EVERY WEEK
Celebrating
JANUARY 5, 2022
years
ISSUE: 01
JANUARY 5, 2022
PRINTED IN THE UK
£4.50
125TH ANNIVERSARY LAUNCH AND LONDON LIFE CLI337.cover.indd 1
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ONE FAMILY SPECIALISING IN FINE FURNITURE SINCE 1866
A very finely carved flame mahogany veneered architectural bar cabinet of the Althorp House facade. The upper section with a gabled brass galleried roof with 8 dormers, with a Spencer coat of arms pediment. The Cabinet with 21 Morado and Sycamore strung Windows, brass detailed pilasters and a door. Concealing four cabinet doors enclosing a fitted and LED lit interior for a bar with a mirror back, glass shelves and miniature staircase in mahogany and brass, the molded base top with a central slide, on six turned column supports supported on a gilt egg and dart carved breakfront plinth base.
£17,140 Width: 61¾ inches (157cm) | Depth: 22¾ inches (58cm) | Height: 82¼ inches (209cm)
NATIONWIDE HOME APPROVAL SERVICE | BESPOKE COMMISSIONS UNDERTAKEN OVER 1,000 ITEMS OF EXCLUSIVE CLASSICAL FURNISHINGS IN STOCK CALL 01491 641115 | WWW.BRIGHTSOFNETTLEBED.CO.UK NETTLEBED
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RG9 5DD (OPEN TUES-SAT)
KING’S RD
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SW6 2DX (OPEN MON-FRI)
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NASEBY, NORTHAMP TONSHIRE
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n outstanding example of contemporary architecture, set within 83 acres and enjoying panoramic views over pastureland and woodland. The property is finished to a high specification throughout and is discretely located at the end of an extensive tree-lined driveway. 8 B E D R O O M S | 6 B AT H R O O M S | 4 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | 2 C O T TA G E S | P A R T Y B A R N G A R A G I N G | S W I M M I N G P O O L | O U T B U I L D I N G S | M A N È G E | 1 9 5 S O L A R PA N E L A R R AY | E P C B NORTHAMP TON 14 MILES (LONDON EUSTON FROM 46 MINUTES) | MARKET HARBOROUGH 7 MILES
Guide price available upon request Knight Frank London rupert.sweeting@knightfrank.com 020 4502 7744 peter.edwards@knightfrank.com 020 4502 8544 King West sjking@kingwest.co.uk 01858 435970 Ref: CHO190028
knightfrank.co.uk Winner of six customer service experience awards in 2021
RAVENSTHORPE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Guide Price: £1,750,000
6 Bedrooms | 4 Reception Rooms | 2 Bathrooms | N/A EPC
A Grade II listed mid 18th century house with gated driveway parking, south facing grounds with far reaching views and a 1,221 sq. ft. outbuilding with garaging. The house has 3,346 sq. ft. of versatile accommodation including a triple aspect garden room and a 43 ft. kitchen/breakfast room. The plot which extends to approximately 1.01 acres, is divided into sections by feature walls and includes an Italian garden, a secret garden and a vegetable garden. Amenities in the village of Ravensthorpe include a shop, a post office, a public house and a church.
Michael Graham Northampton Ian Jepson 01604 611011 Michael Graham London Bob Bickersteth 0207 839 0888
michaelgraham.co.uk michaelgraham_living
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ittle Harrow is believed to date from the 1850s with later additions from the turn of the 19th century at which point it was turned into a Victorian model farm. Over a period of 25 years the current owners have refurnished and restored the property to create a stunning family home set within 15 acres of grounds. 1 3 B E D R O O M S | 5 B AT H R O O M S | 7 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | S W I M M I N G P O O L O U T B U I L D I N G S | S TA B L I N G | G A R A G I N G | C A R P O R T | G A R D E N S | PA S T U R E L A N D | W O O D L A N D | E P C F H I N T O N A D M I R A L 1 M I L E ( L O N D O N WAT E R L O O F R O M 1 H O U R 5 4 M I N U T E S )
Guide price £3,250,000 Knight Frank London & Winchester edward.cunningham@knightfrank.com 020 4502 7121 toby.turnage@knightfrank.com 01962 656115 Ref: POD012152273
knightfrank.co.uk Winner of six customer service experience awards in 2021
FOR SALE Nantwich, Cheshire Guide £1.25 million
FOR SALE South Hay, Hampshire Guide £800,000
Life in the Country
FOR SALE Standon, Hertfordshire Guide £1.75 million
Lindsay Cuthill Head of Savills Country Department 020 3813 2439 lindsay.cuthill@savills.com
*Source: Savills data, Jan – Nov 2021 vs. Jan – Nov 2019
FOR SALE Tarporley, Cheshire Guide £1.45 million
2021 was an incredible year for Savills in the country. Up to November 2021 we sold an impressive 70% more country properties across the UK than in 2019* making this the perfect time to consider buying or selling property. For more information, do get in touch with our experienced teams.
FOR SALE Norton, Worcestershire Guide £1.55 million
FOR SALE Baunton, Cirencester Guide £985,000
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
West Sussex | Boxgrove
West Sussex | Pulborough
Devon | Christow
Guide Price £670,000
Guide Price £800,000
Guide Price £1,000,000
A charming, end-of-terrace flint cottage, with delightful gardens
A Grade II listed, detached, two-bedroom barn conversion set in just under 3 acres
A remarkable Grade I listed farmhouse with barn set in about one acre
Chichester office 01243 885 665
Horsham office 01403 246 790
Exeter office 01392 248 207
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
Shropshire | Ellesmere
Northumberland | Wingates Suffolk, Fressingfield
Guide Price £700,000
Guide Price £650,000
Guide Price £1,250,000
A characterful Grade II listed period cottage set in 1.6 acres
A charming detached cottage with stabling and paddocks
A stunning Grade II listed village house with granary and vineyard
Shrewsbury office 01743 816 967
Morpeth office 01670 897 443
Suffolk office 01473 220 433
A selection of homes for sale from the people who move you.
Over 50 Offices across England and Scotland, including prime Central London.
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
Clwyd | Marchwiel
Hampshire | Odiham
Inverness-shire | Kiltarlity
Guide Price £485,000
Guide Price £1,000,000
Offers over £600,000
Four-bedroom family home with planning permission for an additional dwelling
A charming Grade II listed property with 4 bedrooms and retail space
An impressive detached home with land and far reaching views
Chester office 01244 456 893
Odiham office 01256 809 691
Inverness office 01463 896 723
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
Kent | Milstead
Oxon | Upper Tadmarton
Hertfordshire | Peters Green
Guide Price £925,000
Guide Price £1,450,000
Guide Price £750,000
A carefully restored and extended period cottage with stylish accommodation
A stunning village house restored and presented to a very high standard
A charming 4-bed Grade II listed cottage in a pretty village setting
Canterbury office 01227 806 892
Banbury office 01295 297 491
Harpenden office 01582 806 270
If you’d like an up-to-date market appraisal, please get in touch with a member of our team.
/struttandparker
@struttandparker
struttandparker.com
A busy year ahead for the Home Counties The popularity of the Home Counties shows no sign of waning. In 2021, offers accepted increased by 100% versus the five-year average*, whilst the number of prospective buyers registering with us also grew by 67%*. Here is a selection of available properties across this desirable collection of counties.
Chipperfield, Hertfordshire Beautiful Grade II listed village home retaining delightful character features.
5 B E D R O O M S | 2 B AT H R O O M S | 4 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | A P P R O X I M AT E LY 0 . 4 8 A C R E S
Guide price £1,850,000
harry.prynn@knightfrank.com 01494 853619
Ascot, Berkshire A stunning family home set in a private and secure gated development. 6 B E D R O O M S | 5 B AT H R O O M S | 4 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | E P C C
Guide price £2,850,000
greg.crosse@knightfrank.com 01344 989436
Oxshott, Surrey A luxury family home providing bright and spacious accommodation extending to just above 7,000 sq ft over three floors.
6 B E D R O O M S | 4 B AT H R O O M S | 4 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | E P C C
Offers in excess of £4,000,000
charles.davenport@knightfrank.com 01932 800998 Source: Knight Frank data
Esher, Surrey A 1930s detached character home set in a private and mature plot.
6 B E D R O O M S | 3 B AT H R O O M S | 4 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | A P P R O X I M AT E LY 1 . 7 4 A C R E S | E P C D
Guide price £3,750,000
adam.burlison@knightfrank.com 01372 885688
Weybridge, Surrey A stunning and imposing classic Edwardian family home.
5 B E D R O O M S | 4 B AT H R O O M S | 3 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | E P C D
Guide price £2,400,000
andrew.chambers@knightfrank.com 01932 809938
Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire A delightful family home in the centre of town with a lovely walled garden. 4 B E D R O O M S | 2 B AT H R O O M S | 2 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | E P C D
Guide price £1,895,000
nick.warner@knightfrank.com 01491 815299
If you’re thinking of selling your home, or would simply like some advice on the market, get in touch today. We’d love to help you.
Your partners in property for 125 years Winner of six customer service experience awards in 2021
knightfrank.co.uk
L A U R E N W R A P C O AT, A VA I L A B L E O N W I N S E R L O N D O N . C O M
Your indispensable guide to the capital
THE STAGE IS SE T
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre has announced its 2022 season—and there’s something for everyone. The stage lights start shining in May with a production of Legally Blonde: The Musical, followed by the stage premiere of 101 Dalmations and a new version of Antigone. Legally Blonde—based on the film of the same name starring Reese Witherspoon— first played in London in 2009, winning
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multiple Olivier Awards. The Regent’s Park production (May 13 to July 2) will be directed by Lucy Moss, co-writer and co-director of the West End’s Six (a musical about Henry VIII’s six wives). It will be followed by a new musical adaptation of 101 Dalmatians, postponed by the pandemic and rescheduled to run throughout the summer holidays (July 12– August 28).
Finally, Sophocles’s Antigone, reimagined by Barber Shop Chronicles playwright Inua Ellams, will play from September 3–24. Legally Blonde and Antigone will have three assisted performances; 101 Dalmatians will have a relaxed performance on August 14 for children and audience members with autism, learning difficulties and sensory or communication needs. RP Visit www.openairtheatre.com for information
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David Jensen Feast Creative
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, NW1
17/12/2021 09:33
LONDON LIFE
News
Plenty to see here
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HIS autumn, the wait for Paris’s Hotel Costes to open in London will be over. This launch in Chelsea, billed as putting Sloane Square on a par with Chiltern Street (famed for its firehouse), will complete a hotel quarter that includes 11 Cadogan Gardens (a sister hotel to Cliveden), the recently opened Beaverbrook Town House and, further up Sloane Street, the Cadogan, a Belmond hotel. The Cadogan is celebrating its own opening: LaLee, an all-day restaurant inspired by British-American actress and socialite Lillie Langtry (www.thelalee.co.uk). She entertained the then Prince of Wales at 21, Pont Street, now part of the hotel. Indeed, the site of Langtry’s old dining room forms part of the new restaurant. Hotel manager Nick Bromhead, who previously worked at The Ritz, says: ‘We imagined the menu she would enjoy; for example, Dover sole de-boned tableside, rum baba and a “Rome-groni” with espresso-infused Campari.’ You can work it off at Vita Boutique Fitness in Sloane Square, the new sister venue to the Milanese studio (www.vivaboutique fitness.com). This six-floor, stone-pilastered temple to fitness is next door to the recently opened World of Ralph Lauren flagship shop. Opposite, grande dame department store Peter Jones is receiving a reassuringly expensive facelift and, along the King’s
Duke of York Square. Chelsea is seeing a wave of new hotel and restaurant openings
Road, Soho Home Studio’s dramatic flagship recently opened in the 19th-century former chapel on Duke of York Square. In Cale Street, off Chelsea Green, Le Petit Beefbar brings Monaco’s Beefbar concept to London (www.beefbar.com). Don’t be fooled by the relaxed ambience: the Kobe beef carpaccio starter, meltingly good fillet frites and softscoop-like gelato mantecato prove dangerously addictive. Upstairs, an intimate dining salle with a fireplace offers the ideal Valentine’s option.
On Chelsea Green itself, Robin Birley is hotly tipped to be opening a bakery and patisserie, joining the cheesemonger (formerly Jane Asher’s cake shop), award-winning greengrocer Andreas and Rex Goldsmith’s renowned fish shop. ‘The more Chelsea changes, the more it stays the same,’ says Mr Goldsmith, who has been trading here for 26 years and has seen his share of celebrities. ‘There’s always been a buzz here and there always will be.’ Daniel Pembrey
Plate up
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Alamy; Jamie Mcgregor-Smith
OPULAR South Kensington bistro Muriel’s Kitchen is opening an espresso bar, café and standalone restaurant inside The National Gallery, this spring. The three venues will cover all necessary dining needs: the espresso bar will provide an on-the-go service, the café will echo the South Kensington matriarch and the more formal restaurant will be open to gallery and non-gallery visitors alike, from breakfast through to dinner, including weekend-brunch and afternoon-tea sittings. A private dining room will be available for hire (www.murielskitchen.co.uk)
Writers Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s former home on Marchmont Street, Bloomsbury, WC1, is for sale with Dexter’s. The first-floor, blue-plaque Victorian flat has two bedrooms, a bathroom, reception room and separate kitchen. Highlights include the original wood floor, large sash windows and a private terrace. It’s on the market for £1,025,000 (020–7833 4466; www.dexters.co.uk)
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News
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London’s Connaught Bar, a longstanding part of Mayfair’s The Connaught Hotel, W1, has retained its best-bar crown for the second year in a row at the World’s 50 Best Bars awards. The only other bar in the capital to make it into the top 10 was Tayer + Elementary in east London
The average number of hours that a London driver wasted sitting in traffic in 2021, according to a report by Inrix. The report, titled the Global Traffic Scorecard, also claimed that London was the most congested city in the world (cities from Asia and Africa were excluded). Inrix’s Peter Lees suggested an increase in cycle lanes was partly to blame; cycling charities have disputed this, pointing out that Inrix’s own data shows that average congestion times have decreased when compared with 2019
Where to buy in 2022
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Alamy; Jamie Mcgregor-Smith
ORNCHURCH is the best first-time buyer location in the capital, according to the online mortgage lender Proportunity. The east London suburb— 12 miles from Charing Cross, London’s official geographical centre, and third stop from the eastern end of the District Line— came out in top place when judged on its affordability, growth potential, crime rates and local schools. Property prices in Hornchurch are well below the London average with two-bedroom flats available from £250,000 and a three-bedroom house from £375,000.
Up until now, Hornchurch’s claim to fame has been its connection to Jilly Cooper: the writer was born there in 1937, although it only became an official part of London in 1965, 28 years later. South London dominated the rest of the list, with East Sheen, Herne Hill and Elmers End all making it into the top 10.
Bookmaker Fitzdares has announced the publication of William Wolfe’s Guide To Excellent Living In London. London Illustrated by Tug Rice—who has also collaborated with Halcyon Days—and written by Martin Williams, the pocket guide lists some of the best venues, shops and service providers in London today (www. fitzdares.com)
LONDON LIFE Editor Rosie Paterson Editor-in-chief Mark Hedges Sub-editors Octavia Pollock, James Fisher Art Heather Clark, Emma Earnshaw, Ben Harris, Dean Usher Pictures Lucy Ford, Emily Anderson Advertising Katie Ruocco 07929 364909 Email firstname.surname@futurenet.com
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LONDON LIFE
The great and the good
January at a glance We’re all guilty of ignoring what’s on our doorstep, so we’ve made it easier for you. Here’s what’s happening this month
Top: Walter’s restaurant Above: Study for Bullfight No. 1, part of the Royal Academy’s ‘Francis Bacon: Man and Beast’ exhibition
From above: Seafood at Home; actor David Suchet; and Romeo and Juliet
Greg Funnell; The Estate of Francis Bacon, DACS/Artimage 2020, Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd; Bill Cooper
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T’S time to ease yourself into another new year, which, thankfully, doesn’t necessarily mean leaving your house. Chef and chief champion of British seafood Mitch Tonks has launched a home-delivery service using fresh fish from Brixham Market (www.therockfish.co.uk/pages/ seafood-at-home). Select what you want from the Seafood at Home website–updated in real time as the fish comes off the boats between 6am and 12 noon–and it’ll be prepared and delivered to your door in 24 hours. If you don’t fancy doing any more cooking, head to Walter’s in West Dulwich– a new restaurant from the team behind Covent Garden’s The Oystermen, which had to double in size the second it opened. Go on a Sunday for the monthly changing sharing dishes (www.walters dulwich.co.uk). Snag a last-minute ticket to David Suchet: Poirot and more, a retrospective, which opened yesterday at the Harold Pinter Theatre for a limited three-week run (www. haroldpintertheatre. co.uk) or a performance of Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, back at the Royal Opera House for a second run from January 10 (www.roh.org.uk/ tickets-and-events). It will be streamed in select cinemas on Valentine’s Day, too. Finally, ‘Francis Bacon: Man and Beast’ opens at the Royal Academy, W1, on January 29 (www.royalacademy.org.uk/ exhibition/francis-bacon).
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COURCHEVEL, SAVOIE, FRANCE £13,520,000
OR
€16,000,000
[8 bedrooms] [8 bathrooms] [2 receptions] [study] A luxurious, private ski in ski out family chalet with spectacular mountain views and private staff quarters inside a secure, exclusive gated community in Courchevel 1850 resort. Spacious with unique hand painted interiors, hot tub spa, wet bar, master suite with private sitting room, wrap around terrace, garage and heated driveway. 020 3918 9635 INTERNATIONAL@HAMPTONS.CO.UK
W W W. H A M P T O N S - I N T E R N AT I O N A L . C O M
St John’s Wood
NW9
LITTLE BLACK BOOK Panzer’s Famous for its smoked salmon, bagels and challah, this deli is a local institution (13–19, Circus Road) Cecilia Colman Gallery Stock up on glass and ceramics artwork, decorative metal and wood pieces and exquisite jewellery at this art gallery (67, St John’s Wood High Street) The Duke of York A favourite with Edward Burchett of Dexters, this pub ‘serves a fantastic Sunday lunch’ (2, St Ann’s Terrace) FaceGym Work-outs and skincare products to create a toned, glowing face (41, St John’s Wood High Street) Soutine Lee Koffman of Sotheby’s International Realty recommends this Parisian-style eatery serving classic French cafe dishes (60, St John’s Wood High Street)
If you go down to the woods today
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Carla Passino traces St John’s Wood history from rural backwater and London’s first garden suburb to music mecca
BBEY ROAD is quiet in late November, the world’s most famous zebra crossing almost lost in the grey drizzle of the autumn morning, from which only red-brick buildings emerge unscathed. It makes it a little easier to imagine what St John’s Wood was like when it was still a rural backwater, before the elegant houses with their pretty gardens, before cricket and before The Beatles. Unlike other parts of London, whose monikers are often misnomers, St John’s Wood
did start life as a wood belonging to the Knights of St John. It was still rural and secluded in the Elizabethan era when, according to Alexander Wood’s Ecclesiastical Antiquities of London and its Suburbs, five Babington Plot conspirators, including Anthony Babington, fled here to avoid arrest (they were eventually captured on their way to Harrow and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered). By then, St John’s Wood was Crown property, but Oliver Cromwell sold it in 1649 and, after a succession of owners,
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Alamy
LONDON LIFE
Alamy
St John’s Wood
it came into the hands of the Eyre family, who would develop it into London’s first garden suburb in the early 19th century. At about the time building began in earnest, the Eyres also leased some land to cricketer Thomas Lord, who had been looking for a new home for his Marylebone Cricket Club. After a brief spell at an unpopular site, ‘the Eyre estate gave him a new location right in the heart of St John’s Wood,’ says Neil Robinson of the MCC. ‘It was very successful and we have been there for 207 years.’ The first match was played in St John’s Wood Road on June 22, 1814. Since then, Lord’s has seen many great moments, including the opening of the great Thomas Verity pavilion in 1890, the day in which Florence Darnley, wife of England captain Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl Darnley, presented to the MCC the urn symbolising the ‘Ashes’, and, more recently, the great matches that changed the sport’s history: the first men’s World Cup final in 1975, won by the West Indies; the 1983 final, won by India, which ignited the passion for limited overs in the country; and the 2017 women’s World Cup final, in which England beat India
(the feat is celebrated in an exhibition on women’s cricket currently held at the Lord’s Museum). ‘That final was probably one of the greatest games of one-day cricket that has ever taken place at Lord’s,’ notes Mr Robinson. The men joined the women with victory in the 2019 World Cup at the iconic ground.
‘The first match was played in St John’s Wood Road on June 22, 1814’ All this, however, was very nearly scuppered twice in the 19th century—first in 1823, when Lord considered developing housing on the cricket ground until MCC member, MP and Bank of England director William Ward bought the lease from him; then, in 1866, when the club bought the ground’s freehold from a speculator, after another member, William Nicholson, lent it the money at a preferential rate. Their generosity secured the future of Lord’s, which is now looking forward to
LONDON LIFE
opening a gate in honour of the late England captain Rachael Heyhoe Flint later this year and hosting an Ashes Test in 2023. Cricket, however, was not the only draw that brought gentlemen to St John’s Wood. Conveniently close to London, but far away and leafy enough to be private, this was the ideal place to keep a mistress. One such was Harriet Howard, who turned from daughter of a humble bootmaker into an emperor’s paramour. She met the then Louis Napoleon at a party in 1846, went on to share with him a house in Circus Road and helped fund his campaign to rule France. Although, once emperor, Napoleon III cast her aside to marry Eugénie de Montijo, he didn’t forget the debt he owed her and made her Countess of Beauregard. Perhaps it’s because of these ‘heroines of passions and victims of propriety’, as Alan Montgomery Eyre calls them in his 1913 book, Saint John’s Wood, that the area evolved into an open-minded community that also proved very attractive to artists and writers. Between 1825 and 1873, Sir Edwin Landseer created most of his 19
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LONDON LIFE
St John’s Wood
masterpieces, including the designs for the Nelson statue lions, at a house in St John’s Wood Road. Later in the century, a group of painters that included Philip Hermogenes Calderon, Frederick Goodall, George Adolphus Storey, Henry Stacy Marks and William Yeames formed the St John’s Wood clique and breathed fresh life into historical genre paintings, as portraitist James Jacques Tissot scandalised polite society (for his relationship with a divorced woman, Kathleen Newton) and French critics (for his lavish lifestyle, complete with Champagne on ice permanently in stock in his waiting room) from his villa in Grove End Road. On both accounts, St John’s Wood proved the perfect retreat for him, as it was for George Eliot, who shared her house at 21, North Bank with George Henry Lewes, to whom she was not married. In their footsteps followed many other art and literary greats, including Katherine Mansfield, Barbara Hepworth and Stephen Spender. However, it was music
that eventually became most closely associated with the area. In 1929, the Gramophone Company bought 3, Abbey Road ‘for the well-sized house, large gardens and ideal location, close enough to the performance spaces of the time, but away from the noise and vibrations of the traffic and trains,’ says the Abbey Road Studios managing director, Isabel Garvey. ‘Abbey Road was the first purpose-built recording studio in the world.’ Since then, anyone who was and is anyone in music has crossed its threshold: ‘From Pink Floyd, Shirley Bassey and Fela Kuti to Oasis, Adele, Amy Winehouse, Kanye West, Ed Sheeran and Frank Ocean, the indescribable magic of Abbey Road is that there is music created within its walls that resonates with and inspires each generation of music maker.’ And, of course, The Beatles recorded 190 of their 210 career tracks there. It was fitting that what turned out to be their last album together would carry the name of the place that
‘Tissot scandalised polite society and French critics from Grove End Road’
THE UPS AND DOWNS
Residents love the area’s village atmosphere and its many great pubs, restaurants, shops and cafés Residents like the fact that everything is within easy reach, from Regent’s Park to the London Zoo and the West End Residents could do without excessive basement developments
had been their spiritual home. The cover image of the group crossing Abbey Road in August 1969 has become one of the most widely imitated in the world and at the time even sparked a zany theory that Paul McCartney had died, because, among other things, he was pictured walking barefoot (more prosaically, it seems he had removed his shoes because the weather was hot). The Beatles gave the Studios its ultimate name (it had previously been called EMI Studios), turned the humble zebra crossing into a Grade II-listed landmark with its own webcam (www.earthcam.com/world/england/ london/abbeyroad)—and etched St John’s Wood in the collective imagination.
At home in St John’s Wood
Hamilton Terrace, £9.95 million Set close to the tube station and the American School of London, this 5,070sq ft house is an ideal family home. The elegant interior, arranged across four floors, includes six bedrooms and four reception rooms, some with striking feature fireplaces. But the real winner is the 139ft rear garden, with its established plants, terrace for alfresco dining and a sculpture by artist Mariele Neudecker. Sotheby’s International Realty (07710 469156)
Park Road, £3.25 million Situated on the fourth floor of an apartment block close to Regent’s Park, this elegant, 1,948sq ft property is well suited for entertaining: it has a large reception room with an imposing fireplace and a separate formal dining room, plus a kitchen that’s big enough to dine in. There also are three bedrooms, including an especially spacious master suite with built-in cupboards. Dexters (020–7483 6300)
Hamilton Terrace, £17.5 million Originally built in about 1850, this vast house has been entirely renovated to fit the most exacting of buyers. Its 12,453sq ft interior, which is arranged over five floors, has everything, from four bedrooms (the master suite takes up the entire first floor and has its own terrace) to a home cinema, swimming pool, bar, gym, games room, spa pool and sauna, plus two kitchens and magnificent landscaped grounds. Beauchamp Estates (020–7722 9793)
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WELLINGTON COURT, SW1X £12,300 PW LONG LET
[8 bedrooms] [10 bathrooms] [4 receptions] [home office] A unique lateral apartment in a prestigious building in the heart of Knightsbridge extending to over of 4,800 sq ft with front line views over Hyde Park . Offering eight bedrooms, ten bathrooms, a home office, four reception rooms and a porter. EPC C 020 3930 5491
KNIGHTSBRIDGELETTINGS@HAMPTONS.CO.UK
HAMPTONS.CO.UK
LONDON LIFE
The great and the good
Seasonal suggestions There’s plenty of things to do, see and eat in January–and staying busy is the best antidote to the inevitable post-Christmas blues What to do Beat the January blues with a spot of song and dance. Showstopper! The Improvised Musical is showing at the Lyric Theatre, W1, on January 24 (www. showstopperthemusical.com) What to eat After all that turkey and Boxing Day ham, something light and preferably meat-free. The Good Egg, W1, Rosa’s Thai (below, multiple venues) and Rovi, W1, all serve excellent vegetarian fare
What to buy A piece of modern art. The annual London Art Fair returns to Angel’s Business Design Centre, January 18–23 (www.londonartfair.co.uk)
Here’s looking at the Hackney carriage
• The etymology of Hackney carriage is disputed: some argue that hackney comes from the French word hacquenée—a horse available to hire; others argue that the carriages were named after the hireling horses kept in the London borough. Regardless, they first appeared on London’s streets during the reign of Elizabeth I, serving members of the public who could not afford to keep their own horse, carriage and staff • Second-hand carriages were sold to merchants and innkeepers whose disreputable service inspired Capt John Bailey—who sailed with Sir Walter Raleigh—to set up the first, formally organised taxi rank. Motorised taxis started to replace horse-drawn carriages in the late 19th century (although they didn’t outnumber them until 1910), but there was no uniform design or manufacturer. Today, all registered black cabs must have a tight turning circle (in case they need to navigate the incredibly small roundabout at the Savoy Hotel) and taximeter. They are not legally required to be black • The TX4 purpose-built taxicab (above) is one of the most recognisable vehicles in the world and has starred in more than 5,000 films, including multiple ‘James Bond’ movies. It is now manufactured abroad, but its successor, the hybrid-electric Dynamo, is made near Coventry in the West Midlands
Norton & Sons 16, SAVILE ROW, W1S
T
Open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm (020–7437 0829; www.nortonandsons.co.uk)
HE tailors of Savile Row stitch about 10,000 suits a year and only 250 of them come from Norton & Sons. They don’t employ a PR firm, nor do they advertise. The narrow shopfront is decorated with disarming chalk-pen drawings by the artist Will Broome. Inside, there’s a single room with two squashy sofas on brass casters, upholstered in soft navy Melton, where guests can sink and run their hands over fabric samples, and talk about what they’d like to have made. The customers are mainly men, and a handful of women: senior executives; a few film stars and politicians; a couple of Turner prizewinning artists. How did they come to choose Norton & Sons? ‘We’re a small house, and we pride ourselves on being knowledgeable and friendly,’ says Patrick Grant, the director. ‘We take what we do incredibly seriously, but we’re not incredibly serious people. Any of the bespoke tailors on this street will make you an exceptional suit. It’s about finding a place where you feel at home.’ Jo Rodgers
Illustration by Polly Crossman; Getty Images; Alamy; Hayden Perrior
Shop of the month
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LONDON LIFE
M Y P L AT E O F V I E W
Evelyn’s Table, 28, Rupert Street, W1
A green space BROWN HART GARDENS, M AY FA I R , W 1
Y
OU could pass this garden on top of an old electricity substation every day and not notice it, which would be a shame— not only because of the stylish wooden planters and interesting planting, but also because it frequently doubles as an exciting exhibition space. The latest artwork to land is Sonic Bloom by sound artist and designer
Yuri Suzuki, part of the Grosvenor estate’s ongoing mission to make its spaces ‘gorgeous and delightful’. The planting is a colourful mix of salvias, cosmos, heuchera, dwarf conifers, cacti and tactile grasses. A water feature, cleverly designed to be flush with a stone seat, adds sound and motion—and an irresistible spot to sit, on sunnier days. Natasha Goodfellow is the author of ‘A London Floral’ and her next guide, ‘A Cotswold Garden Companion’, will be published in March (www.finchpublishing.co.uk)
Psst... pass it on Illustration by Polly Crossman; Getty Images; Alamy; Hayden Perrior
O
LD SPIKE ROASTERY—London’s first carbon- and plastic-neutral speciality coffee shop—now has a store in Piccadilly (15, Sherwood Street, W1), the company’s first outside Peckham. As well as an ongoing partnership with the Eden Reforestation Project, the new site has teamed up with The Connection at St Martin-in-the-Fields to help alleviate homelessness in the local area.
London curiosities ON THE FACE OF IT
T
HIS Coade-stone porch at 80, Pall Mall, SW1, was commissioned in 1791 by the Polygraphic Society. The society exhibited here, hence the reclining figure of Painting on the parapet. It was added to a 17th-century house built for Duke of Schomberg.
London restaurants love a superlative: the biggest burger (Bleecker’s double cheeseburger, supposedly); most expensive steak (a £1,450 24-carat goldwrapped tomahawk in Knightsbridge). Small things don’t really get a look in. Which is a shame, because, right now, what is probably London’s smallest dining room is serving one of its most exciting, and best value, tasting menus. Evelyn’s Table is hidden in the basement of The Blue Posts on Rupert Street —the ground floor houses the eponymous pub, whereas upstairs bar The Mulwray offers cocktails and wine flights. Beneath them both is ‘an intimate 10-seater counter dining experience’, tricked out with marble and flattering brass lamps. Head chef Luke Selby, who runs Evelyn’s Table with his brothers Nat and Theo, has worked at Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons, Dabbous and Hide. He also spent time at Nihonryori Ryugin in Tokyo. This shows, not only in the sake that’s paired with our first course of line-caught mackerel, gooseberry and elderflower—Tori, a small-batch, Britishmade bottling, chosen by ex-Noma Mexico sommelier Honey Spencer— but in the way the hero ingredients are allowed to shine. A Cornish wild mussel comes encircled with tempura-battered shiso leaves and anointed with tiny cubes of tomato, and a matching bowl of broth on the side. Dry-aged duck, burnished and furnished, is carved in front of you. For pudding, a beautifully boozy savarin is complemented by a straight-from-the-hedgerow blackcurrant jam and a scoop of meadowsweet ice cream. As the evening progresses, what could be Evelyn’s Table’s weakness proves to be its strength. So many tasting menus are hushed, clenched affairs. Here, it’s hard for anyone—staff, diners—to be too uptight about the whole thing when you’re practically sitting on your neighbour’s lap. Plus it’s £75 a head for five courses and a further £70 for an optional paired wine flight: a steal for cooking this clever and interesting. The Evelyn it takes its name from might be fictional, but this place is the real deal. Emma Hughes
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All eyes on London. From Victorian stucco fronted townhouses to Art Deco apartments, whether you're looking for a family home, investment property or one bedroom residence, we can help you turn your London property dream into a reality in 2022.
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128% Prospective tenants were 128% higher in London versus the five-year average.*
Bell Street, Marylebone NW1 Guide price £1,150 per week
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Blenheim House, Crown Square, Tower Bridge SE1
Montagu Mews North, Marylebone W1H
Guide price £1,650 per week
Guide price £875 per week
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Source: Knight Frank data October-November 2021 versus the five-year average.*
All potential tenants should be advised that, as well as rent and the deposit, an administration fee of £288 and referencing fees of £48 per person will apply when renting a property (if not an AST). (All fees shown are inclusive of VAT.) If the landlord agrees to you having a pet, you may be required to pay a higher deposit (if not an AST) or higher weekly rent (if an AST). Please ask us for more information about other fees that will apply or visit www.knightfrank.co.uk/tenantfees.
Sloane Court West, Chelsea SW3 Guide price £1,995,000
Narrow Street, Ratcliffe Wharf, Limehouse E14 anna.narizzano@knightfrank.com
Guide price £1,995,000
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95% New prospective buyers were up 95% in London versus the five-year average (excluding 2020).*
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Farnell Mews, Earls Court SW5 Guide price £1,750,000
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Your partners in property for 125 years Winner of six customer service experience awards in 2021
Guide price £1,695,000
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LONDON LIFE
LET’S START AT THE VERY
BEGINNING
Queen Victoria and her retinue parade from Buckingham Palace to St Paul’s Cathedral in celebration of her Diamond Jubilee
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Alamy
The first issue of COUNTRY LIFE was published 125 years ago. Former Editor Clive Aslet takes a look at what was happening in London at the same time
LONDON LIFE
T
HE great procession rolled on. Monarchs, maharajas, ambassadors, the British Army and the Royal Navy; Imperial troops came from the immensity of Australia and mere dots on the map, such as Malta; from the rock of Hong Kong and the open spaces of New Zealand; from old colonies in the West Indies and new ones in Africa. Canada, Natal, India, Ceylon, Fiji, Rhodesia, Cyprus, the Straits Settlements, Borneo, Jamaica, Trinidad, Bermuda, Barbados, Sierra Leone, Gambia, the Gold Coast, Lagos, Northern and Southern Nigeria. Eventually came the carriage containing the focus of the parade, the Queen Empress herself, a dumpy lady in black who had been on the throne for 60 years. It was June 1897 and the great pageant of the Diamond Jubilee was under way.
Alamy
‘The New Sculpture of the 1890s was less muscular, less sensuous, than that of the deceased president of the RA’ Six months before, COUNTRY LIFE had been founded in Tavistock Street, WC2. It was born into a world that must have seemed, to some contemporaries, immutable. The Empire was at its zenith, supported with wild, even violent enthusiasm by most of the public. With hindsight, it is wisps of water vapour in the sky, clouds that would gather into the tornado of self-destruction that destroyed much of the old order across Europe during the First World War. The German eagle was making a nuisance of itself in the Far East, picking over the carcass of the Chinese Empire. Britain would soon be ingloriously embroiled in the Boer War. Social changes were afoot. The Suffragette movement took shape when two previous groups merged into the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, under Millicent Fawcett as president. Few people could yet have predicted the lengths to which the campaign would be taken during the Edwardian decade, nor perhaps the effect that motorcars would have in overturning the settled ways of the country house, together with canary-coloured caravans. ‘Here today—in next week tomorrow!’ Mr Toad would rhapsodise when The Wind in the Willows was published in 1908 and hostesses fretted that guests would no longer stay for a fortnight, but leave after luncheon to eat dinner somewhere
Ahead of the times: an electric taxi (or ‘hummingbird’) of the London Electrical Cab Co
else. Two events of 1897 signalled the direction of travel: the founding of both the Shell Oil Company and the Automobile Club of Great Britain (later called the Royal Automobile Club). The first motor taxis appeared on the streets of London and the first drink-driving conviction was handed out (to a taxi driver). Like the newly fashionable sport of golf, it would be closely followed in COUNTRY L IFE , whose proprietor owned a Rolls-Royce driven by a chauffeur called Perkins. The cinema was coming. The year 1897 saw the appearance of The X-Rays, a British film that had fun with the means of detecting electromagnetic radiation discovered two years before; the special effects were achieved by painting skeletons on dark clothing. It was the year in which ‘computer’, meaning a machine for calculating, entered the language—in the British magazine Engineering, rather than California. Electricity, which would revolutionise domestic life after the First World War, was being applied to the problems of the country house. Improvements to carpet sweepers in the US would be followed, in 1901, by the first patent for a vacuum cleaner, invented by the English engineer H.Cecil Booth, who founded the British Vacuum Cleaner Company. Initially, its machines were large pumps mounted on carts, from which hoses were fed through the windows of the houses being cleaned; small machines that could be moved from room to room—unless the house were fitted with a central pump connected by pipes to outlets fitted in the skirting board—were introduced within a few years. In 1897, the Royal Academy (RA) held a retrospective exhibition of Lord Leighton’s
sculpture, following the artist’s death the year before. An age had passed. The New Sculpture of the 1890s was less muscular, more sensuous than that of the deceased president of the RA, whose ideal had been Michelangelo. Alfred Gilbert’s ‘Eros’ on the Shaftesbury Memorial on Piccadilly Circus was still causing a stir, the lightness of the effect—the winged god is poised on the sole of a foot—made possible by the use of aluminium. (Was it appropriate, some asked, that this monument to the great philanthropist should have been erected in a notorious haunt of prostitutes?) Oscar Wilde was released from Reading Gaol. Havelock Ellis and John Addington Symonds published Sexual Inversion, the first medical textbook on homosexuality. But fin-de-siècle London was not the Vienna of Freud; Gilbert and Sullivan set the tone, not Gustav Klimt. The Tate Gallery opened on the Embankment to show Sir Henry Tate’s wholesomely narrative paintings of a generation before, such as Millais’s The Boyhood of Raleigh. Edwin Lutyens—the architect behind COUNTRY L IFE’s first offices and founder Edward Hudson’s multiple homes—was married to Lady Emily Lytton in 1897. He was getting into his stride, designing Fulbrook and Orchards, both in his native Surrey, as well as Berrydown in Hampshire and the Pleasaunce in Norfolk. Gertrude Jekyll was awarded the Victoria medal of honour by the Royal Horticultural Society. The future Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, won the Ascot Gold Cup with Persimmon, commemorated in a gold trophy made by Garrard in the form of the Warwick Vase. What a wonderful time to start a country magazine. 27
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LONDON LIFE
Where is home in London and what do you enjoy most about your neighbourhood? I live in South Kensington with my wife and 10-month-old son, Kilian. It’s enormously well connected, so I love that I can cycle into Soho in 20 minutes and yet am surrounded by peace and greenery. We have the V&A Museum and the Royal Albert Hall on our doorstep, even if, admittedly, we don’t go to them as much as we should. Locally, we tend to frequent Sticks’n’Sushi on the King’s Road quite a bit (113–115, King’s Road, SW3), but life has changed immeasurably over the past 10 months. Previously, we’d go out for dinner a lot, now we relish going out for lunch whenever possible.
‘If feels as if you could be in the most remote part of the world, at the heart of its liveliest city’ Is there anything you miss about living outside the city? Only the space. In fact, we’re thinking of moving to Queen’s Park for more room. That being said, I don’t think I’d ever move back to Buckinghamshire. I’ve become used to the joy of having everything on my doorstep. London is the most diverse city on the planet and not only in terms of the people: the restaurants, the culture, the shops, the theatre, all of it. Long may it continue. Beyond your own restaurants, where do you like to eat in the capital? We adore The Palomar (34, Rupert Street, W1). It’s great fun with a relaxed vibe. It reminds me of Blacklock, actually, in terms of atmosphere. Frenchie for the bacon scones (16, Henrietta Street, WC2). Now that we
Green spaces at the heart of London. Below A roast to savour at Blacklock
T H E C A P I TA L A C C O R D I N G T O ...
Gordon Ker
The founder of Blacklock talks to Harry McKinley about making the most of London with a newborn and his favourite restaurants
go out less, however, we tend to choose slightly more special spots. La Petite Maison is a current favourite and was the first restaurant we went to after Kilian was born (53–54, Brook’s Mews, W1). The Anya Hindmarch café in Knightsbridge is also a regular; a lovely, small, quiet spot to take the little man (9, Pont Street, SW1). What do you think you brought to the London dining scene that was missing? At Blacklock, we’re focused on exceptional quality. We believe we serve the best meat in the country, have great service, brilliant atmosphere, but with a nice, friendly bill at the end. The brand has grown organically. From our first location in Soho (24, Great Windmill Street, W1), I’m excited to be opening our fourth next month, in Covent Garden. If you lifted the curtain on your personal, lesserdiscovered London, what would it reveal? I don’t know if this is really a secret, but
there’s a fantastic spa that my wife and I go to called Akasha. It has all the trimmings, five floors underneath Piccadilly Circus at the Hotel Café Royal (10, Air Street, W1). You’re in the busiest part of London, but descend into this zone of complete tranquillity. It feels as if you could be in the most remote part of the world, even at the heart of one of its most lively cities. How do you spend your weekends? Well, very differently now. There’s a Granger & Co in Chelsea that we go to often (237–239, Pavilion Road, SW1). Eggs at the weekend are always good. Walks in Hyde Park, of course, another perk of our current neighbourhood. I’m off coffee during the week, so I savour it at the weekends, with the papers. That’s my new Saturday or Sunday ritual with Kilian. We’ve just tipped into the new year, do you have a resolution? To open a fantastic restaurant in Covent Garden. Oh, and get the little man walking. Blacklock Covent Garden is due to open on February 7 (www.theblacklock.com)
Alamy
You didn’t grow up in London, did you? No, I’m from Buckinghamshire, came to London for university and stayed. I studied law at UEL [the University of East London] and became a lawyer, working in private equity in the City, helping businesses secure investment and grow. I always wanted my own venture and the exposure I got to hospitality from the law side set me up to open a restaurant. A complete career change obviously, but a calculated one.
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Through the mists of time A history of the past 125 years can be read in COUNTRY LIFE’s thousands upon thousands of property advertisements. Annunciata Elwes dives in
B
ROWSING the COUNTRY L IFE archive is a heady trip down the rabbit hole. Eventually, one gives up specific searches, the results are too numerous and the amusingly dated advertisements for nylon tights and lawnmowers too distracting. In fact, it’s harder to find country houses that haven’t been featured one, two or many more times. Over the past 125 years, our property pages have revealed a strange timeline of the ebbs and flows of Britain’s fortunes, not to mention journalistic style. We’ve leapt from ‘Within easy reach of the Belvoir... eighteen best bed and dressing rooms… twenty-six loose boxes’ (Gaddesby Hall, Leicestershire, 1897) to helipads, saunas, electric gates and ‘7 bedrooms (6 en suite)’. Within that time, we’ve seen a flurry of family estates come to the market after the First World War, hunting boxes and castles to let for £100 a year and cottages for £5 after the Second World War; we can trace everything from financial crashes to the rise of neo-Georgian architecture and the Church selling off old vicarages (ramped up in the 1960s), followed in later decades by luxurious newbuilds, controversial conversions and the odd Paragraph 55-approved plot. In 1912, Knight, Frank & Rutley famously purchased estate agents Walton & Lee (for £4,000) solely to secure the prime front-page advertisement in COUNTRY L IFE . That same
year, the magazine carried an advertisement for the roofing balustrade, columns and urns of demolished Trentham Hall, Staffordshire, priced at £200, which is said to have marked the start of the era of country-house destruction; by 1955, one was being demolished every five days. Most will also have heard how Stonehenge, advertised in 1915, was bought for £6,600 by a man called Cecil Chubb who, mistakenly thinking his wife might like it as a gift, ended up giving it to the nation.
We’ve leapt from “Within easy reach of the Belvoir...” to helipads, saunas and “7 bedrooms, 6 en suite” As the pages of property that have fattened COUNTRY L IFE for the past 125 years encapsulate British culture from such a unique perspective, we assure you, the selection of advertisements presented here was hard to slim down. Goodness knows what the next 125 years will hold; if they’re anywhere near as eventful as life has been since 1897, we’ll stay tuned.
1897
COUNTRY LIFE’s first issue (January 8, 1897) featured Stowe House, Buckinghamshire, ‘ancestral home of the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos, and now become vacant in consequence of the late tenant, H. R. H. Comte de Paris’, to be let or sold through Messrs Walton & Lee. The impossibly grand house with its templedotted landscape had been in decline for decades and was eventually sold for £50,000 through Jackson-Stops in 1921; Stowe School opened two years later and still flourishes
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1935
The current owner of Gothic-style Toddington Manor—which Sir Charles Barry cannily used as inspiration for his Houses of Parliament design, its then owner being head of the competition judges—is Damien Hirst. The Gloucestershire pile has been encased in scaffolding for more than a decade, to the annoyance of locals, and it is said the artist hopes to turn it into a gallery and his family home. As to its being on the market in 1935, the National Union of Teachers bought it in 1939 as an air-raid free base, the grounds of which they shared with Dunkirk evacuees and the US Army, which later took over the house
1912
The ad that ‘launched’ 1,000 (and then some) country-house demolitions, the once magnificent Trentham Hall in Staffordshire was also designed by Barry. Sewage from the Stoke potteries flowing into the lake via the River Trent somewhat soured the Capability Brown parkland and, from 1905, the 4th Duke of Sutherland chose not to live there. Sadly unwanted—both local council and Potteries rejected it—it was demolished in 1912. Various remains, including the now Grade II*-listed Grand Entrance and Orangery, are on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register 87
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1946
Park Place in Berkshire (left, unnamed), was sold in 2011 to a Russian billionaire for £140 million, setting a record as Britain’s most expensive home outside London. Before then, it had indeed been a school, as the 1946 advertisement advises, and was also the set for the 2007 film St Trinian’s
1921
Sir Winston Churchill purchased Chartwell in Kent through Knight Frank in 1922 for £5,000, apparently without consulting Clementine. It was home to his family for the next 40 years, not to mention goldfish, miniature poodles Rufuses I and II and Jock the marmalade cat. ‘A day away from Chartwell is a day wasted,’ he was known to say
1906
Norris Castle on the Isle of Wight, with its Humphry Repton grounds, was a favourite with Queen Victoria. Currently being reimagined as a luxury hotel, it seems that the suggestion of Hampton & Sons that it become a ‘high-class watering place… at which all passenger steamers could call’ never came to fruition
1925
What exactly is Fonthill Abbey? One might well be confused. The Wiltshire estate has enjoyed a number of architectural guises— a 16th-century house replaced by an 18th-century one that burnt down and was followed by a Palladian incarnation, which was mostly demolished. Next came Wyatt’s Gothic Revival Abbey in 1796, which fell down in 1825. A Scots Baronial Abbey was built some 500 yards away in the 1850s —the house seen here, on the market with Messrs Rawlence & Squarey in 1925—demolished in 1955. A pavilion surviving from the Palladian version was expanded until its demolition and a new Fonthill House was built at the beginning of the 20th century, demolished and replaced in the 1970s with the Classical-style version that stands today 88
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1991
The great architects who designed many of our country houses may have been horrified that, a couple of hundred years down the line, their creations would be divided up, too expensive to maintain as a whole. Life certainly has changed since James Paine built Georgian New Wardour Castle in Wiltshire (the ruins of the old one remain a charming landscape feature) for the Arundell family in 1776. For about 30 years until 1990, it was the Cranborne Chase boarding school for girls and passed for the Royal Ballet School in the film Billy Elliot. After he spotted an advertisement in COUNTRY LIFE, it was sold in 1992 for less than £1 million to a developer who restored it, turned the wings into flats (see the advertisement of 1995, below) and eventually sold the huge, central part of the house to Jasper Conran for £2.75 million in 2010
Winston Churchill purchased Chartwell through Knight Frank for £5,000, apparently without consulting Clementine 89
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1980
Quite the prize, when it was marketed in 1980, the 763 acres of Middle Hill estate, Worcestershire, included Cotswolds landmark Broadway Tower
1904
Pitt the Elder lived at Hayes Place, Kent, Pitt the Younger was born there and the sprawling pile was later home to the Hambro banking family. Demolished in 1933, it is illustrated here for sale through Hampton & Sons (later Hamptons)
1966
An extremely early example of colour photography in a COUNTRY LIFE property advertisement, which agents used only sporadically through the 1970s. Purchased in 1976 for £1.5 million, Mereworth Castle, Kent— one of five houses in Britain inspired by Palladio’s Villa Rotonda and a prisonerof-war camp in the Second World War—is now the home of Mahdi Al Tajir, the Bahrain-born businessman who owns Highland Spring
1972
Founded in 1855, Savills has been through numerous iterations. At one time, following two mergers, letters from the Chelmsford office had to be signed ‘Yours faithfully, Alfred Savill, Curtis & Henson and Balls & Balls’. Luckily for the country’s ink supplies, things were simplified in 1972
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2018
Picture-perfect Georgian Bledisloe House, Gloucestershire, was sold through Savills in May 2020 (asking price £9.25 million)
1915
‘I thought a Salisbury man ought to buy it, and that is how it was done.’ It’s said that Mrs Chubb was unimpressed when her husband, Cecil, presented her with the gift of Stonehenge, purchased on a whim for £6,600, having gone to an auction in Salisbury intending to buy some chairs. He gifted it to the nation in 1918—an act of generosity that earned him a baronetcy—with the condition that locals visit for free and that the public shouldn’t pay ‘a sum exceeding one shilling’. Stonehenge was advertised in COUNTRY LIFE as part of the sale of the Amesbury Abbey estate
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