Country & Town House - July/August 2020

LIVING A BALANCED LIFE

JULY/AUGUST 2020 £3.90

RITE OF PASSAGE

I’M A CELEBRITY

Plan your next trip with purpose

Lynn Barber’s interview secrets

BRIGHT BLUE

Will Shaun Bailey be London’s next mayor?

CULTURAL REVOLUTION Where do the arts go next? asks Ed Vaizey

SUMMER OF LOVE

How we all learned to love more in lockdown Cover-V9 AW.indd 2

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JEWELS THAT TELL TIME

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

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© 2019 Harry Winston SA. HARRY WINSTON EMERALD

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A FA M I LY S T O R Y

A MBER AND YASMIN LE BON WE AR THE ´BE BOODLES` COLLEC TION

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Portugieser Yacht Club. Ref. 3907: Sheets trimmed tight, your hands firmly on the wheel: the bow turns slowly through the wind, and the boat begins to pick up speed. For more than 80 years, the IWC Portugieser has been the watch of choice for ambitious individualists, who continuously look ahead and have clearly defined goals. Developed in the late 1930s and based on a hunter pocket watch movement, its clean, functional design took its inspiration from the deck watches used back then to calculate longitude. As a result, this timelessly modern watch combines the stylistic heritage of a pocket watch with the precision and readability of a nautical instrument. So, it’s R E G I S T E R TO E X T E N D YO U R I N T E R N AT I O N A L L I M IT E D WA R R A N T Y F R O M 2 TO 8 Y E A R S R E G I S T E R O N I WC .CO M/M Y I WC

small wonder that lucky owners of this watch are only too ready to take on the elements and confidently set sail for new horizons. Fully aware that beyond each of those horizons, they can be sure of discovering their next goal.

IWC . ENGINEERING DRE AMS . SINCE 1868 .

LO N D O N B O U TI Q U E · 138 N E W B O N D S T R E E T · W 1S 2TJ · +4 4 (0) 203 618 3900 · W W W. IWC .CO M

For more information contact info@iwc.com

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IWC PORTUGIESER. THE JOURNEY IS YOUR DESTINATION.

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GARDEN PARTY • 18ct Gold Diamond Choker Necklace

STORES NOW OPEN London 41 Cadogan Garden Harrods • Liberty • Harvey Nichols Hong Kong Mandarin Hotel IFC Mall

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annoushka.com @annoushkajewellery +44 7748 788641 Virtual Shopping Appointments Ask an in-store expert for advice through video, chat and photos in real time.

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CONTENTS J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 2 0

COLUMNS 18 22

THE GOOD LIFE Alice B-B discovers she loves country living, after all THE RURBANIST Sheherazade Goldsmith on dancing every day

UPFRONT 25 26 28 30 34 36 38 40 42 44 45 46 49

FLOWER POWER Feel-good sustainable summer style with Yolke THE EDIT Summer starts here.

Mariella Tandy’s sunshine picks SPIRIT OF SUMMER Bring the colours of the Med to your staycation JEWELLERY MAGPIE Ten pieces to invest in now MY STYLE Eugenie Niarchos goes for colour, cashmere and comfort LUCIA LOVES Community Clothing BODY LANGUAGE Supermodel legs are a few steps away, says Olivia Falcon BRIGHT YOUNG THING Nathalie Eleni talks beauty with actor Jennifer Kirby POWDER ROOM Beauty gadgets to boost your skin to the next level BODY & SOUL Feel the forage, says Camilla Hewitt SPA TREK Kate O’Brien learns how to unleash the joy inside WELL GROOMED Men’s style news TIME TRAP Simon de Burton picks the season’s best new watches

THE GUIDE 57 58 59 60 63 64 66 68 70

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FOOD OF LOVE Music for your ears EVENTS The dates for your summer diary, by Ellie Smith GREEN SHOOTS Dixie Egerickx shares her lessons from lockdown THE EXHIBITIONIST What next for the arts? asks Ed Vaizey ARTIST’S STUDIO Caiti Grove meets sculptor Helaine Blumenfeld GOOD READS Four novels offering a fresh perspective on WWII SEEDER’S DIGEST Blooms for butterflies. By Sarah Raven THE OLYMPIAN Sebastian Coe looks back over a lifetime supporting the Blues ROAD TEST Jeremy Taylor gets down and groovy with the new Mini Electric CONVERSATIONS AT SCARFES BAR Charlotte Metcalf meets Shaun Bailey, Conservative candidate for London Mayor

8 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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CONTENTS J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 2 0

FEATURES 74 82 84

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REMEMBER THIS? Travel makes memories you’ll treasure forever ELECTRIC ENCOUNTERS Lynn Barber on the interviews she’ll never forget LOVE IN A TIME OF CORONA Clover Stroud on learning to embrace family life in lockdown TYING THE KNOT Introducing our Little Black Book of Wedding Venues

INSIDER 97

ORIENT EXPRESS Chinoiserie goes contemporary 98 DESIGN NOTES Playful prints and cheeky vases. By Carole Annett 100 FRILL ME Catch the new design wave 101 GARDEN VARIETY Elevate your al fresco 102 AU NATUREL At home with florist Willow Crossley

FOOD & TRAVEL 105 TRIPS OF A LIFETIME Peter Hughes

on the calling that has shaped his life 108 ALL OUT ADVENTURE The finest

bucket-list trips. By Holly Rubenstein 110 PARADISE WITH PURPOSE Emma

Love explores Wa Ale in Myanmar ISLAND ISOLATION The very best of the Maldives 120 GASTRO GOSSIP Food news that’s good enough to eat 121 FLAVOUR FUSION Julie Jones’ goat’s cheese and fennel galette 122 COOKING UP A STORM Anastasia Bernhardt makes ceviche with a little Zoom help from Mexican chef Santiago Lastra 113

ON THE MOVE 125 PROPERTY OF THE MONTH

Cecil Beaton’s Wiltshire home 126 LET’S MOVE TO BRISTOL

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ON THE COVER Model wears dress by Stella McCartney and earrings by Annoushka. Flowers by Wildwood London. Photographer: Daniel Graham Hack; Fashion Director: Nicole Smallwood; Make-Up: Lan Nguyen using Chanel Les Beiges Summer of Glow and Chanel Hydra Beauty Camellia Repair mask; Hair: Choccy Sanchez at One Represents using Bleach London; Model: Felicity Peel at Titanium

Escape the urban rat race 129 FIVE OF THE BEST Country

cottage boltholes

REGULARS 12 14 124 144

EDITOR’S LETTER CONTRIBUTORS STOCKISTS LAST WORD

10 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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55 Jermyn Street, London, SW1Y 6LX

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24 New Cavendish Street, London, W1G 8TX

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24 Brook Street, London, W1K 5DG

www.johnsmedley.com

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EDITOR’S PICKS

84 SALUTE The end of lockdown with Oka’s pretty coloured glassware

EDITOR’S LETTER

S

o, how did you spend lockdown?

The first half of 2020 will become one of those indelible periods of time when a pandemic stopped us in our tracks, when birdsong rang in loud decibels, when pollution lifted, when butterflies sallied forth and multiplied. A lot of terrible stuff happened too, of course, but it was not all bad. I was not one of those, however, to tick off my long reading list of Virago novels. Nor did I watch one play on YouTube or listen to one album being dissected nightly on Tim Burgess’s Twitter feed. I did though examine what our magazine and brand stood for and delved deeply into our future to think about how and why we should thrive in this new era.

Our new strapline says it all really – a life in balance. Isn’t that what every single person fundamentally needs? A working life and a life at leisure; a life in the country (your wild self) and a city space (your cultured state); a balance of freedom and liberty, together with a need for responsibility and community. We have always sought to bring you the best of British in the most generous sense of the phrase – a sense of humour, decent values, innovation, wonderful

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74 culture, great design, incredible heritage, cutting-edge style, quirky businesses and brands presented in an READ accessible and contemporary way – and this seems more Pre-order Elena important than ever.

Ferrante’s The Lying During lockdown, while we couldn’t reach you in Life of Adults (out 1 Sept). If it’s anything print, we did launch our fantastic new podcast Lockdown like the Neapolitan Culture, hosted by Ed Vaizey and Charlotte Metcalf, which novels, you’ll be took listeners straight to the places they needed to go to hooked enjoy a vibrant cultural life from their sitting rooms. As we are now out of lockdown, we have rebranded it Break Out Culture – please listen, it’s fun, downright useful and available on all good podcast platforms. We also launched a daily Good News newsletter (now weekly), which brought hope and happy times in place of a news stream devoured by mounting deaths, government blunders WEAR and police shootings, and we’ve pledged Handmade in that 25 per cent of our content output raw cotton, these (on whatever stream) should be Caralarga earrings are a blast of dedicated to sustainability. summer As we rejoin the print world this July with a theme called ‘The Summer of Love’, I wanted to capture some of this sense of knowing now what’s important (when you can’t leave your house, you soon discover your values if you’ve at all forgotten them). We have Clover Stroud on the love of her BOOK family that’s pulled her through a devastating A UK weekend year of loss (p84); Lynn Barber on her devotion to away – we need the interview (Zoom just won’t cut it, p82); Ed Vaizey on to support our home-grown tourist the importance of culture and where it’s heading (p60); industry and Peter Hughes on a life in travel and the wisdom it brings (p105). And much, much more besides… I very @countryandtown much hope you, too, have /countryandtownhousemagazine /countryandtownhouse a summer of love.

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BRITISH LEATHER GOODS WWW.ETTINGER.CO.UK

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CONTRIBUTORS

CLOVER STROUD

What – or who – is the biggest love in your life? My husband and five kids: each one of them has my heart, completely and exclusively.

One thing we could (or should) all learn from the pandemic? There’s something liberating Learning to love family life in about cancelling all its craziness was Clover’s lockdown lesson, p84 everything from your diary and saying no.

Any new habits? It’s cured the insomnia that’s haunted me for the last decade and I now sleep like a teenager.

On your last night on earth, you’ll be… Outside, by a fire with my kids, looking up at the stars and heavens, excited by what I am going to find up there.

SEBASTIAN COE

What – or who – is the biggest love in your life? Family is my biggest love.

Families are life, the rest is mere detail.

One thing we could (or should) all learn from the pandemic?

Challenge the status quo. No organisation should be tin-eared for the potential to change how we work.

Seb shares his half century supporting the Blues, p68 Any new habits?

A beginner’s immersion in technology. While I recognise its advantages, I don’t want it to become my new master.

On your last night on earth, you will be… In the piano bar of The Carlyle hotel in New York. I’d go out a happy man.

PETER HUGHES

What – or who – is the biggest love in your life? Love.

My family – my wife and my daughters, of course – but the true answer is love.

One thing we could (or should) all learn from the pandemic?

Not to neglect all the care and kindness that we never knew surrounds us all.

Peter describes how his love of travel has shaped his life, p105 Any new habits?

The worst one would be putting things off; lockdown has been like living in phony eternity.

The best one is realising there are better ways to start the day than suffering the solipsism of the Today programme.

On your last night on earth, you’ll be… Hoping it’s not.

But cooking lamb shanks just in case.

LYNN BARBER

What – or who – is the biggest love in your life? My late husband, David Cardiff, and of course my daughters and grandchildren.

One thing we could (or should) all learn from the pandemic?

We have learned how much we owe to key workers and I hope in future Queen of the celebrity we will start to interview, Lynn recounts her most electric encounters, p82 pay them properly.

Any new habits?

My worst one is wearing the same clothes every day. The best one has to be long, gossipy phone calls with friends.

On your last night on earth, you’ll be… Sitting in the garden, drinking wine, hopefully with friends.

14 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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savoirbeds.com

London

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Paris

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LUCY CLELAND EDITOR

EDITOR-AT-LARGE ALICE B-B ASSOCIATE EDITOR CHARLOTTE METCALF MANAGING EDITOR AMY WAKEHAM SUB EDITOR BELINDA BAMBER FEATURES ASSISTANT & SUB EDITOR SOFIA TINDALL FASHION DIRECTOR NICOLE SMALLWOOD BEAUTY DIRECTOR NATHALIE ELENI FASHION EDITOR LUCY BOND LUXURY EDITOR LUCIA VAN DER POST INTERIORS EDITOR CAROLE ANNETT EXECUTIVE RETAIL EDITOR MARIELLA TANDY PROPERTY EDITOR ANNA TYZACK MOTORING EDITOR JEREMY TAYLOR ONLINE EDITOR REBECCA COX ONLINE WRITER ELLIE SMITH ONLINE ASSISTANT DANIELLA SAUNDERS ONLINE INTERN DINA NAGAPETYANTS CREATIVE & PRODUCTION DIRECTOR PARM BHAMRA PRODUCTION DESIGNER SAMUEL THOMAS ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR ELLIE RIX SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER PANDORA LEWIS DIGITAL MANAGER ADAM DEAN TECHNICAL MANAGER HANNAH JOHNSON TECHNICAL DIRECTOR MARK PEARSON DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL STRATEGY WIL HARRIS FINANCE DIRECTOR JILL NEWEY FINANCE CONTROLLER LAUREN HARTLEY PROPERTY & MARKETING ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR GEMMA COWLEY GROUP PUBLISHING DIRECTOR TIA GRAHAM MANAGING DIRECTOR JEREMY ISAAC CONTRIBUTING EDITORS STEPHEN BAYLEY, SIMON DE BURTON, FIONA DUNCAN, OLIVIA FALCON, DAISY FINER, LYDIA GARD, AVRIL GROOM, RICHARD HOPTON, EMMA LOVE, MARY LUSSIANA, ANNA PASTERNAK, CAROLINE PHILLIPS, HOLLY RUBENSTEIN, MARCUS SCRIVEN THE EDITOR EDITORIAL@COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK FASHION FASHION@COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK ADVERTISING ADVERTISING@COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK PROPERTY ADVERTISING PROPERTY@COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK ACCOUNTS ACCOUNTS@COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK SUBSCRIPTIONS SUBSCRIBE@COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK

COUNTRY & TOWN HOUSE is a monthly magazine distributed to AB homes in Barnes, Battersea, Bayswater, Belgravia, Brook Green, Chelsea, Chiswick, Clapham, Coombe, Fulham, Holland Park, Kensington, Knightsbridge, Marylebone, Mayfair, Notting Hill, Pimlico, South Kensington, Wandsworth and Wimbledon, as well as being available from leading country and London estate agents. It is also on sale at selected WHSmith, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s stores and independent newsagents nationwide. It has an estimated readership of 150,000. It is available on subscription in the UK for £29.99 per annum. To subscribe online, iPad, iPhone and android all for only £24.99 visit: exacteditions.com/read/ countrytownhouse. For subscription enquiries, please call 020 7384 9011 or email subscribe@countryandtownhouse.co.uk. It is published by Country & Town House Ltd, Studio 2, Chelsea Gate Studios, 115 Harwood Road, London SW6 4QL (tel: 020 7384 9011). Registered number 576850 England and Wales. Printed in the UK by William Gibbons and Sons Ltd, West Midlands. Paper supplied by Gerald Judd. Distribution by Letterbox.

Copyright © 2020 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.

Country & Town House is a member of CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England)

@countryandtown

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COLUMN I’LL NEVER FORGET the exact moment Charlotte Tilbury told me about her idea for a make-up and skincare brand. Firstly because it was a damn good idea: ‘I believe that if you give a woman the right make-up, she can conquer the world,’ she explained.

Secondly, we were walking round the fields of Oxfordshire after Sunday lunch and she was wearing wellies. And Tilbury doesn’t do flats – even on the beach in Ibiza. Seven years later, with the same steadfast dedication as her shoe fetish, the A-list’s favourite make-up artist with over 100 Vogue covers under her belt has given cack-handed folk like me idiotproof make-up looks.

It’s a game changer that’s resulted in a new partnership with Alice B-B embraces Puig and Tilbury’s a slower pace of life brand valued at a $1 billion. Charlotte, you’re an inspiration. And finally OUNTRY LIFE IS a revelation.

I’m a Londoner. Born and bred. I know how to wear eyeshadow.

THE UNEXPECTED JOYS But when I met Mr Love, 14 OF LOCKDOWN: 1 Discovering years ago, he was living in the country.

Lenny Leonard, Head of PT at Ten So I compromised; we’d mostly live Health & Fitness, via his Animal and work in London and have a little Flow classes on Instagram. I went cottage for weekend escapes. For me, into lockdown with an agony lower living in the country was out of the back. Fourteen one-to-one Zoom question. I thought I needed the cut sessions later and my back pain is a and thrust of London; restaurants, thing of the past. 2 I’m so grateful shops, fashion, ideas… the edge for my Lyma daily supplement. I’m of the metropolis. But that was convinced the ashwagandha (an pre-lockdown. Isolation has proved adaptogen used for centuries in me wrong. While the world has been India to reduce stress and encourage in Covid-19 freefall, we’ve stayed sane balance) and other ingredients mostly thanks to nature, entranced in these golden pills have got by the daily micro-changes of spring putting on a performance of a lifetime; me through isolation without a major meltdown. I’ve mentioned watching leaves unfurl, blossom it before but I’m writing about explode, a busy blackbird making her it again. It’s that good. 3 New nest beneath my bedroom window. style home entertainment…

And the macro-change: my perception my dad playing hairdresser of what’s important. Our little magic and touching up my mum’s cottage is the best decision we’ve ever roots using Josh Wood Colour made. Who knows what the future products. Mum’s thrilled. Dad’s holds, but right now what is crystal considering a career change... n clear is that a simple life is a good life.

THE GOOD LIFE

THIS MONTH I’LL BE

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Listening to A Bit of Optimism, the new podcast from Simon Sinek, the man behind the third most-watched TED talk ever. simonsinek.com

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Helping the Prince’s Trust’s Women Supporting Women initiative by buying Sarah Chapman’s limited-edition Glow Illuminating Elixir, £64. sarah chapman.com

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Reading nutritionist Eve Kalinik’s new book, Happy Gut, Happy Mind. evekalinik.com

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LU XU RY & N ECESSIT Y CLASSIC COOL Fast fashion is over. bellafreud.com

SUPER COLOUR Incredible products and online advice. joshwoodcolour.com TEE OF THE SUMMER Supporting the WHO. summerwill come.org

C

THE RIGHT MAKEUP Conquer the world. charlotte-tilbury.com

AIR MAIL CAFÉ Papers and a latte on Chiltern Street. airmail.news

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INTERVIEW

THE RURBANIST

Sheherazade Goldsmith on surfing, pasta pomodoro and dancing every day

A long, rambling walk as you often find the most beautiful deserted corners, teeming with nature and nothing else.

Woods are my favourite, particularly those with a stream or river. I used to live in Devon and have never found better walks than those that surround Dartmoor.

What always brings a smile to your face? My kids. I love who they’ve become, nobody makes me laugh like they do.

What would your therapist say about you? I don’t have one. Maybe that says it all.

Favourite independent designer? Phoebe Philo, as she brings her unique style to anything she does. For jewellery, it has to be the legendary Joel Arthur Rosenthal.

Instagram accounts you follow? @charliemackesy as his posts have been so poignant during lockdown.

The books you’d take to a desert island? I’d have to go with those that always have something new to offer, however many times you read them: Wuthering Heights, Crime and Punishment and William Sieghart’s The Poetry Pharmacy books – a brilliant curation of poems for every emotion.

Favourite flowers? Lily of the valley, I love the shyness of the tiny bell-like flowers, the subtlety of their heavenly scent and how the deep green leaves unfurl to reveal the beauty inside.

Your signature dish? Pasta pomodoro. My first boyfriend was Italian and we spent long hot summers in a small town outside Naples. His mother was a superb cook, who only ever used recipes passed down through generations. She taught me how to make a fresh pomodoro, one of the simplest recipes and therein lies its deliciousness.

Most valuable piece of advice you’ve received?

During one of my trips to India, I visited a palm reader.

In India they’re like GPs, every family has one, and at the end of the session he wrote up a prescription on formal headed notepad. Mine was to make sure to sing and dance for 20 minutes every day.

Who would write your epitaph and what would it say? My kids and they’d simply say that I was a mother.

loquetlondon.com n

Where did you spend lockdown, and with whom?

I spent lockdown in London. We moved most of our Loquet office to my house, so I’ve returned to preparing the orders which is something I haven’t done for years. It’s been a very creative exercise.

I dreamt of surfing. I love the sea, and surfing is something we enjoy as a family. I read somewhere that we all have a blue mind, a sense of general happiness and calm that’s triggered when we’re in or near the water.

What did you miss most? Dancing. The kitchen was a good substitute and my girls roped me into a few TikToks, but after a couple of rowdy routines you need your friends.

Favourite secret place in London? The woods by the top ponds in Richmond Park. Early evening is the best time to go, as it’s virtually empty and utterly magical.

What do you most like to do in the countryside?

FROM ABOVE: Loquet hexagonal locket, £1,600; charms from £30. loquetlondon.com; The Poetry Pharmacy, William Seighart (Penguin, £12.99); water triggers an innate sense of calm

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

Where did you dream of going during those months?

22 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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Laura

BY APPOINTMENT TO HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES MANUFACTURER AND SUPPLIER OF FOOTWEAR CROCKETT & JONES LIMITED, NORTHAMPTON

MADE IN ENGLAND | SINCE 1879

Our Horsebit Loafer made in England using the finest calf suede Featuring a chunky, lightweight rubber sole Women’s Collection

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Showrooms now open Call 0345 600 1950 or visit www.cphart.co.uk

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EDIT ED BY M A R I E L L A TA N DY

STYLE WELLBEING JEWELLERY PA RT I E S

UP FRONT

PHOTO: © YOLKE

FLOWER POWER Yolke is a treasure trove of daywear, loungewear, and tableware, all created in beautifully printed fabrics. Its sustainable ready-to-wear collection focuses on eco-friendly, plant-based fabrics that are locally sourced and produced in Europe, where it works with family-run factories.

Calamity dress, £195. yolke.co.uk

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UP FRONT

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EDIT

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EASY BREEZY

Look no further than Paper London for all of your dress dramas solved. Ideal for city life or country escapes, its dresses are true multi-tasking wardrobe heroes.

Ottie dress, £350. paperlondon.com

Ten steps to a stylish summer.

By Mariella Tandy

WEAR THE RAINBOW Lacoste’s collaboration with the artists’ collective FriendsWithYou is bound to brighten up the gloomiest of days. This soft fleece sweatshirt demands to be worn year-round. £180. lacoste.com

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PLEATS, PLEASE

Loeffler Randall’s signature pleats have been reimagined this season in its new Rayne clutch bag. Lightweight and roomy enough for summer essentials, the large bow is rather cheery, too. £220. loefflerrandall.com

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SCENT OF SUMMER

Acqua di Parma has joined forces with the exuberant and playful style of La DoubleJ, the brand founded by California-native and Italy-aficionado JJ Martin, to create a range of body products. The scents have been formulated to bring the Italian summer into your home.

Fig body scrub, £50. johnlewis.com

THE FINE PRINT Your shortcut to an Insta-ready tablescape. Shenouk specialises in hand block-printed fabrics for the home, all made by artisans in Jaipur. Choose from tablecloths and napkins in over 30 different designs. Rosemary tablecloth in poppy, from £65; Ling napkins, £25. shenouk.com 26 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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THREE OF THE BEST

DRY SKIN MASKS

LA PRAIRIE This Skin Caviar sleep mask offers the ultimate night-time indulgence. The potent formula is infused with caviar’s natural essential nutrients to hydrate and replenish as you sleep. Wake to reveal glowing skin. £310. harrods.com

SPLASH HAPPY

5 LIFE HORIZONTAL

Upgrade your lockdown lounging. Morpho and Luna uses the finest Italian silks in boyish silhouettes juxtaposed with feminine patterns. Bianca robe, £658. morphoandluna.com

NATURAL BEAUTY

NATURA BISSÉ The C+C Vitamin Soufflé mask from Natura Bissé repairs the damage caused by free radicals.

It improves the skin’s elasticity and stimulates collagen synthesis, leaving your skin supple and firm in just 15 minutes. £40. harrods.com

AURELIA This award-winning range is made from bio-organic ingredients with no sulphates or parabens. The overnight mask uses botanicals and probiotics to help soothe and repair skin. £58. aureliaskincare.com

Vilebrequin is known for its men’s trunks, but its women’s collection of separates, coverups and swimwear is your short cut to French Riviera glamour.

Swimsuit, £175. vilebrequin.com

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PRETTY IN PINK

Casa Raki’s collection of resortwear features environmentally conscious pieces crafted from recycled material.

I love its mix-andmatch linen trouser sets available in a rainbow of colours.

Luli top, £110; Natalia trousers, £220. casaraki.com

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Sustainable beauty brand Kjaer Weis now offers refillable, recyclable and biodegradable containers.

Red Edition cream eye shadow, £30. kjaerweis.com

FERTILE GROUND

Star acupuncturist Ross J Barr has channeled his expertise into a new range of natural supplements to support men and women trying to conceive, as well as to nourish expectant mothers from conception right through to the fourth trimester. £32. victoriahealth.com

TO THE BONE

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Snap up Tiffany & Co’s new specialedition designs of Elsa Peretti’s iconic Bone cuff, first created in the early 1970s.

Reimagined in vibrant red, blue and green hues, they mark the jeweller’s 50th anniversary at the brand. £450. tiffany.com

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UP FRONT S T Y L E

SPIRIT OF SUMMER

Sun-drenched style for your staycation. By Mariella Tandy DEMELLIER Santa Monica bag, £265

THEODORA WARRE Gold plated earrings with green amethysts and emeralds, £320

ESCVDO Tasselled blouse, £130

Issimo is the new one-stop online shop for the very best of Italy, from fashion and design to food and wine. It recently launched with a capsule collection of exclusive collaborations, including Carolina Bucci, For Restless Sleepers and Solid & Striped. issimoissimo.com

LOEWE Octopus keyring, £125

MOTHER Ankle grazer jeans, £272

PAPIER Postcards, from £2.75

GABRIEL FOR SACH Pareo sarong, £105

FINLAY Archer sunglasses in Sherbert Lemon, £120

FABRIZIO VITI Daisy raffia slides, £405

FRANÇOISE Top, £410; skirt, £718

MARINA RAPHAEL Riviera bag, £1,177

SEE STOCKISTS ON P124

MIMI PROBER Botanical-dyed dress, £960

28 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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CELEBRATING 25 YEARS AS THE HOME OF COUNTRY CLOTHING

PRINTED FAUX SUEDE JACKET & PREMIUM HANDMADE SPANISH SUEDE RIDING BOOTS Exclusive to The House of Bruar, our richly luxurious faux suede gives you the sophisticated sheen of premium suede in an exclusive combination of style and value. A lush floral print brings a splash of colour to this smart stand collar jacket, while our faux suede pull-ons are the perfect match for our real suede hand made Spanish riding boots.

These pieces showcase the sheer quality you’ll find throughout our up coming Autumn ranges.

PRINTED FAUX SUEDE JACKET TR30390 | £129.95 FAUX SUEDE STRETCH PULL-ONS TP11021 | £49.95 SUEDE RIDING BOOT TA04217 | £225

Experience the very best in contemporary country clothing. Visit our website today:

www.houseofbruar.com To preorder our new mail order catalogue please ring 01796 483 236

The House of Bruar by Blair Atholl, Perthshire, PH18 5TW

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UPFRONT J E W E L L E R Y

THE MAGPIE Mariella Tandy on the 10 pieces invest in now

Fine jewellery sales have been anything but static during lockdown. Meet the pieces worth adding to your portfolio...

1 THE PEARLS A symbol of wisdom, purity and serenity, investing in pearls is always a good idea. These Kiki McDonough earrings will last a lifetime and beyond. Pearl and pavé diamond earrings, £2,800. kiki.co.uk

2 THE LOCKET Annoushka’s irreverent lockets are a modern twist on the classic.

This sapphire and rose gold crab will be your lifetime companion.

Crab locket, £9,500. annoushka.com

3 THE CHOKER Nowadays, chokers are far from old-fashioned. Add a splash of colour to any outfit with this rainbow-hued style. Shay Dot Dash Rainbow diamond and gold choker, £9,485. matchesfashion.com

4 THE DIAMOND STUDS These earrings feature dazzling round-brilliant cut diamonds at their heart, as well as detachable diamond gilded petals. Boodles Maymay Rose diamond earrings, £17,500. boodles.com

5 THE DIAMOND BRACELET The past few years have seen the popularity of bracelets soar. This rose gold and diamond bangle was inspired by the myriad facets of a diamond. Laurence Graff signature pavé bangle, £9,600. graff.com

6 THE STACKING RINGS A fingerful of joy – with all the hard work done for you. These stacking rings from Spinelli Kilcollin features diamonds in shades of cognac, champagne and white. Vega CCW rings, £7,170. matchesfashion.com

7 THE GOLD MEDALLION This contemporary diamond and onyx medallion by Dior Joaillerie strikes the perfect balance of feminine and bold.

Rose des Vents necklace, £3,500. dior.com

8 THE GOLD BRACELET The Iconica bracelet is an ode to Pomellato’s signature soft, smooth and bold contours. Bracelet in 18-karat rose, yellow and rhodium-plated white gold, £18,000. pomellato.com

9 THE COCKTAIL RING A cocktail ring to get the conversation flowing. Rosa de la Cruz tourmaline and sapphire ring, £3,115. matchesfashion.com

10 THE COCKTAIL WATCH A marriage of fine gems and exquisite engineering, the petals part to reveal the dial inside.

G by Glenn Spiro Reveal watch, £POA. glennspiro.com

30 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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UPFRONT

Q & A

MY STYLE

Comfort and colour are key, says jewellery designer Eugenie Niarchos Wardrobe failsafes? My black lace dress from Dolce & Gabbana is a go-to when I don’t know what to wear. You can never go wrong with black.

WFH uniform? I’ve been wearing a lot of cashmere these days. My sweaters from the Elder Statesman have been very useful.

I pair them with tie dye T-shirts that I made myself during lockdown. For Zoom meetings I accessorise with lots of jewellery.

Style icon? There are many people who dress beautifully, but I think it’s important to be yourself and develop your own sense of style.

Power dressing? I love day dresses from Altuzarra – its designs are edgy and elegant at the same time. For the evening I like Dundas for its fun party outfits in funky prints and colours.

Everyday uniform? Comfort is a priority. In winter I wear loose cashmere sweater dresses and flat

combat boots from The Row. In summer I wear slip dresses from Venyx x Saloni, a Muzungu Sisters mochila bag, and sandals from Gianvito Rossi.

Finishing touches? Colourful Venyx jewellery. Right now I am wearing the Muzo emerald earrings. At night I wear the Teer or Oryx earrings.

Under the radar labels? Beau Souci is my favourite label right now. The quality is incredible, and I end up wearing my purchases all the time.

In the summer I like to wear Cult Gaia crochet dresses.

Break out party look? I bought a Christopher Kane chainmail the day before lockdown. Now it’s over I can make use of it this summer – especially as it’s my birthday this month!

Summer holiday essentials?

Tropic of C bikinis, Caravana pareos, dresses by Venyx x Saloni. venyxworld.com n

1 Venyx Oryx earrings, £10,800 2 Cult Gaia Karen dress, £295 3 Tropic of C Praia top, £64; bottom, £56 4 Altuzarra Milkweed dress, £566 5 Venyx Rainbow Teer earrings, £16,800 6 Christopher Kane Chainmail dress, £1,595 7 Les Tien Jersey, £365 8 Caravana Pareo, £188 9 Muzungu Sisters Rainbow Fique Mochila, £168 10 Gianvito Rossi Metallic sandals, £510

34 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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UP FRONT

LIFE’S LIT TLE LU XURIES

THROWING SHADE With so many summering at home, you would do well to invest in a parasol.

The East London Parasol Company was founded nearly five years ago by Lucy Ferguson, with frames and covers handmade by artisans in India and Bali, and available in two sizes. For this summer she’s chosen a charming William Morris print to add to the collection.

From £315. eastlondonparasols.com

L U X U R Y

LUCIA LOVES Lucia van der Post on the brand reviving British-made clothing

F

our years ago, Patrick Grant, director of Savile Row favourites E Tautz and Norton & Sons, was moved by the fact that there were many factories in Britain still capable of doing brilliant work, but going through very difficult times. These were factories that had once helped the industrial heart of Britain grow rich but had now fallen on hard times. And, not only were they vital for the jobs they offered, but they also mattered for the spirit of community they represented.

At the same time, Grant felt there was room for everyday, good-quality clothes to fill the gap between ubiquitous fast fashion and big-ticket designer numbers. And so Community Clothing came into being.

FROM TOP LEFT: Men’s parka, £179; striped T-shirts, £29; What Can We Do T-shirt, £27; shirt dress, £69; jeans, £79; Community Clothing employs an expert UK workforce

Grant now works with 28 factories across Britain, five of which are in the country’s most deprived areas.

It has so far created over 130,000 hours of work for local people.

In the world in which we live, though, the critical test is whether the clothing is desirable – and whether it sells.

Community Clothing offers well-cut and made wardrobe essentials: jeans, Breton sweaters, parkas, denim and cotton shirt dresses, plus much more.

It keeps costs down and quality high by producing its seasonless collections in factories’ off-peak seasons, ensuring year-round employment for workers. It also uses a localised supply chain to maximise efficiency and transparency, and only sells clothing from its website or from its small Blackburn shop (currently closed).

Covid-19 dependant, Grant’s future plans for the brand include starting a care club so customers can learn how to repair and alter clothes, and for the shop to become a focal point for the local community. After all, isn’t that what it’s all about? communityclothing.co.uk n

INDIAN SUMMER Dilli Grey sells beautiful clothing, homewares, throws and quilts, many of which are handmade in India.

Its limited-edition Mithai collection offers seriously pretty styles made from 100 per cent organic cotton. The pink Bianca dress (£139) is handblock printed in Jaipur and perfect hot weather wear.

There’s also cotton sleepwear, enchanting kantha throws, and cushions. dilligrey.com

A ROSE BY ANOTHER NAME I’ve discovered a new jeweller, Bea Bongiasca, whose work I love. She graduated with honours from Central Saint Martins in 2013, and now all her pieces are handmade in Italy. I particularly admire this grass-green enamel ring twisted and topped with a rose-gold and corundum rose. A fresh new talent. £395. net-a-porter.com

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Port Moccasin in Denim

Luxury summer clothing and footwear collection ONLINE AND IN-STORE NOW

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01/07/2020 12:50 11:55 07/07/2020

UP FRONT

MIND & M AT T E R

SLICK Anastasia Beverly Hills Lash Brag Volumising Mascara The Queen of the Hollywood brow works wonders boosting the drama of your lashes. £26. anastasia beverlyhills.com

R E V I E W

BODY LANGUAGE

I

t’s usually right about now my phone starts ringing off the hook and the questions start firing. ‘I’ve just seen my legs in the mirror – what the hell can I do for cellulite?’ shrieks one friend. ‘Is there such a thing as a non-surgical thigh lift?’ sniffs a mum of three.

‘Have they invented anything new to chisel tree trunk legs?’ whispers the woman who’s been home deskbound throughout lockdown.

The answer is there are new things out there, but nothing that’s really blown me away. Legs are super tricky to tweak – we all want to increase the thigh gap, smooth out cellulite and improve skin tone around the knees. But for those genuinely looking for headswivelling results, I recommend an old, tried and trusted friend: CelluFix by T-Shape at EF Medispa.

I want to start by saying T-Shape is not for everyone.

It hurts like hell, more so on the front of thighs than the back. It’s a teeth-jarring combination of being kneaded like human pizza dough with the suction force of one of the dementors from Harry Potter, so you need to be brave and determined.

T-Shape uses a combination of radiofrequency and infrared light to generate collagen, tighten and firm ageing skin and smooth out the dimpled texture of

cellulite. There is also a cold laser that targets stubborn fat on common trouble areas such as thighs and buttocks (it can be used on the stomach and arms very effectively, too). Lastly, it has the most ferocious vacuum aspiration that mechanically manipulates the fat tissue, to improve blood circulation and encourage lymphatic drainage to help eliminate toxins.

Each treatment lasts about an hour and, as with most tweakments, one is not enough. You need to invest in a course of about six spaced seven to 10 days apart as there can be bruising too – so dose up on Arnica.

The good news is it does seem to get more bearable the more you do it and, most importantly, you notice some pretty serious results. Jeans feel looser, bums are lifted and that dreaded cottage-cheese dimpling takes on a smoother, cream cheese texture.

I keep up the good work with an at-home massage by the nimble-fingered Ana Trida (anatridatherapist.co.uk), a Brazilian nurse and lymphatic massage specialist who helps keeps me looking trim and toned. Even if you’re headed to Saunton Sands rather than Santorini, this is guaranteed to put a spring in your step.

EF Medispa CelluFix by T-Shape, from £1,500. efmedispa.com n

RESET Kurami These curated meals focus on reducing inflammation and balancing calories with a fusion of ancient ingredients and modern superfoods.

From £39.50. kurami.co.uk

SNIFF Floral Street Arizona Bloom A sunny, sexy pick-me-up of a scent with coconut, black pepper and salted musk. From £24. floralstreet.com

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

Supermodel legs are just a few steps away, says Olivia Falcon

38 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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Stronger, together.

Discover the power of Dr Sebagh’s potent, award-winning skin care ritual. For an instant, radiance-restoring treatment, apply Deep Exfoliating Mask, which boosts cell turnover. Follow with a rehydrating, plumping and firming mix of Serum Repair and Rose de Vie Serum. For a brightening boost, mix a dose of the patented and highly concentrated Pure Vitamin C Powder Cream with your mask or serums.

Available in-store and at drsebagh.com

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UP FRONT

Q & A

BRIGHT YOUNG THING

Nathalie Eleni talks beauty with actor Jennifer Kirby What do you see in the mirror? That my right front tooth is chipped and I think, ‘should I finally get that fixed?’ And then I think, ‘no, I can’t be bothered’.

What do you love about your face now?

My nose! As a teenager I always wanted a tiny Keira Knightley one, but as I’ve grown older I’ve come to actually love it. My fellow actor friend Nia always describes people’s noses as beautiful if they’re quirky looking. That was the start of my changing relationship with my own hooter. It’s characterful, not tiny.

Beauty ritual? Up until about a year ago, there wasn’t one. I’d slap on a face mask every now and then and feel like I’d done the job.

Recently, I’ve started up a proper skincare routine, and it’s very therapeutic.

TEAM Make-up: nathalieeleni_beauty Photo: rvds Hair: callyborghair Earrings, Ivar

When do you feel most like yourself?

When I’m working. On a set or in rehearsals. I feel completely concentrated and fulfilled.

A beauty tip you swear by?

Whatever you do, take your make-up off before bed. I often haven’t because I’m lazy, and it doesn’t have positive results.

How do you relax after a long day on set? Sleep immediately.

I love sleep, and I’m very good at it.

Signature look? I don’t think I have one. I think I first realised I wanted to be an actor because I wanted to dress differently every day.

Desert island must-haves? Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour cream, hair oil and sun cream.

How has your idea of beauty changed?

I now really understand that beauty is in our differences and characterful features. I also think wrinkles are wonderful on a woman and should be celebrated, not prevented at all costs.

Hero product? Powder. As all the wonderful Call the Midwife make-up ladies can attest, I am the shiniest person on set. I use a Chanel compact in the day to feel fancy.

Follow Jennifer at furkirbs n

GET THE LOOK

A soft, feminine and effortless look perfect for long summer nights

1 2 3 4

For a healthy, shimmering glow and a pearlescent finish, apply RéVive Glow Elixir Hydrating Radiance oil. £100. panachecosmetics.com Create simple grey smoky eyes with Shiseido Essentialist eye palette in Kaigan Street Waters. £38. feelunique.com

Long and luscious lashes come easily with a coat of Westman Atelier Eye Love You mascara in Clean Black. £58. net-a-porter.com Sweep on the much-beloved Pillow Talk lipstick by Charlotte Tilbury, now available in three shades of nudes to suit all skin tones. £25. charlottetilbury.com

5

Swirl Guerlain Terracotta Brazilian Beach bronzer and blusher to your cheeks and the high points of your face for a summery, bronzed glow. £56. johnlewis.com

40 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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© Serge Anton

www.baobabcollection.com

by Baobab Collection On the beaches of Madagascar

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UPFRONT B E A U T Y

POWDER ROOM No salon? No problem.

Take your skin health into your own hands, says Nathalie Eleni

CRÈME DE LA CREAM The latest innovations for your bathroom cabinet

SMALL BUT MIGHTY

Noble Panacea was founded by Sir Fraser Stoddart, the 2016 Nobel Laureate for chemistry who discovered the Organic Molecular Vessels (OMVs) that make this skincare range so ground-breaking.

The OMVs can be programmed to deliver active ingredients with extreme precision to skin cells, at exactly the right moment. Noble Panacea’s Radiant Resilience moisturiser is enriched with probiotics, malachite and brown seaweed to create a protective shield against stress and free radicals, while boosting skin hydration and enhancing its overall health and radiance. £200. net-a-porter.com

GEEKING OUT

THE SPA PEEL Dr Levy Switzerland Radical3 Reboot Pro Peel. £89. cultbeauty.co.uk

Upgrade your skin with the latest generation of beauty gadgets

1

BEGLOW TIA MAS This uses microelectronic technology to tone and contour the face and smooth wrinkles, as well as removing dirt and grime from the skin. Simply massage over damp skin in circular motions, and adjust the pulsations according to the treatment desired. £279. selfridges.com

2

NUFACE MINI FACIAL TONER Target and tone facial muscles with microcurrents, long used in salons and spas for firming the skin. It’s easy to use, small and compact and will energise your facial muscles for a natural and noninvasive face lift. £132. currentbody.com

3

THE SKIN REJUVENATOR QMS Medicosmetics 3-Step Collagen System. £199. libertylondon.com

HOLLYWOOD SMOOTHER Thought dermaplaning could only be done in a salon? The Hollywood Smoother exfoliates away the top layer of dead, dull cells and peach fuzz, revealing smooth and radiant skin underneath.

It also means products can be absorbed more effectively. £49.95. hollywoodbrowzer.com

4

FOREO UFO 2 SMART MASK DEVICE A spa-level treatment in under two minutes.

Use with Foreo’s range of masks to benefit from sonic pulses, light therapy, and heating and cooling systems, all of which work to give you a professional facial at home. £249. foreo.com

5

CURRENTBODY SKIN LED LIGHT THERAPY MASK Loved by aestheticians and dermatologists alike, LED technology is powerful, yet pain free. Helping with everything from breakouts (blue light) to rejuvenation (red light) this mask is an easy device to slip into your skin regime. £349. currentbody.com

THE ANTI-AGEING TREATMENT Dr Sebagh Supreme Maintenance Youth Serum. £125. drsebagh.com

42 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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The whitewashed walls and innovative architecture of OMMA Santorini flows through the pristine grounds where guests can relax in their own private pool, by the main infinity pool to admire the serene views, or simply kick back in the spa.

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Save over £650 per couple Including flights, 5 beach resort, breakfast and private transfers Nestled between tropical Mayan forest and the pearlescent sands of the Riviera Maya, Viceroy is hidden away in a small village just outside Playa del Carmen. The seven mile stretch of white sand beach is ideal for sunbathing and snorkelling can be enjoyed straight from the shore. Relax in the pool whilst taking in the beautiful ocean views, retreat to the full service jungle spa or unwind in the privacy of your luxurious villa and cool off in your very own plunge pool.

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UPFRONT

4

W E L L N E S S

BODY & SOUL Feel the forage. By Camilla Hewitt

T

1

BREAD OF HEAVEN

Instagram sensation Blondie + Rye is serving up some of the best summer baking inspiration. Not only is this a beautifully brilliant way to use your foraged produce, it also provides an educational activity for your children that encourages them to try homegrown food. @blondieandrye

2

TAKE IT OUTSIDE

Nomadic is a dining experience without walls that creates feasts cooked over open fire in a woodland close to London. It also creates tablescapes using foraged items such as ferns, conifers and wild flowers. Take inspiration, and use your foraged foods to create an outdoor dining experience for your family. With so much of our lives spent indoors, if you can eat al fresco it can be beneficial for your health, with research showing it reduces heart rates, lowers stress hormones and eases muscle tension. experiencenomadic.com

3

Herbalist Rachel Landon of Wilder Botanics says: ‘A favourite herb to forage this summer is red clover. Try to gather the newly opened flowers on a dry day. Lay them flat and leave in a warm place away from direct sun.

When totally dry, transfer to a sealable container to enjoy as an infusion. The purplish, red flower has a long medicinal history, traditionally as a blood cleanser and detoxifier.

Today herbalists use it to cleanse the lymphatic system, treat chronic skin conditions and help alleviate menopausal symptoms.’ wilder botanics.com

PLANT POWER

Plants for the People by Erin Lovell Verinder (Thames & Hudson, £19.95) is a guide to using plants to restore vitality and wellbeing, with recipes for easy-to-make teas, tinctures, balms and baths. There are tips for addressing common ailments such as bloating, bad skin, lack of energy, coughs and colds, jangling nerves and many other modern-day complaints.

5

WE’RE JAMMIN’

With succulent British strawberries in season, try making Hemsley + Hemsley's strawberry chia jam. Simply blend 180g strawberries, 1 tbsp of honey, ½ tsp vanilla extract, then stir in 2½ tbsp of chia seeds and place in the fridge for an hour. The chia seeds absorb the fruit juices and thicken to a jammy consistency.

Not only that, they’re packed with antioxidants, full of omega-3 fatty acids, and are rich in fibre and protein. hemsleyandhemsley.com

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES; @BLONDIEANDRYE

here is something so fulfilling mentally and physically about fully immersing ourselves in nature.

Foraging for our favourite foods makes us appreciate how our bodies are connected to the seasons and the plants around us, which can also provide us with the nutrients we need for the season ahead.

LIFE IN CLOVER

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W E L L N E S S

SPA TREK

Kate O’Brien learns how to unleash the joy inside

M

y life has long been lived in overdrive and now, in my fifties, it’s impacting my sleep and health at large. I do try to be still, even for a few minutes, but my mind and body don’t really know any other way.

Having previously visited Preidlhof in the mountains of South Tyrol I had an inkling that this just might be the place to recalibrate (luckily, it’s opened its doors again after Covid closure). It overlooks the lush Vinschgau Valley, with orchards, olive trees and medicinal plants that are skilfully moulded into healing remedies and nourishing feasts.

I also knew that transformational coach Patrizia Bortolin and Italian spiritual shaman Stefano Battaglia, the healing duo long whispered about in wellness circles, had recently joined the Preidlhof team to curate bespoke transformational journeys. Along with an elite team of therapists, there are masseurs, naturopaths and yogis, all offering treatments to open our hearts and welcome in the joy.

After detailed sleep and body analyses, I am told that my yang (dominant, male, doing) and yin (recessive, female, being) energies are out of sync. I’m so busy doing the yang, there is little left to nourish my softer, more receptive yin. I started to imagine what I could do with this excess yang energy if it was steered in the right direction. ‘You can’t find it in books – you have to find it in your body,’ Martin Kirchler, Preidlhof’s Chinese medicine expert clarifies.

‘It’s about opening our hearts,’ explains Bortolin. ‘This is the key to living a happy, more joyful life.’ To this end, shiatsu expert Elisabeth Raich guided me through a gentle kokoro (heart opening) session. Holding my head in her hands she eased my clenched jaws, telling me to honour my heart and bring myself home.

Later that afternoon, Battaglia reaffirmed what others had said, that the real genius in life is the yin, and I need to nurture her by smiling more, laughing more and letting the beat move me. This I did over the following days in Preidlhof’s six floors of dedicated sauna and steam experiences, with evenings spent stargazing from the rooftop pool. Of course, there were facials, massages, outstanding Ayurvedic treatments and many other rituals of self-discovery too.

Preidlhof’s food is also superb and after early morning yoga and hiking through the olive groves a healthy hunger is worked up. Chef Stava’s omelettes didn’t disappoint, nor did the bread smothered with local butter and healing raw honey.

Opening our hearts and minds is very much the Preidlhof prescription, and the kindness and care shown here is rare. Although my sleep isn’t what it once was (yet), my yin is rising, slowly and organically.

BOOK IT: Preidlhof Transformational Journey Programme, from £1,649pp sharing inc. flights, transfers and treatments. 020 3372 6447; healingholidays.com n

OPEN YOUR HEART A journal – this is your time to transform DO Include time every day to be still in the numerous relaxation areas – they don’t come better READ Eva Sleeps by Francesca Melandri (Europa Editions, £11.99), a sweeping tale about family, truth and forgiveness set in this part of South Tyrol BRING HOME Some lightness and joy BRING

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UP FRONT T ROPICA L T RU N K S Evoking Rio in the 50s, Frescobol Carioca’s swimmers and shorts will bring suave style to your summer staycation. Beam swim shorts, £155; Shade sport shorts, £145. frescobolcarioca.com

SUNSHINE SCENT

This new fragrance conjures up endless Mediterranean summer days. It’s zingy with blood orange and Sicilian lemon notes, and spiced with pimento and patchouli. K by Dolce & Gabbana, from £49. johnlewis.com

M E N ’ S

S T Y L E

WELL GROOMED

SNEAK INTO SUMMER

Do the soft shoe shuffle in these low-top sneakers, designed in Sweden by CQP and finished in modish denim blue. Racquet sneakers, £270. c-qp.com

Tropical tints and eco-friendly essentials. By Matt Thomas

L OCK DOW N L OU NGI NG Don’t sacrifice style for comfort.

Relax in cool new loungewear in a choice of summery pastel hues. Relax robe, £150; boxer shorts, £35. hamilton andhare.com

SUMMER TIME BLUES

Blue is the colour, linen is the look. Snap up a cool cobalt shirt like this Favourbrook linen style.

Evering safari shirt, £350. favourbrook.com

DYEING FOR SUSTAINABILITY John Smedley has released a handdyed collection featuring seven plant-based colours across six essential styles. It’s also removing all nonessential plastics and using labelling made from recycled bottles. From £125. johnsmedley.com

COVER UP

PLÜMO Organic linen mask, £10. plumo.com

Stay safe, look cool in these protective masks

SUNSPEL Cotton face mask, £10. sunspel.com

NEWT Reversible mask made from recycled plastic bottles, £15. newtlondon.com

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The Bournbrook Travel Bag Collection.

Handcrafted alongside our prized best guns and rifles. westleyrichards.com/bournbrook

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LEATHER FOOTWEAR | ACCESSORIES | CLOTHING

FAIRFAXANDFAVOR.COM

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19/06/2020 10:46 16/06/2020 16:14

UP FRONT

TIME TRAP You may have felt you’ve lost time over these past few months, but these new beauties will help you get back on track, says Simon de Burton

THE BLAST FROM THE PAST When the American typeface designer Frederic W Goudy sagely observed that ‘the old fellows stole our best ideas,’ he could well have been talking about the watch biz – after all, few other industries are more enthusiastic about revived 45s.

One of the latest to re-hash an old favourite is Audemars Piguet, which has up-sized and improved the gorgeous Reference 1533 of the 1940s to create the 500-piece [Re]master01 edition, which is one of the most elegant chronographs of 2020.

Combining a flyback movement with a 40mm steel case featuring a bezel, crown and pushpieces made from pink gold, the watch gets a tasty champagne dial, blued steel hands and a calfskin strap for a vintage vibe. The odd 4/5 indication in red, by the way, harks back to the original watch and was said to have been added at the behest of soccer fan Jacques Louis Audemars so he knew when a match was approaching half-time. Back of the net, my son... £51,800. audemarspiguet.com

Audemars Piguet [Re]master01 chronograph

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IWC x Orlebar Brown Portugieser Chronograph

AVAST BEHIND – IT’S A NEW IWC

HIS ‘N’ HERS It’s said that the emerald cut was diamond doyen Harry Winston’s favourite way of presenting a stone – in honour of which the jeweller to the stars has named one of its latest watches.

The Emerald is described as a unisex model and features a 33.3mm by 39.3mm case that can be had in a choice of white or red gold, with a quartz or mechanical movement and with or without diamonds.

The versions with have a relatively restrained (for Harry Winston) 94 brilliants set into the case and lugs. From £11,800. harrywinston.com

Harry Winston Emerald

IWC’s maritime links date back to 1939 with the launch of its Portugieser, a 41.5mm watch that offered the accuracy of a marine chronometer. Then, in 1967, it unveiled its original Yacht Club that sought to compete with the Rolex Oyster as a water resistant model that straddled the line between ‘sport’ and ‘dress’. Nowadays, the Portugieser and Yacht Club names have been conjoined to represent a single family of watches – the latest of which is a special edition made in conjunction with British swimwear success story Orlebar Brown. The 44.6mm diameter, stainless steel chronograph gets a marine blue dial and red and white OB side fastener buckle on its blue rubber and textile strap. The two brands have also developed a nine-piece resortwear collection that’s due to be unveiled in July.

Price tbc. IWC.com

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UP FRONT TIME TO START PANDA-ING

Chanel’s ceramic-cased J12, created 20 years ago has come to be regarded as one of this century’s great horological successes, and Arnaud Chastaingt, Director of Chanel Watchmaking Creation Studio has continued its legacy. Over the years the unisex watch has been made available in numerous guises, all based on cases made from black or white ceramic – but now the two have become one with the arrival of the new Paradoxe model in which a quarter of one black case is fused with three quarters of a white one to create a two-tone look. POA. chanel.com Chopard Mille Miglia GTS Azzurro chronograph

Chanel J12 Paradoxe

GETTING THE BLUES?

The historic Mille Miglia old car rally usually passes through the most beautiful parts of Italy in May, but the coronavirus outbreak means this year’s event has been postponed until October. While we’re waiting, Chopard – which has sponsored the Mille Miglia since 1988 – has released the first of its 2020 Mille Miglia special editions in the form of two new models called GTS Azzurro.

As the name suggests, the Azzurro watches have rich blue dials, with one version being a steel and pink gold power reserve model that will be made in an edition of 500, and the other a steel chronograph, 750 examples of which will be available.

They cost £8,450 and £6,460 respectively. chopard.com

Rolex Air-King

GET SOME AIR Anyone with an eye on the world of Rolex will know that it’s nigh-on impossible to stroll into your nearest dealer and walk out with a brand new GMT-Master, Cosmograph Daytona or Submariner – for all these popular watches, especially steel-cased versions, there’s a lengthy waiting list. Those who fancy a touch of Rolex quality without following the crowd may, however, have more luck tracking-down one of the less hyped models – and the one we would go for is the decidedly jazzy Air-King which combines some nice vintage Rolex touches (such as 3,6,9 markings and the original 1950s Air-King logo) with a splash of yellow and green that lifts the look of the practical, all-black dial. We can’t promise that you’ll find one without a bit of effort but, if you do, you won’t be disappointed. £5,150. rolex.com

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UP FRONT PLEASE TAKE CONTROL

Jaeger-LeCoultre has extended its tested-to-the-max Master range with refreshed versions of the Chronometer, Calendar, Date and Geographic styles.

The latter is especially appealing, with its nicely balanced design incorporating date and power reserve displays together with a secondary timekeeping dial that’s linked to a world city disc operated from an extra crown at the 10 o’clock position.

Setting the disc to a required location automatically adjusts the hands on the secondary dial to show the correct time in the relevant zone. There’s also a small night and day indicator to help prevent waking your aunt in Australia with a mis-timed early hours phone call... £10,900. jaeger-lecoultre.com

Cartier Santos-Dumont XL

AND HE HAD WINGS

Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Geographic

It’s said that Cartier was the first to commercialise the wrist-worn timepiece after Brazilian pioneer aviator Alberto Santos Dumont complained to his friend Louis Cartier that he had to fumble in his waistcoat for a pocket watch whenever he wanted to check the time while wrestling with the controls of his aircraft. Cartier solved the problem in 1904 by presenting him with a ‘wrist watch’, and it went on public sale seven years later as the Santos. More than a century on and the Santos-Dumont prevails as a linchpin of Cartier’s watch range – and now there’s an all-new version called the SantosDumont XL that, as the name implies, measures a whopping 46.6mm by 33.9mm. But a slim profile and ergonomically curved back ensure it’s comfy to wear, while an all-steel entry model means the price doesn’t have to be sky high. £5,050 in steel; £13,400 in rose gold. cartier.com

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A £2M BARGAIN Last year, a one-off Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime fetched an eye-watering 31 million Swiss Francs at a charity auction, the most expensive timepiece ever sold – which makes the £2m price tag attached to this new version seem something of a bargain. The charity watch was the only GMC ever to have been made with a steel case, but this version – in white gold – is not going to be exactly common. With 20 complications displayed on two blue faces, the reversible watch offers five chiming modes, a second time zone, day and night indications, a full calendar, a leap-year indicator and lots of other functions you never knew you needed. At 47.7mm in diameter, it’s certainly not one for the limp of wrist... £2m. Price is approximate, calculated on exchange rate day of delivery. patek.com Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime

NOTHING AUC-WARD

Back in 2018, Piaget stole the show at Geneva’s SIHH exhibition by unveiling the world’s thinnest mechanical watch. At the time the Altiplano Ultimate Concept was just that, a concept only – but now it has entered production. Measuring a gossamer 2mm from top to bottom, the AUC features a case that forms part of the movement and a unique, integrated winding crown. Most of the already tiny components used in a standard watch had to be re-scaled, with wheels, for example, being reduced from a conventional 0.2mm thick to 0.12mm and the sapphire crystal, normally 1mm thick in a standard watch, being pared-down by 80 per cent to a scarcely believable 0.2mm. Talk about the full skinny.

POA. piaget.com

Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept

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NOW IS THE PERFECT TIME TO JOIN THE CLUB!

S T O K E PA R K

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ART CU LT U R E BOOKS PEOPLE

THE GUIDE

PHOTOS: © BELINDA LAWLEY

THE FOOD OF LOVE Tune in to the Philharmonia Orchestra’s new digital concert series The Philharmonia Sessions this summer, a programme of three world-class digital concerts broadcast on YouTube. It kicks off on 17 July with a performance from cellist Sheku KannehMason playing Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No 1. philharmonia.co.uk

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NOW YOU SEE IT

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Chatsworth’s world-famous garden (above) is welcoming visitors again, with more than 50,000 flowering perennials and trees to see alongside a new sculpture, Natural Course

by Laura Ellen Bacon (chatsworth.org). The National Trust has also reopened the grounds and parklands of some of its stately homes, including Ickworth House in Suffolk and Castle Ward in County Down (nationaltrust.org.uk).

E V E N T S

CULTURE TO CAPTURE The summer forecast: virtual, with a hint of outdoor activity

By Ellie Smith

Some galleries are reopening this month, like the Whitechapel Gallery (whitechapelgallery.org) and the Royal Academy of Arts (royalacademy. org.uk). But for those who’d rather stick with virtual, there’s plenty of digital content to explore. Learn about the significance of the kimono on a virtual tour of the V&A’s Kimono: Kyoto To Catwalk exhibition (vam. ac.uk), or check out Tracey Emin’s online show, I Thrive On Solitude, on the White Cube’s website (white cube.com).

DON’T MISS

AL FRESCO FLICKS

MUSIC TO OUR EARS

The BBC Proms will look a little different this year, but eight weeks of great music are still on the cards. Launching on 17 July, this season is set to include both reruns from previous years and new performances, some broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall (bbc.co.uk). If you prefer your music a little more electronic, then you’ll be happy to know mega-dance music festival Tomorrowland has moved online from 25-26 July, with eight virtual stages and an impressive online portal to catch your favourite DJs, like Afrojack (above) and Armin van Buuren (global.tomorrowland.com).

The drive-in cinema is making a comeback, with new launches from Tom Kerridge’s Pub in the Park (driveanddinetheatre. com) and Secret Cinema (secretcinema.org).

Independent film fan? BFI at Home is streaming thousands of films from its archive online, alongside interviews with cast and crew (bfi.org.uk).

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES; ©DURO OLOWU; ©JORDY VAN OVERMEIRE

The kimono has a rich social and sartorial history, from ancient Japan to this modern interpretation by Duro Olowu

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THE GUIDE

GREEN SHOOTS

Actor Dixie Egerickx shares her lessons from lockdown

be able to come and stay with us, and life will feel normal once more. The Secret Garden will also be released – its message of hope seems more relevant now than ever.

What have you been reading? I recently

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES; ©DURO OLOWU; ©JORDY VAN OVERMEIRE

I

t’s tempting to describe Dixie Egerickx as an up-andcoming actor, when the reality is she’s already arrived.

Dixie leads the latest cinematic revival of The Secret Garden, the beloved book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and has already appeared in several feature films, as well as on stage with the National Theatre Live in Young Marx; she’s also part of the star-studded cast for the new Game of Thrones prequel series. We’ll be seeing a lot more of Dixie on our screens in the years to come.

How was lockdown? I’ve spent the entirety of it at home with my family, which has not been without its challenges – for any of us! Thankfully we have all stayed well and healthy, and our enforced incarceration has allowed us to pause and reflect on what’s really important.

What have you learnt? One of the things that I have found hardest to deal with when it comes to acting is the uncertainty that comes with it, and how that affects everything else in my life. At my age that has always felt like a ‘me’ problem until now. The pandemic has taught me that nothing is ever really certain for anybody, I have so many reasons to be thankful and I should remember that.

What are you looking forward to? Spending time with my friends again – FaceTiming just isn’t the same! We also have a home by the sea in Wales that we haven’t been able to visit. Langland Bay will always be very special to me – full of happy memories of my brother and me playing endlessly in the rock pools and eating sand-coated chips. Hopefully friends will

finished The Island of Dr Moreau by HG Wells. It’s not my normal choice, but I found an old paperback in the bookcase at home and I have to say I found it really gripping. It’s so imaginatively written that I really got into it.

What have you been watching? I’ve actually been watching quite a lot of films, which isn’t always possible when life is more hectic. I re-watched Lady Bird because it’s one of my favourites – the whole cast is incredible and it makes me cry every time.

What have you been listening to? I love listening to music, and lately my playlist has consisted of bands like Wallows and Two Door Cinema Club, as well as artists like Frank Ocean and Declan McKenna.

What makes you smile every day? My two cats, Sven and Olaf. I’ve had them since I was little, and they make me smile every single day. They are Maine Coons and behave more like dogs than cats. They are huge, affectionate, fluffy and very noisy.

What would improve your life? Probably some serious action on climate change – if the adults could get their act together it would improve everyone’s lives.

Daily ritual? I play the piano, guitar and ukulele. When I finished The Secret Garden some of the lovely people involved bought me a small banjo and a mandolin. I don’t practise any of them enough, but a little every day keeps Dixie and her brother as the guilt at bay. children on the beach at The Secret Garden is Langland Bay, Wales in cinemas later this year n July/August 2020 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | 59

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The National’s One Man, Two Guvnors with James Corden and Suzie Toase

C U L T U R E

THE EXHIBITIONIST

T

– to enjoy magnificent productions. The knowledge the National has he arts are meant to bring people together. So a disease that accumulated doing this meant it could move very quickly. forces people apart has devastated them.

Announcing a partnership with YouTube, the National has If you wanted to design something that would hit the arts been streaming recordings of some of its great productions every like an Exocet missile, the coronavirus pandemic is it. In order to Thursday at 7pm, and then keeping them online for a week, until the stem the tide, countries have forced themselves into lockdown. next show. It has worked brilliantly. People comment online as the Social gatherings have become the most anti-social thing you can production is being streamed, so there is a shared do. That has meant no theatre, no museums, no audience experience. The ‘live’ shows attracted concerts. The arts scene has become a wasteland. audiences of around 250,000. But ten times that But – not quite. The arts are ingenious, and number watched during the full week. Cleverly, a visual medium. Thanks to the prevalence of the National raised money as well, soliciting technology, they’ve taken to the internet, allowing donations during the streaming. us to enjoy a semblance of normality while we I watched One Man, Two Guvnors, with James are confined to barracks. Theatres have been Corden, a show I had seen in the flesh when it was at broadcasting, museums have offered virtual the National. It was still great to see it again, and to tours, podcasts abound, orchestras have been pick up on things I had missed before. I also watched in full flow online.

Danny Boyle’s production of Frankenstein, starring One of the most high-profile organisations that Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch has led the charge has been our own National alternating in the role. It was a thrilling production.

Theatre. The National already has a track record I had always regretted missing it. And what I realised of beaming its own, and others’, productions into Benedict Cumberbatch as I watched is that, even viewed on an iPad, one still cinemas for live screenings. This long-standing and Johnny Lee Miller in got a sense of the extraordinary production values, practice has allowed tens of thousands of people who Frankenstein at the National the amazing set, the engagement of the audience in live outside London – or even the United Kingdom

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PHOTOS: ©GEORGE PIPER; ©NATIONAL THEATRE; ©VANGOGHALIVEFR; ©JOHN CHARLTON

Ed Vaizey spent years in government championing the arts.

As lockdown eases, he ponders their future, on and offline

THE GUIDE the theatre, and the wonderful acting. What a triumph this whole idea has been.

Museums find the online world more problematic. Paintings are static objects, to be contemplated as you stand before them.

It’s quite a dull prospect to view an exhibition online. This has forced museums to use their imagination. The Getty, the amazing collection housed in a replica Roman villa in Los Angeles by the US billionaire J Paul Getty, cleverly used social media to bring its collection alive and engage an audience who could no longer go through its doors. Based on an idea originally created by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the #gettymuseumchallenge took off. Using digital images of the Getty collection, people recreated Jeff Koons with a pile of socks, Renaissance paintings with strips of lasagne, and Bronze Age sculptures with a vacuum cleaner.

Working with Google, the museum also allows you to take photos and then have them ‘painted’ in the style of your favourite artist.

More prosaically, of course, museums have opened up their collections online. The British Museum made nearly 4.5 million objects available, including the world-famous Rosetta Stone. Many of the objects are curated in collections, so you don’t have to spend too long searching in the online attic for what you want.

My favourite online collection isn’t a collection at all. Artuk.org is a tiny charity that had the brilliant idea 15 years ago to photograph every oil painting and sculpture held in a local public collection – that means everything from small local museums to council offices and libraries.

PHOTOS: ©GEORGE PIPER; ©NATIONAL THEATRE; ©VANGOGHALIVEFR; ©JOHN CHARLTON

FROM TOP: The #gettymuseumchallenge saw people take part from all over the world, like @vangoghalivefr from France; Art UK lets you view and curate artworks from across the country, like this Portrait of ‘Pilu’, a Performing Dog by John Charlton (1910); BalletBoyz is just one of the companies that have gotten into the spirit of things

There are more than 250,000 works on the site.

Cleverly, it allows you to curate in all sorts of ways – by favourite artist, by genre, by subject matter (‘dogs’, ‘men with beards’) and, best of all, by location. I curated works from my old constituency in Wantage and discovered hidden gems galore.

Of course, all this is just a snapshot of what you can see online – operas from the Met in NYC and the Royal Opera House in London, ballet from BalletBoyz and Tamara Rojo’s English National Ballet, curated tours of the V&A and National Gallery, plays from the Old Vic and the Donmar, wonderful new podcasts, such as the Decameron, based on a 14th-century book of bawdy plague tales read by distinguished actors like Lindsay Duncan. Even the festival where Country & Town House and I first met, Hay-on-Wye, was rebranded Hay-on-Wifi and welcomed 200,000 visitors to listen to a roster of world famous authors.

The big question is what happens next. The lockdown has caused possibly irreparable damage to many fine institutions. With luck, museums can function even in an age of social distance, but can the same be said of theatres and opera houses? We shall see.

What I think is here to stay is a judicious mix of the live and the digital. What the last few months has taught us is that while the digital experience is different from live, it can still be fulfilling. Certainly, watching a play online is not a poor substitute, but a way of being part of the experience. And so many museums, stuck behind their formal, stiff Victorian façades, have discovered that social media can allow them to welcome new visitors, to engage and to be playful and informal with them. When curating an exhibition or producing a play, I hope that digital engagement will be a first thought, not an afterthought.

It turns out lockdown may have a silver lining.

Don’t miss Ed Vaizey and Charlotte Metcalf’s new podcast Break Out Culture – what to stream, read, listen to and search – on iTunes, Spotify and all good platforms now. n July/August 2020 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | 61

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What to watch, stream, listen to and – finally – visit each week

Launched in lockdown but now freed from its shackles, Break Out Culture is C&TH’s brand new podcast, hosted by Ed Vaizey and Charlotte Metcalf

AVAILABLE ON

@countryandtown

Break-Out-Culture-Adv ST.indd 1

/countryandtownhousemagazine

/countryandtownhouse

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

countryandtownhouse.co.uk

10/07/2020 12:31

THE GUIDE Like the artist herself, Blumenfeld’s sculptures defy boundaries

A R T I S T ’ S

S T U D I O

HELAINE BLUMENFELD Caiti Grove meets the influential abstract sculptor but dares not ask what she should feel about her work...

‘I

f anyone should have caught the virus, it should have been me.’

Helaine Blumenfeld was at Canary Wharf for the first two weeks of March positioning works made over decades in the outdoor space – bronze, wood, wafer-thin marbles that seem to waft in the breeze like fabric. ‘I was in very close proximity to a big group of people for a fortnight – when the lockdown came. I thought, “I’m next”.’

Fortunately, she didn’t catch it and self-isolated at home near Cambridge. ‘In the past, if anyone said to me, “what do you need?”

I would say “time”. For years I’ve been going back and forth to Italy.

I’m terribly worried [about Covid-19] but I have a lot of energy and feel very positive. I quite like this long period of little social engagement.’

Staying in one place is not usually part of this artist’s modus operandi. She is adaptable, flexible and as she says, pro-active.

In her early twenties, her new husband’s work took them to Paris.

She signed up for an art school where students paid by the week, the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. Every Friday her tutor would say, as he looked in despair at her abstracts, ‘Are you really coming back next week?’

But it was there that Russian sculptor Ossip Zadkine spotted Blumenfeld’s work and demanded the artist visit his salon that Sunday.

Only 20 years old with limited French, it was a hesitant Blumenfeld who knocked at his studio door. It opened to reveal a roomful of men – even his own wife, a famous painter in her own right, wasn’t invited. ‘What are you doing here?’ Zadkine snapped.

‘I could see no one had told him I was not a man,’ explains Blumenfeld. But after that she went every day to work alongside him

in his studio. ‘I gradually understood that if I wanted to go ahead with this, I had to accept that it’s as vital as breathing.’

By 1985 Blumenfeld was sharing an exhibition with Henry Moore in New York. A journalist from the New York Times approached her, ‘What am I supposed to feel?’ he asked. ‘You’re not supposed to feel anything in particular – everyone reacts differently,’ she replied. ‘It gives to you as much as you’re willing to give yourself.’ ‘Well I don’t,’ he retorted, ‘I don’t feel it, whatever “it” is.’ Helaine called over the doorman to speak to the journalist. He didn’t speak much English but often came to the gallery to look at the works. ‘Could you tell him what you see when you look at my work?’ she asked him. ‘I see the tension between me and my wife after an argument, the fragile atmosphere after a disagreement has been resolved.’

‘He was amazing,’ Helaine recalls. ‘You shouldn’t need a particular background or job to be able to interpret art. I’m conceptual as an artist, but I communicate in a way people can understand.’

When we first met in February, she told me she felt we were moving towards a precipice, almost irreversibly disconnected – with no empathy for one another, the world or ourselves. In early May, over the phone, she tells me about her new developing body of work. ‘They are different to my other sculptures so they will need a new name. They have a sense of danger but also connectedness.’ The synergy of this latest bout of her creativity awaits us – how will her future creations reflect this strange tangle of emotional upheaval, stillness, community and chaos?

Looking Up: Helaine Blumenfeld at Canary Wharf, outdoor exhibition open until 31 January 2021. hignellgallery.com n July/August 2020 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | 63

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THE GUIDE

B O O K S

GOOD READS

Richard Hopton on four novels that offer a fresh perspective on WWII

T

hese four novels are birds of a feather: they are all set during the Second World War, three are first novels and they are each inspired by their author’s families’ wartime experiences.

Moreover, they all look at the war from a slightly unconventional vantage point; the civilian and familial, the female and the non-combatant rather than the male and the martial. Total war affected entire populations, as these novels vividly illustrate.

The Vanishing Sky by L Annette Binder (Bloomsbury, £14.99) tells the story of a German family, the Hubers, charting its disintegration under the stress of war. It’s a story about loss and the damage, mental, physical and material, which war causes and its terrible impact on every aspect of human life. The novel has an unfussy, understated feel – reflected in Binder’s calm prose – that belies its powerful impact. It’s alternately subtle and striking, quiet and then, suddenly, deafeningly loud.

Ruminative pastoral scenes give way to a blazing account of an Allied air raid. She has an acute eye for detail: ‘Just smoke and stones and dirty lace curtains’ succinctly describes the aftermath of an air raid.

One theme that Binder’s novel shares with Ashes by Christopher de Vinck (HarperCollins, £8.99), is the kindness of strangers to refugees in the direst of circumstances. The twelve-year-old Georg Huber is taken in by an elderly peasant woman and a kindly priest during his wanderings across war-torn Germany. Likewise, the young heroine of Ashes, a refugee from Brussels, is sheltered by a wealthy widow in Biarritz.

Ashes is set in Brussels in 1940, as the Germans invade Belgium. It tells the story of two 18-yearolds, Simone and Hava. They are contrasting characters: Simone is sensible, grounded and practical, Hava a free spirit, whimsical and imaginative. De Vinck recreates vividly the mixture of blind panic, hopeless optimism and black despair with which the population reacted to the invasion. The moving spirit of the novel, however, is the genocidal antisemitism of the Nazi regime in all its brutality. It’s a good story, vividly told, albeit in parts it would benefit from a lighter, less didactic touch.

Somerville’s War by Andrew Duncan (Vineyard Books, £10.99) begins in Somerville, an imaginary town on England’s south coast, closely corresponding to Beaulieu. The Special

Operations Executive (SOE) requisition a house as a training base, and the early chapters revolve around the residents, a disparate cast of toffs, misfits and oddballs and their new neighbours, who include Adrian Russell, a fictionalised Kim Philby. Once it leaves Somerville, the novel gets into its stride: young Leo Maxwell joins the ATA and starts flying Spitfires. There is a high-octane account of aerial combat over the Channel before the scene shifts to the covert SOE operation in occupied France that brings the story to an exciting climax.

Three Bedrooms in Manhattan by Georges Simenon (Penguin Classics, £8.99), first published in 1946, is an intense, atmospheric account of a passionate affair between François, a French actor whose career and life is on the slide, and Kay, a woman of middle European origins with a tangled background. Simenon brilliantly and sparely recreates the New York of the time – the all-night diners, the sleazy bars, cheap hotels and threadbare apartments. It’s a story about love and jealousy, about wildly oscillating emotions, desire and need, certainty and uncertainty, rationality and irrationality. Its claustrophobia heightens the emotions and sharpens the drama.

In the midst of the big city, surrounded by millions of people, all that matters, Simenon seems to be saying, is a man and a woman in love. n

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C&TH ONLINE

What’s happening on countryandtownhouse.co.uk?

Explore our new series of At Home With... interviews, offering an intimate peek behind the scenes in the houses of the most stylish people we know. Here, we look inside the elegant Notting Hill home of Nikki Tibbles, founder of Wild at Heart...

WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND YOUR HOME? I bought my house in Notting Hill because it’s my dream London home.

I was fortunate enough to buy before it officially came on the market as I was living around the corner in a basement flat. My fabulous estate agent Domus Nova knew I was looking to buy a house. I wanted it as soon as I walked through the front door.

To me it’s everything a home should be. Every floor has floor to ceiling windows (front and back) and the light is incredible at all times of day.

DESIGN INSPIRATION? The first thing I did was call my friend Renshaw Hiscox, who is an architect. He helped to turn the basement into the big open-plan room that it is today. The brief was to have one big space where I could

bring the outside in and the inside out. So the flooring seamlessly goes from inside to outside, and the Crittall windows fold right back into the wall to create one big space.

I decided on a sleek grey kitchen with marble surfaces. The computer space is decorated with Timorous Beasties bright floral wallpaper. I love colour, print and patterns. Basically, anything goes.

FAVOURITE ROOM? My favourite room would be my first-floor reception room, which I suppose I save for special occasions or for absolute solitude. It has a beautiful balcony, an original marble fireplace, all my favourite pieces of art and the most eclectic chaotic confusion of floral fabrics and geometric rugs, crochet curtains and a Knoll sofa covered with Chanel fabric.

The colour on the walls is Plaster V from the Paint & Paper Library. It’s the most peaceful room in the house.

HOW DO YOU WORK FROM HOME? I’ve always worked from home, so I have a semi-office that has a beautiful 1950s marble table with a view over my garden and an ottoman that’s filled with files as I don’t like to see any mess. It’s where I am when I’m not at meetings. I always have scented candles (my favourite is Diptyque Figuier) and I turn on all my lamps as I don’t have overhead lighting in any of my rooms. I like a small knot of sweet peas on my desk from Wild at Heart mixed with scented jasmine from my garden.

HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR EVENINGS AT HOME? In the summer I’m downstairs in the basement living room that opens out to the garden to create a big indoor/outdoor living space. I’ll drink a glass of wine, eat hummus and vegetables, and read a book while listening to the birds singing in the garden and watching the dogs playing.

R E AD TH E F U LL I NTE RVI E W AT CO U NTRYAN DTOWN H O U S E .CO.U K

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THE GUIDE

G A R D E N I N G

SEEDER’S DIGEST

Sow your own butterfly haven, says Sarah Raven

PLANTING IDEAS WATERING CAN £59.95

I

once walked through hay meadows in Transylvania and was struck by how perfect it all felt. Not just for the wildflowers – the salvia, aquilegias and orchids – but for the butterflies I kicked up with every step. How can you achieve this at home?

It’s good to let your grass grow longer.

Then you’ll get a whole host of different butterfly visitors there to lay eggs. You may draw in meadow browns, gatekeepers, ringlets, small and large skippers, speckled woods and wall browns. All of their caterpillars feed on grass – timothy grass and the fescues in particular – so you can increase your butterfly count with ease.

It’s important to find as much room as possible for native wildflowers. One way of doing this is by recreating hay meadows, with all the flowers that go with them. I have done this at Perch Hill in a narrow strip of ground on the edge of my cutting garden.

Even a patch a fraction of this size is still well worth doing, and I’ve also seen wonderful wildflower combinations growing in a decent-sized pot.

Sarah Raven Wild Flower Meadow Mix Seeds, from £7.50, is a beautiful selection of wildflowers for creating your own meadow with pollen-rich, insect-friendly plants. Or for those of us who like a jolly mix of colours try the Cottage Garden Mix, from £3.95, including traditional favourites like zinnias, cosmos, malopes, and much more. Happy butterfly watching!

COTTAGE GARDEN MIX SEED SHAKER £11.50

ZINC PLANTERS, SET OF THREE £69.95

Plant wildflowers and you’ll be rewarded with a flood of butterflies

20 per cent off for C&TH readers at Sarah Raven. Visit sarahraven.com and enter offer code CTH20. Terms and conditions: Offer ends 31 August 2020. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or discount. *See website for full T&Cs All available at sarahraven.com

66 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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The F L O R Fragrance Family

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THE GUIDE

S P O R T S

THE OLYMPIAN

What Seb Coe really missed throughout the last few months was Saturday afternoons at The Bridge

B

oxing Day 1967 was a Tuesday.

Yes, I know, an utterance perhaps worthy of Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man. But the reason I remember this somewhat random detail is because, at 11.30am that morning, a lifelong love affair with Chelsea Football Club began on the uncomfortable benches of the west stand at Stamford Bridge.

I didn’t have far to walk that day with my father. From his childhood home (now my own London bolthole), it is, at a good clip, only a 12-minute walk away.

We set off pre-match to meet his close friend, Jock, a Russian-Scottish painter, who lived in a third-floor flat opposite the ground, which was really a large studio littered with aggressively squeezed oils, turp-soaked brushes, random easels and paint-encrusted palette knives – and a bed.

To this day, I still remember the evocative smell. It had been among that bohemian dereliction that I watched that historic 1966 World Cup Final the year before.

Jock was torn that day. He sublimated his Pavlovian Scottish detestation for all things English, only because his Russian distaste for all things German won through. To his dying day, he was convinced that Geoff Hurst’s questionable

third goal in the final was signalled good by a Russian linesman with the same sentiment.

Fifty-three years after my debut game (for the record the Blues beat Arsenal 2-1), and with some frustrating interludes, the ritual walk to the ground is what I most missed in lockdown. Pre-match lunch or supper in the Italian tratt, L’Antico, over which its owner, the Nero-like Franco, presides, is a joyous

suffusion of excitement, expectation and, for fans of my gnarled vintage, the niggling thought that it could all go so horribly wrong.

My first exchange with the iconic football commentator John Motson, always suspected of being a closet Blue, was bang on the money when I revealed my blind obsession. ‘Chelsea – they’ll break your heart,’ he mused wistfully.

And on occasion they have. But they have also given me some soaring moments, bordering on delirium. A Champion’s League crown won against the legendary German heroes Bayern Munich, deliciously in their own stadium in 2012, sits top of the heap and by some distance.

It wasn’t always like that, of course.

I was there for Chelsea’s first cup win in 1970, in my early teens. I had to wait another 27 years to witness it again, by which time I had three children. And in the early 1980s, I travelled up the M6 in a cold sweat with my mates from the Shed End, needing a point from the last match of the season to stave off relegation to the depths and ignominy of the old third division. We snatched the equalising goal and the great escape in the dying embers of the game. We nursed the ancient, barely roadworthy Merc back to London with more excitement and relief than when we won our first premiership title over 30 years later.

The turnstiles are still there only now we scan our season tickets to let us through. The tickets sit within touching distance on my desk as I write. I hope their sedentary existence changes soonest. n

Seb runs the line at Stamford Bridge in the early Eighties

PHOTOS: ©CHELSEA FC ARCHIVES

Seb Coe with Frank Lampard, Chelsea’s all-time leading goalscorer

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C A R S

ROAD TEST

Mini played a key role in the swinging Sixties – now Jeremy Taylor tries out the groovy new all-electric model

VITA L STATS Mini Electric PRICE From £24,900 ENGINE Electric POWER 4Power 181 bhp 0-62MPH 7.3 seconds RANGE 144 miles STREAMING Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix

TOWN

COUNTRY

It’s a long time since I’ve had enough hair on my head to put a flower in, but if I were to embrace a new Summer of Love the latest Mini Electric would be the perfect set of fun wheels.

One of the most iconic cars in the world has finally been mated to an all-electric powertrain and it’s really fab to drive. The nimble handling, zippy performance and cute looks are all there and inside the build quality is exceptional – the cabin feels like a proper posh motor and the seats are first class. There’s a solid clunk to the doors and backseat passengers will have no idea they’re actually sitting on the battery pack.

However, the Mini Electric is a three-door only, which means squeezing your little ones in and out of the back seat. The boot is predictably tiny, too.

It’s going to cost around £4 to charge a battery borrowed from the BMW i3 and while most owners will likely keep their Mini in Standard mode, there’s a Sport option if you want to up the pace.

Mini Electric will be up against a multiple plug socket of challengers in 2020. Many are cheaper, some offer a much greater range. Consequently, you might also dig a battery-powered Peugeot e-208, the Renault Zoe or the gorgeous Honda e.

RATING: 4/5 HANDBAGS

If Mini is far out around town it has more limited use in the country. The ride is borderline firm and the steering tugs around under harsh power, although that electric acceleration ‘whoosh’ is addictive.

The low, central position of the battery pack means handling is surprising good and Mini also uses the BMW ‘one pedal’ system – ease off the accelerator and the car will brake.

Mini has tried to keep the model line-up as simple as possible, which is refreshing. Choose from three levels of model, with accessories ranging from sat navs to heated seats – I expect most people will top out around £30,000.

However, the miserly 144-range is a real drawback for country folk. Budget for a home charger (£500 including government grant) to ensure the electric Mini will do a return run from the nearest city.

The cute VW e-Up is around £5,000 cheaper and will cover a similar range – so buying a British-built Mini Electric requires some serious thought.

Mini is one of the most desirable brands out there and this fun new model is a sure-fire hit, especially with urban dwellers looking for a socially responsible second car to make the school run and daily commute. It’s cool and fun, so lay it on me man.

RATING: 3/5 WELLIES

PHOTOS: © MINI; © MASERATI

Get in the groove with the new Mini Electric

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THE GUIDE

Getting leathered

The new Maserati Quattroporte offers both speed and comfort

THE DRIVE – MASERATI QUATTROPORTE ROYALE DESTINATION: LINKS HOUSE, ROYAL DORNOCH

VITA L STATS Maserati Quattroporte Royale PRICE £103,150

For those decadent enough to insist on a minibar in their motor during the 1980s there were very few options. The Maserati Quattroporte Royale was one such exclusive car but only 51 were built.

Now the Royale name has been revived in the latest generation Quattroporte, a saloon equipped with all the trimmings. There’s no bar but this Maserati does boast a seriously luxurious cabin.

There are Royale versions of the smaller Ghibli

ENGINE 3.0-litre V6 diesel POWER 275 bhp 0-60MPH 6.4 seconds RANGE 45.6 mpg STREAMING King For A Day

by Green Day

IN THE BOOT PHOTOS: © MINI; © MASERATI

SUMMER MUST-HAVES DEEP BREATH Personal breathalysers are big sellers – the latest Alcosense Elite 3 is as simple as it gets. Blow, wait, check the colour. Fits in the glovebox and could help save your license. £69.99. alcosense.co.uk

A smooth drive to Links House in Scotland

LAUDA LEGEND Racing legend Niki Lauda died last year. This detailed biography covers everything from his rivalry with James Hunt depicted in the film Rush to his horrific accident.

Niki Lauda by Maurice Hamilton.

(Simon & Schuster, £20)

saloon and Levante SUV too but, in total, just 100 will be built. It’s a sumptuous car and that’s a good thing because I have a six-hour drive ahead of me to the Highlands of Scotland.

Royal Dornoch golf club clings to the east coast about 45 miles north of Inverness, alongside a beach of pure white sand. It’s a wild, isolated place to play and also one of the world’s top courses.

The Quattroporte could have been built for a journey like this. It’s supremely comfortable on the motorway but also boasts a turn of speed that belies the dimensions. The curvy Maserati also packs a certain caché missing from the competition.

Put simply, what would you rather drive home in – a thoroughbred Italian car or a brilliant but emotionless BMW? The Royale’s cockpit is beautiful but quirky by modern standards. It’s not as tech-savvy as other executive cruisers but feels impressively upmarket, despite the clunky infotainment system.

The diesel engine is quiet and powerful but for an extra turn of speed choose the petrol version.

Of course, there are cheaper models but the limited numbers should aid secondhand values.

My destination is Links House Hotel, a seaside retreat handily situated just a short putt from the first tee of Royal Dornoch. It’s a classically decorated Scottish bolthole, loaded with antiques and traditional soft furnishings.

Links House is best for outdoorsy types who fancy a brisk walk along the dunes, a cycle ride in the hills or a spot of fishing. Fortunately, you can pack all the gear required and more in the gorgeous Royale.

BOOK IT: Doubles from £225. linkshousedornoch.com

HANDIWORK They cost more than my first car but these delightful, handstitched gloves

by The Outlierman make summer drives in your classic car extra special. £390. theoutlierman.com

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THE GUIDE

London’s up for grabs. Charlotte Metcalf chats with Shaun Bailey, the Conservative candidate to be the city’s next mayor Portrait by IULIA TRANDAFIR

E

ven in isolation [at the time of interview], Shaun Bailey’s wearing a pristine pressed shirt and talking to me from a tidy, uncluttered room, which makes me regret not figuring out how to change my Zoom backdrop.

‘No one trusts a posh black Tory,’ someone says later when I mention Bailey and I found myself arguing that he might look posh but he originally hails from a Ladbroke Grove council estate, giving him an invaluable experience of London that few other politicians can claim.

Bailey grew up with his mother, brother and the occasional uncle.

‘It’s not popular to say this but men and women are different,’ he says.

‘My uncles made a big impact because having a man around makes boys feel there’s someone to defend them or they start being aggressive.’

He grins, ‘Anyway, I’m West Indian and boys need men to teach them to play cricket.’

Bailey’s cousin was in the Cadets and so his mother pushed him to join too. It was here he says he learnt about team work, succeeding and taking pride in being British: ‘If you don’t Where did you understand Britishness you won’t understand how isolate? At home in Harold Hill, to get ahead and Cadets made me see that being Romford with my Jamaican and British wasn’t either/or but both. wife Ellie and our It gave me two bites at the cherry – two cricket children, Aurora, 13 and Joshua, 10. and rugby teams, Usain Bolt and Adam Gemili.’

Daily exercise Bailey made it to university but afterwards regime? We all his mother was rehoused in a single bed unit did Joe Wicks and Bailey went through desperate periods of together – it’s not about how hard homelessness until a friend rescued him. He you go but how became a ‘detached’ youth worker, meaning consistently you do it. he operated from the streets not a building: ‘Youth work’s not table tennis and biscuits.

Have you learnt any lessons I’d be wherever I could start a conversation – from lockdown? at the witch’s hat outside Grenfell Tower, Spending time with my family on the estates, at the 452 bus stop.’ has taught me to Then Bailey went to a meeting about relax and given me perspective. young people chaired by Lord Nash and the Centre for Policy Studies. ‘Everyone there was What are you hoping for in a talking several versions of rubbish and I said post-Covid-19 as much,’ chuckles Shaun. ‘Lord Nash thought world? For it was hilarious.’ They struck up a friendship, people to be united in their Bailey wrote such an impressive paper about passion for their deprived youth that the politicians soon local community. began circling and Steve Hilton brought David

IN BRIEF

Cameron to hear him speak. ‘David suggested I should be a Tory candidate but the idea was so far removed from my mind that I said, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you!”’ laughs Bailey.

The turning point was Lord Nash telling him he needed to figure out if he was a Tory: ‘Everyone I grew up with traditionally voted Labour but I realised I was definitely a Tory – and so were they without knowing it! Being Conservative is being independent rather than being dictated to, believing in what you can achieve. The Left behaves as if poor people have no agency but I hate blame – your problems might be someone else’s fault but no one’s going to fix them apart from you.’

Life took an upward turn when Bailey met Ellie, his wife of 15 years, in a local bar: ‘I can’t ever say I’m a dancer but I love it and I was the only one dancing so she noticed me and we got talking. I put her in my phone as ‘Ellie the One’. On our first date I wanted to impress her so much but my car didn’t start so we just sat in it eating Müller Corners and playing music till the battery died.’ We discuss the relative merits of Müller jam or crunch corners (he prefers jam) and then we move on to the serious issue of London’s crime.

Bailey’s quick to point out that there’s an 11-year high in murder, 39 per cent in burglary, 42 per cent in knife crime and that the ‘hidden horror’ of domestic violence constitutes 10 per cent of all crime and leads to more crime. His solution is to have a record number of police officers and specialist units to protect the vulnerable, which he’ll fund with a one per cent levy on hotel rooms, bringing in around £48 million to fund 734 officers. ‘Our reputation for being a safe city is what brings so many visitors from all over the world and we mustn’t lose that,’ he insists. He also plans to invest in art and culture, thus attracting even more visitors and creating employment.

When it comes to the challenge of defeating Sadiq Khan he’s blithely dismissive: ‘Sadiq’s only popular because he’s a visible celebrity but his current housing plan is antisocial and immoral. He wants 55 per cent of housing to be one-bedroom flats but we need family housing so parents can support their kids better. Five minutes with a parent is worth five hours with any youth worker. We need to help parents challenge their kids and the middle classes must stop being guilty and woke and stand up against sexist and violent attitudes in rap and games.’

What really strikes me is how ready Bailey seems, clear about and certain of his goals. So how frustrated was he when coronavirus delayed the mayoral elections by a year? He smiles ruefully. ‘My family was gutted after all the sleepless nights and attacks in the press but the extra year will give me a chance to be more visible. Practice and pressure will just make me better and better.’ I have no doubt. n

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Has 20 years as a youth worker made Shaun Bailey a good fit for the Mayor’s office?

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REMEMBER

THIS? Travel makes memories you’ll never forget Fashion director NICOLE SMALLWOOD Photographer DANIEL GRAHAM HACK

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09/07/2020 08:17

Dress, Dundas. Bikini, Stella McCartney.

Earrings, Pebble London

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09/07/2020 08:17

Dress, Akris.

Earrings, Acne

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Swimsuit, Eres.

Coat, Roland Mouret.

Earrings, Sam Ubhi

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Bikini, Solid & Striped.

Necklace, Acne

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Bikini top, Eres.

Skirt, Zimmermann.

Earrings, Sam Ubhi

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Dress, Kalita.

Earrings, Pebble London

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Top and shorts, Longchamp.

Earrings, Sam Ubhi TEAM Hair and make-up: Lucy Gibson at Frank Agency using Clinique and Tigi Model: Sofie Theobald at The Hive The team shot on location at Jumeirah Al Wathba Desert Resort & Spa (pre Covid). Rooms start from £293 per night on a B&B basis. jumeirah.com STOCKISTS: PAGE 124

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The multi-award-winning journalist, Lynn Barber, is known for her insightful, razor-sharp interviews

ELECTRIC ENCOUNTERS ike everyone, I missed meeting friends during lockdown, but I missed something else more, which is interviewing people. I do think it’s the world’s cushiest job: choosing someone famous who seems interesting, then going and asking them nosy questions – questions that probably their best friends would hesitate to ask – and GETTING PAID FOR DOING IT. The one possible downside is that having met your famous person and asked all your nosy questions, you then have to write up the encounter in a way that readers will find interesting. This seems to be where most would-be

interviewers fail. They like the idea of meeting famous people, but not the long slog at the keyboard afterwards.

An interview is really not like meeting friends. You have to do a lot of homework first, reading up previous interviews, watching stuff on YouTube, working out what questions you need to ask and trying to think of new ones that won’t have been asked a million times before. And having done all this, you’re then very nervous in case you screw it up on the day. In this respect, it’s exactly like sitting an exam – even with the best possible prep, it can still go wrong.

Also like an exam, there is always great pressure of time. Nowadays,

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PHOTOS: © REX FEATURES

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From Dalí to Hurley, Lynn Barber has interviewed them all.

She describes the nerve-jangling thrill of the celebrity interview and why Zoom could never replace IRL

nearly all interviews are set up by PRs or publicists, who give you a time slot with your subject that they always try to whittle down.

I won’t be whittled to less than an hour because I think it’s unfair to the readers, but younger interviewers have to take what they can get. Poor Hadley Freeman, an interviewer I respect, recently had to write a cover story about Julie Andrews on the basis of just l5 minutes' conversation on Skype. She managed it but I don’t think it was good value for the reader.

Editors kept telling me during lockdown I could do interviews on Skype or Zoom or something, but I couldn’t face it. It felt like all the work with none of the fun of actually meeting someone. That’s the stuff I love – the shock of first impressions. ‘Oo, she‘s so much shorter than I thought! She smells divine – is it Mitsouko? But why is she wearing those weird shoes?’ I try to remember as much as I can of these details but they’re quickly swamped by the greeting rituals – whether they ask where you’d like to sit, and whether they switch off their phone. Rafael Nadal, I remember, was outstandingly rude, sprawling half naked on his massage table and making me perch on the end, whereas Kim Kardashian, even though she’d just landed from LA, was extraordinarily polite, apologising for ‘dragging’ me to Claridge’s (where I never mind being dragged) and saying she’d ordered tea and scones because she realised it was teatime in England. These little rituals can tell you so much about the person – whether they are polite, of course, but also whether they are genuinely friendly, or whether they resent doing interviews and are gritting their teeth at your presence.

I interviewed Liz Hurley before lockdown and she made a point of telling me, several times, that she only ever gave interviews when she had something to plug – in her case a totally forgettable TV series on Hulu. Of course, we all know that’s the unspoken contract with publicity but it is incredibly rude, not just to me but to readers, to spell it out.

And – back to the exam analogy – you have to get the timing right. Of course, you’re dying to ask, ‘Do you still take drugs?’ or ‘Why did you fall out with your sister?’, but it’s definitely a mistake to start with those.

So I usually start with the plug, to get it out of the way – ‘Tell me all about your new film, which sounds so fascinating’. I remember once interviewing Liam Gallagher and being told I could only ask about his new clothing line. So, for a joke, I prepared at least 20 questions about parkas and fabrics and footwear until Courtney Love finally it was HE who switched the conversation to his

relations with his brother, Noel. Courtney Love once told me off for not asking if she’d had cosmetic work and led me over to a mirror to show me where she’d had it done and where she planned more.

A lot of the success of an interview depends on your stance. My aim is to be polite, professional and genuinely interested, but not pretending we’re going to be best friends. I hate what I think of as ‘star-fucker interviews’ where the journalist seems to be knocked out with excitement at meeting a famous person. Maybe they genuinely are, but I’m too old for that. And anyway, it’s unfair to the readers because whatever stance you adopt, they have to share it. On the other hand, you’re not there Kim to have an argument. I think this is where many Kardashian male interviewers go wrong – they want to have a debate. I never do. I just want to milk my interviewee for all the information I can get out of them in my Liam Gallagher limited time. My idea of the perfect question is, ‘Why?’, because it only takes a second to ask and often produces long, fascinating answers.

Doing a good interview is really hard work. I’m often exhausted afterwards and rather appalled if my subject says, ‘Oh stay and chat.’ I don’t quite know how to chat.

Maybe that’s why I became an interviewer.

I once wrote to Theresa May while she was Home Secretary, asking if I could interview her, and she sent a handwritten reply, saying she wouldn’t do an interview, but why didn’t I come and have a chat? Unfortunately, it quickly became obvious that she was as useless at chatting as I was and we barely got beyond, ‘Read any good books lately?’.

I love the challenge of interviews – the preparation, the nerves, the quick notes in the loo jotting down first impressions, the deep breaths afterwards trying to remember as much as possible, and then the impatient wait till I can play back the recording, and decide whether it was any good. It’s quite rare for me to come out of an interview knowing it was good, though it’s happened a few times – most memorably with Marianne Faithfull, but also with Salvador Dalí, Joseph Heller, Shane MacGowan – usually because there’s been a sort of electricity in the encounter.

A good interview is really NOT the same as nice cosy chat. During lockdown I feel I slightly overdosed on cosy chats, so I now can’t get wait back to the nerve-jangling tension of interviewing. n

PHOTOS: © REX FEATURES

LY N N’S IN T ERV IE W LOW-DOW N Nerves Yes. Dress Try to look vaguely smart. Pre-interview ritual Last cigarette. Make-up Red lipstick. Share a meal Yes, but somewhere not too crowded or noisy and with very good service, like The Ritz. Best place to interview Ideally, the subject’s home. Model interviewee Someone with bold opinions and a good sense of humour. Killer question Don’t believe in them, much prefer asking, ‘Why?’. Any walkouts Martin Clunes would have but we were in his house. Best ice-breaker I usually start by asking where they would like me to sit. Any tears Yes. Julian Fellowes and Howard Hodgkin. Favourite celebrity personality trait Candour. Longest interview Five days with Salvador Dalí. And shortest Dawn French.

I gave up after half an hour. More beautiful in the flesh Helena Bonham Carter. Who surprised you most Courtney Love. Who’s still on your bucket list Rupert Murdoch. Do you agree with your nickname, ‘Demon Barber’ No. Career low point Interviewing footballers for the Evening Standard. High point Winning my first British Press Award in 1985. I’ve won five more since but you always remember the first time. Boris Johnson or Keir Starmer Keir.

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09/07/2020 21:00

LOVE IN A TIME OF CORONA ying in bed scrolling through photos, my phone, possibly sensing my thoughts, sent me a video of this day in time a decade ago. It was, for a few moments, like seeing through a looking glass to a vanished world, from an entirely new reality. A series of photos floated past me and suddenly I was there, laughing into the camera outside a Tube station in the rain, holding up a pink birthday cake for my daughter’s sixth birthday as her nine-year-old brother looked on, snuggling up to my new boyfriend; and then, the final shot, an image of my sister and myself, hugging one another in a buttercup field as we looked straight at the camera.

It was beautiful and disarming. These slow-moving images of a past that’s now gone completely undid me. Within a few short seconds I’d moved from mindlessly scrolling Twitter to being snotty and teardrenched, trying to reach back to the past from a present that looks so different to that vanished world.

The six-year-old daughter, Dolly, is now pushing 17, all long limbs and swingy hair as her 19-year-old brother Jimmy drives her away in his car to meet a friend. And my two elder children have been joined by three more – Evangeline, seven, Dash, six and Lester, three, a tangle of apple cheeks and blonde hair – so I am now the mother of five.

That boyfriend, Pete, is my husband of almost a decade. Time moves on. Life changes, inexorably, in the course of a few moments and utterly in the course of months and years. My sister – my beloved sister, laughing at the camera as we hugged each other – is gone; she died from breast cancer in December. The unreality, and the global, collective grief of the past few months for the lives, as well as the ways-of-life, lost, have taken her even further from me.

Seeing her photograph makes me cry some more, since the stark reality of her physical absence is something I’m still trying to understand. I put the phone face down on my bed and close my eyes. This year has brought with it so much change, and such intense hardship for so many people. And while it’s been bleak, there have also, in the darkness, been chinks of light, enabling many of us to see ourselves, our lives, the people we love most, as if through a bright and completely unexpected new lens.

Because while the Memories: Clover and her sister Nell silence and stillness Gifford, co-founder of Giffords Circus of lockdown was hard

and sometimes disturbing in so many ways, there were also aspects of it that have been a strange blessing. Many of us were forced, quite suddenly and without warning, to pause; in doing so we stepped away from the frenetic culture of often self-imposed busyness that had been moving faster and faster in the past few years.

Confined to our home for two months with Pete and my five children, inwards was the only direction I was able to look, and what I found there has reminded me that nothing really matters in life but love. Love is always the thing that gets you through.

It would be a lazy cliché to say that this time made me appreciate the simple stuff in life. I did not embrace gardening or bread-making, although I had a good crack at it to start with. And being locked up at home as a large family wasn’t simple; there were times when the claustrophobia and straightforward boredom made me want to scream – which I did, now and again. And while it certainly made me question a lot of my habits, like the money I waste on pointless crap I don’t need, or the amount of cash I spend every week on petrol (well, we do live in rural west Oxfordshire, and there is the school run), it hasn’t made me want to make such radical changes in my life that I’d give up my car, forgo foreign holidays or actually have the patience to handle a sourdough starter.

If anything, being deprived of outings and treats made me value them in a way I’d never truly done before. Just before lockdown happened, but sensing it was coming, I was in London for a final meeting. That evening, as the streets of London seemed to empty in front of us, Pete and I left his office on Edgware Road and sat in Maroush, our favourite Lebanese restaurant, lingering longer than usual over plates of smoked baba ganoush and bowls of bright green tabbouleh studded with jewel-like pomegranate seeds, toasting a last night of freedom for what would be several months.

Weeks later, utterly sick of yet another plate of my own homecooked pasta, it was a bright memory I pulled out and gazed at as a moment of complete togetherness in my marriage, totally separate from the tangle and noise of our large family. Marriage and longterm relationships need special times like this to sprinkle a bit of magic and keep them strong, especially since there have been far more moments in the past two months when my marriage has brought me frustration and anger. (You know you need to rein in the rows when you realise you’ve developed a reflex that allows you to pause for a split second before smashing the mug in your hand, in case it’s one of your favourites.)

But I think it’s the challenges of isolation – the very boredom and frustration, the anger that has flared up and made me want to smash cups, just not my favourite ones – that have also given me an entirely new perspective on what my marriage and family life represent. It’s relatively easy, after all, for us to get along when the good times are rolling forward and life is all high days and holidays, but learning,

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF CLOVER STROUD

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Family life in lockdown may have been messy and hectic – but it taught us to embrace life and love, says Clover Stroud

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‘WATCHING THE PHOTOS OF MY PAST FLOAT BY HAS SHOWN ME THAT TIME IS PRECIOUS AND LIFE IS QUICK. HOLD ON TO THE GOOD STUFF AND VALUE TODAY’

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF CLOVER STROUD

Past and present: Looking at old family photos – including (right) her muchmourned sister, Nell, in top-hatted Giffords Circus regalia – helped Clover realise it’s vital to live, and love, in the moment

quite literally, to live with each other, day after day after day, when a trip to the supermarket counted as a big day out, was much harder.

So lockdown taught me how important it is to step down from an argument and turn back to face one another, right at the moment when what you really want to do is walk out the door. It’s shown me that, while I’m definitely looking forward to the day I can drink fresh orange juice in a Seville café, walk through a market in Morocco or swim in a glittering stretch of the Med with the green-pine scent of the south of France around me, I’m also deeply grateful for the sweet security of home, the place I really love the most.

Watching the photos of my past float by has shown me, again, that time is precious and life is quick. So hold on to the good stuff and value today. Give those sugary children another hug, even when they’ve just tipped a massive box of Lego onto the kitchen floor; shrug off an argument with your husband rather than keep it going just for the sake of being right. And tell the people you love that you really do love them, as often as you can. I would do anything in the world to see my sister again and tell her one last time how much I love her. All we have, after all, is today.

Clover Stroud is the author of My Wild and Sleepless Nights (Doubleday, £16.99) n July/August 2020 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | 85

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08/07/2020 21:03

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TYING THE KNOT The C&TH Little Black Book of Wedding Venues to reserve for 2021

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s the poet Virgil once promised, amor omnia vincit: love conquers all. We’ve been in lockdown since late March, but despite (or perhaps because of) this strange new world, in many households hearts have grown ever fonder. New relationships, lockdown engagements, virtual weddings... the love pouring forth from homes across the country has been strong and irrevocable. After the agony of cancelled weddings and postponed celebrations, there’s fresh hope in the air that we’ll have a second chance to create that day to remember.

So, whether you’re newly engaged, re-planning for next year or just dreaming of a return to dating and romance, there’s no better way to celebrate a cautious return to whatever ‘normal’ is than by planning how to kick off married life in style.

We’ve carefully selected ten venues across the UK in which to say ‘I do’, ranging from ornate to intimate. Whether it’s on the shore of a mysteriously beautiful underground lake in a Welsh slate cavern or on the sweeping lawn of a majestic Scottish castle, our choices are governed as much by the people behind them as by the beauty of their locations. While some of Britain’s loveliest and most unusual houses are here – ensuring your guests will be enchanted by a magnificent view, a glorious flowering garden, a dazzling marquee or an elegant, historic banqueting hall – that distinctiveness goes hand in hand with the unique feel of a private home, where you and your guests will be welcomed as warmly as family, in a place that in some cases the owners have nurtured and loved for generations. We’ve added a couple of hotels we trust for their extremely high level of care, which means they’ll always go that extra mile on the day. Now, go forth and dream…

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VOEWOOD HIGH KELLING, NORFOLK

‘By far the most interesting building in this part of Norfolk. A violently idiosyncratic house.

Some of its inventions remind one of Gaudi’s work in Barcelona…’, so wrote Nikolaus Pevsner, the great architectural historian, about Voewood, one of England’s finest, award-winning, Arts & Crafts houses. It was languishing as an old people’s home until 22 years ago when the current owner, Simon Finch, bought it and began lovingly restoring it. He wanted the house to be a living work of art, so used hand-painted textiles and decorated every room with his exceptional art collection.

It’s now one of England’s most charming and magical wedding venues. The Grade II*-listed house sleeps 42 over 17 bedrooms, and wedding guests have exclusive use of the entire house over two days (weekends or weekdays). The house is licensed for civil ceremonies and there’s a grand banqueting hall that can seat up to 120 at long trestle tables.

For larger numbers there is a marquee, tipi or stretch tent and 11 acres of gardens licensed for outdoor ceremonies. There’s no corkage and Voewood has a superb list of suppliers honed over 15 years.

01263 713802; voewood.com

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PARK LODGE ABBOTS BROMLEY, STAFFORDSHIRE

An elegant Grade II-listed hunting lodge that originally formed part of the grand estate of neighbouring Blithfield Hall, Park Lodge has a sporting history dating back to the early 19th century. The 1,600-acre estate still hosts shooting parties to this day – and now for the first time you can book the entire eight-bedroom, six-bathroom house for your exclusive use for up to a week.

This means the wedding party can sit back and enjoy the preparations together in the lead-up to the big day, while the gorgeous landscaped gardens and grounds – offering sweeping views over the surrounding countryside – make the most picturesque setting for the wedding itself, with marquees of all sizes and styles provided by partners Covered by Canvas.

Tucked away down a secluded, two-mile-long, private drive, the 1838 house was built in Tudor-Gothic style and boasts authentic features like the wood-panelled reception hall, original shutters and open fires. It’s all nestled within the romantic, rolling green vistas of the Staffordshire countryside (‘The views go on for miles,’ as one previous guest attested). And you can be sure of the most personalised service possible: the lodge and its grounds are completely family-owned, having been bought by Brian James Dale in 1953, and today run by David Dale and his children Charles and Lucinda. ‘We just don’t want to leave,’ gushed another previous guest, which pretty much says it all. Luckily, you won’t have to – for a few days at least.

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BRAXTED PARK ESTATE WITHAM, ESSEX

Braxted Park Estate is pure Pride and Prejudice, with immaculate decor and facilities. This Queen Anne mansion set in landscaped gardens and a 500-acre estate has been the muchloved home to five generations of the Clark family.

Here, without having to leave the grounds, you can plan a day of seamless joy, going from ceremony to reception with exclusive run of the family-run estate. Braxted Park can provide world-class chefs, florists, beautiful tableware, a cellar full of fine wines and a choice of hog roast, BBQ, banquet or elegant selection of canapés.

You can tie the knot in the secret Knott Garden, standing on a carpet of rose petals, surrounded by birdsong and the scent of flowers from the walled garden. Or plight your troth in the Orangery, perfect for small daytime receptions, with its hand-painted murals and garden views through arched windows. For traditionalists, there is Braxted Park’s own 11th-century parish church within the grounds, seating 150. Finally, there’s the recently created Pavilion, with capacity for 350. Overlooking the walled garden, this versatile state-of-the-art space can be ‘dry’ hired so you bring in absolutely everything to make it your own. The converted stable block has 12 double ensuite rooms for guests, while the recently renovated two-bedroom Garden Cottage, with views over the valley from a hidden terrace, is perfect for honeymooners.

01621 892305; braxtedpark.com

BLAENAU FFESTINIOG, GWYNEDD

Dreaming of something dramatically different that will have your friends talking about your wedding for years to come? Head for Llechwedd Slate Mine. Here you can journey 500 feet down into the earth and get hitched on the shores of a glittering silver, underground lake. This ghostly but exquisite pool was formed during the 1800s as a result of intensive slate mining. On the big day, you and your guests will descend into the famous slate mine via Britain’s steepest cable car and then it’s a short torchlit walk to chamber nine, which seats 60 and is the deepest place in the UK licensed for wedding ceremonies. With its huge vaulted slate ceiling and the lake shimmering like an enchanted mirror, it’s a hauntingly beautiful place, akin to walking into a living dream or ancient myth.

From 2021 you’ll be able to complete celebrations at Llechwedd’s new four-star boutique hotel, Plas Weunydd. Just a minute from the mine, it seats up to 120 for dinner and there are 24 comfortable double rooms plus six luxury glamping tents for up to 28 people. Llechwedd lies on the edge of Snowdonia National Park so it’s surrounded by some of Britain’s most glorious countryside and is within easy reach of Portmeirion if you want to continue festivities in another magical realm of fantasy.

01766 830306; llechwedd.co.uk; plasweunydd.co.uk

PHOTOS: ©BRIDGWOOD WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

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LLECHWEDD

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BARNSLEY HOUSE CIRENCESTER, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Once the home of celebrated garden designer Rosemary Verey, Barnsley House is exactly the sort of rambling, elegant home that seems made for weddings. In fact, with Verey’s beautiful garden of wild lavender borders and tumbling roses, it’s difficult to imagine she wasn’t purposely fashioning a nuptial idyll. Inside, you’ll find 18 stylishly appointed bedrooms, all with wide stone fireplaces. There’s also The Potager restaurant, where fresh ingredients are served up straight from the kitchen garden. Here, a wedding breakfast for up to 70 can be held. Ceremonies for up to 120 are possible in a marquee in the 11 acres of storybookbeautiful grounds.

Tucked away in quaint, pretty outbuildings, you’ll also discover the secret spa, where any pre-wedding stresses can be smoothed away with Elemis treatments, or by a bracing dip in the outdoor hydrotherapy pool as the occasional cow nods its head over the fence to say hello. The magic of this Cotswolds hideaway lies in its atmosphere, and in taking over your very own country pile for the weekend, rather than a hotel.

01285 740000; barnsleyhouse.com

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CLUNY CASTLE SAUCHEN, ABERDEENSHIRE

PHOTOS: ©BRIDGWOOD WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

If you want majesty and drama, Cluny Castle is for you. Hidden in over 200 acres of landscaped, wooded parkland, Cluny is a proper, historic castle – vast, imposing and crenellated with turrets – dating back to the 14th century. Its charm lies in the fact it’s also a lived-in and loved family home – Cosmo Linzee Gordon, the young laird, had his own wedding there last summer.

Cluny has its own licensed chapel within the castle, which seats 100 guests. Directly below the chapel is the Tenants’ Hall, with stained-glass, mullioned windows that echo the chapel. It can accommodate 94 guests for dinner and parquet flooring makes it ideal for dancing.

For small weddings of up to 24 people, guests can use the beautiful dining room and drawing room.

For big weddings, Cluny offers a variety of sites for a marquee, all enjoying magnificent views of the castle, which is always available as a backdrop for wedding photographs. Guests can choose any size, layout, theme or style of marquee and even specify clear windows and roof to take advantage of long Scottish summer sunsets and scarlet night skies. Cosmo insists that the only limit to guests’ choices is their imagination. Bridal parties can now stay in the castle because Cosmo has renovated the top floor to provide seven superb bedrooms and bathrooms. He’s also redecorated and upgraded Cluny’s much sought after West Wing apartment, which sleeps ten and is set over two floors with a palatial living area.

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HAMSWELL HOUSE HAMSWELL, BATH

This historic 16th-century manor house with an elegant Queen Anne façade is set in 50 acres of private land and gardens in the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

With its honeyed Cotswold stone and glorious panoramic views across the Hamswell Valley to the Westbury White Horse, this is quite simply one of England’s most romantically beautiful and enchanting houses. It’s so admired that it’s been used in many a film and TV show over the years, including Tess of the D’Urbervilles, a BBC series with Eddie Redmayne and Gemma Arterton.

Within easy reach of Bristol, Bath and the M4, Hamswell House is the family home of Rupert and Victoria Legge, who will ensure that your wedding has every last personal touch. As Rupert says, ‘Hamswell House is a private family house and estate and not a hotel or corporate events venue. It’s what makes it so special for your wedding.’ You will have exclusive access to all the grounds for the entire wedding day so guests can wander around and explore the lovely walled gardens, pergola and terraced herb garden. For the ceremony, there is the 18th-century orangery with its Cotswold stone roof and huge arched windows leading onto a lawn to accommodate extra guests. For the wedding breakfast, there is a splendid marquee that can seat 240. You’re free to bring your own champagne as they don’t charge corkage.

07710 727773; hamswellhouse.co.uk

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BARTON MANOR COWES, ISLE OF WIGHT

Eight years ago, Dawn Haig-Thomas and her husband Al left London to seek a life with a little more meaning (and space). Barton Manor was the 18th property they looked at, but it was love at first sight. Mentioned in the Domesday book and once owned by Queen Victoria, and then Edward VII, the 250-acre estate has history in spades and offers couples a unique location in which to make their vows in front of up to 180 guests.

The first decision is whether to arrive by helicopter (22 minutes from Battersea), aeroplane (onto the farm’s airstrip) or boat onto the private beach. After that a weekend of romance, fun and magic is yours.

The ceremony itself takes place either in the Grand Barn built by Prince Albert or in Queen Victoria’s church in the village, with fizz and photos after in the stunning award-winning gardens. Being a family-run business, you never know if an uninvited guest might make an appearance – once a renegade piglet turned up snuffling out canapés, and the resident peacock is not shy of a party. Couples – with family and friends – stay in the Barn and cottages for a long weekend (three nights). Local catering and bands can be recommended by the owners, but the choice is entirely yours – it’s your day, after all.

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CURDS HALL BARN DEREHAM, NORFOLK

It all started with a simple family wedding held inside Curds Hall Barn. Since then, the owners have worked hard, lovingly restoring the 17th-century building so that other couples can enjoy their big days there, too. Nestled in the verdant Norfolk countryside, Curds Hall Barn is a beautiful and historic place for a party. It’s the final remaining building of the medieval Curds Hall, once owned by William Nelson, the great-uncle of Horatio Nelson, and is built from an evocative mix of medieval masonry, brick and flint.

There are three spaces, The Barn, The Loft and The Woodshed, which can be tailored to meet your requirements for a perfect day. The Woodshed, with its rustic oak beams creating a natural aisle, seats 140 people for the ceremony. If you’d rather say your vows outside, then that can also be arranged; if you’d like to speak them in a church, there are two beautiful ones in nearby Fransham. The Barn can then seat 150 guests for the wedding breakfast and welcome up to 200 for the evening reception. What’s more, you get three-day venue hire, so you have ample time to set up (and dismantle) the wedding of your dreams in the setting of the picturesque Norfolk countryside. It’s the perfect blank canvas.

07834 534689; curdshallbarn.co.uk

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SHILSTONE MODBURY, DEVON

Since hosting its first wedding in 2012, Shilstone has become one of Devon’s most popular venues for getting hitched.

The story of Shilstone is itself a fairy-tale romance.

The Georgian manor house was lovingly and painstakingly restored down to every last hinge and door handle by its owners, Sebastian and Lucy Fenwick. This labour of love has won numerous awards, including Country Life’s Restoration of the Century award.

In spring and summer weddings can take place in the East Garden in front of the house. Guests are free to roam the gardens and enjoy the view across the dramatically steep river valley to the rolling hills beyond. The Mughal Marquee, in the secluded walled garden, is perfect for eating, drinking and dancing. During autumn and winter, there are the Terrace Room and fairy-lit Botanical Atrium for weddings of up to 80 people. The contemporary Rustic Barn houses weddings whatever the season and has different, versatile spaces, all with their own charm.

The Fenwicks have developed two of the estate’s agricultural barns so that Shilstone can now accommodate up to 36 guests. Whitmore Barn takes 16 guests with a bridal suite, three double bedrooms and double bunk bedroom, and guests are free to erect a yurt (available locally) on the barn’s front lawn. There are two handcrafted shepherd’s huts for eight more guests and nearby Meadow Barn, on an ancient farm holding, can accommodate a further 12 with a bridal suite.

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08/07/2020 19:33

CREAM OF JERSEY Own a slice of island life with DiCasa

ISLAND LIVING

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hese days we’re all craving a bit more space. To escape the urban hustle and bustle, and to live healthier lives with our families under clear blue skies. You can have all that – and only under an hour’s flight from London, to boot.

Jersey is the British Isles’ sunniest region, with the most hours of sunshine and warmest temperatures recorded.

At just over 45.6 square miles, it’s a picturesque island of white sandy beaches, turquoise waters, rugged cliffs and lush green valleys. Its rich history dates back to the Neolithic period, and its culture is a vibrant tapestry of English, French and Norman traditions.

Tempted? Moving to Jersey has never been easier thanks to DiCasa. Its founders, interior designers and property developers Jojo DiCasa and Jane Cook, have over twenty years of experience in the field of luxury property. And not only does DiCasa have a range of beautiful properties for sale, it also offers a premium concierge service to seamlessly help you along the road to owning your very own Jersey home.

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Everyone loves the idea of an island to call their own. But why Jersey in particular? With its population of just over 103,000, it’s attracted the cream of British expats for decades, thanks to its strong links with the UK and firm sense of identity and community.

But on top of this you also get Jersey’s lower crime rates, cleaner air, amazing schools, an impressive healthcare system, and miles of unspoilt beaches to explore – and that’s not to mention the economic benefits.

A self-governing island with its own banking and legal systems, it’s widely known that Jersey’s tax rates are among the lowest in Europe. With a maximum personal tax rate of two per cent, a low stamp duty on property, no capital gains or inheritance tax, and corporate tax at zero per cent (10 per cent for certain financial services companies), it’s hard not to be enticed by the island’s financial benefits.

And for those in the creative industries, the highly developed communications network, including world-class, high-speed and highbandwidth communication links with the UK and France, enables Jersey to fully integrate with the global market economy.

Jersey offers incredible opportunities for the whole family – and now you can own a slice of it, too.

08/07/2020 20:22

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DiCasa has a new dream for island living. With four luxury properties under its belt already, it’s creating a portfolio of cutting-edge turnkey properties, all lovingly restored and decorated to the highest standard. Sustainability and community are also at the heart of everything it does, making greener choices and working with local companies and suppliers.

DiCasa knows you live busy lives, and so it wants to make moving to Jersey as effortless as possible for you. Its dedicated concierge team will fly you in and out of the island in one day, collecting you from the airport with a chauffeur and showing you its four luxury properties, as well as the rest of the island.

The team will also be on hand to advise you about the tax, accountancy and legal firms to use for your purchase or relocation needs. What’s more, they can even help get your kids into the best schools on the island.

Whatever you need, they can help.

Imagine walking into your new Jersey home to find it elegantly furnished and ready to go, with all the amenities you could possibly need right there on hand. That’s the kind of thing that dreams really are made of.

Veslet Lodge, an expansive fivebedroom house in the heart of St Lawrence countryside complete with its own spa, pool and lake

Fancy a taste of island life? Why not visit Jersey to view our portfolio of luxury turn-key homes for sale. We can organise your entire visit with flights and chauffeur collection. To find out more discover DiCasa on Instagram @DiCasaHomes, or head to dicasahomes.com, email enquiries@dicasahomes.com or call + 44 7785 285242 to arrange your trip

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LIVING INTERIORS DESIGN

THE INSIDER

IMAGES: © DOUGLAS FRIEDMAN

ORIENT EXPRESS First popular in the homes of Europe’s beau monde between 1740 and 1790, it’s a testament to the appeal of Chinoiserie wallpaper that we’re still riffing on it 280 years later. De Gournay’s take, a wallpaper called Askew, is hand-painted

by Hannah Cecil Gurney and printed on apricot silk. A slice of history that remains effortlessly modern. degournay.com

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THE INSIDER SQUEEZE OF LEMON Add some zest with David Hunt’s Polo 6-light pendant, £702, and matching citron Rimini table lamp base, £54; drum shade, £65.40. thelightshadestudio.co.uk; davidhuntlighting.co.uk

WELL PLACED

Blue Fish placemat from the Copacabana collection

by Cordelia de Castellane for Dior Maison. £120. dior.com

I N T E R I O R S

DESIGN NOTES

Playful prints and cheeky vases. By Carole Annett

LOVE AND PROTECT

Portuguese furniture designer Branca Lisboa’s wooden carapace-frame nestles the body in a comforting curve. Shell chair from £2,010. branca-lisboa.com

TEA LEAF

Straight from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Spoon, £12. shop.roh.org.uk

GIVE THANKS

CHILL OUT

MODERN TOILE Enid’s Ramble by Flora Soames is a delicate intertwining floral design. £82 p/m. florasoames.com

Don’t have a meltdown. This silver-coated ice cream tub is the perfect way to serve your favourite brand. Can be personalised for added cool. £45. almostessential.com

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PHOTOS: UTOPIA GOODS © RENE VAILE

Wicklewood’s Rainbow Collection gives 25 per cent from every sale to NHS Charities Together.

Cushion, £125. wicklewood.com

TO HAVE A ND TO HOLD VASES

HAND PICKED

Artist Lisa Hardy has joined forces with edit58, the online interiors store, to create a series of hand-painted floral tiles in blush, green and blue.

From £30. edit58.com

BLOOMING PRETTY Enliven your sofa with handprinted linen covers inspired by the vibrancy of Australia. From £100. utopiagoods.com

TAKE THE PLUNGE Adam Ellis, whose artworks feature in The Ivy restaurants, is launching a made-to-order wallpaper collection, Ellis Editions.

This Glass Eye Fish print is inspired by the 1830s Pacific voyage of French explorer Dumont d’Urville on the Astrolabe. POA. adamellis.com

JUST PEACHY

PHOTOS: UTOPIA GOODS © RENE VAILE

OW London makes all its bone china in the north of England in potteries that use traditional skills.

Teaplate, £30; cup, £22. ow-london.com

1 Anissa Kermiche Popotin pot, £65. libertylondon.com 2 Les Ottomans moustache vase, £210. amara.com 3 Nude Glass magnolia vase, £40. nudeglass.com 4 Nordal vase, £18. bellandblue.com 5 Celine Interiors Bud vase, £315. luxdeco.com

FLAT OUT From Susie Atkinson’s Laid Bare collection, the Bulrush daybed has oak legs and a hand-woven rush seat. It’s big enough for an afternoon siesta, or pile it with books and use as a chic coffee table.

Upholstered in fabric

by Pukka Prints.

From £3,950. susieatkinson.com

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THE INSIDER F O C U S

FRILL ME

Catch the design wave with undulating curves, ripples and a bit of ruff

1 Annie Sloan Linen Unions Collection shower curtain in Antoinette and Old White, £39.95 p/m; wall paint in Paris Grey, £21.95; bath and floor painted in Old Violet chalk paint, from £5.95. anniesloan.com 2 Country bedroom, styled

by Salvesen Graham with Charmajesty bespoke bedlinen and pillows, POA. charmajesty.com 3 Balineum wall mirror, available in a spectrum of high gloss hues. Neutral shades complement subtle interiors while brighter colours add vibrancy. From £940. balineum.co.uk 4 Soane Ripple hand-woven rattan console, £7,700. soane.co.uk 5 Vanrenen GW Designs lampshade made from antique textiles, from £245; bedside table, £1,464. vanrenengwdesigns.com 100 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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John Lewis Lantern, £35. johnlewis.com

Rosamund Coady Onion plate, £90. rosamundcoady.com

Dior Maison Glass, £95. dior.com

Tate & Darby Jute rug, from £360. tateanddarby.com

East London Parasol Company Big Liberace, £755. eastlondon parasols.com Matilda Goad Ceramic lamp, £280; shade, £162. matildagoad.com

Annie Sloan Chalk paint in Antoinette, from £5.95. anniesloan.com

Neptune Pembrey table, £1,800; Chatto chairs from £344. neptune.com

T R E N D

Sarah K Wave napkins, £58 for four. sarahk.co.uk

GARDEN VARIETY

Elevate your al fresco, says Sofia Tindall

A rose is a rose is a rose... but you don’t have to water these ones. Sustainability-conscious designers like Ensemblier and Ceraudo are your go-to to tap into the vogue for the English garden. Feeling creative?

Dig out a weathered piece of furniture and upcycle, or try your hand at upholstery with pretty fabrics.

St. Eval Candle, £10.80. st-eval.com

Ralph Lauren Vintage Dauphine wallpaper, £83. johnlewis.com

Ceraudo Madeleine chair, £210. ceraudo.com

Burleigh Tea cup, £21; saucer, £11. burleigh.co.uk

Nina Campbell Tablemat, £27.50. ninacampbell.com Caravane Salad bowl, £113. caravane.co.uk Mind The Gap Chinoiserie wallpaper, £175 for three rolls. mindtheg.com

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PHOTOS: © SOHO HOME, ORIGINALLY SHOT BY TOM GRIFFITHS

THE INSIDER C A S E

S T U D Y

AU NATUREL

Cosy up in the Oxfordshire countryside with Willow Crossley. By Sofia Tindall

W

ith florist, nature writer and author of four lifestyle books on her CV (her most recent, The Wild Journal, was published in March this year), it’s hard to imagine Willow Crossley not living in the countryside. But nine years ago the possibility couldn’t have been further from her mind. ‘We had been living in France away from everyone for the last five years,’ Crossley explains.

‘I wanted to stay in London and be around our friends and family.’

But fate intervened in the form of a rambling Oxfordshire farmhouse.

‘We took one look at this house and knew that we had to do it.’

Virtually untouched for 30 years, the house was ‘very higgledy piggledy’, a charming hotch-potch of inglenook fireplaces, low-slung ceilings, weathered stone walls, wonky wooden doors and Crittall windows. The main jobs were ‘lots of repainting and wallpapering – I love wallpaper’ but constraints of a tiny budget and Grade II-listed status meant Crossley had to think outside of the box and be creative with original features. It worked – over ten years she’s infused the storybook quality of the interior with modern cool, marrying principles of nature and harmony found in its outdoor surroundings with nods to sustainability. In the snug sitting room, this translates as clusters of patterned cushions and earthy, mossy paints that mellow the indoor light, while offbeat touches like a bright Elvis poster, or stack of art books inject contemporary fun. A green palm-printed throw is from India, and the blind was made with Indian block-print fabrics found on eBay, while other vibrant fabrics were sourced from Nina Campbell, Penny Morrison and Volga Linen: ‘I adore colour, print and pattern and wanted to get in as many of my favourites as possible.’

Natural fabrics like cotton, linen, seagrass and wool have been used throughout, creating an earthy cosiness and bringing the 16th-century features bang up to date. But Crossley’s addiction to ‘crazy’ wallpapers stops things getting too neutral. ‘We just did our tiny downstairs loo in a very bold, pink and red tulip print wallpaper from Ottoline.’ For the mass of hand-printed flowers on the walls of a bathroom, a friend, Fiona McAlpine, was drafted in. ‘She used lots of colours but the background is a washy pale pink and is just so beautiful. It feels very peaceful.’

While humble in its origins, this is one project that’s always evolving – one of Crossley’s favourite recent additions is the new kitchen. ‘A couple of years ago we overhauled it, which was seriously exciting. We live in there; cooking, eating, homework. It’s definitely the heart of the home.’

It might all seem perfectly orchestrated; a cooler, sharper, newer iteration of shabby chic. But for the most part it’s all been achieved working freehand with a small budget. ‘It’s just a mishmash of things that we loved,’ Crossley muses. ‘It feels very homely and comfortable.

It’s not immaculate and neat but it feels colourful and happy, which is what we wanted.’ With warmth, character and charm radiating from every surface, it’s exactly the sort of place where you want to curl up in an armchair in front of the fire with a good book.

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FOOD & TRAVEL

EAT DRINK ESCAPE

TRIPS OF A LIFETIME How did a reckless drive to Timbuktu lead to a globe-trotting career? Over 140 countries later, Peter Hughes says his youthful passion for adventure also brought him wisdom

Peter aged 27 with the fateful Ford Zephyr en route to Timbuktu

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Peter’s adventures have taken him as far as Antartica

ABOVE & BELOW: Captain Scott’s hut and its provision store, which Peter visited

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

S

ince childhood I have had a compulsion to travel.

I didn’t question why: with compulsions you don’t.

I loved it, and that was enough, and if you’re wise you don’t question love either.

I know where it started: in Suffolk, where my father farmed. The nearest village was a mile away – which when you are six amounts to short-haul travel. Past the farmhouse, the barn and the cattle yard, an ancient shed marked the edge of the homestead. Beyond lay badlands and adventure.

With any luck, both. A cart track wound through thickets of bramble and hazel into a forbidding wood called Mellfield.

It was the first part of the world I explored on my own.

For me, travel was a quest for adventure. But while there may be no wisdom in choosing to travel, one is invariably wiser for having travelled. At the age of 17 I went to America on a whim, ten years later to Timbuktu on a prayer. Since then I have shown my passport at the borders of more than 140 countries. Those early journeys led to my crossing Siberia by train, entering Captain Scott’s hut in the Antarctic, flying in the cockpit of Concorde, transiting the North-West Passage, tracking tigers in India from the back of an elephant and steaming to the Ganges Delta on an ancient paddlewheeler called the Rocket in Bangladesh.

My time in America came about because I was bored at my English boarding school. At a morning assembly early in 1960 the headmaster made a perfunctory announcement about there being no candidates for that year’s EnglishSpeaking Union student exchange scholarship. It would be a pity, he reflected, if no one applied. Ten minutes later, on my way to the first lesson of the day, I decided to do so. It was an impulse that resulted in my spending a year in the United States. At the time I had never been further than Wales.

The journey to Timbuktu was more considered, though now it sounds more like ‘a-good-idea-at-the-time’. The plan was to drive from London to Timbuktu and back in a fortnight. What made the idea so good was that I would do it in a Range Rover. A companion and I would take the most

exciting car of its time to the remotest place on earth. Unfortunately, what made it not such a good idea was that Range Rover wanted no part of it.

Never mind – my companion, the late Eric Jackson, was a Ford works rally driver. Ford were about to replace a model called the Zephyr and had lots unsold. Whatever the Zephyr’s virtues on the highway, few cars were less suited to the Sahara desert.

Inevitably, the expedition came to grief. With 200 miles to go to the fabled city, the car was expiring.

Too late we realised that the Zephyr’s engine had been guzzling Saharan sand in much the same way a baleen whale ingests krill. We reached Timbuktu only by loading the car onto a dilapidated ferry and steaming for two days on the river Niger. Our boat, the Liberté, built in France in 1928, had no engine but was towed by a fuming tug with a corrugated tin roof and half a dozen goats in the stern.

Timbuktu was made from mud. It looked more like the result of erosion than construction.

Streets ran in sandfilled gullies between houses the colour of fudge, a small fruit market was spread in the shade of a large acacia tree and women drew their headscarves across their faces at the sight of foreigners. It hardly lived up to its mystique. The most imposing buildings were three medieval mosques, remnants of Timbuktu’s eminence as one of the most important universities of the Islamic world.

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FOOD & TRAVEL The sand in the streets was ankle deep, enough for the car to get stuck. We paid a jeep driver to push us free. After just two hours we loaded back onto the Liberté and began the journey home. It was another 500 miles before the car died, almost astride the Tropic of Cancer in the centre of the Sahara.

We were 250 miles from any habitation and still nearly 4,000 miles from London. After three days we were rescued by a band of German smugglers.

They were heading south to buy contraband gold in Ghana. Our two-week jaunt had taken a month and the Zephyr was abandoned to the desert.

My trips to Timbuktu and America founded my contention that when you travel is as important as where. I was lucky to get to Timbuktu before a jihadist rebellion put most of Mali out of bounds.

In America I witnessed both the renaissance of President John F Kennedy’s election in 1960 and the abomination of a South still racially segregated. I give thanks for having seen Syria before the civil war.

In Prague, too, my timing was right. Though nothing is more sterile than being told you should have been here yesterday, I first went in 1969, the year after the Soviet Union invaded

ABOVE & RIGHT: Umayyad Mosque, Damascus – the site of Peter’s damascene insight into love and war

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

MY HOPE IS THAT, AMONG OTHER POSITIVE PROCEEDS OF TRAVEL, WE MIGHT COUNT INTERNATIONAL RAPPORT. WHERE POLITICS CREATES STEREOTYPES, TOURISM DISMANTLES THEM

The sun rises over Prague, which Peter visited during, and after, Soviet rule

Czechoslovakia to demolish any incipient twitch of democracy. But then everyone who goes anywhere sees it for the first time. Prague was monochrome and oppressive. Russian tanks were still on the streets, visitors were frequently followed and their rooms bugged. My hotel was unaccountably changed as soon as I arrived. Typical.

Twenty years later I was back, just weeks after the Velvet Revolution had seen the overthrow of communism. Hoardings erected in Wenceslas Square displayed reports of the most important events of the previous 40 years, news the Czechs had been denied. Although Prague was en fête, its fabric was pristine. Streets of untouched and stunningly beautiful buildings had hardly changed since Mozart lived there. I saw no plate glass shop windows and virtually no neon.

It was also astoundingly cheap. A seat at the opera cost £3.

And now what? Local cultures, communities, and endangered wildlife have long harvested the benefits of tourism. They have suffered gravely from the Covid pandemic and tourism’s collapse. In the plague’s uncharted aftermath, travel will have to be questioned and justified like everything else in the new normality. My hope is that, among other positive proceeds of travel, we might count international rapport. Where politics creates stereotypes, tourism dismantles them.

During my first visit to Damascus in 2008 a car bomb in the city killed a leader of Hezbollah. The following day I went to the Great Umayyad Mosque. The imam was delivering his sermon at Friday prayers. I asked my interpreter what he was saying. ‘He is speaking about yesterday,’ he said. ‘What, exactly?’ I asked warily. ‘Yesterday was St Valentine’s Day and he is talking about the importance of love.’ n July/August 2020 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | 107

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B U C K E T - L I S T

T R I P S

ALL OUT ADVENTURE As the world opens up, choose that longed-for trip wisely, says Holly Rubenstein

1

..WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

BOTSWANA

Long considered one of Botswana’s finest safari spots, an $11 million rebuild last year has elevated Jao camp to the ultimate wildlife adventure destination.

The owners’ aim to ‘create a bush retreat that would appeal to the increasingly designsavvy traveller, but would last and be more sustainable’ delivers on all fronts.

Situated in the heart of the Okavango Delta, the camp’s aesthetic is inspired by its rich natural surroundings. Entirely solar powered, it’s a light-impact camp that minimises its footprint every step of the way.

Pick between five tented suites and two private villas, each with a private plunge pool and terrace, as well as a car, guide, chef and butler.

There are numerous ways to experience the abundant wildlife, and get a shot at spotting the Big Five, from thrilling game drives and day excursions to fauna-rich Hunda Island (gourmet picnic in tow), to climbing aboard a traditional mokoro canoe and taking to the water. If all that excitement sounds exhausting, escape to the camp’s sensational spa, hidden beneath the boughs of African ebony trees, overlooking the soothing water below.

BOOK IT: From approx. £1,088 pp per night sharing in November 2020, all inclusive with twice-daily camp activities, park fees and all local drinks. wilderness-safaris.com

Take a mokoro canoe to explore the rich wildlife of the Okavango Delta at Jao camp (below)

Hire HMS Gassten for up to 10 people to explore Norway’s fjords and icy mountains (below)

2

..THE GREAT OUTDOORS

NORWEGIAN FJORDS

Western Norway and its majestic fjords is one of the world’s most beautiful destinations, with towering mountains that plunge into glistening turquoise waters. The launch of HMS Gassten, a newly renovated exclusive hire boat, gives small groups the opportunity to reach otherwise inaccessible spots, all from the comfort of a five-bedroom floating home.

Guests can also be confident in the knowledge that it’s one of the most environmentally progressive boat operators in the world, with tours designed to have the least impact on the fjords.

Visit in the summer for endless daylight, Viking BBQs and mountain hikes. The winter offers guide-led access to the deserted slopes of the majestic Sunnmore Alps, before returning to the ship for candlelit feasts – the epitome of hygge.

BOOK IT: From £37,500 for one week with up to ten people, with full crew, meals, e-bikes and watersports equipment. redsavannah.com

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FOOD & TRAVEL

3

..FAR-FLUNG ECO PARADISE

FRENCH POLYNESIA

When Marlon Brando arrived to film Mutiny on the Bounty on the atoll of Tetiaroa, 30 miles from Tahiti, he fell in love, ‘[It’s] more gorgeous than anything I anticipated,’ he said. ‘If the mermaids can’t sing for me here, Christ they never will.’ Having also fallen for his Tahitian co-star, who he later married, a couple of years later Brando bought the atoll, returning throughout his life, and founding The Brando, a self-sustainable and carbon neutral eco-resort.

It comprises 12 tropical islands, protected by a reef that teems with tropical fish and forms a dazzling lagoon, the centre of diving, water sports, boat trips and exotic birding outings.

Thirty-five beach front villas offer total privacy, with their own stretches of beach, plunge pools and outdoor bathtubs.

The newly opened three-bedroom Brando Residences come complete with a team of dedicated chefs and butlers.

BOOK IT: From £12,795 for seven nights all inclusive at The Brando, including all flights, one spa treatment per villa per day and one excursion per person per day. turquoiseholidays.co.uk

Experience Marlon Brando’s tropical vision on Tetiaroa

4

..LOVERS’ PARADISE

NORTH ISLAND, SEYCHELLES

North Island is the spectacular Indian Ocean retreat that hosted the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their honeymoon – and later, Hollywood royalty, with George and Amal Clooney. Each spacious villa is surrounded by a few acres of jungle garden with its own pool and beach access, so that guests rarely encounter other visitors.

The island’s extraordinary nature has undergone an extensive rehabilitation project in recent years, so that endangered Seychelles flora and fauna could be reintroduced.

Now, birdlife thrives, hawksbill and green turtles nest on the beach and 100-year-old giant tortoises roam the island.

Plunging into its pristine turquoise waters, divers and snorkellers can spot whale sharks and manta rays, as well as a cornucopia of tropical fish. And with the island’s proximity to the equator, it’s one of the best places in the world to be at sundown. How’s that for romance.

BOOK IT: From £5,816 per night B&B with private butler, a villa golf buggy and complimentary activities. north-island.com

Find romance and an abundance of nature on North Island

DISCOVER A NEW GREEK ISLAND The beautiful Greek island of Alonissos in the Sporades sits alongside Skopelos and Skiathos but has remained somewhat under the radar. As well as boasting some quiet, unspoiled beaches, it’s one of the Med’s greenest isles, home to the region’s largest national marine park and a vast array of colourful flowers, archaeological ruins, and marine life (including the Mediterranean monk seal). For a truly unique holiday experience, dive into its new underwater museum, the site of ancient cargo ship remains thought to have sunk in the 5th century BC. With very few major hotels on the island, try one of The Thinking Traveller’s luxury villas instead. thethinkingtraveller.com

JURA

KOLOKITHI BAY

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M Y A N M A R

PURPOSE IN PARADISE Emma Love casts herself away off the coast of Myanmar at Wa Ale, a passion project with sustainability at its heart

A

fter an hour-long hike through dense jungle, which involves scrambling up a long sharp incline to the sound of macaque monkey calls in the distance, followed by a winding, downward trail, we suddenly find ourselves at Honeymoon Beach. On the deserted swathe of white sand is a cool box filled with gin and tonic. Adventure over, we think, sitting back to watch the sunset after having dived into the ocean to cool off.

Then we realise the speedboat taking us back to the other side of the island can’t come fully into shore because of the waves – so we are going to have to swim out to it. Trainers, T-shirts and phones are all piled into the cool box, which is carried on someone’s head as the rest of us set off on a frantic front crawl to the boat, laughing all the way.

This is Wa Ale, a 5,000-acre castaway haven in the little-visited Mergui (or Myeik) Archipelago, off the coast of Myanmar, where wading (and occasionally swimming) through water as you get on and off boats is all part of the fun. Yet this isn’t just another private island playground: the story runs much deeper than that. Founded by American-born, Singapore-based teak furniture designer and manufacturer Chris Kingsley and his wife Farina, a cookbook author, they won their bid to lease the land from the local forestry commission in 2016 and have put sustainability at its core.

For starters, there was the build itself, which took three years and was done mostly by hand without cutting down a single tree. ‘We wanted to keep it simple and wild so we built what we would like if we were on vacation,’ recalls Kingsley, who now spends half his time here. The openplan main pavilion, which has a bar, dining and living area, is made using reclaimed wood from fishing boats.

In the display kitchen (where Burmese cooking classes take place) slate from billiard tables has been repurposed to make a counter top opposite the wood-fired oven used for pizza lunches; in the living area, brass offering bowls from Mandalay are now the base of table lamps and, at the entrance, an old drum set forms part of a glass table.

Along Turtle Beach (named after the green and hawksbill turtles that lay their eggs between December and April each year), there are 14 khaki canvas-tented villas and a trio of treetop villas, each with a teak fourposter bed, an outdoor bathroom and the ocean so close you fall asleep listening to the roar of the waves.

It is quite literally barefoot chic: some guests wear flipflops to pad around but really the sandy paths mean there is no need for footwear at all. Even the jungle gym (a wooden platform for yoga, with kettle bells) and the 110 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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FOOD & TRAVEL

Conservation and community engagement shape life at Wa Ale, a 5,000-acre resort in Myanmar’s Mergui Archipelago

cool River Cafe beach bar (made from old Burmese shutters) are just a few minutes’ walk along the beach.

There’s no room service (other than coffee in the morning), no television and no air con, just wooden ceiling fans. ‘From an energy standpoint, the main concern was just to use less – the island runs on solar power for about seven hours a day,’ explains Kingsley.

A single pump is used for water, which comes from a natural spring, most of the laundry is done on the mainland and the resort makes its own organic fertiliser for the minifarm and kitchen garden, where many of the vegetables are grown.

The food is outstanding, especially when you consider the remote location. Everything, from the seven types of bread to the inventive helpyourself salads at lunch or a green curry sauce at dinner, is made from scratch. There is even a small Wa Ale fish farm nearby, where the team is breeding barramundi and lobster, feeding them with homemade chum. (The island is part of the Lampi Marine National Park, which means no fishing is allowed within a two-mile radius.)

A new boat for patrolling the waters has been donated as part of Kingsley’s ongoing ‘give-back’ pledge to the forestry commission, funded by his non-profit Lampi Foundation that focuses on conservation and social welfare projects.

Twenty per cent of Wa Ale’s net profit, plus two per cent of the room revenue, goes to the foundation, which also provides a weekly medic to nearby Salet Galet fishing village and night guards for the Wa Ale beaches to protect the turtle nests from poachers. (They are also working with conservation charity Fauna & Flora International to tag turtles and provide scientific data.) His efforts so far haven’t gone unnoticed: several high-profile leaders, including Myanmar’s vice president, Myint Swe, have paid a visit to discuss environmental issues. ‘I’m trying to show by example that the country can make more money through tourism by saving the oceans,’ he says.

Kingsley is a design maverick who taught himself how to build a bocce court from watching YouTube videos and copied the decorative knots on the treetop villa balconies from photos on Pinterest. Two new four-bed houses on Honeymoon Beach and three three-bed beach bungalows are slated to open by the end of the year. But above all else he is passionate about protecting this pristine archipelago.

‘I fell in love with this area and the people,’ he says, ‘and I felt that, if I have the opportunity, it’s best to try and protect what’s left in the world that hasn’t yet been destroyed.’ So while guests spend days snorkelling in Canyon Cove, diving at Black Rock for manta rays, kayaking through mangroves and having picnics on nearby islands, they can do so in the knowledge that they, too, are doing some good.

BOOK IT: Experience Travel Group is offering nine nights (seven nights at Wa Ale and two nights in Bangkok) from around £3,950 pp full board, including transfers and flights. experiencetravelgroup.com n July/August 2020 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | 111

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SU BS O CRI FF PT ER IO N

LIVING A BALANCED LIFE 10 ISSUES FOR ONLY £12

10

PRINT ISSUES OF C&TH, SUPPLEMENTS & INSTANT ACCESS TO EVERY DIGITAL EDITION

UP FRONT S T Y L E

STYLE REVOLUTION

GIGI BURRIS Straw hat, £340

Sustainable and ethical are your new fashion watch-words, says Mariella Tandy

BAUM UND PFERDGARTEN Calina turtleneck, £99

STINE GOYA Lindy dress, £1,650

PIPPA HOLT Embroidered kaftan, £460

MARA HOFFMAN Freda dress, £360

Alex Gore Browne’s designs are knitted in Italy using the finest Italian yarns, resulting in pieces that will last a lifetime. Sweater, £195; detachable collar, £265

VOTARY Eye oil, £115

STELLA MCCARTNEY Ruffled blouse, £395

SEED TO SKIN The Dew Mist, £66

CARAVANA Leather belt, £158

NANNACAY Astrid macramé tote, £130

GABRIELA HEARST Hades Agate sandals, £675

BITE STUDIOS Ombré dress, £550

MOTHER OF PEARL Iona trousers, £350

STORY MFG Tie-dyed skirt, £345

24 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | May/June 2020

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10/07/2020 12:34

FOOD & TRAVEL

THE MALDIVES

ISLAND ISOLATION There’s room aplenty to spread out in these magical Maldivian hideaways

Dive into island life at Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru

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FOUR SEASONS RESORT MALDIVES AT LANDAA GIRAAVARU The skies are so vast and sparkling in the Maldives the idea of sleeping under an ordinary flat ceiling is unthinkable. Instead, the double-height vaulted bedrooms in the Four Seasons at Landaa Giraavaru create an expansive sense of freedom and overlook private pools long enough for a proper swim.

Luscious hibiscus and glossy cheese plants surround the thatched outdoor living room, and beyond a bosky thicket of exotic plants the sea washes onto spotless white sand. There are 102 villas here, but in the evening when the restaurants fill with people, you rather wonder where these fellow guests have been all day – indulging in room service or upside down, doing weightless yoga? Under the bright blue sky, hammocks hang loose between palm trees and the four swimming pools are exclusively yours for the day – one is the only Olympic-sized facility in the Maldives. The spa is brilliant, with an Ayurvedic massage that takes clients on a transcendental journey for 90 minutes. Don’t miss the Marine Discovery Centre, where injured turtles and fish come to recuperate with the in-house marine biologists. A heavenly idyll.

BOOK IT: From £6,569pp for three nights B&B from 21 September, followed by three nights on the Four Seasons Explorer catamaran taking part in the Manta Trust diving expedition. Includes flights and transfers. elegantresorts.co.uk

ANANTARA KIHAVAH VILLAS This glorious tree-filled paradise with views over envy-inducing empty stretches of Instagram-worthy private beaches is just what the doctor ordered after the first half of 2020. Offering so much more than just the three S's, more active travellers can revel in days packed with Land Rover drives, star-gazing with the in-house astronomer, underwater dining (and wine tasting!), and unrivalled snorkelling and diving in the UNESCO protected seas. Splice up that action with plenty of time to just be, whether that’s submitting mind and body to the experts in the spa or just meditative breathing in your beachside villa, taking in those views. For dedicated spa bunnies, you could even opt for some more serious nonsurgical intervention – senior aesthetic and wellness nurse, Nur Laili, offers everything from platelet rich plasma treatments and meso facials to IV drips to replenish your system after a long flight, or too many champagne cocktails at the Sky bar.

BOOK IT: From £7,053 for two people for six nights, including snorkelling with manta rays, stargazing at the Maldives’ only over-water observatory, and dining underwater at Sea restaurant. Until 31 October 2021. kihavah-maldives.anantara.com 114 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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FOOD & TRAVEL

NALADHU PRIVATE ISLAND Translated as ‘beautiful island’, Naladhu is the ultimate in ‘far from the madding crowd’ privacy, offering pin-drop silence where rest and relaxation are the order of the day. Located in the South Malé Atoll, a nifty half-hour speed boat ride from Malé airport, just 20 spacious and immaculate residences offer a getaway where you literally don’t have to clap your eyes on anybody else. Unless, that is, you want a private chef to cook you up a wicked feast, or an in-house spa therapist with healing hands to administer massages beside your own swimming pool. In fact, it would be a sin not to submit to Naladhu’s famous in-room ‘spa journey’ – choosing between Ayurvedic, Thai, Balinese or Western programmes. Once you’ve got over your jet lag and your body’s feeling soft and supple, head out for activities such as kayaking, snorkelling and swimming with sharks, should the mood take you. Come here for nothing more than the sand under your toes, the salty sea water against your skin, the sun on your face and every conceivable anxiety taken care of. Sounds like the perfect holiday. And you can always book out the entire island should you either be planning the reunion of the century or really can’t stand the thought of anybody else being around.

BOOK IT: From £954 B&B for an ocean house with a pool. anantara.com

EMERALD MALDIVES RESORT & SPA Mastering the tricky all-inclusive concept is the recently opened Emerald Maldives Resort & Spa, found in the northwestern part of the Maldives archipelago. Villas are available to book for a lower rate than many of the resort’s all-inclusive competitors, though this certainly doesn’t come at the price of design, facilities or service, all of which are impeccable. Once you’re on the island, there’s no need to worry about additional costs – bar a few extras, such as jet skiing – adding a new level of relaxation. With 20 hectares of land to play with, Emerald has more space than many Maldivian resorts too, allowing privacy across the 120 villas, which are split between the beach and the water. Food is a highlight, with four restaurants to explore including Amazònico, the first South American restaurant in the Maldives: a rainforest-style, lantern-bedecked space with an open fire grill. ‘Natural elegance’ is the hotel’s tagline: bamboo, langhi langhi leaves and stones create a tropical-chic vibe in which the architecture exists in harmony with the natural landscape. Italian influences can also be seen in aspects of the design – the Venetian-inspired bathrooms are worthy of a special mention, featuring white marble, freestanding baths and floor-to-ceiling windows boasting some of the best views in the whole of the Maldives. And the bar is set high.

BOOK IT: From £550 all-inclusive for a deluxe beach villa. emerald-maldives.com July/August 2020 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | 115

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JW MARRIOTT MALDIVES Straw hats off to JW Marriott. With its ultraprivate supersize villas, sensational food and abundance of water sports, the brand has raised the bar yet again with its spanking new resort in the Maldives. Set on the remote island of Vagary in the northern atoll of Shaviyani, this beach retreat has 60 thatched villas, each with a private pool and thakuru (butler). Pops of cream, blue and natural materials echo the surroundings with massive expanses of glass to draw the outside in.

When beachside lounging gets too much, get stuck into the preposterously long list of water activities on offer – the snorkelling turtle quest is a must.

Back on dry land, drop your little ones off at the fantastic kids’ club before heading to the sublime overwater spa (book the deeply healing stress relief massage). The five restaurants in the resort stretch from Italian to Thai – don’t miss the Japanese teppanyaki at Hashi, run by former Nobu chef Namuraj Tamang. Grab a cocktail beforehand in Rum Baan, nestled in the treetops, which has a staggering 98 signature rums to sample. Or, for the all-out local experience, go for a traditional Malaafaiy dinner on the beach. You won't regret it.

BOOK IT: From approx. £681 B&B for a pool villa. marriott.co.uk

GILI LANKANFUSHI

IMAGES: © STEVIE MANN

Gili Lankanfushi has won a swag of awards for best resort in the Maldives and Asia – and it’s not hard to see why. It’s postcard perfect – from the blindingly white sand beaches fringed by swaying palms, to the room-temperature green ocean, to the champagne, sashimi and feet-in-the-sand breakfasts, to some of the best snorkelling in the Southern Hemisphere.

It’s even changed its clocks to ‘island-time’, so guests enjoy an extra hour of sunlight. When you arrive at the North Atoll by speedboat (20 minutes from Malé airport), you surrender your shoes as part of the No Shoes, No News policy. Your butler then takes you to your spacious over-water villa. Each guest gets use of a bike, but it's tempting – initially at least – to not leave your luxuriously appointed new home. Whole days can pass pleasurably as you loll on the villa’s hammocks, daybeds and in the upper deck area (where a bed can be made up to sleep under the stars). If you feel energetic, you can jump off your back deck to have a quick snorkel. Once you do venture out, activities include the sunset dolphin cruise, surf lessons and diving. But it’s tempting to just chill. The spa is divine. Drift off during your Ayurvedic massage while looking at bull sharks and manta rays as they swim past the glass spa floor.

BOOK IT: Doubles from approx. £1,157. gili-lankanfushi.com 116 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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FOOD & TRAVEL

FURAVERI ISLAND RESORT & SPA A humble island intrinsically connected with its destination and situated near a UNESCO biosphere reserve, Furaveri offers enticing dive sites and manta ray hotspots. Entirely un-reclaimed, meaning the development of the island has had minimal impact on its surroundings, here is a place that champions natural beauty with a glorious, unspoilt beach that elegantly wraps itself around the lush 23-hectare island.

Friendly and unpretentious, it’s a great alternative to the glitz and glamour of many other Maldivian resorts. Woven among a dense jungle retreat, the understated chic of the 107 villas offer spacious, marble-finished bathrooms with huge egglike bathtubs, whilst the beach pool villas feature laissez-faire cabanas filled with the sound of the ocean. From a Mexican grapefruit margarita on the perimeter of the reef to Japanses dishes from an interactive teppanyaki counter, Furaveri offers diners a global menu. Much of its organic produce is sourced from its considerable chef garden, which nurtures chilli trees, herbs, fruit and vegetables for both guests and those who live and work there. The island also houses its very own on-site bottling plant, where up to 360 tonnes of seawater is transformed into drinking water.

BOOK IT: From £295 for a beachfront villa full board. furaveri.com

IMAGES: © STEVIE MANN

INTERCONTINENTAL MALDIVES MAAMUNAGAU RESORT Here’s the thing – it’s not hard to find silky soft sand and azure waters in the Maldives. What truly sets this resort apart is the way it makes you feel. From the moment you step onto the arrival jetty and are welcomed like a long-lost friend with a cool drink and warm hug, you get a sense of home. The meticulous attention to detail extends beyond each room’s bricolage interiors, and is infused in every interaction you have with staff.

A dedicated island curator will be on hand to make your stay seamless, organising snorkelling trips, stargazing, beach picnics, outdoor movie nights, spa treatments, and even unpacking and repacking your suitcase. It’s also the first InterContinental resort to offer Club InterContinental benefits to all guests, including complimentary afternoon tea and aperitif cocktails. Enclaved within the Maldives’ largest lagoon, you needn’t venture too far to swim among rays, sharks, turtles and schools of fish. There are six dining spots but Fish Market, with its open kitchen and indoor/outdoor seating truly stands out with a bold menu that’s bursting with aromatic, south-east Asian flavour. The overwater spa is heavenly but for a truly transformative treatment, book in with the Chinese medicine doctor whose methods include acupuncture, cupping, remedial tui-na, herbal medicine and other ancient techniques to restore internal balance.

BOOK IT: From approx. £791 for a beach pool villa. maldives.intercontinental.com July/August 2020 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | 117

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WALDORF ASTORIA MALDIVES ITHAAFUSHI This highly anticipated new opening takes barefoot luxury to the next level from the moment you land.

While others wait to pile onto tiny seaplane transfers, an air-conditioned Princess yacht with sun deck (and four bedrooms) whisks new arrivals, champagne in hand, on a blissful 40-minute cruise to the resort.

Forget any corporate connotations – this Waldorf Astoria maximises on marrying innovative and imaginative concepts (think photogenic tree-top bamboo dining nests at the superb Terra restaurant and glass-bottomed spa treatment rooms for midmassage shark spotting) with sophistication and relaxed comfort. Spread across three private islands joined by bridges, it’s one of the Maldives’ larger hotels – though with comparatively fewer villas, there’s a total sense of privacy. Villas are vast. Some overwater, others on the beach, and reef villas: a bit of both. Floor-to-ceiling windows look out onto a spacious deck with a private infinity pool big enough to really swim in. With snorkels delivered to your door, and a house reef teeming with a technicolour array of sea life just a short swim away, one could easily never leave their villa. Make sure you do, though, as with 11 restaurants, a sublime spa and an abundance of water sports and excursions on offer, there’s so much to see and savour in this truly exceptional spot.

BOOK IT: Reef villa with pool from £1,480 B&B. waldorfastoriamaldives.com

LUX* NORTH MALÉ ATOLL If your vibe is more Miami than Maldives, then you’ll love the newest opening from the sexy Lux* group, in the North Malé Atoll, easily reached by speed boat or a 15- minute sea plane hop. Nautically inspired blindingly white duplex villas accented with zesty pops of pink and red, cut a different shape to the traditional Maldivian Robinson Crusoe-esque abodes.

Whether it’s overwater or on the island’s golden sand beach, each villa has a spacious deck, Instagrammable turquoise and pink tiled infinity pool as well as an upstairs open-air lounge area – a unique offering with panoramic views of the Indian Ocean, perfect for sunset gazing and dolphin spotting. There’s an energy to this resort, in contrast to other so-laid-back-they’rehorizontal islands. Guests are busy jet skiing, water skiing, snorkelling and playing tennis. All that action calls for some of the best food on offer in the Maldives.

In-villa dining is taken to new heights with the option of floating breakfasts and lunches beautifully served on trays while you stay cool in the pool (and pose for a photo or two). And don’t miss Inti, the JapanesePeruvian fusion spot, serving world class fresh ceviche and sushi, under the twinkling stars.

BOOK IT: Water villa from £925 B&B basis. luxresorts.com 118 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | July/August 2020

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FOOD & TRAVEL

THE RESIDENCE MALDIVES AT DHIGURAH Just 13 miles north of the equator, this resort is remote even by Maldivian standards. Too far from capital Malé to travel by seaplane, it can only be reached on a 55-minute domestic flight and final speedboat ride to secluded Gaafu Alifu, one of the world’s largest and deepest atolls. The island itself is thick with jungle, sandy pathways weaving through banana and coconut trees for a real back-to-nature feel. There are 173 villas, from beachfront to overwater with either sunrise or sunset views, but none will disappoint. All are spacious but simply designed, with thatched roofs, neutral colours and teak and rattan interiors, and all come with private pools, bicycles and Insta-perfect views of the glowing, aquamarine sea and endless horizon beyond.

There are water-sports galore, dolphin-watching cruises, a kids’ club, glorious 42-metre infinity pool, Clarins spa and the resort’s own deserted island for an unmissable picnic lunch. Otherwise, feast on international flavours at the Dining Room, classic Cantonese fare at Li Bai and the Mediterranean menu at poolside Café del Sol, or cycle the stunning one-kilometre bridge to Falhumaafushi to sample the excellent restaurants at the resort’s neighbouring sister property. A double delight.

BOOK IT: A Book Now Stay Later package offers up to 50 per cent off the best available rate, for stays anytime from 1 October 2020 to 31 October 2021, when booking minimum four nights. Doubles from £328. cenizaro.com

VARU A relative newcomer, Varu opened in late 2019. Located on the north-west edge of the Malé Atoll, it’s just a 40-minute speedboat ride from Malé airport. On arrival, a golf buggy whisks guests to one of 108 beach-front or overwater villas, each with inviting décor featuring both luxurious and natural elements, with additions such as open-air bathrooms and private pools. Regardless of accommodation, every guest is on an all-inclusive plan that covers non-motorized water sports, a range of excursions (including stargazing and fishing), all meals and an impressive array of drinks (for example – the minibar is, dangerously, replenished twice daily). Dining options include a contemporary buffet and traditional Maldivian restaurant, complete with educational video on arrival. Unwind in the Elena spa, where face-down time is enhanced by views through the floor’s window onto the water, or lounge by the infinity pool for dreamy sunset views.

Recreational options range from a games room (great for those scorching midday hours) to an Astro football pitch, to the free use of snorkelling equipment – perfect for reef exploration that can be accessed, blissfully, from your very own living space.

BOOK IT: Seven nights from £2,799pp, including transfers. varu-atmosphere.com n July/August 2020 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | 119

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HOME-GROWN GLORY Sautéed with garlic, creamed, or even added to tahini and poached eggs – Swiss chard is just as much of a multi-tasker as it’s trendy cousin, kale. Not to mention packed with disease-fighting antioxidants that combat free radicals, plus magnesium, iron and vitamins A and C. The best news? It’s in season now.

THIS MON TH EAT Snacks that taste too good to be true. Cru8, £4.90. cru8foods.co.uk

N E W S

GASTRO GOSSIP

CHEERS!

Casamigos Casa Blanco is the perfect garden party tipple. Blend 40ml Casamigos Blanco, 50ml Vermouth Rosato, 10ml lemon juice, 12.5ml of vanilla syrup and 100ml prosecco. Garnish with lime and a splash of afternoon sun. casamigos.com

The hunger games.

By Sofia Tindall

SLOW LIVING

Don’t be put off by the Seventies vibe: one-pot cooking is back. Staub’s chunky, cast-iron La Coquette is ideal for whipping up low-fat dishes like curries, dhals and stews packed with goodness. £199. staub-online.com

SPEND Smeg and Dolce & Gabbana are a match made in (colourful) heaven. Sicily my Love espresso machine, £999.95. harrods.com

READ Afternoon tea, Downton style.

(Frances Lincoln, £12.99)

SUPERMARKET SWEEP Cometh the hour, cometh the man; just as the weekly shop was losing its novelty, Chris D’Sylva (of Notting Hill Fish Shop fame) has come to the rescue with the Supermarket of Dreams. Expect Michelin-standard dishes and shelves piled with ingredients from Skye Gyngell, Natoora and Ottolenghi. Or, for the best grass-fed, free range meat in sustainable packaging, pop over to Provenance Village Butcher on Kensington Park Road. nottinghillfishshop.co.uk; provenancebutcher.com

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

BOX FRESH

Ditch the takeaway: Turkish-Cypriot chef Hasan Semay has joined meal kit stars Passo To Go for a menu of fresh twists on Italian favourites like fennel sausage ragu and spaghetti amatriciana.

The ingredients are delivered fresh to your door, and a pizza-pie to throw together. passotogo.com

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FOOD & TRAVEL R E C I P E

FLAVOUR FUSION

Julie Jones has an alternative to your summer picnic quiche

GOAT’S CH EESE A N D F EN N EL JA M GA L ET T E

INGREDIENTS SERVES FOUR - SIX

PHOTOS: © PETER CASSIDY

» Salted shortcrust pastry » Plain flour » Egg wash » » » » » » » » » » »

FOR THE FENNEL JAM 2 large fennel bulbs 250ml water 200g jam sugar Juice of ½ lemon 1 tsp Maldon salt Black pepper ½ tsp very finely chopped garlic ¼ tsp toasted fennel seeds 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley

FOR THE TOPPING » 200g Golden Cross goat’s cheese log or alternative » ½ tsp fennel seeds » 100g Innes goat’s curd or alternative

S

FOODIE TA L ES

ometimes recipes are worked out during hands-on cooking and tasting, sometimes I simply imagine how ingredients will work together. Some work, some don’t, some evolve and make the grade, some will never be made again. When I first imagined a fennel jam, I knew it would be good, but I wasn’t expecting it to be this good. My imagination had done me proud. It proves to be the perfect accompaniment for goat’s cheese.

JULIE JONES on fresh tomatoes, panjiggling and a well-stocked larder

METHOD

Food philosophy? Cook with love and care and use all of your senses.

Roll out the shortcrust pastry between cling film to 3mm, in a circular shape. Rest.

Halve each fennel bulb, then finely slice across each half. Place in a saucepan with the water, jam sugar and lemon juice and bring to a simmer, allowing to gently bubble for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sugary water will reduce to a sticky glaze that coats the fennel slices.

Chop the reserved fronds and add to the jam with the remaining seasonings.

Allow to cool completely.

Remove the cling film from the pastry and transfer to a sheet of baking paper. Spread half the cooled jam over the pastry, covering all but a 3cm border. Slice the goat’s cheese log into 1cm thick rounds and place on top of the fennel jam. Sprinkle with salt, then fold up the uncovered border before then placing in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180oC. Brush the pastry with the egg wash, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for a further 15 minutes, – the pastry and the goat’s cheese will be golden. Remove from the oven, spoon dots of the soft goat’s curd in and around the galette, sprinkle with the toasted fennel seeds and serve immediately.

Sweet cicely fronds work beautifully with this galette due to the aniseed flavour.

The Pastry School by Julie Jones (Kyle Books, £25) n

What was the first dish you cooked?

Eggs. I was always allowed to make the egg dishes for family lunches. I had perfected scrambled, poached and soft boiled eggs from a young age.

Most vivid childhood food memory?

Making gravy swimming pools inside my Nana’s Yorkshire puddings on a Sunday.

Favourite ingredient that’s in season right now? Tomatoes. Absolutely beautiful when in season. I usually keep them simple, in Greek salads and the like.

Biggest mistake you’ve made? Being too ambitious with a menu when I was first starting out. It’s much better to do one thing really well than three things in a mediocre way.

Most memorable meal out? I was lucky enough to attend a celebratory dinner at Le Manoir last October. Not only was Raymond there, many of his protégés were cooking, too. The food was spectacular in all ways. To top it off, Heston Blumenthal walked in and I finally got my photo (I was too embarrassed to ask when I was a stagier at The Fat Duck).

Do you have any unusual kitchen rules?

Don’t come in and jiggle my pans or stir the contents of them! It’s annoying.

What’s in your fridge right now? A real mismatch of bits and pieces that I’ll make sure I use up before the next food shop. A well-stocked dry larder is key to transforming fridge raid meals into delicious dinners. However fridge staples always include butter, pickles, olives and vegetables.

Where’s the first place you’re going for dinner when restaurants re-open? My friend and fellow food lover Milli Taylor and I have talked about visiting The River Café as soon as we’re able to. It’s something to look forward to, I can’t wait.

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FOOD & TRAVEL COOKING FANCY AT HOME RESTAUR A NT REVIEW

TEN THINGS I LEARNT FROM SANTIAGO

COOKING UP A STORM

1 2 3 4 5 6

You can make ceviche without fish. As proven by the tasty tomato and black cherry little number I’ve just dished up.

Anastasia Bernhardt makes ceviche with Santiago Lastra, the acclaimed Mexican chef

Charring tomatoes in lamb fat is a much more exciting way to peel them than just water.

It’s OK to drizzle sizzling hot animal fat over a plateful of fruit – much as you would with olive oil on a salad.

Anastasia’s finished dish of tomato and black cherry ceviche

I need to invest in bowls that aren’t chipped – as the picture on the left shows.

The salsa macha I made to serve with the ceviche blends chilli (ancho and arbol) fried in vegetable oil, with honey and ground sunflower seeds – but for a simpler option you can blend the seeds with stock to make a beautiful creamy chicken sauce.

ABOVE & RIGHT: Santiago and Anastasia in the comfort of their own kitchens

I

Which sounds simple, until you realise that there are 16 different ingredients involved.

t’s day 70 of lockdown and I’m now so desperate for a snifter of my old restaurant-hopping ways that I’ve resorted to extreme measures. One unexpected benefit of restaurants being closed was that I managed to convince Santiago Lastra to help me in my quest for restaurant perfection.

Known as the Nomadic Chef, Santiago has spent four years travelling 27 countries, hosting pop-ups, one-off suppers and guest chef residencies. He helped to launch Noma’s Mexico outpost and has worked in some of the most revered kitchens in Europe. In other words, he’s not usually an easy man to pin down. Especially as he would have been a couple of months into launching his debut restaurant, Kol, in Marylebone, where he planned to take the techniques from his native Mexico and apply them to produce from the British Isles.

7 8

There is a reason that restaurants hire pot washers... as I found later than evening.

But, thanks to lockdown, I’m having a sneak preview of Kol before it opens this autumn, albeit with a twist – I have to make the food myself, with a helping hand from Santiago himself.

As it turns out, I can do a pretty decent job of rustling up tomato and black cherry ceviche if I beam in an acclaimed chef over Zoom, have a spare hour and a half (not including the time it took to trail between four different shops to source the ingredients) and don’t mind using every dish in the house. Read on to find out what I learnt...

To try Santiago’s ceviche recipe yourself, head to countryandtownhouse.co.uk. Kol opens in Marylebone later this year, kolrestaurant.com n

There’s really no excuse to spend £8 on a green juice in Whole Foods. Simply blitz cucumber with chives, garlic and kombucha, then strain. This gazpacho-style leche de tigre doubles up as a cheffy sauce.

9

Chochoyotes are Mexico’s answer to dumplings. Make a dough with water and masa harina (super-smooth corn flour) and pop raw into the soup. Or, of course, you could fry them as we did to add texture to the ceviche.

10

There is no way in hell this is worth the effort. I for one can’t wait for Kol to open and Santiago can cook me this dish, in person, without the pile of washing up at the end.

SIGN ED, SE A L ED, DELI V ER ED THE BEST FOOD DELIVERIES

YORKSHIRE GOLD Tommy Banks’ food boxes are the best thing to come out of Yorkshire since Sean Bean. They aren’t thrifty, but Tommy is the chef of Michelin-starred The Black Swan, and quite frankly I’d pay any amount to have his food delivered to my door. tommybanks.co.uk

ECONOMY OF SCALES My cats were beside themselves with excitement when The Wright Brothers Catch of Day box landed on the doorstep – as were the fishermen in Devon, Cornwall and Scotland who have otherwise lost their usual restaurant trade. £55. thewrightbrothers.co.uk

HAM IT UP A plate of charcuterie is one of the few headache-free ways to recreate the restaurant experience at home.

I’d always trust Vallebona to deliver the goods as they supply the likes of Le Gavroche and River Café.

Festino Grazing box, £75. vallebona.co.uk

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PROPERTY

HOUSE OF THE MONTH What’s to love? This is one of the most beautiful houses in England, offering all the benefits of rural and village life. It has a long cultural history, and was once the home of Sir Cecil Beaton.

What’s it like? The Grade II-listed house is elegant and chic, with interiors designed by Beaton (albeit updated by its last owners).

Who would love it? Every person who views this house says it’s their dream home. It’s great for families, couples, retirees – anyone and everyone! It’s a grand house on a small scale.

Any juicy history? There’s a rich historical archive, curated by Beaton, and the house’s deeds between 1599 and 1823 survive. In the 1930s it was home to the parents of artist Christopher Wood.

Reddish House, Broad Chalke, Salisbury Price: £4m 7 bedrooms 6 bathrooms 6 acres

What would parties be like here? Beaton threw plenty of soirées in his home, with guests as illustrious as Sir Mick Jagger, Truman Capote, David Hockney and Lucian Freud. Greta Garbo even moved in for a spell, staying for six weeks. Parties at Reddish House would be as amusing today as they were back then.

What’s the garden like? The six acres of grounds are in the classic English style, with expansive lawns and ancient trees with a variety of sheltered walled garden rooms. The winter garden, where so many of Beaton’s famed photographs were taken, looks to be straight from of a set of My Fair Lady.

What’s on the doorstep? The lovely Wiltshire village of Broad Chalke, with a church, vibrant community shop and cafe, and an Ofsted-rated ‘outstanding’ local primary. Salisbury is just eight miles to the east, and offers a wide range of amenities as well as first-class shopping. The area is renowned for an excellent choice of independent schools.

020 7016 3820; savills.com n

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BEST FOR...

A WATERSIDE TOUR Enjoy coffee and croissants at Spoke & Stringer (spokeand stringer.com) then take the ferry crossing to SS Great Britain and on to the M Shed. bristolmuseums. org.uk A DECENT CUP OF COFFEE Full Court Press on Broad Street serves the city’s best coffee. fcp.coffee

M O V E

The view over Bristol harbour to Hotwells’ colourful houses

T O

BRISTOL

Escape the urban rat race in greener Bristol, says Anna Tyzack

F

or centuries Bristol has been a distinguished melting pot, home to engineers, artists, students and musicians. Now its period houses, leafy squares and regenerated warehouses are attracting young families from London who find the Home Counties just a little too stuffy and like the idea of walking or cycling to work. ‘In Bristol, Londoners are able to achieve a better work/life balance while still feeling they are part of something exciting,’ explains Jo Henry, West Country specialist at Jess Simpson Property Search (jesssimpson.com). ‘There’s a vibrant music and food scene and the city is the hub for the financial and tech industries in the South West, meaning they don’t have to worry about losing their London income,’ she says.

Over the past decade a steady flow of London families has made the move to Bristol and, according to Land Registry figures, the average house price has grown by at least 50 per cent in the past six years, while last year Bristol was the most searched-for place on Rightmove outside London. ‘We moved here for more space and easy access to the coast and countryside,’ explains Louise Ronan, a management consultant who moved to Bristol from Streatham in south London two years ago, together with her husband Benjamin, a solicitor. ‘Our companies both had offices in Bristol; it made sense for us to relocate,’ she says.

Despite the price growth, Bristol still offers good value for money compared to London. At £292,000, the average price for a terraced house is about 40 per

Surfers can now hang ten at The Wave, Bristol’s 180m surfing lagoon

cent cheaper than it is in the capital, and living costs are more affordable, too. Yet when the Ronans need to be in London, the fast train from Bristol Parkway to London Paddington takes just 68 minutes, ensuring they can work in the capital all day and return home for their children’s bedtime. There’s also an international airport just 20 minutes outside the city, which Louise uses to visit her team in Amsterdam.

But Bristol is becoming a media and financial hub in its own right. The BBC, Rolls-Royce, Hargreaves Lansdown and Airbus all have headquarters in the city; Channel 4 has just opened a new hub in Finzels Reach, Bristol’s new waterfront quarter, and there’s also a thriving financial services industry.

The city places a strong emphasis on sustainability, which appeals to the Ronans. In 2015 it was the UK’s first European Green Capital, welcoming the first-ever bus powered by human waste; there are city farms, a comprehensive cycle network, and Hydrogenesis, a hydrogen-powered, zero emissions fuel cell boat that operates in Bristol’s historic floating harbour. The city is also home to the Soil Association and Sustrans, the charity behind the development of the National Cycle Network.

A CASUAL DINNER Margaritas, taquitos and tostadas at Masa + Mezcal, modern Mexican eats in trendy Stokes Croft. masaandmezcal. co.uk MOVIE NIGHT Settle into a film at Everyman Bristol in Clifton (everyman cinema.com) followed by dinner at Wilson’s. wilsonsbristol. co.uk SURF’S UP Test your board skills on this 180m man-made surfing lake just outside Bristol. thewave.com

A CULTURAL NIGHT OUT Dine at 1766 Bar & Kitchen before watching a show at Bristol Old Vic. bristololdvic. org.uk

PHOTOS: ©GETTY IMAGES; ©JOHN CRAIG; ©GLOBAL SHOTS; ©FRED HOWARTH

L E T ’ S

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PROPERTY

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Bristol is also rich in terms of culture. Banksy, Damien Hirst, JK Rowling and John Cleese were born here and the city is home to the Bristol Old Vic drama school, whose alumni include David Walliams, Patricia Routledge and Daniel Day Lewis. Theatres include the Old Vic (which has a renowned restaurant), the Hippodrome and Theatre Bristol. There are also several art galleries and museums, and two world-class universities, University of Bristol and University of the West of England (UWE Bristol).

For families leaving London, the schools are another major incentive. There’s a range of outstanding primaries as well as high-scoring state secondaries such as Redland Green School and Colston’s Girls’ School. The excellent private schools include Bristol Grammar School and Clifton College, both co-educational; for parents who prefer single-sex education, there’s Badminton School for girls and Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital for boys.

Popular areas for families within the city include the undulating suburbs of Cotham and Redland. Also sought-after are Montpelier, Leigh Woods and Abbots Leigh and the regeneration schemes in the north and east of the city centre.

St Andrews, a residential area to the northeast of the city, is also popular, in particular the streets off Gloucester Road, a busy high street

with independent shops and bars, not dissimilar to Northcote Road or Marylebone High Street in London. The Ronan family paid just over £750,000 for their five-bedroom early Victorian home near a county cricket ground. ‘It’s the kind of house we would never have afforded in London; the garden is enormous and there’s still the chance to develop the attic,’ Louise says.

It’s Clifton, however, that particularly draws wealthy Londoners, with prices rising 66 per cent in ten years, according to Knight Frank.

‘Its village centre has become seriously grown up and caters perfectly for the changing face of the local market,’ says Henry. ‘Here you find The Ivy, Fired Earth, Farrow & Ball, several boutiques and many quirky, independent outlets.’

It’s also perfectly possible to live in the countryside outside Bristol and commute to the city within 15 or 20 minutes. The south Gloucestershire villages of Frampton Cotterell, Frenchay, Tockington, Alveston and Winterbourne, which are just a short drive from Bristol Parkway rail station, appeal to those commuting to London. According to Henry, buyers are also looking to less-populated villages to the south of Bristol such as Chew Magna, Chew Stoke and the Harptrees, which offer an unspoilt rural setting close to the cultural facilities and business opportunities of Bristol.

Since the Ronans made the move to Bristol, three other couples they know from London have done the same, as well as Louise’s parents, who had previously spent their entire lives in the capital. ‘In London, all we had within walking distance was slides, swings and cafes,’ Louise says. ‘Here our horizons are so much wider.’ n

FOR SA L E

CHEW MAGNA, £2.5M Idyllic, small private estate on the edge of the Chew valley, within striking distance of Bristol, featuring a restored six-bedroom farmhouse and five stone barns with full residential planning consent. Surrounding the house are extensive gardens, an orchard and wildlife pond, plus equestrian facilities and over eight acres. killens.org.uk

CLIFTON, £1.495M An immaculately presented Gothic Victorian family home with an impressive drawing room to the front and a spacious kitchen and dining room. There are five bedrooms and the potential for a onebedroom apartment on the lower ground floor plus an attractive rear garden and garaging. knightfrank.com

CLIFTON, £1.25M This house enjoys an elevated position in one of Clifton’s most sought-after locations, with accommodation over four floors, including three reception rooms, four bedrooms, a bespoke kitchen/ breakfast room, ample sunny gardens, off-street parking and fantastic views. knightfrank.com

Finzels Reach, the new waterfront quarter

Wapping Wharf is a new development in Bristol’s historical and cultural heart

REDLAND, £1.2M This substantial four-bedroom period townhouse has established sunny gardens and ample parking on Hampton Park, a short walk from Whiteladies Road. Accommodation includes an impressive drawing room, music room, new kitchen and an elegant formal dining room. knightfrank.com

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TA R A BER NER D

LOR D SPENCER

DAVID LIN LEY

PA N DOR A SY KE S

KELLY HOPPEN

Welcome in. C&TH invites you into the houses of a host of famous faces, including the biggest names in interior design and decoration.

KIT KEMP

NINA CA MPBELL

TIM GOSLING

Unique to Country & Town House, The House Guest podcast – interviews with the biggest names from design and decoration, as well as celebrities sharing experiences and tips from their own renovation projects.

Hosted by C&TH Interiors Editor Carole Annett.

AVAILABLE ON

@countryandtown

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Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

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PROPERTY

F I V E

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COUNTRY COTTAGE BOLTHOLES Go far from the madding crowd, says Amy Wakeham

HASLEMERE, SURREY, £1.875m

This pretty Surrey five-bedroom house really does offer the best of both worlds. Although less than an hour from London Waterloo by train, it’s surrounded by beautiful green English countryside, as well as one acre of gardens. The house, which dates back to the Victorian times, features a beautiful castellated octagonal extension, designed in the Arts and Crafts style, and a terrace for al fresco entertaining. A separate barn provides further accommodation, a gym and wine cellar, and there’s scope for a home office. struttandparker.com

FARNHAM, DORSET, £750,000

This lovely West Country cottage dates back to the 18th century and has all the charm to go with it. Grade IIlisted, it has painted and rendered walls, a traditional thatched roof and is nestled in a rose-filled garden.

It was recently renovated to include underfloor heating downstairs and a modern kitchen. Upstairs, there are four bedrooms and two bathrooms. knightfrank.co.uk

LOSTWITHIEL, CORNWALL, £2.5m Hill Farm is an elegant farmhouse in the peaceful hamlet of Lostwithiel, south-east Cornwall. Situated on the edge of the beautiful Boconnoc Estate, the property comprises 20 acres of pasture and woodland, with four double bedrooms and an openplan kitchen in the main house. There’s an adjoining one-bedroom guest house with a home office, stables and a renovated barn with a heated pool, screening and games rooms. jonathancunliffe.co.uk

STROUD, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, £649,995 Lilac Cottage is your very own gateway to the Cotswolds. On the outskirts of Stroud, not far from Laurie Lee’s beloved Slad Valley, the cottage enjoys a light-filled southerly position with views of the countryside. It’s constructed from tradition Cotswold stone, and offers a master bedroom with en-suite and dressing room, and two further bedrooms.

A conservatory, spacious gardens and stone terrace complete the cottage. hamptons.co.uk

BILLINGSHURST, WEST SUSSEX, OFFERS OVER £1m An idyllic cottage that’s half-tile hung in the traditional style, Grade II-listed Oakfield House is a delightful country escape. It’s nestled in the leafy village of Kirdford and offers four bedrooms and two reception rooms, as well as a beautifully renovated barn with a home office and studio. Trains from nearby Billingshurst take just over an hour to reach London Victoria. housepartnership.co.uk

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Sensational Coastal Estate Lymington, Hampshire Lymington: 0.5 miles, Brockenhurst: 4 miles Rare estate in one of the most enviable positions on the Hampshire coastline with magnificent views.

7 reception rooms, 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, annexe, leisure complex, equestrian facilities, outbuildings, irrigated formal gardens, paddocks, wild meadow, pastureland. EPC = D About 36 acres | Guide ÂŁ8.5 million Crispin Holborow Savills London Country Department 020 3504 3380 cholborow@savills.com

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Steven Moore Savills Winchester 01962 658 768 smoore@savills.com

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Exceptional Parkland Setting Oundle, Northamptonshire Oundle: 5 miles, Peterborough Train Station: 18 miles Grade I listed Jacobean manor house with Georgian alterations and additions. 7 reception rooms, 9 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, ballroom, historic squash court, stables, 2 cottages, 2 gate lodges, 2 separate Georgian pavilions, parkland, pasture land and river frontage. EPC = G About 321 acres | Guide ÂŁ10 million Louisa Over Savills London Country Department 020 3504 7230 lover@savills.com

Sam Thomas Savills Lincoln 01522 717 869 sthomas@savills.com

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Devon, Exeter

Guide Prices: Apt 1 £265,000. Apt 2 £275,000

Two elegant Georgian Grade II Listed penthouse apartments with extensive countryside and river views, set in approximately 11 acres of superb communal grounds.

Exeter St. David’s station 1.7 miles, Exeter city centre 2 miles, M5 (Jct 29) 5.5 miles, Sandy beaches at Exmouth 14 miles Each apartment has: Drawing room | Kitchen | 2 Bedrooms | Bathroom Communal grounds including: About 400 yds of river fishing | Wine cellar | Indoor heated pool | Tennis court Oliver Custance Baker Exeter Office | 01392 215 631

Isabel Clifton Exeter Office | 01392 215 631

/struttandparker

@struttandparker

struttandparker.com

60 Offices across England and Scotland, including prime Central London.

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I N S P I R AT IO NA L HO M E S F O R A S P I R AT IO NA L L I F E S T Y L E S Offering brand new and beautifully restored homes, from two bedroom apartments to six bedroom houses, all homes at Broadoaks Park will be finished to Octagon’s high level of specification and set within 25 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds.

With only a select few homes still available in phase one at Broadoaks Park, work is now underway on phase two, due to launch this summer.

West Byfleet village and train station are less than 1 mile away, with regular train services to London Waterloo taking from 28 minutes.

Guide prices range from £625,000 to £1,850,000.

R E G I S T E R YO U R I N T E R E S T T O DAY B R O A D O A K S PA R K . C O . U K

020 8481 7500 | OCTAGON.CO.UK

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Gwennap Churchtown, Cornwall A elegant Georgian property with private gardens in a quiet village.

6 bedrooms, detached 1 bedroom garden studio, 4 reception rooms, kitchen with AGA, pool and garaging.

4,854 sqft, 1.7 acres Guide ÂŁ1.75m

Flushing, nr Falmouth Attractive detached Victorian house with large private gardens and glorious river views.

5 bedrooms, 4 reception rooms, long private driveway and a sunny south-west aspect.

2260 sqft, 0.8 acres, EPC F Guide price ÂŁ1.25m

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Boconnoc, Cornwall An exquisite and private rural property, with a long drive and set in 20 acres of gardens, woodland and pasture. 4 bedrooms, kitchen-dining room with AGA, guest suite, party barn and pool.

5011 sqft, EPC E Guide price ÂŁ2.5m

Nr Famouth, Cornwall A gorgeous Grade II listed historic manor house, above Falmouth Bay and the entrance to the Helford River. First sale since 1979 5 bedrooms, 37ft kitchen-breakfast room, library/office, 1 acre garden.

4919 sqft.

Guide price ÂŁ1.95m

J O N AT H A N jonathancunliffe.co.uk

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St Barnabas Road, Cambridge – Station less than 1 mile £1,600,000 An elegant and substantial bay fronted Edwardian semi-detached residence, offering beautifully presented and well-proportioned accommodation over three floors, situated within this prime central city location so conveniently placed for access to the railway station and benefiting from enclosed rear garden and off-street parking. Accommodation comprising: Entrance and reception halls, living room, sitting room, kitchen/dining room. Basement: cellar.

On the first floor: bedroom with dressing room, 2 further bedrooms, toilet, bathroom. On the second floor: 2 bedrooms, shower room. Outside: front, side and rear gardens, allocated parking. EER: D Contact: Richard Freshwater | Cambridge Office: 01223 214214 | richard.freshwater@cheffins.co.uk

Parker Street, Cambridge – Station 1 mile £995,000 A rare opportunity to purchase a most impressive Grade II Listed 3 storey residence originally built in 1847 in this prime central city location with views over Parkers Piece. Accommodation comprising: Reception hall, living room, family room/study, bedroom/garden room. On the lower ground floor: utility room, cloakroom, kitchen/dining/sitting room. On the first floor: 2 bedrooms, bathroom. On the second floor: bedroom. Outside: front and rear gardens, off street driveway parking. EER: D Contact: Richard Freshwater | Cambridge Office: 01223 214214 | richard.freshwater@cheffins.co.uk

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Barrington – Station 2.5 miles £1,250,000 A substantial detached brand new home of around 3,000 sq. ft., in most attractive location enjoying far reaching views to the rear over the adjoining paddocks, towards the outskirts of this picturesque quintessential village. Accommodation comprising: Entrance hall, cloaks/shower room, open plan kitchen/dining room, living room, utility room, bedroom/family room. On the first floor: 4 bedrooms – 2 with en suite shower rooms and dressing rooms, bathroom. Outside: front and rear gardens, garage, driveway parking. EER: B Contact: Richard Freshwater | Cambridge Office: 01223 214214 | richard.freshwater@cheffins.co.uk

Little Abington – Station 3.5 miles £995,000 A most attractive and substantial detached residence offering beautifully presented and well-proportioned accommodation, incorporating a spacious kitchen/dining/living room with direct access to the appealing gardens in all extending to about 0.32 of an acre. This fine home occupies a most attractive setting on the outskirts of this picturesque and well-served village. Accommodation comprising: Reception hall, cloakroom, sitting room, open plan kitchen/ dining/living room, utility room, family room, study. On the first floor: 4 bedrooms – 1 with en suite, bathroom. On the second floor: master bedroom with dressing room and shower room. Outside: front and rear gardens, carriage driveway parking area, double garage, detached studio/outbuilding. EER: D Contact: Richard Freshwater | Cambridge Office: 01223 214214 | richard.freshwater@cheffins.co.uk

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Hadstock – Station 7.5 miles £995,000 A unique and substantial detached residence offering accommodation of approximately 3,000 sq. ft. over three floors and a detached home office. The property is set in mature grounds of approximately 2.4 acres in a tucked-away location with stunning views over the surrounding countryside.

Accommodation comprises entrance hall, rear hall with boot room, sitting room, dining room, kitchen, utility and cloakroom to the ground floor. To the first floor there is a bedroom with en suite, three further bedrooms and family bathroom and the second floor comprises three bedrooms and a shower room.

EER: F Contact: Bruce King | Saffron Walden Office: 01799 523656 | bruce.king @cheffins.co.uk

Littlebury – Station 2 miles £1,250,000 A substantial and impressive, detached family home with a self-contained, detached annexe. The property is set in a well-established plot of approximately a third of an acre, within a sought-after village, conveniently located for commuters. Accommodation comprises reception hall, sitting/ family room, drawing room, dining room, kitchen/breakfast room, utility and cloakroom to the ground floor and master bedroom suite, bedroom with en suite, 3 further bedrooms and family bathroom to the first floor. The annexe offers an open plan kitchen/reception room, bedroom, dressing room and bathroom. EER: D Contact: Bruce King | Saffron Walden Office: 01799 523656 | bruce.king @cheffins.co.uk

cheffins.co.uk 01223 214214

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Little Shelford – Station 1 mile £1,250,000 A most impressive and substantial detached period residence, offering well-proportioned and versatile accommodation which had been previously used as a fine dining restaurant prior to change of use to residential. The property occupies a most attractive setting close to the heart of this picturesque and eagerly sought-after south Cambridgeshire village. Accommodation comprising: Reception hall, living room, dining room, kitchen, cloakroom, family room/bedroom. Basement: cellar. On the first floor: living room, kitchen, 3 bedrooms, bathroom, toilet. Outside: gardens extending to around 0.2 of an acre, gravelled and tarmac parking areas. EER: E Contact: Richard Freshwater | Cambridge Office: 01223 214214 | richard.freshwater@cheffins.co.uk

Debenham – Station 9.5 miles £690,000 A historic and unique Grade II* Listed timber framed period residence of immense charm and character together with former Victorian barn, located in the heart of this picturesque and thriving Suffolk village with local shops, restaurants and other amenities within walking distance. Accommodation comprising: Entrance lobby, magnificent reception room, dining room, laundry room, cloakroom, former barn, workshop, boiler room. On the first floor: breakfast room, drawing room, study/library, guest room, kitchen, bathroom, study, reception room/bedroom, shower room, 3 further bedrooms. Outside: courtyard style driveway/parking area, separate small meadow. EER:F Contact: Martin Walshe | Cambridge Office: 01223 214214 | martin.walshe@cheffins.co.uk

Cambridge | Saffron Walden | Newmarket | Ely | Haverhill | London

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2 Jewry Street, Winchester

t: 01962 830880 www.chartersestateagents.co.uk

MICHELMERSH, HAMPSHIRE G U I DE P R I CE £2, 500, 000 A magnificent, modern and practical family home with breath-taking countryside views and stunning accommodation set over three floors.

• Modern detached family home

At just under 8,000 sqft, this home also offers a desirable leisure wing with indoor heated swimming pool, gymnasium and beauty treatment room.

All this located in a picturesque village setting in rural Hampshire.

• Entertaining lobby

The property is set on just under an acre, backing onto open fields and farmland and is surrounded by countryside.

• Five bedrooms

• Indoor heated swimming pool • Gymnasium • Countryside views

R O M S E Y I C H A N D L E R S F O R D I W I N C H E S T E R I A L R E S F O R D I B I S H O P S W A LT H A M I A LT O N I F A R N H A M I L O N D O N

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Holidays in Homes of Distinction across Sussex & the South Downs National Park

Photos show a small sample from our extensive selection of holiday properties

Amberley House Cottage Holidays offer holidays and short breaks in some of the finest homes available across Sussex and the South Downs area. With our extensive portfolio, we have something for everyone, from large country homes, to seaside apartments and beautiful period converted farm buildings set in glorious countryside.

We still have holidays and short breaks available this summer... and many of our fantastic properties are less than 90 minutes drive from London tel: 01798 877336 email: enquiries@amberleyhousecottages.co.uk

www.amberleyhousecottages.co.uk For those happy to travel a little further, our sister company Portscatho Holidays, based in Cornwall also has limited holiday cottage availability for this summer.

For details and to book, please visit www.portscathoholidays.co.uk

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LAST WORD

TALES OF OUR TIME

Inspired by Bond, Michael Hayman tackled Operation Lockdown

Photographer Amy Shore captures cars worthy of Bond – if he were to drive a Jaguar E-Type, that is

‘D

o you expect me to talk?’ ‘No Mr Bond, I expect you to die.’

So says Gert Fröbe’s Goldfinger to Sean Connery’s delicately placed Bond. In so doing he delivers the defining moment of the entire franchise. The world has suddenly become enough. Enough to want to make it stop. Because for the first and, some argue, the last time in a 007 movie, we witness a truly monstrous and deadly villain, one of such menace and a moment of such high tension that we believe the threat uttered to Bond means that the spy’s next witticism might well be his last.

‘There is nothing you can talk to me about that I don’t already know,’ Goldfinger brags, which to be fair is how I often feel when I’m breezily answering James Bond questions on a Zoom quiz.

Specialist subjects: Sir Sean Connery and Sir Roger Moore.

All the rest, for my money, were pretenders to the majesty of the secret service of these two knights.

Nobody does it better and while this may be a terrible sky fall moment for Daniel Craig devotees, I say live and let die. Because

what lives on in all the movies is a passion for marvellous motors and stunning cinematography.

Operation Lockdown might have sounded like the high jinks of an evil Bond mastermind, but it was also – until very recently – the precarious nature of our daily lives. This life hiatus forced us to find ways to both hang on to and explore our inner creativity. I discovered Amy Shore, a brilliant British photographer following her passions.

Her work focuses on the glamour and lustre of classic cars. But it is no elite sport either and the message is a democratic one.

The best camera you can have? The one ‘you can get your hands on’. And her top tip? Love what you do on your own terms because ‘comparison is the thief of joy’. It inspired me to up my game on taking photographs of my family and, after two months off the road, to get driving again. And while I can’t claim to be whizzing around in a debonair DB5, I am back at the wheel. For my family it leaves them shaken. Stirred? I have told them that I don’t expect them to talk. n

LISTEN Wind of Change, the podcast investigating the link between cold war espionage and a Nineties Scorpions song (spotify.com). READ Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died in the 1940s by Anne Sebba (£9.99, Weidenfeld & Nicolson). USE TOTS. Adding TV subtitles immediately boosts child literacy (turnonthesubtitles.org). TRY L’Organiq. Vegan-friendly skincare in reusable, sustainable packaging (lorganiq.com).

PHOTOS: ©AMY SHORE

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