MANOR The Glitz Issue

The Region’s Premium Publication Winter 2016 | Issue 15 | £4.50

Chris Tarrant As I see it

A-list stars

Franny Armstrong World-changing filmmaker

Unique portraits of Daniel Day-Lewis, Samuel L Jackson, Michael Palin and more

Helen Moore

Michelin stars

Acclaimed faux furrier

Cocktails

A taste of glamour

Where they’re shining

Stellar gifts Something for everyone

PLUS

CULTURE FOOD SPACE ESCAPE SCHOOL PROPERTY

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Coffinswell, Devon

Beautifully restored Victorian rectory Newton Abbot 2.5 miles (under 3hours to London Paddington), Exeter 19 miles (all distances are approximate) A classical Victorian rectory with 6 bedrooms, 3 reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, study and music room. Extensive grounds including a part post and rail fenced paddock with a field shelter and water supply.

In all about 2.5 acres

Guide Price ÂŁ995,000 KnightFrank.co.uk/EXE160179 4

MANOR | Winter 2016

To find out how we can help you please contact us. www.KnightFrank.co.uk/Exeter mark.proctor@knightfrank.com

Churston Ferrers, Devon

Luxuriously appointed farmhouse Brixham 2 miles, Dartmouth 4 miles, Exeter 27 miles (all distances are approximate)

To find out how we can help you please contact us. www.KnightFrank.co.uk/Exeter mark.proctor@knightfrank.com

An exceptionally well refurbished Grade II listed Devon farmhouse. 6 bedrooms, 3 ensuites. 3 reception rooms and kitchen/breakfast room. Garage, outbuildings and beautifully landscaped garden, in all about 0.75 acres

Guide Price ÂŁ1,450,000 KnightFrank.co.uk/EXE160240 MANOR | Winter 2016

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Contents

Winter 2016

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14

30

Regulars 13 TOWN MOUSE, COUNTRY MOUSE

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Correspondence from across the divide

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AS I SEE IT...

Legendary TV and radio presenter Chris Tarrant

Gift guide 34 THE JOY OF GIVING

Stuck for ideas? We’re here to help

Style & Beauty 14 TRENDS Sequins and shine and Victorian fairy tale

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TIME TO SHINE

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MY FEEL-GOOD REGIME

82

GOLDEN GIRL

Features 26 FAUX THE LOVE OF FUR

Devon-based designer Helen Moore

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SIGNATURE STYLE

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PIT-STOP PANACHE

58

VIEWPOINT

62

THE BUSINESS

The colourful world of Jane Foster

We visit Hawksfield on Cornwall’s north coast

Documentary filmmaker and activist Franny Armstrong

David Pike of pop-up retailer Calendar Club

Dazzle for the party season

Devon and Cornwall Fire Service Manager Joe Hassell

Photographed by Thomas Hole

Photostory 45 PORTRAIT GALLERY A selection of film stars, musicians and sports stars through the lens of James Cheadle

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66 118

Culture 66 SHADOW PLAY Paper artists Davy and Kristin McGuire

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A LIFE IN VERSE Poet Katrina Naomi

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SOUTH WEST MUST SEES...

What’s on around the region

77

WORTH MAKING THE TRIP FOR...

98

Cultural highlights from the metropolis

81

WORTH STAYING IN FOR...

Quality time on your sofa

Food 98 STARS OF THE SHOW Driftwood and the region’s Michelin-starred eateries

102

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT Seasonal cocktails from Doctor Ink’s Curiosities and Southernhay House

106

BITES Food news from across the peninsula

111

THE TABLE PROWLER ...dines out at The Hourglass, Exeter and The Cauldron, Bristol

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Space 114 PLUM LINES

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Architect Sandra Coppin of Coppin Dockray

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SHOPPING FOR SPACE Interior inspiration beyond Twelfth Night

Escape 122 JEWEL IN THE HEEL A trip to Puglia in Southern Italy

128

A BREAK FROM THE NORM The Rosevine in Cornwall

122 146

MANOR school 142 TESTING TIMES

Professor Ruth Merttens looks at how relationships with teachers can affect a child’s happiness

Property 145 THE BULLETIN The future looks bright for the South West

146

PROPERTY OF NOTE

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SNAPSHOT COMPARATIVE

An Exeter townhouse

A selection of waterside and coastal properties from the South West and London

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is brought to you by PUBLISHING EDITOR

Imogen Clements imogen@manormagazine.co.uk

COMMISSIONING EDITOR

Jane Fitzgerald jane@manormagazine.co.uk

FEATURES EDITOR

Fiona McGowan ARTS EDITOR

Belinda Dillon belinda@manormagazine.co.uk

FOOD EDITOR

Anna Turns food@manormagazine.co.uk

CONTRIBUTORS

Dr Ruth Merttens, Amy Tidy, Charlotte Dear, Kate Sermon DESIGN

Eleanor Cashman, Guy Cracknell ADVERTISING SALES

Kathy Barrau, Rachel Evans advertising@manormagazine.co.uk

THE COVER Black fringed dress, Next, £70 Photographer: Thomas Hole; Stylist: Mimi Stott; Model: Catherine Neilson; Hair and make-up: Maddie Austin

Exclusive designer fashion...be different...dare to wear!

NOW IN ROYAL WILLIAM YARD PLYMOUTH Unit 2&3, The Guardhouse, Royal William Yard, Plymouth PL1 3RP Tel: 01752 941968 TOTNES 83 High Street, Totnes TQ9 5PB Tel: 01803 840823

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MANOR | Winter 2016

© MANOR Publishing Ltd, 2016.

MANOR Magazine is published by Manor Publishing Ltd, Registered office: MANOR Publishing Ltd, 12 Mannamead Road, Plymouth, Devon PL4 7AA. Registered in England No. 09264104 info@manormagazine.co.uk. Printed by Warners Midlands plc.

Welcome to The Glitz Issue of MANOR! It is that time of year when everything’s a-sparkle, and this issue has more stars in it than ever before.

Chris Tarrant, one of the UK’s best-known broadcasters, although averse to therapy, has agreed to recline on our ‘couch’ and reflect upon his life and immensely successful career. He reveals the various ups and downs and tremendous laughs he’s had along the way.

Daniel Day-Lewis, Samuel L Jackson, Michael Palin and Ricky Gervais are just some of the other A-list stars we have in this issue, all seen through the lens of James Cheadle. James has an archive of exclusive photographs of some of the world’s biggest stars, and he reveals to MANOR the story behind each famous sitting.

There are pages shimmering with wonder and inspiration appropriate for this time of year. The work of paper artists Kristin and Davy McGuire is one such example. They have combined the magical and endless appeal of pop-up books with film to create a miniature pop-up theatre production, The Icebook. An enchanting love story that lasts just 15 minutes, it has everyone who sees it enthralled, such that it’s now toured 60 venues in 15 countries and won the artists commissions from brands such as Courvoisier and Mikimoto.

Our style shoot shot by Thomas Hole is set in the veritable wonderland that is Huntsham Court in Devon. This country house has been transformed into the ultimate stylish venue for anyone looking to host an elegant weekend-long party in their own stately home (it sleeps 80). The décor, beautiful throughout, has a lavish quirkiness about it that makes Huntsham Court just the location we were looking for.

Back to matters celestial. The latest Michelin stars have been awarded, which sees a new stop on the South West’s Michelin autoroute. To discover who and where turn to page 98, and read our own assessment (with all the furtive detective work of Monsieur Michelin himself) of another coveted star holder.

Finally, to holidays – it’s that time of year when many of us start planning the summer jaunt, but living in the South West there is no reason, given easy access to some of the UK’s finest locations and best hotels, that we shouldn’t have a mini break every weekend, and in doing so, take advantage of low season rates. In The Rosevine, Portscatho, we provide you with a prime example of where to head to, having scooped up the kids after school on a Friday.

If it’s fresh pasta, olive oil, Baroque architecture and sunshine you’re after, Puglia, the heel of the Italy’s boot, proves quite a find.

It has something for everyone, yet is still to be discovered by the masses and so retains its authentic Italian charm. We detail three of the top places to stay in the region.

Sparkle and substance on every page is what we hope we’ve delivered with The Glitz Issue of MANOR, not to mention plenty of gift inspiration including, of course, a subscription to MANOR (on the back page) with a Christmas card to notify the recipient.

Wishing you all a very festive end to the year,

Imogen Clements FOUNDER & PUBLISHING EDITOR

The views of the writers in MANOR Magazine are not necessarily those shared by the publisher. Unsolicited manuscripts, artwork or transparencies are accepted on the understanding that the publishers incur no liability for their storage or return. The contents of MANOR Magazine are fully protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without permission.

By submitting material to MANOR Magazine, MANOR Magazine Ltd is automatically granted the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use, reproduce, edit, distribute and display such material (in whole or part) and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in such content. The contributor acknowledges that material submitted may

be published in any publication or website produced or published by MANOR Publishing Ltd. The contributor agrees not to submit material where they do not own the copyright and where they have not obtained all necessary licenses and/or approvals from the rightful owner.

With respect to any photographs submitted, the contributor confirms that all necessary model and property releases have been obtained from any clearly identifiable person appearing in any image, together with any other relevant consents required.

Prices and details of services and products are genuinely believed to be correct at the time of going to press, but may change. Although every effort is made to maintain accuracy we regret we are unable to honour any incorrect prices or other details that may be printed.

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TOWN MOUSE, COUNTRY MOUSE Sweetness...

Darling...

So sweetness, I have been thinking a lot about double acts of late. You know Dolce and Gabbana; Town Mouse, Country Mouse; Morecambe and Wise (because it is Christmas); and of course Lennon and McCartney, etc. I’ve decided that what makes these such winning partnerships is each individual’s complementary but very distinct talents. One simply could not have thrived without the other.

Take Lennon, for example (I should stress that all views here are entirely my own), he was the maverick, the songwriter whose work could be, shall we say, a little out there, citing I am the Walrus for one.

McCartney delivered more of the crowdstomping vibes (Let it Be, Michelle, Yesterday), but Lennon had that element of daring that added a bit more interest to their output. They needed the anthem mega-hits to ensure the quirkier stuff got heard, non? And it is the variety that we love.

It is exactly the kind of debate I like to have over plum pudding at this time of year, followed by the party game of ‘who wrote this Beatles song?’ Then ‘name that tune’, then eat more (cheese with Port), then play another game, then eat more (chocolates or stollen with coffee), then get all heated, loud and political, then pass out in front of the TV’s Christmas edition of Strictly or the Wizard of Oz. It’s comforting that this time of year is so predictable – goodness knows, we need something this year to be.

2016 has felt rather helter-skelter.

I am now off to stir the pudding, so to speak, compose gift lists and work out the seasonal attire – shimmer and shine. It’s time I found my inner Hollywood. Sequins, metallics, velvet and fur. What more does one need to dazzle? Perhaps a good-looking cocktail.

Interesting one: double acts. For me, it’s all in the name – Morecambe and Wise; Lennon and McCartney; Bonnie and Clyde. Whoever’s comes first must always be a matter of hot debate within star couplings, as that individual will always be perceived upper in hierarchy. For that reason, sweetie, I’ve always considered us to be Country Mouse, Town Mouse, ha ha, or certainly inter-changeable. There is, of course, the matter of an acceptable ring. To it, I mean. Wise and Morecambe does not have the same ring as it does inverted. Nor, in my mind, does McCartney and Lennon, although that may be down to familiarity.

Hmm. Swifly on to cocktails – cocktails are back. Or is it perhaps that they never left? I have, with age, become a more sophisticated drinker. No more Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Blanc, but instead a Po-Po Daiquiri or Sing Sing Sling. The mere ordering of them from a mixologist gives me a frisson of excitement. Names like ‘Sing Sing Sling’ transport me immediately to bars like Fat Sam’s (of Bugsy Malone) with hair neatly waved, coiffed and pinned and body bouncing to well, Sing Sing Sing of course, that quite wondrous tribal trombone Benny Goodman masterpiece which, try as you might to resist, never fails to get you bobbing towards the dancefloor.

Party season is upon us and I do hope we can exceed even last year’s hilarity. There was laughter, tears, bouncing, and one member got home only to find she’d left her handbag in the taxi, which meant she couldn’t get in her house and had to sleep in her car. You wouldn’t get that in the town, would you sweetie? Leaving the car unlocked, I mean. We may not have cocktail shakers on every corner but out here in the sticks, we can leave our cars unlocked for the odd emergency sleepover as and when required.

WHAT’S HOT IN THE SMOKE?

WHAT’S COOL IN THE COUNTRY?

Exeter’s famous Christmas Market on Cathedral Green is going ahead as planned following the fire. It runs from 19 Nov18 December and there will be a prominent area with those independent traders who’ve been closed as a result of the fire.

British-Peruvian fusion food and cocktail hangout Pachamama, in Marylebone, is shaking and stirring the London posse, and it is the only place in the capital you will find quinoa and gluten-free, sweet potato waffles with sweet and savoury toppings.

On 2 December at 6.30pm at Exeter Cathedral, Michael Morpurgo and Virginia McKenna will be narrating Michael’s story, The Best Christmas Present in the World, about soldiers on both sides in 1914 downing their weapons in honour of Christmas.

Dead Funny at the Vaudeville until 4 Feb is getting rave reviews from all. Or if you fancy something altogether more intense, you can catch Glenda Jackson in King Lear at The Old Vic until 13 December. She is the talk of the town.

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Sequins and shine

Earrings, Hobbs, £19

Lela Rose AW16

Sequins and metallics have become daywear over the last year, such that come party time it’s no holds barred – you simply can’t sparkle and shine enough. Compiled by Amy Tidy.

Jacket, Zara

Dress, Topshop, £120

Bag, Next, £20 Skirt, Debenhams, £65 14

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Shoes, Marks and Spencer, £29.50

Jumpsuit, Zara £49.99

Shoes, Zara, £29.99

Altuzarra AW16

trends

Bag, Topshop, £25

Top, Next, £46

Dress, Monsoon, £299

Dress, Zara

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Victorian fairy tale Necklace, Hobbs, £25

Valentino AW16

For a more ethereal look, there is much floaty chiffon, frills and delicate lace to choose from.

Allowing you to channel any one of those Victorian heroines you used to read about as a child. Compiled by Amy Tidy.

Jacket, Zara Dress, Monsoon, £149

Skirt, Next, £46

Top, House of Fraser,£89

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Shoes, Whistles, £175

Dress, Next, £70

Erdem AW16

trends

Necklace, Erin Cox, £58

Blouse, Marks and Spencer, £35

Dress, Monsoon, £169

Dress, Topshop, £49

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beauty

Time to shine Make-up artist Elouise Abbott give us tips on how to dazzle and glow in party season.

M

etallic make-up is a top trend right now, just in time for the party season.

Add a sprinkle of glitter and get festive. Here are the shimmery favourites at the top of my wish list.

Pat McGrath lip kits are taking the world by storm. Combining gold glitter and lip art, these are the hottest make-up products of autumn winter 16. Lust 004 in Vermillion Venom is a five-piece lip kit that contains not one but two matte lipsticks in shades of deep red, a clear gloss, a gold pigment, and a micro fine red glitter.

Everything you need to custom-create your own luscious red glittery pout.

I adore a metallic statement lip, and L’Oreal Colour Riche Gold Obsession has five gorgeous shades, from Plum Gold to Rose Gold, each ‘wrapped in 24-carat gold pigments’ ensuring the perfect gold for every skin tone.

Pure Gold is now one of my kit staples.

Mehron Metallic Powder is one of my all-time favourite products, as it can create an almost chromelike finish when used with Mehron mixing liquid – great for eye-liner or lips. Like every product in my kit, versatility is key. Use pigment alone for a more subtle wash of colour, or mix with lip-gloss for a high shine shimmer.

Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Rose Gold is a beautiful pot of cream eye-shadow with exceptional staying power. Sweep over the eyelid on its own for a simple pop of rose gold, or use as a base shade for a long-lasting eye makeup.

Looking for an eye-shadow palette with gold and silver? Then look no further than Dior 20

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Couture Colours and Effects EyeShadow Palette in 566 Versailles.

This little gem contains five shades of soft satin eye-shadow, including silver and gold. I like to just add a touch of silver or gold to the tear duct to finish the eye-shadow application. It really opens the eye.

Chanel Illusion D’Ombre Long Wear Luminous Eye-Shadow in Ocean Light adds a rich creamy, deep blue twist to the metallic trend. After all, metallic colours needn’t be limited to gold and silver when colours like plum and navy are so incredibly flattering. Deep colours work really well with a cream base.

Glitter is not just for the summer festivals, it is also for winter parties. While I may steer away from glitter in a standard day-to-day make-up, I do feel it is perfectly acceptable, if not mandatory for the festive season. When purchasing a glitter, ensure that it is cosmetic-grade glitter. Craft shop glitter is not refined and may cause abrasions if it gets in the eye. M.A.C. has a stunning range of superfine glitters. My go-to glitter this season will be M.A.C. Reflects Bronze. I find a little Vaseline or cream eyeshadow helps glitter to adhere. Apply with your fingertip or small brush and gently press on. Sprinkle glitter along your hair parting for a super-glam party look.

A simple stroke of eye-liner can speak volumes. Add a sweep of NYX Slide On pencil in Gun Metal for a soft metallic smoke look, or a flick of golden bronze for a pop of shimmery warmth.

Get a light full cheekbone with a sweep of Bobbi Brown Highlighting Powder in Sunset Glow. If you have fair skin, gold and bronzes are the most flattering, as a silver can leave the skin washed out. Medium and dark skin tones have the pick of the bunch.

To book please call 01392 256999

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View over Teign Valley near Castle Drogo, Devon

My feel-good regime Joe Hassell is a Group Manager in the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service. He’s based at the Exeter HQ in Clyst St George. He responds to and manages a range of incidents from fires, road traffic collisions, floods and rescue. Most recently he attended, as part of the command team, the Royal Clarence Hotel fire for three days until it was extinguished. He moved to Devon with his family from Essex four years ago.

Exercise is definitely my favourite way to combat stress

(a few minutes on the punch bag does wonders). I get pretty grumpy if I haven’t exercised for a few days – generally if I’m fit, I’m happy. It’s not always easy though, so I have to be creative. My wife and I both work full time, and with three kids under 12 it can be tricky to find any time for myself.

If I can just get 30 minutes I can fit something in, which is usually before the kids are up. So, the alarm at six, then

a YouTube video (try HASfit), a run or a workout in my ‘dirty gym’: a couple of punch bags, skipping ropes, free weights and a pull-up bar in a garage. I also try to fit in a short run when the kids are doing their various evening cricket, rugby or football training sessions.

I love how our dog, Betty Boo, gets so excited when she sees me putting on my trainers. I usually only have time

for a proper run at the weekend, so the dog and I will take my favourite loop along the top of the Teign Valley past Castle Drogo. The views are breathtaking – the first time I ran here after we moved to Devon I nearly cried (although it could have been the pollen!). The best time is before breakfast following a strong cup of coffee. On a good day, you can be running along Hunter’s Path and see the mist settled in the valley below. I always finish 22

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the run by looping back down into the valley, following the Teign back to Fingle Bridge.

The Fingle Bridge Inn is our family’s favourite spot for a relaxing drink, especially in the summer when you can

sit outside next to the river, watching the kids and dog splash about. Sitting in the sun with a pint of cider and a bowl of chips is just about perfect.

We have a rule in the summer – it doesn’t matter if the grass needs cutting or the house is a tip, if the sun is shining we go to the beach. We love the coastline and

beaches around Padstow but we also have a soft spot for Sandymouth Bay near Bude. My perfect day at the beach would include some surfing, beach football, a bit of cricket (mainly for the kids, who are much better than me), an hour with a good book and then cooking sausages as the sun sets.

My eating habits have changed over the last few years – reaching 45 has made me more careful about putting on weight. Cutting down on bread and portion sizes has

helped. Swapping toast for porridge in the morning has given me more energy during the day, and I stick to light lunches such as salads or wraps. Evening meals are usually pretty healthy, too – chilli with roasted cauliflower is a

current favourite. When the weekend arrives though, anything goes! I’m especially happy munching on a big pack of tortillas and hummus or a huge plate of lasagne.

I’ve recently got into cooking curries – I can follow a recipe pretty well and am very happy pottering about, stirring pans, drinking wine and listening to old-school hip-hop.

I’m a big film buff so, if I can, I love going to the cinema on my own. Sitting in front of a huge screen, filled with

the anticipation of a long-awaited film to start, takes me right back to being seven years old waiting for Star Wars to commence. I’ll also happily devour a couple of films at home in one sitting or binge-watch a box set (The Affair, Gomorrah or The Wire).

I’ve been in the Fire & Rescue Service for 26 years and I feel very fortunate because I really do love my job. I think

the ‘can do’ attitude of the Fire Service is something that I embrace wholeheartedly. My attitude to life is pretty simple – it you have a positive attitude and are nice to people, then good things will happen!

My dad was a vicar and I hope that his approach to life has rubbed off on me. He died a few years ago and that made me re-evaluate everything. We were living in

Essex at the time and didn’t feel we were making the most of life – within two years we had moved across the country, and although it was tough at first, we love it here now and know it was the right decision. As a family we really embrace all that Devon offers – we love going for long walks along coastal paths or on the moors, and we’ve all had surfing lessons. The kids still thank us for moving here and it makes me very happy to see how well they have settled.

LANGUISHING IN BATHROOM CABINET I definitely put more time and effort into exercise than I do staving off the rapidly appearing wrinkles. Other than stealing my wife’s moisturiser, I don’t really worry too much about how I look – I’ve been bald for 15 years so that’s one less thing to worry about. I have to shave every day for work, so when I’m on holiday I grow stubble – you can judge my state of relaxation by the length of my beard!

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As I see it...

Chris Tarrant OBE is one of the UK’s best-known radio and TV broadcasters. He hosted the ITV children’s show Tiswas from 1974 to 1982, the ITV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? from 1998 to 2014, and worked on Capital Radio from 1984 to 2004, hosting the breakfast show for 17 years. In March 2014, during the filming of Extreme Railway Journeys for Channel 5, Tarrant suffered a stroke on a flight from Bangkok to London. Although it was feared he would never walk again, he made a full recovery. Interview by Imogen Clements.

I’m as well known as I am, probably because I’ve been around for most people’s lives, and have worked on things that people

what I do. People say to me, “you’re just like you are on the telly” – almost disappointed.

have really liked; some through luck, some through choice.

I was never a lost soul alcoholic but I used to drink quite a lot I didn’t choose Tiswas. I was doing a fairly mundane news

programme at the time and was offered a few extra quid to do this bizarre Saturday morning TV show. We loved it. Lenny Henry, the team and I found it was somewhere we could really develop. We were all really young and there were no holds barred - we could have any silly idea we wanted and do it on telly on a Saturday morning.

Back in the 1970s, there was very much a pub culture in broadcasting – you all went out for lunch for three hours, then

wove your way back and somehow did a news programme. It probably allowed for a certain relaxed approach to our delivery.

I was at Capital in the days when Kenny Everett was there – it was a madhouse. We used to come into the studio, talk

and I liked Scotch. Now, I don’t touch the stuff. That’s not doctor’s orders; that’s me thinking a big neat Scotch is probably not a good idea. The stroke was a lesson learned the hard way.

I’ve got my act together – I exercise, take the pills and don’t do anything like the amount of work I used to do. The days of doing radio in the morning and Millionaire at night were pretty extreme – I was up at 5am and wouldn’t get home till 1am.

Enjoy every day is something I’ve always lived by. I’ve been to too

many funerals, including dear old Terry Wogan’s this year. None of us knows how long we’ve got. I seize each day; get up early and go fishing or I get up and work. I have a great relationship with my missus and my kids. These are the good years – it’s taken me a long time, but I’ve now got the balance right.

nonsense for three hours, play Pink Floyd, get paid and go home. We all had such a laugh.

Having spent the last 20 years stuck in studios, I’ve really enjoyed getting out. That said, I worked out we’ve travelled

I got my work ethic from Dad. He was an active soldier in

168,212 miles on Extreme Railway Journeys; that’s nearly six times around the world.

World War II and lucky to survive. He came back, thought “I’ve got away with the war and somehow survived, now let’s get on with work”. He worked very hard all his life. I do. My kids do, but by observation, not from me ramming it down their necks.

I’ve met the most extraordinary people – good, bad, irritating, and fascinating. This year in Patagonia, on the Tren Patagonica,

worst times for me have been the death of my parents. I hit rock bottom: thought “I can’t handle this”. Dad was my best friend and I still miss him.

I was talking to a nice chap called Hector about the line, the train and who’d travelled on it. He named South American politicians, famous sportspeople, and Adolf Hitler. He was adamant. Hitler had taken the train in 1945, having arrived in a submarine off the coast south of Buenos Aires. He’d travelled through the night to this little station in the middle of nowhere, was picked up in a stretch limo and driven to the hills where a rich German landowner looked after him. He’d shaved off his moustache and hair and lived there for another 17 years, before going to Paraguay where he died at 75. I asked Hector if he thought he might be wrong. Absolutely not.

I’d never go to therapy; I think it’s silly. I bottle it in and just get

I’ve been in this industry so long, I’m immune to fame. When

on with it. When Dad died, I thought “why aren’t I crying?”. I was devastated, but he was in all sorts of extraordinarily tragic situations in the war and kind of despised crying.

Tiswas went crazy it was like being pop star, but we coped because we enjoyed it - it wasn’t a big deal. I haven’t signed an autograph for six months, but I’ve probably done 1,000 selfies in that time. I never say no. There are so many pluses to what I do.

I’ve never once woken up thinking “Oh God, I’ve got to go to work”. Some of the shows have been a bit iffy, but I’ve looked

forward to every one.

I still think of my father every day; he died 12 years ago. The

Recreational drugs scare me. I’ve never taken a drug in my life.

I don’t like the idea of being out of control – a tiny little pill and you start to think that you’re Batman.

With me, what you see is what you get. I’ve found

broadcasting easy. I’ve never had to adopt a persona to do

The final series of Extreme Railway Journeys airs on Channel 5 from November 2016. The book of the series, Chris Tarrant’s Extreme Railway Journeys is published by Simon & Schuster on 3 November 2016 – a perfect gift for those with a love of adventure on this fascinating and evocative mode of transport.

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Lady Grey Faux Fur Trapper Hat

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MANOR | Winter 2016

feature

Faux fur is no longer the cheap cousin of the real thing. It stands tall in the glamour stakes, striking a pose in the glossies, adorning our pop and cultural icons from collar to cuff. Charlotte Dear takes a trip to Devon-based Helen Moore’s international fauxfur business, to see how it brushes up.

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ertinently, I arrive at Helen Moore’s HQ in Witheridge, North Devon, on a crisp autumnal morning during the first flurry of this season’s really chilly days.

Very good for fur – as temperatures fall, sales rise – and Helen Moore happens to be one of the country’s leading faux fur purveyors, whose product regularly graces the editorial pages of Vogue (including this year’s prized centenary edition); is seen out and about on A-listers and royalty; and thrown over designer sofas and beds nationwide, come winter. Her product – both the soft homewares and fashion ranges – sells in 15 countries globally and adorns the shelves of such eminent stores as Fortnum & Mason, Selfridges and Anthropologie, which tells you something of its quality.

Yet Helen Moore is far from the thrusting boardroombusting entrepreneur you assume women have to be to achieve her level of success. A slight woman in her early 70s (she started her business in 1982 with husband Stan), she has a gentle, fun demeanour and a warm twinkle in her eye.

After a quick morning greeting from Helen’s eldest son, Tom, who is in charge of site management, Helen shows me around her factory.

The main production room is a hive of activity as some 30 employees are hard at work, snipping, sewing, brushing and machining to a steady level of chatter. At the back of the room, rolls of fur in an array of prints and colours stand ready to be transformed into fashion and furniture items, while nearby a woman cuts a pattern for a scarf from a camel-coloured length of fur,

working from the lining side for a more precise cut. For a manufacturer of such yield and international scope, there is much of the artisan about the Helen Moore business.

No mass-production machinery to be seen, and much of the work is done by hand.

As I’m shown around, I struggle with two issues: firstly, not to touch, with each piece of fur looking more enticing than the last, and secondly, with the idea that this is a man-made fabric – fur that is, in fact, high-grade mod-acrylic. The fibre that the furs are made from is sourced from Japan. “There is a lot of cheap faux fur out there,” says Helen. “We use a British company whose job it is to consistently source for us the highest grade of product.” Then the fabric is manufactured by carefully selected factories, with very strict safety and quality control in China.

“Everything else we will try to source as locally as possible. Our printers are based in North Tawton; we use a Scottish leather company for straps; the cashmere is produced in Scotland; our hollow fibre cushion inners come from Kentisbeare, and our packaging boxes are made in Barnstaple.”

In the packing room, an eagle-eyed group of women are on quality control with a batch of headbands. They meticulously brush each band for several minutes prior to packing to perfect the product and erase any vague trace of seams. Helen introduces each of her team, many of whom have a backstory that is testament to the happy ship she runs. “Some leave for university and then return three years later; others pursue careers in London then come back to settle in Devon some ten years later; and MANOR | Winter 2016

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Helen Moore

Midnight/Burgundy Faux Fur Clutch Bag

many are mums who leave at 3pm each day to collect their children from school. Some are mums on their own,” she adds, “and it’s important to me that they are able to watch their children’s nativity plays and be there to collect them from school. We’re flexible, but it’s a two-way street: if I’m desperate for an extra pair of hands on a frantic Saturday in November, I know I’ll always have one.” There is a sense of teamwork that runs throughout the business. “If someone approaches me with an idea for a new product, I tell them to go into the design room and make it. Many heads are better 28

MANOR | Winter 2016

Faux Fur Cushion

than one, and over the years we’ve used several designs pitched by our staff.”

Fur is a perennially hot topic. Real fur, not so long ago shunned by the fashion world, is creeping back onto catwalks and into shops. It is an ongoing debate – synthetics versus natural; meat versus clothing; shearling and sheepskin (both by-products of meat) versus farmed fur. Helen Moore has graced the spreads of all the glossies in the UK in the last three years with her range of very obviously faux neon and pastel-coloured fur. She was the first to take faux fur into such bright colours, and it took

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If someone approaches me with an idea for a new product, I tell them to go into the design room and make it.

off – everyone was wearing it, from Helena Bonham Carter to Pixie Lott to Fearne Cotton. Helen Moore’s PR division, managed by daughter-in-law Jessica, is canny at gifting key items to celebrities, but there’s no obligation to wear them and what follows when they do is requests from others – plus, of course, sales. Hester, Helen’s daughter, manages the large department stores.

What’s interesting though, in today’s ethical, humane world, is that, despite the success of the colourful ranges, it is still the natural shades – that look like animal fur – that sell best.

And demand often takes them by surprise: “We thought we’d make 400 pompoms last year, but ended up having to produce over 20,000, such was their popularity.” People from the local village were called in to help. Pompoms are incidentally made from offcuts.

Waste is minimised – where Helen can’t make use of offcuts, she will donate them to schools for projects.

The business has come a long way since it started, prompted by one woman and her husband’s desire to go to Glastonbury. “Stan was an artist and printmaker, so to raise the money for tickets, we made postcards to sell. I’d trained in fashion and textiles at Goldsmiths. One day, I decided to add a patch of pink fur to a card… and my passion for faux fur was born. I started with a hot-water bottle cover, and for a while we were completely alone in the market, which gave us a chance to find our feet.

We branched into throws and cushions, selling to gift shops and boutiques before launching a fashion range.”

The business initially was called Moore and Moore (husband and wife) but then Stan took a back seat, as Helen extended the brand into fashion, attracting the likes of Harrods, Fortnum & Mason and Fenwicks with her range of boot toppers, cuffs and scarves. “The quality of fur is much improved since we started back then and that’s what’s kept us afloat now that the market is so saturated. Staying ahead on quality… that’s key.”

I’d also say that it’s Helen Moore’s innovative ideas of where to take fur to next – from whichever member of the team that idea may come. Be it cuffs or boot toppers at the start, or neon stripes more recently, there’s quality in her fur, then that added difference.

Perhaps that explains the animated twinkle in her eye – Helen’s already onto next season’s hit product before this season’s done. helenmoore.com

Midnight Faux Fur Bomber Jacket

Midnight Faux Fur Backpack

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Signature style Jane Foster’s brightly coloured, distinctive designs are a hit – Anna Turns pops into her Kingsbridge studio to find out the secret to her success and why she’s going minimalist all of a sudden.

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hristmas with illustrator Jane Foster focuses on celebrating all things handmade. Simple stockings, screen-printed cards, toy kits and thoughtful gifts make her family Christmas all the more special – it’s a world away from commercialism and overindulgence.

Inspired by the 50s, 60s and 70s, Jane’s designs are distinctly bold, bright and cheerful. “I like my designs to be fun and my aim is to make people feel good,” she says.

“My drawings are very naive, they are not proportionally correct. Because I didn’t go to art school, I have no concept of right or wrong, I just draw what I like and no one has told me it is technically wrong.” Influenced by the shapes and style of retro and Scandinavian artwork, she uses simple thick and thin black pen lines to create her images, which can then be exposed onto silk screens.

Jane has crafted a niche for herself that cleverly combines all her loves – by illustrating her own beautiful screen-printed designs, making original textiles, transforming vintage fabric she’s collected and making accessories on a small scale with her sewing machine, she has developed her own brand of homewares, books and toys. She has spent the last few months working on six books, including adult colouring books and baby board books titled Things That Go, Jane Foster’s London and Jane Foster’s New York. “I’m excited about these – I designed a pretzel for New York yesterday,” she says.

“My illustrations may look very simple but sometimes people don’t realise that I may have to do a few attempts.

One might only take four hours but other times it might take me a couple of days to get it just right.”

Her strong work ethic filters down to her daughter, Polly, who at the age of eight already loves to while away the hours next to her mum in the studio that Jane’s husband, Jim, built in the garden, making fancy dress accessories on her own little sewing machine or designing mock-up picture books. So life has gone full circle in a way – Jane, 46, was taught how to sew her first dress by her grandmother when she was 10 years old, and her creative spark is inspired by her father’s passion for making all sorts of things: “My dad used to drag me around boot sales and I used to love it – he was a science teacher but he loved creating, whether it was a fibreglass canoe or a guitar. He was self-taught but I’m sure his passion rubbed off. We always had things on the go that we were making and it became so normalised.”

Whereas many of us lose that child-like creativity and pure imagination in a world that sometimes gets a little too functional or serious, Jane cherishes this ability and nurtures it in her own daughter, too. “Polly is such an inspiration to me,” says Jane as she shows me Polly’s hand-drawn animal colouring book. “It’s so sweet – she shows me how to do it!

She makes these funny toys, too, and she gets lost in it. She has no idea that not everyone is doing this at home!”

Jane – who first trained and worked as a music teacher – has just reached a stage of her career and life in

Jane Foster

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which she feels totally content for the first time. “Until now, my life has been full of uncertainty. I am a control freak, so I can’t bear that! I finally feel like I don’t have to worry about my future so much, and I feel like I’m getting somewhere. I’m no longer in debt, and I feel more secure, but for years I doubted myself and felt like a fraud for calling myself an illustrator because I was selftaught. I draw how I draw and this is just me, people like it and I work hard at it so why shouldn’t I do it? Finally I feel content so I can let material things go because they don’t define me.” She confesses to previously being a bit of a hoarder, filling boxes with vintage fabrics and 32

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children’s books bought in charity shops and secondhand sales. “I used to buy bright, happy things to cheer myself up but it doesn’t really last... I suppose it’s better than turning to drink or cigarettes, though!”

She’s intent on keeping life simple, and being by the South Devon coast helps, too. “The sea helps me clear my headspace, and it’s even better when there’s no internet at the beach. In my work, I’m constantly bombarded with images, so having a clutter-free house with white interiors is refreshing and cleansing. It feels good.”

It has been a long rollercoaster of a journey to success, ever since rediscovering her passion for screen-printing

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Despite her career taking off, her toolkit remains modest: pens, screen-printing press, sewing machine, computer – so she’s still fairly self-sufficient. when she signed up to do an evening course in Brighton at an art studio round the corner from where she lived.

“I was working as a violin teacher from nursery up to A-level and it was really stressful. The moment I started this screen-printing course, I knew that this was what I wanted to do – I had enjoyed doing it at school but you need all the kit and space to do it at home, which I just hadn’t had while I had been a student. I did wonder how on earth I was going to change my career but I just went for it and I spent every waking free second I had at the studio.” She was very lucky – in that six-week course she put together some basic flower designs, and a friend encouraged her to show these prints at Brighton Open Houses. A company called the Art Group spotted them and wanted to use Jane’s prints for greetings cards and these went on to become bestsellers in Habitat.

In 2007, Jane started her own website and Etsy shop, but it wasn’t until the following year that she gave up her music teaching job, just two weeks before the arrival of their much longed-for adopted baby daughter, Polly. “I spent every waking second with Polly until she went to school, and I’d just sew with her in my papoose while she was asleep or I’d be stuffing toys in the background at playgroup – I don’t think she ever thought I had a job!” Jane started out by trying her luck at lots of different things, and even now she’s not afraid to make mistakes or experiment with small runs of her own fabric designs. Since those early days, Jane has been picked up by MAKE International, which produces mugs and homewares with her animal designs and these are then sold in John Lewis, for example, and there are plenty more ideas in the pipeline.

Despite her career taking off, her toolkit remains modest: pens, screen-printing press, sewing machine, computer – so she’s still fairly self-sufficient. “In theory, I could draw a design in the morning, Jim could scan it in, print it on acetate, expose a silk screen; in the afternoon I could print it onto fabric, make it into a toy or cushion then put it on my website and have the product finished in one day,” describes Jane. “My favourite part of the whole process is having done a design, seeing what it is like when I print it and deciding what to make with it.

I love that anticipation.” And I for one can’t wait to see what she’ll make next. janefoster.co.uk

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It’s all very well but sometimes the joy of giving gives way under the angst of what to give, so here we hope to help with a little inspiration...

For the home lover

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Cocktail shaker £34 Oliver Bonas oliverbonas.com

Magnolia serving platter (limited edition) £29.50 RAMM Gift Shop rammuseum.org.uk

Lit arrow art £60 Graham & Brown grahambrown.com

Plymouth cushion £40 Cornish Interiors cornishinteriors.co.uk

Boutique hotel chess set £250 John Lewis johnlewis.com

Terrarium ‘Hothouse’ silk cushion £105 RAMM Gift Shop rammuseum.org.uk

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gift guide For her

Sheepskin mules, £52 and sheepskin bootie slippers, £63 Celtic & Co celticandco.com

Awakening Body Oil £29 Gaia Spa gaia-spa.co.uk

Ladies lambswool accessories from £17 - £30 Celtic & Co celticandco.com

Flamingo snow globe £25 House of Fraser houseoffraser.co.uk

Neom Real Luxury Collection Gift Set £100 Amara amara.com

Faux fur pompom keyring £28 Helen Moore helenmoore.com

Beats by Dre Solo 3 wireless headphones £249.95 John Lewis johnlewis.com

Nutribullet £100 House of Fraser houseoffraser.co.uk

Salcombe Gin £34.95 Salcombe Gin salcombegin.com

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For him

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Land Rover Experience West Country from £99 Land Rover See page 159 for details

William Morris Bluebird cufflinks £11.95 per pair RAMM Gift Shop rammuseum.org.uk

Herring Washbourne washbag £55 Herring herringshoes.co.uk

Samsung Gear virtual reality headset £79.95 John Lewis johnlewis.com

Otis Batterbee men’s eye mask £50 Amara amara.com

Barbour Wax Cotton Explorer Holdall £149 John Lewis johnlewis.com

Herring Savoy suit carrier £185 Herring herringshoes.co.uk

Otis Batterbee Prince of Wales dressing gown £162 Amara amara.com

Herring Rhinefield shoe care kit £40 Herring herringshoes.co.uk

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gift guide For little ones

Ugg Sparrow infant’s boot, £50 Amara amara.com

Family bingo set, £10 Marks and Spencer marksandspencer.com

Gre Classics Brooklands limited edition, £2,950 Mi Pac mini backpack, £29.99 Amara John Lewis amara.com Christmas Fair Manor_200mmx130m.pdf 1 02/11/2016 08:53 johnlewis.com

Anne-Claire crochet owl cushion, £45 Amara amara.com

Pusheen Paint Party Nail Collection, £10 Marks and Spencer marksandspencer.com

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Jewellery and timepieces

Gemstone emerald earrings £950 Michael Spiers michaelspiers.co.uk

Wide Oval Crown Ring. 9ct gold and gems £750 Mirri Damer mirridamer.com

Crown Stud Earrings in gold plate £90 Mirri Damer mirridamer.com

18ct gold Raindrop diamond bracelet £650 Michael Spiers michaelspiers.co.uk

O2 bubble cuff bangle £186 Erin Cox erincox.co.uk

Serendipity gold and diamond pendant £996 Erin Cox erincox.co.uk

18ct white gold diamond and ruby earrings £8,950 Mortimers mortimersjewellers.co.uk

JW Benson Full Hunter Pocket Watch £1,650 Mortimers mortimersjewellers.co.uk

Gold and black marble earrings £320 Naomi Davies naomidaviesjewellery.co.uk

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gift guide Jewellery and timepieces

Henry London Knightsbridge Watch £110 Amara amara.com

Jaeger LeCoultre Watch £1,850 Mortimers mortimersjewellers.co.uk

TAG Heuer Aquaracer Chrono Watch £1,700 Michael Spiers michaelspiers.co.uk

Enjoy a fab festive season at Princesshay with excellent brands you know and love, truly tasty places to eat, extended opening hours and our on-site car park open late so you really can make a night of it.

Shop ’til 9pm every Thursday from 19th November until Christmas.

www.princesshay.com

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Strong Adolfo’s

Hawksfield started life as a collection of dilapidated garage buildings and warehouses. It’s now a buzzy contemporary scene with more than a nod to the cool surf vibe of the North Cornwall coast. Founder Richard Eldridge tells Fiona McGowan about the building of a dream.

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here’s an area of North Cornwall that’s always been regarded as stormy, wild and untrustworthy – riven with dark, murderous tales of highwaymen and smugglers. It’s a place that’s still counterpoint to the surf ‘n’ sands of Fistral Bay, Newquay, Padstow, Rock – hi-viz destinations that are accessed from the romanticallynamed Atlantic Highway. The winding stretch of single-lane A-road threads its way through Wadebridge and Camelford, forming an artery that runs 40

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north from the ever-heaving A30, and then parallel to the coast. Head north to reach the Arthurian tourist mecca of Tintagel. Head west, and you end up back at the A30.

Somewhere in the middle of miles of gently rolling, uneventful agricultural landscape is a collection of wooden-clad buildings that, at first glance, look like weatherbeaten warehouses. Set back and slightly raised above the road, the Hawksfield centre is a bit of a conundrum. Its founder, Richard Eldridge, is a maverick

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Strong Adolfo’s

Jo and Co Housewares

This isn’t really retail. It’s more of an adventure. There may be something to buy, there may not. With true retail, you are trying to get people specifically to come and buy

– a man with a plan to break the mould of road-side retail parks and surf-brand clichés. He baulks at my suggestion that Hawksfield is a ‘retail’ venue, explaining how he dismissed advice to take on Fat Face, Animal and other big-name retail brands. “It’s really all about free spirits,” he says, surveying the clientele in the site’s café bistro, Strong Adolfo’s.

It’s a truly symbiotic creation: a café, a deli food shop, homewares store, contemporary gallery, vintage store and flower shop all have separate entrances and brand distinctions, but walk to the back of each shop and you can stroll from one to the other. Most highly visible from the road is the eye-catching ‘CAFÉ’ sign of Strong Adolfo’s – the bistro created by Richard’s son John and his Swedish partner Matilda. The Arc deli shop is run by his wife’s sister. Jo and Co, with its cool contemporary homewares and artsy coffee-table books, was the brainchild of Richard’s other daughter-in-law, Jo. The Circle Contemporary gallery is Richard and wife Vanessa’s baby. Lest you think the whole place is an Eldridge family dominion, the front-facing sheds are also occupied by a local flower seller (purveyor of arty bouquets: all brown paper and strings and subtle floral combinations), a somewhat random insertion of a vintage car and motorbike emporium, and high-end, hand-made kitchen company Duchy Kitchens.

It’s hard to categorise the space – it certainly looks like retail, in that you might stop off for a coffee or a big Cornish breakfast, and then end up driving away with a selection of striped Cornishware bowls, some Swedish goats’ cheese and a 1960s Anglepoise lamp. Or perhaps even buy yourself a gleaming vintage car while you’re at it. But Richard explains that this is not the intention.

“This isn’t really retail,” he says.“It’s more an adventure in inspiration. People coming here… there may be something to buy, there may not. Whereas with true retail, you are trying to get people specifically to come and buy.” Sitting in the café, surrounded by the loud buzz of conversation and a rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack (the recently installed sound-dampeners in the ceiling doing little to reduce the noise), Richard is relaxed, yet very much switched on to the needs of his customers. An ex-big-wave surfer – “I learned to surf before there were leashes, back in the 60s” – he is a fit and energetic figure, in spite of his frequent references to being ‘old’. Richard and Vanessa moved to Cornwall from London in the 80s, determined to bring their four boys up away from the relentlessly privileged environment of the Home Counties. He continued to work in oil and gas exploration – spending many years commuting to London – but became rooted in the Cornish world. Their sons, needless to say, all surfed from a young age, and John, the café owner, is also an accomplished big-wave surfer.

The Eldridges bought the Hawksfield site back in 2011, when it was just a collection of dilapidated sheds, owned by a man who lived in a portacabin. Richard’s MANOR | Winter 2016

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The Arc Foodstore

The Circle Contemporary gallery

Goose Shed vintage store

vision converted what could have become just another industrial park into something unexpected – certainly on this stretch of rather desolate road. But perhaps that is its greatest draw: the juxtaposition of this edgy, contemporary and creative hub with the emptiness of the surroundings. The inspiration came from a number of different places, he says. He and Vanessa had enjoyed visiting Darts Farm near Exeter, but didn’t want to replicate the singular focus of a farm shop and café. They had been collecting vintage furniture and contemporary art for decades – Richard credits his wife with a lot of the Hawksfield aesthetic.

He had also spent much of his life dabbling in the hospitality industry – most notably helping his old friend Pru Leith set up her high-end Leith restaurant in London’s Notting Hill. So Hawksfield is really the product of his life experience: the surfy vibe, the art, the 60s music, a sharp business mind, love of topnotch food and a genuine creativity.

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DM Pot Shop

As Hawksfield’s surfy creative development manager, Lucy Thornton, explains, the place has achieved its reputation through word of mouth. Several more wooden buildings have been added behind the first row of plus-sized sheds, housing a wine business, a burgeoning film and media company, treatment rooms for a hypnotherapist and osteopath, and a nursery.

This is no ordinary nursery – a purpose-built wooden construction with an over-arching roof, providing a sheltered outdoor space that is all grassy mounds, sandpits, rubber tyres and wooden structures, it is run with a Montessori mentality. Super-healthy and imaginative lunches are cooked on site in the open-plan kitchen; the play equipment is modern yet simple. There is a lot of wood around. Most importantly, the kids seem incredibly calm and happy puttering about in the big expanses of wooden-floored space.

It’s not been a particularly smooth journey. “It’s five years since I bought it,” says Richard, with a bit of a

The Nursery

gleam in his eye,. “And it’s a challenge all the time, to be honest, running a business here: everyone has the same issues – with Council Tax and staff costs versus what you price and make – nothing’s easy. It isn’t easy to build a business plan that works, even now.” But it’s clear he thrives on the challenge. Plans are afoot for further developments: Richard and his sons are contemplating creating a space for live music – something that the existing ‘Paddock Room’ venue isn’t quite large enough to cope with (it’s currently used for pilates and yoga classes). He won’t be drawn any further, though: “All my sons are passionate about creation and generation,” he says, enigmatically. “Music has been terribly important to all of us – I’ve always been involved in music. We’ll just have to see what emerges… Watch this space.” There are many philosophies that are woven into this project.

The concept of the ‘free spirit’ is very dear to Richard.

“It’s all about people coming here – for coffee or just dropping in – and striking a chord. In choosing our tenants, we’re very much guided by personality – and now that we’ve evolved, like-minded people tend to come to us.”

He is also all about blending: while the shops are certainly high-end – with £5 tins of mackerel adorning the shelves of The Arc, and high price tags on the vintage items, not to mention the hand-made Duchy Kitchens that are about as far as you can get from your

bog-standard IKEA fare – Hawksfield is not all luxury items. The café’s menu is reasonably priced – particularly given the owners’ determination to cook from scratch on site, and to only source food with exceptional provenance. It is possible to pick up a bargain in The Goose Shed vintage store if you’re canny, and Jo and Co at least provides a range of items, from small glass candle holders to super-luxe bathroom furnishings. He wants the ages to blend as well – effectively, it seems, as the place is as popular with hipsters and surfers as with families and older couples. But beyond the façade of browsing-cum-retail outlets, Richard has always been fascinated by what makes a workspace work: “I’m always reading and looking at how workspaces are changing,” he says, pulling out a newspaper cutting about a contemporary office structure. “That’s what it’s really about here. I want to create an environment where people want to work. Particularly surfers – they need to earn a living, but what if they could mix it with a lifestyle that enables them to work and surf and not feel embarrassed about that?” Plonked on the A39 in North Cornwall, Hawksfield is a pit-stop with a difference – a drive-through into a rather unexpected dimension. hawksfieldcornwall.com

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DREAMING OF

GORGEOUS

GIFTS

drakecircus.com

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photostory

Portrait gallery James Cheadle is a photographer who is regularly called on by media on both sides of the Atlantic to photograph prominent individuals, be they film stars, pop stars, politicians or sport stars. This issue’s photostory presents a selection of the portraits he’s taken over the years, and James reveals the story behind each famous sitting.

Daniel Day-Lewis “I shot Daniel at a friend’s breakers yard on a small island in the Thames near Pinewood Studios. It always struck me as an interesting contrast between Daniel’s Hollywood A-list status and the filthy industrial location set up for the shoot by the commissioning client.

It’s amusing when you see a film star sat on an old oily sofa with a cup of builder’s tea, oblivious to the confused members of the public wandering by rubbing their eyes like they’re playing tricks on them.”

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Keith Flint “When The Prodigy front man, Keith Flint, isn’t on Prodigy business, he spends his weekends racing superbikes at a fairly high level in various national series. This portrait was taken in the control tower at Oulton Park circuit, in between practice sessions leading up to his race. Away from shooting portraits, my other passion in life is motorcycles, so it was a real treat to shoot an artist who’s in my CD collection around bikes.”

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photostory

Jessie J “I was asked to shoot Jessie in an old car park in Shoreditch for a series of artist profiles for a music magazine. I’ll never forget her face, arriving on location in a rainy, windswept unsurfaced parking lot. She was not impressed, and her manager made it clear this had to be a quick shoot to protect her voice from the elements. Of all the shots taken, this one stood out. Jessie had warmed up slightly (her manager didn’t) as we were out of the wind under a flyover, and her personality came out. In all, the shoot lasted under 15 minutes.”

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Chris Evans “I’ve shot Chris’s portrait a few times and every time he is so much fun, probably one of the nicest, friendliest people (along with Michael Palin) I’ve photographed. There’s always a concern when you shoot a celebrity portrait that you’re not quite sure what you’ll get when your subject arrives. Chris always turns up with a massive smile and a joke. If you can start a shoot on this footing, you’re probably onto a winner.”

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photostory

Michael Palin “This portrait of Michael Palin was taken to promote his Sahara book for Waterstones.

We set up a small studio in a small backroom of his agent’s office near Chinatown in London. It was a rainy day, so taking the shot outside wasn’t an option. In these situations, you need your subject to perform. If they won’t play ball, you’re not left with much to work with. Michael brought so much energy to the room when he arrived. If I could bottle the positivity and enthusiasm he brought to the shoot, I’d never have a bad day in the office again.”

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Paul Gascoigne “Although I’d photographed Premier League footballers throughout the 90s for various sports magazines, I’d never had the opportunity to photograph Gazza, one of the most talented players in the world. When a men’s magazine (Loaded) asked me to shoot a cover with him, I felt like a kid completing his Panini football sticker album. The shoot did have its issues, though. It’s no secret that Paul has battled alcohol addiction since retiring from the sport. The first date planned with Paul had to be cancelled when he was rushed into rehab after a serious episode on the morning of the shoot. Under advice from the rehabilitation clinic caring for Paul, the shoot was scheduled for a few months later when Paul arrived in remarkable shape.”

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photostory

Samuel L Jackson “The Samuel L Jackson shoot came up a few days after my daughter was born in 2006. I wasn’t taking jobs at that time but I wasn’t going to turn down one with Jules from Pulp Fiction. The shoot was to promote his latest film, Snakes on a Plane, and we met at Wentworth Golf Club – he’s a keen golfer and was playing the famous West Course later that day. Two things stood out from the day: One, Samuel had a full-time hair stylist; and two, his message ‘Send my love to Molly May’, my new-born daughter.”

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photostory Ricky Gervais “I was commissioned to shoot Ricky for his hit show An Idiot Abroad for the Science Channel airing in the USA. People always ask me what celebrities are like when I photograph them. Ricky is exactly the same as he is when you see him on the television. That laugh, the shriek he’s so famous for, becomes the soundtrack in the studio. Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington were part of the shoot too. The final shot of the day involved Ricky and Stephen wrapping Karl up in a giant roll of paper. Rather than finish the shoot and walk away, they wrapped up poor Karl from head to toe, gaffer-taped him up and made us all vacate the studio, leaving him rolling around on the floor punching his way out of his wrapping.

The Gervais laugh must have been heard half way across North London.”

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Wayne Rooney “This portrait of Wayne was shot at Old Trafford just before the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. It was commissioned by a music magazine (Q), and Kelly Jones from the Stereophonics was sat across the room when we were shooting. Wayne is a massive Stereophonics fan, which made him doubly self conscious. In situations like this, it’s always best to fall back on trusted lighting setups, so I opted for the moody look. ”

Jonny Wilkinson “This was taken in Jonny’s first year of retirement from playing for Toulon in France.

I’d shot Jonny a few times over the years, but when players retire they tend to open up.

When you hear him talk about his approach to life, business and friendships, it’s easy to understand how he was such a phenomenal success on the pitch. Such a thoughtful and intelligent man. ”

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photostory

Ian Brown “This portrait of Stone Roses singer Ian Brown was shot in a small café on Chiswick High Road in West London. I’m a self-confessed fan of Ian, both as a solo artist and in the Roses, so I jumped at this one. We experimented with a few setups, one of which was a reenactment of his scene in the third Harry Potter film, but this image, taken towards the end of the shoot, stood out as the best. ”

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photostory Ross Noble “Essential to a successful and productive photoshoot is getting a bit of banter going. The one thing I learned about Ross Noble from our shoots is that he loves motorcycles, to the point that they’ve started to take over his career, with TV shows being based around them. I’ve never had such a strange off-the-wall conversation about bikes and bike culture. Ross definitely has a unique way of looking at life.”

JAMES CHEADLE James Cheadle discovered his love of photography when he was 13 and his dad let him borrow his Practika SLR. The next year, he was among the first wave of kids in his local authority to be offered Photography GCSE at his school.

His first job saw him spending long hours working in the darkrooms of the Bath Evening Chronicle. At the weekends, with an old Nikon F3, he would take pictures of school fetes and 100th birthdays for the paper.

A couple of years on, James accepted a job as a staff photographer with Solent News in Southampton.

He spent five years there, shooting everything from the trial of Rose West at Winchester Crown Court to Matt Le Tissier banging in goals at the Dell for the UK’s national newspapers. He then moved to consumer magazine publisher EMAP, where he worked on their sporting titles. This meant a move to Peterborough in the East Midlands, and three years spent travelling around the UK and the world photographing some of the most newsworthy sportspeople and events.

In 2000, James decided to go it alone and hasn’t looked back. He’s hiked in the Andes to shoot intervillage fist fights, crossed the Sahara (twice) in a car bought off eBay for a couple of hundred pounds, Noodled in Oklahoma, bought a house in Detroit for £100, and driven an auto-rickshaw across India (twice) – all to shoot a good story.

Still travelling extensively to all four corners of the globe, James works for a host of UK and international clients in publishing, television, advertising and PR. He’s equally at home photographing Hollywood portraits, reportage, sport or ads. jamescheadle.com All of the portraits featured and selected images from James Cheadle’s archive can be bought as limited edition Giclée prints at Edition72. edition72.com

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a natural night’s sleep

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www.naturalmat.co.uk 01392 877 247 Notting Hill Shop ~ 99 Talbot Road, London, W11 2AT Devon Showroom ~ Odhams Wharf, Topsham, Devon EX3 0PD MANOR | Winter 2016

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Franny Armstrong filming on a taxi in the Jordanian desert for The Age of Stupid

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Documentary filmmaker and activist Franny Armstrong has been named one of the World’s Top 100 Women, was recently awarded an honorary doctorate from the Open University and pioneered the crowdfunding model. Fiona McGowan visits her super-eco home in Devon to talk life, the universe and climate change.

ife on earth is a great big challenge. And it’s about to get a whole lot more challenging. The apocalyptic, post-climate-change world-view is a hard one to stomach, but Franny Armstrong has been making hard-hitting films about the Big Subjects since she was in her early 20s, and she’s not going to stop now.

Franny lives in a rural part of Devon, overlooking a wooded valley with a gently winding river at its base.

Her recently completed house must have had at least some of the villagers in the modest hamlet gnashing their teeth at its standout design. Clad in a blondeish wood, it towers like a big Amish barn, overlooking the woodland and garden that still resembles a builders’ yard. Inside, the living area is cavernous – with a pane of glass along one side of the space. The kids potter about, barefoot and in thin clothing, although it is a chilly, steamy-breath day outside. This is a passive house, explains Franny – designed not to leak any heat out into the environment.

It is so well insulated that it requires no heating, other than body heat and the warmth generated by cooking – and solar energy from the south-facing window. A wood-burning stove in the middle of the living space gives out almost no heat to the house, but is used for water heating.

Franny has pretty much always been an activist – the first seeds of environmentalism and social conscience

being present in her life from the beginning. With a dad who made documentaries and TV programmes about social issues, a mum who was so passionate about helping her fellow citizens that she’d invite the local homeless man in for a bath, and a Welsh granny who was obsessed with reducing waste, she grew up in a family that set her way in the world. “My grandma would say, ‘don’t rip the wrappers off the presents, we can re-use them.’ She would walk three miles to get tomatoes that were 3p cheaper.

I just thought it was all ridiculous. But then I came to understand that, actually, that’s how you live lightly on the earth.” She and her sister became vegetarians after they went on holiday to a farm and couldn’t bear the thought of animals being killed for food. She was eleven. It was her first consciously activist act. Witness to the inequality showcased in her dad’s films, it is no surprise that she forged the path she has taken.

While Franny Armstrong is not yet a household name in the stable of Ken Loach or George Monbiot, her films have had a profound effect on our consciousness, our corporations, and our media. Her documentary, McLibel, which she began to make at the tender age of 23, followed the extraordinary journey of two British individuals who stood up to the multibillion multinational McDonald’s. Back in the 90s, such respected media outlets from the BBC to Channel 4 to MANOR | Winter 2016

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I cared about healthy eating and advertising to kids, and cared about animals, and workers. I cared about censorship and freedom of speech. And I loved the story of two little people taking on a big corporation.”

Franny filming in New Orleans

major broadsheets were regularly in court apologising having been accused of libel by the company. When London Greenpeace published and distributed leaflets criticising the company – from their alleged negative impact on the environment to nutritional value to employee working conditions – McDonald’s tried to make them apologise. One woman – Helen Steel – refused to do so. She was joined by her friend David Morris, and the result made legal and social history.

With borrowed camera equipment from her dad, Franny made a film about the case that impacted the way that we see fast food. Since then, as Franny put it, “There’s been a sea-change in understanding about healthy eating,” with Fast Food Nation and Super-Size Me and a whole phalanx of books and films – right the way through to Jamie’s School Dinners. The UK’s legal system was taken to task at the European Court and found wanting. And McDonald’s has changed its business practice. “The subject got to me on so many levels,” says Franny. “I cared about healthy eating and advertising to kids, and cared about animals, and workers. I cared about censorship and freedom of speech. And I just loved the story of two little people who dared to take on the big corporation.”

That film took three years to make. It was done on a shoestring, against all the odds. “It was Dave Morris, the McLibel defendant,” Franny remembers, “who said the famous words which changed my life, which were: why does not having any money mean you can’t make a film?” After many long years, the court case was not a unanimous win for the London Greenpeace pair, but the story rocked the corporation – and the film got worldwide distribution, was broadcast on TV and cinema round the world and picked as one of the British Film Industry’s ‘10 Documentaries which changed the world’. It was another five years before Dave and Helen finally got their win – at the European Court of Justice, where the English libel laws were found to be failing the defendants. Having moved on to other projects, Franny diligently went back to McLibel and re-cut it with the latest footage. The end result was that British media outlets were no longer afraid 60

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of threats of libel action from McDonald’s, and BBC2 finally aired the documentary.

While McLibel touched on the unsustainable nature of our food consumption, Franny’s passion has always been about climate change and sustainability. Her next two documentaries were incendiary, to say the least.

Drowned Out showcased the shocking events around the Namada Dam in central India, where villagers were determined to prevent a dam being built – deciding to stay and drown to bring attention to their cause, rather then accept being moved to city slums. It is one of her trademarks: to bring focus to small groups of people who are daring to stand up to huge, influential corporations, governments and legal systems. While your first thought might be, ‘why do we care about these individuals?’, by the end of the film you realise that it is actually at the grass-roots level that change is often best effected.

This filmmaker is nothing if not committed: when she first arrived at the Namada Dam protests, along with author Arundhati Roy, who was figure-heading the campaign, she was arrested and thrown in jail. Her sister, Boo, managed to escape with the tapes that they had made, and the story was broadcast on international news, bringing massive attention to the crisis. “I’m a pretty dogged individual,” she nods, sipping tea on the big sheltered deck outside her house. After three years of following the campaign (the government eventually went ahead with its plans, but added compensatory factors such as solar power and rehabilitation of vacant land to benefit the villagers in the region), the film was released in 2002 in cinemas and on TV around the world.

“It’s a gut feeling, really, which projects I take on,” says Franny, who quickly began work on another documentary, The Age of Stupid, narrated by Pete Postlethwaite, and set in a post-apocalyptic future.

Pete, isolated in an ocean-bound Bond-esque library of archive footage, brings up vignettes of video footage that demonstrate just how blind we are to the devastation we are wreaking around us. As part of her Zoology

PHOTO: © SPANNER FILMS

Pete Postlethwaite as The Archivist in The Age of Stupid

degree at London’s UCL, Franny wrote a thesis titled ‘Is the human species suicidal?’ – which didn’t earn her any favours in the Zoology department. She says she had completely forgotten about it until fairly recently, when she realised that The Age of Stupid was in fact the filmic version of that dissertation. It’s a terrifying tale, but one that actually influenced the way people behave. It led to the launch of the 10:10 campaign in the UK and 41 other countries – urging everyone to cut their own emissions by 10% in a year – and counted the British government, Spurs FC, London Zoo, Oxford University and 100,000 people as signees. The campaign is still going strong today. Determined to get the film made, she decided to raise her own money for the project, using a grass-roots campaign. Raising £900,000 from more than 600 investors, she and her team became one of the first-ever groups of people to use the crowdfunding model to fund a project.

Her next project, already several years in the making, involves the highly controversial story of police spies infiltrating campaign groups and activist organisations in the UK. It hit the headlines a few years ago, when undercover cops were exposed as living double lives, getting attached to members of the organisations to the point where they married and started families with people they were spying on. It’s a drama this time; she says that there is too little footage of the events over the last 50 years, plus she thinks that drama will have more impact on our consciousness. Slumdog Millionaire writer Simon Beaufoy is helping Franny and the team shape the story into a hard-hitting drama, along with Ken Loach’s

former producer Tony Garnett, who, at the age of 80, has agreed to come out of retirement to advise on the series.

Franny sums up how human nature drives the world’s problems: “I think it’s all part of humankind’s capacity for denial – we’re all in denial about our own deaths.

We’re the only species that understands that we will die, and that life is essentially transient, even pointless, but we go about it positively anyway. I think that’s part of the same thing we do with climate change.” It can feel pretty depressing, but there is a very strong hopeful and optimistic message in all of her work – something she warms to as she recalls her life journey. The idea that “a group of six or so people would tackle McDonald’s, and would precipitate this massive international change, which will have benefited many, many people. That gives you hope, because we were just a tiny group of individuals, and we did change the world.”

I have little doubt that Franny Armstrong will be a name that we will all remember – and hopeful that her tenacity and integrity will somehow change the way we live. Her drive is remarkable, and although she is humble about her impact, her integrity of purpose is intrinsic to her work and life: “When you’re on your death bed and you’re looking back at your life,” she says, “you really want to feel that you did the right thing. That your life had a purpose. It goes back to the hope thing. Even if it is a losing battle. Even if we have very, very little chance of success, it is still the right thing to do, and that’s why I do it.” spannerfilms.net

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The Business

Each month, Michelmores shines the spotlight on an inspiring South West business it works with, to uncover the real people behind the success. This month we meet David Pike, managing director of the pioneering seasonal pop-up retailer Calendar Club. He reveals how the company has grown to be the largest calendar retailer in the UK, turning over £28m this year – and what’s next for the business that continues to innovate. Portrait by Matt Austin.

Tell us about Calendar Club Calendar Club arrived in the UK in 1998 as a joint venture between a US company and Otter House, an Exeter-based publishing business which produces greeting cards, stationery and gifts. In the first year we started with 12 trial stores and since then Calendar Club has grown steadily and now has around 300 stores across the UK and Ireland each year.

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We were one of the very first temporary or ‘pop-up’ retailers and now we are certainly the largest and longest running, which is a real achievement. Look out for us in Exeter, Truro, Plymouth and Taunton this Christmas.

Calendar Club is a destination store with something for everyone – we carry over 1,000 titles in our stores and over 4,500 on our website. You

promotional feature really can find a calendar to suit everybody’s hobby or favourite subject.

Whilst it is our Calendar Club pop-up shops that people will recognise, there are two other businesses which make up the wider group. Otter House continues to produce cards and stationery whilst Carousel Calendars has grown to become one of the largest calendar publishers and distributors in the UK. Calendars are the common link through all three businesses – which all work closely together but each have their specialist area of focus.

How did you come to join the business?

I come from a finance background, spending much of my career working as an economist in Tokyo, but when we returned as a family to London some years later, and I was ready for a new challenge. Whilst I continued to work in the City, I acquired a small calendar publishing business which happened to supply Calendar Club. In 2001 I was producing 3 calendar titles and printing about 12,000 calendars but because of Calendar Club’s growth, by 2010 we were publishing around 300 titles and printing over 1 million calendars. As my business and Calendar Club grew, we began working more closely together and I folded my business into the Group in 2010.

How have you achieved such strong growth?

Calendar Club’s seasonal selling model has proved to be very successful, which I think is down to having a clear offering and staying true to that. We’re always looking for new ideas, and two years ago we launched a new business called Halloween HQ, based on the seasonal selling concept of Calendar Club for Christmas – but for Halloween! Our pop-up model takes a lot of work behind the scenes – from finding appropriate stores in 300 towns and cities, fitting them out just in time and getting the right stock to sell, takes real precision.

We’ve got a fantastic team here who have put excellent systems and processes in place – which is the backbone to this growth.

What have the key moments of success been so far?

In October 2013 I led a management buy-out, this was an exciting move for me and the business as a whole. Michelmores acted on the MBO and on a subsequent acquisition that we completed. A successful MBO requires a lot of effort from all

parties involved, so it was a great achievement when this completed, strengthening our team and setting new goals for growth.

It has also been great to see many of our people growing with the business and taking the journey with us.

Do you have any advice for someone thinking of setting up their own venture?

Nothing ever goes smoothly when you start up a new business, or enter a new industry, so you have to keep on going even when things aren’t going your way. You really have to persevere through the challenges, to come out the other side.

What do you look for in new recruits?

We offer a variety of different roles, which play to people’s different strengths. We have some fantastic people who manage our seasonal stores, who excel at creating an experience for our customers and keeping our shops running during the Halloween period and Christmas shopping time. Our roles at head office are very varied including logistics and warehouse roles through to visual merchandising for our retail stores – the key attributes that we always look for is people that will fit in with our values and a forensic attention to detail!

What do you do with any spare time?

When I’m not at the office or out and about visiting stores I am often found out and about with my camera.

I am a keen wildlife photographer, and when I started in the calendar publishing business my dream was to split my time between taking the pictures and publishing the calendars. As I am focusing on growing and diversifying the business I haven’t quite managed that balance yet, perhaps one day!

What’s next for the business?

We have just launched an exciting new offering called Magic Candy Factory, which will allow people to create personalised gummy sweets made on the spot by a 3D printer. You will be able to create candy with a personalised message, or even a selfie, within five minutes and all of the sweets are free of artificial ingredients. We have launched eight sites across the UK and have more plans for growth during 2017. calendarclub.co.uk

Michelmores is a Top 100 law firm supporting individuals, businesses and institutions in the private wealth sector for over 125 years.

“Michelmores is a powerhouse in the UK. They have invested both time and capital in the building of a strong team providing top quality private client work.” Judging panel, STEP Private Client Awards 2014

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Culture Artists Davy and Kristin McGuire | Poet Katrina Naomi South West must sees | Worth making the trip for | Staying in

Cassini by Clare Pentlow 19 November – 2 January at MAKE ‘16: Contemporary Crafts for Christmas. Devon Guild of Craftsmen crafts.org.uk

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culture Using light, animation and intricately cut paper, Davy and Kristin McGuire create intimate theatrical experiences and art installations.

Words by Belinda Dillon.

G

The Icebook

rowing up, I loved pop-up books (particularly Jan Pienkowski’s Haunted House – I still have that one and am loathe to pass it onto a child, even though I know I should). As well as the engineering, it was the aesthetics of concealment that fascinated me; aspects of the story hidden by design. So when I saw The Icebook – an animated pop-up book-cum-theatre show created

by Bristol-based multimedia artists Davy and Kristin McGuire in 2009 – I was mesmerised. Combining video projection, papercraft and good old-fashioned storytelling without words, it’s a love story in miniature; an animated romance mapped onto scenes – a castle, a forest, a lake – across 11 pages that are turned manually. Lasting only 15 minutes, and performed to an audience of 12, it’s an intimate, beguiling piece that takes the essential magic of theatre – the unspoken deal between the audience and production/performers to believe in the here and now – and glimmers with its own special kind of fairy dust.

With backgrounds in dance (Kristin) and devised theatre (Davy), the McGuires have always created multidisciplinary work, usually employing film and video projection to bring objects to life: a noticeboard with animated postcards and photos (Pinboard); the nude statue of a woman given a voice and various items of clothing (Starkers). But it was through their experimentation with paper when making up a set design maquette for a theatre show concept that The Icebook was born. The process was painstaking – hours spent hand-cutting and assembling all the individual pieces of paper, a skill they learnt as they went along – but they enjoyed the control and flexibility it gave them; rather than projecting onto found objects, they were creating the environments themselves.

“We thought, actually, what we’ve made here is a hybrid piece of art,” says Kristin. “And while I’m not sure that we enjoyed the process – we do a lot of arguing when we make our work! – the result was enjoyable in the sense that we found a technique that we really like: working with paper, light, projections and storytelling.”

The allure of those key ingredients – The Icebook has since toured to more than 60 venues across 15 countries – won them high-profile commissions, including from Courvoisier and Japanese jewellery house Mikimoto to create installations for window displays and elaborately intricate sets for commercials. The necessity to create self-contained units that could come to life without the intervention of a ‘performer’ in turn fed into their process. “That’s when we started to make paper dioramas that were more three-dimensional and needed no manpower,” says Kristin.

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The Paper Architect

Laundromat, part of the Paper Noir series

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The resulting standalone ‘sets’ include an homage to Hitchcock’s Psycho – a short film made in 2013 that recreates a version of the infamous shower scene, placing the audience as voyeur in the shadows outside the Bates house to witness the murder through the lit windows.

The same technological advances led to the awardwinning The Paper Architect, a beautifully melancholic 45-minute theatre piece that combines dioramas, projections and live action to tell the story of an elderly model maker who lives his life vicariously through his miniature creations.

This alchemy – an idea inspires the process and a technological development pushes the boundaries of what they can do, which in turn inspires further ideas – seems to epitomise how they work. It’s a constant to and fro. So, what comes first, the idea for a story or a process they want to experiment with?

“It varies,” says Kristin. “We can be sitting at breakfast and one of us will say, ‘You know what…’, but also when you travel a lot for work, people take you to exhibitions, introduce you to different cultural landscapes, and that’s very inspiring. It’s always about curiosity. So for me, I’ve reached that age when I’m not doing much dancing but I missed it so much that I’ve started pole dancing. Skin takes projections really nicely, and in pole dancing you have an excuse to wear very little, so something like that will feed into a curiosity to experiment, and Davy is interested in working with me on those ideas. In 2017 we’re doing a project for City of Culture in Hull, based on a pilot where we projected little people into the nooks and crannies of the city’s landscape – a bit like animated street art. We want to use these little projections to expose a bit of Hull’s subculture, and that feels much more like a Davy thing – he’s more political than me. It goes back and forth.”

While they shift between forms depending on what each project demands, the aesthetics of fairy tale and film noir are often evident, as is the figure of the femme fatale. A recent project, Laundromat, begins a series of black paper dioramas brought to life with TV screens, in which sinister vignettes are played out across the windows of an apartment building. Is the move towards the dark side a conscious intention?

“I think when we started out our work was much lighter,” says Kristin. “I don’t think we’re dark people, but the tonal shift might literally come down to the techniques we’re using. When you’re working with light, you need darkness, so automatically in terms of content you enter an area that uses those visual elements. But I do think the dark soul is a bit more interesting than the happy soul. We’re also both detail-obsessed, and when you look at film noir, none of it is big CGI-type stuff.

It’s all about light and shadow; the tiny looks between people that tell massive stories.”

Take a moment to explore the McGuires’ work, and you realise very quickly that ‘detail-obsessed’ is

culture

When you’re working with light, you need darkness, so automatically in terms of content you enter an area that uses those visual elements. But I do think the dark soul is a bit more interesting than the happy soul.

Davy and Kristin in the studio

The Eiffel Tower made for Courvoisier’s Toast of Paris commercial

something of an understatement. Whether it’s a tiny leaf shuddering then falling from a branch, a bird fluttering in a cage, or a bicycle leaning against a tree, the landscapes they create are endlessly fascinating. Each fresh viewing rewards your close attention with yet more richness. Their work ethic is inspiring, too: to make the Eiffel Tower that features in Courvoisier’s Toast of Paris commercial, Davy went back to the architectural plans of the original to ensure that the paper model holds up due to exactly the same laws of structural engineering.

Although these days they use a laser cutter to create their paper designs, the intricacy and small scale must make for an intense working environment. “The nice thing about doing everything between the two of us is that we understand each other very well,” says Kristin.

“We don’t have to be diplomatic or polite! If Davy’s not doing it well, I can say ‘That’s shit, do it again’. You can’t do that with anyone else! It’s tricky to find a pool of people that you feel comfortable working with, who share your vision, but we feel like we’re getting there.

We bring in different artists for whatever is required for each project, but whether we’re expanding or not, at the core it will always be Davy and me.”

They’ve recently taken on a project manager, who will relieve them of much of the administrative side of things, freeing them up to focus on where they want to go next. They’ve just built a prototype ‘theatre book’ – an animated pop-up version of Macbeth in which all the technical equipment (a pico projector and microcomputer, batteries, loudspeakers and mirroring devices) is integrated into the cover of the book.

The story is driven by the owner turning the pages, triggering video and sound to play out the scenes.

A collector’s piece, it came to pass because so many people were asking to buy The Icebook, and it joins other self-contained items that can similarly be bought and displayed at home: tiny holographic fairies inside jam jars; animated paper sculptures such as Laundromat, which can be hung on the wall.

And while their set design and direction of the 2011 stage production of Howl’s Moving Castle (at London’s Southwark Playhouse) felt like too big a leap after the intimacy of The Icebook, they now feel ready to throw themselves into something bigger.

“We’re brainstorming ideas now, and would love to get a big show off the ground – a Sin City-style film noir piece, with multiple payers of gauze, two or three performers… Howl was a steep learning curve: we’d never worked with projections on that scale, never directed other actors. It felt like too big a step, which is why we scaled back to earn the experience and the right to do something of that size again. Our discipline – projection mapping – is usually on a bigger scale, such as onto buildings, and we’ve never done anything like it. We’re more into minimapping! That’s always been for practical reason, but now we feel prepared to scale up and we’re really excited about that. We just need to find the right opportunity.”

The McGuires will be exhibiting Laundromat, the Macbeth theatre book and Jam Jar Fairies at the London Art Fair, 18-22 January.

For touring information for The Icebook and The Paper Artist, see davyandkristinmcguire.com

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Kate Sermon meets Katrina Naomi, whose striking poetry conjures characters, emotions and situations with lyrical intensity.

I

f life is a poem, then Katrina Naomi’s is an epic one.

Moving to Penzance only two years ago, she plunged into her next stanza – rural life – with enthusiasm, learning Cornish (Kernewek), and volunteering for the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. But these activities must find a place among her love, her passion, and her work, which come under one umbrella: poetry.

Her new collection, The Way the Crocodile Taught Me (published in 2016 by Seren), led the poet Vicki Feaver to praise Katrina’s “cool voice and fierce eye”; and Gillian Clarke (the former National Poet of Wales) said that she writes her fiercely and triumphantly female poems with “brave truth”. Katrina admits that she loves poetry that is driven by emotion, even when it’s restrained.

“I do like poetry with a bit of welly to it,” she explains. “Hearts and flowers stuff leaves me cold.”

Katrina’s poetry kicks emotions into check. Her diverse use of form, from couplets to using spacing to suggest punctuation, can lead to a strange, uneasy placing on the page. In ‘The Bicycle’, a poem from her new collection that is also included in the Forward Book of Poetry 2017, she deliberately chose not to use punctuation for this reason. “I wanted the reader to take breaths in odd places,” she says, “mirroring some of the difficult subject matter, of a sexual attack.”

Often writing without any verse or stanza breaks, she explains how this has the effect of controlling of the reader. “It keeps the intensity and doesn’t allow the reader much breathing space. In this way, you make the page work for you and the spacing can suggest things that aren’t being said.”

Katrina came to poetry late: “I didn’t come from a literary family, I only went to university because back 70

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then it was free. It was suggested by a teacher that I might like to go to college. I was the first in my family to go, but even then I wasn’t writing.” Her degree was wholly unconnected from creative writing. “I studied languages and politics. The only poets I’d studied at school had nothing to say about me or my life. Poetry didn’t interest me.”

It wasn’t until she got involved in a poetry class when she was 30 and was introduced to Sharon Olds’s poem, I Go Back to May 1939, that she became hooked – and she hasn’t stopped devouring poetry since. “I read widely after that. I felt I had a lot to catch up on… I still do!”

Reading evolved into writing and she began to send her poems to magazines. Success came slowly but when it did she ran with it – giving up her day job as a human rights worker – and followed her heart.

Her first full collection, The Girl with the Cactus Handshake, was published just after she finished her MA in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, London (she went on to do a PhD there, too). The book paved the way for more published success and her first writer-in-residence post at the Brontë Society in Haworth, Yorkshire; from there it’s been a stream of successes. She wrote Hooligans, which was inspired by the Suffragettes during a residency at Gladstone’s Library, after she discovered that her great-grandmother Eliza had been involved with the Woman’s Social and Political Union.

As in Hooligans, Katrina’s work is often shot through with an autobiographical thread. One poem, ‘Letter to my Mother’ (published in The Way the Crocodile Taught Me), tells of her problematic relationship with her stepfather, and is a work of breathtaking honesty:

culture Letter to my Mother You lie underneath him, a measure of mud between you.

This was our final argument – his and mine – your husband/my stepfather.

I’m told of a double headstone, which I haven’t visited, since I held my neice’s hand, threw a lily and a tablespoon of chalky soil on your lid. I can’t talk to you, knowing he’s also there, listening, as he always did: the click of the extension by your bed, the reading out of my letters and your replies.

All these years, his 17 stones pressing down on you, crushing the soil between you.

I talk to you when I cross the Thames, looking right to Shooters Hill – Kent’s north edge. I send you my words in a flotilla of paper boats. I forgive you, I always have. I forgive you for marrying him.

Katrina says that she uses her own experiences in her writing because it’s always quite difficult talking about it.

“My stepfather was a bully; manipulative and controlling.

He also hit my mother. I find the poems can do the work of explaining instead of me.”

Her most recent writer-in-residence post, at Bristol’s Arnolfini gallery, is an exciting development. She’s currently responding to the exhibition ‘Emotional Archeology’ by the artist Daphne Wright.

Just back from a week’s writing there, Katrina describes the process of responding to another artist’s work in contrast to expressing her own life through her words. “It feels like a good kind of challenge to be writing poetry that will hopefully match the level of skill Daphne shows in her art. A lot of her work can sometimes be quite troubling so there’s plenty to get my teeth into. After I’ve worked the drafts up into something resembling poems, I’ll be reading them at the Arnolfini on 3 December.”

Another aspect to her life is her collaboration with visual artist Tim Ridley, who also happens to be her

partner. “It’s a bit weird to be collaborating with your lover. Luckily we get on well and haven’t fallen out yet.”

They’re about to embark on their third project together, so something must be going right. “We began with ‘The Argument: Art V Poetry’, where we gave each other two weeks to respond to each other’s artwork or poem, and we weren’t allowed to ask what the work meant – we just had to pick up on whatever we could from it and run with it.”

The third project in the pipeline with Tim is called ‘An Hour from Here’, about which Katrina is maintaining an air of secrecy in order to avoid spoilers.

Like much of her projects, it will have an element of performance, which is also an aspect of another of her cross-genre collaborations – with Greg Dyer, a flamenco guitarist from Penzance. “I’m really hoping we get to perform together as I really love the energy and passion in Greg’s work.”

Back to poetry, I ask her about her workshops. Being the chair of Penzance Stanza and an active member of Falmouth Poetry Group, she feels it’s so important to be involved with other writers. “I think we all learn from each other. As writers we spend so much time locked away in silence over the latest draft – getting feedback on early drafts gives you a good insight into what’s working and what’s not.”

She says she often has to pinch herself because it’s so hard to believe that she’s successfully doing what she truly loves. But with success comes demands, and knowing when to say no to requests is something that she’s learned to do to create balance in her life.

“I have to make time for my friends and partner and for me. I’m a big walker – if I don’t get out often I feel almost as out of sorts as if I’m not spending enough time writing.”

For a poet who draws so much inspiration from her own life and those around her, this escape out into nature must be just as important as her immersion in her local community. Calling forth unending subjects to write about and time in nature to reflect on them, and perfect them word by word, step by step.

Katrina will be reading her work in response to Daphne Wright’s artwork at Bristol’s Arnolfini, 2.30-3.30pm on 3 December.

Attendance is free, but please call on 0117 917 2300 to book your place as there is limited capacity. katrinanaomi.co.uk

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South West must sees...

PHOTO: GEMMA WARD

Tumble in the jungle This Christmas, Exeter-based clowns Le Navet Bete bring their particular brand of anarchic humour and slapstick to bear on The Jungle Book. Mowgli, Bagheera, Baloo, Shere Khan, Kaa… the boys will be channelling all of them, so you can expect loincloth-related escapades, animal antics, and a rainforest full of silliness.

13 December – 15 January at Barbican Theatre, Castle Street, Plymouth PL1 2NJ. £15.50 (£13.50), family ticket £49.50. Suitable for all ages. barbicantheatre.co.uk

Going underground The Bike Shed Theatre’s subterranean performance space is the ideal location for a Christmas family show, allowing for complete immersion in the narrative world – it could be snowing, hailing or blazing sunshine in the streets up above, but down here you’re wherever the theatre-makers want to take you. This year’s festive fun comes from award-winning Bristol company Fine Chisel, whose storytelling ingenuity is matched by their impressive musicality. Beneath the Blizzard transforms the Bike Shed into an underground party, a resistance headquarters and a secret haven of Christmas cheer down the darkest of tunnels. Suitable for children aged 8+ and brave adults.

8 December – 7 January at Bike Shed Theatre, Fore Street, Exeter EX4 3AT. £12 (£10). bikeshedtheatre.co.uk

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culture

Show me the funny With seemingly endless resources of absurdity, Ross Noble is the king of stream-ofconsciousness stand-up, and his latest tour, Brain Dump, allows him free rein to do what he does best – take the audience on a delirious romp through the circuitous routes of his singularly mercurial mind. While an audience member arriving late, or nipping out to the loo, might evoke a two-minute segue at any other show, at a Noble gig it’s a possibility that it might take centre stage as he explores every potentiality for laughter. And he is spectacularly funny. A perfect antidote to the dark days of January.

13 January at Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple, northdevontheatres.org.uk; 14 January at the Corn Exchange, Exeter, exetercornexchange. co.uk; 18 January at Wyvern Theatre, Swindon, swindontheatres.co.uk; 19 January at Octagon Theatre, Yeovil, octagon-theatre.co.uk. £26. See Devon Guild Manor Mag ad 140916 14/09/2016 13:36 Page 1 rossnoble.co.uk for full tour listings.

Saturday 19 November – Monday 2 January

Annual Christmas selling exhibition with over 50 designermakers from across the UK

Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery Queen St, Exeter EX4 3RX T 01392 265858 E rammshop@exeter.gov.uk Open Tue to Sun, 10am to 5pm Closed Mondays and bank holidays

Now

OPEN

Christmas Celebration

Alice Heaton

Saturday 3 December 10am -5pm Join us for a day of Christmas festivities with music, demonstrations, mulled wine and food/drink tastings.

The Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey, Devon, TQ13 9AF Free Admission 01626 832223 www.crafts.org.uk

perfectly

hand-picked www.rammuseum.org.uk/shop

gifts

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Me old China In full possession of the required expertise in process, technique and tradition, Chris Taylor throws it all up in the air, mashes it together and pulls in unexpected references to create vibrant ceramics that play with the viewer’s sense of expectation at every level. Pieces on display in his new show, ‘Ornament’, reveal decoration based on repeated floral and geometric motifs, influenced by traditional ceramic pattern work, textiles or wallpaper. The free gestural marks, typical of Chris’s style, are influenced by Oriental brushwork and expressive painting, and deliberately conflict with the rigid formal construction of the patterns he uses. The decoration is inspired by a preoccupation with embellishment and how its intricacy can confuse and/or excite the eye.

25 November – 9 January at White Moose Galley, Trinity Street, Barnstaple EX32 8HX. There will be an ‘In Conversation’ evening and ‘Meet the Artist’ days during the show; for dates and further details, call 01271 379872 or visit whitemoose.co.uk

CARINTHIA WEST - CORRECTION In the previous issue of MANOR we featured Carinthia West and showed a number of her photographs, two of which were captioned incorrectly. The individual at Rod Stewart’s football match was Paul Nicholls from Widowmaker and Rod Stewart is in the distance on the pitch. The picture was taken in 1976. In the shot featuring David Bowie, he was not playing at Port Eliot but rather the Phoenix Festival in Warwickshire in 1996. We apologise for any confusion caused. These corrections have been made on the digital edition, which is available to browse at manormagazine.co.uk/issue-archive

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culture

PHOTO: ©THE ESTATE OF THE ARTIST; COURTESY RICHARD SALTOUN GALLERY

Free your mind

Rose Finn-Kelcey, The Restless Image – a discrepancy between the felt position and the seen position.

Selenium-toned bromide print , 89 x 112cm

Curated by Lucy Day and Eliza Gluckman (who have been curating exhibitions as Day+Gluckman since 2006), ‘Liberties’ presents a snapshot of the evolving conversations that have contributed to the mapping of a woman’s place in British society through work by 24 women artists. Film, photography, sculpture, performance and painting reflect personal and political issues, and changes in art practice in the 40 years since the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act in the UK. Including work by Helen Chadwick, Rose English, Rose Finn-Kelcey, Alexis Hunter and Jo Spence, reflecting the radical feminism of the 1960s and 70s, ‘Liberties’ spans four decades to the current fourth wave of social media-inspired feminism.

Until 7 January at The Exchange, Princes Street, Penzance TR18 2NL. newlynartgallery.co.uk

Get gifty Selected from an open call, ‘Present Makers’ gives both established and emerging craftspeople from across the South West the opportunity to showcase their work. Unique examples of textiles, jewellery, wood, ceramics and furniture will be on display with a range of prices to suit anyone looking for the ideal Christmas gift. Featured this year is the East Devonbased designer Jo Whiteley, who creates beautiful hand-thrown stone ceramics in a range of vibrant colours.

12 November – 24 December at Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Elmfield House, Dowell Street, Honiton EX14 1LX. Free admission, donations welcome. thelmahulbert.com

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promotional feature

Renowned Devon artist David Selby has created a new collection of charming collectible porcelain sculptures of pigs.

D

avid Selby works in a studio at his rural Devon farmhouse, surrounded by his family of guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens and ponies.

After a career in the film industry, designing and making animation, David taught fine art and ceramics for 25 years.

As a practising sculptor and artist, his figurative and animal sculptures have been sold and exhibited around the world.

David’s inspiration for PiggyWiggie came from his foray into pig keeping. Despite his best efforts he became so attached to them that he couldn’t bear to send them off to market, so they became part of the family. He was enchanted by their comical escapades and smiley faces and sculpted a series of bronzes. These proved to be extremely popular but as bronzes were relatively exclusive.

David wanted to bring these sculptures to a wider audience and so extended the concept to porcelain. The result is PiggyWiggie, a new collection of charming and unique collectible pigs. Each piece has been realised by David, showing the pigs in a series of humorous poses.

There are six different sculptures to collect, including ballroom pigs, ballerina pigs, a daddy pig and a mother and child. Hand-crafted in Devon, they are an ideal gift for animal lovers and figurine collectors.

The PiggyWiggie collection is available at piggywiggie.com.

Prices start at ÂŁ65 including delivery.

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David Selby at work on one of the pigs

One of the original bronze pigs

culture Worth making the trip for...

Fight the power Guerrilla Girls – an anonymous group of feminist artists committed to calling out inequality in the art world – revisit their 1986 work ‘It’s Even Worse in Europe’ to see if sexism in the European art world has improved. Their new commission for the Whitechapel Gallery deploys their strategic combination of humour, information, bold graphics and a subversive use of public space to ask, ‘Is it even worse in Europe?’. Exploring diversity in European art organisations, the show presents responses to questionnaires sent to 383 directors about their exhibitions programme and collections, taking a critical look at the narratives that are produced by cultural institutions.

Until 5 March at Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, London E1 7QX. Free. whitechapelgallery.org

PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER BURKE © THE EASTON FOUNDATION/VAGA, NEW YORK/DACS, LONDON 2016 COURTESY HAUSER & WIRTH

Inside out A solo exhibition of sculpture and works on paper by Louise Bourgeois, ‘Turning Inwards’ comprises a series of 38 soft-ground etchings made between 2006 and 2010, shown together for the first time. Both figurative and abstract, these compositions form a collection of highly personal memories and ideas, interweaving the artist’s reflections on femininity, sexuality, botany, family and infancy.

Placed in dialogue with a selection of sculptures by Bourgeois from 1970 to 2005, this innovative sequence sheds new light on the late practice of one of the most influential artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. To coincide with the exhibition, there is also a presentation of portraits of Bourgeois in the final years of her life taken by Alex Van Gelder. At Bourgeois’s invitation, Van Gelder photographed her at her home, either going through the motions of her daily activities, or acting out various emotive states for his camera.

Until 1 January at Hauser & Wirth, Durslade Farm, Dropping Lane, Bruton, Somerset BA10 0NL. hauserandwirth.com

My Blue Sky 1989 – 2003. Gouache, watercolour, ink, pencil, coloured pencil and paper mounted into a wood and glass window frame.

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Get booking for this one now...

Edward Albee’s 1962 play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, about the breakdown of a middle-aged couple’s marriage, still packs a punch, revealing how secrets at the heart of family life create a toxicity so profound that no-one gets out unscathed.

And to watch Martha and George stalking the stage, eviscerating each other with their truth-telling, demonstrates the bone-shaking power of live theatre. With Imelda Staunton and Conleth Hill in the main roles, and James Macdonald (The Father and Circle, Mirror, Transformation) in the director’s chair, it promises to be an evening of nerve-shredding intensity.

22 February – 27 May at Harold Pinter Theatre, Panton Street, London SW1Y 4DN. £10-£80. There will be more than 100 tickets for every performance priced at £10 during previews (22 February – 8 March inclusive) and £15 during the main run (from 9 March).atgtickets.com

Into the dark

Until 15 January at the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN. £14 (£7). nationalgallery.org.uk

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PHOTO: © THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN

Revolutionary in person as well as paint, Caravaggio inspired devotion and emulation from those who recognised his genius for creating works of emotional intensity shot through with visceral realism.

Bringing together exceptional works by Caravaggio and the Italian, French, Flemish, Dutch, and Spanish artists he inspired, ‘Beyond Caravaggio’ examines the international artistic phenomenon known as Caravaggism. Of the 50 or so works on display here, there may only be six by the master himself, but, boy, do they demonstrate his enduring appeal. The season’s mustsee show, without a doubt.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, The Taking of Christ, 1602,Oil on canvas,133.5 x 169.5 cm On indefinite loan to the National Gallery of Ireland from the Jesuit Community, Leeson St., Dublin who acknowledge the kind generosity of the late Dr Marie Lea-Wilson

culture

Forest friends Little Bulb Theatre conjures a magical woodland full of stories, silliness and a plethora of animals, including hyperactive squirrels, suave foxes and a short-sighted owl, for its latest Christmas show, The Night That Autumn Turned to Winter. Aimed at audiences aged 3-7, the show harnesses the company’s trademark musical dexterity, narrative invention and joyful low-fi aesthetic to present a host of original songs, engaging storytelling, puppetry and handknitted costumes, as well as plenty of other wintry surprises along the way.

3 December – 8 January at Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, London SW11 5TN. £10-£15, family tickets £44. bac.org.uk

Carine Bouvard “Detachée II”

David Jamin “Joyeux Messagers”

Mixed media 50x50cms

Oil on canvas 30x30cms

62 Church Street, Falmouth, Cornwall TR11 3DS 01326 219323 | 07913 848515 | info@artworldltd.com | www.artworldltd.com MANOR | Winter 2016

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Capital gains PHOTO: © THE ESTATE OF MARK GERTLER IMAGE COURTESY OF JP BLAND PHOTOGRAPHY

Annually launching the art world year, the London Art Fair provides a supportive environment for collectors of all levels. Museumquality Modern British art is presented alongside contemporary work from today’s leading artists, covering the period from the early 20th century to the present day. In addition to the main Fair, you’ll also find two curated sections focusing on younger galleries, new work and contemporary photography.

Mark Gertler (1891-1939), The Doll, 1914, Oil on canvas

PHOTO: MODERNA MUSEET, STOCKHOLM. PURCHASE 1965 WITH CONTRIBUTION FROM MODERNA MUSEETS VÄNNER/THE FRIENDS OF MODERNA MUSEET

Mash it up A Texan artist with a passion for the world, Robert Rauschenberg refused to accept conventional categories of what was and wasn’t art. His quest for innovation was fired by his boundless curiosity and enthusiasm for new ways of making, from painting to performance art.

He worked with mass, popular and trash imagery and materials – paint, silk-screen printing, found objects, newspapers, politicians, sportsmen, and pop stars.

Iconic works from his six-decade career include largescale pop art screen prints picturing the likes of John F. Kennedy; Monogram, a paint-splattered taxidermy goat in a car tyre surrounded by street signs; and Bed, soiled sheets spattered with brush marks. This is the first major exhibition of his work in the UK for 35 years and the first retrospective of the artist since his death in 2008.

Monogram 1955-59

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18-22 January, Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, London N1 0QH. Advance tickets £15-£18. londonartfair.co.uk

MANOR | Winter 2016

1 December – 2 April at Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG. £18.50 (£16.50). tate.org.uk

culture Worth staying in for...

Sound advice As a reaction to the intangibility of download culture, healthy vinyl sales continue to prove that the object is as important to the musical experience as the sonic vibrations that reach your ears. US-based record club Vinyl Me, Please understand this perfectly – every month, members receive a special-edition vinyl delivered to their door complete with an album-inspired 12” x 12” art print and custom cocktail pairing recipe, as well as The Standard (playlists, vinyl releases and free downloads) dropping into their inbox every Friday.

Highlighting new artists, essential releases from artists you may have never heard of, as well as a healthy dose of must-have reissues from decades past, Vinyl Me, Please is the record club to beat all record clubs.

Three, six, and 12-month gift plans are available for international customers for $139 (comes with one bonus archive record), $249 (comes with two bonus archive records) and $479 (comes with three bonus archive records). Prices are dependent on the vagaries of the international exchange rate.

Visit vinylmeplease.com for subscription plans.

A year of books What do you give the literary geek in your life, when every time they come home from the shops they announce with glee that they’ve just bought themselves the latest novel/biography/poetry collection, because they simply couldn’t wait to read it? Apart from fuming quietly as you march back to Waterstone’s to return the novel/biography/ poetry collection that you sweated hours over choosing, the best thing you can do is sidestep the chore altogether and gift them a Granta subscription. From Nobel laureates to debut novelists, international translations to investigative journalism, each themed issue turns the attention of the world’s best writers on to one aspect of the way we live now.

A one-year subscription (via direct debit) costs £32, for which your book-lover will receive four issues through the post, as well as access to the digital archive. And for this they will be heartily grateful.

For the full list of subscription offers, visit granta.com

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We were looking to evoke a sense of occasion and in Huntsham Court we found a stately home that mixed splendour with fun. The perfect party venue, it will warrant any stunning hostess several changes of attire to do justice to each room.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY THOMAS HOLE STYLED BY MIMI STOTT

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Tulle high neck top, Zara, £17.99; Sequin pencil skirt, Marks and Spencer, £49.50; Orb earrings, Zara, £15.99

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Tulle high neck top, Zara £17.99; floral skirt, Next, £55

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Fringe Dress, Next, £70; Socks, ASOS £4; Truffle black velvet platforms, ASOS, £32

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Caption

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Velvet dress, Marks and Spencer, £39.50; Choker, part of a set, Zara, £15.99, Glitter ankle socks, ASOS, £4; New Look velvet platforms, ASOS, £29.99

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Dress, Marks and Spencer, £55; Sandals, Next, £38

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Dress Marks and Spencer, £55; Orb earrings, Zara, £15.99

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Long sleeved bodysuit, Zara, £12.99; Bird jacquard A-line skirt, Marks and Spencer, £59; New Look dark red velvet platforms, ASOS, £27.99; Socks, ASOS £4

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Photographer: Thomas Hole Stylist: Mimi Stott Model: Catherine Neilson from Select Hair and make-up: Maddie Austin Location: Huntsham Court, Devon

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Make Morsø of your Christmas.

A cosy, woodburning stove from Hearth & Cook will help you really enjoy and savour the festive season. Our collection of beautifully designed Morsø stoves will create a wonderfully warm atmosphere in any home, keeping you, your family and friends snug as the nights draw in and the temperatures drop. Visit our showroom in Exeter to see these appliances in action, or browse our website for more information.

FINE STOVES & COOKERS Call 01392 797679 ● www.hearthandcook.com Find us 100 yards behind Carrs Ferrari & Maserati.

14 Oaktree Place, Matford, Exeter, Devon EX2 8WA

RANGE COOKERS LA CORNUE AND ESSE • MORSØ STOVES & OUTDOOR LIVING RANGE • ASHGROVE BESPOKE KITCHENS 96 MANOR FROM | Winter 2016

food

Food

The Driftwood Hotel and the region’s Michelin eateries | Seasonal cocktails Bites, the latest news and events from across the region | The Table Prowler

PHOTO: DAVID GRIFFEN

Driftwood chocolate bar, salted peanut, honeycomb and milk sorbet Driftwood Hotel, Portscatho, Cornwall. driftwoodhotel.co.uk

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food

How do you achieve a Michelin star? Our Table Prowler dons dark glasses to dine at the Michelinstarred Driftwood in an attempt to find out. Food photography by David Griffen.

E

ach year, as the latest Michelin Star winners are announced, there is the perennial criticism that Michelin is an anachronism, invented over 100 years ago by the tyre manufacturer as a quality gauge of places to stop and eat while on the road. It is considered by many to be old-fashioned and out-dated; obsolete in today’s climate of easy, relaxed dining, eclectic tastes and innovative menus.

Michelin, it is claimed, has boundaries and rigour that are too rigid, with judging criteria that are no longer relevant.

Yet… we fine-food lovers and restaurateurs seem to live and batedly-breathe by Michelin; diners rely on it as the ultimate trusted source to discern culinary quality and chefs thrive or die by it – a downgrade of stars often ending careers, marriages, and occasionally, it all.

So what is the criteria they go by – these Michelin judges that wield so much power? It’s all a bit foggy – deliberately secretive such that no-one can work the system. Ask any Michelin-awarded chef such as the two-star Nathan Outlaw, and they claim not to know, but just cook and master flavour and texture to the best of their ability, consistently. A bit like a good novelist

can only write the story within them, rather than to a publisher’s brief.

I did, though, have a quick Google to see – were we to don disguise and dine at a Michelin-awarded restaurant, a la Monsieur Michelin, just what is it we should note about it? It was with that mission that I readied myself to dine at Driftwood, a restaurant that has held a Michelin star for six years under head chef Chris Eden.

According to Michelin, one Michelin star represents a “very good restaurant in its category”; two stars denotes a restaurant boasting “excellent cooking” that is “worth a detour”; and three stars, the ultimate accolade, offers “exceptional cuisine” that is “worth a special journey”. There are just four restaurants in the UK that hold three stars; 22 that hold two stars; and 150 UK restaurants with one star.

In Devon and Cornwall, there are just nine with Michelin stars, and only two of those – Gidleigh Park and Restaurant Nathan Outlaw – have two.

It takes years; years of anonymous visits by inspectors looking for consistently high quality in not just the cuisine, but also the environment (décor, ambience) and service in which to enjoy it. Certain factors in relation MANOR | Winter 2016

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The restaurant at Driftwood

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to the cooking are known to be of particular importance to the inspector: the quality of ingredients; a mastery of flavour and technique, and a certain culinary personality that distinguishes that chef ’s cooking from another.

The demand for consistency in quality and anonymity of the inspectors means there can never be an off night, but once you’re Michelin-starred, you can expect business to roll in, even in the more remote parts of the South West.

Driftwood is a pretty, weather-boarded boutique hotel in a remote, stunning corner of Cornish coastline. It’s located half a mile east along the coastal path from Portscatho.

I met with the other discerning diner in the lounge, and we proceeded with our assessment. The lounge is a calm room, softly lit and well insulated from waves pounding rocks that are a mere stroll from the window.

The room has a feeling of relaxed intellectualism about it – driftwood-based table lamps, coffee tables piled high with books, and deep, comfy sofas with cushions a plenty.

The other diners seemed more Guardian than Times or Telegraph: loafers, cords and jumpers rather than smart shirts and jackets. There was chatter, but hushed chatter, which meant that we too caught up with one another at a whisper, then the amuse bouche arrived.

This was the first indication of what we were about to experience: mini duck doughnuts, a celery meringue with cheese mousse and walnut crumbs, and fish mousse with avruga caviar were all a divine assault on the senses – the mini meringue cheese mousse sandwich exploded softly in the mouth, the fish mousse topped with caviar delivered a punch in flavour, and the duck doughnut was soft like a tiny profiterole stuffed with shredded duck. It stopped our conversation, for a moment, then we composed ourselves, as a Michelin inspector would, and headed to the dining room.

The dining room at Driftwood is functional rather than sumptuous, and one that I suspect by day benefits from the view. The floors are engineered wood and the chairs white framed with striped cushion seats – it is a tad nautical, very in keeping with its setting, no more, no less, and certainly not a distraction from the food.

Firstly, the bread: a simple start, but if the bread is taken time over, you know the rest is going to be good.

There was clotted cream brioche, fig and hazelnut sourdough and malt star sourdough, warm-fresh from the oven and delicious, and served with two butters: aerated goat’s milk and cow’s milk.

For my starter, I chose jigged squid, cauliflower, shitake mushroom with samphire and seaweed dashi with a dry Austrian wine, Gruner Vetliner Kamptal.

It was superb: the jigged squid cut into 5mm cubes to the nearest millimetre, the dashi delighting on flavour; samphire I’ve always been a massive fan of; and the dish was finished off with a delicate black crisp of squid ink.

That extra touch was a delight. My companion chose plaice with smoked bacon consommé, and chanterelles.

Equally good, I’m told.

food Next was a course that will stay with me. Duck in a variety of forms: honey glazed breast and duck leg croustillant, the latter of which was shredded and wrapped in fried filo – quite the most delicious and original crispy duck I’ve ever tasted, which came with baked carrot and pickled plum sauce. The wine that sommelier Kristyna had chosen blew our mind. A Paper Road Pinot Noir from New Zealand, 2014, we both were categoric that it was the best wine we’d ever tasted.

There were, throughout the meal, amuse bouche, surprise bouche and cleanse bouche (I suspect not Michelin terms); all little unexpected touches to coo over and delight the palate, before dessert – in my case, a ‘Thunder and Lightning’ tart apparently inspired by the chef ’s day out with his mum and wife, where mother and son talked of old Cornish recipes, while his wife supped ginger beer. The result was a deliciously light, creamy tart based on golden syrup and cream, accompanied by a zingy ginger beer sorbet.

It can’t be easy being a Michelin inspector. For me and my anonymous companion, Chris Eden’s meal met all the rational requirements of taste and mouth feel, hit the sufficient emotional mark of swoon, then went above and beyond, with the odd dust of culinary magic to send us both into short bouts of delirium. It was difficult to fault – as was the service by our waiter, who was efficient, professional and highly knowledgeable (and thoroughly charming to boot). What, I wonder, makes this one star rather than two? Perhaps the lounge was too cosy and relaxed; perhaps the dining room furniture was considered wanting, or perhaps it’s the way the napkins are folded? Who knows – it’s a mystery. Perhaps just go, sample Eden’s fare, and decide for yourself.

The dinner à la carte menu is priced at £60 for three courses. driftwoodhotel.co.uk

THE SOUTH WEST MICHELIN MAP TWO STARS Gidleigh Park, Chagford, Devon Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Port Isaac, Cornwall ONE STAR Thomas Carr @ The Olive Room, Ilfracombe, Devon (new listing) The Masons Arms, Knowstone, Devon Paul Ainsworth at No.6, Padstow, Cornwall Outlaw’s Fish Kitchen, Port Isaac, Cornwall Driftwood, Portscatho, Cornwall The Treby Arms, Sparkwell, Devon The Elephant, Torquay, Devon

Map illustration by Sara Nunan

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To help us get in the mood, MANOR asked two Exeter-based cocktail specialists – Doctor Ink’s Curiosities and Southernhay House – to provide us with a recipe for the perfect festive tipple. Words by Belinda Dillon.

PHOTO: MATT AUSTIN

The Golden Flip, created at Doctor Ink’s Curiosities

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food

What the doctor ordered...

Entering Doctor Ink’s Curiosities is like stepping through a time portal. Tucked beside The Old Customs House on the Quay, it gleams with Victorian decadence such that you wouldn’t be surprised to spot Sherlock Holmes peering into the stereoscope or Thomas de Quincey reclining on crimson velvet, recovering from his latest laudanum jag.

It was the discovery of that stereoscope when looking for premises in Exeter that inspired co-founder Patrick Fogarty to look to the Victorians for inspiration – that and an enduring fascination for all things drinks-related.

A cocktail connoisseur with an encyclopaedic knowledge of ingredients and provenance, Patrick – along with business partner Tom and a team of dedicated mixologists – has created a haven for those interested in challenging their taste buds: there’s not a mojito in sight. “Everybody sells those, and we want to be a point of difference,” says Patrick.

“Doctor Ink’s is about encouraging people to step out of their comfort zone and try something new – which could be a bespoke version of their old favourite.”

The menu – which has taken five months to create and includes three punches and 22 ‘fancy mixed drinks’ – draws its inspiration from legendary cocktail books, including The Bon Vivant’s Companion, published in 1862

by Jerry Thomas, the world’s first celebrity bartender.

Each drink is made from premium spirits, and infusions, syrups and bitters created by the team, and is accompanied by a backstory relating to real incidents from the Victorian era. And seeping through it all are the travels of the bar’s eponymous hero, Daedalus Ramesses Ink. “He’s a lovable rogue who allows us to have a bit of fun when explaining the drinks’ origins,” says Patrick, who describes Daedalus as the “love-child of a drunken encounter between Queen Victoria and Cecil Rhodes”.

So, the Sing Sing Sling evolved from a drunken escapade involving Daedalus, Rudyard Kipling and the Sarkies Brothers (founders of the Raffles Hotel); the Po-Po Daiquiri came about when Daedalus outsmarted the pirate Nathanial Gordon; and Pertevniyal’s Empress Punch was born from a catfight in a Turkish Harem…

Although modern health and safety rules restrict Doctor Ink’s recreating some of history’s more daring cocktails – including the Blue Blazer, which involved lighting whisky and passing it between two glasses, creating an arc of flames – there is still a sense of theatricality in evidence. Drinks are variously served in teacups, with mini cones of popcorn, or are adorned with ‘fairy’s tears’; and one, the Jumbo Ju-Ju, changes from sour to sweet with the addition of miracle fruit.

“It’s all about the experience,” says Patrick. “The flavours, the presentation, the sense of fun – it keeps it interesting for the customers and for us, too.”

The Golden Flip Serves one Flips have been around since the 1700s, when the hot variety was brought to temperature by inserting a red hot poker into the tankard… This version is rich and creamy, and tantalises the nose first – the chocolate bitters dropped atop the foam will set your taste buds swooning before you’ve even taken a sip. According to the legend, the drink sprang from Daedalus Ink’s mishearing of the location of El Dorado: instead of heading to Lake Guatavita, he journeyed to Guatemala. He found no gold but did discover a rum so sumptuous that The Golden Flip was born.

• • • • • • • •

30ml Ron Zacapa 23-year-old or other heavily aged rum (such as El Dorado 15yr) 20ml Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference 12-year-old Pedro Ximenez sherry 1 large egg 15ml mountain-grade maple syrup 1tsp demerara sugar 1tsp Suze liqueur 2tsp white sugar 5ml lemon juice

FOR THE GARNISH:

• • • •

Cocoa powder Chocolate bitters Dark chocolate Edible gold cake decoration spray

METHOD

First melt the dark chocolate and take a small wine glass and coat the rim. Once cooled, spray the edible gold over the chocolate. Put the glass in the freezer to chill.

Crack the egg and separate the yolk into a cocktail shaker (if you don’t have a shaker, a jam jar with a lid will work just as well) and the white into a small bowl.

Add two teaspoons of white sugar, the Suze and lemon juice to the egg white and whisk into stiff peaks.

Put to one side.

Into the shaker with the egg yolk, add the maple syrup, demerara, rum and sherry, and shake for 10-15 seconds.

First pour the whisked egg white into your freezerchilled glass. Next, using a small sieve strainer, pour the contents of the shaker through the foam meringue – this will float on the surface, creating two lovely layers.

Add three drops of chocolate bitters and dust with cocoa powder.

doctorinks.com

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All I want for Christmas...

Sophisticated city chic – that’s the vibe in the bar at Southernhay House Hotel, a Grade II listed Georgian townhouse mere minutes from Cathedral Green. A splendidly bourgeois facade with neoclassical columns opens into a warm and candlelit interior; SH is an oasis of calm amid the constant bustle of Exeter’s city centre. It’s the ideal place to repair to when your feet tire of traipsing and you’re in need of a libation to lift the spirits. Settle into the dark velvet sofas or grab the popular 1950s blue suite in the snug and let the mixology magic wash over you...

Built in 1805, the house’s first owner was Major General William Kirkpatrick, a skilled linguist and an officer with the East India Trading Company. After spending the majority of his life in India, Kirkpatrick ended his days in Exeter, addicted to opium but still inquisitive and lively, working on translations of contemporary Mogul texts and indulging in a little Sufi mysticism. His boozy, intelligent and eclectic presence is evident throughout the hotel: the rooms are named after goods traded at the height of the Empire (Silk, Spice, Ivory, Chai), and in the bar and Club Room you will find collections of butterflies, stamps and telephones 104

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amongst the 20th-century Modern decor. You will also find bar manager Paulie, mixing his bespoke cocktails and managing a list of comfortable classics, infused with the spirits of past centuries.

“It’s fashionable, now, to look back beyond the heyday of cocktails in the 20th century, to the original recipes that inspired the classics,” says Paulie. “The Southernhay House cocktail list draws on that past – although not heavily on Kirkpatrick’s laudanum habit! – to deliver elegant drinks with a focus on unusual ingredients.”

So, marmalade makes an appearance with gin and Cointreau in the Bear Necessity; basil features in the Head Gardener; and local honey flavours Down in the Hive. There are nods to history, too, such as in the classic SH Champagne cocktail, Tipu’s Temptation, which is named for Tipu Sultan, Kirkpatrick’s nemesis (the ‘Tiger of Mysore’, whose most famous saying is inscribed behind the bar). And if there’s a classic tipple you fancy that isn’t on the list, just ask Paulie. southernhayhouse.com

food White Christmas Serves one For the festive season, Paulie has gone back to his Lithuanian roots and created a twist on the Brandy Alexander – an infusion that is redolent of a snowy season in a dark forest. Paulie uses a middle-range spirit such as Courvoisier: “There’s no merit in going too complex on the base,” he says. Deliciously creamy, it’s the new Christmas pudding – or a perfect digestif. While you’re still standing, take a pic and share your White Christmas with Southernhay House at #justaskpaulie.

• • •

50ml infused brandy 25ml coffee liqueur 70ml double cream

FOR THE INFUSION

• • • • • •

1 cinnamon stick 1 vanilla pod 2 cloves 1 cardamom 1 star anise 2-3 dried cherries or other (non-tropical) dried fruit – these can be upcycled with vanilla ice cream on Boxing Day!

METHOD

Taking a clean Kilner jar, pour in the brandy and add the spices – remember to keep them whole. It should take about a week to infuse: check it daily and when you like it, you like it. Then carefully strain the liquor into a glass bottle or jar (to end the maceration process).

Pour the infused brandy, coffee liqueur and cream into your shaker with ice – and get shaking!

Fine strain into a chilled martini glass. A dusting of grated dark chocolate makes a sophisticated garnish, or you could thread the marinated cherries onto a cocktail stick.

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Bites

Spices by post Tyga, the new recipe kit subscription service, specialises in authentic Indian cuisine, making it easier than ever for home cooks across the UK to create restaurant-quality Indian dishes at home. Cheltenham-based founder and curry lover Matt Griffiths teamed up with Gloucestershire chef Shahin Ahmed, originally from Bangladesh, to develop each of the fantastic recipes for pastes and spice blends used in every box.

“A huge part of the reason why Indian dishes never quite taste the same at home is your store cupboard,” says Matt.

“Many people don’t realise that the spices they’ve had in there for months, even years, lose their potency within a month of opening, meaning you simply won’t be able to get the depth of flavour into your dishes when using them. So Tyga gives people all the tools they need to recreate delicious restaurant dishes at home.” Each Tyga spice box contains 12 pots of bespoke spice blends, pastes and fresh herbs to create two main meals and two side dishes for up to eight people. Just add a few fresh ingredients as described on the recipe card (such as lamb, chopped tomatoes or onions).

Order Tyga subscription boxes at tyga.com, priced from £10.99 per box.

True Pizza ODE&Co is the latest addition to award-winning chef Tim Bouget’s growing empire. Based at Coast View Holiday Park, Shaldon, this new pizza restaurant’s speciality is wood-fired Italian pizzas topped with locally sourced ingredients, and Tim is developing a unique style of sourdough with regionally sourced toppings. In keeping with Tim’s strong sustainability ethos, the pizza dough is slow-raised for 20 to 30 hours using unrefined flour sourced from the West Country; organic tomato sauce is made fresh daily before each pizza is baked for just 60 seconds in the woodfired oven at 450°C. ODE&Co true pizza, Coast View, Shaldon, Devon TQ14 0BG. Call 01626 818450 to book.

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PHOTOS: © CHARMAIN LOVETT PHOTOGRAPHY

A star is born Thomas Carr at The Olive Room in Ilfracombe has been awarded a Michelin star, a first for North Devon. Thomas, 32, says, “Being awarded a Michelin star feels incredible. And to be at the first ever live presentation of the awards, amongst chefs I have looked up to for such a long time, seeing them in the front row, clapping, was just amazing. At The Olive Room, we have always just tried to create the best food we can, sourcing our produce as locally as possible. But receiving a Michelin star for what we do really feels outstanding. We are so lucky to live in North Devon, where we have an abundance of excellent ingredients right on our doorstep, quite literally, with Ilfracombe harbour less than a minute’s walk away! There are lots of excellent restaurants local to us, so hopefully this will emphasise North Devon on the culinary map, so the rest of the world can see what we have to offer.” He joins the likes of Mark Dodson, Simon Hulstone, Anton Piotrowski and Chris Eden, while Emily Scott at St Tudy Inn near Padstow was awarded her first Bib Gourmand.

Dishes full of Gallic charm and fine English produce…

Telephone: 01548 531581 Web: millbrookinnsouthpool.co.uk Telephone: 01548 531581 Millbrook Inn half Page Manor Mag ad 1.indd 1

Email:info@millbrookinnsouthpool.co.uk

Email: info@millbrookinnsouthpool.co.uk

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food

Rockfish The fifth restaurant in this familyfriendly seafood chain opens in Exmouth on 20 December. Coowner Mitch Tonks is excited about setting up in Exmouth: “It’s another of the places I holidayed as a child.

Exmouth is the perfect location for a fish restaurant and we look forward to making the restaurant a big part of the community and businesses and lives there, and drawing more visitors to the town.” therockfish.co.uk

Christmas sparkle at the Shack Take a trip down the tidal road alongside the River Avon in South Devon to the Oyster Shack and master the trade secrets of cooking up Christmas party treats. Head chef Andy Richardson demonstrates how to create delicious nibbles, canapés and cocktails (26 November, £40 includes three-course lunch with wine). On 3 December, more than 30 artisan producers pop up with their barrow stalls for a Christmas market (10.30am-5.30pm) alongside live cookery demos and openfired grills. oystershack.co.uk

Chococo Independent artisan chocolatier Chococo, which recently opened a branch on Exeter’s Gandy Street, offers ideal stocking fillers: Nutcracker and Sugar Plum Fairy tubes, a Giant Christmas Marble Cake Wreath and a unique Christmas chocolate ‘salami’ packed with dried fruit and nuts. Claire Burnet, co-founder of the Dorset-based company, says: “We love this vibrant city and felt that Gandy Street was the perfect location for our third Chocolate House, which we hope will provide a wonderful fine chocolate experience for all chocolate lovers. We are also delighted to have partnered with local Devon food and drink producers to offer our customers craft coffee, tea and bakes.” Chococo has teamed up with Crankhouse Coffee, Devonshire Teas, Emma’s Bread, West Country Milk and Little Bowhay preserves. Specially trained ‘chocistas’ offer unique origin hot chocolate drinks, and handmade chocolates are available in quirky flavours such as Dorset Black Cow vodka, fresh Dorset watercress, calamansi fruit and Arbequina olive oil as well as more traditional Cornish sea salt caramel, ginger or vanilla. chococo.co.uk

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Rocket wreath Decorate your door with a Christmas wreath you can actually eat. Each edible wreath is handmade using bay leaves, rosemary and chillis grown on Rocket Gardens’ farm near Helston.

Wreaths cost £29.99 each and will be delivered week commencing 12 December. rocketgardens.co.uk

DON’T MISS...

CHRISTMAS COOKERY COURSE Learn how to wow your family and friends with a variety of delicious festive delicacies such as classic German Stollen or Italian Panettone, a selection of delicious seasonal party canapés, plus get some expert tips and tricks to jazz up your roast turkey or goose, ideas for using up those leftovers and a few warming wintery cocktails to amaze your party guests.

3 December. 10am-4pm. £150. Philleigh Way Cookery School, Roseland Peninsula. philleighway.co.uk

SNOW BALL Starting with canapés and Champagne, head chef Ian MacDonald cooks up a three-course festive feast in aid of Devon Air Ambulance Trust.

3 December. 7pm-1am. £55pp, £500 per table of 10. Soar Mill Cove Hotel, South Devon. soarmillcove.co.uk

MICHELIN STARS COLLIDE Chef-patron Simon Hulstone of The Elephant is joined

by Michael Wignall, who cemented his reputation as one of the UK’s best chefs by retaining two Michelin stars at Gidleigh Park after less than 10 months in the job.

8 December. 7pm. The Elephant Restaurant, Beacon Terrace, Torquay TQ1 2BH. Visit elephantrestaurant.co.uk or call 01803 200 044 to book.

BIRD IN A BIRD IN A BIRD Master the art of stuffing your Christmas dinner with head chef JP Bidart, renowned for his nose-to-tail cookery.

14 December. £45 includes wine and four-course dinner.

Millbrook Inn, South Pool. millbrookinnsouthpool.co.uk

CHRISTMAS FAIR Get advice on the perfect festive tipple at the Devon Drinks shop, plus enjoy tasters from local food producers and stock up on foodie stocking fillers at The Food Shop, recently voted Best Retailer at Food and Drink Devon Awards 2016.

17-18 December, 10am-5pm. Free. The Shops at Dartington, Shinner’s Bridge, Dartington TQ9 6TQ.

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Signature dish Richard Massey began his career in the kitchen at the age of 16, and has worked in the restaurant industry for almost a decade. He moved to Cornwall from the Isle of Skye in 2016, to work as head chef at The Old Quay House Hotel in Fowey.

He describes his cooking style as modern British, combining local and seasonal ingredients to give a taste of what Cornwall has to offer. “As a family, we always have duck in one way or another at Christmas time, be it as a starter or main course,” says Richard. “This dish combines the rich duck egg yolk with the earthy flavour of the pumpkin to create a great festive treat – best enjoyed with a glass of mulled wine!” theoldquayhouse.com

Roast pumpkin velouté with poached duck egg Serves four

• 1 large pumpkin, peeled, • • • • • • • •

deseeded and cut into 2cm cubes 100g butter 300ml vegetable stock Juice of 1 lemon 100ml double cream Salt and pepper 4 large duck eggs 20ml white wine vinegar Nutmeg

METHOD

Add the butter to a pan and set over a medium heat. Add the diced pumpkin and sweat until it slightly colours.

Add the vegetable stock to the pan, bring to the boil and simmer for five minutes, then add the cream.

Add the contents of the pan to a food blender, blend until smooth and pass through a fine sieve.

Gently reheat the velouté, season with lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the white wine vinegar, stir the pan with a whisk, crack the duck eggs into the pan and poach for 3-4 minutes until soft.

Take out the duck eggs and finish with grated nutmeg, place in bowls and pour the velouté at the side of the table.

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food

The Table Prowler The Hourglass, Exeter Tucked away on a pretty street between St Leonard’s and the Quay is The Hourglass, a local to die for.

Crimson-painted wood-panelled walls, an open fire, suitably nooky corners for conspiring in, a stuffed badger in a waistcoat, a resident cat lounging on whichever horizontal takes his fancy (quite often the bar). It’s the perfect place to head to after a stroll along the river.

The menu is short but varied, with a good mix of meat, fish and veggie dishes.

It was a Sunday, so we couldn’t resist the roast option: beef with all the trimmings. So hungry were we in waiting – which wasn’t long, to be fair – that we tucked into the complimentary bread and oil, and I wish I hadn’t, because it was too delicious and I ate it all, and I hadn’t banked on the size of the roast. Not that I didn’t manage to finish it all – I’m no wastrel. The beef was perfectly pink, just how we like it. Roast potatoes were satisfyingly crisp on the outside, fluffy in the middle, as was the enormous Yorkshire pudding. The roast vegetables – beetroot, parsnip, carrot – were also great, although the beetroot had a slight oily aftertaste. A homemade fresh horseradish was nose-tinglingly zingy.

Portions were large, and the flavours were fullsome, and price-wise (£14), it sits in the middle of the other main courses (£12 for pasta – £18.50 for ribeye steak and chips). Seeing as this is a pub first and foremost – albeit one that serves the kind of food you’d expect in fine dining establishments – the wine list is impressive. We went for a Sangiovese for £24, which was gloriously jammy and warming, but there’s the offer of a 1l carafe of house red (a grenache/merlot blend for £20), which is fantastic value.

You can also eat in the separate restaurant out back, or downstairs when it’s busy, which I’m told is often, especially weekend evenings. The atmosphere is relaxed and familiar, and it’s all very civilised – observing old licensing hours (noon-2.30pm, 5-11pm during the week); creating a space for genial, convivial drinking; and valuing all of their customers as individuals, and not just the locals. hourglassexeter.co.uk Food 9 | Service 9 | Ambience 10 | Location 8

The Cauldron, Bristol A bubbling cauldron on coals, a hint of wood smoke in the air, giant squirrels, a startled deer and neon green trees peer over us, a huge mushroom bobbing nearby... no, we are not on a trippy LSD fuelled camping trip in rural Devon, but in the middle of one of Britain’s most bustling cities, Bristol. Latest addition to the hippy hangout of St Werbergh’s refreshingly alternative scene is Cauldron, offering a small menu based around locally produced ingredients. And by local, we mean local - the beer comes from across the road, the eggs from near by farm, the veg from local producers, and as the small print at the bottom tells us, even the accountant is round the corner. But so far, so Bristol.

The interesting take on cooking here is that that all the cooking is done in big Dutch oven cauldrons over coals, or a wood-fired oven, with no use of electricity or gas, the first solid fuel-powered restaurant in the UK for over 100 years. The waitress did warn us that that means the food may take some time to come, as dishes are prepared there and then, no microwave pings sounding in the distance.

The first thing that strikes me on entry is the big mural covering an entire wall, with the aforementioned woodland scene dominating the interior, but that’s not what the star attraction is. The gorgeous smell of the wood fire and concoctions bubbling away in the cauldrons get the taste buds tingling with anticipation, and they are not disappointed. The menu offers us dishes ranging from the hills of Afghanistan (lamb liver, heart and breast meatballs, a stand-out dish) to the sea coast of America (a fish chowder that would knock the socks off a Nantucket sea dog), and a few bits in between. The only disappointment? Not having room to try the dessert, but you always have to leave an excuse to come back! thecauldron.restaurant Food 9 | Service 10 | Ambience 9 | Location 10

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Time spent at home has a soundtrack.

An Arada stove makes it so much richer. The background crackle of flames becomes a song of contentment. And when the winter wind whistles, the stove roars. It sets the mood and lifts your spirits. Best of all, it’s a sound that warms your soul every time you hear it.

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Space

Architect Sandra Coppin discusses the renovation of the 1960s house Ansty Plum Shopping for space

PHOTO: SIMON BISHOP

Highpoint II, Sandra Coppin’s duplex flat in Highgate, London, the HQ of architects Coppin Dockray coppindockray.co.uk

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PHOTO: BROTHERTON LOCK

Architect firm Coppin Dockray has won a whopping 11 awards since it was founded in 2012 – including this year’s RIBA South West Award for their renovation of the 1960s Ansty Plum house in Wiltshire. Fiona McGowan talks to co-founder Sandra Coppin about her vision and passion in the world of architecture.

T

here’s a little house that’s embedded on a steep, wooded slope in a remote corner of Wiltshire that has garnered an almost unreasonable amount of attention. True, its modern, 1960s design is eye-catching: lots of glass and wood, and an asymmetrical roof slanting down in an aesthetic echo of the hill into which it sits.

Architect and owner of the Ansty Plum property, Sandra Coppin, seems slightly baffled by the one-bedroom house’s fame in the press and its array of awards – from the RIBA South West Small Project Award to the Telegraph’s Homebuilding ‘Best Renovation’. “There’s definitely a renewed interest in post-war architecture,” muses Sandra. “There’s a heroism, a courage and bravery – a tenacity and invention in our post-war buildings that the public are now beginning to enjoy.”

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There’s clearly a lot more to the place than a minimal summer house which cost a mere £5,000 to build in 1964. Back then, it was designed by architect David Levitt for a partner at Ove Arup as something of a folly.

Some years later, a studio and garage was added by Brutalist architects the Smithsons – all smooth concrete and stone. Six years ago, Sandra and her husband spotted it when they were seeking a weekend retreat to give their family more space from their small flat in London’s Highgate. When they bought it, they realised that a sensitive renovation was required – something in which Sandra and her business partner Bev Dockray have plenty of experience.

Sandra’s first degree in Environmental Sciences is a telling starting point. She is still passionate not only about the environment, but in finding ways to face

space

As designers and architects, we have an obligation to make sure that our buildings produce as little waste as possible.

PHOTO: BROTHERTON LOCK

the ever-looming housing crisis in this country. On a smaller scale, the Ansty Plum house is a great example of conservation and environmentalism. Coppin Dockray – Sandra and Bev’s practice – is dedicated to reducing waste on site. A third of landfill waste in this country comes from the construction industry, Sandra says.

“As designers and architects, we have an obligation to make sure that our buildings produce as little waste as possible.” During work on the Ansty Plum house, anything that wasn’t toxic was retained. “We removed asbestos and polystyrene and plastic packaging and so on,” she says, “but everything else remained on site, where it was re-used or went into spoil that then determined the external landscaping.”

Zinc roofing that was no longer fit for purpose was re-used for flashing, and dressed over simple door blanks to make outdoor tables. Bricks from the floor – damaged during the lifting process and tarnished with ancient glue – were used to build up the terracing by the studio entrance. “Rather than taking buildings apart and transporting them across to landfill sites,” she adds, “we keep those elements on site in order to reduce the problem that we’re creating.” And it’s not just the reduction of waste that is commendable in the Coppin Dockray philosophy – the improvement of the eco-performance of a building is vital in today’s world of climate change. “It’s not just about putting photovoltaics and wind turbines

PHOTO: BROTHERTON LOCK

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space

Architecture is a long game, and often women’s careers are disrupted. There is a culture of very long working hours – which is often not suitable, especially for women who’ve got young children.

PHOTO: BROTHERTON LOCK

and those sorts of things onto buildings – we like to take a more fundamental and less visible approach.” The awards and attention are as much about the fact that the renovation reduced the house’s energy use by 80%, as about the style of the renovation itself.

Aesthetically, the building has been rebuilt to retain all of its original 1960s style, yet still feels bang up-todate. Sandra contracted a number of local craftsmen to work on the project – people who had experience working on historic buildings, but had never worked on post-war buildings. They rose to the task: “What was interesting is the real commitment they showed to understanding the building, understanding its DNA and working in the best way we could to achieve what we needed to achieve.”

Both Bev and Sandra have carved a niche as a successful architectural practice in what is a very male world. Sandra has her theories about why the dropoff rate in this industry is so high for women after graduation. “Architecture is a long game, and often women’s careers are disrupted. There is a culture of very long working hours – which is often not suitable, especially for women who’ve got young children. It is difficult to take time out and return to work; it’s often difficult for women to work less than full-time.” She and Bev have been lucky enough to gain experience working at renowned practice Niall McLaughlin, before setting up on their own. They were also lucky that they 116

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staggered having children, so that Bev was able to take on more of the work when Sandra’s children were very young, and vice versa when Bev’s were born. They have built flexibility into their work, and it’s highly effective.

“Because we started our practice 5-10 years after many of our colleagues, we’re pretty fast, strategic and executive in our work,” says Sandra.

Coppin Dockray’s studio is in Sandra’s duplex flat in Highpoint II – a Modernist block in Highgate. The interior of the flat has won accolades, too – especially its sweeping spiral of a staircase and the Corbusier-inspired colour palette. The view across Hampstead Heath through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows is surely as stimulating as it gets. Their flexible working pattern doesn’t mean they stint on commitment to their projects – but it does mean they are selective about what they take on. Almost more important than the architecture, says Sandra, is the relationship with the client. “Often a project will take five years. So what’s important for a client is that they feel comfortable and trust that their architect will work in their best interest. We know that it is often a very stressful process for a client – so we need to make sure we will like and respect each other through the project and after completion.”

While Coppin Dockray has a wide portfolio of work – from residential new-builds to the design of Roxie Steakhouses in London – it is the renovations that seem to be attracting the most attention. Re-furbishing and improving energy efficiency is just one key factor in fending off the housing crisis in this country, says Sandra.

“I think housing is a massive problem that needs to be attacked on many different sides. And using our existing building stock is fundamentally important, but it’s part of a greater strategy of freeing up more land.” She is particularly disturbed by the tearing down of postwar buildings that fail to get listed status – such as the Brutalist Robin Hood Gardens estate in East London.

“There are two things happening here: the physical waste of tearing down our buildings, but also the cultural waste that comes with it.” The estate in question is highly contentious, however – while many architects and historians fought to prevent the demolition of the Trellick Tower-esque buildings, a large proportion of the residents hated living in them.

For all the high-impact renovations with which Coppin Dockray has made a name for itself, Sandra says she really prefers working on new-builds. It is an exciting challenge to work solely within the constraints of a site rather than in an existing structure. As a highly creative firm, each project is a learning process: “It’s really about having more creative impact and as a way of testing ideas – for the practice, new-build houses are a lovely way to do that. It’s also a lovely process for private clients. It’s a very enjoyable process.” coppindockray.co.uk

Photo:Roderick James Architects

AWARD-WINNING FRAMING

Natural materials Craft skills Photo: addarchitects.co.uk

Contemporary design

Photo: vanellensheryn.com

carpenteroak.com 01803 732900 2014

2015

2016 WINNER

2016 WINNER

Best Self Build or Renovation Project

Best Oak Frame Home

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Shopping for space

Zigzag baubles, Marks and Spencer, £4 each

There’s no getting away from the fact that it’s Christmas, which gives you every excuse to trail those fairy lights and deck those rooms with green, red and white, and the odd sumptuous throw. Choose right and this decoration and accessorizing will last you well beyond Twelfth Night.

House of Fraser

Set of four Martini glasses, House of Fraser, £25

Cocktail shaker, House of Fraser,£25

Heart wreath, John Lewis, £20

Wreath, Marks and Spencer, £35

Throw, House of Fraser,£42 118

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Side table, House of Fraser, £149

space

Tom Raffield giant butterfly pendant, Cornish Interiors, £965

House of Bath

Wreath, John Lewis, £40

Mini fern garland, John Lewis, £18

Lamp, Marks and Spencer, £49.50 Diffuser, House of Fraser, £21

Decanter, Oilver Bonas, £19.50

Faux fur throw, Helen Moore, £250

Crackers, Pack of 12, John Lewis

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For one who’d like their own place in France...

...at least for a week or two Next year why not sail & stay with Brittany Ferries Holidays?

Our holiday collection has hundreds of hand-picked properties to choose from – including country cottages, seaside apartments and traditional Spanish casas.

Book now and you’ll have an early pick of the best properties and sailings, and you could save up to 20%.

So why wait for a great offer when there’s one already here?

Find out more at brittanyferries.com/manor or call 0330 159 6805 120 MANOR | Winter 2016 Book from 11 - 29 November to save up to 20%. New bookings only. Terms and conditions apply - see website for full details.

Escape Immersed in idyllic Italy in Puglia | Relaxing at The Rosevine, Cornwall

La Fiermontina in Lecce, Puglia

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Puglia is a surprising gem. Forming the ‘heel of Italy’, the region beguiles with pristine beaches, ancient buildings, cultural history and a foodie’s paradise. Imogen Clements explores.

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very place has its moment, that period when it’s on the emergence, still to be discovered by the masses but a jewel – exciting, visual, spiritual, inspirational – to those who already have.

Puglia is just such a place. On journeying from the airport, the region is visually poorer than many parts of Western Europe, or indeed Italy. There’s a lot of barren landscape, dotted with half-finished breeze-block developments, and olive trees everywhere shedding black fruit on unfarmed ground.

Beyond the autoroute, however, Puglia is laden with treasure. The accommodation is some of the very

La Fiermontina

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best I’ve stayed in; the service second to none and the food and wine exquisite, plus there is much to quench a cultural thirst – the region of Salento in Puglia is peppered with historical towns and cities to visit, including the whitewashed hilltop town of Ostuni, the ancient port of Gallipoli and the Baroque city of Lecce.

There are, broadly, two types of places to stay: within one of the historical cities, or in a more rural setting, in a masseria. Masserias are farms dating back hundreds of years, when agriculture was the region’s core industry. Many have now been repurposed into hotels, and some quite lovely hotels at that. A number of Puglia’s masserias offer the best

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La Fiermontina

top-notch luxury accommodation you can find, not just in Italy but anywhere in Europe, but first the cityscape.

Our city of choice was Lecce, whose historical centre retains so much pristine Baroque architecture that you’re in danger of suffering neck crane as you walk its streets – the basilicas and churches, the Roman amphitheatre dating back to the second century, ornate palazzos and detailed frescos are everywhere you look.

In Lecce, one hotel has been generating quite a stir amongst the international travel aesthetes since it opened it doors in June 2015. Ten years in development, housing 16 luxury guest rooms and suites, it was built in honour of a grandmother that owner Giacomo Fiermonte never knew: Antonia Fiermonte. Antonia, whose portraits line the walls of La Fiermontina, was a free spirit born in Puglia, who left the region at a young age to head to Paris. She became involved with René Letourneur, the famed Parisian sculptor, and married him at the age of 20, then fell for his good friend, the equally revered sculptor Jacques Zwobada. To be the muse and object of deep love of one internationally recognized artist could be considered good fortune; to be the muse of two in her short life – she died at just 42 – underlines what a charismatic figure Antonia was. Her death reunited the two sculptors in their shared grief but her legacy was such that her grandchildren (descended from Letourneur) decided to build a living monument to her in the region of her birthplace. Throughout the hotel are original works from both of Antonia’s husbands, plus furniture and other contemporary art by Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand and Tobia Sharpa. The architecture by Pugliese architect Antonio Annicchiarico (who has worked for

La Fiermontina

La Fiermontina

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Masseria Torre Maizza

Golf course on the Masseria Torre Maizza estate

Masseria Torre Maizza

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the Hermes family amongst others) resulted in a hotel that sets off such a high standard of art impressively, while ensuring that every space emanates a refined calm.

There is a nod to the region through the building’s use of Lecce limestone throughout and a traditional-modern blend of star-crossed vaulted ceilings and perfectly finished surfaces with pristine flushed lines.

A Moroccan influence is evident in both the decorative touches and the high level of quiet but efficient service (much like you’d find in a Riad) – when we were focused on sat nav looking for La Fiermontina, the consierge was out to welcome us to the hotel before we’d barely parked. Our hire car was taken to the hotel’s private car park – note: hotels with car parks in the historic city of Lecce are something of a rarity.

The garden has Moorish undertones, linear in its planning with lush orange and lemon groves in different corners, while the swimming pool sits amongst olive trees and sculptures.

Head chef Simone Solido ensures that the food meets the environment’s high standards. For dinner, we enjoyed lobster medallion with lobster broth in a vegetable tagliatelle and a primi of spaghetti with homemade basil and rocket pesto, red Gallipoli king prawns, stracciatella cheese and salted mullet roe. This was accompanied by a delicious bottle of Verso Sud Susumaniello, vino pugliese (of course).

For an art lover who enjoys special treatments there is much to savour and delight when installed at La Fiermontina. To ensure, though, that you get the most of your visit to Lecce, the hotel’s Personal Travel Designer, Ylenia Sambati, can tailor an activity programme – incorporating bike tours, authentic cookery lessons, city visits or horse-riding – that’s ready to embark on for when you arrive.

From Lecce we drove north to the Masseria Torre Maizza. Masseria Torre Maizza and its sister hotel Masseria Torre Coccaro, are situated around 45 minutes south of Bari airport in an area dotted with farm buildings and masserias, many of which date back some 400 years. This part of Italy is a rich agricultural garden.

Olive oil was, for many years, the primary product – there are endless century-old olive trees everywhere you look, in between which are numerous varieties of vegetables growing. In this part of Salento, people still farm the inaccessible, bumpy tracts of land with their hands rather than monsters of machinery.

Masserias Torre Maizza and Coccaro maintain their original features with sophisticated touches layered upon them that create quite luxurious places to stay – from quality linens, and neutral palettes to tasteful artworks, quirky antiques and designer furniture.

Vittorio Muolo runs the hotels with his brother Domingo. Their father entered the business as a shareholder of a large 140-bedroom luxury hotel, bought out the other shareholders over time, then went on to

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Coccaro Beach

buy another equally large hotel, which still form part of their group, The Apulia Collection. His two sons then joined the business, and in 2003 Vittorio, with his brother, opened his first masseria – Torre Coccaro - as a 40-room luxury boutique hotel. Five years later he did the same with the adjacent Masseria Torre Maizza of 30 rooms.

Torre Maizza has a 9-hole golf course and a 20-metre outdoor pool surrounded by terraces with loungers, hammocks and four-poster daybeds. The rooms vary in size to accommodate couples and bigger families. Ours had white-washed limestone walls, vaulted ceilings and its own private garden furnished with loungers and planted with bougainvillea overlooking the golf course. Go up a level and you get your own private pool and garden. Every room has an open fireplace, swept and made up each morning with fresh firewood, so you can sip an aperitif by the fire before heading to the restaurant for dinner.

Just as at The Fiermontina, the Masseria Torre Maizza are intent on your getting the very most out of your stay. It seems to be the hoteliers’ prerogative to be ambassadors of the region, with food and wine at the core of this. At the Masseria Torre Maizza we enjoyed a wine-tasting course during which the sommelier, the wonderfully amenable and informative Paulo Scarfile, introduced a white, rosé and red along with a delicious Sicilian dessert wine over a fish meal of coconut milkflavoured scallops with pumpkin chutney, followed by a primi of tubettoni with venus clams and grey mullet row,

then a secondi of amberjack fillet with olives. I enjoyed a cookery class courtesy of hotel chef Luigi Giannuzzi, during which I cooked a menu of fresh fish bouillabaisse, a traditional timbale dish layered with rice, Adriatic mussels and potatoes and ricotta pie. I learnt how to make fresh pasta, pinching it into orecchiette or cutting tagliolini through the strings of a ‘guitar’. We ate the results for dinner with a bottle of Castillo Locaratondo and, although I say so myself, it was good, very good.

On our bike tour of the region, our guide took us to a mozzarella farm where we saw how this archetypal stretchy cheese is made. We also stopped at an olive oil farm, where we learned to distinguish good oil from bad – we need to know, stresses the owner, given the amount of inferior oil sold as ‘Extra Virgin’.

Both Torre Maizza and Coccaro offer the same high level of amenities with subtle variations. Both hotels boast large outdoor pools, and spas. There is a children’s play area and the spa is larger and housed in an underground cave in Coccaro; Maizza has the golf course and driving range; Cocarro the beach club. Both masserias, just 10 minutes’ stroll apart, share facilities. We ate dinner at each. The food was exquisite both times, served promptly and accompanied by an exemplary wine list across all price ranges. Both masserias are obvious attractions for special events and wedding parties, which are neatly and imaginatively accommodated throughout the grounds and gardens.

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escape So, attention to detail in both surroundings and service is what I will associate with Puglia, but also something else. Less tangible but prevalent throughout is a sense of romance – a homage and respect to family and stories gone by, and an intent to preserve previous generations’ achievements well into the future. There seems a genuine contentedness from everyone we met and a palpable love for their region – its traditions, architecture and fertile landscape. It’s that classic Italian generosity mixed with pride, mixed with an appreciation for beauty in all its guises, that makes Puglia a true pleasure to experience, and a rich discovery.

At La Fiermontina, prices start at €220 a night in a Superior Room with breakfast. lafiermontina.com At Masseria Torre Coccaro and Masseria Torre Maizza, the price per night with breakfast of a Double Room Superior starts at €284; the price per night with breakfast of a Junior Suite sleeping four starts at €404. masseriatorremaizza.com; masseriatorrecoccaro.com If you fancy staying in a 400-year old rural masseria inland with little houses sporting traditional ‘Trulli’ coned stone roofs, you might also consider Masseria Cervarolo near Ostuni where a Junior Suite sleeping four with breakfast starts at €345 per night. masseriacervarolo.it Basilica di Santa Croce, Lecce

Ancient olive tree

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Tel: 01872 241 241 www.cornishgems.com MANOR | Winter 2016

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Located in the heart of Cornwall’s beautiful Roseland Peninsula, The Rosevine offers family holidays that are low on stress and big on elegance. Words by Imogen Clements.

PHOTO: DAVID GRIFFEN

The Rosevine gardens

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iving in the South West has a number of advantages, one of the key ones being easy access to some quite breathtaking holiday locations.

The kind of location that London dwellers will withstand six or seven hours on a heaving motorway to reach.

We may rue the lack of London glitz and glamour on every corner, but we South Westerners get to spend many a blissful long weekend in some of the very best hotels in the country in some of the UK’s most pristine locations. But do we? Frankly not enough, considering.

Those of us with children are used to getaways being hampered by distance and school rules – restrictions on taking the kids on holiday during term-time mean that, for Londoners at least, weekends away in beautiful coastal hotels are nigh on impossible given the amount of travel required.

For South Westerners, however, weekends away with the kids during term-time, with all the benefits that low season offers – slashed prices and empty beaches – are two a penny. All we need to do is scoop them up from school on Friday and hit the road. In doing so, you can be sitting on the terrace sipping sun-downers and taking in the sea air while the kids explore their accommodation.

At MANOR, we feel it is our duty to remind you of such geographic advantage and make you aware of some of the very best places you can stay, so you can pepper your year with family holidays rather than just waiting for when school allows and everyone’s doing it.

Take The Rosevine, for instance. It is an elegant Georgian family hotel. “Surely that’s an oxymoron,” you say. “There can be no such thing as a family hotel that’s elegant.” Reader, I have seen it with my own eyes and I can say that it meets the description spot on, and in the nicest possible way. Staying at The Rosevine, you start to enter into a world of make-believe. You imagine that you live there, in an old-money, Jane Austen kind of way, which sees you clutching your book and embroidery as you waft from the drawing room to the upper garden to take in the view and get some sea air, having looked in on the children in the playroom, finding them engrossed in board games, doll’s houses, or Xbox in a discreet little cubbyhole.

The lower gardens have a football pitch and climbing frame, and the garden tiers are stepped cleverly so they don’t obscure the view. One minute’s walk further down the hill you’re at a wide sandy beach – no car journeys required and there’s plenty of time to get the children out crabbing and body-boarding before lunch.

Lunch. “Aha,” you think, “that must be the catch.

It may be rather lovely and well positioned, but family meals in hotels such as this start to ramp up the cost, don’t they?” Again, you’d be wrong. At The Rosevine, you don’t need to eat in the restaurant; you can eat your own fare, or the hotel’s, in your room. The vast majority of rooms at the hotel are apartments, or, at the very least, suites. Each of these has a separate children’s room furnished with bunks or twins, and each is equipped, very elegantly, with kitchenette, fridge, microwave, kettle, toaster, and mini dishwasher. There are also three studio rooms with an open-plan bedroom that sleeps two with space for a travel cot or pull-up bed; three ‘Slate Rooms’, which sleep two and are dog-friendly; and a holiday cottage on the grounds, with garden, where you can bring the whole extended family, including the dog.

As a parent who has spent a period with her family in a rather lovely but traditional hotel and spent most of her time there pestering room service for snacks or warm milk, then wasted a fortune on lavish meals for children who weren’t hungry, to have all these practical amenities in your room is a masterstroke. It allows you to choose between eating in the restaurant, eating your own food in your room or eating restaurant food in your room, then putting any leftovers in the fridge for later. The quality of food at The Rosevine ensures that the restaurant does not lose out on this arrangement. To give you an idea, we had smoked haddock and parsley risotto followed by ribeye steak with hand-cut chips (me), and chicken and smoked bacon boudin followed

by Cornish fish chowder for him. The children were treated to fish goujons and chips, and a rich spaghetti bolognese before settling down to Strictly in the playroom while we enjoyed dinner a deux. (We chose to eat in the restaurant, but could equally have enjoyed the meal with wine delivered to our apartment while the children slept.)

PHOTO: ANTHONY GREENWOOD

With its tall windows, calm aura, lawns that sweep down to a quiet sandy beach, it’s the kind of house most of us would aspire to MANOR | Winter 2016

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PHOTO: DAVID GRIFFEN

The Rosevine Porthluney family apartment

PHOTO: DAVID GRIFFEN

The Rosevine drawing room

The Rosevine achieves its goal in making you feel at home in a place that is a considerable step up from your own. The interior design has been well thought out, such that every room feels airy and a pleasure to be in. The décor is muted tones, linens, and Cabbages & Roses prints that set off tasteful dark wood furniture, all perfectly in keeping with this elegant country house. It was, I’m told, initially the family home of the previous residents, the Brocklebanks, who turned it into the hotel it is today in 2008 and sold it to Providence Hospitality last year. With its tall windows, calm aura, lawns that sweep down to a quiet sandy beach, it’s the kind of house most of us would aspire to.

That is what makes it a great family hotel: it could be your home, or your hotel, or a combination of the two, offering the very best of both within an aspirational environment, and all within an hour and a half from home.

We will definitely be back. In fact, we will jot it down as one of our various ‘family residences’ to be enjoyed in, and out of, season.

PHOTO: ANTHONY GREENWOOD

Low season prices are Studio £185 per night, Family Suite £225 per night. Each room above can accommodate up to two adults and two children. Breakfast can be added to each at £25 per person. rosevine.co.uk

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escape THINGS TO DO WHILE YOU’RE THERE •

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Enjoy Michelin-starred dining. The Driftwood restaurant is a ten-minute walk up the road from The Rosevine, so get a sitter one night and enjoy the treat, knowing that no driving or taxi is required On waking up, take the coast path half a mile west to Portscatho to enjoy delicious pastries and a coffee on the balcony of The Harbour Inn that overlooks the beach. Then go get in the sea for some exhilaration!

Take the King Harry Ferry across from the Roseland side and drive up to Trelissick House and Garden Alternatively, take the passenger ferry from St Mawes to Falmouth to enjoy the National Maritime Museum, Pendennis Castle and the town’s plethora of galleries, stylish independent shops, and varied and hip eateries While in St Mawes, enjoy a top-notch lunch while the waves hit the windows beside you at the stylish Idle Rocks restaurant on the harbour Spend the afternoon crabbing off the pier with the children, and marvel at your stash before throwing it back Take afternoon tea at Hotel Tresanton

A breezy but fun trip on the St Mawes to Falmouth ferry

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Roll on summer

No longer merely the means by which you get to the Continent, Brittany Ferries now offers more than 1,300 holiday properties, from gites to villas. Words by Imogen Clements.

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amily holidays stay with you. Vivid are the memories of the days when you all piled excitedly into the new Renault 12 tl and set out on the day-long journey to Cornwall. Back in those days, holidays abroad were a luxury, as were decent roads. Be it trains, planes or automobiles, in a generation trends in family holidays – in both accommodation and transport – have changed and changed again.

Throughout the years, however, the same question arises come January when thoughts turn to planning the big summer family jaunt – where to stay and how to get there. For a family of four or more, one thing is certain: the cost of a return flight for each, the extra cost of luggage, then the hiring of a car at the other end (to add to the cost of the accommodation) makes flying holidays an outlay that needs forward thinking and thorough research to ensure there’s some spending money left once you’re out there. We do though enjoy our holidays on the continent, for the obvious climate, cuisine and cultural reasons, so how to get there?

I’ll admit it: I’m a ferry fan – it cuts out the baggage and car hire issues. Never a light traveller, I prefer to take stuff ‘just in case’; the ferry allows you to bundle everyone and everything into the car at home and not extract it until you arrive at your destination. There are no mile-long, serpentine queues at security, there’s plenty of room to do more than just stretch your legs,

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and a veritable cornucopia of restaurants, shops, and entertainment to explore and enjoy on the crossing.

What’s more, the ferries I’ve used have been French, and let’s face it, the French are good at the finer things in life, be it food, wine, or general leisure. They apply, I would argue, a certain professionalism in service and attention to detail that we Brits sometimes lack.

So when I say I’m a ferry fan, I’m not a crossChannel booze-cruiser but someone who likes to sail the Channel with the option of enjoying refined French gastronomy and a certain civility common of the French that, in my mind, is quite pleasant to be around.

This will, I know, read like a promotional piece, but I make no bones about the fact that my operator of choice is Brittany Ferries. I’ve been an admirer since we had children and wanted to enjoy holidays on France’s south-west coast with all their peripherals and a surf board thrown in. I like the fact that you enter France at Plymouth (or Portsmouth), and I appreciate the practicalities. First, there is the comfort of your own cabin. As any parent with toddlers or young children will know, there is the constant worry of them trotting off the moment your head’s turned. In a cabin, they can’t.

Plus, it’s equipped with comfortable beds made with crisp cotton sheets, a bathroom with shower, and tea, coffee and TV, meaning the children can be safely enclosed and entertained while you recline with a book and a cuppa.

escape Beyond the cabin there is a cinema, live entertainment, bars for aperitifs and restaurants serving a variety of French cuisine; then on your return there is safe, secure, and comfortable sleep, which is the best state to be in when travelling from A to B. You wake refreshed, watch the sun rise, have croissants and café au lait for breakfast, then dock, drive off and proceed on your journey to your sunshiney destination.

The history of Brittany Ferries is a fascinating one.

The company was started by a collective of enterprising Breton farmers in 1973 as a means of exporting their vegetables to the UK and broadening their market.

The business grew from a purely freight business from Roscoff to Plymouth to a passenger service that brought UK visitors to Brittany to stay in Breton holiday homes, further boosting the local economy.

As the demand rose, so did the number of crossings and ports used, to incorporate Portsmouth and Poole as well as Plymouth and St Malo, Cherbourg, Caen and Le Havre as well as Roscoff on the French side. Now, 45 years since that first freight-only crossing, Brittany Ferries is the market leader in West Channel passenger travel, carrying some 2.5m passengers a year.

It was probably inevitable that as the company evolved from purely agricultural to one that’s peopleand leisure-oriented, so the luxury offering would be extended to the end stay also. It made sense to complete the circle, and Brittany Ferries now offers a portfolio of 1,300 gites, holiday cottages or Spanish casas and villas to choose from.

All accommodation meets the high standard of quality you find on its boats, thanks to Brittany Ferries’ quality control, but to drive home the value element, the company also operates a price guarantee. Should you find that booking your travel and accommodation independently works out cheaper, it’ll refund the difference.

So, a family holiday that ticks many boxes, not least the organizational one. With one booking you can pile everything in the car, including the lilo, bodyboards and even the dog, begin your Continental holiday at a UK port and pile out into your gite with pool at the other end reassured that you can’t get this – the combination of transport and accommodation – any cheaper.

Arrive, unpack, hit the local supermarché for a baguette, fromage and some wine, and unwind French style, al fresco and philosophizing, of course. Happiness can be both the journey and the destination. C’est ca, c’est tout, c’est très agréable.

Happiness can be both the journey and the destination. C’est ca, c’est tout, c’est très agréable

Brittany Ferries will run a ‘Holiday Sale’ for bookings made between 11-29 November, offering a saving of up to 20% on Brittany Ferries Holidays (sales and accommodations packages) throughout 2017 including school holiday peak dates. Further sales are planned over the coming months - check the website regularly for details. brittany-ferries.co.uk

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PHOTO: NOAKES AND DICIOCCIO PHOTOGRAPHY

This autumn, Unique Home Stays celebrated 15 years of providing exclusive, luxury accommodation to discerning travellers from the UK and beyond.

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o share this momentous occasion, staff and property owners gathered at the company’s newest property, a 19th century former Cornish engine house, aptly named The Stack (above), for an evening of merriment. The ‘Goldrush’ theme was inspired by the Unique Home Stays gold crown logo, and everyone who came brought their own glitz and sparkle to the party.

Guests were eager to explore the highly unusual addition to the portfolio and, armed with a glass of bubbles, embarked on a tour of the five-floor property.

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The rustic interior has been enlivened with a stylish mix of statement features including a stunning hemp chandelier suspended over the three sets of stairs, a golden mirror standing from floor to ceiling in the bathroom, and the wild boar head keeping watch in the kitchen. The Stack was the talk of the party. Interior designer Jess Clark summed it up: “Whether guests arrive during the day and are taken aback by the rolling hill setting, or after dark, when the amazing building that is The Stack is illuminated, there’s a real sense of anticipation as you approach.”

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The evening was filled with live music, there were canapés and a boat bar full of Prosecco, all topped off with a finale of fireworks

PHOTO: NOAKES AND DICIOCCIO PHOTOGRAPHY

Sarah Stanley

PHOTO: NOAKES AND DICIOCCIO PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO: NOAKES AND DICIOCCIO PHOTOGRAPHY

The evening was filled with live music, there were canapés and a boat bar full of Prosecco, all topped off with a finale of fireworks. The party, much like the ethos of the business, utilised a local chef from Sargies Cornish Kitchen, Newquay-based photographers Noakes and Dicioccio, and live music by local artist Joel Hurworth.

There was an immense sense of pride from all, and director Sarah Stanley described what the 15 years meant to her: “Having evolved from a one-person, small front room business to a committed team of staff and owners alike, while I’m as immersed in the company as I was back when we began, I have to thank the creative and passionate team around me who have all contributed into making Unique Home Stays the company it is today. It’s so rewarding to get feedback from owners and clients alike; whether it’s potential new owners wanting to come on board, to customers holidaying with us for the first time, to like-minded companies looking to partner with us. I do feel extremely lucky and excited for the future.”

Having set up the business with an authentic ‘homestay’ in mind, inspired by her global travels staying at hosted properties, Sarah’s ‘Unique Home Stays B&B’ beginnings evolved to focus purely on self-catered stays, driven by a demand by city folk wanting to take exclusive hire of some of the UK’s most unique and characterful private homes.

What has remained at the forefront of the business is the ‘unique’ element; properties that reflect the owners’ personal taste when it comes to style. While guests expect the very best quality when it comes to the basics – from linen quality to mattress comfort – they are very much looking for hotel alternatives when it comes to interior décor; for properties that are as interesting and quirky inside as they are in terms of setting. Unique Home Stays very much encourage guests to live like a local, promoting the best of local businesses, including farm shops, family-run restaurants and hidden gem attractions. As part of the on-boarding process, Unique Home Stays works closely with every new property owner, collating ‘insider’ information into a detailed property guide to ensure that guests have a truly authentic experience.

Whilst the growth of the property portfolio is ongoing, this is never at the expense of compromising on quality, thanks to a very selective membership process.

The company’s dedicated Property Finding Team plays a key role in sourcing the next showstoppers to join the portfolio, Clare Towl describes what she looks for: “When it comes to the selection process for new members, we know immediately if the property has wow factor, and if it doesn’t, it’s probably not the one for us.

There’s no formula, no prescriptive list of what we’re looking for, but in order for us to be able to demand the tariffs that we can, we’re unable to compromise in terms of ‘special’. Our clients have amazing homes themselves and are often looking for an escape from the everyday

Kitchen of The Stack, Cornwall

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PHOTO: UNIQUE HOME STAYS

Delphin, Porthleven, Cornwall

PHOTO: UNIQUE HOME STAYS

The Secret Holt, Dartmoor, Devon

when they holiday with us, whether that’s staying in the likes of an architecturally interesting engine house or a rustic beach hut.”

Due to the exclusive nature of the homes that the company markets, you cannot book a Unique Home Stays property elsewhere. The high quality of each property within the portfolio permits healthy tariffs, but also year-round bookings, meaning that income exceeds owners’ expectations, even when factoring the 25% plus VAT commission that the company charges.

Add in exceptional photography that Unique Home Stays offers, a dedicated client advisory team offering a bespoke concierge-style service, plus a team of inhouse marketing specialists who generate features in publications ranging from Elle Decoration to The Sunday Times… and you have a winning formula for success.

Occupancy levels within the portfolio speak for themselves and the case studies opposite offer an example of how making use of the ‘sharing economy’ and marketing your home through Unique Home Stays can result in a thriving source of income.

PHOTO: UNIQUE HOME STAYS

Unique Home Stays very much encourage guests to live like a local, promoting the best of local businesses, including farm shops, familyrun restaurants and hidden gem attractions.

Rydon, Teign Valley, Devon

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PHOTO: UNIQUE HOME STAYS

Rydon, Teign Valley, Devon

CASE STUDY ONE Sleeps 2

CASE STUDY THREE Sleeps two

A • • • • • • • • •

A • • •

secluded woodland location in Devon Luxury woodland cabin One double bedroom and a day bedroom Eclectic with fairy-tale interior Two dogs welcome Private parking Babies in arms welcome Log-burning fire Perfect for couples WiFi

The Crucials: (Achieved 2016) • Level of Occupancy: 87% • Gross Revenue in Excess of: £47,100

• • • •

cliff-top location in Cornwall Luxury self-catering beach cabin One king-size double bedroom One walk-in shower room, heated outdoor shower for rinsing sandy toes Eco-friendly enhancements and hot tub Babes-in-arms only Two small dogs welcome Open-plan sitting, dining and kitchen

The Crucials: (Achieved 2016) • Level of Occupancy: 80% • Gross Revenue in Excess of: £116,225

A country retreat in Somerset • Luxury 16th century fashionable modern-rustic manor • Ten super, king-size zip-and-link bedrooms • Three family bathrooms and four en-suite bathrooms • Eco-friendly enhancements • Children and babies are very welcome • Two dogs welcome • 15m indoor pool, fire pit, entertainment room

Those figures aside, Unique Home Stays provides one of the best examples of how to retain that all-important personal touch, while continually striving to offer the next ultimate escape. Most property owners meet and greet the guests themselves, or utilise a local housekeeper ‘in the know’ about the local area. Every party receives a luxury welcome hamper along with local produce on arrival (meaning you can whip up some eggs on toast after that long journey!) and the company also provides digital property guides bespoke to each property, including advice on all the best hidden gem local attractions, farm shops and independent restaurants to visit during your unique escape.

The Crucials: (Achieved 2016) • Level of Occupancy: 65% • Gross Revenue in Excess of: £249,505

Visit uniquehomestays.com for an inspiring selection of luxury holiday homes, or get in touch if you have or know of a property bursting with the potential– there’ll be a hefty reward up for grabs!

CASE STUDY TWO Sleeps 20

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SHEBBEAR COLLEGE DEVON

For boys and girls aged 3 -18 Day and boarding school Weekly, flexi and full boarding Excellent academic results New Sixth Form Centre New Music Centre

Exeter School Entrance Examinations and Assessments 7+ 21 January 2017

8+, 9+, 10+ 4 February 2017 Senior School 18 January 2017

Small class sizes 85 acre rural campus Free taster days

Come and visit us

‘Into the Sixth Form’ Open Evening for Year 10/11 pupils 25 January 2017 5.30-8pm Sixth Form Entrance is by interview

www.shebbearcollege.co.uk

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An independent day school for boys and girls aged 7 - 18 www.exeterschool.org.uk 01392 273679 @ExeterSchoolUK

For teachers and parents of children studying in the South West

The emotional wellbeing of their child at school is every parent’s priority. In the last of this three-part series, Professor Ruth Merttens looks at problems arising from the curriculum and relationships with staff.

S

ometimes children are very happy at school until the work starts becoming difficult. This can be for many reasons. It may be that a child who has been quite content in Reception and Year 1 starts to be unhappy at the point where he is expected to write more than a short sentence, or to read more demanding texts. Some children progress well and confidently until later in the juniors, when they start finding the increased demands of grammar and mathematics too much. At one time, primary school was very much a period when, although children had to acquire the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic, it was expected that a good proportion of time was given over to a stimulating curriculum. Individual interests were encouraged and children’s development, both intellectual and creative, was supported. However, recent government changes have produced a statutory curriculum for England more detailed and demanding than that in any other open democracy. This means that, sadly, children aged seven and upwards will spend less time on creative endeavours or broader educational

aims and far more time parsing sentences, identifying grammatical categories and learning advanced algorithms in maths. Some children find this either boring or difficult, and so their enjoyment may diminish as the new curriculum bears down on them. This is compounded by the fact that English children are now among the most frequently and severely tested of any children in the world.

Most primary schools, in my experience, do their best to minimise the negative effects of these curriculum changes on children’s wellbeing. They continue to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, and to be topic-led in children’s work outside the more heavily prescribed and assessed parts of the syllabus. Primary teachers passionately want children to enjoy their time at school and make every effort to ensure that this is the case. So if you find that your child has gone from a cheerful, relaxed participant in primary education to a stressed and anxious performer, then it is certainly worth discussing this with their teacher. They may make suggestions as to extra activities you can share, which MANOR | Winter 2016

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school may help your child with some parts of their work and enable them to feel that they are successful. They will also look out for opportunities to allow the child to shine, perhaps in creative or physical subjects.

Of course, the parents’ attitude is critical. A parent who is unstressed about test results and simply wants their child to enjoy school and do his or her best is likely to produce a more relaxed and confident child. A parent who is anxious, for whatever reason, about what marks the child gets, or about his/her place in the academic peckingorder, may well transfer this apprehension to the child without meaning to. Of course, there is often good reason to be concerned – a particular test may have repercussions far beyond the current situation and for the child’s future.

But it is nonetheless true that children flourish best in situations where they feel they can succeed and are already being successful. A sense of failure rarely produces improvement; it just results in unhappiness.

Older children too can suffer from the stress of feeling over-pressured, either at home or at school. They have to study a wide variety of subjects, some of which they may have little or no natural aptitude or liking for. Sometimes they find themselves in an unhelpfully competitive environment and, feeling a sense of failure, they cease to try, and give up. Motivating older children can be tricky, as they can be overly convinced of their own inadequacies and so it is difficult to help them to see that success is possible. Once again, as parents, it is important to check that our words and actions do not have the opposite effect to that which we desire.

There is a delicate balance to be struck between too much and not enough pressure, and encouragement.

But being happy and contented at school is normally an essential prerequisite for success. If we find that curriculum pressure is causing a previously contented child to become unhappy or nervous, it is definitely worth talking to a sympathetic tutor who will help, in conversation with the child, to find a way forward. This may consist of a package of extra support, more overt encouragement, or a slight readjustment to the timetable or to the level of the sets in which the child is placed.

Another source of discontent may be teachers and other staff members. Children can take a dislike to a particular teacher, only to find that, a few weeks later, they have discovered that, actually, there are things that they and the teacher share and enjoy together. Of course, not all teachers suit all children, and there is no denying that teachers have their own style and personality – like the rest of us! So it is wholly natural – and inevitable – that your child will have some teachers they love and some on whom they are not so keen. But there is a real problem if there is either a genuine personality clash or else a child becomes convinced that a particular teacher does not like them.

A year is a long time in a small child’s life, and two years is an eternity. If there really is an issue with a teacher, and the child is unhappy, then something must be done, and 140

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moving school has to be an option. Discuss this with your child. Even a young child needs to feel that they can have an input into such an important decision. They may feel that the other comforts of the school – friends, familiarity, extra-curricular activities – make it worth staying and waiting for the eventual change of teacher. But also discuss the predicament with the head teacher. When they realise how serious the situation is, they may be able to think of creative ways to help. Make sure you keep talking to the teacher involved – no teacher likes to be unpopular and most teachers will work hard to reverse an antipathy once they are aware it has developed.

The teacher-pupil antipathy situation is usually much easier to resolve at secondary school. For a start, these are larger institutions so there is more manoeuvrability.

Children usually have different teachers for different subjects, so a teacher they dislike will normally have them for only a few periods a week (this can be different in the first year when children sometimes still have a ‘class teacher’). A really good way forward can be to ensure that your child has at least one tutor who they find it easy to talk to. This may be the form tutor, a year tutor, a special needs tutor or perhaps a mentor.

The important thing is to find a person they like and trust. That person can then be the crucial point of contact – a person for the child to go to and with whom they develop a good relationship. If a school did not actively facilitate this, I would be worried about their commitment to my child and would make this clear. It is essential that they have this point of contact within the potentially alien and scary environment of a large school.

ACHIEVING SUCCESS AT SCHOOL In this, the final part of the series, we reiterate the point mentioned when we introduced the subject in MANOR. We all want our children to be successful at school, but it is worth thinking about what we mean by this. Schools are academic institutions and exist to promote intellectual endeavours and develop cognitive achievement, but they have a broader responsibility: they need to produce good citizens – contented individuals who believe themselves capable of learning new things and acquiring new skills, and who are confident in their own achievements and amongst others. Confidence develops from a sense of being valued and feeling safe, and children who are nervous or depressed will inevitably have lower self-esteem.

It follows that ‘being happy at school’ is not, as some would have us believe, just the icing on the educational cake – it is the very substance of the cake itself. We ignore it at our peril.

The previous parts of Professor Ruth Merttens’s Happiness at School series for MANOR covered Friendship and Bullying, and Starting School. If you’ve missed any part in this series and would like to access it, please write to school@manormagazine.co.uk

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Please ring 01884 252543 or email info@blundells.org for more information or to arrange a visit MANOR | Winter 2016

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jackson-stops.co.uk

South Devon A stunning, Listed Grade II Georgian house, with separate gatehouse cottage, in a parkland setting.

People Property Places 142

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reception rooms •Kitchen/breakfast room •Orangery •Ancillary kitchen •6 bedrooms (2 en suite) •2Family 2 bedroom gatehouse cottage •Walled garden •Paddocks & stream •Formerbathroom •Separate coach house providing office, workshop and gym •American barn with 3 stables, tack room •& storage 2 garages & double carport • •In all about 9.77 acres

Guide price: £1,950,000

Exeter 01392 214 222 exeter@jackson-stops.co.uk Offices in London & across the country

Property The Bulletin | Property of note: an Exeter Townhouse Snapshot comparative

Ferry Cottage, Luscombe May, Devon On the market with Luscombe May. Guide price: ÂŁ760,000. See page 151 luscombemaye.com

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FINDING YOUR PROPERTY IN THE SOUTH WEST

For those seeking a property to accompany a life in the West Country Nick Turner property search, buying and relocation agents can help secure your dream home or corporate oďŹ&#x192;ce in the stunning South West.

Acting on your behalf we search preferred geographical areas, source suitable properties, arrange virtual or in person viewings, negotiate a purchase or rental and introduce you to specialist advisors and tradesmen both pre-and post-completion to help with your relocation.

Nick Turner

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www.nick-turner.com @property_buying | @southwestpropertybuying

T: +44 (0)1647 253 188 | E: info@nick-turner.com Devon | Somerset | Dorset | Cornwall | Channel Islands

property

The Bulletin While predicting the housing market is a little like gazing into a crystal ball, Imogen Clements looks at the stats and errs on an optimistic future for the South West.

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s we all gather around the turkey at this Stonehenge) such that there will be an unbroken time of year, it is inevitable that the four-lane carriageway from Camborne to London. conversation will at some point turn New high speed trains will have replaced the old to property. It is so endlessly debateIntercities by 2018, with more seats and faster speeds, able because it’s such a rich tapestry of apparently. uncertainties, as anyone who’s ever taken any time We, in the South West, have heard it all before but out to try to fathom what’s going on will tell you.

I, for one, have more faith in this PM’s pledges re rail, To give you an example, according to a survey air and roads than I have in previous PMs. There is so out this month from the Halifax, annual house price much hanging in the balance this time around. Brexit inf lation is now at its lowest since July 2013. Across means we need better and longer-haul international the country, prices rose by ( just) 5.2% year-on-year in trade and travel for all. With the prospect of EU the three months ending October. This compares to negotiations making life as we know it that much 10% in March of this year. more shaky, we need to focus on the areas of clear Figures issued by Nationwide a week prior to these potential – the Atlantic corner of the South West with Halifax f indings showed that although the month of all it offers, being one of those.

October prices were static, they’d risen in each of the Transport has always been the main barrier to previous 15 months. realising the South West’s potential. If this improves, The Halifax’s report contradicts Nationwide’s it will undoubtedly have a benef icial effect on the assessment of October of this year by stating that economy and in turn the local housing market. It October was not in fact static but saw a 1.6% increase may, therefore, be worth buying that idyllic property in house prices. by the sea after all. But don’t take it from me…

To further confuse the analysts, it seems that we As Christopher Bailey of Knight Frank, Exeter are all still spending away and gleefully cantering reports, “We have more buyers registered looking for towards a sunny horizon oblivious to, or in denial of, properties in the South West than last year, which the Brexit economic precipice that looms. bodes well for next year. The recent fall in the value of There is also, the undeniable fact that property sterling has seen British expats purchase a significantly inflation has been 20% in the last three years, compared higher proportion of properties here than normal. to wage inflation at 6%, which will ultimately put The Midlands continues to be a prime source of downward pressure on primary property purchases, proceedable cash buyers to the West Country, with particularly first homes. There is also the additional London and the South East close behind. All these stamp duty served on second homes, without doubt indicators, coupled with positive economic data for an issue for London landlords but also pertinent to the the UK next year, suggest a better 2017 than 2016.”

South West holiday home market.

But... the South West may fare better than other regions. Teresa May was in Newquay recently, extolling the benefits Heathrow’s extra runway will have on the South West.

Yep, that’s right. Apparently, the infamous third runway will have direct links to Newquay and Exeter, helping business and tourism to the region considerably.

There are many of us who have despaired at the lack of decent transport infrastructure west of Exeter; the fact that one nasty storm can render anywhere beyond Dawlish inaccessible by train, and the fact that you probably spent several days longer on the A30 at Bodmin this summer than you needed to.

Machan, Helston sold by Knight Frank in August 2016 off a guide price of Teresa May has pledged investment into £2,750,000. knightfrank.com the A30 and A303 (including a tunnel past MANOR | Winter 2016

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The capital of Devon is drawing a discerning flow of urbanites who see the healthy lifestyle, genteel pace and easy access to London as the key to a balanced life. Fiona McGowan finds a handsome Grade II Listed Georgian townhouse in desirable St Leonards that’s the perfect antidote to the commuter-belt conveyor belt.

T

here’s a steady flow of migratory traffic out of London – not quite an exodus, but a noticeable movement – and it’s heading west. Exeter is one of the most popular landing points for this migration. Its proximity to the coast and countryside of Dartmoor and rural Devon makes it an exceptionally attractive lifestyle choice. And the city itself is becoming more and more of a cultural and social hub.

The city centre feels quiet compared with the frenetic streets of London, but has the usual array of high street names – from John Lewis and House of Fraser to H&M and Urban Outfitters. The 800-yearold cathedral dominates the Cathedral Quarter, a big quadrant surrounded by boutiques and restaurants, while the Quayside area positively thrums with an artsy, artisan vibe. It has an almost European feel, with outdoor cafes, bars and quirky stores – and people strolling, cycling or rowing on the canal.

Of the many attractions for those coming from outside the county, it is the lifestyle and the accessibility to London that are most often cited. The owners of this issue’s Property of Note, who have been living in the genteel neighbourhood of St Leonards for seven years, say that their garage is packed to the gunnels with surf boards, bikes and outdoor kit. They moved from Sussex to the six-bedroomed Georgian house in Exeter, “because it is the perfect half-way location. St Leonards has all the advantages of a small village, but we can walk into town. And in only 30 minutes, you can be on 146

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Dartmoor or the beach.” Their decision to move here was mostly based on lifestyle: “It’s such a fantastic place for the kids to grow up – a place where outdoor lifestyle is actively encouraged.”

The house couldn’t have been better situated for their family life – being only 100 yards from Exeter School, and an easy walk into the city centre and the Quay as the teens began to gain more independence.

Now that the children have grown up and left home, they have decided to put the family house on the market but are adamant that they want to stay in St Leonards. It will be hard to turn their back on the property, and it’s easy to see why.

property of note

The house was in a fairly good condition when they bought it in 2008. However, stylistically, they wanted to return it to its original integrity, as “not everything was true to its traditional beauty.”

One of the major changes made was to install parquet flooring throughout the house – just as it would have had when it was built in the 1850s – which adds warmth and character. Then it was a case of focusing on the finer details: ensuring that the fireplaces, dados, coving and ceiling roses were all carefully preserved. The tasteful addition of a traditional palette of colours in the main living areas also imbues the house with a classical, calm feel.

The biggest change that they made to the building

Of the many attractions for those coming from outside the county, it is the lifestyle and the accessibility to London that are most often cited.

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property of note was tearing down the conservatory and replacing it with a kitchen-living space that forms the heart of the house. Opening out onto the garden it is, apparently, the perfect ‘lifestyle space’. It is contemporary, with its huge glazed aspect and massive rooflight window, but from the garden is thoroughly in keeping with the style of the building.

“Of course, we had to design something that the planners would accept,” the owner adds. “It creates an amazing flow-through – it’s great for parties and barbecues.” The lifestyle element is present throughout the house. It’s clearly important stylistically and practically to demarcate the rooms – from the classic décor of the music room to the cosy, red-walled snug or the boot-room/coat store for all those muddy boots and wet outdoor gear. The only thing that they didn’t change in the house were three of the upstairs bathrooms – the more contemporary tiled wetrooms perfectly suiting the family’s needs. Leading off from the music room is one of the family’s favourite idiosyncrasies of the house – the ‘secret room’. A hidden door leads to a tiny room with a view over the garden: “It’s only four by three metres but it’s a great room. The kids used to use it as a games room.” Another of the favourite quirks of the house are the original Georgian shutters – still in impeccable condition.

The garden is impressive. Working with Chelsea Flower Show award winner Andy Sturgeon, the owners created a space that has both the elegant formality of a Georgian garden, and a bowling-green smooth stretch of lawn with mature trees and shrubs that make this townhouse feel more like a country house in the summer months. In the garden, the coach house was also renovated – with a kitchen and lounge downstairs, it has a double bedroom and bathroom upstairs. It’s ideal for visiting friends and family, an au pair or as a ‘granny flat’ (the children most recently used it for table tennis tournaments).

There’s little not to like about this impressive property – and its location, smack-dab in the middle of Exeter’s most desirable postcode, surrounded by wide, leafy streets and a stone’s throw from the up-scale independent village shops, cafés and restaurants is one of its biggest draws. There is a good reason why so many Londoners are becoming ‘Lexiters’, heading west and settling in Devon’s capital city.

The property is on the market with Strutt and Parker, Exeter. Tel: 01392 215 631.

Price on application struttandparker.com

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A stunning coll e c t i o n o f n ew h i g h s p e c i f i c at i o n 2-5 bed ro o m d i sti nc ti ve ho me s.

F I R ST P H ASE H O M E S ARE S ELLI NG FAST P r i ce s fro m ÂŁ260,000 to ÂŁ595,000

The Beechwood, 3 bedrooms

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Enquire today with our sales agents

t: +44 (0)1392 87 50 00 e: topsham@wilkinsongrant.co.uk

Homes of Distinction View our new brochure at burringtonestates.com/seawardpark MANOR | Winter 2016

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KINGSBRIDGE, South Devon

â&#x2013; Guide

Price ÂŁ1,950,000

Stunning 17th century manor house in a wonderful location set in 10 acres with beautifully maintained gardens and grounds, a 2 bedroom cottage and studio apartment.

No EPC required. Web Ref KIN160345.

Stunning listed manor house | 1.7 miles from Kingsbridge town and estuary | formal parterre and walled garden For further details please contact our Prime Waterfront & Country House Department on 01548 855590 or Kingsbridge 01548 857588

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property

Snapshot comparative A selection of coastal and waterfront properties from around the South West and one in the capital.

South Devon

Ferry Cottage, Salcombe Guide price £760,000 Located on the waterfront, with easy access to the town and East Portlemouth Ferry, the accommodation of this Grade II cottage (dated 1739) is set over four floors, allowing estuary views from every room. The current layout offers two double bedrooms with family bathroom on the top two floors, living room with balcony access on the first and spacious kitchen diner on the ground floor with access onto the South East facing courtyard garden. luscombemaye.com

St Peter’s Hill, Falmouth Guide price £550,000

Cornwall

This Georgian house offers versatile accommodation with the possibility of creating three individual units. The ground floor has two reception rooms, study, galley kitchen, shower room and two bedrooms; the first floor has three bedrooms, a small kitchenette, a cloakroom and bathroom; and on the second and third floors there is a maisonette with kitchen, sitting room, two bedrooms and a family bathroom. There is also a large rear garden and walled front patio at the front. humberts.com

North Devon

Tranquility Cottage, Appledore Guide price £239,950 Based in the heart of the village, this character cottage is located close to some of the best surfing beaches in the area and a thriving sailing community.

Accommodation comprises entrance hall, dual aspect living/dining room, kitchen leading out into courtyard garden and 2-3 bedrooms. Character aspects have been retained in some rooms, including flagstone flooring and exposed stonework. jackson-stops.co.uk

Flat 88, New Concordia Wharf, Mill Street Guide price £1,175,000

London

This one bedroom apartment is in the popular Shad Thames warehouse conversion and would make an excellent London bolt-hole. Grade II listed, the refurbishment has retained period features and accommodation offers light and airy open-plan kitchen/living area, a river fronting balcony with views, bedroom and en-suite bathroom. The property also has access to excellent storage space, utility room, private parking and use of the swimming pool. knightfrank.com

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Salcombe, Devon

Exciting refurbishment or development potential Kingsbridge 6 miles, Exeter 46 miles (London Paddington 2 hours 4 minutes) (distances approximate) Occupying a fabulous south-facing position with rural and coastal views. It has flexible accommodation with adjoining annexe that could be brought back into the main house. Double garage and parking. EPC: D

Guide Price ÂŁ1,150,000 KnightFrank.co.uk/EXE160321 152

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To find out how we can help you please contact us. www.KnightFrank.co.uk/Exeter christopher.bailey@knightfrank.com

Kingston St Mary, Somerset

Listed house with outbuildings in the centre of a popular village close to Taunton.

Taunton 3 miles (London Paddington 1 hour 40 minutes), Exeter 38 miles (distances approximate)

To find out how we can help you please contact us. www.KnightFrank.co.uk/Exeter edward.clarkson@knightfrank.com

Well-presented Grade II listed hall house extensively renovated by the current owners and winning a Conservation Award. Sitting in an elevated position with views over the village towards the church. 5 bedrooms, 3 reception rooms and 2 bathrooms. Large stone barn. Double garage. Level gardens.

Guide Price ÂŁ945,000 KnightFrank.co.uk/EXE140124 MANOR | Winter 2016

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START POINT, South Devon

â&#x2013; Guide

Price ÂŁ1,750,000

A rare opportunity to purchase a unique property in one of the most sought after areas in the South Hams close to Start Point, with annexe, barns, stables and approximately 20 acres.

EPC Rating E. Web Ref PWC160052.

Close to Lannacombe beach | wonderful views | custom built cellar For further details please contact our Prime Waterfront & Country House Department on 01548 855590 or Kingsbridge 01548 857588

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KINGSTON, South Devon

â&#x2013; Guide

Price ÂŁ1,150,000

A fabulous 5 bedroom detached farmhouse in a wonderful idyllic setting with a detached barn with planning permission, offering the opportunity for a variety of uses. Walled garden, garaging/workshop, stabling and paddock, with distant sea views. EPC Rating F. JSA Jackson-Stops. Web Ref MOD140193.

Short distance to Wonwell beach | ideal equestrian property | land approximately 5.5 acres For further details please contact our Prime Waterfront & Country House Department on 01548 855590 or Modbury 01548 831163

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SOLD £200m

*

PROPERTY SINCE NOVEMBER 2015

More property urgently required, particularly in

Exeter and East Devon

For advice on how to achieve the best price, pop into one of our offices or give our team a call. *Agreed, exchanged or completed sales from 1st November 2015

THE THINKING PROPERTY AGENT 01392 427500

.

wilkinsongrant.co.uk

156 MANOR | Winter 2016 SALES LETTINGS PROPERTY MANAGEMENT ACQUISITIONS LAND & PLANNING NEW HOMES DEVELOPMENT MORTGAGES SURVEYS

Mamhead, Exeter

MAMHEAD, E X E T E R

5 Beds | 2,248 ft2 | £1,100,000

An elegant and beautifully refurbished Grade II Listed detached Georgian residence, formally having been the Palm House for the Mamhead Estate. Set in over an acre of wonderful south-facing gardens and grounds, surrounded by beautiful countryside. The accommodation is arranged over three levels with various ‘high design’ features and underfloor heating throughout. Adjoining the property is a large outbuilding with Planning Permission to replace with a 2 bedroom annexe, as well as a further reception room to the main house.

A simply stunning, totally unique home with annexe, lovely southerly aspect gardens and fabulous views.

Elegant accommodation with many features arranged over three levels Beautiful established partly walled south-facing gardens and grounds of well over an acre Free-flowing graceful reception rooms opening to the grounds Bespoke kitchen, utility and boot room Excellent master bedroom with dressing area and luxury en-suite 3/4 further bedrooms with the upper floor loosely arranged as an apartment Study, luxury family bathroom and further shower room Underfloor heating and high quality insulation throughout, with biomass boiler registered under the Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme yielding £3,200 per annum Many design features including integrated floor uplighters Planning Permission to convert an outbuilding to ancillary accommodation, a garden room and separate 2 bedroom annexe

THE THINKING PROPERTY AGENT

wilkinsongrant.co.uk

Exeter 01392 427500 Topsham 01392 875000 Exmouth 01395 268900 Sidmouth 01395 268900 MANOR | Winter 2016 157 SALES LETTINGS PROPERTY MANAGEMENT ACQUISITIONS LAND & PLANNING NEW HOMES DEVELOPMENT MORTGAGES SURVEYS SALES LETTINGS PROPERTY MANAGEMENT ACQUISITIONS LAND & PLANNING NEW HOMES DEVELOPMENT MORTGAGES SURVEYS

SLAPTON, South Devon

â&#x2013; Guide

Price ÂŁ1,150,000

An idyllic stone built farmhouse set in a tranquil location a short distance from Slapton village and beach with beautiful gardens and an annexe with income potential.

EPC Rating E. Web Ref PWC160029.

Delightful stone built property | idyllic location | 1 bedroom self contained annexe For further details please contact our Prime Waterfront & Country House Department on 01548 855590 or Kingsbridge 01548 857588

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To advertise here please email advertising@manormagazine.co.uk or call 07887 556447 GIFT IDEAS

TRAVEL

Visiting Paris?

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Contact Karina at Travel Light Paris

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karina@travellightparis.com • +33 (0)6 42 00 82 07 www.travellightparis.com

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FASHION

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INTERIOR DESIGN

To advertise here please email advertising@manormagazine.co.uk or call 07887 556447 INTERIOR DESIGN

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A year’s subscription is just

is a subscription to the Region’s Premium Publication MANOR covers fashion, beauty, design and interiors, and in every issue there are sections devoted to the arts, food, travel and property in the South West, plus an education section for those who have children of school age.

Boasting the best writers and photographers in the region, MANOR is a coffee table publication that is as readable as it is visual.

Available for sale across Devon and Cornwall and on all major routes into the region from London to Newquay, MANOR is for anyone looking for a magazine of national quality, but with a South West focus.

For just £20 for an annual subscription the recipient will have every issue of MANOR delivered to their door from January, and we will deliver a card informing them of their gift.

Simply go to manormagazine.co.uk/subscribe or email subscribe@manormagazine.co.uk for alternative payment methods.

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Exclusive MANOR Christmas card sent out with all new gift subscriptions ordered before 15 December 2016

The new Audi Q2 Can’t be labelled.

Can be ordered. #untaggable Coupé? Hatchback? SUV? Our newest Q model is not so easily defined. But it can easily be ordered.

Order yours at your nearest Audi Centre.

Exeter Audi

Denbury Court Marsh Barton Exeter Devon EX2 8NB 01392 338070 www.exeter.audi.co.uk

Official fuel consumption figures for the Audi Q2 range in mpg (l/100km) from: Urban 42.2 (6.7) – 57.6 (4.9), Extra Urban 56.5 (5.0) – 68.9 (4.1), Combined 49.6 (5.7) – 64.2 (4.4). CO2 emissions: 130 – 114g/km.

Fuel consumption and CO2 figures are obtained under standardised EU test conditions (Directive 93/116/EEC).This allows a direct comparison between different manufacturer models but may not represent the actual fuel consumption achieved in ‘real world’ driving conditions. Optional wheels may affect emissions and fuel consumption figures. Fuel consumption and CO2 figures correct at time of print [November 2016]. Image for illustration purposes only. More information is available on the Audi website at www.audi.co.uk and at www.dft.gov.uk/vca MANOR | Winter 2016

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Merry Christmas

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