Country Life: November 2, 2022 Early Property Pages

Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Ipswich Station: 20 miles (London LiverpoolStreet from 75 minutes)

Porlock

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We valuethe opportunityfor change

As the pace of life begins to gain momentum after the lull of the warm summer sun, our mind wanders to cooler weather as we start to embrace the festive season When life retreats inside the home we can notice the need for more space and the seemingly small things that can make a big difference

We are here to ensure you make the right move in time Contact us for a market appraisal and start your property journey today

RANGEMORE STAFFORDSHIRE

A beautiful period detached family home, full of charm and character sat on wonderful grounds, approaching 8 acres

EPC: F | Council Tax: G Tenure: Freehold offers over £2,000,000 Contact: 07496 710557

CLAINES

WORCESTERSHIRE

Beechfield House has been finished to an exceptional standard, approached along a sweeping driveway with spectacular views

EPC: D | Council Tax: H Tenure: Freehold £2,250,000 Contact: 01905 678111

BENOVER KENT

This exceptional four bedroom detached residence boasts elegant interiors and equestrian facilities with stabling and a 5 5 acre paddock

EPC: C

Council Tax:

Tenure: Freehold £1,700,000 Contact: 01732

FIVE ASHES

EAST SUSSEX

A beautiful 1920s five bedroom family home with a swimming pool, garaging, a workshop and a detached one bedroom annexe

EPC: D | Council Tax: G Tenure: Freehold OIEO £1,500,000 Contact: 01825 767575

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Your indispensable guide to the capital

IS THIS THE REAL WORLD?

EVERYTHING is science fiction,’ said Marie Lu, ‘until someone makes it science fact.’ We live in an ever-changing and advancing society. The joy of sci-fi is that it allows us to understand the ethics of real-world issues within an imagined space. What did HAL 9000 tell us about the moral ethics of a purely logical being? What did Asimov’s I, Robot tell us about the difference between humanity and robots? What did Star Trek tell us about the benefits of a truly equal and equitable society? With each passing year, these questions become more relevant: cars will drive themselves, your Alexa is listening to you and we continue to seek life on other planets.

This is the focus of ‘Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination’, the Science Museum’s interactive exhibition on this broad genre. Featuring props, literature and art from the greatest minds that have imagined our future, the exhibition reminds us that science fiction is not always quite as far-fetched as it might seem.

JF ‘Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination’ is at the Science Museum, London SW7, until May 4, 2023. Tickets from £20 (www.sciencemuseum.org.uk)

Live well

PAN PACIFIC London’s wellness floor is now open to the public to use. The 11,000sq ft space—featuring an infinity pool (above), spa and state-of-the-art gym—was originally only available to hotel guests, but day passes are now available.

The Singaporean hotel, a 43-storey tower moments from Liverpool Street Station (80, Houndsditch, EC3) opened earlier this year (www.panpacific.com/en/hotels-and-resorts/ pp-london/wellbeing.html)

Sweet dreams

CHRISTMAS is fast descending on the capital and bringing with it a cornucopia of sweet treats to help you find your festive spirit. Melt London’s plastic-free offerings include boxes of orange slices dipped in dark chocolate (£18, below) and personalisable chocolate robins (above) and penguins (from £14.50).

The showstopper is the artisan Holland Park House advent calendar (£210), its Georgian-style façade hiding 24 doors, each

stencilled with a famous London landmark, including Pineapple House, Chiswick House and Kenwood House. Fancy trying your hand at chocolate making? Melt offers virtual and on-site chocolate-making courses at its Notting Hill chocolatier (www. meltchocolates.com).

In Knightsbridge, The Berkeley hotel has unveiled its latest afternoon tea, inspired by the autumn/winter catwalk collections of Ralph Lauren, Prada and Harris Reed (from £75 per person). Prada’s camel coat has been reimagined in chocolate biscuit and intricate royal icing; Self-Portrait’s bow handbag in Victoria sponge, orange marmalade and Ivoire chocolate (www. the-berkeley.co.uk).

Move over mince pies, because Crosstown doughnuts has unveiled its wintery flavours, available to buy with next-day delivery across the UK—perfect for those last-minute thankyou presents. Choose between brown butter and chestnut, pear and ginger or black forest cake; there’s a curated selection box of six or 12 (from £26.95). Gift wrap is also available (www.crosstown.co.uk/christmas).

Natasa

Leoni

The average cost of a London rental per week, according to estate agent Foxtons. The same report revealed that 29 renters competed for each available property in September

A hard nut to crack

THE Royal Opera House’s The Nutcracker ballet is back. To celebrate, COUNTRY L IFE caught up with Mayara Magri, one of the company’s principal dancers, as she prepares to take on the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

What are your first memories of The Nutcracker ? Do you remember going to see a performance or watching a film version as a child?

I grew up in Brazil. [It’s] obviously a hot country, so the idea of Christmas is very dif ferent. I saw—aged 12, perhaps 13—the Royal Ballet version. I was obsessed with the Royal Ballet videos and DVDs and we could access it all via YouTube. What’s your favourite part of The Nutcracker to dance and why?

My favourite part is the Rose Fairy, who leads the Waltz of the Flowers just before the Sugar Plum Fairy dances. It’s not as tiring as the Sugar Plum Fairy role. You wear a gorgeous tutu and a gorgeous wig and the dancing is a lot shorter—short and sweet— to this lovely Tchaikovsky tune that everybody knows. The Sugar Plum Fairy [appears at] the peak of Act II. It’s tough, but I love a challenge and I am the type of dancer who enjoys a physical role. I get to dance with my lovely partner, Ryoichi Hirano [The Prince] (above) , and I feel like we have a lot of chemistry. It’s a real joy to perform and rehearse with him. How long do you have to rehearse and prepare for this season’s Nutcracker ? The rehearsals start six weeks before we are on stage. It’s a tough role, so the more you prepare for it the better. It is very long and the music keeps on building and the technique is very pure. It’s port de bras —you can’t simply dance your way through… and perhaps that is why it is so tiring, because you can’t just let it out. You have to be very proper about how you move. I feel as if the audience thinks ‘they look so nice and pleasant’, but we are actually really tired trying to get through a long grand pas de deux How many pairs of ballet shoes will you go through in one season of performances? Oh-oh! Lots of them! As I said, it’s so particular, it’s so proper, that you have to train with good shoes. They can’t be too soft or mushy. I would say perhaps about 20 shoes during the four weeks of rehearsals and then something new for the show as well, because the ballet is so clean and so pink that you want to have a soft, but new pair. I hope the audience enjoys it. Last year, we only did a few shows—about 10—and then we had to stop and close the theatre because of covid. This year, we will go for a full run and that is really exciting—we can’t wait to get it done. Merry Christmas!

‘The Nutcracker’ at The Royal Opera House runs from December 6–January 14, 2023. The show will be streamed live in cinemas on December 8 and 11. Tickets from £8 (www.roh.org.uk)

Fortnum & Mason (181, Piccadilly, W1) has announced the launch of Behind the Pages, a supper-club series celebrating some of Britain’s best chefs. First up: Romy Gill—chef, author and broadcaster —on November 15 (from £95). Tickets include a welcome drink, wine and a cookbook; the menu will comprise canapés, a starter, main ( kanaguchhi gosht and chaman kaliya, above), sides and a pudding (poached saffron pears). She will be followed by Sabrina Ghayour—dubbed ‘the Golden Girl of Persian Cookery’— on January 15 (www.eventbrite.co.uk/ o/fortnum-amp-mason-11264447008)

LONDON LIFE

Editor Rosie Paterson

Editor-in-chief Mark Hedges Sub-editors Octavia Pollock, Stuart Martel

Art Heather Clark, Emma Earnshaw, Ben Harris, Dean Usher

Pictures Lucy Ford, Emily Anderson

Advertising Katie Ruocco 07929 364909

Email firstname.surname@futurenet.com

On foot

A world made small

Illustrated by Fred van Deelen

AMODERN Phileas Fogg could wager with reasonable confidence that he could go around the world in 80 minutes. So long, that is, as he never left London, which, since Fogg departed the Reform Club on October 2, 1872, has acquired enough international culture institutes, art galleries and restaurants to make a whistle-stop tour of the globe entirely possible (unless there’s a Tube strike, in which case 80 days might prove necessary).

sweetness, red lanterns and dragon-encrusted buildings, all hemmed in by ornate gates.

Although the first Chinese to settle in Britain came as early as the 18th century— mostly former sailors who had worked for the East India Company—Soho’s own corner of Asia only began to take shape in the 1950s, when Chinese businesses moved westward

from their outpost in the East End, and the gates, pagoda and lion statues only arrived in the 1980s. With the move from the East End came a change in perception, aided perhaps by Britain’s growing taste for Asian food. The old Chinatown was once portrayed as a den of drinks and drugs, ‘where the cold fatalism of the Orient [met] the wistful dubiety

In his dash to catch a Yokohama-bound steamer after he missed the departure of the Carnatic from Hong Kong, Fogg didn’t really have a chance to enjoy the best of Shanghai, but, in London, he would never need to miss out on crispy duck and cloud-soft bao buns. All it takes is heading towards Chinatown, albeit allowing, first, for a diversion to the house of American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin in Craven Street (his only surviving home) and a brush past the Glockenspiel that presides somewhat incongruously over Leicester Square. At nearly 33ft tall, it is, apparently, the tallest one in the country—although it is perhaps more surprising to discover it is not the only glockenspiel. Despite the profusion of flags from each Swiss canton, the 27 bells with their four ringers and the figurines of goats, cows and people dressed in traditional costumes, the current version was put together by British clockmakers Smith of Derby and the tunes it performs come from students of the Royal Academy of Music.

If London’s Swiss presence is fleeting, Chinatown feels deceivingly eternal, a bustling hodgepodge of prickly dragon fruit and odorous durian, biting spice and melting

Carla Passino figures out how to follow in the footsteps of Phileas Fogg without ever leaving London

‘Chinatown feels deceivingly eternal, a bustling hodgepodge of prickly dragon fruit and odorous durian’

On

of the West,’ according to Thomas Burke’s 1916 Limehouse Nights, although it was also intriguingly exotic, to the point that Thomas Cook ran coach tours there. Today’s incarnation, by contrast, is so treasured that The King, then Prince of Wales, announced in 2007 that his Foundation for the Built Environment would work with the local council to encourage the use of traditional Chinese architectural practices ‘to help Chinatown become more authentically Chinese’.

Well before Chinatown put down roots there, Soho was already home to an assortment of nationalities, from the Irish to the Italians. London’s Italian community—a varied group of frame-makers, ice-cream sellers and musicians—had first clustered around the Grade II*-listed church of St Peter’s Italian Church in Clerkenwell (modelled on

a Roman basilica) and the Hatton Garden house of Italian unification campaigner Giuseppe Mazzini, who found refuge in London after being sentenced to death. (Britain was very sympathetic to the Italian patriots’ cause, with Giuseppe Garibaldi, in particular, given a hero’s welcome when he visited in 1864.)

In the early to mid 20th century, however, many Italians moved to Soho, opening

restaurants and cafés, some of which still survive—the grand dame among them is Bar Italia, its long counter (now as laden with Aperol bottles as with espresso demitasses) stretching under an almost sacred relic: Rocky Marciano’s gloves.

Today, by contrast, many Italians and other Europeans live in South Kensington, home, among others, of that purveyor of Contin-ental books that is the Italian and European Bookshop (www.europeanbookshop.com). With the Tube as a means of conveyance, albeit one rather less glamorous than Fogg’s trains, steamers and elephants, it’s a matter of minutes to defy geography and reach SW7’s own slice of Europe. The reward for clambering up the steps at South Kensington station is a cornucopia of flavours, from Spain’s Brindisa, where croquetas coat in deceiving creaminess the punch of jamon,

‘The grand dame is Bar Italia, its long counter stretching under an almost sacred relic: Rocky Marciano’s gloves’

On foot

to the ‘perfect blinis’ of Poland’s Ognisko, in Princes Gate ( L ONDON L IFE , October 5 ). But there’s as much food for the mind as for the body here. Ognisko the restaurant shares the premises with Ognisko Polskie, a club formed in 1939 to support the Polish community that lived in London, as their native country faced invasions from both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia—it’s easily forgotten or taken for granted how much Britain has, over time, represented a beacon of freedom for those oppressed in their own countries, whether 19th-century Italian patriots, the Jewish and Eastern Europeans during the Nazi occupa tion or today’s Falun Gong, who, silent and cross-legged, protest against China’s repres sion under the red lanterns of Chinatown.

The Polish club, which hosts musical eve nings once a month, is only one of the many cultural institutions that dot South Kensington. Almost next door to it is the Goethe Institut, the bulwark of German culture in the world, and, in Queensberry Place, the Institut Français, where the Ciné Lumière screens a combination of French classics and new releases. This month alone sees the 30th French Film Festival, with Patrice Leconte’s Maigret as one of the highlights (November 2–13); the latest adaptation of Le Petit Nicholas as part of the South Ken Kids Festival (November 14–20) and an ongoing tribute to French film star Jean-Louis Trintignant.

The Institut is as much a treasure of French Art Deco architecture as it is a cultural

powerhouse. Its Grade II-listed library, all wooden panelling and stained-glass windows, was designed by Patrice Bonnet, heritage conservationist architect at Versailles from 1925–40, and somewhat echoes Louis XIV’s grand palace. The Institut’s children’s library, full of cartoons and French bandes dessi nées, also has its very own artwork—a mural donated by patron Sir Quentin Blake.

of the Persian empire; the Monkey God Hanuman, the Sikh heroes and animal portraits of the Lockwood Kipling collection reveal snapshots of 19th-century Indian life; delicate floral vases, intricately embroidered robes, finely lacquered thrones and another 16,000 objects trace the history of Chinese art from 3,000 BC to today; and, in the Japan galleries, fearsome Samurai armour, lethal katana swords and kimonos strewn with tiny flowers stand counterpoint to Hello Kitty rice cookers.

Surprisingly, however, a cornerstone of any world tour of London is a quintessentially British landmark—the V&A Museum. Since it was founded in 1852 to improve Britain’s art and design knowledge, the museum has been exploring creative endeavours from other cultures, not least through two current exhi bitions, ‘Africa Fashion’, which celebrates the creativity of the continent’s designers, and ‘Hallyu! The Korean Wave’, which delves into the Asian country’s fashion, beauty, cinema and music. In the Islamic galleries, the dense knotting and rich colours of the world’s oldest dated carpet—its yellow medallion still vivid after about 700 years—bring alive the glories

At home in international London

Contemporary Japan also awaits behind the forbidding geometry of the Art Deco building that was once the Derry & Toms department store in High Street Kensington. Much as Fogg dithered in India to save Aouda, a detour there may lose you the wager, but it’s well worth it. Japan House combines an exhibition space (at the moment exploring the millenary wood working tradition of the forested Hiba region) with a shop full of washi paper, Kutani cups and clean-lined brass vases; a library brimming with books in both English and Japanese (the current theme is Japanese architecture); and a cinema with free film screenings (Kon Satoshi’s ingenious animations until December 20)—plus the Michelin-starred Akira restaurant. Here, theatrical chefs and exquisite tableware made by Japanese craftsmen complement a menu of delectable wagyubeef croquettes, sushi rolls and meat skewers cooked over the robata charcoal grill. To quote Verne: ‘Would you not, for less than that, make the tour of the world?’

Harrington Gardens, £1.35 million

This 1,051sq ft apartment in Harrington Gardens has three bedrooms and a 500sq ft open-plan kitchen and reception room, complete with marble fireplace and sliding doors to a private terrace. Winkworth South Kensington (020–7373 5052; www.winkworth.co.uk)

Pelham Street, £3.895 million

Close to the Tube station, but not affected by it, this 3,090sq ft house has five to six bedrooms, plus a vast drawing room and a private garden. The master suite, which takes up the entire top floor, comes with its own terrace. Strutt & Parker (020–3794 0745; www.struttandparker.com)

Kensington Church Street, £15.02 million

This four-bedroom, 3,117sq ft apartment on the fifth floor of Lancer Square— a development on a former barracks— has striking interiors by 1508 Design London, two balconies and access to the communal pool and spa. Savills (020–7016 3860; www.savills.co.uk)

‘It’s easily forgotten or taken for granted how much Britain has, over time, represented a beacon of freedom’

The great and the

Seasonal suggestions

THE EFG LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL returns to London with a programme of live gigs and special performances, November 11–20 (www.southbank centre.co.uk/whats-on). The Lord Mayor’s Show (left) takes place on November 12 (wwwlordmayorsshow. london). The day has existed ever since King John allowed the City of London to appoint its own mayor, but insisted that whoever he or she was make an annual pilgrimage to Westminster (originally via the River Thames) to swear loyalty to the Crown. Over time, it has come to include marching bands, floats and dancers. ‘Stephen Hawking at Work’ is now open at the Science Museum (www.sciencemuseum. org.uk/see-and-do/stephen-hawkingwork). The exhibition includes a rare copy of the theoretical physicist’s seminal PhD thesis, together with a blackboard filled with academic doodles and jokes, and runs until March 2023. Finally, be sure to wrap up warm, because the annual Christmas at Kew light trail opens on November 16 (www.kew.org/kewgardens/whats-on/christmas)

Here’s looking at the Royal Menagerie

• The Tower of London—officially His Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London—has acted as a castle, a prison, an armoury, a treasury and a menagerie. Evidence suggests that King John (1166–1216) was the first monarch to start keeping wild animals at the Tower: records show that payments were made to lion keepers between 1210 and 1212 and, in 2008, the skulls of two Barbary lions (now extinct in the wild) were found in the moat area. Radiocarbon tests dated them from 1280 to 1480

• Monarchs regularly received wild and exotic animals from their European counterparts, including three leopards from the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, in about 1235; a polar bear from Haakon IV of Norway in 1252; and an African elephant from Louis IX, in about 1255

• The animals generated plenty of public interest, especially when, in the 13th century, the Norwegian polar bear went fishing in the River Thames (tied to the land by a long chain).

By the 18th century, the menagerie was open to the public. It cost three halfpence to get in, or a cat or dog (which was fed to the lions). Visitors would also be able to see a tiger, leopards, a hyena and large baboon

• Following the death of George IV, the menagerie was closed down and the majority of animals moved to the newly opened London Zoo

Passione Vino Shop of the month

LEONARD ST, EC2

WE don’t have a wine list, so don’t bother asking for one,’ says Luca Dusi, the owner of Passione Vino in Shoreditch. Under a scalloped blue awning, Mr Dusi imports more than 400 Italian wines (and Italian wines only) from 84 makers. He funnels these bottles to hotels, clubs, and restaurants, as well as to customers who stop in on the way to dinner parties. ‘We serve only wine and tap water,’ says Mr Dusi, ‘alongside daily changing Venetian-grandma-inspired food.’

Mr Dusi moved to London from Verona in 1995 and opened Passione Vino in 2003, with the aim of bringing undervalued Italian wines to a broader audience. As we barrel into November, on a slide towards the holidays, Mr Dusi has been guiding customers to reds from Valtellina, a ‘beautiful tiny area up in the mountains of Lombardy where every producer makes stunning elegant wines with [the] Nebbiolo grape.’ Jo Rodgers.

Getty; Alamy; Polly Crossman

The great and the good

A green space

KING’S CROSS has been transformed from a derelict post-industrial landscape into one of London’s most vibrant quarters, thanks in no small part to some spectacular planting by designer Dan Pearson.

Start at Handyside Gardens outside Central Saint Martins, where the design reflects the area’s historic railway links, with planting that echoes the patterns of the sidings that once criss-crossed the ground. Bagley Walk—which snakes along next to the canal—is the closest thing London has to New York’s High Line, a viaduct-turnedpark swaying with tall and muscular sanguisorba, persicaria and beautiful grasses. Just beyond is Gasholder Park, an urban meadow

London curiosities

BRANCH OUT

MARCHMONT STREET, WC1, full of small shops and blue plaques (from Emlyn Williams to Kenneth Williams) is such a bustlingly pleasant place to walk along you might miss its Tree of Heaven, with its ash-like bark and leaves. It’s a decent-size tree for such a narrow street and London needs more of them, although this particular species is controversial, some regarding it as a tree weed.

Jack Watkins

and mirrored pergola, all under the watchful eye of a 19th-century iron gasholder. Natasha Goodfellow is the author of ‘A London Floral’ and ‘A Cotswold Garden Companion’ (www.finch publishing.co.uk)

MY PLATE OF VIEW

Bottle and Rye, 404–406, Market Row, SW9

WHEN it comes to rating a restaurant, there are two yardsticks I like to use. The first is the negroni, the second is the bread and butter. They’re both deceptively difficult to get right and, in my experience, a place that can do them both really well won’t go far wrong during the rest of the meal.

Bottle and Rye, a new addition to Brixton Market next to the Coldharbour Lane entrance, ought to be more than up to the job and not only because its name nods to both things. It’s the brainchild of Robin and Sarah Gill, the husband-and-wife team behind some of south London’s most reliably delicious and hospitable places to eat (Sorella, Darby’s and much-missed The Dairy). It was billed as having a Parisian feel and it really does: the curved wooden bar, the matching round stools, the tiled floor and the blackboard menu all feel very hon hon hon.

To business. The negronis here look enormous, but that’s because they’re poured over a very large, Mad Men style square ice cube; slower melting means they stay stronger for longer. Mine is just the right side of medicinal, which is exactly how I like it. And the bread is faultless: fresh from the oven at Rye by the Water, the Gills’ Brentford bakery, and served with about twice as much Fen Farm butter as you’d get anywhere else—which is to say, exactly the right amount.

Tick, tick, tick.

More of the glorious bread comes toasted, with honey and the plumpest Cantabrian anchovies. Smoked-eel brandade and wafer-thin discs of fried potato make the best crisps and dip I’ve ever had. Lamb with aubergine is a butter-soft Provençal delight and a gooseberry and mirabelle plum choux is the equal of anything you’d find on the rue du Bac. Wines (mostly French, mostly on the low-intervention side, 10 available by the glass with prices starting at £5 a pop) complete the picture of bonhomie. Happily, the rest of the meal proves my yardstick theory entirely correct.

Emma Hughes

Gone, but not forgotten

London would look very different had it not been for the widespread demolition of Georgian architecture in the 20th century. John Martin Robinson takes a look back at what was lost and what was fortunately saved

IN 1934, the Scandinavian architect Steen Eiler Rasmussen (1898–1990) published his classic, London: The Unique City, a deeply researched and subtle appreciation of London’s Georgian planning, layout and architecture, much of which was sadly to be lost or spoilt in sub sequent decades. Many of the buildings he described and illustrated have been destroyed, but his book is still in print and widely regarded as a classic of urban history. It is the best social and architectural analysis of London’s modern reincarnation and the development of its distinctive urban forms: low-rise, spreading, green with numerous garden squares, well planned according to building regulations

introduced after the Great Fire of 1666 and codified in a series of three 18th-century building acts. They defined the width of streets and the height of buildings, prescribed building materials and enforced construction and fireprevention standards. But they left the detailed design to individual builder-developers, architects and surveyors working for ground landlords such as the ‘Woods and Forests’ (Crown Estates), the Grosvenors, Bedfords, Portlands (now Howard de Waldens), Portmans, Sloanes (later Cadogans), through City livery companies and charities, down to small speculators, including the builder-architect Edward Shepherd in Mayfair, who developed the market behind Piccadilly that still bears his name.

The result was a sensibly planned, visually harmonious and well-proportioned layout with uniform Classical, but understated streets and squares (their proportions based on the Orders even when astylar), superb Baroque and Palladian churches (which carried on the architectural baton of 17th-century Rome in Protestant guise), as well as gardens with stately plane trees. Most of it was composed of terraced houses (in three grades, from gentry to artisans), but interspersed in the West End with about 40 aristocratic town palaces of great architectural distinction. The most notable were Robert Adam’s Lansdowne House; Norfolk House with Rococo interiors by Giovanni Battista Borra, worthy of royal Turin; William

The Foundling Hospital is one of a number of London’s historic Georgian buildings that were lost to demolition in the mid 20th century

Kent’s noble Devonshire House; Lord Chesterfield’s eponymous house with a colonnaded forecourt terminating an axis from Hyde Park; and Spencer House, with the earliest neoClassical interiors in Europe. Only the latter survives. Nor were distinguished public buildings lacking, from Kent’s Horse Guards, Gibbs’s St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Chambers’s Somerset House and Soane’s Bank of England to George IV’s Metropolitan Improvements and Smirke’s Grecian British Museum.

The key idea of Rasmussen’s book is that Georgian London was radically different from other European capitals where grandiose plans and architecture were dictated by absolute monarchies (including the Catholic Church). Rasmussen understood and celebrated the fact that Georgian London was the creation not of the state, but of a culturally aware and welleducated population that shared a common classic aesthetic. He thought the planning and architecture of London should embody the British concept of constitutional monarchy, the entrepreneurialism of a sophisticated, visually informed aristocracy and a large, welleducated and prosperous professional and mercantile class. (Half the population of Georgian England was comprised of those three groups; what now would be called the upper

and middle classes). He saw it as a model of urbanism, where a city’s future could be decisively influenced by self-reliant and ‘cul turally educated citizens without dependence on the public sector’. (Nobody grasped that as a result of the Industrial Revolution, worldwide trade and explosive population growth, the visually aware section of England and the capital’s population had shrunk, as a propor tion of the whole, after the 18th century.)

Although sophisticated 20th-century European critics, such as Rasmussen or Pevsner, admired London’s architectural beauties and were drawing contemporary lessons for cohesive social planning and aesthetically pleasing modern development from London’s Georgian townscape, many of its own citizens and most of its public sector were more influenced by a crude version of American capitalism, which saw the historic fabric not as a socially cohesive and aesthetically beautiful artefact, but as an

opportunity for profitable short-term business speculation. There was mass urban destruction between the 1930s and 1960s, of which only a small part was due directly to the Blitz.

The ruination could have been worse if a heroic fight back had not gained traction and halted the demolition after 1970. Regent’s Park, Islington, some of Bloomsbury, all of Belgravia, parts of Kennington and Westminster (espe cially Covent Garden and southern Mayfair) survived by the skin of their teeth and were restored, but much was lost. Soane’s Bank of England, George Rennie’s Waterloo Bridge, Adam’s Adelphi, Nash’s Regent Street, nearly all the aristocratic town houses, the east side of Berkeley Square, chunks of Park Lane, the Foundling Hospital, the northern part of the Bedford estate, including Woburn and Tavistock Squares (after sales for death duties), all except three of the houses by the Adams and Wyatts in Portman Square, even Athenian Stuart’s Montagu (Portman) House, were torn down. This shameful destruction was unique to London. In Paris, Rome and Vienna, the town palaces became embassies or museums in the 20th century, whereas the general fabric of the centro histórico was protected by strong state ordinances: the Committee for Paris (insti tuted in the 1870s), in the case of the French

Sir John Soane’s Bank of England, including these columns and figures in Bullion Yard, is no more, torn down in the mid 20th century

‘The ruination could have been worse if a heroic fight back had not gained traction’

capital, or laws dating back to the 16th century in the case of papal Rome. The very freedoms, individuality and flexible planning that created Georgian London turned out to be its nemesis.

Without strong government-imposed preservation laws, there was nothing to halt the architectural ravages. Ruskin and William Morris had pioneered the cultural conservation movement in the 1860s and 1870s. The Ancient Monuments Protection Act of 1910 initiated state preservation of historic buildings in England (on the model of that in British India), but the 1910 Act, administered through the Ministry of Works, and bodies such as SPAB (founded by Morris) were only concerned with buildings from before the reign of Queen Anne. Georgian was ‘modern’ and of ‘no historic interest’, leaving a large open goal, until the Georgian Group was founded as a breakaway from SPAB in 1937. ‘Antiquarian prejudice’ was exacer bated by the Modern movement in architecture, which preferred a tabula rasa and thought ‘restoration’, or concern for the historic townscape, was ‘pastiche’ or ‘socially irrelevant’. Concrete, Soviet-style, high-rise, proletarian housing was better than old terraces.

A piece of the past

Not all is lost—since 2003, the Georgian Group has hosted the annual Georgian Awards (‘A Georgian celebration’, October 26), designed to shine a light on exemplary conservation and restoration projects. This year, Nelson Dock House in Rotherhithe has been shortlisted for the Best Conservation of a Georgian House in an Urban Setting award. The best bit? This slice of Georgian magnificence can be yours: it’s for sale, for £4.75 million, with Savills (www.savills.co.uk).

The Grade II*-listed home has a principal

bedroom with en suite, five further bedrooms and three further bathrooms. A rooftop cupola room and roof terrace have views across the River Thames. The house has watery connections, too, having been built for a shipbuilder, John Randall, and named in honour of Admiral Lord Nelson following his victory at Trafalgar in 1805. The current owner recently completed a sensitive renovation project, including installing a large Smallbone kitchen on the ground floor, inspired by Sir John Soane’s.

The poor calibre of local government in the boroughs must also bear some of the blame, but there was an exception in the London City Council (LCC; Greater London Council after 1965), which, from its beginning in the 1890s, was not a philistine body, but operated from a Classical palace (diametrically opposite the Gothic Palace of Westminster) with malachite urns given by the Tsar in its Council Chamber and marble fireplaces given by the King and government of Italy in its entrance hall, as well as an excellent reference library for the council members on the piano nobile

The LCC Historic Buildings Committee, under the initial direction of C. R. Ashbee (also responsible for the conservation of Chipping Campden and Jerusalem), supported the Survey of London, an unparalleled history of a great city, which served as a historical record and a tool for preservation. The Survey, unlike the Ministry of Works or SPAB, always appreciated Georgian buildings. The LCC acquired historic places for preservation, such as the Geffrye Museum in Shoreditch (1906) or Trinity Almshouses in Mile End, and systematically photographed 18th-century buildings. The Historic Buildings Committee

came into its own after the Second World War, when listing of historic buildings was introduced. It was an unlikely part of the LCC Architect’s (not Planning) Department, especially when Walter Ison (1908–97), an architect-pupil of Verity and historian of Bath who first moved to preserve Spitalfields in 1952, and then Ashley Barker (an AA-trained architect who instigated the preservation of Notting Hill) became successive Surveyors of Historic Buildings.

In 1954, Francis Sheppard (1921–2018) became general editor of the Survey of London, enhancing its scholarly calibre with

volumes on Georgian Soho, St James’s, Covent Garden and the Grosvenor estate. They pro vided a strong research underpinning for proactive preservation. The committee itself was given clout by the co-option of outside luminaries, such as Summerson, Betjeman and Osbert Lancaster. It tipped the balance towards the preservation of whole swathes of London’s historic fabric. The 1967 Civic Amenities Act, which made listed-building consent for demolition mandatory, halted the destruction from after 1970. No significant Georgian buildings have been demolished in London during the past 55 years.

‘Georgian was “modern” and of “no historic interest”, leaving a large open goal’

How long have you lived in London?

I was born in west London and have migrated east, wh ich I won’t be leaving any time soon —the sourdough pizza and London Fields Lido are reason enough to stay.

Your local guilty pleasure?

Too many to choose: Koya Ko noodles, Broad way Market [E8] does the slipperiest, tastiest udon noodles; Berber & Q [Arch 338 Acton Mews, E8] has the most flavoursome grill.

Where do you take your children [Albert and Nancy] in London for a treat?

Occasionally for breakfast at e5 Bakehouse [396 Mentmore Terrace, E8] . The company grows its own heritage cereals in the UK using regenerative-farming methods and mills on site in the bakery. Delicious and wholesome.

Do you have a country escape you long for when London gets a little too much?

We stay with relatives in the beautiful seaside town of Walberswick in Suffolk, with both the beach and the woods on our doorstep. Although we’re grateful to stretch our legs amid such inspiring Nature, I do love returning to the culture and community of the city.

You’ve become known for your irreverent ceramics. How did you make the leap from artist to ceramicist?

I did my foundation at Chelsea School of Art [SW1] and went on to do a degree in product and furniture design at Kingston University (ideas and concepts are always flowing, but I wanted to be able to execute them). I love working with clay as a material, it is a deeply satisfying process, but I don’t limit myself to it—I’ve recently spent a lot of time writing a nd graffiting on utilitarian household objects (plates, pots, vases, even lemon squeezers) as a way of mentally processing the forced domesticity of lockdown and motherhood.

Take us through your ‘Mixed Messages’ boxes and what they represent.

Ninety-six porcelain pots, each engraved with its own seemingly random word, sit in a pigeonhole in a large wooden box. When the box is turned on and electricity passes through it, some of the pots start lighting up

in an order that spells out a thought, expression or quote. This holds for a moment before the lights turn off and the next phrase appears. It symbolises how we are all individuals, yet, when we work together, we make sense.

Where do you buy homewares in London? Labour and Wait [multiple locations] stocks the most beautifully designed, timeless, functional pieces and I love the Conran Shop [55, Marylebone High Street, W1, and 81, Fulham Road, SW3]. They mix classic and contemporary design so well.

If you had one last day in London to really fill your boots…

Breakfast at the Towpath Café in De Beau voir [42, De Beauvoir Crescent, N1] followed by a cycle tour of the city of London. I’d work up an appetite at a PopFit class at FieldWorks Dance [274, Richmond Road, E8], then head to a restaurant I haven’t been to before: Planque [322–324 Acton Mews, E8] or Brat [4, Red church Street, E1]. To stretch the day out,

The Box in Soho [11–12, Walker’s Cour, W1] for an after-dinner dance and show like no other.

Other artists we should have on our radar?

We recently bought a couple of oil paintings by Joshua Press and photography by Tom Beard, both of whom I recommend taking a look at. I’ve also been following the work of Noah Saterstrom, whose paintings I love.

Your favourite city museum or gallery?

Tate Modern [Bankside, SE1] often puts on exhibitions that are great for all ages and the annual wildlife-photography exhibition at the Natural History Museum [Cromwell Road, SW7] is one we never miss (members enjoy a ccess to the rooftop restaurant with its beautiful view of Albertopolis). For reflection and inspiration, The Sir John Soane’s Museum [ above, 13, Lincoln Inn Fields, WC2] is an Aladdin’s den of antiquities, sculptures, architectural mouldings and paintings, frozen in time. For more details of Martha Freud’s ‘Mixed Messages’, visit www.marthafreud.com

‘Ideas and concepts are always flowing, but I wanted to be able to execute them’ The artist of the hour talks East London bakehouses, Soho jazz nights and ‘Mixed Messages’ with Rosalyn Wikeley

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and leaves no stone unturned when it comes to finding the perfect property The team works with utmost discretion throughout the entire process with service excellence at the heart of everything it does This perhaps explains why former clients are the firm’s biggest advocates, according to founder Ed Heaton (01635 887340; www.heatonpartners.com)

AWS Prime Property

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Property market

Penny Churchill

THERE’S more than a touch of the theatrical about substantial, Grade IIlisted The Court at Chorleywood, near Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire. It’s not entirely surprising, given that the house was built in 1911–12 for the Victorian actormanager Sir George Alexander in the style described by Pevsner as Domestic Revival, a precursor of the Arts-and-Crafts Movement. The house was designed, not by Edwin Lutyens, as some experts claim, but by his pupil, John Duke Coleridge, probably because Lutyens, who was first approached, was too busy building New Delhi when the time came.

Having started out as a leading actor with Sir Henry Irving’s theatre company, Alexander took over as actor-manager of London’s St James Theatre in 1891. He soon became known as a producer of witty, slightly risqué plays designed to appeal to the upper echelons

of London Society, such as Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest. The latter was an immediate hit on its launch in 1895, but was withdrawn a few months later when Wilde was tried and imprisoned on charges of homosexual behaviour. Alexander later revived it, in 1909, following the rebuilding of the St James Theatre. He was knighted in 1911 and died at Chorleywood in March 1918.

Originally known as Little Court, the house was renamed The Court by a subsequent owner, businessman James Batty, who moved there in 1936. Reputedly inspired by Tudor models, the house is built of red brick with stone-and-tile dressings, as well as liberal use of sham timber-framing, some tile hanging and interior panelling in 17th-century style. Emphasising its theatrical credentials, a datestone above the front door shows a carved

monogram and theatrical masks, whereas a mock Venetian well in the centre of the front courtyard was designed to be part of a stage.

Little altered since it was first built, The Court is now for sale through Savills (01923 725500) and Knight Frank (01494 675368) for the first time since 1967. The agents are seeking ‘offers over £3 million’—a figure, they say, that reflects the ‘considerable refurbishment’ required to upgrade the property to 21st-century standards.

The Court stands in 3½ acres of secluded gardens and grounds backing onto Chorleywood Common on the Hertfordshire/ Buckinghamshire border, a mile from the centre of the village and close to the bound ary of the Chilterns AONB. The house offers 9,890sq ft of living space on two floors, with a full-width loft space above. It comprises, on the ground floor, reception and entrance

Three fine homes with diverse histories show that looks can be deceiving

Tales of the unexpected

Theatrical connections abound at The Court, set in 3½ acres of gardens and grounds at Chorleywood in Hertfordshire. Excess £3m

Find the best properties at countrylife.co.uk

halls, five reception rooms, a kitchen, flower room and laundry, with a cellar below. The first floor houses a large principal bedroom suite with views over the garden, plus seven further bedrooms, three bathrooms and a dressing room/study. The Lodge is currently split into separate, two-bedroom flats, each with its own private entrance. Secondary buildings include a summerhouse/folly, various storage sheds and a tiled swimming pool in need of restoration.

When it comes to country houses, appear ances can be deceptive, even to the most practised eye. Looking at the elegant gables and mellow, creeper-clad, stone façades of Holyrood House near Empshott Green, four miles from Liss and seven miles from Petersfield, east Hampshire, what do you see? A beautifully restored country house or a former rectory designed by a leading Arts-and-Crafts architect or, given its loca tion within the South Downs National Park, a Lutyens masterpiece with gardens laid out by Gertrude Jekyll?

The answer is neither of the above. Holyrood House was, in fact, built from scratch in 2012 by the current owners (one of whom is an accomplished artist) to a design incor porating ‘Arts-and-Crafts detail and proportions, but with a contemporary twist’. Its more than seven acres of glorious gardens were created over the same 10-year period by East Sussex-based designer Jane Brown.

Currently for sale through Savills in Farnham (01252 729004) and Knight Frank in Winchester (01962 656261) at a guide price of £6.5m, Holyrood House stands in the lee of Noar Hill, an area of ancient beech wood land that forms part of the heavily protected East Hampshire Hangers Special Area of Conservation. Built to the most exacting specifications and with great attention to detail, the house offers 7,000sq ft of wellappointed ground-floor reception space, with bedroom accommodation on two floors, as well as an atmospheric media/games room, bar and wine cellar in the basement.

Inside, the scene is set by the spectacular vaulted entrance and staircase halls, off which radiate four individually designed reception rooms—drawing room, dining room, sitting room and study—and a large

kitchen/breakfast room with doors leading to the garden. An impressive staircase leads to the first floor, which houses the principal bedroom suite and three double bedrooms, one with an adjoining bathroom, two with shower rooms; two further double bedrooms, one with a bathroom attached, are located on the second floor. Lutron lighting, underfloor heating and heating regulators are installed throughout the house and the property also benefits from ground-source heating and fibre

internet. Outside, additional accommoda tion is available in a charming one-bedroom cottage that boasts a delightful full-height sitting room with a domed ceiling. Nearby, a newly built stone barn has been converted to a coach house that holds a proper artist’s studio, garaging and workshops.

Although everything at Holyrood House is undoubtedly new, shades of Jekyll abound in the carefully planned structure of the gardens, where interconnecting paths lead

Top: Arts-and-Crafts gets a contemporary twist at Holyrood House in Hampshire. £6.5m. Above: A spectacular vaulted entrance hall sets the scene for the exquisite interiors

The Court was built in the style described by Pevsner as Domestic Revival

Property market

from one pocket to the next, with expansive flowerbeds defining the boundary and char acter of each space. A Yorkstone terrace to the north and west of the house provides ample room for entertaining and a cleverly placed ha-ha offers an uninterrupted view across the field—also part of the property—towards the woods and flower meadows of Noar Hill.

Over to the west, the Winchester office of Savills (01962 834010) quotes a guide price of £4.85m for pretty, Grade II*-listed Rolle House at East Tytherley, a classic earlyGeorgian house set in almost 27 acres of gardens, parkland, pasture and woodland on the edge of the Test Valley, halfway between the cathedral cities of Salisbury and Winchester. It’s hard to believe that Rolle House was originally built as a charity school that was gifted to the village of East Tytherley by Sarah Rolle, whose family owned the Manor of Tytherley from 1654 until 1801. Rolle House was converted into a private house in the 1920s, since when it has had four owners. Ironically, the house outlasted the grand, 17th-century manor house that was

the home of the Rolles and their successors before it fell into disrepair and was demolished in the early 1900s.

In recent years, the entire property has been the subject of an extensive scheme of restoration and improvement, including the addition of a large kitchen/breakfast room, the conversion of a barn to create two cottages,

and the construction of a new swimming pool and pool house. The main house now offers more than 6,900sq ft of bright and cheerful living space, including a reception hall, five reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast/ family room, six bedrooms and six bath rooms, with further accommodation in the two barn cottages.

Above and right: The Grade II*-listed Rolle House, Hampshire, offers 27 acres of land and bright and cheerful interiors. £4.85m

Peter Wright; Jon Stone

Properties of the week

Fire for the soul

As the winter rolls in, find comfort in the hearths of these homes

Hampshire, £1.2 million

As pretty as a postcard, thatched Monks Cottage is an exceptional period property of great charm that has benefited from sensible improvements over the years. Situated in East Cholderton on the western outskirts of Andover, the property boasts five bedrooms, three bathrooms, five reception rooms and nearly half an acre of formal gardens, making the space ideally suited for family living, entertaining or both. The interiors are a traditional rustic wonderland, with exposed beams throughout, as well as a large open fireplace in the sitting room. The kitchen features modern fittings centred around a range cooker. A rose garden guards the front of the house and a lawned area features a wisteria-clad pergola. Hamptons International (01962 920265)

Cumbria, price on application

With soaring views over the surrounding hillsides of the North Pennines AONB, Glen Bank is an unassuming detached farmhouse when viewed from the road. The building is so much more, however, inviting you through a series of expanding rooms that culminates in the splendid light-filled orangery, with doors opening to the rear terrace and a striking wood-burning stove, extending the opportunities for alfresco dining. The home offers five bedrooms and gardens (including a designated dog-wash area) in a desirable village location near Appleby-inWestmorland. Character features abound and are complemented by high-end fittings. An electric-car charging port, biomass central heating and solar panels offer respite for the eco-conscious, too. Fine & Country (01228 583109)

James Fisher

Cornwall, £1.75 million

Built in the early 19th century in a Georgianfarmhouse style, the traditional exterior of Home Farm near Helston is quite the contrast to its chic modern interiors. Step through the two-pillar portico that frames the front door and you will be presented with an immaculate five-bedroom home, the centrepiece of which is the sitting room with its original marble-surround fireplace. Further fireplaces can be found in the rustic kitchen/ breakfast room and the snug. The interiors, although recently refurbished, retain a touch of period charm. Outside, a recently converted barn offers room for four more bedrooms or two self-contained flats. Savills (01872 243200)

Cornwall, £525,000

Perfectly positioned to enjoy the best of north Cornwall, 1, Church Steps is a charming three-bedroom, semidetached cottage in the heart of St Mabyn, east of Padstow. The property is compact, but makes the most of its space, with a private rear garden, a detached studio/office, an openplan kitchen/dining room (with a modern wood-burning stove), a sitting room and a modern family bathroom (the master bedroom is en suite). St Mabyn is a traditional Cornish village, and amenities such as a village pub, post office, shop and primary school are within walking distance.

John Bray Estates (01208 862601)

Warwickshire, offers over £825,000

Situated in the north-Cotswold village of Ilmington, on the delightfully named Grump Street, sits Penn Cottage, a three-bedroom house with a wealth of period fittings. Dressed in Cotswold stone, the property makes the most of its quiet surroundings, with stepped gardens set into the side of a neighbouring hill providing levels of intrigue for the would-be owners. Inside, there are wood beams, fireplaces and exposed brick features throughout, lending the property a period charm in keeping with the AONB in which it sits. As well as a bright sitting room and kitchen, the house boasts a home office in a separate vaulted annexe. Hayman-Joyce (01608 651188)