIRECTOR JEREMY ISAAC CONTRIBUTING EDITORS STEPHEN BAYLEY, FIONA DUNCAN, OLIVIA FALCON, DAISY FINER, LYDIA GARD, AVRIL GROOM, MICHAEL HAYMAN, LAUREN HO, RICHARD HOPTON, EMMA LOVE, MARY LUSSIANA, ANNA PASTERNAK, CAROLINE PHILLIPS, HOLLY RUBENSTEIN, MARCUS SCRIVEN THE EDITOR editorial@countryandtownhouse.co.uk FASHION fashion@countryandtownhouse.co.uk ADVERTISING advertising@countryandtownhouse.co.uk

PROPERTY ADVERTISING property@countryandtownhouse.co.uk ACCOUNTS accounts@countryandtownhouse.co.uk SUBSCRIPTIONS subscribe@countryandtownhouse.co.uk

COUNTRY & TOWN HOUSE is a bi-monthly magazine distributed to AB homes in Barnes, Battersea, Bayswater, Belgravia, Brook Green, Chelsea, Chiswick, Clapham, Coombe, Fulham, Holland Park, Kensington, Knightsbridge, Marylebone, Mayfair, Notting Hill, Pimlico, South Kensington, Wandsworth and Wimbledon, as well as being available from leading country and London estate agents. It is also on sale at selected WHSmith, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s stores and independent newsagents nationwide. It has an estimated readership of 150,000. It is available on subscription in the UK for £29.99 per annum. To subscribe online, iPad, iPhone and android all for only £24.99 visit: exacteditions.com/read/countrytownhouse. For subscription enquiries, please call 020 7384 9011 or email subscribe@countryandtownhouse.co.uk. It is published by Country & Town House Ltd, Studio 2, Chelsea Gate Studios, 115 Harwood Road, London SW6 4QL (tel: 020 7384 9011). Registered number 576850 England and Wales. Printed in the UK by William Gibbons and Sons Ltd, West Midlands. Paper supplied by Gerald Judd. Distribution by Letterbox. Copyright © 2022 Country & Town House Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. Materials are accepted on the understanding that no liability is incurred for safe custody. The publisher cannot be responsible for unsolicited material. All prices are correct at the time of going to press but are subject to change. While every care is taken to ensure information is correct at time of going to press, it is subject to change, and C&TH Ltd. takes no responsibility for omissions or errors.

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COLUMN

The GOOD LIFE

Alice B-B find blades of glory at London’s latest must-visit members’ club En garde: 180 Health Club offers a raft of new classes to try

HE THRILL… of a new space with a fresh vision. This was the feeling as I stepped into 180 Health Club on The Strand, part of a buzzing new work and play space (Soho House is on the top two floors). No boring, sweaty gym or warren of treatment rooms; instead vast spaces that morph into training or breathwork areas set in front of screens filled with ‘someone’s taken mushrooms’ visuals. In charge of collating London’s best, most exciting trainers and practitioners is super-styler and talent-junkie Alex Eagle. Under her watch you can box with ace trainer Pete Liggins (BoxCleverSports), take Yamuna Rolling classes (somehow makes your limbs longer and leaner) or have an IV infusion courtesy of Koniver Wellness. There’s also cryotherapy, infrared sauna, lymphatic drainage… you can even take gardening courses. Or learn to fence. With an epee – not actually knocking up a fence. Though I’m sure that can be arranged, too (180thestrand.com/180-health-club). HAVE I GOT MY TASTE AND SMELL BACK? This was my postCovid excuse to try the rush of new restaurants. First up: Koyn in Mayfair, sister to my favourite Michelin-starred Indian, Jamavar. The Japanese restaurant is split over two floors; bright and perky upstairs, dark and sexy downstairs. My table was upstairs (how I miss those downstairs days). But that was the only downside. Standout dishes include Chilean sea bass with a shiso salsa verde, hay smoked lobster and yellowtail sashimi with truffle soy – I will go back to Koyn for this alone (koynrestaurants.com). Then I took a seat on the green leather banquette at Dorian – from the team behind Notting Hill Fish Shop and Supermarket of Dreams. I scarfed possibly the most perfect fig leaf negroni and scoffed a melting sirloin and crab rosti. Fair to say that all my senses are back in working order – much to the chagrin of my Nili Lotan trouser waistband (dorianrestaurant.com). FANCY A WAVE? ‘Go on then,’ I’d reply. And for years, I’d leave the hair salon, catch myself in a shop window and wonder why someone’s auntie was staring at me. Then everything changed; I got an appointment with hair god Josh Wood (Tilda Swinton, Elle Macpherson etc…), who not only swapped my naff Chelsea highlights for cool girl dirty blonde, but whose stylists finally gave me a blow dry to shout about. So hurray for Josh fans – he’s been given his own mini salon in the spanking new spa at Claridge’s. Visiting dignitaries, Hollywood royalty and Mayfair denizens in need of a fresh barnet now have access to the Wood wizardry (claridges.co.uk). 

THIS MONTH I’LL BE...

HOPING for racy pants in my stocking (nounou.co.uk). SALIVATING over this 18ct gold and rainbow jewel necklace (£15,230, robinsonpelham.com). BREEZING through jet-lag, club-lag or simply life-lag with new sleep aid that induces a state of snooziness similar to that of a just-fed baby (£34.99, leapfrogremedies.com).

ILLUSTRATION BY MEI MEI, @MEIMEI_2503

‘No BORING, sweaty gym or warren of treatment rooms; instead VAST spaces that morph into training or BREATHWORK areas’

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INTERVIEW

The RURBANIST

Elle Macpherson on playing Elvis, building a business and too much Aussie sun

What’s bugging you most right now? Seeing our beautiful

world awash with fear and uncertainty. Whose mind do you wish you could change? I’ve learned

FROM TOP: Nicknamed ‘The Body’, Elle Macpherson started modelling in 1982; she’s a fan of Farmacy in Notting Hill when in London

it’s vital not to try and change anyone’s mind, but I do wish there was a wider appreciation of individual uniqueness and our relationship to nature. What do you wish your parents had told you? First of all, I’m thankful I had the opportunity to learn my own way as my parents didn’t put any expectations on me. Maybe I wish I’d known that kids don’t come with a handbook. What keeps you awake at night? Nothing. I sleep with a grateful heart knowing my body is healing – and I always look forward to the next day. What could you have been arrested for? My sense of humour at times. Best life hack? Learning the art of stillness, listening to your inner sense and a big dose of WelleCo’s The Super Elixir. One tip to save the world? I don’t think it needs saving but it could benefit from some changes – like aligning mind and body with the soul, and enjoying more connectedness with each other and our earth. The pet you most loved… Was our beloved labradoodle Bella, who was a huge part of our family when the boys were growing up. She was very loved, and even had her own modelling contract at one time. The book you wished you’d written? My own and so I am. The film you wished you’d starred in? Elvis. I recently watched Baz Luhrmann’s film and I loved it. You can call me Elle-vis! I’d love to play him. Who would play you in a biopic? Someone who could withstand portraying a 40-year career with grace and a sense of humour. Your greatest failure? There are no failures. I prefer to learn from my experiences, so I treasure both the ups and the downs. Having said that – it could be said my skin has paid a toll for too much Aussie sun. Your greatest triumph? My career highlight is the present. It’s the now. Working with WelleCo. Building a business where the purpose is greater than ourselves; helping people discover and embrace the real unique beauty within themselves. Your epitaph would read... ‘She loved to love and be loved’ and ‘she discovered beauty is soul deep’. Can you have two? For more information about WelleCo, visit welleco.co.uk 

SCENT I’ve always loved men’s cologne and have worn Vétiver by Guerlain for decades. SONG Morning Elvis by Florence and the Machine. RESTAURANT Farmacy in London. HOLIDAY Slopes for days! Carving lines down the mountain for me is a form of deep meditation.

PHOTOS: UNSPLASH

ELLE LOVES

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THG PARIS SHOWROOM

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Chiltern Slate Suede

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MADE IN ENGLAND | SINCE 1879

One of our oldest and best-selling icons Now available in five different suede colours. Chiltern is the perfect smart casual Chukka boot.

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STYLE Edited by Mariella Tandy

Your MOVE Chanel for Christmas? Don’t mind if we do

Virginie Viard’s epic creations for Chanel are the ideal companion for any time of year but especially during the party season. Ring in the festivities in the fashion house’s timeless tweed creations. chanel.com

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STYLE | Shopping

The

EDIT Mariella Tandy on the style news to know this season

TRIO OF BEAUTY

Three cleansers to treat your skin during party season

In need of a party dress? Borgo De Nor’s first ever party collection ticks a lot of our boxes, with crystals, metallics and fun feather embellishment. Dress, £695. borgodenor.com

WINTER WARMERS

Timeless winter style gets a unique fashion twist with the new Jigsaw x Collagerie capsule collection. Created through a collaboration between Collagerie’s Lucinda Chambers and Jigsaw’s Creative Director, Jo Sykes, the range’s standout pieces include a shearling-trimmed duffle coat and a brightly striped jumper dress. From £50. collagerie.com; jigsaw-online.com

1 Shani Darden Lactic Acid Exfoliating Serum £80. cultbeauty.co.uk 2 iS Clinical Cleansing complex polish, £42. victoriahealth.com 3 Irene Forte Lavender Foam Cleanser, £60. ireneforteskincare.co.uk

NATURE KNOWS BEST

Organic Irish beauty brand Voya has launched three new Cosmos-certified advanced facial serums created using innovative skin technology, seaweed science and advanced biotechnology. The range includes a hyaluronate anti-pollution serum, a bio-retinol concentrate serum and a vitamin C antioxidant serum. From £60. voya.ie

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THEO FENNELL

Unique Jewellery and Silverware

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STYLE | Shopping

Mauli Rituals Supreme Skin Hydrating Mist, £38. maulirituals.com

Marie Lichtenberg Locket necklace, £2,450. brownsfashion.com

Sabina Savage Heralds of Horus padded jacket, £1,075. sabinasavage.com

IN THE BAG

Conscious leather handbag brand Naru Studios has launched its own rental platform, allowing you to borrow bags directly from its website. The first UK accessories manufacturer to offer this option, Naru’s bags are made from renewable, recyclable and biodegradable materials in London. From £128. narustudios.com Mach & Mach Pumps, £855. netaporter.com

ON THE RADAR Glorious gifts to give (or keep)

Desmond & Dempsey Bandana print pyjamas, £215. desmondanddempsey.com

Seed To Skin The bath therapy, £120. netaporter.com

LOAFING AROUND

Baudoin & Lange’s beloved loafers have been updated for fall with cosy shearling details. Known for their impeccable quality, these are the shoes that you won’t want to take off this winter. Loafers, £395, baudoinandlange.com 

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RADO.COM

MASTER OF MATERIALS

TRUE SQUARE OPEN HEART

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Autumn Winter 2022 collection available now

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AUDLEY HOUSE, LONDON W1K 2ED | + 44 (0) 20 7499 1801 | PURDEY.COM

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STYLE | Trend

RAZZLE DAZZLE ’EM Dress to impress this party season, says Mariella Tandy

DISCOVER

INVEST

RENT

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS @ HANCOCKS LONDON Coral and diamond 1970s ear clips, £11,500

JIMMY CHOO Velvet Bon Bon bag, £950

SAINT LAURENT @ BY ROTATION Bag, from £14 a day

Balenciaga @ Matches Fashion AW22 Campaign shot by Paul Gore, styled by Simon Chilvers BALMAIN @ LAMPOO Top, £305

TALLER MARMO @ HURR COLLECTIVE Ubud dress, rent from £184

GEORGIA HARDINGE Dress, £425

BALMAIN @ LAMPOO Skirt, £430

MARY KATRANTZOU @ MY WARDROBE HQ Dress, rent from £38

MANOLO BLAHNIK @ HARDLY EVER WORN IT Shoes, £730

CHANEL @ FRONT ROW Earrings, from £84

LOUIS VUITTON @ SELLIER KNIGHTSBRIDGE Bag, £5,450

LOEFFLER RANDALL Shoes, £340

FOR STOCKISTS PLEASE SEE P202

ALEX GORE BROWNE Tassel sweater, £295

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STYLE | Jewellery FLUTTER BY

Twenty years ago, De Beers established the Diamond Route, a network of biodiversity conservation sites and nature reserves that today spans 500,000 hectares across locations in South Africa and Botswana. To celebrate its anniversary and conservation successes, De Beers has launched a new fine and high jewellery collection, ‘Portraits of Nature’, featuring butterfly motifs as a symbol of transformation and renewal. £POA, debeers.co.uk

PROMISES MADE

Graff’s beloved ‘Promise’ setting has been updated this season, with a new look that minimises the amount of metal surrounding the diamonds while creating a seamless flow between the shank, shoulders and centre stone. As seen in its beautiful new bridal collection, including this Promise engagement ring. £POA, graff.com

The Magpie

FESTIVE FANCIES Earrings for Christmas Day

Boodles Secret Garden earrings, £18,700. boodles.com

Fine jewellery and festive treats. By Mariella Tandy

Cece Jewellery Wildflower yellow gold hoops, £13,950. cecejewellery.com

WHAT’S YOUR ORDER? Delicious cocktail rings

1 David Morris Electra white gold ring with Paraiba tourmaline, turquoise and white diamonds, £POA. davidmorris.com 2 Annoushka Cocktail rings, £POA. annoushka.com 3 Morelle Davidson Gold quartz onyx multi gem cocktail ring, £7,500. morelledavidson.com 4 Van Cleef & Arpels @ Hardly Ever Worn It Yellow gold, diamond, onyx and chrysoprase ring, £11,000. hardlyeverwornit.com

SHAPE OF NATURE

By Pariah’s collection of demi-fine jewellery is built from founder Sophie Karg’s love for raw, untouched materials. All the sculptural pieces are handcrafted from precious stones and recycled gold, drawing on the curves and forms of the natural world, as well as modern architecture, as inspiration. The Infinitum Necklace – Bold. £1,595. bypariah.com

Isabel Marant @ Hurr Collective Crystal embellished earrings, rent from £61.18. hurrcollective.com

Kiki McDonough Circular fire opal earrings, £3,900. kiki.com

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| The Lottie Bag

REGENT ST • HARRODS • SELFRIDGES

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STYLE | Men’s

COOL YULE

BAGS OF STYLE

The Christmas jumper gets a cred makeover as Sunspel collaborates with legendary British graphic designer, Craig Ward, who has overlaid letters in a unique font, deconstructing familiar festive words and phrases. £275, sunspel.com

Carl Friedrik has launched the new Rover collection – unstructured premium bags in shades of black, charcoal, chocolate and olive, designed with the modern traveller in mind. From £395. carlfriedrik.com

RACE AGAINST TIME

Continuing its long-term partnership, Richard Mille has joined forces with Ferrari to create the distinctive RM UP-01, an ultra-flat watch with a thickness of just 1.75mm and limited to 150 timepieces. $1.888m plus VAT, richardmille.com

Well Groomed

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN Sleek new watches that tick their style boxes

Stylish winter warmers. By Matt Thomas

PERSONAL PINS Alice Made This has a range of lapel pins that can be engraved to add a special a message or initials, making them a superb gifting option. From £95. alicemade this.com

WINTER WRAPPED UP Embrace the chill while looking cool with this seasonal selection…

Crockett & Jones Winter boots, £590. crockettandjones.com

1 BREMONT Supernova, £7,995. bremont.com

Purdey Langsham shirt, £1,995. purdey.com

Beaufort & Blake Mallard duck jumper, £125. beaufortandblake.com

Farlows Sports jacket, £565. farlows.com

2 MICHEL HERBELIN Cap Camarat, €599. herbelin.com 3 LONGINES Master Collection 190th Anniversary, £10,190. longines.com

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A Tradition of Adventure since 1812. Explore our artisanal leather goods and outdoor clothing collections.

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Available at

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HEALTH&

WELLBEING Slow Down Adjust your rhythm, says Camilla Hewitt

In nature, winter is a time for hibernation, restoration and rejuvenation. As humans, we can look to modify the rhythms of our lives too. Eleven Life offers new wellness retreats in the snow-blanketed landscapes of Colorado and Iceland. These four-day immersions tap into the restorative effects of winter, encouraging deep self-connection through pioneering nature practices, guided adventures, and cutting-edge treatments. elevenexperience.com/eleven-life

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HEALTH & WELLBEING | Lifestyle Want guaranteed snow and good times? Colorado is the destination for those in the know

MIND & MATTER

Life’s little luxuries

BODY LANGUAGE

THE SHIELD Combining the first ever bio-identical human collagen designed for topical skincare, this delivers an instant burst of hydration and penetrates deeply for long-lasting results. Clever encapsulated micro-algae also reduce pigmentation. MZ Skin The Rich Moisturiser, £150. mzskin.com

Olivia Falcon reports on what’s cool for skiers stateside

t’s peak season but I must confess I’m not a great skier, so instead I did a summer recce of Colorado’s most coveted resorts – Aspen and Telluride – to bring you snow bunnies all the latest intel on what’s new and exciting for winter 2022, since the Alps can be unreliable for a snow dump these days. Over at The Little Nell in Aspen (rooms from $899, thelittlenell.com), a cashmere cocoon of a hotel that sits in pole position right by the ski-lift, offering the resort’s only ski in, ski out accommodation, they’re getting ready for the annual Christmas tree lighting, a heartwarming Hallmark-style affair that will feature carolers from Aspen High School, a mountain of Ladurée macaroons, Santa, and rescue pets from the local animal shelter that will

be up for adoption. After all, it’s no biggie to smuggle home a chihuahua or two if you’ve flown in on private jet. But before you fill your belly with wagyu beef spaghetti bolognese (yes, that really is a thing – in fact it’s THE thing to order at the hotel’s Ajax Tavern, Aspen’s answer to the Wolseley), a trip to the new Aspen X – an Aladdin’s cave of a store – is a must (aspenx.com). Here you’ll find everything from the latest Prada skiwear to experiences that money can buy, like a ten-course tasting menu dinners with superchef Matthew Zubrod. Further south in the charming town of Telluride, where the celebrities come to ski rather than to party, those in the know will be checking into the recently opened B&B Dunton Townhouse (rooms from £480, duntondestinations.com). An offshoot of Dunton Hot Springs (the off-grid uber retreat where high achievers such as the Kardashians and Silicone Valley zillionaires come to unplug), the chic clapboard townhouse boasts five bedrooms with Tyrolean-inspired interiors designed by starry event planner Johnny Roxburgh. Perfectly positioned in the heart of the downtown district, you can ski directly to the gondola (which takes you straight to Alpini Vino, north America’s highest restaurant, alpinovino.com) or for those who like to potter you can shuffle round the corner to Main Street for shopping at Two Skirts (great clothes, shoptwoskirts.com) and Crossbow The Little Nell in Aspen offers great Leather (best for custom belts and skiing and fabulous après-ski activites hats, crossbowleather.com). 

THE BED FELLOW This super competent cream covers and treats most of the ailments of aging skin with a formula that includes a special gold-peptide complex that boosts collagen for a firmer, smoother skin texture. Dr Nyla Rejuvenating Night Cream, £110. doctornyla.com

THE SUPERPOWER Fitted with 180 red lights to target the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and redness, this LED mask also contains rose quartz crystals to harness acupressure techniques – together they stimulate collagen and elastin production for dazzling results. Angela Caglia LED Face Mask, £550. netaporter.com

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All you need to glow, from top-to-toe. The smart way to self-tan, Self-Tanning Drops leave skin beautifully bronzed whilst helping to protect against damage and photo-aging caused by HEV light. Mix a few drops with Serum Repair for a fragrance-free, uniform glow with no streaking, and a hyaluronic acid hydration-hit. Complete your glow up with Shimmering Body Oil, for a hint of party-ready sparkle. Rich in antioxidants, this multi-active treatment oil with vitamin E deeply nourishes and restores. Its subtle shimmer leaves skin looking as good as it feels (use it on cheek and brow bones, too, as a highlighter).

drsebagh.com

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HEALTH & WELLBEING | Wellness

Body & SOUL Camilla Hewitt explores the positive influence of creativity

BETWEEN THE SHEETS

Sexual wellness plays an important part in how we feel. It’s a creative interaction that can instil a sense of wellbeing through intimacy and connection. The more we celebrate our sexuality and feel comfortable expressing ourselves, the more in tune with our mind and body we feel. It goes without saying that a healthy sex life can boost our vitality, and we’re not just talking between the sheets. With all the dopamine and oxytocin swirling around in our bodies, we often become more intuitive, more selfassured, and more energised, both at home and work. Smile Makers pleasure products and sex education programmes have been designed to unlock sensorial potential, increasing confidence and creativity for those couples, and singles, in need of a little help. smilemakerscollection.com

ON PAPER

Engaging in a creative activity, be it journaling, poetry or painting, can be cathartic for bottled up feelings. If you’re not sure where to start, being an observer of art can unlock emotions and inspire the imagination. Anna Koska’s books, based on tales and illustrations of the natural world, are not only an emotive and evocative escape but also a showcase of contemplative, personal work bought to life in pencil, pen, ink and watercolour. Observation and creative reflection are mindful activities all ages and abilities can benefit from. From Coast & Cove: An Artist’s Year in Paint and Pen by Anna Koska.(Pavilion, £14.99)

TABLE IT

Mealtimes and entertaining can boost our wellbeing, not only through social interaction but as opportunity to express ourselves through cookery or creative table arrangement. Daylesford’s seasonal workshops, from floral styling and wreath-making to edible Christmas gifts and effortless canapés, help you find your creative flare. Taking place on 16 December, their guide to table arrangement encourages you to be inspired by the textures, tones and scents of the season. From choosing a colour palette to layering table linen, ceramics and florals, setting a table can be a celebration of creativity and seasonality. daylesford.com

« CHECK IN: UNPLUGGED Brain fog and anxiety from our always-on culture can cloud our creativity. Unplugged has nestled tech-free, off-grid cabins in the heart of nature as an opportunity to escape the endless notifications and background noise in our brains. Being in nature has the ability to evoke a creative way of thinking by making us more curious and freeing the imagination instead of forcing it in a particular direction. Unplugged’s experts suggest that 72 hours is just enough time away to switch off completely. BOOK IT: Unplugged 3-day Digital Detox stays start from £390 per cabin. unplugged.rest

3 PHOTOS: © PASCO PHOTOGRAPHY

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MIRACLE BOTTLE Hibiscus Night Cream – Irene Forte’s secret to younger looking skin in ten days

ow down, Botox: achieving younger looking skin doesn’t require a needle or a tweakment, says Irene Forte. Holistic beauty, as it turns out, is the key – and the secret lies in ingredients grown in Sicily. You would be forgiven for thinking Irene Forte’s eponymous brand has been around for some time. Yet, contrary to expectation, it’s actually a rather young company at only four years old. In that time, though, it has managed to achieve a level of cult status with beauty lovers – and this year achieved coveted B Corp status. As one of the first brands to truly marry both nature and science effectively within its products, it is helping lead a movement towards a better beauty industry. No wonder, then, that it already feels like such a pillar of the skincare community. The best-selling product in the Irene Forte Skincare range is the Hibiscus Night Cream, clinically approved for sensitive skin; it’s so popular that it has a repeat purchase rate of 70 percent. We sat down to talk to Irene about the scientific secrets behind its powerful formulation.

The Hibiscus Night Cream works – and works quickly ‘We conducted a blind and independent trial with 80 participants, and we saw outstanding age-defying results in just 10 days – and results were even better at four weeks,’ says Irene. What’s the secret to these results? It turns out to be an incredible trademarked ingredient, Myoxinol™, an oligopeptide extracted from Hibiscus Seeds. ‘It acts in the same way that an injectable would, inhibiting the factors that cause expression lines to form on the face and activating the cell’s defences to prevent oxidative damage,’ explains Irene. ‘So it biologically delays the ageing of cells.’ Myoxinol™ is carefully layered with three other ingredients. Hyaluronic Acid, which gained cult status a couple of years ago, is brought in to hydrate the skin to full plumpness, while Green Tea Polypeptides target the loss

of elasticity that often marks ageing skin by promoting collagen and elastin synthesis. Finally, Tetra-Ceramide Complex replenishes the skin’s barrier to reduce dryness, irritation and wrinkling. Together, this works to refresh the skin’s energy and minimise overnight water loss.

Its formula draws on years of research Irene handpicked her scientific director, Dr Francesca Ferri, for her decades of skin expertise. ‘Dr Ferri is groundbreaking; she’s spent over 35 years researching the medical use of plant extracts to treat skin conditions, has developed patented extract techniques and formulas – and was awarded the Italian equivalent of a knighthood for research into the genetic basis for skin issues,’ says Irene. With the development of Myoxinol™ she continues her gamechanging work. ‘The radical new peptide is also in our Hibiscus Serum and Prickly Pear Face Cream, and they’ve shown wrinkle reduction especially when in combination and through continued use.’

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P R O M OT I O N

‘I have tried COUNTLESS “promising” face creams over the years, but none made it to RE-ORDER status until now. Irene Forte’s Hibiscus Night Cream has been a GAME-CHANGER’ Customer testimonial (blind trial)

‘Myoxinol is a breakthrough ingredient due to its proven antioxidant activity and its ability to smooth wrinkles,’ says Dr Ferri, Irene Forte Skincare’s Scientific Director

Hibiscus Night Cream Consumer Trial Results* Consumer results after just ten days of using the Hibiscus Night Cream:

100% 95% 88% 77%

Report skin looks more hydrated

Report skin looks healthier

‘The Hibiscus Night Cream is my GO-TO cream. What I find so SPECIAL is how quickly it works; I saw WRINKLE REDUCTION results almost instantly’ Customer testimonial (blind trial)

‘I cannot begin to tell you how GOOD this CREAM feels on my face. I looked in the mirror this morning and I can see a difference from ONE NIGHT!’ Customer testimonial (blind trial)

Report skin looks restored

Report skin looks more youthful

Even better at four weeks:

85% 79% 75% 96%

Agree skin looks more youthful Agree skin looks 2+ years younger See visible reduction in wrinkles Would recommend to a friend

*November 2021 Independent Consumer Research with over 80 volunteers in the UK

Discover the whole collection at ireneforteskincare.co.uk Use the code ‘HIBISCUS25’ for 25 percent off this product

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HEALTH & WELLBEING | Notes

The SCOOP

Natural or not, the choice is yours, says Caroline Phillips THE BEES’ KNEES

WILD THING

Wild Beauty is offering an £85 facial redeemable against products with organic ingredients foraged from Lord and Lady Newborough’s 12,000-acre, ultra-sustainable Rhug Estate in Wales. The new stars of the range are the Deep Cleansing Balm and the Protecting Facial Oil, the former being chocka with heavenly scented wild berries, roses and geranium and the latter boasts bakuchiol, CBD and hemp (both antioxidants). Working in Fortnum & Mason’s snug treatment room, complete with chandelier, therapist Jessica gives a brilliant massage – boosting your lymphatic drainage and plumping your face, naturally. Facial pop-up at Fortnum & Mason, £85. rhugwildbeauty.com

INSTANT HAPPINESS

Has the never-ending churn of bad news got you down? Has the turmoil of life, plus one too many G&Ts and the lack of that deep nourishing sleep drawn their tell-tale signs on your face? Well, sometimes natural remedies ain’t enough to eradicate the stress, so I have a secret weapon – Dr Uliana Gout. She’s just launched her Instant FaceLift, and no, there’s not a blade in sight. As a globally renowned clinician and educator within the field of Aesthetic Medicine, Dr Gout makes you look as good as if nature had waved its magic wand. A huge advocate of bio-stimulation i.e. making your skin work hard like it did when you were a teenage to produce collagen – the holy grail of tight, smooth looking skin – her no-downtime treatment combines radio frequency to lift and tone, followed by a cocktail of goodies including antioxidants, supermoisturising humectants and anti-inflammatory actives delivered with an electroporation pen (which allows delivery of product direct to cells), topped off with healing and LED light to reduce redness and inflammation. Her professional, perfectionist and utterly dedicated passion for her work speaks volumes and you will thank her when you wake up the next day – skin already tighter, brighter and smoother. £850 for 45 mins. londonaesthetic-medicine.com 

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

From the wild acres of the remote northern tip of New Zealand to our bathroom cabinets comes Kaea, a botanical skincare range founded by conservationist and eco-preneur Suzan Craig. The Kaea gel balm cleanser (£79) claims to remove makeup, melt impurities and nourish – and does. But it also proves a gentle exfoliator and mask. It contains UMF 15+ Manuka honey – with its scientifically proven antibacterial and antimicrobial qualities – and, with no added water, it’s super concentrated. It’s a wonder worker that left my complexion visibly refreshed and silky, and two pimples diminished. She also founded Tahi Manuka honey (£24), which is thick, tangy and butterscotch-y – and packed with nutritional benefits. Suzan has restored 15 wetlands, planted 395,600 indigenous trees, and her bees feed on wild flowers, untouched by pesticides. Buy these products not just because every penny goes back into conservation and community projects, but because the honey’s delicious, and the cleanser makes you want to dirty your face – just for an excuse to use it. johnbellcroyden.co.uk

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Jolly Gifts

Discover our new Festive Limited Edition collection and Christmas gift sets in-store and online at moltonbrown.co.uk

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HEALTH & WELLBEING | Take Ten

FESTIVE FIXES

Ten steps to look your best this party season. By Nathalie Eleni

Bioeffect Imprinting Hydrogel Mask Designed to maximise the effects of Bioeffect’s signature skincare, this uses glycerin and hyaluronic acid to deliver deep levels of moisture to your skin. £70 for 6, cultbeauty.co.uk

Foreo Luna 4 A high tech cleansing treatment that refreshes skin, boosts circulation and purges pores using T-Sonic pulsations. Clinically proven to remove 99 percent of dirt, oil, and makeup residue, it’s also 35 times more hygienic than brushes with nylon bristles. £239, foreo.com

Wanderlash Mascara This vegan formula builds lashes to create a false lash effect, adding lots of nourishing ingredients along the way. £28, bellaworld.com

K18 Leave-In Molecular Repair Hair Mask Leave this hair mask in for just four minutes for locks with renewed elasticity, silky smoothness and restored bounce. £55, cultbeauty.co.uk

Estée Lauder Smoke & Brighten Kajal Create the perfect party-ready smokey eye in moments with Estée Lauder’s new double-ended eyeliner – one to smudge and the other to brighten. Choose from four colour combos. £24, selfridges.com

Isamaya Beauty Skinlacq Glow Serum This triple hyaluronic glow serum (feat. three different weights of the hydrating holy grail) plumps up skin and adds natural luminosity to all skin tones, without shimmer. £60, isamaya.co.uk L’Occitane Immortelle Precious Overnight Mask Works wonders to recharge skin, either as a ten minute perk up, or applied before bed for a deep hydration boost. £55, loccitane.com

Rodial Glass Skin Edit Take yourself from dull to dewy in minutes with this expert kit, including its glowy Banana Lowlighter, Glass Paper for blotting, Glass Powder for a velvet finish and a mini Buffing Brush. £45, rodial.com Chantecaille Sheer Glow Rose Face Tint A luminous gel-crème that blurs and perfects your skin for a healthy glow. Boosted with powerful botanicals that visibly moisturise and smooth. £68, chantecaille.com

PHOTOS: UNSPLASH

Slip Silk Sleep Mask This eye mask is crafted from pure mulberry silk inside and out to protect the delicate skin around your eyes from damage while you get your all-important preevent beauty sleep. £50, cultbeauty.co.uk

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Pa r t n e r

Tom Davies is delighted to be one of the first opticians in the world to introduce ZEISS BlueGuard technology lenses in their frames. All of our frames can be fitted with the new ZEISS BlueGuard lenses which should be worn for extended screen use, such as a computer monitor or late at night using your phone. These lenses block up to 40 percent of the harmful and irritating blue light in the wavelength between 400 and 455 nanometer (nm)1, which is known to be linked to digital eye strain. To book a clinical consultation in one of our highly regarded clinics please visit www.tdtomdavies.com

State-of-the-ar t vision clinics

To m D av i e s a t h i s C ove n t G a r d e n b o u t i q u e

COVENT GARDEN +44 (0)20 7240 1001

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C ANARY WHARF +44 (0)20 3711 0020

KNIGHTSBRIDGE +44 (0)20 3711 0019

S L OA N E S QUA R E +44 (0)20 7730 5454

R OYA L E X C H A N G E +44 (0)20 3711 0012

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HEALTH & WELLBEING | News

Beauty BUZZ All the latest beauty news. By Nathalie Eleni

BYE BYE BLEMISHES

Target redness and blemishes ahead of festive season with Dr Marwa Ali and her new acne facial at Harrods. She uses a specialised IPL laser filter, which produces a wavelength that targets the glands in the skin that produce sebum, decongesting pores, reducing oil production, and killing acne-causing bacteria to prevent further breakouts. It also instantly reduces redness and helps with inflammation. The Stellar M22 Acne Facial, £880 for 75 mins at The Wellness Clinic. harrods.com

SCENT OF A ROSE

SPARKLE AND SHINE

The Lunch Time Whiten with Dr Krystyna at White & Co in Battersea Power Station is an under-one-hour transformative tooth whitening treatment that starts with a deep clean to remove plaque, followed by an express in-chair whitening session. Clients leave with a bag of follow-on products to maintain the whiteness at home. Hygiene & Stain Removal, £130; In Chair Whitening and take away bag, £500. whiteandcodental.co.uk

Inspired by the fleeting moment when rose is about to blossom, this new scent by Bulgari, created by Master Perfumer Alberto Morillas, combines florals and white musk for a wonderfully feminine and seductive fragrance. £81, bulgari.com

MELT AWAY

The revolutionary Emerald machine is a laser device that is designed to help people who struggle with losing weight, including people with a BMI of 30+. The laser, which feels wonderfully relaxing, is applied externally, and targets excess fat by emulsifying fatty tissue. It’s used as part of a treatment by Dr Natalie Geary at the Light Touch Clinic in Weybridge, Surrey, who also devises a personalised wellness programme to run alongside the laser for positive, achievable life changes. Six sessions, £1,800; ten sessions, £3,000. lighttouchclinic.co.uk

HOW TO… Identify Early Health Warning Signs When it comes to your health, there’s no such thing as being too prepared. John Bell & Croyden has partnered with London Medical Laboratory to introduce simple five-minute blood tests in its Wigmore Street pharmacy, carried out by a phlebotomist and designed to identify early health warning signs before they become a problem. The tests measure over 80 individual biomarkers, including kidney and liver function, full blood count, iron, prostate, erectile dysfunction, female hormones and fertility, thyroid, and heart. Next generation finger prick blood tests are also available via postal kits, which measure your blood sugar to detect diabetes, thyroid function and cholesterol. Tests from £39, johnbellcroyden.co.uk

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES; PEXELS

ADVICE FROM C&TH’S BEAUTY DIRECTOR

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BUY & SELL PRE-LOVED LUXURY Experience effortless selling with free home collection, private appointment or express drop-off in our Chelsea Boutique.

Lampoo, 31 King’s Road, London, SW3 4RP Find out more

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PHOTO: © JOHAN PERSSON

CULTURE

Sweet Dreams

This sleepy tale will have you wide awake. Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty returns to Sadler’s Wells to celebrate its 10th anniversary and enchant new and old audiences alike. Tchaikovsky’s brilliant score sets the backdrop for this tale told anew... Enter Princess Aurora’s world of faeries, vampires and supernatural love. 29 Nov to 15 Jan 2023, sadlerswells.com

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CULTURE | What’s On

THE CULTURAL CALENDAR

CAPTURING AN ERA JOIN US FOR JOURNEY TO ZERO

In association with Skydiamond, C&TH is hosting a sparkling evening, dedicated to how luxury and sustainability should be one and the same. With guests including Anya Hindmarch, George Lamb and Arizona Muse (pictured), this is not one to miss. 29 Nov, tickets £75. countryandtownhouse.com/culture/journey-to-zero

Lee Miller’s exceptional archive of photographs, on show at Newlands House until January, explore the wartime correspondent’s life, including her longtime friendship with Picasso. Until 8 January, newlandshouse.gallery

CHRISTMAS CAROLS

Glyndebourne Opera presents world-class yuletide music this December with the return of its charming Christmas concerts. From familyfavourite operas to rousing carols, it promises to be a heartwarming festive showstopper. 10-11 December, glyndebourne.com

A CORNISH CHRISTMAS

Explore the Padstow Christmas Festival and its vast array of food, crafts and stocking fillers, with hosts Rick Stein, Nathan Outlaw and Paul Ainsworth all providing foodie demonstrations, too. 1-4 Dec, padstowchristmasfestival.co.uk

A JEWEL IN THE NORTH

Boodles heads home to Liverpool to celebrate its 225th birthday this winter. The exhibition, taking place in the city’s museum, traces its growth from small family jeweller to dazzling Bond Street brand. Until March 2023, liverpoolmuseums.org

TWINKLE IN YOUR EYES

Stuck on gift ideas? See p123 – but if you’re still looking for inspo Design Centre Chelsea Harbour is transforming into a luxury shopping experience this Christmas ,featuring snazzy showrooms and festive manicures. 1-3 Dec, dcch.co.uk.

PHOTOS: GLYNDEBOURNE BY ROBERT WORKMAN; WAKEHURST BY JEFF EDEN; PICASSO IN HIS STUDIO, LIBERATION OF PARIS, RUE DES GRANDS AUGUSTINS, PARIS, FRANCE 1944 BY LEE MILLER (5925-478) CREDIT: © LEE MILLER ARCHIVES, ENGLAND 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. WWW.LEEMILLER.CO.UK. © SUCCESSION PICASSO, DACS, 2022

Brave the winter weather for these cosy events, says Tessa Dunthorne

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MAGICAL FESTIVE SHOPPING Thursday 1 – Saturday 3 December 10am – 5.30pm (Thursday until 7pm)

WREATH MAKING | CHRISTMAS WORKSHOPS | DEMONSTRATIONS Free entry | Free parking on Saturday

Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 0XE For further information: www.dcch.co.uk

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CULTURE | What’s On Vanessa Haynes on stage at Cadogan Hall during the 2020 jazz festival

The Critical LIST

Big releases for winter

Olivia Colman hands down the baton to Imelda Staunton, who takes on the role of the late Queen Elizabeth II in the long-awaited fifth season of The Crown, set in the turbulent Nineties. 9 November, netflix.com

TV THE C&TH GUIDE TO THE…

EFG LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL

The capital gets groovy from 11-20 November 2022

his year marks the 30th anniversary of the London Jazz Festival and, boy, are we in for a treat. The event’s electrifying line-up will range from global stars, special collaborations and new commissions, to the freshest new music and up-and-coming names from around the UK.

TUNE IN... The jazz genre encompasses an eclectic range of styles, instruments and voices, meaning there’s always something new to discover during the festival. Catch the LSO Percussion Ensemble and composer-cellist-singer Ayanna Witter-Johnson in concert at LSO St Luke’s on Old Street (12 November) or watch the BBC Concert Orchestra come together with the Marcin Wasilewski Trio to pay tribute to great Polish jazz trumpeter Tomasz Stańko (16 November).

MUSIC

Theon Cross performs in 2019

JAM OUT... Jazz was born out of a thirst for musical innovation and experimentation. With that in mind, London Jazz Festival has several ways to get involved and get inspired, from a Cuban salsa dancing workshop (20 November), to a class learning traditional African dance moves with French Nana at the Southbank Centre (12 November). You can also tap your toe along to performance group Kinetika Bloco’s team of over 50 young people performing a varied set on samba drums, steel pans, brass and woodwind, all in carnival costumes accompanied by dancers (18 November). Book tickets at efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk

Daniel Craig returns as private detective Benoit Blanc in the second Knives Out film, starring alongside Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista in a new whodunnit story set on a private Greek island. 23 December, netflix.com

FILM

After a 16-year hiatus, Cormac McCarthy is making his comeback – with not one but two new novels about madness and morality. Following The Passenger is its companion book, Stella Maris, published on 6 December. (Pan Macmillan, £20)

BOOK

PHOTOS: © EMILE HOLBA; © TATIANA GORILOVSKY; © FRANK SCHWICHTENBERG

TURN UP... The capital’s largest pan-city event, London Jazz Festival 2022 is held across venues large and small, classic and quirky. Catch UK electronica star Bonobo DJing at Printworks (19 November), or five-time Grammy Awardwinning superstar Dianne Reeves live at Cadogan Hall (12 November). Or venture down into the crypt of St Giles church in Camberwell, to find out what happens when jazz harp meets rap (11 November).

Stormzy drops his highly anticipated third studio album on 25 November, his first in three years. The grime superstar retreated to Osea Island in Essex to record This Is What I Mean, in an experience the musician has described as ‘beautifully free’.

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CULTURE | What’s On

PREVIEW

Combat dark winter nights at one of the glowing light shows taking place this season, says Ellie Smith

very winter, the UK sparkles with light festivals aplenty across the countryside. Taking place across parks and in the grounds of historic houses, they feature a glittering combination of illuminated trails, laser shows and interactive displays – and seem to get even more dazzling each year. Perhaps the most famous is Kew Gardens’ Christmas At Kew, now a firm favourite on the winter calendar, with sparkling tunnels of light, dancing lakeside reflections, and trees drenched in jewel colours (16 November to 8 January 23, kew.org). An equally beautiful display takes place at Kew’s sister venue, Wakehurst, in the heart of Sussex, with its Glow Wild extravaganza. Here, the show sees the botanical garden’s wild woodlands coming alive with a glistening trail of handcrafted lanterns, light installations and projections, with this year’s theme being colour, and the role it plays

in our everyday lives (24 November to 1 January 23, kew.org/wakehurst). Over in Cheshire, historic estate Dunham Massey’s winter spectacle returns for its sixth year. Enter beside giant glittering deer, wander beneath tree canopies, and stroll beside colour-changing lakeside reflections – then pause for a moment of quiet reflection in the crystal and fire garden, aglow with hundreds of flickering flames (18 November to 2 January 23, nationaltrust.org.uk). Always a highlight, too, is the trail at Waddeson Manor in Buckinghamshire. As the sun goes down, the 19th-century Manor’s handsome façade is illuminated with dancing lights to sequenced music, and visitors are invited to stroll around the Pleasure Gardens under the stars. All this, plus handmade mince pies and mulled wine. What’s not to love? (12 November to 2 January 23, waddesdon.org.uk) Glow Wild at Wakehurst in Sussex

MY Cultural Life

Downton’s Jessica Findlay Brown is binge watching the Kardashians I’m tuning into… Bad Sisters and Minx. What I’m reading… Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

(Orion, £8.99). The last thing I watched was… Lena Dunham’s Catherine

Called Birdy. Wow. What I’m most looking forward to seeing… My husband’s

face when he becomes a father. that I always go to find at the National Gallery – I also love Far from the Beaten Path by Dan Hollings. Favourite film of all time… It depends what time of year it is, right now it’s back to When Harry Met Sally. The ultimate autumn movie. Band/singer I always have on repeat… Laura Marling and Neil Young. My ultimate cultural recommendation… Walk everywhere, you might stumble upon a diamond of a spot. Hidden gallery, tiny restaurant, a quiet square, music. Or an old friend. Cultural guilty pleasure… The Kardashians, Love Island, re-runs of The Hills, Any reality TV. I love it! What’s next for me is... A spot of child labour, then I’m going back to the First World War – and learning how to play football. Flatshare comes to Paramount+ on 1 December. paramountplus.com

PHOTOS: © JEFF EDEN

Favourite painting… Combing the Hair by Degas is a favourite

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CULTURE | Books

BIBLIO FILE

governments that believe in global cooperation, and have the will, purpose and courage to make bold decisions for the sake of the future of the planet.

Katherine Rundell talks ‘possibilityism’ with Belinda Bamber

Which inspire

Frantz Fanon, Naomi Klein, George Monbiot, Greta Thunberg, Marilynne Robinson. And fiction? I recently fell in love with the novels of Yoko Ogawa and The Shape of the Ruins by Juan Gabriel Vásquez. Your next book? Another children’s novel. I think, after a lot of deletes and false starts, I’ve reached that fantastic feeling of something finally taking off.

How did you choose The Golden Mole’s 22 ‘living treasures’? They’re all endangered

animals – which is true for almost every species on Earth. I wanted to offer a mixture of the unfamiliar, like the narwhal, and a fresh take on some you see daily: the aim being that, once you’ve read about crows being able to operate vending machines, you’ll see them with fresher, sharper eyes. The final criterion was just love: creatures I longed for an excuse to spend a month or two reading about. The golden mole – the only iridescent mammal – is one of my favourites and lent itself to the idea of treasure.

If you could study another ‘living treasure’…? In a dream world, I’d

The Golden Mole interweaves philosophy, myth and anecdote. Do you keep a commonplace book? I do! Several notebooks

love to go to Cuba to see the Bee Hummingbird – the smallest bird in the world, which weighs less than two grams. It has an iridescent throat and is barely the length of a finger.

and cascades of phone notes. Though Frank Cottrell Boyce, a writer I admire hugely, says a diary should be a single sentence: the most interesting, funniest, saddest thing that day

Do you still climb rooftops, walk tightropes and cartwheel? I no longer start the day with

How did your childhood in Zimbabwe influence the book? I loved being in the

presence of wild creatures; it felt a privilege and solace if a bird or a rock hyrax or an impala allowed you very briefly near it. I wanted to imagine what that wonder might look like in adulthood – when it has to be wider, sturdier, tougher and more disciplined, more able to encompass the realities of the world’s chaos. You’re a Fellow of recently wrote an of John Donne, yet a children’s author.

All Souls Oxford and acclaimed biography you first published as Why? I love children’s

books for the huge possibilities they offer for vivid writing, wild imaginings. I find that discipline a delight and a challenge… to distil enormous ideas – about our most vulnerable heart – into something tight and memorable. Do you worry that for many children the world is filtered through a smartphone?

I think we’re right to be sceptical about social media in particular. So many of us,

environmental writers you? Wendell Berry,

The Golden Mole is a bestiary of some of the world’s most extraordinary endangered animals

children and adults, use it to calm and distract ourselves, which feels a brittle, difficult way to move through the world. If you tap Tiktok and Instagram they ring like money. You’re donating half of The Golden Mole’s royalties to the World Wildlife Fund and Blue Ventures. What can we readers do? We’re all

now aware of the need to eat less meat, reinvest what money we might have in funds divested of fossil fuels, own less and treat domestic flights as the behaviour of the malarially unhinged. But it’s primarily a political problem: we need

a cartwheel: in my London flat, I’d collide with the wall. Rooftop climbing is mostly for the joy of seeing a city from above (especially cities like London, where so much of the built landscape is inaccessible, owned by wealthy corporations) and the pleasure of trusting your own body: unmooring your sense of danger from your sense of beauty: trusting your hands and legs to do as you tell them when you’re up high. What makes you optimistic? I’m not sure I’m an optimist, exactly – there are too many, too starkly clear ways for us to destroy ourselves and everything around us – but we have such huge, vertiginously deep potential: the capacity and technologies to bring about vast change for the better. I’m neither an optimist nor a pessimist – more, a ‘possibilityist’. The Golden Mole And Other Living Treasure (Faber, £14.99). Full interview can be found on countryandtownhouse.com 

WATER courses through biologist Amy-Jane Beer’s deep-dive into the lyrical beauty of Britain’s rivers, as she navigates the loss of a fellow kayaker in The Flow (Bloomsbury, £18.99); low-carbon WANDERING propels Sophie Pavelle’s jauntier tour of climate-change Britain in Forget Me Not (Bloomsbury, £16.99); rewilding WISDOM guides Millie Kerr’s voyage around pioneering eco projects in Wilder (Bloomsbury, £17.99); WETLANDS stir in Fen, Bog & Swamp, Annie Proulx’s passionate defence of miraculous mud-life, oozing from Tudor England to Russia’s Great Mire (HarperCollins, £16.99).

PHOTOS: © NINA SUBIN

JOURNEYS INTO THE WILD

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STOCKING THRILLERS

Richard Hopton selects his books of the year for 2022, ideal for Christmas giving

Greta Thunberg is a powerful advocate for action against climate change. Now she has produced The Climate Book (Allen Lane, £25), a collection of essays by scientists and campaigners setting out the full extent of the threat facing humanity. Essential reading.

PANDEMIC

Colin Heber-Percy is a priest in rural Wiltshire. Tales of a Country Parish (Short Books, £12.99) is a charming, humane and spiritual account of lockdown, of how this national trauma unfolded in one tranquil corner of the country.

HISTORY

GARDENING

In How I Garden (BBC Books, £22), Adam Frost sets out his horticultural creed, explaining how to get the most from your garden, whatever its size. It’s a practical guide that includes some recipes, too, so that you can enjoy the fruits of your labours.

Graham Robb’s The Discovery of France (Picador, £12.99) is a history of that country like no other. Robb delights in the obscure and revels in the eccentric as he cycles around the country immersing himself in its history. In The Restless Republic (William Collins, £25), Anna Keay paints a vivid picture of England in the 1650s under the Commonwealth. Taking the lives of nine very different people, she illuminates this unique decade in history.

FISHING

Fishing is one of the most popular sports in Britain; in Illuminated by Water (Doubleday, £16.99) Malachy Tallack explains its allure, hopes and frustrations. He also has much to say about the countryside, ecology, and the morality of fishing.

TRAVEL

Nicholas Allan’s When Dreams Collide (Nine Elms Books, £25) is an erudite, acutely observant account of the author’s quest to retrace Rebecca West’s Balkan journeys of the 1930s. In the process he illuminates the mysteries of this fascinating, beautiful, but troubled region where history hangs heavy.

PHOTOS: UNSPLASH

CLIMATE

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CULTURE | Books

ART

The artist’s studio has always exerted a fascination as the crucible in which the creative impulse achieves physical form. James Hall’s The Artist’s Studio (Thames & Hudson, £30) is an original account of the studio from earliest times to the modern era.

PHOTOS: UNSPLASH

FICTION

A Lady’s Guide to FortuneHunting (Harper Collins, £14.99) is Sophie Irwin’s sharp, best-selling modern take on the Regency romance. Kitty Talbot sets out to redeem the family fortunes by marrying money and will let nobody stand in her way. Monica Ali’s latest novel, Love Marriage (Virago, £18.99) is a reimagining of her celebrated debut, Brick Lane. It tells the story of the Ghorami family whose daughter Yasmin wants to marry out of their Indian community, bringing modern Britain colourfully to life. Cressida Connolly’s third novel Bad Relations (Viking, £14.99) tells the story of three generations of the same family from the Crimean War to Cornwall in the 1970s. Elegantly written, this subtle, satisfying, wellobserved novel is a delight.

COUNTRY & TOWN HOUSE BOOK OF THE YEAR

At a time when the world seems permanently lost and locked in crisis a new way of framing society is needed. Jon Alexander’s Citizens (Canbury, £20) is a manifesto for a polity led by the people, for the people. His is an optimistic belief, passionately argued.

COOKERY

Angela Hartnett is one of Britain’s leading chefs, known for her Michelin-starred restaurants but The Weekend Cook (Bloomsbury, £26) will enthuse readers with the food she cooks at home for family and friends. The recipes look fabulous: seabass, orange and fennel crudo, anyone?

MEMOIR

An inspiring tale of Edward Enninful’s rise to the heights of the fashion industry as editor-in-chief of British Vogue having arrived in Britain from Ghana aged 13 in 1985. A Visible Man (Bloomsbury, £25) is an exuberant story of hard work and talent overcoming prejudice and discrimination. It’s notoriously difficult to make it in Hollywood but Viola Davis’s path from poverty to stardom was harder than most, plagued with violence, racism, and sexism. Finding Me (Coronet, £20) tells her shocking story, unvarnished. 

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CULTURE | Review

The EXHIBITIONIST

Ed Vaizey celebrates the first major Cézanne exhibition in a quarter of a century

was lucky enough to be appointed a trustee of Tate earlier this year. As well as the privilege of being part of one of the greatest art museums in the world, I’ve been fortunate to see some thrilling exhibition openings and some great days out in Liverpool and St Ives. Now two of my great loves are coming together, with the blockbuster Cézanne exhibition that has just opened at Tate Modern. I am a huge fan of Cézanne, and regularly check in with his paintings at the Courtauld, which has a significant collection (Samuel Courtauld shared my passion for the artist, though with significantly more money he built Britain’s first major collection of the artist’s works). This is the first major Cézanne exhibition in London for a quarter of a century. It is not to be missed, and it is being described as a oncein-a-generation opportunity. Put together by Tate with the Art Institute of Chicago, it brings twenty paintings that have never been to Britain before. There’s a total of 80 works on display, covering the entire span of Cézanne’s career in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. Poignantly, the catalogue was written by Achim Borchardt-Hume, the director of exhibitions at Tate, who died tragically young last year at the age of 56. Cézanne was not exactly the definition of a struggling artist. His father was a wealthy banker who, despite not wanting his son to be an artist,

supported him financially and left him a large inheritance, which meant he did not need to work. He was, however, somewhat of a loner. Although he spent some time in Paris and was close to the writer Émile Zola (a school friend) and the painter Camille Pissarro (his first mentor), he gradually over time withdrew from the world and based himself in Provence, where his beautiful landscapes are set. Like many artists, Cézanne was not fully appreciated in his lifetime. In his last years in Provence, he was widely ridiculed by local critics and even accused of bringing shame on the region. However, after his death in 1906, his art began to be appreciated more and more. He is now widely regarded as the bridge between Impressionism and Cubism, and both Matisse and Picasso (and many others) acknowledged the debt they owed him. And to be crude for a moment, one of his paintings sold for the third largest sum ever, somewhere north of $300 million. So, I think it’s fair to say he has arrived. What is it I love about Cézanne? It’s his use of colour and colour blocks, which turn the natural landscapes of Provence into mesmerising tableaux of calm beauty which keep you transfixed. Or a bowl of fruit into an object of ever-changing and fascinating beauty. Or his simple, flowing portraits which draw you into a conversation. Any Cézanne is instantly recognisable, and his contribution to modern art is invaluable. Cézanne is at Tate Modern until 12 March 2023. tate.org.uk  FROM TOP: Bathers (1874-5) by Cézanne, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Still Life With Apples (1893-4) by Cézanne, from the J Paul Getty Museum; The François Zola Dam (1877-8) by Cézanne, from Amgueddfa Cymru

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MADDOX CLIENTS INVESTING IN YAYOI KUSAMA REALISED AN AVERAGE PROFIT OF 26% IN 2021

M A D D OXG A L L E RY.CO M D OW N LOA D O U R A R T I N V E ST M E N T G U I D E

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A FAMILY AFFAIR

‘I

was on my way to lectures with my friends,’ Arthur Timothy confesses with a smile, ‘and suddenly I noticed this very attractive girl who walked past us in the opposite direction. I turned around to look at her and my friend elbowed me and said, “You got no chance there, mate”. I asked “What do you mean?” He replied, “She’s in my Hall of Residence and she’s very aloof”.’ That was this artistic couple’s very first encounter, an admiring glance in the Arts Tower of the University of Sheffield architecture department where they both studied, Erica landscape design and Arthur building design. It was not until weeks later, at the Student Union ball, when their eyes met. It was the start of a love affair – and a brilliant business partnership. At their Regency town house in Bath, sunshine coats the sandstone exterior and inside their work fills a drawing room elegant enough to make any Bridgerton fan swoon: Erica’s almost-three-foot-tall pots gather next to the fireplace and smaller silvery white creations sit on a sideboard under their ever-growing collection of wall-hung modern art. Two of Arthur’s paintings – both about five-foot tall – face each other. In one, his mother stands with her sister and a friend. Opposite, Arthur’s parents sit together, captured before he and his brother were born. Arthur entered these two paintings for the Royal Academy’s Summer

Exhibition in 2019 – his first attempt to go professional. Amazingly, they were both accepted. ‘It was very strange to see my paintings amongst established artists,’ Arthur tells me, as we sit with a coffee at their mahogany dining table. ‘People remarked, “Why haven’t we heard of Arthur Timothy, where has he come from?” So how did it all start? Their son Duval, the middle of three grown-up children, stretched a canvas and presented it to Arthur at Christmas a few years ago. ‘It was definitely a challenge: it really put me on the spot.’ The canvas sat on an easel in Arthur’s architecture practice in Tower Bridge for months. ‘I would walk past it and think, “I’ve got to do something with that, Duval got it for me”. That went on for months.’ Arthur finally painted the work – and so began a very short and steep progression in his new career. ‘During the Royal Academy exhibition, someone approached me and asked if I would be interested in an exhibition in a gallery in Mayfair [the Ronchini Gallery]. They needed about eight paintings. Could I do that? So I did,’ he explains simply. ‘I had a year to do them.’ Now Arthur is absorbed in preparation for exhibitions with Gallery 1957, at both its Ghanaian and Hyde Park galleries. The studios in their Bath house are downstairs in the former servants’ quarters. In Arthur’s studio, shelves of books and brushes line one wall

PHOTO: © CAITI GROVE

Caiti Grove visits artist duo Arthur and Erica Timothy at their home-cum-studio in Bath

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Art | CULTURE and an architect’s model of a project in Accra called Africa Lake sits in the corner. In the middle, three canvases balance on three easels. One is his late aunt Evelyn Dove, a jazz singer who studied opera at Royal Academy of Music, performed in New York, Paris and Bombay, and was a regular on BBC radio. On canvas, she is dressed for the stage, with layers of pearls and bright eyes looking up from under a hat decorated with jewels. In another work, Arthur’s mother sits, determined, maternal, hopeful. ‘I do feel her spirit, her presence, when I paint her,’ Arthur says, rolling his work around to capture the best light for photographs. ‘My mother is from Ghana, and my father from Sierra Leone. I was born in Ghana but we moved to Sierra Leone when I was a baby until I was nine, when my father’s job brought him to London.’ Arthur and his brother went to Queen’s College in Taunton where they learnt rugby and art, but his younger years return to him most strongly. ‘People say I sound English but, you see deep down, I still feel quite African. I have very strong, very fond memories of growing up there.’ When Arthur’s father died, he inherited trunks that remained unopened for a few years. ‘The thing is, when a parent dies and you have to go through their things, it’s really quite an emotional ordeal so I put it off for a long time,’ Arthur reflects. ‘But when I did, there were some amazing photographs of my father’s life, when he met my mother before they were married, pre-independence in Ghana, the colonial period and the great transitions that happened when Ghana gained independence in 1957 under Nkrumah.’ A few years after independence, Arthur’s father – a journalist at the time – spoke out about the president’s excessive lifestyle. He was deported back to Sierra Leone, his presence considered ‘not conducive to the public good’.

Arthur worked from the photographs to create the painting now hanging in his drawing room. ‘The photos are black and white, but I remember that dress,’ Arthur says, gesturing to his mother wearing a colourful patterned shift dress. ‘So I put the colours in as I remember them.’ One floor below, Erica’s pots stand on every surface of her studio, and a kiln sits in the corner. She presents one of her ‘bottom pots’ – two smooth bum cheeks captured in brilliant, peachy realism. ‘I’ve always hand built; the first one I made in slabs and cut and joined. And then I got into coiling. if you’re throwing on a wheel, I mean, big strong men can do big pots, but generally, you’re limited to the size and the shape that you can do on a wheel. I like building quite big and more organic. This,’ Erica says, pointing to a large pot that looks reminiscent of classical Greece, ’It might take several weeks to build. I coil it and then cover it and let it gain strength, then fire it, glaze it, and fire it again. And then,’ she says with a wry smile, ‘My dog knocks it over and it’s in pieces.’ Erica began her career in architecture working on projects in the Middle East, travelling out to Libya and Bagdad for site visits. Later, she worked on refurbishing the Barbican’s roof and Tate Britain’s gardens before joining Arthur at his architectural practice - they have worked together ever since. ‘It’s nice to think you can change,’ says Erica of her creative projects and career, ‘you’re not set on one route’. Outside her studio, a ping-pong table is set up, ready for a chance game between the two artists. Erica challenges me to a point, and hands me a bat. ‘But I should warn you,’ she says smiling, ‘we’re both pretty good.’ After seeing their work and this house, I believe it. Arthur Timothy is at Gallery 1957 from 1 Dec to 14 Jan 23. gallery1957.com 

PHOTO: © CAITI GROVE

Erica and Arthur Timothy met at architecture school – they now both work out of their studios at home in Bath

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CULTURE | Sustainability

MY LITTLE GREEN BOOK Lisa Grainger meets Rachel McRobb, the brave Zambian conservationist tackling ivory poachers head on

at the heart of CSL’s operations are its community outreach staff, who go out to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts. Some days, they might be planting chilli hedges to deter elephants from raiding villagers’ crops, or erecting electric polywire fences. On others, they might be doing sponsored events to help bring in the over $1million they need a year, raised through grants, visitors and donations from organisations such as Tusk, the organisation headed by Prince William, which shortlisted her in 2016 for its coveted Tusk Conservation Award. ‘What I think I’m most proud of what we’ve achieved over the past 20 years is creating this team: of dedicated men and women who give their lives to protecting their country’s wilderness and wildlife,’ she says. ‘And bringing women into conservation. When I started out, there were very few. Now there are a lot more, who don’t have to rely on men and can make their own decisions, which has been a big culture shift.’ Her own personal life, she says, has had to take a backseat to CSL for two decades. But with her partner, Matt Becker, who is CEO of the Zambia Carnivore Programme, a conservation organisation focused on big cats, she now tries to tack time off: to go hiking with him in Montana, to explore the planet and its creatures. ‘For a long time, I worked all the time. Now CSL has the right people to take it forward, I can enjoy other things.’ For instance, during Covid when there were no tourists in the park, taking 2,458 villagers out on game drives, 57 percent of whom had never been on one before. Some days, she admits, ‘when things don’t work, or take a very long time to change and you feel like you are fighting against a machine,’ she does get frustrated. ‘But then I get up each day and see we are making a difference. And so onwards we go.’

achel McRobb always knew that she wanted to work with animals. Born in Zambia to Scottish parents who’d come to work on the copper mines, the African bush was her playground and wild creatures her passion. ‘I loved animals, of any sort,’ she says, ‘and so all I wanted to do was look after them.’ Today, the 48-year-old is one of the most respected conservationists in Zambia: the CEO of Conservation South Luangwa and a woman who is one of the first ports of call when there’s a wildlife emergency. That might be getting a stuck baby calf out of the mud. Or taking the wire snare off the neck of a lion. Or trying to rescue an elephant wounded by ivory poachers. Although she started the organisation on her own in 2003, with $150 from her salary and a handful of volunteers, today CSL is one of the biggest single employers in the area. It has 120 full-time Zambian staff who work with the Department of National Parks to oversee 1,400,000 hectares of wilderness. Most are scouts who live in the bush, clearing traps and catching poachers. But it’s also got a pilot – who last year scoured 54,000km of the area by air and a K9 Dog Unit – made up of armed scouts and sniffer dogs – which in 2021 was responsible for helping to make 65 wildlife crime arrests and find $10,000 worth of ivory, bushmeat, firearms and contraband. Perhaps most importantly, though,

Born in Zambia, Rachel McRobb has been passionate about protecting its wildlife since childhood; above and below: CSL’s team of conservationists

cslzambia.org 

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THE HOME OF COUNTRY CLOTHING Resplendant in a cascade of swirling colours, our new Aquamarine Paisley shines and shimmers from this scintillating velvet printed in France.

Styled into an effortlessly elegant box pleat skirt or our newly redesigned cheltenham jacket, complete with antique pewter effect buttons for extra opulence, these stunning creations are sure to turn heads whether you’re stepping down the street in comfort or gracing this years party scene. Another exclusive design that typifies the quality and craftsmanship that you’ll find throughout our new Autumn/Winter collection.

VELVET BOX PLEAT SKIRT | TQ12060 | £149.95 VELVET CHELTENHAM JACKET | TR40665 | £245 CASHMERE SHORT SLEEVE CREW NECK | TT14201 | £99.95 COVERED BUTTON BLOUSE | TN11020 | £49.95 Experience the best in contemporary country clothing with our new catalogue. To request a copy please ring 01796 483236 or visit our website. The House of Bruar by Blair Atholl, Perthshire, PH18 5TW

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CULTURE | Conservation

The Positive Disruptor

Would you change how you earn your money to save the planet? asks James Wallace THINK DIFFERENTLY, ACT NOW Professional purpose

ccording to the World Bank, £2.7 trillion was generated by the sweat of a 67 million UK population in 2021, which equates to around £40,000 per person. It’s no surprise then that economies, obsessed with perpetual growth, should measure success through the lens of production and consumption. But at what cost? With Gross Domestic Product as the gauge of our collective work output, what’s the impact of our jobs on the environment that sustains us? Despite decades of warning, from building farty cars and serving fast food to financing fossil fuels and marketing plastic landfill, our nine-to-fives still feed the deathly spectres of global warming, soil depletion, habitat destruction and river pollution. Hiding behind greenwash ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ and offsetting emissions and guilt won’t do. With a biocapacity deficit of 4.8 gha (global hectares per person), we Brits stomp the tenth worst ecological footprint in the world, with our livelihoods causing five times more damage than workers in Bangladesh or Ethiopia. When was the last time anyone dared to ask themselves: is my job part of the ecocidal problem or ecological solution? Our careers are mainly viewed as a sacred, personal expression of our free will, in the free market. We were taught to aspire to promotion, fortune, status, fame even. However, many of us feel this clash between person and planet deeply. It took me until I was 30 to realise that my corporate job was not only laying waste to

nature, but making me ill and unhappy. I took the plunge 20 years ago and ever since have earned well and helped heal rather than exploit. Self righteous? No. Just common sense. It’s obvious that doing whatever it takes to polish a gleaming career with a fat salary is futile if the supermarket shelves are empty and the rivers run dry. And it feels good to replenish rather than deplete. I’d bet my home that the number of workplace depression and anxiety cases would plummet if we all signed up to ethical earning. Whole nations are doing it: Bhutan has had a Gross National Happiness Index since 2008. In the same period, GDP has doubled from $1.2billion to $2.4billion. Ask yourself then how you can contribute to the solution, count the true costs of production, create future-proof technologies, grow food regeneratively, empower the next generation or make buildings and clothes from future-friendly materials. How can you change your organisation from within, or leave and join others on the same mission? Imagine what we could do if we all committed to health generation, not just wealth, and made sure every pound we earned was a positive contribution to our combined future. Imagine how good that would feel. A pipe dream perhaps but it’s about time we talked about how we earn our money not just how we spend it. An ethical career in the wellbeing economy awaits everyone who wants it. James Wallace is a trustee of River Action (riveractionuk.com) 

READ... Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth to see how to meet the needs of all within the means of our planet. kateraworth.com/doughnut RATE AND COMPARE… Employers with transparent insights from Glassdoor. glassdoor.co.uk LEARN… How to be a socially responsible intrapreneur or entrepreneur with Skoll Foundation. skoll.org

REGISTER... your organisation as a B Corp and journey into ethical business. bcorporation.uk RECRUIT... for green experts with Green Jobs (greenjobs. co.uk) and Environment Job (environmentjob.co.uk/jobs)

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

Would you give up the corporate life to save the planet?

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Discover the unlimited range of styles proposed by the Antarès interchangable strap system and give free rein to your creativity. Finally express your personality with elegance and distinction. Available at exclusive retailers around the country

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Maserati Quattroporte Trofeo PRICE £128,000 ENGINE 3,788cc V8 petrol POWER 572bhp 0-62mph 4.5 seconds TOP SPEED 202mph ECONOMY 23.1mpg (combined) STREAMING Jurassic Park theme – John Williams

Road Test

The Maserati Quattroporte Trofeo is an automotive dinosaur – a dying breed soon to disappear forever, says Jeremy Taylor

TOWN ‘You didn’t ask for reality, you asked for more teeth!’ Jurassic

COUNTRY The handful of Quattroportes sold in this country are

Park perfectly sums up the outrageously fast but ultimately doomed Maserati Quattroporte Trofeo – one of the fastest saloons on the planet. More T-Rex than nimble velociraptor, the Trofeo is a sporty version of the long-serving Quattroporte. Spacious and sophisticated, the monstrous roar of a twin-turbo V8 petrol engine still can’t save it from the rise of electric cars. So, what’s the point? Well, lay a Quattroporte key next to one from BMW, Audi or Mercedes and most of us would choose the Maserati. Forget logic – the Trofeo is simply irresistible. Guzzling through fuel at a frankly alarming rate of less than 20mpg around town, this niche Maserati is more about style than function. It’s Versace on speed, beautiful to look, wonderful for making a big entrance but now feels dated – other saloons do it much, much better. Maserati has announced its own plans for a push into electrification and will even join the all-electric Formula E series next year. A battery-powered SUV called Grecale is on the way, as well as a stunning new grand tourer but, for now, this is the company’s flagship luxury car. For sheer menace and presence, a Trofeo remains unbeatable. It’s achingly cool and a glorious reminder of the bad old days of V8 petrol madness.

cheaper, V6-engined models that offer slightly improved economy for everyday driving. There’s little rhyme or reason to buy a pricey V8 Trofeo. The Maserati will cover vast motorway distances in sheer comfort but forget relaxing on a busy country A-road. All that power at the back wheels can spell disaster for the uninitiated. Somehow that huge engine doesn’t quite work with the rest of the car – especially at low speed when the Maserati grumbles along waiting to explode. Passengers in the rear might need a sick bag and for the driver that low roof line means poor rear visibility. Most of the buttons and dials upfront feel dated and the touchscreen display has less functionality than an original iPhone. The driving position is weirdly high, the small pedals too off-set and did I mention the Quattroporte loses value faster than just about any other luxury saloon? Thankfully, what really matters to most Trofeo owners is how the car performs. An unforgiving Italian stallion, once mastered, the Maserati is simply a thrilling steed. Not even a Bentley has this much presence. One last hurrah for the dinosaur, then.

RATING: 3/5 HANDBAGS

RATING: 4/5 WELLIES

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Driving | CULTURE

THE DRIVE

THE DESTINATION: MANDARIN ORIENTAL, NEW YORK

The views across New York from a top-floor suite in the Mandarin Oriental at sunset are awe-inspiring. Floor-toceiling windows, the Hudson River in one direction, skyscrapers jostling for position in the other: London’s incredible skyline pales in comparison. Sophisticated and elegant, this 54-floor hotel makes up the lion’s share of the Time Warner Center. Even reception is located an elevator ride up from the street-level on the 35th – ensuring every room has a view to die for. Service and facilities are second to none. I was wowed on arrival by The Aviary bar overlooking Central Park. High ceilings add to the air of spaciousness, while the Asian-themed décor extends throughout the building. However, my top-floor River View Suite was, quite literally, on a different level. While luxurious linen and comfy sofas are tempting resting places, I spent the first hour with my nose pressed to the glass, exploring New York from above – as well as wondering if the windows cleaners were paid danger money. The Oriental is a discerning, grown-up yet family friendly hotel where nothing is too much trouble. However, for an equally star-spangled vista at ground level, the enormous electronic dashboard of the Mercedes EQS Night Edition I arrived here in is hard to beat. An all-electric model, this state-of-theart saloon showcases Mercedes’ MBUX Hyperscreen, stretching door-to-door across the entire dashboard. The multiple displays merge together to offer a seamless screen

Plush rooms come with unbeatable views at the Mandarin Oriental, New York

measuring over four-and-a-half feet! The silent-running cabin is packed with space-age features that require time and patience to understand. Most functions are operated via the touchscreen – a virtual personal assistant is also waiting to connect calls, report on the weather, or even tell a cheesy joke. Luxurious, quiet and extremely spacious, the battery powered EQS will cover huge distances between charges. It’s essentially the electric version of the flagship Mercedes S-class and is one of a range of EQ electric models currently filtering onto the market. My moody Night Edition boasted glossblack chrome detail, sport seats, upgraded stereo and a panoramic sunroof to rival my bedroom suit. Only the bland, jelly-mould exterior styling fails to impress.

IN THE BOOT

SUSTAINABLE E-SCOOTER Cool Swedish design is behind this new, steam punk-style electric scooter. Cut from lightweight, sustainable steel, few two-wheelers look this good around town. Stilride SUS1, £8,400. stilride.com

BOOK IT: Rooms from £632, suites from £1,691, mandarinoriental.com. For Mercedes luxury taxis in New York visit blacklane.com  Mercedes AMG EQS 53 4MATIC+ Night Edition PRICE £154,995 BATTERY 108 kWh POWER 658hp 0-62mph 3.8 seconds RANGE 358 miles STREAMING New York Skyline – Garland Jeffreys

QUEEN OF SPEED Dorothy Levitt was a trailblazing lady motorist, racing driver and world record holder. Never heard of her? A new book celebrates the life of a remarkable woman. Fast Lady by Michael W Barton. (Butterfield Press, £40)

CANDID CAMERA Accidents happen and this incar dashboard camera offers real-time proof in a crash. It will also record your entire holiday road trip for nostalgia! Thinkware Q1000, £259. thinkwaredashcam.eu

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CULTURE | Interview

Charlotte Metcalf meets Emma Manners, the ‘Accidental’ Duchess of Rutland PORTRAIT BY ALEXANDRA DAO

IN BRIEF MICHELIN STAR OR COUNTRY PUB?

One of my favourite pubs is the Chequers at Woolsthorpe THEATRE OR GARDENING?

Musicals take me back to when I was training as a singer. The Belvoir gardens are too huge for me to be more than just visionary. WINE OR TEA?

Definitely wine, but I couldn’t go without Earl Grey and we now have our own Duchess tea and are starting to bottle wine from our vineyards. CAT OR DOG?

Shih Tzus, labradors, westies and a blind pug – all like unruly children.

‘G

oodness knows why I wrote it!’ chuckles Emma Manners, Duchess of Rutland, ‘I just didn’t think it through.’ At Scarfes Bar we’re chatting about her highly entertaining memoir The Accidental Duchess (Pan Macmillan, £9.99). It comprises a warts-and-all portrait of her marriage, motherhood and the uphill slog of ‘living above the shop’ at Belvoir Castle. Indeed, she begins once chapter ‘Was I a monster?’ after unfortunately overhearing a conversation between castle staff hoping to ‘break’ her. Emma dashed off the book in three months, after dispatching her youngest son, Hugo, to university. She says it was a ‘full on, very emotional and cathartic process’. I am not surprised, given she lays bare various marital humiliations and her recent nervous breakdown. ‘When you’re really hurt, you must try not to let your ego get in the way,’ she says, ‘you have to get your head around the situation and accept it.’ She’s talking about the Duke’s 50th birthday party, a lavish affair which she organised at Belvoir with hundreds of guests. When Emma joyfully asked her husband to dance, he said was ‘busy’ and walked away, cruelly negligent as to who witnessed his wife’s utter mortification. It heralded the end of their relationship. Luckily for Emma, the characteristics that best define her are optimism, resilience, a positive attitude and sense of purpose, enabling her to make the most of her life and role as the chatelaine of a dauntingly vast historic pile. ‘My upbringing was very pragmatic,’ she explains, ‘and I need practical people around me who just kick on and don’t get daunted by challenges.’ Though Emma is in another happy relationship, for the sake of her family’s and Belvoir’s stability, she didn’t divorce David and they remain on good terms, living in different wings of the castle but coming together every Sunday for lunch with the family. When Emma met David Manners in London at a friend’s dinner party in the 1980s, she was immediately drawn to him and let him drive her home. An attempted kiss as he dropped her off was met with a swift slap. Only after buckets of red roses appeared at her parent’s home, did her friend point out that David was not a publican, as she assumed from his card, which read ‘Marquis of Granby’. ‘Like most people, I’d never even met an hon before, let alone a marquis, and David was so personable and humble, not at all entitled.’ Emma softened. They married and on his father’s death, David inherited the title and they moved

into the magnificent if forbidding castle. Thirty years and five children later, Emma remains Belvoir’s driving force, towing it into the 21st century as a commercial enterprise, opening it to visitors, with a thriving retail village and pizza outlet in the old engine yard. ‘I tend to go at everything at 100mph and don’t really let people get close,’ she says, ‘but that’s changed since my breakdown.’ One day, five years ago, Emma simply needed time out and alone. She walked across the castle to her late mother-in-law’s bedroom and didn’t emerge for months. She’s remarkably open with me, admitting she’s put herself back together in a different version of herself, relying on daily meditation, regular contact with a spiritual counsellor and spending time ‘in a private corner’ at least once a year. Meanwhile, she continues her ‘day job’ as Belvoir’s custodian. ‘Downton Abbey romanticised the aristocracy but I want to shine a light on the daily lives of the hardworking British women in private heritage. Every day we go into battle to juggle the tax man, health and safety, dry rot, the roof.’ If anyone has lifted the lid on the realities of today’s aristocracy it’s Emma, with her books, television series (one on Belvoir’s Capability Brown landscape with Alan Titchmarsh) and commercial ventures. There’s also her podcast, in which she interviews other chatelaines, and she’s planning a third series with her oldest daughter Violet, talking to people working at Belvoir. Emma grew up in a cosy house, poetically named Heartsease, deep in rural Wales, which is partly why she considers herself an ‘accidental duchess’. ‘The most important words in my life are still probably “hard work”,’ she says, ‘but the wonderful thing is I had such a happy childhood that it gave me the foundations to cope with whatever comes next.’ Her childhood pony, Betty, imbued her with a lifelong love of horses – earlier this year she rode with 20 other women 80 miles across Radnor, sleeping in barns and swimming in lakes. ‘We ended up on the Welsh beach where my parents had a blissful house and it was an amazing way to reconnect with my childhood.’ Family remains paramount. ‘Charles, my eldest son, is 23, and will inherit and take Belvoir forward,’ she concludes. ‘This memoir isn’t about me but about what these 1,200 heritage British houses mean for local communities. And it’s the women who’ve helped sustain them for future generations. We always have and we always will. I certainly intend to. It’s my life’s work.’ duchessthepodcast.com 

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Emma Manners has spent 30 years as the chatelaine of Belvoir Castle

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Materials

GIRL

As the final instalment of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials comes to our screen this December, HARRIET COMPSTON meets its stand-out star Dafne Keen to talk growing up, grief and her first on-screen kiss FASHION DIRECTOR NICOLE SMALLWOOD PHOTOGRAPHER RACHELL SMITH

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Jacket Haze of Monk Skirt David Koma Boots Christian Louboutin Chair Fritz Hansen @ The Conran Shop

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Skirt and top Prada Bodysuit Encommùn

t’s the fashion market at Portobello today. Dafne Keen admits that if she wasn’t here, in production at a central London hotel, then she would be trawling the stalls of W11. ‘The charity shops are so good. I can’t deal with it,’ says the 17-year-old British-Spanish actor, who also likes to make her own clothes. But, instead, we’re talking about HBO/BBC’s highly successful adaptation of Philip Pullman’s epic His Dark Materials trilogy in which she plays heroine Lyra Belacqua who, as Pullman puts it, is ‘destined to bring about the end of destiny’. For Dafne, the role started with a jellyfish. She was on a tiny island off the coast of Puerto Rico when the makers of His Dark Materials contacted her asking for an audition tape. ‘I was about to do it when I was like “let me go and have a swim in the ocean”. I got stung by a

Caribbean jellyfish. So, I did the tape in this dark room with no lamps, bad Wifi, bad quality with a rash over my face.’ It obviously didn’t matter. Dafne got the part. ‘Lyra is a very complicated character,’ says Dafne, who, in her role, also tackles complex emotions such as loss, abandonment and grief. ‘There were lots of conversations about how a young girl would react to death. What was so interesting and good to put together was that Lyra continued to mourn for all three seasons. She finally gets closure but usually when characters in films get that, that’s it. And it really isn’t. Life, death, love, loss. You still feel the pain of it.’ The final season follows Lyra and fellow adventurer, Will Parry (Amir Wilson), as they continue to battle across a series of parallel universes, amid a swirl of witches, spectres and dark matter. It also sees Lyra and Will become more than friends – a storyline that resulted in Dafne’s firstever romantic scene. ‘It was wild – but fine because I’ve known Amir for years. We have great chemistry when we act together. He is a delight, super talented and super respectful. It was very interesting to navigate sexuality, which I have never done before on camera. I think we did a really good job of it without sexualising Lyra, without her just becoming an object of desire.’ The topic of desire in her roles will surely become even more pertinent, I say, as Dafne gets older. She agrees. ‘It starts happening when you begin looking like a woman. People treat you differently. I have never had anyone try to flirt with me on set, anyone say I am beautiful on set or talk about how to make my character look more attractive. I’ve never experienced being a woman in the industry. Until now. It’s really formative, bizarre and amazing. It’s also very weird and sometimes bad. But, ultimately, I am so grateful that I get to do acting.’ Born in Madrid in 2005 to English actor Will Keen and Galician writer, actress and theatre director María Fernández Ache, Dafne

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Lace body, top and skirt Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini. Boots Christian Louboutin

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Bra Stella McCartney. Dress Dior Boots Christian Louboutin

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Blazer, trousers, bra and pants Miu Miu

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Cap and dress Stella McCartney Boots Jimmy Choo

grew up in London for a few years before returning to Spain. ‘It was madness,’ she says of her upbringing. ‘My parents were always improv’ing. One of them would be writing a play, the other acting in it… They taught me that the glitz and glam of acting is nice, but my job is to show up on set, know my lines, do it as well as I can and try and tell a story.’ Her parents also gave her a great education in old movies – Some Like It Hot is her favourite film and Jack Lemmon her actor role model. Dafne made her screen debut aged nine alongside her father in The Refugees, a sci-fi drama about a Spanish family who take in a group of refugees from the future. ‘My dad had to [spoiler alert] kill me in the film. He was traumatised. I was milking it. The fake blood tasted like strawberries. I was having a great time.’ Dafne’s mother

was on set coaching her. ‘It was the three of us, a little family business. Really fun.’ Three years later, Dafne landed the lead role in Logan, opposite Hugh Jackman (‘the loveliest, most talented and charismatic man ever’) in his swansong as Wolverine. The film was packed with stunts – a perfect fit for Dafne who has been practicing aerial silks since she was tiny. Hugh recalls: ‘There’s a scene where Dafne punches me in the arm. I went home with bruises.’ Her compelling performance earned her the 17th spot in The Hollywood Reporter’s list of the 50 Greatest Superhero Movie Performances of All Time. Logan catapulted Dafne into the spotlight. ‘It was really terrifying, really daunting.’ Couple that with the usual teenage challenges. ‘Being young is complicated. Everyone feels very intimidated by everyone. I think some boys feel emasculated by the fact that I am successful. Some love it, some just feel indifferent about it. Anyone around my age is just going to be immature. So I just have to cope with it basically.’ She also has to contend with social media which, unsurprisingly, she describes as ‘a really dangerous place for young people’. Fortunately, Dafne has enough to distract her. She is into street photography – most recently, shooting her way around Paris where she stayed up all night and watched the sunrise from the Louvre. She draws, too, keeping a sketchbook on her at all times and loves music (right now, she is having a ‘huge’ 50s jazz moment, last week it was 90s New York rap). She also wrote a novel last year and a few short films, including one that she is directing. With so many interests, is acting her future ambition? ‘I don’t want to stop acting ever.’ Her next project is ‘top top secret… with lots of stunt action’– but whatever it is, going by Dafne’s track record, it will pack a punch. The eight-episode final season of His Dark Materials will debut this December on BBC and be available to stream on BBC iPlayer. 

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Dress Michael Kors Collection Chair Harry Bertoia for Knoll @ The Conran Shop TEAM Make-up: Sara Hill @ The Wall Group using Dior Capture Totale Super Potent Serum and Dior Forever Foundation. Hair: Nurad Kutowaroo @ Carol Hayes Management using Unite Hair Digital cover: Tracer Ital @ Adrenalin Photographic Photographer’s assistant: Ethan Humphries Fashion assistants: April McCarthy and Alice Hare Paint throughout is V&CO Paint by Valspar, available at B&Q and diy.com. Find out more at vandcopaint.co.uk STOCKISTS: PAGE 202

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PHOTO: UNSPLASH

IN BETTER

NEWS... . AMY WAKEHAM and TESSA DUNTHORNE round up 2022’s feel-good stories

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MENOPAUSE TABOO FINALLY BUSTED The menopause revolution is here – and not before time. Celebrities from Michelle Obama to Gwyneth Paltrow have all spoken up about their experiences, with Davina McCall making two gamechanging documentaries on the subject, and a new campaign, Menopause Mandate, fighting for increased awareness and access to HRT. menopausemandate.com

TECHNO RAVES TO CLEAN UP UKRAINE

ANIMAL CROSSING

THOUSANDS VOTE IN FAT BEAR WEEK POLL October 2022 saw people worldwide getting involved in Alaska’s annual Fat Bear Week, and voting for the fattest brown bear living at Brooks River in the state’s Katmai National Park. The winner? Beefy no. 747, otherwise known as ‘Bear Force One’. explore.org/fat-bear-week

Ukrainian DJs are setting up their turntables in bombed-out buildings, and turning dance parties into clean-up parties in an effort to rebuild after Russian bombing. See them in action and donate at instagram.com/repair.together

A GAME-CHANGING BLOOD TEST DETECTS CANCER

WORLD’S LARGEST CONTAINER LINE REROUTING TO PROTECT BLUE WHALES The Mediterranean Shipping Company has announced that it is rerouting around Sri Lanka to protect the area’s population of blue whales. Moving the official shipping lane reduces the whales’ strike risk by a suitably vast 95 percent.

WHAT A LOAD OF... Summer 2022 wasn’t just notorious for its heatwave, but for the sewage pumped into our rivers and seas by UK water companies. Refreshingly, grassroots campaigners are taking on the polluting giants. Citizen scientists from Oxfordshire-based organisation Windrush Against Sewage Pollution gathered enough data to allow Wild Justice to take the water regulator Ofwat to court over its alleged failure to stop companies discharging raw sewage into rivers (wildjustice.org.uk). Meanwhile, Surfers Against Sewage has extended its groundbreaking Safer Seas & Rivers Service water quality-tracking app to cover several rivers and streams around the UK, as well as offering easy ways to email your MP and contact the CEO of your local water company (sas.org.uk).

EXTINCT OSPREYS BACK FROM THE DEAD Ospreys, extinct in England since 1840, are now breeding successfully again. The reintroduction has been ramped up thanks to programmes in counties such Yorkshire, which has just welcomed its first osprey chicks in 200 years.

RATS TRAINED TO CARRY AID TO EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS Animal behaviouralist Dr Donna Kean and Africa-based organisation APOPO are training rats to carry backpacks with GPS, camera and communication devices into earthquake zones to find missing people. apopo.org

PHOTOS: © L LAW; © GETTY; © CAMPBELL BREWER; © MURRAY SANDERS

Scientists have developed a single blood test that may be able to detect more than 50 types of cancers, including those that are rare and aggressive. The Galleri test began being trialled this year by the NHS ahead of potential roll-out.

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SEAWEED TECH COULD TURN TIDE ON CLIMATE CHANGE

An innovative use of sargassum, a free-floating type of seaweed, might represent a means of turning the tide on climate change. Sargassum is well known for its ability to absorb and store carbon dioxide, the concerning byproduct of the melting polar ice caps. This year, climate tech company Seafields has tested the first proto-aquafarms for sargassum in unused areas of the sea, otherwise considered ‘ocean deserts’. The long-term ambition of these farms will be to absorb carbon dioxide via the sargassum and to then create ‘carbon bricks’ that can be sunk to the bottom of the ocean. The carbon stored in these bricks would sit on the seafloor for a minimum of 700 years. Read C&TH’s full interview with Seafield’s John Auckland at countryandtownhouse.com now

GOOD GREEN NEWS The scoop on the planet’s positive next steps

NEPAL HAS DOUBLED ITS WILD TIGER POPULATION

PHOTOS: © L LAW; © GETTY; © CAMPBELL BREWER; © MURRAY SANDERS

The Nepalese tiger population hit a historic low of 121 in 2009 – but thanks to conservation commitments by its government, this number now stands at an estimated 355, according to the WWF. Representing a 190 percent increase over 13 years, there’s new hope for this at-risk species.

FIRST TREES OF AFRICA’S GREAT GREEN WALL PLANTED

PATAGONIA GIFTED TO PLANET

Yvon Chouinard, the billionaire founder of Patagonia, has given his company away in a bid to combat climate change. Previously donating one percent of the company’s annual profits, he stated this September that this is ‘not enough’. Now, any profit not reinvested will be given to the Patagonia Purpose Trust and Holdfast Collective, which will use the money for environmental action. Its website now states: ‘Earth is now our only shareholder’.

ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENT IS AT AN ALLTIME HIGH – THANKS TO BABY BOOMERS ‘Green’ and ‘sustainable’ ventures on crowdfunding platform Crowdcube are attracting six times more investment than they did five years ago, marking a rise from £5.5m in 2017 to £41.1m in April of this year. This represents a growing commitment from investors in ESG and ethical companies. The primary drivers of this growth? Over-65s, who are the most likely to have the largest percentage of their portfolio invested in green businesses.

In September 2022 the first trees were planted in Senegal for UN and WEF backed project, The Great Green Wall. This initiative aims to build an 8,000km wall of trees across the entire width of Africa by 2030; this will in turn help prevent desertification, restore 100m hectares of degraded land and sequester 250m tonnes of carbon dioxide, while also creating significant jobs in the Sahel region.

AN D IN TH E H E ADLIN E S

DOWN UNDER Australian government passes first climate legislation in a decade. LEADING THE CHARGE Wales set to ban single-use plastics. DEEDS, NOT WORDS European Parliament agrees crackdown on greenwashing for all EU-based companies, to begin June 2023.  November/December 2022 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | 105

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PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK; GETTY IMAGES

Bellingcat is named after an old fable, Belling the Cat, where a group of mice plan to stick bells on their hated neighbourhood cat, so they would know when it was coming to eat them. Eliot’s biggest cat is, of course, Putin

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PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK; GETTY IMAGES

CAT & MOUSE

He was described by Jeremy Paxman as his hero and James O’Brien as ‘the most important journalist you’ve never heard of ’, but what LUCY CLELAND wants to know about Bellingcat founder, Eliot Higgins, is how it feels to fi nd out the truth about the world’s biggest wrongdoings – and, of course, what his favourite snack is November/December 2022 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | 107

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he next time you’re about to lose your rag at your child who has just spent yet another hour tucked away in their bedroom on their computer, stop, draw a breath and whisper the name Eliot Higgins. You never know, your little screen addict might one day become one of the heroes of our age. Not that Eliot, founder of Bellingcat, an investigative journalism group that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence, would ever want to be described thus. But it’s too late, Eliot: even the BBC’s fearsome inquisitor, Jeremy Paxman, has called you his hero. If you haven’t heard of Eliot or, indeed, Bellingcat then quite frankly where have you been hiding? He and his global network of internet sleuths have cracked some of the biggest cases of wrongdoing (to say the least) in recent history – with no formal investigative training, no journalism degrees and no big corporate or government backing. How then? You may well ask. By sitting at their computers for hours on end, trawling the internet and geolocating – that is determining the geographic position of an object – and cross-referencing it with reams and reams of social media footage that anyone could find should they be so inclined. Theirs is evidence-collecting and verifying extraordinaire. To rattle off just a few of their cases: they proved who was responsible for the downing of Malaysian Airlines MH17 plane in Ukraine in 2014 (the Russians); who poisoned Yulia and Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018 (the Russians); and who poisoned Alexei Navalny with nerveagent in 2020 (the Russians). There’s a trend here, of course, so it’s not surprising that Putin and his offensive against Ukraine (and others) suck up a lot of Bellingcat’s working hours. But it was the war in Libya, then Syria (and the misinformation disseminating from the regions) that essentially got angry young keyboard warrior Eliot hooked on fact verification back in 2011. At the time, he was a blogger named

‘Brown Moses’ who spent a lot of time in forums and comment sections. ‘I liked to argue with people,’ he says, but found that is was helpful to have the evidence to back up his disputes. And we are in an era when the truth is under threat like never before – we live in times when even a recent former President of the United States of America subverted its meaning so unashamedly, launching his own Twitter-esque platform, called Truth Social, and doesn’t see the irony. The good guys have to keep up at pace. Without the smartphone technology that can mobilise revolutions (witness the Arab Spring), however, Eliot and his troupe would not be able to do what they do. And why does he do it? It’s certainly not for personal glory. Whereas an investigative journalist might be gunning for a scoop, along with a Pulitzer Prize, Eliot says he wants more than just to tell a story; he wants to enable justice, engender change and provide accountability, so the bad guys can be eventually – and rightfully – brought down. Even Bellingcat is set up as a foundation where Eliot, as its founder, can be sacked for stepping out of line. He literally is one of the good guys. When meeting Eliot on Zoom at his rented house in Leicester (he’s mid-move), I’d half expected to see a chubby man with a haggardlooking complexion and heavy bags under his eyes, given what he must have to look at on a daily basis (sarin-gassed children, for example). In fact, I’m forced to comment on how good he looks – his skin is soft, wrinkle-free, dewy-almost, and there’s attractive grey running through his plentiful dark hair (he’s 43). And far from empty bags of Doritos and beer cans littering a dingy backroom office, he’s more partial to a pistachio nut (unsalted), listening to Impressionist piano works of the turn of the 20th century (Ravel and Satie, in particular), and the only thing he has on his desk is his MacBook Pro. ‘My wife is very much into healthy living and organic food. We never eat processed food and all

PHOTOS: FABIO DE PAOLA

Eliot Higgins has brought open-source investigation to the mainstream with great effect and impact through his work at Bellingcat, the agency he founded in 2016

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I’ll drink is either water [usually filtered at that], green tea or filtered coffee,’ he says without batting an eyelid. So far, he’s no Hemingway nor internet trope – though, he might well have been. As our conversation continues, I conclude that Eliot has a lot to thank his wife and children (a girl, 11, and a boy, eight) for. A child of the 1980s, who had an obsession with computers – constantly on his ZX Spectrum – Eliot ‘probably had undiagnosed ADHD’. Looking back, he says that he was quite shy, ‘a loner’, so, ‘I just withdrew into myself and then got used to my own company’. Nowadays, you’d worry about that kid – introverted, closed curtains, computers, finding their tribe in the murkier recesses of the web – so I’m guessing he could have gone another way instead of becoming a man who pisses off Putin. It was, he admits, ‘not a conscious decision, but one of those things that happens to you in life that takes you one way or another. For me, it was about making the right friends and meeting the right people and reading the right things and not the wrong things.’ (Listen up, QAnoners.) Nor is he happy about his children spending too much time online (just like those Silicon Valley techpreneurs who fessed up they don’t let their own children have smartphones in 2020 documentary The Social Dilemma). ‘We’re really strict about it,’ says Eliot. ‘The games nowadays have an element of addiction that really didn’t exist before. I think that’s actually quite dangerous for a young mind because it feeds into the brain the idea of a reward system and it can cause addictions in a way that really hasn’t been an issue before.’ And then there’s social media and the pressure of image his daughter (and just as likely his son too nowadays) will no doubt feel. Eliot has the wit to realise that he’s a complete hypocrite, though, given how much he is online. He’s keen too, however, not to point the finger of blame entirely at the tech companies and doesn’t believe a set of draconian laws will have much impact on the corrosive side of being online. ‘What I’m more focused on is looking at the question of how we actually reach young people to make them engage online in a more positive way. One thing that I’ve learned from Bellingcat is the importance of building communities and how empowering that can be to an individual, even if it’s a small contribution. We are working with a UK-based organisation at the moment and in the very early stages of designing a school curriculum that includes an element of open-source investigation training.’ Teaching open-source investigation in schools? How refreshing; how progressive; how enlightened. ‘It’s not just to show [children] how to be investigators, but how to be positive contributors and good online citizens in society. Unless we are proactive about doing that and actually teach people how these things can be used positively, showing them that you can be part of networks that can feed into more important things, we won’t move forward.’ I’ve never heard a politician speak this way; can we get him into the Department of Education immediately, please, instead of the current proclivity for engendering fear and loathing of everything online. ‘This is something I observe every day,’ says Eliot, referencing the community aspect of being online. ‘With the conflict in Ukraine, we’ve seen that these ad hoc online communities, who are focused on the conflict, are very effective at debunking disinformation coming from Russia. Also through things like geolocating a video, we’ve been able to feed that into a data set that we can verify, and we’re now providing that to a range of different accountability organisations. That kind of small individual act is being fed into something that’s much larger. We need to make people aware that’s something that they can do, and be part of, and show them how to do that. If we don’t, then it’s no wonder they will show up on 4Chan [an anonymous message board mostly devoted to threads of conversation about racism, conspiracies, and fascist dogma] being Nazis.’

How does he switch off from work that by its nature is constantly developing and can be history-making? ‘Generally, I make sure that at the weekends I’m not doing work stuff. In the early days of Bellingcat when I was trying to get things going, I’d work all the time. It’s taken nearly eight years to get to a point where I can switch off in the evening and sit with my wife to watch some TV series on Netflix and not think about work.’ (Current favourite shows are Severance and Stranger Things.) Social media, he admits, has destroyed his ability to read novels. ‘I read so much but it’ll be reports and official things. But when I get the chance, I love Ted Chiang, who writes short science fiction stories.’ And what about his mental health given what he’s confronting on a daily basis? ‘It’s really important to be aware of that in this line of work, both for myself and for the people that we work with. I make sure that our staff [currently numbering around 30] have therapy sessions available for free, anytime they want it. And we encourage them just to talk, giving them a space where they know they can talk about anything they want to in a non-judgmental way.’ I comment that his wife must be quite a woman to put up with someone whose life could literally be in danger (given Putin’s proclivity for poisoning those who speak out against him): ‘I think she’s happy now that [Bellingcat] has become something stable. Because when you’re a blogger who’s relying on crowdfunding [which Eliot did for three years before Bellingcat became a properly financed organisation in 2018], it’s not the most stable situation.’ Yes, but what about the fear of assasination? ‘The first time we published a big article on the GRU [the Soviet military intelligence organisation] about being involved in the Skripal poisoning, I thought it was really going to annoy some very dangerous people. That was quite scary. ‘If I’m in a hotel I won’t have room service and I have various security things that I use in the room to make sure that it’s secure even when I’m not there. I’ll always carry my devices with me no matter where I go, so it’s all those extra little steps you have to take.’ It’s not just the Russians, though, that he has to be wary of, ‘it’s the crazy people off the internet’ too. ‘I’m more worried about [them] because they can be harder to spot until they’re right in your face.’ When not cracking cases, Eliot is in constant conversations with production companies and working on feature documentaries. The success of the recent Navalny film earlier this year showed just how powerful this medium can be for impactful storytelling. He also wrote a book We Are Bellingcat (which tells the story of the genesis of the organisation and goes into some of the cases they’ve solved) last year, and did a podcast on the breaking of the MH17 case. His overarching aim is to open up as many people in as many places to the values of open-source investigation, so he’s continually working out how to further his reach; not for a power grab, but because he knows that the more people doing the work, the more accountability there will be and, ideally, the more bad apples will be brought down. ‘When I started doing this 10 years ago barely anyone even thought to do what I was doing with videos and photographs from conflict zones,’ he says. ‘Now it’s unthinkable for any news organisation, human rights NGO, policy-maker, or international accountability not to use that sort of evidence to understand the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. I think a lot of that is down to the work we’ve done at Bellingcat to train and educate people, and I’m very proud to see it being used so widely, and to such great effect.’ Proud he should be. Oh, and did I also mention that he sometimes solves the odd stolen dog story? A true hero of our times.

PHOTOS: FABIO DE PAOLA

‘If I’m in a HOTEL I won’t have room service and I have various SECURITY things that I use in the ROOM to make sure that it’s SECURE even when I’m not THERE’

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A VERY

DIFFERENT

BALL

FROM ABOVE: While the social function of balls may have changed from when the Queen Mother took part in the Dashing White Sergeant at the 111th Royal Caledonian Ball in 1959, they’re still a wonderful excuse for a jolly good knees up, as evidenced by the Bal de la Rose in Monte Carlo earlier this year

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PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK

GAME

Do the pomp and peacockery of the aristocratic ball have any relevance to our lives in the 21st century? ROSALYN WIKELEY heads to Monaco to observe the modernday beau monde letting loose on the dance floor

PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK

‘W

e had to put a stop to it. Every tart in London was getting in.’ Princess Margaret’s cutting, if not revealing, defence for ending Palace débutante balls confirms the high society game: the preservation and frequent pruning of an elite, as if keeping a small, but perfectly-formed garden in check… no weeds. In some ways, the late Princess’s quip marks the demise of an indomitable pillar of patriarchal society: where aristocratic girls were paraded like bejewelled cattle for debauched 14th century masquerade balls to the salivating gentlemen and used as pawns in their parents’ decadent and equally scandalous Venetian rendition socio-economic chess games throughout ‘the season’. But which faded into desperate replicas with the fall of also, and perhaps more deliciously, it touches on an elitist the Republic. Where Britain still dines on its bygone impulse that lies deep in the less honourable chambers era of the Duchess of Devonshire’s hedonistic soirées of human nature. Balls will assume various incarnations and Jane Austen’s orderly waltzes and quadrilles, throughout the decades, but this impulse endures, spurred European balls seize on a distinctly more flamboyant on by champagne-fuelled cavorting and theme and are generally considered to climbing opportunities. be much more fun. The final blow to the official British Bal de la Rose is no exception. First held by Princess Grace of Monaco in deb ritual was dealt by the late Queen 1954 to raise funds for her foundation Elizabeth II, who oversaw the last whitefor sick children, it’s up there with the gloved hurrah in 1958. As feminism Ghillies Ball (Balmoral’s annual bash gained momentum and postwar Britain was forced to tighten its purse strings, since Queen Victoria’s reign), Anna she symbolically and quite prudently put Wintour’s Met Gala and Vienna’s opulent Hofburg Silvesterball for an end to the whole ordeal. Various deb offshoots rushed to fill the void (such exclusivity factor. as the revived Queen Charlotte’s Ball This year’s ball not only coincided of 1780, which the Duke of Edinburgh poignantly with the 40th anniversary reputedly described as ‘bloody daft’), of Grace Kelly’s death, it also marked but the fairy dust was lost with the royal Christian Louboutin’s debut as artistic director, following a decade under the stamp, consigning most deb affairs to the flawless eye of the late Karl Largerfeld. woeful realms of gimmick or big moneyed, American-style galas. And along with the society swans, These débutante dos are, however, the international jet set and the odd only one iteration of the ball, whose celebrity flocking to the prestigious etymology lies in the Latin ‘to dance’. Salles des Etoiles, I bagged myself an Stripped down and a ball is exactly that: invitation: a thick, elaborately illustrated one big party where an edited few cut card promising royals, roses and some choreographed shapes. Then red-soled stilettos. there’s the decadence, the high society It’s this typically Monégasque FROM ABOVE: Sabrina Dhowre Elba was at this year’s Bal de la Rose, hobnobbing and the spectacle. concoction of Grimaldi royalty, the where shoemaker Christian Louboutin (pictured with Fanny Ardant) jet-setting cognoscenti and celebrity No one does this better than the bluedebuted as artistic director; Queen Elizabeth II enjoyed a turn around blooded Europeans, whose ball pedigree that lends Bal de la Rose its mystique the floor at the Royal Caledonian Ball in 1946 is unrivalled – from Charles VI of France’s and longevity. It’s not a relic of a bygone, November/December 2022 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | 111

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You wouldn’t have found Dita Von Teese’s risqué burlesque act at a débutante ball

feudal age, nor a garish gala awash with cheques, it’s where various pockets of 21st century power coalesce – this year amid a wildly imaginative scene of pinks and lacquer reds. Christian Louboutin’s bold, Roaring Twenties cabaret vision saw no less than 14,000 roses and 900 chaises Napoleon III golden chairs line the tables, all of which were perfectly placed so no diamond clad guests need strain for a glimpse of Dita Von Teese’s risqué burlesque act. Curiously, the royal table appeared unphased by the night’s abundance of nipple tassels and erotic frolicking that would have crossed all lines of decency for the British crown. Indifference to nudity is hardly surprising from a principality propped up by casinos and cabaret. Indeed, the Grimaldis embraced the kitsch cabaret spirit with standing ovations and brightly coloured ball gowns. These later spun across the dancefloor to Donna Summer’s I Feel Love, which, in the absence of Austen-age formalities, became a free-for-all. Punters encircled the royal clique like bopping fruit flies, feigning insouciance as they edged in ever closer. Pierre and Beatrice Casiraghi, seemingly oblivious to the advancement and really anyone in their frenzied path, twirled in rapture, while Princess Caroline chatted with Christian Louboutin, who she helped put on the map all those years ago as a little-known Parisian shoe designer. All the privilege and couture gowns began to blur into a scene not far removed from a high school prom or a louche, post-midnight wedding. You could spot the fledglings, anchored to their tables in bemusement, foxtrot expectations dashed. Well-oiled veterans formed tight circles across the dance floor: a safe space in plain sight. Much like Bridgerton’s Lady Whistledown, I obliged for a few crowd

pleasers before retreating to the sidelines to absorb the fanfare. The appetite for high-octane revelry was manifest from my vantage point, and the room was charged with the knowledge that royals and celebrities were but a shoulder shimmy away. Here are feudal currents of the deb ritual in a different guise, a social restlessness that reaches fever pitch in the top echelons of society. After all, power and privilege cease to exist in a vacuum, they demand a dance floor, or indeed, a ballroom. In Brothers Grimm-style, the magic of the Bal gripped the principality for days and lingered on in the Grimaldi Forum, where Christian Louboutin’s creativity was given yet another stage with his own exhibition. Guests arrived like sequinned pilgrims from yachts and helicopters before making a beeline for Mont Carlo’s Grande Dame, Hotel Hermitage. Once ensconced with macarons and tea, they readied themselves in marble, Belle Époque rooms with ‘glam squads’ matching lip shades to gowns. Nursing a hangover the following morning, Mrs Bennet-style with egg yolk on the Hermitage spa’s terrace, I spotted a few ball guests suffering similar ailments, their headaches soothed only by a bout of fresh Bal gossip and the world’s most extravagant green juice. Man of the hour Christian Louboutin swung into the lobby, much to the delight of the ton. Modern balls may not be imbued with the same level of intrigue that they once were – they lost their monopoly on peacocking long ago, as the aristocracy began to lose their grip on guest lists. But in the wake of the pandemic, there is a renewed appetite for dramatic dressing and pomp; for a spot of formality easing into a night of frivolity. Or, put plainly by our friend Mr Louboutin, ‘people need to mingle, stare at each other, kiss and make beautiful memories’. 

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RUGS

RUNNERS

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Queen Elizabeth II attends a film screening in 1954

PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK

The

QUEEN A woman for all seasons BY LUCIA VAN DER POST

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e all of us, of course, knew that the Queen had had one of the longest, most admired and glorious of reigns and yet there was a statistic that still stopped me in my tracks the other day – nine out of ten people living on this earth, I learned, were born after Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne. Or there are other little nuggets – four out of five British people weren’t alive when she came to the throne; she outlasted 14 British prime ministers and 13 US presidents. And another one – much more worrying – the population of the UK when she came to the throne was only 12 million whereas today it stands at 66 million. All of which has led me to reflect on what an extraordinary period she lived through and how quietly and almost imperceptibly she adapted to all that the changing world threw at her. And while she was born some time before I was, nevertheless much of my life has been lived in a parallel world to hers. Together we lived through times of intense innovation, immense population growth (in my native South Africa the population during the same time grew much like the British one, from about

12 million to 58.8 million) and witnessed some of the most extraordinary changes in the way we all live our daily lives. I often reflect that my parents and parents-in-law, all of whom died in and around 1995 and 1996, would not be able to function in today’s world, so changed has daily life become in that short time. I was born in South Africa and almost my earliest memory is of over-hearing that my father was ‘missing in action’ in a faraway place called Java and was presumed dead. We were poor but in South Africa it didn’t seem to matter much. We had the sun, the sea, the vineyards, the mountains. Food, housing and private schools were cheap and it took some time before the vast social injustices dawned on me and trouble in what had seemed like paradise began to rear its ugly head. But the England I encountered when I arrived seems from today’s vantage point like another country. Rosamond Lehmann’s The Weather in the Streets poignantly conjures up this lost world. Londoners could post a letter in the morning inviting somebody to dinner and have a reply back by the same afternoon. My husband, then a trainee barrister ‘eating his dinners’, shared a triplex with three other equally impecunious young men in Chester Square where today houses sell for anything from £15 million upwards. Day-to-day public food was on the whole filthy. Meringues were still being made of reconstituted egg whites. ‘Orange juice’ sold by the milk trolleys that still delivered milk to people’s houses turned out to be orange squash – and not a good one at that. Vegetables were still usually overcooked, fish came in pale white glue-like pastes, meat was grey and unappealing.

PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK

Although younger than our dearly departed monarch, LUCIA VAN DER POST has borne witness to the same extraordinary cultural, social and political changes this country has ever seen. Still at the top of her profession, when many others have long hung up their boots, she reflects on these past decades – and finds that the Queen was not only a steadfast and respected leader, she also showed the world what a woman could be

Through the ages: writer and editor Lucia Van Der Post

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PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK

Elizabeth David brought the sunfilled flavours of the South to grey English tables with her glorious A Book of Mediterranean Food (published in 1950) but you still could only buy olive oil at the chemist (for loosening ear wax) while avocadoes, aubergines, peppers, chillies and yoghurt – let alone harissa, quinoa, za’atar or sumac – had not been heard of. Bananas were so exotic that they were considered prized assets to be displayed in the fruit bowl until they turned dark brown and could no longer be eaten. There were three evening papers and goodness knows how many morning ones and so safe and secure a place was London that sellers left a hat beside the stack of papers into which one was trusted to thrust the money they cost. People didn’t hop on planes the way they do now but if you bought a plane ticket you owned it as you might a jumper – you could pass it on to somebody else. We didn’t have a washing machine until our children were out of nappies but even on an average journalist’s salary I had a live-in nanny (nowadays only the seriously rich can afford them – and whatever happened to au pairs?). The gaps between those of our friends we considered rich and those who were like us seem, in retrospect, laughably small. They didn’t live vastly different lives; they just had slightly bigger houses and better cars and stayed in better hotels on holiday. Today the gaps are wide as the tundra – the hugely rich seem to live pampered lives of private jets, executive assistants, cooks, gardeners, personal trainers, dog walkers, therapists, breathing gurus and all the rest. But as staff for most people disappeared so machines began to be developed The Queen was a role model – hand-held hair-dryers, for women all over the world dishwashers, freezers, slow cookers. Secretaries, once the critical professional status symbol, seem to have largely disappeared – replaced by computers, by emails, by smartphones and Virtual Assistants. When I first started at the Financial Times in 1973 I had a large office with a personal assistant and a secretary. By the time I left to go freelance in 1996 I had an eighth share in a secretary, and the personal assistant had long before disappeared. But it’s changing social attitudes that have caused the most upheaval – much, but not quite all, for the better. I remember one girlfriend describing to me the horrors of her back-street abortion – unmarried

mothers were a moral outrage and living together before marriage unthinkable. Divorce was still rare. As for journalism – when I first joined a national newspaper (The Sunday Telegraph in 1963), Women’s Pages were like ghettoes and our subjects were limited to fashion, cookery, design (my beat) and what we called the bleeding heart slot (how I survived breast cancer etc). But things changed and later after I’d joined The Sunday Times Hunter Davies threw out the old notion of Women’s Pages and its limited range of subjects – in came the unisex ‘Look’ pages where we covered anything and everything from food to fashion to interviews with bus drivers and down-andouts, provocative think pieces, and anything else we thought diverting, amusing or relevant. When I first joined The Financial Times to write and edit the How To Spend It pages, the then managing editor looked at me sternly and said rather threateningly, ‘Now you are not going to turn round in three months’ time and tell me you want to be a foreign correspondent, are you?’ Today, women are editors of national newspapers (including The Financial Times) and everywhere hold their own – in hospitals, law courts, big business, the BBC and most corners of the working world. Though the Queen, of course, led a very different life, insulated by her regal standing from the barriers ordinary women faced, the fact that a woman reigned so adeptly, with such dignity and elegance for so many years subliminally changed the country – and I think the world’s view – of what a woman could be and do. I imagine that in her declining years she could reflect with some satisfaction at how the opportunities for other women had opened up so enormously and that, when she thought about her legacy, that might be one to be very proud of. For most of us like to think that when the time comes we would be pleased to leave behind something of worth and merit. For me, it would be to leave behind a family where people care for each other, love each other, have fun together. It’s what I didn’t have when I grew up – a child whose father was away at war and when it was over left for another life and another country – and it is all the more precious because it is something that, as we have seen, not even a Queen can take for granted.  November/December 2022 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | 117

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Engagement ring, from £2,000

Stud earrings from £165. To find out more visit skydiamond.com

Join us for a glittering dinner on Tuesday 29 November to explore how luxury and sustainability can successfully coexist. Tickets cost £75 and include a champagne reception, four-course dinner and a mega goodie bag worth over £150. Book your place here: bit.ly/3Srkd0M. Venue: The Petersham, 2 Floral Court, London WC2E 9FB

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THE GREEN, GREEN GRASSE JAN MASTERS loses her senses in Grasse, the perfume capital of the world, where she meets the founder of Matière Première, a perfumer taking ‘grow-your-own’ to heart

Aurélien Guichard’s May Rose fragrance fields in Grasse

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t’s evening. I’m blindfolded and being driven by car over a bumpy track. The vehicle comes to a halt and the door is opened. I’m led by the hand to a chair and asked to sit. Don’t worry. I’m not being kidnapped. But I am being seduced. By a heady floral scent that suffuses the air. I’m in the fragrance capital of the world – Grasse. It’s the end of summer in the South of France and while the weather is hot, it’s now humid, with sunny days hunted by the shadow of moody storms. I can still see nothing. My senses are focused on the scent. At last, I’m allowed to remove the satin scarf covering my eyes. And there it is, spread before me. A field of tuberose. Shimmering flowers like white-hot fireflies, hovering on long, slender stems. Utterly mesmerising. The field is owned by the fragrance house and the reason I have been blindfolded – as have other guests at this evening of celebration – is now clear. At the reveal, when the scent marries with the scene, it’s a moment to savour, especially as these flowers only release their fragrance at night. ‘I wanted to recreate this smell – one that in the olden days of Grasse, young people were warned to stay away from for fear they would not be able to resist its erotic temptation,’ says Aurélien Guichard, perfumer and co-founder of Matière Première, delighted his introductory drama has played out so well. For tuberose is the star of his creation French Flower, launched earlier this year, a monofloral bouquet, highly dosed with tuberose absolute, a powerful extraction from the flowers that flourish at the organic farm he founded in 2016. A seventh-generation perfumer, Guichard started Matière Première (it means raw material) in 2019 with two co-founders, and the brand has achieved rapid global renown, now selling in luxury retailers in more than 40 countries. What sets it apart is how each fragrance prioritises and pivots around one central raw ingredient of exceptional quality, used in no-expense-spared quantities. For instance, he tells me one kilo of iris absolute, one of perfumery’s most precious ingredients, can cost about €70-80,000; high-quality tuberose, by contrast, comes in at €250,000. French Flower combines the absolute with a tuberose enfleurage, a traditional extraction that captures the scent of the flowers in wax, adding a layer of softer sensuality. This radiant white floral is simply supported by the brightness of ginger

oil and the vegetal stalkiness of green tea leaf oil and a green agave accord. C’est ça. The house also grows its own roses, the central focus of its Radical Rose perfume, which has the highest possible concentration of Rosa Centifolia from Grasse that meets industry standards. It is unfussy. Un-fusty. Clear, contemporary and genderless. It’s wonderful to see a perfumer growing his own ingredients. ‘We have a deep respect for the nature and local know-how,’ adds Guichard. The perfumer has previously earned his scented stripes with big names such as Gucci, Versace and Narciso Rodriguez. But he wanted to establish a more intimate relationship with the ingredients he uses, ensuring a complete, authentic and holistic creative process unlike that enjoyed by most perfumers. This approach is inextricably linked with sustainability. ‘By definition, our craft is deeply linked with nature,’ he says. ‘My conviction is that sustainability is a mindset that drives us at every step. It’s in our philosophy to preserve what inspires us and provides us with our ingredients.’ The flowers he harvests are organically grown, with the accent on preserving soil fertility and enhancing biodiversity. When it comes to other ingredients produced outside Grasse, he only sources those obtained through collaboration with partners who share and demonstrate the same sustainable

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MAKING SUSTAINABLE SCENTS

here are numerous aspects that help make a fragrance more sustainable, from eschewing over-farming and huge production runs to reducing waste and C02 emissions. Eco-friendly packaging is also key, which means considering whether it’s refillable, recyclable, reusable or genuinely biodegradable. And of course, ethically, social responsibility is vital too. Here’s a trio of perfume creators, doing their bit while producing sublime scents.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Aurélien Guichard in his laboratory; a tuberose ‘cadre d’enfleurage’; team gathering the May Roses in traditional sacks; tuberose fragrance fields at night; French Flower and Radical Rose eau de parfums

and ethical values. As an example, the Australian sandalwood he uses in his Santal Austral is 51 percent owned by Aboriginal Australians, who plant 20 new trees for every one they cut. And in his new-for-winter Crystal Saffron, he uses the highest quality saffron grown by a cooperative in the Kozani region in Greece. The fragrances as a whole contain 85-92 percent natural ingredients and are also vegan and phthalate-free, the colour of each fragrance determined only by the raw materials themselves. And using fewer ingredients reduces wastage while increasing artisanal excellence. Guichard likens his minimalist approach to a kind of ‘sobriety’, which by implication dovetails with sustainability – something is only incorporated if it plays a vital part in the composition. Just be wary though. Because you can easily get drunk on French Flower. And who knows what may happen in a tuberose field at night. French Flower, £195. All fragrances are also available in 6ml bottles (£30) providing up to 100 sprays, ideal for discovering the collection and travel. matiere-premiere.com

1 FLORAL STREET Sustainable from its inception, this independent British fragrance brand has been a beacon for change. As part of its commitment to the environment, it uses sustainable ingredients traceable to source or those that are labcreated when these prove more planetsupportive. With its award-winning biodegradable pulp carton and refillable bottles, Floral Street walks a worthy path. Sunflower Pop, £64. floralstreet.com 2 AESOP Eidesis is the new eau de parfum from Aesop, a gorgeous warm, woody scent for winter, thanks to a mingling of black pepper, frankincense, cedar, sandalwood and vetiver. Aesop is a certified B Corporation, joining a growing number of companies pursuing purpose as well as profit. B Corp is one of the most respected certifications, because it sets rigorous social and environmental criteria. Eidesis, £140. aesop.com 3 FFERN Handmaking small-batch organic eau de parfum in Somerset, Ffern releases four perfumes a year at the turn of each season – the next release is on the winter solstice. Instead of a plastic cap, it uses a kraft paper tube. Working with Magical Mushroom Company, the brand has developed a mycelium bottle tray derived from organic waste and mushroom roots, meaning the tray is 100 per cent home compostable. Winter 23, £79. ffern.co 

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THE C&TH CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

ALL THEY WANT FOR Which festive tribes are the best fit for your loved ones? From outdoor adventurers to style-obsessed tastemakers, we’ve got them all pegged. Plus, experiential gift ideas for a lower-carbon Christmas

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THE C&TH CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

APPLE Air Tag, £35. johnlewis.com

LINLEY Macassar Wireless Charger, £100. davidlinley.com

PULLMAN EDITIONS 1970 Nürburgring 1000 kms poster, £420. pullmaneditions.com

META Quest Pro VR headset, from £1,499.99. meta.com

J.S.G. BOGGS ‘£50 (Fifty Pound Note)’, 1990. NFT and artwork, €350. lacollection.io

METAVERSE MOB

HENNESSY Paradis Golden Edition cognac with NFT artwork. $2,500, blockbar.com

The future is here – and it looks good

IWC Big Pilot’s Watch 43 Top Gun + membership of metaverse Diamond Hand Club, £8,850. nft. iwc.com

PATRICIA URQUIOLA X GLAS ITALIA Coffee table, from £2,315. conranshop.com

RUARK R1 Mk4, £239. ruarkaudio.com

BANG & OLUFSEN Beoplay H95, £779. bang-olufsen.com MARINA RAPHAEL X VENYX Bag + complementary NFT loyalty programme for first ten customers, £895/£1,095 for crystal. marinaraphael.com

CONSIDERED CHRISTMAS BUY LESS, EXPERIENCE MORE

Don’t know your AI from your NFT – and no clue what it has to do with the art world? This two-week online course hosted by the prestigious Sotheby’s Institute of Art will chart the changing nature of contemporary digital art in relation to more familiar histories of art. You’ll gain an understanding of how artists are incorporating technology into their practice, how museums and galleries are re-evaluating the rules of display, the potential of the blockchain as a new art commercial ecosystem, and how NFTs can unite fine art with cryptoculture. The course concludes with a short project for students to apply their knowledge. $975 for a two-week course. sothebysinstitute.com 124 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | November/December 2022

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OKTOPUS MOON 3DTP BLACK INK 20 years of heritage www.lindewerdelin.com

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THE C&TH CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE BOODLES platinum and diamond tennis bracelet, £13,000. boodles.com

DR SEBAGH Signature Gold Box, £395. drsebagh.com

REMY MARTIN Tercet cognac, £99. fortnumandmason.com HARVEY NICHOLS Luxury in the Details hamper, £185. harveynichols.com

THEO FENNELL Decanter and shot glasses set, £3,250. theofennell.com

FAVOURBROOK Velvet Newport jacket, £620. favourbrook.com

HIGH FLYERS

ASPINAL Lottie bag in silver glitter tweed, £595. aspinaloflondon.com

For fans of the fi ner things in life

LOU LOU STUDIO Borneo coat, £540. harveynichols.com TOM DAVIES Lorna Col. 1733, £319. tdtomdavies.com

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Collection Extraordinaire Moonlight Patchouli eau de parfum, £175. harrods.com

PATEK PHILIPPE Ref. 5320G, £76,190. patek.com

ETTINGER Capra visiting card case, £180. ettinger.co.uk

HARRY WINSTON Winston Candy spessartite garnet earrings, £POA. harrywinston.com

CONSIDERED CHRISTMAS BUY LESS, EXPERIENCE MORE

Leader of the luxury travel industry since it was launched by James and Tamara Lohan back in 2003, Mr & Mrs Smith is the first port of call for those looking for an outstanding escape. Its careful curation of thoughtful, eco-friendly hotels, villas and cottages – like Rectory Farm in Northamptonshire (left) – also helped it recently become a B Corp, alongside its support of conservation initiatives like World Land Trust and Blue Marine Foundation. Treat someone to their next adventure with a gift card. From £50, mrandmrssmith.com 126 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | November/December 2022

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THE C&TH CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

FIFE ARMS Pewter and leather hip flask, £165. thefifearms.com LSA INTERNATIONAL Pearl Champagne Saucers, £120. lsa-international.com

ROLEX Day Date 40 in Platinum, £POA. rolex.com

BURBERRY Sequinned dress, £8,500. matchesfashion.com NO3 GIN Ultimate Negroni gift set, £90. bbr.com

ADDISON ROSS Salt and pepper mill, £55. addisonross.com

HEDONISTIC HERD

FIORUCCI Disco ball bag, £79. fiorucci.com

Indulgent, opulent and delicious gifts FENWICK Deliciously Indulgent Hamper, £450. fenwick.co.uk

AVANTCHA Tea humidor, £284. avantcha.com

GRAHAM & GREEN Terrance Tiger champagne bucket, £69. grahamandgreen.co.uk

BUCCELLATI HOME Thaiti bamboo flatware, £17,900. buccellati.com BOLLINGER Bollinger PN TX17, £85. champagne-bollinger.com

CONSIDERED CHRISTMAS BUY LESS, EXPERIENCE MORE

For the wine-lover in your life, this eight-week course will give them the skills to pick out the best bottle on the menu and, ultimately, that’s probably a gift that benefits you, too. Based in Fulham, Local Wine School runs courses every month. £210, localwineschool.com 128 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | November/December 2022

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Some cupboards are for storing linens. Others are for keeping gifts out of sight until the big day. At Neptune, we believe the best can do both. Good design never grows old.

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THE C&TH CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE YVES DELORME Flores pillowcase, from £59. uk.yvesdelorme.com

MOLTON BROWN Merry Berries & Mimosa limited edition shower gel, £27. moltonbrown.co.uk

BALA Power Rings, £149.95. cultbeauty.co.uk RACHEL VOSPER Marble candle, £215. rachelvosper.com

JO MALONE Lavender & Moonflower Pillow Mist, £32. harveynichols.com

WELLNESS WARRIORS

JOHN BELL & CROYDEN Bare Biology Skinful Pure Marine Collagen, £35. johnbellcroyden.co.uk

Help them nurture mind, body and soul

HASTENS Bathrobe, £455. Exclusively in-store. hastens.com

TEMPLE SPA Peacetime bath salts, £25. templespa.com

NEAL’S YARD REMEDIES Restoring Bath Scents Collection, £22. nealsyardremedies.com

VALMONT Oxygenating Mask DetO2x Pack, £141. lamaisonvalmont.com

CELTIC & CO sheepskin slippers, £79. celticandco.com

ESTEE LAUDER Limited Edition Advanced Night Repair Serum, £86. esteelauder.co.uk

CONSIDERED CHRISTMAS BUY LESS, EXPERIENCE MORE

What better gift for the busiest person you know than a weekend to escape from the stresses and strains of normal life? London-based barre and pilates trainer to the rich and famous (and royal) Aimee Victoria Long is taking her sought-after health and wellness programme to the Lakes By Yoo, for a weekend packed with fitness classes, paddleboarding, bike rides, wild swimming, spa treatments and plenty of delicious, nourishing food. They’ll leave a new person. From £1,800, 13-16 February 2023. aimeevictorialong.co.uk 130 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | November/December 2022

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COUNTRYSIDE

COLLECTION

One-of-a-kind pieces you’ll love for seasons to come

On Model: Calumet Field Jacket Winter Quarter Sweater R.E.A.L Skinny Ella Jean Moresby Waterproof Boot ariat.com

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THE C&TH CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE BAMFORD Stay Warm hat and gloves set, £120. bamford.com

WESTLEY RICHARDS Aston notebook cover, £295. westleyrichards.com

ST EVAL Amber candle, £15. st-eval.com

BILLY TANNERY Gote bag, £395. billytannery.co.uk

HERD Freckleton jumper, £345. herdwear.co

BRUNELLO CUCCINELLI Coffee cups, £200. shop.brunellocucinelli.com

CONSCIOUS CREATIVES Natural materials and heritage crafts

GIOVANNI RASPINI Bubbles drop earrings, £245. giovanniraspini.com

JOHNSTONS OF ELGIN The Farmer’s Blanket, £245. johnstonsofelgin.com

MORRIS & CO @ THE RUG SELLER Seasons By May bedspread, £275. therugseller.co.uk

EDWARD GREEN Banbury chukka boots, £1,200. edwardgreen.com

ARAMINTA CAMPBELL Fern hot water bottle cover, £85. aramintacampbell.co.uk

CONSIDERED CHRISTMAS

JACK WELBOURNE @ TOAST Jug, £69. toa.st

BUY LESS, EXPERIENCE MORE

Give them the gift of a truly unique Christmas centrepiece they can use forever (clumsy kids and accidents allowing, of course). ‘Make a Masterpiece’ is glass artist Adam Aaronson’s three-hour glassblowing workshop in his Surrey studio, in which participants design a unique glass sculpture or centre piece and then prepare it alongside the maestro. You’ll be doing the majority of the actual glassblowing, but this is the perfect opportunity to level up your skills under the supervision of an expert. Just be careful not to immediately drop it. £1,200, adamaaronson.com 132 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | November/December 2022

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THE C&TH CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Paloma clutch, £1,195. christianlouboutin.com

TIFFANY & CO. Victoria sunglasses, £321. tiffany.co.uk

VOLT Kensington step through electric bike in lavender, £1,729. voltbikes.co.uk

STELLA MCCARTNEY X YOSHITOMO Shirt, £890. stellamccartney.com CEFINN Frieda jumper, £180. cefinn.com

STYLE SQUAD

TASAKI Linkage Sakuragold and Akoya pearl earrings, £20,100. tasaki.co.uk

ADLER Twirly necklace in 18ct pink gold, enamel and diamonds, CHF 12,800. adler.ch

Festive fashion fi xes

AUDEMARS PIGUET Code 11.59 Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon watch, £POA. audemarspiguet.com

ESSKA Ross boots, £170. esskashoes.com

MESSIKA Lucky Move gold, malachite and diamond ring, £1,930. messika.com

NICHOLSON GIN Blood Orange Gin, £39.50. nicholsongin.com

AUGUSTINUS BADER The Eyebrow and Lash Enhancing Serum, £115. augustinusbader.com

CONSIDERED CHRISTMAS BUY LESS, EXPERIENCE MORE

Circularity is the future of fashion – and recycling and repairing are key to the growing movement. Restoration London has courses both in person and online, taught by founder Hannah Foster, a knitwear expert and teacher at Central St Martins. Expect everything from sashiko and boro, a traditional Japanese embroidery mending technique, to darning and fabric painting. With a little skill and ingenuity, participants will have a brand new wardrobe – without the carbon footprint. Workshops from £12, restorationldn.com 134 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | November/December 2022

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THE C&TH CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

HOUSE OF HACKNEY Hedera cushion, £175. houseofhackney.com

LE CHAMEAU Men’s Chasseur wool-lined boots, £300. lechameau.com

GRAFF Wild Flower diamond sautoir necklace, £45,000. graff.com BARBOUR X GANNI Spey jacket, £329. barbour.com

FLOWY Ficus Lyrate XL, £190. flowy.be

CITIZENS OF SOIL Portuguese extra virgin olive oil, £22.50. citizensofsoil.com

CHESKIE JARRITA Cockatoo jug, £650. cheskie.co.uk

BIOPHILIA BROTHERHOOD For nature lovers

REIA Reia Green Leaf and Long Grasses body wash subscription, £22 per month. reia.store

FAIRFAX & FAVOR Mini Tetbury bag, £260. fairfaxandfavor.com YOKO LONDON Petal Akoya pearl and diamond ring, £2,200. yokolondon.com

OSBORNE & LITTLE Orchard linen, £89 p/m. osborneandlittle.com TROVE Caned side table, £495. thetrove.co.uk

CONSIDERED CHRISTMAS BUY LESS, EXPERIENCE MORE

The Land Gardeners (Henrietta Courtauld and Bridget Elworthy) are passionate about all things soil. They bring their decades of knowledge of gardening with the planet in mind with a new online course at Create Academy, called ‘How To Heal Your Soil’. Students will learn how to improve their soil to sequester carbon, improve biodiversity and grow healthier plants. £79, from Jan. createacademy.com 136 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | November/December 2022

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THE C&TH CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

BELL & ROSS BR 03-93 GMT, £3,500. bellross.com

PURDEY Gloves, £250. purdey.com

EAST LONDON PARASOL CO Willow round bamboo parasol, £399. eastlondonparasols.com BERRY BROS & CO King’s Ginger, £25. bbr.com

FORDS GIN London dry gin, £31.45. thewhiskyexchange.com

ARIAT Ashford shirt jacket, £110. ariat.com

OFF-GRID GANG

PANASONIC Panasonic FZ2000 camera, £899. panasonic.com

The perfect gifts for the hard-to-pin-down HOUSE OF BRUAR Ear defender pouch, £32.95. houseofbruar.co.uk

SMYTHSON Travel notebook, £55. smythson.com

ALEXANDRA LLEWELLYN Cigar Travel Backgammon Set, £1,400. alexandrallewellyn.com

DUBARRY Laois boots, £329. dubarry.com

REALLY WILD CLOTHING Outback hat, £75. reallywildclothing.co.uk

PETERSHAM NURSERIES Gardening Hamper, £190. petershamnurseries.com

CONSIDERED CHRISTMAS BUY LESS, EXPERIENCE MORE

For the ardent adventurer who otherwise has everything – or at least everything that will fit in their backpack – a foraging walk might be the perfect gift. No longer will they be constrained by their packed lunch, as they’ll know exactly what to eat and which berries might prove a fatal mistake. Cowdray Estate’s expert guide, George Linklater, leads walks around its 16,600 acres to find the tastiest wild ingredients. From £35, cowdray.co.uk 138 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | November/December 2022

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LEATHER FOOTWEAR | ACCESSORIES | CLOTHING FAIRFAXANDFAVOR.COM

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THE C&TH CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE COOPER ‘Soothing’ limited edition print, £1,600. maddoxgallery.com

BAO Lonely Man T-Shirt, £18. baolondon.com

THE SKATEROOM X SELFRIDGES Keith Haring heart print skateboard, £220. selfridges.com

CLEOPATRA’S BLING Handmade Cable Chain, £86.08. cleopatras bling.com

TIKTOK TRIBE

Gifts that’ll hold their attention for more than 30 seconds

NINTENDO Pokémon Scarlet, £49.99. nintendo.com

WHALE OF A TIME Penzance puffer jacket, £149.95. whaleofatime clothing.com

POOKY Cinder Mirror, £195. pooky.com

RICHARD MILLE RM 88 Automatic Winding Tourbillon Smiley, £POA. richardmille.com

ETSY Wall-mounted planter, From £14. etsy.com

KIMBERLY MCDONALD Malachite printed backpack, £200. kimberlymcdonald.com OLAPLEX Repair and Moisture Set, £52. cultbeauty.co.uk

CONSIDERED CHRISTMAS BUY LESS, EXPERIENCE MORE

Seoul’s self-portrait studios went viral on TikTok and Cheeez Studio now brings the concept to Hackney. Think an elevated photo booth with everything you need for the perfect snap: lighting, camera, background and props. The perfect gift for the chronically online. From £50, cheeez.co.uk 140 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | November/December 2022

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THE C&TH CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

SMILING ROCKS Eco-diamond, from £885. skydiamond.com

AESOP Reverence Aromatic hand balm, from £25. aesop.com

WILD NUTRITION Sleep Duo Supplement, £37. wildnutrition.com

CHLOÉ Alphabet rings, £220. chloe.com

PATAGONIA Fleece, £140. patagonia.com

MULBERRY Carbon neutral shoulder bag, £995. mulberry.com

STRIPE & STARE Pyjama set, £95. stripeandstare.com

ECO ACTIVISTS

IRENE FORTE Refillable wooden beauty calendar, £495. ireneforteskincare.co.uk

Perfect presents from planet-friendly brands

TELMONT Réserve Brut NV Champagne, £52.99. selfridges.com

BUY ME ONCE Denby cafetiere, £85. buymeonce.com

UNION COFFEE Classic selection box, £26. unionroasted.com

CONSIDERED CHRISTMAS

BEESOU Aperitif, £29. beesou.london

BUY LESS, EXPERIENCE MORE

There’s no need to leave the city to go birdwatching. Nature lovers can now get to know and appreciate the wildlife living in the urban environment with expert tour guide David Lindo, who will help them distinguish their chirps from their cheeps. From £180 a day, theurbanbirderworld.com 142 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | November/December 2022

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Lab-grown diamonds 100% recycled gold Discover more www.matildejewellery.com

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THE C&TH CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

YINKA ILORI X BULGARI HOTEL Linen napkins, £180 for four. bulgarihotels.com

BERTIOLI BY THYME William Morris’s Flowers by Rowan Bain (V&A Museum, £14.95). bertioli.co.uk

NINA CAMPBELL Aubergine table mat, £21. shop.ninacampbell.com

SOHO LIGHTING Chalk Green Portland pendant, £132. soholighting.com MATILDE Blossom ring, £975. matildejewellery.com

DESIGN DIVAS Gasp-worthy gifts for the aesthetic-obsessed

RADO DiaStar Original 60-Year Anniversary Edition watch, £1,770. Only at Watches of Switzerland Oxford and Regent St stores

NOSTI 3D Natal Chart, £POA. nosti.co.uk

THE CORNISH POTTER Pit-fired unique vase, £270. thecornish potter.com

DAVID HUNT Panther Table Lamp, £228. davidhuntlighting.co.uk STRATHBERRY Silk Square Woodland Scarf, £145. strathberry.com DE LE CUONA Natural kettle side table, £1,002. delecuona.com

DAYLESFORD Cabbage bowl, £46. daylesford.com

CONSIDERED CHRISTMAS BUY LESS, EXPERIENCE MORE

You know the Chinese proverb about fishing: give a person a vase, and they’ll have a vase – until it breaks. But teach a person to make a vase, and they’ll have access to many vases. The clay pottery taster workshops at Skandihus are a perfect introduction to ceramics, and every student leaves with a glossy white glazed vase to show off at home. From £45, skandihus.co.uk 144 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | November/December 2022

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ARCHIVAL REVIVAL

Two centuries of iconic design WWW.WARNER-HOUSE.COM

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INTERIORS Edited by Carole Annett

Take A Seat

The Graham & Green AW22 collection is inspired by ‘organic modernism’, featuring graceful, soothing shapes and elegant arches. The Lexi ivory bouclé armchair certainly makes you want to hunker down in its cosy curves. £1,395, grahamandgreen.co.uk

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INTERIORS | News NEW VENTURE Renowned furniture maker George Smith is getting into bed. Aviary is one of four upholstered, fully customisable beds launching soon, £POA. georgesmith.com

KEEP IT REAL Palace Pink rug, linen and jute, from the Ochre Wild collection, made with raw fibres using organic, pesticide-free methods and natural madder root and lac dye. From £9,120. ochre.us

COAST TO KITCHEN Olive & Fran began during lockdown, making soap and natural products from near the Hampshire sea. Its vegetable based, non-toxic, biodegradable castile soap costs £17.95. oliveandfran.co.uk

Design NOTES All the latest news from the interiors world. By Carole Annett

LONDON LIFE Bloomsbury Square wallpaper from Willow Tree collection by Anna French, £132 p/roll. annafrench.com

PERCHANCE TO DREAM

PHOTO: GETTY; GEORGE SMITH © OLI DOUGLAS; © DAVID CLEVELAND

The mission of Hästens is to make the world happier and more peaceful by delivering extraordinary sleep experiences. Since 1852, the Swedish family-run business continues to fine-tune and improve its bed and mattress range. And it makes pyjamas to match! Beds from £10,000. hastens.com

LET THERE BE LIGHT

Original BTC has collaborated with Beata Heuman on this elegant Alma light, £1,200. originalbtc.com 148 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | November/December 2022

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BIG SHOT Ralph Lauren Home has brought its American spirit to Design Centre Chelsea Harbour. The Penthouse collection offers sleek silhouettes rendered in Rosewood, black lacquer, polished steel, and channeled leather. £POA, ralphlaurenhome.com

NEW FROM OLD

Everything at Beardmore is handmade in its foundry. This design was discovered by chance in an original Beardmore catalogue along with a stash of moulds and pieces. Aged brass and burnished bronze handle, £125 each. beardmore.co.uk

BILL’S DINER

Bill Amberg studio joins forces with Knepp Estate, renowned for its ground-breaking rewilding, on a sustainable furniture collection for a café in West Sussex, opening spring 2023. Knepp chair, £840. billamberg.com; knepp.co.uk

HOME ENTERTAINMENT Berlin table from £2,199; Saber LED Cube pendant, £629; Austen boucle chair, £319; ripple vases from £49; Lara chair, £360, by L. Ercolani; Hourglass planter, from £85 by Fern Living; Dapple vase, £65 by LSA. heals.com

GOOD FOR PEOPLE AND PLANET

PHOTO: GETTY; GEORGE SMITH © OLI DOUGLAS; © DAVID CLEVELAND

Made in Suffolk, the Newcraft flatpack desk is made jointly by furniture maker Ben and prisoners at HMP Warren Hill. Hyrst helps prisoners upskill in preparation for release. Desk, £845. hyrst.co.uk

SNUGGLE TOGETHER Bailey throw in Constable Green, £225. neptune.com November/December 2022 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | 149

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INTERIORS | Focus 2

GET SQUEAKY CLEAN

It’s all in the details...

RED HEAD Axor One Colours, a palette of coloured taps curated by Barber Osgerby, £POA. westone bathrooms.com

ROOM OF MY OWN

House full of guests? A bathroom sanctuary is the ideal escape SMART STUFF BubbleSpa Air-Powered™ smart shower, from £1,499. keldashowers.com

TAPS AWAY Martin Kemp x THG Paris, Corvair Collection bathroom accessories, £POA. thg.fr

1 Italian styling: My Time furniture featuring Sense sandblasted teak finishes – two new bathroom innovations from Italian makers IdeaGroup. From £973. cphart.co.uk 2 Master stroke: Kaldewei’s Meisterstück Oyo Duo bathtub, designed by Stefan Diez and Miena featuring warm grey tones, £4,800. kaldewei.com and major bathroom retailers. 3 Petal gazing: tiles by Ca’ Pietra and artist Clarissa Hulse, inspired by her love of botanicals and bold colours. Wild Botanicals blue, £97.50 per sq/m. sarsenstonegroup.com 4 Planet organic: a sinuous, wavy shape unfolds as naturally as a flower for a bathroom statement. Nabhi bowl 1 basin, from £10,272. westonebathrooms.com 5 Groovy Livia bath by Sbordoni features an elegant and romantic grooved design, from £6,150. sbordoniceramica.com

OFF THE RAILS Drummonds three bar wall mounted towel rail, from £2,670. drummonds-uk.com

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INTERIORS | Trend

The ECO ENTHUSIAST Shop second-hand and eco for a sustainable Christmas, says Harriet Pringle

TABLE ENVY Investing in quality linens and glassware can transform a table – for years to come

NARCHIE Vintage brass star candlestick holders. £45, narchie.com

ETSY 1950s Champagne glasses. £40, etsy.co.uk

AMUSE LA BOUCHE Cherry red candy stripe set of two napkins. £36, amuselabouche.co.uk

NARCHIE Vintage cheese knife set. £75, narchie.com

ANNA + NINA X LIBERTY Dark green set of six twisted candles. £25, libertylondon. com

PHOTOS: KIRTHANAA NAIDU, @KIRTHANAA. PRICES CORRECT AT TIME OF WRITING.

t this time of year, it’s tempting to fill the home with single-use decorations and wasteful accessories that will never see the light of day during the warmer months. So if you’re looking to make this Christmas a more ethical one, a quick win is to start with your home styling choices. The dining table is often the centrepiece of any celebration, so if you’re buying new glassware and cutlery, it’s worth investing in good quality pieces that can be used for years to come. There are plenty of ways to find stylish homeware to suit any budget, whether second-hand or new sustainably made pieces from small independent brands (or a mix of the two). Vintage champagne coupes, decorative platters or a set of antique silver cheese knives will elevate any table, adding a touch of festive glamour, but with the benefit of being enjoyed year-round. Good quality natural table linen, cared for well, will last a lifetime, and can be transformed at Christmas with simple sprigs of festive foliage and bowls of aromatic cinnamon sticks, dried orange slices, fir and eucalyptus. Add some luxurious, soy taper candles, turn off the lights – and enjoy... 

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DISCOVER PREMIUM TEXTILES EXCLUSIVELY PRODUCED IN AUSTRIA

ETHNO INSPIRATIONS FROM NEAR AND FAR Ethno, the new fabric collection from Backhausen, transports us on a journey

For more than 170 years the textiles of Backhausen inspire with timeless

to faraway lands, where colorful abstractions stir reminiscences of heavenly

beauty, diversity and longevity.

worlds. Natural materials such as pure new wool, cotton, viscose, and linen,

With a passion for arts, cultural heritage, tradition, craftsmanship, design

have been selected consciously and carefully for their quality and sustai-

and quality Backhausen is a pioneer for sustainable high-end weaving,

nability. The richly colored kaleidoscope of this new collection invokes the

breaking new ground in the international world of textiles - with a focus on

longing for a new, vivid, colorful attitude to life.

sustainability, tradition and history.

Experience Ethno at design centre London: Colony by Casa Luiza, 214 Chelsea Harbour Design Centre, London SW10 0XE

www.backhausen.com @backhausen1849

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INTERIORS | Case Study

‘The RESULT? A bright, MODERN space that feels timeless, with ORGANIC shapes and a palette of NEUTR ALS contrasting with POPS of bold colour’

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Made In CHELSEA

Jeweller Matilde Mourinho’s London home is a celebration of female creativity, finds Tessa Dunthorne

Matilde Mourinho at home in Chelsea

ike many of us, during the first lockdown in 2020, Matilde Mourinho, founder of Matilde Jewellery, began to properly notice her Chelsea townhouse home. With the sudden collision of her domestic and professional worlds she decided that her personal space should act as a reflection of her brand, which favours understated elegance. This kicked off a project with Threads Interiors (the homeware arm of the personal styling brand) to completely refresh her space. The vision was simple but clear: to create a chic and comfortable home that could double as a workspace when required. Finding furnishings conducive to both relaxation and productivity was key, as well as creating an effective division of her work/home space so it felt separate yet cohesive. Charlotte Affleck, head of interiors at Threads, weighed in: ‘The scheme particularly evolved around a few key pieces of furniture, and creating a natural flow through each space, despite having a slightly different feel.’ The designer also added her creative nous to the project: ‘I made countless moodboards, which I think subconsciously took inspiration from Matilde Jewellery and the natural elements, shapes, movements and colours that inspire the brand and its designs.’ The result? A bright, modern space that feels timeless, with organic shapes and a palette of neutrals contrasting with pops of bold colour. Contrasting texture and material, like the tactile bouclé wool sofa, glossy marble coffee table, and polished dark wood sideboards, add depth and warmth. Meanwhile, carefully chosen artworks celebrate womanhood. The cult-favourite Breast vase by Anissa Kermiche on the coffee table is a nod to fellow female-founded brands and, alongside the Rock Bottom trio of candlelights, unashamedly reveres the feminine form. These candles also play another important function in creating atmosphere in the space, with punky, musky Fornasetti scent. In particular, Matilde is keen on her Pierre Paulin Alpha sofa, the ideal cosy spot for her movie nights in. Hosting friends also meant finding the right dining table. The Rough dining table from Collection Particulière, seating six, was paired with Ando dining chairs from De La Espada. For that important work-life divide, the bedroom is a serene sanctuary with the same wood-effect panelled wallpaper from Designers Guild that is used in her family home in Portugal. ‘The key to having a space that feels like a home is to make sure everything in it represents some aspect of you,’ concludes Matilde. And this space certainly achieves just that – understated elegance and modern feminity are defining characteristics of Matilde’s home, her jewellery brand, and, indeed, herself. matildejewellery.com 

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Because you give your dreams the love you deserve. Experience now the drēmər® bed at your nearest Hästens store. HASTENS.COM

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Edited by Felix Milns

SKI SPECIAL

SNOW DAYS

Hit the white stuff this winter

Bogner’s AW22 season sees you stylish on the slopes

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FRESH TRACKS

What’s new and cool on the slopes this season? Gabriella Le Breton and Felix Milns have the answers

BUCKET-LIST TRIPS Those with a passion for skiing, adventure and fine food need to add time well-spent with the Norwegian company 62° Nord (62.no) to their bucket list. Experts at creating high-octane trips around Norway’s spectacular fjords and mountains, its customisable six-day Ski the Fjords trip combines resort skiing, sea-to-summit ski touring in the Sunnmøre Alps and accommodation in two of the country’s most lauded hotels, the historic Hotel Union Øye and boutique Storfjord Hotel. Closer to home, Scott Dunn (scottdunn.com) has put together a luxury hut-to-hut ski safari in the Dolomites.

ROCKIES RULES Across the pond, One Fine Stay (onefinestay.com) is launching eye-popping new homes in three of Colorado’s best-loved resorts: Steamboat, Breckenridge and Beaver Creek. Join the 60th birthday celebrations of Steamboat, home to cowboys and bottomless powder, by partying with 15 of your best buddies at Gold Mine Lodge, a towering pad built from genuine gold mine timbers, or take it easy in the comfort of the 12-person Pioneer Lodge, which boasts a large den, cinema room and hot tub overlooking the Rockies.

CERVINIA CHIC The Italian resort of Cervinia, which shares its high-altitude ski area with Zermatt, welcomes Valtur Cervinia Cristallo Ski Resort (crystalski.co.uk) this winter. Formerly a Club Med, the refurbed property has 92 bedrooms and suites, multiple dining venues, kids’ clubs, a vast spa and a boutique. At the other end of the size scale, Shed. HOTEL (shedhotels.com) in Verbier has just 16 bedrooms, ranging from singles and doubles to groups. The latest venture from the Swedes behind Verbier’s prized burger joint, The Shed, the hotel is tipped to be packed with hip Scandi types.

PHOTOS: UNSPLASH

SNOW GLOW We all love to return from holiday looking and feeling refreshed, but if you want to return home looking younger, Méribel now offers some of the best spas in the Alps for pioneering cosmetic beauty treatments. Refuge de la Traye (refugedelatraye.com) is a charming cluster of traditional Savoie chalets on the slopes of Les Trois Vallées, whose rustic appearance belies a hightech spa offering treatments including Vivace microneedling and HydraFacial, Mostleds light therapy and Iyashi Dôme infratherapy. New this winter, Antarès Méribel (antares-meribel. com) comprises a collection of piste-side chalets sleeping four to 18 guests with expansive wellness facilities and a non-invasive medical spa clinic featuring Biologique Recherche products and treatments.

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SKI SPECIAL

MY CHALET’S BIGGER THAN YOURS

GLAMMING UP THE DOLOMITES

In chalet news, the lavish Palace Hotel Les Airelles Courchevel is launching two suitably jaw-dropping chalets in the piste-entwined Jardin Alpin area. Linked by a secret passageway, Chalet Airelles 1992 and Chalet Airelles 1946 (leotrippi.com) each span six floors and can be taken together (sleeping 26-28 guests) or individually (eight and six bedrooms respectively). In addition to offering access to the amenities of the hotel, including three restaurants and La Mer Spa, guests will find state-ofthe-art facilities in their own private palaces, including spa-worthy wellness facilities, private cinemas, games rooms and playrooms.

Hotel de Len

Grand Hotel Savoia

FIVE STAR ARRIVES IN ST MARTIN DE BELLEVILLE No longer a sleepy village tucked away in Les Trois Vallées, St Martin de Belleville is continuing its rise into world-class resort status with the launch of its first five-star hotel, M Lodge (mlodge.fr). With 25 bedrooms and suites, a Valmont spa and suave wine bar and restaurant, the ski-in ski-out property injects a hefty dose of luxury into this quaint village in the heart of the world’s largest ski area.

WHAT A WONDER In the Austrian resort of Ischgl, an old Paznaun dialect word for family togetherness, Zalwonder, is set to become a byword for luxury. With a rooftop infinity pool, 36 chic bedrooms, suites and apartments, the Zalwonder hotel (zalwonder.com) sits on the bank of the Trisanna river, a five-minute stroll from the Silvretta cablecar.

SLEEP & PLAY

PHOTOS: UNSPLASH

Good kip is an important part of your holiday but good play is equally so. With the new Mountain Academy kids’ afternoon club from family specialist Esprit Ski (espritski.com), you can enjoy adult playtime safe in the knowledge that your kids are equally content, learning new activities such as snowshoeing, transceiver training and igloo building. Travel to La Rosière during the New Year week for the opportunity to meet Team GB’s World Cup ski-cross athlete Ollie Davis, who learned to ski with Esprit and will launch the Academy on 5 January 2023.

Chalet Doss

As the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics draw closer, the cosmopolitan town of Cortina d’Ampezzo is preparing for the show of a wintertime. For all its charming blend of Italian and Austrian mountain hospitality, Cortina has been slightly lacking in contemporary luxury. Spurred on by the coming Olympics, however, is new opening Hotel de LEN (hoteldelen.it). In the heart of Cortina, it channels its local heritage (len, meaning ‘wood’ in the indigenous Ladin language, features throughout) while also delivering impressive designer and sustainability credentials. So too do the refurbished rooms of the five-star Grand Hotel Savoia (grandhotelsavoiacortina.it), inspired by the earthy majesty of the surrounding peaks. Set just outside town, the four-bedroom Chalet Serge (leotrippi.com) boasts a playful mix of traditional timber beams and contemporary artwork as well as access to the facilities of the neighbouring Dolomiti Lodge hotel. Further newcomers include the freshly renovated Chalet Doss (leotrippi. com), a secluded 400-year-old chalet just outside Madonna di Campiglio (sleeps up to 23); the quirky 33-bedroom Badia Hill (badiahill.com) in Alta Badia, which boasts a room with its own humidor, some with private saunas and others with cinema-style plasma screens; and Corvara’s Movi Family Apart-Hotel (movi family.it) which, as the name implies, offers apartments and hotel rooms ideally suited for families.

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SKI SPECIAL

OAKLEY Clifden sunglasses, £174 JACK WOLFSKIN Alpspitze wool base layer, £90

PERFECT MOMENT Houndstooth sweater, £285

INUIKII Endurance boots, £445

CHLOE @ HURR COLLECTIVE Goggles, rent from £48

BELSTAFF Scooter coat, £445

WHITE OUT

Ski style to look sharp on the slopes this winter

FREE PEOPLE Pippa packable pullover puffer, £188

CORDOVA @ NETAPORTER Summit hat, £390

MONCLER @ NETAPORTER Maglia ski top, £755; Infinium ski pants, £645

CELINE @ NETAPORTER Goggles, £480

GOLDBERGH Phoenix jumpsuit, £749

PRADA @ MATCHESFASHION Booties, £850

PHOTOS: UNSPLASH. FOR STOCKISTS, SEE PAGE 202

GROUNDTRUTH @ GENEROUS APE Rikr backpack, £290

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AUTUMN/WINTER 22 USE CODE: CTHAW10 FOR 10% OFF

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Luxury Ski Chalets & Lodges since 1882.

We offer an exceptional array of properties and individuallytailored experiences across the Alps and beyond. To find out more visit our website or contact our travel team on: +44 (0)203 004 8750 www.leotrippi.com

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SKI SPECIAL Will climate change cause many of our favourite ski resorts to go extinct?

THE BIG MELT

PHOTOS: UNSPLASH

What does the future of skiing look like in the face of climate change, asks Abi Butcher

f you love the mountains, it’s impossible to ignore the changing climate – but this summer, images of collapsing glaciers shocked the world. The loss of summer skiing in the likes of Zermatt, Val d’Isère, Tignes and Les 2 Alpes signalled the beginning of what might be the end for skiing, unless we take drastic action. These weather events back up warnings issued by scientists that a global temperature rise of 2oC will raise the snowline to 1,500m by the end of the century, affecting many of our favourite resorts including Méribel (1,450m), St Anton (1,304m) and Wengen (1,274m), and destroying low-elevation ski resorts like Schladming-Dachstein (745m) and Saalbach (1,003m).

With the future of the mountains – let alone skiing – hanging in the balance, everyone has to play their part – which, thankfully, they are starting to do. Rupert Longsdon, founder and CEO of luxury operator Oxford Ski, says clients are more receptive than ever to eco initiatives since the pandemic. ‘Our very existence as a company, as an industry, relies on the beautiful snowy mountains,’ he says. ‘The initiatives we have in place [including partnerships with POW, ClimateCare and EcoSki] are increasingly welcomed by our clients. We must all have a long-term focus to protect our playgrounds for the future, before it’s too late.’ November/December 2022 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | 163

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Leo Trippi’s clients expect new chalets to be built in the greenest way possible, like this one in Pescosta in Kronplatz in the Dolomites; a ski lift with solar panels at Flims in Switzerland

While triple glazing, heat recovery systems, solar panels, electric car chargers, recycling and electric vehicles are becoming commonplace in the Alps, the global energy crisis is sharpening focus. Those resorts already ahead on renewables are in the best position while others rush to catch up. Some of the big changes in recent years include the French ski areas of Paradiski, Les Trois Vallées and Grand Massif now running lifts using renewable energy (often locally sourced hydropower). Serre Chevalier will produce 30 per cent of its entire electricity requirements by next year and in Méribel, recycling is mandatory. Swiss resorts will be climate-neutral by 2050 in line with a country-wide government directive, but many go further. Zermatt has been trialling road surfaces made from recycled plastic, hoteliers hold annual sustainability summits and Laax has been constructing ‘energy-plus’ buildings. In Arosa, the Valsana Hotel (valsana.ch) is heated and powered entirely by geothermal probes and a pioneering ice battery. With a free shuttle service for guests travelling by train, fully organic spa products and toiletries, and local, sustainable dining, the Valsana is the real green deal. In Italy, Pejo 3000 banned single-use plastics three years ago,

and in the Dolomiti Superski, lifts were opened and e-bike sharing introduced this summer to reduce the road traffic between the villages of Alta Badia. The Austrian resort of Kitbühel is running one of the largest fleets of electric ski bus networks in the Alps, and the Tirol region has worked hard with neighbouring countries to expand rail services to benefit locals and guests alike. In Ischgl you can soak in the rooftop pool, saunas and hot tubs of the new Silvretta Spa (silvrettatherme.at) with a clear conscience – the spa runs exclusively on green electricity and is heated by geothermal energy and groundwater pumps. In the US, Vail Resorts made an ‘Epic Promise’ to reach a zero net operating footprint by 2030 and is tackling everything from food waste to energy efficiency, even creating terrain parks out of recycled materials (vailresorts.com).

SKI OPERATORS PLAYING THEIR PART Operating sustainably is now a must for travel companies, and with carbon offsetting seen as a get-out clause, real action is being taken to streamline processes and reduce carbon footprints meaningfully rather than notionally.

PHOTOS: UNSPLASH

SKI RESORTS UP THEIR GAME

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SKI SPECIAL

PHOTOS: UNSPLASH

Rather than buy your kit, why not rent it from EcoSki?

Luxury operator Leo Trippi says clients expect new-build chalets to have been constructed in the most sustainable way possible. Founder Florian Steiger, explained: ‘Our clientele either directly expect this or indirectly assume that by investing into the best real estate developments, that we are state-of-the-art when it comes to sustainability’ (leotrippi.com). Operations now need to be cleaner and more efficient, too. Alikats in Morzine grows its own produce, composts food waste and even makes its own yoghurt to cut out unnecessary plastic (alikats.eu). Lagom, a sustainably-focused chalet operator run by the founders of Bramble Ski and Haute Montagne, offers clients the option to tailor their luxuries and cut back on consumables for a more pared back and sustainable stay. Lagom also contributes one per cent of revenue to local sustainability projects (levlagom.com). Last year, Hotelplan (owner of Inghams and Esprit Ski) appointed a head of sustainability, Prue Stone, who has scrutinised every aspect of the company’s operation. She says: ‘It’s an overwhelming subject and not knowing where to start can often stop people in their tracks but I’ve been amazed by the momentum in our first year. It’s a huge collaborative effort internally and we are integrating sustainability into the core values of everything we do.’ (hotelplan.com).

WHAT CAN WE SKIERS AND CONSUMERS DO? We can change how and when we go skiing, by choosing short-haul and merging multiple trips per season into one, longer holiday. And we can stop flying – travelling by train reduces that cost by around 60 percent, driving comes a close second. We can vote with our feet, by choosing a resort and operator in line with our own values and while on holiday live as we do at home; turning off lights, taking reusable bottles and coffee cups onto the slopes. Skiers can make more sustainable choices with skiwear. Spektrum makes ski goggles from bio-sourced plastic, Icebreaker is now making Shell+, a merino waterproof ski jacket and pants; Patagonia’s 22/23 winter range is 67 per cent made from recycled material and Artilect has nailed recycled fabric that also biodegrades. If you don’t ski often, why not rent kit instead? EcoSki last season launched the world’s largest range of high-quality skiwear rental, a move being swiftly followed by brands including Rab, Picture and Decathlon (ecoski.co.uk). EcoSki founder Rachael Westbrook says: ‘The glaciers provide a lot more than just a winter playground. I always tell myself that every fraction of a degree matters and every change counts.’  November/December 2022 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | 165

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ORIGINAL, LIMITED-EDITION ART DECO POSTERS

97 x 65 cm. Priced at £420 each (inc. UK sales tax).

Private commissions are also welcome.

@pullmaneditionsposters

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SKI SPECIAL

CHOICES, CHOICES When it’s family fun or stylish sojourns you’re after, we bring you the places we’d be happy to stay in

LE REFUGE DE SOLAISE, Val-d’Isère BEST FOR REMOTE LUXURY

FORSTHOFGUT, Leogang

PHOTOS: UNSPLASH

BEST FOR FAMILY FANTASY

A truly great hotel transcends our notion of what a hotel can be, and the Forsthofgut does just that. While many ski hotels are primarily a base for skiing, here the vast ski area is almost an adjunct. Drawing on Austria’s spa culture and a deep connection with nature and sustainability, the hotel is truly a destination in its own right. Last season saw the opening of a new lake house, complete with split-level contemporary pine suites, onsen-inspired spa and zen Japanese restaurant, as well as a new family spa in the main building, complete with water slide, low temperature kid-friendly sauna and jungle-style splash pool. Sitting across the piste from the main hotel, the black slatted cladding and clean minimalist lines of the new lake house sit in the middle of a frozen lake, with outdoor onsen pools adjacent to melted sections of the lake, ice-cold bliss for those brave enough to submerge. The apex sauna building has a glass wall looking out onto the striking Steinberg mountain. All in all the new lake house is a wonderful foil to the waldSPA building, with its three stories of adults only spa and 25m outdoor lap pool. There are a series of intimate interconnected dining spaces in the main restaurant, where you jump in and out of three daily changing menus; alpine, vegan and locally sourced. The food is excellent, with Mizumi, the new Japanese restaurant, already a firm favourite in the exclusive Leogang restaurant scene. BOOK IT: Doubles from €400 on a half-board basis (minimum five-night stay or €460pn). forsthofgut.at

A whizz up the Solaise mountain, this cable station-turned-cool Alpine retreat is France’s highest place to bed down. It’s also superb for powder hunters who can be first out on the slopes before the gondolas have even moved an inch. The all-round mountain views are exceptional here – but so is everything else. The 16 cosy bedrooms and four chalet-like apartments are a mix of exposed stone and rustic timber, with soaring windows giving way to snowy panoramas. There’s a 14-bed dorm, too, in keeping with the hotel’s ‘refuge’ status. Roaring wood fires dot every corner, lining the way to restaurant Gigi (which has outposts in St Tropez and Paris). The never-ending breakfast buffet (try the homemade brioche) sets you up for the day. Then there’s lunch and dinner – a hearty feast of nutty cheeses, grilled meats, pasta and traditional Savoyard dishes. The lively bar is perfect for an aperitif beforehand. Just make sure you leave time for the spa with its impressive 25m indoor swimming pool – or book a massage which uses Alpine herbs. BOOK IT: From €450 per night. lerefuge-valdisere.com

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HOTEL CAPPELLA, Colfosco BEST FOR DOLOMITE DREAMS

HYGNA, Alpbach BEST FOR ROMANTIC RETREAT

Regular winner of the prettiest village in Austria, Alpbach is well known for its chocolate-box charm and sloped chalet style, so much so that all new buildings have to follow its architectural north star. So it’s no surprise that this new collection of pine-clad bijoux chalets in their own private enclave ooze traditional Tyrolean charm. Developed on an old farm and clustered around a central barn are 11 chalets, all with private terrace, sauna and outdoor hot tub. Perfect for those wanting peace and privacy, a delectable breakfast box of fresh eggs, hams and juices is delivered to your door each morning, and you can pre-book a private chef for evening meals. Each chalet has a fully functioning kitchen, wood burning stove and comfy day bed downstairs, while upstairs the master suite has a glass wall looking up the wooded flanks of the Reitherkogel peak. The enormous bed can be set to vibrate, allegedly good to soothe those après-ski muscles. Star of the show is a shared pool carved out of the barn in a style reminiscent of Soho Farmhouse. Open to the elements at either end, contemporary sculpted chandeliers hang from the barn rafters over the stainless steel pool. Hire a car as it’s a five minute drive to the Alpbach gondola, or two minutes down to the small satellite area of Reith, well worth visiting for an hour or two’s night skiing on perfectly prepared floodlit groomers. BOOK IT: Doubles from €522 for two on a half-board basis. hygna.at

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PHOTOS: UNSPLASH

Dating back to 1969 and taking pride of piste-side place on the sunny plane of Colfosco, the family-run Capella has undergone a radical five-star facelift, transforming from traditional chintz to contemporary South Tyrolean style. The hotel extended by slicing off the front and rear of the building, extending out and adding new facades and frameless glass balconies to all rooms. Which is perfect as here it is all about the view. Kick back on the Kettal-style furniture and to the south you have a direct view into the Val Mezdì in the heart of the Gruppo Sella massif, one of the most iconic off-piste routes in the Dolomites, while north the dramatic limestone peak of Sasslongher stands sentinel. Inside it’s all about understated comfort. Well designed and discretely lit rooms have suede headboards and simple large format oak panelling throughout (locally sourced of course), plenty of storage plus a bench and hooks by the door to hang your outerwear. Retained from the previous incarnation are the family matriarch’s impressive art and artefact collection, and a trippy panelled ceiling in the bar that could only come from the tail end of the sixties. A large spa with indoor and outdoor pool also looks out onto the Val Mezdì, and even the family-friendly sauna comes with a view. And the food? This being Italy you will eat like royalty. BOOK IT: Doubles from €504 half-board. hotelcappella.com

SKI SPECIAL

LE CHALET ZANNIER, Megève BEST FOR INTIMATE SOPHISTICATION

Celebrating its opening a decade ago, Le Chalet does not seem to have aged at all. A small collection of 12 suites spread over several rustic timber-clad chalets, the feel is as timeless yet refreshing as it was on opening. Another revolution of the old-meets-new wheel, the vibe is very pared back, with simply textured walls, exposed beams, roaring log fires, hay-lofty four-poster beds and smart antiques. Each suite has its own living area, fireplace, and balcony with beautiful mountain views, complete with quirky hayloft platforms and secret doors. Founder Arnaud Zannier is a devout disciple of the Belgian aesthetic inspired by the interiors of Axel Vervoordt, and you can see his influence everywhere. Even in the subterranean spa, the walls, floors and ceilings are all cast in the same russet tone. You can feel the stress slip off you like a bathrobe. The restaurant is nearly as cocooning as the spa, but if you can bear to go out again after the skiing day, it’s only a short ten-minute stroll down into the historic centre, for shopping, horse-sled rides or nightlife. BOOK IT: Doubles from €765 half-board. zannierhotels.com

BEAR LODGE, Les Arcs

PHOTOS: UNSPLASH

BEST FOR SKI-IN SKI-OUT CHALET GROUPS

Rising like a phoenix from the pandemic ashes, Bear Lodge is VIP Ski’s new flagship collection and a pet project of CEO Andy Sturt that’s been ten years in the making. A collection of fully serviced chalet-style apartments in a large building built on the corner of Arc 1950, it’s the ultimate snow-sure ski-in ski-out option, the DNA at the heart of everything VIP Ski. It’s also the first new build in Arc 1950 since its inception 15 years ago, and the only chalet-style offering here. Working with a trusted developer Andy laid out the architectural spaces around where he wanted to put the large communal sofas and essential storage that every good ski chalet needs, optimising the design to suit a modern chalet holiday. Each apartment has either a floating wood or water vapour fire and a simple palette of greys, pine and stone cladding, and what it lacks in flair it more than makes up for in function. The modern European menu is as good as ever from VIP, with the black-clad chalet hosts on hand with afternoon tea, champagne and canapes. Take a dip in the shared 15m indoor pool and spa, or sink into the sofas at the luxe cinema with nightly screenings for up to 20. There’s also a slope-side sports bar/club-style restaurant and hotel rooms for individual guests, which can also be used to accommodate additional guests who can join apartment guests for meals. Perfect for flexible parties. BOOK IT: Doubles from £1,339pp per week on a seven-night chalet-board basis, including flights and transfers. vip-chalets.com November/December 2022 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | 169

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SKI SPECIAL

LES AIRELLES, Val d’Isère BEST FOR SLOPESIDE STYLE

HOTEL DE VERBIER, Verbier BEST FOR BOUTIQUE BOLTHOLE IN CENTRE OF TOWN

The oldest hotel in Verbier has undergone a spectacular refurbishment to become one of the most stylish and convenient beds in town. Just off the Place Centrale, what was an old Inghams club hotel has now become a chic boutique retreat. Previously a labyrinth of three disjointed buildings, the hotel has been sympathetically reclad in chalet style timber and completely reimagined internally. Bang in the heart of town it’s super convenient for stepping out, yet triple glazed and fully soundproofed for a great night’s sleep. Versailles parquet flooring, sheepskin furniture and retro-meets-modern colourful ski shots (all from local photographers) give real warmth to the lobby bar area. The colour scheme is all about earthy colours of the mountain. Think grey polished plaster walls and upholstered headboards in grey, brown and green, with flashes of luxury in the green rainforest marble bathrooms. The attention to detail of the new Swedish husband and wife team is second to none, from the petrified wood coffee tables to the Spirit of Nomad linens and pottery sourced from a small Swedish artisan. The Scandi feel continues with the Amundsen sport clothing uniforms, though the excellent restaurant, La Nonna, run by the restaurant group behind Le Rouge, has more of an Italian feel. BOOK IT: Doubles from 350CHF/£314 B&B. hoteldeverbier.com 

PHOTOS: UNSPLASH

After a muted pre-pandemic debut Airelles Val d’Isère threw open its doors last winter, like a girl finally allowed to go to prom, and has not looked backed since. Taking inspiration from the fairytale-like cosiness of the original Airelles hotel in Courchevel, the look here channels a Middle Ages meets Renaissance haute epoque look, but with a refreshingly contemporary twist. Vermeer replicas sit on rough-cast plaster walls and a large fireplace crackles in the stone flagged reception, while staff sport Savoyard chasseur outfits. The vibe continues throughout the large rooms, with vintage furniture, super kingsize beds and large flat screen TVs hidden in ornate gilded mirrors. Yet the playful piece de resistance is the main restaurant, the third outpost of Paris’s famed Loulou, where freeze-dried fossilised flowers run all over the Ralph Lauren tartan panelled walls and ceilings to create an enchanted forest feel. By night live dj sets are streamed in from the bar to add to the lifestyle vibe. The modern European menu totally delivers. Don’t miss the scallop and truffle carpaccio or the raw purple artichokes with aged parmesan. Lunch is served on a spectacular slope-side terrace on the Front de Neiges to a rocking live DJ set and is sure to become a Val d’institution. If you are lucky enough to be staying you can head straight from lunch to the Greco-roman spa. BOOK IT: Doubles from €1,200 half-board. airelles.com

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STAR-SPANGLED SLOPES Skiing in the epic terrain of north America is rather different from the slopes of its European cousins. Felix Milns packs up his family for a first-class trip

elebrating its 60th anniversary this winter, Vail has long championed family skiing in North America, so it was a natural choice for our first stateside family ski trip. Fittingly we were staying at The Lodge, the very first hotel built in Vail village. In those days The Lodge essentially was Vail village, today the heated streets of the pedestrianised resort are lined with fashion boutiques, art galleries, cutting edge restaurants and live music joints. The story of Vail began when two ski patrollers from Aspen, Pete Seibert and Earl Eaton, set out to create the ‘next great ski mountain’. Pete had fought in the Second World War with the 10th Mountain Division and had completed ski mountaineering training near Vail, and the vision of those mountains had stayed with him for 20 years. What he eventually re-discovered were the hallowed back bowls, a sequence of steep north-facing bowls linked like a daisy chain, but miles from the nearest infrastructure. To access them they first needed to develop the front side, not to mention a healthy dollop of investment.

That first winter lift tickets cost $5, for a skeleton offering of one gondola, two chair lifts, eight ski instructors and nine runs. By the end of the sixties President Ford was a regular visitor and today it’s not only the third largest ski mountain in the US, but Vail Resorts now own 37 different resorts across North America and beyond. This year they added their first European resort to the roster, with the acquisition of Andermatt in Switzerland. As Vail resorts have grown so has the concept of the mega ski pass. While rival Aspen has rolled out the Ikon pass, offering access to 45 different resorts across North America and beyond, the Vail Epic Pass covers all 37 of the Vail resorts plus access to over 20 more partner resorts worldwide, including the Trois Vallèes, Verbier and St Anton. Two of the key differences between skiing here and Europe is the treeline is much higher in the Rockies, and there is no such thing as off-piste. All of the in-bounds terrain is avalanche controlled and the trees, which run all the way up to the 3,400m summits, are thinned out and ‘gladed’ to create gladed tree skiing areas next to beautiful wide-open pistes dotted with individual trees and small copses. It’s a very different feel to following a tightly cut piste through the trees in the Alps, and defines how skiing is taught here.

PHOTOS: UNSPLASH; VAIL RESORTS

Family fun at Beaver Creek

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SKI SPECIAL

There are kids’ adventure zones in each of the separate mountain areas, with twisting trails running through wigwams, old wild west shopfronts, mini jumps and switchback turns, designed not just for fun but as part of a wider philosophy of terrain-based teaching. The instructors use these parks to get kids used to making the tight turns they will need to develop their skiing through the trees, bumps and steeps. We enjoyed them every bit as much as the kids, and after a few days the training paid off as Maisie (12) and Imogen (10) were confidently bouncing though powdery moguls, whooping with delight. There is a huge amount of terrain to cover, with flank after flank of beautifully groomed runs, adventure parks and glades, the skiing really is world-class. And that is before you even get to the back bowls. Skiing these remote descents feels like a real adventure, especially when you catch sight of an elk wandering through the woods. When you commit to flying across the pond to ski it makes sense to explore more than one resort, so we opted for a twin-centre stay, splitting our time between Vail and nearby Beaver Creek, which proudly proclaims itself the ‘World’s Best Luxury Family Resort’. Set on a smaller scale, the heart of the pretty purposebuilt village is an outdoor ice rink, surrounded by comfy seating areas and outdoor fire pits, where fresh cookies are handed out after skiing every day. It’s a charming ski-in ski-out village fv amous for the Birds of Prey Downhill, one of the fiercest men’s courses on the world cup circuit. Thankfully there’s also plenty of intermediate and family-friendly terrain to balance out the double diamond blacks. New for last winter was McCoy Park, a gentle bowl with two new lifts in another Elk protected area. Wildlife is never far away here, some of the glades of the Grouse mountain sector were closed during our stay as a mother and baby moose were on the loose, and that connection with nature is celebrated at Zach’s Cabin, an elegant rustic cabin where you can catch a sunset snowcat up to for dinner. The sleigh ride takes you up through the interconnected roots of the Aspen trees above the Ritz Carlton at Bachelor Gultch, to the cabin where 12m high ceilings and a monumental stone fireplace form a glorious backdrop to a dinner of Bison short ribs or Colorado beef tenderloin. It’s a rare example of great on-mountain dining; while you can eat spectacularly in the village bases, the giant self-service refectories on the hill in both resorts are a far cry from the family-run mountain restaurants of the Alps. It’s best to accept this head-on and come to enjoy the scenery, service and worldclass skiing, that tartifllette can wait for another season. BOOK IT: The Lodge at Vail costs from $635 room only (based on two people sharing a King Room). For more information visit vail.com/plan-your-trip/stay/ vail-lodging. Osprey Beaver Creek costs from $547 room only (based on two people sharing a King Room). For more information visit beavercreek.com/ plan-your-trip/stay/beaver-creek-lodging

FROM ABOVE: Ice skating at Lionshead, which is close to but smaller than Vail Village; a chairlift takes families up at Vail; make a stay at the Lodge at Vail and Osprey Beaver Creek

THE RISE OF THE MEGA PASS Anyone considering a trip to Vail should look into pre-booking ski passes as early as possible as prices steadily rise the closer you get to winter. It may even be worth buying a season pass, as this will also give you a week’s skiing in Les Trois Vallèes, unlimited skiing in Andermatt, and multi days in Verbier, St Anton and beyond. Not to mention Japan. Taking this into consideration the Epic season pass is incredible value. Prices start from $859 (if bought early), but the flip side is extremely high lift ticket passes in resort, and large crowds of day skiers on bluebird powder days. As more and more resorts partner with the Epic or Ikon pass the trend looks set to continue. Visit EpicPass.com for more information on all available passes, which also include 20 percent discount on group ski school lessons and equipment hire. 

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SKI SPECIAL

LEAP OF FAITH

Felix Milns takes the trip of a lifetime as he freefalls down the Eiger

down to a mere 130mph. You start the jump with your hands crossed over your shoulders then open out your arms into the classic flying position, arms and legs arcing skywards. There are many incredible destinations for tandem skydiving, but this is surely one of the most spectacular. For Michael there is no competition: ‘Most of the time when you skydive you are looking down, but here you also get to look up, at one of the most iconic mountain faces in the world. Most jumps take place out of a Cessna; it is so much more thrilling to jump out of a helicopter. It’s like a limousine for skydivers.’ And, because of the short flying time and efficient operation, no more fuel intensive than a plane. The helicopter ride itself is spectacular. Taking off from Interlaken you fly up through the valley before rising above the sunkissed pistes of Männlichen. The runs here, leading across to Kleine Scheidegg, are some of the most beautiful in the world, facing the holy trinity of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau peaks. And the views were even better from the sky. The sun refracted on the domed top of the Jungfraujoch, Europe’s highest railway station, and ice started to form on the panoramic windows of the heli as we neared the summit of the Eiger. You jump from 4,000m above sea level, pretty much in line with the Eiger's peak, and freefall for around 45 seconds before pulling the main chute at 1,500m above ground level. Dropping into a classic paraglide position Michael piloted

Felix gets the ultimate adrenaline rush

us in giant swirls groundwards, handing me the reins to steer us for a section, as he pointed out different areas of the mountains and town. The ground was rushing up to meet us and after a few minutes flight we came skidding back down to earth, bum first. It’s impossible to immediately process what you have just done, but thankfully there are plenty of ways to relive it. I had opted for a video - filmed by Michael from a GoPro on his wrist - which was Dropbox-ed over to me the same afternoon along with selected hi-res stills, delivered almost as slickly as the jump itself. BOOK IT: The Helicopter Skydive Eiger Jump is CHF 690 per person. Video/pictures start from CHF 120 (skydiveinterlaken.ch). For more information on holidays in the region, visit jungfrauregion.swiss 

PHOTOS: UNSPLASH

n the mountains there are views and then there are views. And then there is the jaw-dropping, nerve-shredding, backtingling view as you stand looking down from the rudder of a helicopter hovering next to the summit of the Eiger. I had been advised to savour this moment during the on-ground briefing, so I took a deep breath and looked first down at Grindelwald in miniature, and then across to the majesty of the Eiger and its famous north face. Terrified and exhilarated in equal measure, I was going to do this! Michael, my tandem pilot, gave me the signal - it was one small step for him but one giant leap for me. It took a moment for the realisation that we were freefalling to hit me. My ears were popping like crazy, and the Eiger was flashing in and out of vision as we span like a rampant fidget spinner around the axis of the drogue - a mini parachute that tandem jumpers pull after a few seconds to keep freefall speeds

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ON THE MOUNTAIN TUCKER TRAIL

We all know that, after a hard morning’s skiing, lunch is the only thing on our mind

LA BOUITTE

LE TOÎ DU MONDE

ST MARTIN DE BELLEVILLE, THREE VALLEYS, FRANCE

FLUMET, VAL D’ARLY, FRANCE

The Restaurant: The tiny Savoie village of St Marcel, in a quiet corner of the Three Valleys, is home to this exquisite restaurant and hotel, owned and run by the Meilleur family for more than 40 years. What began as a raclette and fondue restaurant now has three Michelin stars, with chef-owners René and MarieLouise, and their children Sophie and Maxime, serving Savoyard specialities to those who make the extra effort to find this gem. The chalet hotel has also earned five-star Relais & Châteaux status for its 15 bedrooms and spa. Standout Dish: Chamois (mountain goat) in brown broth, poached foie gras, cranberry beans and chopped lovage. Don’t Miss: The cheese trolley. La Bouitte offers a selection of 40 local cheeses from the Savoie and Haute Savoie regions. The Essentials: You’ll need to book, and you can either walk from St Martin (around 20 minutes) or La Bouitte will collect you by car. +33 479 08 96 77; la-bouitte.com

The Restaurant: Florent Perrin inherited this former farmhouse, dating back to 1886, and has completely renovated and transformed it into a carbon-neutral eco lodge. Set in Val d’Arly, between the Aravis, Beaufortain and Mont Blanc mountain ranges, much of the produce used in the open kitchen comes directly from Le Toî du Monde’s garden. Everything else is sourced within a 10km radius and there is an on-site smoker to cure local fish and meats. The high-ceilinged restaurant has been awarded a Bib Gourmand and Etoile Verte in the Michelin Guide for its sustainable cuisine. Standout Dish: While the menu changes seasonally, one dish is a constant – Le Tartiflette Tatin, an upside-down tartiflette, made using a secret recipe from Florent Perrin’s grandmother. Don’t Miss: Le Toî du Monde holds regular concerts by the region’s best musicians on the terrace with far-reaching views of Mont Blanc. The Essentials: Booking advised. Also a four-star Gîte de France eco-lodge sleeping up to 20. +33 479 10 63 53; letoidumonde.com

BÄREN RESTAURANT

WENGEN, SWITZERLAND

The Restaurant: ‘Why go far away for food when all the good things are close by?’ is the philosophy of Willy and Therese Brunner, owners of the Bären Hotel and restaurant, who serve only home-grown, locally grown or regional products. On the menu is Grindelwald lamb, Wengen beef, game from local hunts, fish from nearby Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, and of course locally produced mountain cheeses and butters. Even the herbs and flowers used to decorate the dishes are grown in the hotel’s garden. Standout Dish: Pulled wild boar burger with red cabbage salad, fried onions, Bären French fries, cranberry sour cream served in a homemade bun. Don’t Miss: The vegan and vegetarian options, which include celery root schnitzel, pumpkin burger and herb soups. The Essentials: Booking advised, though a small selection of dishes are now available as takeaway. +41 33 855 14 19; baeren-wengen.ch 176 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | November/December 2022

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SKI SPECIAL

HENDL FISCHEREI LEOGANG, AUSTRIA

The Restaurant: Taking pride of place opposite the Asitz top station in the Leogang ski area, this restaurant began life as a simple hut selling BBQ and roast chicken. Today, with its floor-to-ceiling windows and retractable roof offering panoramic views of the surrounding peaks, it’s now one of the most sought after tables in the valley – with bookable private areas including a Zermatt cable car and Champagne box. However the simple, tasty, barbecued food remains the same and the chicken still takes centre stage. Standout Dish: Huwi’s half a roast chicken, served with stone-baked bread (€12.50). Don’t Miss: A heli-cab home. Hendl Fischerei partners with Sennair to take guests (and their ski equipment) directly back to their accommodation — with or without a sightseeing tour on the way. The Essentials: Booking is essential, especially for the private booths. +43 6583 20 800 800; hendl-fischerei.at

CHALET ETOILE

GOSTNER SCHWAIGE

CERVINIA, ITALY

ALPE DI SIUSI, DOLOMITES, ITALY

The Restaurant: Built in 1974 by Cesare Frassy, Chalet Etoile started life selling simple sandwiches. Now it does a roaring winter trade with the whole family involved. Cesare’s Swedish wife, Ulla, who came to Cervinia as a chalet girl, is now head chef. Their son Kalle buys the all-important local Italian wine while his girlfriend, Hanna, is the pastry chef. The Frassys’ daughter, Caroline, is front of house and her chef-husband, Alessandro, works in the kitchen with Ulla, introducing new dishes. The Swedish-Italian cuisine has an Asian twist, a nod to the time Caroline and Alessandro spend in Bali every summer. Standout Dish: Best-sellers include reindeer ravioli, lobster and king crab. Don’t Miss: The evening private dining experience where the restaurant is decorated with candles. Guests are collected from their accommodation or the village by skidoo. The Essentials: Tables must be booked several weeks in advance during high season. +39 1669 40 220; chaletetoile.it

The Restaurant: A ‘schwaige’ is a type of mountain hut where you cook your own goods, and this refugio is run on the simple philosophy of serving local produce from the surrounding Seiser Alm. Now a family affair, chef-proprietor and renowned local character Franz Mulser, along with his wife, Petra, and parents Michl and Julla, serves food inspired by the surrounding meadows and sourced from the farm that has been in the family for more than 500 years. It also has four suites sleeping between two and four. Standout Dish: ‘Heublüttensuppe’ – a soup made of hay from the alpine plateau, flowers and 15 herbs, served in a bread crock. Don’t Miss: Cheese from the family’s farm, set at 1,900m beneath Mt Schlern, including petal cheese, mountain saffron cream cheese and an edelweiss camembert. Best enjoyed as part of a ‘Marende’, a type of Tyrolean ploughmans. The Essentials: Booking is essential, and if you arrive by train, the family will happily pick up guests from the station. The restaurant is only open for dinner by reservation in the evening. +39 347 836 81 54; aussergost.com/en/gostner-schwaige  November/December 2022 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | 177

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C H A R I T Y PA R T N E R S H I P River Action is on a mission to rescue Britain’s rivers through empowering local communities and demanding action from government and industry

COUNTRY & TOWN HOUSE TEAMS UP WITH RIVER ACTION C&TH is delighted to announce its charity partner for 2022/23 River Action is a UK charity launched in February 2021 that campaigns for action from government and industry to address the river pollution crisis. The organisation was formed in response to concerning evidence that reveals the declining state of many of the UK’s rivers from agriculture, sewage and other sources of pollution. Currently, every single river in England is polluted beyond legal limits. The charity was founded and is chaired by Charles Watson and is guided by an advisory board including George Monbiot, Ben Goldsmith, Ruth Davis, Feargal Sharkey and Amy Slack. Since launching, River Action has been developing a positively disruptive approach to delivering impactful campaigns. Its work includes developing advocacy and legal actions to ensure the UK government funds and regulates rivers, and engaging heads of industry to clean up agricultural and food supply-chain pollution. It also works closely with local communities

and activists to gather evidence of pollution, and empower, support, and communicate their missions to restore and protect their local rivers.

How will C&TH provide support? As well as offering complementary advertising in all issues to raise awareness of River Action, C&TH will publicise its work and campaigns on its social media feeds and online. As a company, C&TH will be taking part in paid volunteer work by organising monthly river cleans, with help from Surfers Against Sewage, a partner of River Action. C&TH is also launching its annual fundraising initiative that will see staff raise money for River Action by walking, running, cycling, rowing (or some other kind of physical activity!) the length of the five longest rivers in the world, totalling 31,339 km. Please support us at crowdfunder.co.uk/p/ country-town-houses-river-challenge – we need all your encouragement! To keep up with our partnership, visit countryandtownhouse.com/ riveraction and follow us on social media @countryandtownhouse @riveractionuk

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

What is River Action?

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HOTELS&

TR AVEL These Enchanted Islands Lauren Ho discovers the Galápagos Islands in ultimate luxury on board Aqua Mare

Avoid the crowds by exploring the islands by boat

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Follow in Attenborough’s footsteps and get up close and personal to the islands’ exceptional wildlife

here are two things worth noting about the Galápagos Islands. One, if you’re coming from Europe, it’s not an easy destination to get to. Two, it can get crowded, especially from about mid-June to the beginning of September when tourist-filled ships and day boats descend on the islands. While there isn’t much that can be done to ease the journey there and back, the answer to avoiding the crowds is Aqua Mare. The fifth vessel to join the Aqua Expeditions fleet, Aqua Mare is the first true superyacht in the Galápagos Islands. A sort of homecoming for the company’s CEO and founder, Francesco Galli Zugaro, whose professional career in luxury travel began in Ecuador, the yacht accommodates just 16 guests and 16 staff, and, like all of the ships in the Aqua fleet, is intimate and personal, with a depth of tailor made experiences. I’d boarded the previous evening in Puerto Ayora, a small town on the southern shores of Santa Cruz and the most populated urban centre of the islands. From here, we are making our way along the western string of the archipelago on a seven-day itinerary that will loop around the seahorse-shaped Isabela with stops at Floreana, Fernandina, Santiago and the red-sand beaches of Rabida. Earlier that day, we’d taken a drive through the dry, scrubby landscape of Santa Cruz to the lush highlands, where we spent some time ambling amongst giant Galápagos tortoises in their natural habitat on a family-run farm called Rancho el Manzanillo. Probably the islands’ most famous residents, these creatures are, in fact, mostly viewed in captivity thanks to a serious decline in their once 250,000-strong population – a consequence of a hunting spree by pirates, whalers and traders between the 17th and 19th centuries – with only about 15,000 remaining in the wild today. Comprising around 18 major islands, about

950km off the coast of Ecuador, the Galápagos’ most famous visitor was Charles Darwin, who spent 19 days studying the islands’ flora and fauna in 1835. Since then, thanks to the unique volcanic landscape with its distinct lava formations, alongside the magical collection of endemic species like the marine and land iguanas, the flightless cormorant and the Galápagos tortoise, the islands became Ecuador’s first national park in 1959, and in 1979 it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. So, as we made our way towards Puerto Ayora and Aqua Mare, our guide Yvonne explained the vegetation we were driving past while giving us a rough idea of what to expect for the next seven days. ‘Aqua Mare is definitely the nicest boat in the Galápagos,’ she noted. Having sailed with Aqua Expeditions previously, I have experienced first-hand the brand’s bar-setting design, mouthwatering food and, most importantly, the personal service and rich experiences on offer. Having waited in anticipation for the launch of Aqua Mare, expectations, then, were high.

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Galápagos Islands | HOTELS & TRAVEL At first glance, like her sister ships, Aqua Mare is a beauty to look at. Previously privately owned, her sleek exteriors set the tone for lavish interiors that have now been overhauled and streamlined by the Aqua team to feature the yacht’s original Italian walnut veneer wall panels, plush Jim Thompson fabrics and luxuriously thick carpets underfoot in creamy tones. In the living room, a carefully curated book collection, which focuses on the wildlife and history of the Galápagos, is organised and displayed in gradient shades of blue, and bespoke tableware from Bali-based ceramic brand Gaya features details like beautiful endemic plant species along with the numbers 1835, which is the year Charles Darwin visited. Unfolding over four decks, there are just seven cabins, each with ensuite bathrooms. There are indoor and outdoor dining areas, a series of shaded and open sundecks, a six-person hot tub, a barbecue area which is also used as an early morning workout zone, and a lower-level beach club perfect for kids to hang out in. Holding centre stage on deck three is a plush, book-filled lounge and bar that is anchored by a large, comfy U-shaped sofa, perfect for having a nap or for socialising and watching movies. This all comes together as an intimate base for a schedule of daily morning and afternoon excursions. For the early risers, coffee and tea is available in the lounge alongside a glorious fiery sunrise, before breakfast is served either in the main outdoor deck or the upper deck. Over pastries, fresh fruit and eggs, our guides brief us on the day’s activity, which is tailored to the destination and ranges from gentle ambles along desolate seaweed-carpeted sandy beaches scattered with sea turtle trails, to relaxing zodiac cruises through dense mangrove forests teeming with birdlife. Water activities include daily snorkelling sessions and kayaking or paddleboarding amid swooping pelicans and frolicking sea lions. One morning, the sky a dome of thick cumulus clouds, we motored towards Fernandina, the youngest and most volcanically active island, which

sits at the hotspot that created the Galápagos archipelago. And, almost like a live David Attenborough show, the island’s lava landscape – punctuated with yellow lava cacti – is a lively burst of endemic wildlife including a mess of thousands upon thousands of sunbathing black marine iguanas. As we meander along Punta Espinoza, on the northeastern tip of the island, Galápagos hawks lazily circling overhead, we see slithering racer snakes chasing after baby iguanas and lava lizards, mewling baby sea lions, flightless cormorants drying their wings, bizarre blue-footed boobies and bright red Sally Lightfoot crabs – both of which make a wonderful contrast to the gently rippling grey lava landscape. Back on board, following a late morning snorkelling session, the afternoons are spent soaking in the hot tub, watching a film, or snoozing off lunch on one of the sun loungers as frigate birds soar overhead, taking advantage of the yacht’s upward air currents. In the evenings, over a cocktail, the guides debrief us on the day’s events and run through the next day’s itinerary. Following that, supper – like all meals – is served family style, either at groups of tables in the indoor dining room downstairs, upstairs on the outdoor deck around one large table or by the barbecue. The food features mostly Japanese-Peruvian inspired dishes, like tuna crudo, barbecued plantains and fresh shrimp ceviche, or Galapagueña lobster lettuce wraps with acevichada dressing. On our last afternoon, a gentle kayak amid floating turtles is followed by an easy stroll along the Mars-like red-sand beach of Isla Rabida. Here, sidestepping a scattering of snoozing sea lions, we pass nesting pelicans and head inland towards a brackish pool filled with the brightest pink flamingos feeding on shrimp. And, as the sun began to dip below the horizon, we hopped back on the zodiacs towards Aqua Mare, elegantly waiting to welcome us with open arms one last time. ‘I couldn’t think of a better way to experience the Galápagos Islands,’ remarked one of the other guests. Indeed. BOOK IT: From £6,908 pp for seven nights including all meals, local transfer to/from recommended flights, all excursions, Galápagos Park entrance fee and INGALA transit card, laundry service and internet. A seven-night charter for up to 16 passengers starts from £143,305, including a private masseuse for five hours per day. aquaexpeditions.com/galapagos-cruise  November/December 2022 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | 181

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HOTELS & TRAVEL | News GREEN GIANTS

Ever since it opened to a very limited number of tourists in 1974, Bhutan has prided itself for its sustainable tourism. In 1991, as part of a ‘high quality, low volume’ initiative, it introduced a daily tourism fee. Now, in a step further, this last great Himalayan kingdom has raised its Sustainable Development Fee by 300 per cent from $65 per person per night to $200. ‘Covid-19 has allowed us to reset – to rethink how the sector can be best structured and operated, so that it not only benefits Bhutan economically, but socially as well, while keeping carbon footprints low,’ said Dr Tanji Dorji, Bhutan’s foreign minister and chairperson of the Tourism Council. Indeed, not only is Bhutan carbon neutral, it also has a law that says at least 60 per cent of the country must remain forested. For visitors, this only means magical forest hikes amid a pristine Himalayan landscape. tourism.gov.bt

The ESCAPIST

Lauren Ho has all the latest travel news and hot openings to know SLEEP UNDER THE STARS IN BOTSWANA

DISCOVER BELIZE’S GARIFUNA CULTURE

With its vibrant music, language, dance and way of life, it’s not surprising that the Afro-Caribbean Garifuna culture was declared a ‘Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’ by UNESCO in 2001. Now, with a focus on sustainable tourism, and in a bid to celebrate this unique culture, Belize has launched the Garifuna Trail. It brings together a rich collection of over 500 local businesses including hotels, art galleries, museums and restaurants, allowing visitors to this southeastern region of Belize to explore and experience the authentic Garifuna culture through. belizetourismboard.org

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

Home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites and famous landscapes, there’s nowhere quite like Botswana. Now, Ker & Downey Africa has launched a nine-day safari that includes a stay in Jack’s Camp – an opulent tented retreat that pays homage to the bygone safari era of the 1940s – as well as at Tuludi, a luxury camp with raised treehousestyle rooms and breathtaking views of the floodplains of the Okavango. Here, in the late afternoon of day five, guests will be whisked away on a private helicopter flight to the Tuludi Sky Suite (left), where they will spend a night under a blanket of a million stars. From $12,999 pp based on two sharing, ker-downeyafrica.com

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P R O M OT I O N

THE MIDAS TOUCH Meet the savings account that’s worth its weight in gold

ave you ever wondered why we refer to things being ‘as good as gold’? Or why things of real value are said to be ‘worth their weight in gold’? For as long as any of us can remember, the shiny precious metal we call gold has been held up as a beacon of prosperity, luxury and stability. Indeed, from jewellery and technology to medicine and aerospace, Midas’ gift continues to be a source of innovation and style in everyday life. Universally recognised as a rare, valuable commodity, gold has been used as a store of wealth for thousands of years. But challenges around security, storage and divisibility have historically prevented physical gold from being a viable form of money. Until now. Tally Money is a brand new currency and account that marries the value of gold with the convenience of cash. Tally is not a cryptocurrency or an EFT but rather an everyday alternative to fiat currencies like pounds, accessed via a personal account that works just like your regular bank. When you transfer money into your Tally Account, those funds immediately buy you physical gold bullion at the global wholesale price. Your gold is then denominated in your account as tally, with every one tally representing one milligram of physical gold securely vaulted in Switzerland on your behalf. Gold that you can spend and send instantly, just like pounds, using the Tally Money App and Tally Debit Mastercard. Just like foreign currencies, gold has a buy price and sell price that changes daily, meaning the value of your tally in pounds fluctuates up and down in the short term. But given gold is historically proven to increase in value over time, so is tally. This makes a Tally Account superior to traditional savings accounts where the interest you get paid comes nowhere near to covering the value lost to inflation. For example, if inflation is at 10 percent and you’re receiving two percent per annum. interest, your savings are still losing eight

Beat inflation by saving in gold

percent of their value every year. You won’t see your bank balance going down; you’ll just be able to buy less in future as prices continue to rise. It’s enough of a problem that even the Financial Conduct Authority has suggested that people with over £10,000 look beyond traditional savings accounts to mitigate the loss of purchasing power caused by inflation. So, why not download the Tally Money App today to start saving in a currency that represents something of real value? If you use the promo code COUNTRY200, you’ll also get a 200 tally (that’s 200mg of real physical gold) headstart on your savings. Find out more about how you can make the most of your savings at tallymoney.com/country

The Tally Debit Mastercard is issued by PayrNet Limited pursuant to a license by Mastercard International

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HOTELS & TRAVEL | News

SKILL UP

With its Junior Marine Biology programme already in place, Six Senses Laamu has launched a new sustainability camp aimed at giving teenage guests and their families a skill set to strive for a more sustainable life. The three-day camp comprises daily sessions and includes activities like soap-making workshops, Conscious Cooking and adventures to neighbouring islands. In other words, an ideal way to learn about sustainability while spending quality family time in an idyllic setting. sixsenses.com

FIVE HOT NEW OPENINGS

THE GREENHOUSE HOTEL, Iceland In a flawless location just under an hour from Iceland’s Golden Circle, The Greenhouse has five dining outlets and activities including horseback riding through the mountains. thegreenhouse.is

CAP KOROSO, Sumba, Indonesia Perched on Sumba’s Koroso beach, Cap Karoso is a modern, eco-conscious version of the region’s traditional villages with wood panels, thatched roofs and local art. capkaroso.com

TRAVEL WITH A CONSCIENCE

Boosting its conservation and ecotourism credentials even further, Singita has announced it will launch a new roster of conservation and community experiences across all lodges in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and South Africa. Ranging from free to donation-based, with proceeds supporting conservation efforts, community projects and sustainability initiatives, the aim is to provide guests with an opportunity to engage and interact more deeply with the natural landscape, community and wildlife of the specific regions they visit. singita.com

A DRIVE ON THE WILD SIDE

Now, eco-conscious Brits can travel even more sustainably and guilt-free with the launch of Eve. Setting the bar for luxury eco-electric camper vans this design from Wild Drives is based on a 2021 Citroën e-Dispatch and can be charged up to 80 percent in 40 minutes. Expect an airy pop-up roof, five seats, two double beds, a loo, fridge and an induction hob powered by solar panels, which, when connected to the leisure battery system, powers the entire camper van system with clean solar electricity. wilddrives.co.uk/campervan-eve

NOŪS, Santorini, Greece The fourth hotel in the Yes Hotels portfolio and the first outside of Athens, Noūs is boosting Santorini’s appeal even further with a design and art-led property. yeshotels.gr

ROSEWOOD, Vienna, Austria The first international-brand luxury hotel to open in Vienna for eight years, the Rosewood is housed in a 19th-century landmark on the Old Town’s Petersplatz square. rosewoodhotels.com

ANDBEYOND GRUMETI SERENGETI RIVER LODGE, Tanzania This much-loved property in the remote western reaches of the Serengeti has just reopened its doors after a top-to-toe overhaul. andbeyond.com

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THE COUNTRY & TOWN HOUSE

CHRISTMAS HAMPER

Win a luxury hamper full of tremendous treats worth over £5,000 GIFTS INCLUDE No.3 Gin gift set Bottle of The King's Ginger Meal for four at The Ivy Chelsea Garden £1,000 to spend at London DE fine jewellery £500 John Smedley voucher to spend online Tour and tasting for two followed by a pop-up lunch for two courtesy of Hambledon Vineyard Las Olas gift box and bottle Harvey Nichols 'The Crowd Pleaser' hamper worth £325 An overnight bed and breakfast stay at Foxhills £500 Steam Dreams voucher to spend on a trip of your choice Tusting Explorer and Horizon bags worth £700

For your chance to win enter now at countryandtownhouse.com/competitions FULL TERMS & CONDITIONS AVAILABLE ONLINE

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PARADISE FOUND Looking for ideas for your big 2023 escape? Look no further than One&Only Reethi Rah

estled in the Maldives’ North Male atoll is One&Only Reethi Rah, an exclusive resort with a name that translates as ‘beautiful island’. Living up to this moniker with its 12 white sandy beaches, pristine coastline and lush tropical greenery, the hotel presents a brilliant option for wellness seekers and families looking for their next blissful escape.

BE MY ONE&ONLY From arrival, expect your every need to be taken care of. Once you’ve completed the 45 minute luxury boat transfer from Male airport, you’ll be greeted with a cocktail in a spectacular welcome reception hosted by the resort’s staff. From there, you can stroll to your private guest villa, which are all beautifully appointed and provide perfect privacy. Twenty-four hour butler service means you’ll never want for anything. Once you’ve unpacked, take a seat on your private deck and lap up the enticing vistas of the Indian Ocean. Eat al fresco here in the morning, or explore any one of the seven restaurants and bars offering a mountain of choice for foodies; whether you want sushi, pasta or plant-based dishes, expect to be well-catered for.

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P R O M OT I O N

MIND, BODY, SOUL One&Only’s award-winning holistic spa is set in 13,000 sq/ft of expansive gardens, overlooking a tranquil lagoon. Enjoy a massage and treatment using ESPA products, featuring only pure extracts of natural ingredients. The experienced spa therapists draw from ancient therapeutic rituals and modernday research to provide treatments which are unique to the resort. For example, the Watsu pool at One&Only is the first of its kind in the Maldives. If your idea of the perfect holiday is active as opposed to restful, you’re well catered for at One&Only Reethi Rah. Club One is the hub for activity at the resort; from a rock-climbing wall, tennis courts and a water sports centre, you are given room to keep up your training regime, or to try your hand at a new sport or skill. The water sports options are particularly adventurous; wakeboarding, jet-skiing and stand-up paddle boarding are just the start.

Escape the every day at One&Only Reethi Rah

FOR THE LITTLE ONES The resort caters particularly well to families, meaning you can spend time together that they’ll never forget. Create memories for life exploring the underwater wonders of the Indian Ocean with diving and snorkelling excursions for all levels. Or take advantage of the resort’s brilliant children’s programme if you need an escape. Younger guests are provided for via the KidsOnly and One Tribe clubs, and the schedule of activities will occupy anyone between the ages of four and 17, whether it’s a pirate cruise day, an island treasure hunt, or yoga for teens. BOOK IT: Villas from £559 per person a night, inc. breakfast. destinology.co.uk

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HOTELS & TRAVEL | Snow Polo

HOOFING IT Nigel Tisdall heads to St Moritz to discover why its annual snow polo tournament is the ultimate destination for HNWs in the know

The ice on St Moritz’s lake has to be 50cm thick for the annual Snow Polo World Cup

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olo originated over 2,000 years ago at the Persian royal court, so why is it being played on a frozen lake 1,800m up in the Swiss Alps? The answer is 71-year-old Reto Gaudenzi, a charismatic player from St Moritz who disliked having to ‘wait for the summer’ to jump on a polo pony. In 1985 the hotelier launched a winter tournament on the lake by convincing Cartier to chip in CHF 100,000 of sponsorship to which Pommery added a thousand bottles of Champagne. Today, this prestigious event is the pinnacle of the international snow polo circuit with a CHF 2.5m budget. In January [2022] it drew a record 22,000 spectators to watch six teams compete over three days for nothing more than ‘a trophy and the glory.’ It’s an exhilaratingly crazy spectacle for sure, as ponies charge across 50cm thick ice in pursuit of a bright red ball, throwing up clouds of snow against a backdrop of brilliant blue sky and the majestic peaks of the Engadin Valley. While general admission has always been free, serious partying takes place in a palatial VIP tent where day tickets cost up to €750, including a lavish lunch of lobster bisque, caviar and culinary delights prepared by Badrutt’s Palace Hotel. A fair few of these HNW guests fly in by private jet to nearby Samedan, which is just a 75-minute hop from Farnborough and far preferable to taking a commercial flight to Zurich followed by a three-hour drive. ‘The pandemic changed the way people think about private aviation,’ explains Marine Eugène, European managing director for Flexjet, a key sponsor of the Snow Polo World Cup.

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HOTELS & TRAVEL | Snow Polo

Four luxurious ways to see the world by private jet SKIING IN ITALY Avoid the crowds by private jetting into lowkey Bolzano, the gateway to terrific skiing in the Dolomites at Val Gardena which is only an hour’s drive away. A 90-minute flight with Victor from Northolt in a six-seater Phenom 300 costs from £30,000 return based on a week’s stay, including a 200 percent carbon offset that supports environmental projects in India, China and Cambodia. There is also an option to purchase sustainable aviation fuel when booking. flyvictor.com

NORTHERN LIGHTS IN STYLE Bag yourself an action-packed Arctic adventure flying direct from Biggin Hill to Alta in northern Norway on a shared Learjet 45. The eight-day trip with Travelcoup Deluxe, who specialise in package tours by private jet, includes exhilarating rides by snowmobile and dog sled, a fjord cruise with fishing and nights in cosy transparent igloos with a good chance of seeing the aurora borealis. From £8,341pp for eight days all-inclusive departing 18 March 2023. Carbon emissions are fully offset on all flights. travelcoupdeluxe.com

A-LIST ANTARCTICA White Desert’s Whichaway camp in Antarctica is a remote and luxurious outpost in the pristine wilds of Queen Maud Land that can be reached on a five-hour flight from Cape Town aboard a 13-seater Gulfstream G550. An eight-day all-inclusive tour departing January 18, 2023 costs from $98,500pp including a visit to the South Pole and a 14,000-strong colony of Emperor penguins. Carbon offsets are included with funds supporting conservation and community projects in the Amazon rainforest. white-desert.com

BOOK IT: The 38th Snow Polo

World Cup St Moritz runs 27-29 January 2023 (snowpolo-stmoritz.com). Flexjet is a world-leading expert in private aviation and provides shared ownership and programmes for experienced users who fly more than 50 hours per year (flexjet.com). Grand Hotel Kronenhof has double rooms from CHF 615 including breakfast (kronenhof.com). For further information visit stmoritz.com

GO FOR GREENLAND VistaJet’s Private World experiences include bespoke private jet trips to Greenland to join EYOS’s expedition cruises aboard the luxurious 12-guest Nansen Explorer. Towering icebergs, abundant whales, heli-skiing trips and encounters with the traditional lifestyle of the Inuit are some of the thrills. A four-hour flight from Farnborough to Kangerlussuaq, on the west coast, costs from $152,400 one-way including carbon offset. A seven-day all-inclusive voyage costs from €335,000. vistajet.com; eyos-expeditions.com 

Concerns about health, along with cutbacks by scheduled services, provided a new justification for jumping on a jet and it helps that many companies are now squaring up to sustainability issues with gusto – all Flexjet flights are offset by 300 percent to cover CO2 emissions and other aviation pollutants with funds invested in multiple global projects, from wind farms in Turkey to distributing fuel-efficient stoves in Rwanda. Inevitably, once you’ve experienced the convenience, efficiency and glamour of PJs it can be hard to go back to conventional flying. ‘And the party starts the minute you get on the plane,’ Marine adds with a grin. For all the f loor-length furs, statement shades and show-off dogs, Reto’s wintry chukkas remain sweetly low-key. Numbers on the scoreboard are changed by hand and there’s no big screens so you’d better pay attention. The ponies sport special hoof-wear and the field is smaller than on grass, so you feel close to the action. True to form, the players are monstrously competitive with the après-polo just as energised – the smart money always stays in nearby Pontresina which remains delightfully traditional compared to blinged-up St Moritz. At its Grand Hotel Kronenhof, opened in 1898, a wintery decorum lives on in a pampering blizzard of fancy hot toddies and 80-minute Valmont facials. There’s also the option to take an enchanting 90-minute walk over the snowy hills to reach the polo and, yes, the ceaseless Champagne that needs no chilling. But what’s next? Reto tells Country & Town House he can’t increase the number of teams, or the length of the tournament, and the frozen lake can only bear so much weight – which only leaves one option. ‘Up the prices!’ he quips, ever the thoroughbred showman.

JET, SET, SNOW!

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Escape | HOTELS & TRAVEL

The HIGH LIFE

New York is finally back, and with it a beautiful urban renaissance has sprung. The city is wild; the people frenzied; the mood, electrifyingly high and crazy once again. And with a string of new hotels, stellar new eats, glam makeovers, and sky-high no-frills thrills, it’s never been a better time to visit the OG of America’s skyscraper cities, says Luke Abrahams

The Big Apple is back with some serious bite

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AMAN NEW YORK

The latest – and most anticipated – address to open in the city ushers in Aman’s first urban ‘sanctuary’ in the US. As expected, it’s Manhattan’s new billboard for the place to be, and be seen in with a string of city hot shots, models and celebs already declaring themselves loyal devotees. Set within the storied Crown Building, 83 suites serve up a dose of rarefied city seclusion. Think minimal moody pads with ornate walls; linens draped in shades of slate, cream and black; roaring fireplace and views of Fifth Avenue. Main attraction? The threefloor spa. A palatial space kitted out with the trendiest wellness modcons, knockout full-body treatments (the best we’ve had so far in the city) and a glam 65-foot pool. The Garden Terrace is well worth a visit for views of Central Park and a sundowner come aperitivo hour, too. BOOK IT: Inspiring Travel offers a three-night trip from £5,549pp including flights with Virgin Atlantic. inspiringtravel.co.uk

PENDRY, Manhattan West

Slick, clean and chic - perhaps the best way to sum up this LA export to Manhattan’s West Side. A touch of the west coast reigns deep through the design palette with 164 rooms and 30 sprawling floor-to-ceiling- window suites eyeing epic views over Midtown. Digs are Hollywood-esque, kitted out with roomy, hugging sofas, egg-shaped tubs, walk-in closets, tables full of coffee table books, and if you’re in for an upgrade, a baby grand piano in the fabulous Pendry Suite. Cool creatives make up most of the crowd lounging in the hotel’s groovy common areas, from the cutesy gold-flecked Bar Pendry to the marble-clad reservationonly whiskey rooftop bar with epic city panoramas. Grub wise, hit up the Garden Room for comfort eats like steak frites, seasonal salads and a stellar wine list. BOOK IT: Rooms from $745, plus taxes. pendry.com

THE NED, NOMAD

Part hotel, part under-the-radar members’ club, the sister to The Ned, London ticks all the boxes on the ‘trendy’ barometer. Housed inside the 1908 Beaux-Arts Johnston Building, the hotel brings a much needed theatrical breath of fresh air to Manhattan’s NoMad playground. Art Deco grandeur runs riot on all the walls with sexy portraits and special commissions covering every nook in sight. There are 167 rooms up for grabs, ranging from very small, cosy ‘crash pads’ to suites and studio apartments. Expect freestanding clawfoot tubs, king beds, writing desks and, if you’re at the very top of the building, glorious cityscapes. Date night comes courtesy of the 1920s-style, and very ambient, Little Ned, a bar restaurant mashup that rustles up modern American fare with the odd European classic. BOOK IT: Rooms from $600, plus taxes. thened.com

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PHOTOS: YELLOW TREE 1. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND GLADSTONE GALLERY; HAGS NYC; ALEX STANILOF; UNSPLASH

WHERE TO CHECK IN

Escape | HOTELS & TRAVEL Yellow Tree 1

LITTLE ISLAND

No one can get enough of New York’s new floating oasis, part of the mammoth Hudson Yards project. Nature and art collide here, in a park that features lush, landscaped gardens on the Hudson River. Flock here for live gigs at ‘The Amph’, the grand amphitheatre and for seasonal performances at The Glade. It’s basically the new Central Park. littleisland.org

W H AT TO DO ALEX KATZ: GATHERINGS AT THE GUGGENHEIM

This grand new exhibition celebrates eight decades of Alex Katz’s work, chronicled on canvases that explore Abstract Expressionism. Expect lots of colourful oil sketches, collages and drawings that capture the immediacy of visual perception in paint up and down the Guggenheim’s world-famous rotunda. Until 20 February 2023. guggenheim.org

PHOTOS: YELLOW TREE 1. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND GLADSTONE GALLERY; HAGS NYC; ALEX STANILOF; UNSPLASH

SKY HIGH WITH FLYNYON

After being cooped up for so long, New Yorkers are taking to the skies in a bid to discover their great big old city outside the walls of a glassed observation deck. How so? Doors-off helicopter flyovers with Flynyon. Expect epic (and very windy) 360° panoramas as you take shoe selfies above NYC’s greatest city icons. flynyon.com

W HER E TO E AT

HAGS One of the most talked about openings of the year ushers in a LGBTQI+ led fine dining experience masterminded by chef and co-owner Telly Justice. Why’s it different? The restaurant thinks about equity for both staff and diners, and wants you to really experience the joys of dining out again. News flash, though: the restaurant is about to have a major facelift, so head over to its socials for the latest on Hags’ next round of ultrafab pop-ups. hagsnyc.com

Corner Bar The Nine Orchard hotel has been all over everyone’s ‘gram of late, and its headline restaurant Corner Bar has already amassed tons of likes. Cool, fresh and supremely delicate eats come courtesy of chef Ignacio Mattos, who seems to have a thing for pristine oysters and salads. The place looks the part, yet, is unfussy and delivers all the goods from a divine roast chicken to a mean pomodoro that packs a decadent punch. cornerbarnyc.com

Majorelle at The Lowell This one is no secret, but over the course of the pandemic, the legendary Upper East Side spot has had a rather swish makeover like many other NYC institutions. Think light and airy alfresco eats in an intimate courtyard that screams romantic Italian summer on repeat. The foie gras is exceptional; the soufflé still legendary; the service stellar; and quite literally everything on the menu is cooked to perfection. It’s all too delicious, if you can get a table. lowellhotel.com

Peak at The Edge The sky-high spot to know for killer cocktails with a view. Set above the metropolis within the walls of the stratospheric 30 Hudson Yards, the breezy Euro-American fusion joint marries the best of both worlds with small plate numbers and handspun, homemade Italian classics. But let’s face it, people are really flocking here to down the fiery margarita with the Manhattan skyline in the background. We sure did. peaknyc.com

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Celebrating Christmas with Bordeaux Index. If you're seeking out the world’s finest wine and spirits to share with loved ones this festive season, then look no further than Bordeaux Index

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FOOD&DRINK

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FOOD&DRINK | Recipe Food philosophy? It once was

Garam Masala Christmas Pudding

Vivek Singh founded The Cinnamon Club back in 2001; it now numbers five restaurants

PICTURED ON PREVIOUS PAGE

pushing boundaries, challenging the status quo and forever re-writing the rule book; in other words, telling people what they should be eating. Now, it’s giving people what they want. First dish you learnt to cook?

I can’t recall exactly, but the first dish I ever burnt was my first attempt at a Tandoori chicken. I must have been 15 years old when I first cooked it with an open fire in a kitchen completely unsupervised.

MAKES TWO (SERVES 12) — 500g raisins, figs and apricots mix, finely chopped — 75g/3oz candied lemon and orange peel, finely chopped — 300g nuts mix (pecans, almonds, walnuts, pin, brazil, cashew), finely chopped — 1 tsp ground garam masala — ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg — 150ml/5fl oz dark rum — 4 tbsp brandy — 1 orange, zest and juice — 1 lemon, zest and juice — 225g/8oz salted butter — 225g/8oz muscovado sugar — 3 free-range eggs — 150g/5oz plain flour

Method

Place all dry fruits, nuts and spices into bowl and mix. Add alcohol and combine. Leave covered overnight to soak. Cream butter and sugar together until smooth. To the butter mix, add eggs one at a time. Fold in flour and soaked fruits and nuts. Divide the mixture between two greased pudding bowls, filling almost to the rim. Cover each bowl with a large square of greaseproof paper, then cover that with a large square of aluminium foil. Tie the two sheets tightly into place under the rim with string, leaving the ends to make a handle. Loop one of the excess string lengths over the pudding basin and slide underneath the taut string holding the sheets in place on the other side. Bring up the string and firmly knot with the other piece of string to form a secure handle. To cook, stand both puddings on a trivet in separate pans. Pour boiling water into pans to halfway up sides of the bowls. Cover pans with a lid (or dome of foil) and boil for seven hours. After seven hours, remove the bowls from the pan and leave to cool. Untie and replace foil with clean sheets of greaseproof paper. Store in a cool, dry place. To reheat at Christmas, steam for two hours until completely heated through. Serve with warm custard flavoured with nutmeg.

Foodie TALES

Right now, it’s beetroot – very versatile and I love the taste. Biggest food mistake? It goes back many, many years when I put skate wing on the menu at The Cinnamon Club. I was new to the UK and learnt quickly that when the fish is not fresh it sinks down on the grill and produces ammonia, which smells very similar to bleach. We must have sold 10-12 portions for that lunch service until they all started being returned to the kitchen. It was the worst cooking nightmare of my life! Most memorable meal out?

My most memorable meal out ever is a tough ask, but my meal of this year was a dinner at Great Scotland Yard by Niklas Ekstedt. When you’re not in the kitchen, where are you? At the bar

(haha), or outside walking the streets of London. Any unique cooking rituals?

I have a few rituals which I don’t particularly like talking about, The Cinnamon Club’s Vivek Singh but I can tell you one. Before we is all for using up your leftovers cook anything for guests in a new kitchen, I enlist my head chef at Cinnamon Kitchen City, Ramachandran Raju, to come and do the Puja (an Indian ritual). He always cooks rice pudding on the flame, then we break a coconut for good luck. What’s in your fridge? Francesco Mazzei, chef patron at Sartoria, gave me a generous thick slice of his calabrese ’nduja, which is incredible. I can’t wait to eat it. Dream dinner date? I am a big fan of cricket, so an intimate dining experience watching India play at Lords is high up on the list. One piece of sustainable food advice you’d give to our readers? If you think

your leftovers aren’t enough for another meal, think again because pretty much everything can be turned into a fried rice flavouring or sandwiches. What doesn’t taste delicious between two slices of bread! cinnamonclub.com 

PHOTOS: UNSPLASH

his pudding is what we have used at The Cinnamon Club for the last 20 years. I am very fortunate to be able to blend my own spices at The Club and with many years of experience I know what each spice does and how it comes together in the mix.

Favourite in-season ingredient?

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Gifts made with love and care for you and the planet

Shop the Christmas Collection at: www.nealsyardremedies.com. Neals Yard.indd 1

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FOOD&DRINK | News MOREISH MACARONS These delicate little festive treats are almost too beautiful to eat – almost. Emma Dodi’s hand-painted collection of macarons offer nostalgic bursts of favourite Christmas flavours, including eggnog, gingerbread and milk chocolate orange. From £32 for six, emmadodicakes.com

POUR US ANOTHER

Savyll’s zero percent pre-bottled cocktails are perfect for when the Christmas cheer gets too much – who doesn’t love a festive bellini without the consequences? £35.99, savyll.com

TASTE OF PARIS The renowned Parisian Caviar house, Petrossian, is opening its doors in London for the first time. Its new South Kensington deli will bring you all sorts of fantastique treats from across La Manche, sans the Eurostar fare. petrossian.co.uk

BOARD GAMES & BUBBLES

To celebrate its 70th year making sparkling wine, Hambledon Vineyard has released a special edition chess set with British chess maker, Purling, featuring bespoke painted pieces and a limited run of the anniversary bubbles. £5,000, hambledon vineyard.co.uk

Gastro GOSSIP Loosen your belts and make room for pudding, says Tessa Dunthorne

PUNCHY PANETTONE Outshine the chef by bringing along a Strazzanti panettone this holiday season. Its authentic Sicilian bakes are filled with flecks of orange peel, and ideally accompanied by pistachio cream. £28, strazzanti.co

A FESTIVE FEAST

A Christmas feast tastes better without the fuss, which is why chef Simon Rogan, of Michelin-starred L’Enclume, is releasing super seasonal make-at-home meal kits. Open the show with artichoke velouté and follow with traditional Goosnargh turkey, before wowing the entire family for dessert – a gorgeous gourmet Christmas pudding. We won’t tell if you don’t. £95pp, simonrogan.co.uk

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PROPERTY Edited by Anna Tyzack

HOUSE OF THE MONTH Barnwell Manor, Peterborough, £4.7m 8 bedrooms, 5 bedrooms, 16,731 sq/ft In a sentence… Barnwell Manor is an architecturally and historically important Grade II-listed 16th and 17th century manor house with a 13th-century castle in its grounds. Who’s behind the design? Barnwell Manor was restored with the help of leading architect Sir Albert Edward Richardson who was a president of the RA, editor of Architects’ Journal and founder of the Georgian Group. Any juicy history? The estate was granted in 1540 to chief justice Sir Edward Montagu by King Henry VIII. In 1938 the estate was sold to the late Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. Best room? The front entrance hallway has 17th-century panelling with an ornately plastered ceiling featuring vine leaf decoration and the Montagu family’s crest, setting a fabulous tone to the entrance of this impressive house. What would summers be like? Barnwell Manor is positioned within beautiful, extensive landscaped gardens and parkland pasture of around 27 acres, making summers here an absolute pleasure. Perks of the location? Northamptonshire is now being touted as a quieter, just-asfashionable alternative to the Cotswolds. +44 (0)20 7016 3780; savills.com

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FROM TOP: The Candy Brothers’ One Hyde Park proved that the concept of the branded residence could work in the UK; couture designer Elie Saab launched residences near Hyde Park

Let’s Move To A HOMETEL All the comforts of home with the luxury of a hotel, Anna Tyzack explores the growing popularity of branded residences

Mandarin Oriental, which has launched a second residential scheme in London. ‘Aside from the lifestyle amenities, owners also have the added benefits of lock-up-and-leave capabilities, exceptional and thoughtful home design and priority access to innovative dining and spa experiences.’ Unlike serviced apartments, which have a reputation for being dingy and impersonal, branded residences are affiliated, usually by design and servicing, to a well-known luxury brand. Fees paid by the property owner include a trademark licence fee, for having the brand on their residence along with the usual management fees and service charges. In America this type of property has made up an important sector of the market for some time but in London it was One Hyde Park, the Candy brothers’ 2011

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n the Roaring Twenties, a pied-à-terre in the Sherry-Netherland on New York’s Fifth Avenue was about the most avant-garde apartment money could buy. The 38-storey building overlooking Central Park was a celebrated hotel but also a luxury apartment block, where for the first time ever residents could call upon hotel amenities such as housekeeping and room service and treat the hotel’s bar and restaurant as their own. Fast forward a century and properties with access to hotel-style amenities are so popular with buyers that the world’s top hotels are racing to put their brand name to residential developments. Marriott International, the largest branded residences company in the world, plans to grow its portfolio by 60 per cent by 2025, while in London there will be 75 per cent more branded residences schemes in the next few years including developments by Six Senses, The Peninsula, Raffles and Mandarin Oriental. Research by Knight Frank suggests that one in three prime international buyers is willing to pay more for a branded residence – a 25 to 35 percent uplift compared to a property that is not linked to a hotel brand. According to Rupert des Forges of Knight Frank, buyers increasingly see brand affiliation as the ultimate validation of a quality home; not only will they get to enjoy hotel-style facilities but also five-star concierge and management. ‘Branded residences are hassle free and offer the assurance of a globally recognised luxury hotel group on hand 24/7,’ agrees a spokesperson for

Let’s Move To | PROPERTY development in Knightsbridge with Mandarin Oriental, that proved the concept appealed to UK buyers, too. According to Shreen Gupta of Grid Properties, the developers behind the new Elie Saab residences in Knightsbridge, which sold out earlier this year, top end buyers want more for their money; it makes a big difference to them if there’s a brand attached to a property. The pandemic, Gupta says, only added fire to the trend as buyers’ desire for wellness and a well-rounded lifestyle became an intrinsic part of their property search. In schemes such as the Six Senses Residences at The Whiteley, which includes 14 branded residences by Finchatton, and The Peninsula Residences, 26 apartments by Peter Marino Architect adjacent to Hyde Park, owners can work out in a state-of-the-art gym and then unwind in the steam room, treatment rooms and pool. It’s not just the fabric of the building and its location that appeals, says Ed Lewis of Savills; those paying more than £5 million want to know they are investing in their lifestyle too. ‘They appreciate the à la carte add-ons such as nanny services, private chefs, pet services, access to restaurants and other amenities,’ he says.

Buyers also like to feel that they associate with the ideology of their chosen brand, be it Elie Saab’s signature couture interiors or the sustainability drive of Six Senses, where properties are built using renewable and locally sourced materials to minimise environmental impact. ‘We don’t want to impose design on nature; we want to work with nature, which is why we create lower density developments than other brands,’ says Robin Chalier, EMEA Head of Development for Six Senses. It won’t be long before there are branded residences available in every part of prime central London. The OWO (Old War Office) by Raffles in the former Ministry of Defence in Whitehall features 85 residences in a building that was the office of Winston Churchill and was an inspiration for Ian Fleming’s James Bond series, while the Four Seasons Private Residences at 20 Grosvenor Square is a stand-alone luxury residential complex run by Four Seasons. Also in Mayfair, Mandarin Oriental’s second scheme features 80 residences on Hanover Square, alongside a new Mandarin Oriental hotel. In Chelsea, The Lucan Autograph Collection Residences managed by Marriott International takes branded residences to a new level: the developer, Grid Properties, brought in the hotel brand – usually it works the other way round. Savills’ Ed believes the appetite for branded residences is only gathering pace; resales are set to outperform equivalent non-branded properties due in part to the fact that this type of home is still relatively scarce in London. Will there come a time, though, when buyers tire of living in a hotel suite-style property and want their home to be more personal? From the beginning, however, when owners in the SherryNetherland decorated their apartments in their own flamboyant style, branded residences have never mimicked hotel rooms – that’s their success. While they enjoy all the best aspects of the world’s leading hotels – stylish light-filled architecture, enviable views, modern specifications and concierge on call – once you step through the front door you’re at home. ‘This is the future of luxury living in central London,’ Ed concludes.

HOME SWEET HOTEL 1

1 CHELSEA The Lucan, Autograph Collection Residences property features 31 one, two and three-bedroom residences with access to communal areas designed by renowned British luxury interiors studio Rive Gauche, a state-of-the-art gym, Marriott International 24-hour concierge with unparalleled connections, and underground parking. From £2.3m, thelucan.net 2 MAYFAIR Live the Four Seasons life day in and day out. Its pristine residences at 20 Grosvenor Square comprise 37 three to five-bedroom luxury apartments, designed by London interiors studio Finchatton. Perks include a pool, gym, cinema and library, as well as meetings rooms for WFH, and a temperaturecontrolled wine cellar. £POA, 20gs.com 3 MAYFAIR Residents of the 85 OWO Residences by Raffles can walk up the same majestic marble staircase as Winston Churchill did when the building was the War Office. Amenities include a cinema room, residents’ lounges and vast wellness spaces plus access to the facilities and services of the 5-star Raffles hotel. Residences have 3 to 4.4m ceilings and access to landscaped communal gardens. Two bedroom residences, from £7.1m, theowo.london

4 BAYSWATER Six Senses Residences at The Whiteley features 14 residences, from one-bedroom apartments to duplexes and palatial penthouses, all with space, comfort and plenty of natural light. Residents have access to a fitness studio, indoor Padel court, 20-metre pool, steam room, sauna and Six Senses spa as well as 24-hour concierge, housekeeping and childcare. From £1.65m, the whiteleylondon.com 

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Lobster is the catch of the day

FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD

or its size – just 33 miles long by 13 miles wide – the Isle of Man boasts an impressive number of successful foodie enterprises, from distilleries to restaurants. The first reason for this is the Isle of Man’s unbeatable and unique location. The only entire nation to enjoy UNESCO World Biosphere status, the Island’s farmers provide the delicious raw produce that many of the Island’s food and drink entrepreneurs use as the foundation for their products. That’s not to mention its 2,500 sq/m of seas and almost 100 miles of coast, home to the Island’s world-class seafood, including the Manx national dish, Queenies – queen scallops caught in its waters. And it’s not just fish: local start-up Isle of Man Salt Co harvests sea salt using solar energy for a 100 percent sustainable process. The second reason for why business is booming is down to the Isle of Man’s supportive ecosystem for people looking to start, grow or relocate their business. From training

Queenies is a Manx national dish

and mentoring to grant and funding support, there are opportunities aplenty for foodie entrepreneurs. New companies can take advantage of the Micro Business Grant Scheme, designed to give start-ups the necessary financial support, training, and business acumen to get their business off the ground. One startup that made use of this is Noa Bakehouse, now entering its 10th year of business. ‘The great thing about the Isle of Man is there are various grant schemes ready for you,’ explains its founder, Miles Petit. ‘I soon realised that making bread was manufacturing goods and that qualified the business for up to 40 percent of the capital available to start operating.’ The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture’s ‘Food Matters Scheme’, meanwhile, offers businesses grants and assistance, plus local marketing support, meaning companies of all sizes have every chance of continued success.

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PHOTOS: LIAM GILMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

The Isle of Man food and drink scene is flourishing – and offers many exciting opportunities for foodie entrepreneurs

P R O M OT I O N

Ian Warborn-Jones (below) recommends checking out Pippa Lovell’s restaurant Versa

FEAST ON THIS A taste of Christmas, straight from the Isle of Man

MEET... IAN WARBORN-JONES

PHOTOS: LIAM GILMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Co-founder of Outlier Distilling Company

How long have you lived in the Isle of Man? My wife and our (then only) child and I moved over in April 2017. We relocated for a number of reasons, but ultimately it was for a change of lifestyle. How would you describe the Island? It’s a fascinating place – the landscape changes with each mile. The people are friendly, approachable, and down to earth. The sense of community is the best I have ever experienced. The quality of the produce is world-class, and there are some superb restaurants that use it to the fullest. Tell us about your business? My business partner Rick and I set up Outlier, a small craft distillery in November 2019. Our still equipment was built in 1994 and runs on wood; we burn off-cuts sourced from the sawmill in St Johns, so we garner all our operational heat from waste. It’s about as good for the environment as one could hope. We’ve released several small-batch spirits so far. The first was a locally foraged 45 percent wild-berry schnapps called Hedge Fund. Rick and I press-

ganged a few friends and went out picking blackberries and elderberries which we then fermented and distilled. What’s the best-kept secret on the Isle of Man? I think there are a lot of really cool things happening now, particularly in terms of food and drink. Of those that are still getting established, I’d say that Pippa Lovell’s restaurant Versa is one that stands out. She’s focused on using as much native, local and foraged ingredients as possible, and the result is a truly incredible menu. What opportunities has living in the Isle of Man given you and your family? The opportunities here are manifold. Starting a business is encouraged, with easy access to government and the associated support. Everything’s much easier to do here than the UK. We spend a lot more time outside than we used to with hikes up mountains, beach exploration and enjoying the plantations and nature reserves. Why would you recommend the Isle of Man? The Island is a great place to live; there’s good food, great pubs, friendly people, good schools, less traffic and pollution, clean air, breathtaking countryside, and you can be in Liverpool within 25 minutes and London City within an hour.

LEELA’S KITCHEN Leela’s Kitchen was started in 2011 by third-generation spice trader Kumar Menon, who named his business after his late grandmother. From garam masala to masala spiced tea, everything is freshly ground and packed on the Island, following family recipes. Spices from £2.50. leelaskitchen.co.uk

OUTLIER DISTILLING COMPANY Perfect for chasing away the winter blues, this rum, produced using Manx ingredients and sustainable methods, is fermented and double distilled to give a malty-liquorice taste and finished with a charcoal filtered hit. Hoolie Manx White Rum, £34. outlierdistilling.com

BERRIES The first Christmas pudding maker in the world to be certified palm oil-free back in 2018, Berries produces a range of delicious treats for the festive season. Everything is baked in Port St Mary, and the brand has been recognised globally, including winning the highest accolade at The Great Taste Awards. Christmas pudding, £12. berries.co.im

FORAGING VINTNERS From its seaside winery, Foraging Vintners makes exceptional non-grape-based sparkling wine using rhubarb, elderflower, apple and honey. Its Eltoora elderflower sparkling wine is light and effervescent with citrus and elderflower notes, and makes the ideal Christmas tipple with a difference. £117 for six bottles. foragingvintners.com

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PROPERTY | Five of the Best

SEASON’S DIAMOND

Channel Bridgerton with these party palaces, says Tessa Dunthorne TUNBRIDGE WELLS, £3.95m

Overlooking a pretty Kent valley not far from London, Bayham Abbey is formed from the west wing of an extraordinary Grade II-listed country mansion. The wider estate encompasses the protected ruins of Bayham Old Abbey, so you can tour guests through the historic site. The reception rooms are grandiose, with tall ceilings and imposing fireplaces. hamptons.co.uk

BELGRAVIA, £10.5m

The Belgravia of Bridgerton may be a thing of the past, but that doesn’t mean the glamour has lessened. With an entire floor for entertaining, a full bar and cinema, this Wilton Street house could play host to a sparkling New Year’s Eve celebration. It also boasts a gym, for that all-important reset after a night of bubbly. johndwood.co.uk

CANTERBURY, £3.6m

A historic estate dating back to at least the 1240s, Charlton Place plays host to a brilliant ballroom built in the early 19th century by Robert Foote to entertain the then Prince Regent and his mistress, the Countess Conyngham. There’s plenty of space for guests to put up after a night on the tiles, with 12 bedrooms and six reception rooms surrounded by 129 acres of mature parkland. struttandparker.com

CLAPHAM COMMON, £7.8m

A Grade II-listed Victorian home situated on the north side of Clapham Common, this townhouse has been recently finished to exacting standards. With six bedrooms and six bathrooms across 8400 sq/ft, it is excellent for playing host. Its entertaining space is a grand drawing room, complete with an ornate ceiling painted by an Italian artist in 1865. savills.com

KNIGHTSBRIDGE, £10.9m

Located in leafy Ovington Square, this white stuccofronted, five bedroom home offers generous living space across six floors. The Grand Salon is its centrepiece, with its hand-painted ceiling and ornate panelling making for sumptuous party decor. It’s no stranger to royalty either, as Edward VIII was one of the many famous faces to have been entertained here. knightfrank.co.uk

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Why own one holiday home when you can own five, without the hassle? The better way to own holiday homes in Europe. There's no need to choose between the French Riviera, Mallorca, The Alps, Tuscany or the English countryside. With August, you can have it all. Your homes are fully managed and prepared to hotellike standards. From housekeeping to gardening, landscaping and pool maintenance. All you need to do is show up and enjoy. Our Signature Collection of homes are currently available for £380,000.

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SU R R E Y’S E XC LUSI V E C O U N T RY E S TAT E

FINAL PHASE NOW AVAILABLE A COLLECTION OF 2 BEDROOM APARTMENTS AND 3 & 4 BEDROOM FAMILY HOMES Set within 25 acres of landscaped grounds, Broadoaks Park offers brand new and beautifully restored homes. Finished to Octagon’s renowned high level of specification, all homes are designed to enhance the private parkland setting and surrounding listed buildings. West Byfleet village and train station are less than one mile away, with regular train services to London Waterloo taking from 30 minutes. SALES SUITE OPEN – VIEWING BY APPOINTMENT ONLY Guide Prices start from £750,000

B R OA D OA K S PA R K . C O . U K

020 8481 7500 | OCTAGON.CO.UK

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JE RS E Y 15 MINUTES AFTER WORK

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Reach, Cambridgeshire – 10 miles from Cambridge Station Guide Price £975,000 Most impressive and substantial Grade II listed detached residence providing beautifully presented and versatile accommodation extending to about 3,305 sq ft. The property also benefits from delightful landscaped enclosed rear gardens together with a fine period barn and occupying a prominent position in this picturesque village between Cambridge and Newmarket.

Contact: Richard Freshwater | Cambridge Office: 01223 214214 | richard.freshwater@cheffins.co.uk

Balsham, Cambridgeshire – 10 miles from Whittlesford or Cambridge Station Guide Price £1,650,000 An elegant and substantial detached Georgian house in need of sympathetic updating, together with a detached coach house/former stables and delightful, mature gardens of just under an acre. The property provides versatile and well proportioned accommodation extending to about 3,700 sq ft and incorporates many unique features of character. EER: F

Contact: Martin Walshe | Cambridge Office: 01223 214214 | martin.walshe@cheffins.co.uk

cheffins.co.uk 01223 214214

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Cavendish Avenue, Cambridge – 1 mile from Cambridge Station Guide Price £1,500,000 An elegant and substantial 5 bedroom bay fronted semi detached Edwardian house with potential for updating, alteration and enlargement in this sought after tree lined avenue just off Hills Road. Further benefiting from generous gardens, extensive off street parking and long garage/former coach house. EER: D

Contact: Martin Walshe | Cambridge Office: 01223 214214 | martin.walshe@cheffins.co.uk

Maids Causeway, Cambridge – 1 mile from Cambridge Station Guide Price £2,500,000 A unique opportunity to acquire a substantial and most impressive grade II listed detached classic regency townhouse part of Charles Humphrey’s Dolls House development, offering well proportioned and versatile accommodation extending to about 3,175 sq ft In this prestigious central city location with far reaching views over midsummer common and the river.

Contact: Richard Freshwater | Cambridge Office: 01223 214214 | richard.freshwater@cheffins.co.uk

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01223 214214 cheffins.co.uk

21/10/2022 16:09

LAST WORD The team visits a temple in Bagan, Myanmar

Tales of our Time

Michael Hayman channels the spirit of adventure

hrow back the duvet, get out there and celebrate life. That’s the message I took from interviewing the adventurer Alex Bescoby. It happened at a gathering for Land Rover enthusiasts, The Rover Social, at the glorious Loseley Park in Surrey. An incredible occasion featuring row upon row of these iconic British classics: each one of them carrying its own unique story. Alex looks every inch the automotive answer to Indiana Jones. You just know that you are in the company of someone who lives life to the full, and to spend time with him is like a vitamin shot for the soul. His message carries extra resonance when you consider the nature of his recent achievement. He has recently returned from The Last Overland expedition, where he and his team drove 22,000km from Singapore to London,

recreating the famous ‘Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition’ of 1955. The original adventure was supported by Sir David Attenborough, then a young TV producer, who was approached by six university graduates with a dream to drive the entire length of ‘Eurasia’. The journey was known as ‘the unclimbed Everest of motoring,’ tried by many but until then conquered by none. The success was such that Sir David was to go on to describe it as ‘a journey that I don’t think could be made again today’. It was an irresistible gauntlet laid down to Alex who admitted that, ‘I had some pretty big shoes to fill.’ Not least because the adventure was to be attempted not in some souped-up super car but rather the restored 64-year-old Land Rover Defender, called ‘Oxford’, which had made the original journey. It was to prove an emotional moment for the original pioneering explorer, Tim Slessor, who was to take a short drive in the restored, but so

often badly behaved, legend. He was to write, ‘after all those years, not much had changed: no power steering, no synchro-mesh gearbox, no disc brakes, no coil springs and, of course, no air-con. Wonderful.’ And wonderful indeed is the story of the journey that was to then come to pass. The epitome of an epic expedition, which is now told in both a superb book and four-part TV documentary for Channel 4. Hitherto I think my one piece of Land Rover knowledge was the pub quiz answer for its motto: ‘Above and Beyond’. And this story goes above and beyond the enthusiasts sitting listening to our conversation on a sunny autumnal afternoon. It speaks to the spirit of adventure. That innately curious part of the human condition that seeks to push boundaries and to endure. To do things that are truly remarkable and lifeaffirming. To inspire others to find the best in themselves. 

READ The Last Overland by Alex Bescoby. Joanna Lumley describes the adventure as ‘reckless, insanely ambitious and filled with sweat, tears and laughter’. (Michael O’Mara Books, £20). WATCH The Last Overland The four-part story of the adventure (channel4.com). LISTEN To the Change Makers podcast with fellow adventurer Charley Boorman (changemakers.works).

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THE CONSERVATIONIST

THE EXHIBITIONIST Ed Vaizey

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THE RURBANIST Elle Macpherson