Country & Town House - September 2017

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

SEPTEMBER 2017 £3.90

CLARA PAGET

Dresses for the countryside

A DOG’S DINNER

Truffle hunting in Tuscany

COUNTRY SPORTS

THE PHANTOM RETURNS

Rolls-Royce goes beyond bespoke UP, UP & AWAY AIR BALLOONING OVER THE ATACAMA

THE BRIEF SHEET ON SHOOTING

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savills.co.uk

1 MAGNIFICENT GRADE I LISTED TUDOR MANSION HOUSE upton-on-severn, worcestershire 13th century manor ø 6 reception rooms ø 8 bedrooms ø swimming pool ø tennis court & pavilion ø gate lodge & 2 further cottages ø farmstead with farmhouse ø gardens ø arable & pasture land ø available as a whole or in 2 lots ø about 341 acres ø EPC=F-G

Savills Country Department

Savills Cheltenham

Crispin Holborow cholborow@savills.com

Christian Swaab cswaab@savills.com

020 7409 8881

01242 548003

Guide £5 million Lot 1 Freehold

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savills.co.uk

1 OUTSTANDING LATE VICTORIAN COUNTRY ESTATE Haslemere, Surrey Exquisite Grade II Listed Ernest Newton country house ø 6 reception rooms ø 11 bedrooms ø 4 cottages ø outbuildings ø gardens and parkland ø about 91.5 acres ø exciting opportunity for renovation

Savills Country Department

Savills Guildford

Lottie Geaves lgeaves@savills.com

Clive Moon cmoon@savills.com

020 7409 8869

01483 796820

Guide £9.5 million Freehold

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Chelsea Park Gardens, Chelsea, SW3 Wide and low built freehold house with west facing garden.

Fully refurbished and extended in 2014, this is a wonderful house that is beautifully presented throughout. The house has excellent views both front and rear as well as an attractive west facing garden at the rear. 4 bedrooms (all ensuite), Open plan reception room/dining area/ kitchen, 31 ft family room, Laundry, Storage, Shower room, Garden. EPC:E. Aproximately 277 sq m (2,983 sq ft).

KnightFrank.co.uk/chelsea chelsea@knightfrank.com 020 3641 6172

Freehold

Guide price: ÂŁ6,500,000

@CentralLondonKF KnightFrank.co.uk

KnightFrank.co.uk/CHL170103

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Earlsfield Road, Wandsworth SW18 A unique 6 bedroom house with high ceilings and 90ft garden

KnightFrank.co.uk/wandsworth wandsworth@knightfrank.com 020 3641 7731

Close to the amenities of both Clapham Junction and Wandsworth Town This extensive family home benefits from six well proportioned bedrooms, two of which have en-suite bathrooms. On the first floor, the master bedroom enjoys his and hers fully-fitted dressing rooms. The ground floor has a large multi-purpose kitchen/dining/living space, as well as access to a basement which currently serves as a media/games room/bar. There is also off-street parking for several cars and a garage.

EPC:D. In all about 5,200 sq ft.

Freehold

Guide price: ÂŁ 5 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0

@KF_SWLondon KnightFrank.co.uk

KnightFrank.co.uk/WND070106

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ouse - Septem b er 2017

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CONTENTS SEPTEMBER 2017

At the Start 26 28

THE GOOD LIFE Alice B-B wishes she could rely on old friends THE RURBANIST British showjumper Jessica Mendoza

Up Front 33 34 36 37 38 40 42

CROSSOVER Seasonal sartorial changes ANIMAL KINGDOM The birds and bees STYLE NOTES Love your jumpers THE TASTEMAKER Luxury with Lucia van der Post THE GOLD DIGGER Jewellery news MY BEAUTIFUL LIFE Margaret Dabbs WELL GROOMED Men’s style

The Guide 50 52 54 56

THE DIARY Sign up for our Creative Breakfasts during London Design Week ARTS AGENDA British dance on tour BOOK CLUB Entering the natural world SEEDER’S DIGEST Plants that earn their keep

Country Sports 57 62 66 68 76

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THE BRIEF SHEET Shooting BRACE UP Sporting style HOT ON THE HEEL Get your gundog game ready INTO THE WOODS Clara Paget stuns in autumnal tones LIVING THE HIGHLIFE IN THE HIGHLANDS Ted Innes Ker can take you places you’ve never been before...

DIGGING FOR GASTRO GOLD Jeremy Taylor goes truffle hunting in Tuscany

Features 82

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SLEEPING WITH BRITISH HISTORY An illustrious guest book can reap dividends when you’re flogging rooms in your stately home, says William Cash WHAT NICK DID NEXT Nicholas Coleridge is leaving Condé Nast, but he’s far from retiring, says Matthew Bell REINVENTING THE WHEEL A new Rolls-Royce always deserves a drum roll, but this time it has gone beyond bespoke

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CONTENTS SEPTEMBER 2017

58

The Insider 93 94 96 97

THE ALCHEMIST Zoffany’s dark palette CLASSIC HITS Products worthy of a country pile DESIGN NOTES News, views and inspiration Q&A Fiona Barratt- Campbell

Food & Travel 99

62

90

102 104 107

110 112

114 115

112

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ANDEAN ADVENTURE Sarah Gilbert takes the UK’s first direct route to Santiago, Chile, then heads north to find desert life high above the clouds THE HOTEL WIZARD Fiona Duncan bigs up the boutique hotel THE WEEKENDER Anna Pasternak in Budapest A PLACE IN THE (WINTER) SUN Now is the perfect time to get out the glossy brochures (or scroll Instagram) for winter holiday ideas, says Daisy Finer GASTRO GOSSIP Free lunches and perfect pairings SHOOT TO THRILL Lady Carnarvon on entertaining for the perfect shooting party weekend ROLL WITH IT Tom Kitchin’s souped-up sausage roll FORK & FIELD It’s game on this month for Anastasia Bernhardt

On The Move 117 118

PROPERTY OF THE MONTH ONE IN A MILLION London’s quirkiest homes 120 GET THE JOB DONE Check your tradesmen 121 A PLACE IN COUNTRY OR TOWN Jurassic coast or Yorkshire?

122 HOT PROPERTY The best houses for sale in country and town

ON THE COVER Fashion direction by Nicole Smallwood.

Photography by Christine Kreiselmaier.

Hair and makeup by Camilla Hewitt using Bobbi Brown and Bumble & bumble. Clara Paget @ Next wears dress

by Jenny Packham, jumper by Pringle of Scotland, bag by Filson, fur stole by Purdey, boots by Christian Louboutin

Regulars 16 18 44 111

EDITOR’S LETTER CONTRIBUTORS HIGH SOCIETY STOCKISTS

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DISCOVER THE NEW LUGGAGE AND AUTUMN WINTER COLLECTIONS

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THE THE HIGHLAND HIGHLAND COLLECTION. COLLECTION. HITTING HITTING THE THE MARK MARK FOR FOR OVER OVER 30 30 YEARS. YEARS. Now Nowintroducing introducingthe theHighland HighlandGORE-TEX® GORE-TEX®Ultra UltraLite Lite Trousers.

Trousers.Remarkably Remarkablywaterproof waterproofand andwindproof. windproof.

AAtailored tailoredfitfitfor forcomplete completecomfort. comfort. www.musto.com www.musto.com

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Editor’s Letter

W

EDITOR’S PICKS SPRITZ For when the smell of wet dog gets too much, liberally apply my new fave scent. cochine.com

WEAR For elegant early morning garden dog training. neveandnoor.com

e’ve gone and done it. After months of wavering about the practicalities of having a dog in London, we have taken the plunge and are now the proud owners of a border terrier called Rafferty.

Owning a pup has opened up a whole new world of possibilities and unlikely friendships – much like a first baby.

Everyone in the office is thrilled and he has eager dogwalkers on tap, but we still have a long way to go with the training. Ideally I would have gone for a retriever but I just didn’t think that would have been fair with our lifestyle. But for those of you who are considering a dog for country life or who want to get some expert advice on training it for the field, the lavishly revamped Gleneagles is the place – here, trainers will put you through your paces with their own dogs, so you can impart your new-found knowledge back home and have the best behaved pooch in the pack. To find out more, turn to page 66.

I always love our annual Country Sports issue – it takes me out of the city to wild woods, rushing rivers, brackeny heathland and heather-clad moors, surrounded by animals, nourishing food and the odd slug of sloe gin which can only be good for the soul. If you had Rafferty, our new office pup

58 68 the cash, you could even buy your way into some of the hitherto private Scottish sporting estates to sample some of the best sports and adventure that Scotland has to offer, thanks to new adventure travel company Ossian, founded by Scottish Lord Ted Innes Ker. We challenged him to come up with an equine adventure to blow our minds (p76).

And if shooting’s your bag, we give you the lowdown on everything you need to know; from the best places to learn and the hottest shots in the country; to learning the right lingo and shooting weekend entertaining tips from Highclere’s Lady Carnarvon (p112). And, of course, a huge part of the fun of a country sports weekend is the gear. Whether you’re taking part or not in the sport, no matter. It’s all about stockpiling tweeds, waterproofs, cashmeres and wools in the colours of autumn. Check out our style guide on page 62.

Happy hunting!

62

BUY Completely impractical for dog walking, but what the hell. aninebing.com

PAMPER Mungo & Maud is your one-stop puppy shop. mungoandmaud.com

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@countryandtown /countryandtownhousemagazine /countryandtownhouse

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CONTRIBUTORS

Anna Pasternak What’s your sport of choice? Croquet.

I don’t have a sporting bone in my body but discovered a viciously competitive streak playing croquet.

You wouldn’t be seen dead wearing… Athleisure.

Croquet demands old school dandy; flowing scarves and silk – definitely not lycra.

A good sporting day is when… You win with some gobsmackingly demon shots.

Hunting ban – would you lift it? Yes.

William Cash

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HOLLY A Jodhpur boot from the Women’s Collection Made in England using the finest quality European calf

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What’s your sport of choice?

The English shooting lunch is one of our country’s best contributions to civilisation.

You wouldn’t be seen dead wearing… a Chelsea football shirt down the Cresta Run. A good sporting day is when… my milliner wife Laura Cathcart is complimented on her new Johnny Cash inspired ‘Cowgirl’ range of shooting hats.

Hunting ban – would you lift it? Indifferent, so long as my friends and family get to continue hunting.

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watches calvinklein.com

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CONTRIBUTORS

Alexandra Dao What’s your sport of choice? I love watching Wimbledon every year, but my favourite sport is kickboxing with my trainer once a week on Blackheath. It brings out the ninja in me.

You wouldn’t be seen dead wearing… flip flops.

A good sporting day... is biking along the river and swimming in our local lido.

Hunting ban – would you lift it? Surely no creature should be killed for pleasure.

Eleanor Doughty What’s your sport of choice? I am a very enthusiastic if slightly inelegant shot and pretty hopeless (but again enthusiastic) fisherwoman, so it’s anything with four legs for me. Polo, hunting, eventing, I’m not picky.

Just give me a horse and I’m happy.

You wouldn’t be seen dead wearing… clean Wellies.

A good sporting day... is when five years later, you’re STILL recounting that anecdote in the pub.

Hunting ban – would you lift it? Yes, but I don’t think it will ever happen.

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CO U NTRYA N DTOW N H O U S E .CO.U K

EDITOR Lucy Cleland EDITOR-AT-LARGE Alice B-B FASHION DIRECTOR Lucy Bond CONTRIBUTING FASHION EDITOR Nicole Smallwood FEATURES & FOOD EDITOR Anastasia Bernhardt LUXURY EDITOR Lucia van der Post JEWELLERY EDITOR Annabel Davidson BEAUTY EDITOR Nathalie Eleni PROPERTY EDITOR Graham Norwood LUXURY SALES DIRECTOR Maya Monro-Somerville PROPERTY MARKETING MANAGER Gemma Cowley RETAIL EDITOR Rosalyn Wikeley SALES EXECUTIVE Olivia Milligan CREATIVE DIRECTION & PRODUCTION Parm Bhamra PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Chloe Smith DIGITAL CONSULTANT Lucy Kirkness ONLINE EDITOR Rebecca Cox DIGITAL ASSISTANT Clementina Jackson IT MANAGER Mark Pearson CREDIT CONTROLLER Penny Burles OPERATIONS & ACCOUNTS MANAGER Millie Mountain ACCOUNTS CONTROLLER Jane Todd FINANCE DIRECTOR Jill Newey PUBLISHER Julia Carrick MANAGING DIRECTOR Jeremy Isaac CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Stephen Bayley, Simon de Burton, Sophie Dening, Fiona Duncan, Daisy Finer, Lydia Gard, Avril Groom, Richard Hopton, Emma Love, Mary Lussiana, Anna Pasternak, Caroline Phillips, Charlotte Metcalf, 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 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 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 © 2017 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. Whilst 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.

Thermostatic Shower Valve Design Centre | Chelsea Harbour samuel-heath.co.uk | Made in England Country & Town House is a member of CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England)

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A GREAT TRAVEL BAG CARRIES ALL THE MEMORIES OF YOUR LIFELONG ADVENTURES.

Luxury British-made Leather Luggage and Bags www.tusting.co.uk | 01234 712266

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INSPIRATIONAL FURNITURE LONDON | 555 Kings Road | Chelsea | London | SW6 2EB | 020 7610 6626 NEWCASTLE | Tyne Tunnel Trade Park | North Shields | NE29 7UT | 0191 257 6112 HARROGATE | 13 Regent House | Albert Street | Harrogate | HG1 1JX | 01423 520 515

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COLUMN

curvy vital statistics).

We’re off to a good start.

Then we cruise round the shops ogling pretty pink Gucci sequins, polka dot Dolce and grey lace Valentino. (Rumour has Alice B-B takes shopping personally it there are 30 more shops opening in October.) Besides the socking discounts, the joy of Bicester is that, unlike a London department store or busy city street, you get to have livening gulps of country air in between intense shopping. Or a snack at Soho House’s Farmshop restaurant. And although I don’t find any new old friends... I do spy a heart-stopping emerald green sparkly Gucci trouser suit... Oh God! Why can’t I fall for a nice black dress.

A ROAD TRIP THROUGH FRANCE, and en route to the Côte d’Azur we spent a night at the most heavenly new hotel. Through the vineyards of Château La Coste, past the Tadao Ando-designed art centre and sculpture garden that includes a vast Louise Bourgeois spider perched in a slate pool, and up to the new hotel; Villa La Coste. Huge rooms with views over the Luberon hills, fluttery-curtained white beds and cloud-like sofas delivering cool refuge from the searing South of France heat and cicada soundtrack. Lunch at the new Francis Mallmann restaurant, rosé from the vineyards below, jasmine-scented walkways HAVEN’T A STITCH TO WEAR!’ It’s to bedrooms filled with hits of mid-century a total lie of course; my cupboards groan design and contemporary art, including a with enough fripperies for a lifetime.

Tracey Emin hanging over my bed, and the spa But I never have the right thing to wear. like a Japanese zen garden. It’s a ‘pinch-me’ It’s the same every time I’m asked to something place. I couldn’t help but feel awe-inspired. And that requires dressing up. ‘Wear an old friend,’ despite only opening in April, Villa La Coste says my impeccably dressed old friend Jemima is already Provence’s classiest modern classic.

Khan. So I swish through rails, search in boxes, MY FAN GIRL CRUSH on skincare brand dig to the bottom of drawers and find zip.

Sisley is raging. The newest product – Black Rose I have no old fashion friends; only memories Skin Infusion Cream – feels like a regular rich of a leaner youth while making questionable cream to the touch, but when I smooth it over style statements. Kitchen sink dresses; where my face it becomes like velvet water. Apparently every possible trend, from sequins to cleavage this is thanks to ‘water-in-oil emulsion’, so cut-outs, is thrown at one damn frock. the droplets are both plumping my skin and Total panic! Someone suggests the Personal delivering healing deep beneath the surface.

Shopping service at Bicester Village. And with And as for the smell... thanks 24 hours until the wedding, I leap in my motor to a combination of black, may to meet personal shopper Fiona Huntingford, and alpine rose extracts, this who has organised valet parking and proffers cream should come with a health a glass of champagne as we flick through her warning: Beware – strangers in the iPad looking at dresses she has scouted for me. street may try and sniff your face.

(I’d already given her my likes, dislikes and

The Good Life

‘I

LUXURY & NECESSITY SLEEPING BEAUTY Too chic to kip in olivia vonhalle.com

COMING UP ROSES Cream of the crop from sisley-paris.com

GET PERSONAL The best way to do bicestervillage.com PRETTY IN PROVENCE Blown-away by villalacoste.com

THIS MONTH I’LL BE...

1 Buying linen shorts for Mr Love at Love Brand’s new Notting Hill shop (lovebrand.com). 2 Rehydrating with wonky fruit and veg infused water (dash-water.com). 3 Taking my parents for cocktails and pasta at new restaurant Rigo’ in Fulham (rigolondon.com).

BAG IT UP A slinky silver number from nathalietrad.com

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Le Chameau Vierzon neoprene-lined rubber boot Le Chameau has been an iconic part of country life for 90 years.

Craftsmanship, innovation and performance are the hallmark of every Le Chameau product. Excellence is at the heart of everything we do. Enjoy your country passions even more, experience your moments of excellence.

STOCKISTS NATIONWIDE LECHAMEAU.COM

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MY LIFE

COU NTRY

The Rurbanist

Equestrian athlete Jessica Mendoza started riding at the age of three

HALLOWED WATERS The Lake District ‘the loveliest spot that man hath found’ gains UNESCO World Heritage status

competing, it’s probably my dogs I miss most.

SILLY ISLANDERS Swim between Scilly’s main islands for the Scilly Sea Swim Challenge.

Doggy paddle is acceptable.

Favourite spot in the countryside?

Around where I grew up on the Wiltshire Downs.

Secret London address? Whenever I am in London, first on my ‘go-to’ list is Charing Cross Road and Covent Garden, home to a couple of great art shops, so I can stock up on my art supplies.

Saturday night you’ll find me... competing at a big show. As with all sport, it’s important to draw the crowds so there will usually be some classes with big prize money on Saturday nights.

Sunday morning means... no lie in – Sunday is always a big day at shows.

MAMIL ALERT Lycra at the ready, the Tour of Britain starts 3 September.

What makes your blood boil?

Where did you grow up? In Wiltshire, not far from Marlborough, and rode ponies from about the age of three, so I have been effectively immersed in horsey life for as long as I can remember.

Where did your first paycheck come from? The equivalent of earning my first paycheck was winning my first ever prize money on a pony.

I honestly can’t remember how I spent it.

What’s left to tick off your bucket list? I haven’t got my list together yet because life is so hectic on the show jumping circuit, but it will definitely be a long list when I get round to it.

What is your home like? My family home is in Eindhoven in the Netherlands, we have lived there for three years but I travel so often that I’m hardly ever there.

Where do you escape to? The horsebox at shows, or I can often be found napping in a hammock in the stables.

What’s the best thing about Britain? I think it’s how potty the British are about dogs, and I am certainly no exception. When I’m away

Unnecessary suffering of animals.

I am trying to do my bit by becoming an ambassador for The Brooke, which helps to improve the quality of life of working horses, mules and donkeys across the world, and in so doing, helps protect the livelihoods of poorer people globally.

THE DOUBLE LIFER THE BEST IN COUNTRY & TOWN THIS MONTH

Have you ever taken a really bad tumble?

I’ve certainly had my share of falls and anyone involved in equestrian sports recognises the risks involved. But when you’re out there riding, you’re entirely focused on competing and don’t think of anything else.

What’s on your to-read list? Not a lot. I tend to listen to music or watch movies to unwind.

If I have any quiet time, I love to paint.

Don’t laugh, but I really love... zombie movies.

RIGHT AS RAIN London’s microclimates will be accurately mapped with the rollout of 5G NO BOYS ALLOWED Jamavar has the antidote to Mayfair mansplaining with a monthly meeting for the fairer sex

If you could have done anything differently?

Last year we travelled to the Rio Olympics as team reserve, so I’m certainly looking for that to change next time. I would love to be riding on the team in Tokyo.

On your tombstone, they’ll write... probably something to do with being quite stubborn.

I can’t live without... my Ettinger hold-all bag, as I am permanently on the move. It’s really practical but understatedly stylish too.

COMPACT COMMUTER The new carry on – Sven Cycles fold up into a briefcase

TOWN

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Handmade in England Chelsea 84 Fulham Road SW3 6HR T: 020 7584 5736 Notting Hill 102 Westbourne Grove W2 5RU T: 020 7243 2315 Wiltshire Clackersbrook Farm Bromham SN15 2JJ T: 01380 859299 E-mail: enq@mccarronandco.com www.mccarronandco.com

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Furniture makers - Redefining bespoke

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File Notes:

Photo taken by co-founder Tim. View from the quinine plantations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

WE GO TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH FOR THE PERFECT G&T Gin is only as good as the tonic it’s paired with.

While most tonics mask the delicate flavours of gin with ar tificial sweeteners like sickly saccharin, at Fever-Tree it’s all about taste. In fact, one might say our founders Charles and Tim are a little obsessed.

In their quest for the perfect tonic, Charles and Tim spent days in the British Librar y researching quinine sources before travelling to some of the most remote par ts of the world in search of the finest natural ingredients, venturing as far as the Democratic Republic of the Congo to find the world’s purest quinine. It’s this unique ingredient that gives our tonic its essential bitter flavour, and when balanced with botanicals like natural orange oils, makes for a gin & tonic that’s crisp, clean and like no other.

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UP FRONT STYLE · BEAUTY · JEWELLERY · PARTIES

CROSSOVER LAY ER UP FOR SARTORIAL TR ANSITIONS, SAYS MARTHA WARD It’s that bleak moment when we reach the end of summer and the question of ‘what to wear’ comes into play.

Don’t write off your summer dresses just yet, merely layer up. Queene & Belle demonstrates the ease and beauty of this. queeneandbelle.com

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UP FRONT

Animal Kingdom

STYLE

GUCCI gucci.com

Martha Ward chooses birds and bees, bugs and butterflies

COUNTRY 1 DOR BEETLE Smokey quartz earrings, £216. alexmonroe.com 2 ESCADA Peacock coat, £675. escada.com 3 BALENCIAGA Floral print dress, £1,535. brownsfashion.com 4 DAVID WATSON Folktale large scarf, £139. davidwatson.uk 5 PRETTY BALLERINAS Bee loafers, £269. prettyballerinas.com

TOWN 6 BEE GODDESS Diamond bangle, £1,540. beegoddess.com 7 MONSOON Ditsy floral top, £35. uk.monsoon.co.uk 8 CHRISTOPHER KANE Sun print skirt, £995. brownsfashion.com 9 GUCCI Bamboo handle bag, £2,840. net-a-porter.com 10 MALONE SOULIERS Leather trimmed embroidered canvas pump, £445. boutique1.com

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S H O O T IN G

• E V E N IN G W E A R • M O R N IN G W E A R

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Autumn 2014

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UP FRONT

NEWS MICRO TREND

WINTER FLORALS

CAPE CRUSADER

Over the past few years the cape has become a wardrobe staple, perfect for bridging country and town life. Fling it over a pair of jeans for a breezy walk or wrap it round you over an evening dress, it’s truly versatile. We love this striking monochrome version from Dorothee Schumacher, especially with its flattering funnel neck. £756. dorothee-schumacher.com

NADYA SHAH Anastasia cape, £1,500. nadyashah.com

Dorothee Schumacher Free Embrace cape

Style Notebook Workwear and winter florals

MAKE IT PERSONAL

Design your own Gommino

Tod’s is offering a bespoke service on its iconic Gommino shoe, so now you can choose your leather, stitching, lining, colour of the sole and even whether you want them monogrammed.

From £310. tods.com

TAKE THREE

LOVE JUMPERS 1 HUSH Big Love, £130. hush-uk.com 2 BELLA FREUD Love for you, £400. matchesfashion.com 3 GUCCI Sequined sweater, £975. net-a-porter.com

Bow Savile is a new British label for working women

ALICE ARCHER Fleurette jeans, £395. theshopat bluebird.com

ALISTAIR JAMES Dress, £645. liberty.co.uk

DRESS WELL FOR WORK

If you’re heading back to work after a summer in the sun, you might be interested in new British label Bow Savile, which offers women beautifully tailored workwear – from suits and jackets to skirts and separates.

All created with an anti-fast fashion ethos in mind, 50 per cent of profits will go directly to programmes supporting the education and employment of women globally.

From £95. bowsavile.com

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UP FRONT

LUXURY

LUXURY IN BRIEF

The Tastemaker Lucia van der Post’s favourite things

CURATING CRAFT

One of the highlights of Decorex every year is critic and curator Corinne Julius’s selection of works by some of the best craftspeople around. This year look out for ceramicist David Marques’ installation which combines brass and porcelain to create branches of blossom. Then there are Ilona Broeseliske’s precious porcelain boxes and her re-invention of the Japanese netsuke tradition. There’s a liquid plastic table from Richard Lowry and wonderful glass from Pia Wüstenberg.

Worth checking out. 17–20 September. decorex.com

CLEVER BLOOMS After a recent disaster sending flowers to a new mother I’m attracted by the notion of Floom, an online flower service that delivers only locally sourced, seasonal blooms from independent florists.

Currently it has wonderful blowsy roses and relaxed looking greenery which make it look as though the flowers have come from your very own garden. floom.com

Pia Wüstenberg's glassware

BANGKOK BEAUTIES

Jewellers are not in short supply but truly innovative designs are hard to find. Dover Street Market is a great place to see fresh names such as Thai designer with the impossibly long name, Patcharavipa Bodiratnangkura. All her pieces are handmade in Bangkok, each is based around gemstones and rare materials such as sacred ebony from Burma. Her CoExistence collection uses rare coconut shells found only in Amphawa (a region northwest of Bangkok), left entirely in their organic form which she then combines with precious metals and stones to bond into wearable art pieces. doverstreetmarket.com

JUST LIKE GRANNY USED TO HAVE

Old berry serving spoons

A S’WELL IDEA A brilliant idea from USbased former tax consultant and international real estate developer Sarah Kauss.

Inspired by the notion of ridding the world of plastic bottles S’well is a re-usable water bottle that keeps drinks cold for 24 hours and hot drinks hot for 12 hours. Seven years on and the bottles come with lots of different finishes, many devised by serious artists and designers. swellbottle.com

Split bangle in black gold, £8,200

Re-found is a wonderful source of the sort of oldfashioned products that reminds me irresistibly of the sort of grandmother I wish I’d had. Take its old glass bottles. It found a cache of them in Hungary which had been brilliantly decorated with multi-coloured wire once used in the old mining villages. They’re utterly charming, would make the most brilliant presents and prices start at around £28. I love its collection of old berry serving spoons too, perfect for jam and a great house present. re-foundobjects.com

SUMMER SCENTS I’m a sucker for old-fashioned scents, the ones made in the heyday of French perfumery. Which is why I spent the dying days of summer encased in Violettes, a perfume created by Sophie Berdoues, who was inspired by an original 1930s version created by her family house, Maison Berdoues of Toulouse. It is powdery and voluptuous with some light notes of citrus zest and some patchouli at the base to give it depth.

100ml, £110. harveynichols.com

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UP FRONT

JEWELLERY NEWS

The Gold Digger The latest jewellery news.

By Annabel Davidson

1 IT’S A CINCH

There’s nothing quite like the sound of a stack of metal bangles jangling away on one’s wrist, and Annoushka’s new take on it is too cool to ignore. Like miniature belts for the wrist, they come in plain white, yellow and rose gold, or with a diamond-pavé buckle.

What’s more, they’ve got an adorable hinged fastening, so they can be secured like a real belt. annoushka.com Belt bangle by Annoushka, £1,600

Falcon ring

by Boucheron, POA

2 BOX CLEVER

Clerkenwell-based Simon Wright is the best sort of traditional jeweller – a master craftsman who melds the very best handmade techniques with the most cutting-edge technology. But his ‘Perfect Proposal’ offering is just plain clever. You choose the diamond, and present it to the object of your affection in a beautiful box complete with a little gold ingot and a tiny lookbook – then together you can visit the studio to work on the perfect engagement ring. No gift receipt necessary. sw-jewellery.com

Tejen Capstone Arc diamond earrings, £3,832

3 A BIRD IN HAND

Boucheron’s animals are always the most endearing creatures, but there’s one addition to the menagerie, presented as part of the new Hiver Impérial high jewellery collection, that looks more protective talisman than pretty pet. The glint in the eye of this handsome falcon, rendered in white gold, diamonds and black enamel, will keep you safe from harm. boucheron.com

4 ECO-CHIC

The simplicity of Tejen’s ethically-sourced jewellery makes it unbelievably easy to wear and layer. Designed by two fashion industry veterans, Isabel Encinas and Mark Kroeker, based in Paris and New York, the range uses fairmined gold and silver, with designs steeped in art deco and architectural influences.

Exclusive to Browns. brownsfashion.com

5 LIKE, COSMIC

Perfect Proposal by Simon Wright

Amrapali’s new Cosmic collection makes incredible use of druzy agates – which refers to the stone’s structure of tiny clustered crystals – along with diamonds and other precious gemstones. The range has a wonderfully witchy look without sacrificing the high-end craftsmanship. amrapalijewels.com

Cosmic collection

by Amrapali, POA

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Items pictured sold in a previous sale

Monthly Auctions of Antique & Modern Jewellery Thursday 14th September Thursday 12th October Thursday 9th November Thursday 7th December Viewings at both the Birmingham and London offices

View the catalogue and bid online at www.fellows.co.uk Head Office & Saleroom | Augusta House | 19 Augusta Street | Birmingham B18 6JA | 0121 212 2131 London Office

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| 3 Hill Street | Mayfair | London W1J 5LA | 020 7127 4198

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UP FRONT

BEAUTY

In the morning I always wash my face with cold water first thing. Then I apply a Sarah Chapman moisturiser and a touch of make-up.

In my make-up bag you’ll find Touche Éclat, Eyeko Black Magic mascara, Hour Glass blusher, Chanel lipstick, Chantecaille Quartz eye shadow and Gale Hayman Lip Lift Duo with Collagen and Vitamin E. My hero product is Philip Kingsley’s Elasticizer, which really gives my hair added bounce.

I am addicted to medical pedicures. I have one every four weeks and rotate around my clinics to fit in with my schedule.

My favourite nail colours for the season are Pink Blossom, which gives a very classic subtle look, and Poppy, one of our vibrant reds.

I wear Molecule O1 perfume. I love how it creates an individual scent on each wearer.

To keep fit I run and go to the gym regularly.

I also love to do various physical challenges including treks, cycling and running races.

My best beauty advice is to keep out of the sun and drink lots of water.

My Beautiful Life Queen of beautiful hands and feet, Margaret Dabbs, shares her beauty secrets with Nathalie Eleni

BACK TO SCHOOL SKIN Give your skin some TLC this autumn

Cheltenham clinic

1 ARGAN LIQUID GOLD Berber women in North

Africa have sworn by argan oil’s health and beauty benefits for years. It’s bursting with vitamin E and fatty acids, so use to hydrate and feed your skin during the seasonal transition. £65. arganliquidgold.co.uk

ME TIME

B R O W R E S U R R E C T I O N AT B R O W H A U S

2 ALUMIERMD BRIGHT & CLEAR SOLUTION You will

wonder how your cleansing regime existed without this new-age toner. Use the lactic, caviar lime and soy amino acids-packed solution twice a day, after cleansing, and begin to see real results in two weeks. £36. alumiermd.co.uk 3 IS CLINICAL SUPER SERUM ADVANCE+ This

lovely serum helps to reduce scar tissue, the appearance of fine lines and to promote wound healing while giving superior antioxidant protection. 15ml, £70. isclinical.co.uk 4 DR RUSSO SPF30 SUN PROTECTIVE BRUSH-ON ALL DAY MOISTURISER Protect your skin from the last of the

summer rays. Renowned internationally for his revolutionary work in reversing sun damage, Dr Russo’s five-star sun cream is suited to even the most sensitive of skins. 50ml, £78. selfridges.com 5 CELLCOSMET CELLLIFT CREAM LIGHT A hard-hitting, skin-

firming cream that helps to smoothe and redefine facial contours.

It has been designed for oily skin that needs some extra oomph, but without the usual heavy residue. 50ml, £365. cellcosmet.co.uk

Visit the brow experts at Browhaus for this incredible semi-permanent brow treatment that is more detailed and natural looking than usual techniques.

A revolutionary strand by strand application of super fine hair strokes creates the perfect arch, shape and colour that will give your friends some serious brow envy and give you brows that you no longer have to worry about. From £550. browhaus.co.uk

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UP FRONT

STYLE

LOUNGE LOVERS

HIP TO BE SQUARE

If you are in the market for some lush loungewear as autumn hits, then you’re in luck as cult underwear, sleep and loungewear label Zimmerli is now available for the first time in the UK. Multicoloured pyjamas, £308. mrporter.com

Newgate Watches was founded 25 years ago by husband and wife team Jim and Chloe Read. Their new collection includes some striking designs, our favourite being this distinctive number from the Cubeline collection. £149. newgatewatches.com

TRAVEL TRANSFIGURED

ZIP IT

A good casual weekend jacket should be on everybody’s list as summer starts to fade. This Harrington jacket, made in the Private White VC’s Manchester factory, is a surefire instant classic. £450. private whitevc.com

Well Groomed

Tech and travel accessories gurus Knomo have teamed up with the V&A to transform and blow up an archive print from the 1930s and reconfigure it across a capsule collection including this cool Berlin backpack. £129. knomo.com

Matt Thomas sexes up his sock drawer

COLLAR THIS Beaufort & Blake is a brand to watch – guided by Brit tradition yet also ultracontemporary, it celebrates great shirt design with attention to detail, luxe fabrics and eye-catching, wearable prints too. Thurloe brushed plaid shirt, £59. beaufortandblake.com

LONDON AT YOUR FEET

Look Mate continues its fun quest to design exquisite socks collaboratively with a new collection designed by creative Yoni Alter, inspired by walks around London. £12. lookmate.co

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SOCIAL SCENE

Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie

YOUNG PRETENDER

It’s hard to believe that the V&A summer party is only in its second year. With its razor-tight guest list and fashion-forward dress code, it feels as though it has been a fixture on the summer calendar for as long as the Royal Academy’s. This year’s was hosted by Tristram Hunt and Nicholas Coleridge, with a little help from Harrods’ MD Michael Ward, who brought along his iconic green uniformed men to serve up premier cru champagne to get the party started.

Charlotte Dellal

Claudia Winkleman

Yana and Leon Max

Ellie Bamber

Ron Arad

Elizabeth Hurley

Tristram Hunt Mariella Frostrup

Nathan Stewart-Jarrett

Samantha Cameron and Harold Tillman

High Society

Ian Hislop

People, parties, places

Caroline Winberg

Lara Stone and Laurent Feniou

Jilly Cooper

Lily Cole

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

Jessica Hart

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PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES; DARREN GERRISH PHOTOGRAPHY

PERFECT TEN

It was Adolfo Cambiaso’s lucky day at the finals of the Cartier Queen’s Cup. The world’s number one player won his tenth Queen’s Cup victory, this time for Ben Soleimani’s RH Polo, after a nail-biting standoff with La Indiana.

But it wasn’t Cambiaso who took the much-coveted title of Cartier’s Most Valuable Player (although his pony took the Best Playing Pony prize), but his teammate 21-year-old Tommy Beresford, who played with a maturity well beyond his years.

UP FRONT

SUMMER SOIRÉE

Adwoa Aboah

Claudia Schiffer

Arthur Jafa, Yana Peel, Hans Ulrich Obrist

If you weren’t wearing Chanel at this year’s Serpentine Summer Party, then you were the odd one out – even Skepta was dressed head to toe in the label. That’s because the fashion house joined with the Serpentine Galleries to celebrate the thriving art, architecture and design industries in London. Hans Ulrich Obrist, Yana Peel and Es Devlin were behind installations that included a photobooth Erin O’Connor that turned words into poetry.

Charlotte Dellal

Skepta

Mario Testino

Jasmine Guinness and Nadia Naipaul

Diébédo Francis Kéré

Ellie Bamber

Annie Lennox

Amanda Eliasch Helen McCrory and Damian Lewis

Grayson and Philippa Perry

CINE WORLD

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES; DARREN GERRISH PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

FINE WINE GOES ONLINE

Clym Evernden

It was dinner cooked by Jason Atherton at the Sir John Soane Museum for lucky guests invited to celebrate the launch of Clos 19, a website that offers exceptional services, products and experiences from the champagne, wine and spirits world of LVMH. Those guests included an intriguing Robert and Alice Sheffield mix from across the design world, including Tom Dixon, Marc Quinn and Tony Chambers, proving that presentation really Duncan Campbell, Frances von Hofmannsthal and Luke Edward Hall is everything.

Inesa De La Roche

Lotte Jeffs

Liberatum’s new documentary, In This Climate, premiered at Mondrian London to a select crowd. Including powerful contributions from figures like Sir David Attenborough, the film reflects on the health of our planet.

Stephanie Watine Arnault and Jason Atherton

Irha Atherton

Lauren Cuthbertson and Franck Raharinosy

Oswald Boateng and Pam Hogg

Steven Berkoff

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Table lamp (01), Magic Circus at Poliform. ‘Jewel’ drum table (BB3384), Barbara Barry at Baker. ‘Egos’ lounge chair and ottoman upholstered in ‘Sun Bear’ (30028-017), Rubelli at Rubelli/Donghia. ‘Mythical Agra’ rug, Tim Page Carpets x J.D. Staron. Artwork: ‘Points of Contact No. 14’, 1969, by Victor Pasmore, Birgit Israel. ‘Contour’ console (3366), Barbara Barry at Baker. ‘Flabello’ table mirrors, Gallotti&Radice. ‘Phenomena’ pendant light, Bomma at Poliform. ‘Ginkgo Biloba’ floor lamp, Charles Paris Lighting at Rubelli/ Donghia. Wallcoverings (front to back): ‘Tancho’ (TA004), George Spencer Designs, ‘Echo’ (111680) Harlequin at Style Library, (10062) and (10056), Missoni at Brian Yates and ‘Geodesic’ (111698), Harlequin at Style Library. Fabric drapes (front to back): ‘Domino Pyramid’ (WK801/05), Kirby Design at Romo and ‘Cuba’ (2736-23), Sahco.

Paint: ‘Faded Rose’ and ‘Double Quartz Grey’, both Zoffany at Style Library

IN FOCUS Join the Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour for FOCUS/17, the ultimate interiors event

W

hat makes London’s design culture so highly regarded on the international stage? Is it the fluidity of ideas enabled by the influx of talent from across the world, the rich heritage of craftsmanship or unfettered creativity of industry newcomers?

Undoubtedly the prevailing culture of collaboration and exchange of knowledge has bolstered the interior and design world here – whether that be timeless techniques or the new wave spurring on the old guard to reach new heights of ingenuity.

It is this premise that makes events like Focus/17 at Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour such an important part of the ever-evolving conversation about design.

The six-day celebration of talent involves over 100 immersive experiences, ranging from talks and demonstrations to receptions and discovery tours, providing an unparalleled level of access to the

creative process of design and the global talent behind it. It is this fusion of design encounters, together with opportunities to connect with 600 plus leading international brands, that offers a dynamic collective unseen anywhere else.

As 120 Design Centre Finishes, Black & Key. Wool tufts (36-80-10), (60-50-10) and showrooms (as well as outside (44-80-10), all Jacaranda Carpets. ‘Daphne’ fabric (0011), Création Baumann. ‘Zak’ fabric (10667.40), Nobilis. ‘Ikko’ fabric participants in Chelsea) open (132399) Anthology at Style Library. ‘Cobbles’ fabrics (COB3) and (COB1), both de Le Cuona. ‘Coco Shells’ wallcovering (RM 944 02), up their doors to industry Elitis at Abbott & Boyd. Paints: ‘Musk Pink’ and ‘Dust Pink’, both Zoffany at Style Library. ‘Lavender’ carpet, Wool Classics. ‘Coyolate’ insiders and the public alike, fabric (ARF57), arctic, A Rum Fellow at George Spencer Designs.

Background wallcovering: ‘Striato’ (W408/02), Romo take the opportunity to explore the journey behind the collections that will come to define this season, watch master craftsmen up close and in action or join a stellar line-up of international speakers for the Conversations in Design series.

Inviting in a broad range of skilled experts, this year floral artist Tony Marklew has created site specific displays, while Cutture has made an aerial installation of re-engineered paper.

Don’t miss this fixture on the international design calendar – it’s a testament to Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour’s continued growth, diversity and openness to new ideas and visitors.

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PROMOTION

PERSONAL SHOPPING

‘Diedro’ cabinet by Pietro Russo, Gallotti & Radice. Sculpture: Christophe Delcourt at GMR Interiors. ‘Anders’ chair, Oly Studio at Gladee Lighting. ‘Griffith’ chandelier (87047), Arteriors. Wallcoverings (front to back): ‘Brasilia’ (FP1111), Flavor Paper at Arte, ‘Wicker Weave’ (T-72824), Thibaut at Jacaranda Carpets and ‘Domino Pyramid’ (WK801/05), Kirkby Design at Romo. Fabric drapes (front to back): ‘El Rais’ (ZFER-01), Zak + Fox at George Spencer Designs and ‘Prism’ (35121-1), Clarence House at Turnell & Gigon.

Trimmings on wall: ‘Sticks’ borders (XB-75), (XB-200) and (XB-300), all Sutherland Perennials Studio. Paint: ‘Graphite’, Zoffany at Style Library

Whether you’re looking to freshen up a specific room, or planning a complete renovation project – why not let a highly experienced Personal Shopper take the strain out of your search at Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour; your one-stop shop for all your decorating needs. You can be guided stress-free throughout the 120 showrooms and the friendly team can save you time by showing you where to shop with confidence, safe in the knowledge that you are making the right choices. The consultation is free of charge – sounds like a dream come true. To book call 020 7352 1900.

WHAT’S ON

1

CONVERSATIONS IN DESIGN A first-class line-up of international tastemakers share rare insights at talks and panel discussions. Names include Patricia Urquiola, Katharine Pooley, Audrey Carden, Nipa Doshi, Kim Wilkie, Niall McLaughlin, Tiffany Duggan, Sally Mackereth and Whitney Bromberg Hawkings.

2

ACCESS ALL AREAS Meet the experts behind the world’s most exciting design brands, from David Collins Studio and Ashley Hicks to Salvesen Graham. Catch up with international brands including new arrivals Arteriors and Sutherland Perennials Studio from the US.

3

SENSORY SERIES WORKSHOPS Keep ahead of the curve on the latest design topics. Sessions that speak to the senses will bring an emotional connection in an increasingly fast-paced world.

4

MEET THE MAKERS Get the inside track on methods, makers and materials, by talking to the people behind the new collections. Highlights include sessions with Bernie de Le Cuona, Wendy Cushing Passementerie and a behindthe-scenes talk with Iksel – Decorative Arts.

5

DESIGN DISCOVERY TOURS From the most-talkedabout new designs to bespoke installations, get a fresh view of the show, all accompanied by a glass of fizz.

6

FOOD & DRINK Restaurants, pop-up bars and cafés offer fabulous places to eat and drink. Tom’s Kitchen pop-up restaurant is an exciting new addition.

‘YBU’ dining table, Christophe Delcourt at GMR Interiors.

‘Diamond’ table lamp (TL703) with 13” Tall Drum shade, Bella Figura. ‘Elisse’ ceiling light, Nemo at Poliform.

Wallcovering: ‘Chimera’ (CHI-02), Innovations at Altfield.

Fabric drapes: ‘Karneol’ (84), Création Baumann Paint: ‘Cecil Green’, Zoffany at Style Library

INSPIRING PROGRAMME • GLOBAL TALENT • INFINITE DESIGN POSSIBILITIES EVENT LOCATION FOCUS/17 at Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour Lots Road, London, SW10 OXE (Plus outside participants in Chelsea) COURTESY TRANSPORT Arrive in style in a Mercedes. The shuttle service leaves Sloane Square via participating Chelsea showrooms.

DATES Trade Preview Sun 17 – Tues 19 September 2017 All Welcome Wed 20 – Fri 22 September 2017 Open 10am – 6pm FREE ENTRY

THE A-LIST ABBOTT & BOYD / ALTFIELD / ALTON-BROOKE / ARMANI/CASA / ARTE / ARTERIORS / ARTISANS OF DEVIZES / BAKER / BAKER LIFESTYLE / BELLA FIGURA / BESSELINK & JONES / BIRGIT ISRAEL / BLACK & KEY / BRIAN YATES / BRUNSCHWIG & FILS / C & C MILANO / CECCOTTI COLLEZIONI / CHASE ERWIN / CHRISTOPHE DELCOURT AT GMR INTERIORS / CHRISTOPHER HYDE LIGHTING / CHRISTOPHER PEACOCK / COLE & SON / COLEFAX AND FOWLER / COLONY / CREATION BAUMANN / CRESTRON EMEA / DAVID SEYFRIED LTD / DAVIDSON / DE LE CUONA / DECCA (BOLIER) / DECORUS / DEDAR / EDELMAN LEATHER / ESPRESSO DESIGN / EVITAVONNI / FLEXFORM / FOX LINTON / FROMENTAL / FRONT RUGS / GALLOTTI&RADICE / GEORGE SPENCER DESIGNS / GIORGETTI / GLADEE LIGHTING / GP & J BAKER / HOLLAND & SHERRY / HOULES / IKSEL – DECORATIVE ARTS / INTERDESIGN UK / J. ROBERT SCOTT / JACARANDA CARPETS / JASON D’SOUZA / JIM THOMPSON / JULIAN CHICHESTER / JEAN MONRO / KRAVET / LACAZE LONDON / LEE JOFA / LELIEVRE PARIS / LEWIS & WOOD / LIZZO / MARC DE BERNY / MARVIC TEXTILES / MCKINNEY & CO / MCKINNON AND HARRIS / MULBERRY HOME / NADA DESIGNS / THE NANZ COMPANY / NINA CAMPBELL / NOBILIS / ORIGINAL BTC / PASSERINI / PAOLO MOSCHINO AT NICHOLAS HASLAM LTD / PHILLIP JEFFRIES / PIERRE FREY / POLIFORM / PORADA / PORTA ROMANA / PROVASI / REMAINS LIGHTING / ROMO / RUBELLI/DONGHIA / SA BAXTER ARCHITECTURAL HARDWARE / SAHCO / SAMUEL & SONS / SAMUEL HEATH / SAVOIR BEDS / SIBERIAN FLOORING / THE SILK GALLERY / SIMPSONS / STARK CARPET / STARK FABRIC / STUDIOTEX / SUMMIT FURNITURE / SUTHERLAND PERENNIALS STUDIO / STYLE LIBRARY / SWD / TAI PING / THREADS AT GP & J BAKER / TIM PAGE CARPETS / TIM PAGE X J.D. STARON / TISSUS D’HELENE / TOPFLOOR BY ESTI / TUFENKIAN ARTISAN CARPETS / TURNELL & GIGON / TURNELL & GIGON AT HOME / TURNSTYLE DESIGNS / VAUGHAN / VIA ARKADIA (TILES) / VICTORIA + ALBERT BATHS / WATTS OF WESTMINSTER / WEMYSS / WEST ONE BATHROOMS / WHISTLER LEATHER / WIRED CUSTOM LIGHTING / WOOL CLASSICS / ZIMMER + ROHDE

PLUS DESIGNERS GUILD / OSBORNE & LITTLE IN CHELSEA

I NVITATIO N

Call 020 7225 9166 or email enquiries@dcch.co.uk Be part of the design community @designcentrech #Focus17AtDCCH designcentrech

www.dcch.co.uk

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Precious Precious Mysteries Mysteries 26 26 September September –– 88 October October 2017 2017 Closed Closed 22 October October Fine Fine Jewellery Jewellery and and Contemporary Contemporary Silver Silver goldsmithsfair.co.uk goldsmithsfair.co.uk #goldsmithsfair #goldsmithsfair

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THE GUIDE ART · CULTURE · BOOKS · PEOPLE

PHOTO: BUD FRAKER, AUDREY HEPBURN, 1956, ANNOTATED ‘FUNNY FACE’

AUDREY HEPBURN Breakfast at Tiffany’s fans, take note, Christie’s is selling working scripts of the film annotated by Audrey Hepburn herself as part of a landmark sale of the actor’s personal possessions. This is the first time any of the pieces have been offered for sale, having remained in the ownership of her family since her death. You don’t need megabucks to buy a sprinkling of her Hollywood stardust, estimates start from £100. 19 September to 3 October. christies.com

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EVENTS

Country Life

Girls by Theresa Ikoko returns to High Tide

Grayson Perry thinks you’ve got taste

CRAFT FIRED UP

Malene Hartmann Rasmussen, Albino Beast

Once something to be duly displayed in a dresser, ceramics are proving to be one of the most vibrant contemporary art forms.

The British Ceramics Biennial returns to its Stoke-on-Trent heartland for a sixweek festival at the former Spode factory, where Ian McIntyre will reinvent the classic Brown Betty teapot and Keith Harrison will harness the skills of local school pupils to make 467 clay books. 23 Sept to 5 Nov. british ceramicsbiennial.com

Screenings in the Cotswolds

THEATRE

NEW TALENT

Over the last decade, the High Tide Festival has staged work from the country’s most exciting emerging playwrights in Suffolk’s tidal town Aldeburgh. For a second year Theresa Ikoko’s Girls returns, following the story of three girls kidnapped in Nigeria, while Sam Steiner imagines the second coming of Kanye West. If you can’t get out of London, the festival will be held simultaneously at Walthamstow Town Square Gardens for the first time. 12–17 September. hightide.org.uk

FOOD HARVEST FESTIVAL Abergavenny is the foodie’s food festival. This year Jay Rayner reveals his ten food commandments, Romy Gill demonstrates how to play with spice and Ed Smith argues that you should pay more attention to side dishes. Best of British ingredients return to the producers’ market, while there are pop-up restaurants from the crowdfunded restaurant and research hub Edinburgh Food Studio and Ukrainian chef Olia Hercules.

Bon appétit! 16–17 September. abergavennyfoodfestival.com

FILM

Market treats in Wales

ART

GOOD TASTE

Marc Quinn will talk at Chatsworth

All eyes from the art world turn to Derbyshire for Chatsworth’s Art Out Loud festival, where Grayson Perry will discuss taste. Key talks this year also feature the V&A’s director Tristram Hunt, British sculptor Marc Quinn and the inimitable Cornelia Parker. Tying in with its House Style exhibition, fashion figures, such as Christopher Kane, have also been welcomed into the fold. 22–24 September. chatsworth.org

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PHOTOS: DAVID LINDSAY; RAY LITTLE; RICHARD WARIN

While you’d usually expect to play croquet on the lawn at Barnsley House, for two nights this autumn you can watch Hollywood classics instead. Its 30-seater cinema extends the invitation to non-guests in Rosemary Verey’s garden for outdoor screenings of Dirty Dancing (8 September) and La La Land (9 September). Don’t mind about bringing your own popcorn, the barbecue will be stoked and there’s a well-stocked bar. £16. barnsleyhouse.com

PHOTOS: SYLVAIN DELEU; NOBBY CLARK; HEPBURN PHOTO

GREEN SCREEN

THE GUIDE

Town Life

Pinch Design is part of the Pimlico Road Design District

Join us for breakfast in Pimlico

CLASSICAL MUSIC PREACH TO THE CHOIR

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra tackle Beethoven’s Ninth

Also known as ‘The Choral’, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was the last one he completed before his death in 1827 and is often held up as his greatest work. This big choral composition is goosebump-inducing at the best of times, so a performance by the London Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra in the Royal Albert Hall will be undoubtedly electrifying.

23 September. raymondgubbay.co.uk

DESIGN

CREATIVE BREAKFASTS

What we love best about the London Design Festival isn’t the world-class talent or cutting-edge creativity – though those things do count – but the celebration of London’s distinctive design districts, which is why C&TH has partnered with the Grosvenor Estate to promote the Pimlico Road Design District to present a series of breakfast talks with local designers, creative directors and interiors experts. 16–24 September. grosvenorlondon.com

GO WITH THE FLOW

CULTURE

London wouldn’t be what it is today without the Thames, a life-giving artery that has floated goods, culture and ideas from across the world into the heart of the city.

Totally Thames celebrates its legacy with a week-long creative programme that takes place on, beneath or beside the river. Look out for artist Maria Arceo’s Future Dust installation made from plastic litter she has collected from over 40 beaches along the Thames. 1–30 September. totallythames.org

Huntsman jump into bed with Brown’s

STAYCATION

PHOTOS: DAVID LINDSAY; RAY LITTLE; RICHARD WARIN

PHOTOS: SYLVAIN DELEU; NOBBY CLARK; HEPBURN PHOTO

CALL IN THE EXPERTS

While Claridge’s might have an artist-in-residence, Brown’s Hotel has announced a crack team of specialists to advise guests staying in suites. Former fashion editors Laura Fantacci and Petronella Stofberg will fix your wardrobe, Tom Parker Bowles will advise on which restaurant to book and Huntsman will have you suited and booted. The kids haven’t been forgotten – Hamleys will cram your suite with toys. roccofortehotels.com

FAIR

Great River Race on the Thames

BROOCHING THE SUBJECT

Spicer Warin lion brooch

While it might be best known for antique furniture and art, you can find some one-off jewellery pieces at LAPADA too. For the first time, Mayfair’s Spicer Warin joins the fair in Berkeley Square, specialising in fine jewellery. Brooches are making a comeback, so take a look at the unusual Native American chief example with diamonds rubies and emeralds, or the diamond encrusted roaring lion (pictured left). 15–20 Sept. lapadalondon.com September 2017 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | 51

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THE GUIDE

Arts Agenda Design, dance and an American stance.

By Caiti Grove

HOMEGROWN BEAUTIES

1 THE LITTLE MERMAID

Considered a children’s favourite since Disney’s redheaded protagonist swam onto cinema screens, The Little Mermaid has always been beautifully innocent and magical. However, Hans Christian Andersen’s original is anything but simple – and the perfect challenge for a dance interpretation. Northern Ballet’s version returns to the original text for a heartbreaking version of Aurelia’s sacrifice 1 for her beloved. Tours 21 Sept to 17 Dec. northernballet.com Akram Khan’s Giselle returns

Northern Ballet put on an unDisneyfied The Little Mermaid

2 GISELLE

Akram Khan is a contemporary choreographer who combines modern movement with Indian kathak dance. He shocked critics last year by collaborating with the English National Ballet for Giselle. It was a roaring success. Now his first full-length ballet is set for a revival.

A month before the premiere, Khan took the risk of replacing composer Ben Frost with Vincenzo Lamagna – yet opened to enthusiastic acclaim – the New York Times described the work as an ‘expensive gamble... horror-movie frissons and beauty in equal parts’. The production will undoubtedly be another blockbuster after such high praise. Tours 20 Sept to 6 May. ballet.org.uk

Created in 1981 for Rambert, Ghost Dances is a haunting and intense work that recognises the victims of political oppression in South America. Now the piece is to be revived alongside two other works by internationally recognised artists. Two-time Olivier-award winning choreographer Kim Brandstrup’s Transfigured Night won the Best Modern Choreography at the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards and promises a moonlit tryst between two lovers almost torn apart by a dark secret. The third work is a new and, as yet, unknown piece by Andonis Foniadakis – the director of the Greek National Opera Ballet. What a line up.

Tours until 25 Nov. rambert.org.uk

DAVID NIXON ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF NORTHERN BALLET Hans Christian Andersen’s story is the source for the ballet. I wanted to be true to its core, though we have softened the ending a little.

2 Ghost Dances by Christopher Bruce

Disney is wonderful but misrepresents these fairytales. The Little Mermaid is not a ‘happily ever after’ story. Parents sometimes hesitate to take children but, for me, this story is about the power of love.

We create two very different worlds.

Most of act one is underwater – the whole stage has a sense of being immersed which we created by using mirrors. Then there is also the human world, where there’s a sense of hardness.

3

Casting is inspiration. The direction of the work is based on the chosen dancer who can develop as an artist throughout – we have four lead roles for this ballet. The process of developing them is done through moving with the dancers. I enjoy the element of discovery this way, to see what the dancers make of my ideas.

PHOTOS: SIMON LAWSON; JANE HOBSON; LAURENT LIOTARDO; GUY FARROW

3RAMBERT TRIO

Five minutes with...

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PHOTOS: HANNAH DEVEREUX; © STEPHEN SHORE; © DAWOUD BEY, COURTESY OF STEPHEN DAITER GALLERY; JAIME HAYÓN; DICK BRUNA; PAMPHILION ARCHITECTS; ÖRN DUVALD; SHEPARD FAIREY

Three British dance companies present works to dazzle and surprise.

ARTS

FIVE OF THE BEST

DESIGN EVENTS IN LONDON

REVIEW

PHOTOS: HANNAH DEVEREUX; © STEPHEN SHORE; © DAWOUD BEY, COURTESY OF STEPHEN DAITER GALLERY; JAIME HAYÓN; DICK BRUNA; PAMPHILION ARCHITECTS; ÖRN DUVALD; SHEPARD FAIREY

PHOTOS: SIMON LAWSON; JANE HOBSON; LAURENT LIOTARDO; GUY FARROW

Seurat to Riley: The Art of Perception at Compton Verney

From the outside, Compton Verney appears like a Georgian stately home.

Exquisite Capability Brown landscapes set the classical scene. Inside, however, is a surprise. Plundered for its riches, left derelict and then resurrected by the founder of Littlewoods in 1993, a large part of the house is as modern as any contemporary gallery. Here an excellent and wide-ranging exhibition awaits a contemporary art crowd.

Seurat to Riley: The Art of Perception looks at artists who use optical illusions as the backbone of their work. Seurat’s pointillist landscapes and glistening seas move seamlessly into 1950s and ’60s ‘op art’ that pulsates as if digital screens but are actually very canny canvases.

Until 1 Oct. comptonverney.org.uk

1 LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL The city’s creatives are recognised internationally for their visionary prowess.

Come and celebrate them in person.

16–24 Sept. londondesignfestival.com 2 CAN GRAPHIC DESIGN SAVE YOUR LIFE? Marketing can be manipulative but design can be used to persuade in good ways, too.

The Wellcome Collection shows how we are influenced by health warnings and gently nudged to eat our five-a-day.

Until 14 Jan. wellcomecollection.org

Liz West, Our Spectral Vision (2016)

PREVIEW

States of America at the Nottingham Contemporary

Stephen Shore, Ginger Shore, Causeway Inn, Tampa, Florida

Dawoud Bey, Boy Loews Theatre

The Europeans have always taken photography seriously.

Le tout Paris is dedicated to the great art of the picture in the month of November, so it’s good to see Britain looking to America with a splendid broad brush stroke sweep at photography. The Nottingham Contemporary takes everything from the gritty stills of the Civil Rights era to the elegant aqua tones of Stephen Shore’s Hockneyesque swimming pools. The exhibition will take in the experimental (Diane Arbus naturally features) and documentary – noir studies from the Reagan era foreshadow the era of The Donald himself. Louis Draper, William Eggleston and Bruce Davidson are some of the stand-out names ready to reveal their ’80s take on the evolution of American society – its upmarket flourishes and desperate rust belt deterioration.

Photography is historic and yet the most immediate medium of the 21st century. Few modern artists can match the vibrant immediacy of these so-relevant images, pictures that make acres of printed word redundant in their brutal honesty and revealing skill. 16 Sept to 26 Nov. nottinghamcontemporary.org

3 OPEN HOUSE LONDON Oh, to be invisible for the day and see inside London’s beautiful private buildings. Now is your chance as doors open across London. 16–17 Sept. openhouselondon.org.uk

4 LONDON DESIGN FAIR Global creatives introduce their latest products at the Old Truman Brewery, alongside a British Craft Pavilion. 21–24 Sept. londondesignfair.co.uk 5 CALIFORNIA: DESIGNING FREEDOM This exhibition will show LA and San Francisco design as a means of escape and liberation. From iPhones to LSD and surfboards to Uber, their inventions certainly keep us on the move. Until 17 Oct. designmuseum.org

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THE GUIDE

REVIEWS

IN BRIEF

Book Club

Richard Hopton reviews four titles on man, animals and our natural world

THE DUN COW RIB: A VERY NATURAL CHILDHOOD

John Lister-Kaye

‘I had buried myself in natural history because… it had irretrievably snared my boyhood imagination.’

So writes John Lister-Kaye in his evocative memoir of his childhood.

Growing up in the rural England of the 1950s – ‘a farmland unrecognisable today, now a vanished and a vanquished world, a fading echo of a far older, richer world’ – he was allowed, by circumstance, the freedom to roam and explore. It set him upon his life’s trajectory: for the last 45 years Lister-Kaye has lived and worked as a naturalist and conservationist in the Scottish Highlands.

The way in which he writes about animals and nature has a beauty and intensity to it, combining the naturalist’s eye and the poet’s power of expression. The book is studded with captivating set-piece dramas, both animal and human: for example a raid on a coot’s nest by a grass snake or Lister-Kaye’s accidental decapitation of a cockerel with a sword.

But it is more than a naturalist’s memoir, however beautifully wrought. It is also an elegy to his mother, who suffered from a debilitating heart condition, and an ode to memory more generally. He summons up childhood reflections with extraordinary clarity: of his immediate family, of other people, both contemporaries and elders, of the houses and fields, the woods and ditches. He exhumes the long-buried emotions of a young boy. At one point, he develops an intense prepubescent crush on a girl at school. ‘My lungs emptied, the sky fell in, time crashed to the dusty pavement at my feet.’

The concluding chapters of the book tell of Lister-Kaye’s early adulthood, when he escaped a penitential job in industry to work for Gavin Maxwell, naturalist and author of Ring of Bright Water, in Scotland. His friendship with Maxwell came to a disastrous end but inspired him in his life’s work and, by giving him a start as an author, showed him how to convert a hobby into a career.

Out 17 August. Canongate, £20

THE SECRET LIFE OF COWS Rosamund Young This little book disproves once and for all that to be bovine is to be stupid. Indeed, Rosamund Young’s observations of cows and other animals over a lifetime’s farming show that their personalities are every bit as individual, varied and quirky as human beings.

It is also an impassioned plea for the humane treatment of farm animals; a cri de cœur against intensive modern farming methods.

Out 5 October. Faber & Faber, £9.99 ONE MAN AND A MULE: ACROSS ENGLAND WITH A PACK MULE Hugh Thomson This book ostensibly tells the story of Hugh Thomson’s journey on foot along the 192 miles of the Coast-toCoast path from the Lake District to the North Sea accompanied by a mule, Jethro.

In fact, like all worthwhile travel books, it is a potpourri of journey log, historical notebook, social observation and agricultural and rural comment. Thomson writes wittily, his deep understanding of landscape and nature coupled with a powerful descriptive capacity and a good ear for dialogue. Preface, £20 ISLANDER: A JOURNEY AROUND OUR ARCHIPELAGO Patrick Barkham In this book, Patrick Barkham follows the littoral success of his Coastlines by moving offshore to visit 11 of our smaller islands, seeking ‘the essence of what it is to be an islander’. The result is a fascinating rumination on islands and their inhabitants, human and otherwise.

The book is inspired by the novelist Compton Mackenzie – now, Whisky Galore apart, almost forgotten – himself a great islander, living on several during his lifetime.

Out 5 October. Granta, £20

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THE GUIDE

GARDENING

CALL OF THE WILD

Seeder’s Digest

Make your garden nature friendly

ETSY Insect hotel, £18. etsy.com

Not just a pretty petal GARDEN OF THE MONTH

NEWBY HALL, YORKSHIRE

TREND

DOUBLE DUTY PLANTS It’s not enough for plants to look beautiful, they have to earn their keep.

Whether that’s purifying the air around town houses (ginkgo biloba, Chinese dogwood and hawthorn are all small enough for London gardens) or planting fruit and veg in ornamental garden schemes. Fennel, catmint and rosemary all look pretty in a perennial border, while strawberry plants make attractive (and edible) ground cover.

RHS GARDEN WISLEY FLOWER SHOW

PHOTOS: LUKE MACGREGOR; THINKSTOCK

THIS MONTH… BUY For the best choice, buy spring flowering bulbs now to plant in October. Try snake’s head fritillary, now a protected species as you will rarely see them in the wild.

BUSHNELL NatureView Cam HD Essential 12MP, £144.99. gardennature.co.uk

DIARY DATE

Know your dahlias? Why not enter a single stem (with single or multiple flowers) to The People’s Dahlia competition at the 25th RHS Garden Wisley Flower Show. If you’d rather spectate than participate, the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies have designed floral displays based on the nation’s favourite TV shows. 5–10 September. rhs.org.uk

TOP TIP Scarify the lawn to avoid waterlogging over the winter.

Over a smaller area this can be done with a garden fork.

BIRDBALL Belle feeder, £26. chelseagardener.com

Sit back and smell the 172m herbaceous borders from the new pavilions installed in Newby Hall’s gardens near Ripon. While the exteriors of the pavilion reflect the architecture of the Sir Christopher Wrendesigned house, the interiors are decorated with thousands of shells, like the grottos of Wren’s time. Don’t miss the walled autumn garden on the site of the old croquet lawn, currently looking its best. newbyhall.com

HARVEST NOW Apples and pears.

They are ripe when they come away with a gentle twist.

If storing, pick slightly under-ripe.

IDYLL HOME Butterfly house, £10.95. idyllhome. co.uk

DAN PEARSON Natural Selection, £20. bookshop. theguardian.com MANUFACTUM Ceramic hedgehog house, £48. manufactum.co.uk

SEEDBALL Butterfly mix seeds, £5.99. seedball.co.uk

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BRINGING NATURE CLOSER.

FRONTIER ED 8×42

NATURE CAMERA 14MP

FRONTIER 30 2.5-15×50 SF

ED | FMC | BAK-4 | PC | Waterproof

Full HD | Infrared LED | Weatherproof

Red IR | 30mm | SF | LR Dot | Waterproof

ED glass with fully multi-coated optics produce stunning colour and excellent light transmission.

Full HD Colour photo and video (720p/ 1080p with audio), day and night capture.

48 Infrared LEDs - 20m/66ft range.

Precision engineered 6× optical system, long eye relief and illuminated glass etched reticle.

Hawk Optics.indd 1

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ON THE FIELD CO U N T RY S P O RTS S P EC I A L

The Brief Sheet The who’s who, the where’s where and the what’s what of the shooting world. By Eleanor Doughty

Dlux, calfskin tailored cape, £995. dlux-ltd.co.uk

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HOT SHOTS UNDER 40

6

1

7

8 9

1 Lord Ted Innes Ker, second son of the Duke of Roxburghe who recently founded Ossian, the Scottish travel company which will get you a day’s shooting on the best estates in the land.

2 The Duke of Westminster, not only the youngest billionaire in the country but Hugh is also a cracking (and enthusiastic) shot.

3 The Hon James Tollemache, fund manager friend of Prince William’s from school and a dab hand with a gun.

4 The Earl of Strathmore, owner of some splendid duck, pheasant and partridge shooting in Angus at the family home of Glamis Castle.

5 Earl Percy, heir to the Duke of Northumberland and, friends say, getting to be as good a shot as his father.

6 Peter Wilson, Olympic gold medal winner, now retired from professional sport but keeping it up with his pals at the weekends.

7 The Marquess of Bowmont and Cessford, brother of Ted, former captain in the Blues and Royals and heir to the Duke of Roxburghe (and the family’s 55,000 acres in Scotland).

8 Rob Fenwick, managing director of EJ Churchill shooting school, hosted on Sir Edward Dashwood’s West Wycombe estate in Buckinghamshire.

9 Tom van Straubenzee, the most charming man in London and a seriously good shot with his old-fashioned side-by-side (though he’d never admit to it).

PHOTO: THINKSTOCK; JAKE EASTHAM; CAMERON BLOCH AND THE EARL OF LUCAN

And some of them come with a big fat estate to boot

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THE BRIEF SHEET | ON THE FIELD

HOT SHOTS OVER 40

BEST DAY OUT Beg an invitation

There’s life in the old dogs yet 10

10 Edward Dashwood, owner of West Wycombe estate

11 The Duke of Northumberland, owner of Alnwick Castle and absolutely stunning on any quarry put in front of him.

12 The Duke of Roxburghe, owner of the Floors Castle estate in the Borders, and a killer grouseman.

13 George Digweed, winner of 26 world championships, ergo the undisputed BEST shot in the country, by miles.

14 Phil Burtt, shoot manager of the Duke of Rutland’s Belvoir estate in Lincolnshire.

15 Lord James Percy, brother of the Duke of Northumberland and as good, some say, as his big bro. An invitation to shoot on his Linhope estate in Northumberland is much desired.

16 Lord Stafford, never not at the top of everyone’s list of nominations.

15

22 Stowell Park, Gloucestershire, home to the Vestey family.

23 Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, home to the Duke of Marlborough.

24 Floors Castle, Borders, home to the Duke of Roxburghe.

25 Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, home to the Duke of Northumberland.

26 Anything arranged

by Sir David Tang. Anything.

TOP TEACHERS

HERE COME THE GIRLS Women with their eye on the prize

17 Antonia Packard, sister of jewellery

23

Get these instructors to show you what’s what

19

designer Tessa and a ‘killer shot’, says one pal.

PHOTO: THINKSTOCK; JAKE EASTHAM; CAMERON BLOCH AND THE EARL OF LUCAN

18 The Countess of Lucan, Anne Sofie Foghsgaard (Fie for short) runs Fie’s Club up on the Spott Estate in East Lothian and is also launching her own shooting clothing range, Lucan, this month.

19 Lady Missy Percy, member of the famous Percy family and founder of Mistamina, the country clothing company for girls, which curiously also launches this month.

20 Claire Zambuni, everyone’s first choice for best lady shot.

21 Pippa Middleton, ‘very good indeed’, says someone who would know.

27

27 Jono Irby (Purdey) 28 Alastair Phillips (William Evans)

29 John Ward (Ray Ward) 30 Steve Rawsthorne 18

20

(Holland & Holland) 31 Paul West (William & Son)

LEARN THE LINGO And you’ll make friends for life

32 BAG Number of birds shot in one day. 33 GUN As in, your shotgun and also what you call other people who are shooting. 34 DRIVES The locations for each shoot; sometimes in the woods, on an actual drive, or elsewhere up a hill somewhere. 35 SIDE-BY-SIDE Style of shotgun where the barrels lie horizontally next to each other; preferred by traditionalists and old-fashioned shots. 36 OVER AND UNDER Style of shotgun where the barrels lie on top of each other. 37 PEG Position from which you shoot, numbered. 38 TO WIPE SOMEONE’S EYE What happens when someone misses a bird and their neighbour shoots it instead. 39 ‘BORE’ – AS IN, 12-BORE The diameter of your gun’s barrel (not the dullard next to you at supper last night).

40 THE GLORIOUS TWELFTH 12 August, the start of the grouse season. 41 BRACE Pair, of birds.

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DON’T YOU DARE...

BACK TO SCHOOL

Where to learn to shoot like a pro (or a toff) 42

SCOTLAND

42 Roxburghe Shooting School

59 Moan It’s supposed to be FUN.

Kelso, Scottish Borders. Lessons from £65. roxburgheshootingschool.co.uk

60 Get drunk You wouldn’t drink and drive now, would you?

NORTH OF ENGLAND

43 Bywell Shooting Ground Felton,

61 Wear bright colours The birds don’t

Northumberland. Lessons from £71.50. bywellshootingground.co.uk

like them, nor do your friends.

MIDLANDS

44 West Midlands Shooting Ground Market

45

Drayton, Shropshire. Lessons from £65. wmsg.co.uk SOUTH EAST

45 EJ Churchill West Wycombe Estate, Buckinghamshire. Lessons from £160. ejchurchill.com SOUTH WEST

46 Barbury Shooting School Swindon, Wiltshire. Lessons from £80. barburyshootingschool.com 47

LONDON

47 West London Shooting School Northolt, Ealing. Lessons from £99. shootingschool.co.uk

48 Holland & Holland Shooting Grounds Northwood. Lessons from £112. hollandandholland.com/shooting-grounds WALES

49 North Wales Shooting School Deeside, Flintshire. Lessons from £71. nwshootingschool.co.uk

DIARY DATES...

MIND YOUR MANNERS...

62 Ask who else is coming when you’re 65

invited to shoot. Just turn up happy to see whoever is there and rest assured that your host will have the guest list covered.

63 Whatsapp/Instagram Live/FaceTime the nanny all day. Put your phone away, no one cares.

64 Brag about how many you shot. Again, no one cares.

65 Turn up looking a complete mess Do at least try to make an effort. Gentlemen, collar and tie, please.

66 But equally… don’t wear a face full of makeup, ladies.

It’s a shoot, not a fashion show.

Some lip balm and a slick of waterproof mascara should do.

67 RSVP and then cancel So rude. Don’t mark it down as ‘PBI’ – pending better invitation – just say yes or no and put in the diary.

68 Steal someone else’s bird out of the sky. Stick to your own.

69 Turn up late There’s an itinerary, people.

50 12 August

56 Do your bit Ask if there’s

Start of the grouse season.

anything you can do to help; pick up your empty cartridges when you’ve finished, or at least round them nicely into a pile so they can be binned.

51 1 September Start of the partridge, duck and goose seasons.

52 1 October Start of the pheasant season.

End of the grouse season.

54 31 January End of the duck and goose season.

55 1 February End of the partridge and pheasant seasons.

accept, even if your freezer is stuffed.

57 Tip the keeper Traditionally it’s £30 for the first 100 birds, £10 for each 100 after that.

58 Write to say thank you.

Promptly. None of this ‘Oh, I’ll get around to it six days later’ malarkey. Ideally, you’re aiming for the next available post.

70

PHOTO: THINKSTOCK

53 10 December

70 Refuse the brace of birds given out at the end. Always,

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THE BRIEF SHEET | ON THE FIELD

CHARM THE HOST

LABELS TO LOVE

Where to do your sports shopping and their must-have hero products

Best presents to take 75

73 74

OLD SCHOOL

71 House of Bruar Tweed jacket, £175. houseofbruar.com 72 Purdey Woodcock jacket, £495. purdey.com

76

86

73 Holland & Holland 72

71

High collar tweed jacket, £1,890. hollandandholland.com 74 Cordings Corduroy trousers, £100. cordings.co.uk 75 Barbour Beaufort jacket, £299. barbour.com 76 Farlows Cotswold tweed field jacket, £695. farlows.co.uk 77 Hunter Tall original, £95. hunterboots.com 78 Orvis All transit trousers, £99. orvis.co.uk 79 William and Son Over and under shotgun, POA. williamandson.com

86 Fortnum & Mason. Who can resist

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81

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NEW PRETENDERS

the charming green packaging?

87 Booze. Always appreciated. But don’t just bring a bottle because that looks 87 stingy. If you happen to make your own small-batch gin like Gordon Castle (gordoncastle.co.uk), so much the better and an Asprey stag head decanter will never be turned down (asprey.com)

88 Something edible that you’ve made yourself.

Marmalade is a good shout, if you’re into that. Or if you’ve a family speciality – say, Longleat cake – then opt for that. Applies to all country invitations, really.

Avoid candles. Everyone has too many these days.

89 A funny loo book can be a bonus gift (furfeatherandfin.com) n

80 Mistamina Stanley jumper, £90. mistamina.com

81 Sands & Hall Fitted cape, £735. sandsandhall.com 82 Troy London Wax parka, £375. troylondon.com 83 Really Wild Loose fit coat, £445. reallywildclothing.co.uk PHOTO: THINKSTOCK

84 Fairfax and Favour Regina suede boot, £295. fairfaxandfavor.com 85

85 Holland Cooper Tweed and fur cape, £649. hollandcooper.com

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ON THE FIELD | WOMEN’S STYLE

BRACE UP

Dress your part for a day’s shooting or at least a country weekend

ALAN PAINE Berwick coat, £239.95. alanpaine.co.uk

HOUSE OF BRUAR Suede bomber, £149.95. houseofbruar.com

STEPHEN WEBSTER ‘Magnipheasant’ Feathers drop earrings, £13,900. stephen webster.com MULBERRY Blouse, £370; skirt, £920; boots, £632; Brimley bag, £1,095; Portrait rings (round, £195 and large, £225); Beads pin, £195. mulberry.com

MULBERRY Agatha shirt, £740. mulberry.com SIMONE ROCHA Dress, £975. matchesfashion.com

TROY LONDON Jodhpurs, £220. troylondon.com SANDS & HALL Throw, £325. sandsandhall.com PAUL SMITH Blazer, £630; Fair Isle jumper, £305; trousers, £315; Winklepickers, £295; Messenger bag, £895. paulsmith.co.uk JAMES LAKELAND Coat, £285. jameslakeland.net

HOLLAND COOPER Prince of Wales jacket, £499. hollandcooper.com

DUKES BOOTS Octavia boots, £285. dukesboots.com

HUNTER Field Norris Chelsea, £85. hunterboots.com

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BRUNELLO CUCINELLI Handmade sweater, £3,210. brunellocucinelli.com LOCK & CO Beaumont cap, £245. lockhatters.co.uk FARLOWS Laksen handmade London gloves, £109. farlows.co.uk MISTAMINA Frank bomber jacket, £160; Rupert shirt, £80. mistamina.com (launches late August)

HICKS & BROWN Suffolk fedora, £79. hicksandbrown.com

TOAST Apron dress, £135. toa.st

JO MALONE English oak and hazelnut cologne, £44 (30ml). jomalone.com

KING & TUCKFIELD Merino wool skirt, £189. kingandtuckfield.com

NO.21 Shirt, £680; skirt, £587; bag, £600; shoes, £672. harrods.com

REALLY WILD Breeks, £195. reallywild.com

HOLLAND & HOLLAND Checked trousers, £1,450. hollandandholland.com DUBARRY Monaghan leather Goretex lined Chelsea boot, £249. dubarryboots.com

PRINGLE OF SCOTLAND Cape, £995; top, £895; skirt, £1,695. pringlescotland.com

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WILLIAM & SON Furious Goose silk pocket square, £65. williamandson.com

BARBOUR Horstead jacket, £199. barbour.com

SALVATORE FERRAGAMO Jumper, £1,825; shirt, £185; trousers, £520. ferragamo.com

BENTLEY & SKINNER Crystal intaglio cufflinks, £5,950. bentley-skinner.co.uk

ORVIS Irish fisherman’s sweater, £89. orvis.co.uk

HOUSE OF BRUAR Bag, £49.95. houseofbruar.co.uk

WINGFIELD DIGBY Flying ducks silk tie, £55. wingfielddigby.co.uk

MUSTO Gore-Tex® tweed breeks, £299. musto.com

PURDEY Field coat, £895; breeks, £395; Le Chameau Vierzon boots, £170. purdey.com

TUSTING Leather gun slip, £495. tusting.co.uk

SCHÕFFEL Cambridge check shirt, £69.95. schoffel.co.uk

OLIVER BROWN Cartridge belt, £95. oliverbrown.org.uk

ETTINGER Saira Hunjan flask, £150. ettinger.co.uk

NIKELAB Air tweed sneakers, £140. mrporter.com

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MEN’S STYLE | ON THE FIELD

HIHO SILVER 18kt rose gold plated and leather bracelet, £85. hihosilver.co.uk

A HUME Tweed cap, £50. ahume.co.uk BEGG & CO Camo scarf, £345. beggandcompany.com HOLLAND & HOLLAND Suede weekend bag, £1,690. hollandandholland.com

BRUNELLO CUCINELLI Calfskin double buckle boots, £930. brunellocucinelli.com

BUDD SHIRTS Linen shirt, £195. buddshirts.co.uk

PAUL SMITH Trench coat, £1,130; blazer, £1,245; shirt, £145; trousers, £385; boots, £375. paulsmith.com

E TAUTZ Jacket, £795; trousers, £395; shirt, £295; E Tautz X Louboutin shoes, POA. etautz.com

PRIVATE WHITE VC CPO shacket, £395. privatewhitevc.com

ACNE Jacket, £1,550; bag, £340. acnestudios.com

PIP HOWESON FOR WILLIAM EVANS Waistcoat, £550. williamevans.com EDWARD GREEN Galway boot, £1,090. edwardgreen.com

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ON THE FIELD | DOGS

HOT ON THE HEEL Gleneagles has had a major facelift but you can still go there for expert gundog training. ROSALYN WIKELEY learns a lesson or two

ABOVE: Lessons at Gleneagles (below) can help you train your gundog back at home

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ith a grand new refurbishment this year in a bid to revive its roaring 1920s heyday, Gleneagles has boldly reclaimed its former glory. The multi-million-pound makeover has seen acclaimed designers, such as David Collins, transform the rooms and suites with ‘modern country’ panache, along with a brand new American Bar that smacks of yesteryear decadence. And, as any bona fide country sportsperson will delight in, its offering, from shooting to fishing and riding to falconry, remains unsurpassed. It is also here that keen shots who dread taking an unruly hound to a shoot can receive decades’ worth of gundog wisdom through their programme of dog training. Emma Ford, director and co-owner of The British School of Falconry (in which the gundog school sits), gives us the lowdown on how it works.

Broken down into three stages, from beginner to expert, owners use the school’s own dogs, with instructors taking them through the motions to then be implemented at home. Part one focuses on retrieves, introducing ‘sit!’ and ‘stay!’ commands, heel work and recall. A rooky error for most dog owners, Emma discloses, is overusing ‘heel!’.

‘People forget to use the word “no!”.’

Gundogs mainly comprise labradors, cocker and springer spaniels but she insists that any dog can be trained. As Emma reminds us, all dogs are 98.8 per

PAMPERED POOCHES EVEN GUNDOGS CAN GO GLAM MUNGO & MAUD Baby Bones dog treats, £9.50. mungoandmaud.com

LOUIS VUITTON Baxter dog collar, £220. uk.louisvuitton.com

PURDEY Audley tweed and leather dog sofa and throw, £1,495. purdey.com MINAS Dog whistle, £1,000. minastudio. com

BARBOUR Dog coat, £49.95. barbour.com Retrieving from the water

cent wolf and are hardwired to retrieve food for the pack. Owners must harness this instinct, starting from the beginning by never scolding a gundog puppy for retrieving an item, even if it’s an expensive shoe, and instigating the command ‘sit!’ by gently pushing down on their bottom with lots of praise. ‘Affection and approval are integral to gundog training,’ Emma insists, ‘and should be used generously.’

Part two starts to get more serious, introducing directional control, learning how to work with the dog on a blind retrieve, drive (running out at a pace when it’s time to retrieve), and hunting when the owner has no idea where the game has fallen. And as for naughty dogs switching game: ‘Shout “no!” if they drop one to pick up another one and they’ll soon learn.

Part three is for more advanced dogs. This 45-minute class looks at directional ‘remote handling’, the ‘three card trick’, jumping, water and how to cross it. ‘Remote handling is tricky as your dog needs to realise they are not always right, they need to learn to listen to you even when they are working a long way off.’ It’s a trust exercise taught with a whistle and hand signals.

Emma stresses that gundogs make good pets but their natural desire to retrieve must be understood.

‘If owners can learn to manage and channel these instincts it can greatly improve the relationship between the pair.’ Gleneagles Gundog School can also help refine owners’ shooting skills with exceptional facilities and training, fully preparing them for the field.

Gundog lessons start from £97. Double rooms from £275 B&B. gleneagles.com

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Dress and jumper, both Dsquared2.

Boots, Hunter. Fur stole, Purdey

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INTO THE WOODS Actor Clara Paget wraps up in autumnal hues of olive green, dark blue and russet orange Fashion editor NICOLE SMALLWOOD Photography CHRISTINE KREISELMAIER

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Jumper and dress, both Daks. Boots, Dsquared2

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Dress and cardigan, both Dior. Boots, Belstaff

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Dress, Preen by Thornton Bregazzi. Hat, Dior.

Boots, Belstaff

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Coat, Prada. Bag, William & Son

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Coat, Bottega Veneta.

Scarf, William & Son

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Dress, Valentino.

Jumper, Troy London LOCATION With thanks to Chewton Glen in the New Forest, Hampshire.

01425 275341; chewtonglen.com TEAM Hair and makeup: Camilla Hewitt using Bobbi Brown and Bumble and Bumble Photographer’s assistant: Daniel Hack Fashion assistant: Lydie Harrison Talent: Clara Paget @ Next Models STOCKISTS: PAGE 111

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LIVING THE HIGHLIFE IN THE HIGHLANDS Scottish laird Ted Innes Ker launched Ossian to offer wealthy adventurers behind-the-scenes access to the country’s hidden treasures, says ROSALYN WIKELEY

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or many, holidays in Scotland conjure up memories of wet, blustery walks, shortbread, peat baths and shoddy wifi. For Ted Innes Ker, son of the Duke of Roxburghe and founder of luxury adventure company, Ossian, the above still apply. Add in a vast family castle, a contacts book bulging with Scottish landowners, and some creative thinking, and that wet week in August looks a wee bit more exciting. Innes Ker is a Scot looking to give the Highlands the highend treatment.

Having spent five years as a touring professional golfer, he ended up in London, contemplating his next move: ‘I couldn’t stay in the city, it’s too depressing, it’s not me.’ So, he followed his nose and his contacts book north of the border and began to cook up some wild ideas.

From his childhood, Innes Ker had learned how to host ‘properly’, studying the manner in which his father and stepmother treated guests, pulling out all the stops with stately panache. He sought to replicate that same

Ossian was founded by Ted Innes Ker (left) to give guests unrivalled access to Scotland’s greatest treasures

standard of hosting, but in the most magnificent venues across the country, combining traditional Scottish activities such as grouse shooting, stalking, golf and fishing with access to private aristocratic homes and sporting estates.

Established under the umbrella of property consultancy Galbraith, Ossian was founded in early 2016 as a high-end concierge-cum-travel agency offering clients an exclusive off-the-beaten-track slice of Scotland. And when a group trip costs around £150,000, attention to detail is paramount. Sporadic wifi and moth-eaten towels in damp castles would soon lose their charm. ‘Personal hosting and access are a huge part of the USP and there’s no other

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TRAVEL | ON THE FIELD

company that puts together such exceptional itineraries to this standard,’ says Innes Ker. Above and beyond Ted’s deep knowledge of every nook and cranny, loch and island in the country, his connections set his exciting new offering apart from anything remotely similar. Having been a regular guest and knowing the owners intimately, access to the most breathtaking estates became possible. Moreover, those with a similar ‘set-up’ to Innes Ker’s family seat trust him to ‘do things properly’. Harnessing the eerily beautiful Caledonian scenery for these unforgettable experiences, from cantering along the unspoilt landscape of the West Coast to paragliding through the mountains before landing on a private island, Innes Ker uses his background to offer unique Scottish expeditions.

No two trips are ever the same, so we challenged this Highland wizard to conjure up an impressive Country & Town House bespoke itinerary. The brief?

Riding, West Coast, Adventure...

Floors Castle, the family seat of Ted Innes Ker

THE ITINER ARY

DAY ONE

• Catch a private jet or helicopter charter to Glasgow airport.

• On arrival at the airport your party will be picked up in a seaplane and flown to a stunning private estate on the Morvern Peninsula, nestled on the shore of a remote loch.

• Enjoy an afternoon of sailing and kayaking.

• Have welcome drinks in the lodge from 7pm, which will be followed by a quick briefing of the next day’s arrangements before dinner at 8pm.

DAY TWO

• Spend the morning getting to know your trusty steeds with your expert guide.

• Enjoy an indulgent picnic lunch on the banks of the loch before you start your first trail ride of the trip.

• Spend the afternoon trekking off the beaten track and cantering around the loch and along forest trails through a truly unspoilt landscape.

• Finish the ride with a well deserved night’s sleep at one of the most romantic hotels in Scotland.

Ride distance: eight miles.

DAY THREE

• Tack up your mount and make your way along the coastline, discovering pristine, empty beaches and open hills.

• For lunch, have a hot picnic delivered to your location and served by expert local chefs.

• Go lobster potting with local fishermen and barbecue your catch for dinner – there’s no finer meal to be had in the country.

• Overnight in remote stargazing pods, with only the sound of your horses grazing nearby.

Ride distance: seven miles.

DAY FOUR

• After a relaxed breakfast, continue trekking through the rugged and wild countryside, across beautiful meadows, farm tracks and loch side paths.

• Have lunch at a castle retreat situated on the banks of a picture-postcard loch.

• Spend the afternoon clay pigeon shooting in grounds of a castle.

• Experience a tasting with a whisky expert from a local distillery before dinner.

• Enjoy dinner, served in the castle dining room.

Ride distance: nine miles.

DAY FIVE

• Finish up with an epic day’s trekking, taking you up into the open hills, providing stunning views across Scotland to the most westerly point of mainland Scotland.

• Have cheese fondue in a remote, refurbished hill bothy for lunch.

• Spend the final night of the holiday in bohemian yurts.

• Get picked up by a private chartered boat for a tour of the West Coast, before a seafood feast as the sun sets.

• Take a private helicopter in the morning back to Glasgow Airport.

Ride distance: 16 miles.

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DIGGING FOR GASTRO GOLD

With an Italian princess and two fluffy dogs JEREMY TAYLOR tries his hand at truffle hunting

The Italian breed Lagotto Romagnolo are brilliant at sniffing out truffles

Truffle and pasta – a match made in heaven

A view of Villa La Massa from the water

PHOTOS: ITALIAN TOURIST BOARD

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ozzi and Macchia may look like oversized poodles in woolly coats but they also boast a very special talent – digging for nuggets of gastronomic gold. Although the Lagotto Romagnolo is traditionally a gun dog, Italian hunters now train the hounds for a different purpose. They have fine-tuned the breed’s keen sense of smell to sniff out highly prized truffles.

Today Bozzi and Macchia are earning their keep in a remote area of Tuscan woodland. I’m with them on the Strozzi estate, famous for its vineyards of red and white grapes which produce over a million bottles of wine a year. Every October, the estate hosts a wine and truffle tour, organised by nearby Villa La Massa – one of the region’s top notch hotels. A smart car is included in the package – I’ve been exploring the region in the latest Maserati Ghibli.

The once-in-a-lifetime tour allows hotel guests to indulge in some of life’s guilty pleasures – culture, wine and plenty of truffle-infused food. Located on the banks of the River Arno, 16th century La Massa is just eight miles from Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance. The city attracts 13 million visitors a year and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

La Massa has welcomed many famous guests over the years, including Winston Churchill, Clark Gable and Yoko Ono. David Bowie married model Iman in the hotel’s tiny church.

In the steep-sided valleys around the Strozzi estate, where vines could

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FORAGING | ON THE FIELD

Within minutes Macchia is on the scent of another find.

This time Andrea pulls her away and lets me sniff the ground.

I’m on all fours like a woodland animal myself and there’s no mistaking the heady scent of a fresh truffle.

We spend another hour meandering through the Tuscan undergrowth finding truffle after truffle. Andrea’s pouch is almost full by the time we return back to the Strozzi villa and Princess Irina toasts our success with a bottle of the estate chianti.

The truffles are then delicately poured onto a linen cloth. They are scrubbed under cold water and weighed on a set of scales. Our twohour adventure has resulted in 136g of truffle, worth around €250.

So what will happen to our finds? ‘We sell them to restaurants as far away as Spain and Holland. I also get a lot of phone calls from friends about this time of year asking how the truffle Freshly foraged truffles hunting season has been,’ says Princess Irina.

Later that evening I join the Strozzi family for a three-course truffle dinner at La Massa, not be planted, 15 hectares of ancient forest now prepared by executive chef, Andrea Quagliarella. provide the perfect habitat for the valuable white It’s more fungi than truffle of Crete Senesi.

I’ve eaten in a lifetime Buried in the soil between an inch and but what is the a foot deep, I’ve already discovered that truffles princess’s favourite don’t give themselves up easily. Renowned for truffle treat? their pungent smell, it would still be impossible ‘I like to keep to find them without our two dogs. Underneath a beech tree it simple. Grating is a good place to start but it’s anybody’s guess where the spores truffle over of a truffle might fall and grow. Like most fungi, truffles have a poached egg a symbiotic relationship with trees, attaching to the root system is a special treat – to produce their valuable fruit. especially with a glass Bozzi and Macchia are being guided through the leafy of champagne undergrowth by truffle hunter Andrea and the Princess Irina Strozzi to wash it down.’

– also a highly trained exponent of the truffle hunt. ‘The family Our evening always knew there were truffles here but the exact locations were is over far too soon always kept a secret,’ explains Princess Irina. ‘Truffles have become but the aroma of so valuable that we decided it was time to find them ourselves.’ truffle lingers on The 2015 crop in Italy was poor due to a lack of rain. However, in La Massa’s dining heavy downpours last November made truffles more abundant. room. I fall asleep In turn, that has helped drive down restaurant prices – so there’s wondering if I can never been a better time to eat this fabulous fungi. train my own dog Lagotto Romagnolo may be prize sniffers but they can to put his nose be easily distracted like any other dog. Badger Bozzi and Macchia get a to work back home trails are a favourite and their ability to find rodent treat for all their hard work BOOK IT... in England... holes is amazing. It’s more than half an hour before Bozzi starts to scratch at the surface, sending soil STAY Villa La Massa from showering in all directions. Andrea is first on the A NOSE FOR £422 per room per scene and gently starts to dig around the spot with ITALIAN TRUFFLE! night. Book your Truffle a hooked stick. ‘This is the exiting moment,’ says Italy is blessed with a wide variety of truffle types: Tour from £722 per couple – including a Princess Irina. ‘Truffles are delicate and need to be Tuscan lunch with truffles teased out of the ground. If the truffle is large, it can BLACK TRUFFLE: Tuber melanosporum at Villa Cusona, hosted take up to an hour to work around it.’ vittadini is one of the most popular in the world.

by Princess Guicciardini Strozzi. villalamassa.com The world’s largest truffle weighed just over 4lbs and It is hard to find and therefore expensive. The was found in nearby Umbria. Most weigh just a few grams outer rind is black and the fruit a brownish colour.

For further information on the Maserati Ghibli but each one is treasured regardless of size. Bozzi’s find WHITE TRUFFLE: The rarest of all truffles, visit maserati.com is a black truffle about the size of a squash ball. Andrea the white has a slightly yellowish rind, with FLIGHTS praises the dog before using a small brush to dust off the a light brown centre. It’s the most pungent and British Airways flies direct soil. He then pops the delicacy in a small linen bag. perfect for pasta and egg dishes. from London City to Princess Irina explains that it’s not all down to the BIANCHETTO TRUFFLE: Similar in Florence with economy fares starting at £249 dogs. ‘We look for signs of the earth being disturbed appearance to the white truffle but ripens return, including taxes on the surface. Wild animals love to eat truffle too in late winter and early spring – instead and charges. Book online – sometimes they find one but are scared off before of October to November. A sharper taste and at britishairways.com they can dig it up.’ with a weaker aroma.

PHOTOS: ITALIAN TOURIST BOARD

Travel in style from hotel to truffle hunt in a Maserati Ghibli

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Sir Bill and his wife, Bridget, with Margaret and Denis Thatcher at Upton Cressett Hall

SLEEPING WITH BRITISH HISTORY

Elizabeth Hurley and Henry Dent-Brocklehurst outside the Gatehouse at Upton Cressett Hall

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wners of properties that offer a slice of history along with stately accommodation – a Scottish castle, a stately home hotel or an Elizabethan Gatehouse, say – have never been shy about showing off their guest books as a form of marketing. It’s good business – especially with the pound at an alltime low and tourism booming – to boast that previous guests include royalty, prime ministers and some of Britain’s best-known historical or society figures, as well as famous writers.

But how many of these claims are really true?

At Upton Cressett Hall, where I live in Shropshire, our Gatehouse includes a choice of either staying in The Thatcher Suite in the exact same bed in which Lady Thatcher slept with Sir Denis when she came to stay for two nights in 1994; or up a further floor guests

ABOVE: The Gatehouse BELOW: The Thatcher Suite

can stay in The Prince Rupert Suite where the Royalist Commander hid from parliamentary forces during the Civil War. Depending on the sort of guest enquiry we get, the latter is also occasionally marketed as the Elizabeth Hurley ‘honeymoon’ suite, as she has stayed there several times and has been kind enough to call it ‘the most romantic escape in England’.

I can vouch for the fact that Hurley really has slept in the four-poster bed – decorated with Zoffany Arden fabric – as I will never forget the look on my gardener-turned-occasional butler after he went up to the bedroom to deliver some tea and found a half-naked Elizabeth lying like a graceful swan in white silk pyjamas; and I know for certain that Lady Thatcher did sleep in the bed and managed to get through a decanter of whisky left for her in the suite next door (now called the ‘Whisky Suite’).

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PHOTOS: REX FEATURES

As an owner of a stately home that needs to make ends meet, WILLIAM CASH has no qualms about boasting about his roll call of guests over the years, even if he can’t quite prove it

But do we really know if Prince Rupert actually slept the night in the top floor of our Gatehouse? All the history books say is that he arrived with ‘a troop of 60 royal horse’. On where he slept, they are silent.

The booming vogue for sleeping with a slice of British history has much to do with the fact that people don’t just want to escape to the country for the weekend – they also want an ‘authentic’ historic experience. When I show people the Thatcher Suite, what they like most is that the actual bed she slept in is still there – with the same upholstery and decanter that she helped herself to Macallan malt from.

This is a backlash from the National Trust trend for populating houses with staff dressed up like a low budget costume drama and history reduced to a Disneyland historical ‘theme park’ approach.

It is much better to experience the real thing, such as staying at Cliveden House in Berkshire, where you can spend £1,535 a night to stay in the Prince of Wales suite or the Lady Astor suite, marketed as one of the ‘very grandest in England’. Located on the first floor of the main house, it boasts high ceilings, private terrace, antique furniture, sweeping views over the parterre and the River Thames and an ‘honesty bar’.

Ah, yes. Historic honesty. Yes, we know that Lady (Nancy) Astor lived at Cliveden and that it was the salon of the ‘Cliveden Set’ of the 1920s and ’30s. During the 1960s, Cliveden – and its swimming pool – became the stage set for the notorious Profumo Affair. Yet this is not referred to on the hotel’s website. Also there is nothing suggesting that the Lady Astor suite was actually Nancy Astor’s own bedroom.

Naming private bedrooms after illustrious former guests – whether prime ministers staying for just a night (with their secret service agents booking into the local pub), to authors who show no inclination to leave – can be fraught with social and political difficulties. Firstly, can you name a bedroom after a famous guest who is still alive? The answer is surely ‘no’. It should be reserved as a form of memorial. They can however, unlike blue plaques, be named swiftly after a person dies, but there has to be some

PHOTOS: REX FEATURES

RIGHT: Christine Keeler, renowned for her role in the Profumo Affair, revisits Cliveden 20 years after the events BELOW: The Lady Astor suite at Cliveden

The Ritz London where Lady Thatcher died

protocol. When we decided to name the Thatcher Suite, I sought permission from her son Sir Mark.

It was the first bedroom ‘suite’ (where the public can stay) to be officially named after Britain’s first female prime minister.

Thatcher’s friend, Lady Carla Powell, has called for The Ritz to name the suite where she had been recovering after an operation and eventually passed away. Regardless of The Ritz, however, it won’t be long before dozens more Thatcher Suites will emerge around the world. There are endless Churchill ones, including at The Savoy, London, Hôtel de Paris in Monte-Carlo and the Mena House Oberoi Hotel in Cairo, where Franklin Roosevelt, Chinese General Chiang Kai-shek and Churchill all stayed.

Perhaps one reason for the diplomatic silence from The Ritz is that they may want to distance themselves from any accusation of opportunism. A hotel death can be good for business – the bungalow in which John Belushi died in 1982 at the Chateau Marmont in LA remains one of the most requested.

It’s important, however, not to preserve the room in aspic, turning it into some sort of Miss Havisham-style mausoleum. At L’Hotel Paris, where Oscar Wilde died in 1900 for example, the suite named after him has been remodelled by contemporary French designer Jacques Garcia, who has framed the original begging letters from the hotel manager to Wilde demanding that he pay his bill. This chic style of ‘designer debt’ works well.

Part of the fun of staying in such a suite is that it is educational.

In our Thatcher Suite, a signed hardback copy of her The Downing Street Years and the new Charles Moore biography sit together on the desk in the Elizabethan sitting room where Lady Thatcher used to make herself, what she liked to call, a ‘proper’ Scotch.

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of honoring somebody – or is it just a grandiose form of visitor book name dropping?

Although the ‘celebrity suite’ business can be a darkly disingenuous business, naming a bedroom after a guest is surely one of the highest forms of social compliment. The very act of ‘naming’ – whether it is the terraced street off the Pimlico Road in Belgravia, where Mozart once briefly lived, or the Oliver Messel suite at the Dorchester Hotel – is an act of respect, as well as a form of remembrance. The young Mozart lived for not even two months at what was then called ‘Fivefields Row’ – from 5 August to 24 September 1764 – following which the street was later re-named ‘Mozart Terrace’.

But often it’s just a gimmick. Dig beneath the PR gloss and you can find the associations – or the facts – are tenuous. For hotels, or even a historic house trying to attract visitors (especially if they are of the $10,000 a week American cultural ‘stately house party tour’ variety), naming a suite or bedroom after a celebrated historical figure can be commercially canny – even if any sort of real connection is non-existent.

Take the famous Monet Suite (rooms 512 and 513) at The Savoy Hotel. Before the hotel was refurbished a few years back, The Savoy used to charge £720 per night for Monet lovers to stay in the rooms which he turned into a private studio for six months in 1899/1900 in order to paint his famous views of the River Thames. Yet, embarrassingly for the hotel, a scientific paper published by the Royal Geographical Society proved that the hotel had actually got the suite numbers wrong and that the painter had in fact stayed in the room next door.

The main reason I am glad to have re-named ‘The Prince Rupert Bedroom’ as the ‘Thatcher Suite’ is that I’ve always liked to think of the English country house as being the ultimate stage set for the social mobility – as a reward for hard work – that has always set Britain apart from its European neighbours (one reason why we never had a French-style revolution).

The Monet Suite at The Savoy

PHOTOS: REX FEATURES

ABOVE: The Oscar Wilde Suite at L’Hotel Paris RIGHT: Oscar Wilde

Politics – like Elizabethan theatre – has always been a game open to anyone with enough talent and ambition to succeed.

In many ways the Globe Theatre itself was like a sprawling country house, with its downstairs ‘pit’ for the lower orders and the best seats reserved for the wealthy merchants, aristocrats and courtiers. But one thing that has always made Britain unique is that anybody, from whatever background, can always leap up onto the stage at any time to play their part.

Shakespeare was the son of a debt-ridden glovemaker from Stratford; Thomas Wolsey – who built Hampton Court – was the son of a builder from Ipswich. Lady Thatcher belongs to this tradition.

So it seems only fitting that, in our own very humble way at Upton Cressett, with Prince Rupert of the Rhine now being booted upstairs (where servants would have slept on the floor on rough horse-hair mattresses), that triumph of social elevation is dramatised through a bedroom change-over.

When we opened up the Thatcher Suite to the public, one of our house guests was William Dartmouth, UKIP MEP for the South West, 10th Earl of Dartmouth and no stranger – as the grandson of Barbara Cartland and the son of Raine Spencer – to the nuances of English social elevation.

His comment summed it all up: ‘Good to see a grocer’s daughter from Grantham pulling rank on the nephew of a king – how wonderfully English!’. n

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E

Gavin Gardiner Limited ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Auctioneers of Fine Modern and Vintage Sporting Guns, Rifles and Accessories

Sporting Guns at the Gleneagles Hotel Auction: 28th August 2017

For fifty years Record Prices for Sporting Guns have been achieved at the Gleneagles sale. Held two weeks in to the Grouse shooting season, the unique location and atmosphere of The Gleneagles Hotel has seen this sale achieve a status like no other.

Over 200 lots of Fine Sporting Guns and Rifles included in this sale.

Catalogue: £17 by post

Exhibition in Sussex: Wednesday 16th August to Friday 18th August by appointment only Exhibition at Gleneagles: Saturday 26th August Sunday 27th August Monday 28th August

10am to 5pm 10am to 5pm 10am to 2pm

Auction at 5pm

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WHAT

NICK DID NEXT

Nicholas Coleridge may be stepping down as managing director of Condé Nast this year, but he still believes in the power of the glossy, says MATTHEW BELL Portrait by ALEXANDRA DAO

T

he journalist Lynn Barber once said that the only people worth interviewing were those on the way up or on the way down. At 60, Nicholas Coleridge could hardly be said to be starting out, but nor have we seen the last of this irascible publisher, novelist and Bertie Woosterish man-about-town.

He has, however, just retired as the head of Condé Nast UK, the 108-year old magazine empire that publishes Vogue, Tatler, GQ and Vanity Fair. ‘Slightly to my astonishment, I find that I have been managing director for 26 years, which is longer than many of our staff have been alive,’ he quipped in January.

The news was a shock, for Coleridge has been integral to London’s magazine world for years. And it comes at a time of dramatic change

PHOTO: © 2017 ALEXANDRA DAO; ALEXANDRADAO.COM

Nicholas on the famous roof of Condé Nast in Hanover Square

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PHOTO: © 2017 ALEXANDRA DAO; ALEXANDRADAO.COM

He can talk on almost any subject coherently and at length, and within Condé Nast, as long-standing Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman would make a brilliant contestant on Just a Minute. He always has is replaced by Edward Enninful, and many top executives are... retiring a spring in his step, and is ever-ready with a pertinent anecdote (or being fired, a fact Vogue’s fashion director Lucinda Chambers or juicy bit of gossip. At one point in the recent BBC Two documentary recently wrote about with admirable candour). Some might interpret on Tatler, he actually does a little skip upon leaving a meeting. He has this as evidence of a radical shake-up, as the print industry embraces a policy of always replying to emails within ten minutes, a feat most the digital age. But the day of the glossy magazine is far from over, lesser people would find impossible. says Coleridge. ‘I suspect its future will be the same as that of radio Besides the day job, he has written 14 books and, in 2015, he became when television came along,’ he says. ‘They will co-exist. chairman of the V&A museum, a job you might think The fact that frequently surprises people is that if you the managing director of Condé Nast wouldn’t have go back a quarter of a century, Vogue sold considerably time for. He is also chairman for the Campaign for fewer copies than it does now. The same is true of Wool, an initiative by the Prince of Wales to safeguard Tatler and GQ. It’s only in the last five years that you sheep farming. No wonder he gives a spirited defence have begun to see a plateauing.’ of George Osborne for taking on the editorship Coleridge is a fan of Country & Town House, of the Evening Standard. ‘The more jobs the merrier! which he receives at his home in Royal Avenue, I’ve always done too many things.’

Chelsea. ‘I think it’s very hard to replicate the thrill of Happily, Condé Nast’s owning family don’t mind. getting a brand new magazine every month,’ he says.

‘Jonathan Newhouse was incredibly generous about ‘I attend endless meetings where people talk about the the V&A appointment. It hasn’t really interfered navigation of websites. Actually, magazines are very with here at all I don’t think.’ At what point easy to navigate. Imagine if a glossy had been invented do you ask for permission when applying for

by Apple. The battery would only last two hours and an external appointment like that, I wonder? you’d have to constantly download updates...’

‘Towards the end, actually!’ he laughs. It is Coleridge’s love of glossies dates back to his teenage all part of a lifelong policy of saying yes to any years, when his ambition was to have an article published opportunity that comes his way. in one. He achieved this at 15, while still at Eton, when One of his best decisions, he says, was the he sent a hand-written ‘guide to surviving teen parties’ purchase of Wolverton Hall, a large country to Harper’s and Queen. After Eton he went to Cambridge house in Worcestershire, 13 years ago. He, his wife to read theology, and did stints at Harper’s in the holidays.

Georgia and their four children decamp there He never got round to sitting his finals as he left most weekends, where Nicholas loves to potter university to take a job at Tatler, aged 22. ‘There in the garden and write his novels. They used to were 14 editorial staff at Tatler in those days, with have a house in Oxfordshire but prefer the rural Tina Brown at number one and me at number 14,’ simplicity further west. When he’s writing a novel, he recalls. ‘Tina was demanding and very decisive. he has a strict regime of getting up early to rattle Anyone who disappointed her could be fired off 1,200 words before lunch, all written by hand in the instantaneously. These were the days before HR, garden. ‘If you do that on both days, and you do it pretty so I was suddenly her number two, as everyone in much every weekend, you have written well over 100,000 between me and her had been fired.’ He didn’t words in a year without it ruining your life.’ adopt her management style, though – many of his He reveals that his next writing project will be editors have been in post for decades. ‘It worked for a memoir. ‘I’m going to call it The Glossy Years, though her. It wouldn’t have suited me so well.’ it won’t just be about magazines.’ He keeps ‘half a diary’, From Tatler he went to work as a journalist so he knows where he was on any given day over the last for the Evening Standard, where he would write 35 years, but he’s ‘not as punctilious as Andrew Roberts a centre-spread about anything he liked. On one the historian’. He is blessed with having a very good occasion he managed to gatecrash Prince Andrew’s memory, ‘for the trivial and for dialogue’, and he 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle by pretending is going to cut out all the boring bits. ‘That was one to be a chauffeur. ‘I had a friend who was invited thing I learned from Tina Brown,’ he says. ‘She had and persuaded them to let me drive them in IN BRIEF no patience at all for the boring. There’s a tendency a peaked cap. The Royal family would always put in journalism to write a very amusing start then on a parallel party for the chauffeurs, which, as 1 COUNTRY OR TOWN: to go off a bit, before perking up at the end. She I had never seen them reported on, I thought would Country. 2 PUB LUNCH OR would just ruthlessly cross out the serious stuff – make for an interesting story. What I hadn’t counted MICHELIN STARS: Pub lunch.

I might follow the same technique.’ on is that I would then be stuck for five hours with 3 COSY KNITS OR SHARP You might imagine someone in Coleridge’s all the chauffeurs until the main party was over.’

SUITS: Sharp suits. position would be wistful at retiring after 26 years, His eye for a good story doubtless helped him 4 GARDENING OR THEATRE: but no. ‘Condé Nast has always been the one you to advance in journalism, but his talent for talking to Gardening. 5 GLASS OF WINE want to end up at,’ he says. ‘It’s the last stop on the people – and his total grasp of his industry – must be OR GREEN TEA: Glass of wine.

Tube.’ And despite stepping down as managing the secret to his success. He is relentlessly spirited and 6 POWER BREAKFAST OR director, he will continue as company chairman. entertaining but also authoritative and well-informed, LANGUOROUS LUNCH: Power ‘The plan is I’m going to come in two days firing off facts and figures with the rat-tat-tat of a breakfast. 7 DOG OR CAT: a week and do remarkably little!’ But being Nick Gatling gun (Did you know there are are 31 bridal Dog. 8 SEASIDE OR ROLLING Coleridge, even this he will pursue with gusto. magazines in England? Which is about 29 too many!)

HILLS: Rolling hills.

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Based Upon’s Ian Abell examines his interpretation of Phantom’s Gallery

REINVENTING THE WHEEL Rolls-Royce’s new Phantom takes bespoke to new heights, says CHARLOTTE METCALF

‘I

t can be quite an emotional moment,’ says Emma Rickett, Rolls-Royce’s Global Lifestyle Communications Manager, as we settle on a cream leather sofa in the dim, airconditioned cool of the showroom. I’m at Rolls-Royce’s Goodwood headquarters to see the new Phantom, a much anticipated event and the first new model for 14 years.

The drama starts to unfold with the swish of curtains closing behind me. Music begins to build as the curtains in front of us slide aside to reveal the Phantom revolving under spotlights. The confined space makes it look imposing, huge. ‘Today Phantom restates its place in history. Today we become tomorrow,’ intones a woman’s voice-over as the car is suddenly flooded with light. Anyone who commissions a Rolls-Royce is treated to this theatrical reveal – it’s all part of the experience, at which Rolls-Royce prides itself on excelling.

This particular Phantom is Premiere Silver and Gunmetal with a single Gunmetal coach line. I don white cotton gloves to sit in the Armagnac interior with Piano Black veneer, buffed leather exuding the luscious smell of wealth. There’s a glass fascia that runs the length of the dashboard, named The Gallery, like a mini stage with footlights. Behind the glass is an artistic installation: two layers of laser-cut aluminium over metal polished to a mirror finish so the effect is of a shimmering feather pattern. It adds a beautiful, elegant dimension to the car and even the glass that houses the art is a single pane that has to be built in its own clean room to ensure not a spec of dust can penetrate to the art behind.

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The Spirit of Ecstasy acts as a muse

the marque’s patrons and prospective buyers.

They include Based Upon’s shimmering abstract work in aluminium and Helen Amy Murray’s exquisite sculpted, silken design, both inspired by the Spirit of Ecstasy. The most feminine work is Nymphenburg’s twine of black leaves with white porcelain roses of such fragile delicacy that the petals gleam translucent. Buyers can commission a similar gallery or potentially ask an artist of their choice such as Damien Hirst or David Hockney to work with the Rolls-Royce bespoke design team to create a bespoke gallery. The only limit to what can be done is the buyer’s imagination.

The new Phantom marks the latest in a long line of beautiful bespoke cars that have stretched Rolls-Royce’s creative teams. As the seventh generation was phased out in 2016 to make way for the eighth, in a final flourish, Rolls-Royce announced the Zenith Collection to include some of the most astonishing bespoke cars ever seen. In 2013, a collector of distinctive superyachts and aircraft and a valued customer, asked Rolls-Royce to create from scratch a coach built two-seater coupé with a panoramic glass roof. The result was Sweptail, unveiled to the media at the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este in May this year.

‘Sweptail is the automotive equivalent of haute couture,’ says Giles Taylor, Director of Design. ‘It is a Rolls-Royce designed and handtailored to fit a specific customer. This customer shared in the creative process where we advised him on his cloth, and then tailored that cloth to him. Our job was to guide, edit and finely hone the lines that would ultimately give our client this most perfect of Rolls-Royces.’

As if the 44,000 existing colours in the Rolls-Royce palette were not enough, over the years customers have asked the marque to match a shade of lipstick, a blue flower from Pebble Beach and even a red setter dog. Customers can order their Starlight Headliner in any shape, from a coat of arms to the Milky Way, because every single tiny light is hand placed. The Starlight Headliner of the Celestial Phantom, launched in 2013, famously drew its inspiration from the

configuration of stars the night the Phantom was first unveiled in 2003 and the roof’s lining featured over 1,000 hand-woven fibre optic lights, offset by 466 hand-set diamonds in the door-cappings, centre console lid and partition wall.

Phantom pushes this adventurous exploration of the unknown in terms of materials, details and new features even further. Recent examples of highly bespoke commissions include the Madeira Red Peace and Glory Phantom, with its personalised motifs and embroidered tiger fur pattern, and the Blue Magpie, created for a Taiwanese owner with the rare Taiwanese magpie embroidered into the headrests.

Then there was the Serenity Phantom with its breathtakingly intricate silk interior. Using silk to clothe a car interior was virtually impossible, especially as this interior took inspiration from Japanese royal robe designs and the junihitoe, a complex, handmade 12-layered silk robe worn only by female Japanese courtiers with poetic names for every colour like, ‘crimson plum of the spring’.

The unspun silk thread was sourced in Suzhou, China, renowned for creating imperial embroidery, then hand-dyed by Chinese craftspeople using centuries-old traditions and handwoven in one of Britain’s oldest mills into just ten metres of lustrous Smoke Green fabric, the amount needed to clothe Serenity’s interior. The blossom motif across the fabric is a contemporary take on ancient chinoiserie, with copper-coloured branches and white petals.

The crimson blossoms were hand-painted onto the silk. The panels that eventually made up Serenity’s centerpiece took 600 hours of work per panel.

Other materials used included smoked cherrywood, arctic white leather, bamboo crossbanding and mother-of-pearl marquetry. The clock is inlaid with hand-applied rubies and etched with concentric circles redolent of the raked gravel seen in Japanese gardens. ‘The Phantom’s rear compartment is where time and the outside world simply slip past,’ explains Cherica Haye, one of the female duo that designed Serenity. ‘Its tranquility made us think of the Oriental tradition where Emperors would take to their private gardens to reflect in solitude under the blossom trees.’

Now comes the new eighth generation, which was launched on 27 July at Bonham’s on Bond Street alongside an exhibition of the seven previous generations of Phantom. The ‘heroes’ included the first Goodwood Phantom and those belonging to Her Majesty the Queen, the Aga Khan III, Fred Astaire, Field Marshal Montgomery, John Lennon and Sir Malcolm Campbell. They were a reminder of the Phantom’s proud legacy and an audacious challenge to anyone who might doubt the calibre and discernment of a Phantom owner.

It’s clear that the Phantom sits firmly in the pantheon of great motor cars and that with the creative abilities of the Rolls-Royce bespoke design team, more of them are going to be built to order. The Phantom is a car of majesty and elegance, a car with the gravitas and presence to grace any state occasion. The fact that they remain in the hands of royals and heads of state while being sought out by rock ‘n’ roll royalty and Hollywood superstars indicates how in touch Rolls-Royce is with its customers’ shifting demands. The marque has grasped that people no longer want to be defined merely by a brand but by a unique and dazzling creation. As Head Designer Giles Taylor says of the Sweptail, ‘You might say we cut the cloth for the suit of clothes that the owner will be judged by.’ n

Customers have asked the marque to match a shade of lipstick, a blue flower from Pebble Beach and even a red setter dog

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Humble beginnings of Nymphenburg porcelain

ABOVE: Based Upon’s mood board LEFT: Skilled artisans interpret the trailing wake of the Spirit of Ecstasy

ABOVE: Nymphenburg’s studio BELOW: The master’s hand

ABOVE: The Rolls-Royce rose being formed in porcelain RIGHT: The porcelain vault

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COMPETITION

THE GREAT GLORIOUS 12TH GETAWAY Win £875 worth of Huntsman, Tusting and Wingfield Digby goodies for the perfect shooting weekend away

T

he shooting season is upon us – and with it weekends filled with sporting activity, hospitality and truly British fashion. Tradition must be adhered to. The correct attire, the smartest luggage and the thank you present are (nearly) as important as gun safety and gamekeeper tipping.

Luckily, Country & Town House has teamed up with three renowned providers of luxury shooting weekend essentials to launch the ‘Great Glorious Twelfth Getaway’ competition. Aside from impeccable quality, British heritage and discerning clientele, Huntsman, Tusting and Wingfield Digby are united by offering products unparalleled in their respective sectors.

Huntsman boasts a unique legacy – it has dressed kings, queens, princes, dukes, heads of state, film stars, music icons and many more, in its distinctive house style for generations. Likewise, family-owned Tusting is a jewel in Britain’s leather manufacturing crown. Aside from the quality of its products and exceptional customer service, Tusting makes all

WIN, WIN, WIN Courtesy of Savile Row tailor Huntsman, leather goods leader Tusting and go-to gift provider Wingfield Digby – this amazing prize, worth £875, features everything you need for a stylish shooting weekend away.

Included are a Tusting Explorer holdall (£290) – a timeless and exceptionally durable travel classic; a pair of Huntsman braces (£95) and Baker Boy cashmere hat (£245); and a pair of Wingfield Digby photo frames, tray and candle – all handcrafted with real cock pheasant feathers (£245).

items (including gun slips and cartridge bags) by hand at its Buckinghamshire base. Kate Middleton and Prince Charles are proud owners.

Finally, family-owned Wingfield Digby offers something distinctly different by layering real bird feathers (from pheasant, duck, partridge, goose and more) under glass into its creations.

The idea came to founder Alice Wingfield Digby after recognising the sheer volume of plucked feathers going to waste after shoots.

Whether you’re a good shot or not, this prize guarantees good shooting guest (or host) status. Enter now so you don’t miss out. huntsmansavilerow.com; tusting.co.uk; wingfielddigby.com

TO ENTER Visit countryandtown house.co.uk/competition and follow instructions.

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THE INSIDER INTERIORS · LIVING · DESIGN

THE ALCHEMIST It was back to basics for Zoffany this season, crushing minerals and extracting natural plant dyes to create its own custom pigments in its in-house ‘alchemists’ studio. The result? A collection with a deeply expressive palette that translates beautifully into rich and dramatic damasks, chenille and linen.

Use liberally for maximum impact and don’t hold back on the dark shades. Magic.

From £65 per roll. zoffany.com

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THE INSIDER

TREND BEAUMONT & FLETCHER Marlborough 2.5 seater sofa, from £5,825; Brummel footstool, £1,220. beaumontandfletcher.com

Classic Hits Country piles deserve fine fabrics and caring craftsmanship

GP & J BAKER Tulip and Jasmine fabric, £65p/m. gpjbaker.com

DAVID HUNT LIGHTING Emile mole brown six light pendant, £498. davidhuntlighting.co.uk

WILLIAM EDWARDS Sporting life bone china plate, £30. williamandson.com

NEPTUNE Olivia grand sofa in Isla Kingfisher, £2,680. neptune.com

MYLANDS Long Acre No 102 matt emulsion, £44 for 2.5l. mylands.com

OKA Glamis ottoman, £1,465. oka.com

DE LE CUONA Vienna velvet cushion, £190. delecuona.com DELCOR Earl chair in Linwood Sporting Life Tally Ho, £1,317. delcor.co.uk

JAMB Chesham fireplace, £8,160; Arts & Crafts fire basket, from £1,500; Stockton fire irons, from £456; Small Original Globe, £3,120. jamb.co.uk

OYUNA Safira cashmere throw, £1,249. oyuna.com

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Bespoke Wardrobe Design www.neatsmith.co.uk 0800 1956 595

Neatsmith quality

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FINCHLEY ROAD 6-8 Frognal Parade NW3 5HH

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26/07/2017 16/08/2016 16:42 11:57

THE INSIDER

INTERIORS

PLAIN BEAUTIFUL Need kitchen inspiration? Plain English has installed the dream country kitchen in Howe London’s Pimlico Road shop. Its focal point is a bespoke dresser taken from Georgian and Edwardian country houses, designed to display Christopher Howe’s collection of Royal Staffordshire. All the ironmongery and worktops are reclaimed, so it looks gratifyingly ‘lived in’. plainenglishdesign.co.uk; howelondon.com

HAND ME DOWN HEIRLOOMS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS

SNAP, CRACKLE, POP

Talisman Bespoke’s new designs were made for snappily dressed homes. Tables are finished with a metallic crackle lacquer (from £5,280), and stools upholstered in velvet add a vibrant colour pop (from £1,110). talisman london.com

Design Notes

SADDLE UP

Hermès’ latest collection returns to its roots as a saddlery. Lien d’Hermès takes the original metal links, supple bridle leather and contrasting stitching to fashion whimsical objects for the home, including a perpetual calendar that knots and unknots time, harnessed Saint-Louis crystal vases and a knockout fawn bullcalf bar trolley. uk.hermes.com

News and inspiration from the world of interiors

WELL BRED Mutton dressed as lamb just won’t do, the most astute designers are exploring the qualities of wool from rarebreed sheep. Take Janie Knitted Textiles, which makes eco lights from Loaghtan, Portland and Wensleydale sheep – each breed produces a naturally different colourway (from £80. janieknittedtextiles. com). Meanwhile, Somnus has stuffed its limited-edition Royal Britannia bed with Wensleydale sheep wool, reared on its Yorkshire farm (from £1,229. somnus.co.uk).

THE GREAT PRETENDER

Durable and easy to clean, porcelain stoneware flooring can be better than the real deal. If you like the polished concrete look but care about your environmental footprint, Marazzi’s Powder tiles are a sound alternative, plus they are light enough to use on walls.

Don’t believe us? Go see for yourself in its first London showroom in Clerkenwell. From £39 per sq/m. marazzitile.co.uk

1 RARE FINDS Ronald Phillips sources the finest and rarest pieces of English furniture from the 18th and 19th centuries, all rigorously vetted by its crack team of experts. ronaldphillipsantiques.com

2 CRYSTAL CLEAR While you might associate Moser with traditional crystal, invest in something contemporary from its 160th anniversary collection; it will be a future classic. moser-glass.com

3 CAR BOOT Made by The Sporting Box Company, Purdey’s car gunbox is the ultimate accessory for the keen shot, with a place for everything from cartridges to the sloe gin. From £13,800. purdey.com

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THE INSIDER

INTERIORS

Design Q&A FIONA BARRATT-CAMPBELL Mixing furniture from different periods is this interior designer’s calling card Key trends for autumn/winter? Rich copper tones, teal blues, vivid turquoises and rich red – jewel colours. My furniture collection for this season uses a lot of semi-precious stones like onyx, mixed with cast bronze.

What’s on the way out? We rarely use steel or chrome anymore and I don’t think lacquer is as popular as it was with veneers increasingly being used in its place.

How could we quickly refresh a room? Have a look at your furniture layout, what seemed obvious might not be the best use of space.

There are also many websites where you can find great and affordable art from graduates.

Bespoke designed kitchen

by FBC Kitchens

chocolate woods, there’s just no character to them.

What was the first space that left an impression on you? My grandfather’s Victorian home in Northumberland.

It had a richly ornate interior with panelled rooms and flock wallpaper but he also had this amazing snooker room he did up in the ’70s with bright red velvet walls, heavy patterned curtains and a two-inch deep shagpile carpet. It was very cool because it transported you into a different world and that is what good design should do.

How would you put a contemporary twist on a traditional country house? I wouldn’t make it too modern. At our Georgian house in Northumberland we’ve struck a balance between old and new. For example, the bathroom fittings are modern but I’ve got an old hand-painted antique chest in there. I like to use furniture from different eras, accenting modern pieces with antique accessories.

What are your big no-nos? I don’t like those nouveau homes that have been designed with creamy shiny fabrics and dark FABRICS de Le Cuona. delecuona.com

What was the first piece of furniture you ever bought? I did my whole house

Swimming pool in a 400-year-old barn

This bedroom has a specialist plaster wall

in Ikea the first time round and it cost me about £2,500, which, being a student at the time, I thought was an extraordinary amount of money. You can’t knock Ikea for its quality at that price point, my playroom is still mostly Ikea.

Naffest thing you own? A plastic bracelet my kids bought for me at a seaside resort.

PAINT Farrow & Ball. farrow-ball.com

LITTLE BLACK BOOK STEAL FIONA’S CONTACTS WALLPAPER Kneedler Fauchère. kneedlerfauchere.com

LIGHTING Lindsey Adelman. lindseyadelman.com

TABLEWARE Baccarat. baccarat.com

FURNITURE FBC London. fbc-london.com

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28/07/2017 09:43

FOOD&TRAVEL EAT · DRINK · ESCAPE

Andean Adventure Now that BA has launched the only direct flight from London to Santiago in Chile, the South American country’s many charms are closer than you think, says Sarah Gilbert

The pink flamingo is a familiar sight in the desert area of Atacama to the north of the country

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ABOVE & BELOW: Ballooning over Atacama, the world’s driest desert

T

he wall of still-smoking volcanoes turned from deep blues and purples to terracotta and ochre in quick succession, as the sun’s first rays dipped over their peaks. And, between the roar of the flames, only the whistling wind disturbed the silence. I held my breath as I watched the shadow of the balloon pursue us across the ground. Drifting towards Moon Valley, my bird’s-eye view gave its corrugated cliffs and undulating dunes a distinctly lunar-like quality.

Balloons Over Atacama began operating last year, floating over the world’s highest and driest desert, its otherworldly landscapes stretching for more than 40,000 square miles across northern Chile.

I clambered into the wicker basket as a shaft of sunlight appeared over Licancabur volcano’s perfect cone, before we gently soared into the rapidly lightening sky.

Looking down, I could see unlikely patches of green among the barren landscape, a smattering of villages fed by underground rivers and melt water from the Andes.

After we landed, with barely a bump, champagne corks popped and we were invited to pay our own respects to the land as we poured drops of bubbly into the sand to honour Pachamama, or Mother Earth.

Andean flamingo

The welcoming pool at explora Atacama

I was staying at explora Atacama, where the long, low buildings take their cue from the surroundings – whitewashed adobe, stone and wood, with blasts of colour from hand-woven blankets and picture windows to take in the stunning views. With the added luxury of a Hockney-blue pool set in a landscaped desert garden, a top-notch restaurant that turns local produce into gourmet fare and a well-stocked wine cellar.

Explora sits on the fringes of San Pedro de Atacama, where the atmospheric adobe streets throng with tourists, there to visit the excellent archaeological museum, pick up handicrafts, or just sit in the tree-lined plaza with its simple Andean church.

But less hotel, more luxe base camp, explora’s extensive menu of explorations is designed to reveal some of Chile’s most spectacular scenery without the crowds.

Half and full-day hikes, journeys by bike and horseback, and high mountain ascents for those who’ve acclimatised, that go where the tour buses don’t reach.

From the air, I’d caught a dazzlingly white flash of the Salar de Atacama, the

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world’s third largest salt flat, and later that afternoon, I set out with a guide to explore its vast expanse. Close up, the compacted salt crunched like ice underfoot as we followed a track to the shores of Laguna Chaxa, a startling sweep of luminous blue on the otherwise barren landscape.

As if on cue, a flock of Andean flamingos flew overhead in strict formation. Others stalked through the shallows, foraging for microscopic but carotene-rich brine shrimps that gives them their distinctive rosy hue.

As the setting sun dipped behind Licancabur, the salt turned gold, and the volcano and its neighbours a fiery orange, until a sliver of moon appeared and a plethora of stars began to glitter in the darkening sky.

With its high altitude, clean air and lack of light pollution, Atacama is one of the finest places on the planet for stargazing, with the planets and stars of the southern sky visible for all to see, including ringed Saturn and multihued Jupiter. And I didn’t have to venture far; explora offers stargazing at its own private observatory using a 16-inch Meade telescope for astonishing clarity.

The following day’s hike saw me crisscrossing through a rocky but surprisingly verdant landscape that brought me to the Puritama hot springs and a chance to take a dip in explora’s own private, reed-fringed thermal pool.

Later, some guests chose two wheels to ride through the buff-coloured desert, taking in an ancient settlement of the Atacameños, a pre-Hispanic desert people. I chose four legs; explora’s stable houses more than 20 horses, perfect for both novices and expert riders.

I rode out of the village with my guide,

ABOVE: Atacama’s salt flats LEFT: Chile’s capital, Santiago

The rooftop at Luciano K

BOOK IT Cox & Kings offer a sevennight private tour to Chile priced from £4,195 per person, including direct flights from London Heathrow with British Airways, private transfers and excursions, domestic flights with LATAM, two nights at the Luciano K in Santiago, three nights at explora Atacama and two nights at Casa Higueras in Valparaiso. 020 3642 0861; coxandkings.co.uk

Matetic Vineyard

leaving behind the rough-hewn adobe farmhouses for an expanse of stone-strewn desert flanked by striated rock formations, sculpted by wind and time. The only cloud in the cobalt-blue sky was a distant plume of steam rising from a smouldering crater.

On my last evening, I stepped out into the darkness of explora’s cobbled courtyard and looked up to see a silvery band arc across the sky: the dazzling Milky Way, so close I could almost reach out and touch it.

I’d begun my journey in Chile’s stylish, sophisticated capital, Santiago, a dynamic, modern city where Latin America meets Europe and tiled-roof colonial mansions sit next to glass-walled skyscrapers.

My base was Luciano K, a 1920s apartment building turned chic boutique hotel. A restoration has preserved its original features – lofty ceilings, ornate moldings, parquet flooring, Santiago’s first lift – and added just the right amount of contemporary comforts.

For a glimpse into Chilean history, I strolled around the stately Plaza de Armas. It has been at the heart of the city since it was founded by a Spanish conquistador in 1541, and the area’s still home to imposing buildings flanked by towering palm trees, including the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, where I admired the displays of exquisite pottery from the country’s pre-Spanish cultures.

Then I squeezed along the narrow lanes of La Vega, the city’s permanently bustling food market, where stalls were piled high with curious produce, such as the nutty tasting lúcuma; pepino, a cross between a melon and a cucumber, and chirimoya, a mix of banana, peach and pineapple.

I couldn’t leave Chile without sampling its renowned wine.

At the Matetic Vineyard, set in a fertile valley just over an hour’s drive west of Santiago, I sampled everything from their tropical, citrus-flavoured Sauvignon Blanc to their flagship spicy Syrah.

It was the perfect spot to raise a toast to this long, thin country and its intoxicating mix of sophistication, wine and wilderness. n September 2017 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | 101

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TRAVEL NEWS

The Hotel Wizard Big up the boutique hotel, says Fiona Duncan

BRILLIANT BOUTIQUES

Before the sensational 1967 opening of the Byblos, luxury hotels were large and stately. Here, though, was something intimate and quite different: in essence, though they didn’t know it at the time, it was a boutique hotel. In 1978, Anouska Hempel unveiled Blakes in South Kensington, glossy, edgy and seductive, and credited with being the world’s first boutique hotel proper. When, in 1984, Steve Rubell compared Morgans, the oh-so-cool New York hotel he opened with Ian Schrager, to a boutique, the term stuck.

The ultimate in lifestyle living, instantly Instagrammable at every turn, boutique hotels are the catwalk models of the accommodation world: sleek, sexy, dressed to impress.

Brilliant boutiques aren’t just about looks; they’re about how we live now, and you are as likely to find a yoga or cookery class, a library of interesting books, an all-day grazing menu or a curated cocktail as you are a chaise longue or chandelier that you are desperate to copy at home. And they have just the right dose of friendly, casual yet professional service.

No hotel, boutique or otherwise, can be truly lovable without warmth, character and a sense of place.

Mr and Mrs Smith (mrandmrssmith.com) are the acknowledged arbiters of the world’s best boutique hotels. Here are three current favourites.

Awasi

Palazzo Margherita

1 Awasi, Patagonia, Chile Twelve luxury cabins in heavenly isolation on the edge of the Torre del Paine national park. awasipatagonia.com 2 Palazzo Margherita, Basilicata, Italy Restored by Francis Ford Coppola, a rarefied Baroque bolthole with cinematic good looks. thefamilycoppolaresorts.com 3 Halcyon House, Cabarita Beach, Australia Handsome and down to earth charm in a formerly faded surf motel. halcyonhouse.com.au

Halcyon House

TEN REASONS WHY I LOVE

Hôtel Byblos, St Tropez

1

It was founded 50 years ago on love: that of billionaire Lebanese hotelier Jean-Prosper Gay-Para for Brigitte Bardot.

2

On a terrace in the port city of Byblos he vowed to build a hotel worthy of her in St Tropez…

3

… and created a ‘village within a village’, filled with early Christian sculpture and modern ceramics.

4

BB and 700 others attended the opening in 1967, but love is fickle and Gay-Para soon sold…

5

…to the Floirat family who have cared for Byblos ever since and maintain a surprisingly traditional look, more comforting than glitzy…

6

… Except in the elegant new indoor/outdoor Rivea by Alain Ducasse restaurant headed by personable chef Vincent Maillard, who also gives cookery lessons….

7

… And in the gloriously kitsch nightclub, Les Caves du Roy, glitter ball heaven and resplendent after a six-month refurb.

8 9

Don’t miss a Sisley facial or massage in the tranquil spa…

… especially in the beautiful Salon Libanais, now a couples’ treatment room…

10

… which was previously the nightspot where Mick and Bianca partied after their wedding.

Doubles from £376, including breakfast (byblos.com)

ON THE TRAVEL RADAR » Follow your nose in Paris and discover the art of perfume-making. The lovely literary Le Pavillon des Lettres hotel offers private guided tours of Fragonard’s Nouveau Musée du Parfum every Saturday (pavillondeslettres.com).

Kip in a Ship: HMS Belfast is offering groups of kids (7–18) sleepovers in sailors’ bunks (iwm.org.uk).

The ban is lifted on the Danakil Depression

Jack Nicholson and Cher partying at Hotel Byblos

The Fragonard museum in Paris

« Great news that the FCO travel ban on visiting Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression, searingly beautiful but famed for its harsh environment, has been lifted. Wild Frontiers offers an incredible tour (wildfrontierstravel.com).

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The smaller, lesser-known African Forest Elephant has lost more than 60% of its entire population within less than two decades. They are suffering a fate far worse than their savannah elephant cousins.

Help us get boots on the ground The African Forest Elephant Foundation (AFEF) is fundraising for rangers and eco-guards that protect the Central African rainforests and the elephants that call it home.

AFEF aims to provide new high quality boots and five pairs of durable socks to 500 rangers and eco-guards across Central Africa who work tirelessly out in the field to protect forest elephants and their habitat.

Visit our website to donate: www.forestelephants.org/bootsontheground

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In 1873, Buda, Pest and Óbuda joined to form Hungary’s capital

THE WEEKENDER

Budapest

M

edieval travellers claimed that there were three pearls in the cities of Europe; Venice on the water, Florence on the plains and Buda in the hills. In 1873 the separate cities of Buda, Pest and Óbuda, separated by the Danube river, joined to form the Hungarian capital of Budapest.

Today, Budapest still glistens with ancient allure. It is so high on atmosphere with its crumbling palazzos and timeless architecture, that you can practically feel the charge of history seeping out of the leafy cobbled streets. Its charm lies in its faded grandeur yet it’s also a funky city to visit, not formal or stuffy. There’s a contrasting young, vibrant pulse due to the plethora of film studios and production companies located here. It’s not only filming that is considerably cheaper than in Europe, the buzzy bars and cracking restaurants make eating out far more reasonable than other European cities thanks to its currency, the trusty Hungarian Forint.

STAY

The Bohemian chic of Brody House, opposite the National Museum, is captivating. Eleven quirky rooms, set around an ivy-clad courtyard, are like a theatrical stage set with towering ceilings and double height doors. Host to endless photo shoots, the vibe is fashion savvy. There’s no restaurant but there is an honesty bar and a delightful breakfast served in the airy sitting room. If you can’t face lugging your case

ABOVE & BELOW: Four Seasons Gresham Palace

Brody House

up the sweeping staircase (there’s no porter or lift), stay at the Four Seasons Gresham Palace. This is unadulterated luxury in the perfect location: on the banks of the Danube, Pest side, overlooking the Royal Palace. The rooftop spa has a wow factor swimming pool like a giant window box filled with water.

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PHOTOS: THINKSTOCK

This eastern pearl glimmers and glistens with faded grandeur and contemporary cool, says Anna Pasternak

FOOD & TRAVEL

ESCAPE

Brody Studios

The parliament buildings

WHATEVER YOU DO...

EAT

Brody Studios is the Soho House of Budapest; a private members’ club that rocks (brodystudios.com). Spilling over many floors, with distressed walls and decoupage, and a stunning inner courtyard with outdoor fires, the food here is as robust and clever as the ambience: skin-roasted chicken with Jerusalem artichoke chips is memorable. For fine dining head to Babel, which serves exciting, innovative regional dishes with 75 per cent of ingredients sourced in Hungary (babel-budapest.hu). Try duck broth with pine and celery or sea bass with lentil and black sesame, then an ingenious pumpkin pudding cooked in hay. Avoid the garlic ice cream, it is bizarre and off-kilter. Kollázs, the brasserie at Gresham Palace, is the perfect antidote if you’ve eaten a lot of traditional heavy Hungarian food – paprika chicken, glutinous noodles and goulash (kollazs.hu).

Here, knock back the local spirit, Pálinka, made from pears, it is said to have medicinal qualities, and share a steaming pot of black mussels with perfectly grilled vegetables.

PHOTOS: THINKSTOCK

Fine dining at Babel

Take the Budapest Metro, the oldest electrified underground system in Europe.

LIVE LIKE A LOCAL...

Go jogging on Margaret Island, wedged between Buda and Pest. Once called the Isle of Rabbits, as it was a favourite hunting ground for kings, today it is like Budapest’s Central Park, with a tiny zoo and running lanes.

SEE

It sounds cheesy but the hour’s tourist ride down the river Danube is great fun. Listen to the headphones and soak up cultural facts about Buda and Pest.

Ogle the stunning cityscape with Baroque churches and the limestone extravaganza of Hungary’s parliament, the National Assembly, with its intricate 365 towers. Budapest is known as the City of Healing Waters with its 118 natural thermal springs, which produce over 70 million litres of thermal water a day. Although the Romans discovered the waters in the second century, the bath culture flourished during the Turkish occupation of Hungary in the 16th century. Visit Széchenyi Bath, in the City Park, the largest medicinal bath in Europe.

Built in 1913, in Neo-Baroque style, it’s a huge scene with locals and tourists bobbing away in the wonderful warm waters. Take swimming togs, flip flops and towels or you will be issued with vintage speedos or state-issue bathing suits. Not sexy.

Stock up on Herend China

BOOK IT...

Four Seasons Gresham Palace superior room, from ¤325 per night. +36 1268 6000 fourseasons.com/budapest Brody House, from ¤80 per night. +36 1266 1211 brodyhouse.com

BUY

Visit the Central Market Hall – an architectural triumph near Liberty Bridge on the Pest side – to see every conceivable edible substance, from pigs’ ears to rare mushrooms. Sample street food and buy local Hungarian lace. For something expensive but heirloom quality, buy famed Herend China. The pottery factory of Herend was founded in 1826 and Budapest has two flagship shops. This exquisite Hungarian porcelain was collected

by Queen Victoria, the Rothschilds and the Habsburg dynasty.

True, the animal figurines were pure eighties Sloane, favoured

by Princess Diana, crammed on chintz covered tables, but there are some stunning plates and serving dishes.

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SUBSCRIPTION OFFER

FREE WELEDA GIFT worth £35.95 when you subscribe to C&TH FOR JUST £9.99 for six months* Subscribe to C&TH this month and get Weleda’s new, allnatural Evening Primrose Revitalising Concentrate, worth £35.95, absolutely free.

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www.countryandtownhouse.co.uk/subscribe TERMS & CONDITIONS: Offer valid for UK Direct Debit subscriptions only. Free gift is available for the fi rst 200 subscribers only. Please allow up to 28 days for delivery of your gift, which will arrive under separate cover to your subscription. Subscriptions may be cancelled by providing 28 days’ notice. All savings are based on the basic cover price of £3.90.

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ESCAPE

FOOD & TRAVEL

A Place in the ( Winter) Sun Plan now for something to look forward to.

Edited by Daisy Finer

SPA SENSATION

1SIX SENSES ZIL PASYON, Seychelles

Oh, the glamour of arriving anywhere by helicopter – it might only be 15 minutes’ flying time between the Seychelles international airport to your destination island of Félicité, but what could be better than a first-look bird’s-eye view of this barefoot luxury jewel? Since it opened last year, the island resort of Six Senses Zil Pasyon (Passion Island) has been winning awards and making waves both as a holiday idyll and a beacon of conservation. The 30-villa resort, spa and residences has been sensitively integrated into a ten-year restoration of the island’s natural Seychelles habitat. The ecologists’ replanted vegetation will become food for endangered Seychelles birdlife, such as the Seychelles paradise flycatcher, magpie robin and white-eye.

The footprint covers around a third of Félicité, constructed by the British firm Studio RHE into the existing ancient rocks and giant boulders that give this speck in the Indian Ocean a unique natural architecture; the rest is wild nature, with rambles to secret glades and romantic picnic spots. The result? Even for the principled ecoluxe brand Six Senses this is a triumph – a relaxing, powder-sand private island with all the space and tranquility you could want, yet with everything to hand – two elegant restaurants, bar, kids’ club, landscaped infinity pool, lounge terrace, lawns, boutique,

library, adventure centre, plus beaches with secret hammocks and oversized lanterns wafting droplets of light from ancient branches.

Rates for a Seychelles private-island experience can run to thousands of pounds per night (think Will and Kate’s honeymoon on North Island), but Zil Pasyon delivers the best there is for much less, although food and drink are still ‘reassuringly expensive’.

Much should be made of the spa, arguably the finest in the Indian Ocean. Each of the five highly individual treatment villas has been hand-built into some of the world’s oldest rocks to create a sensational and curious indoor-outdoor temple to peace, harmony and wellness.

BOOK IT: Carrier offers seven nights from £7,235pp, including breakfast, return flights from London Heathrow with Emirates and helicopter transfers. carrier.co.uk

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ESCAPE

LE TOUESSROK, Mauritius 2SHANGRI-LA

Mauritius is the remedy for winter blues – especially after Shangri-La’ $48m overhaul – the sun is shining and the beaches are classic brochure. Hop on that flight (yes, it’s 12 hours but it’s direct) and leave behind London’s grimy streets. There are beaches everywhere you look, plus two islands reached by the hotel boat – one is just for guests, and the other one has an 18-hole golf course. Staff go zipping along the sand on Segways delivering fruit platters and drinks to beached guests. There are two pools – one is blissfully child-free – and a bells-and-whistles kids’ club. At dinner you see how this island is a melting pot of Asia, India, Africa and Europe – the five restaurants include Indian, Japanese, a couple of beach-front grills and an international buffet. You can get out and explore colonial plantations and national parks, but this Indian Ocean gem is really made for spoiling relaxation in picture-postcard surrounds. Between eating, beaching, water sports and trying that Mauritian coconut massage in the spa, you may find time just slips through your fingers.

BOOK IT: Susie Freeman Travel offers seven nights half board from £1,500pp, including flights and transfers. susiefreemantravel.com

ALLROUND STAR

ROCKS, Phuket, Thailand 3 KATA

There can be no better place for a sundowner and a sunset view than this chic white gleaming resort, perched on the southern tip of Phuket in Kata on the rocks (the name’s a bit of a giveaway). Only three years old, its sophisticated vibe – there are 34 sky lodges with one to four bedrooms, all coming with snazzy kitchens, living areas, private pools, everything controlled by iPad and your own ‘rock star’ (a naff name but basically a personal butler) – is most apparent come evening when a smart crowd arrives to drink lemongrass-infused cocktails by the infinity pool to a cool soundtrack before feasting on sizzling chilli tiger prawns or a killer Thai beef salad. And there’s nowhere more comforting to retreat to after an afternoon’s shopping in Patong (ten-minute vaginal lifts, tattoo parlours and the Tiger Night Club are non-essentials) than the award-winning spa with its sumptuous Ila product-based treatments.

The Thais can’t be faulted when it comes to massage – they’re just naturals and with all the superb stretching, strong hands and unctuous oils – you leave smelling like an oriental herb garden and feeling at least two inches taller.

BOOK IT: Ocean Front Sky Villas from £560 B&B. katarocks.com

SUNDOWNER SPECIAL

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FOOD & TRAVEL

SEASONS HUALALAI, Hawaii 4 FOUR

Yes, this is a big resort on Big Island, but what clever design. You’d never know that 125 low-rise rooms and over 50 slick villas and suites are hidden among the lush tropical gardens with that knockout Pacific Ocean backdrop. This was one of super-architect Bill Bensley’s first projects back in the day, and his landscaping has retained its magic. Each corner of the hotel is equally dramatic and, importantly, authentic, using relevant building materials and nodding generously to Hawaiian styling throughout.

Water babies have seven swimming pools to choose from. The most extraordinary spot for a dip though is the free-form King’s Pond, carved from the lunar-like black lava that runs down to the sand. Teeming with fish – 98 different species, including an eagle ray – it’s brilliant for snorkelling. Look up and out from one of the sunbeds that line its craggy edges and at certain times of the year you can spot whales and dolphins just off shore too. The watery theme continues in the spa with whirlpools, plunge pools, lap pools and a Waiea water garden, plus a tinkling stream running through it.

BOOK IT: Doubles from approx. £572, room only. fourseasons.com/hualalai

WATER PARADISE

VERSACE, 5 PALAZZO Dubai

DESIGN DIVA

Like a mirage, the neo-classical, Italianate splendour of the Palazzo Versace shimmers amid the dust and palm trees on the banks of the Dubai Creek. Destined to be part of a new ‘culture village’, which will include the Jameel Arts Centre, for now there is nothing to distract a visitor from the boldly coloured world that is trademark Versace. Medusas stare from the polished marble floors, design sketches modelled

by Kate Moss and Donatella Versace herself line the walls. From the ceiling hang chandeliers of Bohemian crystal, every piece of furniture and every fold of fabric has been created for the hotel by the House of Versace. Around 700,000 pebbles were imported from Italy; three million mosaics were painstakingly pieced together by designers Fantini. No expense has been spared.

The 215 suites are elegantly muted with oversized bathrooms clad in Carrara marble. But the triumph here is the spa. A first for Versace, the spa envelops, with soothing white birch wood walls trimmed with mother of pearl and fragrant candles. Treatments draw on caviar, 23 karat gold leaf and white silk until you are honed and toned, buffed and polished to model-like perfection.

BOOK IT: Doubles from £840 room only. palazzoversace.ae n

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FOOD & TRAVEL

NEWS

SHOOT TO BILL Between Monday and Wednesday lunch is on the house at Mac & Wild Devonshire Square for those with a keen eye and a steady hand. Diners have one chance to shoot the double clay target on their virtual shooting range in The Gun Room. Those that succeed have no bill to pay. The only catch is that the shooting takes place after lunch, so do you order a 36-year rare cask Tomatin with the venison chateaubriand or do you play it safe with tap water and a Scotch egg? macandwild.com

THIS MONTH SHOOTING PARTY SPOILS

POST-THEATRE FEAST

Let’s face it, pre-theatre menus might be good value but nobody is ever ready to eat three courses at 6pm. But that’s not to say that a night at the theatre need result in rumbly tummies. Kaspar’s at The Savoy has the right idea with a post-theatre menu. Last orders are at 11pm, so there’s no mad rush to finish up in time for curtains up. kaspars.co.uk

Gastro Gossip Give us a free lunch and nobody gets hurt 1 BUY Bang, bang! Breakfast is served.

William Evans Shotgun toast rack, £1,350. williamevans.com

GOLDEN CHILD

Every year in China, workers are given seven days off to commemorate the founding of the People’s Republic of China, enabling people to travel long distances to see their families. So it is only fitting that for Golden Week Street XO’s David Muñoz returns to his culinary family at Hakkasan, where he first learnt his trade. He’s best known for his off-the-wall presentation, so expect big things from his month-long menu. 22 Sept to 22 Oct. hakkasan.com

2 READ Sticky carpet seaside boozer turned acclaimed restaurant, The Sportsman, releases its first recipe book of Brit classics with flair.

Out 25 September, £29.95 (Phaidon)

PERFECT PAIRING

The amount of prep that goes into cocktails these days is comparable to that of most Michelin-starred kitchens – making syrups, distilling vodkas, instilling flavours, smoking ingredients... Master mixologist Tony Conigliaro ties the two together at his Untitled bar for one night every month, where his chef Rob Roy Cameron (ex El Bulli) will create a surprise tasting menu. £40. untitled-bar.com

3 EAT Smoked salmon is so passé. Charlie knows it’s all about trout – whether cold or hot smoked, or whipped into a pâté. charliestrout.co.uk

4 DRINK Demijohn’s fruit liqueurs, carried safely from car to loch to moor in its Cumbria-made Drinks Chest. £975. demijohn.co.uk

TASTE THE RAINBOW

London-based designer Solange Azagury-Partridge’s jewellery looks good enough to eat, but won’t be as tasty as the macaron box she has designed with Ladurée, a rainbow filled with eight macarons, including the ‘Solangette’, two chocolate shells sandwiched together with Corsican orange marmalade. Take for the host to ensure you are invited back again. Available from 5 September. £21. laduree.fr 110 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | September 2017

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E S T ENODOC E N O D O C H O HOTEL T E L THET H ST

Privately owned boutique hotel and spa in exquisite hideaway overlooking the Camel estuary Privately owned boutique hotel, spa and restaurant in exquisite hideaway in Rock. The beach is a stone’s throw from the hotel and a passenger ferry to Padstow.

overlooking the Camel Estuary, Rock. The beach is a stone’s throw from the hotel and a passenger ferry to Padstow harbour. Our restaurant is the who go above and beyond to ensure you leave feeling invigorated and pampered. perfect place to enjoy great food and service in a relaxed environment.

ForFor reservations thethelatest reservationsand and latestoffers offers 01208 863 863 394 394 info@enodoc-hotel.co.uk 01208 info@enodoc-hotel.co.uk www.enodoc-hotel.co.uk www.enodoc-hotel.co.uk

St Enodoc Spa Escape SUMMER OFFERS NOW AVAILABLE Visit www.enodoc-hotel.co.uk/offers for more details

Stockists BELSTAFF belstaff.com

HUNTER hunter.com

BOTTEGA VENETA bottegaveneta.com

JENNY PACKHAM jennypackham.com

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN christian louboutin.com

PRADA prada.com

DAKS daks.com DIOR dior.com DSQUARED2 dsquared2.com FILSON filson.com

TROY LONDON troylondon.com VALENTINO valentino.com WILLIAM & SON williamandson.com

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Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour samuel-heath.co.uk Made in England

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The Countess of Carnarvon at Highclere

THE WEEKEND A SHOOTING WEEKEND HIGHCLERE STYLE

Shoot to Thrill

The Countess of Carnarvon advises on cooking for a shooting weekend worthy of Downton Abbey

WHO TO INVITE

Highclere

It’s all about sharing the beauty and colours of the countryside, so I try to invite people who might not have seen Highclere at that time of year, balancing that with those whom I haven’t seen for a while. It’s supposed to be eight guns for the shoot on Saturday but I’m often chaotic and have nine, plus their partners and sometimes, depending on exeats, the children. I also invite my friends that live in London to join us for tea.

SATURDAY The guns set off early then the ladies will normally join for Elevenses. I turn back early to make sure that everything is set up for lunch, where I will serve something simple or light, like shepherd’s pie followed by poached pears with blackcurrant cassis. Everyone goes out shooting again after lunch, before they reconvene back at the house for a big dinner.

If you are inviting guests from abroad, give them plenty of notice so they can fit the weekend in with other travel plans. When I have friends coming from America, Austria or Belgium, I invite them six or seven months in advance. I always try to put people in a bedroom they haven’t stayed in before and always serve different food each time.

WHAT TO PACK FOR ELEVENSES

The Countess of Carnarvon takes horses to church for a harvest festival

SUNDAY We always finish with a harvest festival on the Sunday and sing lots of hymns. We try to see how many animals we can fit into the church: chickens, Shetland ponies, dogs, you name it. This year we will have the Bishop of Basingstoke coming to take the service.

PHOTOS: DAVID GRIFFEN

PLAN IN ADVANCE

Our chef Paul makes scrummy sausage rolls with sage and sometimes a little grated apple. If it’s hot you might want to make a cold soup. I like to serve a different flavour each time, following the seasons, so around this time of year I would suggest using mushrooms. Make sure there are always little snifters of sloe gin available.

FRIDAY I organise a weekend at the end of September and early October (partridge season) as an excuse to see my friends. On Friday night I hold an informal dinner, usually something easy like a delicious soup, so that guests travelling late from London won’t worry if they are stuck in traffic… The only problem is that we will be ahead on the cocktails!

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FOOD & TRAVEL

ENTERTAINING

RECIPE Laying the table

SATURDAY NIGHT

This should be fairly formal. When planning the menu, try to think about the kinds of food you have already served that weekend. For example, if you’ve served a spinach and nutmeg soup with lamb or guineafowl on the Friday night, select a nice piece of fish from your local fishmonger for the Saturday. If you have served a lot of heavy food, serve the fish simply with seasonal veg and skip the potatoes – you will all sleep a lot better for it.

SETTING THE SCENE

I must admit that Luis (our butler) always sets the table.

He does it the way that Colin set it before him, which he learnt from his predecessor, and so on. My job is the flowers, which I pick from the garden. Around this time of year, we grow a lot of blue flowers so the bees have a chance to make the last honey. If you are using plants with leaves that turn red in autumn, pick a spare bunch and keep them in a bucket in case they wilt at the table.

BEATER’S STEW

It is very easy to make this recipe your own as it is extremely adaptable. Any root vegetables can be added, we often simply use what the gardener has brought in that morning. Sometimes, if it is a particularly cold day, it’s a good idea to add two tablespoons of pearl barley before transferring the dish to the oven.

IF IT GOES WRONG

Who cares? It’s about spending time with people you love and having a laugh. As I get older, I become less of a perfectionist. I’m keen on store-cupboard cooking, so you could always throw together a risotto in 40 minutes with a splash of brandy and parmesan. One year the beef was really overcooked (this was well before chef Paul’s time), so we ordered takeaway.

PHOTOS: DAVID GRIFFEN

ENJOYING THE SPOILS

We send ours to a game dealer and they come back prepared. Partridge and pheasant meat are both very good. The meat is free range, low in fat and contains few, if any, antibiotics. I cook the birds upside down so the juices run into the breast to keep the meat moist and serve with red cabbage and some little carrots. You could serve the breasts with chestnuts and mushrooms, then pick off the remaining meat to make comforting stews and curries.

At Home At Highclere: Entertaining At The Real Downton Abbey by the Countess of Carnarvon (Preface), £30

INGREDIENTS SERVES FOUR » 1kg minced braised steak (or braising steak cut into cubes) » 2–4 tbsp olive oil » 3 small onions, quartered » 1 leek, sliced » 3 large carrots, chopped into chunks » 2 cloves of garlic, crushed » 1 heaped tbsp plain flour » 1 full tablespoon of redcurrant jelly » 1½ good quality organic beef stock cubes added to 700ml hot water » A few sprigs of fresh thyme and a sprig of rosemary » 2 bay leaves » Salt and pepper, to season

METHOD Preheat the oven to 150˚C. Season the steak with salt and pepper. Heat half the oil in a large oven-proof casserole dish over a high heat and fry the steak in small batches until brown. Transfer each batch of browned meat onto a plate and set aside.

Add the remaining oil and the onions and cook over a high heat for 3–4 minutes. They should be just browning at the edges. Turn the heat down and add the carrots and the garlic followed by the browned beef. Then add the flour and stir well so that it coats the vegetables and the meat. Gradually add the stock stirring as you go.

Once all the stock has been added, bring the stew up to a simmer, then add fresh thyme, rosemary, bay leaves and redcurrant jelly. Cover and place in the oven for 2½ hours at a low heat of 160˚C to 180 ˚C. Remove the dish from the oven and add the sliced leek. Put the dish back into the oven for the last 15 minutes of cooking. The meat will now be extremely tender and the lovely rich gravy will taste amazing.

Serve with fresh greens, such as pointed cabbage, and some comforting creamed potatoes.

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FOOD & TRAVEL

RECIPE

Q&A

Roll With It

Add a seasonal twist to this picnic classic, says Tom Kitchin

Grouse Sausage Rolls This is really a great and easy way to make sausage rolls even better by adding grouse to the filling. It’s important you buy good-quality sausage meat though. They are great with a red cabbage salad.

INGREDIENTS SERVES EIGHT » 200g young grouse breasts, skinned and finely chopped » 200g sausage meat » Vegetable oil » 30g wild mushrooms, such girolles, ceps or oysters, trimmed and wiped » 50g Parma ham, finely chopped » 2 tbsp finely chopped shallots » 2 tbsp finely chopped cooked chestnuts » 1 tbsp peeled and finely diced quince » 1 tsp thyme leaves » 400g puff pastry, thawed if frozen » Plain flour for dusting and rolling » 1 free-range egg yolk, beaten » Watercress sprigs, to serve (optional) » 1 green apple, to serve (optional) » Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

The rolls can be assembled up to one day before baking, but if you do that don’t brush the surface with the egg wash until just before they go in the oven.

Mix the grouse meat and sausage meat together in a bowl, then set aside. Heat a well-seasoned frying pan over a medium-high heat, then add a splash of oil. When it is hot, add the mushrooms with a pinch of salt and sauté until they are tender and have absorbed the liquid they give off. Tip them out of the pan and finely chop.

When they are cool, add to the bowl with the grouse meat.

Heat a little more oil in the same pan over a high heat. Add the Parma ham and sauté for one minute. Add the shallots, chestnuts, quince and thyme, and season. Sauté everything together, then set aside to cool.

Once the ingredients have cooled, add them to the meats and mix well by hand. Fry a small amount in a well-seasoned pan to taste and adjust the salt and pepper, if necessary.

Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured work surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 40 x 30cm rectangle, then transfer it to a floured baking sheet that will fit in your fridge.

Lightly flour your hands and shape the sausage meat mixture into a long, even roll, then place along one long side of the pastry, about 1cm from the edge. Brush the edges with egg, then gently lift the remaining pastry over the sausage roll and press the edges together, using the floured tines of a fork to seal. Transfer to the fridge for at least 20 minutes before baking.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200˚C fan and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper. Brush the long roll with the egg wash, then cut into eight equal portions and place them on the baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown. Serve hot or at room temperature.

TOM KITCHIN CHEF/PATRON OF THE KITCHIN IN EDINBURGH What is your food philosophy? I’m fanatical about seasonal produce and using the best that you can get your hands on.

What ingredient are you cooking this month? Wild duck – either mallard or teal, which is a really small wild duck. The meat is fantastic and really tender. I like to use it for a modern twist on duck à l’orange.

For those who have never cooked with game, where should they start? Start off by using pheasant and partridge instead of chicken.

Game gets a raw deal – it’s not just for the high and mighty of the country – anyone can cook it. It’s also really good for you. Venison, is so tender but has minimal fat.

What are the rules in your kitchen at home? Always eat well. For me that means that I always make a home-cooked meal when I’m off work and get the kids involved.

It’s important to me that they know which ingredients are in season.

Who would you most like to invite round for dinner? I would invite my wife as special dinners don’t happen very often. I also love my football – so I would invite some great Scottish players. I would make proper homecooked food for them like steak and kidney pie... ‘boys’ food’.

Where do you like to eat in Edinburgh? Roy Brett’s restaurant Ondine for the seafood platters.

What is your guilty food pleasure?

My wife is Swedish and she has a secret stash of salty liquorish sweets. I sometimes steal them.

What would you cook for a quick weeknight supper? A quick stir fry. Or a nice omelette with wild mushrooms.

Most memorable meal you’ve ever had? At Alain Ducasse à l’Hôtel de Paris. It was like being in a fairytale. It just didn’t feel real.

What I remember most vividly were the vegetables, black truffle and lamb.

TOM KITCHIN’S MEAT & GAME IS OUT NOW (ABSOLUTE PRESS, £26.00); PHOTOS © MARC MILLAR

Directions

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RESTAURANT REVIEWS

FOOD & TRAVEL

AHEAD OF THE GAME

Fork & Field

UNTRADITIONAL RESTAURANTS SERVING THE BEST MEAT OF THE SEASON

Birds of a feather don’t necessarily eat together, says Anastasia Bernhardt

TOWN

The Game Bird, SW1

COUNTRY

Crab and Lobster, Sidlesham, West Sussex

An eclectic mix of diners congregates at this 350-year-old inn; Goretex-clad birdwatchers who have come to Pagham Harbour, breeding ground for over 200 bird species, sit among well-heeled locals fuelling up after a day at nearby Goodwood. All are united, however, in search of the superb seafood caught by nearby Selsey fishermen, deftly dished up with inspiration from much further afield, like calamari with charred corn and kimchi (though their best dishes are the simplest; plaice with saffron potatoes, for example). Just two things to remember: if it’s warm, claim a table outside for views over the wetland nature reserve, and don’t forget to look at the blackboard, the specials really are that.

Dinner for two, around £80. crab-lobster.co.uk Martha Ortiz comes to London

Dinner in a five-star hotel restaurant in Mayfair sounds like it’s going to be a stuffy affair but The Stafford’s new establishment has all the character of its namesake, Nancy Wake, a resistance fighter who holed up in the American Bar during WWII. It’s a tongue-in-cheek reimagining of a gentleman’s club, where the staff sport hot pink ties feathered with grouse illustrations, the sauce for the wood pigeon is poured from a hip flask with a conspiratorial wink from the waiter and the kiev is presented with a black leather apron in case the truffle butter filling spurts into your lap. Flavours are boisterous and unabashed, much like the 380-year-old, 8,000-bottle strong cellar, which leans towards grand cru Burgundy wines. Bottoms up! Dinner for two, around £180. thestaffordlondon.com

DISHES OF THE MONTH… 1 Buccleuch Estate beef tartare at Simpson’s in the Strand, reopening after a three-month hiatus (simpsonsinthestrand.co.uk). 2 Crispy pork and amaranth tamal at Martha Ortiz’s first Mexican restaurant in London (ellacanta.com). 3 Jollof rice with smoked bone marrow at Ikoyi, where West African dishes are tuned for fine dining (ikoyilondon.com).

NEO BISTRO, W1 You might expect Anjou pigeon to come roasted with porcini, but Alex Harper, the former chef of Fulham’s Michelin-starred pub The Harwood Arms, has other ideas. At this new West End dining room it’s served classically with lentils and celeriac, but with the inspired addition of strawberries (green not red, of course). Finger-lickingly sacrilegious. neobistro.co.uk

ROTH BAR AND GRILL, SOMERSET If you fancy yourself a lone-ranger, try to catch the end of Rashid Johnson’s exhibition about outsiders at Hauser & Wirth (ends 10 September), the culmination of a two-month residency.

It’s also the perfect excuse to sample the Roth Bar & Grill’s loin of roe deer at lunch, served super light with cherry tomatoes, horseradish with peas, radicchio, capers and watercress. rothbarandgrill.co.uk

THE TEST KITCHEN, W1 How do you like your eggs? At his year-long pop-up Adam Simmonds makes pheasant eggs with kohlrabi, girolles and truffle. Cracking. Get in quick though, it might not be on the menu next week as the dishes constantly evolve in reaction to diners’ feedback. The final menu at the end of the pop-up will form the basis of his permanent site. thetestkitchen.uk

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ON THE MOVE PROPERTY

EDITED BY GRAHAM NORWOOD

HOUSE OF THE MONTH PICKHURST Chiddingfold, Surrey OFFERS IN EXCESS OF £28M How big is the estate? With 130 acres, it stretches as far as the eye can see – and then some. For your £28m you get the Victorian mansion, coach house, grade II listed entrance lodge, two further threebedroom cottages, eight stables, a machinery barn and garage...

Who built it? Scottish architect JM Brydon designed this property for himself, so he pulled out all the stops. It was completed in 1889 and now has grade II* listed status.

In what style has it been decorated?

The Royalton Group and Louise Bradley are behind the interiors, which use her signature muted colour palette to blend tradition with statement pieces.

Best room in the house? The master bedroom has an en-suite bathroom and an expansive ‘Bond Street’-style dressing room. The painted silk wallpaper and high tech features are the clinchers.

What is the garden like? The gardens look like they could belong to the RHS and are divided into three main walled areas, with formal gardens designed by Chelsea Flower Show award-winners, Arabella Lennox-Boyd and Fiona Lawrenson.

Does it have any sporting rights? The established shoot regularly has 250 bird days. Extensive improvements have been made to the land by the current owners and the agricultural land is all down to pasture, with good grazing for livestock.

Who would we need to hire? Not as many staff as you might think. The entrance lodge and gate cottages could easily accommodate an estate manager, gardeners/grounds staff and housekeeper.

Is there any further planning permission?

Yes, to build a mega, five-star hotel-worthy spa complex.

The current owner says… ‘It’s a house for every season; during the autumn and winter it’s both cosy and grand, while in spring and summer, the gardens look magnificent, so we always spend lots of time in the pool.’

020 7016 3780; savills.com

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One in a Million We don’t all want to live in identikit properties, London has some truly quirky ones on offer

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S

ceptics say there’s just too little innovation and individuality in our houses and apartments these days. Many are described as identikit executive homes or humdrum modern housing estates comprising endless numbers of little boxes. The reality, however, is quite different.

If you look through Rightmove or Zoopla it’s not hard to find genuine one-off homes – architect-designed new builds, conversions, terraces, crescents, whether dating from Victorian times or before, or right up to the present day. These are the latest of a growing trend of ‘great one-offs’ that make startling, original homes.

Look, for example, on the Unique Property Bulletin website and you can see what countryside and coastal locations can offer. This has, almost literally, an A to Z of distinctive homes created from air control towers, barns, castles, coastguard stations, distilleries, eco-lodges, fire stations, hotels, private islands, lighthouses, Martello towers, police stations, tree houses, underground bunkers, windmills and more.

Another niche website, Property.org.uk, has a must-see section called ‘odds and sods’, carrying property types unseen elsewhere.

At the time of writing, that includes a fire station in Lincoln remodelled to include five bedrooms, a classic Shaker kitchen and a roof garden; elsewhere on the same website there is a quartet

of converted Victorian church buildings now on sale in Yorkshire, one dating back to the 12th century.

But when it comes to London there tends to be a different, more upmarket and, typically, flamboyant type of unique property for the discerning, affluent purchaser. In the past year alone we’ve had the developer Landmass slot an uber-contemporary five-storey home into a small gap in a street of two-bedroom villas in Ladbroke Grove; there was that controversial candystriped townhouse painted red and white in Kensington; and in Walthamstow there was an apartment with a distinctly blue appearance... blue tiles on the walls, the floors and the ceilings – a sort of ‘wet room in every room’ interior décor.

But are there downsides to achieving the dream of owning a wholly unique home in the capital? When push comes to shove and buyers come to view a completely one-off property, are they actually going to play safe and opt for a boring alternative instead?

‘You should always have a nod to resale value. It’s good to be different but if you have a very contemporary property, you’ll restrict your ability to sell it quickly and restrict your marketplace,’ explains Guy Meacock, director of buying agency Prime Purchase.

Sara Ransom of Stacks Property Search, another buying agency, agrees. ‘London’s a black and white market with clear parameters

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ON THE MOVE

PROPERTY

of pounds per square foot for certain areas. Problems arise if vendors expect a premium for an unusual property,’ she says.

But if you get the right mix of unusual and rare, you are on to a winner. ‘Where a one-off offers something that is rarely available in a particular street or area – for example, lateral, open-plan space in a street of Victorian five-storey houses – buyers will generally overlook the disadvantages of personal quirkiness,’ Ransom adds.

So you may have to pay for your individuality in terms of having to work harder to sell your home – yet putting your own mark on a property’s design or decoration is increasingly common in the capital as these four examples show.

1 KENSINGTON

You may think it’s distinctive enough to have a period home effectively rebuilt to provide over 6,800 square feet of living space, plus state-of-the-art security which includes fingerprint recognition and a secure internal garage. Add to the mix a strikingly landscaped 75-foot garden. So far, so splendid – but there’s more. The icing on the cake is an impressive dance floor which converts into a family-sized swimming pool at the touch of a button – perfect if you want to make a splash on Strictly this autumn. £13.5m. hamptons.co.uk

2KNIGHTSBRIDGE 2

Empire House is already a landmark building – the former rubber company headquarters is well known thanks to being close to the Victoria and Albert Museum. But the buyer of the penthouse here will have a still more distinctive property. The five-bedroom apartment includes a circular reception room, a remarkable dome which offers far-reaching views down Brompton Road and a dramatic roof terrace. Not unique enough? Well, the interior can be rearranged to suit your demands – and the seller has secured listed building consent to allow the remodelling. £8.25m. jll.co.uk

3NOTTING HILL 3

A mews property is a rarity anyway – just a few score of them remain across all central London – but factor in an interior design

by Welsh architect Ross Lovegrove, who also happens to be the current owner, and you have something really special. Situated next door to what used to be David Hockney’s glass-walled studio back in the ’60s, the stand-out wow factor for this mews is the ultra-modern DNA-look helix staircase. It’s made of fibreglass and carbon, making it incredibly resistant and utterly unique.

‘It’s quite an edgy property with a really cool 1950s Modernist feel – a great example of mid-century architecture,’ says the selling agent. £9.25m. struttandparker.com

4 LIMEHOUSE

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You don’t have to spend millions to bag yourself a distinctive home – and here’s the proof. While the average price of a detached home in this part of London is a cool £967,500, here is a distinctive houseboat you can get for less than a quarter of that. It’s a 60-foot long keel barge with two bedrooms (the master is big enough for a king size bed and a built-in wardrobe), plus an open-plan kitchen, Japanese bath and shower, oak flooring, wood burner and central heating. Land-lubbers may not realise one other perk – it’s at one of the capital’s prime mooring spots, Limehouse Basin Marina. £235,000. fyfemcdade.com September 2017 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | 119

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ON THE MOVE

Not many people have heard of TrustMark, but it’s worth checking out when you’re looking for a reliable tradesman

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eed someone to service that boiler? Or an electrician to fit those garden lights? And don’t even begin to think about how to find someone to do the driveway. Getting the right people for the job used to be a risk: personal recommendations from family or friends couldn’t always be relied upon and scouring the Yellow Pages (or, worse still, postcards in local shop windows) could produce even more random results.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, no fewer than 87 per cent of homeowners questioned in a recent survey admitted to fearing unreliable or unqualified tradespeople – and almost two thirds said their biggest hurdle was being sure the person they hired could definitely do the job.

But now there are many websites that claim to address the problem including Rated People, My Job Quote, Check a Trade, Trust a Trader and Plentific – the latter backed by the Zoopla property search portal.

For most of these you simply go online, type your location and click on the skill required. Then an array of recommended traders – who

There are ways of checking that your tradespeople are reliable

have paid to be listed – will appear. Most then contact you, either online with an automated quote or via the telephone to obtain more details. You then select your chosen tradesperson and await the knock on the door.

However, while these websites are convenient and quick, consumer groups are concerned that there remains confusion about whether every recommendation is truly independent.

If tradespeople who pay to be listed sound less than ideal, you can try a further route – checking with trading standards to get a list of approved contractors.

For example, the government operates TrustMark, a not-for-profit scheme that allows online searches for traders – the TrustMark, although not well known to the wider public, is considered a kitemark and only lists ‘approved’ tradespeople.

The listed contractors’ technical skills will have been checked through independent on-site inspections, and the operators themselves will have signed up to a code of practice covering customer care, health and safety and trading processes.

TrustMark has now teamed up with the Chartered Institute of Trading Standards. ‘Local trading standards services do a huge amount to protect consumers and promote legitimate business. We hope by working with TrustMark we can add real value,’ says a spokesman.

Those two bodies have advice for anyone wanting to secure the best value and results from their selected craftspeople.

Firstly, ensure you provide a full written brief of the work to be done, and then follow that up by receiving a firm quote from the tradespeople.

Agree – in writing – on the timescale and if the work is high value, suggest an agreed fee if there is an over-run.

It’s all easier said than done, of course, and there has to be give and take on both sides. But with the UK’s home repair, maintenance and improvement sector now involving 150,000 firms and no less than £27bn of spending each year, there is a lot at stake.

And, it’s a lot better than the old days of hoping for the best...

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

Get the Job Done

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PROPERTY

A Place in Country or Town

PHOTOS: REX FEATURES; THINKSTOCK

Which will you choose?

COUNTRY

TOWN

JURASSIC COAST

YORK

WHY? There are 96 miles of coast stretching from Devon’s fishand-chippy Exmouth (now enjoying an upmarket makeover) to the beaches and nature reserves of Dorset’s Studland, via the likes of Lyme Regis and Lulworth Cove.

WHERE? You’re spoilt for choice. Chesil Beach is stunning, West Bay basks in its glory as the location for Broadchurch, and Weymouth has world-class sailing facilities created for the 2012 Olympics.

WHEN? Fossil-hunters (yes, seriously – the coast is 185 million years old, hence the name) can be found here year-round but for lovers of sailing, ice cream and traditional English bed and breakfast weekends, spring and summer are best. Sidmouth Folk Week, regarded as one of Europe’s best, is held each August.

Dorset Wildlife Trust runs fantastic family-friendly HOW MUCH? events throughout the A four-bed house with water sunny months and views at Beer in Devon, on the western edge of the Jurassic Dorset Seafood Festival Coast, sets you back £700,000. is a must each July.

Further east, a large home WHO? Downton at Studland would be £1m or more, partly because of Abbey creator its development potential.

Julian Fellowes Meanwhile, this period house lives close by, as near Lyme Regis combines views over the coast, garden, six does Doc Martin bedrooms and five bathrooms. star Martin £1.25m. knightfrank.com Clunes – but Julian Fellowes the absence of a motorway or fast train to London means this area is low on bling and high on privacy and a quiet lifestyle.

WHY? History, history, history: founded in 71AD and arguably the country’s most famous walled city, York is centred around the Shambles, one of England’s best-loved historic streets having been mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086.

WHERE? The Horseshoe is one of the most soughtafter residential addresses in York; it’s a sweeping tree-lined crescent dotted with widely spaced family houses of contrasting styles and sizes – mostly large.

Driffield Terrace in the centre has five-storey houses that are well located for the railway station, principal shopping streets and mostly independent schools Dame Judi WHEN? Anytime is a good time – there’s Dench a food festival in September, the Great Yorkshire Show is a July fixture, while the racecourse hosts everything from antique fairs to stamp shows (and the odd horse race, too).

WHO? Yorkshire-born HOW MUCH? Dame Judi Dench has Average York prices have actually an apartment here while dipped a modest 1.1 per cent in the past year, according to actor Mark Addy – King Zoopla. So now’s the time to grab Robert Baratheon in Game a bargain – like this five-bedroom of Thrones – is a regular visitor house in classic York stone. £965,000, carterjonas.com to his family’s York home.

Showing off at the Great Yorkshire Show

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STAR BUY

EQUESTRIAN ESTATE Not to be confused with the National Trust property in Sussex, this Standen House is just as impressive; a 16th-century manor with later Georgian additions. Aside from manicured formal gardens, the 40-acre estate is geared to life in the saddle, with tip top equestrian facilities that include a stable yard, outdoor manége and woodland with direct access to bridleways. Standen House, Chute Standen, Andover, Hampshire, offers in excess of £10m, Knight Frank, 020 7861 1078; Strutt & Parker, 020 7318 5190

This property boasts some serious stardust – it was once the home of the actor John Mills, and then Roger Hargreaves, who wrote his Mr Men books here. The house itself is equally inspirational, a sprawling timber-framed pile that dates back to the 16th century. The 203-acre grounds include a converted barn, two cottages, lodge, oast house, stabling and potential shooting grounds. You’ll need to hire help for this one. Sussex House Farm, Cowden, East Sussex, £5.5m, Knight Frank, 020 7861 1440; RH & RW Clutton, 01342 410122

Country Our pick of the best country houses on the market this month

COMMUTER BELT This home was made for families looking for more space outside of London, with five bedrooms, storybook good looks and a heated pool for dive-bombing into.

It has a pretty garden that, at just under an acre, is manageable enough for you to keep going without extra help, plus the train from nearby Witham station zooms into Liverpool Street in 42 minutes.

Church Road, Wickham Bishops, Witham, Essex, £1.35m, Beresfords, 01245 807265

BOURN IDENTITY

Bang-slap in the middle of the high street of picture-perfect Bourn (home to one of Britain’s oldest windmills), this characterful home is at the heart of village life. It has six bedrooms, ample family space and a convservatory that overlooks the garden, which has its own orchard, tennis court and summer house. The house used to belong to the Bourn Hall estate, which accounts for the side door that bears the words ‘Counting House’, as it was here that rents were collected. Willow House, High Street, Bourn, Cambridge, £1.295m, Savills, 01223 347261

DREAM WEEKENDER

When you dreamed of buying a bolthole in the Cotswolds, isn’t this exactly what you pictured? Cottage hewn in Cotswold stone; charming rural village location (but near enough Daylesford to pick up the Sunday roast); climbing roses on an acre of land; enough bedrooms (three to four) that you can have friends to stay but not so many that entertaining becomes a headache. And all for under a million. Where do we sign? Medlar Bank, Cold Aston, Gloucestershire, £975,000, Butler Sherborn, 01451 830731

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ON THE MOVE

HOT PROPERTY

RIVER VIEW

This five-bedroom townhouse comes with a country-style, 90ft south-facing garden, complete with tumbling roses. Inside, it has all the period features you would hope for, with feature fireplaces and original shutters on large windows. The master bedroom has the best view in the house, looking directly on to the River Thames.

Though it’s pretty roomy already, at 3,356 sq/ft, there is potential to add a rear ground floor extension. The Terrace SW13, £3.35m, Marsh & Parsons, 020 8563 8333

TOP BRASS TOWNHOUSE No expense has been spared on kitting out this six-bedroom semi-detached house, from the bespoke cabinetry fitted by Linely to the Sub-Zero and Wolf gadgets in the kitchen. In the basement, architectural glass has been used to great effect so that it feels as light and airy as the rest of the house, while back above ground, the open-plan living room is where you will spend most of your time. Westbridge Road, Battersea Park SW11, £5.995m, Savills, 020 3402 1900

Town Our pick of the best town houses on the market this month

GOOD PROSPECT

End of terrace houses in London are a rare find, so snap up this fine three-bed example in Wandsworth while you can.

As estate agents would say, this house has good ‘flow’ through the living areas but it’s the kitchen/dining room that is the real selling point, cleverly lit with skylights. Come summer, the bifold doors can be thrown open so that the secluded patio becomes an extra room in the house. Prospect Cottages SW18, John D Wood, £1.15m, 020 3151 5403

EASY LIVING

POETIC JUSTICE If you’re after something totally unique, this is the one for you. Be on your best behaviour though, as this apartment used to be a court house. Unusually for a twobed it has a massive kitchen/dining room, which has room for a ten-seater table and a sun-trap roof terrace with views across Shoreditch. If that hasn’t convinced you, the vaulted ceilings and doublestorey windows will – and failing that, there’s the location, just moments from Columbia Road flower market. Virginia Road E2, £2.45m, Foxtons, 020 7033 1414; Hamptons International, 020 3369 4371

Too exhausted to take on a refurb project? You could move straight in to this five-bedroom family home without lifting a finger. It has been recently refurbished in a very liveable neutral palette, with smart, shiny bathrooms, Shaker-style kitchen/dining room and low maintenance patio.

Getting into town from here is breeze, as Parsons Green station is just a few short strides from the doorstep, as are – more importantly – all the best brunch spots on the New King’s Road. Hestercombe Avenue SW6, £2.75m, Knight Frank, 020 7751 2400

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savills.co.uk

SUPERB LUTYENS-STYLE ARTS & CRAFTS FAMILY HOME EXMOOR, SOMERSET Spectacular elevated position on the edge of the Exmoor National Park  4 reception rooms  8 bedrooms  5 bathrooms  detached stable block with manège  beautiful parkland gardens and paddocks  about 13 acres  555.84 sq m (5,983 sq ft)

Knight Frank

Edward Clarkson edward.clarkson@knightfrank.com 01392 432111

Savills Exeter

Chris Clifford cclifford@savills.com 01392 455733

Offers over £1.5 million Freehold

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savills.co.uk

1 STUNNING FULLY MOATED LISTED ELIZABETHAN MANOR HOUSE bedingfield, suffolk 4 reception rooms ø 7 bedrooms ø 3 bathrooms ø entertaining barn ø studio complex ø triple bay cart lodge ø 16th century thatched barn ø outdoor plunge swimming pool ø extensive garden & machinery stores ø beautifully mature moated gardens ø about 5.3 acres

Savills Ipswich Mark Oliver moliver@savills.com

01473 234830

Guide £3 million Freehold

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savills.co.uk

1 IMMACULATE MODERN HOUSE OF APPROXIMATELY 12,700 SQ FT canford cliffs, poole 2 reception rooms ø kitchen/breakfast/family room ø study ø 5 bedroom suites ø indoor swimming pool ø hot tub, sauna, steam room ø gymnasium ø self-contained annexe with bedroom, sitting room, kitchenette and bathroom ø double integral garage ø private plot of about 0.75 acre ø prestigious location ø EPC=B

Savills Canford Cliffs Keith Fensom kfensom@savills.com

01202 031693

Guide £3.395 million Freehold

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savills.co.uk

1 ATTRACTIVE RECENTLY MODERNISED 1920'S BUILT FAMILY HOUSE branksome park, poole Prime residential location close to the coast ø 2 reception rooms ø orangery ø kitchen/dining room ø office ø laundry room ø 5 bedrooms (2 en suite) ø family bathroom ø double garage ø mature landscaped plot of about 0.75 acre ø summer house ø Branksome Chine beach 0.75 mile ø Poole Harbour 1 mile ø EPC=E

Savills Canford Cliffs Keith Fensom kfensom@savills.com

01202 031693

Guide £1.995 million Freehold

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Country & Town House 17.7.17.qxp_Layout 1 19/07/2017 21:51 Page 1

AN AIR OF ELEGANCE TO TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY

Sandbanks Beach, 9 minutes away

2A Balcombe Road I Branksome Park I Poole I BH13 6DY

A glimpse into the bold and beautiful future of high end contemporary living Balcombe Breeze is a stylish development of only six luxury apartments and a single penthouse located on Balcombe Road, within easy reach of the popular amenities at Westbourne.

The development is of an extremely high quality, offering exacting standards in residential accommodation within the very sought after Branksome Park. Opportunities to acquire new apartments of this calibre in this area are few and far between.

Balcombe Breeze has been created to reflect the quality of its location with striking architectural features and a low maintenance exterior, set in beautifully landscaped gardens within the original Victorian wall and tree lined boundaries.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR TO BOOK AN APPOINTMENT

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34 Haven Road, Canford Cliffs, Poole, BH13 7LP

16 Banks Road, Sandbanks, Poole, BH13 7QB

savills.co.uk

tmea.biz

01202 708888

01202 706006

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savills.co.uk

1 SPACIOUS APARTMENT WITH STUNNING SEA AND COASTAL VIEWS canford cliffs, poole Cliff top development with direct beach access ø 2 reception rooms ø 3 bedrooms (2 en suite) ø sun lounge ø sun patio ø double garage ø visitor's parking ø delightful grounds with lawn, mature tree and flower borders ø Canford Cliffs beach 50 metres ø Canford Cliffs shops 600 metres ø EPC=C

Savills Canford Cliffs Keith Fensom kfensom@savills.com

01202 031693

Guide £1.45 million Share of Freehold

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Queen’s Gate, South Kensington SW7 Three bedroom maisonette with outside space in prime South Kensington

KnightFrank.co.uk/southkensingon southkensington@knightfrank.com 020 3641 6173

A fantastic three bedroom duplex located on the top two floors of a white stucco fronted building close to the amenities of South Kensington, Gloucester Road and Knightsbridge. 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, reception room, kitchen, guest cloakroom, roof terrace. EPC: C. Approximately 152.4 sq m (1,640 sq ft) Share of freehold

Guide price: ÂŁ4,200,000

@CentralLondonKF KnightFrank.co.uk

KnightFrank.co.uk/southkensington

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College Road, Dulwich SE21 A wonderful four bedroom detached house on a prestigious road

KnightFrank.co.uk/dulwich dulwichvillage@knightfrank.com 020 3544 0534

This charming period home offers peace and privacy, being set back from the road behind a carriage driveway with off street parking for many cars. Master bedroom with en suite shower room, 3 further bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, guest WC, utility room, rear garden, generous off street parking and garage. EPC rating: E. Approximately 178 sq m (1,916 sq ft).

Freehold

Guide price: ÂŁ1,675,000

@KF_SELondon KnightFrank.co.uk

KnightFrank.co.uk/dulwich

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KNOWLE HILL PARK COUNTRY ESTATE

millgatehomes.co.uk External imagery of apartments and internal imagery of show apartment at Knowle Hill Park Country Estate indicative only. Travel times taken from tfl.gov.uk. Price correct at time of print.

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10 YEAR

INSURANCE BACKED NEW HOME WARRANTY

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SHANLYHOMES.COM

26/07/2017 11:11

Part of the Chestertons Group

Market Lavington Wiltshire Guide Price: ÂŁ1,750,000

A superb and gracious country house with 6 bedrooms, extensive cellar, orangery with gymnasium, swimming pool, stables, garages, workshops and a detached one bedroom cottage.

Gardens, grounds and paddocks circa 6.3 acres. Perfect for the Wiltshire schools. EPC: E.

Marlborough 01672 519 222 marlborough@humberts.com

London Country House Department 020 7594 4746 countrydepartment@humberts.com

23

68

offices across the country

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Country House Department

7

London and International offices as part of the Chestertons Group

Available 7 days a week

19/07/2017 13:30 19/07/2017 17:03

Winterborne Houghton Dorset Guide Price: ÂŁ1,800,000

A glorious former Rectory set in an elevated position with stunning views all within private grounds extending to 3.1 acres and outbuildings.

Blandford 01258 452 343 blandford@humberts.com

London Country House Department 020 7594 4746 countrydepartment@humberts.com

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A modern apartment available.

High Barnet.

Matching people and property in London for over 160 years.

www.marshandparsons.co.uk

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Pembridge Villas, W11 £2,000,000 A stunning and rarely available two-bedroom, first floor apartment on one of Notting Hill’s premier roads. EPC=D

• Two bedrooms • Two reception rooms • One bathroom • Period terrace Notting Hill Sales: 020 8033 9029 sales.not@marshandparsons.co.uk

www.marshandparsons.co.uk

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East Sussex, Bexhill-on-Sea

Guide Price ÂŁ1,950,000

A substantial villa in an exceptional coastal position with spectacular panoramic sea views Bexhill-on-Sea town centre: 1 mile | Hastings: 7 miles | Battle: 10 miles | Eastbourne: 12 miles Hall | Drawing room | Dining room | Large sitting room/garden room | Study | Kitchen/breakfast room | Semi-circular galleried landing Principal suite with bedroom, dressing room and balcony | 4 Further bedrooms | 3 Bathrooms | Integral double garage Extensive parking | Attractively landscaped garden | Sheltered walled courtyard | EPC: D About 0.3 acre Tim Page Ratcliff Lewes Office | 01273 475 411

/struttandparker

@struttandparker

Freddie Dryden Lewes Office | 01273 475 411

struttandparker.com

60 Offices across England and Scotland, including prime Central London.

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Fryerning Hatch Essex• Brentwood Kelvedon Guide Price Guide Price £3,850,000 £1,595,000 A beautiful striking five double bedroom, four reception Grade II A period family residence believed to have listedconstructed period property date 500 been in thethought Georgiantoera, setback within anyears.

This charming residence is originally thought to beare 3 established, private plot of circa 1.5 acres (stls). There now kitchen/breakfast providing a fantastic flow ofground interesting ficottages, ve receptions, room, two floor and extensive living over twoisfloors.

The cloakrooms andfamily a good sizespace laundry.

There an ensuite 7.5the acre plot bedroom comprises formal mixed to master with bothgrounds the family bathroom sympathetically withroom paddocks (benefitting from a and separate shower serving the remaining four. second separate access), ponds androom, a substantial Detached former stable block, garden double lake.

Numerous outbuildings, tennis court,and double garage, stunning landscaped grounds grassgarage tennis and detached court.

EPC E. one bedroom annexe. Equestrian potential. EPC Exempt

Country & Village Office 01245 397475 Country & Village Office 01245 397475

Fryerning Essex • Dunmow Great Easton Guide Price Guide Price £3,850,000 £1,495,000 A beautiful striking five double bedroom, fourto reception II A period farmhouse thought date backGrade to 1870, listed period property thought to of date back 500 years. set in beautiful established grounds approximately 1.7 acres This charming residence is originally thought toand be the 3 (stls).

All of the principle rooms to the ground floor cottages, now a fantastic flowlovely of interesting six bedrooms toproviding the first floor benefit from aspects of andsurrounding extensive family living space floors.which The the gardens and/or theover opentwo farmland 7.5 acrethis plotcharming comprises formal groundsitself mixed protects plot.

The property has been sympathetically with paddocks (benefitting a extended and improved sympathetically by thefrom present secondand separate access), ponds and living a substantial lake. owners provides generous modern space. The Numerous outbuildings, court, double garage property also benefits fromtennis separate annexe accommodation, and detached oneseparate bedroom annexe.

Equestrian double garage and offi ce space.

EPC D. potential. EPC Exempt

Country & Village Office 01245 397475 Be part of our success 2017397475 Country & Village Office in 01245

Sales • Lettings • Mortgages Beresfords.indd 1

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01223 214214

cheffins.co.uk

UNRIVALLED COVERAGE AROUND CAMBRIDGE

Chesterton Road, Cambridge

ÂŁ1,350,000

A handsome and imposing bay fronted Victorian townhouse with well-proportioned and elegant accommodation arranged over 4 floors, boasting a number of fine architectural features typical of this period including tall ceilings and open fireplaces. This fine home also benefits from its own well stocked and enclosed gardens and a pair of garages and driveway to the rear just off Hamilton Road within the ever popular De Freville district of the city and so well placed for the new mainline station in Chesterton.

Accommodation comprising: Basement level kitchen, dining room and w/c. Ground floor entrance hall, drawing room, living room and sitting room. First floor landing, 3 bedrooms, bathroom and w/c. Second floor landing, 2 further bedrooms and bathroom. EER: D

South Green Road, Cambridge

ÂŁ975,000

A rare opportunity to purchase this well-proportioned and extended bay fronted Victorian mid-terrace located in one of the finest locations within this sought after Newnham village district of the city with views to the front over the colleges sport fields. The property offers scope for sympathetic improvement and benefits from its own enclosed gardens.

Accommodation comprising: Entrance hall, cloak/shower room, living room and kitchen/dining room. First floor landing, 3 bedrooms and bathroom. EER: TBC

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CAMBRIDGE ELY HAVERHILL NEWMARKET SAFFRON WALDEN LONDON

Fendon Road, Cambridge

£1,000,000

An imposing and substantial detached house originally constructed in the 1930’s and occupying a prominent position in a most desirable south city location so conveniently placed for access to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, railway station and major routes together with a delightful generous mature plot, courtyard style parking area and detached garage with workshop.

Accommodation comprising: Entrance hall, sitting room, study/family room, dining room, kitchen and w/c. First floor landing, 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. EER: F

Chesterton Road, Cambridge

£1,100,000

A well-proportioned bay fronted Victorian residence in a most attractive setting towards the Castle Hill end of Chesterton Road with views over Jesus Green and the River Cam, incorporating a wealth of original period features together with the opportunity for sympathetic improvement and updating. A separate one bedroom detached property with garage is also available at a guide price of £350,000.

Accommodation comprising: Basement sitting room and store room. Ground floor entrance hall, living room, dining room, kitchen/breakfast room, w/c and shower room. First floor landing, 4 bedrooms, shower room and ensuite. EER: E

Passionate about property since 1825

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cheffins.co.uk

24/07/2017 11:58

01799 523656

Ashdon, Essex – Saffron Walden 5 miles

cheffins.co.uk

£1,795,000

New House Farm is a magnificent recently constructed detached country house in an idyllic and tranquil setting within a rural lane enjoying panoramic views over the surrounding countryside and paddocks. The exceptional specification includes solid engineered oak flooring with under floor heating throughout, bespoke kitchen including a 5 oven Total Control Electric Aga. The versatile and well-proportioned accommodation is set over three floors with the entrance hall opening to an impressive kitchen/breakfast room and stylish sitting/dining room leading to a study. The first and second floors offer six double bedrooms, four of which have ensuites, 2 family bathrooms plus home gym. Double cart lodge, carriage driveway and landscaped gardens of about 2 acres. Further paddocks may be available by separate negotiation. EER: C

Saffron Walden, Essex

£1,150,000

An iconic Grade II Listed stone-fronted semi-detached villa dating back to 1890 in a most desirable residential area. The property retains a number of original period features and is maintained to a high standard throughout. Furthermore, the property benefits from a professionally landscaped garden and stunning views over the town.

Accommodation comprising: Basement hallway, kitchen/breakfast room, utility room, w/c and storage. Ground floor entrance hall, sitting room and dining room. First floor landing, 2 bedrooms, bathroom and w/c. Second floor landing, 3 bedrooms and shower room.

CAMBRIDGE ELY HAVERHILL NEWMARKET SAFFRON WALDEN LONDON

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hamptons.co.uk

Sloane Square, SW1X

£6,250,000 Leasehold

An exquisite three bedroom lateral apartment with stunning views from both the reception room and master suite over Cadogan Gardens. The flat has been tastefully refurbished to the highest of standards and benefits from a sizeable south facing roof terrace. Royal Court House is situated on the corner of Sloane Street and Cadogan Place. It is ideally placed for the plethora of international shops and restaurants in both Knightsbridge and Chelsea, with Sloane Square moments away. EPC: C

• • • • • •

3 bedrooms 3 bathrooms Double reception room Terrace Porter/lift Approximately 1,758 sq. ft.

Hamptons Sloane Square 020 7205 5447 | sloanesquare@hamptons-int.com

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WIN ÂŁ1,000 to spend with Farrow & Ball,* helping you transform your new home.

Looking to move this summer?

Book and receive a complimentary property valuation with Hamptons International within the months of July and August for your chance to win a Farrow & Ball makeover for your next home.

Our lucky winner will receive a free in-home colour consultancy along with ÂŁ1,000 to spend on Farrow & Ball paint and wallpaper.

To enter, request your sales or lettings property valuation today.

020 3620 2238 | hamptons.co.uk

*Terms and conditions apply. See hamptons.co.uk for details

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