PORTFOLIO BY SAVILLS | VOLUME 7

BY SAVILLS | VOLUME 7 | 2024

FRESH PERSPECTIVES

MAXIMALIST V MINIMALIST / ITALY’S NEW DOLCE VITA / HEARTLAND HOMES SECRETS OF THE PRIVATE CHEFS / MIDLIFE HYBRID LIVING / REINVENTING CITIES

LISTEN TO YOUR HE ART - AND YOUR HE AD

Justin Marking Head of Global Residential

Most of us tend to choose the homes we buy with a mix of head and heart. True enough, we might fall in love with a house or apartment during our rst viewing – perhaps even over video these days. en it begins; we start to picture our new lives there, from the art we would hang on the walls to the lunch parties we’d host on the terrace, long before the deal is struck or the contract is signed. But this coup de foudre usually isn’t quite enough to convince us. We’re also pondering the pros and cons of the acquisition from an investment point of view, and debating these with friends, family and partners, as well as in our own minds – not unreasonably, as this can be the most important investment we ever make. Questions such as these – are there any downsides, does the price feel right, is the location right for us, perhaps even “on the up”? – show the head trying to regain control.

Surely, though, the best purchases work both emotionally and pragmatically. e quest for that winning combination informs many of the features in this issue of Portfolio. Perhaps you’ve long dreamt of a second home in Italy (p16). Might a tax break for incoming expats make that apartment in Florence or a villa on Lake Como a smart choice as your new primary residence? In Homeward Bound (p22), we feel the powerful appeal of getting back to our roots. Meanwhile, in Having It All (p58), we explore how recon guring our property portfolio can facilitate a fresh start – not so much a retirement as a reboot with extra downtime, when and where we want it. And we talk to the visionaries whose creative instincts and deftly deployed resources can lift whole neighbourhoods and empower communities, just by persuading us to think (and feel) that this is where we want to live (p48). After all, home is where the heart is.

FEATURES

From boudoir bathrooms to sculptural home waterslides, the ideas, trends and products shaping our homes right now

14 HOUSE STYLE: TOM CHAPMAN

e founder of the online luxury homewares store ABASK on what inspires him, how to create a sense of ease and comfort – and the importance of a connection to the outside world

Italy’s rolling hills, historic architecture and fabulous food and wine have long appealed to international investors, but now its dynamic cities are having their moment in the sun

22 HOMEWARD

Writer Tina Gaudoin explains why she is always pulled back to the pretty East Anglian coast, where she grew up; and Savills agents on how family ties in uence the second home market

30 SMALL WONDER

An exquisitely restored Grade II* listed estate in Herefordshire o ers the grandeur of English country life on an intimate scale

FOR SAVILLS

BRAND AND MARKETING DIRECTOR

Victoria Bennett

SENIOR CONTENT & ENGAGEMENT MANAGER

Georgina Pearson

SPECIAL THANKS TO

Rebecca Todd, Megan Ormston, Claudia Arriaza Barragan

All prices and property details were correct at the time of publication

© Copyright 2024 Uncommonly Ltd. e views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers or Savills. e information in this publication is correct at time of going to press. All rights reserved. No material may be used in whole or part without the permission of Savills. While every care is taken in compiling content, Savills does not assume responsibility for e ects arising from this publication. Computer-generated imagery has been used to illustrate some properties for indicative purposes only

For enquiries regarding Uncommonly, contact Sarah Glyde: sarah@uncommonly.co.uk

Clean, crisp and uncluttered or cosy and artfully curated? Welcome to the great interiors debate

London’s green spaces are famous the world over for the quality of life that they provide. We focus on four urban oases in the heart of the city

Why curating a lively mix of independent stores, creative businesses and cool restaurants is key to creating places savvy city dwellers want to live

IT’S AUGUST, IT MUST BE CARPACCIO IN CAPRI

Two private chefs reveal the secrets of their globetrotting calendar – cooking in a cramped superyacht kitchen, providing heli-skiing picnics and catering to clients’ often surprising demands

EDITORIAL

EDITORS

Gill Morgan, James Collard

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Sara Redhead

DESIGN

Vanessa Arnaud, Camila Rivero-Lake

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Sarah Glyde, George waites

WRITER

Alex Moore

SUB-EDITOR

Matthew Davis

ADVERTISING

Julia Carrick OBE

PRINTING & REPRO

Walstead, e Logical Choice

TINA GAUDOIN

A writer, editor and creative business coach, Tina has edited magazines on both sides of the Atlantic, including Times Luxx and WSJ. Her latest book is ree Times a Countess: e Extraordinary Life of Raine Spencer, and she is working on a biography of Margaret atcher. For Portfolio, she writes about the enduring tug of home.

LEFT

58 HAVING IT ALL

Adjusting the work/life balance o ers a chance to enjoy the best of both worlds, keeping a base in the city or country while heading to Ibiza or the Alps for midlife work, play and relaxation

62 TO THE MANOR DRAWN

Historic houses are increasingly being let rather than sold, as renters look to enjoy the rural idyll with no need to commit for the long term

168 ROOMS WITH A VIEW

From Manhattan to the French Riviera, the ideal home comes with a fabulous vista

Cover image: handcrafted wallpaper by Cole & Son, photographed by Mel Yates

THE COLLECTION

From a stately home in the English shires to a Mayfair mews, and a New York penthouse to villas in France, Greece and Spain, feast your eyes on some of the world’s most remarkable homes.

70

For insights and inspiration, visit portfolio.savills.com and sign up for our fortnightly newsletter

MEL YATES

Mel trained as a product designer, so when he turned to photography and lm-making, it was perhaps inevitable that he would specialise in capturing beautiful buildings and the people who create them. Clients include Vogue, Kelly Hoppen and Dior. For Portfolio, he shot the cover image and photographed the architect Sarah Susman.

CHARLOTTE HOGARTH-JONES

Charlotte is features director of BOAT International, the global magazine that reports on the superyacht scene – and on their owners, many of whom she interviews. Who better, then, to delve into the world of private chefs – the culinary magicians who juggle ever-changing menus, schedules and guest lists across the globe?

CATHY HAWKER

Cathy has covered the UK and international property markets for more than 20 years, writing for e Times, e Sunday Times and How To Spend It, the Financial Times’s luxury magazine. She is based in Buckinghamshire, but her interviews with owners of homes in outstanding global locations ensure that she will always aspire to a life well travelled.

ACCESSORIES BATHROOMS BEDS

CARPETS, RUGS & FLOORING

CURTAINS, POLES & FINIALS

FABRICS FURNITURE HARDWARE

KITCHENS LIGHTING

OUTDOOR FABRICS

OUTDOOR FURNITURE PAINT

TILES TRIMMINGS & LEATHER

WALLCOVERINGS

ABI INTERIORS ALEXANDER LAMONT + MILES ALTFIELD

ALTON-BROOKE AND OBJECTS ANDREW MARTIN ARTE

ARTERIORS ARTISANS OF DEVIZES AUGUST & CO BAKER LIFESTYLE

BEAUFORT COLLECTION BELLA FIGURA BRUNSCHWIG & FILS

C & C MILANO CASAMANCE CECCOTTI COLLEZIONI CHASE

ERWIN CHRISTIAN LEE (FABRICUT) CHRISTOPHER HYDE LIGHTING

COLE & SON COLEFAX AND FOWLER COLLIER WEBB COLONY BY CASA LUIZA CRUCIAL TRADING DAVID HUNT LIGHTING DAVID

SEYFRIED LTD DE LE CUONA DEDAR DONGHIA AT GP & J BAKER

ECCOTRADING DESIGN LONDON EDELMAN EGGERSMANN

DESIGN ELITIS ESPRESSO DESIGN FLEXFORM FORBES & LOMAX

FOX LINTON FRATO GALLOTTI&RADICE GEORGE SPENCER

DESIGNS GLADEE LIGHTING GP & J BAKER HARLEQUIN

HECTOR FINCH HOLLAND & SHERRY HOULÈS HOUSE OF ROHL

HUMA KITCHENS IKSEL DECORATIVE ARTS INTERDESIGN UK

JACARANDA CARPETS & RUGS JAIPUR RUGS JASON D’SOUZA

JEAN MONRO JENNIFER MANNERS DESIGN JENSEN BEDS JULIAN

CHICHESTER KINGCOME KRAVET KVADRAT LASKASAS LEE JOFA

LELIÈVRE PARIS LEWIS & WOOD LINCRUSTA LIZZO LONDON

BASIN COMPANY LONDONART WALLPAPER LOOM FURNITURE

MARVIC TEXTILES MCKINNON AND HARRIS MINDTHEGAP

MODERN BRITISH KITCHENS MORRIS & CO MULBERRY HOME

THE NANZ COMPANY NOBILIS OFICINA INGLESA FURNITURE

ORIGINAL BTC OSBORNE & LITTLE PAOLO MOSCHINO LTD

PAVONI PERENNIALS SUTHERLAND STUDIO PHILIPPE HUREL

PHILLIP JEFFRIES PIERRE FREY PORADA PORTA ROMANA RALPH

LAUREN HOME THE RUG COMPANY QUOTE & CURATE RESTED

ROBERT LANGFORD ROMO RUBELLI SA BAXTER ARCHITECTURAL

HARDWARE SACCO CARPET SAMUEL & SONS SAMUEL HEATH

SANDERSON SAVOIR BEDS SCHUMACHER SHEPEL’ SIMINETTI

SIMPSONS THE SPECIFIED STARK CARPET STUDIO FRANCHI

STUDIOTEX SUMMIT FURNITURE THREADS AT GP & J BAKER

TIGERMOTH LIGHTING TIM PAGE CARPETS TISSUS D’HÉLÈNE

TOLLGARD TOPFLOOR BY ESTI TUFENKIAN ARTISAN CARPETS

TURNELL & GIGON TURNSTYLE DESIGNS TURRI VAUGHAN

VIA ARKADIA (TILES) VISIONNAIRE VISUAL COMFORT & CO. VISPRING WATTS 1874 WENDY MORRISON WEST ONE

BATHROOMS WIRED CUSTOM LIGHTING WOOL CLASSICS

ZIMMER + ROHDE ZOFFANY ZUBER

THE WORLD’S LEADING INTERIOR DESIGN DESTINATION

130+ SHOWROOMS

600+ INTERNATIONAL BRANDS

ONE ADDRESS

THE GREAT SLIDE SHOW

Everyone loves a waterslide, but they are not ordinarily things of beauty. Until now. Splinterworks creates swimming pool slides that could hold their own in a sculpture park. “Our slides are always experimental and theatrical, but functionality is key,” says Miles Hartwell, who co-founded the company with fellow designer Matt Withington. “We love visual tricks and dichotomies – motion and stillness, strength and fragility, weightlessness and solidity.”

Inspiration sprang from designer-artists such as Zaha Hadid and Thomas Heatherwick, Hartwell explains. “They blurred the lines between furniture and art.” Made in one piece from marine-grade stainless steel, the slides can be commissioned to suit a particular environment. “There are no fixings, not a bolt in sight. They look like an abstract piece of metal that’s fallen from the sky.” Installation can be challenging: one slide was delivered to a house in the Hamptons with a police escort, while others have arrived by helicopter.

Splinterworks has high-profile clients around the world – including the architect Norman Foster. If you’re worried about the metal getting too hot in sunny climes, fear not: a cooling system is included, so you can keep slip-sliding away in complete comfort.

FRONTISPIECE

TRENDS, INSIGHTS AND UPDATES FROM THE WORLDS OF PROPERTY, DESIGN AND LIFESTYLE

PROPERTY MARKET

BRAND VALUES

Prime property prices in Madrid are on the rise, for two reasons. e rst is the steady in ux of wealthy buyers from South America, attracted by the lively cultural scene and high quality of life in the elegant Spanish capital – the city has been dubbed “the new Miami” thanks to its status as a haven for South American wealth. And the second is the limited amount of prime stock, especially in the historic centre and preferred areas such as Salamanca, with its handsome 19th-century architecture and tree-lined streets.

Into this lively marketplace comes SLS Madrid Infantas Residences, a development of 33 lavish apartments and penthouses in a historic building in the heart of town, a stone’s throw from the shops and restaurants of Gran Via. is boutique collection will be fully serviced by SLS – a luxury hotel brand famous for its theatrical, glamorous properties in vibrant locations such as Miami and Dubai.

“Branded residences are an emerging sub-sector of the new homes market in Spain, and particularly in Madrid,” says Tom Bryant, Savills director of global residential sales. SLS is part of the Ennismore group, best known in the UK for the Gleneagles hotel and the new Estelle properties in Mayfair and the Cotswolds, and, according to Bryant, it will appeal “to Latin American buyers due to its established, market-leading position in Florida and South America. SLS perfectly matches the energy of Madrid and will no doubt attract owners looking to buy there.”

e development combines the haute high-spec quality of a luxury new-build with a dash of history: the 1920s building was designed in late Belle Époque style by the architect Eduardo Eznarriaga, who designed several Madrid theatres and the handsome Casino Militar on Gran Via. As a luxurious, prestigious, turnkey branded residence in the heart of a dynamic city, SLS Madrid Infantas Residences could not be more contemporary in its appeal.

Above and below: SLS Madrid Infantas Residences offers high-spec modern luxury in a Belle Époque building near some of the Spanish capital’s finest shops and restaurants

PLANTS FOR ALL SEASONS

Some of the most obvious signs of climate change can be seen in our gardens. Extreme weather conditions, from the record levels of rainfall experienced in the UK at the start of 2024 to the severe high temperatures during recent summers across Europe, are leading to wilting blooms – and a surge of interest in climate-resilient garden design.

Choosing drought-tolerant plants is a good place to start and chimes with the vogue for Mediterranean-style gravel gardens. Long established as an attractive, low-maintenance style across southern Europe, the gravel garden was popularised in the UK by the late Beth Chatto, whose garden in Essex, created on the site of a car park, has a beauty that belies its humble origins. is is a style of gardening that favours a hardy mix of perennials such as ornamental grasses, sedum, rosemary and euphorbia. e Royal Horticultural Society’s website o ers a comprehensive list of species that can cope with the “boom and bust” of high and low temperatures, heavy rainfall and drought. is eminently practical style of planting has become ever more desirable as a perfect t for the streamlined, modernist aesthetic of many homes. Gravel gardens require little weeding and no watering – as Chatto put it, “Once established, the plants have to fend for themselves or die”. Pea gravel is spread evenly to a depth of 10cm-15cm, which encourages the roots to grow deep, creating a hardier plant that can withstand periods of drought.

Although such gardens preclude many of our best-loved traditional border blooms, this doesn’t mean they are dull. Far from it – grasses such as blue fescue are especially striking, while cranesbill or Canary Island geraniums, which originate in hot, dry climates, are ideal for adding gorgeous pops of colour.

TECHNOLOGY SHY TECH

We are witnessing a new phenomenon: the vanishing TV. At the CES 2024 fair in Las Vegas, an annual tech launchpad, manufacturers were vying to perfect this magic trick. Drawing most plaudits was LG’s wireless 77-inch 4K OLED TV, which will be available later in 2024 and has a transparent screen set in a discreet frame that resembles a shelving unit. Sophisticated technology in the home was once something to aunt, but now, it seems, we don’t want hard, cold lines interrupting the ow of our furnishings. Today’s home tech is hiding in plain sight behind beautifully tactile surfaces. Even our cooking appliances are pretending that they aren’t there. Known for its exquisitely designed, architect-friendly appliances, Gaggenau has gone one step further: its latest induction hob is hidden inside a Dekton countertop, appearing as a glowing spot when a discreet knob on the edge of the counter is turned. “ e Essential Induction hob re ects the trend for ‘shy tech’, ” says Sven Baacke, head of design at Gaggenau. “Younger generations appreciate the seamless integration of technology into their daily lives without it being obtrusive or distracting.”

Shy tech is all about embracing the beloved materials of our homes. At New York Design Week last year, Sony and the design brand Stellar Works developed Staydream, an exhibition’s worth of technology embedded in beautiful interior features. It included speakers in a wooden room divider and a bed whose high sides, covered in Kvadrat fabric, doubled up as a screen and hiding place for a projector and speakers.

While Staydream remains an experiment, there’s plenty nudging us the same way. Sonance embeds its premium speakers in walls, behind your chosen paper, wood veneer or Venetian plaster. e Mui Board Gen 2 is a simple-seeming wall-mounted strip of wood that allows you to adjust everything from the thermostat to blinds, while Freepower turns marbled counters and wooden desks into wireless device chargers.

Smart doesn’t have to mean shiny. e latest technology is designed to disappear.

Above: Gaggenau’s Essential Induction hob, displayed at Milan Design Week 2024

RECORD A MUSICAL MASTERPIECE AT HOME

You don’t need to be a Grammy-winning music producer to justify a state-of-the-art home recording studio. From private houses to larger luxury developments, properties with music facilities are the latest example of the trend for adding professional-level amenities to enhance a home environment.

Brad Pitt joined forces with the French producer and engineer Damien Quintard in 2022 to renovate Studio Miraval, in the grounds of the actor’s 2,200-acre Provençal estate. Artists from Pink Floyd to Sade once recorded there, but it had lain dormant for 20 years. For Pitt, who admits to not being much of a musician, the studio is just the latest addition to Château Miraval – which also has a winery – but this is a feature that’s nding its way into more and more high-end homes.

According to e Economist, the “home-studio boom” came about during the pandemic, when musicians and producers were unable to frequent their usual studios. Now state-of-the-art recording facilities are becoming a prized part of the home for a growing number of audiophiles and music-makers.

New developments are also including recording studios in their ever-growing lists of luxury amenities. At Porto Montenegro, as well as the marina and yacht club, for a fee residents can use a Soundlab recording studio in the Synchro360 creative hub. And a bespoke media studio has been integrated within the amenities in the SLS Social House, part of the SLS Madrid Infantas Residences, catering to the creative needs of its residents.

TRENDS RISE OF THE BOUDOIR BATHROOM

If the last decade favoured state-of-the-art power showers set in sleek minimalist stone, we have now entered the age of the richly decorative boho-luxe bathroom. is requires a space large and elegant enough to house not only said power shower, but also a freestanding tub the size of a small boat, painted panelling or marble-clad walls, an armchair, a chaise longue or perhaps even a sofa (for companionable chats), artworks and a cabinet full of haute smellies. A papered feature wall (House of Hackney does a great line in sumptuous steam-resistant designs), pretty sconce wall lights and a shelf of books will complete the appeal of the bathroom-turned-living space.

“ e bedroom and bathroom suite is increasingly where couples choose to spend time together each day,” says James Lentaigne, creative director of Drummonds, a bathroom specialist with showrooms in London and New York. “ e golden rule is to give both partners their own allocated area, so they are never competing for space, but can still talk while they are getting ready. Alongside double vanity basins, we’ve also seen increased demand for double showers and even bathtubs placed side by side.”

e bathroom in the West Sussex home of the renowned interior designer Martin Brudnizki, who has collaborated with Drummonds on a bathroom collection, is a perfect example of the trend. Lentaigne calls it “a masterclass in maximalism – the grandeur of his seventeenth-century home is further adorned with classical marble and sumptuous fabrics, punctuated by idiosyncratic choices such as an upholstered chair and a candy pink bath, giving a playful homeliness to the otherwise imposing space.”

A boudoir-bathroom as beautiful as it is functional adds a huge sense of wellbeing to a home. “Getting wellness right is more and more important,” says Crispin Holborow, joint head of Savills Private O ce. “We see the appeal of baths really coming back. I know of one couple who had two baths installed, top to toe, so they could bathe together but separately and chat. ey’ve been married for 40 years!” is, after all, is our inner sanctum. In addition to kickstarting the day at full powershower speed, we can enjoy the longest of soaks with a good book in hand or contemplate the evening skies, champagne in hand. As Mae West put it: “When in doubt, take a bath.” She wasn’t wrong.

Designer Martin Brudnizki’s grand yet whimsical bathroom at his West Sussex home

INTERIORS

ART OF GLASS

A sculpture in cast glass inspired by living coral, made by the artist Monette Larsen; a panel of blown and fused glass in the vivid greens of spring, crafted by Sandra A. Fuchs; forest-like pieces in glowing colours by Enemark & ompson (all represented by London’s Vessel Gallery); or clouds rendered in clear and vivid blue glass by Peter Layton, the founder of London Glassblowing … welcome to the spectacular world of art glass. With rich colours and beguiling forms, often drawn from nature, these tabletop pieces are highly collectible, as demonstrated by their signi cant presence at leading craft fairs such as Collect in London, where makers from the UK, Italy and South Korea show their wares.

Art glass isn’t new – think of the Art Nouveau heirlooms that might have graced your granny’s cabinet of treasured objets – but it is de nitely having a moment. Artists the world over are producing exceptional work using every type of glassmaking skill, with an overarching trend for the vivid, robust beauty that characterises Larsen’s work. is glass might be fragile and precious, but it isn’t dainty: it will hold its own in any art- lled interior. is is art with great craftsmanship at the core of its appeal – and art to live with.

Inspired by living coral, Floating Twist by Monette Larsen is emblematic of the new, highly collectible glass art – much of it inspired by the natural world. This Danish-born, London-based artist uses her work to “explore the mathematics of the coral shape … refining and altering the piece like the forces of nature”

HOUSE STYLE

TOM CHAPMAN

The founder of the online luxury homewares store ABASK and Matches.com lives with his wife, Ruth, between London, Provence and the Bahamas. He reveals his design inspirations

ABASK CAME ABOUT because we werelooking for special, one-of-a-kind design objects to furnish our home – glassware, tableware, decorative pieces, handmade games. I realised that there wasn’t anywhere I could go to find all these things in one beautifully curated place.

WE’RE BASED IN LONDON and we’ve got a wonderful old mas in Provence, in the foothills of the Luberon mountains, surrounded by olive groves. We’ve also recently purchased a home in the Bahamas, which we’re building from the sand up. The idea behind that one is to create a place where, as our kids get older, they’ll want to spend time with us!

ALL OF OUR HOMES, present and past, have had a sense of comfort and ease – and they are never too formal. The best interiors reflect the environment that you’re in. So the London house reflects the energy of the city, Provence is tranquil, and in the Bahamas the mood is light and breezy, like the ocean landscape. We love to have a connection to the

outside world and the sky. Even when we had our place in New York, we had a view of the Empire State Building.

THE ICONIC VILLA NECCHI in Milan, designed by Piero Portaluppi, is a favourite reference point of mine.

SOME PIECES ARE IMPORTANT because of their connection to the past. The painting that hangs above our bed in London is by an artist called Peter McClaren. It was the first painting we ever bought, and it’s of little monetary value, but it will forever be meaningful because of the emotion behind it.

WHEN WE WERE LOOKING for a place in New York, a dear friend of mine said: “Before you decide where you want to be, decide what you want to be and how you want to live your life.” There is great truth to this, and that’s probably why the bones of our homes stay the same.

WHEN WE ENTERTAIN, it’s important to me that everything feels generous. I like lots of wine and lots of glasses, such as Theresienthal’s flutes and Nason Moretti’s hand-blown

For interviews with other leading tastemakers, visit portfolio.savills.com

Murano wineglasses. Discovering new makers has reinvigorated our table. We also go to lots of auctions: Phillips’s design auctions and Piasa in Paris.

MY TASTE EVOLVES as I gain knowledge. I love to research Carlo Scarpa, Gio Ponti and Charlotte Perriand, then seek out pieces by them. I’m fascinated by Josef Hoffmann and Wiener Werkstätte – and we just got permission to reproduce one of his designs with Augarten. These days, I tend to have fewer things, but more of a connection to them.

from top le : Tom Chapman at his London home;

Portofino hand-painted glasses; the Chapmans’ home in New York; a Terrafirma dish; and a Josef Hoffman design. All products from ABASK

Clockwise

Theresienthal glass; Charlotte Perriand shelves; Villa Necchi; Los Vasos de Agua Clara

ETERNAL CITIES

Italy’s fabulous landscapes, food and architecture have long been magnets for second-home owners, but now its dynamic cities are inspiring international investors to choose the country as a base

Words by Mia Aimaro Ogden

“TRAVELLING IS THE RUIN OF ALL HAPPINESS!” wrote the English novelist Fanny Burney in 1782, after returning from her Italian travels. “ ere’s no looking at a building after seeing Italy.” From aristocrats soaking up the culture on their grand tours to Hollywood stars savouring the dolce vita in the 1960s, Italy has always exerted a powerful pull on the rest of the world – a favourite location both for second homes and, increasingly, for a primary residence.

“Our rst associations when thinking about Italy tend to be the antiquities and landscapes,” says Jelena Cvjetkovic, director, Savills international network. “But let’s not forget the contemporary – vibrant cities such as Rome, Milan, Florence and Palermo. at’s the Italian life I love.” What’s more, she points out, if you long for “a more bucolic lifestyle, perhaps a vast period home somewhere rustic or coastal in Tuscany, Liguria or the Lakes, you’re seldom far from a city with a great cultural and lifestyle o ering”. For residents of Milan or Venice, the mountains are within easy striking distance for a weekend’s skiing.

Whether town or country, Italy’s attractions are timeless, and it remains “one of the most popular locations for second-home ownership in Europe”, says Kelcie Sellers, associate director in the Savills world research team. And small wonder, with its 5,000 miles of coastline; ne seaside towns, from Porto no to Positano; 74 mountain ranges, with wonderful ski resorts such as Cortina d’Ampezzo; 1,500 lakes, including Como, Garda and Maggiore; and some of the nest art, architecture and design in the western hemisphere.

Today, a at rate of tax on income earned outside the country of €100,000 a year, introduced in 2017 to attract high-net-worth incomers, is encouraging many families and individuals to make Italy the location for their primary residence. is might explain a trend identi ed by Danilo Orlando, head of residential for Savills Italy – the growing number of buyers who are “location-agnostic” in their prime property searches.

“ e at tax regime has attracted individuals and families from all around the world,” says Filippo Molinari, a Padua-based tax adviser and lawyer at Withers Worldwide. Likewise, the impatriati regime, “a special tax structure for incomers designed to attract highly specialised or quali ed professionals”, is encouraging another cohort of highly paid employees to relocate to Italy.

MILAN AS A LIFESTYLE CHOICE

Italy’s business centre and economic powerhouse has recently emerged as a desirable destination for international purchasers, notably from the UK, Germany, Switzerland and the USA. “Buyers looking proactively in Milan – rather than being sent here to work, say, by their bank –is relatively new,” says Cvjetkovic. She believes this has been sparked to some extent by that ax tax arrangement, coupled with Milan’s strategic location at the heart of Europe – great road, rail and air links make the city an excellent base for anyone with international business interests.

Molinari con rms that this connectivity makes Milan “a strategic hub that appeals to a considerable number of new residents”, including many motivated in part by those attractive tax regimes. At €16,000 per square metre, this is Italy’s most expensive prime market, yet at 15 per cent below the average London prime property price, Milan still seems relatively good value.

Along with the buzz generated by its international fashion weeks and the much-loved annual Salone de Mobile design festival, Milan has a year-round vibrant cultural life, from art at the Pinacoteca di Brera or Fondazione Prada to opera at La Scala – along with a roster of top international schools. From the splendid Duomo to the cobbled streets of Brera, there is much that is easy on the eye, while “the seaside is an hour and a half away”, says Cvjetkovic. “Many Milanese migrate to Liguria for the summer, with Santa Margherita – next to Porto no – a popular choice for second homes. Similarly, Lake Como and the mountains are nearby.”

Where to buy: investors want to be right in the centre: “ e ideal is a grand villa around Magenta or a large lateral apartment in a restored historic building with a courtyard garden,” says Cvjetkovic. For Beatrice Barbato, a PR consultant who lives in Milan, Brera is unbeatable. “It’s utterly charming – the beating heart of the city. But if you want a loft apartment in a cool part of town, choose Navigli.” Several high-pro le new developments have increased prime property prices in the city. “ e penthouses in CityLife and the apartments in the Bosco Verticale in Porta Nuova, with glass façades covered in dense foliage, are really stylish,” says Barbato. Cvjetkovic agrees: “ ey’re easy apartments to live in. Actually, Milan is a very liveable city.”

‘BRERA IS UTTERLY CHARMING, THE BEATING HEART OF MILAN’

Above: the elegant Brera district in Milan. Top right: a fruit juice stall in Palermo. Right: Isola Bella, near Taormina, Sicily. Le : Palermo Cathedral. Previous spread: the Roman skyline

A FLAT RATE OF TAX ON INCOME EARNED OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY OF €100,000 A YEAR IS ATTRACTING HIGH-NET-WORTH INVESTORS

ROME ENJOYS A REBOOT

“Rome’s history is incredibly accessible,” says Alessandro Sangermano, Savills Rome residential team director. “You feel it everywhere. I’m a Roman, born and bred, but I still love to get on my bike and get lost in the streets.” And what streets – from dreamy, cobbled Via Margutta, with its links to Federico Fellini, to the ever-lively Via della Lungaretta in Trastevere. e city’s illustrious past and rich cultural o ering remain key to its appeal for many buyers, Sangermano explains, as does the stability of its real-estate market. He also points to a wave of ve-star hotel openings – Bulgari, Six Senses and Edition – that have con rmed Rome’s status as a desirable high-end destination. ere is a renewed buzz around Via Veneto, including a soon-to-open Nobu and a growing number of Michelin-starred restaurants.

Rome’s metro system is expanding and Fiumicino is often voted one of Europe’s best airports, winning Airport Service Quality awards for seven years in a row. It is no surprise, then, that prime property here remains in high demand, with prices forecast to rise between 2 per cent and 3.9 per cent in 2024. Apartments in historic residences and panoramic villas with gardens are top of international buyers’ wish lists. Where to buy: “ e city preserves its history on every corner, but at the same time it’s evolving with a vibrant energy,” says Sangermano. Popular areas for international buyers include Trastevere – a trendy area near the Tiber that retains a community feel and a strong sense of identity, despite its central location and reputation for restaurants and nightlife. Testaccio is increasingly on the radar, and Cvjetkovic

singles out Monti, which is “very central – just down from the Forum. Although it is steeped in history, it feels young and dynamic, with lots of interesting independent shops, restaurants and galleries. And Parioli was developed in the early 20th century as a prime residential area, away from the crowds, and has stayed true to these origins – it has tree-lined streets and elegant buildings with large, lofty apartments.” Aventino, another of the seven hills of Rome, is a highly sought-after area that o ers larger properties often with gardens, yet is very central. e new-build market in Rome is equally fast-moving, according to Cvjetkovic. “Porta Pamphili, a spectacular contemporary building surrounded by nature near Villa Doria Pamphili, has resonated with our buyers,” she says. “So has Fo.Ro Living, a new development with a similar concept – of a sustainable urban forest – to the Bosco Verticale in Milan.” ese handsome, design-led apartments provide residents with all the advantages of modern living in this ancient city, views of which can, of course, be enjoyed from capacious balconies.

FLORENCE AND TUSCANY’S ENDURING APPEAL

“Florence is a great place to live – well run, very clean, with a vastly improved infrastructure – and you can get anywhere by bicycle,” says Cvjetkovic. “It’s vibrant, with great culture, but manageable in terms of scale, and there’s a thriving bar and restaurant scene. It also has an international university and is a major player in the fashion industry.” International investors account for nearly 40 per cent of non-Italian purchasers, with the UK, the USA, Germany and France heading the

Le : Varenna, on the eastern shore of Lake Como. Below: the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence

crowd. At the end of 2023, prime prices in the city stood at €9,600 a square metre, an increase of 3.5 per cent over the year.

Where to buy: in the centro storico, apartments along the banks of the Arno are a particular favourite, as is Piazza D’Azeglio: a large, leafy square on the edges of the historic centre, developed in the 19th century, where you can nd attractive, large apartments. Costa San Giorgio, a stone-paved street that winds uphill from the south bank of the Arno, is also popular. e hills to the north and south of Florence – Fiesole and Poggio Imperiale respectively – o er larger properties with gardens and are much in demand. Pian dei Giullari, just beyond Poggio Imperiale, is also highly sought-after. You might think you’re in the countryside, yet you’re still within the city limits.

In fact, part of Florence’s appeal is how quickly it gives way to the countryside – a working countryside of vineyards and olive orchards, dotted with the hill towns, Renaissance villas and country houses that have made this area world-famous. If you want to be close to Florence, choose Impruneta or Bagno a Ripoli, where an American school makes it a favourite with expats.

At Manifattura Tabacchi, northeast of the city centre, a vast former factory from the 1930s is being transformed into a stylish creative and residential district. Prospective residents can select from lofts by the Florentine studio q-bic, apartments by Quincoces-dragò & Partners or spaces by the Spanish starchitect Patricia Urquiola (see p48).

Wider Tuscany, with its timeless landscapes and hilltop towns, has a di erent appeal, but throughout this captivating region, you can quickly navigate your way from rural bliss to world-class art and exquisite gastronomic experiences – it ranks as the top gourmet destination in the Savills Prime Residential Index, World Second Home Locations 2023. Add to that the region’s reputation as a wine producer and it’s easy to see why superchefs such as Antonino Cannavacciuolo and Heinz Beck have launched outposts here.

SICILY AND THE WHITE LOTUS EFFECT

It’s not just the baroque splendour of Noto, Syracuse’s Roman remains or the vibrant street markets of Palermo that attracts international visitors to Sicily. It’s show business too – an echo of the “Clooney e ect”, when George Clooney bought a villa overlooking Lake Como. Recently the big draw has been the HBO show e White Lotus – and its dreamy depiction of Taormina and its surroundings in the second season. “It’s had a huge impact on the Sicilian real-estate market and on tourism,” says Giusi Rossi, Savills Palermo residential team director. “It’s like the Montalbano e ect around Ragusa, in the southeast, when they started lming Andrea Camilleri’s novels. People came and fell in love with the island.”

With some of the lowest prime property prices in Italy – and January temperatures that rarely drop below 10C – Palermo attracts northern Europeans ying south for the winter. “We have clients who want to spend four or ve months here and work remotely,” says Rossi. “Palermo has a wonderful centro storico, with many important buildings – Roger II’s Cappella Palatina is a masterpiece in gold.” But again, this is a lively city, not a museum piece. Where to buy: transaction volumes in Sicily were 15.3 per cent higher in 2023 than in 2019. So what’s on the tick list for Palermo’s prime purchasers? “Often they ask for palazzi or historic apartments in the old city, many of which date from the late 17th century,” says Rossi. “ ey have so much charm – high ceilings, frescoes, Liberty-style features.” Modern villas and high-spec apartments by the beach in Mondello are also popular and, heading south, the ancient city of Caltagirone is seeing an uptick in buyers returning to their roots.

“People are looking for something ancestral,” says Rossi. “ ey come to explore family history, fall in love and start searching for a villa with land for an organic project – making wine or producing oil. Sicily is rich: it tells you who we are and who we were.”

THE COLLECTION: THE BEST OF ITALY

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Below, from top FLORENCE Manifattura Tabacchi, a 1930s factory complex northeast of the city centre, is being transformed into a stylish creative and residential district. €422.000-€2,078,000; Riccardo Leonelli, riccardo.leonelli@savills.it

PALERMO This exclusive villa north of the Sicilian capital has a private garden, an infinity pool and views of the Sferracavallo Gulf. €980,000; Giusi Rossi, giusi.rossi@savills.it

ROME A sustainable contemporary development inspired by nearby historic buildings, Porta Pamphili is a sustainable project near the Valle dei Casali nature reserve. €255,000-€790,000; Riccardo Leonelli, riccardo.leonelli@savills.it

HOMEWARD BOUND

For most of us, the idea of home is inexorably linked to family. Tina Gaudoin explains how, even when she lived halfway across the world, the big skies and empty beaches of her childhood in Norfolk always pulled her back to eastern England’s pretty coastal villages

THERE’S A STRETCH OF FARMLAND on the Riverhead to Quogue road, heading towards the southern tip of Long Island, New York, which is for me forever England. To be precise, it’s forever Norfolk, East Anglia, where I grew up. For the entire 15 or so years that I spent living in New York City, working as an editor and journalist for publications as varied as Vogue and e Wall Street Journal, this strip of land, which I passed each weekend on the way to my “summer house” (unlike most New Yorkers, I visited year-round), brought me back instantly to my childhood.

“Oh my God! Stop the car! is is just like Norfolk!” I had screeched on rst seeing the at, green arable fruit and vegetable elds stretching into the distance, the acres of sun owers and sweetcorn swaying sweetly in the breeze, the water vapour from the relentless irrigation systems

rising into evaporating clouds in the morning sun. My then husband pulled the car to the side of the road and laughed heartily.

From then on, wherever we travelled, from the heights of Machu Picchu to the crocodile-infested Zambezi River, he would, at the most inopportune of moments, conjure up my phrase. “You know,” he would joke as we gazed across the water while staying at the Lake Palace in Udaipur, or walked the incense-infused backstreets of Kyoto, “this is just like Norfolk.”

It seems, in my case at least, that in direct contradiction to the time-worn phrase “there’s no place etc”, there are actually lots of places “like home”, particularly Long Island, with its huge skies and wide open beaches, surrounded by seemingly endless ocean. But nowhere in my experience, other than East Anglia, really is

home. My xation on the location is somewhat incongruous, since my paternal family do not come from the east of England. Rather, they hail from Burma and India, mixed-race remnants of the British Raj, washing up on these shores when, after the Second World War, and Indian and Burmese independence, they had nowhere else to go.

After arriving in 1953, my paternal grandparents pursued a restless, itinerant lifestyle, more through necessity than choice, which saw them living in and purchasing several houses in Norfolk before they intrepidly crossed “the border” into Su olk, nding their forever home – a fairy-tale thatched cottage in nine acres of ancient woodland, seven miles inland from Southwold. My mother, meanwhile, was a Norfolk girl through and through, growing up happily in the Broadlands in a home literally surrounded by potato and corn elds. She met my father on the school bus – he was at the boys’ grammar and she at the girls’.

When my parents left my beloved East Anglia for the London suburbs, I was 13. Suddenly there was no more beach, no more woodland, no more riding, no more sailing and no more sport. From my Norfolk classroom, I had a view of the white-capped waves of the North Sea, but my new girls’ school looked out onto relentless rows of back-to-back south London terraces. is made me deeply sad. Aged 16, I left home and returned to Norfolk to take my A-levels, staying with my grandparents. I’ve been “coming home” ever since – whether it be from Monaco, Manhattan or Paris, all roads, as the saying in my family goes, “lead to Norfolk”.

Since I was old enough to make my own decisions, I have been a compulsive “mover”. Writing this article has spurred me into counting just how many places I’ve bought or lived in on both sides of the Atlantic since I got married at 26. Reader, let’s just say that it would take more than the toes and ngers of one person, and just shy of the digits of a second, to add them all together. ere were the brownstone apartments on the Upper West Side (one with a resident rat, one with an invasion of ies and the third – just right – forsaken when my mother became sick and I needed to return to the UK). ere was the Buckinghamshire farmhouse mentioned in the Domesday Book, the pretty Primrose Hill terrace, the Georgian cottage high on the hill in Highgate, the clapboard teacher’s house in a tiny Long Island village and the old converted dairy on the Su olk estate, now the site of the Latitude Festival.

Along the way, there have been mistakes – almost too many to mention, but here’s a sample: the Camden cottage on the route from a notorious nightclub to the Tube, where uninterrupted sleep was rare; the trendy ex-railway worker’s home so close to the LondonBirmingham line that the Georgian window frames shook with every passing train; and, neither last nor least, the dizzyingly high Upper West Side penthouse with a view of Central Park, so dazzling that we’d overlooked the curious scarcity of radiators.

But through it all, there has always been Norfolk … and Su olk, with their winding lanes, high hedgerows, corn elds, endless skies and bracing beaches. And gardens full of roses, there were always roses. It doesn’t take a shrink to gure out why, after e ectively wandering to and fro around the globe, I always return to the place of my childhood – especially since, to my mind, it is one of the most beautiful areas on earth, alongside Bhutan, Burma (now Myanmar) and Eastern Long Island. A strange mix, I know, but there it is. “Home is where one starts from,” wrote TS Eliot in the second of his Four Quartets: East Coker. It is also where I have ended up. I write this from a tiny Su olk village nine miles from my grandparents’ ancient woodlands, which remain in our family, and 90 minutes from the Norfolk village where I spent some of the happiest times of my early life. I am, nally, home.

THERE ARE LOTS OF PLACES

‘LIKE HOME’, PARTICULARLY LONG ISLAND, BUT NOWHERE OTHER THAN EAST ANGLIA REALLY IS HOME

HERITAGE, HOLIDAYS AND FAMILY TIES

Savills experts explain why, from the sunny beaches of the Mediterranean to the most beautiful corners of Scotland and Ireland, family connections are a huge and heartfelt driver in the second homes and holiday house market

MEMORIES OF THE MED

“Many buyers are trying to recreate the experience they had as children,” says Jelena Cvjetkovic, director, Savills international network. In particular, those legendary southern European summers when children would spend a couple of months with their grandparents, parents, cousins, aunts and uncles at the family beach house. For Cvjetkovic, who grew up in Croatia, it is a treasured memory, and one she says is similar to her Greek husband’s experience of long seaside summers with a gaggle of siblings and cousins on the beach.

It’s a scene many of us will have witnessed on our own beach holidays across Europe. “We nd that buyers who live in London or New York, who have built their career and business there, want that same carefree experience for their own children,” Cvjetkovic says. “ ey will favour a location that connects with their own family heritage. ey want a home by the sea and they’ll pay a premium for just the right thing.”

Traditionally, beach homes were located near the cities where parents worked – for example, the islands and seaside villages within easy reach of Athens, the shoreline close to Dubrovnik, the coast north of Barcelona and towns such as Viareggio, on the Tuscan coast. But it might be somewhere more remote, a rural spot or little island where the family had always had land, and had built a house some decades ago. Parents would come and go throughout the summer, while the grandparents took up the reins. Today, for the international second-home buyer, a good airport and the ability to “lock up and go” are valued assets, but the emotional tug, the call of home and family, remains the same.

Fond memories of long, carefree family holidays in southern Europe tempt many buyers to invest in a home by the sea

THE SCOTTISH STORY

It’s a pattern that’s also in evidence across Scotland and Ireland. “ e Scottish diaspora is huge – there are Scots everywhere in the world,” says Jamie Macnab, head of the country house team in Savills Edinburgh o ce, who wears another “hat” as the chief of Clan Macnab. “Some of our buyers will have been brought up and educated in Scotland, then made their careers in London, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia or Dubai. And once they get to the stage of life where they have the money, they want a home in Scotland as well.” is will be used for holidays, big weekend parties and longer stays with friends and family. Often, Macnab explains, people will “ ip” their life later on, making the Scottish house their main home while keeping a smaller at in London or New York for business trips and visits.

For others, especially in the USA and Canada, their Scottish heritage might be several generations back, but is still felt profoundly, Macnab explains. “ rough my role as Clan chief, I get a real understanding of this passionate sense of family and ancestry that Scots have. I’ve visited Macnab graves from the early 18th century in Tennessee. People are proud to tell me about their ancestors who emigrated, people with entrepreneurial spirit, pioneers who lived tough lives in the new world. It’s a privilege to hear the stories.”

It is often the descendants of these pioneers who are in love with “the dream of Scotland” – the landscape, culture, architecture and, of course, the golf. “I sell a lot of gol ng-related property to overseas buyers around St Andrews, the spiritual home of the game,” says Macnab. Americans are the largest driver in this market, with the strength of the Canadian economy over the past couple of years bringing increasing numbers of buyers from the USA’s northerly neighbour.

Macnab con rms that the lure of the traditional grand Scottish house remains strong. “I guess we sell a lot of castles,” he laughs, whether those are original fort tower houses or Georgian and Victorian homes with attached turrets. Sporting estates are coveted, as are islands – surely the ultimate trophy property. Proximity to an airport is essential: Glasgow to connect to the west coast, Edinburgh or Inverness as a gateway to the Highlands.

THE IRISH CONNECTION

James Butler, a director in Savills Dublin o ce, con rms the dominance of buyers with Irish heritage in the second-home market there. “Fifty per cent of buyers in the prime sector are from overseas, and a huge number of them will be people of Irish heritage,” he explains. Many “have an Irish accent” – in other words, they were born and raised in Ireland, but have built a life, career or business elsewhere,

PEOPLE ARE PROUD OF THEIR ANCESTORS WHO EMIGRATED, PIONEERS WHO LIVED TOUGH LIVES IN THE NEW WORLD

often in the USA. “Many people left when the global nancial crash happened 15 years ago, went abroad for employment and have become very successful,” says Butler. “Now they want a base here. In my experience, Irish people will always invest in property and land when they have made wealth.”

Typically, buyers are drawn to the area their family is from – even if that is a generation or two back – but the property itself can also be the catalyst. “ ey might not be actively looking, but they see a property they love and buyers with whom we might never have had any contact come forward,” says Butler. “Sometimes they will send a relative to look at the house.”

ese are usually cash buyers making a lifestyle purchase, Butler explains, so they will pay a premium to get exactly what they want. “Great views are important,” he says. “Direct access to the sea will add 50 per cent to the value and a water view between 25 and 30 per cent. I’d say the property most in demand is a contemporary waterfront home – lots of glass and light, with an exceptional nish and ultra-e cient services – that can be locked up and left. at would attract worldwide interest.”

Others, however, want a slice of a di erent, perhaps more romantic version of Ireland, an enchanting world of great country houses with land and sporting facilities. According to Butler, rarity is the key here: “Typically each year there would only be about 25 holdings over 200 acres coming to market, and maybe 125 of 100-200 acres. ese buyers are motivated by the fun you can have with that land – you can farm it, maybe start an environmental project and make a positive impact, or enjoy sporting facilities. Some are less interested in the land than in the architectural quality of the house and the beauty of the surroundings, grounds and gardens.”

THE PROPERTY MOST IN DEMAND IN IRELAND IS A CONTEMPORARY WATERFRONT HOME: LOTS OF GLASS AND LIGHT

Many buyers regularly come to Ireland for work – the country is a key European hub for tech and pharmaceuticals – so they want somewhere private to relax with family, but also to entertain clients and senior sta . ese buyers value the remoteness. Ready access to an airport is essential, but, as Butler says, that isn’t di cult in a country of Ireland’s size.

He uses an interesting word to describe what drives the choices made by many of the buyers he meets: “hefted”. e word has its origins in sheep farming, when a ock would be intensively herded until the animals had such a deep connection with the land that they wouldn’t wander away from it. And these global buyers, who have made their life and wealth all over the world, are surely hefted to their countries of heritage, whether that is the place they were born or where their parents or grandparents hail from. ey come for family, community and belonging, a heritage they want to pass on to their children. It seems home really is where the heart is.

THE

COLLECTION: A HOME FROM HOME, FROM SPAIN TO SCOTLAND

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TUSCANY Villa Anna is an 18th-century villa surrounded by delightful gardens, with breathtaking views over the seaside town of Forte Dei Marmi. It has 10 bedrooms and a heated pool. €11,750,000; Tom Vickery, tvickery@savills.com

CROATIA This newly built contemporary villa in the hills near Dubrovnik has three en suite bedrooms, a gym, a spa, a small garden and a terrace with a swimming pool. €2,250,000; Annabel Smith, annabel.smith@savills .com

SCOTTISH BORDERS Hartree House is a listed Scots Baronial mansion set in 22 acres near Biggar, with 14 bedrooms and glorious views. It has been used as a wedding venue. Offers over £3,600,000; Jamie Macnab, jmacnab@savills.com

SPAIN Located in vibrant Diagonal Mar, Antares is the tallest residential development in Barcelona, with 88 luxurious apartments and a roo op infinity pool. €2,500,000; May Iglesias; may.iglesias@savills.es

FERMANAGH, NORTHERN IRELAND Set in 448 acres on the banks of Lough Erne, Belle Isle Estate has water frontage and a castle at its core. £5,950,000; James Butler, james.butler@savills.ie

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SMALL WON

Grade II* listed Poston House offers the grandeur of country living on an intimate scale – this exactingly restored estate in Herefordshire has flexible accommodation and exquisite entertainment spaces in the most stunning of settings

IT HAS OFTEN BEEN SAID THAT POSTON HOUSE is a “stately home in miniature”. And it’s true that the main house, in its neoclassical perfection rendered on a dainty scale, o ers an intimate, exquisite expression of country-estate living. Built as a shooting lodge for Sir Edward Boughton around 1765 by Sir William Chambers, the architect behind Somerset House, this Grade II* listed gem is an exercise in restrained grandeur, restored to an exceptional standard. e enviable twist in the tail is that, although the main house has just three bedroom suites, there are seven bedrooms in the beautifully restored lodge and cottage in the grounds, making for wonderfully

Above: Poston House was built in the 1760s by the architect behind Somerset House. Right: the master bedroom features de Gournay chinoiserie wallpaper

PAUL MASSEY FOR FRANCIS SULTANA

DER

exible accommodation. “It’s almost an English version of the US idea of a compound,” says Crispin Holborow, joint head of Savills Private O ce, with separate accommodation for guests, sta and other members of the family when they visit.” Perfect, perhaps, for a couple who entertain a lot but want their own space, or for occasional multigen family living.

Interior designer Francis Sultana, who masterminded the house’s most recent reimagining, realised as soon as he saw it that Poston was special. “It’s a beautiful place, like something out of a Jane Austen novel or a movie set,” he says. He explains that such hunting lodges or “casinos” (little houses, as they were known in the 18th century) were designed to be part of a perfect pastoral scene. “ e whole thing had to be like a painting – the idea was that a party would be hunting, and would come across these vistas with pavilions and stop for lunch there.”

Fast-forward to the 20th century and Poston had become a ruin, with birds nesting in its glorious central rotunda. Happily, Susie and Esmond Bulmer recognised the lodge’s special quality and decided to rescue it in the 1980s, working with Philip Jebb, an architect renowned for his restoration of historic houses. He set out to restore Chambers’ original vision for the house, stripping out later additions. (In a charming completion of the circle, many decades and owners later, the Bulmers’ son Edward, a leading designer and paint specialist, has collaborated with Sultana on its most recent renovation.)

For Holborow, it is the quality of the restoration that makes Poston House so exceptional: “Very few country properties I’ve dealt with have this level of nish,” he says. “And it’s in the most beautiful position on the top of the hill, with lovely gardens.”

Poston sits at the top of a mile-long drive within 266 acres of breathtaking Herefordshire countryside, not far from Hay-on-Wye, with glorious views towards the Black Mountains. Holborow points out that this area has long been popular with Europeans and Americans for its sporting pursuits. Beyond the main house are a lodge with three bedroom suites and a cottage with four, so there is no shortage of guest and sta accommodation. ere is also a studio/o ce, a tennis court, a walled garden, a summer pavilion and a swimming pool in the handsomely proportioned orangery.

Chambers was a “starchitect” of his day, rivalled only by Robert Adam. He designed Somerset House and was responsible for additions to Goodwood House in West Sussex and Milton Abbey in Dorset. Sultana notes that while we often see Georgian houses today in all their faded beauty, at the time they were brand-new buildings, often decorated with fresh, strong colours. It is this spirit that he has brought into the renovation.

“ e owners had a strong sense of some of the colours they wanted, so I worked with that and brought in my own ideas,” he says. “For example, in the master bedroom, they knew they wanted green and I added the pink, which is a combination that was popular in the 18th century. ere is a harmony to the colours in the house.”

Every aspect of Poston House has been restored to an exacting standard. In addition to Edward Bulmer’s input, specialist Parisian painters worked on the project, using techniques that add a slight patina to the paintwork so that it doesn’t look too “brand-new”. ere is a bespoke Martin Moore kitchen and the nest-quality stone was used throughout, for example in the stunning marble bathrooms

IT’S A BEAUTIFUL PLACE, LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF A JANE AUSTEN NOVEL OR A MOVIE SET

Above: specialist painters from Paris added patina to the woodwork to avoid a “brand-new” feel.

Right: the wall chandeliers and rug in the rotunda dining room are by Mattia Bonetti. Facing page: green and pink was a popular combination in the Georgian era

THIS GRADE II* LISTED GEM IS AN EXERCISE IN RESTRAINED GRANDEUR, NOW RESTORED TO AN EXCEPTIONAL STANDARD

and in the orangery swimming pool, complete with an impressive colonnade of lanterns from renowned English lighting company Jamb. e rotunda dining room is a particular feature, which luckily had retained all of its original details. For Sultana, this is “the heart of the house. We enhanced what was there, introduced a blue ceiling and commissioned Mattia Bonetti to make the stunning wall chandeliers.”

It is this thoughtful conversation between the classical and the contemporary that works so well at Poston. Many of the furnishings were commissioned to echo the house’s history – the circular Bonetti rug in the drawing room is an abstract re ection of what a Robert Adam ceiling might have looked like. Chinoiserie, hugely popular in the 18th century, is used throughout, most spectacularly in the master bedroom, with its gorgeous green de Gournay wallpaper.

Sultana points out that many of today’s buyers want not only the architectural splendour and beautiful grounds of a great country house, but also a supremely comfortable and well-appointed living space.

“You need to have everything you want there. So it has the swimming pool and tennis courts, but there is also a room in the basement under the rotunda that we made into a cinema room. We added a circular sofa and beautiful velvet wallpaper, plus a wine room, so it’s really cosy. is is a house you can enjoy being in for a long time.”

ere is a romance to Poston House, not just in its design and setting, but in its scale. No rattling around in a draughty mansion with lots of empty bedrooms: a couple could hunker down and feel luxuriously at home. Yet it also has impressive entertaining spaces, wonderful gardens and leisure facilities, and extensive sta and guest accommodation. For its next lucky owner, it will be love at rst sight.

Poston House is on the market with a guide price of £9,550,000; Crispin Holborow, cholborow@savills.com

the swimming pool, with a colonnade of lanterns from the renowned lighting company Jamb; and the delightful walled gardens. Facing page: Poston House is set in 266 acres of Herefordshire countryside

Above:

AXIMALIST M INIMALIST

One person’s carefully curated interior is another’s cluttered mess. Two homeowners with very different aesthetics argue their (home) corners. Plus, how to achieve the look

Interviews by Mia Aimaro Ogden

THE MINIMALIST

Sarah Susman Architect

My husband and I are both architects. We’ve always been plain in our aesthetic. I love white spaces with lots of light. Life is complicated enough, so it’s nice to come home to something simple. Sometimes, when I walk into a maximalist home, I get a sense of overload. We were working in Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and when we came back to London, we found this house in Islington. It was Georgian and we liked the proportions. We could only a ord a doer-upper, but this was even worse than that. It was in horrible condition. e owner had tried to do it up – really badly. It had been converted into two ats. So we took down the partition, stripped everything out, painted it all white and got the oors done. at was our canvas. I never yearn for colour – well, pops of it perhaps, but never anything overwhelming. e funny thing is, my husband, Mark, and I almost did it without speaking. We were always on the same page. We didn’t have much money, but that wasn’t the driving force for the way the house looked. We just like a nice, uncluttered space. And a bit of training doesn’t go amiss. You don’t meet many maximalist architects. Maybe there’s something in the education that brainwashes you. Form, function, space and light – clutter can get in the way of that. You spend the rest of your life trying to make things as simple as they possibly can be. Ours is an easy space to live in. We don’t have a lot of stu , compared to most people. We don’t have knickknacks. I’ve had visitors in here who have asked if we’ve just moved in. But the upside of that is that you

always know what you have, so you use it. If you’ve got loads of stu , you can’t nd what you need. For instance, I have a lot of black jumpers, and I can never nd the one I want because they’re all the same colour.

You do have to be rigorous. Over the years you amass things, so you need to keep an eye on the amount you have and where it is. But that becomes a way of life – it’s just di erent from most other people’s. I wasn’t brought up with lots of toys. It was nothing to do with money, it was just the way my parents were. But books were important.

In terms of furniture, we’ve gone for a mix of midcentury and contemporary: Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman, B&B Italia bed, B&B Italia sofa, Jacobsen Egg chair. When we moved in, we had no furniture on the ground oor – apart from a gallery bench from SCP. It wasn’t terribly comfortable.

We don’t have a lot of paintings, but the ones we do have are important to us. And we’ve got the space and the background to be able to see them. We commissioned a huge artwork for the living room that was based on Stoke Newington, just up the road. e other piece I’m fond of – it’s very simple – is a drawing of a cow. We bought it with money left by Mark’s grandmother. It’s just black and white.

Maximalist spaces can be characterful, but I often think: “What a nightmare to keep clean.” I imagine that there’s a lot of curating you need to do with a place like that. If you have too much, it just looks a mess, as if you’ve just dumped everything. I like to keep things plain and simple.

THE MAXIMALIST

Alice Cicolini Jewellery designer

I would certainly call myself a maximalist, 100 per cent. I used to say that too much is never enough for me. One of my de ning features as a jewellery designer is a love of pattern and colour, and that extends from my work into my home. It’s all around me.

When I look at a minimalist’s home, it’s a bit like: “Where’s all your stu ?” I feel like they’re afraid of showing people who they really are. I want to show people beautiful things because beauty is so important. And as a design historian, I need things that tell stories – so the absence of things is telling a story too.

When I visit a maximalist’s home, I know who lives there instantly, because they’ve surrounded themselves with, well, themselves. ey’re not afraid of who they are. I imagine it’s easier to be in a stripped-back environment because you don’t have to live with yourself. Whereas I live with myself on a daily basis. I need to see things in order to absorb them into my life. But sometimes I wish it wasn’t such a mess.

I bought my apartment in Omega Works in east London without seeing it. I was at an airport in America when the agent called, so I dispatched a designer friend, Sta ord Schmool, to look at it. He was convinced it was a great place and I trust him implicitly. It’s now a four-bedroom loft with three bathrooms – that’s a lot of space to ll.

I grew up in a house full of William Morris wallpaper and colourful fabrics: my parents were obsessed with the Victorians. ere was no fear about pattern. ey were teachers, and the house was full of beautiful things, books and paintings they had collected over the years.

A lot of my stu I inherited from them. My mum lived in London and had an attic, so it ended up being a repository for family things. Great-aunts would die and stu would arrive, and my grandmother’s possessions were already there; things from cousins and aunts as well. When my mum died, I had to do a massive clear-out. at was hard.

One of my favourite things is my dad’s desk – he died when I was six weeks old, so then it became my mum’s. Now it’s both of them rolled into one object. It’s heavy, dark wood, with scrolly handles – and I live in a modern loft apartment. One of the things I learnt from working with [the designer] Tom Dixon was that style is often a combination of old and new. My desk is one of the few things that does that job in one.

One of my most treasured possessions is a huge piece by an artist called Desmond Lazaro, who is a great friend I made in India. It’s a picture of Shrinathji, who’s a Rajasthani version of Krishna. If there was ever a re, I’d never be able to save it – it’s too heavy to carry! I also love my Tom Dixon paper star lights. ey mean something because I worked for him at an important time in my life. And I know what it takes to make them. I used to go to the suppliers to buy the paper. ere’s something about the creative mind that needs things around it. It’s archival. You’re collecting for yourself as a person, but you’re collecting as a practitioner too. It’s also about what you put next to each other and why. It tells you about objects in relation to each other.

Do I ever wish I had less stu ? No, but I sometimes wish I had a few more cupboards.

HOW TO GET THE LOOK

MINIMALIST

Simplify your palette. Keep it restrained. You might even be able to use only one colour on the walls throughout. White walls show off the things you hang on them to best advantage. And white looks different every time, depending on the light that reflects on it. Don’t underestimate light and light sources – they can make a huge difference to how you read a room. Avoid clutter – no question. Don’t be afraid of an empty space. Just put something beautiful in it: a lovely piece of furniture or a painting. Enjoy that particular item in that particular place. Buy less, but better quality. It’s about not being excessive. When I buy something, I think about where it will fit and

how it will work. Be realistic – in a positive way. Ask yourself, do I really need this? Make sure you have a personal focal point in a room. All our artworks, for example, are personal choices. Let these focal points sing in their space. You can vary them, too. Be smart with your storage You don’t need to put everything behind closed doors. I once worked in an office where they put the books in a cupboard. I found that disturbing. Books are important too.

MAXIMALIST

From top: a statement painting keeps things uncluttered; the Eames Lounge Chair from Vitra and the Artemide table light are design classics; and the palette is monochrome and unfussy throughout

Take your time. You can’t instantly achieve a maximalist home. But there are tricks. Don’t buy a host of new objects all at once – it never looks right. Just assess the things you already have. Get rid of what you don’t like, then start to add, slowly. Invest in art, even if you don’t have a huge budget. There are lots of talented artists starting out, selling work for considerably less than they should. Without taking advantage, start buying. As soon as you get pictures on the wall, filling up white space with images and textures and colours that resonate with you, you’ll see a difference. Gather pieces on your travels. The first time I went to Dallas, I saw this incredible collection that belonged to Raymond and Patsy Nasher at the Nasher Sculpture Center. From the

and a stack of favourite books

minute they met, they bought gi s of art for each other. They started small, with tiny sculptures, and it became this incredible progression.

Think about layering. This is an important part of maximalism.

Ask yourself what your foundational pieces are. They will be the big investment items that stay with you: sofas, armchairs, beds. Then think about things you could change more o en: wallpaper, curtain fabrics. The last layer is pieces you can swap regularly: cushion covers, throws, plants.

Go for colour. Make your home dark and rich and lovely. Paint colour is one of the best ways to achieve a maximal aesthetic. Something as simple as changing the colour of your walls can make a huge difference.

From top: artworks such as this painting of Shrinathji by Desmond Lazaro add depth and character; a print cushion by Abigail Ahern; a colourful Tom Dixon Jack light;

PARK LIFE

London’s glorious green spaces offer vibrant cultural attractions, imposing period architecture and serene strolls. Here are the oases around which many of the city’s most desirable residential areas flourish

Words by Anne Ashworth

LONDON’S PARKS ARE PLACES OF RECREATION and relaxation, famous the world over for the quality of life that they provide. e American author Henry James, who moved here in 1876, described London as “a pastoral landscape under a smoky sky”. While the smoke has long gone, the city’s precious green oases are as coveted as ever – in prime central London, homes within 50 metres (55 yards) of a park command a 27 per cent premium. For properties up to 100 metres away, but with a view over a park, the premium is 21 per cent. ere are similar uplifts across the city, which has 3,000 or so parks, from Richmond Park and Wimbledon, Wandsworth and Clapham Commons in the south and west to Victoria Park and Hackney Downs in the east. Every London park has its partisan supporters, and each has a distinctive layout and topography. Hampstead Heath, just four miles from Westminster, stretches across 800 acres of meadow and woodland, while the nearby Hill Garden is an Edwardian gem with a delightful pergola. e Royal Parks – which include St James’s Park, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Green Park, Regent’s Park, Richmond Park and Greenwich Park – occupy 5,000 acres of land that once belonged to the royal family. ere is something for everyone, from immaculate formal gardens to avenues lined with trees that have stood for centuries. Here are four perennial favourites.

HYDE PARK, LONDON W2

Imagine a vast rectangle of leafy parkland in the heart of London, divided in two by the waters of the Serpentine lake. at is Hyde Park: the former hunting ground of Henry VIII. Today it is surrounded by some of the capital’s most desirable neighbourhoods, each with its own character. To the north lie Notting Hill, smart and fashionable, Bayswater, currently being transformed by a vast regeneration project (see p48), and the garden squares and crescents of the villagey Hyde Park Estate. To the east are Park Lane and super-prime Mayfair, with

Belgravia beginning just beyond Hyde Park Corner to the southeast, and Knightsbridge to the south.

In the park’s eastern section, Kensington Gardens, meanwhile, stand Kensington Palace, where Queen Victoria grew up (it remains the London residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales), the grand “grace and favour” houses of Kensington Palace Gardens and, beyond this, the elegant townhouses and mansion blocks of Kensington.

If any public park could be described as a showcase for the capital’s charms, this is it. Yet Hyde Park is also a vast space where Londoners and visitors alike can enjoy a jog, a lakeside stroll, a swim, contemporary art at the Serpentine Galleries – and, on occasion, exceptional live performances. Since the late 1960s, this has been the venue for open-air concerts by legends such as Pink Floyd, Pavarotti and the Rolling Stones.

Pete Bevan, co-head of prime central London sales at Savills, calls Hyde Park “the city’s lung”, adding: “We have clients who are based out of London for work, but buy a place in town to walk here.” Hyde Park is within strolling distance of London’s most expensive homes and, ttingly, it features in the name chosen for an ultra-luxe development in Knightsbridge – One Hyde Park – which set new standards of quality in London when it launched in 2011. Properties there have been known to sell for in excess of £100 million.

Lovers of period architecture might prefer Rutland Gate, a terrace of elegant mansions, built in 1840, that borders the park and o ers easy access to Harrods and Harvey Nichols. “Rutland Gate is a top address,” Bevan con rms. “My other favourites include Ennismore Gardens and Hyde Park Gate.”

A resident of nearby Belgravia sees Hyde Park as her back garden. “I walk there in the early mornings,” she says. “ e Household Cavalry exercise their horses at dawn. As they emerge from the mist, I realise all over again that I wouldn’t want to live anywhere but London.”

REGENT’S PARK, LONDON NW1

Designed by John Nash, the favoured architect of the Prince Regent, this Grade I listed park is a charming mix of formal gardens, lawns and sports areas, lined with terraces of Regency townhouses (many now developed laterally behind those grand façades). Its openair theatre puts on critically acclaimed plays and musicals – this summer’s programme includes Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Fiddler on the Roof – and you can spot gira es and zebras from the footpaths that wind around London Zoo. e Frieze contemporary art fair, which is held here in October, draws A-list collectors from around the world, with sculptures dotting the nearby grounds.

Regent’s Park has been the backdrop for scenes in scores of lms, from Brief Encounter to Paddington 2. Uniquely, however, this is a London park in which you can actually live, says Stephen Lindsay, head of Savills St John’s Wood. “It serves as a communal garden for its residents, who enjoy country-style living in the middle of the city,” he explains. And as a playground: “Clients with homes on Chester Terrace, Cumberland Terrace and the other streets within the perimeter of the park talk contentedly of the happy afternoons they spend there with their children.” Climb adjoining Primrose Hill for sweeping views of the city, explore the upscale shops, cafés and restaurants on and around Marylebone High Street, south of the park, or watch England take on their international rivals at Lord’s Cricket Ground in leafy St John’s Wood.

e terraces overlooking the park, designed by Nash and Decimus Burton, are trophy homes par excellence. Badly damaged during the Second World War, they were saved from demolition and have become homes to the international rich and famous of the art world. One-bedroom ats here sell for £600,000 to £2 million, Lindsay says, while you can expect to pay between £8 million and £25 million for a house – though some change hands for a great deal more.

REGENT’S PARK OFFERS COUNTRYSTYLE LIVING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY

Clockwise from far le : the John Nash-designed Park Crescent in Regent’s Park; a fountain in Hyde Park; the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens; and riding on Wimbledon Common. Opening spread: a Henry Moore sculpture in Hyde Park. Overleaf: the Chinese pagoda in Victoria Park

IN PRIME CENTRAL LONDON, HOMES WITHIN 50 METRES OF A PARK COMMAND A 27 PER CENT PREMIUM

American buyers are particularly keen on this storied enclave, but Regent’s Park o ers romance as well as links to the glamorous Regency era. One resident describes its “secret” garden – St John’s Lodge – as the perfect place for a springtime date. Go to the Inner Circle, stroll through a wisteria-covered tunnel behind a small gate, then choose one of several secluded spots for your leisurely liaison.

VICTORIA PARK, LONDON E9

is beloved park in east London has beautiful trees, room to run, walk or sit awhile, and ornamental lakes, on one of which stands a beautifully restored – and much Instagrammed – Chinese pagoda. Other notable landmarks include two contemporary sculptures by the Romanian artist Erno Bartha and a pair of arch-shaped alcoves with seating, which are fragments of the old London Bridge, pulled down in 1831. And a key part of Victoria Park’s appeal is that it allows residents of the surrounding streets of Hackney, Hackney Wick, Bow and Bethnal Green to combine East End cool with vast, leafy vistas.

As the name suggests, Queen Victoria was instrumental in the establishment of this park, which opened to the public in 1845 and is a ectionately referred to as “Vicky Park” by the locals – an arty, bohemian crowd. It continues to be enjoyed principally by residents of the area, says James Marshall, Savills head of sales in Victoria Park. “Families come for the park, playgrounds and great primary schools.”

e Lido on nearby London Fields, a hipster picnickers’ favourite come summer, is another plus. Many buyers are looking for homes in Victoria Park Village, a cluster of streets north of the park: “It has a lovely feel, with a pair of great pubs, the Lauriston and the Empress, an excellent new wine bar and shop, Bruno, and a Sunday food market in the park.”

is is all close to the City – half an hour away by bike or on the Central line – and Canary Wharf, with the gleaming towers of both of London’s leading nancial districts visible from the park itself. Family

houses start at about £1.6 million, rising to £2.5 million for properties on Groombridge Road, in the Well Street conservation area, and such homes are in high demand, with multiple o ers par for the course.

A Victoria Park local comments: “ e park feels wild, but it’s also well kept. I love to run south towards the canal, then out to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. You feel very free.”

WIMBLEDON COMMON, LONDON SW19

A mix of heathland, ponds and woods that was dedicated to public use in 1871, Wimbledon Common is frequented by people walking their dogs, riding horses, playing golf (on one of three courses) or simply enjoying the great outdoors. Local landmarks include a working windmill (now a museum), the Crooked Billet and Hand in Hand pubs, and the handsome historic houses that surround the common. Wimbledon is best known globally for its tennis championship, during which some locals let their houses to fans, sponsors or even players through specialist agents such as Tennis London. Yet while the tournament lends lustre to the area, the main event will always be the common, which feels like genuine countryside, yet is just half an hour from the city centre by train or Tube. is accessibility ampli es Wimbledon’s already considerable attractions, says Cory Askew, regional director of Savills southwest London parks division. Families who moved out of town during the pandemic are returning for this convenience and for excellent schools such as King’s College and Wimbledon High. ey’re also drawn by the high street in upmarket Wimbledon Village, which has an easy-going charm. Here you’ll nd smart independent delis and wine shops, chic cafés and restaurants, upmarket fashion stores, a boutique bookshop – everything required for the haute luxe London life. If you want to move to Wimbledon Village, you’ll need a budget of £5 million upwards for a family home on one of the streets leading up to the common.

THE COLLECTION: LONDON PARKSIDE LIVING

For more location spotlights and property inspiration, visit the Portfolio website and sign up for the newsletter: portfolio.savills.com

Clockwise, from above

HYDE PARK Park Modern is a premium development with a pool, a gym, 24-hour security and concierge services, plus glorious views of the city; £2,150,000-£11,250,000, James Paterson, james.paterson@savills.com

HYDE PARK Finished to an exceptional standard, this elegant apartment is on the second floor of the magnificent South Audley Street residence; £14,750,000, Charles Cutting, charles.cutting@savills.com

REGENT’S PARK Set on Chester Terrace, one of the grandest streets surrounding the park, this five-bedroom house has been beautifully restored and updated; £12,000,000, Stephen Lindsay, slindsay@savills.com

WIMBLEDON COMMON This detached family home has been renovated sensitively to create a superb country house in London, with excellent lateral living space. £6,750,000, James Morrison, JMorrison@savills.com

VICTORIA PARK Refurbished to a high level, this three-bedroom house overlooks the park and has a 95 private garden surrounded by mature trees. £1,550,000, James Marshall, james.marshall@savills.com

Meet the visionaries creating thriving new communities in the world’s great cities

Right: Michelangelo Giombini, CEO of Manifattura Tabacchi in Florence, photographed in front of a model showing his ambitious reinvention of a former industrial complex as the home of what he calls ‘a creative, cosmopolitan community’

Above: a café in Manifattura Tabacchi, a former model factory complex in Florence. Right: The Whiteley, a luxury apartment building in a former department store, part of the regeneration of Queensway in London’s Bayswater. Facing page, clockwise from top le : the Ice Factory, a new post-industrial extension to Grosvenor’s Eccleston Yards project; Amelia Bright, a senior placemaker at Grosvenor, photographed at the estate’s South Molton Street scheme; and Vinita Dhume, director of Savills Urban Design

AN EDWARDIAN DEPARTMENT STORE on London’s Queensway, soon to be a luxury apartment building and Six Senses hotel, part of a long-term plan to rejuvenate this part of Bayswater. Or Battersea Power Station, a 20th-century industrial icon reinvented as a new kind of powerhouse – the hub of a buzzing retail and residential area. Or a 1930s factory complex in Florence, re-emerging decades after its closure as a creative hub, complete with stylish apartments, a fashion school and an arts programme – conceived by its CEO, Michelangelo Giombini, as giving this venerable city, which often “looks behind, not forward ... a centre for tomorrow”.

Welcome to urban life as reimagined by placemakers, the people whose task it is to create vibrant neighbourhoods, sometimes from unpromising beginnings. eir aim is to make a location so desirable that it isn’t just somewhere to sleep, but a place to work, shop, eat and play. is process might take several years – ensuring that local authorities are on board, along with the communities they represent, overcoming logistical challenges and sharing the vision of what the place could represent. But the end goal is to get us to look at a place with fresh eyes and think, yes, this is where I want to be. And if the placemakers’ target market is home buyers who can a ord a home anywhere they want to live, well, their task is that much harder.

e word “placemaking” rst gained currency in the 1960s. But in London at least, some of the best modern examples of placemaking projects can be found in the portfolios of the “Great Estates”, which have owned and managed much of central London for centuries. Today’s scheme to transform Grosvenor Square comes almost 300 years after Sir Richard Grosvenor rst laid out the vast garden square

that bears his name, establishing Mayfair as the centre of aristocratic London life. en, in the 19th century, the estate created out of former farmland the smart new residential areas of Belgravia and Pimlico.

LONDON: A WORK IN PROGRESS

Its current custodian, Hugh Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster, might plausibly claim that the estate has been placemaking for centuries, really rather well. But this is always a work in progress, says Amelia Bright, executive director of Grosvenor’s British property arm, who is leading the South Molton Street scheme, designed to make the most of that street’s new connectivity, thanks to the Elizabeth Line’s Bond Street stop. “We care about the success of places as much as we care about individual properties. We continually adapt, invest and innovate to ensure their resilience and relevance” – as do London’s other Great Estates. ese include the Howard de Walden Estate, which also has 18th-century beginnings, and which raised the placemaking bar in the 1990s with its deft curation of Marylebone High Street. Alongside it, the Portman Estate is home to André Balazs’ Chiltern Firehouse hotel, which helped to turn Marylebone into a full-blown scene. e Crown Estate owns much of St James’s and prides itself on “creating brilliant places to live”. And in Chelsea there is Cadogan Estates, whose award-winning redevelopment of Pavilion Road – as a breezier, more villagey sibling to Sloane Street, with which it runs parallel – is often held up as a model of urban placemaking.

Curation is a key part of placemaking: nurturing the right mix of shops, bars, restaurants and cultural players to give a place a heart and a sense of community. As Cadogan’s CEO, Hugh Seaborn, explains:

‘WE CARE ABOUT THE SUCCESS OF PLACES AS MUCH AS WE CARE ABOUT INDIVIDUAL PROPERTIES’

AMELIA BRIGHT

“We do not select stores or restaurants on purely nancial criteria, but start with what the businesses and people will bring that is interesting and distinctive. We also consider how they complement the existing fabric of the area.” e goal is to attract tenants that will “help Chelsea thrive” and achieve “sustained buzz”. Which means the street has a shmonger, a butcher and a baker, along with e Conran Shop. e statue of Sir Hans Sloane looking towards the Soho Home store, where the King’s Road meets Duke of York Square – a former barracks, now home to smart shops, restaurants and the Saatchi Gallery – is a reminder that the Earls of Cadogan, who inherited much of Chelsea from Sir Hans via marriage in the 18th century, have also been managing places for quite a while. Seaborn argues that being a “long-term family business” enables the estate to take a long view. It consulted residents widely about its plans for Pavilion Road, where its placemakers recognised that what the area needed wasn’t another Sloane Street (which the estate is currently landscaping), but something complementary and distinctive. e restored Art Deco Gaumont Cinema on the King’s Road will include spaces for “independent creatives”, maintaining Chelsea’s reputation as a creative quarter with music and fashion in its DNA, alongside its undeniable smartness. And a chic hotel is often key to placemaking – think of Chiltern Firehouse – which is where At Sloane, the elegant neo-Edwardian outpost of the Parisian Costes hotel, comes in.

Sustained buzz was surely what the Grosvenor Estate set out to achieve at Eccleston Yards, a burgeoning, artisan-themed microhood that feels as if a hip post-industrial patch of London’s East End has been planted amid the stuccoed grandeur of Belgravia.

Classical porticos and an aristocratic ambience were key to the Grosvenors’ original playbook, but the visual codes have changed: today’s placemaking often places a premium on such thoughtful and handsome reworkings of the rugged industrial past.

For ours is a world in which warehouses have become lofts, docks are places for waterside living, power stations are art galleries and railway arches are reborn as artisanal bakeries. Post-industrial provenance is very much a plus. us, Eccleston Yards and Borough Yards in London (the latter an extension of Borough Market’s food scene), or the vast Hudson Yards development in Manhattan (which attracted many wealthy New Yorkers whose Gilded Age predecessors would have rejected anything as demotic-sounding as a yard). And so, in Florence, Manifattura Tabacchi (“Tobacco Factory”) is just what it says on the can – a handsome “model factory” complex, built on the edge of the historic centre in the 1930s in rationalist style, but empty since the 1990s. Now it has been reimagined as a “creative quarter” with a range of elegant high-spec apartments intended, as Giombini puts it, “for people who are eager to join the complex’s creative cosmopolitan community”.

BRINGING TOGETHER PEOPLE AND PLACES

People and community are key words in the placemakers’ lexicon – for without people, you can’t make a place. According to Vinita Dhume, who as head of Savills Urban Design has worked on placemaking schemes great and small, including Battersea Power Station, “ ey’re intrinsically connected. You’re connecting people to place – and for that you have to box clever.” At Manifattura Tabacchi, being part of the lively scene Giombini describes is clearly part of the draw, from buzzy

‘WE DON’T SELECT STORES ON PURELY FINANCIAL CRITERIA, BUT ON WHAT IS INTERESTING AND DISTINCTIVE’

HUGH SEABORN

cafés to an arts programme, makers’ studios, the Polimoda fashion school and the HQ of an LVMH apprenticeships scheme. is neatly segues the site’s manufacturing past into a contemporary craft scene, while the endorsement by LVMH is what Sophie Rosier, director in residential development at Savills, describes as the “anchor” developers always look for – a renowned brand whose presence persuades other partners, tenants and would-be residents to get on board.

Rosier points out other examples: Central Saint Martins, London’s leading fashion school, was an early adopter of the King’s Cross Central project; and Soho House’s decision to open a club in the former BBC HQ at White City was a key moment in assuring that development’s success. Prestigious brands are vital to creating prestigious places, while independent businesses (rather than chain stores and restaurants) help to establish what Guy Taylor of Savills, who works closely with the Great Estates, calls “sticky places” – that’s to say, places where people want to live and spend time and money.

e team behind e Whiteley is aiming for both prestige and “stickiness”. A Six Senses hotel will occupy a quarter of the building, which is one whole city block – the rst urban property for this wellness-oriented, sustainable luxury resort brand. So there will be a superb spa and pool (with natural light pouring in), great dining options within the hotel and elsewhere in the building, which has been extended to roughly twice the footprint of the old department store, along with some retail spaces (once again, carefully curated –expect a Japanese patisserie) and a residents-only club space.

But for all the elegance of e Whiteley’s public areas and the spectacular, handsomely proportioned and high-ceilinged apartments, the scheme’s ambition stretches beyond the building – with plans to transform Queensway. Some of these changes can already be seen; others are a work in progress, but can be viewed on a CGI video in e Whiteley’s marketing suite, where Charles Leigh, of the luxury developer Finchatton, guides would-be buyers through the lm, crafted to help us imagine a charmingly transformed neighbourhood. e plan is to “trigger the regeneration of Queensway and the surrounding area”, says Marcus Meijer, founder and CEO of MARK, the real estate investment and development business that acquired the former department store. In its heyday, Whiteley’s rivalled Selfridges, but by 2013, when MARK took it over, its Edwardian façade fronted a slightly run-down mall. e area had become a “largely overlooked” part of central London, says Dickie Wong, executive director of C C Land, the main investor, with MARK, in the scheme, which is helmed by Finchatton. “Pretty early on we realised that the biggest challenge was the street landscape,” explains Finchatton’s Alex Michelin. With e Whiteley and e William, opposite (currently being built from scratch by Foster + Partners), “we had control of a third of the street. Because we were investing more than £1 billion ... we thought this was an unbelievable opportunity to get all the other landowners on board.” Together they created the Queensway Steering Group, which e ectively mimics the clout and convening power of a Great Estate. Just like the estates, they have consulted and cultivated the goodwill of both the local community – they’re committed to employing locals whenever possible – and the local authority, Westminster, which has made Queensway a single-lane street, allowing for extra trees and benches. And they have gone beyond ful lling their obligation to build some a ordable housing and preserve the Edwardian façade by setting up the Whiteley Community Foundation and funding a new roof for a local church, a new playground for a local school and a refurb of the street’s two Tube stations (nearby Paddington also o ers connections to the Elizabeth Line and Heathrow.) All of the above is a long-term strategy, key to persuading local stakeholders that while e Whiteley is a luxury development, such schemes can genuinely help other residents. e project’s key players have brought clout to an alliance that Wong describes as “a diverse range of partners – all united in their dedication to breathe new life into this historic high street”. By day, some of those retail partners will set up shop on a street-like central concourse. By night, that closes to non-residents, but the intention is to create a semi-permeable hub rather than a gated bubble. is is west London, after all. Meijer and Michelin live in Notting Hill, and enjoy its diversity and eclecticism; both cite Pavilion Road as a model to emulate. And both recognise that while residents value security, most people choosing to live in a city such as London want to feel that they’re a part of it. ere is lots of placemaking theory about this desire to live in the swim of urban life. e writer and academic Mario Paris has written extensively about the role luxury plays in urban regeneration in his home town, Milan, from the Prada Foundation to LVMH’s transformation of Piazza San Babila. In cities such as Milan and London, he argues, “ e vibrancy of the urban environment is seen as its quality – as an asset that adds to the ‘aura’ of these real estate projects.” And while some residents of e Whiteley will be drawn to those high-ceilinged spaces, others will be drawn to what’s outside. True enough, among the buyers are future residents moving from existing family homes in nearby Notting Hill or Westbourne Grove. Maybe they like the thought of living laterally, rather than navigating a ve-storey mansion – with their cars parked snugly in the underground garage and a great spa and restaurants to hand. Or maybe it’s simply that someone has persuaded them to reconsider somewhere they’ve walked past countless times – and move there. In which case the placemakers’ job is done.

Above: the highly praised Pavilion Road in Chelsea, London; and Hugh Seaborn, CEO of the Cadogan Estate

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IF IT’S AUGUST, IT MUST BE CARPACCIO IN CAPRI

Private chefs are in demand as never before. Criss-crossing the globe through the seasons, these nomadic culinary wizards create extraordinary menus for their clients, however wild the request or remote the location. Two of the best share their secrets

Words by Charlotte Hogarth-Jones

PRIVATE CHEFS ARE A HOT COMMODITY. And, just as with tutors, personal trainers and personal assistants, there is tough competition to bag the culinary world’s best in class. Being a whizz in the kitchen is just one part of the skill set required. Great contacts, a good grasp of logistics, strong social skills, a personality that can deal with ever-changing schedules and a social media presence are also on the list.

Such multi-tasking kitchen stars must t into a globetrotting year-round calendar of travel, holidays, family time, parties and charity events – delivering food that wows whatever the setting, the occasion or the often challenging practicalities. “Each season is pretty much set in stone with regards to galas and events,” explains private chef Anthony Bantoft, who for 12 years has worked on superyachts and private houses the world over, cooking for stars such as Justin Timberlake, Penélope Cruz and Travis Scott. “A few curveballs can be thrown in, but in general the calendar is planned well in advance.” Bantoft rates “having the personality to go with it” as one of the key requirements for today’s top chefs. “It’s all about the show.”

In recent months, #personalchef videos have been trending on TikTok, and George Markakis, a private chef based in the Greek islands who regularly cooks for royalty and Hollywood A-listers, con rms that “maintaining a high public pro le is key to staying in demand”. Having a stellar CV, including stints at Michelin-starred restaurants and collaborations with other renowned chefs, is also key. e demand for indulgent ingredients – caviar, tru es, lobster, seafood, fresh scallops and wagyu beef – remains as strong as ever, with the expectation that the best of the best will be on the table whatever the location. But alongside “big occasion” dishes are ever more complex demands for menus that chime with the latest food trends and dietary fashions, especially from clients in the entertainment and sports industries.

Marquee moments requiring menus with the wow factor include charity galas, bene t auctions, private boxes at sports venues and events during fashion weeks in Milan, Paris, London and New York. e key to making it work, besides contacts, culinary brilliance and a healthy dollop of zen? “ e gift of the gab,” laughs Bantoft.

SPRING: BACK HOME

e spring months are often the time when clients hunker down in their main residence. Not that this makes life easy for private chefs,

as they juggle the demands of creating daily menus with more high-pro le social occasions. “In cities such as New York and London, there’s really intensive competition and clients have high expectations,” says Markakis. “Staying innovative and o ering unique dining experiences is crucial.” e food being served is seen as an integral part of an evening’s entertainment: “I’ve been asked for everything from a ten-course meal of purple-coloured dishes to a menu based on a client’s favourite childhood food, nostalgic avours that bring back memories. It’s all about getting creative.”

Planning and organising these special events and dinners can involve co-ordinating with suppliers and other workers. is might include brie ng a orist, interior stylist and members of the household sta about the overall concept of the menu and event. “Some clients also expect you to have knowledge of sommelier services, including selecting wines to complement dishes,” Markakis adds.

A single working day might take in numerous locations, as Bantoft explains. “It could be a business lunch at home or the o ce, then jumping on the jet to look after the boss, even if that is just making a sandwich. en it’s on to a dinner party that you started organising the day before. It’s spontaneous, and there’s never a dull moment –you have to be exible and put in long hours to cater to the needs of clients.”

As well as dealing with social demands, from important dinners to children’s birthday parties, a resident chef also needs to get to know each family member’s personal tastes, dietary restrictions and favourite

dishes so that they can create personalised menus for regular meals. Children can sometimes be the most demanding clients, according to Bantoft: “If they don’t get what they want, when they want it, it can make everyone’s life di cult. at can mean making a piece of toast look like a camel or cooking thousands of tiny pancakes.” Markakis agrees: “It’s the most di cult task.”

An increasingly popular strand of private che ng is providing cookery classes and workshops for clients, their family and friends, sharing tips, techniques and recipes. Markakis recalls one particularly demanding request: “I had to organise a cooking competition among the client’s guests, turning a regular dinner party into a fun and interactive culinary experience. Not easy!”

SUMMER: PLAYTIME IN THE MED

e summer months often mean holidaying at a family estate or villa, or on a yacht in the south of France, the Greek islands, Italy, the Balearics, Sardinia or Croatia. “If you’re lucky, the chef can get some downtime due to the abundance of good restaurants,” says Bantoft. “Everyone loves eating out in the Med.”

On board a superyacht, the biggest challenges include limited cooking space and equipment in a cramped chef’s galley, last-minute additions and dietary requirements – and, of course, making sure that you have the desired ingredients, however remote the location. Careful planning is crucial, according to Bantoft, but chefs still sometimes need to get resourceful with fresh local produce, and

‘IN CITIES SUCH AS NEW YORK AND LONDON, THERE’S REALLY INTENSIVE COMPETITION... STAYING INNOVATIVE IS ESSENTIAL’

‘I WAS ASKED TO PREPARE A PICNIC SPREAD THAT COULD BE EATEN UNDERWATER FOR A MERMAID-THEMED DAY BY THE POOL!’

to keep everything in perfect condition despite the heat and storage conditions.

Clients’ demands are increasingly complex, says Jules Maury, head of the luxury travel company Scott Dunn Private. “We recently worked with a client who took over an African lodge and had to cater for gluten-free – the chef cooked bakeries and desserts to order every day – and dairy-free [soya, almond and oat milk had to be on tap in the middle of the Serengeti]. Main courses had to be cooked without certain spices or herbs, with constant changes of menu depending on how tired or hungry the guests were each day.”

e best chefs have “little black books” of local suppliers for top-quality meat and sh, as well as drinks, Maury adds, even in locations as remote as the South Paci c. On a yacht, stewardesses and provisioning companies might help to ful l requests, but ultimately the buck stops with the chef, says Bantoft. In addition, the yacht’s galley kitchen is “an open house for those who wish to enter – cooking lessons are a given”.

ere is one day of the year, though, when culinary a airs are fairly simple for chefs with American clients: come 4 July, even in the smartest spots, the menu is straightforward. “In Palm Beach, they usually just want a simple barbecue with hot dogs, ribs, burgers – and, of course, reworks.”

AUTUMN: GALAS AND THANKSGIVING

Autumn is gala season, and that can mean the number of guests – and dietary requirements – kicks up a notch. At these socially supercharged events, the menu has to really pack a punch, with inventive dining concepts that will impress a group of people used to eating in the best restaurants in the world. e chef must oversee everything “to ensure perfection”, as Bantoft puts it. Personalised tness plans and detox regimens need to be catered for, and requirements sometimes change on a daily basis. “I worked for one client who was one minute a vegan and the next minute asking for sashimi,” he recalls. “When you’re paying the chef, you get what you want.”

Markakis has been asked to incorporate superfoods into dishes, including turmeric, matcha and chia seeds, as well as adaptogens, to boost the nutritional value of a dish. In a similar vein, there’s a trend for “healthy comfort foods – altering classic recipes with alternative ingredients to reduce calories, sugar and fat”.

But again, come anksgiving, tradition has its day for American clients. “It’s always the classics – and the biggest turkey money can buy,” says Bantoft.

WINTER: SURF AND SKI

At last, the year draws to a close. For some, that means a holiday home in the Bahamas or the Caribbean, taking in local delicacies such as conch and lobster. Others head for the mountains, with New Year’s Eve spent in ski resorts in the Alps, Colorado or Aspen. Traditionalists stick to “warming cuisine – soups, hearty stews, fondue”, says Bantoft, but Maury notes that clients in some of the most sought-after private chalets are increasingly eschewing carb-laden traditional ski food in place of “sushi and uber-light, healthy meals.”

High altitudes can mean that cooking times require tweaking, while picnics need to be prepared for heli-skiing adventures. Chefs must also have a solution to hand for sourcing the best ingredients, halfway up a mountain. en there are requests that are simply impossible to anticipate. “Where do I start?” Bantoft laughs. “I once had a live goat brought to me, and the owner wanted to eat a particularly ‘unusual’ part. at was de nitely the craziest.” Markakis remembers an especially tricky challenge: “I was asked to prepare a picnic spread that could withstand being eaten underwater for a mermaid-themed day by the pool!”

Ah well, all in a day’s work for the world’s best private chefs…

HAV ING

BUZZY LONDON AND LAID-BACK IBIZA, THE ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE AND THE ALPS: LATER LIFE OFFERS A CHANCE TO FLEX BETWEEN TWO LOCATIONS, MAKING THE MOST OF BOTH WORLDS.

MEET THE PEOPLE ENJOYING THEIR MIDLIFE DIVIDEND

Words by Cathy Hawker

MODERN-DAY LATER LIFE LOOKS rather di erent to the stereotypes of 30 or 40 years ago. For a start, the traditional hard stop to working life is increasingly giving way to an altogether more incremental adjustment of the work/life balance, in which a ve-day week is wound down to perhaps just two days, mostly working remotely. Or, having sold a business, there is a move to consulting or non-executive roles – still stimulating, but without the pressure of running a business or managing teams.

Our idea of well-earned downtime tends to be more active than that of previous eras. e generation who planned on downsizing to somewhere lovely in the countryside or by the sea, playing a bit of golf and tending the garden, has been replaced by people who might well do some of that, but also want to explore the world, prioritise their tness, chair a charity board or learn new skills. From trekking in ailand to tapas-tasting in Madrid, these new later-lifers have a taste for squeezing the most out of life in a way that’s often impossible with a full-time job.

Improved life expectancy and a more uid retirement age have led to an increasing desire to continue to work at some level. Research from the insurance company Aviva shows that 44 per cent of those aged 55 to 64 in the UK are planning to move into a “semi-retirement” phase before they stop working for good, while gures from Rest Less, a digital community o ering advice to the over-50s, show that as of September 2023, the number of part-time workers over 50 hit a record high of 3.6 million, placing 42 per cent of the UK’s part-time workers in that age group.

ese changes have inspired many fty- and sixtysomethings to take a more imaginative approach to property. Rather than simply downsizing, this can be the moment to recon gure, nding the

perfect combination of homes to satisfy an active, varied lifestyle, freed from the daily commute or school run. For many, this will mean selling a large family home in exchange for a more varied property portfolio that combines some of the buzz of urban living with a place in the country, by the sea or in a warmer climate.

“People are earning and working longer, but not necessarily in the way that they used to,” con rms Alex Christian, joint head of Savills Private O ce. “For some, selling a family home means looking for a more exible approach to where and how they’re going to spend their time. at might mean combining a UK base with spending a couple of months a year working from the south of France, for example.”

Not everyone chooses to downsize. For some, an increase in leisure time and the ability to work remotely are a reason to scale up. at’s something that Kerstin Buechner, of QP Savills in the Algarve, is noticing more and more, especially in Portugal’s premier resorts, Quinta do Lago and Vale do Lobo. “We are seeing a trend of people moving here and buying bigger, higher-value properties,” she says. “We certainly see it among those in their fties, when they’ve made the decision to come and run their businesses remotely. Faro airport is only 25 minutes from the resorts, making it easy to y back to the UK for the day for a board meeting.

“For this age group, the pandemic appears to have been the nal motivation to exchange city life for a healthier outdoor lifestyle, and those coming on a more permanent basis want homes with generous outdoor spaces so they can enjoy what the Algarve is all about. Portugal’s excellent public and private healthcare system – with doctors uent in English – make it even more attractive to the older cohort.”

THE COMBO

LONDON COOL/ BALEARIC BLISS

Londoners Andy Murphy and Ian Penney had always dreamt about owning a property in Ibiza, the Balearic island where they had rst holidayed together. ey both worked full-time, Andy in banking and Ian in tech, and lived in leafy De Beauvoir Town, between Islington and Dalston – but when the opportunity came to shake up their life, they grabbed it with both hands.

“In 2019, the estate agent who had sold us our home in 2011 contacted us to say that he had several buyers interested in the house,” recalls Andy, 55. “It seemed the ideal time to do something we had always wanted to do. We agreed to sell, downsizing from the 1850s townhouse that we had renovated to a smaller but very similar 1850s townhouse in east London, and bought a rural property in Ibiza.”

It wasn’t all plain sailing. Leaving a home into which they had poured their creative energy and hearts was a wrench. Meanwhile, their new property in Ibiza required more repair work and regular maintenance than they had expected, while its remote setting meant every journey to the shops or a restaurant involved a car ride.

“We worked hard on the Ibiza house, and if we had been 10 years younger we might well have kept it,” says Andy. “Instead, last year we sold it to buy a smaller house with a communal pool and gardens, on the waterfront and a 10-minute walk from Santa Eulalia” – an elegant but low-key coastal town half an hour’s drive from Ibiza airport. “By downsizing again, we gained another pot of money to spend on our new house and we now have a wonderful property by the sea that requires little maintenance.

“We love Ibiza. It’s a naturally beautiful escape, somewhere we have good friends. e stress drops o our shoulders as soon as we arrive. I did feel a sense of loss when we sold our De Beauvoir house, but with property I’ve learnt it’s important to evolve and embrace the new.”

Andy and Ian divide their time between London and Ibiza, travelling to the Balearic island every four to six weeks for at least a week at a time. Ian needs to be in the o ce only once a week, while Andy recently left his banking job to set up his own business and can work remotely.

“We are still adjusting to the pattern of our new life, but this change has been a wonderful success,” says Andy. “I feel so fortunate. ere’s so much joy in the Spanish way of life, while living in a new part of London has made us get out and explore. Overall, I feel like we have been given an amazing gift with our new lifestyle.”

‘THE ABILITY TO REINVENT THE WAY YOU LIVE IN MID- OR LATER LIFE IS THRILLING’

‘IBIZA IS A NATURALLY BEAUTIFUL ESCAPE. THE STRESS DROPS OFF OUR SHOULDERS AS SOON AS WE ARRIVE’

THE COMBO UK BASE/ALPINE RETREAT

Bill Johnson, 70, retired as a partner in a global management consulting rm in 2016, swapping 35 years of early-morning ights from Heathrow to cities across Europe for a new life in which he enjoys more tennis, guitar-playing and time with his grandchildren. He still works for about eight weeks a year as an executive coach, mentoring on courses that, since the pandemic, are all run online. at means he can work from his home in Buckinghamshire or his second home in the French Alps.

“We bought the property in Portes du Soleil a few years before I retired, hoping it would be somewhere we could eventually use for extended periods, and that’s how it has worked out,” Bill says. As for so many people at this stage of life, having a place where all the family look forward to gathering and spending time together is a key consideration, all the more so if it is somewhere as enticing as the Alps: “My wife and I go for three or four weeks at a time. All of our family love being in the mountains in summer and winter, making it the perfect place for three generations to come together in a scenic, healthy location.”

‘OUR FAMILY LOVE BEING IN THE MOUNTAINS IN SUMMER AND WINTER’

THE

COMBO PORTUGUESE SUMMERS/ CANADIAN WINTERS

Louise and Simon Hudson, both 63, know all about a hybrid later life. While researching for their own semi-retired lifestyle, they struggled to nd data that compared the pros and cons across every continent – so they wrote a book themselves, A Worldwide Guide to Retirement Destinations. e solution that the sporty couple chose sees them spending summers in Praia da Luz, Portugal, and winters in Canada – and in both locations, work is very much part of their “retirement”. Simon is a university professor who can work virtually, and Louise is a travel writer.

“ e ability to reinvent the way you live in mid- or later life is thrilling,” says Louise. “We spend winter in Sun Peaks Resort in British Columbia, where I freelance for Sun Peaks Independent News and Simon teaches and writes. We also act as volunteer ski guides. en, in summer, we go to Praia da Luz, where I am at the padel club ve days a week, co-ordinating a group of 300 players, most aged 50-plus. It’s a social network that has changed the life of many members.”

While combining British Columbia and the Algarve might feel a step too far for some, the lesson here is that the old rules don’t apply – and that our 50-plus options are ripe for reimagination. A little work, a lot of play and a dash of imagination – a whole new life beckons.

TO THE MANOR

DRAWN

An increasing number of historic houses are being placed on the lettings market, catering to a new breed of renter who wants to enjoy the rural idyll without committing to a vast country pile

Words by Oliver Bennett

THERE’S SOMETHING TIMELESSLY ALLURING about the perfect country house and the civilised values it represents – indeed, the rural retreat has been attracting the well-to-do since Roman times, when senators secured villas far from the noise and bustle of the city. It’s strongly associated with Britain, where many of us hanker after a stately manor, a rose-clad farmhouse or a rambling rectory surrounded by lush gardens.

e grand country house is “an icon of British culture”, according to Julian Fellowes, the writer of Downton Abbey. It seems “to encapsulate the ideas that the British have about themselves” while enticing international buyers keen on a taste of English life. Yet there’s a new spin on the story of these quintessential rural homes: increasingly, they are being marketed to rent rather than to buy.

For many years, the designer and socialite Nicky Haslam rented an 18th-century hunting lodge in Hampshire. He now lives in a Georgian house on the Daylesford Estate in the Cotswolds, a reminder that the delights of country estate living can be enjoyed in a cottage, gatehouse or barn conversion as well as in a vast stately home.

Le and above: Grade II listed Manor Farmhouse is a Cotswold stone property in the village of Sapperton, three miles west of Cirencester. Guide price £20,000pcm; Louise Nicholson, louise.nicholson@savills.com

One of the nest country houses to come to the lettings market in the past year is Stanley Park, a Grade II listed, 11-bedroom mansion in Selsey, near the Gloucestershire town of Stroud. Set in 2.5 acres of gorgeous grounds, it has Tudor origins and was revamped in Victorian gothic style in 1850, with a ballroom that o ers views of Wales. A recent eight-year renovation retained period features such as an ornate plasterwork ceiling and mullioned windows, while adding modern essentials such as a cinema room, gym and sauna.

Grand properties of this kind remain an object of desire: a place to entertain, to spend relaxed weekends with friends, to wind down, stroll through sun-dappled woodland, ride – or simply enjoy a beguiling slice of village life. Yet maintaining a large country home requires time, love and commitment. As a result, many of those who long for an idyllic rural lifestyle but also prize exibility are choosing to rent rather than buy. “Renting is a real trend in the Cotswolds, one that has been growing for some time,” says Louise Nicholson, Savills head of lettings for the Cotswolds and Oxford.

ese new rural renters want all the fun of a country pile without any of the demands. “It appears that an increasing number of historic houses across the UK are now available to rent on a short- or long-term basis,” says James Probert, editor of Historic House magazine.

Nicholson has seen rental clients from Britain and beyond. “It’s particularly big at the upper end of the market,” she says. “ ese clients can a ord to buy, but are choosing not to, for now at least.”

Many favour rural locations with a reassuring dash of sophistication – from Sussex to Somerset, Norfolk to Oxfordshire, a growing infrastructure of restaurants, cafés, art galleries and members’ clubs attests to their presence.

e choice to rent rather than buy has long been regarded as a little continental. e old adage that an Englishman’s home is his castle implied ownership of said castle – and historically there is a sense that by renting, you are merely investing in someone else’s asset. But the new renters nd that it gives them an opportunity to take stock amid

Below: Abbotswood, near Guildford in Surrey, is an eight-bedroom family house in Edwardian style, with a wealth of period features. Guide price £25,000 per month; George Duff, george.duff@savills.com

Top:

THE NEW RURAL RENTERS WANT ALL THE FUN OF A COUNTRY PILE WITHOUT ANY OF THE DEMANDS

a changing global landscape. Some rent in “try before you buy” spirit, to see if rural life is for them and perhaps scout for good schools; others know they want to buy, but are searching for the right property and are prepared to wait. International buyers often rent in London and the country to assess their relative merits – or simply to enjoy the best of both worlds. “We also see plenty of people looking for projects nearby,” says Nicholson. “ ey’ll rent until they nd the right place.”

But in many cases, she adds, the allure is strictly recreational. “Many clients are looking to y in, enjoy the season, then leave. It’s part of their year’s fun and they want to see local friends and indulge in hobbies such as riding and shing.” In doing so, they’re participating in a long tradition: for centuries the British country house was for entertaining, while one’s city home was for business.

e market for British country homes is global. “ e Cotswolds is fashionable among the international crowd, who know all about Daylesford Farm and Soho Farmhouse,” says Nicholson. “ ey like the idea of renting something for a short period that’s di erent, where friends and family can be entertained in beautiful, relaxed surrounds.”

Many stately homes, including Blenheim Palace, have been let at various times in their history. But as Nicholson points out, rural rentals come in a wide range of styles, from honeysuckle homeliness to turreted grandeur. “Popular properties range from two-bedroom cottages in premium villages to honey-coloured houses in Bath stone.” One kind of home, however, has eternal appeal, and that’s what Nicholson calls “the really smart, big, solid farmhouse that has been done beautifully, with a sleek cottage kitchen, strong colours and beautiful materials”. ese properties typically come with extensive acreage, stables, manicured gardens, swimming pools and tennis courts, and command anything from £8,000 to £30,000 a month.

So how long do the new breed of renters want to stay for? About 30 per cent of tenants, particularly celebrity clients, want a “short, sharp high-end retreat”, Nicholson says, but the majority want to lock in for 12-24 months – more than enough time to get their Hunter Balmoral wellies under the kitchen island. Some run their businesses from their rented rural piles, which often have converted o ce space.

For Savills, the most popular rental area is the Cotswolds, a shortish drive to prime and super-prime west London along the M4 or M40. Here one nds hotspots such as Chipping Norton (near the broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm Shop) and lovely villages close to the so-called Golden Triangle: Churchill, Kingham, Upper and Lower Slaughter. Nicholson says renters look at the north Cotswolds too, including Nailsworth and Painswick, as well as Wiltshire, Somerset and Hampshire, while Warwickshire is increasingly of interest.

“We’ve seen some large houses come on recently,” Nicholson adds. “Typically they’ve been in the family a long time, and when the owners reach their seventies, they move on because the homes are hard to maintain. Imagine being custodian of that home for a period of time.” Indeed, and sometimes the appeal is that you’re just passing through –playing a cameo role, if you like, in the long history of a ne old house.

One of the finest country houses to come to the lettings market in the past year, Stanley Park is near the Gloucestershire town of Stroud.The Grade II listed property has Tudor origins and was remodelled in Victorian gothic style in 1850. A recent renovation retained ornate period features while adding a cinema room, gym and sauna

+44 20 3883 7256enquiries@dyergrimesarchitects.comwww.dyergrimesarchitects.com

UK LONDON

LIZA-JANE KELLY HEAD OF LONDON RESIDENTIAL

+44 (0)20 7590 5078

lizajane.kelly@savills.com

ANDREW PERRATT HEAD OF UK RESIDENTIAL

+44 (0)20 7016 3823 aperratt@savills.com

’ ‘London’s “villages” retain their appeal for those who want a luxurious, laid-back lifestyle with an exciting mix of shops and restaurants.

KEY MARKET INSIGHTS

Best-in-class properties are attracting considerable interest. Not all buyers are fixated on one location – they want to find the right home, and are typically looking for a well-presented property that does not require extensive renovation.

London’s “villages” have retained their appeal for those looking for a luxurious, laid-back lifestyle on their doorstep, ideally with an exciting mix of independent shops and restaurants. Marylebone High Street, Westbourne Grove and Elizabeth Street are good examples of this.

Family buyers continue to put great emphasis on outside space, while international buyers are driving increased demand for lateral apartments with a concierge service and state-of-the-art leisure facilities. Easy access to the capital’s parks

remains important – according to a UN definition, London is one of the world’s largest urban forests.

Mayfair has overtaken Chelsea as the number one spot for sales inprime central London. Both retain their appeal for international buyers, as do Notting Hill and Kensington. Domestic demand has led to an uptick in house sales in leafy St John’s Wood and Hampstead.

Home is where the heart is for today’s discerning buyers. They are looking for a future-proofed asset that will serve them well for years. More than ever before, first impressions are key.

International investors still view London as a global, culturally diverse and tolerant hub where people want to live, do business and raise their families.

CHESTER TERRACE, REGENT’S PARK

This classical home, with views over Regent’s Park, has been beautifully restored to retain classical elements, with a modern twist. Above an ultra-modern fireplace, a floating concrete wall creates symmetry and makes a feature of the television it frames. Tall windows with white wooden shutters create a connection to the outside. To the rear of the space, doors slide to reveal an arresting kitchen with dark, minimalistic cabinetry, monolithic stone worktops and Gaggenau appliances. The property includes a studio, utility room, li and roof terrace. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = E.

Bedrooms 5

Bathrooms 4

£12,000,000

Leasehold Lease expiry 2146 | Ground rent

£3,000 per annum | Service charge £8,596 per annum

Stephen Lindsay, slindsay@savills.com

INVERFORTH HOUSE, HAMPSTEAD

This is a rare opportunity to own an apartment within a beautifully restored landmark London building, surrounded by Hampstead Heath, giving the feeling of a country estate, but close to the centre of the capital. Originally built in 1807, the mansion (formerly known as The Hill) has a rich history. Its current name comes from Lord Inverforth, a shipping magnate who served as surveyor-general of supplies during the First World War and bought the estate in 1925. The property has four reception rooms and two private terraces, plus four parking spaces, use of a resident-only tennis court, 24-hour concierge and security, and access to a four-acre garden. In all, the interior and exterior living space amounts to 7,751 sq . Council Tax Band = H | EPC = Exempt.

Bedrooms 4

Bathrooms 4.5

£11,500,000

Leasehold Lease expiry 2996 | No ground rent | Service charge 13.36% of total

Stephen Lindsay, slindsay@savills.com

THE BISHOPS AVENUE, HAMPSTEAD

The penthouse apartment offers wraparound terraces with beautiful views over the playing fields, Kenwood Park and beyond. A private li connects to a lower-level private dining room, study and bar/cinema/games room. An extremely rare six-space private garage offers residents complete discretion and the ultimate security. The property is set in 2.5 acres of landscaped grounds with a pavilion/barbecue area, and has an indoor 25-metre pool, spa, cinema and full leisure and entertainment facilities. Further benefits include 24/7 security, concierge and housekeeping. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = D.

Bedrooms 5

Bathrooms 6

£23,950,000

Leasehold Lease expiry 3011 | Service charge £101,910 per annum

Stephen Lindsay, slindsay@savills.com

ILCHESTER PLACE, KENSINGTON

This exceptional semi-detached house, situated on one of central London’s most desirable roads, has great volume and wonderful lateral space, and backs directly on to Holland Park. The house has been the subject of a comprehensive redesign programme by 23 Architecture and cannot be replicated under current planning guidelines. The openness of the living space on the ground floor is truly stunning, with an incredible vista onto the entire width of the garden and Holland Park beyond. The level of natural light throughout the house is extraordinary, as is the 20-metre swimming pool. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = D.

Bedrooms 7

Bathrooms 5

£24,750,000 Freehold

Peter Bevan, peter.bevan@savills.com, +44 (0)7770 017076

PHILLIMORE GARDENS, KENSINGTON

An exceptional lateral house at one of London’s finest addresses, this classic Phillimore Estate property has been beautifully restored and was named London’s Best Single Residence at the UK Property Awards in 2018. A rare combination of traditional architectural integrity and contemporary styling, it has been superbly cra ed and designed by a world-class design and construction team. Extending to approximately 5,123 sq  , the property has the unusual benefit of having planning permission already granted and protected to significantly extend underground by an additional 3,305 sq . Council Tax Band = H | EPC = D.

Bedrooms 6

Bathrooms 5

£24,000,000

Freehold

Peter Bevan, peter.bevan@savills.com, +44 (0)7770 017076

DOWN STREET MEWS, MAYFAIR

A striking example of modern architectural excellence in one of the city’s most coveted neighbourhoods, this cutting-edge townhouse was inspired by the iconic Maison de Verre in Paris and Japanese architectural screens. It benefits from hotel-style amenities, including an incredible spa and wellness area with a sauna, hammam, experience shower and ice fountain. There is also a luxurious 8.15-metre pool with counter-current exerciser and a roof terrace with panoramic city views. An additional benefit is the underground parking with four-vehicle car stacker. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = C.

Bedrooms 8

Bathrooms 14

£29,700,000 Freehold

Fehd Alsaidi, fehd.alsaidi@savills.com

60 CURZON, MAYFAIR

This new, deco-inspired building with 32 residences has been designed to the highest quality in a world-class collaboration between PLP Architecture and Thierry Despont that unites age-old design principles and contemporary design themes. In the chic southwest quadrant of Mayfair, the scheme is surrounded by boutiques, art galleries, elite members’ clubs and Michelin-starred restaurants. It borders two royal parks (Green Park and Hyde Park) and is moments from Berkeley Square. Residents can enjoy a state-of-the-art spa with a 20-metre pool and private gym, plus a dedicated concierge team, 24-hour security, secure underground parking and valet service. Council Tax Band F-H | EPC = B.

Bedrooms Studio-5

Bathrooms 1-5

From £2,950,000

Share of freehold Lease expiry 3022 | Service charge approximately £22.70 per sq

Ian Pidgeon, ian.pidgeon@savills.com

SOUTH AUDLEY STREET, MAYFAIR

This timeless, elegant second-floor apartment is located in a magnificent development by Luxlo and represents the perfect fusion of innovative design and elevated living in Mayfair. It boasts superb space and volume, including 10 ceilings throughout. Every detail has been meticulously considered and sumptuously designed to an exceptionally high standard, using outstanding materials and superb cra smanship to create an interior of stunning luxury and comfort. There is secure underground parking, a 24-hour concierge and access to amenities including a swimming pool, gym, sauna, steam room, treatment room, hair salon and pet grooming area. Council Tax Band = G | EPC = B.

Bedrooms 3

Bathrooms 5

£14,750,000

Share of freehold Lease expiry 3013 | No ground rent | Service charge £94,213 per annum

Charles Cutting, charles.cutting@savills.com

CHESTERFIELD HILL, MAYFAIR

Recently renovated behind the original restored façade, this stunning home of approximately 3,960 sq is arranged across seven floors, with a li . Featuring the finest materials, lighting and bespoke joinery, it presents a wonderful balance of elegant design and original features. Houses in excellent condition of this size rarely come to the market, and this is a wonderful family home with a brilliant layout and the rarity of a li and two private terraces. High-tech features include a secure photo entry system, integrated KNX panels to control lighting, heating, air conditioning and electric blinds, underfloor heating, Control4 music system and CAT 6 cabling throughout. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = Exempt.

Bedrooms 6

Bathrooms 5

£8,600,000 Freehold

Jasper Jevons, jasper.jevons@savills.com

BRICK STREET, MAYFAIR

In the heart of exclusive Mayfair, this majestic and luxurious Grade II listed property provides unique lateral living and entertaining space. It benefits from a private gated drive-in courtyard, underground parking, a swimming pool, a cinema room and separate staff accommodation. Laid out over only three floors, yet totalling in excess of 12,900 sq , this exceptional house provides the perfect backdrop for modern entertaining alongside traditional architecture. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = C.

Bedrooms 7

Bathrooms 5

£35,000,000

Freehold

Fehd Alsaidi, fehd.alsaidi@savills.com

WALTON STREET, KNIGHTSBRIDGE

This impressive, newly refurbished 6,283 sq house has a swimming pool, a gym, a sauna and a dining room that can comfortably seat 14 people. There is off-street parking and a garden with a covered barbecue area, outdoor sink and seating. The property is fully furnished, with an impeccable finish throughout, creating a light and airy feeling. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = C.

Bedrooms 5

Bathrooms 7

£15,000 per week

Rental Holding deposit £15,000 | Deposit £90,000 | Minimum tenancy 12 months

Isabella Birch Reynardson, ibreynardson@savills.com

TILNEY STREET, MAYFAIR

This elegantly interior-designed townhouse has been refurbished to the grandest of standards and is situated in one of the most prestigious addresses in Mayfair. The 5,326 sq  property provides easy access to the area’s high-end fashion boutiques, designers and Michelin-starred restaurants. A roof terrace and off-street parking add to its exclusive appeal. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = D.

Bedrooms 5

Bathrooms 5

£12,000 per week

Rental Holding deposit £12,000 | Deposit £72,000 | Minimum tenancy 12 months

Isabella Birch Reynardson, ibreynardson@savills.com

ADDISON ROAD, HOLLAND PARK

One of the finest houses in Holland Park, this incredible property was built for Lord Holland in 1859. It was completely remodelled by the current owners in the 1990s and, while now requiring some modernisation, it is well presented and ideal for a family looking for a substantial home. Of particular note is the west-facing drawing room, more than 1,000 sq , with a ceiling height of over 13 and access to the stunning west-facing rear garden. The principal bedroom suite has a balcony and overlooks the garden. Other benefits include substantial parking behind electric gates and an indoor pool. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = C.

Bedrooms 8

Bathrooms 6

£35,000,000 Freehold

Peter Bevan, peter.bevan@savills.com, +44 (0)7770 017076

POWERHOUSE, CHELSEA WATERFRONT

In one of the most refined corners of London, a twin-turreted riverside power station that once powered the Underground is being re-energised and reimagined to offer a 21st-century living experience like no other. The Chelsea Waterfront masterplan has been designed by the architect Sir Terry Farrell, marking the biggest change on this bank of the Thames in 100 years. When complete, the scheme will comprise ten buildings, including two stand-out towers either side of Chelsea Creek, as well as this redevelopment of the Lots Road power station. Residents can enjoy a state-of-the art wellness centre with pool and spa, a club lounge, 24-hour five-star concierge service and signature waterside restaurant, café and shops on the doorstep. Council Tax Band and EPC to be determined.

Bedrooms 2-4

Bathrooms 1-4

£1,703,000-£3,345,000

Leasehold Lease expiry 2996 | Service charge estimated at £9.50-£11 per sq per annum | Car park charge estimated at £810 per annum

Richard Osborne-Young, royoung@savills.com

CHELSEA BARRACKS, BELGRAVIA

Chelsea Barracks represents a historic collaboration between the finest masterplanners and minds in the architectural world. Nine Mulberry Square, exquisitely designed by Eric Parry Architects, marks the first of a trilogy of new buildings at the heart of this prestigious neighbourhood, offering residences and penthouses with elegant living spaces and elevated views. A residence is just the start of the experience. The most exclusive residential members’ club, The Garrison Club, reveals itself as a 32,000 sq haven for the Chelsea Barracks community, comprising a multi-use sports hall, 25-metre swimming pool, state-of-the-art gymnasium, club lounge, business suites and children’s playroom.

Council Tax Band = H | EPC = B.

Bedrooms 1-5

Bathrooms 1-5

£3,500,000–£55,000,000

Apartments: Leasehold Lease expiry 3023 | Service charge £18.70 per sq per annum

Houses: Freehold Service charge £11.45 per sq per annum

Cleo Margary, cleo.margary@savills.com

RADSTOCK STREET, BATTERSEA

The Radstock Street development was the winner of Best Apartment Development at the Sunday Times British Home Awards in 2017, with interiors by Studio Ashby and Banda Design Studio. The building is within close proximity (approximately 0.4 miles) of the 200-acre green expanse of Battersea Park and the shops, pubs and restaurants on Parkgate Road and Battersea Square. The River Thames is nearby, and there are further amenities just across the Albert Bridge on the King’s Road in Chelsea. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = B.

Bedrooms 4

Bathrooms 3

£4,750,000

Share of freehold Lease expiry 3017 | No ground rent | Service charge £25,000 per annum

Mayow Short, mshort@savills.com

GROSVENOR GARDENS, BELGRAVIA

8 Eaton Lane is a centrally located landmark comprising 42 residences, from one-bedroom apartments to five-bedroom duplexes, with views towards Buckingham Palace. Inspired by the grandeur and proportions of the Grade II listed building’s distinguished history, there are ceiling heights of up to 10 6in; the interiors are classically inspired and feature understated touches of ornament and restored heritage detail. Designed in French Renaissance style by the renowned architect Thomas Cundy III as London’s first serviced apartment block and completed in 1868, it is being meticulously restored by CIT and will be ready to welcome residents in Q1 2025. Council Tax Band and EPC to be determined.

Bedrooms 1-5

Bathrooms 1-5

£2,040,000-£20,850,000

Leasehold Lease expiry 3021 | Service charge £15 per sq per annum

Mems Kannides, mems.kannides@savills.com

LOUD & WESTERN, FULHAM

This is a fantastic opportunity to purchase a lo -style freehold house in the landmark Loud & Western laundry. This unique property is steeped in history and offers architecturally designed interiors behind an imposing facade. Arranged over three floors, this is lateral living at its best. Incredible ceiling heights throughout create a real wow factor, while bespoke joinery, sweeping staircases, underfloor heating, air conditioning and a roof terrace make this a truly exceptional property. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = C.

Bedrooms 5

Bathrooms 5

£5,300,000 Freehold

Tom Reeves, tom.reeves@savills.com

QUEENS GROVE, ST JOHN’S WOOD

This semi-detached white stucco villa is on the east side of St John’s Wood. Arranged over five floors, it provides excellent family accommodation, with generous entertaining spaces on the raised ground floor and in the basement. Further benefits include a good-size southwest-facing rear garden with patio area and gated off-street parking. The green open spaces of Primrose Hill and St John’s Wood Tube station are within easy walking distance. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = D.

Bedrooms 6

Bathrooms 6

£19,500,000

Freehold

Stephen Lindsay, slindsay@savills.com

RICHMOND HILL, RICHMOND

With superb entertaining spaces and generous bedroom accommodation, this exquisitely renovated, enviably positioned home offers a great balance between family living and more formal entertaining. Totalling 4,846 sq , it has an incredible sense of volume and light – afforded by the large windows, elegant room proportions and wonderful ceiling heights. There is also secure gated parking and a beautiful walled garden. Most of the principal rooms enjoy breathtaking views over the River Thames, Petersham Meadows and the Thames Valley. This remarkable aspect is the only English landscape view to be protected by an Act of Parliament and is perhaps most famously captured by JMW Turner’s incredible watercolours. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = C.

Bedrooms 6

Bathrooms 4

£7,500,000

Freehold

Daniel Hutchins, dhutchins@savills.com

With exceptional lateral accommodation spanning nearly 34 , this family home is on a pretty tree-lined road in the Boltons conservation area. There is an impressive kitchen, dining and living area across the full width of the lower ground floor, with access to a west-facing private garden. At the raised ground floor level, large reception rooms with 10 ceilings lead to a terrace. There is gated off-street parking for two cars. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = D.

Bedrooms 6

Bathrooms 3

£14,950,000

Freehold

Richard Gutteridge, richard.gutteridge@savills.com

GILSTON ROAD, CHELSEA

THE VALE, CHELSEA

On a sought‐a er leafy street just off the King’s Road and presented in good order, this Grade II listed family house offers an abundance of spacious rooms. These include a fantastic dining room, a grand first-floor reception with floor‐to‐ceiling windows and a magnificent view up Mulberry Walk, and an attractive sitting room opening onto the large private rear garden. The lower ground floor has been extended by excavating under the garden to provide an exceptional family room and gymnasium. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = D.

Bedrooms 5

Bathrooms 4

£11,950,000 Freehold

Dan Carrington, dan.carrington@savills.com

WILTON CRESCENT, BELGRAVIA

A beautifully modernised Grade II listed residence situated on one of London’s most prestigious crescents. The house has been comprehensively redeveloped and designed by Leconfield, providing over 9,000 sq of well-proportioned living, with a terrace and courtyard garden, setting a new benchmark for quality. This is a rare opportunity to own one of Belgravia’s finest homes. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = C.

Bedrooms 8

Bathrooms 8

£38,000,000 Freehold

Richard Gutteridge, richard.gutteridge@savills.com

EATON SQUARE, BELGRAVIA

This immaculately presented family apartment is within a Grade II listed building on the favoured western terrace of Eaton Square. It benefits from its own front door and a private patio and garden, while the interiors have impressive ceiling heights and lots of natural light. Additional features include air conditioning and a private internal li . Security in Eaton Square is managed by a dedicated team who are available 24 hours a day. Access to the private gardens and tennis court is solely for the benefit of Eaton Square residents. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = D.

Bedrooms 4

Bathrooms 3

£12,950,000

Leasehold Lease expiry 2135 | Peppercorn ground rent | Service charge approximately £8,000 per annum, reviewed annually

Richard Dalton, rdalton@savills.com

WALTON STREET, KNIGHTSBRIDGE

This three-storey house seamlessly combines modern luxury with timeless elegance. The focal point is the private central courtyard, which bathes the interiors in natural light while maintaining the utmost privacy. The property also benefits from an underground pool and a wonderful roof terrace. The principal suite is arranged across the entire first floor, with a large dressing room, en suite bathroom and access to the terrace. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = D.

Bedrooms 3

Bathrooms 3

£14,500,000

Freehold

William Duckworth-Chad, wdchad@savills.com

UK COUNTRY

PHILLIPPA DALBY-WELSH

HEAD OF COUNTRY DEPARTMENT

+44 (0)20 7330 8659 pdwelsh@savills.com

ANDREW PERRATT

HEAD OF UK RESIDENTIAL

+44 (0)20 7016 3823 aperratt@savills.com

Hybrid country-house hotels and members’ clubs in the Cotswolds and the West Country are drawing a different, perhaps younger audience.

KEY MARKET INSIGHTS

There has been a significant increase in the number of downsizers looking to buy in regional cities such as York, Winchester, Bath and Edinburgh. In the recent property boom, many people released more equity from their sale than expected, allowing them to downsize to a premium city home and enjoy the local amenities.

The prime coastal markets of the UK have had a strong start to the year. In Devon and Cornwall, several house and plot sales over £2.5 million were agreed between December 2023 and February 2024 – traditionally “off season” for coastal property. However, there is a dichotomy between prices achieved in the best locations – with direct sea views or beach access – and those considered to be slightly secondary.

Hybrid country-house hotels and members’ clubsin the Cotswolds and the West Country, such as Estelle Manor, Soho Farmhouse and The Newt, are drawing a different, perhaps younger audience. New homeowners in these areas invite friends to visit for the weekend, and o en those friends decide to purchase there as well. The market between £2 million and £6 million in the Cotswolds is benefitting from this trend.

Strategic pricing gives sellers the best chance of success. Many buyers who expressed vague interest last year are reconsidering the same properties with a greater degree of focus, particularly if there has been a price adjustment. Attractive pricing o en leads to competition between buyers.

BUCKHOLT ESTATE, WEST TYTHERLEY

Situated high on a ridge, on the Hampshire/Wiltshire border, Buckholt is a first-class ring-fenced estate of just under 1,000 acres of chalk downland, centred on Buckholt House. The c.12,000 sq principal house is set in an elevated position, enjoying wonderful views, a formal garden, tennis court and outdoor swimming pool. There are three farm cottages, together with a beautifully appointed nine-bedroom (all en suite) guest house for the renowned commercial shoot, with an adjoining staff flat. The rolling landscape provides a wonderful mix of sporting interest and farming potential. The pasture is farmed in hand, grazed with a herd of White Park cattle, and the arable is contract farmed. Modern farm buildings provide ample storage and handling facilities for the farming business. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = D-F.

Bedrooms 8

Bathrooms 6

Offers in excess of £24,000,000 Freehold

Crispin Holborow, cholborow@savills.com

COMBE COURT, CHIDDINGFOLD

Dating from around 1850, Combe Court is one of the finest estates in Surrey. This characterful house, which has been meticulously maintained, has impressive architectural features such as the gothic-style turret and magnificent bay windows that provide wonderful views over the gardens. The house has six bedroom suites. There are two staff/guest apartments and two three-bedroom cottages. The heated pool is in a restored tithe barn with doors opening onto a sheltered courtyard and the tennis court is surrounded by mature hedging. The charming, traditional stable block includes four loose boxes and four stalls. There is a manège and a stick and ball pitch. The land extends to approximately 95 acres. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = E.

Bedrooms 6-16

Bathrooms 6-11

£18,000,000 Freehold

Phillippa Dalby-Welsh, pdwelsh@savills.com

JUNE FARM, REIGATE

A substantial (over 8,000 sq ) and beautifully presented listed country house in a wonderful rural location, yet only two miles from Reigate town centre. The property sits around a stunning courtyard garden and within manicured formal gardens of about 2.45 acres. There is an attached one-bedroom cottage, garaging for four cars, tennis court and outdoor pool. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = Exempt.

Bedrooms 9

Bathrooms 7

£3,750,000

Freehold

Edward Wain-Heapy, edward.wainheapy@savills.com

BELGRAVIA HOUSE, SUNNINGDALE

This beautiful seven-bedroom detached house is on a highly sought-a er private road in the heart of Sunningdale, next to the renowned Wentworth golf course. On the ground floor, the large open-plan kitchen/sitting/dining room has three sets of bifold doors opening onto the rear garden. The kitchen has integrated Gaggenau appliances, including a full-height wine fridge, teppanyaki grill, multiple ovens and a marble island that seats eight. There are two further reception rooms on the ground floor, previously used as a playroom and games room. The principal bedroom suite has a spacious bathroom with shower/steam room, bath and two dressing rooms, and a large balcony. Also on the first floor is a large cinema room with a 4-metre screen. The rear garden is mainly laid to lawn, with high hedges offering an excellent degree of seclusion. To the front, the gated driveway offers secure parking for multiple vehicles. Council Tax Band = G | EPC = B.

Bedrooms 7

Bathrooms 6

£16,950pcm

Rental Holding deposit £3,911.54 | Deposit

£23,469.23 | Minimum tenancy 12 months

Lauren Fell, lauren.fell@savills.com

BELDAM LAKE HOUSE, CHOBHAM

Overlooking a fishing lake in about 27 acres of land, this property gives the ultimate feeling of having your own private country estate, with all the garden upkeep taken care of. The secluded setting offers the highest levels of privacy and security. Behind electric gates, a long driveway leads to the main lake house, which has recently been refurbished to the highest standard. Off the entrance hall are a cosy breakfast/kitchen room with fireplace, a cloakroom, study and a characterful formal living room with exposed beams and brickwork, a vast open fireplace and a double-height window overlooking the heated outdoor pool. A sitting area leads to a games/reception room with its own kitchen. In the grounds are paddocks, a manège, an annexe set up as a gym, and a log cabin that would make a tranquil office or music/art studio. There is also a modern two-bedroom detached cottage, hot tub, cold tub and steam room. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = D.

Bedrooms 7

Bathrooms 6

£25,000pcm

Rental Deposit £13,538.46 | Minimum tenancy 12 months

Lauren Fell, lauren.fell@savills.com

OLD

WHITELOCKS, WARFIELD

This is a rare opportunity to acquire a wonderful country home in a secluded position, yet just a short drive from historic Windsor and Ascot. Old Whitelocks dates back to the 17th century and has recently undergone a comprehensive renovation, with multiple extensions and adaptations to the layout to allow for modern family living. The property comprises the five-bedroom main house, a cottage with two double bedrooms and a leisure complex with a large indoor pool, two saunas, a spa, changing facilities, a gym and a treatment room. There is a garage block with space for three cars that could be converted into extra accommodation or offices, subject to planning consents. The 2.6 acres of grounds also include a tennis court, a kitchen garden, stabling and a paddock. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = E.

Bedrooms 8

Bathrooms 7

£5,950,000 Freehold

John Henson, john.henson@savills.com

SHORE HOUSE AND SHORE COTTAGE, BOSHAM

Shore House and Cottage occupy one of the best locations on Shore Road, with views across the harbour to Bosham village and down the main Bosham channel to the harbour entrance. They have separate titles and could be used as one home or treated as a principal house and independent guest/occasional accommodation. In all there is approximately 4,920 sq of living space. Each building can have independent access, as there are two driveways. The layout of Shore House, with generous interconnecting dining and living spaces on the ground floor, is superbly suited to family life and entertaining. From each of the reception spaces, and from the principal and guest bedrooms, there are views over the gardens and water, affording year-round enjoyment of this special setting. Outside, there is a sunken garden with seating area, a sheltered pool, an extensive area of lawn, a gardener’s area with a greenhouse and sheds and plenty of parking. The plot extends to 1.28 acres. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = D.

Bedrooms 6

Bathrooms 4

£4,850,000

Freehold

Phillippa Dalby-Welsh, pdwelsh@savills.com

CONSTANTINE COTTAGE, PADSTOW

Less than five miles from Padstow’s famous seafood restaurants, this tastefully extended former fisherman’s cottage has never previously been on the open market. Painted white with sea-green shutters, the traditional stone and slate house is set on a clifftop overlooking Constantine Bay, with the majestic Trevose Head at the northern end. The cottage has large reception rooms, four bedrooms, two of which are en suite, an open fire and a sustainable underfloor heating system, complemented by an open fire. There is a sheltered garden with a private terrace, a home office, a store and parking. The South West Coast Path passes the cottage, with steps leading down to a sandy cove below the garden. Council Tax Band = G | EPC = D.

Bedrooms 4

Bathrooms 3

£5,000,000

Freehold

James Toogood, james.toogood@savills.com

ST CATHERINE’S COURT, BATH

This exquisite Grade I listed manor is in a magnificent rural location four miles northeast of the city centre, with Grade II* listed Italianate gardens, a tennis court and parkland. The main house, which retains superb original features, has a ballroom, a music room, an orangery and a staff wing with estate offices. Outbuildings in the 14 acres of grounds include a five-bedroom lodge house, a three-bedroom cottage and a tithe barn. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = F.

Bedrooms 11+

Bathrooms 7+

£12,500,000 Freehold

Ed Sugden, esugden@savills.com; Alistair Heather, alistair.heather@savills.com

THE CREST, NORTH DEVON

Here is a unique chance to take on and finish the specification and fit-out of one of Britain’s most spectacularly situated coastal homes. The bespoke design has been brought to life through impressive engineering, with the building being anchored to the bedrock and blending whitewashed elevations with steel and glass. A lighthouse feature at one end offers panoramic views of the Devon coast. The Crest is set in about three acres of grounds, with a large area of foreshore, a private tidal beach and coves. In addition to the main five-bedroom house, which has an infinity pool and extensive outdoor entertaining areas, there is Crest View, a detached three-bedroom guest lodge with a hot tub. Council Tax Band = H (The Crest), E (Crest View) | EPC = B.

Bedrooms 5

Bathrooms 4

£5,250,000 Freehold

Damian Charles, damian.charles@savills.com

SUDGROVE HOUSE, MISERDEN

This beautiful Cotswold country house, dating from 1707, has a spectacular setting overlooking a magical valley. Inside, the warmth and welcome of this lovely family home is evident – mullioned leaded windows, old fireplaces, stone flags, cast-iron radiators, ornate cornicing, wood panels and dado rails are among the original features. The 58 acres of grounds include terraced gardens, an outdoor pool, a croquet lawn, orchards, broadleaf woodland, streams, a lake and a waterfall. A two-bedroom cottage offers flexible accommodation and the numerous outbuildings include stables, a workshop, a barn/studio and a summerhouse. Miserden, with its village shop, primary school and pub, is just two miles away. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = E.

Bedrooms 7

Bathrooms 8

£9,000,000

Freehold

Ed Sugden, esugden@savills.com

WESTWOOD PARK, COLCHESTER

This Grade II* listed Tudor manor house near the village of Little Horkesley is set in 20 acres of delightful gardens and grounds. Built in 1692, it was rebuilt in Elizabethan style at the beginning of the 20th century. There is the potential to develop the numerous outbuildings, including potting sheds, greenhouses, a summerhouse and stables. The mature formal gardens, grounds and pastures contain specimen trees, a large walled garden, rose and herbaceous borders, an apple and pear arcade, spinneys and ponds. Planning permission has been granted for a log cabin to be constructed in a hedged area behind the barn. Colchester town centre and station are about four miles away. Council Tax Band = G | EPC = Exempt.

Bedrooms 12

Bathrooms 7

£5,350,000 Freehold

Barclay Macfarlane, barclay.macfarlane@savills.com

INGOLDISTHORPE HALL, KING’S LYNN

A Grade II* listed country house near Sandringham with a wonderful presence, helped by the sweeping drive up to the main façade of English bond, stone and stucco, flanked by two substantial wings of local carrstone. Its architectural merit continues internally, with design features such as a stucco Zeus eagle in the main hall, fine panelling in the principal rooms and mid-18th-century fireplaces. All the bedrooms have wonderful views across the park and gardens. A separate property within the 33 acres of grounds, The Folly, is used as a private dwelling and holiday cottage. Council Tax Band = N/A | EPC = Exempt.

Bedrooms 9

Bathrooms 7

£3,750,000

Freehold

Ben Rivett, brivett@savills.com

ALLEXTON HALL ESTATE, UPPINGHAM

Set in rolling country on the Rutland/Leicestershire border, this estate is just four miles from the market town of Uppingham and its renowned public school. It has an impressive Grade II listed hall, a pair of gate lodges, three properties in the former stable yard, a farmhouse, extensive equestrian facilities, further farm buildings, mature landscaped gardens and parkland planted for year-round colour and interest. The estate is being offered for sale as a whole 954 acres (385ha) of land, including about 794 acres (321ha) of productive arable farmland, 94 acres (38ha) of pastureland and 49 acres (20ha) of mature woodland. The estate is in the Eye Brook Valley, which offers significant amenity and sporting appeal. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = G.

Bedrooms 6

Bathrooms 6

£17,000,000

Freehold

Charlie Paton, cpaton@savills.com

DORFOLD HALL, NANTWICH

A fine example of Jacobean architecture, the Grade I listed hall has been renovated and restored over the years, incorporating original features with modern design and functionality. The interior designer Edward Bulmer contributed to the design and beautiful colour schemes throughout the hall. It serves as both a cherished family home and a stunning venue for weddings and corporate events. The L’Écurie wedding venue is a remarkable entertainment space, meticulously designed to seamlessly blend heritage elements with contemporary architecture. This venue, together with four cottages, plays a pivotal role as a versatile revenue source for the estate. The landscape here includes formal gardens, a wildflower meadow, a lake, a synthetic grass court, a dell, multiple log stores and storage units, arable land and woodland, spanning a total of 101 acres. The estate is available as a whole or in two lots. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = C.

Bedrooms 10

Bathrooms 9

£11,400,000

Freehold

Crispin Holborow, cholborow@savills.com

BODEN HALL, RODE HEATH

An elegant Georgian country house in a delightful parkland setting, overlooking a lake with an island and boathouse, Boden Hall sits at the end of a long tree-lined drive. It is set in about 68 acres of land, together with a gate lodge and six further cottages. It is in the most wonderful garden setting, with a delightful range of period outbuildings, including a squash court and garaging. The house retains extensive period detailing and character, and has been carefully maintained to an excellent standard by the current owners. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = G.

Bedrooms 7

Bathrooms 5

£6,650,000

Freehold

Charlie Kannreuther, ckannreuther@savills.com

COPT HEWICK HALL, RIPON

Adjoining glorious open countryside, this exceptional Georgian country house is set in 87 acres of beautiful gardens and grounds, less than three miles from the historic city of Ripon. Built in the late 18th century, Copt Hewick Hall has undergone a comprehensive restoration in recent years, involving the complete refurbishment of the house, gardens, outbuildings and cottages. The main house now offers superb family accommodation and excellent leisure facilities. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = D.

Bedrooms 7

Bathrooms 6

£18,000,000 Freehold

Edward Stoyle, edward.stoyle@savills.com

HARTREE HOUSE, BIGGAR, SOUTH LANARKSHIRE

This impeccably restored C listed country mansion has a wealth of Georgian and Victorian architectural features, including an impressive tower and battlements above the front door. The current owners have refurbished the house over the past decade, fully upgrading its infrastructure and services. The works included the installation of ground-source heat pumps, solar panels, full insulation and double glazing. The house has been beautifully decorated, with high-quality finishes throughout. It has been used as a family home and as a wedding venue; adjoining the house to the rear are two new apartments with parking, which serve as holiday lets and guest accommodation for weddings. The 22.6 acres of grounds have been fully landscaped, with a formal garden and scenic parkland. Council Tax Band = H | EPC = C.

Bedrooms 14

Bathrooms 6

£3,600,000 Freehold

Jamie Macnab,

jmacnab@savills.com

ENNISKILLEN, COUNTY FERMANAGH

Belle Isle Estate is an exceptional mixed-use country estate on the banks of Lough Erne, an ecologically important area famed for its natural beauty. The property is set in 448 acres, with a Grade B+ listed 17th-century castle at its core, and 17 cottages and apartments that provide flexible accommodation for guests, staff and tenants. The extensive water frontage includes four private islands and a sizeable jetty. The let accommodation can sleep up to 65 guests and Belle Isle has been hired for prestige events and weddings.

Bedrooms 13

Bathrooms 13

£5,950,000

Freehold

James Butler, james.butler@savills.ie

France 115

Greece 126

Ireland 127

Italy 128

Montenegro 134

Portugal 135

Spain 141

Switzerland 147

JELENA CVJETKOVIC DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL NETWORK

+44 (0)20 7016 3754

jcvjetkovic@savills.com

VICTORIA GARRETT DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL RESIDENTIAL

+44 (0)7929 097888

victoria.garrett@savills.com

New generations of buyers are being drawn by cutting-edge contemporary design and amenities in Europe’s premium resorts.

KEY MARKET INSIGHTS

Southern European cities have shown resilience in the face of economic volatility. Athens saw the highest growth in prime residential prices, followed by Madrid, Barcelona, Rome and Milan. All offer a great lifestyle, attracting international buyers.

Europe’s coveted prime second-home areas are attracting new generations of buyers, many of whom are drawn by cutting-edge contemporary design and amenities in premium resorts such as Quinta do Lago, Sotogrande and Marbella. Heritage properties remain key to the appeal of the French Riviera, Portofino and the Italian Lakes.

Amenity-led lifestyle developments in city-centre locations are getting a lot of focus, as shown by our recent

Italian buyers’ survey. Lack of supply means new homes still command a good premium over second-hand properties. Energy and cost efficiency, a low level of maintenance and good rental growth are also key drivers.

Northern European second-home buyers remain attracted by the warmer climes of southern Spain and Portugal, where resort-led value growth has outperformed typical housing stock.

Prime residential values in ski resorts rose on average by 40% by autumn 2023, compared to pre-pandemic levels. The retail and hospitality offering in prime ski resorts continues to evolve, with hotel groups such as Four Seasons seeking opportunities in French and Swiss resorts.

VALBONNE, FRENCH RIVIERA

Domaine de Beaumont is a magnificent private estate, just inland from Cannes, where the young John F Kennedy spent family holidays in the 1930s. Its 25 acres of meticulously landscaped grounds create a serene and private atmosphere, with uninterrupted views to the Mediterranean. The main house features a grand reception hall with marble staircase, elegant lounges and dining rooms, a fully equipped kitchen and a cinema/games room. Upstairs, a luxurious principal bedroom suite and further en suite bedrooms offer comfort and privacy. The outbuildings include a pool house, staff accommodation, pavilions and a barn. Designed by the renowned architect Jacques Couëlle, this historic property also has a 20-metre heated pool, a tennis court and several outbuildings, including self-contained staff accommodation.

Bedrooms 9

Bathrooms 9

€23,625,000

Savills Valbonne, valbonne@savills.com

ROQUEBRUNE-CAP-MARTIN, FRENCH RIVIERA

Joint sole agents: with a majestic setting overlooking Monaco, Cap Martin and the Italian coastline, Villa L’Aiglon forms part of the history of the Riviera, with its refined, Florentine-inspired architecture. Surrounded by two-thirds of an acre of landscaped grounds, the principal property, which dates from 1891, offers spacious accommodation, including 10 bedrooms and extensive reception rooms featuring original fireplaces and exceptional woodwork. A five-bedroom guest house, a swimming pool, parking and a garage complement the property.

Bedrooms 10

Bathrooms 9

€39,000,000

Savills Beaulieu-sur-Mer, beaulieu@savills.com

SAINT-JEAN-CAP-FERRAT, FRENCH RIVIERA

Sole agents: ideally situated near the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, this contemporary villa, designed by Pascal Goujon, has 829 sq metres of living space. The main reception room offers double-height ceilings and views of the gardens created by the renowned Côte d’Azur landscape architect Jean Mus. The main floor features an open-plan reception, kitchen, dining area, study and principal suite. Upstairs are two bedroom suites with terraces, while the garden level also has two en suite bedrooms. A wellness area, wine cellar, gym, massage room and hammam complete the living space. There is also a separate property that could accommodate guests or staff. The 1.9 acres of grounds include an infinity pool, car li , parking and garage.

Bedrooms 5

Bathrooms 5

€45,000,000

Savills Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, capferrat@savills.com

VILLEFRANCHE-SUR-MER, FRENCH RIVIERA

Joint sole agents: offering a bird’s-eye view of the bay of Villefranche and Cap Ferrat, this elegant residence enjoys an exceptional private setting where the lush exteriors are rivalled only by the exquisitely designed interiors. The property was designed by the renowned architect André Svétchine and renovated by the current owner, employing the finest cra smen and materials available. This generously sized home includes a delightful day area with sitting room, library, drawing room, dining room and extensive kitchen/breakfast room, a double principal bedroom, five suites and a study, in addition to a home cinema, wine cellar, wellness zone with indoor pool and spacious guest villa.

Bedrooms 7

Bathrooms 7

€22,000,000

Savills Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, capferrat@savills.com

SAINT-TROPEZ, FRENCH RIVIERA

This exceptional bastide-style home is in a sought-a er Saint-Tropez setting: a peaceful area near the village and port, with views towards the sea from the main level. Set in 2,156 sq metres of landscaped grounds, the property comprises a main house, a guest house, a swimming pool, a pool house and a spacious veranda, ideal for entertaining. Refurbished by a renowned local architect, while retaining charming details and unique features, the property benefits from two reception rooms, a kitchen, a library and two bedroom suites. There are four further en suite bedrooms in the guest house, with the potential for staff accommodation or annexes.

Bedrooms 8

Bathrooms 8

€14,500,000

Savills Saint-Tropez, sainttropez@savills.com

CANNES, FRENCH RIVIERA

Exclusive agents: this elegant apartment is part of a luxury residence in a prestigious location on the Cannes Croisette. Set back from the promenade, with breathtaking views of the Mediterranean, it offers refinement, wellbeing and tranquillity. Ranging from two to three bedrooms, each apartment within the residence has been carefully designed and refurbished to maximise light and views. Each of the 10 apartments will have a spacious open-plan reception room, floor-to-ceiling windows and extensive terraces. Exclusive amenities for residents include a 24-hour concierge service, a swimming pool, a spa and parking facilities. Delivery, June 2025.

Bedrooms 2-3

Bathrooms 2-3

€2,900,000-€9,450,000

Savills Cannes, cannes@savills.com

ÈZE, FRENCH RIVIERA

Villa Mamouna is a country estate on Monaco’s doorstep, set in landscaped gardens with panoramic views over Èze village, Cap Ferrat and the sea. The property consists of a main house with reception and dining rooms, kitchen and breakfast area, five en suite bedrooms, study, wine cellar, storage areas, laundry room and workshop; a guest house with living room, kitchen and two en suite bedrooms; an independent studio; and a two-bedroom flat for staff. The swimming pool area has vast terraces, a gymnasium, a roo op Jacuzzi, changing rooms, a sauna, a massage parlour and a tennis court. The villa is located within fast and easy reach of Monaco.

Bedrooms 10

Bathrooms 8

€29,500,000

Savills Beaulieu-sur-Mer, beaulieu@savills.com

CAP D’ANTIBES, FRENCH RIVIERA

Sole agents: this magnificent villa on the western side of Cap d’Antibes benefits from panoramic sea views. Extending to about 450 sq metres, the property includes, on the ground floor, a kitchen with scullery and dining area, a dining room, a reception room, a study, a guest cloakroom and two bedroom suites. The first floor features a main suite comprising a spacious bedroom, dressing room, bathroom and study, as well as a further en suite bedroom. The basement offers staff accommodation, a technical room, a laundry, a wine cellar, a further large cellar and a caretaker’s apartment with a living room, a kitchen and one bedroom. There is also a swimming pool, set in landscaped grounds of approximately three-quarters of an acre.

Bedrooms 4

Bathrooms 4

€10,900,000

Savills Cap d’Antibes, capdantibes@savills.com

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, PROVENCE

In an incredibly peaceful setting, this 18th-century-style bastide is the perfect Provençal home. Approached along a tree-lined drive with acres of olive groves on either side, the main residence has six spacious air-conditioned bedroom suites, several living rooms and a gourmet kitchen. A two-bedroom guest house is adjacent to the main residence, and there is a heated swimming pool with pool house, tennis court, home office and gym. The splendid gardens are a particular feature of the property. Also located on the estate is a separate house, Le Bastidon, with four en suite bedrooms and its own swimming pool, summerhouse and gardens.

Bedrooms 14

Bathrooms 16 €17,750,000

Jonathan Hewlett, jhewlett@savills.com; Alice Storrie, astorrie@savills.com

LE BLANC, LOIRE VALLEY

This outstanding château, in an idyllic river setting with wonderful countryside views, is steeped in history. Its secluded and peaceful location within the protected regional park of La Brenne is a dream for lovers of nature and wildlife. Formerly an abbey, the château dates from the 12th century and retains Napoleonic wallpaper and many original features from both the medieval and Renaissance periods, including its own coat of arms, vaulted ceilings, carved stone fireplaces, arrow slit and trapdoor. More modern highlights include a pool and sauna. The grounds extend to 22 acres, with extensive outbuildings.

Bedrooms 7

Bathrooms 4

€1,360,000

Alice Storrie, astorrie@savills.com

MÉRIBEL, FRENCH ALPS

In the heart of the forest, at the foot of the sought-a er Méribel slopes, is this outstanding 265 sq metre chalet arranged over four levels, with cosy interiors finished in wood and stone. Accommodation includes five en suite bedrooms and a massage room that could be converted into a further bedroom. An indoor swimming pool with views of the snowy landscape, a sauna and a south-facing terrace complete this exceptional property.

Bedrooms 5

Bathrooms 5

€7,500,000

Savills Méribel, meribel@savills.com

CHAMONIX, FRENCH ALPS

This stunning 600 sq metre Alpine chalet is perfectly positioned in Les Bois, with undisturbed views of Mont Blanc. Sitting in a wonderfully private plot of 3,834 sq metres (almost one acre), it was recently renovated to an exceptional standard, maintaining a traditional feel while incorporating modern technology. The location is highly sought-a er, being close to the Flégère ski li and Chamonix Golf Club. Included in the sale is an independent two-bedroom chalet with a spa bath.

Bedrooms 6

Bathrooms 7

€15,600,000

Guy Murdoch, gmurdoch@savills.com

THE CAPE, MYKONOS

Situated on the clifftop in Houlakia, The Cape stands as the premier private estate on Mykonos. The timeless stone and white exterior harmonises effortlessly with its surroundings, while the architectural design, inside and out, gracefully complements the natural topography, evoking both drama and tranquillity. The tiered grounds, crowned by the main residence, invite an array of leisure and entertainment options, from intimate sunset gatherings to lavish soirées. A web of pathways, balconies, terraces and decks offer commanding views of Chora old town and the sea.

Bedrooms 8

Bathrooms 9 €33,500,000

Fani Dritsa, f.dritsa@savills.gr; Danae Tsakiris, d.tsakiris@savills.gr

COOKSTOWN, COUNTY MEATH

Set in 357 acres of productive land in the heart of Co Meath, Corbalton Hall is an exceptional agricultural and residential estate. At its heart is a magnificent mansion house dating from the 19th century, surrounded by picturesque formal gardens and sprawling parkland. Over time, the house has undergone substantial restoration, including an exquisite rear extension that was added in the early 21st century. The estate also offers a diverse collection of outbuildings and alternative lodging options.

Bedrooms 5

Bathrooms 7

€15,000,000

James Butler, james.butler@savills.ie

LAKE MAGGIORE

One of the most historically significant houses on Lake Maggiore, this magnificent lakefront property is surrounded by a beautifully planted southeast-facing garden with 500 metres of lake frontage. The main four-storey villa, which dates from the 19th century, is adorned with frescoed ceilings and ornate furniture, statues and art. The garden includes a swimming pool, tennis court, greenhouse, large boat dock and two further small ports. Also notable is the magnificent mosaic floor in the lake-facing courtyard, bordered by a nymphaeum and statues from the 17th century.

Bedrooms 8

Bathrooms 8

€20,000,000

Tom Vickery, tvickery@savills.com

GENOA, LIGURIA

In Castelletto, a desirable residential area close to the centre of Genoa, this 400 sq metre penthouse has been recently refurbished, with high-quality finishes and design. Immaculately presented, it has three balconies, a garage and a 270 sq metre roo op terrace that provides space to sunbathe and entertain, with an external kitchen area and views of the city and Golfo Paradiso. Inside are an elegant traditional entrance hall, a spacious living room, a dining room, a kitchen with dining area and a large walk-in wardrobe.

Bedrooms 3

Bathrooms 4

€1,800,000

Chris Ostet, c.ostet@ar92.com

VIALE MONTE NERO, MILAN

Located in an elegant and lively district between Porta Romana and Piazza Cinque Giornate, this magnificent penthouse is the result of a skilful renovation that has combined the charm of a period building with contemporary interiors. The preserved historic details add charm and unique character: all the rooms have high ceilings with recovered period beams, chequered porcelain floors and Art Nouveau doors with stained glass. The large living room has exposed beams and parquet flooring, while the kitchen has a modern layout and the two bathrooms have glass mosaic wall tiles; a new spiral staircase leads to the attic. The property overlooks the main street on one side and a quiet courtyard on the other.

Bedrooms 2

Bathrooms 2

€1,100,000

Ilaria Gaizo, ilaria.gaizo@savills.it

SANTA MARGHERITA LIGURE, LIGURIA

Set in 6,700 sq metres of tranquil parkland in an exclusive residential area on the Italian Riviera, Villa Margherita offers private parking and is less than 500 metres from the beach. The elegant sea-view villa has two living rooms and large windows that lead directly to the elegant terrace and gardens. There is a swimming pool with a sun-lounging area.

Bedrooms 7

Bathrooms 7

€15,000,000

Chris Ostet, c.ostet@ar92.com

MANIFATTURA TABACCHI, FLORENCE

A former tobacco factory northwest of the historic centre, Manifattura Tabacchi is Florence’s latest cultural landmark. Original and newly constructed buildings will host lo s and apartments, a fashion design school, ateliers, laboratories, offices, cultural spaces, halls of residence, a hotel, a theatre and a kindergarten. The first phase, due for completion this summer, includes 24 lo s by the renowned architecture firm q-bic and 24 luxury apartments by the world-famous designer Patricia Urquiola. Residents will benefit from a concierge service, a communal roo op garden, a fitness area and bicycle storage. The latest phase features 34 apartments with a refined design by Quincoces-dragò & Partners, set in a monumental 1930s building at the factory gates.

Bedrooms 1-3

Bathrooms 1-3

€422,000-€2,078,000

Riccardo Leonelli, riccardo.leonelli@savills.it

SAN MINIATO, TUSCANY

Dating from the 13th century, this villa is located in an ancient hamlet and sits within 12 acres of land, among rolling hills covered with olive trees and vines. The villa is reached by a winding country road lined by majestic cypress trees, with the most spectacular views of the countryside. The two-storey property has been completely restored while retaining its original features and traditional design. The ground floor has a spacious open living room with direct access to two outdoor terraces, plus a dining room and a state-of-the-art kitchen, which opens onto a lovely terrace perfect for dining al fresco. All the bedrooms have en suite bathrooms with large showers. The gardens have paths meandering through olive trees and there is an infinity pool with hydro massage and a Roman-style pergola.

Bedrooms 10

Bathrooms 12

€3,500,000

Tom Vickery, tvickery@savills.com

PORTA PAMPHILI, ROME

The Porta Pamphili project is revitalising a neighbourhood near the Valle dei Casali nature reserve, in the west of the city. As well as new housing, it is introducing new spaces and making improvements to the reserve, including a new entrance to make access easier for residents. The residential buildings have solar panels and advanced underfloor heating and cooling systems to ensure sustainability and comfort. The designs are inspired by nearby historic buildings, incorporating natural elements such as travertine and terracotta. The project aims to create a vibrant neighbourhood hub, nurturing communal bonds to enhance residents’ quality of life.

Bedrooms 1-3

Bathrooms 1-3

€255,000-€790,000

Riccardo Leonelli, riccardo.leonelli@savills.it

COSTA SMERALDA, SARDINIA

In the charming resort village of Porto Rafael, which was founded in the 1960s by the visionary artist Raphael Neville, Villa Ossidiana is a modern architectural gem. Just 80 metres from Nelson Bay, at the northern tip of the island, it offers stunning views of the sea and the Maddalena archipelago. The villa provides unparalleled privacy and tranquillity, set in a carefully landscaped 5,000 sq metre garden with a pristine lawn and a captivating infinity pool overlooking the sea. The main bedroom suite, on the upper floor, has its own spa bath, and there are covered and enclosed outdoor spaces to allow year-round use.

Bedrooms 5

Bathrooms 5 €12,000,000

Emiliano Cruciani, emiliano@luxuryesmeralda.com

COSTA SMERALDA, SARDINIA

Villa Phoenix is in the prestigious complex of Pantogia, overlooking the Gulf of Pevero, a few kilometres from Porto Cervo. The villa is on two levels, with a large living area upstairs adjoining the covered outdoor terrace, which provides a panorama of the Gulf of Pevero and the granite boulders above the town of Pantogia. The lower floor, which is partly below ground level due to the sloping site, is dedicated to the sleeping area, and opens onto the beautiful swimming pool. The pool area is surrounded by lawn and oleander hedges, framing the surrounding scenery of oaks, myrtles and rocky massifs.

Bedrooms 4

Bathrooms 4

€1,350,000

Emiliano Cruciani, emiliano@luxuryesmeralda.com

PALERMO, SICILY

This exclusive villa with a private garden, beautiful terraces and an infinity pool is an oasis of peace overlooking the Sferracavallo Gulf. Spanning three levels, its terraced layout gracefully conforms to the natural terrain, offering an original and dynamic interior design. The ground floor has a spacious triple living area, a grand bathroom and a delightful eat-in kitchen leading to a picturesque balcony overlooking the pool and sea. Recently renovated to a high standard, it boasts modern amenities such as hybrid heating, air conditioning and eco-friendly technologies. Accessed via charming stone stairs, the property also features ample parking and three-quarters of an acre of landscaped gardens.

Bedrooms 4

Bathrooms 5

€980,000

Giusi Rossi, giusi.rossi@savills.it

PORTO MONTENEGRO, ADRIATIC SEA

Synchro Yards is a highly anticipated residential district in Porto Montenegro, a spectacular lifestyle destination with a world-class marina on the Adriatic. Centrally located yet distinctly defined, Synchro Yards is designed to be the epicentre of the neighbourhood’s artistry and buzz. At the heart of the development is Synchro, a shipyard building ingeniously transformed into an events and entertainment centre. There are two residential buildings in the initial phase: AERIS has a design inspired by contemporary yacht aesthetics, with sleek wooden decking and angular balconies; and IVO Residences – Aurora offers 25 homes with nautical design touches and is managed by IVO, a Rare Finds hotel.

Bedrooms 1-4

Bathrooms 1-4

€1,000,000-€25,000,000

Tom Bryant, tom.bryant@savills.com

ENXARA DO BISPO, MAFRA

This fabulous manor house is a true architectural gem. Built in the mid-20th century, it was inspired by the centuries-old homes of Portuguese noble families and incorporates historic materials such as stone slabs recovered from churches and other stately homes, as well as high-quality wood. Highlights include the remarkable paintings on the panelled ceilings of the main halls, which combine finishes from various periods. Tiles from the 17th and 18th centuries, original 16th-century interior arches, stone vaulted ceilings, antique fireplace stones and other pieces from across Europe adorn the interior. The grounds extend to 300 acres and include a chapel, manège, various support buildings and a vast woodland area.

Bedrooms 8

Bathrooms 8

€15,000,000

Maria Antero, maria.antero@savills.pt

SALVADA E QUINTOS, BEJA

This unique and spectacular house was designed by the owners, a ceramist and a sculptor/painter, to be self-sufficient and in tune with the local environment. It is built of rammed earth excavated from the site, with roofs in reinforced concrete and wood; the roof construction uses a layer of water that evaporates to provide natural cooling. The property has its own water supply, solar panels for electricity and hot water, and a cistern to collect rainwater for irrigation. It is set in 900 acres of classic Portuguese montado landscape.

Bedrooms 4

Bathrooms 3

€6,470,000

Maria Antero, maria.antero@savills.pt

ALIADOS 9, PORTO

This new residential development, made up of 18 exclusive and sophisticated flats, is the result of the refurbishment of the A Nacional insurance headquarters, which dates from 1925. One of the most emblematic works of the Portuguese architect José Marques da Silva, its history and symbolism have been carefully preserved in the creation of the Aliados 9 project. The apartments range in size from 43 sq metres to 204 sq metres, with high ceilings and large bow windows that frame the historic buildings along Avenida dos Aliados, including the Bank of Portugal and Porto City Hall.

Bedrooms 2

Bathrooms 3

€805,000-€1,345,000

Ana Jordão, ana.jordao@savills.pt

QUINTA DO LAGO, ALGARVE

This impeccably appointed new luxury villa on the Quinta do Lago resort is built around amazing outdoor areas, with the heated infinity pool taking centre stage. The property has lake views and is located close to the boardwalks and trails of the Ria Formosa nature reserve. Every feature has been carefully considered for comfort, practicality and refined living, from a wine cellar and laundry to further entertainment and relaxation areas, including a sauna and home spa, home cinema and gym. Underfloor heating, solar panels, electric shutters and an inviting outdoor terrace with bioclimatic pergolas add to the luxury feel, and finishes of the highest quality have been used throughout.

Bedrooms 4

Bathrooms 6

€11,499,000

QP Savills, info@qp.pt

LOULÉ, ALGARVE

An architectural masterpiece, this villa provides breathtaking views of the coastline and an unrivalled sense of privacy and tranquillity. There are four spacious and luxurious bedroom suites, each with a private bathroom, offering ample space for families or groups of friends. The open-plan kitchen, dining and living area are perfect for entertaining, with direct access to the pool area and views of the surrounding landscape. One of the most striking features is the amount of natural light that floods each room, creating a warm and inviting ambience. The pool area is the perfect spot for relaxation, with plenty of space to soak up the sun. It is completely private, with no neighbours overlooking the pool or its surroundings, creating a truly serene and tranquil setting.

Bedrooms 4

Bathrooms 4

€3,500,000

QP Savills, info@qp.pt

VILAMOURA, ALGARVE

Underfloor heating and electronic blinds provide comfort and convenience in every room of this charming villa. The spacious and meticulously constructed interior includes a separate, well-equipped kitchen, ideal for hosting parties. Outside, you will discover a haven for outdoor living. A covered terrace with a barbecue area beckons for leisurely gatherings. The basement games room offers endless fun for all ages, while a stylish bar, complete with kitchenette for late-night refreshments, sets the scene for unforgettable evenings. In the heart of the Algarve, this property offers the ideal combination of elegance and entertainment.

Bedrooms 4

Bathrooms 3

€2,650,000

QP Savills, info@qp.pt

VALE DO LOBO, ALGARVE

Set on a large southwest-facing plot, this contemporary villa offers sea and golf views from the roo op terrace. The open-plan living spaces flow through sliding doors into the large garden, with a heated pool, a barbecue and dining area, an outdoor seating area and a sunken lounge. Highlights include six en suite bedrooms, a cosy television room with a double-sided fireplace, a cinema room, a bar, a gym, a laundry room and a large garage. Additional features include air conditioning, underfloor heating, solar panels, Control4 home automation system and ample parking.

Bedrooms 6

Bathrooms 7

€7,995,000

QP Savills, info@qp.pt

RAMBLA CATALUNYA, BARCELONA Casa Juncosa is a true gem of modernism in Barcelona. Designed by Salvador Vinyals i Sabaté, it epitomises the artistic and historical significance of this architectural movement in the city. With its intricate decorative elements, original stained-glass windows, hydraulic-tile mosaics and unique German-style dining room, this house stands as a symbol of the industrial prosperity and artistic ambition of the early-20th-century Catalan bourgeoisie. It has been restored to preserve the traditional layout of a noble apartment, including a small oratory, frescoed walls, a piano room and a cosy library, together with modern comforts. There is a 30 sq metre terrace and two interior patios.

Bedrooms 6

Bathrooms 5

€8,000,000

Sandra Navarro, sandra.navarro@savills.es

DRETA DE L’EIXAMPLE, BARCELONA

Set in a modernist regal building, this apartment seamlessly blends elegance and comfort. The entrance hall, with its hydraulic-tiled floor, leads to a cosy living room, a dining area with a fireplace and a state-of-the-art kitchen with restored historic features. A charming terrace with a chillout zone invites outdoor relaxation. All the bedrooms are en suite, with the principal suite comprising a lavish bathroom and dual walk-in closets. Marrying historic charm with modern amenities, this property offers a sophisticated lifestyle in a prime city location.

Bedrooms 4

Bathrooms 5

€5,500,000

May Iglesias, may.iglesias@savills.es

ESQUERRA DE L’EIXAMPLE, BARCELONA

This luxurious new 220 sq metre apartment in Barcelona’s Golden Square – a neighbourhood that was named as the coolest in the world by Time Out in 2020 – stands out for its exquisite restoration in a historic Eixample building. The layout creates two separate areas. The sun-filled day area is especially charming, consisting of a dining area and a living room with direct access to a private 45 sq metre terrace that receives the morning sun and overlooks the quiet interior patio. In the second area, there are two bedroom suites and a versatile third space. Refined modernist touches such as colourful hydraulic-tile floors and ornate ceilings elevate the property to a standard of contemporary elegance.

Bedrooms 3

Bathrooms 3

€2,450,000

Lola Berlinski, lola.berlinski@savills.es

DRETA DE L’EIXAMPLE, BARCELONA

Every detail of this exceptional apartment exudes opulence, from the grandeur of the main bedroom to the versatility of the corner gallery. Located on the second floor of Casa Burés, an emblem of Catalan modernism, the 120 sq metre property redefines sophistication, with exquisite details and exclusive amenities including a fitness centre, an indoor pool and a stunning outdoor pool terrace. This luxury oasis in the heart of Barcelona offers the perfect combination of historical richness and modern refinement.

Bedrooms 1

Bathrooms 2

€1,800,000

Sandra Navarro, sandra.navarro@savills.es

POLLENSA, MALLORCA

This newly built stone-clad villa is set on an enormous 40-acre (16.4 ha) plot at the foot of the Tramuntana Mountains. It offers unrivalled quality and state-of-the-art technology, just five minutes from Pollensa town. Electronic entry gates and a private driveway lead to parking for several cars, with an electric charging point. On the ground floor, there is a chic living room with built-in entertainment unit and double-sided fireplace, and a handmade kitchen with appliances by Bora and Gaggenau. The outside space is breathtaking, with native plants and olive trees creating an idyllic oasis around the heated swimming pool and sunbathing area, and an outdoor kitchen for summer barbecues.

Bedrooms 5

Bathrooms 5

€7,400,000

Iris Grünewald, gruenewald@balearic-properties.com

POLLENSA, MALLORCA

Located right on the famous Calvari steps, this lavish villa offers a private oasis overlooking the entire village, the Puig de Maria and Pollensa Bay. Beautifully constructed with unique charm, the property has two sitting rooms (one formal, one more snug), a dining room and a new kitchen with stone countertops. Outside, there are landscaped gardens, multiple terraces, a swimming pool and a separate guest house containing the fourth bedroom. This property and location are hard to beat, just a stone’s throw from the historic town centre and amenities of Pollensa.

Bedrooms 4

Bathrooms 4

€4,600,000

Iris Grünewald, gruenewald@balearic-properties.com

ALARÓ, MALLORCA

This lovingly restored country mansion occupies a plot of 4.5 acres (1.9 ha), just five minutes from the town of Alaró. The house has a handsome stone façade, original features including natural stone walls and wood beams, and modern comforts such as air conditioning and underfloor heating. There are five en suite bedrooms and large living areas, the fitted kitchen features integrated appliances and a huge open space on the first floor could become extra bedrooms or an entertainment area. Outside are terraces, a courtyard, landscaped gardens and a pool with mountain views. There is also a range of outbuildings offering scope for conversion.

Bedrooms 7

Bathrooms 5.5

€5,980,000

Iris Grünewald, gruenewald@balearic-properties.com

LA HERRADURA, GRANADA

On the seafront in La Herradura, between Nerja and Almuñécar, Brightbay Villas is a development of 14 homes with private beach access that combine sublime design, functionality and a beautiful location, making this one of the most outstanding projects on the Mediterranean coast. Blending into the natural surroundings, Brightbay has commanding views of Marina del Este Bay. Double-height living rooms, floor-to-ceiling windows and generous suites with a terrace give a sense of incredible space.

Bedrooms 3

Bathrooms 4.5

€1,950,000

Ana Romero, ana.romero@savills.es

MALAGA, COSTA DEL SOL

The Octavia Apartments are located right on the beach in the capital of the Costa del Sol, in front of the Antonio Banderas promenade. All of the 44 apartments and duplexes have large terraces with sea views, and are surrounded by parks and garden areas, close to a wide variety of sports, health, commercial and university facilities. The buildings are newly constructed, with an energy rating of A, and the airport, railway station and city centre are less than 6km away.

Bedrooms 2-4

Bathrooms 2-4

€845,000-€3,475,000

Nuria Villarrubia, nuria.villarrubia@savills.es

Built in the 15th century and enlarged in the 19th century, the Château de Martheray was fully restored in 2015 to create one of the most majestic estates on La Côte. Approached by a driveway lined with ancient trees, the castle includes a winter garden, a tack room and a spectacular air-conditioned wine cellar and tasting room. There are wide-ranging views across Lake Geneva, the Alps and Mont Blanc from the house and its two acres of grounds. An annexe provides separate staff accommodation.

Bedrooms 7

Bathrooms 7

CHF24,800,000

David Colle, david.colle@luxury-places.ch

NYON, LAKE GENEVA

CLARENS, MONTREUX

This magnificent estate of about three hectares enjoys an exceptional position in one of the most desirable areas of the Montreux Riviera, sheltered from view while offering superb views of Lake Geneva and the Alps. Built as a holiday home in the early 20th century and renovated in the 1950s, the main building is laid out over four levels, plus a basement, with tremendous scope for restoration and improvement. A large janitor’s cottage, several other outbuildings and cottages, an outdoor pool and tennis court complete the property.

Bedrooms 15

Bathrooms 7

CHF17,500,000

David Colle, david.colle@luxury-places.ch

MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

ANDREW CUMMINGS HEAD OF RESIDENTIAL, MIDDLE EAST

+971 (0)4 365 7700

andrew.cummings@savills.me

VICTORIA

GARRETT

DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL RESIDENTIAL

+44 (0)7929 097888

victoria.garrett@savills.com

Dubai topped the World Cities Index for prime residential price growth, with a 17.4% year-on-year increase in capital values in 2023.

KEY MARKET INSIGHTS

Dubai has become the world’s number one lifestyle destination, attracting investors and new residents at record levels. Transactions there increased by 29% in 2023, breaking the 100,000 mark for the first time. The emirate topped the World Cities Index for prime residential price growth, with a 17.4% year-on-year increase in capital values in 2023.

The opening up of the 10-year golden visa has helped to attract significant overseas investment. Government targets to grow Dubai’s population to 6 million by 2040 will further fuel demand.

Price growth in the resale market and a lack of available stock have driven a surge in off-plan purchases. Buyers are looking to

take advantage of generous payment plans and contemporary designs.

Dubai’s city limits are expanding, with a number of launches taking place. These include the long-awaited reboot of Palm Jebel Ali and several developments on the World Islands. New masterplan projects such as Emaar Oasis and a redevelopment of the Expo site have also helped to increase the footprint of the city.

Dubai’s incredible lifestyle is drawing in international buyers at all price points. Once it was just taxes and weather, but now restaurants, schools, excellent healthcare and a plethora of amenities are making people not just come, but stay.

BUSINESS BAY, DUBAI

The Lana Residences is redefining luxury in Dubai, with panoramic views of the Creek and the city skyline, and impeccable interiors by the renowned Parisian designers Gilles & Boissier. Managed by Dorchester Collection, this sanctuary in the Burj Khalifa district is a striking architectural statement by Foster + Partners. Every detail of the expansive residences – including this 16,590 sq penthouse – and state-of-the-art amenities reflects exclusivity, sophistication and timeless elegance.

Bedrooms 5

Bathrooms 6

AED155,000,000

Andrew Cummings, andrew.cummings@savills.me

AL BARARI, DUBAI

From the grand double-height entrance to the exquisite Minotti and Fendi furnishings, the custom-built Villa BlackRock offers opulence, comfort and elegance in the exclusive, eco-friendly Al Barari development. Lush gardens, a sparkling pool, a serene principal suite and smart KNX home automation make this a true oasis of calm near the bustling heart of the city.

Bedrooms 6

Bathrooms 7

AED45,000,000

Andrew Cummings, andrew.cummings@savills.me

PALM JUMEIRAH, DUBAI

A luxurious masterpiece on Frond G of the tree-shaped Palm Jumeirah, this fully furnished residence has been meticulously designed to create a private experience from basement to roof. This elegant villa is flooded with natural light and every space is a sanctuary, from the Zen garden to the infinity pool. Four bedrooms on the first floor offer captivating views, while the main bedroom on the second floor has a personal infinity pool and bar overlooking The Palm. With a cinema room, a fitness centre and a custom-made wine wall on the basement floor, this unparalleled retreat offers refined living in one of the world’s most exclusive addresses.

Bedrooms 6

Bathrooms 7

AED85,000,000

Andrew Cummings, andrew.cummings@savills.me

PAARL, WESTERN CAPE

Set within three acres in the Gentleman’s Estate prefecture of Val de Vie Estate – consistently voted one of Africa’s most secure luxury lifestyle estates – this is an exceptional property fusing country living with modern comfort. The open-plan layout includes a kitchen with top-of-the-range appliances and a temperature-controlled wine cellar. With a private vineyard, olive trees, charming walkways and a stream leading to the eco lake, this expansive property offers a boutique farm lifestyle that is sustainable as well as luxurious.

Bedrooms 6

Bathrooms 6.5

R62,500,000

Marlene van Zyl, marlene.vanzyl@pamgolding.co.za

CONSTANTIA UPPER, CAPE TOWN

Situated in the heart of the winelands, this unique Constantia villa in an elevated position enjoys magnificent mountain and sweeping valley and vineyard vistas. The exquisite interiors blend luxury and comfort, using high-end materials such as stone, wood, steel and glass. Vast windows and sliding doors invite nature inside and allow seamless indoor/outdoor living. The ground floor has a grand entrance hall, a lounge with a fireplace and a statement wine cellar; upstairs are five luxurious suites. The outdoor entertainment area includes a pool, a hot tub and a volleyball court, and there is garaging for four cars as well as staff accommodation.

Bedrooms 6

Bathrooms 6

R42,000,000

Arie Kadé, arie.kade@pamgolding.co.za; Ashley Barnes, ashley.barnes@pamgolding.co.za; Garrick Sutton, garrick.sutton@pamgolding.co.za

CAMPS BAY, CAPE TOWN

Tucked away on a quiet cul-de-sac, Shutters on the Bay is a modern classic home that exudes luxury and elegance, with spacious proportions and a double-volume entrance hall. The lushly planted courtyard area catches the morning light, the top floor provides superb views of the Lion’s Head mountain and the manicured lawn leads to a heated pool and spa bath overlooking the sea. As well as five lavishly finished bedroom suites, the house has a guest apartment with a separate entrance. A home cinema and barbecue facilities allow for stylish entertaining.

Bedrooms 5

Bathrooms 5

R73,950,000

Barbara Rogers, barbara.rogers@pamgolding.co.za; Sascha Bausch, sascha.bausch@pamgolding.co.za

RORY McMULLEN HEAD OF NORTH AMERICA DESK

+44 (0)7803 013362

rmcmullen@savills.com

TOM VICKERY HEAD OF CARIBBEAN DESK

+44 (0)20 7016 3744

tvickery@savills.com

’ ‘ USA & CARIBBEAN

VICTORIA GARRETT

DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL RESIDENTIAL

+44 (0)7929 097888

victoria.garrett@savills.com

Miami’s vibrant cultural life, favourable tax environment and booming economy have driven demand for high-end homes.

KEY MARKET INSIGHTS

Top-end residential markets throughout North America have witnessed remarkable dynamics over the past 12 months. In Miami, the market has continued its meteoric rise, attracting affluent buyers seeking waterfront properties, modern architecture and exclusive amenities. Its vibrant cultural life, favourable tax environment and booming economy have driven demand for high-end homes, resulting in a shortage of supply for best-in-class property.

Los Angeles continues to attract international buyers, fuelled by its status as a global entertainment hub. Buyers are drawn to its iconic neighbourhoods, although an increase in property taxes in the first quarter of last year stalled activity. Less conventionally, new luxury condo

buildings are now attracting a renewed interest in Downtown.

It has been a tale of two markets in New York, with steep interest rates leading to lower transaction volumes, but surging demand at the top end of the market – including some significant sales of trophy properties.

There is a strong pipeline of new development stock in the Caribbean, including branded residential projects. The primary buyers are from Britain and North America, with the latter looking more widely across the region than ever before. The premium for beachfront property remains high and several trophy homes have come to the market, notably in Barbados and the Bahamas. Buyers are seeking access to sports, restaurants, shopping and beach clubs.

111 WEST 57TH STREET, NEW YORK

A landmark development overlooking Central Park, 111 West 57th Street marries the thoughtful restoration of one of New York City’s most cherished landmarks, Steinway Hall, with a soaring 1,428 tower of epic grandeur. This collaboration of cra smanship and engineering was made possible by a world-renowned design team, including SHoP Architects for the exterior architecture and Studio Sofield for the interiors. Each of the 46 private Tower Residences is a full floor or duplex, with ceiling heights up to 14 ; most have unobstructed views of Central Park and the city skyline. Residents can enjoy a lobby with restored original flooring from Steinway Hall, an 82 swimming pool, a fitness centre, an on-site padel court, a golf simulator, a lounge with a spacious terrace, 24-hour attended entrances and a dedicated concierge service.

Bedrooms 3-4

Bathrooms 3.5-5.5

$6,895,000-$49,000,000

Rory McMullen, rmcmullen@savills.com

SUTTON TOWER, NEW YORK

The East Side’s newest and tallest riverfront tower provides remarkable views – taking in the East River, the Atlantic Ocean, the Midtown skyline and Central Park – and superior access to waterfront recreation and the Upper East Side. Designed by the celebrated architectural designer Thomas Juul-Hansen, Sutton Tower comprises 120 one- to five-bedroom condominiums, including a Penthouse Collection of full-floor homes with jaw-dropping panoramas. The Sutton Club offers amenities such as an indoor heated pool and spaces dedicated to fitness, healthful living and entertainment. The properties are available for immediate occupancy.

Bedrooms 1-5

Bathrooms 1.5-6.5

$1,825,000-$15,500,000

Rory McMullen, rmcmullen@savills.com

PARK ELM AT CENTURY PLAZA, LOS ANGELES

This development offers complete privacy, outstanding design, exemplary amenities and unimpeded views of the LA skyline and the Pacific Ocean from its twin 44-storey towers. Each of the 268 estate residences and two-level penthouses testifies to the design acumen of the Yabu Pushelberg studio, with polished wood finishes and stone accents, while floor-to-ceiling windows and glass-walled balconies immerse residents in panoramic vistas that extend from downtown LA to the Hollywood Hills and the Pacific. Facilities include a resort-style pool, a library lounge, club and screening rooms, a fitness centre and a concierge service. Park Elm is located on Century Plaza, the city’s cultural, artistic and entertainment crossroads, with upscale dining, shopping and culture on the doorstep.

Bedrooms 1-4

Bathrooms 1-5

$1,800,000-$15,000,000

Tom Bryant, tom.bryant@savills.com

100 BAY ROAD, NAPLES, FLORIDA

Gordon Pointe offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a lifestyle of custom luxury in the exclusive neighbourhood of Port Royal. This extraordinary property features pristine beaches bordering the crystal-clear waters of the Gulf of Mexico, a private 231 yacht basin and a 111 T-dock. With an impressive 1,655 of beach and bay frontage, this could make an ideal private and gated family compound, but there is also the potential for several special home sites.

Bedrooms 6

Bathrooms 8

$295,000,000

Rory McMullen, rmcmullen@savills.com

SOUTH FLAGLER HOUSE, WEST PALM BEACH

Combining the timeless style of Robert AM Stern Architects and the luxurious interior aesthetic of Pembrooke & Ives, South Flagler House is a collection of exquisitely designed waterfront condominiums with real character and spectacular views. In a prime position on the Intracoastal Waterway, the 106 beautifully appointed two- to five-bedroom homes are spread across two 28-storey buildings. Residents have access to a huge range of amenities and the concierge service surpasses those of the most exclusive private members’ clubs.

Bedrooms 2-5

Bathrooms 1-5

$5,900,000-$72,500,000

Rory McMullen, rmcmullen@savills.com, +44 (0)7803 013362

ALBANY, BAHAMAS

Lion House offers refined island living at its very best – this 20,000 sq property enjoys a prime beachfront location near the superyacht marina in Albany, one of the most exclusive private communities in the Caribbean. Exquisite design touches are evident throughout the main house and the two guest cottages, and an opulent roo op dining area offers glorious views of the turquoise ocean. Design is paramount, with McKinnon Harris furniture, F Schumacher drapery and even a bespoke Ralph Lauren chandelier. Lion House is the ultimate retreat, from the large swimming pool facing the white-sand beach to the endless entertainment spaces and fully equipped gym. The property is a sanctuary unrivalled in its harmony between comfort and luxury.

Bedrooms 8

Bathrooms 10

$55,000,000

Tom Vickery, tvickery@savills.com; Gregory Graham, gpgraham@grahamrealestate.com; Ned Baring, nbaring@savills.com

ENGLISH HARBOUR, ANTIGUA

The Carib House is a serene, intimate Caribbean hideaway set in almost two acres of tropical greenery above beautiful Turtle Bay, with views of Falmouth Harbour from the private terrace in the principal bedroom suite. The main house has a stone staircase, a statement mahogany breakfast bar and wooden shutters to take advantage of the balmy breeze. The pool area and sun deck have sunbathing terraces carved out of the hillside, offering spectacular vistas across the ocean to Guadeloupe and Montserrat. There is a self-contained garden suite beneath the L-shaped veranda of the main house; the fi h bedroom is in a separate poolside cottage. The property generates a substantial rental income.

Bedrooms 5

Bathrooms 4

$2,950,000

Tom Vickery, tvickery@savills.com

FRIENDSHIP BAY, BEQUIA

This fantastic beachfront villa comes with a slice of history: a traditional (and recently renovated) two-bedroom cottage that once belonged to the former British prime minister Sir Anthony Eden. The main house has three floors, with the top two each containing two bedroom suites. The ground floor houses the dining room, living area, veranda and kitchen, with direct access to the al fresco dining terrace and BBQ area. Surrounded by manicured tropical gardens, the pool deck and beach gazebo offer ample outdoor entertaining space, steps away from the reef-protected waters of Friendship Bay, with day loungers, outdoor speakers and a pool shower.

Bedrooms 6

Bathrooms 6

$2,450,000

Tom Vickery, tvickery@savills.com

ST PAUL, ANTIGUA

Set in a third of an acre of tropical gardens overlooking Turtle Bay, one of the most scenic areas on Antigua, Villa Vanguard is perfectly positioned for privacy, but less than 10 minutes’ drive from English Harbour, Falmouth Harbour and Nelson’s Dockyard. At the heart of this newly built property is a vast open-plan dining and living area with an Italian designer kitchen. The spacious, air-conditioned bedroom suites have sea views, high vaulted ceilings, walk-in wardrobes and huge showers, plus tranquil views of the sea and verdant tropical gardens.

Bedrooms 4

Bathrooms 5

$2,950,000

Tom Vickery, tvickery@savills.com

SANDY LANE, BARBADOS

Set in four acres in one of the most exclusive enclaves in Barbados, with a pool pavilion and dedicated beach access, Laughing Waters offers a seamless blend of classic Caribbean architecture and Palladian elegance. Designed by the renowned local architect Larry Warren, it sets new standards for opulence and refinement: there are eight luxuriously furnished and spacious bedrooms in the Main House, with four more in the secluded Guest Cottage. Asian-inspired gardens lead to the Great House, a sumptuous entertaining space with a grand piano in the dining room, an Art Deco bar and a cinema room with a 145-inch screen.

Bedrooms 12

Bathrooms 12

$55,000,000

Tom Vickery, tvickery@savills.com

PINE CAY, TURKS & CAICOS

Faraway Villa is one of just 38 homes on a secluded private island at the edge of the world’s third-largest barrier reef, blessed with one of the Caribbean’s most beautiful beaches. Tucked away in 17 acres on the south side of Pine Cay, Faraway was built to respect its surroundings, with an elevation that allows stunning panoramic views towards the water and mangrove flats. The villa has two bedrooms on the upper floor, with a third located on the ground floor; there is a small dipping pool on one of the main decks, just off the main living quarters and principal suite.

Bedrooms 3

Bathrooms 3

$2,750,000

Sam Hunt, sam@hamilton.tc

SA V ILLS RESIDENTIAL CONTACTS

GLOBAL

JUSTIN MARKING

GLOBAL RESIDENTIAL

+44 (0)20 7016 3810 jmarking@savills.com

PRIVATE OFFICE

JONATHAN HEWLETT THE PRIVATE OFFICE

+44 (0)20 7824 9018 jhewlett@savills.com

EUROPE

LIZA-JANE KELLY

LONDON RESIDENTIAL

+44 (0)20 7590 5078 lizajane.kelly@savills.com

PHILLIPPA DALBY-WELSH

UK COUNTRY HOUSE DEPARTMENT

+44 (0)20 7330 8659 pdwelsh@savills.com

JELENA CVJETKOVIC

DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL NETWORK

+44 (0)20 7016 3754 jcvjetkovic@savills.com

REST OF THE WORLD

ANDREW GOLDING AFRICA

+27 21 710 1700 andrew.golding@pamgolding.co.za

The Edit is a curated email featuring insights and trends into design, luxury living and the world’s finest properties. Scan the QR code to sign up.

RORY M c MULLEN

NORTH AMERICA

+44 (0)7803 013362 rmcmullen@savills.com

FRANK MARRIOTT & SHVETA JAIN

ASIA

+852 2842 4475 fmarriott@savills.asia

+91 124 631 0000

shveta.jain@savills.in

FOR PRESS ENQUIRIES

VICTORIA GARRETT

DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL RESIDENTIAL

+44 (0)7929 097888 victoria.garrett@savills.com

ISABELLA BIRCH REYNARDSON SUPER PRIME LETTINGS

+44 (0)20 7824 9009 ibreynardson@savills.com

NINA COULTER

RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT SALES

+44 (0)20 7409 8701 ncoulter@savills.com

ANDREW PERRATT

HEAD OF UK RESIDENTIAL

+44 (0)20 7016 3823 aperratt@savills.com

JAMES BURDESS CARIBBEAN

+44 (0)20 7016 3783 jburdess@savills.com

MICHAEL LANG AUSTRALIA

+61 (0)3 8686 8066 mlang@savills.com.au

ANDREW CUMMINGS MIDDLE EAST

+971 (0)4 365 7799 andrew.cummings@savills.me

Please contact pressofficerequests@savills.com

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ROOMS WITH A VIEW

From the London and Manhattan skylines to the Mediterranean, here are four fabulous homes with picture-perfect panoramas

520 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

The view: the Empire State Building and the glorious Manhattan skyline, from the full-height arched windows of this 1,000 boutique skyscraper with 100 residences, designed by the world-renowned architecture firm KPF. How big: from 68.56 sq metres (738 sq ) for a one-bedroom apartment to 306.77 sq metres (3,302 sq ) for a four-bedroom penthouse. Where: on Fi h Avenue, in the heart of New York City. From $1,700,000 to more than $10,000,000, Rory McMullen, rmcmullen@savills.com

PORTIA FOX PENTHOUSE, ONE CASSON SQUARE, LONDON

The view: an unobstructed panorama of the city skyline, including the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament, from a 35th-floor penthouse with three bedrooms and contemporary décor by the boutique interior designer Portia Fox. How big: 288.65 sq metres (3,107 sq ). Where: on the South Bank, moments from the Thames, in a luxury residence with a 25-metre pool and concierge service. £12,950,000, Carla McInrue, cmcinrue@savills.com

PENZANCE, CORNWALL

The view: dramatic cliffs, the Atlantic and the Isles of Scilly from a magnificent position on Cape Cornwall. Grade II listed Porthledden is one of Cornwall’s premier coastal residences, with superb equestrian facilities. The 10-bedroom house is set in about 7.2 acres and has been painstakingly restored by the current owner. How big: 1,223.44 sq metres (13,169 sq ). Where: St Just, nine miles from Penzance. £5,000,000, George Hill, george.hill@savills.com

ROQUEBRUNE-CAP-MARTIN, FRENCH RIVIERA

The view: jaw-dropping vistas of Monaco, Cap Martin and the Mediterranean from the infinity pool, terrace and private balconies at this six-bedroom Belle Époque mansion, which has an exotic garden and direct beach access. How big: 320.3 sq metres (3,448 sq ). Where: in a charming medieval village, four miles east of Monaco and 22 miles from Nice airport. €8,500,000, Savills Beaulieu-sur-Mer, beaulieu@savills.com