Country Life July 7, 2021 Early Property Pages

EVERY WEEK

JULY 7, 2021

Our spectacular coast

ISSUE: 27

PRINTED IN THE UK

£4.25

COASTAL & LONDON LIFE JULY 7, 2021

On a roll: why time and tide waits for no man Goggle-eyed plovers and beach donkeys Over the top: the £20 million coronation

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ALRESFORD, HAMPSHIRE

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beautiful classic Grade II* listed Georgian House set in an elevated position, surrounded by beautiful rolling countryside. The property is situated on the edge of the village of Ropley close to the Georgian market town of Alresford.

8 B E D R O O M S | 6 B AT H R O O M S | 6 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | C O T TA G E | B U N G A L O W | S TA B L I N G | O U T B U I L D I N G S T E N N I S C O U R T | S W I M M I N G P O O L | C R O Q U E T L AW N | K I T C H E N G A R D E N | A P P R O X I M AT E LY 2 3 . 5 8 A C R E S A L R E S F O R D 3 . 5 M I L E S | A LT O N 8 M I L E S | W I N C H E S T E R 1 0 . 5 M I L E S ( L O N D O N WAT E R L O O F R O M 6 2 M I N U T E S )

Guide price available upon request Knight Frank London & Winchester edward.cunningham@knightfrank.com 020 4502 7121 george.clarendon@knightfrank.com 01962 656115 Ref: WIN012046159

knightfrank.co.uk

BLETSOE, BEDFORDSHIRE Guide Price: £2,600,000 8 Bedrooms

6 Reception Rooms

4 Bathrooms

N/A EPC

A Grade II* listed house on the site of a former fortified manor house with a Grade I listed moat, a tennis court, outbuildings and over 24 acres of gardens and paddocks.

The house has over 7,600 sq. ft. of versatile accommodation set over two floors and over 4,100 sq. ft. of outbuildings which include garages, stables, a tack room, an open fronted barn and two one bedroom groom’s cottages. The grounds wrap around the property and include a walled fruit and vegetable garden and a moat which has been restored and dredged.

The formal garden faces south west and has a gravel terrace, lawns, mature trees and established herbaceous borders.

Bedford Office | Richard Banks | 01234 220000 London Office | Bob Bickersteth | 0207 839 0888

14 offices covering 8 counties and Central London

|

michaelgraham.co.uk

|

michaelgraham_living

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FIFIELD, OXFORDSHIRE

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late Georgian former rectory in the Cotswolds with wonderful views. Set on the edge of the village in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and situated with good access to excellent schooling, as well as being close by to Daylesford Organic Farm Shop and Soho Farmhouse. About one acre. Offlying seven acre paddock.

6 B E D R O O M S | 5 B AT H R O O M S | 4 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | W I N E C E L L A R | 2 B E D R O O M G U E S T/ S TA F F W I N G G A M E S R O O M & O F F I C E | C O T TA G E | S W I M M I N G P O O L | S TA B L I N G | K I T C H E N G A R D E N | O F F LY I N G PA D D O C K K I N G H A M 4 M I L E S ( L O N D O N PA D D I N G T O N F R O M 7 8 M I N U T E S ) | C H I P P I N G N O R T O N 1 0 M I L E S

Guide price available upon request Knight Frank London & Stow-on-the-Wold rupert.sweeting@knightfrank.com 020 4502 7203 leigh.glazebrook@knightfrank.com 01451 888130 Ref: OXF040009

knightfrank.co.uk

Majestic Cotswold Country House Nailsworth, Gloucestershire Nailsworth: 1.5 miles, Tetbury: 6 miles, Cirencester: 13 miles Historic Grade II listed country house, beautifully positioned on the edge of Horsley village in wonderful gardens with fabulous views. 4 reception rooms, 7 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, home office, games room, tennis court, swimming pool, 3 bedroom coach house, dovecote, outbuildings, garaging, formal gardens, orchard and pasture.

About 24 acres | Guide £4.45 million

James Walker Savills London Country Department 020 3944 8110 james.walker @savills.com

Anthony Coaker Savills Cirencester 01285 895 771 acoaker@savills.com

savills

savills.co.uk

Kent, Near Deal

An important country house estate, close to the coast and in a very private setting The Coast: 1.5 miles, High Speed Trains (London 67 minutes): 5 miles, Canterbury: 19 miles Reception hall | Staircase hall | Dining room | Drawing room | Library | Sitting room | Study | Kitchen/breakfast room | Conservatory Master bedroom with ensuite bathroom | Family bathroom | 5 Further bedroom suites | Extensive second floor stores | Cellars Self-contained guest annexe | Cinema | 4-Bedroom cottage | 2-Bedroom cottage | Tennis court & pavilion | Swimming pool Tree house | Gym | Garages | Outdoor dining/garden room | Gardens, woodland and grounds About 35 acres in all

Over 50 Offices across England and Scotland, including prime Central London.

Edward Church

James Mackenzie

Canterbury Office 01227 806 892

Country Department 020 3642 4591

edward.church@struttandparker.com

james.mackenzie@struttandparker.com

/struttandparker

@struttandparker

struttandparker.com

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WIGGINTON, OXFORDSHIRE

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itting at the head of a long drive in a highly-sought-after location in north Oxfordshire, full planning permission has been granted to build a landmark contemporary country house. Approached through stunning meadowland, the 13,000 sq ft house will offer total privacy and presents a once in a lifetime opportunity.

P R I M E P O S I T I O N | M AG I CA L WO O D L A N D S E T T I N G | OV E R L O O K I N G A L A K E G L O R I O U S C O U N T R Y S I D E | A P P R O X I M AT E LY 1 8 A C R E S S O H O FA R M H O U S E 5 M I L E S | C H I P P I N G N O R T O N 6 . 5 M I L E S | L O N D O N 7 5 M I L E S

Guide price available upon request Knight Frank London & Oxford peter.edwards@knightfrank.com 020 4502 8544 harry.sheppard@knightfrank.com 01865 987983 Charlie Willis London charlie@charliewillis.london 07740 511 496 Ref: CHO012197184

knightfrank.co.uk

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BRADFORD - ON-AVON, WILTSHIRE

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n elegant Grade II listed Georgian country house set in beautiful mature gardens and grounds. The property is situated within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, approximately one mile north west from the charming Saxon town of Bradford-on-Avon.

5 - 6 B E D R O O M S | 3 B AT H R O O M S | 5 - 6 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | O U T B U I L D I N G S | S W I M M I N G P O O L K I T C H E N G A R D E N | O R C H A R D | PA D D O C K S | W O O D L A N D S | A P P R O X I M AT E LY 1 0 . 8 A C R E S B R A D F O R D - O N - AV O N 1 M I L E | B AT H 6 M I L E S ( L O N D O N PA D D I N G T O N F R O M 9 0 M I N U T E S )

Guide price £2,950,000 Knight Frank London & Bath sarah.ka.brown@knightfrank.com 020 4502 7856 charlie.taylor@knightfrank.com 01225 685523 Ref: BTH012129647

knightfrank.co.uk

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QUENINGTON, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

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harming Grade II listed village house with spacious private gardens in a central Cotswold location. The property benefits from a stone stable barn with the potential to convert to residential use.

4 B E D R O O M S | 2 B AT H R O O M S | 3 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S G A R A G I N G | P I G G E R Y | S W I M M I N G P O O L | P R I VAT E G A R D E N S | S U M M E R H O U S E C I R E N C E S T E R 7. 5 M I L E S | O X F O R D 2 0 M I L E S

Guide price £1,995,000 Knight Frank London & Cirencester peter.edwards@knightfrank.com 020 4502 8544 rupert.sturgis@knightfrank.com 01285 895776 Ref: CIR160050

knightfrank.co.uk

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POTTERS BAR, HERTFORDSHIRE

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well-proportioned family house in beautiful landscaped gardens with extended wooded grounds. Monkswell is set in a private position on the edge of the village of Northaw, a pretty village within open countryside yet only around 10 minutes from the larger town centres of Potters Bar and Cuffley.

5 B E D R O O M S | 5 B AT H R O O M S | 4 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | T W O B E D R O O M C O T TA G E I N D O O R S W I M M I N G P O O L | G Y M | F O R M A L G A R D E N S | W O O D L A N D | A P P R O X I M AT E LY 5 . 5 8 A C R E S | E P C C POTTERS BAR 2 MILES (LONDON KING'S CROSS FROM 16 MINUTES) | CUFFLEY 1.5 MILES

Guide price £5,450,000 Knight Frank London & Bishop's Stortford edward.welton@knightfrank.com 020 4502 7216 paddy.pritchard-gordon@knightfrank.com 01279 888501 Statons paul@statons.com 020 8440 9797 Ref: CHO012172950

knightfrank.co.uk

It's time to buy in Central England In the period from January to May 2021, exchanges were 55% higher than the 5-year average* in the Central region of England, encompassing beautiful rural areas such as the Cotswolds and Warwickshire.

As there's never been a better time to buy, here is a selection of properties currently available.

Kidlington, Oxfordshire A charming period family house with delightful garden, within walking distance of the shops.

5 B E D R O O M S | 2 B AT H R O O M S | 3 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | A P P R O X I M AT E L E Y 0 . 2 5 A C R E S | G R A D E I I L I S T E D

Guide price £1,250,000

harry.sheppard@knightfrank.com 01865 987983

Ewyas Harold, Herefordshire A beautifully presented country home with self-contained annexe and detached office block.

5 B E D R O O M S | 3 B AT H R O O M S | 3 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | 2 A C R E S | E P C E

Guide price £1,300,000

charles.probert@knightfrank.com 01905 885720

Bledington, Gloucestershire A beautiful Grade II listed village home with generous garden, parking and double garage.

5 B E D R O O M S | 3 B AT H R O O M S | 3 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S

Guide price £1,500,000

leigh.glazebrook@knightfrank.com 01451 888130 Source: Knight Frank data

Lichfield, Staffordshire An historic home, owned by twice Prime Minister and father of modern policing Sir Robert Peel.

5 B E D R O O M S | 4 B AT H R O O M S | 6 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | A P P R O X I M AT E LY 1 . 1 A C R E S | G R A D E I I L I S T E D

Guide price £1,395,000

sarah.briggs@knightfrank.com 01213 927805

Bledington, Gloucestershire A fabulous old Vicarage in the village of Tredington with a large mature south-facing garden.

5 B E D R O O M S | 3 B AT H R O O M S | 3 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | A P P R O X I M AT E LY 0 . 6 3 A C R E S | E P C E

Guide price £1,250,000

harry.bethell@knightfrank.com 01242 806824

Slad, Gloucestershire Handsome former mill house with paddock and large pond.

4 B E D R O O M S | 3 B AT H R O O M S | 3 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | A P P R O X I M AT E LY 2 . 5 A C R E S | G R A D E I I L I S T E D

Guide price £1,350,000

rupert.marchington@knightfrank.com 01285 895776

If you’re thinking of selling your home, or would simply like some advice on the market, get in touch today. We’d love to help you.

Your partners in property for 125 years

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Aft fter t a year that has shone a light on the importance of the place we call home, dive into a selection of the most spectacular Waterfront properties from around the world.

Waterfront View coming soon, request your copy here:

knightfrank.co.uk

HIG HAM ES TAT E C L O S I N G D AT E : 1 4 T H J U LY 2 0 2 1 AT 1 2 N O O N

Higham Estate Bassenthwaite Lake The Lake District National Park Cumbria A Beautifully Located Residential, Agricultural And Sporting Estate Affording Considerable Privacy Located In The Lake District National Park.

Boasting Six Dwellings With Traditional Outbuildings, 979.75 Acres Of Productive Farmland And 178.05 Acres Of Commercial Woodland. A Well Established Driven Shoot And Fishing On The River Derwent.

Matthew Bell 07867 000235 m.bell@edwin-thompson.co.uk

Home To The Lakes Distillery.

Extending In Total To Approximately 1,171.41 Acres.

Charlotte Clayton c.clayton@edwin-thompson.co.uk

Price On Application e d w i n t h o m p s o n . c o . u k 017687 72988

Remarkable Georgian House Leominster, Herefordshire Leominster: 6.4 miles, Ludlow: 15.6 miles A remarkable Grade II listed Georgian country house with superb gardens and grounds, beautifully positioned within undulating Herefordshire countryside. 5 reception rooms, 8 bedrooms (5 en suite), tennis court, indoor swimming pool adjoining the pool house with 3 bedroom flat above, 4 cottages (Lot 1B), landscaped gardens, including walled kitchen garden and lake.

About 53 acres | Guide £3.5 million

James Walker Savills London Country Department 020 3925 9043 james.walker @savills.com

Will Chanter Savills Cheltenham 07870 999 206 wchanter@savills.com

savills

savills.co.uk

Plas Penhelig

Exceptional Coastal Property Aberdovey, Wales Chester: 85 miles, Manchester: 126 miles A private property radiating elegance and boasting some of the best views on the west Wales coast. 3 reception rooms, 10 en suite bedrooms, gym, wine cellar, workshop, range of Victorian greenhouses, double garage, mature formal gardens, pastureland and woodland. EPC = D About 12.4 acres | Guide £3.5 million Tony Morris-Eyton Savills Telford 01952 898 565 tmeyton@savills.com

savills

savills.co.uk

The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings

Drawing of St Dunstan-in-the-West by SPAB Scholar Ptolomy Dean

Founded by William Morris, the SPAB protects the historic environment from decay, damage and demolition. It responds to threats to old buildings, trains building professionals, craftspeople, homeowners and volunteers and gives advice about maintenance and repairs. Since 1877 countless buildings have been saved for future generations.

Information about maintaining your home is available through events, courses, lectures, publications and telephone advice.

To support our work why not join the SPAB? Members receive a quarterly magazine, our list of historic properties for sale and access to our regional activities.

www.spab.org.uk 020 7377 1644 A charitable company limited by guarantee registered in England & Wales. Company no: 5743962 Charity no: 1113753 37 Spital Square, London E1 6DY

Kent, Kingsdown

A unique opportunity to build a coastal home in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the White Cliffs Deal: 4.3 miles, Dover: 8 miles (High Speed Train to St Pancras International 1 hr 5 mins), Canterbury: 22 miles Planning consent for a stunning contemporary home of 260 sq m (2,799 sq ft) | Spacious reception spaces | 3/4 Bedrooms | Swimming pool Gardens | Grounds | Garage | The neighbouring property is being redeveloped in similar style as shown by the CGIs About 0.75 acre

Over 50 Offices across England and Scotland, including prime Central London.

Guide Price £850,000

Edward Church

Jane Layfield

Canterbury Office 01227 806 892

Canterbury Office 01227 806 892

edward.church@struttandparker.com

jane.layfield@struttandparker.com

/struttandparker

@struttandparker

struttandparker.com

DORSET, SHAFTESBURY

SURREY, WEYBRIDGE

Outstanding Arts & Crafts house in 35 acres | EPC E £5,000,000 guide | Shaftesbury: 01747 850858

Magnificent 16,000 sq. ft home on 2.36 acres | EPC B £13,700,000 guide | Weybridge: 01932 821160

DEVON, CHAGFORD

BEDFORDSHIRE, STAGSDEN

Small estate with renovated farmhouse £4,000,000 guide | Exeter: 01392 214222

Charming manor house in 21.5 acres £1,650,000 guide | Woburn: 01525 290641

WEST SUSSEX, HAYWARDS HEATH

CHESHIRE, GRAPPENHALL

Fabulous eight bedroom house | EPC C £1,995,000 guide | Mid Sussex: 01444 484400

Gothic Victorian Grade II listed residence £1,500,000 excess | Hale: 01619 288881

PRO PERTY EXPERTS S IN CE 1910

jackson-stops.co.uk

BEDFORDSHIRE, UPPER DEAN

SUFFOLK, ALDERTON

Highly desirable country house in 4.31 acres | EPC D £1,500,000 guide | Northampton: 01604 632991

Quintessential country residence within 6.75 acres £3,750,000 guide | Ipswich: 01473 218218

CORNWALL, CRACKINGTON HAVEN Historic listed manor in a rural setting £2,250,000 guide Truro: 01872 261160

House prices have grown by 9% year on year* and continue their record breaking run. With the market remaining so strong, anyone who is thinking about selling should make the most of these favourable conditions by contacting one of our national network of offices where we will help to advise you. *ONS House Price Index

SOMERSET, TAUNTON Handsome country home with lake | EPC D £1,500,000 guide Taunton: 01823 325144

SUFFOLK, NEWMARKET

CHESHIRE, WILMSLOW

Beautifully presented and substantial family house | EPC D £1,250,000 guide | Newmarket: 01638 662231

Country estate in 11.3 acres | EPC C £6,250,000 guide | Alderley Edge: 01625 540340

PRO PERTY EXPERTS S IN CE 1910

jackson-stops.co.uk

The New Builds issue SHOWC A SI NG T H E L AT E ST HO T SP O T S A N D E XC I T I NG DE V E L OPM E N T S ON SA L E J U LY 28 , 2021

Don’t miss your chance to advertise in our New Builds and Development issue

Booking/copy deadline: July 14, 2021

For more information on advertising, please contact Lucy Khosla lucy.khosla@futurenet.com – 07583 106990

Your indispensable guide to the capital

IS THIS LONDON’S MOST DARING SWIMMING POOL?

Alamy

Sky Pool at Embassy Gardens, Nine Elms, SW11

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Well, yes, but there’s a catch: to swim here, you need to be an Embassy Gardens resident or guest. The Sky Pool, as it has been nicknamed, bridges the gap between two apartment blocks on the 15-acre development, 115ft off the ground, 10 storeys high. Unsurprisingly, it’s the first pool of its kind, anywhere in the world. It was built in the US—where it also underwent rigorous testing—and travelled

to its final resting place in Vauxhall by boat, via Antwerp in the Netherlands.

At either end of the pool, there’s a sun deck, Darby’s Oyster bar, bakery and grill, and, importantly, a footbridge running parallel to the 148,000-litre transparent tank for non-swimmers to use.

Properties are still available to buy: the neighbouring Courtyard Collection is the final residential building in the Embassy Gardens complex (the US

Embassy and Penguin Random House are also on site). Developer EcoWorld Ballymore also offers river-facing suites and one- to three-bedroom apartments, from £635,000 (access to the pool depends on each flat’s specifications and service charges). Work on the buildings and surrounding green space, inspired by the High Line in New York, US, is due to finish this summer.

Visit www.embassygardens.com RP

28/06/2021 13:44

LONDON LIFE

News

Paving the way

W

ESTMINSTER CITY COUNCIL and the Crown estate have announced plans to ban vehicle traffic around Oxford Circus, W1.

A design competition, hosted by the Royal Institute of British Architects, will deliver the final schemes by the end of this summer. Plans are expected to include a 150-yard pedestrianised zone on either side of the Oxford Street junction, with new planting and seating areas. Elsewhere, an Experimental Traffic

Order (ETO) will see buses and taxis banned between Prince’s Street (to the east) and Great Portland Street (to the west). Traffic will be allowed to continue unimpeded along Regent Street to the north and south.

It’s hoped that the plans will ease congestion around Britain’s biggest pedestrian junction. Oxford Street is one of Europe’s most polluted streets and regularly breaches the legal limit of nitrogen oxide.

A mural by artist Sol Golden Sato has sprung up on a wall on the King’s Road, SW3. Part of a community project by Sloane Stanley, a new painting appears on the wall three to four times each year. This mural represents the people who walk along the road and the area’s boutique shops and interior designers

In the market for Sundays OROUGH MARKET is now open on Sundays for the first time in its history.

Traditionally only open six days a week, it’s hoped that the additional weekend hours will take some of the pressure off the busy Saturday

market, which is popular with tourists. The market stalls—more than 50 producers— will now be open 10am to 2pm every Sunday; the street food stalls will not open. For details, visit www.boroughmarket.org.uk

Painting by small numbers

T

HE Affordable Art Fair returns to Battersea Park at last, from July 8 to 11. The fair, now in its 22nd year, will see a selection of UK and international art from an array of galleries, all available to purchase, displayed under one roof. Prices will start at £50, rising to £6,000.

The event, at Battersea Evolution, will be held in line with the Government’s most up-to-date guidelines (www.affordableartfair.com).

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Alamy; Christie’s Images; Publica/Westminster City Council

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News

Gardens for rent

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Alamy; Christie’s Images; Publica/Westminster City Council

LLOTME—a digital platform that allows users to rent out their gardens to wannabe kitchen gardeners—is now available in the capital. The AirBnB for gardens-style site works by pairing people looking for space to establish a fruit and vegetable patch with willing landlords.

It’s the brainchild of London-based architect Conor Gallagher and couldn’t have launched at a better time, as demand for

Local heroes

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N London alone, some 160 restaurants closed their doors altogether due to lockdown and there was a 4.5% drop in licensed premises. Never has it been more important to support restaurants, especially ones close to home. The Silver Birch,

2004

an urban garden booms. During lockdown, the National Allotment Society reported a 300% rise in interest; some 80% of the populationg of the UK lives in a city and one in eight of those city homes do not have any garden space (rising to one in five in London).

Mr Gallagher’s garden was the first to be listed on the site, and is currently being cared for by Corrie Rounding, of south London. Visit www.allotme.co.uk to find out more and to sign up.

Chiswick High Road, W4, is an example of a new neighbourhood spot to emerge from the ashes, after launching between lockdowns. It’s a small, elegant space, not overly fussy (for some reason, I even like the temporary Covid security screens), where seasonal food, locally sourced when possible, is key. We shared juicy monkfish with braised peppers and a fresh chorizo stew, mopped up with delicious, crusty sourdough, and a shorthorn ribeye steak, served sliced on top of a green anchovy sauce—a dish to return for on its own.

Pudding was a deconstructed strawberry and cream millefeuille, the perfect example of chef Kimberley Hernandez’s talents. You can rent the restaurant out on an exclusiveuse basis, including the terrace, which is a great place for people watching. HL

The UK housing market is growing at the fastest annual rate in 17 years (2004), according to Nationwide, the world’s biggest building society. London prices are up 7.3% year-on-year

LONDON LIFE

Parklife: A Love Letter to London’s Green Space, written and illustrated

by Sophia Spring, with an introduction

by David Nicholls, will be published on July 15.

The book includes sections on and photographs of canalboat residents in Mile End park, dog walkers in Ravenscroft Park and the empty open swathes of Hackney Marshes (Hoxton Mini Press, £20)

Leonardo da Vinci’s Head of a Bear is to be sold at auction, at Christie’s, tomorrow (July 8). The silverpoint on pale pinkbeige paper—one of very few da Vinci drawings still in private hands—is expected to sell for between £8 million and £12 million (www.christies.com)

LONDON LIFE Editor Rosie Paterson Editor-in-chief Mark Hedges Sub-editing Octavia Pollock, James Fisher Art Heather Clark, Sarah Readman, Ben Harris, Dean Usher Pictures Lucy Ford, Emily Anderson Advertising Oliver Pearson 07961 800887 Email firstname.surname@futurenet.com

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01/07/2021 15:41

Meet Our Experts

A people person to his core, Tom Lamb has built up a dedicated client base over the past 15 years spent selling some of South Kensington and Chelsea’s finest houses.

Tom Lamb Director, Savills Knightsbridge

I started out in property in the early 2000s, cutting my teeth in north London before taking up a role in Chelsea in 2002; I haven’t looked back. While the market fluctuates, the fundamentals that I love remain constant: interacting with people, the challenges that arise each week and the opportunity to forge long-standing relationships.

Having worked in this area for such a long time, I have a profound understanding of local micro-markets, such as how the positioning of where a house is within a crescent can have a dramatic effect on its marketability. Today, it’s the right orientation and amount of garden that drives premiums up.

When troubles arise in the world, those with means will often look to South Kensington and Chelsea as a safe haven. With so much history, excellent schools, a constantly evolving selection of shops and restaurants and a fascinating mix of people, it’s a wonderful place to live.

To find out more about the residential market in South Kensington and Chelsea, contact Tom today.

FOR SALE | Sumner Place Mews, SW7 | Guide £4.5 million A well-designed house over 3 floors with direct access to the communal gardens in my favourite mews in South Kensington. Freehold.

Tom Lamb Savills Knightsbridge 020 3504 8815 tlamb@savills.com

FOR SALE | Thurloe Square, SW7 | Guide £12.95 million This 6 bedroom house occupies a prime position in this coveted garden square which features a children’s play area. Freehold.

FOR SALE | Pelham Crescent, SW7 | Guide £10.45 million To date, I’ve sold 8 houses in this crescent; to my mind it has to be one of the finest addresses in South Kensington. This house enjoys a quiet and peaceful mid-terrace location with long green views to the front and rear. Freehold.

SOLD | Pelham Crescent, SW7 | Guide £7.675 million We’ve just completed on this 4 bedroom Grade II* listed house which had an ideal layout for family living and a private garden.

SOLD | North Terrace, SW3 | Guide £3.95 million Perfectly positioned between South Kensington and Knightsbridge, we’ve recently completed on this hidden gem tucked down a quiet enclave.

South Kensington

Very Victoriana

SW5/7

LITTLE BLACK BOOK The Anglesea Arms Perfect for people watching, according to Henry Synge of Winkworth (15, Selwood Terrace, SW7) Cambio de Tercio A favourite of Chestertons’ Jack Osmond, this Spanish restaurant is a local institution (163, Old Brompton Road, SW5) The Science Museum’s shop The place to source gifts for curious children (Exhibition Road, SW7) Maitre Choux This patisserie’s éclairs rival France’s best (15, Harrington Road, SW7) Macellaio Edward Bensted of Marsh & Parsons loves this butcher’s ‘rustic, gargantuan steaks’ (84, Old Brompton Road, SW7)

On the 160th anniversary of Prince Albert’s death, Carla Passino takes a look back at the area of London he famously helped forge and champion

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OUTH Kensington defies geography.

No amount of fiddling with compass and northings can explain why stately Queen’s Gate or the museum-lined expanse of Exhibition Road are labelled as South, yet Young Street, at the same latitude, is bundled with the rest of Kensington. But if the geography is muddled, the identity of this stuccoed slice of London is clear: this is where the Victorians made their mark.

Of course, a village stood here long before Victoria’s Coronation; indeed, more than

one—the hamlets of Brompton, clustered around today’s Old Brompton Road, and Little Chelsea, now the handful of streets between Thistle Grove and Redcliffe Gardens. But neither was populous, so nurseries and market gardens took up most of the land. It’s here that Baroque master George London opened his Brompton Park Nursery in 1689, after having ‘assisted at the Revolution in carrying the then Princess Anne to Nottingham, from the fury of the Papists’, and here that, 100 years later, Quaker apothecary William

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Alamy; The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London

LONDON LIFE

Alamy; The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London

South Kensington

Curtis moved his botanic garden, after lamenting that ‘the smoke of London… constantly enveloped [his] plants’.

In the 19th century, however, trees and shrubs were increasingly replaced by streets, houses—and even hospitals. A beacon to Victorian charitable spirit, the Royal Brompton Hospital owes its existence to the determination of solicitor Philip Rose, who campaigned tirelessly for it after one of his clerks caught tuberculosis and was denied admission everywhere else in London. Opened in 1846, after Victoria herself sponsored a fundraising event, the hospital remains a specialist in lung disease, although it’s long moved to nearby Chelsea. The original South Kensington building is now a luxury development, soaring red and turreted above Fulham Road and still catching the eye 175 years after being built.

It’s at the time that the Victorian zest for development really changed South Kensington, peppering it with pretty brick terraces and

larger stucco-fronted houses. A mark of the area’s growth was the consecration, on October 22, 1850, of the Church of St Mary, in almond-shaped The Boltons, which became the first parish outside the older (and uglier) Holy Trinity Brompton.

‘This stuccoed slice of London is where the Victorians made their mark’ The building, by architect George Godwin, raised eyebrows for its interior arrangement (sadly, long since changed), with The Ecclesiologist writing: ‘We were, we own, not a little scandalised to see a central block of inferior free seats up the middle of the nave.’

The area—which now tops the chart of London’s most expensive addresses—had

LONDON LIFE

strong literary connections: Beatrix Potter, who lived until 1913 in Bolton Gardens; Agatha Christie, who in the 1920s moved to the impossibly pretty 22, Cresswell Gardens, which might have inspired her to write Murder in the Mews; Dame Paddy Ridsdale, Ian Fleming’s secretary during the Second World War and the likely inspiration for Miss Moneypenny.

Another luminary, Carlo Marochetti, lived further east at 32, Onslow Square. The French sculptor, with a penchant for gigantic equestrian statues (his Richard the Lionheart stands in Westminster’s Old Palace Yard), was a favourite of Queen Victoria’s and commissioned to create the main sculpture for the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, but his first attempt was rejected by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and the French artist died before he had a chance to complete a revision.

John Henry Foley took over the commission and, a mere £130,000 later, the statue was unveiled on March 9, 1876, a gilded, 35

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LONDON LIFE

South Kensington

showy tribute to the man who shaped South Kensington in death as much as he did in life.

Prince Albert had first put the spotlight on the area with the Great Exhibition and money from that event was used to buy the land that today forms the Exhibition Road’s cultural quarter.

One of the first institutions to open there, in 1857, was the South Kensington Museum, the precursor of both the V&A and the Science Museum. Almost 25 years later, it was joined by the Natural History Museum, the monumental scale of which, combined with Gothic Revival and Romanesque features, ensured it looked the part of the ‘Cathedral to Nature’ envisaged by the institution’s greatest supporter, Sir Richard Owen. Originally the natural-history department of the British Museum, it opened to the public in 1881 and was (unusually) free to visitors. ‘Part of the reason for a move was to give far greater access to the public in new galleries, with displays that reflected contemporary scientific understanding,’ explains head of science policy and communication John Jackson.

Albert would have been delighted to see how successful his plan to educate the masses turned out to be, not only thanks to the museums, but also through the central hall he had envisioned as a means to promote technology, science and the Arts: the Royal

Albert Hall (Country Life, March 24). The original aim for the institution, explains archivist Liz Harper, had been to stage everything from opera and concerts to conversations about horticulture, but over time, ‘it surpassed anything they could have imagined: now, there are more events than there are days in the year’. Indoor marathons (in 1909), mass baptisms (in the 1920s and 1930s), séances (not least the one held by Arthur Conan Doyle’s family in 1930) and even sumo wrestling have all been staged at the hall.

‘It feels as if there’s a special energy here and everyone is trying to explore the world’ ‘The sumo was quite funny: lots of guests turned out in their finest outfits to find the seats were blue cushions surrounding the ring; plus, because of the sheer size [of the competitors], they had to weight-test all the facilities, including the loo seats,’ recalls Miss Harper.

Such a rich history has propelled South Kensington’s culture quarter to fame, but the area still plays a key part in local life: the Natural History Museum’s garden is a quiet

THE UPS AND DOWNS

Residents love the exceptional architecture, wonderful shopping and restaurants and great museums on their doorstep, says Jack Osmond of Chestertons Residents like the cosmopolitan atmosphere—South Kensington is known as Paris’s farthest arrondissement, notes Edward Bensted of Marsh & Parsons

Residents could do with a little less traffic place for families to escape, the Science Museum doubles up as indoor playground, the V&A is as valued for afternoon tea as for its collections and the Royal Albert Hall hosts the graduation ceremony for students of Imperial College. The Exhibition Road institutions put on an annual festival—one of the many occasions in which they join forces. ‘There’s lots of collaborative work,’ says Miss Harper.

‘It feels as if there’s a special energy here and everyone is trying to explore and understand the world.’ This, 160 years after his death, is perhaps Prince Albert’s greatest legacy— and South Kensington’s greatest charm.

At home in South Kensington

£3.195 million, Courtfield Gardens

This lateral apartment sits on the first floor of a period building overlooking a private garden square (to which the new owners will gain access). It has a large living room and a magnificent kitchen and dining area, complete with panoramic balconies. Two double bedrooms occupy the rear of the property, which spans 1,574sq ft.

Winkworth (020–7373 5052; www.winkworth.co.uk)

£3.95 million, Queen’s Gate

Set on the first and second floor of an imposing building, this pristine 1,949sq ft apartment has four bedrooms (three of which are on the second floor, including an especially large one), a contemporary kitchen with Gaggenau appliances and an impressive reception room with an 11ft 9in ceiling and full-height French windows that open onto a pretty balcony. Chestertons (020–7589 1234; chestertons.com)

£2.6 million, Roland Gardens

Spanning the top two floors of a period building, this 1,504sq ft apartment has three bedrooms on the third floor (one opening onto a delightful private balcony) and a vast open-plan kitchen and living room upstairs, plus a study that could double up as fourth bedroom.

There’s also a south-west-facing terrace that looks out across the rooftops.

Marsh & Parsons (020–7590 0800; www.marshandparsons.co.uk)

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CORNWALL GARDENS. SW7 £5,899,950 LEASEHOLD

[5 bedrooms] [42 ft. reception room] [vaulted ceilings] [5 bathrooms] A superb penthouse in this highly sought after building with a 24hr concierge team in the heart of South Kensington. This fourth floor apartment spans the full width of the block with the added benefit of a further floor with a bedroom and private roof terrace. EPC D 020 3925 1334

KENSINGTON@HAMPTONS.CO.UK

HAMPTONS.CO.UK

LONDON LIFE

The great and the good

Seasonal suggestions Now studios are open, it’s time to enjoy exercising in groups again. Reformer Pilates offers a quick and fun way to tone up –you get to have a lie down, too Best for yoga aficionados You’ll feel and look 2in taller after a session at Heartcore, which uses a combination of yoga and pilates movements. The classes are not for the faint-hearted, but your posture will thank you. From £20; multiple locations (www.heartcore.co.uk) Best for hiding in the back Kensington High Street is a hotspot for chic studios and Karve is no exception.

The lights are kept low throughout (a godsend) and the music is planned to flow cleverly with what’s going on. £40 for two classes (www.karve.club) Best for city slickers Nobu Wellness & Fitness has opened at Nobu Hotel London, on Portman Square, W1, and it includes a sparkling reformer pilates studio. There are three signature classes—Power (high energy), Precision (slow burn) and Pure (Joseph Pilates’s own method, focusing on posture)—plus treatment rooms for a well-deserved post-workout massage.

From £35 (https://london-portman. nobuhotels.com/pilates) HL

Here’s looking at street names

• There are very few surviving records of street names from before the Norman Conquest, although historians believe that they existed long before then. In London, especially inside the City and central parts, streets often took their names from the goods that were sold there. Cheapside comes from the Saxon word chepe, for market; Poultry, Bread Street and Wood Street are all obvious • The origins of some names are a little less clear cut, such as Hanging Sword Alley, EC4. Records show that a Tudor house once stood in the alley, at a time when street numbers were not in use and people used symbols or icons instead; the residents’ use of a hanging sword was perhaps because the area was populated by several fencing schools. The house is mentioned in Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities • Some street names are French in origin: Little Britain, EC1, refers to the Bretons (a Celtic ethnic group native to Brittany) who lived there; French Ordinary Court, EC3, was a sanctuary for persecuted French Huguenots, who set up shops selling coffee, pastries and ordinarys (fixed price meals)

Shop of the month

4 7, R O M A N R O A D , E 2

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Open Monday to Friday, 10am to 7pm and Saturday, 11am to 5pm (www.luminorsignco.com)

F you live in London, there’s a strong chance that you’ve already come across a Ged Palmer-designed shop-front sign—at El Pastor in Soho or Darby’s next to the new American embassy in Vauxhall, perhaps.

The artist was inspired to set up The Luminor Sign Co—which he says is ‘London’s only high-street sign shop dedicated to traditional signwriting and hand-lettered design’—after spotting a colour lithograph by Eric Ravilious of its namesake, the original Luminor Sign Co (which stood on the corner of Old Street and City Road, EC1, and closed in 1938) in a book called High Street, written by J. M. Richards. Incidentally, the book was published by Country Life in 1938.

Current commissions include a memorial plaque for Eton College’s 15th-century chapel and plenty of private house names and numbers.

Mr Palmer says that he starts every commission ‘by discussing the period of the property and the customer’s personal style’. But, he continues, ‘nothing is more classic and refined than a sign in gold leaf’.

Alamy; Illustration by Polly Crossman; Getty; John Goodall

The Luminor Sign Co

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LONDON LIFE

M Y P L AT E O F V I E W

Brunswick House, 30, Wandsworth Road, SW8

A green space Q U E E N E L I Z A B E T H O LY M P I C PA RK , E 2 0

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HE venue for the London 2012 Olympics has morphed into a spectacular park that’s worth a visit, whether it’s to see the wildflowers bordering the canals where terrapins sunbathe and coots squabble, the banks of planting divided by origin (North America; southern hemisphere; Asia; Europe) or the

wildlife-friendly Great British Garden. The central section of the 2012 Gardens is particularly good, with beds of monarda, achillea, echinacea and grasses forming a background to the climbing frames and the water labyrinth: a very beautiful playground. New this year is the London Blossom Garden—three circles of spring-flowering trees to commemorate the city’s shared experience of the pandemic.

For more green-space inspiration, read ‘A London Floral’ by Natasha Goodfellow, out now (Finch Publishing, £ 8.50)

London curiosities ON THE FACE OF IT

Alamy; Illustration by Polly Crossman; Getty; John Goodall

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HE former Reuters and Press Association Building was built in 1934–38 by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with Smee and Houchin as associate architects, at 85, Fleet Street, EC4.

The figure of Fame with her trumpet sits inside the circular opening over the door.

Psst... pass it on

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ONDON’S cult canalside cafe, Towpath (42, De Beauvoir Cres, N1) is now open for supper on Friday and Saturdays, for the first time. Actress Keira Knightley is rumoured to be a fan (www.towpathlondon.com)

Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love is crammed with world-class quips.

My favourite has always been Uncle Matthew’s declaration to Lady Kroesig that he has only read one book in his life, viz. White Fang by Jack London, because ‘it’s so frightfully good I’ve never bothered to read another’.

Sadly, the line didn’t make it into Emily Mortimer’s recent BBC adaptation.

But I was able to honour the principle behind it on two visits to Brunswick House, Jackson Boxer’s much-loved restaurant next to the Lassco architectural salvage yard in Vauxhall, during the same week. The menu was full of temptations, but everything I had the first time around was so superb that I immediately and unquestioningly ordered it all over again on the second.

Brunswick House was one of the restaurants I was most looking forward to returning to, hence the double booking. There’s always been something theatrical about the place, with its velvet drapes, chandeliers and statues—and although the modern British-ish food is never showy, pulling up a chair in the courtyard does feel a little like taking a seat for a performance that you know will captivate you.

First up was a roundel of griddled potato bread, golden brown and steamy-soft inside when I tore hungrily into it, served with a fat puck of wildgarlic butter—a very grown-up take on a childhood Saturday-night treat. Then there was a bowl of chunky belt noodles and Cornish crab, humming with Madagascan pepper and the deep funk of crab-head butter. It’s the kind of dish that has you glancing around the restaurant to see whether any of the other diners are paying enough attention to notice if you were to lick the stoneware clean. The finale was a slice of old-fashioned custard tart.

Rich with Pedro Ximenez and dusted with chocolate shavings, it arrived with a perfect quenelle of banana sorbet on the side. Everything about it was so refined that I genuinely worry that it’s ruined all other puddings for me.

Perhaps it’s my White Fang.

Emma Hughes

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LONDON LIFE

The great and the good

July at a glance We’re all guilty of ignoring what’s on our doorstep, so we’ve made it easier for you. Here’s what’s happening this month

From top: Tennis from Wimbledon is showing at Wild by Tart and in Granary Square; the Classic Car Boot Sale returns

Below: Hungry diners can converge on the Taste of London festival.

Bottom: The Kia Oval is hosting The Hundred

Alamy; Getty

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IMBLEDON is already under way, with the ladies’ and mens’ finals scheduled to take place on July 10 and 11 respectively. Don’t have tickets?

Wild by Tart restaurant in Belgravia is showing matches on a large screen in its courtyard (www.wildbytart.com). Alternatively, make for the canalside steps of Granary Square, King’s Cross, where a free, Everyman open-air cinema is running until July 25. As well as all the Wimbledon tennis action and highlights from the Tour de France, the screen will be showing Dirty Dancing, La La Land, The Princess Bride and lots more (www.kingscross.co.uk/event/everyman-presentssummer-love). There’s plenty going on off the silver screen, including the Classic Car Boot Sale at Coal Drops Yard and Lewis Cubitt Square on July 17 and 18. More than 100 traders working out of classic vehicles will be selling quality secondhand and vintage clothing, homeware and vinyl (www.kingscross.co.uk/event/classiccar-boot-sale). Cricket fans will be delighted to hear that The Hundred–a new, 100ball competition–launches on July 21.

Eight new, city-based women’s and men’s teams will compete over five weeks. The first match will see one of London’s two teams, the Oval Invincibles, take on the Manchester Originals at the Kia Oval (www.thehundred.com). Finally, in Regent’s Park, some of the capital’s top and up-and-coming restaurants and chefs are taking over for the annual Taste of London festival. It starts today (July 7) and runs until July 18 (www.london.tastefestivals.com).

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PRINCES GATE, SW7

£13,500 PW (£58,500 PCM) [5 bedrooms] [5 bathrooms] [6 reception rooms] [porter] A beautiful apartment spread over four floors with a terrace from the ground floor with views over Princes Gardens, lift access and air conditioning. The basement houses a swimming pool, wet room, sauna, cinema room and wine cellar. EPC: C 020 3930 5491

KNIGHTSBRIDGELETTINGS@HAMPTONS.CO.UK

HAMPTONS.CO.UK

WALK THE

LONDON LINE

Our capital city is more inviting for walkers than you might expect, with meadows, towpaths, unexpected sculpture and great houses to draw the eye. Octavia Pollock sets off to explore

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LONDON LIFE

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HIS city was made for walking. Far from being an inhospitable concrete jungle, London has woodland, river meadows and heathland, not to mention countless parks. Alongside bike stations and bus lanes, Transport for London devotes a whole section of its website to walking, including, under Walk London, seven routes that encompass everything from the criss-crossing towpaths of central London to fields and forests at the furthest reaches of the Tube map. Signposts embellished with kestrels and crowns lead to hidden delights, from the sweep of Oxleas Meadows to atmospheric corners, such as the Railway Children Walk, near where Edith Nesbit lived, and the tumbled graves of Abney Park Cemetery.

‘An impish “spriggan” springs from a railway arch in London’s longest nature reserve’ King of the walks is the London Loop, a 150mile hoopla around the city’s edge, sometimes called the walkers’ M25. Launched in 2001, it is monitored by Loop Leaders, volunteers from the Inner London Ramblers, who will run the Love Your Loop festival this September.

The 24 sections pass along the mysterious ‘ghost roads’ near Nonsuch Palace, parallel concrete tracks the origins of which remain unknown; over Capability Brown’s Five Arch Bridge to Foots Cray Meadows; through the ancient hornbeams of Foxburrow Wood, near where Henry VIII’s daughters played in youth; and past Upminster’s rare smock windmill.

Closer in, within 10 miles of Westminster, is the Capital Ring, a 78-mile ‘green corridor round inner London’. It traverses royal Eltham Palace and the Cator family’s splendid 18thcentury Beckenham Place Park, set in a newly restored sweep of parkland with a lake open to swimmers; the site of the UK’s first motor accident in which the driver was killed, in Harrow in 1899; and the Victorian ‘Cathedral of Sewage’ pumping station, built when the utilitarian was made magnificent. Unexpected gems are all over. An impish stone ‘spriggan’ springs from the arch of a disused railway line—now Parkland Walk, London’s longest nature reserve—from Highgate to Finsbury Park. King Henry’s Mound in Richmond Park is, apocryphally, where Henry VIII looked It’s worth pausing on the Capital Ring to explore Syon Park, home of the Dukes of Northumberland since 1594

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LONDON LIFE

Left: The Green Chain walk passes Gothic Severndroog Castle. Right: Eltham Palace on the Capital Ring. Below: In the Olympic Park Guides, but an even older group is London Walks, founded by Australian Keith Baverstock 50 years ago and now run by David and Mary Tucker. Each guide is an expert, from the founding director of the Brunel Museum on the engineer’s bridges to a criminal defence lawyer on the Magna Carta and a doctor on the medical mishaps of Dr Crippen in Fitzrovia. For Wisconsin-born Mr Tucker, Hampstead & the Heath is the best route. ‘Historically, biographically, it stands out, eye candy from first to last,’ he explains. When Covid lockdowns prompted the creation of virtual tours, he added the sound of Keats’s nightingale. ‘On our Kensington “walk”, we could teleport to the Louvre to witness the Eureka moment that led to the invention of the stethoscope.’ The longevity of London Walks guides, most of whom have full-time jobs, is bolstered by a profit-sharing model: ‘Between 88 guides, we have 1,794 years of guiding.’

For Rosie Oliver, lunchtime walks around Greenwich sparked the founding of Dotmaker Tours in 2012. ‘I started to notice little details, gargoyles, odd signs and so on and realised what I was missing. I made a list of animals for my partner to find on a mapped route and it grew from there.’

Each walk offers a new perspective: ‘It’s about re-engaging, re-enchanting.’ Her first route is now Greenwich Bestiary; closest to her heart is The London Ear. ‘We encourage

PUT ON YOUR WALKING SHOES For maps of open-space routes, visit https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking London Walks (020–7624 3978; www.walks.com) Inner London Ramblers (www.innerlondonramblers.org.uk) Dotmaker Tours (07985 464314; www.dotmakertours.co.uk) Artscapes (020–3948 1895; www.artscapesuk.com) To find one of the 600 Blue Badge Guides, visit www.guidelondon.org.uk

people to listen and imagine what we would have heard in the past, metalworking, market calls; there’s a sense of time travel.’ Podcasts have kept the Dotmaker ball rolling in the past year, but the magic truly comes from ‘seeing people surprised and interested together’.

The joy of a walk is in the chance to slow down and see details that are often missed, from frieze flourishes to thought-provoking graffiti. On walks with Artscapes UK (currently bespoke; public tours will return when allowed), the secrets of ‘literary Hampstead, the street art of Shoreditch, the patchwork of culture, food and art in Spitalfields and hidden medieval churches in Clerkenwell are revealed,’ explains Rose O’Connor. ‘Our walks provoke conversation and challenge perceptions.’

As we step further than our front door, take a new path through London, alone or with an enthusiast, and your eyes will be opened.

Alamy

for a rocket fired from the Tower of London, the signal that Anne Boleyn had been executed and he could marry Lady Jane Seymour.

Myth and history yield to modernity in the regenerated East, in the glittering expanse of West Reservoir and the Greenway footpath, a converted sewer near the Olympic Park.

The Green Chain walk, in the south-east, begins with a glimpse of the past at Lesnes Abbey, built in 1178. The dinosaurs of Crystal Palace evoke a more dangerous age and lost watercourses bring back a time before cars.

The tangled paths of Sydenham Hill Wood are a perfect place to get delightfully lost and the route finishes in Nunhead cemetery, one of London’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries.

For an exploration of city hubbub, there’s the Jubilee Greenway, opened to mark The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics, which runs from the Olympic stadium to Horse Guards, and the Jubilee Walkway that circles major landmarks. For a tranquil stroll, the Lea Valley Walk threads the leafy towpath and river basin from Waltham Abbey to the Thames at Limehouse; time your arrival there for a spectacular sunset. And, of course, there is the mighty Thames Path.

Being alone with a map and the view can make for an idyllic Sunday, but having an expert guide can open up routes of which you never dreamed. There are 600 of the famous Blue Badge 44

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LONDON LIFE

Where were your first digs in London?

When I first came to London from Dundee, way back in the mists of time, I stayed at Boodle’s [private members’ club], 28, St James’s Street —dormitory-style, of course, not in the piano nobile!—so I’ve always had a deep love of central London. It was another world altogether, and one of the last bastions of great old traditions. The chef wanted to cook nouvelle, but all they wanted was fish and chips, sausage and mash and steak-and-kidney pudding. Gorgeous and beautifully done. And Lordy, who you didn’t see there! The entire Who’s Who, Burke’s Peerage, Debrett’s, the House of Lords…

And where is home today?

Hackney. Just before the Millennium, a huge building that had been a suit depository for Horne Brothers, the tailor, was developed.

It had soaring high ceilings, huge windows.

Irresistible. There was a canal and London Fields and Victoria Park and lots of nooks and crannies and marvellous old buildings.

But it was literally the middle of nowhere back then—parties and artists and tumbleweed blowing down Broadway Market.

‘I cycle all over the place... you whizz out and whizz back and get that shot of fresh air’

Alamy; alexisimages.com

How has Hackney changed since you’ve been living there?

Suddenly, bakers and food shops popped up and this community started appearing on the back of the existing one. I’m still in the same building and have grown to love it more and more with each passing year. You’re a stone’s throw from L’eau à La Bouche [35–37, Broadway Market, E8] and the beautiful Panzer’s veg shop on Stoke Newington Green [39, Stoke Newington Church Street, N1]. There’s an amazing farmers’ market on Broadway Market and a great Gujarati stall—the best street food in London, as far as I’m concerned (www. gujaratirasoi.co.uk)—and it’s all vegetarian, so it’s my one vague attempt at a healthy diet.

They do a brilliant delivery service, too; the pea dumplings are almost an addiction now.

How did you occupy yourself in lockdown?

What I really loved was that I could walk out of the front door and there was Max’s Secret Smokehouse [Arch 367, Mentmore Terrace, E8]; the E5 Bakehouse [396, Mentmore Terrace, E8]; lots of good things. It meant I could cook my

A bustling Regent’s Canal towpath in Hackney, E8

T H E C A P I TA L A C C O R D I N G T O ...

Jeremy Lee The chef patron of Quo Vadis talks to Flora Watkins about boarding at Boodle’s and why Hackney is home

way through the whole damn thing. I spent a lot of time writing, trying to finish the book I’m working on. It’s an arbitrary collection of all that I love, from my influences, such as Mum, who was a brilliant cook—I grew up with Elizabeth David recipes—to my travels around the world, examining markets and great produce.

At Bibendum and then at Alastair Little, you witnessed the birth of British cooking and a revolution in British produce. What was that like?

Simon [Hopkinson, of Bibendum] was a genius, and Alastair’s brilliant. I learnt so much from those two. It was an extraordinary time. Then Terence [Conran], bless his cotton socks, said, would you like The Blueprint, in the Design Museum? It wasn’t long before Borough Market opened up. Suddenly, brilliantly, all this produce was on our doorstep, all manner of small producers: Neal’s Yard Dairy, Brindisa, Monmouth Coffee, the Ginger Pig.

What are you most looking forward to cooking at Quo Vadis?

One of the things we want to get on the menu is crustaceans. We want to start working more and more with the Hebridean folk, such as Gigha Halibut, steering clear of the big guns.

There’s our lovely Ben, down on Mersea Island [www.benfishmersea.co.uk]. We want to encourage and support all our darlings who’ve worked so beautifully with us over the years.

How do you get around the capital?

I cycle all over the place. One of the things I found about Hackney was, if you got the Underground, bus or a cab, it always took the same time, but on a bicycle, you whizz out and whizz back and get that shot of fresh air. Condor Cycles on Gray’s Inn Road magnificently and beautifully keeps me on the road. I’ve got this very beautiful Condor Italia, which you can never leave outside because it’s so valuable, so it’s all but chained to me now.

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Property market

Penny Churchill

Great escapes Three magnificent properties on the coasts of Wales, Cornwall and Ireland offer seclusion, spectacular views and the scent of the sea Above and below: Plas Penhelig sits in 12½ acres on the southern edge of the Snowdonia National Park and was built in 1908. £3.5m

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S a regime of remote or hybrid working becomes a viable alternative to the dreaded daily commute, city-based home-buyers have been targeting Britain’s 11,000 miles of coastline in search of peace and tranquillity. The launch onto the market of three outstanding, although quite different, coastal properties in spectacular locations, underlines the enduring appeal of a family home by the sea.

Tony Morris-Eyton of Savills in Telford (01952 239500) quotes a guide price of £3.5 million for the immaculate Plas Penhelig, which sits high above the quaint coastal village of Aberdovey, four miles from Tywyn and 10 miles from Machynlleth, at the southern edge of the Snowdonia National Park. Owned by the vendors for 20 years or more, elegant, Edwardian Plas Penhelig, was built in 1908.

It stands in just under 12½ acres of gardens, 128

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Find the best properties at countrylife.co.uk paddocks and woodland and boasts ‘six different views over the picturesque Dyfi estuary’.

Previously run as a successful boutique hotel, Plas Penhelig has been extensively and sympathetically refurbished by the owners to provide 10,600sq ft of stylish accommodation, including three fine reception rooms, a large dining kitchen, a study, gym and wine cellar, plus 10 light and luxurious en-suite bedrooms. Thanks to the waters of the Gulf Stream, rare plants and flowers flourish in Plas Penhelig’s sheltered valley, where the hillside is planted with a mass of shrubs, flowers and trees—from peonies and azaleas to camellias, magnolias, lavender, laburnum, lilac trees and a monkey puzzle. The splendid walled garden is bordered with David Austin roses, orange blossom, Virginia creeper, mimosa and a productive fig tree; a series of Victorian greenhouses is edged with arum lilies.

With Cornwall’s coastal housing boom showing little sign of abating, Sarah-Jane Bingham-Chick of Savills in Exeter (01392 455755) is gleefully overseeing the launch onto the market of the Grade II-listed Old Mill with 7¾ acres of mill pool, gardens and woodlands in the hamlet of Antony Passage, on the banks of the River Lynher in the Forder Valley conservation area, two miles from Saltash.

She quotes a guide price of £3.5m for the former tidal mill, originally built in the 1300s, remodelled in 1613 and extended in the 1800s.

For sale for only the third time in its history —the first time was in 1886 and the next in 1970, when it was acquired by the family of the present owners—the impressive stone complex, then comprising the tidal mill and owner’s mill house as separate properties, has been

Grade II-listed Old Mill in Cornwall boasts Brunel’s Forder Viaduct as its background

reconfigured to form one beautifully refurbished, 5,433sq ft, waterside home with five reception rooms, six bedrooms and five bathrooms. It comes with the adjoining Beach Cottage, a pretty, two-bedroom, stone cottage with its own private garden and views over Forder Lake.

Set against the background of the muchphotographed Forder Viaduct (one of 42 viaducts designed by Brunel along the Penzance to London railway line), the Old Mill stands at the end of a no-through lane on the banks of the River Lynher. It offers easy water access from its own private moorings to the lovely Tamar Valley AONB, with its various inland cruising options, and to nearby Plymouth Sound, where the open sea, the Scilly Isles, Brittany and Ireland beckon.

Old Mill near Saltash, Cornwall, offers access to the River Lynher and the sea beyond. £3.5m

From England’s west coast, it’s an exhilarating sail across the Irish Sea to the historic port of Kinsale in West Cork, on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. Dubbed Ireland’s St Tropez, no other town outside Dublin and its environs attracts multi-millionaires from around the world as does this picturesque gourmet hotspot and gateway to the sailing ports of West Cork.

The splendid walled garden is bordered with David Austin roses Kinsale was the destination of choice for Northern Ireland-born Des McGahan and his Australian wife, Lisa, when, in the 1990s, they bought a holiday home on the hill overlooking Kinsale as a retreat from hectic careers as event organisers in Hong Kong and southeast Asia. Some years later, they were looking to extend their horizon beyond a view of Kinsale harbour when, one day, they drove up a narrow winding road through the woods lining the Bandon River on the edge of the town.

At the top of the hill, Lisa looked back and saw a run-down Georgian house with cows grazing on what was once a lawn. That was the ‘light-bulb moment’ that led, in 2000, to the purchase of Ballinacurra House and the start of a 20-year programme of renovation, investment and improvement of the house and its ancillary buildings, the whole set in splendid seclusion, surrounded by 25 acres of ancient woodland running down to the Bandon estuary.

‘Secluded but not isolated’ is the watchword at Ballinacurra House, which has 129

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Property market

In its current configuration, Ballinacurra House near Kinsale offers 28 bedrooms and 25 acres. €6.35m for the whole

evolved over the years into an exclusive wedding and private party venue frequented by a who’s who of corporate and celebrity clients. Even locals are largely unaware that the estate exists, hidden as it is by massive trees, tall gates and 12ft-high stone ‘famine’ walls along an unmarked country lane.

The possibilities for Ballinacurra House, say the owners, are endless ‘Ballinacurra House has always slipped below the radar, probably because it has largely been a country retreat rather than a principal family home,’ says Mrs McGahan who, from the outset, has incorporated many original historical elements in an often startling reconstruction of the 18th-century house.

Built in 1770 by John Swete, as a ‘small hunting lodge’ on 300 acres for his son, John, the entire estate was sold to the prosperous Bleazby family of Cork for £5,500 in 1791.

In 1831, William Bleazby built the east and west wings and Ballinacurra’s stately ballroom, where dinner dances were held in a bid to present his five daughters to Cork’s most eligible bachelors. Some 150 years later, the Bleazby family sold Ballinacurra to the artist and explorer John Danford, who left the property

to the Ardfoyle nuns of Cork on his death in 1970. The nuns lived in the centre of the main house and used the rest of the building as a summer retreat. In the 1980s, Ballinacurra was twice sold to expatriate owners before the arrival of the McGahans in 2000.

During their 21-year tenure, the McGahans have remodelled the main house, which now comprises the main block of eight en-suite bedrooms, a country-style kitchen, various reception rooms and living areas and an entertainment wing with six further guest bedrooms and various entertainment rooms.

The original garden cottage and coach house have been fully restored and a new six-bedroom lodge, currently the owners’ private residence, was added in 2008. In its current configuration, Ballinacurra offers 28 bedrooms in all.

The property enjoys private water frontage onto the Ballinacurra Creek, which feeds into the Bandon River and into the estuary. As well as road access to this picnic area, there is a rebuilt jetty and fishing deck. The remains of a boat house have development potential, as does the rest of this property, which stands once more at a crossroads.

Currently for sale through Knight Frank in Dublin (00 35 31 634 2466) and London (020–7861 1078) at a guide price of €6.35m (£5.46m) for the whole, Ballinacurra House could revert to its original status of a private family estate or continue in its commercial role as a corporate estate with development potential; or as a private ‘wellness’ retreat, a luxury retirement retreat; or as a private addiction and rehabilitation centre. The possibilities, say the owners, are ‘endless’.

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Properties of the week

Edited by Carla Passino

Of the first water Oh! We do like to be beside the seaside

Devon, £900,000 Buyers looking for a coastal property could hardly come across one that’s closer to the water than Tuckers, in the ever-popular town of Salcombe. Originally dating from the early 19th century, this former fisherman’s cottage is literally feet away from the estuary, over which it enjoys glorious views. One of the two bedrooms, the sitting room, which has large sliding doors, and the south-facing terrace beyond are all great vantage points from which to soak up the panorama. With 557sq ft of space, Tuckers would be the perfect holiday cottage, which could also double up as rental accommodation.

Luscombe Maye (01548 845090)

9000

Kent, £4.25 million Set in 11½ acres on the edge of Dover’s white cliffs, The Cliff House enjoys long views of the Channel from almost every room. The 4,821sq ft interiors feature a triple-aspect sitting room, a large drawing room, a study and a snug, as well as five bedrooms, including the magnificent master suite, which comes with its own sitting room and dressing room. Additional accommodation is available in an annexe and two other buildings, one of which is currently let out.

The lawns outside the main house are ideal for entertaining. Also on the grounds is a Grade II-listed lighthouse (not in use). Knight Frank (01892 772942) 132

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