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Cover Feature
We love this place...
The Meadows
How a beautiful Hattan villa prompted lifelong jet-setters Ruth and Peter Warner to finally settle down… and New York and, like there, people here work very hard and play very hard. In fact, if you didn’t see the local people in their beautiful traditional dress, you wouldn’t know you were in the Middle East – you could be in a cosmopolitan city anywhere in the world and we really like that. What also impresses us is that there’s such a mishmash of people and all of these nationalities live congenially together. Because of that I think you can really gain a lot from the city. Like many other people here, we spend two months outside of Dubai – in our case, in Italy – and while the greenery and landscape is completely different there, by the end of it I always want to come back here and head to a mall where everything I need is in one place. What made you buy a villa in The Meadows rather than anywhere else in the city? We bought it six years ago and at that time it was actually the only area where expatriates could buy properties. We chose the largest we could afford in the area. At the time it was the biggest here but now there are also properties with a third floor. For us, the size is perfect for parties and I love the overall flow of the property and its nice big kitchen where we often socialise with close friends. This plot also backs on to a lake, with Emirates Hills’ mansions beyond it, which gives us an added sense of privacy.
Ruth, tell us what brought you and your husband to the city? It was my husband’s job that brought the two of us here, which was eight years ago now. Prior to this we lived all over the world, including Siberia during the Soviet era, South Korea, the United States and Germany. This is the longest we’ve actually stayed in one place, other than our home countries of the UK and Australia. I never June 2011
thought that I would end up in the Middle East; to me it was this far-flung, exotic place! Having lived all over the world, why did you decide to settle in Dubai? I think it is the very high standard of living that’s kept us here – it’s higher than that in the States in my opinion. People work very hard here as well: I’ve lived in London
How do you find the wider community? It really does have a nice overall feel; we can walk our two dogs and the people who live in the area are very friendly. It also has some great amenities – our maid can stroll to the Meadows Town Centre where she food shops at Spinneys. Plus there’s also a very handy bus service which stops at the British School, goes through the nearby Springs and on to Media City. On top of that, we’re located close to Jumeirah Beach Road which has some great hotels and