Absolutely Buckinghamshire April 2022

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

Buckinghamshire APRIL 2022

NICOLA MAY

From buying art to travel: all the best in luxury

The rom-com author on turning tragedy into a positive APRIL 2022

Eye S PY

Stately STUNNER

Celebrating 60 years of James Bond in Buckinghamshire

The regeneration of Hedsor House in Taplow

Feeling

ABSOLUTELY-BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.CO.UK

BLUE

PREPARE FOR LONGER DAYS IN THE COUNTY WITH LUISA CERANO'S NEW COLLECTION

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EXCEPTIONAL 1, 2, 3 AND 4 BEDROOM HOMES IN A LANDMARK DESTINATION SETTING Wilton Park offers both a highly desirable place to call home and a natural environment to explore and enjoy.

• Wide selection of homes in terms of styles, finishes and accommodation • Located just a mile from Beaconsfield and 23 minutes from London Marylebone • Choice of high calibre fee and non-fee paying schools nearby • Day Nursery and children’s play area on site • Proposed amenities include a café and community hub • A superb specification includes designer fitted kitchens with a choice of Kensington and Zola cabinetry and a range of AEG integrated appliances, Karndean flooring and Porcelanosa tiles.

2, 3 & 4 bedroom homes available from £715,000 to £1,200,000 1, 2 & 3 bedroom apartments from £425,000 to £695,000 Visit our state-of-the-art marketing suite and two beautiful show homes by appointment, Monday to Sunday, 10.00am - 5.00pm

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Gorell Road, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, HP9 2RW (use HP9 2RJ for sat nav). For more information about Wilton Park call 0808 173 0015 | www.bewley.co.uk Computer generated image indicative only. Information correct at time of print

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EXCEPTIONAL DEM AND

AS BEWLEY HOMES LAUNCH THEIR FLAGSHIP BEACONSFIELD DEVELOPMENT

The launch of Wilton Park has seen huge interest from potential buyers with the first release almost sold out.

Demand was always expected to be high with the development offering buyers a unique opportunity to live in a truly landmark setting, with a wide range of superbly designed homes arranged to form impressive street scenes.

Introducing award-winning Bewley Homes

Wilton Park, homes inspired by the legacy of their surroundings

For over thirty years Bewley Homes has been creating stunning developments which have evolved naturally into exciting new communities and it’s a trend that’s set to continue. Buoyed by excellent demand for its homes throughout the home counties, the company continues its exciting growth and expansion plans with a continued commitment to offer customers high quality homes in very desirable locations, such as Wilton Park.

Created to reflect the splendour & elegance of grand 18th century Georgian designs, the collection of homes at Wilton Park has been designed to appeal to those who desire a new home that combines the grace, elegance and proportions of a classical design with a carefully curated specification designed for a contemporary lifestyle.

Located just a mile from Beaconsfield town centre means Wilton Park boasts a prime location close to a superb range of amenities, restaurants, cafés and shops.

Importantly, the development also offers a host of new facilities on site including a nursery school, community hub, café, play areas, interconnected green spaces, integral cycleways and pedestrian links.

Bewley Homes working with Hamptons At Wilton Park, Bewley Homes felt it was important to work with a prestigious estate and letting agent with a strong local connection. The result is a partnership with Beaconsfield-based Hamptons, where the team combines exceptional knowledge of the area with many years of unrivalled industry experience.

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MID-SEASON

SALE S TA R T S 7 TH A P R I L

I N - S T O R E A N D A T B O C O N C E P T. C O M

Battersea Reach, Harrods, Finchley Road, Notting Hill, Tottenham Court Road, Guildford, Bentalls Kingston, Westfield London and Fenwick Brent Cross

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1 5 % O F F A L L S O FA S , D I N I N G TA B L E S , ARMCHAIRS, BEDS AND MUCH MORE Personalise our collection with a variety of sizes, colours, upholstery options and more with a free interior design consultation in-store or in the comfort of your own home.

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Wish you had better broadband?

Say hello to the endless possibilities of 4K streaming, next-gen gaming and crystal clear video calls. Register online and be one of the first to join our 10,000 Mbps Full Fibre broadband network in Buckinghamshire.

Wish no more with Swish fibre

www.swishfibre.com/register

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We’re building the UK’s fastest* broadband network, right here in Buckinghamshire.

Visit www.swishfibre.com to check the availability of Swish in your street, see where we are building or sign up for updates and offers.

Check availability of Swish

Go

* Speedtest taken on 28 May 2021, see website for full details

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Some furniture is made for the here and now. Some is built to stand the test of time.

At Neptune, we believe that the best can do both.

Good design never grows old.

Neptune Reading, 0118 932 6060 Neptune Chesham, 01494 398472 neptune.com

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ABSOLUTELY

Contents APRIL 2022

52

84 18

C U LT U R E AGENDA

FA S H I O N & B E A U T Y 50 PRIYA DOWNES

NICOLA MAY

52 THE SHOOT

The best events across the county this month

22

Talking rom-com-lit with the Ascot author

Meeting the Little Marlow founder of Nudea

Luisa Cerano's latest collection

27 LOUISE GRIEW

62 HEBA PILATES

FOOD & DRINK 36 FOOD NOTES

HOME & INTERIORS 83 KOUBOU INTERIORS

38 FOURTEEN

84 HEDSOR HOUSE

42 RECIPES

93 TREND

On Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity

The best bites in your local area

Reach for the top at the Milton Keynes venue

How you can make the most out of eggs

42

The new exercise hub wowing Windsor

A B S O L U T E LYB U C K I N G H A M S H I R E .C O. U K The online guide to inspirational local living.

On why design can be accessible too

Inside the grand Taplow mansion

The pendant lights that shine bright

O N T H E C OV E R The SS22 collection from Luisa Cerano (luisacerano.com)

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Call Just Shutters today on

0118 9070 102

EDITOR MARK KEBBLE ART DIRECTOR PAWEL KUBA SENIOR DESIGNERS MIKE ROBERTS SAMANTHA SCOTT MIDWEIGHT DESIGNER CARMEN GRAHAM JUNIOR DESIGNER KAI NICHOLLS MAGAZINE MANAGER ABIGAIL GARDNER MEDIA CONSULTANTS STELLA ADAMS, KATIE WOOD ANABELA KOLECI, LOUISE PEARSON FINANCIAL DIRECTOR JERRIE KOLECI CREDIT CONTROL MANAGER ALEXANDRA HVID DIRECTORS CRAIG DAVIES, LEAH DAY, JAMES FUSCHILLO NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ALEXANDRA HUNTER

r e tt Shu en v a e H

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Editor’s

LETTER ABSOLUTELY’S April issue highlights

1

T

his was a month where I, inadvertently, got in touch with my childhood. It all started with chatting to my education columnist, Sue Laidlaw, about pets in schools. It took me back to my early years when my dog, beloved Major the Boxer, was who I felt most comfortable confiding in.

I probably told him all about my first crush, despite the fact he probably just heard the word "biscuits".

Then it continued when interviewing Louise Griew, the CEO of the Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity. Although their work is all about supporting desperately sick children, the mention of Roald Dahl took me back to reading all his books as a kid.

I look back now and think boy, they were dark, but I couldn't get enough of The Witches and The Twits.

Books for me came first, followed soon after by cinema, and enjoying the exploits of 007 himself, James Bond, was a key part of my movie upbringing.

I was reminded of that when putting together our special feature on how Bond has been inextricably linked to Buckinghamshire for six decades now.

I can only say to all those wonderful people who worked on the films, thanks for the memories.

5

Nicola May

The Ascot author on her rom-com hits

4 Interiors Trend

Shining the spotlight on the best pendant lights

Mark Kebble MARK KEBBLE EDITOR

Luxe special

Top tips on how to buy art at an auction

2

Bond in Bucks

Celebrating 60 years of spy capers

3

Louise Griew

Meet the CEO of Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity

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Wish LIST 10 things we Absolutely love COMPILED BY

ELECTRIC BLUE The wearable new collection from Stella Mccartney reflects her dynamic moods and ageless attitude – fluidly shifting between structure and softness, natural eccentricity and glamour, simplicity and complexity stellamccartney.com

COOL LIGHT Designer Arne Jacobsen created the table lamp AJ for the iconic Danish house, Louis Poulsen, and it's particularly fetching in blue. £735 nedgis.com

TEAL TINT These azure-blue octagon sunglasses are expertly crafted from acetate with matching, blue-tinted lenses. £350 swarovski.com

SKY VIEW The Textured Rib Polo Top in Sky Blue by Joseph is a slim fit style with a contrasting rib design that adds definition. £265 joseph-fashion.com

PENDLE HARTE

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ABSOLUTELY • LOVES

SAPPHIRE SHINE Set with Czech crystal, Ashley Williams' blue heart earrings are perfect for adding just a little something. £95 koibird.com

TIME OUT Berry's Jewellers are stocking this stunning Omega Constellation Manhattan 28mm celestial blue dial ladies bracelet watch. £2,610 berrysjewellers.co.uk

BLUE PRINT Dilli Grey's popular Bianca dress is back in cornflower blue for spring. Created in collaboration with an artisan studio in Jaipur, India, it's hand-block printed on 100% organic cotton. £149 dilligrey.com

OCEAN EDITION Dashel's bike helmets are stylish and sustainable; for every purchase from the Ocean Edition range, 10% will support valuable marine conservation work via Healthy Seas and the Seabin Project. dashel.co.uk

EDITOR’S PICK

PA S T E L P O W E R Saye's vegan trainers are bamboo-lined, organic and zero-waste, made from biobased and recycled materials.

We like the Modelo 89. £120 sayebrand.com

S I L KY TO U C H This new silk shirt from Winser London, designed to be oversized, is made in their soft luxe Mulberry silk fabric with a touch of stretch for ease of movement, and luxurious handle. £299 winserlondon.com

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ESCAPE TO ENGLAND'S LARGEST LAKE.

© Copyright Skylark Aerial Photography

Relax… unwind. Indulge in simply great food.

Explore one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Follow us on

storrshall

storrs_hall

Storrs Hall, Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria LA23 3LG Tel. 015394 47111 | Email. reception@storrshall.com | www.storrshall.com AA 2 Rosette Culinary Excellence | AA 4 Star Hotel

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C U LT U R E

CONTEMPORARY

A RT FA I R

22-24 APRIL, NEWBURY RACECOURSE

The ever-popular Contemporary Art Fair at Newbury Racecourse is back with a bang.

This weekend in April will offer the opportunity to see some of the best artwork out there today. Plan a day or a whole weekend to visit, as they have a jam-packed schedule full of live art demonstrations, creative workshops and more. contemporaryartfairs.co.uk

Agenda 16 • Nicola May 20 • Buckinghamshire On Film 28 A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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The Agenda E XH I BI T I ON

Alice’s Wonderland Until 30 October WA D D E S D O N M A N O R This spring Waddesdon celebrates the life, collections and legacy of Alice de Rothschild (1847-1922). In the Exhibition Room visitors will be able to gain an understanding of Alice as a collector, with a display in one space that brings together the breadth and variety of her interests, which included paintings, pastels, and ceramics spanning from the Renaissance to the 18th century. waddesdon.org.uk

PICTURED: MASTER OF FRANKFURT, SAINT CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA, C. 1510-20

A P R I L ' S H OT T E ST H A P P E N I N G S

T H E AT R E

Singin’ In The Rain MK TH E ATR E , 11- 16 APRIL

Don Lockwood is a silent movie star with everything he could want – fame, adulation and a well-publicised ‘romance’ with his co-star, Lina Lamont.

But Hollywood is about to change forever. There is rumour in the studio of a new kind of film, where the actors actually talk, sing and dance. Can Don and the uniquely voiced Lina make the transition, and will chorus girl Kathy Selden fulfil her dream of stardom and capture Don’s heart along the way? atgtickets.com

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FA M I LY

Downsizing 14 April CASTLE VIEW WINDSOR Downsizing is a challenge facing everyone as they reach that older stage in life. To help, a downsizing event is being hosted by Castle View, Windsor's favourite Retirement Village, with several independent speakers covering a range of subjects.

To book your place at the event, call Ruth on 01753 378127 or e-mail info@castleviewwindsor.co.uk

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CULTURE • DIARY

ART

ART

T H AT G I V E S B A C K

Delight in Nature

A chance to buy a beautiful minimasterpiece and support a great cause – what’s not to love?

Until 30 October S TA N L E Y S P E N C E R G A L L E R Y, C O O K H A M The study of landscape and the natural world was intrinsic to Stanley Spencer from his early years as a developing artist, and sustained him through his difficult times in later life. The majority of works on display in Delight in Nature depict the village of Cookham, where the gallery is located and which was Spencer’s artistic and spiritual centre. stanleyspencer.org.uk

This April, London gallerist India Rose James will curate an extra special Art on a Postcard auction. All the money raised from the auction will be donated in support of the humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. Here’s a little about some of the artists in this month’s edition….

DANNY FOX Fox recently hosted a solo show at Saatchi Yates with works revolving around the British coast and the infamous occultist Aleister Crowley. His paintings are charmingly folkish and playful in style, yet webs of reference and research are masked within.

ALMA BERROW

FA M I LY

EASTER TRAIL

Berrow has developed a significant following for her jubilant ceramics, which often appear as detritus left over from a riotous party the night before. Oyster shells, cigarette butts and receipts with scrawled love notes are commonplace in her delightful porcelain creations, beloved by Instagram influencers.

From 9 April S T O N O R PA R K Stonor Park is celebrating its re-opening with the return of its much-loved Easter Trail, along with new additions to its magical adventure playground, Tumblestone Hollow. Located near Henley on Thames, the historic house’s Easter Trail offers clues and puzzles spanning the grounds of the estate with the reward of a delicious Easter chocolate treat at the end. stonor.com

This Month’s Must See

ALMA BERROW

FA T A L A T T R AC T I O N 5- 9 APRIL , AYLE SBURY THEATRE

T

ipped to be the most provocative and gripping stage-play of the year, Fatal Attraction is a tale of seduction and suspense. When happily married New York attorney Dan Gallagher meets charming editor Alex on a night out in the city, they both commit to a night of passion. Dan returns home to his family and tries to forget the mistake he has made, but Alex has different ideas.

OLIVIA STERLING Sterling's vibrant paintings innovatively address questions of blackness and whiteness in contemporary Britain. Using an almost slapstick humour and a distinctively deliberate messiness, she creates a space to explore racial relations as they manifest in everyday interactions.

Auction runs from 7-21 April.

For further information visit artonapostcard.com

atgtickets.com/Aylesbury

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CULTURE • EVENT

S O N G S O F P R A I S E As Les Misérables heads to Milton Keynes Theatre, we catch up with stars Dean Chisnall and Nic Greenshields to find out more

“Everyone has something that they can relate to in the show, something that they have experienced in their lives” THE COMPANY

Q What are your favourite moments in the show?

DC: I love Bring Him Home. I know it’s a song that I sing on my own, but it has always felt like a whole company moment. The rest of the cast are asleep on the barricades, so it always feels quite magical. I also love the absolutely iconic One Day More, with the whole company there. To be honest, the whole show is two and a half hours of pure magic.

NG: I absolutely agree, One Day More is such an iconic moment for everyone. There is no better way to end the first act of a show!

I always enjoy listening to Fantine sing I Dreamed A Dream, it’s a great number and I defy anyone to come and see it and not love that moment. The moments I have with Dean are wonderfully dramatic.

I love the opening with the prisoners, and the moment that moves me is the finale with Valjean and Cosette. It’s musically so beautiful and the lyrics are stunning as well.

DEAN CHISNALL AS JEAN VALJEAN

Q Why do you think audiences still love to come and see Les Mis? DC: The messages of Les Mis are still so relevant. Everyone has something that they can relate to in the show, something that they have experienced in their lives. The show now is as fresh as it ever was, it’s a wonderful company that we’ve got here, and we’re delighted to be sharing it with people.

There is no show that has a reaction quite like this one. It’s the greatest show on earth.

NG: The music is definitely a huge part of it. The score is stunning and has really broken through into popular culture bringing it to a new audience. Ultimately, I think the show has remained so popular because of the themes. It’s a show about redemption and the human condition and everything that still resonates with us all today. We connect with the characters and become engrossed in the story and the beautiful music pulls everything together. It’s clearly a magical formula.

LES MISÉRABLES Milton Keynes Theatre from Tuesday 26 April to Saturday 21 May. For tickets, visit atgtickets.com, and to keep up with the latest news from Milton Keynes Theatre, follow @MKTheatre on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

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ALL PHOTOS BY DANNY KAAN

NIC GREENSHIELDS AS JAVERT

Q You’re both playing two of the most iconic roles in musical theatre, Jean Valjean and Javert in Les Misérables.

What’s it like taking on roles like these?

Dean Chisnall: I say it to everybody, this is the dream role for anybody in musical theatre. It’s the pinnacle for any male performer and I just feel very lucky to do it, and to have done it for as long as I have. I’ve now played over 500 performances as Jean Valjean, and it still feels as magical as it did the first time I stepped on the stage. I pinch myself every day.

Nic Greenshields: It’s a great privilege to play Javert. I first saw the show when I was in my teens, and to be doing it 25 years later is a huge honour. I try to bring out a different side to Javert, giving him multiple dimensions and making him more than just the baddie, showing a more emotional side to him.

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DOMINIC MARTIN

“I tried to turn all the sadness into something positive”

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CULTURE • INTERVIEW

L I F E

O N

T H E

PAGE As Ascot author Nicola May prepares to publish her 15th rom-com in April, she reflects on a career writing about love, loss and laughter

By REBECCA PITCAIRN

A

s I prepare to interview bestselling Ascot author Nicola May, while heavily pregnant with my first child, I try to imagine the heartbreak she must have gone through losing her unborn twins back in 2010. But I can’t. This was a tragedy that not only left May grieving for the lives that could have been, but for a future with children at all. Writing became her coping mechanism and, she says, her books became her babies.

“It was very cathartic,” she reflects.

“I tried to turn all the sadness into something positive, into words that would make people laugh, but also might help people going through similar experiences.

I wrote about infertility, bereavement and heartbreak. It was really hard at times, but also incredibly therapeutic.”

May, now 55, began writing four years earlier in a bid to document her preparation for the Reading Half Marathon. “I wasn’t particularly fit and so I thought it could be

quite funny to write a diary about how I got on with training,” she says. “I finished the half marathon, but didn’t quite finish the diary, although it did give me the writing bug. Bridget Jones was around and popular at that time, so there was a real appetite for romantic comedy and I was also dating so would get inspiration from that.”

She landed an agent and her first manuscript, a book about a woman who decides to date her way through the 12 signs of the zodiac, was sent to a number of publishers.

However, like many first-time authors, her work was met with a barrage of rejection.

Undeterred, she carried on writing while she worked full time in PR & Marketing, and soon enough had four more books under her belt, as well as a seven-book deal from a small publishing house. “I thought it was the most amazing thing, I thought I’d be rich and I’d be able to be a full-time writer, but it didn’t happen like that,” she explains. “I was engaged to be married, pregnant with twins and then I lost it all, including my relationship and the prospect

of having any more children in the future.”

As life-changing as that loss was, May decided to pour everything into her writing using her personal experience to help shape many of her storylines. “If I wasn’t going to be able to have children then I wanted my legacy to be my books,” she says. “The Women of Wimbledon Common is about a woman who lost twins and starts up a club for women with fertility issues. I cried my eyes out writing that.”

Her other books include The School Gates about the friendships parents make when dropping off and picking their kids up from school (“Not having children I was really worried about getting that one right, but I have three beautiful nieces and a nephew so that helped lots,” she says); Working it Out, about a woman who tries 12 jobs in 12 months to find her dream career; and Love me Tinder, which explores the intricacies of internet dating.

However, it was in 2019 that her ‘chicklit with a kick’, as May describes it, shot to fame with her ninth novel, The Corner A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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CULTURE • INTERVIEW

THE FERRY LANE MARKET SERIES OF BOOKS

Shop in Cockleberry Bay, climbing to the top of the Kindle book charts.

While the book, about Rosa, a London girl who inherits a near-derelict corner shop in a quaint coastal village, is set in Devon, the idea came about thanks to a local Berkshire connection. “My father, John Meech, was formerly a Royal Berks Fire & Rescue Service fireman. He’s 85 now and also an artist and paints all the covers of my books,” explains May. “One day he brought me this painting of a corner shop in Sunningdale. It’s not there anymore, but I remembered it being a sweet shop as a kid. My books had been doing well, but I was yet to have that big hit so I’d been looking for new ideas. A lot of the chick lit that was in the bestsellers lists at the time was about bookshops in cute villages or beach huts by the sea and so I decided I’d just have to write to type.”

And it worked. The book has sold over 100,000 copies and has been translated into 14 different languages. May now has three more Cockleberry Bay books under her belt and in April, Rainbows End in Ferry Lane Market, the third instalment of her Ferry Lane Market series, will be released.

“People keep asking me to write more Cockleberry Bay books, but I did tie it up quite nicely in the last book so I’m not sure if I will write more,” says May. “However, there is a nod to the coffee shop in Rainbows End in Ferry Lane Market

so who knows? Never say never.”

This summer will see May – who over the past 20 years has adopted a hybrid publishing model, switching between the traditional and self-publishing routes to give her more control over her writing – publish her 16th book. The new story, called The Hub, is loosely based on a new co-working space she regularly uses at Ascot Racecourse, just a stone’s throw from where she lives with black-and-white rescue cat, Stan.

“I find I can go there and really focus on my writing,” she says. “This whole collaborative way of working is becoming a real thing now and so I think we’ll see more and more storylines emerging around the topic. Having made it to the number one spot with Cockleberry Bay, my next goal is to get TV rights signed for one of my books, so who knows – this could be the one. Watch this space.”

Rainbows End in Ferry Lane Market is published on 14 April – see more at nicolamay.com SHE LOVES A CREAM TEA

A FAVOURITE LOCAL SPOT

Berkshire’s Best Bits Nicola May’s top picks Q How long have you

lived in Berkshire?

A I was born and bred in

Ascot, so all my life!

Q What are your favourite

things to do in the county?

A I love a curry so I like going to

Ascot Spices. I also love a cream tea and went to Easthampstead Park for one recently, which was lovely. I like going shopping at The Lexicon in Bracknell too, the Fenwick there is great.

Q Other favourite spots?

A I love going horse racing, it’s a

real passion of mine, so I’m very lucky to live not that far from Ascot Racecourse. I used to work there as the sales manager, but it’s much more fun going there now that it’s not my place of work. I often just go walking around there, and at Great Windsor Park, which isn’t far, too.

HORSES ARE A PASSION

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Poggenpohl Marlow 75 High St | Marlow SL7 1AB phone 01628 326 061 marlow@poggenpohl.com www.marlow.poggenpohl.com

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Enjoy the journey Based in the heart of Windsor, Upton House is a thriving Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep School for boys and girls aged 2-11 years

With high academic standards, high calibre staff and excellent pastoral care, Upton House children blossom and have a zest for life, continually learning and developing their abilities, interests and talents within a caring and supportive environment.

Our children thrive in the modern world and we invite them to think outside the box.

Call 01753 862610 or email registrar@uptonhouse.org.uk

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CULTURE • PROFILE

THE CHARITY PROVIDES SPECIALIST NURSES

Q How long have you been the CEO of the Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity and why were you keen to be a part of their journey?

A I actually started with the organisation as a trustee in 2018 when my predecessor was exiting the organisation and the trustees started discussing the skills required for the next candidate. As I listened and learnt more about the charity, I gradually realised I wanted to be that person as I believed I had the skillset and experience, plus the passionate ambition to take the charity to the next level. I truly believed in the vital work our specialist nurses do to support seriously ill children. So, I threw my hat into the ring alongside many other candidates and after a rigorous process, luckily, I secured the role.

Get to know…

LOUISE GRIEW

C E O, R OA L D DA H L’ S M A RV E L LO U S CHILDREN’S CHARITY

Q What kind of work does the charity do?

A We provide specialist nurses and support

for seriously ill children. For 30 years, the charity has partnered with the NHS to establish Roald Dahl Specialist Nurses who provide support for children with complex, lifelong conditions. We also provide leadership and professional training for our Roald Dahl Nurses, which they can take back into the trust for the nurses’ team to share experience, best practice, and learnings with each other, therefore enhancing the overall care these children receive. During Covid-19, we also launched our Marvellous Family Support Service, which aims to unlock benefits for the families of these unwell children.

Q Are there areas where you need to raise particular awareness?

A The biggest area of raising awareness is of the charity all together. We are one of the best kept secrets in the health sector and we need to raise awareness to gain more A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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CULTURE • PROFILE

THE ROALD DAHL MUSEUM IN GREAT MISSENDEN

supporters and therefore help more seriously ill children. We currently have over 80 nurses supporting over 24,000 seriously ill children, but we know there are more than 100,000 children with lifelong health conditions out there and we want to do more.

Q What kind of initiatives are lined up for 2022?

A On 12 May, it is Nurses’ Day and we will be launching our ‘Do Something Marvellous’ two-year appeal, which aims to raise the funding to establish seven new Roald Dahl Specialist Nurses in 2022 and 2023. Our first activation will be to ask the general public to add a splash of colour to a digital Sir Quentin Blake illustration of one of our nurses. When it is all coloured in, we will have raised the funds for our first nurse.

Visit roalddahlcharity.org to see more.

Q Has the charity always been based in Buckinghamshire?

A Although we have Roald Dahl Specialist Nurses throughout the UK, we have always been based in Buckinghamshire as we were set up by Roald Dahl’s widow, Felicity Dahl, and when Roald was alive, they lived in Great Missenden, which is where they brought their children up.

AMERSHAM HIGH STREET

ROALD AND FELICITY DAHL LIVED IN GREAT MISSENDEN

“We currently have over 80 nurses supporting over 24,000 seriously ill children” Q Did you notice the local community coming together to support the likes of your charity during the pandemic?

A It has been a really tough time for charities during the pandemic and it was no different for us. We are lucky to have loyal supporters.

Q How nice is Amersham as an

area for you to be based in?

A We all love it in Amersham! The high street seems to thrive and thrive. My favourite restaurant where I take the team when I can is Koyo – the sushi and the staff are amazing! The team also enjoy eating at the Metro Lounge and having a few cheeky drinks together at The Beech House.

We also spend time occasionally at the Roald Dahl Museum in Great Missenden.

Steve, the director, and I often put our heads together to look at ways to help each other and we like to take our Roald Dahl Nurses to the museum when they start, so they get fully immersed and understand the special history of Roald Dahl and his stories.

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A SPOT OF SUSHI AT KOYO GOES DOWN WELL

Q What are your hopes for the future of the Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity?

A Whenever I meet a Roald Dahl Nurse, I am truly humbled, and the children and their families often tell me how they can’t imagine how their lives would have been without them. So, a very simple answer to what I want for the charity is to engage more and more supporters to raise more funds as we really believe every seriously ill child deserves a Roald Dahl Nurse.

Twitter @roalddahlfund; Facebook and Instagram @roalddahlcharity roalddahlcharity.org

A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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A DRAMA THAT CAN NEVER BE WRITTEN

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DR. NO, POSTER, BRITISH QUAD POSTER, JOSEPH WISEMAN (FAR LEFT), SEAN CONNERY (GUN), URSULA ANDRESS (BIKINI), ZENA MARSHALL (FAR RIGHT), 1962. (PHOTO BY LMPC VIA GETTY MAGES)

BOND IN

BUCKS

This year marks 60 years since filming began at Buckinghamshire’s Pinewood Studios on the first-ever Bond film. We take a special look back at cinematic history

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CULTURE • AREA FEATURE

W

LEFT TO RIGHT: PRODUCER ALBERT R. (CUBBY) BROCCOLI, ACTOR SEAN CONNERY, AUTHOR IAN FLEMING AND PRODUCER HARRY SALTZMAN LOOK AT A MAP OF JAMAICA BEFORE FILMING BEGINS ON THE FIRST JAMES BOND FILM, DR. NO, 1962. © 1962 METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER STUDIOS INC. AND DANJAQ, LLC.

hen the James Bond movie Dr. No was released in October 1962, it proved an unlikely hit.

It launched Britain’s greatest film franchise, and cemented Buckinghamshire’s enduring reputation as a hub for global film production. But Bond isn’t just about chase scenes and a charismatic leading man – it’s also the story of generations committed to excellence in filmmaking.

“There are families with multiple generations to have worked on Bond in Buckinghamshire,” says Ian Kinane, Senior Lecturer in Popular Literature and Culture at the University of Roehampton,

IAN FLEMING WITH URSULA ANDRESS ON LOCATION IN JAMAICA. © 1962 METRO-GOLDWYNMAYER STUDIOS INC. AND DANJAQ, LLC.

London. “Bond’s ‘Buckinghamshire family’ is indelibly connected to those first crew-men and women who took up the Bond mantle 60 years ago.”

And they’re part of the reason why, nowadays, the region forms the backbone of the British film industry. With the UK’s stake in global film and TV production growing each year, today Buckinghamshire serves as one of the premiere hubs for productions from around the world – and it all began 60 years ago, with the unlikely success of Dr. No.

“THERE ARE FAMILIES WITH MULTIPLE GENERATIONS TO HAVE WORKED ON BOND IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE” SEAN CONNERY AND IAN FLEMING ON LOCATION IN JAMAICA. © 1962 METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER STUDIOS INC. AND DANJAQ, LLC.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS Dr. No was filmed at Pinewood Studios, which was built on the estate of Heatherden Hall. In 1935, the tycoon Charles Boot partnered with the millionaire J. Arthur Rank to transform the grounds into a film studio. Before Bond, the studio housed three decades’ worth of productions – including, among others, films by Herbert Wilcox, Carol Reed and David Lean, as well as the Doctor and Carry On series.

Bond first took up residency at Pinewood when filming for Dr. No began on 26 February, 1962. Little did they know this particular production would prove lightning in a bottle. Nowiconic sets included Dr. No’s nuclear reactor base and the interiors of the British Secret Service headquarters.

Following the success of Dr. No, Bond would go on to make a home for himself at Pinewood, with 22 of the series’ subsequent 24 films filmed there.

In 1976, the ‘007 Stage’ was purposebuilt in Pinewood, where it became a permanent fixture. And though it’s burned down and been rebuilt multiple times over the years, most recently in 2006 after Casino Royale wrapped production, Pinewood now also houses the ‘Roger Moore Stage’, the ‘Q stage’, and

‘Goldfinger Avenue’ – named after some of the franchise’s iconic names and faces.

At the time of writing, No Time to Die, the 25th film in the series, will be at the Oscars with three nominations and at the BAFTAs with five. It was the second biggest film worldwide of 2021. The sets built at Pinewood were as usual outstanding, including a large set of downtown Havana.

60 YEARS SINCE DR. NO The thousands of artists and skilled crew members who’ve worked on Bond at Pinewood have changed entertainment and the fortunes of the British film industry – forever. But success of this magnitude seemed unlikely at first.

Directed by Terence Young and produced

by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, Dr. No starred the now legendary – but then virtually unknown – Sean Connery as the first-ever Bond. Dr. No captured filmgoers’ A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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URSULA ANDRESS IN DR. NO 1962 PHOTO BY SILVER SCREEN COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES

imaginations, not simply because it was a pacy, sexy thriller set in exotic locations and powered by the rugged, dangerous appeal of its leading man. According to Kinane, “the film also appeared during a time in British filmmaking – and in Buckinghamshire, in particular – full of cultural and historical significance”.

Dr. No happened to be screening in cinemas during the brief, 13-day Cuban Missile Crisis between the United States and the Soviet Union in late October of that

year. Resonances between the film’s plot and Cold War geopolitics were a coincidence, but they were an early indication of Bond’s enduring relevance for audiences around the world – and in Buckinghamshire, too.

BOND’S BIRTHPLACE – AND BACKDROP “It’s worth noting,” Kinane points out, “that, over the years, Buckinghamshire’s Bond has ventured beyond the studio’s confines.

He’s frequently popped up in and around

“BUCKS LOCALS MAY VERY WELL BE FORGIVEN FOR ASSUMING THEY'VE FALLEN STRAIGHT INTO ONE OF 007'S ADVENTURES” SEAN CONNERY & IAN FLEMING CHATTING ON THE NUCLEAR REACTOR SET AT PINEWOOD STUDIOS WHILE FILMING DR. NO. © 1962 METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER STUDIOS INC. AND DANJAQ, LLC.

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Buckinghamshire, and locals may very well be forgiven for assuming they’ve fallen straight into one of 007’s adventures.”

For example, Stoke Park Golf Club is the setting for Bond’s first confrontation with the gold-obsessed Auric Goldfinger, in the 1964 film of the same name. It’s also where the iconic Oddjob demonstrates the power of his razor-rimmed bowler hat.

Stoke Park was also used to film interior scenes for Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), doubling as the Hamburg hotel room where Bond and Paris Carver enjoy one last romantic tryst. And the list goes on and on.

PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST Despite its modest origins, the Bond franchise stands as a testament to the hard work and creativity of the people of Buckinghamshire, and the county’s contributions to both the British and global film industries.

And it’s thanks to generations of unparalleled contributions – from the writers to the crew members, the actors to the producers – that Buckinghamshire still forms the industry’s bedrock today.

The region’s proud tradition of creating world-class entertainment is strong because it’s rooted in the legacies of all the people who call the county home.

As Kinane puts it, “the generations of local talent that have contributed to the Bond films prove once and for all that if the name is ‘Bond… James Bond’ – then the place is Bucks”.

A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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Unique Cornish Holidays POLZEATH ROCK DAYMER BAY

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What other class of gin did you expect to see gracing these pages?

Justifiably extravagant.

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FOOD & DRINK

FEELING INDULGENT SOPHIE’S CHOCOLATE

Do we really need an excuse to indulge in some lovingly made chocolates? If you do, Easter is around the corner and Sophie's Chocolates in Chesham are freshly handmade on the premises, providing a personal service for your specific requirements. Chocolates for every occasion can be sent mail order nationally, as can her stylishly decorated wedding and party favours. For more Easter and chocolate inspiration, turn over the page. sophies-chocolates.com

Food News 34 • Fourteen Bar & Restaurant 36 • Chalk Wokingham 39 A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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WHAT TO DRINK

IN THE spirit Gin recommendations for the month

TASTING NOTES

The latest launches and news from across the county

By MARK KEBBLE

By PUDDINGSTONE DISTILLERY

Campfire Cask Aged Gin 70cl 43% ABV  £40 Forget any preconception about cask aged spirits. This is not smoky, it’s not woody, it’s simply delicious. Ten botanicals underpin a gin that draws its pale golden hue, soft fruity bourbon notes, hints of caramel and a lingering vanilla palate from the meticulously selected American Oak casks.

Campfire Old Tom Gin 70cl 45% ABV  £38 In considering how an 18th century rural distiller might approach the creation of an ‘Old Tom’ gin, one of the oldest gin styles, we’ve used fragrant botanicals that would have been available regionally; chamomile, malted barley combined with spice and lemon citrus deliver notes of sweetness.

Campfire Navy Strength Gin 70cl 57% ABV  £44 Launched to critical acclaim, the rich mouthfeel and sumptuous full-bodied flavour of this exceptionally smooth Navy Strength gin belies its higher strength.

This is packed with juniper and excels in all applications, from a bold gin and tonic through to a classic gimlet cocktail. Anchors away.

The Campfire Gin range is distilled by founders and operators, Ben and Kate Marston, at the multi-award winning Puddingstone Distillery in Tring, Hertfordshire.

Alongside the four strong Campfire Gin range the distillery also produces seasonal varieties and special editions in support of conservation and wildlife projects.

puddingstonedistillery.com

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Flaming passion F E A ST OV E R F L A M E M A R LOW

Whether a lunch-time treat with children, or an evening with friends, the Feast Over Flame Marlow pop-up is a fabulous immersive dining experience. Your party will be collected by private river taxi, and alight upstream at a secret riverbank location. Following a five-course gourmet feast, cooked in front of you, you will then enjoy s’mores and hot chocolate around the fire-pits, before boarding your boat again. tickettailor.com/events/feastevents; Instagram @feastpopup

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FOOD & DRINK • NOTES

CHOCS AWAY Easter picks to help you indulge

DR CHOC'S WINDSOR C H O C O L AT E FAC T O R Y

Stars and hype TO M K E R R I D G E G R O U P

The Michelin results are out and Tom Kerridge’s head chefs have successfully maintained prestigious accolades. Tom De Keyser, head chef of The Hand & Flowers, which remains the only pub in the world to have two-Michelin stars, was appointed to the position last year. The Coach, the one-Michelin starred pub in Marlow, has also maintained its star after new head chef Sarah Hayward (above) joined from Kerridge's The Bull & Bear in Manchester’s Stock Exchange Hotel. tomkerridge.com

FOOD SEASONING

THE IVY MARLOW GARDEN

Launching on the official first day of spring, diners at The Ivy Marlow Garden will be able to enjoy a series of seasonal favourites that showcase the best of British ingredients. The new menu will feature a number of artisanal British suppliers, with new dishes including Garden Pea & Nettle Soup (£6.95), truly capturing the essence of the changing seasons. theivymarlowgarden.com

Ever fancied being your own Willy Wonka? This delightful venue in Windsor will offer you exactly that.

You will be able to make chocolate with all the family, in a fun environment where you can pick up a little bit of inside knowledge. drchocs.com

R O YA L

EVENT CASTLE HOTEL WINDSOR

BURGERS OF M A R LOW Eric Burger began making chocolates in the 1940s, and his son Philippe carried on the tradition, having also trained in Switzerland. This chocolate heritage continues today, with wonderful pralines, dark chocolate caramels, and rich ganache truffles. burgersartisanbakery.com

MGallery Hotel Collection’s Castle Hotel Windsor is excited to announce that it will celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with a delicious afternoon tea and a specially curated threenight Jubilee stay package, including tickets to The Savill Garden and Windsor Castle. castlehotelwindsor.com

Have your cake LO L A’ S C U P CA K E S

This Easter, cake connoisseurs Lola’s Cupcakes and trail-blazing chocolatiers Tony’s Chocolonely are joining forces. Together they are united on a mission to create the most delicious chocolate and cake, whilst being a force for good when it comes to people and the planet.

The limited-edition Lola’s X Tony’s range includes both a selection of tasty cupcakes, in regular and tiny form, and an indulgent celebration cake. lolascupcakes.co.uk

R U S S E L L & AT W E L L Russell & Atwell is Steve (Russell) and Giles (Atwell), with over 30 years collective experience in the making and business of chocolate. They started with a simple question: "Why are we still eating long-life chocolate, if everything tastes better fresh?” So, they set about with the challenge of making fresh chilled chocolates. russellandatwell.com

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VIEW FROM

THE TOP After two decades at the Woburn Estate, chef Olivier Bertho’s next step will see his career go sky high

By MARK KEBBLE

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FOOD & DRINK • INTERVIEW

“It will be home to the county’s highest destination bar and restaurant”

A

fter creating your own eponymous, awardwinning restaurant, you’d think there’s not much higher you could take your career – but for Olivier Bertho, he’s only looking up. He has been revealed as the launch executive chef of Hotel La Tour’s Fourteen in Milton Keynes, which has a rather lofty USP. “It will be home to the county’s highest destination bar and restaurant,” he smiles of his new home, “with incredible views over Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Campbell Park as you dine.”

Don’t expect this to be a gimmick, however, as having Bertho involved shows the ambition is also high for the dining offering. Since he first came to the UK in the 90s, Bertho has become known for his modern, innovative twist on classical dishes, and working with the finest and freshest quality local and seasonal ingredients.

His work, in particular, truly came to the fore when he started working at the Woburn Estate in Bedfordshire. “I was there

FOURTEEN WILL BOAST STUNNING VIEWS

OLIVIER BERTHO

for almost two decades, so it was really instrumental in shaping my career and establishing the cooking style I’m proud of and known for,” he says. “My proudest achievement was being able to establish my own namesake restaurant, Olivier’s Restaurant at The Woburn Hotel, and take it from opening to an award-winning fine dining restaurant, as well as working as executive chef for The Sculpture Gallery at Woburn Abbey, which offered me the opportunity to regularly cook for the Duke and Duchess of Bedford – a real career highlight. As well as this, I catered for a range of celebrity weddings, British and international royalty and UK politicians, alongside a number of other large scale prestige events. These will always be fond memories and proud moments to look back on from my career.”

His arrival at Fourteen looks set to add to that list. Due to open in April, Bertho is full of enthusiasm when he takes me through the plans for the menus. “Fourteen will be an all-day, contemporary British restaurant that will serve breakfast and a la carte lunch and dinner menus, as well as a selection

of savoury and sweet afternoon teas, a dedicated vegan menu, and a lounge menu of snacks sold in the Fourteen bar only.

“The à la carte menu will feature starters including smoked duck with grilled asparagus, pickled rhubarb and balsamic gel; and smoked haddock scotch egg with chive mayonnaise; and mains such as king prawns and lobster linguine in a bisque sauce with spinach, parsley and lemon; and rump of lamb served with gratin dauphinois, stir fry greens and black olive jus. Desserts include a fruit delice with mango, pink peppercorn and mint salsa; and a classic Eton Mess of rhubarb, coconut yogurt and vanilla berry sauce dessert.

“Guests will also be able to enjoy a lounge menu of small or large plates,” he continues at pace, “sandwiches, burgers and desserts at the bar including everything from lemonade battered cod with chunky chips, marrowfat peas and tartar sauce; and 10oz ribeye steak with thick cut chips, beef tomato and peppercorn sauce; to a smoked salmon sandwich with ribbons of pickled cucumber, red onion, rocket and mayonnaise; and desserts such as a black forest sundae with blondie, chocolate fudge pieces and kirsch-soaked black cherries.”

Bertho makes a point that local is best when it comes to ingredients. “I’ve always prioritised working with local and seasonal ingredients where possible,” he states. “This is at the heart of my cooking as I believe in supporting independent local suppliers and farmers and sustainably sourcing incredible ingredients as, by doing this, we are reducing energy, emissions and food miles. Seasonal ingredients are also often fresher and taste better as they’re higher in nutritional value, so this is always a bonus.”

Whichever way you view it, Fourteen Bar & Restaurant is looking good. hotel-latour.co.uk A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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FESTIVAL WEEK 14TH–21ST MAY 2022 Saturday 14th May

Choral Day & Carice Singers Concert

Princes Risborough

Saturday 14th May

Albion String Quartet

Monks Risborough

Sunday 15th May

Jeneba Kanneh-Mason (piano)

Wycombe Abbey

Monday 16th May

Brahms Horn Trio

Old Amersham

Tuesday 17th May

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Lunchtime

Wendover

Tuesday 17th May

Sean Shibe (guitar) Concert and Dinner

Berkhamsted

Wednesday 18th May

Connaught Brass Quintet: Lunchtime

Hughenden

Thursday 19th May

Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita

Henley-on-Thames

Friday 20th May

Fair Oriana (soprano duo)

Great Missenden

Saturday 21st May

City of London Sinfonia

Marlow

Discover a whole new concert experience this May...

Tickets £15–£35 Premium Tickets Available

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Chiltern Arts Season 2022 Festival Week: 14th–21st May

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Saturday 23rd July and 13th August 2022 A truly fascinating day out travelling through beautiful scenery to the Bristol Channel coast featuring haulage by two steam locomotives in one day. London to the West Somerset Railway, and a Heritage Railway steam locomotive to Minehead. Join us from Slough or Reading to visit Minehead.

Price • Standard Class £115pp/£358 family – includes a reserved seat usually at a table for four.

• First Class £185pp/£565 family – includes morning tea or coffee with a bacon/breakfast roll and a muffin and an afternoon service of tea or coffee with a savoury of the day followed by a scone with butter and jam.

• Premier Dining £285pp/£870 family – includes a full English breakfast and a four course dinner served at your seat.

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Have a great day – The Safe Way – your welfare is our priority and our Covid-19 travel procedures are available to view on our website. Refreshments available to purchase on board. Junior fares available. Organised by The Railway Touring Company. The Railway Touring Company’s standard conditions of booking and travel apply – see website or brochure for details.

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FOOD & DRINK • Q&A THERE ARE MENU OPTIONS TO SUIT EVERYONE

CHALK OFFERS A BEAUTIFUL SETTING

Q There are a host of menus available,

FOUR

Courses The owners of Wokingham’s Chalk Restaurant Craig Van Der Meer, David Brunner, Benjamin Bond and Jacob Bartlomiejczyk – on being a venue for all Q When did Chalk first open its doors and why Wokingham as the location?

A Chalk first opened its doors on 30 October 2020, five days before the second lockdown.

Why Wokingham? Location was driven by David – he had been looking at locations for years before landing on Montague House. He had researched locations and believed that Chalk would be able to provide something that the community of Wokingham could get behind, a local neighbourhood restaurant.

Q What kind of experience

do you want to offer?

A A warm, friendly and elevated one. We

THE FOUR CO-OWNERS

would like our guests to feel as though they are in a home away from home. Chalk should be a place that they feel comfortable in, whether it’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner – a place to come and relax because cooking isn’t an option, or to celebrate a family milestone.

Chalk should make everyone feel welcome and as though they are at a friend’s house.

but let’s start with breakfast – do you want the local community to see you as the ideal place to start their day?

A Breakfast is such an important meal, and we would love to be the spot that people choose to kick start their morning.

Q How have you approached the lunch menu?

A We like (and feel it’s important) to give our guests options and the flexibility to order and eat what they want. If you feel like a salad and a fresh pressed juice, great! If you fancy a three-course meal with champagne, why not?

Q With the options for dinner, do you also want to offer something for all?

A This again follows on from our concept of anything goes. For dinner you can dress up, or come super casual and still feel comfortable. The menu is designed to follow this way of thinking.

Q Generally, how would you sum

up the cooking at Chalk?

A We’re proud of the fact that in an industry

where most restaurants have a central kitchen, we cook everything ourselves. We like to change the menu with the seasons and take our inspiration from fresh ingredients, chefs we admire and what’s going on in the world.

Q What kind of social events do you offer?

A We are all about bringing entertainment

and joy to the people of Wokingham and further afield through exciting and engaging events such as monthly wine dinners, afternoon tea gin tastings, themed parties through to Valentine’s dining, Mothering Sunday or Christmas festivities and our new upcoming Jazz Evenings.

CHALK 31 Broad Street, Wokingham, RG40 1AU 01189 798805 • chalkrestaurants.com

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Three ways with eggs from Clarence Court

GOOD

eggs

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FOOD & DRINK • RECIPES

White chocolate blondies

with pecans & cranberries Makes 12–16

Why do brownies get all the attention?

Blondies are just as delicious and easy to make! Try our fruit and nut version with extra white chocolate – for good measure.

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 30 mins

INGREDIENTS • 120g unsalted butter • 250g soft light brown sugar • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence • 1 Clarence Court duck egg • 1 lemon, zested and finely grated • 200g self raising flour • Pinch of sea salt • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon • ½ teaspoon ground ginger • 50g pecans, chopped • 50g dried cranberries • 100g white chocolate, chopped into chunks plus 30g extra for melting and drizzling • 50g caramelised white chocolate, chopped (optional) • A small handful of fresh raspberries (optional)

METHOD 1 Preheat the oven to 175°C/155°C fan. Grease and line a 20x20cm square cake tin.

2 Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan, then stir in the sugar and vanilla essence. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes then whisk in the egg and lemon zest. Fold in the flour, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Stir in the chopped pecans, cranberries and chocolate then spoon into the prepared cake tin.

3 Gently press the chopped caramelised white chocolate and fresh raspberries into the blondie mix. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until just set with a light crust on top. Allow to cool in the tin placed on a cooling rack, then cut into pieces and serve. Drizzle over a little melted white chocolate if you fancy.

Ultimate Steak & Egg Sandwich Serves 2

(with extra sauce to keep for a week)

Who doesn’t love a good sandwich? Juicy steak and glorious, runny fried eggs make such good bread fellows – especially when paired with rich melted cheese and a punchy, herby chimichurri sauce.

We’ve taken the joy of a classic steak sandwich to new, heavenly heights.

Prep time: 5 mins + 30 mins freezing Cook time: 10 mins

INGREDIENTS • 1 large sirloin steak • 1 large bunch of parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped • ½ bunch of coriander, leaves picked and finely chopped • 200ml vegetable oil, plus a little extra for frying • 100ml red wine vinegar • 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped • 1 teaspoon dried oregano • Unsalted butter • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper • 50g mozzarella, grated

• 50g provolone, grated • 2 Clarence Court Old Cotswold Legbar eggs • 2 demi baguettes or large submarine rolls • A handful of fresh rocket leaves

METHOD 1 Trim the fat from the steak, place into a sandwich bag and pop into the freezer for 30 minutes (this helps to tense the meat so it's much easier to thinly slice.) Meanwhile, to make your chimichurri sauce, finely chop the parsley and coriander, if you haven’t already. Place into a bowl and combine with the vegetable oil, red wine vinegar, chilli, garlic and oregano.

Cover and allow the flavours to infuse.

2 Once the steak has had its time in the freezer, take it out of the bag and slice as thinly as you can. Preheat the grill to high and place a large frying pan on a medium-high heat. Halve the baguettes, butter them, and place on a baking tray cut side up. Toss the steak in a little vegetable oil and add to the hot pan. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes until slightly crisp on the outside and just cooked in the centre. Arrange the steak on the cut halves of baguette and scatter the cheese over evenly, leave to one side whilst you fry the eggs to your liking (sunny side up is our favourite for this.) Place the tray of baguette halves under the grill for 2 minutes or so to melt the cheese and toast the bread. Remove from under the grill, drizzle over enough chimichurri sauce to taste. Crown with an egg each, drizzle over more sauce and finish with fresh rocket.

Sandwich together and devour!

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FOOD & DRINK • RECIPES

METHOD

INGREDIENTS

California Sunshine Salad Serves 4

Salads are an absolute joy and this is no exception. Inspired by the produce of California, it’s full of sunshine and freshness.

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 10 mins

• 4 Clarence Court Old Cotswold Legbar eggs • 300g quinoa • 50g blanched almonds • Juice of 2 limes • Juice of 1 orange • 1 pomegranate • 1 small bunch of coriander, finely chopped • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper • 40ml walnut oil • 125g soft goat's cheese • 1 ripe avocado, quartered and destoned • 4 ripe apricots, halved and destoned • 30g selection sprouts • Flatbreads and hummus, to serve

1 Softly boil the eggs to your liking, cool in iced water and peel. Cook and cool the quinoa according to the packet instructions, then tip into a large mixing bowl. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan and place the almonds on a small baking sheet.

Roast the almonds for 5 minutes or until golden, then remove from the oven and allow to cool.

2 Tip the lime and orange juice into a jam jar. Halve the pomegranate and squeeze the juice out of 1/2 through your hands into the jar. Add most of the chopped coriander, season and top up with 40ml walnut oil. Shake well and tip half over the quinoa and mix.

3 Griddle the avocado and apricots until lightly softened and charred.

Crumble the goat's cheese.

4 Roughly chop the almonds and mix most into the quinoa along with the goat's cheese and pomegranate seeds, leaving a few to finish. Spoon onto a large platter. Halve the eggs and arrange them on top with the avocado and apricots. Spoon over more dressing. Sprinkle over the remaining coriander, almonds, pomegranate seeds and finish with the sprouts and a pinch of salt.

5 Serve with flatbreads and hummus then revel in the fresh Californian vibes.

Recipes featured in Eggstravaganza, Clarence Court’s first cookbook available online at clarenceboutique.co.uk. RRP: £20

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Easter Sunday Lunch

Friday 25th, Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th The perfect Easter Sunday for all the family, we have a special lunch menu to make it an occasion to remember – new beginnings, full of the joys of spring!

Join us for our delicious three course with all the trimmings.

Three Course Lunch Priced at £32.95 per person (Children Menu Available)

Easter Afternoon Tea Weekend

Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th of April Easter’s just around the corner and it’s the perfect time to gather with friends and family for an Easter-themed Afternoon Tea. Sipping cups of perfectly brewed tea, tucking into delectable sandwiches, freshly baked scones and beautifully crafted patisserie - yummy!

Easter Chocolate Afternoon Tea | Priced at £24.95 per person Easter Chocolate Champagne Afternoon Tea | Priced at £29.95 per person Easter Afternoon Tea is served at 3pm or 3.30pm on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th of April.

To book please call us direct on 01189 798 805 or email us at enquiries@chalkrestaurants.com Chalk Restaurant, 31 Broad Street, Wokingham, RG40 1AU

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FOOD & DRINK • DRINKS MR HOBBS 150 GIN WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE HENLEY FESTIVAL

“Mr Hobbs 150 gin won a silver award at the IWSC in 2021”

Drink IT IN

Mr Hobbs Gin has been announced as one of the sponsors of the Henley Festival, so there’s no better time to revisit its tasty past

T THE HENLEY FESTIVAL IS ONE OF THE AREA'S HOTTEST EVENTS

he Mr Hobbs Gin range of products is brought to you by the family pleasure boating business, Hobbs of Henley, who give you the most enjoyable way to “mess about on the river’’. Today they are very proud to share their cherished family tipples with you and raise a glass to their Henley heritage.

The Hobbs story begins in 1870 when Mr Harry Hobbs founded Hobbs and Sons (now Hobbs of Henley). Harry was renowned locally for his flamboyant beard and mischievous nature, and he was often seen on the river around 11am on his punt enjoying a gin.

Frequently spotted sipping from his wood rimmed drinking flask, Mr Hobbs was forever throwing river parties along the banks of the River Thames in Henley or hiring his boats out for members of the public to throw their own shindig.

They recently launched their awardwinning Mr Hobbs 150 London Dry Gin

to mark their 150th anniversary of the family boating business, Hobbs of Henley, based in Henley on Thames. This classic London Dry Gin is bursting with nine botanicals including lemon peel, black pepper and grapefruit with notes of elderflower and green cardamom finishing with refreshing lemon verbena, and in 2021 won a silver award at the IWSC (International Wine & Spirit Competition).

Mr Hobbs 150 will be available at all the Henley Festival bars for everyone to enjoy for this very special anniversary event running from 6-10 July. Henley Festival is an exclusive boutique black tie festival celebrating the best of UK and international music and arts. The festival is a truly unique event, embracing a vibrant programme from pop to world music, classical to jazz, where art and gastronomy share equal billing with music.

The festival organisers are as passionate about making a difference, as they are creating the best ingredients for their festival year on year – as a team – striving to merge great music, food, comedy and art into unique experiences that create unforgettable memories for guests. They never lose touch with the reason why they set the festival up in the first place – to give others the support and opportunity to feel special too. We will certainly raise a glass of Mr Hobbs 150 to that. mrhobbsgin.co.uk A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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FA S H I O N

HIGH LIFE JORI PAPA

Designing shoes as a unique piece of art is at the heart of Jori Papa.

From structured heels to modern shapes, Jori’s designs are for the bold woman who does not recognize herself in classic styles and wants to stand out. Jori’s muse feels fearless in expressing herself through the way she dresses and dares to play with colour and texture. joripapa.com

Priya Downes 50 • The Shoot 52 • Jewellery 59 A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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GOOD Foundation s

Priya Downes, the Bucks founder of underwear brand Nudea, on the importance of diversity and sustainability in fashion

By REBECCA PITCAIRN

Q Have you always worked in fashion?

A I started out in finance and was at the

World Bank for five years, which was really eye opening to the topics that are relevant today, such as diversity and sustainability.

I learnt a lot about environmental responsibility and principles that have stayed close to me and have remained core to my own business. We did a lot of work on the side with the fashion industry to leverage the World Bank’s resources for example, we started the first Ethical Fashion Show as part of Washington DC’s Fashion Week and I then became a bit of an ambassador for sustainability in the fashion industry. I realised this is where I wanted to be – I wanted to make change in the fashion industry. So, I did an MBA and was lucky to work for Chanel for a year, and then joined Burberry in the UK. Q Why did you set up an underwear brand?

A Despite working in fashion for a number of years, I didn’t have any experience in lingerie until I left Burberry and worked for

50

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FASHION • INTERVIEW

A HOME IN LITTLE MARLOW

THE LATEST COLLECTION FROM NUDEA

an Italian brand called Fiorucci, the owners of which had a background in lingerie. This is where I met Sophie Morgenthaler, who was head of bra innovation at Victoria Secrets.

We got talking about the intricacies of what goes into bra design and how, despite it being something we wear every day, it’s never really given a second thought. That was where the seeds of Nudea came from, and Sophie and I decided to start something together.

Q Why do you think underwear is such an important part of a woman’s wardrobe?

A We worked with 600 women to understand the pain points of bra shopping and found it was underserved in almost every area.

Pretty much everyone we spoke to was also embarrassed about their bra and we just felt that had to change. Yes, women want to be comfortable, but that doesn’t mean their bra needs to be ugly. Underwear is really the foundation to your wardrobe. A good bra can make your clothes look and feel better, shape your silhouette and even make you stand taller and project better – it’s a real confidence

booster. We’re trying to educate women about that and to forget misconceptions about what underwear should be.

Q What was the inspiration behind the name?

A It comes from two Latin words: ‘nu’ meaning new and ‘dea’ meaning goddess.

We felt the name fit with our brand ethos, and it’s also a nod to nude and underwear being your second skin.

Q Nudea is a digital-first brand, how does that work with fittings etc?

A Bra fitting can be quite intimidating and it’s also not particularly accessible. Unless you’re living in the centre of a large town, your closest shop offering a bra fitting service could be miles away. The research we carried out in our workshops found 75% of women hadn’t been fitted in three years or more – 50% of those hadn’t been in over five years. For many women, the last time they had been for a fitting was in their early 20s and, since then, they’d just

“In Latin 'Nu' means new, 'dea' means goddess.

The name fit with our brand ethos” been guessing their size. So, we designed the fit tool that women can use at home. It’s much easier to use than the traditional bra sizing technique and we were also one of the first brands to do virtual bra fitting too.

Q What are your other USPs? A Sustainability is at the core of what we do.

We have just been B Corp certified, which is a really big deal to us. We are a technical bra brand, we’re not just about fashion. Yes, we think our bras are beautiful, but they are comfortable and practical too. Our bras have 26 different components – some women need serious support and we don’t take that lightly.

Q Would you ever open Nudea boutiques?

A We were in a boutique in Marlow, My

Boudoir, but sadly it closed six months ago having suffered with the pandemic. We are available at John Lewis and working in partnerships with other retailers is definitely something we want to do more of this year. nudea.com A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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S k y ’ s

t h e

LIMIT

Luisa Cerano’s SS22 collection, a brand stocked at Fenwick Bracknell and Andrew Gardner Wendover, will prepare you for the brighter days ahead

LU I S AC E R A N O.C O M

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Launching Soon

The 125th Anniversary Collection from Berry’s Jewellers WINDSOR | NOTTINGHAM | HULL | LEEDS | YORK | NEWCASTLE

www.berrysjewellers.co.uk

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FASHION • WATCHES

Feminine TOUCH

Visit Berry’s Jewellers in Windsor to see the latest in ladies’ watches from Patek Philippe

“The Twenty~4 epitomizes timeless feminine elegance, designed to fit in with every moment of her life”

S

ince 1839, Patek Philippe has devoted much attention to its feminine clientele.

With its pocket and pendant watches, decorated with artisanal techniques, the brand won the hearts of sophisticated female customers. The manufacture also leveraged its creative skills with a host of complicated ladies’ watches, including minute repeaters.

In 1999, Patek Philippe responded to the expectations of a young, dynamic generation with the very feminine Twenty~4 collection, which became resoundingly successful. Its unusual name reflects the fact that it is a perfect companion for any time of day or night, proposed in diamondset rose gold or stainless steel versions and endowed with a quartz movement.

Patek Philippe brought in 2018 a surprising twist with the launch of the Twenty~4 Automatic. This series of self-winding mechanical ladies’ watches was the first model of the Twenty~4 collection with a round case and the calibre 324 S C. This self-winding movement with a Spiromax® balance spring in Silinvar® is a gem of precision and dependability. It is crafted to the strict standards of the Patek Philippe Seal and exhibits elaborate manual finishing that can be admired through the sapphirecrystal case back. The Twenty~4 Automatic focuses on the woman who consummately handles latest-generation technology,

but prefers a mechanical timepiece on her wrist, one that represents a grand tradition of quality and the lasting value of an artistically crafted masterpiece.

The Twenty~4 Automatic collection features three stainless steel models with either a blue, grey or olive green dial highlighted by a sunburst finish, and a total of three 18ct rose gold versions with a choice of a silvery, vertical and horizontal satin-finished dial, a rose gilt sunburst dial, or a brown sunburst dial. Each timepiece is characterised by its Arabic numeral hour track, date window at 6 o’clock, and a scintillating diamond-set bezel. In addition to this, a brown and silver dial option is also available with extra diamonds set into the bezel, the bracelet, and the crown, along with a breathtakingly beautiful 18ct rose gold diamond-encrusted variation with gems showered across the dial for added finesse and decadence.

B E R RY ' S J E W E L L E R S For more information, or to speak to a Berry’s watch specialist, call 01753 840 930, email customerservice@berryswindsor.co.uk or visit the store at 41 Peascod Street, Windsor, SL4 1EA

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FASHION • JEWELLERY

Nine of the best

The latest gems from The Jewellery Workshop Of Amersham J E W E L L E R Y W O R K S H O PA M E R S H A M . C O . U K

BRACELETS

INITIAL PENDANTS

PENDANT

Range of stainless steel and leather bracelets, from £29

Silver and cz initial pendant, £25

9 ct gold tree of life pendant, £176

CIRCLE & DIAMOND PENDANT

CLAUDE BERNARD LADIES WATCH

EARRINGS

A modern pendant with ribbons of gold and diamonds on a gold chain, pendant £495, chains from £167

Claude Bernard ladies gold plated chronograph watch, £365

9 ct yellow and white gold diamond set drop earrings, £500

MULTI-COLOURED PENDANT

EARRINGS

WAVY PENDANT

18ct white gold pendant with blue, pink, yellow and purple tourmalines and diamonds, £3,510

18 ct white gold and diamond twist drop earrings, £1,800

18ct yellow gold and diamond wavy pendant, £3,950

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LOCKINGE

WITH LADIES DAY SATURDAY 14 MAY BOOK NOW

NEWBURYRACECOURSE.CO.UK

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HEALTH & BEAUTY

T HIS M O N T H BEAUTY FROM WITHIN Are you ready to glow? Whether it's shiny hair, strong nails, or clear skin you’re after, this month Absolutely has rounded up the supplements and vitamins that will help you on your way.

Heba Pilates 62 • Beauty Products 67 • Fitness Notes 69 A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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YOU HAVE YOUR OWN SPACE AT HEBA PILATES

AT A

STRETCH A new look for reformer Pilates has been sweeping across Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, so we seek out the woman behind it to find out more

By MARK KEBBLE

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HEALTH & BEAUTY • INTERVIEW

YOU CAN GET VIRTUAL AND REAL LIFE ASSISTANCE

P

eloton meets Netflix meets Pilates. That’s quite the hook, but exactly what people have been saying about Heba Pilates, which has studios in Marlow, Windsor and Beaconsfield.

Samantha Kellard is the brains behind the operation and, if you step into any of the aforementioned locations, you will be greeted with row upon row of the Nuforma. “It’s really all you need to keep your body in the prime of life,” says Kellard.

So, what exactly is the Nuforma?

“It is a combination of mat Pilates and reformer Pilates,” Kellard explains, “which is resistance training with springs and a weight and cable machine like you see in the gym. It is big and comfortable and it folds away. When you come to Heba, you book a Nuforma and it’s like you are in your own booth – you follow the visual RECORD YOUR STATS

“IT'S REALLY ALL YOU NEED TO KEEP YOUR BODY IN THE PRIME OF LIFE” guide on the monitor, listen to guidance on the directional speaker, and get help and advice in real life by the studio guide.

You work on your own programmes, which track your progress, so you can come and work out with friends.”

After experiencing Pilates for the first time two decades ago, and seeing the immediate impact on her wellbeing, Kellard is today keen to bring the exercise to as many people as possible.

“I want this amazing form of Pilates to be the norm,” she says on the inspiration behind Heba Pilates, “for everybody to be able to do it regularly – just like cleaning your teeth. There are more and more types of exercise available these days, but there is still a pervasive lack of understanding around what is best to do for your body – everybody is the same, but everybody is different in terms of age, level and how you feel a certain day. This form of exercise really does get deep into the places that we often overlook when doing other things in life.

“If you could put all the benefits of reformer Pilates into a pill, everybody would take it,” she continues, “and yet the number one reason not to practice regularly is a lack of time – in actual fact it is a lack of convenience. Often, you have to book an overly-full class at a level and time that may not completely suit you.

Now, with Heba and the Nuforma you can book every half hour at a moment’s notice and have a full service training session with a real life guide to make sure you get the most out of every session.”

Visit one of the studios and it’s evident how this is a very personalised operation. “You will receive a warm and reassuring welcome from one of our fabulous guides,” Kellard says. “We call them guides because their main focus is to look after you and help you really get the most benefit from the Nuforma by adjusting your body position and changing weights and springs. The Nuformas are

all in rows – Heba is a product of the pandemic, so it is all socially distanced with your own equipment, which you don’t need to wait for or share.”

Windsor, Marlow and Beaconsfield have all been areas to benefit from this new approach to Pilates. “I live in Hurley village and I had a Pilates studio in Windsor for ten years – I always wanted to open more and more so that people could benefit from these machines,” she says on the local connection. “Marlow seemed like a great next step, and people who came to the Windsor studio from Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross had been asking me to open up over there for ages.”

These studios appear to be just the start for Heba Pilates. “My vision is to make this form of exercise the norm,” Kellard reaffirms her earlier statement.

“If there was a Heba studio in every town in the world then I would consider my job done. We are going to open in London, Marbella and Sydney next, so little by little we will get there.” Peloton and Netflix have already conquered the globe – don’t bet against Heba Pilates being added to the list. hebapilates.com

SAMANTHA KELLARD

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HEALTH & BEAUTY • NOTES

BEAUTY NOTES

The latest in luxury makeup and skincare B y R AC H E L H O G G

FOCUS

LUCKY

EDITOR’S PICK

stars

The Cherrywood Clinic on being summer ready

CHANEL

M

Inspired by its founder’s love of constellations, Chanel has released an exclusive collection of the iconic Rouge Allure Velvet lipsticks. The Rouge Allure Velvet La Comète line features eight classic shades, each packaged in a comet embossed click-case, and will be available for a limited time only. £35 chanel.com

Pamper hamper S A N C T UA RY S PA

If you’re looking for a pampering alternative to chocolates, the Special Occasions hamper from Sanctuary Spa is the perfect gift for anyone special. Containing some of their best-loved products, from body butter to bath floats, it has everything needed to scrub and soak the day’s cares away – and no calories; £25 feelunique.com

A NEW LOOK DIOR

The fashion house’s familiar houndstooth check will be adorning the packaging of some of its most popular products from the La Collection Privée fragrance line and the Dior Makeup line. These limited editions of Dior’s signature scents and five of the shades of Rouge Dior lipstick will be available to purchase at an exclusive beauty pop-up in Harrods until 31 March. From £25 dior.com

TIME TO SHINE any of us will now be considering our hair removal options for our holidays and the upcoming hotter weather. Contrary to popular understanding, it is not too late to start your laser hair removal journey before the summer months.

Whilst it is true that you cannot have laser treatment while you have a tan, all it requires to have treatment throughout the summer is careful planning and a bespoke treatment plan. At The Cherrywood Clinic, this is all part of the service – we’re specialists in laser, this is what we do! For most of our clients we plan for at least one sunny holiday per year, and we time their treatments to ensure they enter their hair free period when they leave for their holiday, with almost no deviation from their original treatment plan.

Hair free periods are a unique feature of the lasers we use, and mean no hair to worry about: no maintenance, no shaving, no waxing. Our clients experience this after every treatment. When our clients return from their holiday, we simply wait until their tan has faded to recommence treatment – and during the holiday comedown, they’re still enjoying the benefits. Of course, the long term goal is to be hair-free and summer-ready all year round.

Our specialist staff will work with you to understand your laser hair removal goals, and ensure that you have a personal, tailored treatment for your needs, aims and personal circumstance.

THE CHERRYWOOD CLINIC

If you’d like to visit The Cherrywood Clinic for a free, no-obligation consultation, contact rachel@cherrywoodclinic.co.uk or call 07491 147 944

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Invisalign Open Day Saturday 23rd April 8am - 5pm

SAVE £800* ON INVISIBLE BRACES PLUS - FREE Teeth Whitening (worth £320) - FREE Removable Retainers (worth £250) - FREE 12 months aftercare (worth £200) Not only will you be able to meet our expert team to discuss the benefits of the Invisalign clear aligner system, but you’ll also have access to a FREE initial 30 minute assessment, a FREE iTero scan so you’ll be able to see how your new smile will look after treatment and an EXCLUSIVE ‘on the day’ offer that could save you over £1,500*

Save over £1,500*

As an appointment only event, pre-booking is essential.

To book an appointment call Lisa Bonello, Patient Care Co-Ordinator on 01344 300 417 or 07765 333 768, email pc@crownwooddental.co,uk

10 Crown Row, Bracknell RG12 0TH *Terms and conditions apply.

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HEALTH & BEAUTY • TREND

PAULA’S CHOICE Resist Anti-Aging Intensive Repair Moisturiser, £35 paulaschoice.co.uk

SUNDAY RILEY Luna Sleeping Night Oil, £85 spacenk.com

BEAUTY PIE Plantastic Deep Nourishing Moisture Balm, £50, £11.50 for members beautypie.com

THE INKEY LIST Omega Water Cream, £9.99 cultbeauty.co.uk

BIOSSANCE Squalane + Omega Repair Cream, £45 cultbeauty.co.uk

KIEHLS Midnight Recovery Concentrate, £42 kiehls.co.uk

THE ORDINARY Amino Acids + B5, £6.90 theordinary.deciem.com

GOODBYE DRY

EDITOR’S PICK

Deeply moisturising products to repair and refresh winter LA MER skin in time for spring The Renewal Oil, £195 spacenk.com

REN Evercalm™ Overnight Recovery Balm, £45 renskincare.com

B y R AC H E L H O G G

LANOLIPS Golden Dry Skin Miracle Salve, £11.99 lanolips.co.uk

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HEALTH & BEAUTY • FITNESS

FITNESS

TOP

PICKS HEALTHY LIVING PODCASTS

NOTES

By R AC H E L H O G G

FEEL BETTER, LIVE MORE Dr Rangan Chatterjee sits down every week with a leading health expert to demystify well-being and give helpful no-nonsense advice. drchatterjee.com

T E D H E A LT H From assistive technology to the benefits of crying, Dr Shoshana Ungerleider leaves no stone unturned in this fascinating podcast about all things health-related. ted.com

WA L K T O W ELLNESS You'll feel the benefits of walking from your head down to your toes

F T H E D O C TO R ' S K I TC H E N Listen to Dr Rupy Aujla and guests discuss the ins and outs of nutritional medicine and learn how to cook your way to a healthier lifestyle. thedoctorskitchen.com

itness is often so focused on going faster, getting stronger and pushing yourself harder, but what if the best thing you can do for your body is to slow down?

Walking is a form of exercise often relegated to those over 80, but evidence shows that even the young and healthy will feel the benefits of going for a brief stroll.

Walking is the most studied form of exercise and an overwhelming amount of research demonstrates its positive impact on everything from heart health to how stressed we are and how well we sleep at night.

Health experts agree that frequent walking is instrumental in preventing and managing a variety of common health conditions including heart disease, stroke and type II diabetes. It has been shown by multiple studies to lower your risk of premature death and strengthen your immune system, one even finding that walkers took 43% fewer sick days on average.

Walking has the lowest injury rate of all forms of exercise, which makes it a safe and sustainable way to improve and maintain mobility, while protecting the joints that are most susceptible to osteoarthritis. Going for a walk to clear your head is a well-

trodden path, but research backs the mood-boosting power of a brisk stroll. It is effective in the management of stress, anxiety and depression and there is evidence that going on regular walks even changes the structure of your brain and helps increase the volume of grey matter, which is a measure of brain health. It may even make you smarter, as several trials have found that walking can improve your memory and cognitive function, both short-term and long-term. All of these benefits only increase as your pace and distance do, so even if you are already healthy, walking may be the secret to staying that way.

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A TA S T E O F THE CO UNT RY The relaxed setting. The breathtaking view.

A feast for the senses. A moment to savour.

Dining at Coworth Park.

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LUXE SET SAIL HENLEY BOAT CLUB

inside this section: H O W T O B U Y AT AU C T I O N p 7 2 L U X U R Y T R AV E L AT G L E N E AG L E S p 7 6

Henley Boat Club ‘Membership Boating’ is the easy way to take to the river whenever you want to safe in the knowledge that your boat is maintained and looked after by a family business whose working knowledge of the Thames goes back five generations and 150 years. hobbsofhenley.com/ henley-boat-club

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WOOLLEY & WALLIS CHINESE PAINTINGS SPECIALIST FREYA YUAN-RICHARDS WITH A SCROLL PAINTING BY CHEN ZHIFO (SOLD FOR £281,250)

SMART LOT Auctions are on the up – and the smart money is increasingly going online. Absolutely finds out more

By LIBBY NORMAN

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LUXE • COLLECTOR ABOVE: GRAYSON PERRY 100% ART PLATE, SOLD BY SWORDERS FOR £280

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ou've spotted your dream lot and you're watching the price tick up. The auctioneer is fielding buyers from Japan, from Puerto Rico, South Africa and Australia.

Then you place your bid and watch the gavel come down – you've won, and you're still in your dressing gown and slippers. Welcome to the heady world of online auction shopping.

There's an increasingly global audience not just for the big-four auction houses, but for smaller regional salerooms across the country. The rise is down to a combination of factors. eBay made us familiar with bidding for treasure online and auction houses had already moved online – aided by platforms such as thesaleroom.com (this first arrived on the scene way back in 2006). The pandemic switched things up several gears, but it did something more too – giving people stuck at home a frisson of retail therapy in strange times.

And some of that frisson has stuck.

Wiltshire auction houses Woolley & Wallis may have a new showroom in the heart of Salisbury, but it has seen an exponential rise in private clients via online routes even since the end of the first lockdown in 2020. Many other auctioneers say the same thing. At Sworders, on the EssexHertfordshire border, the impact of online has been "massive" says Director and Head of Design auctions John Black. "We now hold many of our sales without meeting clients – our processes have been tweaked

DANISH TEAK BOOMERANG ROCKING CHAIR BY MOGENS KOLD, SOLD BY SWORDERS FOR £1,100

BURMESE 20TH-CENTURY GILTLACQUERED BUDDHA, SOLD AT A RECENT ASIAN ART SWORDERS SALE FOR £2,400

and we now give potential bidders more information in the way of photos and condition reports than we did two years ago." Like many salerooms, Maidenhead and Hampstead auctioneer Dawsons went online at the start of the pandemic and, says commercial director Pete Liggins, that sudden enforced switch shifted the whole market. "What we quickly discovered is that there is a new online audience very keen to explore the world of auctions," he says. "The auction industry has seen a huge uplift in online spending."

“THERE'S A NICE BLURRING BETWEEN SHOPPING AND COLLECTING” EBEL 1911 STAINLESS STEEL CHRONOGRAPH, SOLD BY SWORDERS FOR £620

Online auctions are great news for anyone with limited time and an eye for something different. Good too for the cautious bidder because, let's face it, the physical auction room can be a daunting place. The fear of losing out to a permatanned man from the trade is only matched by the irrational but ever-present worry of carting home an unwanted what-not or tallboy if you scratch your nose at the wrong moment. No such fear with online auctions because bidders remain unseen – a paddle number is assigned and pops up on the auctioneer's screen when you bid.

There's a delightful feeling of anonymity and full freedom to scratch your nose.

Online auctions organised by the auction houses are very well regulated – you may be unseen, but you have to pre-register in advance. You may be asked for proof of identity the first time you bid and will definitely need to supply your credit card number. Formalities over, you have a live auctioneer on your screen, complete with gavel and all the other saleroom paraphernalia you'd expect. It's surprisingly immersive and can be nail-biting fun when you're watching a lot that shoots off the scale.

Auction houses are investing heavily in all the front end and behind-thescenes elements needed to instil buying confidence. Websites have been refined and many houses have their own online platforms. This looks slicker and, in most cases, places virtual buyers on an equal footing with 'in the room' buyers when it comes to buyer's premium/commission (see Auction knowhow). You'll find really good images – five to ten detailed shots are not unusual – plus the option to get A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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LUXE • COLLECTOR

“NO NEED TO FEAR CARTING HOME AN UNWANTED WHATNOT IF YOU SCRATCH YOUR NOSE AT THE WRONG MOMENT” ROLLING STONES PROMO POSTER, SOLD BY DAWSONS FOR £30,000 MEG RANDELL, HEAD OF DESIGNER HANDBAG AND FASHION DEPARTMENT AT BONHAMS KNIGHTSBRIDGE

a detailed condition report or do a 'walk round' via video link before the sale.

So what are people buying? The answer would be look for it and you'll probably find it online. On saleroom.com alone there are around four million lots from more than 700 auction rooms each year. But there are definite trends among luxury hunters. Jewellery remains buoyant and, while you always expect peaks in times of economic uncertainty, that doesn't tell the whole story. Sworders recently added monthly jewellery auctions alongside its twice-yearly Fine Jewellery and Watch sale. John Black says watches are a key area of growth at the moment. There is lots of interest in period jewellery – Art Deco, for example – alongside more contemporary pieces. Diamonds are always going to have intrinsic worth, but interesting provenance or a really interesting cut or setting boosts interest.

Period 'brown furniture' that was once such a mainstay remains depressed, so a snip in relation to high-end contemporary – you can pick up a smart Georgian chest of drawers or desk for a few hundred pounds. These days, says John Black, the focus is on the right piece not necessarily the history. "The ‘Decorative’ market – those items that are all about ‘the look’ rather than great concern for period and authenticity – is an area that is seeing growth." He also points to another growth area – for contemporary and modern design.

There's also the curious rise of 'talking point' pieces. Sworders' regular Out of the Ordinary sales feature everything from erotic artworks to circus artefacts (collection of crystal balls anyone?), taxidermy and even, recently, a life-size model of Lara Croft. Woolley & Wallis sold a pair of six-foot carved wooden devils by Francesco Toso for £87,500 in 2020 – almost six times the estimate. The maker came to an untimely end showing similar devilish wares at the Chicago World Exhibition in 1893, possibly adding to their allure. "The trend for the striking, the unusual or the

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just plain weird has been growing for some time," says Associate Director and European Ceramics Specialist Clare Durham.

Asian artworks have been a boom area for a while now, but the whole area of contemporary arts and prints is booming, say both Bonhams and Sworders. It can be gratifying to secure a Banksy, Peter Blake or Grayson Perry piece – also more affordable than you might imagine. Then there's the real rarity, such as a Rolling Stones poster promoting a set at the RickyTick Club in Windsor. Like the band, there's some wear and tear, but it made a worldrecord price of £30,000 last November.

At the pop end of luxury, buyers are snapping up classic motors and designer fashion. Rarity value no doubt plays its part – a Yamaha OW-01 or roadworthy Jaguar XJS (both recent sales successes at Dawsons) conjure up a world of gas-guzzling hedonism. When it comes to fashion, leader of the pack is the Hermès' Birkin bag. At Bonhams' March sale of Designer Handbags and Fashion in Knightsbridge, star lot was a cocktail Birkin, which realised a stratospheric £34,000 including premium.

The head of the Designer Handbag and Fashion department at Bonhams Knightsbridge Meg Randell says part of the allure is because it is so very hard to buy a new Birkin and the bags are always made in extremely limited numbers.

So having a Birkin in the back of your cupboard could make financial as well as fashion sense – you can always auction it off down the line. But do collectors paying these prices actually dare to carry the bag?

Meg Randell says the interesting thing is that designer fashion auction hunters sometimes do. "There's a nice blurring between shopping and collecting," she says.

Actually, that whole blurring between shopping and collecting seems to sum up pretty well what today's luxury buyers love most about the whole experience of going to an online auction. Even better is the knowledge that, if you tire of it, you can always sell it on.

Auction knowhow Buyer's premium is typically 2530% – check terms before bidding.

Auction houses' online platforms often charge less commission than general auction platforms.

•

Artist's resale rights may apply to contemporary art and this should be flagged on the lot.

•

Don't forget shipping – more costly for breakable and large items and valuable lots.

•

Auction houses may ship and can always recommend trusted couriers.

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LUXE • TRAVEL

Highland FLING

Glenmor Holiday Homes offer space and privacy in one of the world's most soughtafter destinations, The Gleneagles Hotel

By EVE HERBERT

B

ased beneath the Ochil Hills in the heart of Gleneagles’ spectacular grounds, Glenmor Village is a development of luxurious two, three, and fourbedroom holiday homes set around a traditional village green, and available for guests to rent for 3-, 4- or 7-night stays.

Presenting the perfect Scottish gateway, the homes are uniquely designed to imbue a sense of understated luxury expected from a world leading hotel, but with a comfortable, homely feel. Those in residence are treated to their own en-suite bedrooms, open plan kitchen and dining area and a spacious outdoor terrace showcasing magnificent views. The dedicated Glenmor concierge team are on hand to help with guests’ needs throughout their stay including arranging freshly baked bread to be delivered in the morning. This warm, charming and characterful home away from home allows guests to completely relax while soaking

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up the style, glamour and exceptional service for which Gleneagles is famed.

Guests will have full access to all of the facilities of the 5-star resort, and the iconic sporting estate has something for everyone.

Gleneagles’ Glorious Playground offers families a brilliant 850-acres of tailor-made activities and over 50 country pursuits, from tree climbing and horse riding to fishing and archery, all with expert tuition from the hotel’s knowledgeable instructors and guides. Children are encouraged to roam free and reconnect with the great outdoors, learning essential life skills along the way. Animal-loving families can discover gundog handling practices, while The Laird's Walk with a Hawk experience is an informative and unique opportunity to fly a Harris Hawk through the ancient woodlands and neighbouring estates.

Elsewhere, adults can enjoy The Health Club or unwind with treatments from the new Spa, with treatments designed in collaboration with some of the world’s leading wellness brands. With access to three worldclass courses – including the PGA Centenary course, venue for the 2014 Ryder Cup – keen golfers and novices alike will be in paradise.

Glenmor Holiday Homes allow guests to enjoy all the hotel’s dining options, from the two Michelin star, multi-award-winning Andrew Fairlie Restaurant to the casual Mediterranean-inspired Birnam Brasserie.

Or guests can don their finest eveningwear ready for The Strathearn restaurant.

Glenmor is the perfect option for families or groups seeking a private escape.

G L E N E AG L E S Prices from £3,500 for a 2 bed, £4,410 for a 3 bed and £4,840 for a 4 bed for 7 nights. For more information, visit gleneagles.com/glenmor, call 01764 694 321 or email own@gleneagles.com

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Mr Hobbs is part of the Hobbs of Henley experience which celebrates 150 years of luxury boating on the Thames.

Award Winning Cricketers Gin cricketersgin.com CRICKITERS_GIN_HP_ABS_APRIL22.indd 1

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INTERIORS

GA R DEN PA RT Y DA N I E L D E PA RT M E N T STO R E

For many years, Daniel Department Store has been a proud stockist of garden furniture creators Bramblecrest. The Britishmade brand produces luxury outdoor seating with innovative designs made from responsibly sourced, eco-friendly and recyclable materials. Find out more in-store and online. danielstores.co.uk 01753 801000

Interiors News 81 • Hedsor House 84 • Garden Trend 97 A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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CURATED COLLECTIONS FOR STYLISH HOMES Unleash your inner creativity with our striking selection of Ca’ Pietra statement stone & designer tiles Benefit from our wealth of design experience as tile specialists at our boutique one-stop destination

The Old Firestation, 67 High Street, Ascot SL5 7HP | 01344 620211

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INTERIORS • NEWS

G REEN SCEN E

CREATIVE

VI C TO RY CO LO U R S

R E V I E W

Novara Green No. 81 was developed by influencer Claire of @harvey_home_eclectic, and Victory Colours loved it and added it to their collection. Claire named this olive green Novara after her home. It's a fab colour and looks great on ceilings as well as walls.

victorycolours.co.uk

Updates from the industry Compiled by P E N D L E H A R T E

FLO R A & FA U N A POLKRA

The Polkra x Katie Scott Collection is made with 100% ethically sourced natural wax. The beautiful ceramic vessels by Katie Scott have been inspired by her history of botanical art, and beloved themes of Fauna & Flora. £49 polkra.com

GREAT DANES

P L AT E APPEAL GILBERT & GEORGE

HK LIVING

These plates have been created by artists Gilbert & George to support the work of The Canvas Cafe, a social enterprise in East London that feeds the homeless.

Buying this plate provides around 14 platefuls of food for some of the most vulnerable people in Tower Hamlets.

HK Living's collection of 70s ceramics expands each season with a new colourway. The highly collectible range from the Danish brand includes vases and storage jars as well as handle-free coffee cups. folkinteriors.co.uk

doublehelpings.shop

GLASS AC T NUDE

Nude's 2022 offering spans contemporary carafes and eye-catching glasses.

Highlights of the range include Tomas Kral's Beak carafe, reimagined in the style of Iris Apfel, and the ombré effect Pigmento pitcher. nudeglass.com

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Warming your home is our Passion

We provide a full service offer, from the site survey, consultancy, 3D modelling, installation and after sales care. Our experienced team listen to your requirements, provide knowledgeable advice and a complete interior design solution that bring dreams to life.

Our engineers are qualified to supply and fit any solid fuel and electric appliance from traditional free standing stoves to highly contemporary inset and free standing fires, offering a bespoke service to meet your requirements.

We have built our reputation on honesty and integrity, always offering clear advice to ensure you get the right solution for your home and lifestyle.

Whatever your project, call us or visit our showroom

Marlow Stoves 01628 290 142 info@marlowsstoves.co.uk marlowstoves.co.uk

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INTERIORS • FOCUS

HOWDENS PRODUCE A HOST OF ACCESSIBLE KITCHENS

AGE OLD ISSUES We all face certain challenges in life, but there’s no reason why your home design should be compromised B y G I L LY C R A F T

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ging gracefully means being flexible, being open, allowing change, enjoying change and loving yourself…

This brilliant quote from Wendy Whelan really sums up how we should view the aging process.

It is a view that when we get to a ‘certain age’, the only option is to move to a bungalow, retirement home or, in certain circumstances, a Care Home. Ask most people and they would want to stay in their own home, but don’t see it as an option – yet with careful planning it can be.

Let’s look at the challenges we might face first, such as mobility, sight loss, hearing loss, memory loss and loss of balance.

What can happen is that the local authority installs various aids to help with mobility

issues such as grab rails and walkers to an already cluttered and probably not fit for purpose interior. Of course, it all comes down to budget, but there is no reason why an interior cannot be designed taking into consideration the special needs of the client and still looks and feels designed, beautiful and fit for purpose.

Let’s explore some of the things to consider on top of the normal brief of a project.

Lighting levels need to be higher together with easy use of switches. Don’t rule out a smart home or a voice activated Alexa. Get rid of clutter – reducing falls is critical and having well lit, easy to navigate spaces is important.

If handrails are needed, then there are design-led ones that are made from nice materials and can be removed when not needed. Refurbish the bathroom and have a shower without a threshold, or if the building will enable it, a wet room. There are beautiful accessible bathroom components now, so it does not mean you have to settle for the clinical/hospital look and feel.

The same can be said for the kitchen – most suppliers have accessible kitchen fittings that offer lower worktops, hobs and sinks, so that you can sit whilst preparing food or washing up.

I am sure we have all seen stair lifts, but did you know that you can install a full lift in your home with no major construction work? Very easily, there are ones that will also take a wheelchair.

If you want expert advice on architectural, interior or lighting design, then book your free consultation with our experts at the brand new Home Design Open Day taking place on Saturday 2 April between 10.30am3.30pm at Moss End Garden Village. This is an exclusive opportunity to bring your project ideas and receive expert advice and ideas free of charge (consultations are usually chargeable). Consultations can be booked via the website mossendgardenvillage. co.uk/home-design-open-day.

KO U B O U I N T E R I O R S Gilly Craft is the founder of Koubou Interiors.

For more advice and inspiration, call 01344 779 323 or visit koubouinteriors.co.uk

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L I V I N G

H ISTO RY

The current MD of Hedsor House writes about the history of his family home and why a complete renovation was key to its future

By MARK SHEPHARD

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INTERIORS • FEATURE

H

THE STUNNING CENTRE HALL

edsor House is a beautiful Grade II listed house situated high up above the River Thames in Taplow with a history stretching back nearly 1,000 years.

In the 1100s there was a medieval manor house built for the de Hedsor family, hence the name Hedsor.

Following this in the late 1500s a Tudor manor house stood here. A new mansion was built in 1778 for Frederick Irby, 2nd Lord Boston, who held the position of Lord of the Bedchamber to King George III. The King and his wife Queen Charlotte helped him design the new house built by the architect Sir William Chambers, who also designed Somerset House in London. It was known as Hedsor Lodge.

The new mansion stood for less than 100 years before being demolished and replaced in 1868 with the house we see today. An Italian style villa, it continued to

be lived in by the family before being sold in 1925 by the 6th Lord Boston, who had been a Lord in Waiting to Queen Victoria. The Queen and her family visited Hedsor often.

The house was then bought by a famous racing driver called D’Arcy Baker. He spent thousands of pounds on the house, remodelling it back to a Georgian style, purchasing panelling from other houses and buying the finest Italian marble for the bathrooms. No expense was spared – and it bankrupted him. Just seven years later when he died in 1932 the house passed to his creditors. Hedsor was bought by Philip Shephard, my father, a godson of Lord Boston. He bought the estate with 100 acres of parkland for £12,000. It came with 15 staff and four gardeners!

A lot of my memories are through the eyes of my father who was born in the house and grew up running around it as an only child. As you can imagine, he has some fascinating anecdotes.

My grandmother was gifted the house

as a wedding present and was endlessly entertaining, hosting fabulous parties through the glamorous 30s. As boys, my brothers and I were often dropped at her house and we were able to run around the estate playing games. We were left to our own devices and really ran wild – what lucky boys we were.

My grandparents left the house in 1956 and it was leased to various companies as their headquarters including the American Air Force during the Cold War (my father used to set off the trip wires in the woods).

It was when the lease ran out in 2004 that the reality of an empty building hit us, and we struggled to find anyone to rent the property. Myself and my two brothers, Nick and Hamish, decided to save it and launched in 2008 as a corporate focussed events venue. Little did we know that the financial crash was just a few months away!

We reinvested everything for the first ten years to bring the project to life. This involved a considerable amount of renovation as we A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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INTERIORS • FEATURE

“We have endlessly modernised and reinvested whilst keeping true to the spirit of the house” MARK HEDSOR IN THE DUSTIN SUITE

wanted to turn Hedsor back into the family home my father remembered growing up – elegant, and full of the touches of splendour you expect from a historic building of this scale. We commissioned bespoke carpets and chandeliers and reinstalled architectural details referencing photographs from the 1930s when my grandmother ran her famous parties and hosted VIP guests from all over the world. We have remodelled the ballroom and renovated the 13 bedrooms. This continuous reinvestment has continued to this day; there are still so many things we want to do.

Every floor was re-sanded, every curtain and carpet replaced. Every corner of the house has been modernised. We now have the most luxurious bridal suite in Europe, the most incredible guest bedrooms, an oak panelled ballroom resplendent with three chandeliers, a quirky bar with doors that lead out to our Sunken Garden, and a re-landscaped parkland in keeping with the history and period. We have endlessly modernised and reinvested whilst keeping true to the spirit of the house. The centre hall is just stunning and always takes our customers’ breath away when they first walk in. There isn’t an inch of the house that isn’t loved and cherished.

Whilst we still host the occasional corporate event, and of course have been the location for scores of films and TV dramas (including the current This is Going to Hurt on BBC1), it is weddings for which we are best known now.

We are always looking for ways to improve the experience our couples have. One piece of feedback we have had is that couples would like to be able to be on site earlier and have a relaxing start to their wedding morning. With this in mind we have completely renovated a former lodge in the grounds and transformed it into a luxury, three-bedroom cottage which will be available for our couples to hire the

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night before their wedding. We have renamed it The Hive as it has a unique hexagonal shape that is reminiscent of the honeycombs we retrieve from hives across the estate to make our Hedsor honey. And, of course, we are anticipating it being an absolute hive of activity the morning of a wedding as brides and their bridesmaids prepare for the big day!

We are going to continue to build on the legacy for sustainability that my father, Alexander, introduced. This is a passion that runs through the whole team and we are working hard to become more eco-friendly across all of our events. We want to continue to offer world-class events and lead the wedding industry with new initiatives, which offer an even better wedding day experience.

HEDSOR HOUSE Hedsor Park, Taplow, SL6 0HX 01628 819050 • hedsor.com

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INTERIORS • FOCUS

Nature’s

WAY

On the RIBA Awards shortlist, we look at one project in Buckinghamshire by Cullinan Studio that wowed the judges

T “This is a house that responds to microclimate and its garden setting” THE HOUSE REALLY TAPS INTO ITS OUTDOOR SPACE

he client’s existing house was dark and gloomy, with paper thin walls, blocking views and access to a wonderful garden.

How should a home be created that might respond to the needs of a modern family in suburban Amersham?

The large suburban plots of Amersham were set out in the 1930s, encouraging the idea of a daily commute to a sanctuary home away from the smog and bustle of central London. Today these houses are fiercely protected, with any departure from imitative Arts and Crafts form and detail frowned upon by the local authority and its planning committee. Cullinan Studio found a way to create a modern house by expressing construction and material qualities, and by pulling the house into three parts, cracking open the roof to pour light into the heart of the home.

This is a house that responds to microclimate and its garden setting. Made of timber, it is inherently low-carbon and non-toxic; healthy for the occupants and healthy for the planet. The studio noticed that the family already had a favourite place in the garden, a spot where the west sun swept round behind the north-facing frontage. By sliding the living room wing back into the garden, they were able to catch this afternoon and evening sunshine.

Free corners frame views out to the garden, allowing the family to connect to their garden and the tall trees of the

NATURAL LIGHT FLOODS IN

street. Daylight from high clerestories in the split gable design cuts deep into the central hallway. Glimpses of changing weather and sky follow the family as they go about their day. Walls and ceilings are flooded with daylight, bedrooms look straight into tree canopy, living spaces open onto the mature garden, and everywhere are the clean lines and warm textures of the exposed timber structure.

Overlapping voids and double-height pine walls form playful volumes so the living spaces flow together, making for a fun and sociable home. Indeed, in the first few months of moving in, the children had more friends over than the last few years in their previous home. While the main living rooms allow the family to easily connect with each other, mezzanine floors create areas for retreat. Outside, the house is grounded with a local brick base, beneath a timber and glass recessed middle, and a sweeping tile roof, in the true spirit of Amersham’s Arts and Crafts tradition.

CULLINAN STUDIO See more at cullinanstudio.com/projectpush-pull-house, and for details of the RIBA Awards visit architecture.com

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KITCHEN AND INTERIORS STUDIO IN BEACONSFIELD Your new Schmidt showroom has just opened. This is the ideal opportunity to breathe life into all your home interior projects, from kitchens to living rooms, bathrooms and wardrobes.

For more than 60 years, Schmidt’s solutions have been the beating heart of countless home interiors.

Visit our design studio in Beaconsfield, the latest addition to our worldwide network of over 1000 studios.

E CLUSIVE APRIL OFFER! PLACE AN ORDER BY APRIL 3 TO RECIEVE A FREE KAELO INE COOLER. BOOK A CONSULTATION TODAY AND QUOTE “KAELO22” T & CS APPLY.

SCHMIDT BEACONSFIELD 8 Burkes Parade, Station Road, Beaconsfield, Bucks. HP9 1NN Tel: 01494 611700 info@schmidt-beaconsfield.com

> www.homedesign.schmidt

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INTERIORS • TREND CULT FURNITURE Kalimantan Pendant Light Bamboo, £159 cultfurniture.com

ROSE & GREY Bamboo Noticeboard, £18 roseandgrey.co.uk

ELLA JAMES Natural Rattan Three Tier Storage Unit, £225 ellajames.co.uk

EDITOR’S PICK

BEAUMONDE Freja Black Recycled Cushion Cover with Tassels, £24 beaumonde.co.uk

MODISH LIVING Canford Sustainable Mango Wood Console Table, £449, modishliving.co.uk

HEAVENLY HOMES

PEPPER SQ Sustainable Pendant Lamp, £449 peppersq.com

PLANET EARTH

SPICER AND WOOD Recycled Glass Jug Green, £42 spicerandwood.co.uk

Recycled Green Glass Vase, £9 heavelyhomesandgardens.co.uk

EDITOR’S PICK

Sustainable solutions for the home

By P E N D L E H A R T E

ROSE & GREY Recycled Teak Dining Table, £450 roseandgrey.co.uk

ZERO ZEN STORE Compostable Food Waste Paper Bags, £7.50 zerozen.co.uk

MINT MAY Square Bamboo Storage Basket, £18 mintandmay.co.uk

WALTON & CO Recycled Cotton Throw, £18 waltonshop.co.uk

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Handmade in

Buckinghamshire with a 10 year guarantee

Comfort with Integrity

™

We work with farmers to source nature’s finest materials, handcrafting beautifully stylish beds and supremely comfortable mattresses that help enhance your sleep, health and well-being.

As pioneers of sustainable and ethical bed making, we believe sleep shouldn’t cost the Earth.

Visit our Showroom and design a bed that’s just right for you: Monday to Thursday 9am to 5pm | Friday to Saturday 9am to 4pm Longwick Road | Princes Risborough | Buckinghamshire HP27 9RS

T: 01844 348 240 | hypnosbeds.com Proud to be Carbon Neutral | Handmade in Britain and 100% recyclable

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INTERIORS • TREND

INNERMOST Hoxton ceiling light, £178 lightinglover.com

CARL HANSEN & SON Opal pendant, from £300 carlhansen.com

DAR LIGHTING Klaxon 1 light, £102 darlighting.co.uk

CULT FURNITURE Bhutan pendant, £139 cultfurniture.com

HUNG UP

ICONIC LIGHTS Cassini 4 way black ceiling bar light, £133 iconiclights.co.uk

WALLS AND FLOORS Terrazzo Hexagon Nevada Pink Porcelain Tile, £38.95 wallsandfloors.co.uk LOUIS POULSEN PH5 pendant light, £765 conranshop.co.uk

All the best pendant lights

By P E N D L E H A R T E

EDITOR’S PICK

DAR LIGHTING Teyana 9 light pendant, £1,560 darlighting.co.uk

ORIGINAL BTC DOWSING AND REYNOLDS

Pebble pendant, £1,649 originalbtc.com

Connaught ceiling light, £539.99 dowsingandreynolds.com

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COLLECTOR B U T TE R F LY

“It’s an exciting process to imagine and create spaces that people will live in daily”

Mary Katrantzou launches her first interiors collection, a range of tiles for Villeroy & Boch Words P E A R L B OY D

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ashion designer Mary Katrantzou has launched a vibrant and colourful tile collection with Villeroy & Boch. This new partnership is the designer’s first foray into interior design. When Katrantzou was first approached by the tile manufacturer, she was instantly drawn to its over two centuries’ history of design and manufacturing. As a former architectural student, Katrantzou was keen to convert her approach to fashion into a spatial context of walls and floors. She believes that striking a harmonious balance between colour, pattern and form is just as important in interiors as it is in fashion.

In the Victorian collection, Katrantzou sought to transform tiles into a collectable piece of art and drew inspiration from objects, interiors and the natural world.

Butterflies are central to the new Victorian collection and have been a recurring theme in her fashion collections – Katrantzou sees them as one of the truest examples of metamorphosis. The designer was also inspired by postage stamps and timeless Victorian design and wanted to create tiles that captured a sense of nostalgia, but were equally graphic and modern in their design.

Katrantzou says: “It’s been an exciting process to imagine and create spaces that people will live in daily. These designs form part of an individual’s home, where they surround themselves with things they love, creating a feeling of permanence that’s very different to the very nature of fashion.” marykatrantzou.com

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Department Store

Tetbury Nutmeg Mini Modular Sofa with Eco Cushions & Dual-Height Tree-Free Top Table and Two Stools

£1599

The ultimate in social dining for small gatherings The classic design of the Tetbury range features fawn linen seat cushions made from innovative Eco Fabric, spun from recycled plastic bottles. The soft-touch cushions retain the hard-wearing, season-proof quality that is synonymous with Bramblecrest outdoor fabrics. The all-weather, Nutmeg rattan is built on an aluminium frame, hence the furniture is lightweight, strong and rust-free.

Full collection available at Daniel of Windsor, shop in-store & online: www.danielstores.co.uk Tel: 01753 801000

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22nd - 24th APRIL 2022 NEWBURY RACECOURSE , BERKSHIRE BUY TICKETS AT WWW.CONTEMPORARYARTFAIRS .CO.UK

BE BOLD BE VISIONARY BE FRESH BE DISTINCTIVE BE REFINE

Uplifting unique designs, which complement one another, encouraging to be mixed, matched or layered WWW.EVIEANDSKYE.COM

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INTERIORS • TREND

Move on up BRIDGMAN

G A T R

R D E N

E N D S

 Cliveden modular furniture has been thoughtfully produced to be one of the most luxurious outdoor furniture collections that money can buy. Stylish and modern in appearance, each individual piece can be moved and positioned to suit your space and requirements. This luxuriant set combines generous seat and back cushions, making the furniture a perfect spot to spend time relaxing in the summer sun – or by the fire in the cooler evenings. bridgman.co.uk

SPRING MAY BE HERE , BUT WARMER NIGHTS NOT JUST YET, SO KEEP TOAST Y WITH THE SE TOP PICKS

It's magic LOGI FIR EPITS

 The Fantasy Spherical Fire Pit has a built in ash-pan, the base includes fixing holes for added stability, a protective weather and heat resistant coating. It's one of a number of themes from LOGI Firepits that also features the Fantasy Wire fairies: ‘Dancing with Dandelions’, ‘Wish maker’, ‘Trillian’ and ‘Anhali’, all set in a woodland scene. logifirepits.com

A warm glow C H A R LT O N I S L A N D

 Bring out your garden's full potential with Charlton Island's outdoor Poole fireplace. Resistant to frost and stable in the sunlight, it features two main compartments including an area for lit logs and space underneath for spare wood storage. With logs sitting there ready for throwing on the fire, it's never been easier to create instant warmth and ambience. charltonisland.com

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INTERIORS • TREND

Smart purchase BIO FIRES ONLINE

 The NEW EcoSmart Nova 600 in Natural from Bio Fires Online is a fabulous new bioethanol fire pit with a rich orange flame that burns with a beautiful flicker. It's one of a host of products available at the Berkshirebased business to ensure that any chilly nights won't spoil any springtime outdoor parties. biofiresonline.com

Great Dane MORSØ

 Morsø Kamino Outdoor Chimnea Fireplace is suitable for all-year-round and adds a stylish touch to your outdoor living space whilst keeping you and your guests warm. The tall sleek patio heater is in an understated Danish design cast in black cast iron and adds architectural interest to a garden. As the chimnea is easy to move, if the wind is causing issues, you can simply change the direction of the fireplace. beaumonde.co.uk

Premium pit GARDENESQUE

 Impress your guests with this premium propane gas fire pit, finished in a modern concrete grey, creating a stand-out fire pit that will modernize your garden vibe. Gas fire pits are hassle-free, quick to light and provide consistent warmth.

This contemporary gas fire pit comes with lava rock filler, a glass spark shield, a protective cover and inside compartment to hide your gas canister in. gardenesque.com

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MALVERN GARDEN BUILDINGS

Discover our premium range of garden offices, designed for nature-infused homeworking.

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SPECIALISTS IN

Luxury Surface Design From luxurious walls that make a statement to seamless wet rooms.

‘Be Bold, Be Bespoke, Be BVP’

bespokevenetianplastering.com info@bespokevenetianplastering.com | 01344 231163 BESPOKE VENETIAN.indd 100

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INTERIORS • PARTNERSHIP

Get SMART The experts at Swish Fibre on how to create a technologically advanced home

– Full Fibre broadband is best as the fibre runs straight into your home, boasting speed and reliability. As smart-technology use grows in your home, you may notice your internet speeds slowing down when using other devices all at the same time. The truth is, smart home devices require a fair amount of bandwidth and high-speed broadband so they can work seamlessly together.

With Swish Fibre, you can say hello to 4K streaming, hardcore gaming, crystal clear video calls and smart home living, across multiple devices 24/7. They make every millisecond count by delivering an upload speed that matches the eye-watering download speed of your chosen package.

CONTROL SETTINGS IN YOUR HOME AT A TOUCH OF A BUTTON

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ake up and smell the coffee, literally. Gone are the days when switching the lights on and off via an app was viewed as ‘out of this world’. Now, with smart technology you can press a button on your phone and have your coffee made for you. The world of smart homes is evolving fast, and devices like these are now at our fingertips. If you’re looking to turn your new home, build project or your current abode into a smart home, here’s a few ways you can do so.

SMART SPEAKERS, SMART DISPLAYS AND APPS It’s common for people to use either a speaker, display or app to act as the central hub to control the rest of their smart devices. Do your research and find out what works best for you and your needs. Alexa or Google Assistant? Screen or speaker?

When buying a new smart tech device, be sure to check if it’s user-friendly and works with your chosen companion. Most devices will let you easily use voice commands, egg-timers, radios and audiobooks.

ENERGY MANAGEMENT More sophisticated than your traditional thermostat, smart meters can allow you to control the temperature of your home remotely and even turn on the heating on your way home for a warm reception.

The Ecobee Smart Thermostat even has a remote room sensor and has a voice control with Alexa support and voice commands – so you can manage your smart tech set-up seamlessly.

SMART FRIDGES Going beyond these types of smart technology products, you may want to get even more sophisticated with a smart fridge. You can use both Alexa and Google Assistant to monitor and set the temperature, turn on the ice maker or the air filter. The LG Smart Refrigerator has a built-in display that will let you order groceries and even play music to make your kitchen feel calmer and more productive.

This is where it all comes together; you’ll need a stable, robust broadband connection

“SMART HOMES REQUIRE A FAIR AMOUNT OF BANDWIDTH AND HIGHSPEED BROADBAND” With split-second response rates, Swish always delivers when it matters most.

If you’re a resident of Beaconsfield, Marlow or Gerrards Cross, the good news is Full Fibre is available in your area.

You can register your interest for more information on what they can do for you, to find out when your home is ready to be connected or to pre-order your desired service. Visit their Hub in Marlow to put the latest smart technology to the test and see the results of Full Fibre for yourself. swishfibre.com A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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Award winning Interior Architecture and Design

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Design with your needs in mind

Complete service from design to completion

how to find us Moss End Garden Village, Maidenhead Road, Warfield, Bracknell, RG42 6EJ call us 01344 779 323 website www.koubouinteriors.co.uk email info@koubouinteriors.co.uk

22/10/2021 09:05

01/04/2022 12:58

INTERIORS • DESIGN

Home ECONOMY

Absolutely quizzes MJ Truong about her award-winning new cookware designs Words E V E H E R B E R T

M “How can design choices support less wasteful homes?”

J Truong is a passionate product designer who was inspired as a student at Yale to pursue a career in industrial design.

Since 2013 she has been a founding member of the Meyer Labs team at Meyer’s Hong Kong headquarters. While 80-90% of all industrial designers are men, Meyer is dedicated to pursuing diversity and amplifying women’s voices, and Truong’s Accent series received the Red Dot Design Award 2021.

Q Tell us about your Accent cookware

range. What makes it different?

A There are several unique design

innovations. The pots’ signature bellshaped curve helps catch unexpected spills and boilovers, for one. And with tidy, nesting pans and universal lids, the pans are easy to store. The ergonomic, heat-resistant silicone handle provides a seriously comfortable grip, while the rim lets you pour sauces and liquids with ease.

Q What is your design philosophy?

A Our design philosophy is people-

driven, food-focused and simple. User research is the key component in our

product development process – our product designs come from insights we collect from cooking with people all over the world and observing their daily lives and needs in the kitchen.

Q How did you research your product?

A We wanted to develop a better

understanding of global cooking habits and trends, insights on what problems people experience whilst cooking, or what unmet needs might exist in home kitchens globally. To do this, we kicked off an ethnographic research process, visiting the US, UK, India, China, Singapore, Japan and Australia.

We discovered that the UK is much more interested in induction-capable cookware than, say, the US – which could be because the UK public is greener-minded, or perhaps because home construction practices favour induction hobs. British kitchens tend to be smaller than US kitchens and feature washing machines, much like Hong Kong, but quite unlike the US. Dishwashers are pretty common too, so dishwasher-safe cookware is definitely a priority for the UK market. British people also seem to use their ovens more than other markets – most Asian households don’t have ovens at all, except in Singapore.

One of the insights we found was that kitchen cupboards aren’t sparking joy – mismatched diameters, handles sticking out everywhere, cookware generally being sold in massive box sets all contribute to chaos and clutter... so we started thinking: isn’t there a better way? How can design choices support less wasteful, more intentional homes and environments for people? meyer.com A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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Quick dry foam

CE Certified fire pits

Aluminium rust proof frames

All weather furniture

10mm & 6mm tempered glass

Outdoor Furniture for Living Clean lines with on-trend colour fabrics, and quality construction with a host of features.

Mambo is the perfect addition to our current collections that allows customers to make the very best of every inch of their home and garden.

Mambo comprises three collections in Santorini, Del Mar and Cove with each offering unique outdoor living experiences as flexible as they are good looking.

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5-year frame guarantee

Water resistant PU coated fabrics

reading-bedding.co.uk | 0118 986 1212 10-14 Cressingham Rd, Reading RG2 7JE

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INTERIORS • GARDENS

T h e b i g S C R E E N Practicality Brown offer their top tips for screening trees for your garden

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ardens can provide a valuable sanctuary and respite from the busy world; using trees to screen out or hide an undesirable view can create some welcome privacy.

Screening trees grown for this purpose often have a clear stem, for example no leaves or branches on the lower trunk.

The stem is usually up to fence panel height of around 1.8-2m with a full, bushy canopy above, forming an effective screen above the fence line. This type of screening is particularly useful if you are overlooked by neighbouring properties or would like to retain lower level exposure to an attractive wall or area.

Clear stem trees can also be planted to create a focal point or perhaps to make the most of an attractive garden feature. Alternatively, feathered trees that have full growth from the ground upwards offer the same screening ability, but can hide unwanted sights.

Evergreen trees are preferred for this purpose as they screen throughout the year; however, a planting scheme that includes some deciduous trees, if space allows, can provide rich contrast and seasonal interest.

THE TOP PLEACHED TREES

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PRACTICALITY BROWN’S TOP SCREENING TREES

Practicality Brown can supply a range of top quality clear stem and feathered trees for screening, which are ideal to create privacy in your garden. There are many trees that are suitable for providing effective screening, but these are their top recommended trees at the moment: • Ilex aquifolium Nellie R Stevens (Holly Nellie R Stevens) • Ilex castaneifolia (Sweet Chestnut Holly) • Ligustrum japonicum (Japanese Privet) • Magnolia grandiflora Gallisoniensis • Osmanthus aquifolium (Holly Olive) • Osmanthus armathus (Devilwood) • Eriobotrya japonica (Loquat Tree)

Practicality Brown also have a range of pleached trees that can be used in the same way. These elegant trees look good in a formal landscape, but also offer effective screening for any garden, especially where space is limited. The species we would recommend are: • Elaeagnus ebbingei • Ilex Nellie R Stevens • Ligustrum Japonicum • Magnolia Grandiflora • Photinia fraseri ‘Red Robin’ • Viburnum lucidum

Semi-mature trees can be planted to achieve effective screening from the offset, without waiting years for younger trees to grow. Trees are a great addition to almost any garden, creating structure and seasonal interest.

P R AC T I CA L I T Y B R OW N With a comprehensive range of large quality trees, Practicality Brown can provide the ideal solution for your garden. For more information, either visit pracbrown.co.uk or call 01753 652 022

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INTERIORS • PROMOTION

S P E E D O F T H O U G H T How Hey!Broadband can ensure homes are able to adapt to the fast pace of modern day life

D

id you know that the average broadband speed in the UK is 50 Mbps? This means that most homes throughout the UK are likely to struggle with slow and unreliable internet, due to the use of outdated and traditional broadband infrastructure. There's good news, though: Hey!Broadband is delighted to announce that they will be bringing full fibre broadband to homes in Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.

Homes in Buckinghamshire and Berkshire have already started connecting to gigafast, full fibre broadband and thousands more are expected to be connected in the next few months. Full fibre broadband means that your premises will be able to experience broadband speeds that are up to 20x faster and more reliable than traditional broadband speeds, as the full fibre cables go straight from the exchange to your home.

BENEFITS OF FULL FIBRE BROADBAND

• Work from home seamlessly and without interruptions; • Stream your favourite TV or movies in 4K; • Stable video calling: connect and share meaningful moments with family and friends; • Full fibre broadband can increase value: research conducted by the ISP Preview found that 70% of estate agents believe that gigabit broadband boosts a home’s demand.

PRICE OF FULL FIBRE BROADBAND

You may be shocked and pleasantly suprised to learn that Hey!Broadband’s full fibre broadband is cheaper or at a similar price point to what you are already paying. Prices start from £23 per a month, with free standard installation. Contact them to find out more information.

HOW EASY IS IT TO SWITCH BROADBAND?

Switching to full fibre broadband could not be easier with Hey!Broadband. All you need to do is visit heybroadband.co.uk or call 0808 168 1616, select your package and book your installation appointment.

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Open Morning Saturday 7th May 10.00-12.30 Scholarships and bursaries available Tel. +44 (0)1923 845514 Email. admissions@mtsn.org.uk

Merchant Taylors’ School, Sandy Lodge, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 2HT

Excellence, integrity and distinction since 1561 MERCHANT TAYLOR.indd 110 CW0123_MTS_Absolutely Bucks A4.indd 1

www.mtsn.org.uk Coaches: Beaconsfield, Gerrards Cross, Chalfont St Peter & Denham Moor Park

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E D U C AT I O N

ALL-ROUND EXCELLENCE M E RC H A N T TAY LO R S ' S C H O O L

Merchant Taylors' School offers an outstanding academic education to boys aged 3-18, with a strong extra-curricular and pastoral focus, all set in a stunning campus. Since its foundation, in 1561, the school has been widely-regarded as one of the best schools in England, providing an allround education of the highest quality. mtsn.org.uk

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PRIZED PETS How animals in the classroom can have lasting benefits

By S U E L A I D L AW

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EDUCATION • FEATURE

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any years ago, as an eager young teacher in my first post, I volunteered to look after the school guinea pig when other older and wiser members of staff chose to decline the opportunity.

The role was a dubious pleasure, partly because my animal preference is not for small to medium sized South American rodents, but also because the poor old thing had the guinea pig equivalent to piles and often had to have help in that area.

A few years later, in another teaching job, I decided to embrace my apprehension and suggest to the head that my class of young children would benefit from embracing a new member of the class – a hamster. My enthusiasm was encouraged and so off I went to adopt Harvey the Hamster who arrived in style, complete with shiny new cage and whirling wheel, in front of a class of six-year-olds, all excited to meet their new friend. Harvey and his classmates had great fun together – perhaps my wonderful teaching assistant and I, less so. As adoptive parents, we had a few worried nights when Harvey made a great escape, eventually being found behind a cupboard, making some sort of nest.

Nevertheless, these early intuitive moments in bringing children and animals together in a school setting proved to be positive, in so many ways.

Not only did all the children learn about caring for something or someone smaller and more vulnerable than themselves

“To improve mental health, we should have at least one dog in every single school” and to take responsibility, but it soon became obvious that those who were less able to communicate confidently with their human classmates were able to quietly bond with their new friend.

It is now well documented that simply by stroking a furry friend, heart rates slow and blood pressure reduces. Today, in our Laidlaw Education classrooms, we teach and support many anxious students of all ages. On occasions, we have welcomed a calm puppy or a family dog in with an anxious child or young person; this has always had a calming effect and aided the initial integration into our setting.

Therapy dogs are becoming increasingly popular in classrooms, particularly in SEN settings, and it is wonderful to witness the benefits that these specially trained dogs can bring to all children, especially to those with special needs and requirements. The dogs are trained to be good-natured, calm and patient. They obviously love human contact and having a soothing, calming effect. Sir Anthony Seldon, the well-known educator, has said: “The quickest and biggest hit that we can make to improve mental health in our schools, and to make them feel safe for children, is to have at least one dog in every single school in the country.”

This wonderful natural “therapy” has a great deal of scientific backing, although none of it is new. Sigmund Freud would often have his own dog, Jofi, in his psychotherapy sessions, as he observed that patients were comforted by her presence.

Research by Dr Boris Levinson, in the 1960s, formalised these scientific ideas.

More recently, psychologist Alan Beck and psychiatrist Aaron Katcher have followed through on the scientific validation.

So, from the poor old guinea pig that I looked after, to the scientific research of the present, it is very clear that the presence of animals in schools can have huge benefits.

Sue Laidlaw is founder of Laidlaw Education LLP, Laidlaw Hall, a specialist education centre, and Laidlaw Virtual Academy.

For more call 020 8487 9517 or visit laidlaweducation.co.uk A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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Brave new

WORLD

The head of Thorpe House School on preparing pupils for what really lies ahead

T

By NICHOLAS PIETREK

he opportunities within education are so exciting at the moment.

As terrible as the pandemic of the past two years has been, it has paved the way for considerable reflection on how education can be delivered and indeed the very nature of what needs to be taught. The traditional chalk and talk teaching is well behind us now, and the expectation that pupils should be focusing on regurgitating facts and information is clearly outdated, albeit that schools are still required to prepare children to do exactly that.

It is a great frustration for schools that we all know the education system is not really delivering any more. Businesses are telling us all the time that they are finding their employees have been poorly prepared

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for the workplace. Skills that may have been appropriate 20-30 years ago are not what they are looking for now. The focus now is firmly on leadership, communication, teamwork, collaboration, flexibility, creativity, critical thinking, entrepreneurial skills, and digital literacy. The onus is very much on schools to reconsider their offering and make sure they can deliver what the pupils need to prepare them properly for their futures.

At Thorpe House we have seized upon the last two years to reflect on what we do well and what we can do better to ensure we are preparing our pupils for the future. In our Lower School the staff have worked to develop a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) curriculum that gives the boys the opportunity to practically apply the theory of their learning.

“The pandemic has paved the way for reflection on how education can be delivered”

EDUCATION • FOCUS

Seeing your learning coming to life and understanding its practical application is so important.

As the boys move through the school, we are excited at a new partnership that we are developing with Ninja Code Academy to ensure that from Year 6 the boys are learning to develop their own apps, before moving into Years 7 and 8 where they follow an exceptional programme that teaches them how to code whilst applying these skills to their own robotics projects. These are the areas where the future lies and we are making sure that the Thorpe pupils not only have the foundations to explore these areas further, but will become genuine leaders in these fields.

Our enrichment programme alongside our GCSEs ensures that the boys have an understanding of finance, learn how to cook, acquire a first aid qualification, receive lessons in developing resilience, learn to look at current affairs and understand the different political systems around the world whilst also examining great speeches from history and assessing the effectiveness of different styles of rhetoric.

We are very hopeful that we will be adding a Sixth Form to our offering and already we are developing partnerships with companies to offer our pupils exclusive mini-apprenticeship opportunities that will truly set our pupils apart when they apply for University and for their first jobs.

Education is exciting and Thorpe House is determined to ensure that our pupils are ready for what comes next. Don’t just look to the future, start creating it now!

THORPE HOUSE 29 Oval Way, Chalfont St Peter, Gerrards Cross SL9 8QA. 01753 882474 • thorpehouse.co.uk

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Your local Independent School, Thorpe House School in Gerrards Cross.

Looking to the Future.

Open morning TUESDAY 10TH MAY 09.00 – 11.00

At Thorpe House our aspirations push us to achieve higher. There is no such thing as failure, only a desire to learn and become the best version of ourselves.

Book your place at

Thorpe House is an all-through school for boys aged 4-16

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EDUCATION • FOCUS

from as far as Australia, USA, Asia, and Europe, including handwritten cards put in the post, old school style. Wonderful!

Life is full of challenges and our job at Upton House is to prepare our children for those difficult conversations and build resilience in partnerships with parents. Our curriculum challenges every individual. As a NACE accredited school, we have high expectations of every child.

CONTINUITY AND CONSISTENCY

CHILDREN LOVE HAVING A GO AT SOMETHING NEW

What children

WANT

How do the younger generation learn best?

The headmistress of Upton House School in Windsor writes about inspiring a passion

By RHIAN THORNTON

I

have the privilege of being a headmistress. I am also a working mum with three children in three different schools. This allows me the benefit of experience when thinking about what children really want.

CHALLENGE

Children love a challenge; a problem to solve, a puzzle. They like a purpose and they like consistency. The pandemic shook that consistency to its core, leaving many young people confused and apart from their friends and wider family. Our key focus at that time here at Upton House School, with our online learning, was to keep everyone together even though we were physically apart. This togetherness has continued as a crucial theme at Upton In our frequent livestreamed events to grandparents around the world, they have had the benefit of sharing their achievements and performances like never before. Cards and letters have flooded in

Our parents are constantly juggling work and life. We have plenty of dual working families and with this change in demographics in the independent sector we have introduced an extended day until 6pm and early birds from 7.45am, with Little Upton (Nursery and Pre-Nursery) opening now 48 weeks of the year, which gives our families continuity throughout the year in terms of the school holidays.

HEALTHY COMPETITION

Children love healthy competition, within a safe, kind, and respectful environment.

Not everyone can be a sports scholar, a music scholar, or an art one. Some children are blessed with natural talent, but most excel through hard work, dedication and time spent practising a skill. Children like to win and are naturally competitive, but everyone plays their part with their own individual skills and contributions to school life. Here at Upton, we really value this We love our children to excel on what they like the most and we also encourage other children to have a go and try new things.

Exceptional pastoral care explains that we cannot always come first, but children love participating. Opportunities to participate in abundance are so important to school life.

Children want to be really known by their teachers, loved, and inspired. Education is one of the greatest foundations to creating opportunities. It is a legacy from which the children can blossom, becoming compassionate and wise leaders the world will most certainly need. uptonhouse.org.uk A B S O L U T E LY m a g a z i n e s

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Welcoming girls into Year 7 from 2023

What we offer in Greece: • At home full or part time, live in or live out qualified, checked nannies • Holiday nannies, yacht nannies, travelling nannies • Evening babysitting • Flexibility to suit the family needs • All locations in Greece and abroad • Summer or winter, baby care, play in the pool, beach, trips, arts and crafts, fun and age related activities in or out the home

With 40 years’ experience teaching girls, Reading Blue Coat is excited to extend its Co-Ed provision to welcome girls into Year 7 from September 2023.

Open Morning: Saturday 7 May 2022 Register your attendance at rbcs.org.uk

An Independent Day School for Boys and Girls 11-18

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BROAD APPEAL

Why Eton End School offers children the best possible start on their educational journey

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ton End is a coeducational day school and nursery for children aged from 3 to 11 years, situated on the fringes of Datchet and Eton in six beautiful acres. Established in 1936 to educate the children of Eton Masters, they successfully merge tradition with a forward-thinking approach to teaching and learning.

The links with Eton College continue, enabling pupils to experience numerous opportunities that extend and enrich their learning.

The children at Eton End achieve excellent academic standards, developing a life-long love of learning in small classes. The specialist staff bring the broad curriculum alive with their enthusiasm and expertise.

The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) report (May 2019) found Eton End to be ‘Excellent’ in all areas and with teaching and learning at the heart of all they do.

ISI stated that Eton End develops children’s ‘skills, knowledge and understanding to a high level and teaches them how to apply these skills across the curriculum’.

Eton End children are confident and articulate with strong communication skills, displaying excellent attitudes to learning.

Encouraging the children to be resilient and to persevere, showing self-awareness and an ability to reflect on their progress is key. The children at Eton End display a strong sense of self-confidence, resilience and commitment to improve their learning and performance in readiness for the next stage of

“Happiness and wellbeing are pivotal to an Eton End education”

EDUCATION • FOCUS

their lives. Empathising with peers, encouraging friends and learning to respect one another are essential skills for life that are developed and nurtured at Eton End. The opportunities available to the pupils at Eton End enable every child to find their strengths, both inside and outside of the classroom. With the wonderful space available and their bespoke ‘Outdoor Learning Centre’, the opportunities for learning are endless. An Eton End education is not only about teaching the children knowledge, but also about preparing them for life. This year, they have revamped the Dining Room and built a bespoke Food Technology area, which will enhance the children’s life skills further.

A full after school programme of clubs and activities is available for pupils to enjoy, enabling them to develop alternative skills in the comfort of the school environment. Happiness and wellbeing are pivotal to an Eton End education and they work hard to ensure that their happy children thrive. Eton End offers pupils an excellent all-round education, whilst ensuring they experience a childhood they will cherish.

E TO N E N D S C H O O L 35 Eton Road, Datchet, Slough, SL3 9AX 01753 541075, etonend.org

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INTERIORS • FOCUS

“THE HORLICKS FACTORY IS SLOUGH'S MOST RECOGNISED AND LOVED ICON”

AQUIFER GARDENS WILL OFFER A SERENE ESCAPE

An icon REBORN Taking a closer look as the first apartments and gardens open at Horlicks Quarter

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orlicks Quarter is a vibrant new community being created by Berkeley on the iconic Horlicks Factory site, bringing new energy and vitality to the heart of Slough.

The Horlicks Factory has been the town’s most recognised and loved icon for over a century – and remains one of the most striking historical industrial buildings in Slough. Today, the site is being transformed into a unique and innovative mixed-use development where history blends seamlessly with modern sustainable living.

Now, as Berkeley prepares to welcome the first residents and open the first part of Horlicks Quarter including Aquifer Gardens – a beautifully landscaped green space with paths, gardens, trees and water features – a selection of apartments is available to purchase with Help to Buy and will be ready to move into from this spring. This

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includes the final 2-bedroom apartments in Darjeeling House, plus a mix of 1-and 2-bedroom apartments in Artesian House.

Darjeeling House is named after the former residence of Lord & Lady Horlick, which was later converted into accommodation for Horlicks Factory employees. Featuring 79 new-build apartments, the properties boast a prime position with views over Aquifer Gardens.

Adjacent to Darjeeling House is Artesian House, a striking pavilion building, named after the artesian well at Horlicks Quarter, offering a collection of apartments which also overlook Aquifer Gardens, with each of the apartments featuring their own balcony or terrace garden.

Drawing inspiration from its industrial heritage, the homes feature spacious, openplan living areas with full height windows, high specification kitchens including Bosch integrated appliances, beautifully appointed bedrooms with luxury ‘soft to the touch’ carpeting, and modern bathrooms with black framed showers and vanity units. An extensive collection of on-site amenities is being created for residents, including a games room, concierge, gym, cinema room, plus a large design-led co-working space with superfast broadband.

BERKELEY GROUP Apartments available from £288,000. To find out more about this vibrant new neighbourhood, visit horlicksquarter.co.uk

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Castle View

Retirement Village • WINDSOR

Independent Living at its best at Windsor’s favourite Retirement Village

Final 20 apartments now released..... Don’t miss out!

Call Ruth for a look around and some lunch or come to one of our open events

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bu avait still ch lab oic andle - com e see e

Call our friendly Sales Manager, Ruth, on 01753 378 127 to find out more www.castleviewwindsor.co.uk • info@castleviewwindsor.co.uk CASTLEVIEW RETIR.indd 121

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HORLICKS FACTORY LIVE IN A MODERN ICON

JUST RELEASED

1, 2 & 3 bedroom apartments in the Horlicks Factory Register your interest

T: 01753 257982 E: horlickssales@berkeleygroup.co.uk W: horlicksquarter.co.uk Marketing Suite open daily Stoke Gardens, Slough, SL1 3QB

BERKELEY 122 Absolutely Mag AD_A4 297x210 AW.indd 1 HRLK-00048HOMES.indd BH Horlicks Factory

A GREAT LIFESTYLE AND INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY - Part of Horlicks Quarter, a vibrant new neighbourhood in central Slough - Superb investment opportunity with est. rental yield up to 5% pa* - Slough is in the early stages of a £3.5bn regeneration scheme - Residents’ facilities include concierge, gym, co-working hub, cinema room, games room and a striking rooftop garden - 15-minute trains to London Paddington, 6 minutes to Windsor**

- Crossrail due to open in 2022 Information correct at time of print. Computer generated images indicative only and subject to change. *Savills Lettings Forecast January 2022 **www.nationalrail.co.uk

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ENHANCING LANDSCAPES

Whether you’re starting with a blank canvas or revamping an existing plot, our professional horticulturists and landscapers will create your dream garden, and keep it that way too.

• Grounds maintenance • Instant Trees & Hedges • Landscape build & plant • Automatic irrigation

We provide bespoke garden services for both private and corporate clients. Caring for your outdoor property big or small, is our passion.

To arrange a free consultation please call 01895 438 811 or visit our website at hortlands.co.uk

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NAPIT & TrustMark approved electricians in Beaconsfield Whatever electrical work you need doing, we ensure the highest levels of quality

IF IT’S ELECTRICS, IT’S KENNETT ELECTRICS

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25/03/2022 13:34 10:54 23/04/2021