School House Battersea 2017

SCHOOL House

BATTERSEA

AUTUMN/WINTER 2017

PERFECT POSTCODE The people, the park, the Power Station

Top of the Class

SW11’s finest schools

Educating

PRINCE GEORGE In conversation with his headmaster

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HEAD START

Focus on nurseries

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BATTERSEA POWER STATION WELL LOCATED FOR A GREAT EDUCATION Two bedroom apartments available from £1.4m.

We look forward to welcoming you to our new home in Circus West Village.

Visit the Pavilion Sales and Exhibition Centre, 21-22 Circus Road West, Battersea Power Station, London SW11 8EZ T: +44 20 7501 0678 E: sales@bpsdc.co.uk batterseapowerstation.co.uk

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CON TEN T S AUTUMN/WINTER 2017

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10 THINGS ABOUT BATTERSEA We bet you didn’t know....

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GROWTH SPURT Kate Patrick on why Battersea’s nurseries are a major attraction A POSTCODE FIT FOR A PRINCE If the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge chose Thomas’s Battersea for their son, there must be good reason FEEDING INTO A WORLD-CLASS EDUCATION Battersea Prep Schools offer a gateway to the country’s most prestigious schools, says Matthew Bell EMPIRE STATE How one Battersea state school defied all the odds

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Family 24

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MUM’S THE WORD Charlotte Metcalf meets three mothers who explain why they love living in Battersea THE GREEN ZONE This borough boasts some serious green credentials

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OLD SCHOOL TIES The area has seen its fair share of the good and the great, says Maggie O’Sullivan BATTERSEA PEOPLE Getting to know the locals who make a difference to living in SW11

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CULTURE SURGE From art installations to community choirs, Jenny Wilhilde finds Battersea has got it going on EAT YOUR HEART OUT You’ll be spoilt for choice when it comes to food in Battersea, says Carolyn Hart BELLA VISTA We meet the designer behind one of Battersea Power Station’s sensational penthouses ROCK DOWN TO ELECTRIC BOULEVARD Matthew Bell talks to architects Foster + Partners about one of the UK’s most exciting developments MEMBERSHIP FOR LIFE Living at Battersea Power Station means you can join The Power Club DIRECTORY Local essentials PREP TIME Charles Bonas of Bonas MacFarlane advises on how to get your child into the right school

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Editor’s Letter

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ON THE COVER Prince George began his school career this September at Thomas’s Battersea © Getty Images

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12 Becher, the concierge at the new residents’ Power Club (p62) and Johanna Thornycroft talks to designer Philippa Thorp about decorating one of the development’s most dazzling new penthouses (p56). Maggie O’Sullivan explores Battersea’s heritage and finds out just how many famous people have lived here (p36) and discovers that it’s more than just the park that gives this borough a reputation for being London’s greenest (p30). Martin Plimmer profiles eight people who are making Battersea buzz (p38), Carolyn Hart revels in all the region has to offer in terms of food (p53) and Jenny Wilhide writes about her love of Battersea and its rich culture (p49). Finally, we’re delighted to welcome Paris-based Francesco Ferla, renowned Sicilian photographer, who flew in to take many of the photographs and fell in love with Battersea as he did so.

We hope this magazine is not only a comprehensive guide to Battersea’s schools but is also an introduction to and celebration of London’s most exciting and flourishing boroughs. I confess to a bias – my daughter attends Harris Academy Battersea, which I profile on page 20. It’s the best state school in Wandsworth and the fastest improving school in the whole of London – just like everything else in Battersea, it’s exuberantly on the up and rocketing.

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES; REX FEATURES

or years Battersea Power Station has loomed over south London like an abandoned colossus.

But now its regeneration is well under way, and as the first residents move into their elegant waterside homes there, Battersea is in the throes of a dramatic renaissance. Restaurants and shops are opening their doors along the riverfront at Circus West Village and families from all over the world are moving into the area, drawn by its excellent schools, the river, the beautiful park and the abundance of things to do with children.

In this special edition of School House, Matthew Bell looks at how Battersea’s prep schools collectively form the gateway to Britain’s finest schools and a world-class education. Kate Patrick provides a guide to the borough’s best nursery schools and talks to the headmaster of Thomas’s Prep, catapulted into the headlines by the arrival of Prince George at the beginning of this term (p12). Charles Bonas of Batterseabased education specialist Bonas MacFarlane advises parents on how to secure their child a place at a fine independent school (p72) and three mums tell me why Battersea is the ideal place to raise a family (p24).

We visit the Power Station where Mary Killen meets Harry

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CONTRIBUTORS EDITOR Charlotte Metcalf EDITOR IN CHIEF Lucy Cleland SCHOOL HOUSE EDITOR Annabel Heseltine SUB EDITOR Anastasia Bernhardt ART DIRECTOR Parm Bhamra

PUBLISHER Camilla van Praagh ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE Melissa Campbell ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Sophie Oliver CREDIT CONTROLLER Penny Burles GROUP PUBLISHER Julia Carrick FINANCE DIRECTOR Jill Newey MANAGING DIRECTOR Jeremy Isaac

JENNY WILHIDE »

The daughter of the late theatre director Sir Peter Hall and Hollywood film star Leslie Caron, Jenny grew up in opera houses, theatres and on film sets around the world. Here she writes about culture in Battersea, where her daughter went to school until age 11 and where she subsequently lived for five years. She is also a painter.

« FRANCESCO FERLA

EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES

Francesco is an artist and one of Italy’s most renowned photographers.

He grew up in Sicily and studied architecture at Florence University. Recently he has exhibited images of Sicilian, Arab and Norman architecture at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris. He has hugely enjoyed photographing Battersea Power Station and loved the variety of people he has taken pictures of for this magazine.

editorialassistant@schoolhousemagazine.co.uk ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES

camilla@schoolhousemagazine.co.uk SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA is published with Country & Town House magazine and distributed to AB homes in Barnes, Bath, Battersea, Bayswater, Belgravia, Bristol, Brook Green, Chelsea, Chiswick, Clapham, Coombe, Fulham, Hampstead Highgate, Holland Park, Kensington, Knightsbridge, Marylebone, Mayfair, Notting Hill, Oxford, Pimlico, Putney, Richmond, South Kensington, St John’s Wood, Tunbridge Wells, Wandsworth and Wimbledon. It is also on sale at selected WHSmith, Sainsbury’s, M&S, and Waitrose stores and independent newsagents nationwide. School House Battersea is published by Country & Town House Ltd, Studio 2, Chelsea Gate Studios, 115 Harwood Road, London SW6 4QL (tel: 020 7384 9011). Registered number 576850 England and Wales. Printed in the UK

by William Gibbons and Sons Ltd, West Midlands. Paper supplied by Gerald Judd. Distribution by Letterbox.

Copyright © 2017 School House Battersea. 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 all information is correct at the time of going to press, it is subject to change, and School House takes no responsibility for omissions or errors. School House Battersea is published by Country & Town House Ltd.

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

Please recycle

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH BATTERSEA POWER STATION

MARY KILLEN »

Mary writes weekly for both The Spectator, where she solves readers’ social dilemmas, and for The Lady magazine, where she is a diarist. Having been brought up in Northern Ireland, Mary started her London life at 53 Battersea Old Church Street. She has always considered Battersea ‘the perfect district, with the river and the park and the community spirit – even before the glorious development at the Power Station.’

CAROLYN HART

A freelance food journalist living barely a ten-minute hike from Battersea, Carolyn Hart is the former Food Editor of the Saturday Telegraph magazine.

She is now a contributing editor of the new online food magazine Bread & Oysters and has written two cookbooks.

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BATTERSEA From the world’s largest candlemaker to Europe’s biggest brick building, there are plenty of things about SW11 you should know about

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Battersea Power Station is believed to be the largest brick building in Europe. The total number of bricks estimated to have been used in the structure (a whopping 6 million) means there are nearly as many bricks holding the station together as there are people in London.

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Historically Battersea was a market garden. In the 19th century, Battersea gardeners occupied over 300 acres of land, supplying London with an array of vegetables, fruits and flowers as well as exporting plants to the American colonies.

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Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, Britain’s oldest and most famous animal rescue sanctuary, was founded in 1860 by animal lover Mary Tealby in Holloway, north London. Bucking anti-pet sentiments of the time, she quickly found a high-profile supporter in Charles Dickens, who called it ‘an extraordinary monument’. Moving to Battersea a decade later, the sanctuary has since helped house over three million stray dogs and cats.

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Battersea Power Station was famously immortalised on the cover of Pink Floyd’s 1977 album Animals when a 40-foot helium balloon in the shape of a pig hovered between two of the station’s chimneys.

Unfortunately the balloon flew away midway through the shoot, causing air traffic chaos, before landing in a field in Kent.

things you didn’t know about...

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The area’s regeneration has been boosted by the decision to move the US embassy from its current location in Grosvenor Square to the Nine Elms development.

The new embassy will integrate elements of British landscaping, bringing a new form of beauty to government architecture.

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Football’s modern origins can be traced to a single game in Battersea Park in January 1864. It was the first proper match to be played after the establishment of the Football Association and led to the rules that still govern the game today.

The controversial American revolutionary war general Benedict Arnold is buried in the crypt of Battersea’s St Mary’s Church, having permanently settled in London following his defection to the British Army. Poet William Blake, the landscape painter JMW Turner and the botanist William Curtis are also buried there, and all have stained glass windows in their memory. n

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Underground tunnelling for the extension of the Northern line between Battersea and Kennington began in March 2017. There will be two new stations at Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station.

The £1.2bn extension is the first of its kind since the late 1990s.

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The beginning of the 20th century saw Battersea declared the world’s largest candle manufacturer, with Price’s Candles employing over 2,000 people and annually producing 25,000 tonnes of candles. While the company no longer manufactures in Britain, it remains the country’s largest candle supplier.

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Battersea Park’s Peace Pagoda was built in 1984 right by the riverside and was a gift from followers of Nipponzan Myohoji, a movement within Japanese Buddhism.

It is tended to and maintained daily by the Reverend Gyoro Nagase, who every morning at sunrise, heads to the Pagoda, beating his drum as he walks.

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E D U C AT I ON

Girls from Eaton House The Manor

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EDUCATION | SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA

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A River Runs Through It Illustration ZEBEDEE HELM

attersea is home to some of London’s most prestigious schools and is just across the river from more. The park and its riverside location has always attracted families and now the long-awaited redevelopment of Battersea Power Station is set to energise the area further. Battersea, with its plethora of good schools, is fast becoming London’s most sought-after residential borough. n Autumn/Winter 2017 | 9

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Growth Spurt Parents with young children are flocking to Battersea for its nursery schools, says Kate Patrick

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hronging with more buggies than you can shake a stick at, Battersea Park is evidence – if any were needed – of the area’s settled status as Young Family Central. With tennis lessons on tap, free-range farmers’ markets, fun family pubs and cafés for Sunday lunching as well as secret mews to discover on afternoon walks, it’s the urban village of storybooks.

But the real reason that everyone and their toddler is flocking there is more fundamental: you can’t round a corner without bumping into a nursery school.

It’s quite a change of landscape from when Rozzy Hyslop opened Marmalade Cat in January 2004, in a modern church hall in Altenburg Gardens, just north of Clapham Common. Back then, choice was so limited that she felt compelled to open her own school, which, even for a passionate educator with a background in both teaching and special needs, was taking things to extremes.

Founded and named in honour of her third child, Orlando, the school has been ranked ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted since 2005, and has seen others flourish around it, as nearby Northcote Road has

gradually become known as ‘Nappy Valley’.

‘The biggest difference now,’ says Miss Rozzy (as she is known), ‘is that parents are very international and it’s not uncommon for children to be bilingual or even trilingual. We also have children of same-sex parents. There’s much more “mixed provision” now – for children with varied educational needs; “forest schooling” is a hugely popular development; and, of course, competition for places in pre-prep schools has dramatically gone up. A lot of my work is to do with choosing the right school for the children to move on to, and maintaining good relationships with those schools, too.’

Hyslop has opened three more schools in the Wandsworth area under the ‘Marmalade’ brand, all in church halls with precious outside space – a requirement commonly found on the wishlists of London parents. But, so far, she has resisted offering wraparound childcare so popular with working parents – a route taken by other Wandsworth nurseries such as Wee Ones, Bridge Lane and Working Mums Daycare – preferring to be considered a school, with a strongly-defined, Montessori-influenced education,

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with physical development and learning opportunities at its heart. Zara Stocker’s The Little Red Hen on Cabul Road, Bluebells Nursery School on Prince of Wales Drive and Mouse House on Mallinson Road, part of The Kindergartens group, are all popular Battersea nurseries that also hold to this point of view.

With around 300 children on the roll – split between mornings and afternoons – Hyslop’s approach is proving popular. ‘We like being a separate entity, not tied to a pre-prep school,’ she says. ‘We have a really strong community, and our children go on to as many as 36 different schools – a majority to Thomas’s Battersea, but also to Broomwood, Newton Prep, Hornsby House, JAPS, Dulwich, schools out of London and also Honeywell and Belleville, the two excellent local state primary schools, if the families live in the right catchment.’

Stories of people signing up to the popular nurseries before their child has even been born are, it seems, not exaggerated – and all the nurseries recommend early registration. But the competition really sets in at four-plus, when places at the popular pre-preps become hotly contested. Easing this process is one reason why many parents choose schools like the Apple Nursery, run under the auspices of Newton Prep, Parkgate House Montessori Nursery, or the Eaton House Nursery – all of which virtually guarantee a stress-free transition into their pre-preps.

Eaton House The Manor, on the north side of Clapham Common, has had a nursery within the campus since the mid-1990s. In 2017 it was completely rebuilt, undoubtedly strengthening its appeal in the face of mounting competition. Roosha Sue (‘Miss Roosha’), who has been the nursery’s principal since 2004, describes it as the perfect set-up: ‘A beautiful, flowing space, with a lovely outside playground – all totally secure.’ Because

‘With tennis lessons on tap, farmers’ markets, family pubs as well as secret mews to discover, Battersea is the urban village of storybooks’

LEFT: Parkgate House Montessori Nursery feeds into the main prep school BELOW: Eaton House The Manor’s Nursery has been completely rebuilt

it’s integrated within the pre-prep, the nursery children acquire a familiarity with the daunting next stage: two to four-year-olds are taught drama, cookery and sport using the prep school facilities, and they have lunch in the main dining room. ‘They do have to register for the preprep, but they are guaranteed a place,’ says Miss Roosha, ‘and it’s a really lovely transition. Most of our nursery children do progress into Eaton House Prep. There is a real sense of family and community in this area.’

Children start with five mornings and are later offered afternoon places too. Although Miss Roosha was Montessori-trained, she describes her approach to education as a combination: ‘To be honest, we do what works. I love and admire the Montessori approach to self-discipline, but I bring in lots of individual ideas – so it’s a bit more flexible and personal. And with two fully qualified teachers in each of our two rooms, we’re definitely a school – we finish the day at 3.30pm, in line with the pre-prep.’

Neatly bridging the gap between standalone nursery schools and nursery departments within prep schools is Thomas’s Kindergarten, located since 1992 in the crypt of the picturesque St Mary’s Church, on the river bank in Battersea. Part of Thomas’s London Day Schools, it is able to make use of the facilities at nearby Thomas’s Battersea, but retains an independent feel.

It attracts families from Chelsea and Pimlico as well as the friendly local environment around Battersea Square but, interestingly, does not guarantee its pupils places at a Thomas’s London Day School at age four, creating a level playing field with those who’ve chosen a nursery elsewhere. One mother describes it as ‘really welcoming, with brilliant staff who form amazing bonds with the children.’ The children are taken to Thomas’s Battersea once a week to experience the environment of a bigger school; and they go to forest school on Wimbledon Common.

When it comes to early years education, there’s an extraordinary wealth of opportunity in Battersea, and a refreshing commitment to the notion that childhood should be about fresh air, the building of dens and the nurturing of imagination, as much as acquiring literacy and numeracy. You would hardly have guessed that the area was at the epicentre of one of the largest capital cities in the world. n Autumn/Winter 2017 | 11

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A Postcode Fit for a Prince

Kate Patrick talks to Simon O’Malley, headteacher of Thomas’s Battersea, London’s most sought-after prep school

Prince George started Reception class in September 2017

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t’s a bright, sunny September morning, two weeks into term: the hanging baskets are in full flower in Battersea Square, and the new boy at Thomas’s Battersea is well into his busy day, having run to work along the Thames Path several hours earlier.

Simon O’Malley is the newly installed headmaster of what has, for the moment, become the most famous prep school in Britain, thanks to the arrival of another new boy, four-year-old Prince George of Cambridge, who took his first tentative steps into the school earlier in September.

Behind the headlines of today is a building with a 287-year history as a school – founded in 1700 as Sir Walter St John School (‘Sinjuns’) to educate 20 boys – before David and Joanna Thomas acquired the premises in 1990, reopening as Thomas’s Battersea. Beyond the original, decorative brick façade – which still bears the arresting maxim, ‘Rather deathe than false of faythe’ – it has been impressively modernised, with cool, contemporary buildings.

It now educates 569 children between the ages of four and 13, many of whose parents have chosen to make the journey from Kensington and Notting Hill to secure the best education in London that money (from £5,868 a term) can buy.

In taking up the position for which he was headhunted, Simon O’Malley swapped the lifestyle of a country boarding school head – he was at the helm at Wellesley House, in the seaside resort of Broadstairs in Kent, for 11 years – for the inevitably faster pace required of a London day school. His wife, Katy, has joined him at the school, as an art teacher. The first weeks have rocketed past in a whirl of back-to-back meetings,

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classroom attendances, parents’ events, year-group gatherings, PTA introductions and relationship-building dinners with senior schools.

Energetic, and a natural diplomat, he seems ideally-suited to the new challenge, and is relishing it. Of the four Thomas’s London Day Schools, he says, ‘These are amazing schools. It was just a fantastic opportunity, and I’m loving it.’

Simon O’Malley is surprisingly softly-spoken – his voice drops almost to a whisper for emphasis – but behind the elegant exterior lie some passionate convictions about Thomas’s and the role of primary education in shaping an adult of the future. He pays tribute to the vision of the Thomas family, and how they have inspired a strong sense of familial loyalty to their four schools, among two generations of parents. ‘I was attracted by the style, the philosophy, the whole culture – and the bravery of the group.

They are forward-thinking, not afraid to be themselves or to come up with an ambitious project and see it through – and with the highest of standards. The whole place hums. It’s brilliant.’

The school’s motto – carved in stone and on all the literature – is ‘Be kind’. ‘This is not just a catchphrase,’ says O’Malley. ‘It’s core to everything that happens, and parents are all told, right from the start, that that’s what this school is about. It’s an empathetic place.’

He doesn’t deny that he wants the school to be known for academic excellence – the impressive list of scholarships to distinguished, first-choice public schools is testament to that. But rather than being a driving factor, academic success is seen as a by-product of the excellence going on across the board. One of the reasons, he says, why London’s cosmopolitan parents choose Thomas’s is for the way it thinks beyond the curriculum.

‘There is a really strong emphasis on outdoor learning, including regular trips to the mountains. We’re very forward-thinking in the digital sphere. Drama and the creative arts are exceptionally strong here – a trait that started with Joanna Thomas, who had a background as a ballet dancer. If there’s a musical instrument you want to learn, we can teach it. Parents give careers talks, and there

is a strong emphasis on wellbeing – taking care of yourself mentally and physically. Our biggest defining point – and differentiator from other London schools – is that we are genuinely about that broadness.

It’s taken really seriously because it’s fundamentally important. At the end of the day, it’s about giving people the chance of being good grown-ups. It’s not the end of the project, when they leave here at 13.’

Is there such a thing as a ‘Thomas’s product’ at 13? ‘That’s a horrible thought in a way – it conjures up thoughts of a sausage machine. But the school focuses on ten values, so I suppose the more of those you uphold, the more you are a typical Thomas’s child. For example, being givers not takers; being friendly; having perseverance, kindness, honesty, openness, imagination. What’s really important is to learn confidence without arrogance. To be positive, comfortable in yourself and resilient enough to give things a go and not worry about making mistakes. What you also see with girls and boys who’ve gone through a co-ed education like ours is a naturalness and ease with people.’

Already well-known for his tireless dedication and attention to detail, Simon O’Malley has wasted no time in making his own mark with the children. He’s having individual ‘one-minute meetings’ with every member of year eight (the top year group) within the first three weeks.

‘They’re about to make a big step, and I want them to feel they can get to know me quickly.’ He’s also checking in to football matches, netball practices and drama rehearsals on Saturdays. ‘Coming from a boarding environment, I’m used to this, and if there’s something going on I want to experience it. The children like it when we all take an interest.’

Hundreds of children have passed through O’Malley’s hands as a schoolmaster, but as a headmaster with a royal recruit, he’s clearly more than just a safe pair of hands. He has risen to the top because he’s an inspirational leader. But modesty prevails. ‘What you’re doing is creating a culture – together with others around you – that allows all the children to flourish. That is genuinely what the job is about.

But, of course, we touch the lives of people when we come into individual contact with them. They might one day look back and think it made a difference. But that’s not why you do it. You do it because it’s the right thing to do. It makes sense. The key to doing my job Headmaster Simon O’Malley is to be yourself, to lead by is known for his example. You can’t think “This tireless dedication and attention is what I should be” – you just to detail have to be who you are.’

As our conversation comes to an end, a rabble of small children – overalls covering their smart navy-and-red uniform – crowds out into the garden quadrangle, peering inquisitively through the glass pane in the headmaster’s door as they go.

There is no discernible reduction in their decibels. He wants them to remember their prep school days with genuine joy, a feeling of security and opportunity, and a lot of love and friendship (with the stress of exams, optimistically, banished from memory). History may well, one day, confirm that he achieved this princely ambition. n Autumn/Winter 2017 | 13

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Harrow is one of the schools that many of Battersea’s best preps feed into

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Feeding into a

WORLD-CLASS EDUCATION Battersea’s prep schools often send pupils on to the country’s best public schools, discovers Matthew Bell

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Both Newton Prep and Eaton House Group Schools feed into Eton

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A St Paul’s Boy practises the oboe

Harrow, Wycombe Abbey and Winchester, all of which are stuffed with former pupils moulded in SW11.

The reason for this is partly that Battersea is an overspill of Kensington and Chelsea, but with more space. Stand on Battersea or Chelsea bridge at 8am on any weekday morning, and you will see droves of expensive motor cars heading south, along with the more eco-conscious parents on push-scooters, of course.

They are the smart crowd who know that although Chelsea is well equipped for most things, Battersea wields the upper hand when it comes to schools.

Take Newton Prep, which occupies a vast and well-appointed site at 149 Battersea Park Road, and caters for 650 pupils. To find a school of this scale in central London is rare, and not an inch of space is wasted. The proprietor, Dr Farouk Walji, has invested huge amounts of money to provide every resource imaginable:

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ne day, a long way off in the future, your child will sit down to write his or her CV. They will have finished their long (and expensive) education, and will be applying for their first proper job. Top of the page will be their university, then their school, with all the A-levels and GCSEs they will have hovered up along the way. And then, only then, will they mention their prep school – IF they mention it at all.

That’s because prep schools are the forgotten secret ingredient in the making of great young adults. We think of our teenage years as the most important academically, but the seeds of their development are germinated long before. The child is the father of the man, and how you spend those crucial years in shorts has a crucial bearing on how you turn out. Universities look to great schools to recruit quality students, and schools look to great prep schools for theirs. You wouldn’t waste your time at a bad school or university, so why skimp when it comes to prep school education?

The good news for residents of Battersea is that these days there couldn’t be a better selection of first class prep schools in the area. From Newton Prep to Eaton House, from Broomwood and Northcote to Prospect House, from Fulham Prep to L’Ecole Des Petits – south-west London is brimming with fantastic options.

The term prep school – lest we forget – is short for ‘preparatory’, and that is precisely what these schools do so well. They prepare children for life in some of the greatest secondary schools of England, be it the top London day schools like St Paul’s or Westminster, or the large famous boarding schools like Eton, 16 | Autumn/Winter 2017

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an all-weather sports pitch, a garden, two playgrounds, three sports halls, two public performance spaces, up-to-the-minute science laboratories – the facilities are truly astonishing.

‘They’re secondary school standard,’ admits Suzannah Frieze, Newton’s director of external affairs. ‘It means we can provide fully interactive hands-on science lessons from Year Eight onwards.’

Newton’s size and facilities are an obvious selling point, but there’s something else that’s special about it, says Frieze. ‘I think we provide an alternative to the blazer-and-boater brigade, schools like Thomas’s, Faulkner House and Eaton Square,’ she says. ‘Because we’re a relatively new school [Newton first opened in 1991], we get a lot of first-time users. In other words, parents that didn’t go to prep schools themselves. It provides a kind of modern alternative, and we have a very modern approach and ethos.’

Despite the modern ethos, Newton Prep is structured like an old-fashioned Hogwarts-style Wycombe Abbey

boarding school. In other words, it is divided into houses, with each named after a type of apple: Nonsuch, Crispin, Spartan and Winston. The idea behind the house system is that it creates bonds between pupils of different ages. In most schools, children will only usually be exposed to fellow pupils of their own age. In a house-based system, pupils of all ages are united in house activities, whether that’s sport, or music, or sharing house communal spaces. At Newton, the house system really comes into its own at the end-of-year Sports Day, when house rivalries are fiercely contested.

Other traditional offerings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and overspill area include the Eaton House group of schools, which have seven schools across three sites, in Belgravia, South Kensington and Clapham. The ethos is unashamedly academic, without compromising on the happiness of its pupils. There are two co-ed pre-preps, after which the schools are divided by sex, with an emphasis on boys: four of the other five schools are boys only, with girls aged 4-11 being catered for at Eaton House The Manor in Clapham.

Consequently, Eaton House has established itself as a feeder for major public schools like Eton, St Paul’s and Tonbridge, and an Eaton House boy recently landed the top Academic Scholarship at Dulwich College.

Dolphin School on Northcote Road is a Christian school and headmistress Nicola Baldwin says, ‘Those values underpin everything we do. Children learn to think about others, to be

ALISON FLEMING Headmistress of Newton Prep

‘What I love most about my job is my daily contact with the children: from the moment I welcome them at the gate to those countless times during the day when a child arrives at my door and asks to show me a piece of work, or a favourite toy, or a wizard new scheme they have come up with in Computing. I love looking out of my office onto the Lower School playground, where the little ones will press their faces against the window to say hello.

Now there’s an extra sense of pleasure as I look at our new green perimeter – dozens of trees and shrubs planted as a green buffer between us and the busy world of Battersea outside.

ILLUSTRATION BY ZEBEDEE HELM

‘We are not weighed down by centuries of tradition so we can focus all our energies on ensuring a bright future for our children. Newton children are notable for their lack of arrogance and entitlement. In a large school, the little ones could be swept aside but I notice with pride the engagement between the older children and the Lower School. I also value the engaged ‘pupil voice’ as children express their own thoughts and ideas via our Pupil Parliament.

‘The staff all help to provide a liberal environment in which children are equipped with a sense of self, resilience and hopefulness. All staff encourage the children to think beyond the curriculum and they hoover it up! We aim for them to enter adolescence feeling that they already have more to contribute to the wider world than just academic achievements.’

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compassionate and to believe that they can make a difference to the world. They learn tenacity, and resilience – qualities that set them up for their next school and take them through their lives.

We always encourage the children to try something new and learn by mistakes. That way we produce little people who are not afraid to give things a go and who know their place in society and the world around them. I think the positive feedback we get from secondary schools – who always comment on how well Dolphin pupils are settling in – is a testament to everything we do.’

Over in Wandsworth is another very traditional offering, the family-owned and run Northwood and Broomwood schools. Children start in the mixed pre-prep school, which runs from four to eight, before splitting into separate boys and girls schools, Northwood House and Broomwood. ‘We are probably as traditional an English school as you can get,’ says Ali Bucknall, who oversees all their marketing and communications division.

‘We’re very much run along country prep school lines. So we offer all the advantages of a boarding prep school but without having to leave London.

Eaton House often leads to pupils heading to schools like Tonbridge (below)

It means the school day is long: the boys do their prep here, for example. But they’re given tea and go home at 5.30.’

The nature of Northwood House means it’s the ideal choice for parents planning to send their sons to a typical boys boarding school.

Last year the school was the biggest feeder to Harrow, and other typical choices include Tonbridge, Charterhouse, Eton, Bradfield and Wellington. They do also send children to London day schools, but there is definitely an emphasis on preparing boys for boarding school aged 13.

‘The exit tends to be at 13, not 11, so the curriculum is structured around that,’ says Bucknall. ‘We do get pupils into the day schools, but parents know that if they want an 11 exit, they’re probably better off sending their children somewhere else.’ The main downside for Battersea residents is that, to keep a local flavour, Northcote Lodge and Broomwood have a catchment area which just excludes SW11, though they can make exceptions in later years. And the calibre of education is such that they attract a very high standard of pupil. ‘We are unashamedly traditional in the way we approach education,’ says Bucknall. ‘That’s not to say that our clientele are only British – the best of English education attracts the best of international clients – our parents are drawn from the area, but as well as British children we have French, German Italian, Spanish, American Canadian Swedish – though it’s not an international school.’

London is one of the most international cities in the world, which is reflected in schools like L’École Des Enfants in Fulham and its sister school, L’École

SARAH SEGRAVE

Headmistress of Eaton House The Manor ‘Eaton House is a wonderful place to teach – the staff are great fun, everybody is passionate about their roles and the parent body is incredibly supportive. There’s a real sense of purposeful energy that pervades the school, and there’s never a dull moment. One of my favourite aspects of my job is getting to know the families over the years. I have been Headmistress to some families for over 16 years, and it’s been a privilege watching the children grow up. I also love training new staff and the regular supply of cupcakes on pupils’ birthdays!

‘It’s always sad to see a pupil leave at the end of their time here. I’m always touched by our Leavers’ evenings, when the children thank the staff for all they have done for them. The number of past pupils who want to come back and visit is remarkable, as is the warmth and humour which characterises the relationship between staff and pupils. There’s a genuine sense of camaraderie.’

ILLUSTRATION BY ZEBEDEE HELM

‘Ensuring children feel noticed and valued is one of our top priorities. It’s fundamentally achieved by employing teachers who emotionally connect with the pupils and who are determined to see the strengths and positives in every child. We also use various tracking methods to ensure prizes and positions of responsibility are given both on merit and to as many different children as possible.

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GET YOUR CHILD INTO THE SCHOOL OF YOUR CHOICE

LISA FREEDMAN

The founder of education advisory At The School Gates advises

PRIMARY SCHOOL

Masters Library at Dulwich College

ILLUSTRATION BY ZEBEDEE HELM

Young pupils have fun at L’École des Petits

De Battersea. This hugely popular pair of prep schools offer a fully bilingual curriculum, so that all pupils come out fluent in French and English.

It was founded in 1977 by Nick and Mirella Otten, who continue to run both schools to this day. When they began, they were operating out of a church hall in Chelsea. In 1991, the school relocated to its current site in Hazlebury Road, a refurbished Victorian former-community centre. Since then it has grown hugely in size and popularity, and in 1995 the second site was opened in Battersea. The success of the Ottens’ project reflects the growth in the number of French-speaking people living in the capital - according to the French consulate, there are 400,000 of them, making it France’s sixth biggest city. Many are concentrated around South Kensington, thanks in part to the Lycée Français on Cromwell Road, which offers the Baccalaureate for 3,700 pupils. And L’École des Petits is one of the main feeders to the Lycée, although you don’t have to be French to get in.

‘Sixty per cent of our families are French or French English,’ says Nick Otten. ‘We have about 33 different nationalities in the school, Lebanese, Italian, Far Eastern - we are very international.’

The first school opened on Hazelbury Road in Fulham, 40 years ago. Demand grew so much that in 1995 a second site was opened in Battersea, which caters for pupils aged 3 to 11. That too is now full with 265 pupils.

The clever thing about the school is that it picks and chooses the best parts of the French and English curricula, and blends them together. For example, subjects such as English, History and Geography are taught in English, but for subjects like maths, or science, or, of course French, the teaching takes place in French. Nick Otten must be intimately acquainted with both schooling systems by now – which, I wonder, is the best? ‘I’m not sure that one is better than the other,’ he says, diplomatically. ‘The British curriculum is much more focused on sport, music and art – on the extra curriculum, whereas the French tends to focus just on the academic side, on mathematics, phonics and design. Both are great, but we try to bring both sides together, and to attend to all parts of our children’s character. And whether you’re English or French, you’re getting a bilingual education from a very early age.’

In the end, only you and your child can know which school is right. But talk to any prep school head in Battersea and you will find they all have one thing in common – a burning passion for what they do. Perhaps it’s because there are so many good schools in the area that they are all so proud and – dare one say it – competitive. They are spurred on to be the best. What better role model could one want for your child? n

PLAN AHEAD: The most popular preps have long waiting lists, so you may need to put your child’s name down soon after birth.

LOOK TO THE FUTURE: If you have a particular secondary school in mind, investigate which preps they tend to admit from.

LOCATION: A lengthy commute can exhaust a young child, so it is important to live close by. In the state sector, ‘Community’ schools prioritise local pupils.

MEET THE HEAD: A school’s culture is influenced by the head, so meet them in advance.

EARLY LEARNING: Prep schools look for children who can focus on tasks, integrate well with other children and have good vocab.

SECONDARY SCHOOL INVOLVE YOUR CHILD: But only offer them the choice between schools you are happy for them to attend. Visit first without them before asking them to join you.

FOCUS ON ACADEMIA: Most schools look favourably on well-rounded individuals, but don’t underestimate the value of academics when it comes to the 11+ entrance process.

HAVE A PLAN B: London is one of the most competitive cities for children’s education. So apply for at least three schools.

LOOK FOR HONESTY: Request a list of leavers’ destinations.

Most leading secondary schools will publicise this information. attheschoolgates.co.uk

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Empire State Building Charlotte Metcalf witnesses the radical transformation of a failing school He only arrived in Battersea in 2012 from Bulgaria, and English is his second language. He and his friend Hassan – who achieved three As in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry and has won a place to read Physics at UCL – are living testament to the way the school has turned around. ‘Teaching was usually appalling and often non-existent. In most lessons teachers just gave us textbooks and told us to work through them while they dealt with the kids causing trouble,’ remembers Teofil of his early years.

Today it’s a very different story: ‘The way the teachers present lessons captures our attention and makes us completely absorbed in a learning atmosphere,’ he says.

The Harris Federation was founded by the carpet tycoon, Lord Harris and now has 44 primary and secondary academies in London with an escalating reputation for transforming failing schools. Harris Westminster, its sixth-form college, is fast becoming the most talked about state school in England. This year, 23 of its students received offers to study at Oxbridge, up

PHOTOS: FRANCESCO FERLA

J

ust a street over from Battersea Park and the elegant mansion flats of Prince of Wales Drive is Harris Academy Battersea school. It stands between tower blocks on an undeniably grim stretch of Battersea Park Road. Yet beyond the school’s intimidating metal gates and brutal concrete forecourt, a revolution is taking place.

The school was failing dismally when The Harris Federation took it over in 2014. It ranked at the bottom of Wandsworth’s schools and, around a decade earlier, had been the worst performing school in the entire country. Today it is the top state school in Wandsworth and one of the top ten schools in the country in terms of progress. This summer 90 per cent of its students achieved five A* to C grades, doubling the A* to C pass rate in the last two years and a quarter of those were A or A*.

This summer, Teofil Aleksandrov (pictured right), achieved five A-levels with four A*s and, aged just 17, has won a place to study Physics at Imperial College.

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EDUCATION | SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA

PHOTOS: FRANCESCO FERLA

‘Only those who’ve studied here can truly see how friendly, open and success-driven the atmosphere is’.

from seven last year. The Federation has clearly alighted upon a successful formula.

Dr David Moody, head teacher at Harris Battersea, is passionate about the Federation’s ethos of improving the chances of children with limited opportunities, instilling them with pride and ambition. ‘My aim for Harris Academy Battersea is simple,’ he states in his Principal’s Welcome on the website. ‘To afford our students the outstanding education they deserve and deliver to them every chance of the successes that should rightfully be theirs.’

Reaching such an ambitious goal has been no easy matter but today the corridors are quiet and the classrooms emit a gentle hum of focused learning. Lessons last for 85 minutes, far longer than the average 50 minutes to an hour, to give students time to engage. I ask Dr Moody how he began to take hold of a school that was virtually ruled by a gang of unruly, aggressive teenagers. His first step was to instigate a strict consistent behaviour policy and the basic rule he insisted on immediately was that every child arrived

at school punctually, with uniform in order and bearing a pen. ‘How can you learn if you have nothing to write with?’ asks Dr Moody.

Today there is zero tolerance of homophobic and racist attitudes, prejudice or disrespectful behaviour inside or outside the classroom.

Local shopkeepers and residents are encouraged to report on any unruliness or rudeness they witness. At the same time, all teachers are made to be accountable. Initially, Dr Moody felt forced to do a big cull.

‘Some of our teachers had just given up,’ he says. ‘I don’t mind if you’re not the best teacher – so long as you want to improve. Now I’m confident my teachers combine academic brilliance with passion for the children.’

His confidence is justified. ‘The excellent work that David Moody has done in this school has helped so many children to reach for the top, and that includes me,’ says Teofil. ‘He’s a headmaster that everyone looks up to.’

As the school’s reputation has improved, it has become over-subscribed and there’s now a waiting list for the first time in decades. As more parents start to show a keen interest, Dr Moody is adamant that the school does not become a ‘surrogate private school’. ‘I want it to become a private school experience for those who couldn’t ever have access to independent schooling,’ he says.

He recently showed a parent around who liked what she saw and Dr Moody’s eyes glitter as he recounts the story. ‘The parent said to me, “I only have one problem – how will my child deal with all these lower-class children?” “Oh, don’t worry, they won’t have to,” I said, “because with an attitude like that your child will not be joining the school. Please leave now.”’ It’s impossible not to warm his fierce protectiveness over his pupils. ‘Our job is to have higher expectations for our pupils than they have for themselves,’ he says. ‘We set out to win children’s passions and expose them to things they’ll never see again, to light a spark. I don’t mind what subject they love as long as they love something.’

I admit to an interest – my own daughter is in her third year at the school, having attended a well-known girls’ private school in South Kensington. I have watched her flourish academically and can vouch for the teachers’ dedication and enthusiasm. Indeed, on Parents’ Day, a fairly chaotic affair at the end of each term, I have occasionally been moved to tears.

Teachers address the children rather than the CLOCKWISE parents and I have listened while they manifested a belief TOP LEFT: Harris Academy in my daughter’s abilities and encouraged her with humour, Battersea was once a failing insight and empathy. She is happy there and I am confident school, now it’s she is receiving a first-class education and is in the hands in the top ten state schools of people who care about her and will nurture her. ‘I would in the country; recommend this school to anyone who wants to receive an headmaster Dr David Moody; outstanding education – I wouldn’t choose any other school Teofil Aleksandrov achieved five than Harris Academy Battersea for this to be achieved,’ says A-levels with Teofil. What parent could ask for more from a school? n four A*s harrisbattersea.org.uk Autumn/Winter 2017 | 21

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HANDMADE IN ENGLAND E T T I N G E R .CO.U K +44 (0)20 8877 1616

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S C H O O L H O U S E B AT T E R S E A

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

FA M I LY

Battersea’s green spaces make the perfect backdrop for family life

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Mum’s The Word Three mums tell Charlotte Metcalf why Battersea’s the most family friendly London borough

ANNA BOND GUNNING The mother of three and management psychologist lives with her husband, Heyrick, and their three children: Sebastian, 8, Winston, 6 and Olivia, 4

‘H

eyrick grew up in Fulham, which is where we actually met and were living before we got married. We were originally reluctant to move south of the river but, having moved to Battersea, we haven’t looked back. We bought off Queenstown Road in 2004 and spent about three years there before moving here in July 2007 and we love it.

We’re not far from Chelsea so we can go north or south and having Battersea Park is magnificent – we live in it.

It has got everything – a lake, sports’ fields, tennis courts, beautiful gardens and even a zoo. There are so many nooks and crannies, which the kids love exploring.

We have picnics in the sub-tropical garden

in the summer. Olivia is a member of the zoo and she especially loves the kangaroos, the donkeys and the monkeys. Sebastian loves Go Ape ‘100 per cent’ and there’s a great wood-fired oven pizza place under the trees. I love the Pear Tree Café and Olivia likes taking out the boats there.

For children there’s so much to do in the area – they all take regular swimming lessons at the Latchmere Leisure Centre and, in the school holidays, the Chelsea Football School runs camps subsidised by the Chelsea Football Foundation for a week. They also do tennis camps, run by Henry Lamb Tennis, which are held on the Newton Prep astro-turf.

I’m from New Zealand and Heyrick is English.

I spent some of my earlier years in London and the UK, but was raised and educated in New Zealand. Post university and a graduate programme, I came over in 2000 to work and travel and my plan was to stay for two years, but I met Heyrick about 18 months in – which was

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

Portraits by FRANCESCO FERLA

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‘There are lots of working mothers like me and the children have friends from all sorts of different nationalities and backgrounds.’

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Battersea is a great place to bring up a family; pupil at Newton Prep; Anna Bond Gunning with her children Sebastian, Olivia and Winston

definitely not part of the plan.

For us it’s very important that our children are in a school that feels international. We love Newton Prep and Olivia is also at the pre-prep there. There are lots of working mothers like me and the children have friends from all sorts of different nationalities and backgrounds. Sebastian loves the different languages around him and the children are all growing up completely at home with diversity.

The facilities are like a secondary school’s – there are huge art rooms, amazing science labs, so many

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gyms, a full-sized astro-turf field and huge auditorium. All particularly remarkable for central London. It makes me want to go back to school.

There are so many good places to eat-out in Battersea. There’s a new Italian, Paglia e Fieno, with amazing pizza and pasta on Battersea Park Road, where we often eat with the kids on a Friday evening. I love the wonderful Italian coffee in Caffettino around the corner and our local pub, The Latchmere, is family friendly and full of dogs and children with a garden and play area – it’s great for Sunday lunch.

There’s also the Park Road Kitchen run by these young, entrepreneurial guys. It does delicious rotisserie chickens, which I buy on a weekend after the boys have been playing rugby and I haven’t had time to cook a big roast. There’s Apples and Bees, a fantastic health shop (like a boutique version of Whole Foods), which does wonderful fresh juices, delicious, healthy food and excellent supplements. There’s a new market at Ransomes Dock now on a Saturday selling very good bread, veggies and other fresh, organic produce.

I work as a management psychologist, where I advise clients (mainly private equity) on their most critical leadership and organisational challenges. I’m based in Mayfair, but am regularly on client site, planes, or working from my home office when possible.

My husband is the CEO of a risk advisory firm, which specialises in providing business intelligence, risk management and cyber security to large corporates and family offices around the world. He usually takes the boat up the river to work in Cannon Street, which is very civilized, but I tend to walk to Sloane Square and take the Tube.

I manage to drop the children off at school most mornings, which is important for me.

I love the 15-minute walk across the bridge.

Otherwise, for exercise, I do reformer pilates at Novo Pilates, just around the corner.

There’s an early class twice a week that I try to get to and a real sense of community amongst the working mothers there. Some of the local mothers also do a kick-boxing class after their school drop-offs.

Our street is so international and friendly. There’s a German family with three kids next door and an English-American couple the next door down. It’s a really warm neighbourhood, from the people in the pharmacy to the dry cleaners. I can’t see us ever moving from here.’

WEN GENG Asset Manager lives with her son, Cillian, 3

‘B

efore we moved here in 2015, we lived in Chelsea. Cillian was at kindergarten there but I wanted more space and fresh air, so as soon as he got a place at Thomas’s Kindergarten, we came here.

It’s a fantastic place to live. We have a lovely airy flat that’s close to the park with a view and a small playground. I know loads of other families who are neighbours and we all babysit for each other and look after each other’s children. That’s fantastic for me as a working mum. Battersea Square round the corner is great and it’s just a minute away from Cillian’s school so Mums gather there after school drop-off for coffee.

Chelsea is still very close but Battersea is so much more friendly, there’s less pollution and the park is just wonderful – I never really liked Hyde Park. Even the ducks seemed to be aggressive – one time Cillian was attacked by some ducks when he was feeding them and it took him ages to get over it. Here everything seems

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FAMILY | SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA

gentler. Besides, living near Knightsbridge was so noisy.

Mothers – and fathers – here tend to be down-toearth and easy-going, always with a friendly smile and approachable. And Thomas’s is such a kind place. If a child has a birthday or some kind of celebration, all the children get invited and it’s held somewhere low-key and local, so it feels really inclusive and real. If you think about it, the Duchess of Cambridge could have sent her son to Thomas’s in Kensington but she chose here because she knows people are genuine.

Cillian is very happy. We love the park, the river and the waterfront area at the Power Station. There’s a fountain there he likes and an old red phone box under the Grosvenor Arch, which has been kitted out to take selfies. I can go there with friends and have coffee or something to eat and Cillian will be able to play as the whole area has been developed with children in mind.

I think I’m setting a trend for Chinese people by being here. There aren’t many here yet but, ever since

ABOVE: Wen and Cillian Geng LEFT: Cillian loves playing in the selfie-taking phone box under Grosvenor Arch

Prince George started at Thomas’s Prep this September, some of my friends have been envious of my decision to move here and this year there’s another Chinese child that has started at Cillian’s kindergarten. Battersea is ideal for the Chinese. Culturally we love water as it’s a source of life and energy and the river is such a big part of Battersea and living here. Also we love new builds as, in our culture, an old historic house is seen as a property that can only devalue, like a car. And we like all the security and convenience of having a 24-hour porter, parking, gym and all the advantages that a brand new development offers. From an investment point of view, an apartment in one of these new developments is a no brainer for a Chinese person. There’s so much exciting new building happening here with river views and that, combined with the good schools and friendly environment, will soon have people following me here, I think. I’m certainly staying here – I’m not planning to move anywhere else.’

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SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA | FAMILY

SARAH BANHAM Sarah lives with her husband Richard, daughter, Elodie, 12, cats Queenie and Tortola and, occasionally, her older daughter Phoebe, 26

‘I

moved to Battersea from Brentford in 2005 when I married Richard. Richard’s a helicopter pilot and discovered Battersea ten years earlier, and we had a real Battersea wedding – we married in St Mary’s (where Elodie was christened) and went by rickshaw to our reception in the conservatory at Ransomes Dock then ended up in the Prince Albert pub.

Elodie goes to Newton Prep and I work at Battersea Power Station as Director of Communities and Sustainability and have to have one of the best school commutes in the world, covering three sides of Battersea Park each day. I cycle or walk in at Albert Gate, round to Newton Prep and then out under Chelsea Bridge and along the river path. As

ABOVE Sarah and Elodie Banham, and Queenie

I come out under Chelsea Bridge I can hear the waves lapping the beach as the Thames Clippers sweeps past and the smell of onions frying from the little burger van on the bridge above, it’s a great way to arrive at work.

Our street has such a good community.

We love the excuse to throw a street party and Elodie went to a nursery at the end of the street (since closed down) and has a good cohort of friends in the immediate neighbourhood.

The park is wonderful, especially for children. One year there was a craze for rounders, this year it was badminton.

When Elodie was little we used to run birthday treasure hunts all over the park – lots of parents use the park for birthday get-togethers. We also used to go to the children’s zoo and now love the tree walking at Go Ape – Elodie wants to do the higher adult course. The park’s for everyone and I often bump into friends and neighbours – you see lots of people doing various forms of exercise, Chelsea Pensioners, dog walkers from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home (where our cats came from) and, in August, there’s the Battersea Summer Scheme, a week of sport in and next to the Millennium Arena for all the local kids and of course the fireworks in November.

For eating out, I love the Pear Tree Café on the lake in the park but with Elodie we tend to go to the Butcher and Grill on Parkgate Road or graze at the farmers’ market in Ransome’s Dock on Saturday and she loves Queenswood on Battersea Square for brunch.

There’s always so much going on in Battersea – funfairs in the park, the Christmas fair in Battersea Square and what’s so lovely is being able to walk everywhere. Now we’ve started coming down to Circus West Village by the water too – there was hoola hooping and table tennis in the summer and the beach with hammocks. I love working at the Power Station and more families are starting to come down and use it at weekends now, having lunch at No. 29 or Mother. And there are Peregrine falcons breeding on one of the tower cranes, so we have birdwatchers coming down too.

The river is a big part of our lives. There’s now a Santander bike rack under Grosvenor Arch so families can really use the tow path for cycling. We often walk for miles along the river and Albert Bridge is a really good spot to watch fireworks on New Year’s Eve. When we were doing up our house and I went to camp with a friend in Chelsea for a bit, I realised how much I loved living here with the park and the river. I love standing on Albert Bridge and having 200 acres of greenery and park behind me but being able to look east to the shiny towers of the City. It’s the absolute best of London.’ n

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Founded Founded Founded in 1977 in 1977 in 1977

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Trott Trott Trott Street, Street, Street, Battersea, Battersea, Battersea, London London London SW11 SW11 SW11 3DS 3DS 3DS • 5•minutes 5•minutes 5 minutes from from from Chelsea Chelsea Chelsea TEL TEL 020 TEL 020 7371 020 7371 7371 8350 8350 8350 admin@lecoledespetits.co.uk admin@lecoledespetits.co.uk admin@lecoledespetits.co.uk www.lecoledespetits.co.uk www.lecoledespetits.co.uk www.lecoledespetits.co.uk

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The GREEN ZONE PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

With a 200-acre park and 150,000 trees, Battersea scores highly in the green stakes, says Maggie O’Sullivan

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PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

FAMILY | SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA

Battersea Park is larger than Green Park, St James’s Park and Holland Park combined

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W

andsworth is one of London’s greenest boroughs, rich in commons, community gardens and urban parks. An estimated 150,000 trees line its streets and public spaces; more than 1,600 species of plants and wildlife thrive in its 27 habitats.

Its neighbours are verdant too: on the other side of the Thames lie Ranelagh Gardens, home of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, with the glorious Chelsea Physic Garden a little farther along the Embankment. Just across Wandsworth Bridge is The Hurlingham Club, set in 42 acres of beautiful landscaped grounds.

But the green jewel in Wandsworth’s crown is Battersea, thanks largely to Battersea Park. Battersea Park was opened by Queen Victoria in 1858 (she did Chelsea Bridge at the same time), and though it was noted for its classical design and horticultural displays to rival those of Kew, the park was conceived to be used, hence the bandstand, bowling green, sports pitches and children’s gym. Today, it’s the several-times winner of the prestigious Green Flag Award and regarded as one

of London’s most important landscapes.

At 200 acres, Battersea Park is bigger than Green Park, St James’s Park and Holland Park put together. It’s better equipped, too, with a boating lake, fishing, canoeing, tennis courts, bowling, mini golf, playgrounds, sports pitches, a children’s zoo, a Peace Pagoda, a new children’s playground, a lakeside restaurant, even a zip wire. There are grey herons nesting in its tree tops, carp and pike in its lakes and 20 different species of butterfly flitting through its sun-dappled shrubberies, not to mention a wealth of woodland birds and waterfowl.

Next to the park is Battersea Power Station, a former wasteland where the ‘greening’ process is now well underway.

According to the development’s landscape architects, LDA Design, the new public realm will feature ‘strong drifts of herbaceous plants and grasses and tall specimen trees, providing structure, colour and texture’.

When the development is completed, it will open up 450m of river frontage for the first time in nearly a century, connecting its own 18 acres of gardens, open glades

The health-giving aspects of a green environment are well documented, but in Battersea it changes lives, too. With four gardens in Battersea Park, the gardening charity Thrive (thrive.org.uk) uses the social and therapeutic nature of horticulture to help those in poor physical or mental health. Plants are for sale in Thrive’s Main Garden on East Carriage Drive (look out for the colourful Wellington boots draped from the railings) and there are a number of workshops and training courses as well as regular sessions for volunteers.

Meanwhile, based in New Convent Garden Market, Floral Angels (floralangels.com) uses the healing power of flowers to support those in need. The brainchild of Amanda Romain, Julie Ritter and Frances Hunter, who met on a floral design course, Floral Angels recycles flowers from florists, weddings and other events and restyles them into arrangements which are then delivered by volunteers to hospices, palliative care homes, cancer care centres and women’s shelters.

One of the charity’s patrons is HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, who joined Floral Angels in a flower re-arranging session at Clarence House a few years ago.

She was clearly impressed: ‘I’m amazed that nobody has thought of it before.

Everyone is cheered up by flowers, aren’t they?’ commented The Duchess, whose arrangement was subsequently delivered to Maggie’s Cancer care centre.

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PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

THE BUSINESS OF GREEN

FAMILY | SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Explore Battersea Park’s 200 acres; monkeying around in Battersea Park Zoo; water fountain; Battersea Flower Station

and tree-filled copses with the park. In the meantime, the first section of the River Path opened earlier this year and you can now stroll from Circus West under Chelsea Bridge and right into Battersea Park without breaking step.

Not all Battersea Power Station’s greenery is at ground level – the Power Station boasts three large roof gardens, plus London’s largest roof garden on Foster + Partners’ Battersea Roof Gardens building, as created by Andy Sturgeon, winner of seven gold medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and twice voted one of the top ten garden designers in the UK, each garden references a different element of the original Power Station with themes of fire, water and air.

‘Essentially everything on a roof top is containerised so you have to choose plants that can deal with that as well as putting up with extremes of temperature and exposure to cold and drying winds,’ says Sturgeon. ‘Mediterranean plants, particularly grey and silver leaved plants and those with slender or waxy leaves do well on roof tops as they can deal with low moisture levels, sun and wind. Plants which grow by the coast are also generally suitable. Everything has to have automatic irrigation as plants dry out fast.’

Across all three roof gardens there are over 200 different plant species, with nearly 3,000 sq/m of planting, 250 sq/m of lawns and some 70 semi-mature trees. ‘Shade and shelter are important on roof tops but you usually have to do this in conjunction with preserving views,’ points out Sturgeon. ‘Battersea Power Station is a Grade II* listed building so the visual impact on the building itself is an important consideration.’

The roof gardens will be accessible not just to residents, but also to an astonishing array of local birdlife, including rare black redstart, linnet, goldfinch, grey wagtail, great and blue tit, pied wagtail and kestrels. A pair of nesting peregrine falcons are the oldest residents, having lived there since 2000, hatching and raising 31 chicks. They have since been relocated to their own platform to the north-east of the Power Station. A fact that would have no doubt delighted Henry Meyer, the celebrated 19th-century author of Illustrations of British Birds. Meyer is buried in St Mary’s cemetery, one of the Battersea’s most peaceful pockets of green at the top of Battersea Rise. Laid out in 1860, the cemetery still has its original cast iron gates and is particularly joyous in spring when the avenue of ornamental cherry trees bursts into bloom.

And talking of blooms, next to the railway tracks, between Battersea Park Road and Winders Road, is Battersea Flower Station, regularly voted the best garden centre in London. Opened in 2012, this uniquely magical shop brims with flowers, plants, pots, trees and gardening goods – you can even buy a scoop of compost for 20p.

Hundreds of years ago, Battersea was known as Battersea Fields. The fields – a network of marshes and ditches used for growing carrots, melons, lavender and ‘Battersea Bunches’ of asparagus – may be long gone, but there can be no doubt that Battersea remains one of the capital’s greenest enclaves. n Autumn/Winter 2017 | 33

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WORLD-LEADING INNOVATION EDUCATION AT THE RCA Design Thinking & Innovation Masterclass 9–10 November 2017 Book now at www.rca.ac.uk/executive-education Registration for our 2018 Summer School and Executive Education programme opens December 2017

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S C H O O L H O U S E B AT T E R S E A

PHOTO: REX FEATURES

PEOPLE

Victoria Beckham chose to locate her fashion studio in Battersea

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Old School Ties Maggie O’Sullivan discovers that Battersea has long had its share of famous folk and alumni

D

ABOVE: Grade II listed Old Battersea House is on sale with Savills for £12m

Keep your eyes peeled for Dame Vivienne Westwood on her Pashley bicycle

I ever met’. Wilson, whose former home boasts a blue plaque, lived in the crescent in the late 1890s while he was studying at St George’s Hospital Medical School, where latter-day Battersea resident Harry Hill also studied.

Other blue Liz Taylor spent her plaques in Battersea honeymoon with Larry commemorate Fortensky in Old Battersea House sculptor Charles Sargeant Jagger (Albert Bridge Road); novelist and journalist G A Henty (Lavender Gardens), aeronautical engineers Horace, Eustace and Oswald Short (Queen’s Circus) and playwright Sean O’Casey (Prince of Wales Drive).

Though he never lived on this side of the river, JMW Turner painted the Thames from the vestry window in St Mary’s Church on Battersea Church Road. Coincidentally Timothy Spall, who played the painter in the 2014 movie, Mr Turner, was brought up on Battersea’s Winstanley Estate.

In a recent interview, Spall recalled how his mother worked first in a local fish and chip shop then in a hair salon called

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PHOTOS: REX FEATURES

espite the gleeful frenzy following the announcement of Prince George’s arrival at Thomas’s Battersea, the denizens of Battersea remained unfazed. This, after all, is where Prince George’s father, Prince William, plays football in the park.

It’s where Sarah Ferguson lived prior to her marriage to the Duke of York.

And where Prince George’s stepgrandmother, The Duchess of Cornwall, comes regularly to visit Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, where she is a patron.

Battersea is no stranger to Hollywood royalty either. One of the area’s grandest mansions is the Grade II-listed Old Battersea House in Vicarage Crescent, which runs along the west side of Battersea Square. The ten-bedroom, six-bathroom property was built in 1699 and was rumoured to have been designed by Christopher Wren for the naval administrator Samuel Pett.

The novelist Wilhelmina Stirling bought the house in 1931 and filled it with works by her sister, Pre-Raphaelite painter Evelyn De Morgan, and Evelyn’s husband, potter William De Morgan. In the 1970s the house, then derelict, was restored by the multimillionaire publisher Malcolm Forbes, who filled it with glamorous visitors, including former president Ronald Reagan. After her marriage to Larry Fortensky in 1991, Forbes’s great friend Elizabeth Taylor spent her honeymoon at Old Battersea House, with the bed they slept in later fetching £9,375 at auction.

Vicarage Crescent boasts another notable former resident: the explorer and naturalist Edward Adrian Wilson. Wilson accompanied Scott to the Antarctic twice and was described by him as ‘the finest character

PEOPLE | SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA

RIGHT: Victoria Beckham has her studio in Battersea LEFT: Playwright Sean O’Casey used to live on Prince of Wales Drive

Turner painted from Battersea Park Road, while Timothy Spall who played him recently in the film Turner lives in Battersea

PHOTOS: REX FEATURES

Gordon Ramsay

Sylvia’s where ‘she could give you the best bouffant in Battersea’.

Spall went to school in Culvert Road and says he probably wouldn’t have become an actor Explorer Edward Adrian had he not been cast as Wilson’s blue plaque the cowardly lion in a school production of The Wizard of Oz in which he excelled.

Spall’s stomping ground was the Battersea of the Sixties and Seventies, ‘before the estate agents started calling it south Chelsea’.

The area wasn’t much more salubrious when a young barrister named Tony Blair shared a flat in the Tonsleys with Charlie Falconer, now Lord Falconer. But at least it wasn’t the mean streets of the Fifties and early Sixties: Great train robber Charlie Wilson and Kray associate Freddie Foreman were both born and raised in Battersea.

One local celebrity you’re unlikely to meet in Clapham Junction Asda is Victoria Beckham, whose Battersea studio is in Parkgate Road, though if you look carefully at the lady on the Pashley it could well be Dame Vivienne Westwood, who regularly cycles from her home in Clapham to her office on Elcho Street, or the equally rock ‘n’

roll Sir Bob Geldof, who also lives in Battersea. Keep an eye open on the Northcote Road: Take That’s Mark Owen, chef Gordon Ramsay, actor Rupert Penry-Jones and comedian Jack Dee all live locally.

And then, of course, there are the alumni; the men and women who have been schooled in Battersea and gone on to achieve fame and fortune. Though Prince George will surely be the non plus ultra of Thomas’s alumni, former pupils include singer Florence Welch and the Delevingne girls, Cara, Poppy and Chloe. Emanuel School, on Battersea Rise, has an even more impressive list of former pupils, as well it might, given that it was founded in 1594. Its alumni include, variously, inventor of the World Wide Web Sir Tim Berners-Lee, two-Michelin star chef Michel Roux Jr and television presenter Michael Aspel.

Cara and Poppy Now the word is out that Sting Delevingne and Trudie Styler, Bear Grylls and One Direction’s Harry Styles are residents at Battersea Power Station.

That said, there is no doubt who the most famous school-run Mum will be this autumn. Local yummy mummies are going to have to up their game. n Harry Styles

Emmanuel School

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SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA | PEOPLE

BATTERSEA PEOPLE Martin Plimmer talks to eight people providing Battersea residents with everything they could possibly need. Portraits by Francesco Ferla

Maria Rowland ROYAL ACADEMY OF DANCE

Most of us who only know the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) as a picturesque former granary tucked away in a cobbled yard off Battersea Square, don’t realise that it is one of the world’s most influential dance education organisations with 36 international offices. Nearly a quarter of a million pupils take RAD exams and classes worldwide, with an 18 per cent increase in participation by young men. ‘Dance is more popular than ever,’ says Maria Rowland, the Dance School Principal. Here in Battersea there are 1,200 pupils ranging in age from two and a half years to 86, her own daughter and step-daughter among them. When Maria was a girl she had classical training at the Royal Ballet School. RAD pupils today have a choice of classes from ballet to street.

‘The confidence that dance brings the students is what makes teaching so special for me. Dance is special for the enjoyment it brings along with great discipline, posture and a great work ethic – it sets you up for life.’ The school’s link with Battersea is strong.

In a couple of years it will move its HQ to a new building on York Road, which will be twice as big.

Maria has worked in Battersea for six years and seen incredible improvement. ‘Lots of lovely restaurants and bakeries have opened up, which are great, but not so good for me personally as I have a very sweet tooth!’

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Eric Lanlard CAKE BOY

What do the Queen Mother, Madonna and a three-year-old child in Manchester have in common? They’ve all had cakes made for them by Eric Lanlard, the cheerful baker behind Cake Boy – a pink and purple cake boutique at Battersea Reach. Cake Boy is Eric’s domain and it reverberates to his music. There’s lounge music in the café and disco in the loo. In the kitchen, when the batter’s flying, it’s like a nightclub.

In fact, the whole place is a bit like a nightclub – that’s Eric’s style. He’s a Brittany boy who came to London in 1989 to work for the Roux brothers, established fame as a master pâtissier, and now, when he’s not creating celebrity cakes, does what he loves best – teaching. ‘I want to share my passion. People think baking is complicated.

I like to prove them wrong.’ In fact, Cake Boy is a school in disguise, where decorating classes are pleasantly interspersed with Eric-cooked lunches and champagne teas.

‘People love bringing their kids here. It’s fun and it’s messy. We cover the floor!’ He starts baking at 6.30am, and every morning he’s beaten to the door by regular customers. ‘I love the Battersea vibe,’ he says.

‘It’s family orientated and creative. There are a lot of media people. There’s a dentist opposite. After they’ve done their teeth they come here for a treat.’

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Raj Bathia THE BATTERSEA GENERAL STORE

Corner shops are twoa-penny in London but Raj Bathia’s smart, green and white-tiled Battersea General Store has the edge in attitude. Where else could you pop in for a tin of cat food and leave with a rare delicacy from Italy? This shop was the first to open in Circus West Village, Battersea Power Station, and it stocks everything a growing community might need, plus a lot it doesn’t know it needs yet, like Australian liquorice, Greek mountain tea and Dubaian soft drinks. Under interrogation, Raj reveals that he is a southwest Londoner, married with a daughter and is the son of an Indian tea businessman.

He talks with passion about his beloved products, for which he has scoured the world, like Vicente Vidal olive oil-cooked crisps from Spain: ‘My goodness!’ exclaims Raj. ‘The best crisps I’ve had in my life!

How good can a crisp be?’

You can bet if there ever is a better one, Raj will track it down.

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PEOPLE | SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA

Ameer Hallak VIOLET DRY CLEANERS

Ameer is a tailor who escaped Syria when he was conscripted by the army.

‘If I was still there I’d be fighting,’ he says. ‘And who would I be fighting? My own people.’ He took over Violet Dry Cleaners, a rundown shop on Queenstown Road, spent two weeks redecorating, hung a ‘We Love Our Customers’ sign in the window and waited.

Gradually local people began to appreciate his attention to detail, bringing in trousers to shorten and bridesmaids dresses to let in or out.

‘People always need alterations,’ he says.

A home-made street drop-box generated some overnight business for, Ameer who lives locally.

His wife Hala cooks stuffed vine leaves for him and his two-year-old daughter Naya. It’s one of his best associations with Damascus, which was otherwise tense, with road blocks everywhere.

‘I like Battersea,’ he says.

‘It’s quiet and people are friendly.’

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John Schofield BATTERSEA FLOWER STATION

Battersea Flower Station claims to be probably the longest garden centre in London. It’s certainly the most enchanting. Its fairy light and pennant-threaded trees follow the railway embankment between Winders and Battersea Park Roads. People seeing it for the first time say it’s magical.

Locals cut through here on their way to work because they like the atmosphere, and they are encouraged to do so by John Schofield, who created it five years ago with his business partner Lisa McCormack, a former marketing manager for big corporations. Not just because it might bring business, but because he loves the link with the community.

He calls it the scenic route to Sainsbury’s.

Previously he ran garden centres for big companies, but wanted to make gardening more accessible.

Here he can give advice to customers, and will even visit their gardens if they live locally. There is much to learn. Did you know that London has less rainfall than Rome? Or that olive trees love it here and grow like racehorses? It’s not an easy business. It’s hard physical work. ‘Sometimes you boil a kettle and the electricity seizes. And there are cold winter weeks when we think, “What are we doing?”’

But then there’ll be a whole lot of 23-year-olds coming in asking for cheese plants and he’ll realise plants are fashionable.

Or a crocodile of children from a local school, who want him to talk about the ferns.

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PEOPLE | SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA

Beverly St Louis BARKING BETTY

Beverly St Louis once had her nose bitten by a customer and required plastic surgery, a professional injury she shrugs off as par for the course. Normally she holds them firmly by the chin hair, obliging them to submit to the indignity of shampoo and clippers.

Dogs don’t generally like being groomed. One barks every time his owner walks past the Battersea Park Road shop. A little Maltese, Tintin, shivers pitifully as he is clipped. However Beverly’s calm presence and no-nonsense approach is legend among local dog owners. She named the shop Barking Betty, after a Shih Tzu at a dog grooming school (ironically called Dog’s Delight) that barked constantly and would only let Beverly handle her.

She chose the Battersea site because of the dogs’ home association and the proximity of the park (she also runs a dog walking service). It’s a vibrant area.

‘Parents walk past and lift their kids up to see in. And when the schools come out they tap on the windows, which makes the dogs bark.’ There’s nothing twee about the shop. Beverly commissioned comic strip artwork for the website to give it an urban look, like the neighbourhood. ‘I like the diversity,’ she says. She turns to her next customer, a gorgeous blonde Spinone wearing a pink bandana, who has popped in to have her beard trimmed. ‘This road is like a sociological study.’

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Hilary and Robert Rowland BOOM CYCLE

If you thought the gym business lacked fun, so did Hilary and Robert Rowland. That’s why they started Boom Cycle. Now you can have fun with your endorphins. And very loud music. Hilary was an American fashion model who stayed in London after she met and married Robert. But she missed the upbeat indoor cycling clubs of New York, so she and Robert started their own version. They have four centres now, the latest in Arches Lane, Circus West Village, Battersea Power Station. The bike is fixed, in a darkened studio and the 30 or 45-minute classes are led by a trainer. You move to Beyoncé or gangsta hip-hop or top 40, and it’s easy to get in the zone. ‘It’s like dancing on a bike,’ says Hilary. This is keep fit, without the earnestness. There are no targets or leaderboards, competitive standards or self-consciousness.

You set your bike with the level of resistance you find comfortable. You choose a class with the kind of music you prefer. You can combine it with a hen-do, a party, or an office team-building exercise. Talking and mobile phones are discouraged, because they distract other users, but whooping with joy and singing along are allowed. And panting too, so long as it doesn’t drown out the music.

The stationary bike business is racing ahead, and Hilary and Robert are leading the peloton.

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PEOPLE | SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA

Anita Halligan BATTERSEA CHILDREN’S ZOO

Few animals look grumpier than an emu. While Ant has his neck stroked

by Battersea Zoo’s Animal Manager Anita Halligan, his partner Dec disapproves.

‘You wouldn’t try that with her,’ says Anita. Maybe it’s because she’s named after a male comedian. Anita knows her animals, and she has a lot of animals to know. She does the rounds every day, sometimes followed by parties of curious schoolchildren and special needs groups and always by a native pigeon called Hoppy that knows she carries peanuts. Donkeys, wallabies and Emperor Tamarin monkeys with Fu Manchu moustaches drop what they’re doing and rush over to greet her. Enormous New Zealand Kunekune pigs roll over to present their tummies for scratching. Probably the only animals that don’t seem to love her are the Scottish Wildcat, which looks like a household moggy but has the personality of a tiger, and the mealworms, whose one role at the zoo is breakfast for the meerkats. The zoo is tucked away in the park, a sanctuary within a sanctuary, a children’s secret. ‘It’s funny but a lot of people don’t realise we exist until they have children,’ says Anita. n Autumn/Winter 2017 | 45

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18/10/2017 11:00

You don’t just want a good teacher, you want the best.

With an RAD Registered Teacher, you’re choosing quality, safety and professionalism. We have over 8,000 teachers across the globe, so you can always find world class locally.

www.rad.org.uk/ findateacher

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Royal Academy of Dance® is a charity registered in England & Wales No. 312826

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LIVING & EATING

Battersea offers a wide variety of restaurants, like No. 29 Power Station West

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Happiness starts at Battersea

Getting Angelina ready for her new home is a serious business.

We microchip them, give them full check-ups and vaccinations.

We also get to know our dogs and cats and take care of them until they are ready – and happy – to meet you.

Rehome a Battersea dog or cat today and make them even happier.

battersea.org.uk

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CULTURE | SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA

Culture Surge Jenny Wilhide traces the rapid growth of Battersea’s rich cultural scene

Battersea is hardly recognisable from its Alfie Up The Junction days

PHOTOS: REX FEATURES; RICHARD HAUGHTON

M

y connection with Battersea began with my daughter’s first day at Parkgate Montessori, then housed in a church on Battersea Park Road.

Time flashed by. Before I knew it, she was being interviewed for a new primary school that was just about to open – Newton Prep – and she was luckily accepted into its first year. One day she came home in her navy tartan shirt and pinafore and produced a bulb from her pocket, which she’d found in Battersea Park. We planted and watered it, and it turned out to be a very beautiful flowering peony. For me, every nook and cranny of Battersea is filled with glistening memories of my daughter’s early years.

But let’s not forget that there was a time in living memory when Battersea was different. It was a little worn around the edges, blackened by industry and deep deprivation.

To a girl like me from Knightsbridge by way of Beverly Hills and Paris, it was a little scary – a place on the other side of the tracks, a place of grit and outside privies, so brilliantly evoked in films such as Alfie, Up The Junction and The Lavender Hill Mob. You might visit with your nanny to pick a pet at the Dogs’ Home, or someone might swoop down to find a replacement antique fireplace for a house in the country. But it wasn’t a place to linger. You retreated as soon as possible to the better borough.

There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then.

The delights of living in Battersea today are so obvious they hardly need repeating but suffice to say it has become affluent, charming, residential, leafy and utterly comfortable.

It both stands happily alone Royal College of Art but is also adjacent to Chelsea and the river. In addition, and most magically, the place has retained just enough edge to prevent it from becoming dull and this is largely due to the life beyond the front doors. Out on the street, Battersea’s shopping, restaurants and entertainments are spectacular by any standards.

At gathering speed, the timeline of the flourishing of Battersea (from ‘dingy’ to ‘delightful’), goes something like this: In the beginning came Vivienne Westwood, high priestess of punk, and her HQ remains in Elcho Street to this day. Then came, in nothing like the correct order, famous residents such as David Linley (now Lord Snowdon), Simon Le Bon, Bob Geldof and Gordon Ramsay. There followed JK Rowling wrote from a flat-share in Battersea the Royal Academy of Dance, Richard Rogers’ Montevetro building and the fabulous new Royal Autumn/Winter 2017 | 49

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SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA | CULTURE

College of Art. Newton Prep and Thomas’s schools arrived just in time to educate our children. Then came the brilliant actress Geraldine James and the dazzling conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner, fashion designer Orla Kiely and textile designer Neisha Crosland. And, there’s all the shops and restaurants, and Dove the butchers of Northcote Road. Even Darius Knight, the table tennis champ, was born and raised here. Most fabulous of all – JK Rowling began writing Harry Potter in a flat-share right here, in the back streets that snake up the hill towards Clapham Junction.

There is such a wealth of cultural activity to celebrate in Battersea, which is unusual for an area that is essentially residential. Let’s start with theatre, which to people like me is as vital as breathing.

World-class fringe is in constant supply at the 503 at the Latchmere, where new writing is championed and some of the country’s leading theatre managers have been given their first break. On Lavender Hill there’s the beloved, vibrant Battersea

Arts Centre or BAC, where both my halfbrother Edward Hall (Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre) and my old school friend Irina Brooke (Artistic Director of the Théâtre National in Nice, France) found a welcome home for their very first plays.

BAC continues to be a fantastic crucible of talent to this day – and the bar is worth remembering for a funky drink too.

To add to this wealth of theatre activity, Battersea has a new 150-seat theatre at The Village Hall within a multi-use community arts centre at Circus West Village. The developer behind the regeneration of Battersea Power Station has unveiled a cultural strategy to transform this part of south London into a new cultural district (committing £6.8m in the first year). And they’ve made fantastic alliances with Jude Kelly, a major force behind the redevelopment of London’s South Bank, as well as Battersea Arts Centre’s Director, David Jubb. It now promises to be a seriously fun hub.

Battersea Power Station Development

‘There is now such a wealth of cultural activity to enjoy and celebrate in Battersea that it’s almost ridiculous’

LEFT: Taking Salsa classes at the foot of Battersea Power Station ABOVE: Battersea Arts Centre TOP RIGHT: Henry Moore’s Three Standing Figures sculpture in Battersea Park

PHOTOS: REX FEATURES; ALAMY

BOTTOM RIGHT: Hitting the tiles at the Clapham Grand

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PHOTOS: REX FEATURES; ALAMY

Company is also collaborating with the CASS Sculpture Foundation and with the designer Morag Myerscough, who is well known for her colourful work at the Design Museum. Henry Moore was commissioned to make his Three Standing Figures sculpture for Battersea Park in 1947, where it was intended to fuel debate. It’s wonderful that this heritage will be continued with an annual ‘Powerhouse Sculpture Commission’, run in association with the experts at CASS, who have been behind the Fourth Plinth project in Trafalgar Square for 18 years.

This first year the joint winners are Jesse Wine and Haffendi Anuar. Their two sculptures have been installed as I write and will remain in situ for three months.

The Pump House Gallery is one of Battersea’s longer established centres for contemporary art, within the 200 acres of Battersea Park. On Lavender Hill, classical Italian draughtsmanship can be learnt at London Fine Art Studios. There are lots of private galleries around Northcote Road and St John’s Hill, and tucked away in industrial yards you can find the gleaming studios of brilliant product designers such as Sebastian Bergne.

Musically, Battersea doesn’t lag behind either. Anyone in need of a night on the tiles will know the Clapham Grand, a refurbished Edwardian Music Hall built like a red brick Palazzo.

They do comedy, live music, and full throttle club nights.

There are also some rather good choirs based in the area.

Battersea Choral Society was founded 20 years ago by parents at Thomas’s School.

Its charismatic conductor, Sam Evans, is himself a baritone and long-time member of the distinguished Monteverdi Choir – which recently performed to great acclaim at the BBC Proms and in Lucerne. On the pop music side, a Community Choir also run by Sam Evans celebrated its first birthday with a concert at The Village Hall at Circus West Village in July.

Even though I don’t live in Battersea anymore, I visit often.

Nothing beats the feeling of returning to places I knew when my daughter was young. Areas may change, but culture and memories give a place its heart. n Autumn/Winter 2017 | 51

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LIVING | SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA

Gordon Ramsay’s London House is both child and dog friendly

Eat Your Heart Out Battersea is going back to its considerably foodie roots, says Carolyn Hart

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attersea is having a bit of a moment this year... not only is Prince George beating a regular path from Kensington Palace to local prep school, Thomas’s Battersea, but also the looming skeleton of Battersea Power Station is nearing the end of its transformation, as Circus West Village emerges from its shroud the scaffolding and portacabins, and with it a cornucopia of new homes, shops and inspiring public spaces, as well as a viewing platform from which you can gawp at Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s monumental edifice. In short, it has become the centre of a new London neighbourhood.

And one of the main functions of this new neighbourhood is... food.

New restaurants, bars, delis and foodie

Fresh pasta at Mother

Delicious sandwiches (below) can be found at Breadstall

start-ups are all vying for attention from the latest influx of global citizens and well-heeled Londoners. This is a fitting role for a district that has historically been a major player in food production. Although Battersea started life as Badric’s Island, a medieval religious settlement on the Thames, it gained a reputation as a food supplier to the City of London. Pre-Industrial Revolution, most of Battersea was farmland worked by about 20 market gardeners, chiefly famous for their lavender (hence Lavender Hill), pigs and asparagus which was sold as ‘Battersea Bundles’.

Lavender is now mostly confined to local front gardens, and pigs are virtually non-existent, but you can still get hold of countless asparagus bundles in season – much of it provided by the 21st-century heirs to Battersea’s culinary past. Until the stirring of the Power Station began to ignite life back into its immediate locale, these were mostly concentrated on Northcote Road and Battersea Square, where Gordon Ramsay now holds sway with his London House (gordonramsayrestaurants.com/ london-house), a child-friendly (kids eat free up to the age of 12), dog-friendly bar and restaurant with garden.

The daily menu is pretty basic (eg Caesar salad, smoked salmon, risotto, chocolate brownies) but there are fancier options if you go à la carte.

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‘Food lovers should be very excited by The Battersea General Store, south London’s answer to the Daylesford franchise, which has a terrific range of international groceries...’ enough fish, meat, bread, fruit and veg to service any number of fancy dinner parties.

Look out specially for Sebastian Vince’s Breadstall (breadstall.com) created in 1997 with a pre-crowdfunding £200 overdraft and a market stall he found in the South of France. Vince divides his wares into bread/cakes (including doughnuts made on site five times a day) and savoury (quiche, pizza, tortilla, ciabatta etc). Dotted along the road are several restaurants, bars and coffee shops, which are worth a visit. Osteria Antica Bologna (osteria.co.uk) is a terrifically good Italian neighbourhood restaurant featuring dishes such as carpaccio di polpo, porchetta, zucchini fritte, Milanese di pollo and tiramisu with an all-Italian wine list. New boy on the block is Macellaio (macellaiorc.com), which began as a butchers in Genoa, Italy and now majors in meaty Italian delights such as Fassona-aged beef and sweetbreads. Vagabond (vagabondwines. co.uk) is a wine bar that has noted and understood the recent fashion for drinking good wines from small producers by the glass. They have a tasting menu of 100 wines, meat and cheese platters and a wine club that will deliver monthly boxes to your door.

In terms of grocery shopping, The Hive Honey Shop (thehivehoneyshop.co.uk) has a working beehive on site and nearly 50 different varieties of honey. Hamish Johnston Cheese (hamishjohnston.com) runs a wholesale operation in Suffolk (you can find his cheeses in Southwold and Aldeburgh) and the Battersea outlet with which to seduce south London cheese lovers.

Round the corner on Battersea Rise, Soif (soif.co) offers large and small plates of delicious fare like charcuterie, oysters and steak tartare alongside a decent mainly French wine list; the gaudy façade to BabaBoom (bababoom.london) invites a body-swerve but in fact hides an interesting charcoal kebab kitchen with Eastern Mediterranean sides such as sweet potato hummus, avocado tahini and coal-fired cauliflower Other worthy Battersea venues include Nutbourne (nutbourne-restaurant.com) in Ransomes Dock, one of a trio of restaurants (the other two are The Shed in Notting Hill and Rabbit on the King’s Road) run by the Gladwin brothers, whose organic-farm-toplate ethos was nurtured on their eponymous

family farm in Sussex. Ransomes Dock also hosts a Farmers’ Market each Saturday. TV star Eric Lanlard runs Cake Boy (cake-boy.com), the gloriously over-the-top cake shop and café in what looks like an upmarket housing estate on the bank of the Thames. Here you can buy red velvet cakes, raspberry and cream gateau, Madeira loaf and New York cheesecake, or sit over a cup of chai latte and watch the local inhabitants scuttle by.

New arrivals from other London foodie hotspots include KaoSarn (020 7223 7888), sister to the crowd-pulling Thai restaurant in Brixton village. Its laid-back atmosphere and spicy home cooking (goong tod, moo ping, som tum salad, pad Thai), plus BYOB policy is a great addition to the St John’s Hill area of Battersea. Likewise Mientay, a familyrun Vietnamese restaurant (mientay.co.uk), specialises in home cooking from south-west Vietnam (seafood hotpot, pho with sliced beef, chargrilled quail).

But that’s all very well if you’re in the neighbourhood at large, but what if you’re a recent denizen of Battersea Power Station FROM TOP: Kebab kitchen Baba-Boom; Cake Boy; monk fish cheeks at Nutbourne, whose sister restaurants include Rabbit on the King’s Road

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and averse to walking your way to lunch or dinner? Then you’re in luck... Battersea is taking its food heritage seriously and has, almost uniquely in London, gone to some trouble to introduce new businesses that are not yet ubiquitous high street names. These include Mother (motherrestaurant. co.uk), offspring of the Danish pizza company, which imports a great Skandi vibe into the compound: walls of logs, high ceilings and huge wooden seating slabs. The name refers to the starter for the pizza base, or ‘mother’, which gets the dough rising. No. 29 Power Station West (no29powerstationwest.co.uk) is a new neighbourhood bar and restaurant serving sharing plates of peppered squid, smoked salmon pâté, plus pan-fried gnocchi, ribs, crab cakes, pancakes and Sunday roasts. Upmarket oyster-sellers, the Wright Brothers (thewrightbrothers.co.uk) have a space here as does Francesco Mazzei who is opening his third London restaurant. Fiume (danddlondon.com/restaurant/fiume) has a modern Italian menu, 120 covers and a large outdoor terrace. Pedler Cru (pedlerbatterseapowerstation.london), offshoot of the tiny but impressive Peckham Rye restaurant is a neighbour.

FROM TOP: Seafood platters at Wright Brothers; outside No. 29 Power Station West; The Battersea Food lovers should be very excited by The General Store is the area’s answer to Daylesford Battersea General Store (thebatterseageneralstore. co.uk), south London’s answer to the Daylesford franchise, which has a terrific range of international groceries from Japanese whisky to Spanish potato chips as well as a deli and coffee bar. Other classy emporia include a new winery opening from Vagabond, and the family-run The CoffeeWorks Project (coffeeworksproject.com), selling single origin espresso and filtered coffee sourced from artisan producers. Pretty much all your daily needs answered in one new neighbourhood. n

TRIO OF LOCAL CAFFS TANGERINE DREAM Winner of one of Time Out’s Love London awards, Tangerine Dream serves homemade food in the grounds of the Chelsea Physic Gardens just a stroll across the river and one of London’s most beautiful hidden gardens. Dishes include wild smoked salmon, daily salads, goats’ cheese and gruyère tarts, roast beef, orange and polenta cake and lavender scones with clotted cream. (chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/visit/cafe)

ITALO This tiny corner-site café in Bonnington Square has a collection of outdoor tables, an awning and a positive attitude to dogs. Inside, the café doubles as an Italian deli with makeshift shelves crammed with produce. You can sit outside and eat delicious home-made Italian food in dappled sunshine beneath a tree, unbothered by the noise of traffic. It’s idyllic. Italo’s charm is not a complete accident, of course; it’s owned by Charlie Boxer, son of revered food writer Arabella Boxer and father of Jackson, who runs the award-winning Brunswick House – one of the best restaurants in the district – which occupies space in the grand, solitary 17th-century house on Vauxhall roundabout. (italodeli.co.uk)

PEAR TREE CAFÉ Run by two ex-Petersham Nurseries chefs on the lake in Battersea Park, Pear Tree Café provides a fantastically watery view of trees, lake and wheeling cormorants. Eat a chicken schnitzel charcoal sandwich, sweet potato pancakes or chocolate and almond toast while absorbing the Great Lakes vibe. (peartreecafe.co.uk)

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PHOTOS: PORTRAIT BY FRANCESCO FERIA; GETTY IMAGES

Interior designer Philippa Thorp

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Bella Vista

Johanna Thornycroft talks to Philippa Thorp, the London designer behind one of the Battersea Power Station Penthouses with the best view in town

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PHOTOS: PORTRAIT BY FRANCESCO FERIA; GETTY IMAGES

he Sloane Street meeting room at Thorp Design is calm and quiet, featuring a circular glass-topped table and very comfortable chairs. It echoes the light filled open-plan studio where owner and principal Philippa Thorp heads up a team of 18 architects, designer/decorators and a garden and planting specialist. It is the sort of atmosphere that inspires confidence, a key ingredient, given that Philippa is often credited as being at the top of the go-to list for the international jet set – demanding individuals who own multiple homes and expect the very best when it comes to interior design, procurement of art and all the fine detailing and finesse that is required for contemporary living spaces.

Philippa, a former winner of International Designer of the Year, is a classic English beauty; tall, slim and elegant with lovely manners.

Brought up in an army family, she came to interior design somewhat back-to-front. She undertook an art foundation course after school and then studied textile design before joining Citibank. ‘I loved it’, she says, ‘I adore getting things done.’

These days burnt-out bankers, fund managers and city insurance dealers often re-train in the gentler arts of landscaping or interior decoration, move to country villages and slow right down – not Philippa. A good friend lured Philippa away from the City into

her interiors career. The friend, who was just starting out, asked Philippa to team up with her to create a bedroom scheme.

The rest, as they say, is history. Running and developing Thorp Design, however, was never going to be a gentle pursuit choosing pretty fabrics and cushion covers. The Eighties were a time when miles of chintz and drop-cloths ruled interiors, and the over-thetop English country house ‘look’ was the done thing. It seemed that everybody had become a decorator but as design moved apace, a band of serious professionals like Philippa survived and thrived while many of the newcomers did not.

With her banking experience, Philippa was soon asked to join the early incarnation of the British Institute of Interior Design as the finance director. ‘The 1980s were immensely interesting times as our profession was really unstructured then and we were learning how the Americans did it,’ she tells me. Few people trained at places like KLC School of Design or the Inchbald or even went to art school, but Philippa and Annabelle Evelegh, the middle of her three daughters who all work at Thorp, believe there is nothing quite like learning on the job – all that gamut of detail, from the critical use of everevolving computer technology to finding the best suppliers. And, of course, a degree adds a useful dimension in terms of learning time

Sofas and chairs

by Thorp Design

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management and discipline – those deadlines need sticking to after all.

Another important element of today’s essential design skillsset is knowledge of the art and photography world. Many of Philippa’s clients have inherited pieces or a collection and new works need to be found to complement what they have already. Being based in a thriving art hub like London means Thorp is able to see and advise on everything from Old Masters, right through the 20th century to emerging young talent.

Thorp Design draw their clients largely from the worlds of politics and finance, people at the top of their game who are looking for considered beauty and want real, practical comfort, quality and a great use of colour. ‘We do agonise over perfection’ says Philippa. Having completed luxury projects in the Bahamas, the Alps and Thailand, plus numerous English and European town and country homes, there is little that Philippa does not know about how people like to live. Working mainly on very high-end residential projects she does note her greatest challenge at the moment is at Wentworth Golf Club. ‘It’s massive and we have to work with sometimes great financial restraints and multiple decision-makers.’

Today Philippa is telling me about her new project, the fitting out and furnishing of a large penthouse for a knowledgeable private client. He is a man with children who owns several homes, has his own ideas about colour and style (little pattern but masculine textures and rich colours) and is used to employing architects and designers. Philippa’s daughter, Annabelle, who is the lead on the job, describes the brief: ‘This is really pure decorating and furnishing with the provision of some of the lighting.’

The penthouse is located at Circus West, the first phase of the regeneration of Battersea Power Station. The Grade II* listed industrial building had lain idle since it closed in 1983. Eventually bought by Malaysian investors, it is being developed as part of one of Europe’s largest and arguably most exciting construction projects. In effect, this is a massive undertaking to create a proper new neighbourhood within a city – one that will include every facility, from offices, shops, restaurants, hotels and sports facilities to over 18 acres of public space, a six-acre park and a brand new integrated Northern line tube extension. The station will open in 2020 and trains will run to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station, a mere 15-minute trip to and from the West End. The basic facts and figures are impressive: some 1.25 million square feet of office space (3,000 Apple employees will enjoy a wonderful new workplace in the Power Station itself).

The first 865 homes are completed and the

TOP: Display piece with shelves and coloured inserts ABOVE: Thai table with brass and leather chairs

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BELOW: Leather chairs RIGHT: Porta Romana

first residents moved in from January 2017. British architecture practice, Foster + Partners and US-based Gehry Partners, among other big-names, have brought stand-out architectural innovation to the project, along with some pretty snazzy garden plans and plenty of generous pedestrianised areas to make this a particularly child-friendly environment.

Philippa’s client’s three-bedroom, three-bathroom home includes attractive outdoor living areas with winter gardens on two sides, plus a substantial planted terrace for entertaining. Because of the way the river bends at this point, there are truly amazing views sideways beyond the Power Station to the east and straight into the setting sun in the opposite direction.

From the entrance hall, a series of vistas unravel seductively slowly.

Thorp has designed a stunning walnut and bronze, double-sided bookcase, which partially screens the initial tantalising view and leads the eye through the living space to a ‘sister’ piece of furniture, intended to display the owners’ collection of busts. The dining area follows beyond with doors opening to the east winter garden, while at right angles steps lead up to the main, raised, decked terrace, with space for a ten-seat dining table.

Further, more intimate seating areas are set either side of the raised central space.

The kitchen, with its functional marblelined pantry, sits at the heart of the space, open to the living and dining areas. The bedrooms, bathrooms and utility room wrap around the south and west sides. The bedrooms have curtains designed by Thorp with pelmets so they can ‘stack’ to one side allowing more space for art on the walls. Fabrics are de Le Cuona and John Boyd linens plus Robert Allen wool. The owner wants the living spaces left unscreened to maximise the extraordinary views.

Annabelle gives me a visual tour of the apartment on her computer and I’m even able to see her client’s choice of art and sculpture. He likes to mix old and new and so the scheme has allowed for something antique in every room, from sculpture to an ancient looking wooden model boat.

Guinevere lamps

For anyone who loves the business of choosing furniture, fabrics and rugs, a virtual walk through this apartment reveals heavenly multiple layers and textures. Many of the lights, textiles, mirrors, rugs and decorative items can all be found (and mostly have been) just over the river in Pimlico, King’s Road or nearby. The entrance hall light,

by Rose Uniacke (the Beckhams’ designer), is reminiscent of a faceted Pomellato jewel.

Lighting is from Porta Romana and there are luxurious fabrics from de Le Cuona, Holland & Sherry and Pierre Frey, while forays to every decorator’s dream shop, Guinevere, have produced some stunning pieces including oversized mirrors and lamp bases. Thorp has included its own design chairs and sofas and teamed those with an unusual petrified wood coffee table, a large reclaimed timber table from Thailand, brass and leather chairs and a mix of high gloss lacquer chests and quirky Danish mid-century modern side tables.

There is no doubt this is going to be a sumptuous interior with astonishing views and a huge wow factor. ‘Our client has thought it through very carefully,’ says Annabelle.

‘I think they are doing it exactly right’, says Philippa of the scale of ambition at the Power Station. ‘It’s going to be a new town centre and, importantly, it’s opening up the south river bank and creating a community in the sense that everything you need will be provided.’ Indeed, further to the east are the new American and Dutch embassies with talk of a cycle and pedestrian bridge linking to the north bank.

A design store has arrived and more will come no doubt as interior designers like the Thorp team will be kept busy for the foreseeable future.

‘I come to work to have fun – we must enjoy what we do,’ says Philippa. n

Stylish seating

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Rock Down to Electric Boulevard Foster + Partners and Gehry Partners have collaborated on one of the UK’s most thrilling developments. Matthew Bell gets the lowdown

What excites you most about the Battersea Power Station project? It is essentially about bringing the Power Station back to life. The potential to create an entirely new neighbourhood, with places to live, work and play in the heart of the city is a very exciting opportunity.

What’s the first thing you do when starting a project of this size?

The site – it always begins with the site and Battersea Power

Station has such a powerful history and iconic presence. I remember vividly when it was due to reopen as an entertainment complex on my birthday in May 1990. It is a real shame that it has remained disused for so long.

You joined Foster + Partners in 1988. What is Sir Norman Foster like to work with? Extraordinary – he is a tireless, passionate designer, constantly exploring and driving the practice forward.

You feel that he is always a step ahead.

The legendary architect Frank Gehry is also involved in the Battersea project. How does a collaboration like that work in practice? It was very interesting – we weren’t designing the same buildings together, but as our projects face one another there is a natural dialogue between them. Gehry’s architecture is dynamic and always surprising – we used the fluid form of our building to respond to their buildings, pushing the form back and forth to create pockets of space between the structures.

The public space inside the Power Station works at two levels and so as not to prioritise either one, we created an ambiguity in the street and designed an asymmetric cross section. On the south

PHOTOS: REX FEATURES

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ne of the most exciting developments at Battersea Power Station is Electric Boulevard, a brand new high street and residential complex comprising around 1,300 new homes, situated to the south of the Power Station. In a rare collaboration, legendary architectural practices Foster + Partners and Gehry Partners (the architecture practices of Sir Norman Foster and Frank Gehry) were brought together to design different parts of the project. Here, Foster + Partners’ Senior Partner Grant Brooker talks about how the design process worked, and about his 30-year career working on some of the world’s most important new buildings.

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What prompted you to become an architect? I think

side, our buildings have split lower levels with a raised ground level and a lower-ground floor below. On the other side of the street Frank’s buildings have a twostorey base with their ground level a floor below ours.

This created the ambiguity and unique streetscape we were aiming for.

Have there been any creative differences, so to speak?

No – we weren’t designing any buildings together, but we were obviously influenced by each other’s work. The collaboration between our teams found its reflection in the public places and the long boulevard between our projects.

it is the perfect balance of creativity and invention.

Growing up I was always around construction sites, so building has always been in my blood.

What have been the highs and lows of your career?

LEFT & BELOW: Electric Boulevard promises to be one of the most architecturally significant high streets in the UK BOTTOM: Sir Norman Foster

The highs are easy – it is such a complex process to take a building from concept to completion that every building opening feels like a fantastic achievement. Walking around a building once it is finished is wonderful, I will never tire of that.

The lows – projects that get cancelled are heartbreaking and losing a competition is a miserable experience. I’m a very poor loser.

What has been the most significant change in your industry in that time? Computing – our ability to design, and then analyse and visualise at every stage of design – has speeded up enormously. In contrast, the construction process has changed very little.

Out of the projects you have worked on, of which are you most proud? I think the most quoted answer is that it is impossible to choose – it is like choosing your favourite child.

You have worked on some huge and important projects, including the airport at Hong Kong, the world’s largest public building.

Is the process of designing something on that scale totally different to, say, the planning of a house, or is it the same process but on a magnified scale? It was a very different process and experience.

In Hong Kong, we were part of an incredible series of projects – with a scale and ambition that would change the infrastructure and the economy of the country. It was amazing to be part of that.

PHOTOS: REX FEATURES

Who are your architectural heroes?

The British modernists, Norman, Richard Rogers, Jim Sterling, Michael and Patty Hopkins – all of whom refused to be cowed by the post war architectural failures of the ’60s, and created the optimistic architectural world that I grew up in.

What would be your dream home?

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Harry Becher

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Membership for Life Mary Killen talks to Harry Becher, the concierge meeting the demands of Battersea Power Station’s residents at The Power Club

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he thought of living as a ‘unit’ in a multiple residence development has traditionally conjured up images of loneliness and anonymity. So why, by contrast, do the hearts of the first residents of the new Battersea Power Station Development soar with the thrill of social anticipation?

Why do they attest that this brand new neighbourhood has already got the sense of cosiness of a true community?

The answer lies with the vision of the Malaysian consortium behind Battersea Power Station. Leading the team on the ground is Rob Tincknell, who himself once suffered the anomie of tower block living but he turned the negative experience into a positive.

And working to realise shareholders’ dreams, he determined one day to create the diametrical opposite – the best possible version of communal living, a prototype that would deliver to residents not just technically and mechanically correct living spaces, but also that much-needed extra non-material dimension, a sense of belonging to a dynamic, considerate and interactive community.

This redundant acreage on the borders of Chelsea had lain purposeless and unoccupied for many decades like a Sleeping Beauty just waiting for its Prince to bring it to life.

In this case it was not the Prince of Wales who stepped into the breach, although he must also be applauded for his attempts to use architecture to promote community cohesion with his own Dorset development, Poundbury.

Ten times greater in scale, the Battersea Power Station development is going to be something of a new mini city. Not only will the residences have some of the most commanding and exhilarating views of river, skyline and greenery, the intention is to welcome all comers to enjoy the shopping, cultural and green space.

What will bring in not only the local residents of old Battersea and Chelsea which abut the Power Station, but further flung Londoners, are two key transport innovations. A new Tube stop – Battersea Power Station – is now being excavated, the trolleys of extracted mud being loaded onto barges and taken downstream to an ecological recycling point further down the Thames. It will join the Northern line and whisk users to and from, for example, Leicester Square in 11 minutes.

In addition, the new Battersea Power Station Pier pontoon will encourage coming and going by MBNA Thames Clippers’

The Power Club, Battersea Power Station

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The Village Hall and forthcoming 2,000-seater auditorium will welcome all visitors, quickly and steadily bringing this once-forgotten part of nearcentral London to dynamic life.

But how will the vision of the Malaysian shareholders of Battersea Power Station encourage this residential community bonding?

The development team’s masterstroke is to have collaborated with über fixer Harry Becher.

In the days before social media and the internet, the youthful Becher was so super social and knew so many people that he and his friend Ben Elliot started a nightclub to accommodate all their contemporaries.

When the numbers of friends ringing them to ask for advice on where to go before and after the nightclub, and even where to go on holiday, became a tidal wave, Elliott decided to set up an agency to steer people in the right direction. This is how Quintessentially, the international fixing agency began. Becher worked for it and set up the Los Angeles branch before, in 2005, striking out on his own.

Battersea Power Station’s vision was that Becher would employ his fixing skills at Battersea, and so every resident automatically becomes a member of The Power Club.

Becher shows me The Power Club app can be uploaded to the phones of all residents.

We are sitting in a LINLEY-designed bar in one of The Riverhouse’s cafés for residents. LINLEY has provided bespoke furniture for and designed all the residential gathering rooms inside the building: screening rooms, meeting rooms, cafés and games room.

‘This app comes as part of your service Community spaces take charge here,’ says Becher. ‘No one requires you on a new dimension to use it but if you want to you can. What we are in The Riverhouse providing is concierge plus support, arts and culture, and an onsite programme of social new dedicated service, which will run every 20 minutes during events. Battersea Power Station has partnered with Battersea Arts rush hour and every 30 minutes outside of that period. While Centre, and Jude Kelly, CBE, Artistic Director of the Southbank a shuttle bus, departing every 15 minutes from Sloane Square Centre, is onside as a Cultural Adviser to the Power Station to help station, will transport yet more local visitors. curate the whole area as a new cultural district of London on the Those who have already purchased properties – note these south side of the river.’ are buy to live in purchases, not buy to leave, enjoy ‘winter gardens’ While we drink our coffee, as part of concierge support, Harry instead of balconies. You can step outside onto your mini terrace examines the stream of requests coming in. The requests are already in summer and in winter you can close the weather out with glass being attended to by his team of ten. ‘Someone wants to go to Frieze doors and use your balcony as a conservatory or sun trap.

Art Fair next week, another wants to go to the Fashion Awards, Gehry Partners’ first ever residential building in Britain is set someone else wants to go to Chiltern Firehouse for dinner.’ to open next and will have a Foster + Partners stunning building He points to an exquisite antique chess set displayed on rise up alongside it with its own New York-style High Line sky a nearby table: ‘So you feel like a game of chess at seven o’clock garden along the length of its roof. The most spectacular tonight? Our chess club already has 169 members. I write, residence in the whole development will be housed in the “Anyone fancy a game of chess tonight at seven?”, and someone Penthouse of the old restored, iconic Power Station. That will reply, “You know what Harry, I wouldn’t mind a game resident will feel like the King – or Queen – of London. of chess and a glass of Rioja with you at seven.”’

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ABOVE: Space to dine BELOW: All residents are welcome at Goodwood

of The Ned, and if say you and another resident want to watch a film together, you book the screening room and we’ll organise it.’

‘But one of the best things about The Power Club is the relationship we have with the Goodwood Estate. If you just want to get out of London, then all a Power Club member needs to do is either drive down the A3 for 90 minutes, get a train to Chichester or, if you’re feeling really glamorous, get a helicopter from Battersea heliport.

‘Goodwood will welcome you. You can play and watch cricket there, watch motor racing, go riding, play golf, go for walks. The

members’ club at Goodwood is called The Kennels and there will be many events there for you. For example at Christmas there will be an après ski club where members can go and drink delicious wines and eat fondue. It’s a lovely relationship we have with Goodwood. The overarching nature of the relationship is that you can get away from the city if you need to.’

‘These are incredibly busy people,’ he says protectively, ‘they live here and they deserve to be nurtured and inspired.’ By inspired he means that he can also arrange weekend breaks and longer holidays abroad. Yes, he does all the ground work for them.

But does he enjoy it? Surely the commitment to satisfying the demands of an unending tide must eventually exhaust? Becher goes to Andalusia every third Friday to walk in the hills. ‘In some parts of Andalusia,’ he says, ‘it’s almost like living in a different era. The pace of life is so calm. It’s like yin and yang for me and all about balance.’

Harry is addicted to The Power Club and helping to create the little bonds of shared references and enjoyments which will turn Battersea Power Station into one of the happiest mini cities in the world.

‘When I first drove onto the site here three and a half years ago, I knew I had to be involved,’ he remembers. ‘The motto of my company was, “Making extraordinary things happen.”

When I met Rob Tincknell and the Battersea team and found out that their motto was, “We don’t do ordinary”, I realised that our businesses and values are perfectly aligned.’ n batterseapowerstation.co.uk Autumn/Winter 2017 | 65

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Getting the best out of Battersea BREAKFASTS & BRUNCHES

Pear Tree Café Battersea Park, SW11 4NJ +44 (0)20 7978 1655 peartreecafe.co.uk Enjoy an acai bowl or almond milk oat porridge while taking in the gorgeous view over the lake. The chef/owners met while working at Petersham Nurseries, so expect a gourmet treat.

The Breakfast Club 5–9 Battersea Rise, SW11 1HG +44 (0)20 7078 9630 thebreakfastclubcafes.com Open from 8am seven days a week, the extensive and all-day breakfast menu

includes a serious Full Monty and salted caramel banoffee pancakes in a cool and retro setting.

Ben’s Canteen 140 St John’s Hill, SW11 1SL +44 (0)20 7228 3260 benscanteen.com Sample Ben’s laid-back brunches from 9am Friday to Sunday before he opens at Circus West Village next year.

The Bloody Marys are perfection.

RESTAURANTS FOR THE FAMILY London House 7–9 Battersea Square, SW11 3RA +44 (0)20 7592 8545 gordonramsayrestaurants.com/london-house Gordon Ramsay’s neighbourhood restaurant with a modern European menu. Children under 12 eat for free and dogs are welcome too – ideal for Sunday lunch after a walk in Battersea Park.

The Latchmere 503 Battersea Park Road, SW11 3BW +44 (0)20 7223 3549 thelatchmere.co.uk This pub has everything you need to keep your entire brood happy with highchairs, crayons and colouring-in books and a dedicated play area complete with a Wendy House and ride-on toys. They also have an outdoor party room for children’s parties.

Mother 2 Arches Lane, Circus West Village, SW11 8AB +44 (0)20 7622 4386 motherrestaurant.co.uk Legendary organic sourdough pizzas and other Italian delights made with ingredients direct from Italy. Seriously cool.

FOR FOODIES

Bayley & Sage 95 Northcote Road, SW11 6PL and 41–45 Parkgate Road, SW11 4NP +44 (0)20 7228 3649 bayley-sage.co.uk Already a firm favourite on Northcote Road, the flagship store has just opened on Parkgate Road and is a haven for Battersea foodies. Responsibly sourced and seasonal food – the new shop has flowers too.

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The Battersea General Store 9–10 Circus Road West, Circus West Village, SW11 8EZ +44 (0)20 3196 1300 thebatterseageneralstore.co.uk The store for foodies that’s run by foodies, The General Store has a truly international flavour with a global list of suppliers. They will also deliver to the Power Station and Chelsea Bridge Wharf.

Ransomes Dock Farmers’ Market Nutbourne Restaurant Yard, Ransomes Dock, Parkgate Road, SW11 4NP lfm.org.uk/markets/ransomes-dock Every Saturday from 10am-2pm In conjunction with The Nutbourne, the market hosts 25 different food stalls each week, offering a wide variety of ingredients from farmers, butcher, foragers and other food producers.

The Gladwin brothers also host a pop-up stall, selling a different seasonal dish each week and their own award-winning wines from their vineyard in West Sussex.

Jackie Filmer Catering 60 Culvert Road, SW11 5AR +44 (0)20 7223 9097 jackiefilmercatering.com Established in Battersea in 2005, Jackie and her team provide tailored menus for dinner parties, cocktail parties, christenings and everything in between.

Cassandra Ellis 6 The Village, 101 Amies Street, SW11 2JW +44 (0)7887 896481 cassandraellis.co.uk Cassandra works closely with respected English furniture makers and craftsmen to make pieces that reflect her quiet and understated aesthetic.

Victoria von Westenholz 4 Orbel Street, SW11 3NZ +44 (0)7900 864292 westenholz.co.uk An interior decorator and adviser on fine art and antiques, Victoria blends traditional and modern styles to create a comfortable and individual home.

Valentina Fine Foods 281 Lavender Hill, SW11 1LP +44 (0)20 3841 1610 valentinafinefoods.com A vast range of Italian grocery store cupboard essentials, fresh food, meats and cheeses, artisan chocolates and Italian sweets and treats.

Wild Child Kitchen Arch 65, Queen’s Circus, SW8 4NE team@wildchildkitchen.co.uk wildchildkitchen.co.uk With kitchens right next to Battersea Park, Natasha Lee’s company offers nutritious kids’ food delivered direct to your door.

Created for busy parents looking to raise adventurous eaters, you’ll find a range of both chilled and frozen products and they’ll cater for your children’s parties too.

CATERERS

INTERIORS

We Are Nourish 92 Eversleigh Road, SW11 5XA +44 (0)7881 955224 wearenourish.com Let Kit take all the hassle out of hosting a drinks or dinner party at home. She is passionate about healthy nutrition and can serve up gluten and dairy-free options too.

Chester Jones 240 Battersea Park Road, SW11 4NG +44 (0)20 7498 2717 chesterjones.com One of London’s most respected interior designers with a wealth of experience from his time as an architect and a former MD of Colefax and Fowler.

Les Sardines 42 Queenstown Road, SW8 3RY +44 (0)20 7738 8499 lessardines.co.uk Interior designer Nicky Vale runs this antiques and interiors shop filled with beautiful French and Gustavian furniture and accessories.

World’s End Tiles Silverthorne Road, SW8 3HE +44 (0)20 7819 2100 worldsendtiles.co.uk Over 40 years of experience in supplying tiles to professional and private clients. Showroom consultants are on hand to discuss design ideas and give technical advice.

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DIRECTORY | SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA

Philglas & Swiggot 21 Northcote Road, SW11 1NG +44 (0)20 7924 4494 philglas-swiggot.com One of London’s most loved independent wine merchants, Philglas & Swiggot have been on Northcote Road since 1991.

They offer a wine club membership with carefully selected cases delivered to your home and a host of other benefits.

FLORISTS & GARDEN CENTRES

Mary Jane Vaughan 6G Hewlett House, Havelock Terrace, SW8 4AS +44 (0)20 7385 8400 maryjanevaughan.co.uk Mary Jane is firmly established as one of London’s luxury event florists but she also has an online shop for bouquets.

Order by 11am for same day delivery in Battersea and other London postcodes.

Breadstall Outside 56–60 Northcote Road, SW11 1PA +44 (0)7966 916760 breadstall.com A 15 metre-long bespoke bakery with a cult following for their freshly baked pizza, Nutella-filled doughnuts and sandwiches.

Run by the charming Sebastian Vince since 1997, their sausage rolls are exemplary and the range of breads should satisfy even the pickiest customer.

Iris 97 Northcote Road, SW11 6PL +44 (0)20 7924 1836 irisfashion.co.uk Stylish womenswear from a good mix of classic boutique labels such as APC, Vanessa Bruno, Isabel Marant and their own label, By Iris. They also stock a selection of accessories, gifts and a range of cute kidswear.

HEALTH FOOD SHOPS

Battersea Flower Station 16 Winders Road, SW11 3HE +44 (0)20 7978 4253 batterseaflowerstation.co.uk A serene sanctuary in the heart of Battersea, the Flower Station is an 8,000 square foot joyful tangle of plants, shrubs and trees, as well as pots and tools.

They make up excellent hand-tied bouquests too. It’s the sort of place you can lose yourself for a few hours.

Apples and Bees 258 Battersea Park Road, SW11 3BP +44 (0)20 7223 3330 applesandbees.com An independent health food shop with their own organic, cold-pressed juice bar.

The staff know their stuff and offer great advice on supplements.

REASONS TO VISIT NORTHCOTE ROAD Hamish Johnston 48 Northcote Road, SW11 1PA +44 (0)20 7738 0741 hamishjohnston.com An exceptional selection of artisan cheeses with knowledgeable staff who are passionate about cheese. They also stock biscuits, chocolates, charcuterie and other deli items for genuine foodies.

Olivier 151 Northcote Road, SW11 +44 (0)7914 636674 olivierbaby.com A recent addition to Northcote Road, shop here for their adorable range of clothing for boys and girls from 0 to 14. Think classic dresses in Liberty prints and cashmere cardigans embellished with stars – divine.

Whole Foods Market 305–311 Lavender Hill, London SW11 1LN +44 (0)20 7585 1488 wholefoodsmarket.com Your one-stop bakery, charcuterie, butcher, fishmonger and speciality market with healthy and freshly prepared food to go.

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ANTENATAL CLASSES AND EDUCATION SPECIALISTS

The Baby Care Company Bolingbroke Grove, SW11 6HD +44 (0)20 7228 1041 thebabycarecompany.co.uk Group and individual classes for new and second-time mothers, Eilish covers all the practical aspects of caring for a new baby and offers sleep classes too.

CHILDCARE

CLASSES FOR CHILDREN Stagecoach Battersea Honeywell School, Honeywell Road, SW11 6EF +44 (0)7956 288928 Mickey Hunt and her talented team will teach your children how to sing, dance and act from the age of four right through their teens with lots of opportunities to perform.

Hello Mums 67 Wingate Square, SW4 0AF +44 (0)20 3893 3336 hellomums.co.uk Started by Battersea parents, Hello Mums is an award-winning service providing baby sitters, nannies and nursery nurses, plus a more tailor-made service covering all your childcare needs.

Royal Academy of Dance 36 Battersea Square, SW11 3RA +44 (0)20 7326 8000 rad.org.uk Start with the Family Movement Class at 2 ½ years and then watch them progress through ballet, creative and contemporary, West End jazz and street dance classes.

An impressive school with very experienced teachers.

Bonas MacFarlane Education 1–2 Vicentia Court, Bridges Court Road, SW11 3GY +44 (0)20 7223 2794 bonasmacfarlane.co.uk One of the UK’s most respected providers of private tuition and educational advice, Bonas MacFarlane place clients into the world’s best schools and universities.

Abbeville Nannies 18a Franconia Road, SW4 9ND +44 (0)20 7627 3352 abbevillenannies.co.uk Established in 2001 and with a loyal client base, this local agency covers full-time, part-time, permanent and temporary childcare, from mother’s helps to maternity nurses and night nannies.

Role Models Le Bureau, Studio F7, 80 Silverthorne Road, SW8 3HE +44 (0)20 3637 7107 rolemodels.me An ad-hoc and part-time creative childcare service provided by fun, engaging and talented Role Models.

They also offer a full range of life-skills courses to help develop confidence and resilience.

Cookease Bolingbroke, SW11 +44 (0)7825 788446 cookease.org.uk Weekly cookery classes for 2–4 years olds run by two mothers in a relaxed home environment just off Wandsworth Common. The focus is on the importance of teaching children crucial cooking skills together with an early introduction to all food types.

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

Fitzherbert and Co 32 Orbel Street, SW11 3NZ info@fitzherbertandco.com fitzherbertandco.com Navigating the complexities of the British education system can be bewildering and time-consuming, so this bespoke service from Fitzherbert and Co could be a lifesaver. Started by two Battersea mothers who have a combined 20 years’ experience working in London prep schools, their expert advice will take you from cradle to university.

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GYM CLASSES Power of Boxing Carney’s Community Centre, 30 Petworth Street, SW11 4QW powerofboxing.com A one-hour, high-intensity group fitness circuit in an authentic boxing gym.

Combine cardio boxing exercises and technical pad work in the ring to tone muscles, strengthen your core and feel the burn.

YOGA & PILATES STUDIOS

Battersea Yoga 2 Kite Yard, Cambridge Road, SW11 4TA +44 (0)20 7978 7995 batterseayoga.com Offering 50 classes a week in hatha yoga, restorative yoga and mindfulness meditation, this studio is tucked away down a private driveway near Battersea Park and feels surprisingly rural with a great community too.

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

Boom Cycle Units 1–3 Arches Lane, Circus West Village, SW11 8AB +44 (0)20 3034 0711 boomcycle.co.uk Join in the boutique indoor cycling phenomenon with a high energy, musicfocused ride in the new flagship studio at Battersea Power Station. Immerse yourself in the ‘party on a bike’ experience and come prepared to sweat.

British Military Fitness Battersea Park, SW11 4NJ fitness@britmilfit.com britmilfit.com These outdoor classes are run by former members of the military and guarantee results. Expect to be challenged with lots of burpees, push-ups and star jumps.

Pi Studio The Conservatory, Ransomes Dock, 35–37 Parkgate Road, SW11 4NP +44 (0)20 7585 1114 pistudios.co.uk Holly Murray has a loyal following in Battersea for her classical pilates, known as The Method. Expect to build strength and stamina, increase flexibility and improve concentration.

Kula Yoga and Wellbeing 91 St John’s Hill, SW11 1SY +44 (0)20 7585 0377 kulawellbeing.co.uk The place to go if you like your yoga hot. Bikram yoga plus many more classes including Kula Sculpt – a high energy flow class with free weights and upbeat tunes.

Novo Pilates Nuffield Health Centre, Sheepcote Lane, Burns Road, SW11 5BT +44 (0)20 7228 4400 novopilates.co.uk Presenting a new approach to an established philosophy, the intense workout on the mat, reformer and ballet bar will address your cardio, balance, flexibility, core strength and muscle tone to provide a complete training programme.

FOR YOUR PETS

Barking Betty 216 Battersea Park Road, SW11 4ND +44 (0)20 8127 8635 barkingbetty.com A salon near Battersea Park providing a full grooming service for your pampered pooch, as well as offering the full range of dog caring services from day care to dog walking, boarding, training and well-being advice.

Westside Veterinary Clinic 2 Burland Road, SW11 6SA +44 (0)20 7223 7003 westsidevets.co.uk This independent practice has been looking after Battersea’s pets since 1987 and offers an annual membership Pet Club to take care of all vaccinations and flea, tick and worming products.

Barking Fit The Peace Pagoda, Battersea Park, SW11 4NJ +44 (0)7710 326 767 barkingfitclass.com Dogs and their owners can get fit together at this weekly class in Battersea Park.

A good opportunity to meet other fourlegged friends too. n

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SCHOOL HOUSE BATTERSEA | Q&A

Prep Time Battersea-based Bonas MacFarlane is one of London’s most established and successful private education consultancy firms helping hundreds of students each year achieve their potential.

Founder Charles Bonas answers parents’ most frequently asked questions

but there has to be a balance. Far too many parents overschedule their children.

We’re from overseas – are there different entry procedures/requirements for my child? Most

Bonas MacFarlane’s Independent Schools Show is an invaluable resource for parents

What should I look for in a prep school? The clue is in the name – preparatory. Parents should look at which senior schools pupils from that prep school are going on to. Equally, if the school is a feeder for top senior schools, will the pressure be too high? Essentially, parents need to find the right environment, which is a balanced blend of rigorous – but not over-pressured – academic discipline, creativity and happiness.

How can I best prepare my children to land a place at the prep school of my choice? That’s simple: first with lots of reading, both guided by parents and involving lots of oral and written comprehension. Secondly, mastering basic numeracy.

At what stage do I need to start worrying about entry into public schools? Most competitive entry senior schools will test children in Year 6 and 7 for entry into Year 9 (when they turn 14). Parents need to make sure their children are at good prep schools and are mastering essential literacy and maths skills. Children also need to have a good range of extra curricular interests and be able to talk about them with enthusiasm, to come across as strong potential contributors both in and outside the classroom.

What are the five most important tips for judging a good Public School?

1) Ask to sit in on lessons. Observe the manners and sense of purpose of both the children and the teachers. 2) Choose the school for the housemaster, not the headmaster or facilities. 3) Ignore league tables but study valued added measures. 4) Read the inspection reports.

5) Look at university destinations rather than A-level results.

What’s your view on tutoring outside school – am I being too pushy?

We provide hundreds of tutors to hundreds of families. Most tutoring is highly effective and the children do not take against it. Parents need to be pushy to help children succeed in a fiercely competitive world,

boarding schools have separate entry requirements and tests for overseas students. This is a complex area, and Bonas MacFarlane consultants can advise further on this. Overseas parents choosing boarding schools need to pick schools where there is as much boarding and weekend activity as possible. Increasingly, British parents opt for weekly and flexi-boarding. There are very few full boarding schools left in Britain, where overseas students do not feel that they are left in school at weekends, while all the British children go home.

What’s the best thing my child can do in a prep school or public school interview?

The interviewer needs to see into the child’s personality. Rehearsing interview questions is a catastrophic tactic – schools hate that and want the interview to be a natural conversation. The child should come across as highly motivated, individualistic, self-reliant and a team player.

It is vital to talk freely and not show off, but at the same time remember that the interviewer is not psychic – if the child omits to reveal interesting achievements and interests, the Charles Bonas interviewer will never find out. Encourage your child to think of interesting life events and challenges and explain how it has shaped his or her life. Often, an event or achievement might not seem interesting to a child, because there is no school prize for it, but to an adult it’s fascinating. One child I helped only came out of his shell when he mentioned his interest in cooking. But he saw this as irrelevant to passing into Eton.

What should I definitely not say to a headteacher? A parent can say anything. The process of educating children is collaborative so parents must not be shy of addressing anything with schools.

Most nightmarish parent you’ve had to deal with? One mother had grown up on an American army base. We stopped tutoring her son because of the pressure she exerted. She referred to her boy’s friends by numbers. Eventually we decoded what these were – their class ranking. When a boy dropped below five in rank, his playdate invitations would be withdrawn.

Strangest question a parent has ever asked you? A parent asked if his five-year-old daughter could start at Eton within a few months. n Bonas MacFarlane Education, +44 (0)20 3638 0462; bonasmacfarlane.co.uk

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