Country & Town House - June 2018

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

JUNE 2018 £3.90

AY CARAMBA! Fashion celebrates the colours of Mexico

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! The Royal Academy turns 250 years old

The Eye of the Beholder

Portraitist Jonathan Yeo’s work cuts deep

ALL ABOUTART Your guide to what’s on this summer

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ALWAYS A S TO RY CHAPTER

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C ON T E N T S J U N E

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Columns 18 20

THE GOOD LIFE Alice B-B on sitting pretty outdoors THE RURBANIST Mark Bonnar

Up Front 23 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38

LET’S DANCE THE POLKA Going dotty for dots THE WESTERN FRONT All Americana STYLE NOTEBOOK Slow fashion MY STYLE Artist Polly Morgan LUCIA LOVES William & Son THE GOLD DIGGER Jewellery news MY BEAUTIFUL LIFE Dr Sebagh BODY & SOUL Probiotics for your face WELL GROOMED Men’s style news

The Guide 43

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52 54 56 58

ALL HAIL SUMMER! Your five-page guide to the must-dos of the summer, from family festivals to outside opera GOOD READS Richard Hopton reviews the books of four authors who will be at this year’s Hay Festival THE OLYMPIAN Sebastian Coe on the FIFA World Cup ROAD TEST Rolls-Royce Ghost SEEDER’S DIGEST Best barbecues CONVERSATIONS AT SCARFES BAR Charlotte Metcalf meets one of the UK’s foremost portraitists Jonathan Yeo

Fashion & Features 60 71

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MEXICAN WAVE We’ve gone mad for Mexico this month HEY JUNE June Sarpong is on a mission to bring divided communities together again, as she tells Charlotte Metcalf A NEW DAWN The cultural year belongs to the Royal Academy as it celebrates its 250th anniversary CAN TRASH BE CHIC? A question posed by artist Mouna Rebeiz. Holly Black interviews her HEALTHY BODIES, HEALTH MINDS The nude is one of art’s most prolific subjects but how was it dealt with in Russia both before and after the revolution?

Ivan Lindsay has some answers

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The Insider 89 90 92 93 95

FAR EASTERN FINERY Thibaut’s new collection looks to the East DESIGN NOTES News, views and inspiration by Carole Annett SUMMER LIVING Let your outdoor entertainment spaces sing A SPLASH OF COLOUR Give your bathroom a bright makeover DESIGN Q&A Lalique’s creative director Marc Larminaux

Food & Travel 97

101 102

103 104 108 109 111

MAKING A GOOD IMPRESSION Rod Gilchrist takes to the River Seine for a cultural pilgrimage THE HOTEL WIZARD Irish charm GOLDEN MOMENTS Revisiting Hotel del Coronado where Marylin Monroe dazzled audiences in Some Like it Hot THE WEEKENDER Berlin CAPE CRUSADING Lucy Cleland explores South Africa’s Garden Route GASTRO GOSSIP Seafood in the city CATCH OF THE DAY Rick and Katie Toogood’s cod with feta and pine nuts FORK & FIELD Vegetables are king at these two establishments

On The Move 113 PROPERTY OF THE MONTH 114 LET’S MOVE TO... Exeter 116 MY PROPERTY LIFE Wellness guru

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ON THE COVER Ajak at IMG wears dress by Altuzarra, earrings by Ranjana Khan and shoes

by Manolo Blahnik. Fashion direction

by Nicole Smallwood. Photography by Carla Guler. Hair and makeup by Hair & Make up- Camilla Hewitt using Nars

Liz Earle has planted oak trees for future generations SIX OF THE BEST Homes with gyms

Regulars 10 12 40 112

EDITOR’S LETTER CONTRIBUTORS HIGH SOCIETY STOCKISTS

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EDITOR’S LETTER 30

EDITOR’S PICKS

LISTEN To our very own podcast… Perfect with a nice cuppa SAVE The Empire, London’s last grand 1920s West End cinema, from having its use changed

LOVE This collab between Weekend Max Mara and Fenwick. Like wearing wallpaper, stylishly...

I

t’s always good to get a new perspective on things. In an age where algorithms dictate the kind of information you get, the news you’re fed, the fashion you like, the books you read, the music you listen to, turning us into some kind of homogenised subset of humankind, it’s good to strike out and get some different opinions.

Commentator, presenter and broadcaster June Sarpong is somewhat shaking up the status quo by making it her mission to challenge our in-built prejudices, all in the name of making the UK a better place. Lofty ambitions indeed, but her words, in Charlotte Metcalf’s interview on page 71, definitely had me thinking about how judgemental we can all be without taking pause for thought.

If we only stopped and confronted these reactions, perhaps we’d all rub along a little better together and things like Brexit or the Trump phenomenon wouldn’t have seen the light of day. As I said, ambitious... but oh-so thought-provoking.

A key role of art, of course, is to offer up alternative perspectives, to challenge us, to let us make up

WEAR Mondays won’t be blue anymore in Alberta Ferretti from Boutique 1

BUY Now I’m bespectacled, I’ll keep my glasses safe in Ettinger’s snazzy new case

63 71

our own minds and draw our own conclusions. Mouna Rebeiz, in her latest show at the Saatchi Gallery, will be posing the question whether trash can be chic (p80). I’ll go along, have a look and make up my own mind.

What does one of the most famous cultural institutions in the world do to toast its 250th anniversary? Double its size, of course, quite literally. This month, the Royal Academy will unveil its brand new David Chipperfielddesigned overhaul of Burlington Gardens that will, in their own words, have more space to ‘make, debate and exhibit art than ever before’. Emma Crichton-Miller charts a year of celebrations on page 75.

Elsewhere, follow our arts guide to summer and you won’t be disappointed (p43); drive along South Africa’s stunning Garden Route and stay in these glorious gems (p104); get in the mood for the V&A’s upcoming Frida Kahlo exhibition by feasting your eyes on our Mexico-inspired fashion shoot (p60) and have a cocktail with Jonathan Yeo, one of the UK’s best-known ontemporary portraitist and our Scarfes Bar interviewee this month (p58).

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@countryandtown /countryandtownhousemagazine /countryandtownhouse

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CONTRIBUTORS

HOLLY BLACK

Which artist would you most like to have dinner with and why? Judith Bernstein, so I could grill her about American politics, feminism, life in New York and hopefully meet her cats.

Where would you send a tourist if they wanted a culture hit in the Capital? The Barbican Centre, there’s always something wonderful to see, from visual art to music and dance, failing that the architecture is a cultural must-see in and of itself (plus great cocktails).

Exhibition you’re most looking forward to this summer?

Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up at the V&A. It will be a chance to see Kahlo’s personal effects for the first time outside Mexico and will hopefully shed even more light on an artist who carefully crafted her self-image in her practice and everyday existence.

EMMA CRICHTONMILLER

MADE IN ENGLAND | SINCE 1879

Carly

A Women’s tassel Loafer style Made in England using the finest European suede

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Which artist would you most like to have dinner with and why?

Tacita Dean. She is an outstandingly thoughtful and inventive artist.

With three exhibitions in London running simultaneously this summer, she is at last getting the profile she deserves.

Where would you send a tourist if they wanted a culture hit in the Capital? Lee Bul: Wayward Wander at the newly refurbished Hayward Gallery. She stunned New Yorkers with her 1997 installation at MoMA of rotting fish covered in sequins, but this is her first major retrospective in London.

Exhibition you’re most looking forward to this summer?

Giuseppe Penone: Idee di Pietra at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

The enduring theme is trees and the show has been in preparation for over five years.

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CONTRIBUTORS

ROD GILCHRIST

Which artist would you most like to have dinner with and why? Van Gogh. I’d ask him what the heck he was smoking when he painted his brilliant, cosmic, turbulent landscapes.

Where would you send a tourist if they wanted a culture hit in the Capital? Chiswick House, Lord Burlington’s 18th-century home. It’s the definitive Palladian house, with beautiful Arcadian gardens lined with classical statues.

Exhibition you’re most looking forward to this summer?

Picasso 1932 – Love, Fame, Tragedy at Tate Modern.

Painting you’d most like over your fireplace? Mr and Mrs Andrews by Gainsborough. It’s evocative of haughty Georgian aristocrats, and a homage to the soft beauty of the English countryside.

CAITI GROVE

Which artist would you most like to have dinner with and why?

Salvador Dalí. He’d be a great storyteller and I’d love to hear his take on the world as it is now.

Where would you send a tourist if they wanted a culture hit in the Capital?

Sir John Soane’s Museum – it’s totally magical, like a Narnia for art and antiquities.

Exhibition you’re most looking forward to this summer?

Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain at The Hepworth Wakefield.

She was a fashion and surrealist photographer – she took Picasso’s portrait and was a lover of Man Ray. Dalí, Ernst and Magritte will feature too – very exciting.

Painting you’d most like over your fireplace? Picasso’s Bullfight: Death of the Toreador. At the moment I have a framed poster of it – the real deal would be fab.

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CO U NTRYA N DTOW N H O U S E .CO.U K

EDITOR Lucy Cleland EDITOR-AT-LARGE Alice B-B ASSOCIATE EDITOR Charlotte Metcalf FASHION DIRECTOR Lucy Bond CONTRIBUTING FASHION EDITOR Nicole Smallwood LUXURY EDITOR Lucia van der Post INTERIORS EDITOR Carole Annett JEWELLERY EDITOR Annabel Davidson RETAIL EDITOR Rosalyn Wikeley BEAUTY EDITOR Nathalie Eleni PROPERTY EDITOR Anna Tyzack FEATURES ASSISTANT & SUB EDITOR Chloe Smith ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Maya Monro-Somerville PROPERTY MARKETING MANAGER Gemma Cowley SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER Felicity Reid SALES EXECUTIVE Olivia Milligan CREATIVE DIRECTION & PRODUCTION Parm Bhamra JUNIOR PRODUCTION DESIGNER Samuel Thomas ONLINE EDITOR Rebecca Cox DIGITAL ASSISTANT Clementina Jackson JUNIOR ONLINE WRITER Bella Lewis TECHNICAL MANAGER Hannah Johnson TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Mark Pearson DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL STRATEGY Wil Harris CREDIT CONTROLLER Penny Burles SALES & OFFICE MANAGER Daisy Orr-Ewing ACCOUNTS CONTROLLER Jane Todd FINANCE DIRECTOR Jill Newey PUBLISHER Julia Carrick MANAGING DIRECTOR Jeremy Isaac CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Stephen Bayley, Simon de Burton, Fiona Duncan, Daisy Finer, Lydia Gard, Avril Groom, Richard Hopton, Emma Love, Mary Lussiana, Anna Pasternak, Caroline Phillips, Marcus Scriven THE EDITOR editorial@countryandtownhouse.co.uk FASHION fashion@countryandtownhouse.co.uk ADVERTISING advertising@countryandtownhouse.co.uk PROPERTY ADVERTISING property@countryandtownhouse.co.uk ACCOUNTS accounts@countryandtownhouse.co.uk SUBSCRIPTIONS subscribe@countryandtownhouse.co.uk

T h e P u rd e y L a d i e s C ou r se U N RIVALLE D TU ITION F OR L ADI E S WHO WANT TO S HOOT WITH ST YLE , CON S I STE NCY AN D E LEGANC E

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COUNTRY & TOWN HOUSE is a monthly magazine distributed to AB homes in Barnes, Battersea, Bayswater, Belgravia, Brook Green, Chelsea, Chiswick, Clapham, Coombe, Fulham, Holland Park, Kensington, Knightsbridge, Marylebone, Mayfair, Notting Hill, Pimlico, South Kensington, Wandsworth and Wimbledon, as well as being available from leading country and London estate agents. It is also on sale at selected WHSmith, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s stores and independent newsagents nationwide. It has an estimated readership of 150,000. It is available on subscription in the UK for £29.99 per annum. To subscribe online, iPad, iPhone and android all for only £24.99 visit: exacteditions.com/read/countrytownhouse.

For subscription enquiries, please call 020 7384 9011 or email subscribe@countryandtownhouse. co.uk. It is published by Country & Town House Ltd, Studio 2, Chelsea Gate Studios, 115 Harwood Road, London SW6 4QL (tel: 020 7384 9011). Registered number 576850 England and Wales.

Printed in the UK by William Gibbons and Sons Ltd, West Midlands. Paper supplied by Gerald Judd. Distribution by Letterbox.

Copyright © 2018 Country & Town House Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. Materials are accepted on the understanding that no liability is incurred for safe custody. The publisher cannot be responsible for unsolicited material. All prices are correct at the time of going to press but are subject to change. Whilst every care is taken to ensure information is correct at time of going to press, it is subject to change, and C&TH Ltd. takes no responsibility for omissions or errors.

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Please recycle

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COLUMN

THE GOOD LIFE Alice B-B cannot forgive thin mattresses and threadbare towels

THIS MONTH I’LL BE

1 2

SUITS ME Jacket and strides by bellafreud.com

SNUGGLE UP Four-poster by maxrollitt.com BE SEATED Bench by lorfordsantiques.com AL FRESCO Outdoor furniture by en.smallable.com

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BLOOMING LOVELY Earring by delfinadelettrez.com

PORTRAIT BY JANE MCLEISH-KELSEY

C

OME AND STAY FOR THE WEEKEND!’ Friday arrives; bags packed, carefully considered house present for the hostess, couple of bottles stuffed in the boot, and you’re ready to careen down the motorway for a country escape.

Delicious dinner when you arrive, great chat, plans for the weekend. So far, so good until... you get into bed. What the hell?

It’s 2018. How can a mattress actually feel like this? You try and get comfy, contorting your body around vicious squeaky springs, trying to ignore the sheets that are bobbly like an old pair of socks. The next morning you try and wash off the horrible night’s kip, but the shower head is clogged with limescale, so you spend half an hour under a pissy-dribble trying to wash the soap out of your hair. Then reach for the towel, which – surprise! – is borstal rough and threadbare thin.

There’s no excuse. Do unto others and all that... Guest rooms

should be as comfortable as your own.

But beware of making spare rooms overly cosy. One canny friend gets round this by replacing a wardrobe or chest of drawers with a hat stand and a few hangers.

So no one can overstay their welcome!

THAT FIRST LICK OF LONGED-FOR BRITISH SUNSHINE is all that’s needed for outdoor living and barbecue lunches.

But all-weather furniture is tricky. I regret the table and benches I had made. They looked great ouside our local swanky café.

Not so good at the front of our sweet magic cottage, somehow making it look like a pub garden. The dream find is comfy, weatherproof and weighty enough so it won’t get nicked. On my current wishlist, a seat to nestle among rose bushes. I’m quite taken with the new Lorfords garden antiques shop in Chelsea for stone, wrought iron or lichen-covered teak.

Somewhere to sit with a cool drink in one hand, a book in the other and enjoy the garden from a whole new perspective.

I KNOW NOTHING OF THE LEGALITIES OF WAR or the multilayers of middleListening to eastern geopolitics. All I do know, Franc Moody is that when I hear of chemical on repeat. soundcloud.com warfare in Syria, memories of visiting refugee camps in Jordan Filling my come flooding back. I remember tum at Kitty Fisher’s the displaced Syrian people I met, sister restaurant who told me tales of running for Cora Pearl in their lives, escaping their country Covent Garden. corapearl.co.uk and the horrors that befell many of their relatives and friends who’d Booking stayed behind. With haunted eyes, tickets for Tully, Charlize they explained how they’d arrived Theron’s latest in Jordan expecting to take refuge turn about a for just a few days or weeks, until mother and nanny. focusfeatures.com the situation in Syria calmed down and they could head home.

My visit was in 2014. The civil war began in 2011, so most of those refugees had already been living in make-shift container homes at Za’atari camp for nearly four years.

It wouldn’t surprise me if most are still there, seven years on...

LUXURY & NECESSITY

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INTERVIEW

THE RURBANIST

a sentence?

Just no.

What would you change about yourself?

BAFTA Scotland-winning actor Mark Bonnar on wanting a personal trainer and discovering a Neolithic settlement in Shetland

My attention span, my memory and…

What was the question?

Which book would you take and song would you listen to on your desert island? Hitch

Where’s home to you? I grew up in various different places in Scotland – Dundee, Fife, Stonehouse. I settled in Edinburgh when I was 11 then moved to London when I was 26. I now live in Hertfordshire.

What would you do as mayor for the day?

Give all school children a yoga lesson at the beginning of the day.

Where do you go to escape the city? There is some fantastically beautiful countryside in Hertfordshire around where I live, and it’s still relatively new to us so we’re still exploring.

Best thing a cabbie has ever said to you? Get the fuck out my fucking cab!

Which historic country house would you most like to snap up?

Haigh Hall in Wigan. I was married there when it belonged to the council. It’s now in private hands but I’d return it to the people.

Last play/concert/film you saw and what did you think of it? Whiplash,

What three items would you save from your burning house?

My wife and two children.

What would really improve your life?

What has been the most memorable night out you’ve had in London? There used to be an afterhours club in Soho called Erics. This was pregentrification days and it was open until eight in the morning – there was a pool table and cans of beer for a fiver.

Inside was someone from every single walk of life you can imagine, and every visit was memorable.

Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy and Not Dark Yet by Bob Dylan.

What are Saturday afternoons made for?

Family, chocolate and red wine. In any order.

A good back, a bit more sleep, a personal trainer and someone to remind me about the things I’ve forgotten.

Who’s coming round for dinner and what are you cooking? Laurel and Hardy and ‘Fresh Fiiish’ (a wee in-joke for Stan and Ollie fans).

Last place you ‘discovered’? Stanydale Temple, a Neolithic site in Shetland.

Favourite game to play? Anything my children are playing because they probably won’t want to play with their dad soon. I’ve also been a video gamer for most of my life so I love Halo, Fifa, Assassins Creed and GTA.

directed by Damien Chazelle – intense and very, very good.

understanding and petulance.

Donald Trump, basically

Where do you go when you don’t want anyone to get hold of you?

My subconscious.

Post Brexit Britain… in

Humans returns to Channel 4 in May. Instructions for Correct Assembly is running at the Royal Court Theatre until 19 May.

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

What brings out the worst in you? Lack of empathy, lack of

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Asian Scenic wallpaper. Cushions in Asian Scenic, Bijou, Carlotta.

Baxter Bench in Ming Trail.

Dynasty Collection: Wallpaper, Print and Woven Fabrics www.thibautdesign.com tel: 020 7737 6555

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C&TH

U P F RON T ST YLE · B E AUT Y · J E WELLERY · PARTIES

LET’S DANCE THE POLKA Dots are having their moment in the sun, found everywhere from Saint Laurent skirts to Louboutin shoes, but we rather fancy this off-the-shoulder number by Caroline Constas, perfect for showing off sun-kissed skin. net-a-porter.com

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UP FRONT Queene and Belle at matchesfashion.com

STYLE

THE WESTERN FRONT

Coast Suede jacket, £89. coast-stores.com

All’s quiet in the style stakes

Nick Fouquet Buzios hat, £1,080. farfetch.com

Alanui Fringed jacquard-knit cashmere cardigan, £2,305. net-a-porter.com

Woolrich Blanket cape, £85. woolrich.eu

Monica Vinader Havana friendship bracelet, £115. monicavinader.com

COUNTRY See by Chloé Mini brown suede cross-body bag, £240. harveynichols.com

TOWN

Citizens of Humanity Emma wide legged cropped jeans, £516. modaoperandi.com

Dorothee Schumacher Look Sharp trousers, £298. dorotheeschumacher.com

Claudie Pierlot Leather fringed bag, £260. harrods.com

RIxo Natalie dress, £295. rixo.co.uk Polo Ralph Lauren Denim shirt, £133. yoox.com

Helmut Lang Reverse cowboy 2004 t-shirt, £150. matchesfashion.com

Prada Fringed leather ankle boots, £800. mytheresa.com

Eponine Bespoke Thai tribal skirt, POA. eponinelondon.com Penelope Chilvers Metallic biker boot, £379. penelopechilvers.com

Hicks and Brown Flamingo cow hide belt, £45. hicksandbrown.com

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UP FRONT

FA S H I O N N E W S

TA K E T H R E E

STYLE NOTEBOOK

WHITE TEES WITH A TWIST Richard Quinn £255. liberty london.com

Slow fashion and twisted tees

FOREVER FRIENDS

As the anti-throwaway cult continues, fashion keeps up its end of the bargain.

New to the scene is Antibad, founded

by Agatha Lintott – whose completely transparent business model (from ethical banking to carbon-neutral shipping) brings us a curated collection of ethically produced but eminently chic clothes and accessories from brands such as Mara Hoffman, Wray and Diarte. antibadstore.com Miu Miu £310. miumiu.com

David Salle for Marni £350. marni.com

HOUSE SHARE

To celebrate five years in the biz, one of our go-to brands, & Other Stories has gone prints crazy on a collaboration with House of Hackney, not known for their shy and retiring aesthetic. Expect cute-asyou-like cropped trews, off-the-shoulder summer dresses, billowy blouses and a host of beautiful bags, scarves and shoes.

From £35. stories.com

HEAD CHECK Heading to Ascot? Well then, you need a hat. The Royal Ascot Millinery Collective has something to suit everyone whatever statement you want to make. We’re going for Stephen Jones’ 12 quill extravaganza (£2,550), exclusively available at Fenwick of Bond Street. fenwick.co.uk

MICRO TREND

I CAN SING A RAINBOW

The Volon Spangle bag, £803. coggles.com

Ganni Sweater, £330. net-a-porter.com

GFG Jewellery Mara ring, £1,350. gfgjewellery.com

Rosie Assoulin Maxi dress, £2,660. brownsfashion.com

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H U G O S A U Z A Y & C H A R L O T T E D E T O N N A C , Interior Designers I N C O N V E R S AT I O N S E R I E S . D I S C O V E R M O R E AT O L I V E R P E O P L E S . C O M

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UP FRONT Finishing touches... Tods T handbag. Jimmy Choo gold velvet ankle boots, Sisley highlighter, over the top hoop earrings

MY STYLE

POLLY MORGAN The glamorous taxidermist has her power uniform down pat

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What event will you be dressing up for this month? The opening of my partner Mat Collishaw’s exhibition in Istanbul. I’ll wear my new Mother of Pearl blue and white wool check trousers and 1 cardigan/coat.

3 Lounge lizard:

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A tailored black jacket.

I have a Celine one and one by Helmut Lang that I’ve been wearing for ten years! I generally go for a casual sports T-shirt with tailored skirt or trousers and smart jacket.

Everyday uniform: In the daytime I dress for dogwalking and studio work, which can get very messy.

This means tracksuit bottoms, old sweaters and/or overalls. I live in trainers and comfort clothes and do sometimes really envy those who need to get dressed up for work as I look like a slob.

Style crush: My friend Mimi Xu (left) always looks good.

Never overdone, always original.

Power dressing: Shoulder pads.

I have sloping shoulders so need them, and a crisp white shirt. I always feel good in smart but slouchy trousers with a good jacket and heels. I love Acne and have a pair of gold velvet Jimmy Choo ankle boots that I’m currently wearing with everything.

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Summer holiday essentials Pink marble Finlay sunglasses, Jimmy Choo flats, Stella McCartney swimming costumes and Sisley sun cream.

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Country walk Hunter wellies, Moncler parka and men’ s leather gloves.

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I have beautiful monogrammed Olivia von Halle silk PJs but with the British 5 climate it’s more like tracksuit bottoms, sheepskin slippers and a cashmere jumper.

Under the radar labels: Yaya Situation ceramics.

Favourite online retailers: The Outnet, I’m terrible at catching sales when they’re on. I’m also perverse and often like the stuff everyone else has overlooked so I am 6 not bothered if something is last season or an unpopular choice! Mini Rodini has the cutest kids’ clothing, which I always wish they made in my size.

Style cheats...

Discreet shoulder pads. Turned up trousers/rolled up sleeves. Sea salt hair spray.

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1 Mother of Pearl trousers, £295 (net-a-porter.com) 2 Celine blazer, £1,250 (yoox.com) 3 Rosantica Casta hoop earrings, £155 (net-a-porter.com) 4 Tods Double T bag, £1,100 (tods.com) 5 Olivia von Halle Lila Nika silk pyjamas £395 (oliviavonhalle.com) 6 Mini Rodini Oh La La blue lemon T-shirt, £69 (childrensalon.com) 7 Ouai Wave Spray, £22 (feelunique. com) 8 Moncler parka, £1,150 (harrods.com) 9 Stella McCartney swimsuit, £132 (theoutnet.com) 10 Sisley Fluid Body Sun Cream, £91 (harveynichols.com) 11 Finlay Draycott sunglasses, £160 (finlayandco.com) 12 Jimmy Choo velvet boots, £650 (luisaviaroma.com) 13 Acne T-shirt, £120 (net-a-porter.com)

PHOTO: REX FEATURES

Wardrobe failsafes:

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UP FRONT LUXURY

LUCIA LOVES

LIFE’S LITTLE LUXURIES

The eccentric, the beautiful and the finest quality is what you’ll find at William & Son, says Lucia van der Post

W

ith a name like Asprey, which has been associated with the hautest of haute luxe for seven generations, there wouldn’t be much point in trying to go for the mass market – the rarefied world of bespoke silver, glass, leather, jewellery, country clothing and guns surrounded William Asprey from birth.

So, when in 1999 he decided to detach himself from the family firm and start up his own venture, he wisely decided to stay with what he knew.

He called his endeavour William & Son, and from the start he wanted only the finest and the best. He seems to have envisaged the life of a very wellheeled family who straddle the worlds of a sophisticated metropolitan life and a rather grand country one. So he offers the appurtenances such worlds need – beautiful guns, ones that take a thousand hours to make, as a well as a host of shooting accessories such as a gun cleaning kit, cartridge bags and elk grouse markers. And of course there is the clothing that goes with country sports – breeks, gorgeous sweaters, gloves, scarves and the rest, all designed in-house and made in their own factory in the north of England. Watch out for the new collection being launched later in the summer.

Then there’s a panoply of bespoke leather games ranging from a complete compendium to backgammon sets,

perudo sets, snakes and ladders and all the rest that you might want to play on a winter’s afternoon beside a roaring fire. There are luscious cashmere blankets to take on picnics or to use as a throw indoors as the winter sun fades, hip flasks for frosty days in the great outdoors, and all the other accoutrements the comfortable country life requires.

But then, of course, there is the urbane city life to be thought of as well – and here the Asprey customer can find elegant cufflinks, fine pens, some great things for the dining table or the home ranging from china and glass to photograph frames, cutlery and even small sculptures.

And then we shouldn’t forget the jewellery collection, ranging from solitaire diamond engagement rings to fine pendants and bridal suites. It is also worth knowing that William & Son can either design and make from scratch, or rework family heirlooms into something more practical or more modern.

This is a store where almost everything comes from small niche producers so what you will find are pieces that are often a bit eccentric, always interesting and sometimes just very, very beautiful. williamandson.com FROM TOP: Box evening bag, £7,600; Moritz Grossmann Tefnut Twist, £29,100; leather backgammon set, £3,050; Furious Goose pocket square, £255; Kelso belted jacket, £1,250

SPOT ON Brown spots are the plague of complexions that have seen too much sun. Until now the most effective treatment has needed a dermatologist or aesthetician to burn them away. But now La Prairie has come up with impressive research showing that its White Caviar Crème Extraordinaire (yours for a whopping £519) really does address the problem. laprairie.com

PEARLY QUEEN Annoushka has a way of taking classic materials and making them seem fresh and new. Take her pearl collection – there are baroque pearls (much beloved, after all, through the ages) – but here she combines them with her Eclipse Porcupine hoop earring made from black rhodium and diamonds, making us look at pearls afresh. £1,215. annoushka.com

TREASURE TROVE Bernie de Le Cuona has long been one of my favourite sources of exquisitely understated and sophisticated fabrics.

Now she’s just about to open a new store on Pimlico Road, and will sell glassware, lighting, rugs, cushions and even antiques – one thing we know is that if Bernie chose them they will be irresistible. delecuona.com

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RO N A L D PH I L L I PS FINE ANTIQUE ENGLISH FURNITURE

A PAIR OF GEORGE III ORMOLU WINE COOLERS FROM THE SHUGBOROUGH SUITE

BY BENJAMIN VULLIAMY 2018 CATALOGUE AVAILABLE SOON 26 BRUTON STREET, LONDON W1J 6QL ADVICE @ RONALDPHILLIPS.CO.UK

+44 (0)20 7493 2341

RONALDPHILLIPSANTIQUES.COM

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UP FRONT JEWELLERY

THE GOLD DIGGER

SIMPLY SPARKLING DANIELA VILLEGAS Another season, another genius collection from Mexican jeweller Daniela Villegas.

Her worship of the animal kingdom continues, from the tiniest insect to the biggest extinct dinosaur and these black pearl Adventureros earrings are a perfect example. danielavillegas.com

The latest jewellery news and trends. By Annabel Davidson

BERRY NICE

The new Berries collection from David Morris may be named for the beautiful berry shapes of its stones, but colourwise, it’s all about the Med. Turquoise, coral and pearl ‘berries’ complete with diamond and pink sapphire stalks cluster together in rings, bracelets and pendants, all jostling together beautifully on their yellow-gold settings. A huge cocktail ring sports over a dozen jewels in a perfect bunch, while other rings see the stones thrown together at random.

There are double-ended, torque-style bracelets designed with a hidden spring inside their gold bands to bend on and off the wrist with ease, and earrings that are sold singly, designed to be added to either with additional ‘berries’ or your own studs. They look good enough to eat, but even better when worn. davidmorris.com

David Morris Berries collection

ROCKET LIKE IT’S HOT

Asprey’s Cosmic collection takes the house’s rocket motif and expands on it, with references in the collection including Sputnik, the Soviet Union’s 1950s satellite, to the galaxy at large.

This beautiful Sputnik bangle in brushed gold sports cabochon studs of gemstones, with an exquisite interior of shooting star motifs cut from the polished gold surface. asprey.com

Asprey Sputnik bangle with precious stones, set in 18ct yellow gold, POA

RIDING THE WAVE Jaeger-LeCoultre’s new crop of Reverso Tribute Enamel watches includes a miniature version of Japanese woodblock print The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, created in such exquisite detail by their master enameller it would be a shame to ever need to flip it over to tell the time. jaeger-lecoultre.com

TA K E T H R E E

COSTUME JEWELS

ANYONE FOR TETRIS? This Brickwall bracelet by German brand KVK73 has all the bling, £240. kvk73.com

PURPLE REIGN Vintage inspiration with a little edge comes via this antique gold blush rose jewelled double ring, £395. alexandermcqueen.com

PRETTY IN PEARLS These gold-plated and enamel multi-stone earrings

by Percossi Papi are a steal at £285. net-a-porter.com

APPLES AND PEARS Boodles’ new Orchard range is quintessentially British, rendering the humble yet beloved pear in yellow and white gold and diamonds to make the sweetest drop earrings, fine chain bracelets, pendants and rings. boodles.com

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UP FRONT BEAUT Y

MY BEAUTIFUL LIFE Dr Sebagh tries never to fake a good night’s sleep, says Nathalie Eleni

What is your morning skin routine? I love my ‘Serum Bar’. Every morning I blend Rose de Vie Serum, for moisturisation, Serum Repair for hydration, and then anti-ageing Supreme Maintenance Youth Serum.

How do you fake eight hours’ sleep? I try not to fake it at all, but if I have to, I have some good tricks – my new Ultralift eye treatment works on puffiness and surface wrinkles around the eye area and I also use the Rose de Vie hydrating mask as a cream, it’s an instant miracle. An espresso, and I am ready to face the day.

How do you keep fit? Pilates and walking in Regent’s Park. It keeps me fit and is good for the mind.

What scent do you wear? Chanel Les Exclusifs Sycomore.

Hero product? My brand new tanning drops, which give a natural glow.

Most common beauty blunder among your clients?

Consulting me too late. Ideally you should see a good cosmetic doctor in your late 20s and stick with them as your ‘youth coach’. Little and often, using modern technology is the way forward.

Best beauty secret for anti-ageing? I am a great believer in bespoke skincare. Products can be combined to achieve a perfect cocktail for every type of skin, dependent on your needs. Use a product with SPF or HEV protection depending on your environment, drink plenty of water and try and follow a more plant-based diet. drsebagh.com

FIVE OF THE BEST

INDULGENCES Extravagant beauty treats we just can’t live without

1 NEOM PERFECT NIGHT’S SLEEP CLEANSING BALM A delightful, essential oil packed balm with lavender, chamomile and patchouli to help deeply relax your mind. Double cleansing has never felt so good. £32. johnlewis.com

Cezanne Hair Smoothing Treatment at The Stephanie Pollard Salon, Chelsea This is the perfect solution for busy women who are keen to tame frizzy locks and save precious time on blow drying each morning. A high tech, gentle keratin-based treatment (it contains no formaldehydes like some older types of smoother), it is blended with botanical extracts and vitamins to nourish, strengthen and remove frizz from hair, while keeping its natural movement and volume. The results can last from three to five months, can improve hair growth and, most importantly, give you much better hair days that require little more than a wash and go. From £250. 020 7751 5673

3 LEONOR GREYL MASQUE QUINTESSENCE The mother of all hair masks, you won’t believe what this luxurious treatment will do to your locks. Be prepared for lots of hair swishing. £84 for 100ml. harrods.com 4 CWTCH CARIAD BODY MASK A completely organic new Welsh vegan brand, this body mask was essentially made for mothers to be, but the formula is so pure everyone loves it. £95. cwtchskincare.co 5 VENEZIANE PERFUME A collection of five of the most decadent fragrances you will ever experience, that are packaged so beautifully (with a precious Venetian glass mask engraved as a jewel on each bottle), it is like a precious work of art. £348. harrods.com

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

ME TIME

2 TEMPLE SPA TRUFFLELIXIR SUPER LUXE SERUM Not just an indulgent culinary delight, but a hydrating and nourishing skin treat too. £75 for 30ml. templespa.com

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UP FRONT

HEALTH HOT LIST

WELLNESS

BODY & SOUL Add bacteria to your beauty regime. By Camilla Hewitt

A NEW VISION OF BEAUTY: GALLINÉE

We know probiotics are vital for good gut health, but now they’re being used effectively in the beauty industry too. Gallinée was launched by Marie Drago, a French Doctor in Pharmacy with over 15 years’ experience. Follow her top tips for maintaining your skin’s microbiome...

1 Avoid using soaps, they usually have a higher pH than your skin, causing dryness and dullness.

2 Don’t use too hot water when washing your face. Excessively warm water will strip off healthy, natural oils.

3 Try not to rub your skin too hard when you’re drying with a towel – they can be quite abrasive.

4 Moisturise. After cleansing, your skin can lose the moisture it needs for a healthy, vibrant glow.

5 As important as moisturising is, hydration also needs to come from within. Drink water – lots of it. gallinee.com

THE JET LAG RECOVERY SMOOTHIE SERVES 1 Travel may be nourishing to the soul, but it can take a toll on the body. This simple smoothie will help fight the fatigue, stress, dehydration and digestion issues that come with jet lag.

Tart cherries are rich in the sleep-regulating hormone melatonin, banana offers potassium and magnesium for relaxation and pears add a dose of fibre that acts like a sponge, absorbing toxins.

INGREDIENTS » 1 cup organic plain whole-milk kefir » 1 small frozen banana, peeled

» 1 cup fresh pear chunks » ½ cup tart cherry juice » 2 tbsp flaxseeds (ground or whole) METHOD Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until you achieve your desired consistency.

From The Kefir Cookbook

by Julie Smolyansky.

Harper Collins, £20

ESCAPE THE CITY

LUCKNAM PARK HOTEL & SPA, Wiltshire

This magnificent country house hotel near Bath has a huge choice of facilities, both for relaxation and for those who enjoy a more energetic break.

Set within the estate’s 500 acres, the spa is sheer heaven.

The 20m indoor pool with outdoor hydrotherapy pool offers a tranquil space to unwind, and there are daily yoga and pilates classes.

The equestrian centre is home to 35 horses, so you can get out and enjoy the countryside. Once you have worked up an appetite, The Brasserie, adjoining the spa, offers a healthy menu using seasonal produce straight from the kitchen garden. lucknampark.co.uk

RiseToday Pay-as-you-go app allowing you to book into fitness classes without being tied into a contract.

Sensate Wearable device that tracks and decelerates stress in real time.

Vetiver Essential Oil Incorporate into your bedtime routine for a more restful night’s sleep.

Sophrology Easy-to-do physical and mental exercises that lead to a relaxed body and calm, alert mind.

Tongue Scraper Removes toxins from the surface of your tongue, freshening breath and improving digestion.

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

A RECIPE FOR WELLNESS

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TANYA BAXTER CONTEMPORARY ART ADVISORY

As seen at

436 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW10 0LJ T 44 (0) 20 7351 1367 / 079 6136 0407 tanya@tanyabaxtercontemporary.com www.tanyabaxtercontemporary.com

TANYA BAXTER CONTEMPORARY

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UP FRONT

MEN’S STYLE

WELL GROOMED Style is a journey, says Matt Thomas

PLANE ENGLISH

What could be more ‘true Brit’ than Aspinal of London and David Gandy joining forces to produce an accessories collection inspired by the iconic Spitfire? Expect super-smart weekend bags and timeless travel accessories from the Aerodrome collection

by David Gandy. From £50. aspinaloflondon.com

MYSTERIES OF TIME The Masterpiece Mysterious Seconds by Maurice Lacroix depicts time in a linear form, as a twin-tipped second hand traverses a solid disc, appearing to float in an almost balletic motion. Simply timeless elegance.

From £7,990. mauricelacroix.com

COOL ENCAPSULATED Mr Porter has gone and done it again and presented a series of future-proof, smart and easy pieces in their third series of their own-brand, Mr P. capsule collection. Camp collar printed poplin shirt, £135. mrporter.com

FORAGING FOR FRAGRANCE

Urban foraging may seem an unlikely starting point for a collection of fragrances, but Miller Harris has found inspiration in London’s parks, rooftop beehives and stinging nettles to deliver a truly inspired trio. From £95. millerharris.com

IN SHADES

Summers come and go, but if you want to check your cool shade credentials, you can never go wrong with a classic pair of aviators. TD Tom Davies Brad 81510 titanium, £395. tdtomdavies.com

REGATTA READY Let Hackett help kit you out for Henley and the summer season with a selection of truly distinctive blazers. Henley Royal Regatta striped wool blazer, £575. hackett.com

SURF’S UP Tod’s has an ace range of holiday shoes designed with the surfer in mind.

Gommino mocassins, £410. tods.com 38 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | June 2018

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Gentleman wears

Gentlemen wear Silk Ties, Waistcoats and Antique Silk Top Hats from the Royal Ascot Collection

O L I V E R C

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UP FRONT Dylan Jones and Nadja Swarovski

Eva Riccobono and Alice Temperley

DIAMOND DECADE

Mary Charteris DJed as guests, including Jourdan Dunn, Christopher Kane and Bianca Jagger, sipped cocktails at an exhibition at Phillips Gallery to celebrate Atelier Swarovski’s ten year anniversary. Simon Costin, who curated the exhibition, proudly showed guests unique pieces from the Swarovski archive such as dresses by Alexander McQueen and Givenchy.

Mary Charteris Jourdan Dunn

Eric Underwood and Virginia Bates Bianca Jagger

Susan Bender and Maria Kastani

Suzy Menkes and Nadja Swarovski

Irina Lakicevic

SOCIAL SCENE

HIGH SOCIETY

A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND

People, parties, places

Gemma Chan

NEW SPACE

Han Chong, founder and creative director of cult label Self-Portrait, welcomed guests to the opening of the brand’s first standalone store.

Designed by Casper Mueller Kneer architects, the space features custom terrazzo flooring and furniture by artist Michael Elmgreen. Several guests, including Carey Mulligan Carey Mulligan and Gemma Arterton, sported the label.

Tigerlily Taylor

Noella Coursaris Musunka

De Beers hosted a party to celebrate its partnership Jan de Villeneuve with UN Women. Laura Haynes, chair of UN Women National Committee, and Sidonie RobertDegove, managing director of De Beers, Zara Martin co-hosted the event held at the flagship store on Old Bond Street and attended by friends of the brand.

Gemma Arterton and Han Chong

Malaika Firth

Ciara Charteris Nathalia Campos Jessie Bush

Sidonie Robert-Degove and Laura Haynes

Charlotte Carroll

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www.yiangou.com 01285 888 150

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A minimal, contemporary, glazed extension to a listed Cotswold house that dates from 1669. Only a strip of glass makes contact with the original building, retaining the integrity of the listed structure and giving natural light to the rooms beyond.

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Mondaine BackLight

Life doesn’t stop at night

Available from John Lewis and other leading retailers. sales@bml-watches.com I +44 (0) 116 234 4656

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C&TH

THE GU IDE A R T · C U LT U R E · B O O K S · P E O P L E

C U LT U R E

ALL HAIL SUMMER! Whether you’re a pop princess, a culture vulture, a festival queen or a bookworm, we’ve got your summer sorted

The Big Feastival, Oxfordshire

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BOOKED

THE HAY FESTIVAL, WALES Crown jewel of literary festivals, the small town of Hay will come alive with bookish types coming to see the likes of Michael Wolff, Salman Rushdie and David Miliband. Don’t miss C&TH’s hosted talk ‘The Business of Creativity’.

24 May to 3 June. hayfestival.com

FAMILY FUN Cornbury Festival, Oxfordshire

Cornbury describes itself as ‘a country fair with a rock ’n’ roll twist’ where people of all ages and walks of life come together for a big party. The Hairy Bikers will be running a pop up wood-fired restaurant for the duration. 13-15 July. cornburyfestival.com

Cornbury Festival, Oxfordshire

The Big Feastival, Cotswolds

For those who enjoy food and music in equal measure, this is the festival for you. At NEFF Little Kitchen, kids get involved in picking organic produce and preparing delicious treats and with headliners such as Basement Jaxx and Paloma Faith, the music ain’t bad either.

24-26 August. thebigfeastival.com

POEM BRUT, LONDON Poem Brut is the Southbank Centre’s answer to how we can connect to handwriting, abstraction and scribbling in the computer age.

6 June. poembrut.com

THE WEALDEN LITERARY FESTIVAL, KENT The Wealden Literary Festival takes as many colours as the nature it celebrates. Authors, poets, artists and makers will lead events engaging with the natural world. 30 June to 1 July. wealdenliteraryfestival.co.uk

A festival celebrating food and music

Curious Arts Festival, Hampshire

Expect talks from the likes of children’s authors Piers Torday and Lydia Rose Ruffles, as well as poetry and film workshops and traditional outdoor games. For grown-ups, there is Kate Mosse, Dolly Alderton and Matt Haig to keep you entertained.

20-22 July. curiousartsfestival.com

Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh

Release your child’s inner bookworm with debates and author events to workshops and performances. There’s even the opportunity for parents to brush up on their bedtime story skills. 11-27 August. edbookfest.co.uk

LEDBURY POETRY FESTIVAL, HEREFORDSHIRE Considered ‘a rare and genuine joining of poetry, place and people’ by Carol Ann Duffy, Ledbury Poetry Festival in the historic Malvern hillside town will be abuzz with big names like Jackie Kay and Michael Palin. 29 June to 8 July. poetry-festival.co.uk

A BOOK AND A BOTTLE SALON WITH AMY BLOOM, LONDON Discover how much more there is to pair with wine than just cheese.

Find compatible drinks to Bloom’s White Houses and the book’s scandalous back-room politics and romance at The British Library.

25 May. bl.uk

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PHOTOS: © DAMIEN HIRST AND SCIENCE, PRUDENCE CUMING ASSOCIATES

A family-friendly festival that will keep parents (alt-J, The Killers and Solange are all performing) and children (circus skills, yoga and wildlife crafts as well as live music and talks by awardwinning authors) equally happy.

12-15 July. latitudefestival.com

PHOTOS: © BEN PHILLIPS PHOTOGRAPHY; SAM HARDWICK; TOM CHIVERS

Latitude Festival, Suffolk

THE GUIDE Simon Gudgeon, Firebird (2017)

STAGE STRUCK ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, SHEFFIELD Dale Wasserman’s adaption of the cult classic will take to the stage at the Crucible in Sheffield directed by Javaad Alipoor.

8–23 June. sheffieldtheatres.co.uk

THE BIG I AM, LIVERPOOL Head to Liverpool for the Biennial and you’ll catch the last performance of The Big I Am, based on on Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. 16 June to 14 July. everymanplayhouse.com

ART FOR ALL Sculpture by the Lakes, Dorset

Set in 26 acres of bucolic Dorset countryside, Simon Gudgeon has blended inspiring pieces with natural beauty. Monique, Simon’s wife, has created the modern garden that perfectly complements the sculptures. Until 30 Sept. sculpturebythelakes.co.uk

Damien Hirst at Houghton Hall, Norfolk

As part of Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Damien Hirst’s new paintings, entitled Colour Space, will be installed in the State Rooms at Houghton Hall and some of Hirst’s best-known sculptures will be placed throughout the house and grounds. Until 15 July. houghtonhall.com

PHOTOS: © DAMIEN HIRST AND SCIENCE, PRUDENCE CUMING ASSOCIATES

PHOTOS: © BEN PHILLIPS PHOTOGRAPHY; SAM HARDWICK; TOM CHIVERS

London Art Week, London

LAW is back showcasing the best of pre-contemporary art in London’s traditional fine art district.

Bonhams and Sotheby’s will open their doors to visitors, as well as smaller galleries such as Callisto Fine Arts, specialising in unusual and sophisticated works. 29 June to 6 July. londonartweek.co.uk

Damien Hirst, Flesh Tint (2016)

Masterpiece, London

Grant Macdonald – International Silversmith, London

The Goldsmiths’ Company is to host an exhibition of Grant Macdonald’s works in silver and gold that are produced using traditional silversmith skills and the latest technology. The results are beautiful, unique pieces of art.

Until 25 July. thegoldsmiths.co.uk

Gustave Loiseau, L’Allée des Peupliers (1905)

New and established collectors flock to The Royal Hospital Chelsea to buy the finest museumquality art, furniture and jewellery from exhibitors from all over the world.

Look out for Gladwell & Patterson at stand B50.

28 June to 4 July. masterpiecefair.com

FUN HOME, LONDON London finally gets a piece of the fun when Fun Home comes to town.

The Broadway export is based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel and tells the story of her sexuality and her father’s complexities.

18 June to 1 Sept. youngvic.org

KING LEAR, LONDON The Duke of York Theatre’s King Lear will supposedly be Ian McKellen’s last go at Shakespeare in a staging so intimate that half the theatre’s stall seats were removed. 11 July to 3 Nov. londontheatre.co.uk REGENT’S PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE, LONDON See outdoor theatre in full flourish at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s summer season that kicks off with Peter Pan and runs through August with The Turn of the Screw, As You Like It and Dinosaur World Live. 17 May to 15 Sept. openairtheatre.com

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THE GUIDE Summer evenings at Kew the Music, London

VOTES FOR WOMEN!

PROCESSIONS, NATIONWIDE This mass participation living artwork will invite women to wear cotton wraps in suffrage colours while walking across Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London. 10 June. processions.co.uk

MUSICAL NOTES Bring a picnic blanket and a bottle of wine, and settle down to an evening of Steps, The Gipsy Kings or Jools Holland. You can even have a delicious hamper waiting for you on arrival. 10-15 July. kew.org

Garsington Opera, Oxfordshire

This year performances of Die Zauberflöte by Mozart, Capriccio by Strauss, Falstaff by Verdi and The Skating Rink by David Sawer and Rory Mullarkey will take place on the Wormsley Estate in the Chiltern Hills.

Until 22 July. garsingtonopera.org

SUFFRAGEDDON, SUFFOLK The hip hop mini-musical Suffrageddon is a modern retelling of Emmeline Pankhurst and the suffragettes (sound familiar, Hamilton fans?). A good excuse to visit Suffolk’s Latitude Festival. 12–15 July. latitudefestival.com

Aldeburgh Festival, Suffolk

Devoted to classical music and co-founded by composer Benjamin Britten, the 2018 lineup is a tribute to Britten, America and a celebration of its 70th birthday. Expect performances from flautist Claire Chase, violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and British composers Simon Holt and Emily Howard.

8-24 June. snapemaltings.co.uk

Works of the greats performed at Garsington Opera

Somerset House Summer Series, London

By the River, Henley

This brand spanking new festival on the banks of the Thames promises some of the world’s greatest classical musicians. Enjoy performances by Alfie Boe, Sir Karl Jenkins and Laura Wright while eating local, organic food from the festival’s very own farmers’ market.

11 August. festivalsforall.com

Metronomy will play at Somerset House on 5 July

De La Soul, The Roots and Sigrid are all performing in the courtyard of the iconic building. Also catch photography exhibition, The Influence Project, unseen portraits of the heroes of R&B, Funk and Hip Hop. 5-15 July. somersethouse.org.uk

FACES OF CHANGE: VOTES FOR WOMEN, NATIONWIDE The National Trust and the National Portrait Gallery collaborate to bring paintings, photos and archival documents to Devon, Nottinghamshire and County Down.

Until 3 Feb 2019. nationaltrust.org.uk

RHONDDA RIPS IT UP! NATIONWIDE Welsh National Opera will tell a tongue-in-cheek story about the remarkable suffragette, Margaret Haig Thomas in an all-female, music hall production in Newport, South Wales before going on tour. 7 June to 21 November. wno.org.uk

PHOTOS: JOHAN PERSSON; © ARTICHOKE

Kew the Music, London

VOICE & VOTE: WOMEN’S PLACE IN PARLIAMENT, LONDON Westminster Hall will host an exhibition that delves into the campaign for votes for women and the representation of women in the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

27 June to 6 Oct. parliament.uk

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 ‘astonishing’ The Guardian

 ‘inspiring’ The Times

 ‘must-see’ The Telegraph

Rodin and the art of ancient Greece Until 29 July 2018 Book now

Sponsored by

Organised with Musée Rodin, Paris Auguste Rodin (1840–1917), The Kiss. S.174. Plaster, after 1898.

Musée Rodin, Paris.

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THE GUIDE

RURAL RAMBLINGS

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSELLERS’ ASSOCIATION FAIR, LONDON Sir David Attenborough will cut the ribbon at this event in Battersea Park, which features over 160 exhibitors showcasing rare books and manuscripts from first-edition Harry Potters to Federalist essays

by Alexander Hamilton. 24-26 May, aba.org.uk

Anyone who enjoys countryside pursuits will love The Game Fair in Warwickshire

The Game Fair prides itself on hosting the most comprehensive list of field sports in the UK including gundog handling, fishing and ferreting. William & Son, Dubarry and Holland & Holland stalls will ensure you look the part.

27-29 July. thegamefair.org

Festival of Hunting, Peterborough

The East of England Showground plays host to the greatest gathering of hounds in the country. Equine showing classes, an inter-hunt relay and hound-judging establish it as a highlight of the countryside calendar.

18 July. festivalofhunting.com THE GREAT BRITISH GARDEN PARTY, OXFORDSHIRE Celebrate The Great British Garden Party at Blenheim Palace with music, food, drink and fireworks at the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

13-14 July. blenheimpalace.com

Gloucestershire Festival of Polo, Gloucestershire

Top-notch polo, fantastic shopping and great food are just a few things to look forward to at Gloucestershire Festival of Polo held at the Beaufort Polo Club.

Purchase a picnic spot to ensure a good view of the fantastically fast and furious sport. 9-10 June. beaufortpoloclub.com

Head to the Festival of Hunting for the largest gathering of hounds in the UK

RHS Chatsworth Flower Show, Derbyshire

The Braemar Gathering, Aberdeenshire

Dating back 900 years, it is no surprise that The Braemar Gathering is a slick operation of heavy events, piping, dancing and tug of war. If all that spectating has made you peckish there are Scottish delicacies to sate your hunger. 1 Sept. braemargathering.org

KERB’S JAM ON RYE, LONDON Use your bank holiday Monday to join KERB’s Jam on Rye in a new celebration of sound system culture and street food. Enjoy Breddos and Club Mexicana to the tune of Reggae Roast and David Rodigan. 28 May. kerbfood.com

The stately home will host thousands of orchids

Thousands of orchids will flood the Great Conservatory of Chatsworth House in one of the largest displays of the plants. Don’t miss a chance to see the Linder Sterling exhibtion inside either, part of the Great Tour. 6-10 June. rhs.org.uk

OPEN GARDEN SQUARES WEEKEND, LONDON Those with a tendency to nose over garden walls are off the hook when over 200 private gardens unlock their gates, among them, 10 Downing Street.

9–10 June. opensquares.org

PHOTOS: ABA; © DIANA JARVIS 2017

The Game Fair, Warwickshire

THE MURDÉR EXPRESS, LONDON Hop on board a 19th-century dining car for an immersive experience of top class food and theatre. 25 May to 23 Sept. funicularproductions.com

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12 June – 19 August Join the RA. Friends go free

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THE GUIDE ART

MODERNISTS & MAVERICKS: BACON, FREUD, HOCKNEY & THE LONDON PAINTERS

BOOKS

GOOD READS Richard Hopton reviews books by eight authors who are appearing at the Hay Literary Festival

FICTION

THE KILLING OF BUTTERFLY JOE Rhidian Brook

Llewellyn Jones is a directionless young Welshman who falls in with the Bosco family and sets off across America with them selling butterflies. This rollicking, entertaining road novel is as much about make-believe and truth, loyalty and friendship as about the agonies of cold calling: ‘every sale you attempt contains the possibility of failure, rejection and a kind of death’. The prose is a marathon of brilliantly sustained folksiness and linguistic invention, a riot of erudition, both faux and real. A triumph. Picador, £14.99

POETRY

ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE Wendy Cope

Wendy Cope’s new collection is a gentle celebration of life’s joys as she takes stock at the age of 70. She recalls childhood homesickness, ruminates on her father’s volumes of Shakespeare and grins at the memory of watching the 1972 Olympics on TV in a haze of dope. There is much humour, too, as when she contemplates the notion of an archbishop jogging: ‘There’s no reason at all why he shouldn’t keep fit./It’s commendable. You can’t help sneering a bit.’ Cope’s poems may be deceptively simple, shorn of literary flourish, but they succeed brilliantly. Faber & Faber, £10.99

Martin Gayford

Martin Gayford is The Spectator’s art critic whose latest book is the fruit of three decades of interviews with London’s leading painters. It embraces those mentioned in the title but also Auerbach, Bomberg, Hodgkin, Riley and many others. It offers a comprehensive account of their careers as well as tracing the stylistic development of the various schools between 1945 and 1970. The art historical weight of the book is leavened by anecdote. In the 1950s, for example, someone suggested that Francis Bacon should live in Switzerland to which the great man retorted: ‘All those fucking views’. Thames & Hudson, £24.95

S TAT E O F T H E N AT I O N

HOW BRITAIN REALLY WORKS Stig Abell

Stig Abell, former editor of the Sun and now in charge of the Times Literary Supplement, has written a brisk, readable account of how our most important institutions work. He casts his eye over the economy, politics, the NHS, the military, the police, the justice system and the media. His views are left-leaning – tellingly, he defends political correctness despite the fact that it ‘limits free expression, and precludes honest debate’ – but in general he favours common sense over ideology. There is a good deal of humour in the book too, much of it squirrelled away in footnotes. John Murray, £20

MEMOIR

ROSIE: SCENES FROM A VANISHED LIFE Rose Tremain

Rosie is a clear-sighted memoir of the author Rose Tremain’s upbringing.

Abandoned by her father at the age of ten and unloved by her selfish, bulimic mother, it was her nanny who provided the love that enabled Rose to survive her emotionally suppressed childhood. This memoir is exquisitely wrought, full of telling details recalled with astonishing freshness despite the passage of time. The book is studded with footnotes explaining how specific incidents from her life surfaced in her novels, an interesting insight into how an author draws on life in writing fiction. Chatto & Windus, £14.99

CHILDREN

The Story of Tantrum O’Furrily (Hodder, £12.99) is the latest offering from author Cressida Cowell, beautifully illustrated

by Mark Nicholas. It tells a heart-warming fable of a stray cat and her three kittens. Big Bones (Hot Key Books, £6.99)

by Laura Dockrill is a novel for young adults written as a food diary. It has many sensible things to say about food, health and body image. The Colour of the Sun (Hodder, £12.99) by David Almond is a detective novel for young adults set in a small town on Tyneside. The book has a magical feel to it, hovering between fantasy and reality. My daughter, 13, loved it.

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THE GUIDE

SPORTS

Sebastian Coe on the FIFA World Cup, which should always be above and beyond politics

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ny month in the four-year sporting calendar that contains the FIFA World Cup qualifies as an exceptional circumstance in my book. This year’s is less of an English affair, more a British expeditionary force. The world is a complex and often conflicted place and these matches will take place in Russia at a time of heightened political tension. Politicians and political regimes come and go, sport is here to stay and always needs to be protected. OK, lecture over.

Along with the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, the FIFA World Cup is the biggest global event we have. The environment will be testing but sport will win the day. Whether we have our own local celebration for the Three Lions is quite another question and may not be a bad idea if you believe what the experts are saying.

The English team has rarely ever lived up to the pre-event hype, so often burdened with the ‘this is our time’ or ‘golden era’ epithets. Come to think of it, that’s probably been the case for every England team that’s left these shores since the World Cup in Mexico in 1970. This time around we travel with low expectations which might suit Gareth Southgate’s men – or boys. This is a youthful squad which The 2018 World Cup in Russia hopefully means an energetic and risk averse one. comes at a time of widespread Missing this time are both Italy and Holland, the mistrust of the country former winners and the latter finalists in the past.

Spain has won everything, but this year’s team is ageing. Perhaps the door is at least open for a very talented Belgian side to make its mark. Few teams can boast the qualities of De Bruyne, Hazard and Courtois all plying their trade in the Premier League (and a note for the diary – England meets Belgium in the group stage on 28 June in Kaliningrad). Further afield, Brazil looks a much more disciplined outfit than the one humiliated in the semi final against Germany four years ago on home turf.

And speaking of the Germans, they have long been the tournament’s consistent performers.

The World Cup has also thrown up some surprise packages; South Korea and Costa Rica in previous tournaments come to mind.

This year’s final will take place in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium on 15 July. The same stadium in which I took my first Olympic title. It was also the place where my beloved Chelsea missed out on a Champions League final win in 2008 thanks to a misplaced John Terry penalty in – literally – the last kick of a Herculean tussle with Manchester United.

Some tournaments fade quickly from memory, while some grow in stature. My most memorable was in post-military coup Argentina in 1978 with those electric, late night matches from the pulsating River Plate stadium when Ardiles, Kempes and Luque brought hope to a nation. This time I’ll settle for England making it to the latter stages.

PHOTOS: REX FEATURES

THE OLYMPIAN

ABOVE: Fisht Olympic stadium in Sochi, Russia LEFT: Kevin De Bruyne will play for the talented Belgian side

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THE GUIDE

CARS

ROAD TEST It might be as quiet as a ghost but that’s where the comparisons end, says Jeremy Taylor

TOWN

The ‘baby’ of the Rolls range is still a whopper to park around town. Unlike the larger Phantom model, the Ghost has less room in the back and usually requires the owner to actually drive it, rather than rely on a chauffeur.

An expensive blend of old-world charm and outrageous luxury, the interior combines a rash of retro buttons and switches with futuristic stuff, like a 10-inch dashboard screen and a crystal, rotary controller.

This may be the entry-level Roller but, buyer, beware.

My model came with monogrammed headrests, lamb’s wool floor mats and Starlight Headliner, turning the roof lining into a twinkling light display. The final bill for this and other options came to £302,000!

If you can afford the car then urban fuel consumption of 13mpg won’t be an issue – and that’s posh, premium unleaded too. As it guzzles petrol, at least the purr from the V12 engine is almost imperceptible.

Rolls-Royce is owned by BMW but their cars are built at Goodwood. I soon discovered the Ghost is the ultimate blend of German engineering and British prowess – is there a finer way to drive to the office?

There’s a Black Badge ‘sporty’ edition of the Ghost, although why anybody would want to travel faster in their luxury saloon is a mystery to me. Effortless power was never served up in such a sublime and luxurious package.

RATING: 4/5 handbags

ROLLSROYCE GHOST Price £231,180 (exc. options) Engine 6,592 cc V12 petrol Power 563bhp 0-62mph 4.7 seconds Economy 19.8mpg

COUNTRY

You might imagine a car like this works best on a straight stretch of autobahn in Germany with no speed restrictions. Not so. Tipping the scales at a hefty 2.3 tons, the Ghost might wallow on a fast corner but it can still tackle a cross-country journey with pace and style.

That said, it should be an offence to push a RollsRoyce along at such an undignified speed. Instead, I enjoyed my magic carpet ride across the Cotswolds, soaking up an aria on Classic FM with optional ventilated seats and a purple leather steering wheel.

The view down that long, sculpted bonnet is one of the finest from any motor car. The famous Spirit of Ecstasy mascot stands proud above the grille, although these days it can be lowered automatically to prevent vandals and thieves.

There is plenty of room in the back for family outings and you can bamboozle passengers by leaving them to find rear door handles. The back pair are rearhinged and work beautifully. A pair of umbrellas are hidden discreetly in the front door frames.

Driving a Ghost is a wonderful experience. Once you get over the price tag and engage with it like a ‘normal’ car, there’s nothing to fear. And the good news is modern Rolls-Royces hold their value well – another good reason to buy one.

RATING: 5/5 wellies

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PROMOTION

LEFT: Wild Rose Pendant, £370 RIGHT: A selection of rings

RIGHT: Light Blue Flower Ring, £390 BELOW: Perlage Necklace, £380

SILVER LININGS Italian designer Giovanni Raspini launches new collections in time for summer

Tuscan designer, Giovanni Raspini

G

iovanni Raspini, an Italian designer famed for his silverware and jewellery, who opened a flagship store on South Molton Street last year, brings authentic Italian craftsmanship to London.

Handmade in the rich bucolic hills of Tuscany, close to Arezzo, his homeware and jewellery collections require no translation. They ooze Italian glamour and unrestrained decadence.

Each piece takes inspiration from nature and its endless transformations, such as the animated forms and textures of wild creatures in the Animalier Collection.

With half a century’s experience behind him, Giovanni Raspini settles for nothing short of perfection, his personal style reflecting that of his work.

Collections are sketched, modelled, created and packaged exclusively in house – ‘handmade with care and infinite passion’ – typifying the Italian modus operandi.

The team begins by sketching a design, then using an ancient wax casting technique, they model and shape creations using heat before completing the piece by buffing, burnishing silver, or embedding jewellery stones.

Evoking femininity, the Wild Rose collection features burnished silver and cabochon cut pink opals in floral

arrangements. For something regal the Queen collection draws upon Anglo-Saxon influences in its crown designs. Then there’s Oxford with its chained necklaces and bracelets with overlapping ovals, natural stones used in Drops and Perlage’s three statement cocktail rings. The five distinct and exquisite collections feature jewellery for every occassion and mood and, throughout, Giovanni Raspini’s contemporary outlook and Italian flair combine to create wearable, alluring pieces.

Visit the South Molton Street store for the full Italian job.

ABOVE: Pink Quartz Perlage ring, £330 BELOW: Southern Sea necklace, £620

Giovanni Raspini specialises in jewellery, sculptures and homeware, and has boutiques in Monaco, Rome, Milan, Venice, Florence, Naples and Brescia.

5 South Molton Street, Mayfair, London W1; 020 7629 1401; giovanniraspini.com

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THE GUIDE

GARDENING

SEEDER’S DIGEST Barbecues and shepherd’s huts

BBQS The smell of a summer’s day

THE STONE BAKE OVEN COMPANY The Mezzo 76, £1,199. thestonebakeoven company.co.uk

GARDEN OF THE MONTH

BETH CHATTO GARDENS, ESSEX

In 1960 Beth Chatto took an overgrown wasteland and transformed it into a wonderful, informal seven-acre garden. The gravel garden, once a car park, first began as an experiment and is now famous for the fact it is never watered, while the Primula bulleyana in the Water Garden are out in force in June. bethchatto.co.uk

LANDMANN Vinson Smoker, £399.99. landmann.co.uk CHESNEYS HEAT 500, £2,802. chesneys.co.uk

INSPIRED BY

A YEAR IN THE GARDEN

TREND

COMPOSTING

Do your bit for the environment by composting. Your garden will thank you for it too when it is fed with high-nutrient compost that also reduces the risk of pests and plant diseases. Find a shady spot, place the bin on an earth base and get going.

THIS MONTH NURTURE Prune deciduous bushes and shrubs. Newly planted ones just need a quick trim and shaping.

MULCH Help soils retain moisture during the summer months by mulching.

It also keeps weeds under control.

GET PLANTING Plant summer-flowering bulbs such as gladioli and alliums.

WEBER Genesis II LX E-44, £1,999. johnlewis.com

BIG GREEN EGG From £625. biggreenegg.co.uk

WOLF ICBOG36, £6,275. subzero-wolf.co.uk

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

If you’re stuck for something to do on any given day of the year, look to Gisela Keil’s book to provide you with inspiration. Three hundred and sixtyfive images

by Jurgen Becker are accompanied by planting tips and design techniques that will keep you busy. £22.50. prestel.com

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Image © Gill German

EXTERIORS | INTERIORS | BIG SPACES +44 (0) 1235 859300 www.davidharber.com

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THE GUIDE

C O N V E R S AT I O N S AT S C A R F E S B A R

JONATHAN YE0 Charlotte Metcalf meets the A-list’s artist Portrait by ALEXANDRA DAO

F

improvements. Yet fascinatingly, some people feel so much better or a man whose career is scrutinising faces, portraitist about themselves after surgery that their posture changes and they Jonathan Yeo appears relaxed about being the subject start to walk taller and exude confidence they didn’t have before. If we of our photographer. ‘I don’t think I’m very good at it but it’s could only find a way of getting there without having to go the radical something that increasingly goes with the territory,’ he says. extent of undergoing the knife.’ We start discussing facial lines being The ‘territory’ has expanded as Jonathan has become as much part of the map to the soul and Jonathan talks animatedly about the a part of the zeitgeist as the people he paints. He’s painted politicians lines that surgeons ink onto the flesh prior to making their incisions: (Blair, Cameron, Hague, Major), royalty (Prince Philip, the Duchess ‘Those lines represent the intrusion of science on an organic body, of Cornwall), Hollywood A-listers (Kevin Spacey, Nicole Kidman, but in a sense they’re decorative and also art.’

Helena Bonham Carter, Idris Elba), major artists (Grayson Perry, To describe Jonathan as naturally chatty is to underestimate the Damien Hirst) and activists (Malala Yousafzai, Doreen Lawrence). way he shimmers with enthusiasm and alert intelligence as he Jonathan’s work is of course attention-grabbing because of the celebrities he paints but it’s even more exciting because he’s using the articulates his ideas. In a BBC film shot for The Culture Show, friend and actor Tom Hollander (they were at Westminster school together), portrait genre as a springboard from which to explore controversial said Jonathan was the most ‘alive and vibrant’ people he knew. issues, like how social and digital media transform our attitudes Jonathan’s obvious passion for what he does is partly to everything from porn to beauty. About a decade ago he because he came to painting with determination and created a portrait of George W Bush from pornographic certainty brought on by a life-threatening illness. While images and in a series of portraits of Cara Delevingne he Jonathan was at the University of Kent studying English and hinted at the ways in which she manipulated her public Film (in the nineties art schools were teaching conceptual persona via her vast social media following. art rather than painting which he’d wanted to study) he What I’m excited about discussing with him today contracted lymphatic cancer. This affected his studies less is his fascination with cosmetic surgery, the subject than it changed his attitude to the rest of his life. ‘I wouldn’t of Skin Deep, his new exhibition at The Bowes Museum Pub lunch or say I could see the benefit at the time,’ he says drily, ‘but in County Durham. The show contains a series of Michelin star? in retrospect I realise that being ill helped me become an provocative, often disturbing paintings and some ‘beforeMy studio’s set up for lunches artist. It focused me. I might have wasted time spending a and-after’ diptychs showing face lifts, breast enhancements but if I do have few years doing something else while I decided what I really and gender reassignment. ‘I was very keen for my focus lunch out I’d wanted. After being ill, I didn’t want to lose any time.’ He is to be entirely on elective surgery – though some would go to the Half endearingly modest as he describes how Archbishop Trevor say gender reassignment is not optional,’ says Jonathan, Moon pub near my home in Huddleston, a family friend, sat for Jonathan’s first serious ‘because I think cosmetic surgery is a weather vane for Putney. portrait ‘out of sympathy’ for him being ill. what’s really going. What we’re prepared to do in pursuit Glass of wine Following his 2013 retrospective at the National of beauty and youth will always have a cultural relevance.’ or green tea?

Portrait Gallery, Jonathan has been freer than ever to Jonathan collaborated with surgeon Miles Berry, who let I should say tea experiment. His futuristic bronze head, which used him observe several cosmetic operations. In one, a woman but a glass of processes like 3D printing, virtual reality and Google Tilt had her breasts removed to become a man and Jonathan’s wine is much more frequent.

Brush, was on display until March at the Royal Academy visceral painting of it shows skin and breasts peeled back and he plans more similar works. It’s his immersion in from the torso to reveal gory, bloody flesh. Another Cat or dog?

Cats – we have contemporary culture and his fascination with the future haunting image shows a woman’s post-operative face, three in our that makes Jonathan such a relevant artist. As his potential pale swollen and vulnerable as a flower, in a halo of surgical menagerie sitters, he observes us all as living products of everything sheeting. ‘As a portraitist I convince myself that I can decode along with that is happening around us. Paradoxically, it’s Jonathan’s someone’s personality by looking at their face but facelifts rabbits and a tortoise. ability to see and portray our faces as manifestations and surgery distort the way we communicate non-verbally, of our culture that will give his portraits longevity and and that’s what drew me in,’ says Jonathan. ‘Is Miles a Cosy knits or sharp suit? permanence and in years to come they are bound to surgeon or an artist? I am very interested in the intersection Whatever be valued as important records of our swift-moving, of the two disciplines. Miles is changing people’s I wear becomes throwaway, digital age. appearances and there’s no universal agreement about what splattered in makes a person look better so he’s doing subjective work like paint so I gave up on clothes Skin Deep runs till 17 June at The Bowes Museum, a sculptor. Often people preferred the “before” paintings, so ages ago.

County Durham. thebowesmuseum.org.uk bigger breasts or a tighter face are not necessarily objective

IN BRIEF

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Jacket and trousers, both Mulberry. Top, Zimmermann. Earrings Ranjana Khan. Saraille in fuchsia wallpaper, Designers Guild. Euphorbia cactus and Staghorn plant, both Abigail Ahern. Faux weeping pine and Nelson wicker chair, both Graham and Green

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Mexican

WAVE

With the Frida Kahlo exhibition this summer’s hot ticket, we take inspiration from the colours and heat of her homeland Fashion director NICOLE SMALLWOOD Photography CARLA GULER

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Dress, David Koma.

Earrings, Pebble London.

Cocktail ring in yellow gold with amethyst and diamonds (right hand little finger) and cocktail ring in yellow gold with amethyst and rubies (left hand little finger), both Bucellati. All other rings, Pebble London.

Saraille wallpaper in fuchsia, Designers Guild. Real cactus, studio’s own

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Top and skirt, both Marques Almeida at Harvey Nichols. Shoes, Christian Louboutin.

Earrings, Ranjana Khan.

L’Eden wallpaper, de Gournay. Saraille wallpaper in aqua, Designers Guild.

Lingbao telephone table, Graham and Green

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Dress, Stella McCartney Shoes, Stuart Weitzman Earrings, Pebble London Belt, stylist’s own Cactus, Abigail Ahern

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Dress, Erdem. Earrings, Ranjana Khan. L’Eden wallpaper, de Gournay

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Jumpsuit and skirt, both Dior. Earrings, Ranjana Khan. Andean pine, Abigail Ahern

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Top, Alexander McQueen at Matches.

Skirt, Emilia Wickstead. Bikini briefs, Marysia. Earrings, Pebble London.

Shoes, Manolo Blahnik. Throw, Caoba. La Paz cactus, Abigail Ahern.

Mexicana cushion and Anya orange and green cushion, both Graham and Green. Yellow and olive green Otomi cushions, Montes and Clarke TEAM Fashion assistant: Daisy Bryson Photographer’s assistants: Alex Ingram and Jack Kenyon Hair and make-up: Camilla Hewitt at Frank Agency using Nars Model: Ajak at IMG Set design: Lee Flude at Carol Hayes Management Retouching: Velweiss STOCKISTS: PAGE 112

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Bertrand Fournier

Oil on linen, wood panel. 146 x 114 x 1.8 cm. 57 1/2 x 44 7/8 x 3/4 in

Rainbows in the clouds, 2018

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HEY JUNE June Sarpong’s message is clear and we all should sit up and listen, says CHARLOTTE METCALF

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A

sk June Sarpong what British quality she values most, and her answer is a sense of humour.

After an hour, this answer comes as no surprise because if there’s one quality that defines June it’s her laugh: enormous, sudden, infectious, filling the room and striking a joyful, incongruous note in the very serious conversation we are having about changing society.

June, who is 40 and already an MBE, is on a mission to improve life in Britain and her recent book Diversify is a manifesto for change. The main thrust of her argument is that we have excluded the very people who have so much to contribute towards making society fairer and more cohesive – working class males, women, disabled, gay and young people. Anyone who dismisses her book as an unrealistic groping towards an elusive utopia, underestimates June’s empirical approach. ‘I made certain my book was steeped in data,’ she says. ‘I wanted to evaluate exactly how much it costs to be ruled by an elite so I asked the London School of Economics to calculate the price of discrimination. I didn’t want the book to point fingers without solutions. I wanted the evidence that we can make Britain a better place.’

‘We all have our “isms” or inbuilt prejudices and assumptions about who should lead and who should follow,’ she explains. She was inspired to write Diversify by facing up to her own ‘ism’ while filming in Las Vegas. A heavily tattooed young sound assistant appeared on set and June was instantly intimidated, making assumptions from his appearance that he was a gang member who’d had fallen foul of the law.

She saw her own fear of the ‘other’ was subconsciously influencing her behaviour.

‘Whether we like it or not, “other-ising” is something we all do, and “other-isms” are something we all have,’ she says. On the verge of excluding the young man, June had ‘a light-bulb moment’ and chose to challenge some of her own limiting beliefs. Striking up a conversation with him was a turning point and led to writing the book.

Diversify is an earnest project from a woman who built her career in television, presenting and appearing in shows like MTV’s Dance Floor Chart, Lily Savage’s Blankety Blank, Celebrity Juice and Loose Women. Yet it’s precisely because of her easygoing ability to talk to anyone about just about anything that has given her an insight into society’s failure to listen and engage with people. ‘Being a TV presenter has meant meeting people day in and day out and I get people,’ she says. ‘I’ve been accused of having simplistic ideas but often we’re making things much more complicated than they need to be.’

June, who is a passionate Remainer, believes that particularly working class excluded men are some of the very people whose disgruntlement at feeling disenfranchised voted for Trump in America and for Brexit here. ‘After we moved here from Ghana, I grew up in a working class white community in the East End that welcomed my family. My experience was one of warmth and belonging,’ explains June. ‘What the chattering classes and elite fail to understand is that the working class community did all the heavy lifting to include immigrants and now they’re the ones being

excluded. The upper classes have just not taken on board what it’s like to be the only white English speaking people in the class. Their experience of foreigners is positive because it’s limited to their nannies, cleaners or a nice waiter in a restaurant. But outside their comfortable, safe world, life has changed beyond recognition and they should have done a better job of listening to white people’s frustrations and not dismissing them as xenophobic. We have to make sure that those good, solid, working class blokes, who used to have such a strong identity, don’t feel their livelihoods are being completely taken away.’

June’s approach is hands-on and practical and her book and website are full of ideas and simple workplace tests and discussion points to challenge prejudices and ‘isms’. She now lectures in corporations, like Google and Sainsbury’s, teaching bosses and employees alike how to use her ‘Ism Calculator’ as a means towards becoming more inclusive. Meanwhile, the response to her Diversity Dinners has been overwhelming. ‘The aim is to create motivational gatherings to bring together citizens from all walks of life to share ideas. There’s nothing like breaking bread together to forge understanding and connect our divided communities,’ says June. The day before I meet her, June hosted one at Battersea’s Power House, the exclusive club for Power Station residents. Activist Gina Miller, the Head of the Muslim Council of Britain, Harun Khan, designer Kelly Hoppen and tech entrepreneur Brent Hoberman were among her guests.

The user-friendly Diversify website has a simple test to work out what your own ‘isms’ are. ‘What are yours?’ she asks and laughs when I tell her I’m riddled with them. ‘Oh, we all are! The important thing is to realise that and to go towards the people we’re most afraid of.’

June makes it sound both easy and fun but the task she has set herself is enormous and takes stamina and discipline. Her schedule is gruelling and allows no time for relationships or any other serious work or hobbies. She doesn’t drink and says she sleeps to relax – or eats. ‘The younger generation doesn’t cook so I’m so grateful I learnt as a child,’ she says. ‘If you didn’t help in the kitchen you didn’t eat so everyone in my family can cook.’

I ask June where she’s off to next and it’s Birmingham the next day, followed by Newcastle and Scotland. She’s on tour with the book round Britain, Australia, South Africa and Canada till the end of year and next year she goes to America. ‘I used to plan ahead but over the last few years so many things have blown my life apart. Now I take each day as it comes and just hope I stay healthy and strong,’ she says.

So when is she going to stand for Prime Minister? After all she seems to have the solutions for Britain’s problems. She erupts into another delightful snort of raucous laughter. ‘No! No! Politics is no fun. I’d rather be a lobbyist but what I really want to write is a cookbook full of other’s people’s recipes,’ she says. But such a simple, enjoyable project may be a long way off as her manifesto is propelling her faster into the political arena than she could ever have imagined. She may not want to be in politics but politicians and business leaders alike are starting to pay serious attention to June’s wise warnings about the cost of elitism against the huge benefits of genuine diversity and inclusion.

‘We diversify or we fail!’ she concludes. n

‘I wanted to evaluate exactly how much it costs to be ruled by an elite so I asked the LSE to calculate the price of discrimation’

Diversify: Six Degrees of Integration is published by HQ Harper Collins (diversify. org ). Catch June in conversation with Dharshini David at this year’s Hay Festival on 27 May 2018 (hayfestival.com)

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June advises large corporations on diversity and inclusivity

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PROMOTION

A BUCOLIC BIRTHDAY To celebrate its 60th anniversary, The Game Fair is pulling out all the stops

W

ith an array of special features and attractions lined up to celebrate its 60th anniversary, this year’s Game Fair is not one to miss. The festival of the Great British countryside will be held once again at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire. Around 120,000 visitors are expected across three days from Friday 27 July to Sunday 29 July.

With falconry, equestrian, food, clay pigeon shooting, dogs, archery, 4x4 and amazing shopping, there is so much for the whole family to enjoy. Here are some of the best bits:

Mackenzie & George will be exhibiting

NEED TO KNOW Ragley Hall

The James Martin Game Fayre Restaurant Grab a seat in the 300-cover restaurant where celebrity chef James Martin will be sharing his passion and enthusiasm for the British countryside and cooking with game.

Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club The legendary jazz venue is coming to The Game Fair for two nights of live music. Ronnie Scott’s Big Band will be entertaining the crowds on the Friday night. Meanwhile, Saturday evening will see a Ronnie Scott’s Soul Family party featuring soul, Motown and funk.

The Subaru Shooting Line The largest of its kind in Europe, the Subaru Shooting Line stretches for half a kilometre. Individuals or two-person teams will have the

chance to enter a flush shoot. Look out for the Colts Challenge and Champion of Champions finals too.

For those that haven’t shot before, CPSA will be on hand hosting have-a-go events and tuition.

After taking in the sights and sounds, there is ample opportunity to relax with a pint or a cocktail in pop-up bars all around the showground. Visitors can also take advantage of VIP packages or enjoy more of The Game Fair by booking camping or glamping onsite. thegamefair.org facebook.com/TheGameFair

James Martin is set to host a restaurant

WHERE Ragley Hall, Warwickshire (follow the AA signs) WHEN Friday, 27 July to Sunday, 29 July (6am to 6pm, and to 7:30pm on the Friday. Stands and attractions open from 9am)

TICKETS Adult: £27 in advance (Gate price £34) Family: (2 adults and up to 3 children): £67 in advance (Gate price £80)

Stylish visitors

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CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Tacita Dean at work – her exhibition at the RA runs from 19 May to 12 August; Head of the Farnese Hercules (ca. 200-240 AD); the RA’s north-facing entrance, Burlington Gardens

A NEW DAWN IMAGES: FREDRIK NILSEN STUDIO

What better way to honour The Royal Academy’s 250th birthday than by almost doubling its size with the opening of the David Chipperfield-designed Burlington Gardens, says EMMA CRICHTON-MILLER

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FROM ABOVE: The new architecture studio; Self-portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, as President of the Royal Academy (ca. 1780); current President, Christopher Le Brun PRA 2018

architects, including two women painters, led by the architect William Chambers. Chambers had been architectural tutor to George III, and therefore had the King’s ear. The group’s ambitions were two-fold: to raise the status of artists and architects by providing training and professional recognition; and to give artists chosen by open selection the chance, once a year, to exhibit their best work. It was hoped in this way to wean fashionable collectors off their obsession with the French and Italian Old Masters and encourage them to support an emerging national school. France, Italy and the Netherlands already had their academies – George III needed little persuasion that Britain’s status among European powers required Britain to have one too. Temporary lodgings were found in Pall Mall, Joshua Reynolds, the leading portrait painter of the day, was appointed President, and the following year the first Summer Exhibition was launched.

It has taken place every year since.

For while the Royal Academy has, throughout its history, attracted as much ridicule and rage as prestige and admiration – a furious William Blake wrote once of Sir Joshua Reynolds, ‘This man was hired to depress art’ – the essential excellence of the original idea has ensured its survival. Christopher Le Brun, President since 2011, comments, ‘When the King supported the founding of the Royal Academy, it enabled artists to show their work directly to the public without dealers taking a cut and it supported the

PHOTOS: © ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, LONDON; PHOTOGRAPHER: JOHN HAMMOND; © CAT GARCIA;

A

s anyone navigating the streets of Mayfair recently will be aware, the major refurbishment of Burlington Gardens, the grand Victorian building, studded with statues, facing north onto Cork Street, is just about complete. Built in 1870 as the headquarters of London University, it has variously been home to the British Civil Service Commission, the British Academy and the British Museum’s Museum of Mankind, before lapsing into a gallery space for rent. In 2001, however, the Royal Academy of Arts, housed behind it in gracious Burlington House, bought the building, and on 19 May 2018, the year of the RA’s 250th anniversary, all the plastic wrappings, all the cranes and scaffolding, will be removed, and the doors opened onto a radically transformed interior.

This is the centre piece of the RA’s birthday celebrations. As Charles Saumarez Smith, the RA’s Secretary and Chief Executive, puts it: ‘The RA celebrated its centenary in 1868 by moving into Burlington House. It seems appropriately symbolic to mark the 250th anniversary with the expansion into Burlington Gardens.’

The Royal Academy of Arts was founded by royal decree in 1768. Among the rival cliques of artists jostling to get their work patronised by affluent Londoners, was a group of artists and 76 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | June 2018

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PHOTOS: © ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, LONDON; PHOTOGRAPHER: JOHN HAMMOND; © CAT GARCIA;

sculptors, print makers and architects, enhanced by the distinguished, annually elected, overseas based Honorary Royal Academicians. Where 50 years ago artists disdained the Royal Academy as a by-word for conservatism and irrelevance, today the Academicians include rulebreakers and innovators among a roster of internationally regarded artists. So Gilbert & George, Grayson Perry and Tracey Emin are RAs alongside Cornelia Parker, Antony Gormley, Bob and Roberta Smith, and the architects David Adjaye and David Chipperfield.

For most of its history, however, the RA’s essential activities have been, in le Brun’s words, ‘invisible’. Despite the teaching, the on-going discussions about art and architecture, the extensive library, the outstanding collection of art amassed since the Academy’s founding not just from the compulsory donations of newly elected Academicians but also purchases and bequests of Old Masters, such as the famous Michelangelo Taddei Tondo, ‘what has been missing from the RA has been the presence of the Academy,’ according to le Brun.

It is this that has been rectified by Chipperfield’s radical yet historically sensitive uniting of the two buildings, costing in excess of £56m, supported by a grant of £12.7m from the National Lottery. Where students once

education of the next generation of artists.’ He adds, ‘These aspects of our work have become hugely important again.’ The Royal Academy receives no public funding, and is run by the Academicians.

Through its ambitious exhibition programme, the support of the Friends of the Royal Academy and other fundraising, it supports the work of the RA Schools, the only institution in the United Kingdom offering three years of Fine Arts education free of charge. Le Brun remarks, ‘Most other academies in the rest of the world have crashed to the ground. Ours has new energy.’

This he credits to the current batch of Academicians, a glittering group of 80 painters,

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Detail of Michelangelo’s Taddei Tondo (ca. 15041505); current Academicians include Grayson Perry, who is also coordinating this year’s Summer Exhibition, and Gilbert & George

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The new building opens on 19 May. BNY Mellon are the RA’s 250th anniversary partner. royalacademy.org.uk

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: The David Chipperfielddesigned Weston Bridge, joining Burlington Gardens with Burlington House; the new auditorium; Tacita Dean, Majesty (2006); Egon Schiele, Seated Female Nude, Elbows Resting on Right Knee (1914), from the exhibition Klimt/ Schiele: Drawings from the Albertina Museum, Vienna’ from 4 November

PHOTOS: © TATE, LONDON, 2017 © COURTESY THE ARTIST; FRITH STREET GALLERY, LONDON AND MARIAN GOODMAN GALLERY, NEW YORK/PARIS ; THE ALBERTINA MUSEUM, VIENNA

beavered away out of sight beneath the feet of visitors, and the Cast Corridor was rarely visited, now these parts of the building are exposed to view, and there are spaces where students and current RAs will show their work. A two-storey, 250-seat public lecture theatre, named after Benjamin West, the Anglo-American history painter who was the Royal Academy’s second president, has been constructed where London University once held lectures, reinforcing the notion of the Academy as a place for debate and education.

And a new Clore Learning Centre will encourage the next generation of artists and art lovers. As Saumarez Smith comments, ‘There is public interest in the practical side of art. I like to think we are going back to our 18th-century roots.’ As if to reinforce this return, a new gallery on the second floor of Burlington Gardens is now dedicated to a new free display of the Collection, curated by Le Brun.

But in a signal that this new public commitment to teaching and learning will not be at the expense of glamorous, thoughtful exhibitions, the Royal Academy has launched a bumper year of queue-provoking shows. The year began with the stupendous Charles I: King and Collector, reflecting the institution’s royal connections, and will end with Oceania, the first major UK exhibition devoted to the arts of the South Pacific region. ‘It so happens,’ Saumarez Smith says, ‘that Captain Cook set sail in 1768.’ He adds, ‘This shows the RA’s openness to the wider world of art.’

The new wing will itself be inaugurated by an exhibition, Landscape, by the internationally renowned artist and Academician, Tacita Dean, who currently has shows running both at the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. The display here will explore landscape in its broadest sense: intimate collections of natural found objects, a mountainous blackboard drawing and a series of cloudscapes in chalk on slate created especially for the Royal Academy’s new spaces. A centrepiece will be a major new, experimental 35mm film mixing different places, geologies and seasons into a single cinematographic image.

In the autumn, the newly refurbished Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries will host a solo exhibition of the internationally renowned architect and Honorary RA, Renzo Piano, while the year closes with a show of drawings.

Klimt/Schiele: Drawings from the Albertina Museum,

Vienna, in the Sackler Wing, opening on 4 November, marks the centenary of the deaths of these two virtuoso draughtsmen and founding figures of Viennese modernism.

The centre point of the whole year’s celebrations will be the coincidence in the summer of this year’s bumper Summer Exhibition, coordinated by Grayson Perry RA (12 June to 19 August), alongside The Great Spectacle: 250 Years of the Summer Exhibition, showcasing works displayed across the show’s history. You have only to think of Thomas Rowlandson’s amusing cartoon, Exhibition Staircase, satirising London’s beau monde, all falling pell-mell up and down the narrow staircase in Somerset House in 1800 to get to see and be seen, to be reminded of how genially the event combines the serious business of buying and selling art with the social pleasure of a summer diversion, where friends can meet and argue about a drawing.

For Saumarez Smith, however, what is most pleasing, is that the RA’s celebrations are not limited to London.

Through the help of the Art Fund, which supports galleries and museums across the country, complimentary exhibitions honouring the RA’s 250th are opening everywhere. ‘Even Tate is doing an exhibition of Angelica Kauffman,’ he says. Saumarez Smith adds, ‘You never know how things are going to hit public consciousness – but we have done our best!’ n

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CAN TRASH BE CHIC?

Beauty defiled is nothing new but French Lebanese artist Mouna Rebeiz examines it in a modern-day context in her new exhibition, says HOLLY BLACK

M

ouna Rebeiz waves frantically, as she climbs from her car and attempts to dodge the midmorning traffic, while brandishing an oversized piggy bank. The artist cuts a glamorous figure, with wild, curly black hair, a huge grin and statuesque proportions – even in off-duty pool slides. ‘It’s Pucci!’ she exclaims, as she greets me with a continental double air-kiss and gestures at the pig, which has been decorated with the designer’s logo and fitted with a bespoke strap.

‘I wanted to bring one to show you,’ she explains as we enter her townhouse studio, just off the King’s Road. This is one of several ceramic piggy banks cast in Nove di Bassano, Italy, to be customised by famous designers including Giles Deacon, Lulu Guinness and

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have said that plastic could sell for £100,000? Nowadays it is not about the material, it is about the creation.’

This notion of throwaway materials being reconstituted as works of art forms the basis for the new exhibition, which is further inspired by the cyclical nature of fashion, communication and even ethical concerns in contemporary society. ‘Just look at Balenciaga,’ she continues, ‘they made bags that look like plastic, the kind you use to get your groceries. Whereas McDonalds has made their luxury series of hamburgers. I saw their advert and I thought it was for perfume! We are moving around, from trash into beauty.’

As Rebeiz leads me through a corridor precariously stacked with canvases, she explains her classic training, littering her speech with the common aside ‘comment dit ça?’ (she is Lebanese, but educated mainly in France) and alluding to Renaissance techniques such as Verdaccio and Sfumato. Her steadfast knowledge and practical application was honed under the teachings of Alix de Source, a 17th and 18th-century painting specialist, who encouraged her to copy masterpieces at the Louvre. She was also compelled to travel further afield, to perfect her life drawing: ‘In France, you have life models, but it’s in small studios. The Royal Academy is outstanding. Before I lived here I would come every Tuesday from Paris, to draw.’

This unorthodox commute also meant setting up a London studio, although she still maintains another space across the Channel. Rebeiz’s roots within the Parisian art scene also run deep,

Elie Saab and auctioned off in aid of the Innocence in Danger charity, which supports minors who are at risk of sexual abuse. ‘I have been supporting Homayra [Sellier] with her charity for 15 years,’ says Rebeiz, ‘and it was something of a coincidence when she said she was looking to expand in the UK, as I was moving here, so I said, “Let’s build something together”.’ True to her word, the artist used her influence across fashion, design and the visual arts to mount the charity’s first London auction, at her show in 2015. Now, she is revisiting the format at The Trash-ic, her latest exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery. Most of the bidding will take place online, but a select few pigs will be auctioned off by Sotheby’s on the opening night.

As for the art itself, the studio is fit to burst.

In the front room, there is an enormous work-in -progress panel that will be covered in pieces of primary-coloured plastic. At present this source material remains as a series of rubbish bins, ready to be dismantled. Rebeiz explains that this unfinished work is a full-circle exploration of trash as a ‘chic’ concept. ‘This vase is made from epoxy,’ she adds, as she points to a resin form displayed in the corner of the room. ‘I bought it from a very big designer, for £3,000-£4,000. A long time ago you would pay this amount for Baccarat, for crystal. But things are always changing and evolving. Who could

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: The Pucci designed piggy bank that will be auctioned off for Innocence in Danger; Rebeiz’s reworking of the cover of Connaissance des Arts magazine; Mouna at work

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would do it [because it is legal], because I think it would be funny. Here, Saatchi would sue me!’

All joking aside, the artist is not afraid of a bit of controversy. Her version of Gustave Courbet’s The Origin of the World features a distinctly millennial female figure; skinny, devoid of body hair and alarmingly disembodied ‘as if she has been butchered’. Another, larger work also focuses on female genitalia, which have been stitched up using black ribbon. According to Rebeiz, ‘It is a metaphor, like a symbol. We are heading towards a new form of humanity that is not really ours if we make babies in labs and if women do not procreate in the belly. Also, when women are not the master of their own bodies, they are dehumanised.’ One final, abstract work that is comprised of broad gestural brushstrokes in bloody red appears to be a further exercise in violence, but the artist takes another view. ‘It is actually a very optimistic piece. After chaos you always have rebirth and I thought about giving birth to my daughter as I was painting. Everything is done with blood and effort and pain. When you are making art, you are also making a delivery – you are giving birth to something.’ n The Trash-ic or Trash in the Face of Beauty at the Saatchi Gallery runs from 31 May to 3 June (saatchigallery.com). To view the silent auction, visit trashicauction.co.uk

as proved by her recent commission to reinterpret the cover of Connaissance des Arts magazine, which featured a self-portrait of Rembrandt. ‘They asked me to respect the painting’s composition, but to twist the cover. So, I used spray paint to change the text, to read “chaos”.’ The assignment was born out of another post-modern interpretation of a former front cover, featuring Bronzino’s Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo. She faithfully reproduced the format, but with all of the text removed. ‘It took me a week to do the barcode. It was horrible because it went over the clothes and jewellery and my heart was broken.’

Given the artist’s formal training, it is no surprise that the influence of historical masters plays an important part in her practice, but she also looks to more contemporary figures. Other paintings from the Trash-ic series allude to famous works by Lucien Freud, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Sarah Lucas. The latter has manifested itself in a playful reimagining of Lucas’ presentation at the Venice Biennale in 2015, where she positioned women’s lower torsos on banal pieces of furniture, with cigarettes placed in various orifices.

In Rebeiz’s two-dimensional version, she has painted three female figures with their backs turned, with a pipe, cigar and joint replacing the cigarettes. ‘It’s not really hashish!’ she assures me. ‘If I were in certain parts of the States I

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Rebeiz’s Connaissance des Arts cover, featuring Bronzino’s Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo; Dead End; Mouna Rebeiz

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An exhibition organised by Dulwich Picture Gallery and the McMichael Collection of Canadian Art in collaboration with the Vancouver Art Gallery, with the support of the National Gallery of Canada.

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PHOTOS: THE STATE TRETYAKOV GALLERY, MOSCOW

Aleksandr Deyneka, The Ball Game (1932)

HEALTHY BODIES, HEALTHY MINDS The nude is one of art’s most prolific subjects. Russian art expert IVAN LINDSAY charts its history both before and after the Russian Revolution, just over 100 years ago

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PHOTOS: THE STATE RUSSIAN MUSEUM, ST PETERSBURG

T

he nude is the most fundamental and important subject in art. At different times it has been used to depict beauty, energy, pathos, shame, pity, harmony, hate, ecstasy and humility.

Whereas naked merely implies a human body without clothes, nude necessitates a study of ideal form.

To understand Russian depictions of the nude it is first critical to take a look at the history of the subject in Western art, with which Russian artists were familiar, and from which they drew their inspiration.

In the 4th century BC the Ancient Greeks started to make ‘idealised’ nude sculptures of their gods. The Greeks approached the subject mathematically, breaking down the proportions of the human body into the perfect geometric forms of the circle and the square. Because they were more familiar with the male nude, due to male athletes performing without clothing, and with women having to remain clothed at all times, the majority of nude Greek sculpture is male. The Greeks perfected encasing their female gods in thin diaphanous clothing that allowed them to hint at the body beneath. The rare nude

female sculptures that have survived, such as the Knidian Aphrodite and the Medici Venus, have provided stock figures for artists to copy ever since.

After the ancient period, Christian discomfort with the subject, which only allowed nude subjects from the Bible such as Christ on the cross, the nude went out of fashion until revived during the Renaissance. Artists such as Michelangelo, Raphael, Correggio, Botticelli, Giorgione and Titian all interpreted the nude in their own singular and magnificent way while drawing on the classical tradition. Gothic artists of the North, such as Dürer and Van Eyck, were never as comfortable with the subject and created a different body type that prioritised small shoulders, a plump belly and dumpy legs.

Later artists such as Ingres, Rembrandt, Degas, Cézanne, Rouault, Matisse and Picasso all contributed to the development of the treatment of the nude.

Although Russian artists were well versed in international artistic traditions through the extensive holdings in the Russian museums, and their travels abroad, there was a brief moment just before the 1917 Revolution when artists, and in particular sculptors, tried to draw their inspiration directly from the ancients. Sergei Konenkov’s magnificent marble nudes from 1905 to 1920 are among the most classical and sensual in Russian art.

Traditionally it has always been said the southern Europeans were more comfortable with the nude than their northern cousins, but the Russians seem closer in attitude to the southerners. People argue that northern prudishness was due to the colder climate ensuring they were less familiar with the body, however, Russian artists’ pragmatism towards the nude seems to contradict this view.

If Sergei Konenkov formed his style before the Revolution, Vera Mukhina only started producing masterpieces afterwards.

Mukhina had studied in Paris under Bourdelle and then travelled around Italy with her friend Liubov Popova, studying art and architecture.

In her lectures on art, and her book A Sculptor’s Thoughts of 1953, she revealed she was thoroughly schooled in European architecture, painting and sculpture, Abyssinian and Egyptian art as well as Russian folk art. Her knowledge and intellectual vigour underpinned nude sculptural production throughout the entire Soviet period.

Although other sculptors (such as Matvey Manizer, Elena Yanson-Manizer, Sara Lebedeva, Ekaterina Belashova and Aleksandr Matveyev) all attempted the nude, with considerable success, we know more about Mukhina’s thinking because

PHOTOS: THE STATE RUSSIAN MUSEUM, ST PETERSBURG

she wrote it down. About the nude she said, ‘The problem of the nude is of the utmost importance in decorative sculpture. It is not difficult to understand why sculptors have always been fascinated by the human body: as human beings are the main theme in sculpture, and since the only way to express man’s inner being is by means of gestures and the interplay of muscles, the nude therefore becomes an endless source of inspiration and expression for the sculptor.’

After the Revolution the Avant Garde painters gave up easel painting and the Soviet government introduced the Socialist Realist style in a series of decrees in the early 1930s. Despite erotic art being on the list of forbidden subjects, and eroticism being an essential part of every successful nude, artists continued to study the nude form in the art schools which, modelled on the French Academy, made a priority of life drawing with both male and female models.

Except for art school studies and naked male athletes, male nudes are rare in Soviet art and the majority of nude studies, in both sculpture and painting, are female.

Although artists were wary of attempting subject matter disproved of by the authorities, such as nudes, it seems that nude studies were too

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Vladimir Vasilevich Lebedev, Girl with a Towel (1937); Matvey Genrikhovich Manizer, Discus Thrower (1927); Alexander Nikolayevich Samokhvalov, At the Stadium (1934-35)

fundamental to their nature to abandon and numerous nudes were produced by all the leading artists of the Soviet period.

These paintings and sculptures are well represented in Russian museums, showing that museum curators continued to commission and acquire the works.

Only a few artists, such as Mukhina, whose success as a Soviet sculptress protected her, openly voiced their displeasure with the Soviet prudish attitude towards nudes. Mukhina wrote, ‘The current strange “veto” on portraying the nude body is apparently a philistine hangover, for it does not fit in with our conception of a new person of deep spiritual and physical beauty.

There is a great difference between “naked” and “nude”.’

In the later Soviet period, such as in the post-war paintings of Arkady Plastov, Vladimir Gavrilov, Geli Korzhev, Andrei Mylnikov, Tair Salakhov and the sculptures of Ekaterina Belashova and Sara Lebedeva, the nude became a more openly produced subject.

Pre-war artists such as Matvey Manizer, Aleksandr Deyneka and Aleksandr Samokhvalov sometimes turned their nudes into athletes to confuse the authorities into thinking they were tackling acceptable subject matter.

A visitor strolling around the Tretyakov or Russian Museum will encounter numerous nude sculptures of athletes holding javelins, disci and shotputs.

There were moments during the Soviet era when the directives of the Soviet state overpowered artists’ instinctive ability to find beauty in the nude. However, through the sensuous marbles of Sergei Konenkov, the classical male athletes of Matvey Manizer, the sweetness of Yuri Pimenov and Andrei Mylnikov’s fresh-faced girls and the vitality of Deyneka’s powerful athletes, the subject of the nude has produced some the finest artworks of the Soviet period. n The Art of the Soviet Union: Nudes (Soviet Art) by Ivan Lindsay and Rena Lavery is out now (Unicorn Publishing Group, £30) June 2018 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | 87

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C&TH

THE INSIDER INTERIORS · LIVING · DESIGN

FAR EASTERN FINERY Thibaut’s Dynasty collection features fresh and exciting prints inspired by the history of Asian culture. Chinoiserie wallpaper and fabrics sport ornate cherry trees, flowers and toile de jouy all in sumptuous, bold hues of navy, green, fuchsia, red and purple. thibautdesign.com

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THE INSIDER

INTERIORS

EASTERN REMIX

DESIGN NOTES

Neisha Crosland based her Pyramid Trellis wallcovering on the delicate designs found in Japanese ryokans, £680 per 10m roll. turnellandgigon.com

News and inspiration from the world of interiors.

By Carole Annett

MARVELLOUS MARQUETRY Just launched at the Milan Furniture Fair, the Elan armoire features coquettish shapes in blushing tones, £8,450. pinchdesign.com SEA GAZING Laura Smith drew inspiration from her island home of Bermuda and the colours of the ocean for this hand-blown glass collection.

Kairo lamp, £550. lauraelizabeth glass.com INDIAN TAKEAWAY Liberty is having an Indian moment with fabulous furniture and textiles rich in colour and style. Dual monkey cushion, £225. libertylondon.com

BABY STEPS

The slender legs on the Bolsena console remind me of the daintiness of a foal.

Bolsena, walnut and marble, 130 x 44 x 80cm, £3,500. artisannalondon.com

THE RICH LIST Aurum, by Rubelli Venezia, made from gold thread, harks back to the precious fabric exported from Venice since the Renaissance, £1,090 p/m. rubelli.com

LIVE, LOVE, LIE

Daydreaming requires a beautiful daybed. This SW one by OEO Studio for Stellar Works has ash legs, fabric cushion and leather straps. 190 x 80 x 52cm, from £920. stellarworks.com

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SOUK IT TO ME

TOP TABLES Eeny, meeny, miny moe – which one’s for you?

Loomah’s latest rug collection was influenced by journeys around Morocco. Sefrou, New Zealand wool, has a hand-carved pile and is made to order, £730 per sq/m. loomah.com ART OF STONE Take a leaf out of the Duke of Devonshire’s book and decorate your garden with sculpture. Embryonic Form IV, by Dominic Welch (carrara marble, 45 x 51 x 10cm, £10,200) can be viewed at Messum’s Gallery (messums.com). Visit azelledesign. co.uk for an invitation to the private view on Tuesday 3 July.

HOME HELP

A quirky chair for a great cause – Marni supports an initiative whereby women from Villanueva in Colombia make furniture, bags and decorative objects to support a children’s charity. La Vereda chair, from €250. marni.com

1 Hang Out coffee table by Jonas Søndergaard, 49 x 75 x 73cm, £264. vitacopenhagen.com 2 Sputnik table by west elm, brass and glass, 73.6 x 43cm, £499. johnlewis.com 3 Cyndi table by Jay Jeffers, brass, 38 x 110 x 75cm, £2,944. arteriorshome.com 4 Andy iron coffee table by VG New Trends, 75 x 75 x 45cm, £425. artemest.com 5 Agate table on nickel frame, 45 x 73 x 73cm, £849. thelibracompany.co.uk 6 Tenco by C. Ballabio, walnut and brass, 41cm high, £1,206. porada.it

TURN ME ON Forbes & Lomax had added to its switch collection with a new colour – aged brass. Leave unlacquered to patina over time or polish for a shiny finish. A one-gang dolly costs from £63.76. forbesandlomax.com

COUNTRY PILE

Monty, named after the indomitable Uncle Monty of Withnail and I, has bountiful proportions to withstand every shape of houseguest. h72cm x w262cm, £7,200 + 20m fabric. lorfords.com

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THE INSIDER

FOCUS

SUMMER LIVING Make the most of life outdoors by creating a stylish area for food and friends

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1 Blackdown Shepherd Huts’ Retreat Hut is based on a Victorian shepherd’s hut and makes a perfect play, garden or spare room. From £17,950. blackdownshepherdhuts.co.uk 2 The Isola 3 aluminium pergola, by KE Outdoor Design, allows outdoor comfort all year round. It can be wall-mounted or freestanding. From €11,693. keoutdoordesign.com 3 Adding a luxurious light fitting takes outdoor dining to another level.

Charles Edwards placed one of his own designs in a barn area of his country home. Clover lantern hanging, £3,612. charlesedwards.com 4 Outdoor grills add glamour to a picnic area, even if you don’t plan to use it for cooking. Morsø has a Danish royal warrant so you’re in good company. Grill Forno II, cast iron and teak, £595. morso.co.uk 5 Extend ground level living with an outdoor fire. Robata’s 72 linear fire is a concrete design, match-lit or with an electronic ignition and either natural gas or liquid propane burner. From £6,200. paloform.com 92 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | June 2018

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THE INSIDER

TREND

A SPLASH OF COLOUR Make abluting more fun by adding a pop of colour to your bathroom

California Shutters Slatted shutters, £166 per sq/m. californiashutters.co.uk Drummonds Tweed bath, £4,980. drummonds-uk.com

C. P. Hart Cielo Narciso mini, from £2,496. cphart.co.uk

Burlington Bathrooms 65 vanity unit, £1,338. burlingtonbathrooms.com

Christy Mode towels in ink, from £12. christy.co.uk

Bisque Pera towel rail, £592.80. bisque.co.uk

The Albion Bath Company Tubby Tore Duo bath, from £2,796. albionbathco.com

Crosswater Basin tap with red handle, £515. crosswater.co.uk

Gerald Culliford Marinace Verde granite slab, £280 per sq/m. geraldculliford.co.uk

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND TO FIND YOUR NEAREST STOCKIST PLEASE VISIT WWW.TETRAD.CO.UK

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THE INSIDER

DESIGN Q&A

MARC LARMINAUX The creative director of Lalique on pocket knives and which designers he’s got his eye on What was your most recent find? A few days ago, I bought a beautiful traditional white ceramic Japanese tea pot, with the handle on the side. It is a perfect example of timeless design.

Most extravagant thing you’ve bought for your home? My dog! A pug.

House warming present? The last one I bought was a magnetic tree for keys and coins.

Unsung design hero? Scott Eaton, artist and designer.

What should never have seen the light of day? The magnetic tree for keys and coins, it’s so kitch.

Where do you find inspiration? In bed.

‘La nuit porte conseil’ (the night bears advice) is a French proverb that is really true for me. I often wake up with the right idea.

FROM ABOVE: Marc Larminaux; Hirondelles Grand Vase (limited edition of 130 pieces); Two Swallows grand sculpture

What’s the last piece of art you bought? A red painting of a chair by Franyo Aatoth.

Are you green-fingered? Orchids

Which designers do you have your eye on? Mathieu Lehanneur – he puts so much thought into his work; Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, whose designs are very poetic; and Ross Lovegrove, whose work is what I would describe as art nouveau.

love me. I don’t do anything to them apart from giving them a little water from time to time but they flourish.

What would you never throw away?

What do you collect?

I keep everything. My dad gave me my first pocket knife when I was eight but it was stolen during a burglary a few years ago. I still haven’t got over it. Now I collect them but my first one was special.

Contemporary art but also old Chinese and Japanese prints. I have a few very old handpainted silk kimonos.

I also worship my M3 Leica camera.

Whose home would you most like to have a nose around? Félix Marcilhac’s.

LITTLE BLACK BOOK

Glassware 100 points by James Suckling for Lalique. lalique.com

PHOTOS: ©LALIQUE SA

Steal Marc’s contacts

Gifts Anything from Lalique. lalique.com

Plates Furstenberg Carlo Este charger plate. luxdeco.com

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C&TH

FOOD & TRAVEL E AT · D R I N K · E S C A P E

FRANCE

PHOTO: REX FEATURES

MAKING A GOOD IMPRESSION With Van Gogh coming to Tate Britain next year and Monet currently at the National Gallery, Rod Gilchrist cruises the Seine for a more intimate look at the places that inspired these two magnificent artists Vincent van Gogh, Dr Gachet’s Garden in Auvers (1890)

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CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Fields of sunflowers, a scene that once inspired Van Gogh; Monet’s lily pond at Giverny and his intepretation of them; cruising down the Seine with Tauck; Self-Portrait as a Painter by Vincent van Gogh, December 1887-February 1888

Absinthe is the answer, the lethal, 90 per cent proof spirit, considered such a danger to mental health it was banned in France for one hundred years. It was at Van Gogh’s favourite café, now a museum dedicated to the stuff, that I sampled a thimbleful of this rocket fuel, which answered some of the questions about why he went bonkers, cutting off his ear and all that.

The museum is next to the local inn, Auberge Ravoux, where Van Gogh died, aged 37, having managed to sell only one picture in his lifetime. Even his physician Dr Gachet didn’t want the portrait he painted of him and no wonder, its melancholy, despairing expression would be enough to make him want to commit suicide too. Van Gogh had the last laugh though. In 1990 it sold for a world-record $90m.

It was in his tiny cell at the top of the inn that Van Gogh painted Dr Gachet just before dying, shooting himself in the heart with a gun he had been given to scare away the crows that upset him while he painted. Invited to take a peek at the closet-sized bedroom, we climbed the narrow winding staircase, and witnessed the tiny skylight for illumination and the same cracked plaster walls that were his last sight in life. This garret has never been occupied since his death and nothing has been changed. ‘I’d shoot myself too if I had to live here,’ my American friend whispers.

The spotlight has again fallen on Vincent this year with the release of a remarkable, fully painted animated feature film, Loving Vincent,

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES; VAN GOGH MUSUEM, AMSTERDAM (VINCENT VAN GOGH FOUNDATION)

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here are still sunflowers in Auvers-sur-Oise, but these days their smiling yellow faces, the size of soup plates, only decorate the neat gardens of this tidy French village built on terraces beside a tributary of the River Seine. They no longer grow wild where Van Gogh painted the most famous images in art.

But the golden wheat fields Van Gogh captured, in savage brush strokes that burn like furnaces and cypress trees twisted in convulsive shapes under crow black skies, have mercifully survived the property developers. Now every year Van Gogh admirers tread the Normandy landscape that inspired him in his dying days.

Of all the great post-impressionists, Van Gogh remains the enduring model for the lonely, penniless, tortured artist whose genius was only recognised after his death and it is this haunting legend that draws so many of us here.

There is a tourist trail with photos of the same fields he put on canvas, strategically placed in front of the little-changed landscape that inspired him, though it was his fevered imagination that transformed these turnip fields into cosmic cauldrons.

An American lady standing next to me, who says without irony that she doesn’t know much about art but knows what she likes, peers at the reproduction of Wheatfield with Crows, all whirling curves and prancing flames, then looks again at the actual field behind it. ‘What the heck was he on?’ she says with refreshing American candour.

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FOOD & TRAVEL

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES; VAN GOGH MUSUEM, AMSTERDAM (VINCENT VAN GOGH FOUNDATION)

An American lady peers at a reproduction of Wheatfield with Crows, all whirling curves and prancing flames, then looks at the actual field behind it. ‘What the heck was he on?’ she asks‘

assembled from 65,000 oil paintings created by 100 artists in Van Gogh’s style, focusses on his unrequited passion for Marguerite Gachet, daughter of the doctor (lovingvincent.com). Next year Tate Britain will host a major exhibition of Van Gogh’s work from his time in London which, as he wrote in his diaries, ‘changed my vision of the world and myself’ (27 March to 11 August 2019. tate.org.uk).

I arrived in Auvers-sur-Oise by riverboat, the Swiss Sapphire, following an intinerary arranged by American travel company Tauck.

This intimate ship of just 98 passengers has two restaurants, a bubbling hot tub on the sun deck, a novelty five-hole golf course, piano lounge and commodious cabins. Auvers was our first port of call on a voyage along the Seine to Normandy’s D-Day beaches and back again stopping off at the half-timbered city of Rouen, where the virgin soldier Joan of Arc was burned at the stake as a satanic envoy, ruined clifftop castles, the picturesque port of Honfleur, a farm producing Calvados apple brandy and the only attraction that could rival Van Gogh on this trip...

Claude Monet’s garden at Giverny.

Monet’s paintings of his flower garden, its pebbled paths flanked by a kaleidoscope of fat-headed white alliums, lipstick-red fuchsias and towering orange dahlias, leading to the rose-entwined pergola in front of his long pink house with its green shutters, have made Giverny the most famous garden in the world. But it’s his giant canvases of the lily pond that rival Van Gogh’s Sunflowers as art’s most popular posters.

Normally you can’t move on the Japanese bridges at either end of the lake where excited tourists frequently drop hats and handbags into the limpid waters below. They have to be fished out with long-handled nets by gardeners in punts who tenderly wipe algae from the floating, creamy lilypads that gleam like mother of pearl in the diffused light.

Monet, a Falstaffian figure in a white panama hat, painted this richly atmospheric, romantic, horticultural Valhalla hundreds of times until almost blind in his eighties, never quite convinced he had truly captured the beauty he saw in his imagination. He didn’t do a bad job though. Today, the best of them hang in their own gallery in the Musée de l’Orangerie of the Tuileries Garden attached to the Louvre.

Currently, The National Gallery is showing Monet & Architecture until 29 July (nationalgallery.org.uk).

Later that day, Tauck surprised us by whisking us off to an 18th-century chateau for a private dinner in an elegant mirrored ballroom overlooking the park and fountains (sadly not working since Nazi Panzer tanks drove over the underground pipes wrecking them during the occupation) hosted by the aristocratic owners, descendants of Napoleon. A contrast to our time it Giverny but nonetheless another privileged perk of cruising with Tauck. n Tauck’s Cruising the Seine northbound trip, from £5,010pp for 14 days.

All excursions, meals, drinks and gratuities are included. tauck.co.uk June 2018 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | 99

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Hear the latest ideas in the arts, sciences and current affairs, and enjoy music, comedy and entertainment for all ages. @hayfestival

@hayfestival

24 MAY – 3 JUNE 2018

/hayfestival

#HayFestival2018

HAY-ON-WYE, WALES

book tickets at hayfestival.org or call 01497 822 629 Hay Festival.indd 1

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FOOD & TRAVEL Ballymaloe, renowned for its cookery school

THREE IRISH GEMS CLOSE TO THE WILD ATLANTIC WAY

Spring has sprung. Now’s the time to study wildlife from the comfort of a gorgeous hotel.

1 BALLYMALOE, Co. Cork Heavenly country house hotel run by the Allen family for 54 years. While you’re there, take a short course or watch a demonstration at the Cookery School. Doubles from £189. ballymaloe.ie 2 NO. 1 PERY SQUARE, Limerick Friendly townhouse hotel, with an excellent restaurant, Sash, headed up by Tim Harris, formerly at Petersham Nurseries. Doubles from £145. oneperysquare.com 3 GREGANS CASTLE, Co. Clare Set in the magical Burren, the unique coastal region of limestone terraces, a gracious and intimate family-run hotel with fine food and a warm welcome. Doubles from £190. gregans.ie

Gregans Castle in the heart of the Burren

T R AV E L N E W S

THE HOTEL WIZARD Fiona Duncan has a grand old time on the Emerald Isle

Adare Manor, Co. Limerick, Ireland

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The many-million-pound creation of a world-class hotel and golf course by local boy made very good J.P. McManus, who also owns Barbados’ Sandy Lane.

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The audio story of the neoGothic mansion, built because a countess wanted to keep her gouty husband occupied.

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The eye-popping Gallery for breakfast and tea – Versailles meets cathedral – and all the original features of the house, notably by Pugin.

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The inspiring views: parterre, river, golf course and distant hills.

The classic country house bedrooms, from the least expensive in the new wing to the priciest in the mansion.

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Delightful Michael Tweedie’s delectable food in The Oak Room (though not the creepy 17th-century religious paintings).

THE WILD ATLANTIC WAY

Don’t overlook Ireland for a short break.

The weather may not be its best asset, but the people are: the dry wit and the warmth begins from the moment you arrive. Explore Dublin, then head for the longest defined coastal route in the world: the Wild Atlantic Way, stretching over 1,500 miles from Kinsale in County Cork to Malin Head in County Donegal. For all things Ireland visit tourismireland.com

Ireland’s Atlantic coast is ripe for exploration

TEN REASONS WHY I LOVE

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The signature Sleep Sound treatment in the tranquil guest-only spa… you will.

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Award-winning mixologist Ariel’s clever cocktail concoctions in the seductive, low-lit Tack Room.

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Adare village: thatched cottages, Irish pubs and an unexpected clutch of designer boutiques.

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The sporting life: golf, archery, falconry. A palace of pleasure for all has appeared in the quiet Limerick countryside.

ON THE TRAVEL RADAR Just launched: Matetsi Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Set on a 15km private stretch of the mighty Zambezi, with fabulous interiors, this is a perfect base for visiting the falls and safari. matetsivictoriafalls.com

Doubles from £280 +353 6160 5200; adaremanor.com

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

Matetsi’s guests have access to a 15km private stretch of the Zambezi

In Namibia three exciting new lodges have launched: one, Sossus Under Canvas, for avid campers; another, Shipwreck Lodge, for families and daredevils; the third, Hoanib Valley, for wildlife enthusiasts. timbuktutravel.com

Sossus Under Canvas

And here’s when to book those flights: research from opodo.co.uk reveals that six weeks before departure is the sweet spot, price-wise, for booking tickets.

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FOOD & TRAVEL

SAN DIEGO

GOLDEN MOMENTS The city’s most famous hotel turns 130 this year and is still attracting Hollywood’s finest, says Caiti Grove

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n urban sprawl along the Pacific coastline, San Diego has a distinctly cityon-the-sea attitude. East Coast hurry is strictly uncool. Trams amble around the streets of 19th-century architecture and glass business buildings. Only a 40-minute drive to the Mexican border, thousands of workers commute into the city everyday. If President Trump’s pet project of a wall between the United States and Mexico was ever to be fully realised, a whole lifestyle of brunch, burritos and ceviche would implode – along with a much-feared dip in the local economy. But San Diego is also made for vacations.

Across the bay from the downtown mainland by boat or bridge stands one of the city’s best-known landmarks, the Hotel del Coronado. Its role in film history was secured a long time ago when director Billy Wilder rolled into town to film Some Like It Hot, with Marilyn Monroe as its central star.

The opener where she sashays up the wooden steps to the hotel’s verandah (still intact), and the company of male residents peer over their newspapers to watch her teeter past, made movie history. Turning 130 this year, the hotel still exudes the same charm with its white stuccoed walls and

The wooden steps made famous

by Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot Entrance to the spa

130 years old and still going strong

sunny rooms. The Pacific Ocean crashes to the shoreline onto an expansive sandy beach where aspiring yogis sit in the lotus position. A hundred feet behind them, families settle under white parasols by the pool. A huge hexagonal ballroom shaped like an enormous bell tent with a dark terracotta roof is film set-esque against the reliably blue sky and choppy sea.

Today’s visitors still walk through the bosky inner courtyard to their rooms to watch the sea from bedroom balconies while private types – the likes of Brad Pitt, Oprah and 11 US presidents – are tucked into a new complex of apartments with its own pool. By night, dinner is served in one of five restaurants, including a mahogany dining room where the gold crown chandeliers that decorate the room were designed by the creator of The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum. On the beach, guests pick out seafood for chefs to cook from an enormous spread and groups sit around bonfires to eat baked lobster and charred marshmallows under the stars.

In the morning, head for a pre-breakfast spin overlooking the beach and mermaid workout classes – surely the most Californian invention since Gwyneth Paltrow had bees sting her face to stimulate blood flow. Participants don shimmery turquoise and pink fish tails and line up in the water for exercises to tone the stomach and work the core – trickywhen one’s legs are tied together.

Although the room rate has racked up from $2 per night in 1888 to £312 in 2018, some things have just never changed. hoteldel.com

PHOTOS: REX FEATURES

The A-listers hide away in private cottages

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FOOD & TRAVEL Berlin is the perfect city break for a bank-holiday weekend

THE ESSENTIALS

STAY The Waldorf Astoria, in the fashionable City West district, is a convenient central base. Elegant and sophisticated, the enormous metal gates in the lobby mirror the swanky chain’s New York flagship.

The classically styled bedrooms have plenty of modern touches, with exemplary staff. Enjoy a Michelinstarred dinner, if there is any room left after the huge breakfast offerings. waldorfastoriaberlin.com

THE WEEKENDER

BERLIN The German capital is a smorgasbord of culture with added schnitzel, says Jeremy Taylor

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erlin is one of Europe’s coolest cities, a central hub for arty types, hipsters and the well-heeled chic.

An overwhelming array of things to see and do suggests a weekend visit here requires very careful planning.

Every strasse in the German capital seems to have a tale to tell. Whether it’s the Russian bullet holes left in the stone columns of the Brandenburg Gate, or the glass dome designed by Norman Foster atop the Reichstag, history seeps from every building.

Spacious, wide streets are infused with a relaxed atmosphere and the whiff of good coffee. Compared to London, Berlin feels positively empty in the winter. It’s a different story in the summer, when a riot of selfie sticks breaks out around the main sights.

Even if you are here just for the 24-hour nightlife around Hackescher Markt – party

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

The city is best explored on foot

VISIT Must-see sites include the Reichstag, Museum Island and Checkpoint Charlie, while the Wall Memorial (berliner-mauer-gedenkstaette.de) and Holocaust Memorial should be on every visitor’s list.

The Holocaust Memorial features 2,711 slabs of concrete

time for the huge influx of young natives – Berlin is an affordable city made new again. Thanks to a reunified country and the destruction of the wall, there is a unique vibe that attracts people globally.

Berliners have embraced the recent past, be it attractions like Hitler’s bunker or the field of 2,711 concrete slabs that make up the Holocaust Memorial.

There are other memorable sights too, like the bust of Nefertiti at the Egyptian Museum, or the panoramic view from the roof of the cathedral (rivalled only by a Soviet TV tower, shaped like Sputnik).

Unquestionably, the best way to explore Berlin is on foot – book a local guide with the tourism office (visitberlin.de) and get the personal view.

Hidden courtyards and the stories of the people who lived here spring to life.

Stay at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel for sensational views of the city at night – many of the rooms overlook Berlin Zoo too. Before flying home, join the Berliners who love a late Sunday brunch on the banks of the River Spree.

EAT Auguststrasse is blessed with excellent cafés and restaurants but Mogg Jewish Deli in a former Jewish girls’ school features everything from New York cheesecake to an almost legendary Reuben sandwich. moggmogg.com

BUY There are tourist shops aplenty in the centre but walk north to Prenzlauer Berg for a more authentic experience.

Trendy Helmholtzplatz has wonderful, bespoke shops, while the chocolates and clothes at Kollwitzplatz will top up your baggage allowance.

BOOK IT: Fly to Berlin from London Heathrow with eurowings.com. Weekend meet-and-greet parking from £62 with holidayextras.co.uk June 2018 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | 103

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SOUTH AFRICA

CAPE CRUSADING From Port Elizabeth to Cape Town, Lucy Cleland checks into four gems along South Africa’s Garden Route

LONG HOPE VILLA AT RIVER BEND LODGE Addo Elephant Park, Port Elizabeth

Long Hope Villa is a 1930s original homestead, in traditional colonial style, bang slap in the bush, outside of whose fence you’re at your own risk (unless you fancy your chances against a lion), but from its shady verandah, G&T in hand, you can watch any type of indigenous game – zebras, warthogs, kudus... the only backdrop sound being the symphony of grasshoppers and maybe, if you listen hard enough, the mild chomping of the resident tortoise.

With three bedrooms, it’s perfect for a family or group of friends (River Bend is one of a handful of African lodges that welcome children of any age and has just won Best Luxury Lodge in Africa for the second year running), the main lodge is a few hundred metres down the road and accommodates 16 guests. Addo Elephant Park is a national park, meaning every creature within its 40,000 acres is native, and unlike private game reserves, which can be known to truck in ample supplies of the Big Five for gawping tourists, you won’t find an animal out of place here. So that means no giraffe, no hippo, no springbok, but does mean elephant, white-tailed mongoose, buffalo, lion and, if you’re very lucky, a sighting of the rare black rhino. Take a game drive in a big open-topped 4x4 with Darlington and have a nature lesson like no other. Find out why zebras have stripes; the critical role of the dung beetle and why the Addo female elephants are the only type not to have tusks; you’ll follow fresh lion prints and stop on the mountain top for sundowners and a view stretching as far as the eye can see. All of this without

ANIMAL MAGIC

almost any other vehicle around. River Bend is the only lodge in the park to have access to its own private 14,000 acres. Back home, tuck into a home-cooked meal from Sam, while Moses liberally fills your wine glass.

This is a taste of old-fashioned Africa at its very best, albeit with some of the best wifi in the country.

BOOK IT: From 19,469 ZAR (around £1,155) per night (sleeps up to six) fully inclusive, with two daily game drives. longhopevilla.co.za

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FOOD & TRAVEL

MORUKURU OCEAN HOUSE De Hoop Nature Reserve, Swellendam

You’re literally at the edge of the earth when you reach Morukuru Ocean House having negotiated a long gravel road (ideally in a 4x4), to an off-grid, four-bedroom, private eco hideaway in De Hoop Nature Reserve on the southern tip of the Cape. Three thousand miles across the Indian Ocean straight ahead and you’ll hit Antartica.

Constructed just four years ago, the interiors, by Dutch designer Janine Feikes-Butter, are exquisite; a build of minimal footprint but maximum impact from its driftwood sculptures with opaque glass jar ends suspended from them and a wall of South African sculptor Lionel Smit’s African faces to its huge open fires, detached baths and endless cosy seating areas to soak in that awe-inspiring view, which is all yours. You may not realise it but you will when you head out for a walk with Calvin who, along with his wife Cheré and a crack team, tend to your every need, that you’re in a very

unique environment indeed. The Cape Floral Kingdom is just one of the world’s 18 biodiversity hot spots, taking up only 0.04 per cent of the world’s land area, yet containing an incredible three per cent of its plant species, making it one of the richest areas for plants in the world. It’s not just the land that’s protected around here, the sea is too, so during the season from around June to November, whale watching will become your sport, with no interference from tourist or fishing boats. Days here will be spent being as active or lazy as you NATURAL like, but you should be encouraged WONDER to go rock pooling with Calvin, sandsurfing on the dunes followed by a sundowner and a homemade samosa, and then top it all off with a soak in the southernmost hot tub in Africa before dinner of rack of lamb, potatoes dauphinoise and seasonal veg, eaten outside in front of a crackling fire. A short drive away, and opening this July, you’ll find Morukuru Beach Lodge, a five-room lodge along the same ethos as the house, so now more visitors will get to sample this other-worldly environment. Lucky them.

BOOK IT: Exclusive use at Morukuru Ocean House from approx. 34,000 SAR (around £6,472) per night for six guests, fully inclusive. morukuru.com June 2018 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | 105

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FOOD & TRAVEL LA CLÉ DES MONTAGNES Franschhoek

Pin drop silence punctuated by glorious birdsong (in particular the unmistakable squawk of the Hadeda Ibis) and a landscape unrivalled in beauty (vineyards, mountains, fruit trees, all in lush, lush green), welcome to South Africa’s wine region, and more specifically La Clé des Montagnes, and its four impeccably stylish Franschhoek villas, where you can settle down in peace and privacy amid a working wine estate.

It’s no wonder Annie Lennox books in faithfully every year, it’s a pinchyourself-that-you’re-not-dreaming kind of place with Instagram-worthy interiors: think ikat-covered sofas, wicker chairs with squashy cushions, a rich palette of burnt sienna, ochre and mustard yellow with punchy coloured accents and rich textures, inside-outside living, coffee tables piled high with hardback books, agapanthusfilled borders, gardens and a swimming pool. Charming staff are there to provide as much or as little as you like – they whip up some mean French toast and bacon for breakfast, along with Greek yoghurt, fresh fruit salad and

DESIGNS ON WINE

warm croissants and can cater for a dinner party or pick up a takeaway pizza from the local Italian, the choice is yours. Food and, of course, wine, are at the heart of any visit here and you’ll be spoilt for choice (if, that is, you can bear to tear yourself away from your villa). Just five minutes’ walk away and you’re in the heart of the chichi little town with more than its fair share of South Africa’s 100 best restaurants. Our pick? La Petit Ferme (brilliant for children), and slightly further afield, Babel, at glorious working farm Babylonstoren – but you must book in advance. You really cannot fail here.

BOOK IT: Timbuktu allows travellers to add La Clé Villas to any of its itineraries, from £330pp per night. timbuktutravel.com

BELMOND MOUNT NELSON Cape Town

CITY ICON

A vast green lung in the middle of the city, the ‘Nelly’ is a marshmallow pink oasis set in nine acres of beautiful gardens dotted with sculptures and local wildfowl, and crawling with white roses and floribunda hibiscus trees; there are two swimming pools (one adults only), tennis courts and magnificent views of Table Mountain from some of its 196 rooms. It feels more like a country club than a city hotel thanks to its English afternoon tea on the terrace that rivals that of the Ritz (better weather guaranteed and you should try their Tea Sommelier experience; who knew there was so much to know about the humble cuppa?) and its overwhelming sense of space. For something stronger, take a pink gin cocktail – this year, the hotel celebrates 100 years since it was daubed pink in celebration of the end of the Second World War – and soak in all that history that seeps through pretty much every nook and cranny. Wander into the Churchill Writing Room, where the former PM spent time during the Boer War as a war correspondent and then inspect the portrait of Nelson Mandela by resident artist Cyril Coetzee, who can paint your portrait too should you wish. For nearly 120 years, this gentle grande dame has attracted everyone from local movers and shakers to the world’s A-listers, drawn to its innate sense of gracious ease, an iconic background to over a century of history.

BOOK IT: Doubles from £350 B&B. belmond.com

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REOPENING

OCTOBER 2018 sww

sww

Welcoming back guests for Exclusive Use bookings and Celebration Weeks from October 2018 RESERVATIONS: +44 (0)208 600 0430 enquiries@virginlimitededition.com

Virgin Limited Edition.indd 1

www.virginlimitededition.com

27/04/2018 16:55

FOOD & TRAVEL THE HIGH LIFE

NEWS

GASTRO GOSSIP

Haven’t you heard? Cannabis oil is cool. And now that Ocado has started stocking spring water infused with CBD oil, it’s perfectly acceptable to spend the long summer evenings hydrating with Love Hemp Water as the rest of the world goes to pot... lovehempwater.com

THIS MONTH

Clementina Jackson gets a taste of the high life…

TART’S DELIGHT A former coal store may not be the obvious choice for a fashionable catering service to set up shop, but then Tart London has never followed the rules. Their newest venture at Eccleston Place will incorporate a photography studio, retail space and a stylish eatery serving vibrant dishes.

Big sunglasses are a must. eccleston-place.com

MORE MORE MORE AA Gill famously wrote that dinner party guests should have no qualms about sending back their food should it not be up to scratch. Avoid empty seats and broken friendships by calling on More More More to deliver bespoke, ready-to-cook dishes straight to your door. Bury the evidence and revel in your new chef status. more-more-more.co.uk 1 DRINK Armand de Brignac’s new Champagne Blanc de Blancs en Magnum, if you dare – there are only 1,000 bottles in existence. £1,650. selfridges.com

WHEREVER THEY WANDER Combine two British restaurant legends with the most iconic hotel in Edinburgh, and it’s clear that something special is brewing.

A duo as iconic as Aeneas and Anchises, Alain Roux will be taking both his three Michelin stars and his father, Michel, up to Scotland to launch a new restaurant at The Balmoral. Och aye! roccofortehotels.com

2 BUY Tracklements’ special edition Hot Mustard Ketchup is the new BBQ essential. £3.40. tracklements.co.uk 3 EAT Pierre Marcolini’s feather-light, colourful new desserts. Keep in the fridge for a moment of indulgence. £7.90. eu.marcolini.com 4 COLLECT Smythson’s hand-drawn note cards featuring unique cocktail recipes to celebrate The Connaught Bar’s tenth anniversary. £10. smythson.com

SEAFOOD AND EAT IT Oh, to be sipping rosé and gorging on fresh fish by the water… If you can’t make it to the Riviera, head to Battersea Power Station and join in the fun at the London Seafood Festival (19-24 June). With oyster shucking competitions, big crayfish boils, top chefs and fabulous seafood from the likes of the Wright Brothers, the Thames might just be the new Tyrrhenian. batterseapowerstation.co.uk 108 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.CO.UK | June 2018

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FOOD & TRAVEL RECIPE

CATCH OF THE DAY Rick and Katie Toogood’s cod dish is perfect for spring

Q&A

FOODIE TALES Rick and Katie Toogood on rosé in Greece and tinned tuna in Cuba

What’s your food philosophy?

Work with what you can get. We change the restaurants’ menus every day, based on what the boats in Cornwall and Devon have caught.

What was the first dish you learnt to cook? Rick: Banoffee pie. I used to make one on a Sunday night and then have it for breakfast throughout the week.

Katie: Chocolate tiffin, I was obsessed with it.

Favourite ingredient that is in season right now? Spider crab. It’s a British delicacy and is often overlooked.

COD WITH FETA, WILD GARLIC AND PINE NUTS

Biggest mistake you’ve made in the kitchen? Rick: As I have not been formally trained as a chef, a lot of my dishes are created through trial and error. I once mixed too much squid ink into noodles, the customer’s whole mouth turned black instantly.

Cheese and fish are ingredients that you wouldn’t immediately think to put together. However, feta, with its salty-sour flavour, works fantastically well when combined with fresh herbs and wild garlic.

INGREDIENTS

» » » » » » » » » » » »

SERVES FOUR 1 tsp unsalted butter 4 x 200 g cod fillets, skin on 7 tbsp good-quality extra-virgin olive oil Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 100 g feta cheese, crumbled A small bunch of roughly chopped wild garlic leaves A small bunch of roughly chopped basil A small bunch of roughly chopped mint A small bunch of roughly chopped dill Juice of ½ lemon 2 tsp pine nuts, toasted A splash of white wine vinegar

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 160°C fan/180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Bring an oven-proof frying pan (or skillet) to a medium-high heat. Add the butter. Score the skin of the cod fillets, drizzle with a little of the olive oil and season. Place the fillets in the pan, skin-side down, and fry for 2–3 minutes to crisp up the skin. Turn the fillets over and fry for another minute. Transfer the frying pan to the hot oven and roast the fish for 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the remaining olive oil, feta, wild garlic, basil, mint, dill, lemon juice, pine nuts and white wine vinegar in a bowl. Season well and mix thoroughly. Remove the frying pan from the oven, transfer the fish to a serving dish, and pour the cheese dressing over the fish to serve.

Most memorable meal out?

While on a sailing holiday in Greece we pulled up to this little bay and had red mullet, deep fried in the lightest crunchiest batter washed down with chilled rosé.

When was the last time you sent something back to the kitchen?

At a restaurant in Cuba we ordered tuna ceviche and they brought out a tin of tuna cold on a plate.

When you’re not in the kitchen where are you? At the beach in Cornwall walking our cockapoo, Dory.

Who would you most like to take out for dinner? We’d love to take Mitch Tonks, our food hero, out for dinner. He wrote the foreword in our book and has always been a big supporter of what we do. We’d take him to that restaurant we went to in Greece and drink lots of rosé.

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FOOD & TRAVEL

R E S TA U R A N T R E V I E W S

FOR ART’S SAKE

FORK & FIELD

Restaurants where art goes beyond the food

Vive the vegetables, says Clementina Jackson COUNTRY

Orwells, Shiplake, Henley-on-Thames

This is the kind of place you can’t help but feel pleased with yourself for having chanced upon. Despite numerous accolades and a stellar client list (George Clooney is a regular), chefs/co-owners Ryan Simpson and Liam Trotman have stuck to the shared values and vision that give Orwells its ‘hidden gem’ status. This is British country dining at its best, where ‘seasonal’ and ‘sustainable’ are not merely buzzwords. The chefs grow and forage most of the fruit and veg nearby, and their pride is palpable as they serve the first radishes of the season straight up, or drizzle honey from their apiary atop home-churned butter. The lack of Michelin star serves only to bolster the chefs’ resolve – it’s not an overly fabricated ‘coherent journey’, just like a really good time never is. À la carte menu for two with wine, from £100. orwellsrestaurant.com

ROTH BAR & GRILL, SOMERSET Hauser & Wirth’s Somerset outpost is one big showcase of talent. Art even adorns the restaurant’s walls, while the bar is an installation comprised of scavenged materials from surrounding areas. The food is something of an art form too, particularly the home-reared meats cured on site. hauserwirthsomerset.com

TOWN

Flat Three, Holland Park

PHARMACY 2, SE11 Newport Street Gallery is home to Damien Hirst’s pharmacy-themed restaurant, a vibrant spot where guests can enjoy Mark Hix cuisine (the soft shell crab burger is a must) alongside some of Hirst’s most iconic pieces. Start with cocktails at the futuristic ‘prescriptions’ bar as you perch atop pill stools – doctor’s orders! pharmacyrestaurant.com

Since opening in 2015, Flat Three has always put vegetables centre stage. Having passed its settling-in process, the owners have have found a head chef – Joe Timarchi – whose nerdy curiosity and passions align with their own vision. Distinctive flavours that you can’t quite put your finger on (but somehow recognise) are largely thanks to the homemade ferments and brews which are the main unifier of the menu.

The ancient technique of fermentation creates new flavours through the natural decay process – and, most importantly, the cross-cultural aspect allows Flat Three to combine British, Korean, Japanese and Scandi influences into one. Homemade juices and kombucha perfectly accompany the new set menus which feature vegetables as you’ve never seen them before (think French sand carrot served in deceptively meaty carrot jus). Five-course dinner menu with alcohol pairing, £104. flatthree.london

THIS MONTH I’M…

Sexy Fish’s Monolith cocktail

1 Learning to make Peruvian ceviche at Chicama, with the help of a few rounds of pisco sours (chicamalondon.com).

2 Pretending I’m on the coast as I celebrate summer with ice-cold champagne and oysters on Bentley’s’ outdoor terrace (bentleys.org). 3 Applauding Sexy Fish for scrapping perishables in its new zero-waste cocktail list (sexyfish.com).

THE IVY, WC2H The Ivy has amassed quite the art collection in its 100 years as London’s most legendary social hub. There’s nothing quite like the pomp and glamour of enjoying the classic Shepherd’s Pie and a glass or five of Malbec in the company of great British artists including Emin, Hodgkin, Peter Blake and Tom Phillips who line the walls. the-ivy.co.uk

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3 nights for 2 available until March 2018

THE ST ENODOC HOTEL

STAY

DINE

RELAX

ROCK, CORNWALL

www.enodoc-hotel.co.uk | 01208 863394 | info@enodoc-hotel.co.uk

STOCKISTS ABIGAIL AHERN abigailahern.com ALEXANDER MCQUEEN @matchesfashion.com ALTUZARRA altuzarra.com BUCCELLATI buccellati.com CAOBA caoba.co.uk CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN christianlouboutin.com DAVID KOMA davidkoma.com DE GOURNAY degournay.com

countryandtownhouse.co.uk

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DESIGNERS GUILD designersguild.com

DIOR dior.com

MULBERRY mulberry.com

EMILIA WICKSTEAD emiliawickstead.com

PEBBLE LONDON pebblelondon.com

ERDEM erdem.com

RANJANA KHAN ranjanakhan.com

GRAHAM AND GREEN grahamandgreen.co.uk MANOLO BLAHNIK manoloblahnik.com MARQUES ALMEIDA @harveynichols.com

STELLA MCCARTNEY stellamccartney.com STUART WEITZMAN stuartweitzman.com ZIMMERMANN zimmermannwear.com

MARYSIA marysia.com MONTES & CLARK montesandclark.co.uk

27/04/2018 16:51

C&TH EDITED BY ANNA TYZACK

PROPERTY HOUSE OF THE MONTH How would you describe its design?

A quintessential Grade II listed Georgian period residence with origins dating back to the 16th century. Glebe House has many of the features that you would expect of this era, including high ceilings, ornate cornicing and inglenook fireplaces.

What is unique about it? There are few Georgian houses in this prime commuter area that are secluded in its grounds yet situated at the centre of an idyllic village.

Villages like Chiddingfold are fairly unique, retaining useful amenities such as good local pubs, a tea shop, butcher, chemist and two general stores around a classically picturesque village green.

Most unusual feature? The principal reception rooms are of particular note, with an impressive double aspect drawing room complemented by a stunning dining room boasting wonderful trompe l’oeil panelling.

Glebe House, Chiddingfold, Godalming, Surrey GU8 Price: POA 7 bedrooms 5 bathrooms 11,255 sq/ft

What would summers be like here?

Simply stunning. The swimming pool area is a real sun trap. There is also a tennis court, croquet lawn accessed via a magical Gothic style oak bridge, a formal vegetable garden and large paddock.

Best place to unwind? Adjacent to the pool is the stunning orangery, which is ideal for inside/outside entertaining and offers a gym, changing rooms and kitchenette.

Where can we send the kids to school?

Too many to choose from: Charterhouse, Cranleigh, Woldingham, Reigate Grammar and Guildford High School.

The current owner says… ‘We feel privileged to have lived in Glebe House for 25 years. As well as missing the wonderful house, we’ll also miss the scent of wood smoke drifting across from The Crown, the occasional uplifting peal of the church bells and, incredibly, the song of the nightingale.’

01483 266700; housepartnership.co.uk; 020 7861 5115; knightfrank.com;

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The glories of Dartmoor are very close by

L E T ’ S M O V E T O . ..

EXETER

E

xeter, with its cobbled streets and views out over rolling countryside, is off limits for London commuters – the fastest train to Paddington takes two hours. But this hasn’t stopped the city becoming a hotspot for those moving out of the capital; according to Louise Glanville of Knight Frank young professionals and families are drawn to the open spaces, stunning architecture and more affordable house prices. ‘I recently sold a house to a couple in their mid-thirties leaving Hoxton,’ she says.

‘They planned to move to the country when they were older but then they saw how much Exeter has to offer and decided not to wait.’

The city centre has changed a lot over the past decade.

A regeneration of the Princesshay shopping centre brought, almost overnight, all the best high street names to the city, including Apple and John Lewis. More recently, the former Guildhall has been transformed in to a food quarter with an array of new restaurants and artisan cafés; there are three cinemas and, opening soon, an Ikea. Meanwhile, there has been a move to make the city centre more residential with new, high quality apartment developments scattered among the shops.

Southernhay, a Georgian area a few minute’s walk from the Cathedral close is also becoming less commercial; a number of the buildings have been turned back in to houses and this trend is set to continue.

But it is the countryside surrounding Exeter that pulls in the Londoners. Within 15 minutes you can be paddleboarding on the Exe Estuary or enjoying a pint on the waterfront in the pretty village of Topsham. Dartmoor is 25 minutes away and there is a cycle path

The Exe Estuary is just a short drive from the city centre

along the River Exe to the sandy beaches of Exmouth (it takes an average cyclist less than an hour). There’s an active equestrian community, several good country clubs and gyms and the chance to support the Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park on a Saturday. ‘It’s an outdoorsy place; people work very hard but the lifestyle aspect is just an important to them,’ explains Glanville. ‘You can live well here during the week, not just at the weekend.’

One only has to witness the line-up of 4x4s in the car park of Dart’s Farm, an upmarket farm shop at Topsham to realise quite how much wealth there is in this part of Devon. Local mums, many of them ex-London, meet here for pilates and coffee after school drop off; there’s an Aga concession, spa and florist. In the pretty waterfront village of Lympstone, a little further along the estuary, there is a new hotel, Lympstone Manor, with a Michael Caines restaurant, and the Pig Hotel chain opened two years ago in the thatched village of Gittisham, 20 minutes to the east.

Buyers, according to Christopher Baker of Winkworth in Exeter, are a mix of young professionals, medical staff relocating to work at the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital, along with families and investors. Law firms, accountancies and digital start-ups are setting up around the city as well private banks, artisan breweries and wineries, luring skilled workers from London and overseas in search of a more enriched lifestyle. The flexible working arrangements now offered by many companies, along with superfast broadband and daily flights from Exeter airport to London have also helped make the city an attractive proposition for home workers.

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

Too far away to commute to London means that living in this lovely Devon city is really immersing yourself in the excellent lifestyle, says Anna Tyzack

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PROPERTY

WHEN IN EXETER...

BEST FOR...

A casual dinner Harry’s, on Longbrook Street, has been serving the best steaks in town for decades. harrysrestaurants. co.uk A fancy lunch Gidleigh Park on Dartmoor has an award-winning restaurant with decadent tasting and à la carte menus. gidleigh.co.uk An adrenaline rush Learn to kitesurf on the Exe Estuary with a lesson at Edge Watersports in Exmouth. edgewatersports.com A day out with the kids Crealy Adventure Park has a farm, a rollercoaster and a log slide. crealy.co.uk The weekly shop Darts Farm, a farm shop and shopping village, has won numerous awards. dartsfarm.co.uk A proper coffee McGahey’s Coffee Stop serves the best flat whites on the the high street. thetobacconist.co.uk

School-wise, Exeter is blessed with Ofsted outstanding-rated state primaries and a number of revered independent schools including Exeter School (co-ed) and The Maynard (girls only) and Exeter Cathedral School (co-ed prep). St Peter’s is a popular prep school in a historic mansion overlooking the Exe Estuary at Lympstone and Colyton Grammar, 25 minutes from town, is one of the top state schools in the country.

While house prices across the South East and London have been falling, values are rising in Exeter; the average price for a property is £253,909, according to Savills, up 20 per cent in the past five years. The most desirable address is St Leonard’s, a short walk from the centre, with white Regency houses, parks and private schools. ‘It’s the Chelsea of Exeter,’ Glanville continues.

‘It is leafy and quiet and there are some good independent shops and restaurants.’ Baker has recently sold five houses in St Leonard’s and each went to best and final bids. ‘The market in St Leonard’s is running away from other parts of Exeter in terms of price,’ he says. ‘It feels like a village yet you can walk to the high street, hospital and quay.’ It’s not uncommon for houses here to sell for more than a £1m; a mansion with a swimming pool is launching here this spring for more than £2.5m.

For those priced out of St Leonard’s, Pennsylvania, an Edwardian housing development near the university is also popular, while Heavitree is up and coming. ‘It’s a really fun community with several good pubs and the Daisy Café for a decent coffee,’ Glanville says. Here a 4,500 sq/ft Georgian house is on the market for £850,000 with Knight Frank.

Out of town, buyers are spoilt for choice in terms of country houses in pretty countryside, adds Edward Tallack of Savills.

Villages such as West Hill, Broadclyst and Woodbury to the east of the city tend to be more expensive than those such as Thorverton, Silverton and Crediton to the north, explains Tallack. ‘It doesn’t make much sense as there is stunning countryside around all of them,’ he says.

For Glanville, the fact that Exeter is not commutable from London on a daily basis is a blessing; people base themselves here to live the Devon lifestyle. ‘After 15 years in London I still have to pinch myself when I step on to my paddleboard after work,’ she says.

FOR SALE

Pennsylvania, Exeter An elegant Regency house overlooking a private square garden. The house, which has a Tom Howley kitchen with Aga, five bedrooms and a walled garden is just a few minutes walk from the city centre. £1.25m. savills.com

Coldridge, near Crediton A handsome period house with a large kitchen, drawing room and six bedrooms in rolling Devon countryside. Outside are stables, garages and three acres plus barns with potential to be converted into further accommodation. £725,000 savills.com

St Leonard’s, Exeter A rare opportunity to renovate a Georgian townhouse in the best part of town. There are spacious reception rooms, four or five bedrooms and store rooms plus garages and off-road parking. £850,000. knightfrank.com

The Pig at Combe’s restaurant

Farringdon, near Exeter PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

This Grade II listed Queen Anne house is one of the prettiest former rectories in Devon.

It has perfectly proportioned reception rooms and seven bedrooms plus a park-like garden with level lawns, terraces and a meadow. £950,000. jackson-stops.co.uk Exeter’s historic quay

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PROPERTY Liz Earle

MY PROPERTY LIFE

LIVE LIKE LIZ...

LIZ EARLE The wellbeing expert puts light at the heart of her home Where was your first home? A tiny flat on the Chelsea/Fulham border.

Best thing about it? It was at the top of a Victorian terrace so had high ceilings and pretty arched windows with lots of light.

Where do you live now? In the glorious West Country with uninterrupted views.

What do you love most about it? The chance to make the most of family time at home – particularly outdoors. Picnics, farm walks, hedgerow foraging – very simple, yet very special.

THE STARTER HOME

Favourite room in the house? The kitchen.

Liz has planted oak trees for future generations

I love to cook and I am at my happiest when I have all of my five children home together round our kitchen table.

sits in the middle of the fields with 360° views. I thrive on light – even in small spaces, so will always look for high ceilings and big windows.

Do you have a second home? Yes, I have

Where do you see yourself living in the future? I intend to live

Liz loves using grey paint

What do you look for when you’re house hunting?

on my West Country farm forever. I’ve taken the long view and planted oak trees knowing I won’t enjoy the benefit for another 20 years or so, but that my children will see them grow.

THE FOREVER HOME Wiltshire, £2.75m Ford Farm is a very pretty, manageable Grade II listed, five bedroom country house with farreaching views over its 25 acres of farmland. There’s also a barn conversion with a home office, two bedroom flat, plus a three bedroom cottage and stables and outbuildings.

01225 325999. knightfrank.com

If money was no object, where would you live in London? The world? On my

Location is the key. Everything else you can change.

What inspired you to buy your farm? I love the way the farm house

farm with my children. I’d build them all cottages in the fields.

Do you have any favourite paint colours? I’m surrounded by

Liz owns a second home in Kenya

Nicholas Haslam

so much green, so I chose paint colours that coordinate with the landscape – cream, greys and muted shades of green, highlighted with splashes of pale and hot pinks.

Whose house would you most like to see inside? I’m sure the style gurus Nicky Haslam and Jasper Conran have completely beautiful interiors.

Liz Earle is editor in chief of Liz Earle Wellbeing magazine (lizearlewellbeing.com)

THE DREAM HOME South Africa, £12m Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve is the biggest game reserve in the Southern Cape, spread out across the hills above the scenic Garden Route coastline with four of Africa’s Big Five – buffalo, lion, leopard and rhino.

The lodge has 10 suites and a pool.

020 7495 9580. sothebysrealty.com

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES; REX FEATURES

a home on a game conservancy in Kenya, overlooking the mountains. I go there in the winter months to run my East African charity work and to take time out to write for Liz Earle Wellbeing.

Parsons Green, SW6, £525,000 A stunning one-bedroom apartment off the Fulham Road, with a double bedroom, reception room, eat-in kitchen and a new bathroom. The Tube station is close by as are all the many restaurants, bars and shops of Fulham. 020 7731 9400. savills.com

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PROPERTY

1 MILL HILL

17th-century Rosary Manor, which has spectacular views across open countryside to the City of London, is being transformed into 11 luxury apartments with high ceilings, roof terraces and private gyms. Residents will also enjoy large communal grounds and parking. Mill Hill East Underground station is a short walk away ensuring the best of city and country living.

From £1.1m. 01279 424733. bellishomes.co.uk

3 KNIGHTSBRIDGE

This handsome, spacious, white stucco family home on Ovington Square, one of the most soughtafter addresses in Knightsbridge, has six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, elegant entertaining spaces, staff accommodation and a private gym with sauna and steam room. The house measures more than 7,000 sq/ft and spans seven floors but fortunately there is a lift. £15.85m. 020 7495 9580. sothebysrealty.co.uk

2 PADDINGTON FIVE OF THE BEST

HOMES WITH GYMS Get pumped up with these properties

4 ST GEORGE’S HILL

Whitelands, on the exclusive St George’s Hill estate in Weybridge, is the ultimate trophy house with six bedrooms and interiors by Alexander James. As well as a spacious gym, there is a spa area with steam room, Jacuzzi, rasul with starlit sky and adjustable depth swimming pool.

The house is surrounded by manicured gardens and also features garages, a media room, wine and cigar room, games room, laundry, ballroom and bar. £16.5m.

020 7499 7722. beauchamp.com

No. 3 Canalside Walk will comprise 79 stylish waterside studios and penthouses with a rooftop observatory, terrace and outdoor gym. There is also underground car parking and a state-of-the-art secure parcel delivery system for those all-important Amazon packages.

Residents will be a minute’s walk from Paddington Station and a stroll away from the shops and boutiques of Maida Vale and Notting Hill. From £775,000.

020 7087 5111. canalsidewalk.com

5 DOCKLANDS

Designed by Foster + Partners and located in the heart of the financial district, South Quay Plaza is an ideal address for anyone working nearby. The development is surrounded by nearly three acres of public gardens and the entire 56th floor is given over to a club lounge with bar, restaurant and screening room, all with panoramic views.

Residents will have automatic membership to The Quay Club which includes a 20m infinity pool, a spa and gym. From £780,000.

0203 675 4400. berkeleygroup.co.uk

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Coombe Hill Road, Kingston upon Thames KT2 Elegant country mansion within fabulous landscaped grounds A stunning country house only 8 miles from central London. The property retains considerable character throughout with a magnificent Grade II Listed Victorian orangery. 8 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, 5 reception rooms, kitchen/family room, 1 bedroom annex flat, utility room, cloakroom, pool house, swimming pool, garden, garage.

EPC: D. Approximately 1,164 sq m (12,535 sq ft). In all about 1.5 acres.

Freehold

Guide price: £8,500,000

KnightFrank.co.uk/wimbledon wimbledon@knightfrank.com 020 3641 9346

@KnightFrank KnightFrank.co.uk

KnightFrank.co.uk/WMB120098

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Bloomfield Terrace, Belgravia SW1 A stunning modern three bedroom townhouse

KnightFrank.co.uk/belgravia belgravia@knightfrank.com 020 3641 5908

An imaginatively designed three bedroom double fronted townhouse with fabulous lateral space and a large garage. Master bedroom with a dressing room and spacious bathroom, 2 further en suite bedrooms, drawing room, media/family room, kitchen, dining area, laundry room, guest cloakroom, an integral garage and a patio.

EPC: C. Approximately 281 sq m (3,028 sq ft).

Freehold Guide price: ÂŁ6,950,000 KnightFrank.co.uk/BGV180027

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Markham Square, Chelsea SW3 Located on a garden square just off the King's Road An elegant and beautifully presented four bedroom house within close proximity to loane quare. he first floor features a classic L-shaped drawing room with floor-to ceiling windows and iews o er arkham quare.

4 bedrooms (2 en suite), family bathroom, drawing room, kitchen, dining room, family room, 2 studies, utility room, cloakroom, terrace, south west facing garden. EPC: D. Approximately: 244.33 sq m (2,630 sq ft).

Freehold

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@KnightFrank KnightFrank.co.uk

Guide price: £6,500,000 KnightFrank.co.uk/

KnightFrank.co.uk/knightsbridge knightsbridge@knightfrank.com 020 3641 5930

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Buckinghamshire A magnificent 'Arts & Crafts' style new country house eaconsfield ( arylebone 30 minutes) Central ondon 26 miles, eathrow 14 miles

Luxuriously appointed by award-winning developer Oakeve Ltd and located centrally within eaconsfield s olden riangle . 6 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, reception rooms, media room, gymnasium, cinema room, staff annexe with separate entrance. tunning kitchen/breakfast/family room area including climate controlled feature wine room, triple garaging. et in o er 0.6 acres of gardens.

Guide price: £6,000,000

KnightFrank.co.uk/country james.crawford@knightfrank.com 020 7861 1065 KnightFrank.co.uk william.furniss@knightfrank.com 01494 675 368 The Frost Partnership beaconsfield@frostweb.co.uk 01494 681 234

@KnightFrank KnightFrank.co.uk

KnightFrank.co.uk/ CN180028

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Launceston Place, Kensington W8 A Grade II listed, white stucco-fronted house with garden Arranged o er four floors, this charming family house with a west-facing garden is located on one of Kensington s prettiest tree lined streets. 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, reception room, kitchen, garden, dining room, study, 2 guest cloakrooms. Approximately 213 sq m (2,300 sq ft)

Guide price: £4,250,000

KnightFrank.co.uk/kensington kens@knightfrank.com 020 3589 2698

@KnightFrank KnightFrank.co.uk

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Frewin Road, Wandsworth SW18 3/4 bedroom home with a 60ft southerly facing garden A fantastic family home with 60ft southerly facing garden, located on the Magdalen estate and close to Wandsworth Common. 3/4 bedrooms, family bathroom, 2 reception rooms, kitchen/dining room, downstairs cloakroom, southerly facing garden, study, utility room, 2 sheds, fully boarded loft. EPC: C. Approximately: 228.7 sq m (2461 sq ft).

Freehold

Guide price: £ 1 , 6 9 5 , 0 0 0

KnightFrank.co.uk/wandsworth wandsworth@knightfrank.com 020 3641 7731

@KF_SWLondon KnightFrank.co.uk

KnightFrank.co.uk/WND180043

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W CLINK WHARF SOUTHBANK

SE1

AN EXCLUSIVE OPPORTUNITY TO PROCURE A NEW YORK LOFT STYLE PROPERTY IN LONDON An absolutely sensational, 7,051 sq ft, loft style apartment offering truly unique accommodation in the heart of Borough Market. With superb river and city views, this massive apartment boasts 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, across two floors with exceptional living space.

Approximately 655 sq m (7,051 sq ft) | EPC: B Price on Application | Tenure – Leasehold (approximately 974 years remaining) Garage parking for 2 cars For a private viewing, please contact Knight Frank Matthew Smith 020 8115 2329 riverside@knightfrank.com KnightFrank.co.uk

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Onslow Gardens, South Kensington SW7 An immaculate top floor flat in a fine part stucco-fronted period house, with a lift, backing onto communal gardens. Recently refurbished and interior designed to a high specification, it enjoys fantastic natural light and a large, private decked roof terrace.

Onslow Gardens is a prime residential address renowned for its elegant terraces of immaculate buildings interspersed with communal gardens. Ideal as a London home, the area has excellent transport, a wonderful selection of shops and some of London’s best-known museums close by.

Lease 999 years from 2006 plus Share of Freehold £2,150,000

■ Two double bedrooms ■ Two shower rooms (one en-suite) ■ Studio style reception room with semi-open plan kitchen ■ Decked roof terrace ■ Lift ■ Communal gardens

Call or visit: 4 Yeoman’s Row Brompton Road London SW3 2AH 020 7590 0066 www.kayeandcarey.co.uk Matthew Kaye

Adam Carey

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Grade I Castle within diverse, investment estate FONMON, SOUTH WALES

Fonmon: 0.4 miles, Cardiff Airport: 3.6 miles, Barry: 5.2 miles, Cardiff: 13.6 miles Grade I listed Norman Castle, thriving wedding and events business, formal gardens and grounds, Grade II listed stable block, 8 estate houses/cottages, farm buildings, limestone quarry and cement plant, pasture, arable and woodland.

Available as a whole or in 3 lots.

About 950 acres I Guide ÂŁ11.5 million

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Giles Wordsworth Savills National Farms and Estates

Dan Rees Savills Cardiff

gwordsworth@savills.com

drees@savills.com

020 3733 7991

02920 005 869

savills.co.uk

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WINDSOR

Be one of the first to own at this exclusive development of two and three bedroom apartments situated in the heart of Windsor. // Two and three bedroom apartments and some duplex’s

// Stunning Villeroy & Boch bathrooms and shower room

// Beautiful contemporary kitchens with Miele/Siemens appliances

// Basement parking with lift to all floors // Views of Windsor Castle to certain apartments

// Riverside balconies to many apartments

Apartment prices from £610,000 to £1,750,000 | Last remaining 4 bedroom townhouse priced at £2,695,000

VIEWINGS BY APPOINTMENT ONLY SHOW HOME OPEN DAILY CALL 01753 377 288 Thameside, Windsor, Berks SL4 1QN Computer generated image of Thameside, indicative only. Internal imagery of Thameside, Show Home, indicative only. Prices correct at time of print.

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Country living, London life WELLINGTON, SOMERSET/DEVON BORDER

Tiverton Parkway Station: 4 miles (London Paddington from 2 hours), Exeter Airport: 21 miles (daily flights to City Airport) Immaculate former rectory with convenient transport links for working in London including morning and evening flights to City Airport. 5 reception rooms, 9 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, study, cottage, outbuildings, double garage, tennis court, swimming pool, formal gardens, ponds and parkland. EPC = F

George Nares Savills London Country Department

About 30.74 acres I Guide ÂŁ3.95 million

george.nares@savills.com

020 7016 3822

savills.co.uk

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CR ANLEY PLACE, SW7

CHESTER ROW, SW1W

Very elegant, stucco fronted house. The end-of-terrace location, in a quiet, tree-lined street, combined with a west facing aspect gives this house a light and generous feel with charming views. The property gives access to award-winning communal gardens and private tennis court. In a prime location within easy reach of local shops and restaurants.

A delightful and newly renovated 5 bedroom house to rent in Belgravia. This charming property benefits from an abundance of reception space and is situated in a row of white stucco fronted terrace houses. It is beautifully decorated throughout with neutral colours and has an excellent first floor drawing room with Juliet balconies. The property also has the added benefit of an attractive patio garden perfect for the summer months.

SIX BEDROOMS - SIX BATHROOMS - THREE RECEPTION ROOMS FAMILY ROOM/SIXTH BEDROOM - KITCHEN/BREAKFAST ROOM GARDEN - STAFF FLAT - COMMUNAL GARDENS AND TENNIS COURT

FIVE BEDROOMS - FIVE BATHROOMS - DOUBLE RECEPTION ROOM DINING ROOM - MEDIA ROOM - KITCHEN - UTILITY ROOM CLOAKROOM - GARDEN

£6,250 per week

unfurnished

£4,950 per week

furnished / unfurnished

CR ANMER COURT, SW3

R ANELAGH GROVE, SW1W

Fabulous property located on the fifth floor of this popular block, close to Sloane Square and King’s Road. The property has well planned accommodation with fabulous south facing views and offers comfortable living space. There is a good sized double reception room plus a study/third bedroom. The fully fitted kitchen is well equipped with a breakfast area. The master bedroom has good storage including a walk in wardrobe and ensuite bathroom and there is a further twin bedroom and shower room. In addition there is porterage and a lift.

A recently refurbished end of terrace house which is extremely light and ideal for family living. There is a wide entrance hall leading to a study and an ‘L’ shaped reception room with original parquet flooring. The lower ground floor has a family room/fourth bedroom and separate bathroom. The kitchen leads on to a good sized dining room with lots of light and overlooks the pretty paved garden. Located in this popular area with all the shops, restaurants and amenities that Pimlico Green has to offer.

DOUBLE RECEPTION - MASTER BEDROOM SUITE - TWIN BEDROOM STUDY/THIRD BEDROOM - SHOWER ROOM - EAT-IN KITCHEN LOBBY - PORTER - LIFT

MASTER BEDROOM WITH EN-SUITE BATHROOM TWO FURTHER BEDROOMS WITH A SHARED SHOWER ROOM FOURTH BEDROOM/FAMILY ROOM - THIRD BATHROOM - RECEPTION ROOM KITCHEN - DINING ROOM - STUDY - UTILITY ROOM - GARDEN

£1,270 per week

furnished

£3,750,000

freehold for sale

117 Sydney Street London SW3 6NR Lettings: 0207 351 7822 or info@hlrlets.com

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LIVE THE GUERNSEY DREAM

SOLE AGENT ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY An outstanding opportunity to purchase a modern cliff top home with the additional benefit of granted permission to demolish and construct either a 7,200sq ft or 9,000sq ft dream home as desired.

Early viewing will avoid disappointment.

NO VAT, 20% CAP ON INCOME TAX, NO CAPITAL GAINS TAX, NO CORPORATION TAX AND NO INHERITANCE TAX. NON EU. £4,950,000 FREEHOLD

T. +44 1481 233008 | W. WWW.LIVINGROOM.GG | A. LIVINGROOM, THE OLD MILL, ST. MARTIN, GUERNSEY, CHANNEL ISLANDS, GY4 6DB | INSTA. LIVINGROOMPROPERTY

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Reading Castle Hill Freehold Dukes Ride Crowthorne Guide Price £1,750,000

This fivesix bedroom, character restoration dates back to theon a private plot This stunning substantial, bedroom, Edwardian residence is positioned 1750’s and combines all of the conveniences of modern livingCentre. with period and located within walking distance of Crowthorne Village EPC – E. charm and splendour. EPC D

To find out more about this stunning property, please contact Prospect Homes of Distinction 7786001 868 or email email us us at at sales@prospectphd.co.uk sales@prospectphd.co.uk Distinction on on 01344 0118 997 Visit our website at prospectphd.co.uk

Bracknell

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High Easter •Essex Chelmsford CM1 Fryerning Guide Price £3,850,000 Guide Price £1,685,000 A striking fivebarn double bedroom, four reception Grade A Grade II listed conversion offering in excess of 6,500II period property thought to date back 500 sq.listed ft. of living accommodation set on a stunning plot years. of circa charming is originally thought togardens, be 3 3.5This acres (stls). Theresidence property features mature formal cottages, nowand providing flow of interesting idyllic woodland orchard,a afantastic pond with raised decking area served by a sauna, tubspace and an annexe.

There isThe also a and extensive familyhot living over two floors. substantial three formal bay cartgrounds lodge and garage.

7.5 acre workshop, plot comprises mixed The property conveniently connects(benefitting to important maina road sympathetically with paddocks from routes.

Stansted Airport is a 20ponds minuteand drive away and there second separate access), a substantial lake. is an outstanding selection oftennis grammar anddouble privategarage schools, Numerous outbuildings, court, plus andetached excellent rail service fromannexe.

Chelmsford, Stansted and and one bedroom Equestrian Sawbridgeworth, well as access points to the M11 at Harlow potential. EPC as Exempt and Bishops Stortford. EPC Exempt.

Country && Village ce 01245 Country VillageOffi Office 01245397475 397475

Fryerning Essex • Billericay CM12 Little Burstead Guide GuidePrice Price £3,850,000 £2,395,000 A striking five double bedroom, four reception Grade II Situated just 2.2 miles from Billericay railway station with listed period property thought to date back 500 years. fast trains to London Liverpool Street is this beautiful and This charming residence is originally thought to be 3 imposing period Grade II listed Georgian property set cottages, now providing a fantastic flow of interesting within wonderful mature gardens. This stunning family and extensive living space overfitwo floors. The residence offersfamily four reception rooms, ve bedrooms 7.5 acre plot comprises groundsstpp) mixed (with potential for furtherformal loft bedrooms , an sympathetically with paddocks (benefitting fromoutdoor a amazing detached entertainment annexe, heated second separate access), ponds and a all substantial lake. swimming pool, and detached garaging set on a plot of Numerous outbuildings, tennis court, double garage circa 1.25 acres (stls). and EPCdetached Exempt. one bedroom annexe. Equestrian potential. EPC Exempt

Country & Village Office 01245 397475

Country & Village Office 01245 397475

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T. 01905 734735 E. country.homes@andrew-grant.co.uk andrew-grant.co.uk

Nr. Ombersley, Worcestershire SPLENDID GRADE II LISTED GEORGIAN COUNTRY RESIDENCE, C. 5,575 SQ. FT, SET IN AROUND 1.5 ACRES. Worcester 6 miles, Birmingham 20 miles, Cheltenham 33 miles, London 110 miles (all mileages are approximate).

Offers Over ÂŁ1,600,000

Woodfield Cedars is a cherished family home set within delightful gardens and grounds amounting to around 1.5 acres, including a heated outdoor swimming pool and a former cider press building which had previous planning permission for conversion. A pasture field of around 25 acres (subject to agricultural tenancy) may be available by separate negotiation.

Contact: Jenny Tilly on 01905 734735

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Stanmore, HA7 Offering complete privacy and protected on all quarters by established trees and hedgerow.

Priory House was built around 1530 on the foundations of what is believed to have been the original 13th Century Priory. This majestic seven bedroom, six reception room home is built of brick with Wisteria clad elevations and sits well within its oasis of undulating gardens and private paddock. Priory House has a wealth of architectural detail including the three quarter panelled drawing room, working fireplaces and the beamed dining room with William Morris panels.

The property is approached from Clamp Hill and along a private meandering driveway. EPC: D

£3,250,000 Freehold • • • • • •

Beautiful period property built circa 1530 Approximately 8,647 sq. ft.

7 bedrooms 6 reception rooms 3 bathrooms Pony paddock and outbuildings in 3.3 acres

Fine Homes. 020 8954 0060 | finehomes@prestonbennett.co.uk | www.prestonbennett.co.uk

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H E R E W H E N E V E R YOU N E E D US

Speak to a us at a time that suits you Our dedicated Hamptons experts are available whenever you need them, no matter the time or time zone.

Call or speak to us on web chat to book a viewing, arrange a free valuation or simply find out more about the services we offer.

We’re here whenever you need us. hamptons.co.uk

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