UpperClass SS07

upper

the luxury lifestyle and property magazine of Gibbs Gillespie | MIDDLESEX & HERTFORDSHIRE

class

ISSUE ONE | SPRING SUMMER 2007

exclusive interview with Remi Krug finest homes in the local area inside ferrari shooting from the hip Taylor Howes interior design Gordon Ramsay in Manhatttan the finest wristwatches what is luxury? & more‌

SSLDN Cream 256x330 cham

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The Perfect Sunseeker Rendezvous.

Sunseeker London: 36 Davies Street, Mayfair, London, W1K 4NF. Tel: +44 (0)20 7355 0980 Fax: +44 (0)20 7355 0985 Email: info@sunseekerboats.co.uk Offices in: London (UK) – Monaco – La Napoule – Beaulieu Sur Mer – Cannes (South of France) – Egypt – Istanbul (Turkey) – Greece – St. Lucia The Predator 72 and Predator 82. Sunseeker builds a range of 21 luxury motoryachts from 35 feet to 37 metres.

www.sunseekerboats.co.uk

Chaplins

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arper b&b italia brand van egmond busnelli cassina cierre cor de sede desalto fiam flexform flos gallotti & radice giorgetti hülsta interlübke jab kagan magis matteograssi maxalto naos nzo poltrona frau porada reflex rolf benz ronald schmitt seven silenia tisettanta tonelli tressera vitra zanotta and many more...

With one of Europe’s largest collections of modern furniture and design, and the only UK showroom featuring over eighty leading European manufacturers on display, CHAPLINS caters for all aspects of modern living.

Authorised dealer for all 20th Century original designs.

A visit to Chaplins is a must for an injection of the luxurious and inspiring.

Quote ref: HOT3006

477-507 Uxbridge Road Hatch End HA5 4JS | 020 8421 1779 | www.chaplins.co.uk

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Bang & Olufsen of Watford 108 The Parade, High Street, Watford WD17 1AW Telephone: 01923 229734 Email: watford@bang-olufsen.co.uk

www.bang-olufsen.com

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❋ CONTENTS

upper

ISSUE ONE | SPRING SUMMER 2007

class

82

the luxury lifestyle and property magazine of Gibbs Gillespie | MIDDLESEX & HERTFORDSHIRE

54

60

8

44

❋ PROPERTY

❋ TRAVEL AND LEISURE

8 Property section The Upper Class Magazine takes a look at the properties currently available from Gibbs Gillespie in Middlesex and Hertfordshire.

❋

OUT AND ABOUT

44 The richest game on earth Most people were in Vegas that weekend to fritter away $1 stakes. Behind the scenes, high-rollers were playing with $25,000 chips in a record-breaking poker duel. Mike Atherton, former England cricket captain and veteran of many a showdown of nerves, held his breath.

6

68 A cat above the rest

54 Rise above the road rage

Sandy Byrne dreams of the luxury catamaran

Traffic jams on the M25? Who cares? On a short break staying at some of the country’s finest country house hotels, Victoria Mather takes in Devon, Wiltshire and Cumbria – and some spectacular views along the way.

“Blue Note”.

60 Shooting from the hip Once a sport for the landed gentry, shooting has now been adopted by a new generation of cool hunters, who are all swapping Prada for Purdey, Balenciaga for Beretta and Harvey Nics for Holland & Holland. Simon Brooke discusses this most British of pastimes with some of its more recent devotees.

70 The Hideaways Club Ultimate luxury escape, minimum stress as you own your holiday home.

❋ MOTORING

73 Inside Ferarri Photographer Jon Nicholson gains exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the world’s greatest Formula 1 team.

The Gibbs Gillespie ‘Upper Class’ Magazine is exclusively published by CREAM MAGAZINES LTD 7b Cromwell Business Centre New Road St Ives Cambridgeshire PE27 5BG Tel: 01480 395048 Fax: 01480 396049 Advertising/Editorial enquiries: Steven Hall Tel: 01803 849289 E-mail: steve@propertymag.fsnet.co.uk

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CONTENTS

❋

cover stories >>88 exclusive interview with Remi Krug >>8 finest homes in the local area >>73 inside Ferrari >>60 shooting from the hip >>102 Taylor Howes interior design >>117 Gordon Ramsay in Manhattan >>82 the finest wristwatches >>122 what is luxury? and more…

102

COVER IMAGE COURTESY OF: TAYLOR HOWES DESIGN, WWW.THDESIGNS.CO.UK

110

73

88

14

❋ STYLE AND FASHION

82 Buying time Simon de Burton discovers that investing in wristwatches is a process almost as complex as the finest examples of the horologist’s craft.

❋ INTERVIEW

88 Remi Krug Lisa Grainger meets the man who has steered his family business into the 21st century with passion.

Portrait photography by Michel Labelle.

❋ HOMES AND DESIGN

97 Bohemian Rhapsody Sandy Byrne discovers the sheer glamour of Sera of London.

102 Intelligence made visible Sandy Byrne in conversation with Karen Howes of Taylor Howes design.

110 The constant gardener Sandy Byrne meets Randle Siddeley, landscape architect.

114 Camilla Kemp & 55Max Cream Magazines takes a look Camilla Kemp’s contemporary photography.

102

❋ FOOD AND DRINK

117 Manhattan transfer Gordon Ramsay takes New York by storm in The London NYC Hotel, words Sandy Byrne.

❋ LIFESTYLE

122 What is luxury?

Avril Groom poses the question…

❋ PROPERTY

127 Property section A further look at the properties currently available from Gibbs Gillespie in Middlesex and Hertfordshire.

© Cream Magazines Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction is forbidden except by express permission of the publishers. The content of this magazine is believed to be correct but its accuracy is not guaranteed and does not form part of any offer or contract. Gibbs Gillespie cannot accept responsibility for any omissions or errors. The views expressed within editorials are those of the writers and not those of Cream Magazines Ltd.

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GUIDE ÂŁ1,295,000

8

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gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire BEAUTIFULLY PRESENTED FAMILY HOME A stunning five bedroom detached house circa 1927 set on a 0.4 acre plot.

The property is arranged over two floors and features entrance hall, three reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, cloakroom, Jacuzzi/sauna room, master bedroom suite, guest suite, three further bedrooms and family bathroom.

Detached garage via carriage drive offering parking for numerous cars and beautifully presented rear garden.

Accommodation comprises •

Three reception rooms

•

Kitchen/breakfast room

•

Jacuzzi/sauna Room

•

Cloakroom

•

Master bedroom suite

•

Guest suite plus three further bedrooms

•

Garage via carriage drive

•

Set on 0.4 acre plot

RICKMANSWORTH OFFICE t. 01923 771771 e. rickmansworthsales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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New homes

Ickenham, Middlesex CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION Cromwell Grove is a new development consisiting of two new and traditional-style detached family homes set in large plots with mature gardens and located close to excellent transport links.

These detached properties will be built to a high specification and will provide spacious accommodation throughout offering three reception rooms, kitchen, two bedrooms with en-suites, two further bedrooms and a family bathroom.

GUIDE ÂŁ650,000

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gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

Two new detached homes Mature gardens Spacious accommodation throughout Three reception rooms Four bedrooms Three bathrooms Integral garage Off street parking

RUISLIP OFFICE t. 01895 622220 e. ruislipsales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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New homes

GUIDE ÂŁ1,500,000

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gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

Ickenham, Middlesex NEWLY CONSTRUCTED, BEAUTIFULLY PRESENTED A newly constructed and beautifully presented four bedroom, five bathroom detached house arranged over three floors and situated in one of the area’s most sought after roads.

The property boasts a multitude of stunning features including a galleried landing, superbly fitted kitchen, solid wood flooring, exquisite family bathroom, games room, heated swimming pool, double garage and impressive rear garden.

Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

Beautiful entrance hall with galleried landing Superb kitchen/breakfast room Two reception rooms Cloakroom Three bedroom suites Fourth bedroom Games room with en-suite Heated swimming pool

RUISLIP OFFICE t. 01895 622220 e. ruislipsales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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New homes

Hillingdon, Middlesex NEWLY DEVELOPED PRESTIGIOUS HOME A new detached family home situated on a quiet cul-de-sac in a sought

Accommodation comprises

after location within easy walking distance of local transport and

• • • • • • • •

shopping facilities.

The property has been built to a high specification and offers lounge, study, conservatory, kitchen/breakfast room, master bedroom with en-suite, three further bedrooms and family bathroom. Outside there is an integral garage and parking.

GUIDE £615,000

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New built four bedroom detached home Lounge Study Conservatory Kitchen/breakfast room Master bedroom suite Three further bedrooms Family bathroom

UXBRIDGE OFFICE t. 01895 252542 e. uxbridgesales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

Brand new detached home Two reception rooms Study Double glazed conservatory Superb kitchen/breakfast room Utility room Five bedrooms Three bathrooms (two en-suite)

Ickenham, Middlesex NEWLY DEVELOPED, OUTSTANDING HOME

A newly developed five bedroom detached family home situated in a secure gated development in a much sought after location.

The property has been built to a very high specification and features cloakroom, two reception rooms, conservatory, kitchen/breakfast room, utility room, two bedroom suites, three further bedrooms and family bathroom.

Driveway and integral garage with electronically operated door.

GUIDE £795,000

RUISLIP OFFICE t. 01895 622220 e. ruislipsales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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Ickenham, Middlesex GEORGIAN-STYLE GATED DEVELOPMENT A well presented Georgian-style detached home situated in a secure gated developed on a much sought after private road with beautiful panoramic views to the rear.

The property offers excellent, spacious accommodation and has many features including a beautiful, open-plan drawing room with a raised dining area, two bedroom suites, two further double bedrooms, ample parking and detached double garage.

GUIDE £1,215,000

20

Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

Open plan drawing room Raised dining area Study Kitchen/breakfast room Morning room Cloakroom Four double bedrooms Three bathrooms (two en-suite)

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gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

RUISLIP OFFICE t. 01895 622220 e. ruislipsales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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A well presented 1920s built character detached house situated on a private road in a highly sought after location with stunning views over open countryside.

The property has many original features and offers three reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, cloakroom, four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Driveway for numerous cars, detached garage, secluded rear garden with enclosed heated swimming pool and sauna.

Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

Character 1920s detached home Private road location Three reception rooms Master bedroom suite Three further bedrooms Heated swimming pool and sauna Detached garage Planning permission to extend

Loudwater, Hertfordshire CHARACTER HOME IN A PRIVATE ROAD

GUIDE £795,000

22

RICKMANSWORTH OFFICE t. 01923 771771 e. rickmansworthsales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

Three reception rooms Study Kitchen/breakfast room Master bedroom suite Five further bedrooms Two further bathrooms Basement/garden room Garage

Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire BEAUTIFULLY PRESENTED AND EXTENDED A spacious and beautifully presented detached family home situated in a much sought after residential location.

The property offers three reception rooms, study, kitchen/breakfast room, cloakroom, master bedroom with en-suite , five further bedrooms, two further bathrooms and a basement/garden room. Carriage drive with wide gated access for numerous vehicles, garage and spacious rear garden.

GUIDE £785,000

RICKMANSWORTH OFFICE t. 01923 771771 e. rickmansworthsales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

Ickenham, Middlesex MAGNIFICENT FAMILY HOME WITH PRIVATE GROUNDS A five bedroom detached family home arranged over three floors and set in private grounds.

The property is accessed via an electronically operated gated entrance onto an extensive courtyard providing parking for numerous cars and access to the double garage. The rear garden is beautifully presented and offers much sought after privacy.

Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

GUIDE £775,000

24

Stunning open-plan drawing/dining room Television room Study/utility room Beautifully fitted kitchen/breakfast room Master bedroom suite Guest suite Three further bedrooms Family bathroom

RUISLIP OFFICE t. 01895 622220 e. ruislipsales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

Spacemaker

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Pinner, Middlesex DETACHED RESIDENCE, WELL PRESENTED Located in one of the area’s premier locations and situated only a short stroll from Pinner village centre this well presented four bedroom detached family home offers bright and spacious accommodation.

The property has been well maintained and features include a modern fitted kitchen/breakfast room, luxurious family bathroom, driveway providing ample parking and secluded rear gardens.

GUIDE £795,000

26

Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

Cloakroom Three reception rooms Inner lobby/utility area Utility room Modern fitted kitchen/breakfast room Four bedrooms Two bathrooms Integral double garage

PINNER OFFICE t. 020 8866 2777 e. pinnersales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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gibbs-gillespie.co.uk Accommodation comprises • • • • • • •

Three reception rooms Country-style kitchen Separate breakfast room Cloakroom Five bedrooms Two bathrooms (one en-suite) Off street parking

Pinner, Middlesex SUPERBLY PRESENTED EDWARDIAN HOME An imposing and superbly presented five bedroom semi-detached Edwardian family home with accommodation arranged over three floors.

This charming property retains a host of original features including original fireplaces, ceiling cornices and picture rails. It is situated only a short stroll of Pinner village’s shops, restaurants and public transport facilities.

GUIDE £895,000

PINNER OFFICE t. 020 8866 2777 e. pinnersales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

Hatch End, Middlesex DETACHED RESIDENCE, UNIQUE DEVELOPMENT

GUIDE £899,950

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Five double bedrooms Two reception rooms Study Modern fitted kitchen/breakfast room Utility room Master bedroom suite Guest bedroom suite Family bathroom

A well presented five double bedroom detached family home set within this unique cul-de-sac development providing convenient access to both Pinner village and Hatch End. The property offers many attractive features and has been tastefully decorated throughout. The gardens are well-tended and of a secluded nature. An integral double garage approached via own driveway provides ample parking.

PINNER OFFICE t. 020 8866 2777 e. pinnersales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

EuroBathrooms

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DESIGN & INSTALL OR SUPPLY ONLY Tel: 01494 434349

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Pinner, Middlesex SUPERBLY PRESENTED DETACHED RESIDENCE Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

Three reception rooms Superb kitchen/breakfast room Cloakroom Master bedroom suite Four further bedrooms Family bathroom Garage accessed via own driveway Attractive rear gardens

A superbly presented five bedroom detached family home situated in one of the area’s most sought after locations.

The property has been skillfully extended and is arranged over two floors and features a host of benefits including three excellent sized reception rooms, fully fitted kitchen/breakfast room with integral appliances, master bedroom suite and four further good sized bedrooms.

GUIDE £870,000

30

PINNER OFFICE t. 020 8866 2777 e. pinnersales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

Pinner, Middlesex GRADE II LISTED, DETACHED RESIDENCE An impressive Grade II Listed family residence set on a 0.25 of an acre plot only a short stroll to Pinner village.

The property has been well maintained and is full of character. Outside there is a beautifully landscaped rear garden and to the front an integral garage which is approached via an imposing deep frontage providing ample parking.

GUIDE £999,950

Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

Grade II Listed Double aspect family room Dining room Triple aspect main lounge Study Kitchen Utility room Four bedrooms

PINNER OFFICE t. 020 8866 2777 e. pinnersales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

Pinner, Middlesex RARELY AVAILABLE, DETACHED RESIDENCE

A rarely available four bedroom detached family home situated within a short stroll of Pinner village with the benefit of being offered for sale with no upper chain.

The property retains many of its original features and comprises reception hallway, three reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, master bedroom with en-suite , three further bedrooms, family bathroom, separate WC and mature rear gardens.

Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

GUIDE £749,950

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Three reception rooms Kitchen/breakfast room Utility room Master bedroom suite Three further bedrooms Family bathroom Separate WC Off street parking

PINNER OFFICE t. 020 8866 2777 e. pinnersales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

TMIB we let

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Are you puzzled by the mortgage market?

Search 2000 mortgages from 100 lenders by taking 15 minutes to talk to 1 person

The best mortgage for you is available now at the

www.tmib.org.uk Talk to one of our qualified advisors TODAY! Harrow t: 020 8866 2525

Pinner t: 020 8868 1146

Ruislip t: 01895 622200

ryan.donegan@tmib.org.uk

tony.hinton@tmib.org.uk

rosemary.howard@tmib.org.uk

Ruislip Manor t: 01895 622700

Uxbridge t: 01895 253789

christina.gough@tmib.org.uk

judy.koshy@tmib.org.uk

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. Broker fees of up to ÂŁ195 may be payable

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Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

Pinner, Middlesex LUXURIOUSLY APPOINTED PENTHOUSE APARTMENT

GUIDE £725,000

34

Luxurious penthouse apartment Master bedroom suite Two further bedrooms Double aspect reception room Luxurious fitted kitchen Family bathroom Two secure underground parking spaces Communal gardens

A luxuriously appointed three bedroom penthouse apartment located within a short stroll of Pinner village with its vast array of shopping and transport facilities.

The apartment offers both bright and spacious accommodation and has been tastefully decorated throughout. There are two reserved secure underground car parking spaces as well as additional parking for visitors.

PINNER OFFICE t. 020 8866 2777 e. pinnersales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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Pinner, Middlesex RARELY AVAILABLE DETACHED RESIDENCE An extended four bedroom, three bathroom detached family home situated only a short stroll of Pinner village.

The property has been well maintained and features two reception rooms, study, conservatory, cloakroom, master bedroom suite, guest bedroom suite, two further bedrooms and family bathroom. To the outside there is a double garage approached via own drive and landscaped, secluded rear gardens.

GUIDE £759,950

Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

Two reception rooms Study Conservatory Kitchen Cloakroom Four bedrooms Three bathroom (two en-suite) Double garage

PINNER OFFICE t. 020 8866 2777 e. pinnersales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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Pinner, Middlesex DETACHED HOME WITH IMPRESSIVE ACCOMMODATION

Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

Three reception rooms Kitchen/breakfast room Cloakroom Master bedroom suite Four further bedrooms Family bathroom Integral garage Secluded rear gardens

An impressive five bedroom detached family home set within an established residential road only a short stroll of Pinner village.

The accommodation features three reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, cloakroom. Five bedrooms, master with en-suite, family bathroom.

The rear gardens have a good degree of privacy and to the front a large carriage driveway provides ample parking.

GUIDE £925,000

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PINNER OFFICE t. 020 8866 2777 e. pinnersales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex DETACHED RESIDENCE IN A PRIVATE ROAD An outstanding detached residence set on a private road in the exclusive conservation area of Harrow on the Hill.

The property has been skillfully extended and offers a Granny Annexe to the first floor which could easily be changed to offer at least two further bedrooms with en-suite facilities. Mature and picturesque front and rear gardens, detached garage and heated swimming pool.

Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

GUIDE £1,100,000

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Lounge Reception two/study Kitchen/dining room Downstairs shower room Master bedroom suite Guest bedroom suite Family bathroom Bedroom three (incorporated as Granny Annexe)

HARROW OFFICE t. 020 8868 9966 e. harrowsales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

Two reception rooms Study Kitchen/breakfast room Cloakroom Master bedroom suite Three further bedrooms Family bathroom Integral garage and driveway

Pinner, Middlesex RECENTLY REFURBISHED AND BEAUTIFULLY PRESENTED A beautifully presented semi-detached family home which has been skillfully extended and refurbished to a high standard.

The property is situated on a bold corner plot, only a short distance of Pinner village and offers bright and spacious accommodation throughout. Outside there is a secluded rear garden and to the front an integral garage which is approached via own driveway.

GUIDE £729,950

PINNER OFFICE t. 020 8866 2777 e. pinnersales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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Loudwater, Hertfordshire DETACHED HOME ON THE LOUDWATER ESTATE Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • • •

Detached family home Private estate Three reception rooms Study Kitchen/breakfast room Utility room Master bedroom suite Four further bedrooms Family bathroom

A detached 1970s built family home situated in a cul-de-sac on the popular Loudwater private estate.

The property comprises master bedroom with dressing area and en-suite, four further bedrooms, family bathroom, cloakroom, utility room, three reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, study, kitchenette, integral double garage, driveway providing ample parking and a secluded, well laid out rear garden.

GUIDE £950,000

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RICKMANSWORTH OFFICE t. 01923 771771 e. rickmansworthsales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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HOWM A N CO.

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TEL: 020 8206 1612 FAX: 020 8206 1401

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Ickenham, Middlesex INDIVIDUALLY DESIGNED TO A SUPERB SPECIFICATION An individually designed four bedroom detached residence which has been built to a superb specification offering well-planned accommodation and unique features.

The rear gardens are secluded and have been beautifully landscaped and to the front there is parking for 5/6 cars. The property is approached via a private 130’ driveway secured by electronic gates.

Accommodation comprises • • • • • • • •

Spacious hallway with bar area Two reception rooms Beautifully fitted kitchen/breakfast room Cloakroom Master bedroom with en-suite dressing area Three further bedrooms (one with en-suite) Luxury family bathroom Brick built games rooms/barbecue area

GUIDE £725,000

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RUISLIP OFFICE T. 01895 622220 e. ruislipsales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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❋ OUT AND ABOUT TOP TABLE>> ‘The biggest fallacy about gamling is that it’s just about money.’ says Mike Atherton PHOTOGRAPH Chris Dunlop

OUT AND ABOUT

THE RICHEST GAME ON EARTH

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Most people were in Vegas that weekend to fritter away $1 stakes. Behind the scenes, high-rollers were playing with $25,000 chips in a record-breaking poker duel.

Mike Atherton, former England cricket captain and veteran of many a showdown of nerves, held his breath

45

GLAMOUR STAKES>> Joining the high-rollers in Las Vegas Photograph Chris Dunlop

At any one time, the table held more than $20 million: the richest poker game the world has seen

L

as Vegas is a difficult town to do psychedelic drugs, said Hunter S Thompson, because reality itself is too twisted. By the time I got to the Bellagio, the 4,000-room ersatz Tuscan hotel that was to be my base for Super Bowl weekend, I knew what the writer of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas meant. I’d only just got over the shock of arriving at McCarron airport and being greeted by row upon row of slot machines, whirring and flashing their seductive come-ons like Daleks on drugs, when the 11-acre lake, which surrounds the Bellagio, erupted into a fountain show, accompanied by the lyrics: “I’m glad to be in America, Where at least I know I’m free.

I won’t forget the men who died To give their freedom to me: God Bless the USA!” My taxi driver sang along to the tune and dropped me off with a chirpy: “Be lucky!”

The forecourt of the hotel was teeming with hundreds of people. Super Bowl weekend is Las Vegas’s busiest of the year, partly because of America’s schizophrenic attitude towards gambling. The desert town may be the most famous gambling destination in the world, but in many states the pursuit is still illegal. More punters would head to Vegas this weekend to watch the big game – and wager more than $100 million on it – than would go to Detroit where the match was being played.

The assault on the senses continued in the Bellagio’s foyer, framed above by giant,

multicoloured flowers – all of them fake, inevitably – and, beyond, by the Chinese botanical garden, home to a 30ft giant cuddly cocker spaniel which emitted a sotto voce ‘woof ’ every 30 seconds or so. Beyond that, there was the world’s tallest chocolate fountain, some 27ft high, which pumped out two tons of molten chocolate every hour at a temperature of exactly 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

Not that the Bellagio is considered excessively absurd by the standards of the giant casino resorts of the Strip, the five-mile suburban highway that is home to seven of the eight biggest hotels in the world. The man responsible for the Strip in its current guise is Steve Wynn, the son of a local bingo operator, and the man who shattered the boundaries of excess when he opened the $700 million (£380 million) Mirage mega-resort in 1989.

The Mirage boasted 3,000 rooms, a casino containing 2,200 slot and video poker machines, and a $30 million volcano that erupted every half-hour and filled the air with pina colada scent. Three thousand exotic plants could be spotted in its gardens and five bottle-nosed dolphins cavorted in its 20,000-gallon aquarium.

‘It was,’ quipped Wynn, ‘what God would have done if He’d had the money.’ God might also have had a little more taste.

The Mirage set the scene for everything that followed and, since then, 17 themed megaresorts have been built along the Strip. Want to be surrounded by Arthurian legend? No problem, book into the Excalibur. Want to see

the pyramids of ancient Egypt? Head to the Luxor next door. The Empire State building, Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty challenge you to walk through the doors of the New York-New York Hotel; the Eiffel Tower stares down at you at the Paris Las Vegas; the Parthenon greets you at Caesar’s Palace, while outside the Venetian Hotel a flotilla of gondolas brings you the romance of Venice.

The murals of sky and sunlight that adorn the inside of the Venetian are remarkably lifelike, just in case you don’t want to pop outside and see the real thing. Clearly, the best way to entice people to a parched strip of desert land is to convince them they are going somewhere else.

When a city has so little history of its own, the answer is to borrow a little from elsewhere.

The casino owners have recently been doing their bit to change the image of Las Vegas. First there was Las Vegas the convention centre; then Las Vegas the destination for families; and now, Las Vegas the adult entertainment centre.

Nevertheless, there is no getting away from the fact that this is still a city that has been built by, and exists for, gambling: one third of its population is employed directly by the gambling industry, another third is employed indirectly, and the rest wouldn’t be there without it. Half the profits made by the casino resorts of Las Vegas still come from gambling.

More specifically, Las Vegas is the playground of the highest of high-rollers, known in the industry as ‘whales’. The biggest bet currently offered by a Vegas casino is $250,000

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IN THE

W ORLD ’

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G O L F . T E N N I S . S PA . A C C O M M O D AT I O N . E N T E R TA I N I N G . H E A LT H & F I T N E S S E S TA B L I S H E D 1 9 0 8

SHOW TOWN>> The Bellagio is surrounded by an 11-acre lake, the scene of musical fountain shows as well as firework displays

(£135 million) and there might be a dozen players worldwide who can play to such sums.

Double that number might play to $150,000, and 50 or so to $100,000 a time. Since these whales might blow up to $20 million on a weekend’s fun, they are eagerly sought after by the casinos and are offered serious inducements to play.

Whales, as you might expect, come to Vegas in a private jet. They are put up in the most sumptuous apartments (the high-roller suites in the latest casino resort are 10,000sq ft of pure opulence, each having its own media room, massage suite, spa, private swimming pool and garden, and a butler to attend to every need.)

Then, they might be offered $250,000 simply to play at a particular casino, and given a 20 per cent reduction on losses. And, of course, they are ‘comped’ for all their food and wine – of which, these days, Vegas offers the best. Indeed, such is the demand for fine wine there is a shortage of the great vintages in other cities in America, and one third of the country’s qualified sommeliers work in Las Vegas. One of the signature restaurants at the Bellagio is the Picasso, where you can gorge yourself on Kobe beef while staring at half a dozen originals by the master.

Not that I had time for any of that, of course.

I was here to see if I could, like Captain Ahab, harpoon me a whale. I found him at Steve

Wynn’s latest venture, the $2.7 billion Wynn Las Vegas hotel, a chocolate-coloured monolith complete with its own man-made mountain, an art gallery to house the owner’s $300 million art collection and a showroom for his impressive stable of Maseratis and Ferraris.

The poker room, though, is much like any other. It is small – because the rake from poker makes it one of the least profitable games from a casino owner’s point of view – and sparsely decorated. Table three is much like any other in that room – eight mahogany chairs circling the oval-shaped, green felt-topped table – except that, on this Super Bowl Sunday, as for the previous five days, a protective rope had been placed around it and a security officer, dressed in purple and looking fierce, stood guard.

Two players sat opposite each other, one wearing huge Elvis-style sunglasses and a whitepeaked cap; the other, a huge bear of a man, was slumped over the back of a chair that had been placed back-to-front. There was no noise to disturb their concentration, except the occasional clacking of chips. There weren’t that many chips on the table and, at first glance, the casual visitor might have wondered why there was a need for security. On closer inspection, he or she would have discovered that each chip was what is known as a cranberry (on account of its colour) and was worth $25,000. At any one time, the

table held between $20 million and $25 million.

The richest poker game the world has ever seen was being played out right before my eyes.

I learnt the story behind this gargantuan game: five years ago, very rich and very bored, a Texan billionaire banker called Andy Beal challenged a group of poker professionals in Las Vegas to a high-stakes game. While the challenge was ostensibly to the poker community, in reality Beal was challenging himself. Could he, an amateur poker player, find a way of beating the best players in the world? In a game where professionals insist that money is irrelevant, except as a way of keeping the score, could Beal – for whom money genuinely is irrelevant – raise the stakes so high that even the professionals would start to worry and make poor decisions?

Beal was happy to put $10 million on the table; the group of professionals, who came to be known as The Corporation, clubbed together to raise their $10 million, and Beal would play against one of their number until the funds had disappeared – or until either cried ‘Enough!’

Beal left no stone unturned in his quest to beat these players. His instinct told him that the professionals’ strength lay in their vast experience: the number of hands they had played over time had given them a remarkable feel for the game. He could replicate that experience by developing a computer program

48

❋ OUT AND ABOUT and, by doing so, give himself an edge on the pure mathematics. His computer program played upwards of two million games – and, by the end, Beal knew the absolute odds of success or failure for various combinations.

The computer furnished him with cold analysis. What it couldn’t protect him against was the uncanny ability of the professional players to read their opponent. Beal set about building a protective wall around himself so the pros would find it difficult, if not impossible, to read him. Hence the Elvis-style sunglasses, the white-peaked cap, the iPod – which played bland elevator music – and the buzzer he attached to one of his socks, designed to give him a gentle electric shock every eight seconds. He hoped that, by making his decisions at this time interval, he could camouflage both his cards and his mood.

Beal’s biggest advantage was his billionaire status. He out bank-rolled The Corporation 1,000 times over, and he hoped that, by continually raising the stakes, he could send the pros ‘on tilt’. During the World Series of 2004, he had finally achieved his wish to play a $100,000 to $200,000 game, during which he won $12 million in a single day and proved that, if you raise the stakes high enough, even the pros

can be affected. Between 2001 and the 2004 World Series, Beal had made 10 separate trips to Las Vegas to test himself against the professionals. Since then, there had been a 619day hiatus. My trip to Vegas coincided with the resumption of a $50,000 to $100,000 game.

The biggest fallacy about gambling is that it is just about money. The desire to gamble is about a combination of things: combating boredom; chasing the buzz and adrenalin rush that the action brings; and seeking the heightened emotional responses that result from the thrill of winning or the shock of losing.

Therein lies the excitement. When gambling is just about money – as it was for these professionals (whose livelihood depended on it) and for Beal (for whom the money was just a way of keeping the score) – then the whole activity is boring.

The highest-stakes poker game in the world was the most joyless, dispiriting game you could wish to see. There was no animation and no conversation, and it looked like an endurance test. A waitress, in the shortest of short skirts, passed occasionally. Neither player looked up.

After a while, a dealer would be replaced. I asked one of them how it was going. ‘Back and forth like a tennis match,’ he said. ‘It’s as boring as

hell. The whole point of poker is to have fun.

This is just a business for these two guys.Ç As with many things in life, more does not necessarily mean better.

By the time both players called a halt to the proceedings, just before the Super Bowl began, Beal was a shade over $1 million down to a professional called Todd Brunson. Over the five days, The Corporation was up $3.2 million overall, a 30 per cent return on its investment.

Beal and the rotating group of pros had played close to 2,000 hands in five days and had contested pots totalling $600 million, with Beal having won $298.4 million and the pros $301.6 million. It was a staggering amount of money, but it didn’t seem like a hell of a lot of fun.

Elsewhere, the minnows of the casino danced to the beat of the Super Bowl, and they were having quite a time. In particular, shooting craps seemed to be a quasi-religious experience for American gamblers. Craps is the descendant of the medieval game called hazard, which sent many an aristocrat to an early financial grave. It has lost none of its ability to bewitch. A Samuel L Jackson lookalike, all bling and black beret, was holding court and holding the dice: five opaque red cubes, which he rubbed, caressed, nurtured even, in the hope that he might choose the two

THE BEST OF LAS VEGAS The Hotel The Wynn Las Vegas “Michelangelo took four years to complete the Sistine chapel, your room took five,”declares the owner, Steve Wynn. Opulent and packed with high-rollers, the $3 billion Wynn is all a Vegas hotel should be. Rising like a bronze hip flask, it rivals the Bellagio as the most lavish hotel on the Strip – with a championship golf course, world-class spa, St Tropez-style pools, 22 restaurants and bars, and boutiques from Manolo Blahnik to Maserati. 001 702 770 7000 www.wynnlasvegas.com Rooms cost from £163

leading club, gleaming with Asian artefacts, candles and go-go dancers. Outside, a 40ft terrace offers some of the best views in Vegas. For guests fancying some VIP treatment, glass ‘skyboxes’ offer the chance to get away from the hoi polloi.

001 702 388 8588 www.venetian.com

The Golf Course

The Restaurant

The Nightclub and Bar TAO, The Venetian In less than a year, the sister club to TAO Asian Bistro has become the must-be-seen-at party spot on the Strip. Bono, Usher and the Black Eyed Peas are just a few of the big names to have hit the floor of the Venetian’s

50

town. Pack your Stetson for the Super Bowl of rodeo as, for two weekends, the world’s greatest rodeo riders are drawn to the bright lights of the Strip to cling on to the raging bulls in this million-dollar showdown.

001 877 632 7400 www. pbrnow.com The championship runs October 27-November 5

Aureole, Mandalay Bay Of the welter of high-class restaurants in Las Vegas, Aureole – modelled on top US chef Charlie Palmer’s famous New York eatery – offers something a little bit different. As you sample world-class cuisine, ‘Wine Angels’ fly up and down a vast wine tower above you to retrieve your chosen tipple. Book well ahead.

001 877 632 1766 www.mandalaybay.com

The Show

World Rodeo Championships Elton, Celine, Cirque Du Soleil and even the great fight nights take a back seat when this hip-strutting, gum-chewing tear-up comes to

The Royal Links Driving the Strip has taken on a new meaning in Las Vegas, where golf is almost as big as the glitz, gambling and girls. The Royal Links Golf Club offers 18 of the best holes on the Open circuit, recreating the famous Road Hole and Hell bunkers from St Andrews’ Old Course in Scotland, as well as the Postage Stamp from Royal Troon, and even a convincing replica of the iconic clubhouse at St Andrews.

001 702 450 8000 www.waltersgolf.com.

A round of golf costs $100

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❋ OUT AND ABOUT

THE RICHEST GAME ON EARTH

52

that would bring him some luck.It was a highly ritualised performance. First, he rolled all five dice until two threes came up. Then, with one die on top of the other, he swirled them around in a letter S. His companions were getting impatient.

‘Come on, will’ya. It’ll be midnight before you throw!’ The thrower didn’t take kindly to this intrusion into his ritual. ‘Be quiet, I’m shootin’ dice. I’m shootin’ dice!’ Then he threw them high and long with a kind of leg-spin action. All eyes followed the dice. No one seemed happy when they landed.

He changed his ritual, picking two dice and adding them up to five – a three on top of a two – and then tapping one on top of the other twice.

‘Yeah, shooter!Ç the party cried, almost in ecstasy. The throw came low and quick – a kind of short-arm jab – but again there was no luck. I asked him why he was so superstitious, when clearly it could have no affect on how the dice landed. ‘It’s just a feel I have. When I feel them right, I get lucky,’ he said.

There isn’t anything in it, of course – and this is the story of casino gambling for the majority.

The craps player is as certain to lose in the long run as the slot player, the blackjack player (unless he is a card counter), the baccarat player and the roulette player (especially in Vegas, where the roulette tables have two zeros). It only differs in the degree to which the house holds the edge. In March 2005, Nevada’s casinos raked in $1 billion in profits for the first time. Wynn got one thing right when he said the only way to win money in a casino is to own it.

The casino resorts of the Strip are the glamorous side of Las Vegas. To see the grit beneath the glitter, you have to take the short bus ride downtown to what is called ‘Glitter Gulch’.

As you pass the Sahara hotel, suddenly the buildings start to get less tall and less wacky. As you pass the discount markets, burger joints, 7-Elevens, doughnut shops and low-grade motels, you could be in any Midwest town in America. For the first time, you sense that Las Vegas is a place where people live normal lives, where they work, shop, go to school, and do their laundry.

And then, as you continue south, the slots parlours suddenly start to spring up again, the neon returns and, before you know it, you are on Freemont Street – which, as it proudly boasts, is the street where ‘it all began’. Tourists and gamblers are still attracted here, albeit in far fewer numbers than on the Strip, but it is generally at the low-staking punter that Glitter Gulch aims its fire. Ten years ago, a $90 million canopy that produces a dazzling light show at night, was erected above five blocks of Freemont Street in an attempt to lift the downtown area out of the doldrums. Despite the best efforts of the municipality, it is an area that reeks of seediness, from the bars offering strip shows to the Las Vegas Club, which openly states that it

has ‘the most liberal 21 in the world’ as its door policy.

Head west out of Freemont Street and you begin to see the underbelly of Las Vegas, and the side of the city that rarely gets publicised. A couple of blocks out of town on the right, among low-rise shabby motels, low-income housing and low-rent trailer parks, is the Western Hotel and Casino. Here, you can get a room for less than 30 bucks a night – and you can, of course, gamble.

The Western’s casino is designed on pretty much the same lines as those on the Strip, with a central block of slots off which sprout the table games. Here, however, the players feed the slots with nickels and quarters rather than dollars, and the blackjack tables, replete with cigarette burns and beer stains, cater for the $1 and $2 punters.

It is a sad place.

This is an area of crumbling infrastructure, of few community amenities and of drugs and crime and violence. It is home to the Vegas underclass that sweeps the floors of the Strip’s casinos in the early hours of the morning and creeps home to bed just before dawn; it is home to a population that feels acute social dislocation and isolation – one of the reasons, no doubt, why Las Vegas has the fourth highest suicide rate in America.

It is also home to The Gambler’s Book Shop, a mecca for those interested in gambling literature. Howard Schwartz, who has run the book store for the past five years, but who has lived in Las Vegas for decades, confirmed my worst fears when he asked me how I’d made the journey to his shop. When I said I had walked there from Freemont Street, he told me I was lucky that I hadn’t been shot.

It was time to head back to the safety of the theatre of the absurd. On a bright and clear and calm Monday morning, I left the Bellagio just as an announcement was being made that the fountain would be inoperative that morning due to the inclement weather. Only in Las Vegas.

Mike Atherton's book ‘Gambling’ – A Story of Triumph and Disaster was published by Hodder and Stoughton late 2006.

It is available from all good bookshops and costs £18.99

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❋ TRAVEL AND LEISURE

FLYING VISIT>> The author – with Bubble the Peke, and Sikorsky S76B – drops in for tea at Buckland Manor

Traffic jams on the M25? Who cares? On a short break staying at some of the country’s finest country house hotels, Victoria Mather takes in Devon, Wiltshire and Cumbria – and some spectacular views along the way.

MAIN PHOTOGRAPH Johnny Morris

54

TRAVEL AND LEISURE

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Rise above the road rage,

darling!

55

❋ TRAVEL AND LEISURE

The Devon way below is like The Shire, Dartmoor is glorious tors, cuddly cottages and tiny sheep

T

here is no more divine form of Schadenfreude than flying over a traffic jam on a Friday evening. I am in a helicopter and you sad little people below are imprisoned on the M3, and inevitably the M4, the M1, the M11, particularly the M25 and that really horrid bit of the M6 round Birmingham and Manchester. In a standstill as foul as Stansted. Lala-lalala, suckers.

I’m joyously beginning a weekend, champagne in hand, Peke on knee, Apple PowerBook at side (so that’s the lapdog and the laptop sorted). Below me, men in BMWs are berating the new woman in their lives, Sally the SatNav, wondering how she got them into this. ‘Blimey, she’s worse than the wife, who couldn’t read a map if it led the way to Johnny Depp’s bed.’ It’s hell down there.

And so we move on seamlessly to Devon, humming over Hampton Court, and Annabel Goldsmith’s house at Ham, and Surrey, where pilot Richard Poppe says they used to count the swimming pools, ‘but now everyone in Surrey has a swimming pool, so we count the landing strips’. There’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum of Dubai’s house, and Wentworth Golf Course and the new stand at Ascot racecourse (which looks like Stansted relocated).

Then we’re doing a little flypast of my Hampshire house. I am thrilled. It actually looks rather pretty from the air, an angle excising the peeling white paint and Southfork connotations. When did anyone have so much fun on a Fridaynight journey?

This is a story of time travel. In this mad, mad world time is the greatest luxury. The time to do anything well, the time to do anything peacefully, the time to have time to ourselves. Our time is consumed by the dark side of modern life: the electronic tagging by text, mobile and e-mail; the titanic struggle with call centres monitoring us for training purposes when all we want to do is speak to a person not a number and, of course, traffic. Our cars may have morphed into mobile entertainment zones, but they’re not getting anywhere faster.

Well, you can solve any problem by throwing money at it. So it’s up, up and away from it all in a leather-lined, deep-pile carpeted, picture-windowed Sikorsky S76B. It seats six. My previous helicopter experience is strictly I-love-the-smell-ofnapalm-in-the-morning,

56

cross-belted into an aerial buzzbox skimming across the African bush.

This Friday, Andrew Davis, chairman of von Essen hotels, has lent me his swank machine, G-VONB. Remarkable man, Mr Davis. Not only has he acquired some of Britain’s most famous hotels – Cliveden, The Royal Crescent in Bath, and Sharrow Bay among them – but he’s also Mr Heli-Heaven. His PremiAir fleet has a turnover of £50 million a year through upmarket charter and helicopter management (yes, there are that many people who have no time for speed restrictions, roadworks and, most pernicious of all, other people getting in their way, wasting their valuable time). Russian oligarchs Abramovich and Berezovsky are PremiAir clients, as are the police force and the Queen’s Flight. When I arrive at Battersea heliport, Sir Anthony Bamford’s helicopter (managed by PremiAir) is parked there. The Oppenheimers are just landing. Flying over Somerset, two smaller von Essen helicopters fly alongside. Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein is to my left; I am tempted to hum Ride of the Valkyrie.

Then, from blissful isolation at 1,500ft, I witness the full horror of changeover day on the M5. Caravans are nose to tail in both directions; it reminds me forcibly of the little Lego-like segments one drew for biology O-level to illustrate a tapeworm’s progress through the large intestine. Also, how can a woman who actually likes caravanning be Foreign Secretary? That one has time to spare a thought for Margaret Beckett is indicative of the louche idleness heli-travel induces.

The Devon way below is like The Shire; Dartmoor is glorious tors, cuddly cottages and tiny sheep. I can see the white foam on the peaty water of the streams. This England is what John Prescott would like to concrete over. A swoop, and we land on the banks of the River Tamar, just below Hotel Endsleigh, Olga Polizzi’s latest hotel, which is run by her daughter, Alex.

Endsleigh was the home of the Dukes of Bedford. Repton designed the garden; where I lunch is an 18th-century loggia with a floor made of sheeps’ knuckles looking out over the Tamar to the Earl of Bradford’s forests in Cornwall.

Then perhaps a little snooze in suite one, the French windows open to the wide lawns. Bubble the Peke likes a lawn, and particularly likes Endsleigh, where the first thing you see outside the open front door is a white china dog bowl. In the

TRAVEL AND LEISURE

Victoria Mather at Hotel Endleigh

The Hotels HOTEL ENDSLEIGH Tavistock, Devon Suite one, b&b: £360 per night. An overnight stay for two with dinner, drinks and picnic lunch cost £569.50.

01822 870 000, www.hotelendsleigh.com WHATLEY MANOR Malmesbury, Wiltshire Suite 12, b&b: £650 per night. An overnight stay for two, including dinner, wine, a pedicure, and La Prairie facial and caviar body treatment cost £1,242.50.

01666 822 888, www.whatleymanor.com SHARROW BAY Penrith, Cumbria Harmony Suite, dinner, b&b: £500 per night. An overnight stay, including walking tour and champagne cruise, cost £665.60. A onenight package, including helicopter transfer from London, private champagne cruise on Ullswater, six-course meal with wines selected by the head sommelier, Nicholas Chieze, and breakfast, costs from £2,536pp, based on two sharing and four guests taking the package.

01768 486301, www.vonessenhotels.co.uk

boot room, under the racks of wellingtons, are wicker dog beds in every size with taupe cushions. So chic.

My time travel is taking me back to the future. As it will turn out, I have actually begun at the end, the consummation, of country house hoteldom.

Endsleigh, open just over a year, is the epitome of contemporary classic, a state of grace notoriously difficult to achieve since most of those who own or run examples of the genre have no idea what a country house should be like. Some have no idea what a hotel should be like either, making the synergy doubly difficult. Olga Polizzi, sister of Rocco Forte and design director of his RF Hotels,

❋

VICTORIA’S WEEKEND HOP

has an elegant grasp of both. It serves her well at the Hotel Tresanton in St Mawes and even better here. You walk in and want to live at Endsleigh.

The country house hotel was intended to be the fantasy country house idyll, sans the leaking roof, back-breaking gardening and boring staff problems, for those who didn’t have a country house of their own. Of course, the whole concept of the real country house has changed. The real country house was savagely uncomfortable, freezing cold, had one lavatory per 20 bedrooms and you were insane to expect more than two inches of lukewarm bathwater. Indeed, it was a social solecism to run any more. The Duchess of Bedford very possibly disapproved of anyone having a bath at all.

Fast forward three decades into decadence. The Polizzis, mère et fille, know how to make one feel and be comfortable. There are delicious books in the drawing room (a lot of PG Wodehouse, surely the heartbeat of a country house); wander into the little bar and you help yourself and write it down in a book. This is sociable informality. The children’s parterre is bordered by a stone trough through which water burbles; generations of small Bedfords raced little model boats there.

Throughout, the colours are cool and soothing: Paint Library aqua greens, duck-egg blues, and my bedroom is creamy and dove colours. The fluffy towel factor, the uber-high threadcount of my sheets (like sleeping on a cloud), the linen curtains and the deep baths are all immaculate. Luxury is interior decoration that doesn’t suffocate, but calms. Even the pottery in the old wooden cabinets oozes style. It is local, matt and white, not the ditsy, flowery bits of porcelain that shriek Sloane.

Alex’s idea of a picnic lunch is my idea of heaven. It is all local produce: Devonian prosciutto ham from Denhay, crab claws from Looe, clotted cream, fruit from the Tamar Valley. The salmon is Scottish, but smoked here, the icy rosé is a last sip of summer, together with the scent of late-flowering roses from the garden which Repton considered to be ‘the most picturesque subject on which I have ever been professionally consulted’.

An old man in 1815, he wrote apologising to the Duke ‘that I could only become acquainted with (the garden’s) recondite beauties by being carried to

57

❋ TRAVEL AND LEISURE places otherwise inaccessible to a cripple’. This is a garden of valleys, cascades and pools; the whole area is becoming a World Heritage site. Later, sitting reading on my terrace, I imagine the gratified ghost of the old, crippled man who created the Arcadia around me in the year before the Battle of Waterloo.

Much later, I have a charming dinner in the panelled dining room: imaginative modern food that isn’t trying too hard. You also have the reassuring feeling that, if you said you’d just like a scrambled egg, no one would bat an eyelid.

Indeed, I have perfect scrambled egg for breakfast, on my terrace as Bubble rolls on the grass. Then I am whirled away, with much the same feelings about leaving Endsleigh as Mr Blair has about leaving Downing Street: another year there would be good.

It is a short hop to Gloucestershire and Whatley Manor. Below I see the white specks of swans on lakes and the manifestations of 21st-century England: polytunnels versus the revival of the kitchen garden. The mass production is evident, but flying over plum country houses (this is Country Life property porn from the air) it’s fascinating how many are growing their own veg.

Whatley is posh Glos. It’s in Elizabeth Hurley-zone, which includes Jessica Sainsbury’s Cowley Manor and Barnsley House. They’re all, to a certain extent, spin-offs of Babington House, which mined the rich seam of getting Notting Hill to the country. Notting Hill didn’t have to engage with the country, of course (the wellingtons at Whatley are Veuve Clicquot orange, custom-made for the marque

by Hunter, and they have never been formally introduced to mud), because the spa and the cinema kept such a scary prospect at bay.

Whatley is Swiss-owned and immaculately run. Even the gardens are immaculate; I doubt a weed would dare to show its face. In the kitchen garden? of course, keeping up with the Joneses – a pheasant nested beside the sage this summer. What could be more rural? The spa is immaculate. Ditto the swimming pool with full-on jets, foaming hydrotherapy beds and smoothies made from Granny Smiths and fresh lime. Luxury? Here you are massaged with extract of caviar, the unique ingredient in La Prairie. For days after my facial, I don’t know whether to wash my face or lick it clean.

The food is immaculate. I venture not into the brasserie, Le Mazot (suffice it to say it’s designed as a Swiss chalet), but to dinner in the grand Michelin-starred restaurant. I’m highly suspicious of Michelin folderol, since I loathe fussed-up food, but this is contemporary and mouth-watering: soft sweetbreads, crisp on the outside; snails in dear little pots with a fabulously fresh parsley sauce; then perfect pink lamb, baby broad beans and potato croquettes flecked with rosemary.

The next day at breakfast the black pudding is homemade and the poached eggs have no horrid tang of vinegar. I retire upstairs to the laptop: the broadband is immaculate.

But there is a but with Whatley. A UN resolution should be passed forbidding the Swiss ever to have anything to do with interior design.

The corridors are so pinky-red it’s like walking through blood vessels. The dining room has the atmosphere of a Bournemouth boarding house, despite, or perhaps because of, the peach moiré silk wallpaper. After Endsleigh – not Whatley’s fault – it is unmistakably a hotel rather than a house. The clientele in the bar are spoton Gloucestershire weekenders. One pink shirt says ‘What’s the way to a girl’s heart?’ and the other replies ‘An Aston Martin’. A lot of yock-yocking and Bloody Marys all round, Giovanni.

Other than that, it is luxuriously quiet. A princess from Abu Dhabi has taken over most of the rooms (her bodyguards sit in the corridor reading Andy McNab) and keeps her entourage to herself. Bubble is given a beautiful bed and bowls and cold lamb, with a folder of walks should she desire preprandial perambulation.

Most guests belt to the House of Cheese in Tetbury, so tiny that just two people amid the 120 cheeses feel quite a crowd. Or to Snowshill lavender fields in summer, or to Lady Bamford’s organic farm shop at Daylesford which, since it’s an hour away, truly proves that the farm shop is the new antiquing on Saturday mornings. (The Cotswold antique shops must be suffering dreadfully, and whatever happened to snooping round stately homes?)

Come Sunday morning, the Peke and I clamber back into the heli, which is stocked with the Sunday papers, to the Lake District. The Peke is a bit not-thisold-thing-again, but I am increasingly high on the high life. Drifting over Cumbria (should there be a brown sign on a cloud saying ‘Melvyn Bragg’s Cumbria’?) I wonder if Mrs Tiggy-Winkle will come over the hills from far away to greet us at Ullswater. We are entering a time warp.

I last stayed at Sharrow Bay in the late Seventies and ostensibly nothing has changed. Same staff, same menu, same furniture, same guests. After the cutting edge of Endsleigh and the metropolitan-rural of Whatley, the shock of seeing more and more iron-grey perms descending from sensible Volvos and Golfs (no

58

How to book a chopper hop Von Essen Aviation has 15 helicopters and three jets for charter, ranging from the smaller Eurocopter Twin Squirrel, which seats up to five and costs from £1,000 an hour, through to the mediumsized Bell 222, seating up to six and costing £1,500 an hour, and the luxury Sikorsky. The Sikorskys are configured to take up to six passengers in a VIP cabin on a S76B and nine passengers in an S76A, and cost from £2,400 an hour. Charters are charged from the time the helicopter takes off to the time it arrives back in London (ie, if one is sent to transfer you from Cornwall to the Lake District, charges begin from the moment the helicopter takes off in London to come and get you, and end when it lands again in London). Prices are higher in peak season, particularly during weeks such as Ascot.

For more information on helicopter transfers, provided by von Essen Aviation in association with PremiAir, telephone 01895 830 900 or log on to www.premiair-aviation.com.

Victoria Mather’s journey – from London to Devon, on to Wiltshire, then Cumbria, and back to London – cost £16,165.

Astons here) for a slap-up Sunday lunch is jaw-dropping. Not to mention the three different patterns of chintz in my room (four if you include the loo roll cover, which looks like poor Princess Beatrice’s fancy dress).

And yet· and yet. How incredibly nice is it that the perms feel this is their gaff?

A place where they can feel at home, and order a dry sherry without fear.

How incredibly nice is it that there is an enchanted corner of England where men will forever wear ties? I dare David Cameron to touch Sharrow Bay with any of his smart-casual ideas. There’s no WiFi (nor was there at Endsleigh). They probably still use pigeon post. How restful.

How wonderful that Alan Farkins, the maitre d’, has been there for 27 years and tells me at lunch to ‘Go easy, because there’s a big dinner tonight’.

I thoroughly approve of the Nanny school of staff. Sharrow Bay is certainly not a date hotel; it is more like a solid, well-upholstered sofa (of which there are an astonishing number, together with the knick-knackery we’ve all had to chuck out along with the chintz).

Sharrow Bay is really the beginning of the country house hotel story which has led to Whatley and Endsleigh. The late Francis Coulson came to Ullswater in 1948, a Lake District that had hardly changed since Wordsworth’s day. In 1952 he was joined by Brian Sack, and later Nigel Lightburn, who created the hotel as a place for friends with jolly good food. It was one of the first gourmet hotels, which is hard to believe now when one looks at a menu for 1965 and the starters include tomato juice and pâté maison, which is four shillings and sixpence extra.

There was duck à l’orange, omelettes and three different sorts of potato: Parisiennes, Chateau and Nouvelles. Very classy. By the Seventies, Alan recalls that ‘Everything had pure Jersey cream in it, like gloss paint’.

The meat and fish on the menu still appears to be served with everything but the kitchen stove: my halibut had lobster ravioli and shrimp risotto, but is surprisingly light and very good. Coulson’s chefs have adapted. You have to be a strong woman to resist Alan’s blandishments on the puddings: ‘Go on, madam, the sticky toffee is better than Harrods’.’ And I am hungry after climbing to Aira Force Falls, with local guide David Fallowfield, and drifting over Ullswater on a 100-year-old steamer which plied the lake at the time the Kaiser stayed with the Earl of Lonsdale in the white house opposite Sharrow.

There is real kindness at Sharrow Bay; long may it be marooned in a gentler age, a powdery-cheeked aunt zone. The only thing I can’t forgive are the vile coat hangers attached to the rail, implying you might steal ordinary detachable ones. One thing is for sure: the helicopter classes don’t need to nick coat hangers.

And so, on Monday morning, it is back to the smoke and down to earth for a 10.30am meeting on the King’s Road in the time it normally takes to get there by bus. I arrive without my skirt crushed and with a whole new chat line about the low-flying corridor, as opposed to the M4 corridor. The final joy is seeing a five-mile tailback on the M1. Am I becoming a heli-bore?

Find other articles and columns by Victoria Mather at www.telegraph.co.uk/ultratravel

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❋ TRAVEL AND LEISURE

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TRAVEL AND LEISURE

❋

SHOOTING

FROMTHEHIP Once a sport for the landed gentry, shooting has now been adopted by a new generation of cool hunters, who are all swapping Prada for Purdey, Balenciaga for Beretta and Harvey Nics for Holland & Holland.

Simon Brooke discusses this most British of pastimes with some of its more recent devotees

T

hink of a shooting enthusiast and what comes to mind? A florid-faced colonel or aristocratic young buck, hip flask in hand, stuff ’n’ nonsense attitude, dressed head to toe and tweed and rifle cocked, stalking the grouse moors of Yorkshire and Scotland? Perhaps. A young female interior designer? Probably not.

But over the last five years Tessa Ferguson, who has worked on hotels and for private residential customers, has been shooting at Highclere Castle in Berkshire and Madonna’s Ashcombe estate in Wiltshire. She also has regular lessons at the West London Shooting School.

“I usually shoot with a group of friends,” she says. “It’s addictive – you’re competitive with yourself and it’s amazing how the hours fly past. I was brought up in a city, so I’d never had exposure to shooting in the way that country people have, but now I love it.”

Like Tessa Ferguson, a whole new generation of people, many of whom have previously used the word “shoot” to mean something that involves, lights, camera, make-up and supermodel, is discovering the challenge and the thrill of this very traditional sport.

One indicator that shooting is becoming trendy is the opening in London this year of Italian shooting specialist Beretta. In fact, the company is anything but new – it dates back to 1526 – but its approach to shooting apparel is cool, modern and very European.

“It might be seen as a toffs’ sport, but in some ways Madonna and the Beckhams are the new toffs,” says Beretta’s John Ormiston, who has decades of experience in the gun business. The company has number of actors and pop stars amongst its clientele, including celebrated war reporter Christiane Amanpour.

Beretta’s shop in St James’s also has a gun once owned by Denys Finch Hatton, the lover of Karen Blixen whose life story was made into a film starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford.

Its most popular guns – in what is now a healthy market – are the “over and under”, where the two barrels are set vertically, as opposed to the “side by side”, which is more traditional. Many people find the former easier to use but undoubtedly, with their engravings and polished metal, Beretta guns (like those of their English competitors Purdey and Holland & Holland) are beautiful examples of precision machinery. Among all manufacturers, semiautomatics can reduce recoil and smaller gauges are increasingly sold to women and younger enthusiasts.

Like the other well established gunsmiths, Purdey has seen steady growth of its business over the last few years. According to the current chairman and great-great-grandson of the founder of this esteemed brand, this is because a new market has opened up.

“I think it’s part of the renewed interest in the countryside and country living,” says Richard Purdey. “People sometimes expect to find a gnarled old curmudgeonly gamekeeper and instead they’re finding more people like themselves.” The company, he explains, using a phrase that sounds more Notting Hill than country estate, likes to take a “holistic approach” to shooting. “We show how it is part of conservation and management of the countryside from hedgerows to woods.”

But it’s not just the guns themselves that have a visual appeal; shooting is, and always has been, an image-conscious sport – and perhaps this is another reason why a new generation of styleconscious young people is drawn to it.

61

❋ TRAVEL AND LEISURE

SHOOT TO THRILL

PICTURES>> Alamy, Rex, West London Shooting School

A glossary of gun terminology

62

Target – stationary bull’s-eyes or images, usually in a range, are a great way to start shooting.

Clay pigeon – “clays” are fired into the air at a height and speed to suit the shooter.

Clay rabbit – “clays” that move and turn on the ground electronically or manually at varying speeds replicate a rabbit shoot.

Pheasant – most pheasants are bred for shooting these days and this is a good introduction to “live” shoots. The season starts in November and lasts a few months.

Live pigeon – considered to be vermin and therefore fair game, pigeons are smaller and faster than pheasants and so require more skill and experience. There is no particular season.

Deer stalking – the quarry of serious, experienced shooters. As with all live-animal shooting, deer stalking requires a sufficient level of skill of the hunter so that the animal is killed instantly, rather than being injured and suffering a lingering, painful death.

“British shooting is very much about tweeds, and Beretta fits in well with that look but, at the same time, it’s less stiff and heavy than some traditional British hunting gear,” says Peter Holden of Beretta.

“We’ve added a bit of Italian pizzazz and style, but it’s still subtle. Italians, after all, have a passion for clothes and for hunting.”

As well as its hardware, Holland & Holland – now owned by Chanel – has produced a range of hip clothing for all kinds of country sports.

“We have customers from Britain and all over the world interested in hunting and wanting to find something stylish to wear when they go out with a gun,” says store manager Nino Tufegdzic. “We are traditional with a modern twist.”

“Part of the fun is that it’s an opportunity for both sexes to dress up,” says Richard Purdey. “A shooting party can be very elegant.” He points out, though, that these days tweed is lighter, more breathable and more waterproof than it ever used to be. High-tech fabrics and Gore-Tex have made shooting an altogether more comfortable experience.

“My grandfather had a tweed suit that he could step out of and it would have been able to stand up on its own,” he laughs. The growth of clay pigeon shooting as a teambuilding and corporate-entertainment event has introduced many younger, urban people to the sport who would not previously have been exposed to it.

The West London Shooting School has reported in increase in business as more people decide to have a go, sometimes for stag and hen parties as well as for corporate events.

“The fact that Britain won a gold in clay pigeon shooting at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 – our second gold of the games – raised the profile of the sport,” says the school’s Jonathan Irby. He was previously a broker in the City before deciding to work in shooting full time. “I came to shoot here at a corporate event having never done it before and I was hooked.”

Shooting is an extremely sociable sport, he explains. “We get groups coming here and they’ll start talking to each other and there’s a very friendly atmosphere.”

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❋ TRAVEL AND LEISURE

Josey Walker is one shooting enthusiast who has had experience of guns throughout his life. “I used to go hunting with my dad when I was a kid,” he says. But most of the people who attend his stag and hen events in Hungary, just outside Budapest, are completely new to the pastime. “We offer all kinds of events but shooting is by far the most popular – it accounts for 40 per cent of our business now,” he says.

“You get an adrenaline rush but it’s in convivial circumstances,” he says. Variety is the key to Josey Walker’s offering and clearly part of the appeal to many clients. They can shoot with famous names such as the .357 Magnum beloved of the police in the US and the Glock-17, used by many European armies. “We have machine guns and you can even fire a traditional musket which comes from Poland. You start by filling it with gunpowder from a paper, you press it down and then add the ball. It makes a hell of a lot of smoke, though!”

Josey points out that his events allow people – well, boys – to use the guns they’ve seen in countless Westerns and cop shows in a managed environment. “There’s a certain romance about many of the guns we have here but safety is always the priority,” he says.

Testosterone aside, women like Tessa Ferguson are increasingly being attracted to shooting because it is one sport where they can compete on equal terms with men.

Beretta has a range of guns for women

which is lighter, but body weight and strength are not as important as concentration, willingness to practise and a steady eye. “Women are sometimes more willing to wait, listen and take advice,” suggests Jonathan Irby.

Angus Fordyce offers shooting lessons and parties at Cavens, the hotel and restaurant he runs with his wife Jane in southwest Scotland. He has seen an increase in demand from young professionals – both male and female – mainly, he believes, because of a new set of hip shooting role models.

“People like Marco Pierre White and Vinny Jones have started doing it in the last few years and that’s attracted a lot of positive publicity,” he says. “We have all sorts of people coming here now. It’s a bit of an adventure and there is always excitement at some point. People who live in cities and work in offices like to have a reason to get out to the countryside and shooting offers a great excuse to go walking.”

Angus Fordyce believes the discipline and concentration needed for shooting makes a day in the country more relaxing than just a general ramble. Visitors to Cavens can shoot at targets and move up to deer stalking as their skill and experience grow. “You need zero preparation before you start – we’ll get you kitted out, set you up with a gun and an experienced trainer or gamekeeper, and you’re off. There’s nothing to match it.”paper, you press it down and

64

THE LAW AND GUNS According to the Home Office “Some firearms are completely prohibited, including machine guns, sub-machine guns, most self-loading rifles, short-barrelled ‘assault shotguns’ and stun guns.

“No member of the public is allowed to own a prohibited firearm under any circumstances.

If the police find you with a prohibited firearm, you’ll be arrested and will go to jail for at least five years. Some firearms and shotguns may be legitimately owned with an appropriate licence issued by the police. These include most hunting and target-shooting high-powered air rifles and muzzle loading pistols, and most long-barrelled shotguns used by farmers and others for vermin control and recreational shooting.

“Carrying an unlicensed firearm or shotgun warrants a maximum seven-year jail sentence and/or an unlimited fine.”

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❋ TRAVEL AND LEISURE

then add the ball. It makes a hell of a lot of smoke, though!”

Josey points out that his events allow people – well, boys – to use the guns they’ve seen in countless Westerns and cop shows in a managed environment. “There’s a certain romance about many of the guns we have here but safety is always the priority,” he says.

Testosterone aside, women like Tessa Ferguson are increasingly being attracted to shooting because it is one sport where they can compete on equal terms with men.

Beretta has a range of guns for women which is lighter, but body weight and strength are not as important as concentration, willingness to practise and a steady eye.

“Women are sometimes more willing to wait, listen and take advice,” suggests Jonathan Irby.

Angus Fordyce offers shooting lessons and parties at Cavens, the hotel and restaurant he runs with his wife Jane in southwest Scotland. He has seen an increase in demand from young professionals – both male and female – mainly, he believes, because of a new set of hip shooting role models.

“People like Marco Pierre White and Vinny Jones have started doing it in the last few years and that’s attracted a lot of positive publicity,” he says. “We have all sorts of people coming here now. It’s a bit of an adventure and there is always excitement at

some point. People who live in cities and work in offices like to have a reason to get out to the countryside and shooting offers a great excuse to go walking.”

Angus Fordyce believes the discipline and concentration needed for shooting makes a day in the country more relaxing than just a general ramble. Visitors to Cavens can shoot at targets and move up to deer stalking as their skill and experience grow. “You need zero preparation before you start – we’ll get you kitted out, set you up with a gun and an experienced trainer or gamekeeper, and you’re off. There’s nothing to match it.”

WHERE TO DO IT West London Shooting School – Said to be the oldest independent shooting school in Britain. Comprehensive facilities, including a restaurant. Based in Northolt, Middlesex. Tel: +44 (0)20 8845 1377 www.shootingschool.co.uk Cavens – Country house hotel and restaurant in southwest Scotland.

Tel: +44 (0)1387 880234 www.cavens.com The Stag Republic – Variety of events for “stags” and “hens”, including different types of shooting.

Tel: +44 (0)800 027 4836 www.stagrepublic.co.uk ShootingLessons.co.uk – Dave Toye offers lessons, especially in clay pigeon shooting around Sussex, Surrey and Kent.

Tel: +44 (0)1403 266850 www.shootinglessons.co.uk Frock, Stock and Barrel – Coach Tracy Meston works with a number of shooting schools around the Home Counties and specialises in courses for women and families. Tel: +44 (0)7798 884 643 www.frockstockandbarrel.co.uk For more information see the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association website www.cpsa.co.uk

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❋ TRAVEL & LEISURE

H

A cat above the rest

Sandy Byrne dreams of the luxury catamaran “Blue Note” 68

er proportions are magnificent, perfect in their sleek curves and gleaming finish. She sweeps over the glittering golden and silver liquid surfaces of distant seas towards paradise and, if you think we are describing a Bond-style beauty emerging from the waves you’re not far wrong.

Except, in this case, it isn’t Ursula Andress taking your breath away but “Blue Note,” an elegant and super-luxurious catamaran that is not beyond the limitless horizons of your dreams but within their reach. “Blue Note,” and the rest of the Blue Fleet owned by luxury charter company SLM Group is available, fully crewed and superbly appointed, for a holiday so utterly carefree and blissful that it scarcely can be imagined.

Already firmly established and well known for unparalleled standards at the top end of the luxury marketplace, the relatively new company SLM was proud and delighted to launch “Blue Note” in 2006 as the first of the fleet of catamarans it owns and manages down to the finest detail. SLM Group, founded a year ago by CEO Gal Adir and his father Joseph, Chairman of the company, in fact stands for Small Luxury Mansions, but the pair quickly became aware that a niche market for people looking for a unique experience at the highest level lay within the chartering of catamarans of extreme quality rather than property, which had been their original intent. “Currently there are only fifteen luxury cats in the Mediterranean and thirty in the Caribbean,” Gal Adir observes, “and most do not meet what we offer. We are the first to develop strategic partnerships with companies such as The White Company, Victoria Yachting, Molton Brown and other leading brand names. We’re in the position to do this as we actually own and manage the boats and don’t act as brokers in any way.”

Three more catamarans join the Blue Fleet for spring/summer 2007 and the ultimate aim is for fifteen. The SLM experience redefines catamaran sailing, placing it in a league of its own and offering your ultimate fantasies in profusion. At the time of writing clients are principally drawn from the UK and Russian markets with the USA following closely behind, but what is offered is distinct by any definition.

“Our clients are looking for quality without ostentation,” says Adir. “They want to enjoy superb standards with family and friends, people from the City or high fliers who are looking for time |to be together and relax without the need for visible conspicuous consumption or being seen at the latest fashionable spot.”

Take as an example a seven-day winter charter in the Caribbean, sailing round St. Martin. As soon as you arrive – and even your transfer to and from the airport can easily be arranged by the company – you need no longer contemplate any form of responsibility other than that of having a fabulous holiday. SLM takes care of it all. Embarking at St. Louis, you are taken through the necessary safety and introductory talks so you know how “Blue Note” is structured and from there you can switch off completely, only surfacing to enjoy the myriad delights of an immaculately planned itinerary.

Days can be spent sailing and playing in waters of impossible clarity, with the amazing toys on board including a wake board, water skis, kayak, snorkelling and fishing equipment. Think swaying palms and swimming in seas at a temperature of twenty eight degrees that feels like warm silk on the skin. Or for the more indolent, simply lying on deck in a hammock or a sunbed, soaking up the rays, swimming from the boat and wrapping yourself in huge towels from The White Company. In the evenings, sample some of the local cuisine ashore as the waves kiss the shoreline, or take cocktails at a beachside bar. Magnificent white beaches trace your route as you sail to Anguilla, St. Barth and Pitchfork Island where some of the most stunning snorkelling in the world is found.

Alternatively, take advantage of the incredible on-board facilities including sumptuous areas for relaxation, the saloon bar or sweeping curved sofas, spacious deck areas where lunch or dinner might be taken on the teak al fresco dining area, cooked by your on-board chef.

Attention to detail is exemplified by the appointment of Ronan Prigent, following an intensive search. Gal Adir spent literally months in pursuit of someone who could fulfil the very stringent requests of certain clients and deliver sample menus of exceptional quality. M. Prigent is also an acclaimed pastry chef so if you’re using the occasion for some serious entertaining, meals would never be a problem on board. Your chef is a payable extra and you may also like to employ a therapist to offer treatments to your guests. Nevertheless if you don’t opt for SLM’s

TRAVEL & LEISURE

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professional chef, then deckhand Alice prepares the rest of the food and she is a highly experienced chef having spent a few years on luxury catamarans.

Cabins are superbly appointed and comfortable with exceptional en suite bathrooms.

So far, so much the stuff of fantasy, but such fairytale splendour is in fact the consequence of exceptional knowledge, expertise, planning and attention to detail. SLM can realise the dream for its very discerning clients, but is aware that such people expect to take every aspect of such perfection for granted. People successful enough in their own right to take holidays of this calibre are aware of what it takes to conjure up standards of such apparently effortless excellence.

Take the boats themselves. “Blue Note” and her sisters are incomparably beautiful certainly, but their aesthetics are underpinned by seamless efficiency, safety standards that are matchless, state of the art technology and a first class highly trained crew and vastly experienced skipper. SLM pays as much heed to the training of staff as it does to the compiling of its holiday itineraries.

“Blue Note’s” understated elegance defines the SLM brand perfectly and is the reflection of a concept in holidays that is all about relaxation and comfort, as well as the sheer exhilaration of sailing itself. The fifty six foot yacht offers sumptuous intimacy at the same time as a feeling of unlimited

board is not inaccessible from the outside world and you do not have to contemplate the absence of convenience; this even extends to the electric flushing lavatories!

Sleeping up to eight in four beautifully designed cabins, every inch of the interior space on “Blue Note” was designed with maximum comfort in mind. Interior floors are cherry wood, feather mattresses and bed linen are from Victoria Yachting and bathroom goodies from Molton Brown.

Cream leather and mahogany, generous hammocks and fluffy towels are standard. Whether you are playing Robinson Crusoe in the Caribbean or Sophia Loren in the fashionable ports of the Med, you still want a high thread count or a glass of champagne at the end (or even in the middle) of the day.

The SLM brand name is the epitome of exclusivity and behind the scenes the organisation and planning is exceptional to put all this in place. Its Charter, Management and Catamaran arms are all based on foundations of serious professionalism and knowledge. Safety is paramount, arguably the single most important consideration and all SLM yachts are surveyed by Ward and McKenzie, the yacht consultancy company, throughout the process from acquisition through to launch.

SLM Management takes on every aspect of

nautical miles of sailing experience.

The Captain, who is encouraged by SLM to treat the boat as if it were his own, is backed by a highly trained crew. Crew members are selected carefully from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities to be able to cater to the global clientele chartering boats from SLM. Stewardess Alice Orieux, for example, speaks no less than four languages. SLM receives hundreds of CVs from potential staff and very few meet their exacting requirements and are appointed.

If successful in their application every new team member will spend a week under the personal supervision of Gal Adir, learning the philosophy of the company in every detail and a full briefing of how it operates. They are then offered, unusually in the chartering business, a two-year contract and very favourable incentives to accept.

On an even more serious note, the skipper and management team are highly experienced in dealing with harbour and shipping authorities, training the crew, communicating with yards, suppliers and clients using their well developed diplomatic, financial and management skills to provide a seamless and impressive service. SLM maintains constant communication with captain (via his Blackberry) and crew throughout each voyage and a strong presence with its innumerable global contacts. The company acts as a conduit

space as the backdrops to her magnificent fittings change constantly with the evolving destinations and seascapes you witness during your trip.

Having wintered in the Caribbean, “Blue Note” takes to the glittering waters of the Mediterranean for spring and summer 2007 and is now joined by the brand new “Blue Wonder,” a sixty foot cat launched in the Mediterranean for this season.

New additions to the fleet follow close behind.

It’s arguable that watching from the shore is almost as wonderful an experience as actually being on board as the Blue Fleet in full sail is a spectacular sight, zipping along at speeds of up to fourteen knots for some seriously exciting and stimulating sailing. A catamaran of course has qualities of exceptional stability and safety so even at speed the thrill is never alarming, just exciting. Specifications are unrivalled so your comfort is ensured day and night.

Immaculate modern hi-tech luxury details with classic elegance. Every conceivable gadget is in place, from i-pod docks, surround sound, flat screen TVs, air conditioning to DVD players, Axonix Video on demand, wireless internet connection and satellite phones. Although the general idea of escape is to leave business pre-occupations behind you, it can be very reassuring to realise that life on

managing boats for owners, from registration to tax and legal affairs (with an office in Malta where favourable terms for yacht registration exist with new rules for Tax and VAT), crewing and upkeep of the vessel and selling charter holidays. By availing themselves of this comprehensive service, owners are benefiting twofold; empty boats standing in marinas eat up money whereas SLM is making it for the owner by chartering to clients.

SLM Catamarans consists of outfit, refit and Fractional Sharing arms: the first two fitting out and restoring hulls to SLM’s unequalled standards.

Fractional sharing is a highly appealing and attractive concept, where no more than four owners share one catamaran. “Owner utilisation is a must for us,” says Gal Adir, “and with a maximum of four owners there is no risk of conflict. We fit owners to boats and to each other so we can ensure all are compatible.”

A holiday on “Blue Note” includes a fully comprehensive service with every request and indulgence met with willing friendliness and efficiency. Skipper is Pierre-Angel Clement, Yachtmaster and sailing teacher with a lifetime of nautical knowledge behind him. He has crossed the Atlantic countless times and has around 15,000

between owner, vessel, captain and charterer, overseeing maintenance, safety repairs, dockage, port formalities and canal transits.

So while it may seem that the holiday unravels by magic, in fact a brilliant strategy underlies it all leaving nothing to chance. Collaborative endeavour is the deeply held philosophy of the company and this extends to everyone who works within it.

In summer 2007, “Blue Note” and her new sisters will travel throughout the South of France, Italy, Sicily, Croatia and the Ionian Sea. Rates for chartering “Blue Note” fully serviced with captain and crew during the summer are from £10,000 a week. When you consider the extent of what is offered for this, it seems astonishing that they are so modest. As Gal Adir expresses the central values of the company, “We are offering solutions, not products, for people with a very high profile lifestyle.” An ethos which is reflected in every aspect of the business.

For fractional ownership enquiries: email fc@slmcatamarans.com, call 01932 895458 or log onto www.slmgroup.net For charter enquiries: email info@slmcharter.com call 01932 895458 or log onto www.slmcharter.com

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❋ TRAVEL AND LEISURE Words Sandy Byrne

THIS PAGE, ALL PICTURES>> Gran Vista, Majorca OPPOSITE PAGE, LEFT>> Podere le Sensaie, Tuscany, Italy OPPOSITE PAGE, RIGHT>> Le Rouret, France

The HIDEAWAYS CLUB Ultimate luxury escape, minimum stress as you own your holiday home

T

he need to escape decisions and dilemmas when on holiday is paramount, the desire for a stress-free means of achieving this overwhelming, and a fulfiling compromise between a hotel and a private villa seems an almost unattainable option. Immediately, potential problems arise when trying to choose the way to go away: a great hotel is a luxury without privacy, a rented villa carries few guarantees of a peaceful holiday and is always a gamble. Poor service or a disappointing location can effectively ruin your precious hard-won holiday which, in these ever-more frantic and stressful times, is just not a risk you wish or can afford to take.

Yet to own a villa yourself is to instantly deprive you of choices in terms of destination. Compelled to return to the same place again and again you also face the additional hassles of perhaps renting your holiday home to others. A new alternative, The Hideaways Club which launched at the end of January, is attracting instantaneous notice and acclaim.

The Hideaways Club solves all these problems and many more in one fell swoop. A uniquely exciting concept, the club offers members fractional ownership in a portfolio of fabulous properties in Europe and the Mediterranean. More than this, all the expertise needed to run them is part and parcel of your membership, with a range of superb amenities and activities available whether your holiday preference at any given time is for golf, skiing, or simply relaxing on a gorgeous sunny beach or beside your own pool. We’re increasingly looking to go away twice or more in a year, to varying destinations and for various reasons. It all may sound too good to be true, but Europe’s first luxury private residence Owners Club has been launched by a unique group of founders: people with an unrivalled, proven track record in business start-ups, investment and hospitality and a collective experience of some ninety years in the industry.

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TRAVEL AND LEISURE

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A uniquely exciting concept, the club offers members fractional ownership in a portfolio of fabulous properties in Europe and the Mediterranean The idea of fractional ownership first originated in America and is now a fast-growing market. This Private Residence Owners’ Club, operated by Europeans for Europeans offers members the use of very carefully selected, superbly appointed luxury homes at a fraction of the cost of sole ownership. But while this is surprising, the real beauty of the idea lies in its flexibility. At the outset, the launch portfolio of The Hideaways Club already consists of twelve luxurious properties in locations such as the Algarve, Majorca, France, Italy and Morocco.

The mainly detached houses have an average individual value of £1 million and offer a minimum of four bedrooms and three bathrooms and the portfolio grows apace with no compromises on top end standards.

All these initial properties are within four hours’ flying time from the UK, and are furnished with standards of excellence in the local style, as well as offering such contemporary conveniences as impressive

come to look at the financial aspects, you will be pleasantly surprised especially considering that the plan when the club is fully subscribed is to offer 100 properties in anything between twenty and twenty five locations.

To join the Club, members subscribe £207,500 for a share of The Hideaways Club Property Company plc. Annual cost contribution is then £10,000. This covers all operational costs of running the Club including utility bills, insurance and local taxation charges.

Use of the Club is unlimited; you can occupy the properties for any number of days, but the ACC (Annual Cost Contribution) includes ten “destination points” per year which can be used during graded periods, i.e. Priority, Peak, Mid Peak and Off Peak. How it works is that, for instance, a week during the priority period uses three of your destination points but only two in off-peak times which can, in fact, be one of the best times to visit many places. Just comparing this with an

audio visual and media specifications, broadband internet where available, libraries stocked with the latest best sellers and luxury kitchens and bed linens. Aware that families will find membership extremely appealing for its relaxed versatility, a selection of toys, games and equipment for children is included as well as the all-important superb swimming pool and gardens.

In the realisation that here was an opportunity to offer a complete package of escape, the Club offers members a personal concierge service so that the tiniest detail is taken out of your hands and you are on holiday in the truest sense from the moment you leave home. Airport transfers are arranged, ski or golf lessons pre-booked, the best restaurant tables reserved.

During your visit to your part-owned property you have all the advantages of a five-star hotel as well as the privacy of your own home; maid service, garden and pool maintenance are all taken care of.

Stephen Wise, CEO and co-founder of The Hideaways Club, explains how this brilliant concept first came into being: “After years of frustration encountered from owning and running holiday homes… or the disappointment of luxury holidays that failed to live up to expectations, we knew there must be a better solution. The Club eliminates the downside of sole ownership and offers members a wide range of luxurious properties in Europe combined with a level of service and care that exceeds expectation.” And the added benefit which will appeal greatly is, of course, that membership also offers a fantastic investment opportunity as the value of the property portfolio increases over time.

Whether your fancy is for a week in Tuscany or in an Alpine ski lodge, you can be assured of the highest standards of service. And when you

equivalent holiday in a property on the open market demonstrates fantastic value, and if you were to use all ten destination points on, say, two priority weeks and two off-peak weeks in one year; well, just do the maths without forgetting to factor in a luxury concierge service!

There’s no anxiety about availability either, as there is a ratio of just six members per property and the estimation is that on average each one will be used for only 24-30 weeks per year. Another excellent benefit – they think of everything here – is that membership will be actively managed to maintain a balanced cross-section so that all members will not be families with school-age children wanting to holiday at the same time. There is also a Club reservation system in place ensuring that each member has a very high likelihood of being able to visit a property exactly when and where their first choice would be.

The value of the freedom that comes with your membership of The Hideaways Club is, if truth be told, incalculable. So much so that you are unlikely to ever wish to terminate it (although membership is for a minimum period of three years, a sensible system is in place for resignation after that period). And while it is satisfying to contemplate that all this pleasure is also under the guise of a healthy investment, having experienced the levels of luxury, service and sheer carefree enjoyment, it would seem that no other kind of holiday experience could ever be quite the same again.

HOW TO JOIN THE HIDEAWAYS CLUB: The Hideaways Club, Tel: 0207 664 8860 Email: info@thehideawaysclub.com Or log onto www.thehideawaysclub.com

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MOTORING

â?&#x2039;

Inside

Ferrari Photographer Jon Nicholson gains exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatest Formula 1 team

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❋ MOTORING

• Formula 1 is the most exhilarating, adrenalin-fuelled sport in the world, and no other team better embodies the spirit of this motor-racing spectacle than Ferrari.

For race fans, the very mention of the name sets the heart pounding: the iconic prancing horse has become a symbol of the marque’s status as the greatest team the sport has ever seen, and the distinctive shade of scarlet has become a warning sign to anyone who dares to challenge the fire of Ferrari.

It is an alluring world of power and passion, where trade secrets remain just that; where the tactics and technical expertise of the team are guarded as if world peace depended on it, where doors remain tightly closed.

For the first time ever, exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the day-to-day work of the Ferrari team has been granted, and the pictures you see on the following pages are the result. Renowned photographer Jon Nicholson was invited to spend three years trailing the team in pursuit of glory on the racetracks of the world, observing the highs and lows of life as part of Team Ferrari.

“At the start it’s not about the pictures,” he says.

“It’s just about being seen around the garage, being able to get out of the way, knowing when to take pictures and when not to. Being totally accepted is the only way for me to work, to be left to get on with it and observe what’s unfolding over a weekend. It’s always been about people, how they interact and respond to the situations that are presented to them, individually or collectively.”

ABOVE>> the Nuova Logistica building at Ferrari’s Maranello headquarters in northern Italy is a gleaming aluminium-clad architectural temple to the marque, and provides a temporary home for Formula 1 vehicles before their journey to the race track begins. Here, a whole community come from ‘Ferrari families’, and have handed down their scarlet overalls from one generation to another. The surrounding streets are named after Ferrari’s heroes – Ascari, Nuvolari, Villeneuve – and the priest used to ring the chapel bells to signal victory – even after the team had won in Australia and it was an unearthly hour in Maranello

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CLOCKWISE FROM BELOW>> A spare chassis, minus engine and transmission, sits in the foreground of the race shop, while beyond three cars are prepared for an imminent Grand Prix; general manager Jean Todt sits at his desk in the Gestione Sportiva at Maranello, surrounded by memorabilia; Schumacher and members of Team Ferrari wait for race-track practice slots

â?&#x2039; MOTORING

ABOVE>> Schumacher and Todt discuss the Bridgestone tyres to be used at Magny-Cours FAR LEFT>> Even within an F1 team, rivalry is rife. Awaiting practice, Rubens Barrichello sits in his car, checking the lines used by teammate Schumacher on a TV set lowered from an overhead gantry LEFT>> Schumacher displays more than a passing interest in the notes covering his team-mateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s car

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TOP>> Aerodynamic covers for the cooling slots on the helmet’s upper surface sit alongside Schumacher’s gloves ABOVE>> As Schumacher prepares for action in Turkey, a mechanic gives the miniscreen on the steering wheel a final polish LEFT>> Once Schumacher is in the cockpit, final adjustments are made to his left mirror

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As Jean Todt, general manager at Ferrari, points out: “It is very difficult for anyone not directly involved with a Formula 1 team to fully appreciate the massive effort behind the scenes. The drivers may be the public face of our F1 operation but they would not succeed without the dedication and enthusiasm of hundreds of people working for Ferrari at the factory and the racetrack. Ferrari is a family – a large one, admittedly – a closeknit community driven by an indefinable spirit and a love of the sport. This is not always obvious unless you see the team working in close quarters.”

It is precisely that energy and passion that Nicholson set out to capture, documenting the people behind the brand as they carry out their duties: from mechanics to managers, from designers to drivers, all play a role in the story that is Team Ferrari.

And what a story it is. This season was Michael Schumacher’s last: announcing his retirement after the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in September, the German driver will go down in history as a record-breaker. Schumacher became synonymous with Ferrari’s bright red on the winners’ podium but, as with any other driver the team has ever seen, he was “just another employee” – a company philosophy that has stayed true since its inception in 1929 by Enzo Ferrari, himself a former racing driver.

As one chapter in the Ferrari tale draws to a close, no one knows what the future holds, but a reflective look at the incredible journey over the last three years provides a privileged peek inside Ferrari, the world’s greatest Formula 1 team.

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ABOVE>> Rubens Barrichello demonstrates the snug fit inside the cockpit of his Ferrari Formula 1 car. The seat is moulded around his contours, with a U-shaped collar that blends into the upper edge of the cockpit sides. Foam padding is placed around the driver once he is seated, to provide extra protection for his head and neck muscles in the event of sideways impact All images by Jon Nicholson, taken from Inside Ferrari (Mitchell Beazley, £25)

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â?&#x2039; STYLE AND FASHION

Simon de Burton discovers that investing in wristwatches is a process almost as complex as the finest examples of the horologistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s craft

Buying time 82

STYLE AND FASHION

W

hat you are about to read comes with an official wealth warning, because it’s all about the dangerous game of investing in wristwatches. Ask any art expert what he or she thinks will be tomorrow’s priceless painting, sculpture or installation and they will invariably advise against buying purely for investment. Works of art, they’ll say, should be bought first and foremost because you fall in love with them – if they rise in value, that’s the icing on the cake.

We tell you this because recently the best watches have come to be recognised as the fine artworks of micro-engineering and prices have rocketed accordingly, the most extreme case being that of a Patek Philippe World Time model which fetched roughly £2.6 million at auction in 2002 to become the most expensive wristwatch ever sold.

It was originally retailed in 1950 for a little more than £900 – admittedly the equivalent today of around £20,000, but even compared with property, gold, classic cars (or, indeed, many more traditional works of art) it was still an extremely sound investment.

Until very recently there were really only two names to look for in the world of super-valuable wristwatches: Patek Philippe, of course, and Rolex. Although the latter name is the one the man in the street will always recognise, its bankability remains far behind that of the former – the most expensive Rolex auctioned to date made a “mere” £300,000 (738,500 Swiss francs at the sale), little more than a quarter of the price of the twelfth most expensive Patek.

But now, thanks to people’s increased awareness of the world of collectable wristwatches – due, in part, to these stellar auction prices – a far wider range of brands and models has become attractive to collectors, among them Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC and Panerai.

A surprisingly large number of the models from these brands which are proving collectable are only a few years old, so perhaps it’s not as foolish as it seems to think of future value when you choose your next new wristwatch, particularly if you consider the common denominators found in those which are currently favoured by enthusiasts.

Generally they were made in small numbers and usually feature nuances not found on otherwise similar examples. As a case in point, the £2.6 million Patek is one of several like it, but it is the only one known to have a platinum case.

That uniqueness affords it a value far greater than the mere cost of the materials used in its construction.

Indeed, if the watch had a steel case, but was still unique, it would probably be equally covetable.

Another peculiar aspect of expensive watches is that their value is seldom related to performance. If you want a watch to tell the time accurately, buy a quartz digital for the price of a gallon of petrol, because despite the hours, days and months watchmakers spend on the construction of the finest mechanical pieces, these will never be flawless timekeepers.

While collectors obviously like their watches to work, they are not drawn to them for practical reasons but by aesthetics and an appreciation of the detail, care and engineering genius which goes into their design and creation. Being fanatical about wristwatches can be likened to being fanatical about old cars: if you want to go from A to B reliably, economically and in heated

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OPPOSITE>> Rolex Submariner 1,000ft THIS PAGE>> Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso à Triptyque

The more highly engineered a wristwatch, the better collectors seem to like it

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❋ STYLE AND FASHION comfort, an electronically managed £10,000 hatchback is all you need. If you’re passionate about design and engineering, appreciate the way things used to be done and don’t mind driving a vast and unwieldy monster with scant weather protection and a crash gearbox, you might consider spending ten times as much on a vintage Bentley.

And as is often the case with old cars, the more highly engineered a wristwatch, the better collectors seem to like it – and that’s where so-called “complications” come in.

An “uncomplicated” watch simply records the hours, minutes and seconds using a basic movement (although it should be noted that a particularly exquisitely crafted piece of this type, made entirely by hand by a low-volume maker such as Philippe Dufour or Roger W Smith, can still cost tens of thousands of pounds).

Start to add complications such as chronographs, perpetual calendars, moon phases, power reserve indicators, minute repeaters and/or the greatest of all horological complications, a tourbillon (where the escapement is protected from gravitational variations by being enclosed in a cage) and not only does the number of tiny components rise along with the time and skill needed to assemble the watch, so, of course, does the price.

And this brings us to another perverse aspect of haute horlogerie, which is that the more expensive a wristwatch is to begin with, the easier it seems to be to find it a buyer for it.

Jeweller-watchmaker Fawaz Gruosi, for example, last year unveiled the de Grisogono Occhio Ripetizione Minuti.

This fabulously imaginative offering has a dial based on a camera prism. When the minute repeater engages, the prism bursts open to reveal the 414-part movement.

Inevitably, such ingenuity comes at a price – in this case, 350,000. A limited edition of 50 was made, and all were quickly sold. Horolophiles love something different, particularly if hardly anyone else has got it.

But will the Occhio, rare and ingenious as it is, actually rise in value? Who knows? What we can tell you, however, is what to look out for and what to avoid when trying to buy a new watch which might, just might, rise in value: l Choose a model made in extremely low numbers (or, even better, a unique piece) preferably by a brand which makes all or the majority of the watch in-house rather than buying in and modifying massproduced components. l Buy a brand which is considered exclusive, but not one which is so exclusive that no one has ever heard of it – just like buying a painting by an established artist. l Beware here-today-gone-tomorrow names which become famous for being worn by celebrities rather than the excellence of their manufacture.

Look for genuine heritage. l Avoid buying new, gem-set watches. This is where the saying “the higher the retail, the lower the resale” comes into play. A good example of this can be seen in the sale of a white-gold Rolex with 11 carats of diamonds set into the bezel, bracelet and dial which was sold at Christie’s in London at the end of 2004 for £23,900. It cost £92,000 new. l Don’t consider anything with a quartz movement. l Leave gaudily decorated pieces alone. l If you choose an ultra-complicated watch, remember that, like a high-performance car, it will eventually need specialist servicing – and the bill will make a Ferrari seem cheap to run. l Once you have bought your watch, keep all related packaging and paperwork.

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BELOW>> Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso à Triptyque

Ingenuity comes at a price: horolophiles love something different, particularly if hardly anyone else has got it

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❋ STYLE AND FASHION

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Five to consider – these may (or may not!)

Rise in value over the years…

1 Panerai ‘engineered for Ferrari’ The number of watch brands forming partnerships with car makers has grown significantly of late, and one of the most recent and most interesting is that between Officine Panerai and Ferrari. Both brands enjoy a fanatical following and this could help the watches retain their value or even rise in price in years to come when certain models have been discontinued. We believe the one with the best investment potential is the eight-day GMT because it is one of the first Panerai watches to contain the firm’s new, inhouse manufactured movement. It will be important to retain all the original packaging with these watches – the Ferrari-branded presentation box has a lid which rises up on miniaturised versions of car bonnet struts. Price: £15,800. www.panerai.com

2 Jaeger Lecoultre Reverso a Triptyque You will need to love watches and be extremely rich to take a punt on this one, but JaegerLeCoultre’s astonishing Reverso à Triptyque is likely to become a horological legend in years to come. This mechanical marvel was created to mark the 75th anniversary of the famous Reverso watch (the one with the flip-over case) and it is possibly the first wristwatch to have three faces. It took three and a half years to develop, and just 75 examples will be made. All have platinum cases, with the front featuring a

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conventional dial with day and night indicator and visible tourbillon while the back incorporates a disc showing the angular displacement of the constellations (adjusted for either the northern or southern hemisphere, depending on where you live), the signs of the zodiac and the equation of time, which shows the difference between “mean” and “true” solar time. The third dial carries a perpetual calendar activated once a day by a lever in the main movement. Price: 450,000. www.jaeger-lecoultre.com

3 Patek Philippe world time reference 5130 As already explained, the most expensive wristwatch ever sold at auction was a Patek Philippe World Time. The model has been reincarnated several times over the years, but the latest version, the Reference 5130, harks back to that record-breaking model by using a distinctive “ring” hour hand. This is an iconic feature to Patek enthusiasts and it is bound to prove a selling point, so if you have the opportunity to buy one, take it – the chances are this exact version will only remain in production for five years or so.

Initially, used values will be ten to 20 per cent lower than retail prices, but once production ceases this will gradually be reversed. Price: around £14,000. www.patekphilippe.com

4 Roger W Smith ‘series II’ Roger Smith is a protégé of Dr George Daniels, a man considered by many to be the world's greatest living watchmaker. Like Dr Daniels, Smith operates on the Isle of Man, where he is currently producing his second series of wristwatches, more than 90 per cent of the components for which are made “in house”. The finish of each watch is exceptional, and with no more than 15 examples of the Series II likely to be made, its exclusivity is assured. Those who order one may choose from a selection of case metals, dial finishes and hand shapes. If Smith realises his potential to become the “new” George Daniels, his products can only rise in value. Price: from around £35,000. www.rwsmithwatches.com

5 Rolex Submariner 1,000ft If you can find a new Rolex Submariner on offer at the recommended retail price, buy it. These watches are notoriously difficult to get hold of and people who do manage to secure one frequently put them straight into auction and turn a profit of at least 50 per cent. It is probably the ultimate short-term investor’s wristwatch.

A better idea, however, is to keep it and enjoy wearing one of the most celebrated wristwatches ever made. In ten years’ time (so long as you look after it and keep the box and paperwork) it is more likely to have gone up in value than down.

Price: £2,350 (steel model with date). www.rolex.com

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O U T S TA N D I N G P E R F O R M A N C E , A B S O L U T E C O M F O R T, T R A D I T I O N A L E X P E RT I S E .

W E L C O M E TO B E N T L E Y H A D L E Y G R E E N .

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BENTLEY HADLEY GREEN Victors Way, Off Park Road, Barnet, Hertfordshire EN5 5TZ. Tel: 020 8440 8252 www.bentleymotors.com/bentleyhadleygreen The names ‘Bentley’, ‘Continental Flying Spur’, ‘Continental GTC’ and the ‘B’ in wings device are registered trademarks. © 2007 Bentley Motors Limited. Models shown: Bentley Arnage T, price £175,500; Bentley Continental GTC, price £130,500. All prices mrrp. Official fuel consumption figures for the Bentley range in mpg (l/100km): Urban 10.8 (26.2) – 9.8 (28.8); Extra Urban 23.7 (11.9) – 20.1 (14.1); Combined 16.5 (17.1) – 14.5 (19.5). CO2 emissions (g/km): 410 – 465.

❋ INTERVIEW

Remi Krug Lisa Grainger meets the man who has steered his family business into the 21st century with passion. Portrait photography by Michel Labelle

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t his father’s sixtieth wedding anniversary in 1995, Rémi Krug took a special bottle of champagne out of the family cellar and put a napkin over the label so his father couldn’t identify it. “Not that hiding it made any difference,” says the president of Krug, grinning. “He took one sip and then said: ‘Don’t tell me, it’s a bottle of 1904.’ And it was! After all that time, he still recognised the wonderful taste of the champagne that he and my mother had served at their wedding in 1935. That’s how well he knew them.”

The story, as well as providing an inkling of the knowledge that the family has about the business started in 1843 by Rémi’s great-great-grandfather, Johann-Joseph Krug, also serves to provide an illustration of the love the family have for what they make. This year will be the 64-year-old champagne connoisseur’s last as president before he retires, and he’s relishing every moment.

The next generation, in the form of his nephew, Olivier Krug, has already stepped in, as head of tasting – the sixth generation to make what many believe is the greatest, as well as the most expensive, sparkling wine.

Not that the champagne house is in any way the biggest, explains Rémi, appreciatively sipping a glass of salmon-coloured Krug Rosé on a friend’s roof garden overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice, where he’s flown to host a dinner. The house of Krug sells only about 500,000 bottles a year of five types: the Grand Cuvée, Rosé, Clos du Mesnil, Vintage and Collections. Even though champagne sales have quadrupled over the past decade (in Britain alone in 2005, we drank a staggering £36.4 million worth of the stuff ), the prestige brand still accounts only for 0.2 per cent of all champagne drunk – or two out of every 1,000 bottles.

As the charismatic, formally dressed Frenchman explains, only ten per cent of all wines made are sparkling. Only ten per cent of sparkling wines are champagnes. And only 0.1 per cent of those are Krug. “We don’t aspire to be the biggest,” he says firmly, “and we have realised that, if you are not going to be big, you’d better be unique.”

And unique they are, which explains the determination of luxury brand LVMH to buy the once family-owned business for a reputed £150 million in 1999. As well as making one of the few champagnes (the Rosé) ever to be awarded six stars by Review du Vin magazine, Krug produces the highly coveted Clos du Mesnil, a wine made of pure chardonnay grapes grown in a 17th-century 1.85-hectare vineyard. Surrounded by 300-year-old walls, the tiny vineyard produces less than two of every 1,000 Krug bottles, or a few hundred cases, about five times a decade. But the taste, connoisseurs around the world agree, is extraordinary – hence the price tags on bottles in restaurants of up to h2,000. And hence the haste with which bottles are snapped up the moment they are released, mostly to private clients, with every bottle signed off personally by Rémi.

Not that the brand was created just for the rich, or for formal occasions, the president insists, fondly reminiscing about a letter he’d received from one of their typical clients: an English couple who had drunk a bottle of Krug at a picnic at a local cricket ground with friends, and had written to say how much they enjoyed it.

When Johann-Joseph Krug broke away from the French vintners for whom he had worked for years, his intention was specific: to create something different, something special.

‘We don’t aspire to be the biggest, and we realised that,if you are not going to be big, you’d better be unique’

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INTERVIEW

❋

❋ INTERVIEW

If I could do one thing before I die, it would be to kill intimidation in the wine world. Then I’d be happy

“He wanted to try to make something that affects the brain in a way that a great ballet or piece of music does,” Rémi explains.

Hence the dedication and artistry that goes into fermenting a bottle of the distinctive champagne. Like Chanel No 5, Rémi explains, each cask of Krug is made by mixing different amounts of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes from different vineyards and regions, a process that he describes as “like having 1,000 notes to create a masterpiece, and you have to make it exactly the same every time”.

Only when the tasters (which still include his brother, Henri, and until his death in 1997 included his father, Paul) are happy with the final product, still fermented in 200-year-old oak casks as it was 163 years ago, will the wines be bottled, and sugar and yeast added to increase the alcohol content from ten to 12 per cent and to create the distinctive tiny Krug bubbles.

The long period of fermentation is one of the keys to Krug’s success, Rémi says. While many brand-name champagne bottles contain 18-month-old wine, even Krug’s least expensive bottle, the Grand Cuvée, is created from wines that are at least six years old. Rarities in the specialist Vintage Collection might have been left for up to 15 years before being released – this year, for instance, only 2,000 bottles of Krug Collection 1985 will be released worldwide, for about ,500 each, and a handful of Krug Collection 1981 Magnums (which Krug describes as “dry and elegant but very creamy – like a caress”) for about 91,000.

While he clearly has his favourites, such as their 1971, he is a vocal critic of so-called “wine experts” who are rigid in their interpretations about wine. “I hate the pomposity of the wine world, which lays down all sorts of rules about what’s right and wrong,” he says with passion. “With taste, there is no right and wrong. Human taste buds are all the same – it’s just that we experience the sensation differently because of the way the brain interprets it. So everyone’s experiences are valid. If you think a certain bottle of wine goes, say, with Parmigiano Reggiano, then you must drink it with that. No one should be allowed to tell you that it’s not a wine that goes with cheese. We drink Krug with Thai food, with Indian curries… If I could do one thing before I die, it would be to kill intimidation in the wine world. Then I’d be happy.”

While the vintner is always delighted to convert the uninitiated, his discreet brand isn’t for everyone, he admits.

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For instance, those whose lives are driven by designer labels will more likely be drawn to brands like Cristal or Dom Perignon. “Examining the fears of the drinker of each brand will tell you a great deal about who they are and what they want,” Rémi explains.

“The fear of a Dom Perignon drinker, for instance, is failure, as he or she is an achiever. The fear of a Cristal drinker is nonrecognition, as he wants to be seen. But because Krug drinkers are those who are successful but don’t need to trumpet it, their fears are neither of the above. They’ll be someone who loathes having to conform or being constricted by rules; the sort of person who falls in love with a brand because it restructures his or her thoughts, rather because it was imposed or because they want to belong.”

Hence the brand’s approach to marketing and advertising.

While Cristal woos its celebrity clientele such as high-profile Wall Street bankers and gangster rappers with glitzy parties, and the massive Dom Perignon brand, which sells about 3.5 million bottles a year, tries to entice its fashionable clientele with lavish trinkets such as three-litre jeroboams coated in white gold or Karl Lagerfeld-designed bottles, Krug has taken a quiet, personal approach, hosting private exhibitions, films, dinner parties and art happenings attended by a highly targeted minority.

There is no better ambassador for the brand than the downto-earth Rémi, who joined his brother Henri in the company in 1965, and has been president since 2002. As he admits, he was almost born with a champagne bottle in his mouth. After finishing his schooling in Reims, where he grew up as one of five children, he went to university in Paris, at Hautes Etudes Commerciales, to study business. He thought about being an architect, a subject about which he is still passionate. But when his mother lobbied for him to become an officer in the French navy, he underwent national service, serving as a midshipman in Brest and as a naval officer on board patrol-boat L’Intrépide in Saint Tropez (where, he mischievously admits, he was more intent on spotting Brigitte Bardot than anything else).

Champagne, though, was always in his blood. As children, he and his siblings lived and breathed champagne – indeed, most tasted it before they could walk. But at no stage was it a given that Rémi would be taken into the family firm.

INTERVIEW

PAGES 97 & 99>> Remi Krug, the playful President of Krug THIS PICTURE>> Remi with his nephew, Olivier, a sixth generation member of the family business, who is the new Head of Tasting

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A TASTE OF RÉMI KRUG’S FAVOURITE VENETIAN THINGS THE GRAND HOTEL: Bauer Il Palazzo +39 041 520 7022, www.bauerhotels.com “We don’t do grand hotels that often, but when we do it’s probably here, because the owner, Francesca Borlotto Possati, is wonderful. And although it’s five-star, it’s discreet.”

Murano glassblowers. “An extraordinary place to visit – if only to see something being manufactured in exactly the same way as it was a century ago.” It’s also worth stopping by to see the beautiful glassworks made by Marie Brandolini (+39 41 523 3035; www.lagunab.com), which are not just elegant, but full of joy.

THE UNDERSTATED HOTEL: La Calcina +39 041 520 6466; www.lacalcina.com Quaint, tiny pensione where John Ruskin spent three months in 1877, on the Zattere promenade, at the foot of the Calcina Bridge.

“The hotel is not only small, unpretentious and family run, but faces south and the sun pours in, which we love.”

THE MUST-SEE ATTRACTION: San Giorgio degli Schiavoni +39 041 522 8828 Lavishly decorated, yet still somehow unpretentious Dominican church filled with magnificent teleri (large narrative canvases on a religious theme) by the Italian master Vittore Carpaccio. “Even if I’ve got only a few hours in the city, I try to pop in to have a look. Every time, there’s some new detail I’ve never seen before.”

THE FABRIC MAKER: Bevilacqua +39 041 721 566; www.luigibevilacqua.com Looms so ancient that they are the only ones in the world protected by Unesco, still being run by hand with the finest silk to make just 3,000m of brocade a year (for about h1,000 a metre).

“The Krugs of the fabric world.”

THE GLASSMAKER: Archimede Seguso +39 041 739 065; www.aseguso.com The most avant-garde of the

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THE LUNCH SPOT: Eolo +39 49 807 8032; www.cruisingvenice.com A handsome old bragosso, or flat fishing boat, which can be hired sailing in the out for a day’s lagoons and along the coast.

The chef puts a table, for up to 12, on deck and, as the boat passes the beautiful coastal scenery, serves a feast, from new-pea risotto and local brodeto coi gò, the delicious laguna fish, to awardwinning seven-layer chocolate cake. “A treat!”

❋ INTERVIEW

‘What I appreciate is understatement.

True things. And craftsmanship’

“My father never came to me and said: ‘One day, all this will be yours.’ He never discussed it. I made the decision myself, for which I am eternally grateful. And there is something else: my father never said that Krug was the best. I had to discover that for myself, which was good, because really Krug is something that should be discovered, not imposed. The last thing we want to be is an imposition!”

Hence his decision never to try to persuade his own children – three daughters – to get involved in the family business. “There are so many extraordinary things in the world to enjoy,” he says.

“Art, architecture, ballet, opera, the countryside, jazz, the sea, good company, food…”

Neither has his position as head of a multimillion-euro luxury business made him ostentatious or pretentious. He still lives in Reims, the town in which he grew up, in a traditional house over the Krug cellars. His family, he says, are “down to earth, very straightforward, very close”. His wife Catherine, a modestly dressed Frenchwoman with conservative tastes and a shy, friendly manner, frequently travels with him and they still regularly holiday in Alba, in what he describes as “a small peasant’s house” that they discovered decades ago.

“For me, going on holiday there is about going to the local butcher and baker, and chatting to them. That’s real enjoyment: indulging in good olive oil, people’s love of life, their passions. My holidays are not about fuss, but simple things.

“What I’d like people to think of me is that I explore, I live life, I enjoy the surprises, but I avoid cliché at all costs,” Rémi explains, breaking off to wax lyrical about gardens around the world he’s visited: the Medicis’ in Italy, the Kyoto gardens in Japan, grand country estates in Britain.

“What I appreciate is understatement. True things. And craftsmanship.”

Hence the choice of a few pleasurable stop-offs on his trip to Venice, to craftsmen whose old-fashioned premises he loves and

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whose work ethics, he believes, are similar to those he espouses.

First stop is the charming fabric-maker, Mario Bevilacqua, whose family has been weaving silks, velvets and tapestries for hundreds of years, over ten generations, and whose enormous Unescoprotected wooden looms turn out just 300 metres of precious fabrics a year.

Then there’s the private glassworks started by the legendary glassmaker Archimede Sarguso, on the island of Murano, and now run by Sarguso’s nephew Antonio, whose projects include a handblown 99 million glass waterfall for a European client. And finally that day there’s dinner at the magnificent ancient palace of the Principessa Arrivabene d’Aosta (known as Bianca) and her husband Gibi, where vast tables are simply laid with enormous bowls of red roses and understated crystal, and a string quartet quietly fills the gilded room with soaring music.

“I love Italians because they operate from the gut, like we do, producing things that you either love or hate,” says Rémi, enjoying the combination of a green-tea sorbet with a light 1995 Krug. “They understand luxury in the same way, too – that it’s not something you can buy into. You live it, and it transcends age, cultures and time. People who really understand luxury are never locked into one look, or one specific era or object. They understand life’s riches are more complex than that.”

Which explains why, as well as Mozart, Brahms and Bach’s Goldberg Variations, the Frenchman adores Charlie Parker and is “addicted to jazz”. It’s why he has a weakness for fine wines, but revels in cooking a simple spaghetti vongole or squid with figs and rice. Why sometimes, when he’s on holiday in Alba, he enjoys buying a piece of pizza on a street and eating it in the laundrette while watching laundry twirl round and round. Why he’s as interested in minimalist architecture as he is in baroque. “My word to describe the joy of life is eclecticism,” he grins. “And my dream for tomorrow? To fall in love with something I didn’t know about today.”

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HOMES AND DESIGN

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY Bohemian Rhapsody Top left>> A selection of Sera's Foxy Cushions Bottom left>> A damsels lacey doorway in an apartment in Hampstead

Sandy Byrne discovers the sheer glamour of Sera of London

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hims, gimmicks and fads come and go like flotsam blown in the winds of the fickle, fast-paced fancies of easily bored fashion. But there are some things that endure and those become classics; a certain taste and style that cannot be destroyed or dated – human nature itself and its need for sensuality and emotional expression.

Love of the sensual, the exotic and romantic are a fundamental part of our being and while at times it can be blurred by a passing penchant for minimalism, a bandwagon of austerity, a place for the theatrical is ever-present and, as it happens, the interior designer Sera Hersham Loftus, doyenne of Bohemian chic, could not be flourishing at a more appropriate time. A time when people like Burlesque artists Dita von Teese and Immodesty Blaize, stores such as Basia Zarzycka, VV Rouleaux and Agent Provocateur are household names: glorious excess personified. The movie “Moulin Rouge” has become a classic of the end of the twentieth century and, in the new “noughties”, Sera has tapped into the zeitgeist with uncanny accuracy – opulence is very now.

But Sera Hersham Loftus, or Madame Sera as she rapidly became known, was way ahead of her time, confident of her own unique, original style and never willing to give way to compromise or be anything other than her totally flamboyant and surprising self. She is to interiors as Cecil Beaton was to stage sets, Frederick Ashton to choreography. A consummate craftswoman, everything she designs is an object she’s capable of making herself, from elaborate cushions to panelling for whole rooms, hand-silk screened wallpapers to lampshades.

Featured in all the top interior design and fashion pages (World of Interiors, Sunday Times Style, Architectural Digest, Marie Claire Maison et al), Vogue even noted that “Sera has the best-dressed shop assistants in London.” Girls certainly chosen for their ease on the eye are clad in black, fishnet-stockinged feet perfectly posed on perilously high heels, little polka dot pinnies worn round their waists and to complete the look, tiny black hats with net veils.

To enter the world of Sera is to exercise your wildest dreams and fantasies, where an exquisitely beaded chandelier hangs over a scrubbed wood table next to an Aga

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❋ HOMES AND DESIGN

Left>> A copper bath sits on a fossil and pebble floor in Primrose hill Below left>> A fuschia pink Pumpkin Rude lampshade Below right>> Sera’s foxy plump bolster cushion Opposite page, right>> A shell and fossil fire surround in Regents park Opposite page, far right>> A bohemian Salon in chelsea

in a Welsh country kitchen, a gentleman’s dining hall is all black, silver and glitter and a Cotswold kitchen dresser has painted panels, the theme picked up in the solid butcher’s chopping block. A dining hall she designed could be transported without alteration directly into an ancient Venetian palazzo.

An element of surprise is central to Sera’s style, flamboyant and original, yet always with the ultimate goal of comfort and intimacy with more than a hint of rock n’ roll edge; she creates spaces where anything seems possible. Shell grotto fireplaces, lampshades the shape of bustiers, colonial antique Indian ceiling fans and perfumed candles, silks and velvets, flimsy laces and fat blousy cushions – every household accessory embodies her inimitable taste.

Whatever accoutrement you seek to contrive an ambiance of fantasy seamlessly blended with delicious comfort can be found at her home/studio and in the glorious store where “London’s real domestic goddess” as The London Evening Standard rhapsodically described her, presides over her sumptuous realm.

Not for the faint-hearted, the whole image of Mme Sera’s designs is of one of unashamed romantic abundance; there are yards of extra fabric trailing onto the floor from over-sized tablecloths, four times the volume needed in a ravishing silk curtain to actually cover the window. A kitchen sink looks more like a ladies’ boudoir and clients of Sera are not retiring types but, rather, intelligent and creative people and celebrities in their own right. Photographs show Kelly Brooke provocatively posed, Holly Valance, Amy Winehouse or Rachel Hunter who is seen reclining on a sea of flamboyantly designed

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bolsters and cushions, guitar nonchalantly held in hand and not much else covering her sublime form. The Sadie Frost and Meg Mathews set’s houses are bedecked with Sera’s Foxy cushions and Rude lampshades.

I meet up with Sera at her home in an elegant St. Johns Wood square backing onto pretty communal gardens, the ultimate showcase for all she represents and available to rent for photographic model shoots, commercials, films or even occasionally private parties. Entering her “sanctuary,” you are instantly enveloped by the warmth of both her personality and the environment into which it has translated itself, every detail welcoming, flattering and beautiful.

It is here that she sketches in the background that has brought her to such success and acclaim.

Her earliest memories of the need to create art in the form of her surroundings are made up of fabrics draped on furniture, pieces re-arranged to invent an atmosphere of intimacy and luxury, the setting of a stage in effect on which people could enact their dreams and pleasures. Her instinct for theatrical femininity was firmly in place long before she started her early career with Fiorucci as a sales assistant and stylist.

“I imagine that my love of the visual came from my father who was a modern art dealer in Mayfair, while a certain business acumen and work ethic is undoubtedly my mother’s legacy,” Sera tells me from the depths of a distressed antique leather Chesterfield sofa which she has repaired with pieces of leather in black and silver.

“And I had a very early need to establish a personal haven, as we moved house at least six or seven times before I was sixteen and I would always seek to create my own private escape.”

Being the eternal romantic she spent long periods at night watching movies – “film noir which were shown while the city slept and deeply atmospheric and certainly informed my love of black and white photographs” (these are strongly in evidence throughout her home). As well as film she adored the work of David Hamilton, subtly beautiful images of prepubescent girls in dreamy settings, and the style of 1970’s Pirelli Calendars.

She developed a passion for vintage clothing, combing markets and antique clothing stores, shops like Virginia, Portobello Market and Alfie’s Market and “I got a very early feel for good quality and workmanship. I loved an eclectic mix of gothic with sex kitten, romantic with a more contemporary edge.” She started to make things and possessing an instinctive skill everything she learned was self-taught, the result of a talented combination of observation and experimentation.

At Fiorucci her innate talents were quickly noted and soon she was not merely working on global advertising campaigns but actually, with directors drawn by her exotic beauty, also starring in them on billboards and magazines.

Sera then moved to Israel where she became involved with ballet companies and developed a passion for theatre. Returning to this country she worked closely with art directors on costume design for films, theatre and ballet, including the Sadlers Wells production of ‘La Boheme’ – her style ideally suited to the medium and certainly even further informed by her experiences within it.

She became the very definition in the industry of all that is seductive and romantic, and much sought-after by others to create this distinctive image. As an inevitable next step, she

HOMES AND DESIGN

began to receive private commissions for interior design and this was the beginning of the stratospheric success she enjoys today. “The interiors business all began with word of mouth really,” which is, of course, the best recommendation there is.

Bijou apartments, soft-focus boudoirs, sexy spaces were adored by those who hired her services and, aware that lighting is all-important with this look and the invention of an intimate atmosphere, she turned her attention to making lampshades, perhaps remembering those fringed hippy scarves she used to throw over silk pleated shades to create an exotic look in her childhood tableaux.

The collection we now know as “Rude Lampshades” based their form on a woman’s body and resembled nothing so much as Victorian undergarments taking a curvy woman’s form and shape; echoes of John Galliano’s catwalk corsets. Vogue magazine devoted a whole page to the ravishing shapes and textures of these creations describing them as “funky versions of the hats Cecil Beaton designed for ‘My Fair Lady’ while Sera herself calls her lampshades “jewellery for houses.” There are now two collections of lampshades every year and the louche theme extends to “Foxy Cushions” which have billowy, floozy shapes and are soft and tactile in fabulous, opulent colours.

She has collaborated with the wallpaper house Zuber to design stunning wallpaper, “Exotic make-up for walls,” which includes the tantalisingly named ‘Aroused Rose’ range. In various colour combinations: fuchsia pink and silver rose on black background, salmon and peach rose on gold, and mandarin and gold rose

on silver, the hand silk-screened papers are quite divine. “With Aroused Rose we took Zuber into a new zone and gave a rather sober reputation a push towards the Diva-esque.”

Before leaving for the boutique she opened a year ago to showcase her unique taste in room designs and decorative accessories, we tour the house including powder rooms draped with diaphanous fabrics and vintage clothes in place of curtaining, candelabra and antique mirrors and papered in “Dripping Lace,” another of her exquisite designs. Bedrooms boast extravagant curtaining and sumptuous lamps – “we all want to be seen in the most flattering light”. In the basement is her work room, filled to the ceiling like the sheep’s wool shop in ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’ with cabinets and little drawers containing samples of beautiful stuffs and silks, threads and beads, glass and leather, fabric and sketches.

Immediate you enter the London boutique to which we then adjourn, “the shop window of my interior design business” in uber-cool Notting Hill’s Lonsdale Road, the ‘wow’ factor is evident in abundance. The first reaction is an insane desire to rush home and transform your house, such is the sheer delicious frivolity, the richness of texture and colour, the evidence everywhere of passion, the hint of sex and the promise of seduction. Sera understands, put simply, what women want and what men want in women; a talent which should in no way be underestimated. Scented black candles perfume the air, music gently plays and there are, of course, the gorgeous sales girls.

There are belts and bags, a few carefully selected pieces of whimsical clothing, fabulous

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hats by the milliner Victoria Grant, bags from Nivaldo in the softest imaginable leather and the most voluptuously divine umbrellas ever designed by Brigitte Bardot – pure Audrey Hepburn and from the sale of which a percentage goes to Bardot’s animal charity.

A dramatic signed black and white life size James Wedge photograph of a reclining Biba nude dominates the space.

Halfway down the stairs is a tiny “Pullman carriage” room where prospective clients can retire to study Sera’s “look books” reclining on fat cushions on a silk-covered day bed. And in the basement is a selection of glamorous cosmetics and lotions, and Terry de Havilland’s recently opened fantasy shoe store; a glowing space filled with his amazing designs using offcuts of fabric and lingerie lace. Glimpsed through the window is a small sheltered courtyard garden, home to a life-size sculpture of – what else? – Venus de Milo.

Along with the beautifully packaged Mme Sera Parfum and black scented candle with which I am reluctantly despatched back outside into the cold grey of late winter, I wear a broad smile of sheer pleasure on the journey to the train.

“Madame Sera’s Weapons of Mass Seduction,” a gold and black booklet illustrated by Andrea Kett which is tucked in with your purchases, has certainly worked for me and will result in a series of future visits and unhesitating recommendation to others.

Sera of London, 3 Lonsdale Road, London W11 2BY Tel: 020 7467 0799 sera@seraboutique.com www.seraoflondon.com

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Italy

Spain

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A selection of the finest homes currently for sale in the UK

Suits you Sir The tailors of Savile Row march into the 21st century

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Escondrijo, Vejer

Masseria Torre Coccaro, Puglia

Style: Moorish but modern.

Setting: cobbled streets of Costa de la Luz. Rooms: four; two have private terraces.

Rates: €75-130, including breakfast, excluding seven per cent tax.

Our favourite rooms: room one is a spacious duplex with large veranda on the upper level. For a sexy stay, book room three, the Red Room.

More information and booking: +34 956 447 438 www.escondrijo.com

Style: fortress refinement.

Setting: among sea-scented olive groves.

Rooms: 37.

Rates: €242-1,176, breakfast included.

Our favourite rooms: room 35 is a junior suite in an ancient tower, with beautiful sea views and cosy fireplace. Room six is the Orange Garden suite, set into the bedrock, with large dining area, private garden and Jacuzzi. Room 16 has a private patio and beautiful vaulted ceiling.

Further information and booking: + 39 080 482 93 10 www.gesthotels.com

Investing in horology

by Simon de Burton

Inside Ferrari A photographic account of life with the Formula 1 team In conversation with

Rémi Krug No space like home Simon Brooke on the latest interior trends

What is luxury?

issue 01/autumn 2006

Avril groom poses the question

£4.95

Tenette Ludlow and her partner, Nigel Anderson, are two British refugees from urban servitude who brought this former chapel back from the dead in 2004. They have made of it something that, depending on how you look at it, is either a tiny, intimate and quite stunning boutique hotel or a private home with four rooms set aside

for paying guests. And that is the great thing about it. For as long as you are in Vejer – whether it’s a month or just a night – this is your home. And it’s not some dubious self-catering duplex with a view of the petrol station; it is a dream of the Spanish Golden Age. The drama of black wrought iron against white walls looks as

attractive inside as it does out in the village streets. But here there are many-coloured tiles, too, restored and relocated, and rich fabrics, and gently pulsing music – ambient house and trip-hop never seemed so Moorish. It was like going to stay with one’s very posh Andalucían friends – except that if it belonged to any posh Andalucían

Puglia is located in Italy’s sunny south, and its unique character and charm is little known to outsiders; the Italians, who flock here in the summer, keep this laid-back playground of blue sea, golden sands and olive groves strictly a family affair. Having expected a small place with just 30 rooms, we arrived in a warm and welcoming reception area. An open 17th-century chapel beamed out light and

friends of mine, it would probably still be falling down. Travelling can so often be about simply observing a foreign lifestyle and environment, about witnessing historical continuity and low-key exoticism, rather than living it; somewhere like Escondrijo (meaning “hidden place”), couldn’t be more life affirming.

crucifixes, while white tuxedo-clad men and elegantly dressed Italian models crowded round a black grand piano dominating the fairylit courtyard. The hotel was hosting a full-scale wedding. What an introduction. Our room (an old hayloft) was exquisitely furnished with linen bedding, silky sofas, large baroque mirrors, and antique furniture from the local markets.

In the cave-like bathroom, a giant shower head

presided over a stone square bath surrounded by jars of blue bath salts, beautiful body and hair lotions. Arched windows smiled from whitewashed walls covered with trailing plants and fragrant climbing honeysuckle.

Caved recesses with padded seating built within the walls and wooden garden benches tempted us to tarry. A lake-style pool, superbly integrated into formal gardens, sloped down from an

outdoor restaurant to a deep subterranean Aveda spa offering a vast selection of massages, cures, and therapies in hot and cold pools.

Not just a pretty place, Torre Coccaro is also a masseria fortificata, a family-run working farm and fortress, producing its own vegetables, fruits, olive oil, and salami, and few meals can be more enjoyable than the sumptuous breakfast we enjoyed in its formal gardens.

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Style

Style

SUITS

‘Savile Row, the only street in the world where the Duke of Devonshire and Pete Doherty rub shoulders, is the destination for a new generation of dandies

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nly a decade ago, Savile Row was a forbidding street for any chap who wasn’t a military man, a skilled equestrian or blue blooded. Bespoke tailoring was a closed world where the tailors often appeared grander than their customers and fashion was looked upon with the same disdain as ill breeding. The brief, gaudy hour of revolutionary late-1960’s maverick Tommy Nutter were long gone and The Row had reverted to type.

What a difference a decade makes.

Savile Row, the only street in the world where the Duke of Devonshire and Pete Doherty rub shoulders, is the destination for a new generation of dandies. By dandy I don’t mean peacock male fancy dress. Dandy is the name coined for George “Beau” Brummell in the early 19th century, denoting severely elegant, perfectly tailored and tasteful handmade attire. The 21st-century dandy favours the English cut Savile Row bespoke is famous for, and the spotlight is now firmly on him after two decades of Italian dominance.

The year 2006 could well go down in Savile Row’s history as the one when the home of bespoke tailoring fought back from near extinction. In an unprecedented move, the big beasts of The Row (Henry Poole, Gieves & Hawkes, Dege & Sinner, Anderson & Sheppard and Huntsman) joined forces to form Savile Row Bespoke: an organisation that at once protects and promotes Savile Row. New-generation names Richard Anderson and Ozwald Boateng are weighing in with SRB, as is the youngest guv’nor on The Row, 34-year-old Patrick Grant, who acquired Norton & Sons last year. SRB chairman and Gieves & Hawkes MD Mark Henderson thundered: “Savile Row is the international home of

SIR Historically, Savile Row has been a centre of excellence for traditional tailoring, but with designer labels cashing in on the market, and a new breed of ‘bespoke’ brands arriving on The Row, what next for this bastion of Britishness? James Sherwood discovers how the residents are facing up to the future

bespoke tailoring: thriving, defiant and here to stay.”

A Westminster Council report (what Henderson calls “a lifeline for the bespoke tailoring industry”) revealed that landlords The Pollen Estate had already upped rents on The Row by 57 per cent in the last decade.

Thanks to Westminster Council’s directive, the tailors on

the golden mile will be cushioned from the threat of Bond Street-sized rent hikes and/or eviction.

What Henderson and his cohorts want to protect just as much as their valuable Savile Row shop fronts are the workrooms on site that are the true hallmark of bespoke. Savile Row employs over 100 tailors. As Henry Poole chairman (and unofficial Godfather of The Row) Angus Cundey points out, a Savile Row tailor trains for ten years; “longer than a doctor”. These men –

and, increasingly, women – are the lifeblood of The Row. It is they who make a little piece of English heritage for between £2,000 and £3,000 for a two-piece suit. When you compare this to £20,000 for a Brioni coat with a chinchilla collar or an Alexander McQueen leather jacket for £6,000 and you begin to appreciate why Savile Row needs preserving.

Ironically, Savile Row has rarely been in better shape, turning over an annual £21 million collectively for the bespoke service. As Henderson points out, everyone from Tom Ford to Jude Law are customers of Savile Row – not to mention the crowned heads, politicians and captains of industry who have patronised The Row for two centuries.

“It would be hugely detrimental to our heritage to lose one of our oldest institutions,” says Henderson, “but we are not preserved in aspic. Savile Row wants to adapt to the times.”

But it doesn’t want to be moved from its iconic address by multinational fashion brands. Hackett, The Duffer of St George and Jil Sander have all tried to open on Savile Row and ultimately made swift exits. “Can’t Hack-it”, as Dege & Skinner chairman Michael Skinner says, with a wry smile.

US company Abercrombie & Fitch is the latest fashion brand to attempt an opening on Savile Row and will replace Jil Sander in the imposing Queensbury House site.

“They come and they go,” Henderson says simply.

“Exploiting the Savile Row name to attract high paying retailers and businesses at the cost of this worldesteemed industry is short sighted.”

The magic of Savile Row lingers because it is an unofficial gentleman’s club and still thrives on “by appointment” custom, regardless of the fact that many of the tailors do now offer made-to-measure and even ready-

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Nelson, Wellington, Churchill and De Gaulle were Savile Row men, as were Valentino, Gable, Astaire and Cary Grant

to-wear service, too. Along with Jermyn Street and St James’s Street, Savile Row forms an axis of bespoke gentlemen’s requisites that has survived since George “Beau” Brummell’s glory days at the turn of the 19th century. It is still largely a man’s world and probably the only street in the world where you’ll find the aforementioned Doherty walking up one side and Devonshire down the other.

Savile Row has dressed the world’s most famous and infamous men.

The last four Princes of Wales (George IV, Edward VII, the Duke of Windsor and Prince Charles) have all been devotees, as are many of the world’s surviving crowned heads. Statesmen such as Nelson, Wellington, Churchill and De Gaulle were Savile Row men, as were silver-screen idols Valentino, Gable, Astaire, Gary Cooper and Cary Grant.

Fashion designers Gianni Versace, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Tom Ford were seduced by bespoke tailoring – not to mention Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney, who were trained there.

The new generation of dandies drawn to bespoke tailoring were introduced thanks to a media-savvy group of young tailors christened the New Establishment: Richard James, Ozwald Boateng, Timothy Everest, Richard Anderson, Nick “Spencer” Hart and Tony Lutwyche. The ones who don’t currently have a shop front on Savile Row probably will do by 2007.

A Savile Row bespoke suit remains a marker of success and affluence that all of London’s new money, from Mayfair hedge funds, City bankers, Middle-Eastern potentates to sybaritic Russians aspire to. But the old establishment is not without its critics from the new.

Nick Hart, the man behind Savile Row’s hottest made-to-order business, Spencer Hart, is under no

illusions that old Savile Row had to change. “There was a lot of snobbery from people who are sometimes producing very mediocre work,” says the man who dresses everyone from David Bowie to Estée Lauder CEO, John Demsey.

Michael Skinner is sanguine. “Savile Row, like any business, has always been about the survival of the THE LONDON CUT, a major exhibition of Savile Row bespoke tailoring commissioned by Florence-based menswear foundation Pitti Uomo, will be at the Palazzo Pitti from10 January 2007 for one month. The exhibition will be accompanied by a book examining the past, present and future of Savile Row.

fittest,” he says. “Dege & Skinner has survived since 1855. The younger houses have a lot to live up to.”

Nick Hart unites with the old guard of Savile Row in condemning tailors offering £400 “bespoke” suits that are invariably knocked up overseas.

These businesses are concentrated on the west side of the street.

Giorgio Armani unintentionally galvanised Savile Row in July this year when he described it as “a bad English comedy” in The Sunday Times.

Armani, who happened to be publicising the launch of his own Fatto-A-Mano (handmade) couture for men, later retracted this comment, but persisted in saying “Savile Row’s influence on men’s tailoring had perhaps declined in recent years’” Carlo Brandelli, creative director of Kilgour – who was born in the same Italian town as Signor Armani – strongly disagrees with his compatriot’s assessment. The modernisation of Kilgour, not dissimilar to Tom Ford’s impact on Gucci, has attracted dashing 21st-century blades such as Bryan Ferry, Jude Law, Rankin and Michael Owen to bespoke. Despite not being a member of SRB, Kilgour is at the vanguard of bringing Savile Row into the new century, alongside the likes of Welsh & Jeffries, Davies & Son, Chittleborough & Morgan, Ede & Ravenscroft, AJ Hewitt, Maurice Sedwell and Hardy Amies.

It seems, then, that – contrary to earlier predictions that The Row had been read the Last Rites – the stalwarts of this world-famous street have a bright future, nestling amid a new generation of tailors who are taking their trade confidently into the 21st century.

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS GASCOIGNE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DOMINIC BLACKMORE

Philippa Thorp of Thorp Design utilises sweeping curves with natural wood as a foil for contemporary materials in her stylish interiors

A chic monochrome space by Andrew Martin

NO SPACE LIKE HOME Decorating your home has become as much a personal statement as the clothes you wear. Simon Brooke discovers the death of minimalism and a new conspicuous consumption emerging in interior design

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R

arely, if ever, has there been such an interest in interior design. Top architects and designers are enjoying such unprecedented demand for their work, and are producing the kind of money-no-object, bespoke statement interiors that might previously have been deemed whimsical.

Though some of the more personalised surroundings that have been created for certain clients might still be considered as follies, there is nevertheless a distinct upsurge in decadent displays of home design.

Why is this?

A growing number of people not only have more money than ever before to spend on their properties, but they also want to create surroundings that are attractive and say something about themselves.

His designs might not be for the home, but jeweller Theo Fennell has noticed an increased interest in matters aesthetic.

“In some ways the current situation is like the eighteenth century – just like then, people who have made money now want to spend it and create something beautiful, something that makes a statement,” he says.

“The increase in property prices and the inflow of new buyers has meant that there is a greater interest in interior design and in

creating really outstanding looks to justify these prices,” says Martin Waller of award-winning interior designers and furniture retailers Andrew Martin.

The growing number of television programmes and magazines devoted to interior design, the emergence of “nesting” and home entertaining – even among people who can not only afford to buy dinner for their friends in any of the world’s smartest restaurants but probably buy the restaurant as well – are all contributory factors.

The fact that we live in an increasingly visually aware age is also impacting on the level of interest people take in the look of their homes. In her bestseller, The Substance of Style: How the

Rise of the Aesthetic Value is Remaking Commerce, Culture and Consciousness, social observer Virginia Postrel points out that we are all aesthetes on some level these days. You might have made your money in the anaesthetic world of banking, in cyberspace or in the grim, windswept Russian steppes, but now you want to spend what you’ve earned to create something visually appealing – and where better to start than with your personal space?

The death knell of minimalism was sounded some years ago as people rejected the ethos of empty spaces, white walls, a single sofa and a pile of stones in favour of colour, pattern and detail once again.

The sighs of relief among frustrated interior designers has been audible. “The look now is certainly softer, more comfortable and less achingly architectural; it’s more about decoration,” says Philippa Thorp of Thorp Design. “People found that minimalism didn’t work because not only was it not very comfortable but every crack, every imperfection in the wall was so obvious.”

But we are not back to the swagging, rag-rolling and tasselled fussiness of the 1980s. “There is great clarity and none of that flounciness,” says Thorp.

Russians and other overseas buyers come to London, in part, to find elegant houses with gardens in quiet residential streets.

In a reversal of the pattern of the last few decades, houses in

Holland Park, Chelsea and Mayfair that have been divided up into flats are now being converted back into single properties, such is the growing demand for big family homes. In real estate terms the whole is now worth more than the sum of the parts – and this is giving architects and interior designers a bigger canvas for their work.

This increased space means that dressing rooms are back again, for instance. “They keep the bedroom free of clothes and clutter and they help people organise and store their clothes and accessories,” says interior designer Joanna Wood.

“You can give a dressing room a real sense of indulgence.”

Candy & Candy, run by siblings Nick and Christian Candy, 씰

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Be Moved “It’s all been something of a blur but we’re here now and feeling... well, ecstatic!

The Abels people were simply outstanding, they packed and unpacked everything immaculately and were so friendly and helpful you’d have thought they were moving in too! Now we’re just relaxing and exploring, and getting to know our beautiful new home.”

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Intelligence

â?&#x2039; HOMES AND DESIGN

made visible Sandy Byrne in conversation with Karen Howes of Taylor Howes design

THIS PICTURE>> The living room at the Phillimore Square town house

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT>> A bedroom at the Knightsbridge apartment; Seating area in the hallway at the Phillimore Square town house;A dressing table in a bedroom at the Knightsbridge apartment; Gail Taylor and Karen Howes – best friends and business partners since 1991

Y

ou are time poor and asset rich. You have success at your fingertips, discernment is a natural instinct and you possess a highly developed aesthetic sense. You appreciate what is beautiful and know what is useful. So where can you go with these credentials for that missing element of time, when you need unparalleled design expertise for your investment or residential property?

Look no further. The design company Taylor Howes is an awardwinning, highly accomplished and respected business founded by Gail Taylor and Karen Howes, best friends and business partners since 1991 and this year’s winner of the coveted Andrew Martin International Interior Designer of the Year Award. Past winners include the inimitable Tara Bernerd, much-lauded Kelly Hoppen and Michael Reeves, and over five hundred entries were received this year from all over the world. Judges included such luminaries as the interiors writer Lucia van der Post and Fashion Editor of Vanity Fair Elizabeth Saltzman.

Howes and Taylor submitted such projects as a sensational six-storey show home in London’s Phillimore Square, and a £5 million apartment at The Knightsbridge, described as “the world’s most desirable new address.”

The pair may have been thrilled to win such a desirable award, one which has placed them even more firmly at the pinnacle of design achievement, yet they should not be too surprised. Their success is built on firm foundations of knowledge combined with an innate flair and matchless attention to detail. As Karen Howes puts it, “When you’re working for the thin band of the wealthiest people in the world, they are extremely focused people and

expect total efficiency. Creativity per se isn’t enough, and we’ve trained ourselves to be both designers and mangers.”

As the architect Le Corbusier said, design is “intelligence made visible” and the idea applies perfectly here. An uncanny ability to anticipate and interpret trends with integrity has been a constant theme in this relationship that owes much to friendship as well as professional respect for one another’s complementary abilities. “But crucially,” says Howes, “We worked together before we became best friends. The dynamic is a different one, yet professionally it’s enhanced by the friendship as we have such great mutual respect for one another’s opinion. If something matters slightly more to the other person than to ourselves we defer to one another. It’s like a marriage really in terms of give and take. But we could never afford to divorce – not that we would ever want to!”

The Chelsea-based company has become the definitive expert on ravishing interiors for show homes, apartments, hotels, spas, restaurants and private residences but it’s in the area of investment property that they are especially distinguished. An understanding of the needs of time-pressed and demanding clients underpins their creativity and there’s a strong element of practicality in two young women who both know the effects of the wear and tear of everyday living – they have five children between them as well as their extremely busy working lives.

Having designed over three hundred show homes, Gail Taylor and Karen Howes have applied the same principles throughout: very close consultation with clients and the utmost respect for their individual requirements. At the Knightsbridge apartment, for example, the choices of

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT>> A hanging light at the Phillimore Square town house; The staircase at the Phillimore Square town house; A corner bar in the sitting room of the Knightsbridge apartment

colour and form anticipate that the occupants would have high flying business and professional lives and therefore get the maximum use of the environment at night rather than during daylight hours whereas, for example, a house in the country would require totally different lighting, mood and colours.

Taylor and Howes know that, at the very top end of the market, people are not simply buying a property but buying into a whole lifestyle, one of privilege and discernment, luxury and comfort. But clients as successful as theirs will invariably have a very strong and confident sense of their own taste. High-achieving people are not indecisive. Every challenge is unique, every possibility appears limitless. The approach is based on both sound experience and a talent for staying ahead of the game.

Understanding, observation, the anticipation of changes in the state of the art in design and technology and an ability to evolve with rapidly changing times are the basis of the approach. We live in a fastmoving world and Taylor Howes clients are in the fast track. “I can go into a room and scan it in seconds,” says Howes, “and while design skills can be fine tuned, the honest truth is you really can’t teach anyone about colour and style. Either they have it or they don’t.” It is the possession of this innate talent, of course, that has led the company to such stratospheric success in tandem with an unshakeably professional attitude.

Like fashion designers (many of whom Howes notes are now branching out into interiors themselves) the knack of staying ahead of the rest is not so much to predict trends as to set them. “We travel widely to source ideas, go to the big trade fairs and so forth, and in fact suppliers come to us now as a sounding board. It’s essential to remember that what is current now will not be when a development is complete.”

If there is a trademark to Taylor Howes, perhaps it is this sixth sense, the ability seamlessly to incorporate new technology and cutting edge creative design ideas into soundly based principles of aesthetics that work in tried and tested functioning ways. A nod to the retro, respect for the classical, the apparently effortless interpretation of glamour in a practical space, all are clues to the creative brains behind their work.

But the association’s roots perhaps give the biggest clue of all. Core values from their early days apply as strongly now as they did at the outset.

Gail Taylor and Karen Howes met as young women just starting out on their professional lives. Yet their respective interest in design went even further back into their childhood, when both remember creating things,

rearranging spaces and playing at what would, one day, become their life’s work. Introduced at a mutual friend’s party in their early twenties, Karen was working as a negotiator at a small estate agency and had also worked with an art dealer, while Gail was working for a kitchen company, learning about space planning and the fine detail of design.

Their early professional experiences continue to inform the way they work and Karen still places “art as the soul of a home.” They also, crucially, work with their talented team in the same room in the belief that “to become too grand and put yourself in an ivory tower is completely counterproductive. We sit with the others and respect their abilities and opinions.”

She enjoys interaction with both staff and clients, and places immense importance on being interpreter as well as creator, “which you can’t do without a feel for people. I will know immediately if we are going to have a rapport with someone, even just from a phone call. If we don’t think we’re right for a prospective client, we will say so. That empathy is vital in what is an extremely intimate relationship. We know more about our clients than their doctor does – who sleeps which side of the bed, how many shoes they have, what their kids want – all the minutiae of their private lives.”

It is all a far cry from those early days when they worked from the drawing room of Isabella Blow’s house in Elizabeth Street, while the milliner Philip Treacy – himself a protégé of Blow - worked in another room at the back of the same building. Yet they realised at the outset and are still aware now to their mutual advantage that while they shared certain central values they also complemented one another’s differences – Karen taking a broad overview of projects – “the whole vision” - while Gail was the mistress of detail. “Our brains simply work in a different way,” she explains.

They decided to pool their talents and twenty years later describe themselves as “still joined at the hip, as much friends still as colleagues.”

While much too busy to work on every project together and with a team of twenty they continue to value and seek one another’s opinions whenever possible. An additional benefit, being of similar age, is that both women understand the needs and requirements of family life; “We would both always and expect the other to put the kids’ panto first.”

The skills they learned in their early days have proved fundamental, the foundation of the perfectionism they exercise in their approach today when the game has been raised to such elevated status. Respect for the people who work for them now derives from the time when they did everything themselves, from loading and driving the van to the installation and fit out

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of the properties they designed. It is the gradual evolution of the company over so many years that enables both women to grasp the full picture, to understand the smallest detail and maintain an unequalled standard.

Interior design is an extremely competitive medium in a fastmoving world. And in this accelerated age, it is crucial that certain key principles are maintained. Taylor Howes Design believes passionately that a comfortable relationship of integrity with clients is paramount.

No design is realised until it has been established absolutely that the client is happy with their ideas. Fast-paced yes, but at the end of the day everybody has to close the door on the world and be able to be themselves, however glamorous. Whether it’s a fabulous home cinema, a Zen-like gym or a stunning bedroom, relaxation is more important in a high-octane lifestyle than ever.

“We’re very much in a position of trust, where the client hands over to us in the expectation that we will deliver,” says Howes. “So however huge the project – we’re doing a 21,000 sq. ft house at the moment – we have to be utter perfectionists. Working for so many developers on vast scale projects, one bad job means our reputation is shot. We are dealing with colossal sums of money. And agents are our severest critics as they see so much interior design.”

Undaunted now by scale, the turning point came when Taylor Howes was commissioned to completely decorate and design the interior of an 18,000 sq. ft house in Belgravia, a project of four to five years. Having realised that this was within their capability, Howes says that really no scale is beyond their limit. They are also currently working on Vauxhall Tower, one of the tallest residential developments in Europe.

A further service Taylor Howes offers is their THis (Taylor Howes Investment Services) arm. As a natural extension of the company, THis comprises a bespoke full furnishing service for investment property, an idea which carries a number of advantages, not the least of which is that investment property can be let immediately and marketed as a complete entity even before completion.

Using products directly sourced from European designers and manufacturers, a whole apartment can be fully furnished to an agreed budget, and items can be viewed on THis website. THis works with developers to build a profile of their target audience and creates bespoke, stylish interiors accordingly.

It would seem likely that the name of Taylor Howes will go into the design history books, but it is equally worth recording the pleasure of speaking with a woman who shares with her partner such a thoroughly likeable and admirable approach to her work and life.

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ABOVE>> A Living room in a THis designed apartment BELOW>> The swimming pool in the basement of the Phillimore Square town house

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❋ HOMES AND DESIGN

Sound and vision Get the right advice, and the latest technology can revolutionise your lifestyle

T

elevision, music, radio... no house is complete without audio visual equipment, but these days, there’s such a huge range of new technologies on offer, it’s often difficult to know just where to begin. What’s more, the further you investigate, the more confusing it gets, the technology usually being accompanied by baffling jargon extolling its virtues, making the prospect of choosing, buying, installing and learning how to use the various home entertainment products hugely daunting.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could simply give someone a wish list, and have

them make it reality? You would say something like: “I want all the latest technology, including flat-screen TV and high-end speakers, I want to listen to my music all over my house... but I don’t want any of the equipment to be intrusive, and I don’t want any of the wiring to be visible.” Interestingly, that’s almost exactly what Bob and Emily Wilcox of Downton near Salisbury said in their brief to Lime Green, the Salisbury-based home entertainment consultants. The couple are typical of today’s sophisticated buyer – people with beautiful homes, who have a

strong concept of what they want in terms of home entertainment, but no specialist knowledge of what is available, nor of how those products can weave their magic in their home. Lime Green took control of everything for the couple, from advising them on the perfect system to match their needs, to the installation – no mean feat in the Wilcoxes’ home, where the robust walls were a particular challenge. But the finished work is flawless. Most remarkable, perhaps, is the mirror on the sitting room wall – a mirror which turns, miraculously, into a television at the push of a button. And it’s

TOP PICTURE>> The Sonos Controller – music at your fingertips, anywhere in the house

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ABOVE PICTURE>> The mirror transforms to a TV screen

HOMES AND DESIGN couple can now choose what they want to hear, and where they want to hear it, all at the touch of a button. They can also listen to internet stations and, for dinner parties, can have a playlist of CDs playing throughout the house. “It’s simple to use – it’s like a modern jukebox,” says Laurie Painter, managing director at Lime Green.

“You can pick music by artist, album or genre, and choose the zone in which you want to hear it.” The controls are waterproof, too, so you could even use them in the bath. And the cost for this hi-tech magic wand waving? Much less than you might imagine.

The Wilcoxes’ entire project cost less than £15,000, including the Miravision TV, second TV, the Sonos system in four rooms and a huge amount of structural work.

Magic indeed.

For further details about Lime Green’s services, visit www.limegreen.tv or call 01722 33 32 31 or visit their premises at 11 Castlegate Business Park, Old Sarum, Salisbury SP4 6QX n

Theclients’ verdict Bob and Emily Wilcox have nothing but praise for Lime Green’s advice, work and customer service.

Bob said: “They were excellent, nothing is too much trouble for them. They were so accommodating, I really couldn’t speak highly enough of their customer service ethic. They meticulously cleaned up every evening when the work was in progress, and at the end of the job they didn’t go until they were convinced I was satisfied. “The technology has made it much easier and pleasanter to watch TV and has improved the quality of our music enormously – the reproduction is absolutely superb, and the Sonos system is excellent. Lime Green’s prices are very reasonable, too – the cost for everything, including installation, was less than a comparable off-theshelf package. “I would recommend them to anyone, and indeed I have.”

from

more

Projects

not any television – it has a 42-inch, highdefinition LCD screen, which accepts any visual input, so it can be used to watch DVDs, Sky or terrestrial television or even as a PC monitor. And, being HD-ready, it will accept all the next generation of high-definition formats. Meanwhile, for those with an eye to harmonious interior design, the frame of the ‘mirror’ can be practically any design, and colour-matched to blend in perfectly with existing furniture or soft furnishings. As for the audio system, the state-of-the-art Bowers & Wilkins speakers are all flush-mounted except in the kitchen, where a tiny speaker is fixed discreetly on a display shelf. All the wiring, throughout the house, is hidden behind the walls. Bob and Emily had a second television installed in the master bedroom, and a sophisticated music system, Sonos, in the kitchen, dining room, sitting room and bedroom. Sonos stores their entire music collection on a central computer which sends their choice of sounds wirelessly to any chosen room.

Up to 30,000 CDs can be stored, and, with a tiny box of tricks called a Zoneplayer, the

❋

TOP LEFT PICTURE>> Delightful barn conversion installation TOP RIGHT PICTURE>> Outdoor speakers disguised as rocks blend into the environment BOTTOM LEFT PICTURE>> Lime Green will hide all the wires for a clean finish BOTTOM RIGHT PICTURE>> You can convert the smallest space into the highest quality home cinema

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❋ HOMES AND DESIGN Main picture>> Oratori lucide fermentet suis.

Utilitas quadrupei Below>> Oratori lucide fermentet suis

The

constant

Gardener Sandy Byrne meets Randle Siddeley, landscape architect

I

f outside is the new inside and designers in the contemporary world are as prolific in gardens as they are in houses, then Randle Siddeley is indisputably in the right profession. As the son of a renowned interior designer and with a boyhood obsession with the outdoors stemming from a country house upbringing, the roots of his passion are relatively easy to identify. But dig a little deeper and the man who still cycles to work is something of a surprise.

He is, in fact, The Lord Kenilworth, aristocrat turned landscape architect, though he prefers to leave his alter ego at home when going to work where he is simply known as Randle Siddeley. But the designer from whom he inherited his title was his father John, who was a fundamental influence in Randle’s life and probably forged the inextricable relationship Randle perceives between buildings and gardens which continues profoundly to inform his work today.

His twin companies, RSA (Randle Siddeley Associates – Commercial) and SLD (Siddeley Landscape Designs – Private) are built upon the strong foundations of some thirty years’ experience and his client lists are so extensive they read like a telephone book (although many of them would be ex-directory!) Residential or commercial, restoration or the creation of an entirely new space, national or global, classic or innovative, hard or soft landscaping – there appears to be little that Randle has not or is not prepared to undertake, and his award-winning successes are legion. The business has expanded dramatically over latter years and, at the time of writing, an office is opening in Moscow where no less than six current projects are in progress.

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HOMES AND DESIGN

❋

While one might reasonably expect that a gardener with his background would restrict himself to the classic designs of gracious English country houses and estates, he positively relishes the challenge of major commercial and residential urban developments as well as private urban gardens, both here and abroad. He thoroughly enjoys the process of producing, from a blank sheet of paper, the necessary ingredients seamlessly to blend external spaces with architecture, relate the outside to the inside and the privacy of residential apartment gardens to communal spaces outdoors projects.

In fact, in conversation Randle reveals that he views the future of community and the way people live in these terms: “Very large residential developments are the way of the future. These big projects create new communities – designs can include communal gardens, piazzas or village squares and space for businesses. For example, we are currently working on a development in Romsey that occupies some 80 acres and is founded on eco-friendly principles.”

Private commissions for individual gardens in London and the country, including many abroad, the province of Siddeley Landscape Designs, remain close to his heart, as he observes “The English garden is part of our cultural heritage.” As he points out, urban gardens lend themselves to particularly creative design and landscaping where space is at a premium. The company enjoys a reputation for the realisation of a garden’s unique potential, offering a master planning service,

“The glory of the

garden lies in more than meets the eye”

Rudyard Kipling

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❋ HOMES AND DESIGN Left>> Oratori lucide fermentet suis.

Utilitas quadrupei Below>> Oratori lucide fermentet suis. Utilitas quadrupei

addressing the properties of the existing infrastructure, intended usage, and proposing both hard and soft landscaping schemes. There are also, of course, spectacular examples of the company’s private commissions in rural locations; a private estate in the Cotswolds, an Old Rectory in Hampshire or Edwardian home in Berkshire.

Randle was already self-employed by the age of twenty one although he wryly observes that his bank manager simply assumed that, on the basis of the modest salary he was generating, the activity was no more than just a passing hobby. Yet this beginning, on the lowest rung of the professional ladder, was a vital learning curve and informs his passion for detail and for regarding a project holistically, from the smallest aspect to the finished result.

He set out to study architecture and design at the London College of Furniture. But he left early, realising he felt completely out of tune with the state of the academic art and saw little point in acquiring a degree when he could learn from a better teacher. He worked for a time with his father on the refurbishment of houses with gardens and it was at his suggestion that Randle decided fully to enter the realm of his instinctive obsession; gardening.

The dual skills were the foundation of his later achievements, dovetailing perfectly and in tune with the way we live now, in view of how exterior design has become such a massive growth industry in latter years. Top estate agencies have observed that excellent exterior and landscape development substantially enhances property values and of course this has been universally recognised through the medium of endless house and gardening features in the media, particularly television.

Randle Siddeley regards his occupation in terms of a vocation having once said “Either you have the knack or you don’t,” a statement which, with the ring of truth, also belies the huge depth of knowledge he possesses of both planting and design. His teams include twelve landscape architects, horticulturalists, arboricultural experts, CAD technicians, urban designers and specialists in all areas of landscaping and gardening. All seems a far cry from the boy who used to potter in a Suffolk garden.

The firm, based in Battersea offices, offers quality design and implementation schemes in both the commercial and residential sectors: a private garden in St. Tropez, in Chelsea or for a gracious rectory with ten acres are just as characteristic of projects undertaken as ‘Dubailand’ in the United Arab Emirates, 2000 hectares of development including hotel resorts, housing, offices, shops, hospitals, schools, mosques, parks and gardens, piazzas, village squares and pocket parks in this wholly invented and manufactured place.

Each and every commission- is undertaken with certain fundamental principles and a key philosophy that any scheme should reflect with integrity the needs, taste and lifestyle of its clients. When initially approached by prospective clients a meeting is held to establish what is required and the budget available. “We will know immediately whether we are going to be able to work with prospective clients or not,” Randle says – a glimpse, perhaps, of the steely focus needed at the foundation of such a successful business.

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“The cost is stated; we have fixed fees,” he continues. “We then draw a design for the project by hand – always by hand and always one drawing, the assumption being that by this stage the client understands who we are and what our capabilities are.” The drawing is then presented to the client and on agreement the project is commenced.

No longer the province of the plantsman alone, many projects involve complex architectural, building and lighting features, often with a very high ‘wow’ factor and the need for practical maintenance sometimes on a huge scale.

The huge difference between landscape and interior design is, of course, that the former is organic however many manufactured accessories it may contain, and has to have room to grow, mature and develop, ever-changing and evolving within its own confines. So the thinking is always ahead and a vital part of the work is in the vision of the future, for example in the planting of 300 trees at Ashe Park in Berkshire. “If the work of planting and selecting plants is put out to contractors, they are completely responsible for its success and it is taken as read that they understand the myriad factors of climate, space and feasibility,” Randle adds. Clients also have the option of retaining the company’s services for the subsequent maintenance of their gardens on, perhaps a monthly or quarterly basis.

In London Randle, who personally oversees every project even if, through sheer volume of commissions, he is not able to be hands-on involved with every one any more, has created some sensational private gardens with the sort of very smart addresses one might have initially expected from a gardener with his personal credentials: Tregunter Road, The Boltons, Holland Park et al.

Clients at this level, obviously, are extremely discerning and the greater the extent of their involvement, the more productive the commission as the final result is contrived organically with intelligent understanding from the client a key factor. A garden at Lansdowne Road, for example, where the owners like many others wished to entertain outside, was greatly enhanced by their handson productivity and ideas.

Randle is fascinated by the infinite variations of his clients’ taste and location: no two projects could ever be the same although fundamental principles clearly apply in a strongly held key value of the proper acknowledgement of any single project’s context. He relishes their differences and complications with the limitations inevitably imposed by space, soil conditions and climate; use of the space for recreation, entertainment, relaxation, escape – a gorgeous roof garden in Chelsea’s Old Church Street is a fine example of inventive privacy in an urban context.

Yet urban schemes derive from the same visionary mind which takes just as much pleasure from a seaside development in Cornwall or a fine Grade 11 listed Georgian estate in Gloucestershire. His name will, in future generations, be associated with a significantly evolving period in landscaping history.

Randle Siddeley Associates, Landscape Architects, 3 Palmerston Court, Palmerston Way, London SW8 4AJ Tel: 020 7627 7272 Fax: 020 7627 7273 Email: office@randlesiddeley.co.uk Website: www.randlesiddeley.co.uk

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❋ HOMES AND DESIGN

Camilla Kemp& 55Max Cream Magazines takes a look Camilla Kemp’s contemporary photography

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amilla Kemp launched the 55Max Gallery in 2002 as a direct response to the lack of good quality photography available for her to put in her new home. “I loved the art form and wanted to start a small collection but found that the photographers I liked were with London Gallery’s who charged a small fortune, and the pictures I could afford - usually of horses rushing inexplicably through water didn’t appeal!” Undeterred, Camilla approached a handful of photographers (starting with good photographer friend Amelia Troubridge) directly and told them of her idea to sell exceptional quality, limited edition prints at prices that would make them accessible to everyone.

Fortunately for her, they shared her vision and 55Max – the starting price for a 14 x11”, framed print - was born.

Launched initially as a website, word of mouth quickly turned this fledgling business into a thriving Gallery. Camilla began working in collaboration with award-winning and emerging photographers; sourcing talent from the fashion, journalism and design industries, to provide a wide range of conceptual, abstract, scenic, urban, celebrity, and classic imagery. She then contacted large photographic libraries such as the Getty, thus adding a wide range of vintage black and white prints of musicians and movie stars to the contemporary art mix.

A passion for the medium has not made her precious –“55Max is a gallery but for me that doesn’t

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mean we have to be reverential to enjoy it –“thus photographic images are available in an enormous array of frames and finishes, some of which Camilla has pioneered. Choose from frames, boxed acrylic, digitally printed acrylic, mirror frames, canvas, MDF blocks and prints directly onto aluminium, The Company is also launching a home range, 55Max Home, offering images on wallpaper, carpet tiles, Roller blinds, cushion covers, coasters and placemats. Exclusive to 55Max are ceramic wall and floor tiles - choose either your own image or

one from the 55Max collection to give any bathroom wall or floor a look that is truly unique.

A woman on a mission, Camilla’s determination to bring contemporary photography to a wider audience has recently entered a new phase and she has been invited by some of the nation’s finest retailers (including Harrods, Selfridges, Paperchase, The Conran Shop Worldwide, Heals, Urban Outfitters, and B&B Italia).to launch 55Max Gallery space in stores across Britain and Europe.

Bespoke art has now become a hugely popular side to the business. 55Max enables people to create their very own unique works of art from personal photographs, items such as travel bags and blinds can be customised to make a totally individual creation. By far the most popular is the montage (as shown, priced from £55.00), hundreds of images can be scanned and arranged by the 55Max team, to create the customers life on one amazing canvas.

Private and commercial customers are now flocking to Camilla at her new showroom just off London’s Queens Park – restauranters, club owners, hotels and offices are all looking for style and individuality and have requested an Art Consultancy Service which Camilla provides for free! “I love this part of the job as we can take the frustration out of choosing prints – people will have spent months agonizing over design plans and even choosing the colour for the walls but will have not put any thought into what they will hang on them. Ironically the images that they choose will often make the most impact and say more about the environment that they wish to create!

The gallery now attracts an A-list following of celebrities, such as Dido, Jack Nicholson, Elton John, Michael Caine and Simon Cowell.

55Max London Gallery is at 6, Lonsdale Rd, London NW6 tel 020 7625 3774 www.55max.co.uk

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FOOD AND DRINK

❋

“It’s the burning ambition of every top chef in the world to succeed in New York. I thrive on competition. I cannot wait.”

GORDON RAMSAY

Manhattan Transfer Gordon Ramsay takes New York by storm in The London NYC Hotel, words Sandy Byrne

W

ill the opening of Gordon Ramsay’s first U.S. restaurant in Midtown Manhattan prove to be collision or collusion? Does an irresistible force of his magnitude meeting such an immovable object as the city that never sleeps represent an inevitable impasse, or a marriage made in culinary heaven? Early days, but the rapturous initial reception of his venture at The London NYC Hotel would imply that this eagerly awaited event meets with universal approval in the States. The great and the good turned out for his opening, the city’s most glamorous clamouring for a bit of the Michelin man’s thrice blessed glory. He spoke before an enthralled audience on the Martha Stewart Show and the food in the restaurant spoke for itself.

So ubiquitous has the chef become in this country that there is scarcely a turn you can take without being confronted by his image; as well known perhaps for his extreme volatility as for his brilliance in the kitchen. Perhaps the level of anticipation in America was twofold; a breathless excitement for his cooking certainly, but possibly more than a frisson of expectation of tantrums thrown, curses levelled and cowering staff and customers. New York adores a spectacle.

And yet, the man whose freeform use of the F-Word is so instinctive that you hardly can think of it as swearing has proved, over and over again, that it is used from sheer frustration in his driven determination to achieve perfection.

Why, he even used that expletive to successful ends, achieving a seventeen point three per cent share of the TV

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❋ FOOD & DRINK

Ramsay is everywhere, and now he is in New York, where success depends on many factors; extremely sophisticated cosmopolitan people will be his judges here.

right>> The fine dining restaurant at ‘The London’ below>> The London Bar at ‘The London’

ratings for his F-Word show on Channel Four. The furrows on his face – and he’s still a comparatively young man - deep as a ploughed field, similarly imply an obsessive personality which, certainly, has stood him in excellent stead through a meteoric career.

Blaspheming and hurling abuse may seem an odd way of showing that you care, but it should also be noted that Gordon Ramsay offers an annual scholarship for a talented young cook and is deeply committed to nurturing future success. Similarly he operates a Training Centre to motivate and develop staff to their highest potential. So is it simply a shrewd PR ploy to conceal these more modest accomplishments and be the man we love to hate?

As one of the duo of “enfants terribles,” a role perhaps invented by the young Marco Pierre White, they shared more than an extraordinary talent back when they worked together at Harvey’s in Wandsworth. No two black sheep chefs could ever have cared more than they did as impassioned young men turning out ambrosial cooking which very rapidly caught the attention of the reviewers, critics and customers all of whom rhapsodised over both. But no crystal ball could have predicted either the extreme success they would both achieve in business and neither one particularly shows signs, over the intervening years, of mellowing.

Ramsay is everywhere, and now he is in New York, where success depends on many factors; extremely sophisticated cosmopolitan people will be his judges

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here. He cannot be at every one of his businesses at the same time but restaurants which bear his name carry an unparalleled level of expectation as it’s now synonymous with the finest gastronomy in the world. So, to make it in New York, Ramsay has had to imprint The London and The London Bar with standards as high as those for which he is so universally recognised elsewhere, while simultaneously creating its own distinct identity.

When contemplating such a level of perfection one’s view of the man can move through a myriad of emotional responses, varying from rage at his apparent treatment of his staff on television, cringing sympathy for the lazy in “Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares” even while you knew it was his unerring ambition always to improve standards, to admiration for his prowess and love for his family. He has four young children and his wife, Tana Ramsay, has produced her own book “Family Kitchen.” But respond we do, for in his character as in his cooking there is nothing bland or mediocre; his magnetism on TV was intrinsically bound up with our shared frustration as his victims failed to learn or take advice. Neither is he a stranger to irony; his recent autobiography is entitled “Humble Pie.” Scottish born Gordon Ramsay grew up in England, in Stratford on Avon, and it is a truth universally acknowledged that he might have become one of the brightest young football stars of his generation. He was signed by Scottish Champions at fifteen, but three years later gave up on football and the rest is history.

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❋ FOOD AND DRINK this picture>> Manhattan bridge and skyline seen at Night

Following the days at Harvey’s he moved to The Gavroche with Albert Roux, then worked for three years in France with Guy Savoy and Joel Robuchon. Undoubtedly his natural brilliance was nurtured by these years and refined to a point where, at Aubergine in Chelsea which opened in 1993, he rapidly achieved serious recognition. You couldn’t book a table for months, as word of his genius, rather like the young Raymond Blanc or Tom Aikens later on, spread like wildfire.

At 31 Ramsay opened his first wholly owned restaurant at the site of the old Tante Claire and a year later Petrus in St. James with Marcus Wareing (who runs the restaurant at its new David Collins-designed site in The Berkeley Hotel).

Gordon Ramsay at Claridges followed, Angela Hartnett at The Connaught, The Savoy Grill, Banquette, The Boxwood Café, and Maze. Wherever Ramsay opened, Michelin stars were showered upon him and awards flew in – Chef of the Year at the Cateys, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, his signature restaurant in Royal Hospital Road voted the Top Restaurant of the Year and the only one in London with three Michelin stars, Best Fine Dining and on and on.

With such a strong hold on London, it was inevitable that Ramsay Holdings would look to open abroad and in 2001 Gordon Ramsay opened Verre, the restaurant at The Hilton, Dubai Creek. “Verre was my first restaurant outside the UK,” he says, “and it represents a huge challenge but a thoroughly enjoyable one… in my mind Dubai is one of the most vibrant cities around.”

It can’t be coincidental that, for his next international restaurant, he decided to open in Tokyo, another city with exceptional levels of energy and vitality. Of his restaurant in the Conrad Tokyo he says that it was always an ambition to open in Japan. “Tokyo is such a cosmopolitan city and (has) a high level of produce.

We’ve enjoyed wonderful custom from Japanese diners over the years in Britain, so it’s a privilege to give something back.”

So – for his hat trick venue - New York with its restless, glamorous and sophisticated energy, was an inevitability and in 2007 he opens in Los Angeles and Florida, again places with a population of discerning high fliers as well as a transient one of business and leisure tourists. The same care and scrupulous attention to detail as has been lavished on the London NYC Hotel, formerly the iconic Rihga Royal, will no doubt follow in its wake as the new venues are launched.

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The London NYC is a midtown luxury hotel, part of the LXR Luxury Resorts Collection, with an emphasis on the personal as opposed to the “luxury package.” Its stylish lobby resembles that of a grand London residence, and Ramsay favourite David Collins, the man who has set the scene of so many of our greatest watering holes, is responsible for the elegant interior design. He’s used shades of emerald and rich timber panels for the formal restaurant and patchwork leather seats in the Bar. Gordon Ramsay at The London, the more formal dining room, is based on the concepts behind his eponymous venture in Royal Hospital Road. Formal dining with seating for forty five guests echoes the matchless cuisine, service and elegance of its forbear.

Former head chef at Angela Hartnett at The Connaught, Chef de Cuisine of Gordon Ramsay at the London is Neil Ferguson, while Restaurant Director Jean-Baptiste Requien orchestrates the restaurant floor. Sensational food from the seven-course Menu Prestige offers such signature dishes as Ramsay’s Cappuccino of white beans followed by Lobster Ravioli poached in a lobster bouillon, celery root cream, shellfish vinaigrette and chervil veloute. Complex food, an alchemy of subtly delicious flavours delivered with a level of panache you can only imagine unless you’ve eaten at any of his restaurants but taken for granted if you have.

If you want to part with any semblance of a connection to this earthly life and enter paradise, finish with Pain Perdu, poached custard apples, Griotte cherries, pistachio ice cream and cherry cremeux. But perhaps The London Bar takes your fancy where a more casual but still achingly chic experience is offered for up to seventy plus a further 45 seats in the bar. If the formal full Monty proves daunting you can take tasting plates here, a concept based on Ramsay’s hugely successful Maze in London along the lines of an Asian meal constructed from several separate small but perfectly formed dishes.

The London NYC would seem to have been a triumph; the Colossus bestrides his new empire. Ramsay takes Manhattan and nothing is lost in translation. How can he fail!

The London NYC Hotel, 151 West 54th Street NYC Restaurant Gordon Ramsay: (00 1) 212 468 8888 www.gordonramsey.com www.thelondonnyc.com

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❋ LIFESTYLE

lux ury •

| lək sh (ə)r¯e; le zh (ə)-|| ləkʃ (ə)ri| | lə (ə)ri | l kʃ(ə)ri | noun: (pl.-ries) the state of great comfort and extravagant living : he lived a life of luxury. • an inessential, desirable item that is expensive or difficult to obtain : luxuries like raspberry vinegar and state-of-the-art CD players | he considers bananas a luxury. adjective: luxurious or of the nature of a luxury: a luxury yacht | luxury goods. ORIGIN Middle English (denoting lechery): from Old French luxurie, luxure, from Latin luxuria, from luxus ‘excess’. The earliest current sense dates from the mid-17th century.

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What is luxury?

Avril Groom poses the question…

W

as ever a word so over-used as “luxury”? As a label on the packaging of everything from loo paper to lobster soup it has ceased to have any meaning whatsoever, except that the manufacturer thinks the product is a cut above the competition and can therefore charge a higher price. Further up the ladder, designer-brand luxury goods are now produced and consumed on such a scale that any notion of exclusivity is laughable.

This makes real luxury, for which there is an ever-greater demand, even more important, though the definition of what luxury means is changing swiftly. “We need another word,” says Nicola Austin of market research think tank The Future Foundation, “though none of the alternatives sums up the whole picture. There’s indulgence, though that sounds rather too selfish, and individuality and authenticity. They all contribute to what today’s affluent set see as luxury, which is as likely to be an experience as an object.”

The baseline of what might be called luxury goods is escalating fast.

Even those on modest salaries, for instance, are prepared to spend £600 or more on each season’s “It” handbag. Four figures-plus is now so average for a designer-label dress that neither store nor customer bats an eyelid. So brands have brought in a whole new rarefied level, which could be called überluxe, to satisfy those who want to stand apart. Precious materials, hand crafting, limited quantities, customisation and personal service are the essential ingredients, to give at least an illusion of exclusivity, and sometimes it is the real deal. Brands like Louis Vuitton or Fendi may make just half-a-dozen examples of a particular bag style in, say, crocodile or ornate embroidery and send one to selected stores. It probably never hits the shop floor – high-spending customers will be invited by the personal shoppers to a private viewing, and ferried by the store’s limo.

With luxury branding everywhere, the überluxe labels are cashing in on the reverse snobbery of stealth wealth. Brands such as Bottega Veneta or Hermès soft-pedal the logo, using symbols like BV’s woven-strip leather or Hermès’ kelly buckle to signal to other cognoscenti. The exquisitely made clothes evolve gently from one season to the next, allowing fans to build a truly luxurious wardrobe and maintain their all-important individuality. Store buyers also seek out young top-end designers before they become well known, and sell top-quality, one-off vintage pieces, to promote this sense of uniqueness. A new Mintel survey into the designer fashion market finds that growth in this area is outpacing the mainstream clothing market and identifies customer trends such as “selective extravagance” – choosing clothes for quality and craftsmanship rather than designer status display – and “fashion purists”: shoppers looking for very high-quality, low-production, demi-couture items, preferably with lesser-known or smaller-scale brand names attached.

However, the idea that affluent customers are turning their backs on trends and embracing downsizing in everything from houses to slow food is mistaken, according to Austin. “As people become better off their

aspirations rise,” she says. “They are hungry for new experiences, often more so than for goods, now that so many can afford to buy anything they want.” This leads to a new definition of luxury – a unique and memorable experience which you, and only you, can relate to your friends afterwards. “There is a contradiction,” says Austin. “We are social animals, so, if we want to stand out from the crowd, it is only so we can tell the crowd about it afterwards. If you pick a luxury activity holiday where you research the area of interest beforehand, learn from experts while you’re there and get great service at a hotel where they already know your name and preferences, you’ve had a wonderful, unique experience and you want to tell your friends who haven’t. A luxurious wine-tasting holiday, where you learn personally from top vineyard owners, would be an example, and the knowledge you display helps define who you are. An ethical aspect is another plus – that’s a badge of honour. Go up a level and your luxury is buying the vineyard and getting the best local organic winemaker to show you how to do it. Ultimately it’s about points scoring and display, but only afterwards. If money is no object people take the most private option in transport, lodging and service.”

This shows in the latest luxury property obsessions – security and convenience. “People demand a dedicated parking space within the building and a 24-hour concierge,” says Nicky Clark Tait of upmarket interior designers Nicky and Michael. “But inside this carapace they want soft home comforts – the luxury of natural materials, tactile fabrics and details that appeal to the senses, in addition to the understated, quality facilities they are used to finding in the best hotels.” Space, she says, now also equals luxury – “a large, light, knocked-through living area with less emphasis on the kitchen because mostly they eat out”. Even cars now become private luxury spaces. Since the high-profile launch of its new XK model, Jaguar has been held up as a textbook example of a luxury brand. “We looked to see what was strongest in the company DNA and it was quite simple – beautiful, fast cars,” says Daniel Floyed, global brand director of Eurofuel, which handles Jaguar’s communications.

“But the heritage needed updating into what we call new-fashioned luxury, so a journey becomes not just going from A to B but a luxury experience of fastidious detail and craftsmanship and zero compromise.

There’s huge recognition and goodwill towards the brand and now the experience lives up to the image.”

The new luxury is not necessarily expensive – as more people have more to spend, for opinion formers the quality of the experience is more important than how far and how much. But the personalised service and high staffing levels required mean that it invariably is. Our quotes from a broad spectrum of people well versed in the ways of luxury show the ascendancy of experiences over material goods. Many also refer to that other favourite luxury choice in a busy world – time. No one would dispute that time to please yourself, in whatever way you choose, is now the biggest luxury of all. But the backup required to give you that enticing space ensures that it is also one of the dearest.

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cream asks those Jenny Packham

Joan Burstein

RED-CARPET DRESS DESIGNER “The idea of luxury is always evolving. We think of exclusive and expensive products; however, culturally the idea of luxury can differ greatly. A flake of soap can be as luxurious to someone in another culture as an Aston Martin is to ours. I think of our product as being luxurious because of the skills, craftsmanship and time taken to create each dress.

Time is the most valuable luxury and to obtain it is to buy others’ time or your own.”

FOUNDER OF BROWNS BOUTIQUE “Having time for oneself is the greatest luxury there is.”

John Rocha

Neisha Crosland

FASHION AND INTERIORS DESIGNER “My grandmother instilled in me an appreciation of the care and skill that goes into a garment – the attention to detail that makes something special. I carry that with me. Whether in the placement of an embellishment, the graceful curve of a handle, a tree placed perfectly in a garden, or the choice of button – it is these and a hundred other deliberate choices that make something special. These decisions are my luxury.”

INTERIORS AND ACCESSORIES DESIGNER “A glass of Sauternes with barbecued, fresh foie gras…my new Lagerfeld coat and Pippa Small gold pyrites ring…lazing on the sofa with my sons – not necessarily all at the same time!”

Ben Elliot FOUNDER OF QUINTESSENTIALLY, THE GLOBAL PRIVATE MEMBERS’ CLUB AND CONCIERGE SERVICE “Luxury is something coveted and desirable – something elegant, sumptuous, and indulgent that can make your life richer, easier and more fun – a passport to all that is hip, stylish and luxurious in today’s world. Quintessentially membership does all that.”

Anya Hindmarch ACCESSORY DESIGNER “Luxury is having time for things you don’t have time for – which for me would be: lying on a beach at night staring at the stars, long lunches, doing my photograph albums, doing the Jack the Ripper walk, learning to play tennis really well, travelling for fun (in my own plane), learning to sing again, and most importantly, being bored… that would be perfect. Oh… and a Wally yacht.”

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Arnaud Bamberger MANAGING DIRECTOR, CARTIER UK “Luxury is superior service. Whether it be a purchase or an experience, delivering over and above the expected is pure luxury.”

Clare Waight Keller CREATIVE DIRECTOR, PRINGLE OF SCOTLAND “Our ten-ply cashmere, cream Aran knit, handcrafted by artisan knitters in the Scottish borders. Each piece takes one whole week to knit.”

Bill Amberg LEATHER ACCESSORIES AND INTERIORS DESIGNER “Luxury now seems to be about personal space more than simply products – being able to take the time to find and exactly develop what you want and the freedom to enjoy it. Finding something truly authentic that has been created with knowledge and care – this is increasingly hard in our commodity and brand-driven lifestyles.”

Theo Fennell JEWELLERY DESIGNER “Luxury is something no one needs but everyone wants. The greatest luxuries are freedom and choice: to be able to have the very best of whatever you want, designed by the best and made by the best… the best seats in the house of life.”

LIFESTYLE

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”

in the know…

David Linley

Tom Bolt

FURNITURE DESIGNER AND RETAILER “Luxury now is how you define your personal space, ultimately the ability to control your environment at all times, from your car, boat or plane to your country house. Now that mass transit is unpleasant and threatening and hotels, however good, are often uniform, luxurious individuality is the challenge. People now don’t just want the private plane, they want it designed to their personal taste. They don’t just want the best hotel, they want it to feel like their own familiar apartment, as in the Asian model where often apartments are built with a hotel, where owners have access to its facilities. We are now working in both these areas.”

ALFRED DUNHILL WATCH DESIGNER AND DEALER IN VINTAGE WATCHES “Luxury is what gives you as an individual a buzz and a fantastic memory. Now that designer goods are mass produced, they can’t be luxury – it’s a contradiction in terms. So rarity value is part of it and with today’s reverse snobbery it doesn’t need to be flash, so luxury is wearing a very old but very valuable watch that no mugger will snatch because it’s not immediately recognisable. For me it was also hiring a private plane with some friends and taking my five-year-old son to watch an England World Cup match in VIP seats – six hours we’ll remember for ever. But if I was a billionaire, that would be an everyday event. Then my luxury would be buying the team.”

Julia Carrick CHIEF EXECUTIVE, WALPOLE GROUP OF BRITISH LUXURY COMPANIES “Luxury is subjective: one man’s luxury is another man’s commodity, and vice versa. But the great thing is that you know luxury when you touch, taste, feel or see it. Luxury is simply the best of the best.”

Jasper Conran DESIGNER AND ENTREPRENEUR “Luxury is all about the finest quality. The softest cashmere, the lightest champagne, stunning design. Of course, that kind of luxury doesn’t come cheap; however I can also appreciate another kind of luxury. A relaxing day with my dogs in my garden – that’s the kind of luxury that doesn’t cost a thing but somehow is just as valuable.”

Martin Waller MANAGING DIRECTOR, ANDREW MARTIN INTERIOR DESIGN “Luxury is comfort, and perfect comfort is where the design reflects your personality and your way of life. It’s not about gadgets: it’s the feelings of relaxation, whether you’re in a boat, a plane or a hotel.

Luxury, for me, is perfect coffee.”

Anna Zegna

CREATIVE DIRECTOR, ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA “True luxury for me is, first of all, understatement: a luxury made of precious and innovative fabrics created with the rarest and most soughtafter materials in the world – from cashmere to vicuña for suits, jackets and knitwear, to the finest Nappa for leather clothing and accessories.

Luxury clothing is for the pleasure of the wearer – comfort, refined cut, attention to detail – rather than to show off. At Zegna, we combine luxury and comfort – as in our Traveller fabric. The outstanding qualities of this fabric are enhanced by a revolutionary finishing process which makes it completely dirt resistant, yet keeps its natural softness.”

Ann Louise Roswald FASHION DESIGNER “Being in my cottage in Ireland, enjoying the peace and tranquillity with plenty of time for surfing…”

Anoushka Hempel COUTURIER, INTERIOR DESIGNER AND HOTELIER “Luxury today is going backwards to go forwards.”

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Ickenham, Middlesex RECENTLY DEVELOPED FAMILY HOME

A recently developed five bedroom detached home arranged over three floors and situated on a private road in a much sought after area.

The property is well set back from the road and is approached via an electronically gated driveway and has been finished to a very high standard.

GUIDE ÂŁ720,000

A five bedroom, two bathroom detached family residence situated close to Ickenham village.

The property, which has a large frontage, is well set back from the road and is accessed via electronic gates. Features include two reception rooms, study, kitchen/breakfast room, integral double garage and beautiful rear garden.

GUIDE ÂŁ725,000

Ickenham, Middlesex DETACHED FAMILY RESIDENCE

RUISLIP OFFICE T. 01895 622220 E. ruislipsales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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Pinner, Middlesex MOCK TUDOR PROPERTY A well presented 1930s built mock ‘Tudor’ three bedroom, two bathroom detached character property situated in one of Pinner’s premier roads.

The property features two reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, master bedroom suite, two further good-sized bedrooms and family bathroom. Outside there is a garage accessed via own driveway and attractive rear garden.

GUIDE £634,950

Pinner, Middlesex SITUATED IN THE HEART OF PINNER A four bedroom detached family home situated within the heart of Pinner village.

The property is offered for sale with the benefit of no onward chain and features two reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, utility room, cloakroom, master bedroom suite, three further bedrooms, family bathroom, mature rear garden, double garage and driveway.

GUIDE £850,000

PINNER OFFICE T. 020 8866 2777 E. pinnersales@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

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Tel: 020 8868 3554 The Old Bakery, Grange Court, Grange Gardens, Pinner, HA5 4PW

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Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex

£1,192 PCM

West Harrow, Middlesex

£1,400 PCM

Northwood, Middlesex

£1,550 PCM

Harrow Weald, Middlesex

£2,500 PCM

A newly refurbished and extremely spacious two double bedroom, two bathoom ground floor apartment. Apply Harrow office 020 8426 1466

A modern and extremely spacious three bedroom, two bathroom mid-terrace Edwardian house.

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A stunning two bedroom, two bathroom luxury apartment set in private grounds.

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£1,500 PCM

Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex

£2,300 PCM

Pinner, Middlesex

£1,900 PCM

Northwood, Middlesex

£4,950 PCM

A spacious and stylish four bedroom semi-detached house.

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A luxury three double bedroom, fourth floor apartment, situated on the prestigious Chasewood Park.

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A spacious and very well presented four bedroom, two bathroom detached house located in a popular residential location. Apply Pinner office 020 8866 7866

An impressive and very unique three bedroom detached chalet bungalow, situated in a private road.

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North Harrow, Middlesex

An amazing and unique five bedroom, four bathroom detached house, set in the prestigious Moor Park Estate. Apply Pinner office 020 8866 7866

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Blaser Mills S

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Tel: 01923 776211 Email: dmt@blasermills.co.uk or tmj@blasermills.co.uk

12 College Road, Harrow, Middx. HA1 1JF

Tel: 0208 427 6262

Buying or selling a home in any area can throw up issues or problems particular to that area.

Having been established locally for well over 40 years we have a unique level of local knowledge.

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Heathfield School Heathfield School, Beaulieu Drive, Pinner HA5 1NB

An independent day school of 600 girls aged 3 to 18

‘High quality education at every stage’ the Independent Schools Inspectorate 2005

Preparing for tomorrow’s world Entry at ages 3, 4, 7+, 11+ and Sixth Form

YORK HOUSE SCHOOL • An excellent School for boys 4-13 • Kindergarten for boys and girls rising 3 • Highly qualified caring staff • New Junior school, ADT and Science facilities • Excellent success rate to Senior Schools at 13+ • Superb facilities set in 47 acres of Green Belt

To arrange a visit or request a prospectus, contact the Headmaster, Mr Peter MacDougall, on Daily coaches from Ealing, Perivale, Greenford, Northolt, Harrow, Kenton, Wembley and Kingsbury

Call our Admissions Secretary for details of forthcoming Open Days or to make an appointment for a tour.

www.gdst.net

Tel: 020 8868 2346 Email: admissions@hea.gdst.net Website: www.heathfield.gdst.net

Charity No. 306983

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01923 772395

York House School, Sarratt Road, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth WD3 4LW Website:www.york-house.com Email: yhsoffice@aol.com York House is an expanding IAPS school, administered by Charitable Trust No. 311076

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Ickenham, Middlesex

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A stunning and immaculately refurbished four/five bedroom detached house situated in a prime location. Apply Ruislip office 01895 622884

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Ruislip, Middlesex

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A stunning and immaculately refurbished four/five bedroom detached house situated in a prime location. Apply Ruislip office 01895 622884

An immaculately presented four bedroom, two bathroom semi-detached family home.

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Uxbridge, Middlesex

£1,500-£1,700 PCM

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A superb three bedroom penthouse apartment set over two floors in this exclusive development.

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Eastcote, Middlesex

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