Stories 9 GBP

STORIES

A different perspective.

STOR IES FOR SPR ING

VOLUME 9 SPRING 2019

Twenty eight. That’s the number of paint shades in our collection and the only colours you’ll ever need. Each one as timeless as the next. Each one blended by us to complement the others.

Paint, made easy.

FOREWORD

Is it wrong to have a favourite? Go to the same restaurant repeatedly and you might be accused of being stuck in your ways. Have a wardrobe full of one colour or a home decorated in shades of grey, and some might think you’ve not broadened your horizons, choosing instead to set sail, drop anchor and bob in those waters alone. But, don’t we all foster a favourite?

One of the best things about favourites is that they’re fluid.

If you have an all-time favourite restaurant, then indulge it.

At some point, you’re likely to discover another, and then a new favourite will be passed the baton. If grey makes you feel happy and soothed, then enjoy it as much as you please, knowing that if you change your view later down the line, you can. Nothing is set in stone. Favourites can be flitted between, they can be transient, they can be for forever. The real beauty of them is that they encourage you to channel energy into what makes you feel your best, your happiest.

This spring and all summer long, we’re going to be talking lots about the practice of gathering together your favourite things – possessions and people. In Stories, in our stores, and on our website. On our journal, in our photography and at our events. From uniting your nearest and dearest for a garden get-together, to editing down what you have in your home to celebrate the items that you love most, so that you can sing all season long – these are a few of my favourite things.

With love, The Stories team

to gather together What do you think of when you hear the word gather?

(Other than the obvious and general understanding of people aplenty).

W

e asked around at Neptune HQ. One person said, “It’s when I have all of my chicks back home with me during the university holidays or at Christmastime. I gather them close and I cluck away.”

Another person said, “It’s a big get-together at somebody’s house for me. Getting everyone in the one room to have a few drinks, something to eat and to have a good laugh.” A third spoke of going on holiday, talking of how he thinks of gathering everything he wants to take with him on the bed before it’s bundled into a suitcase.

A fourth detailed how she was torn, because first, she thought of loved ones, and then she thought of having a clear-out and gathering big piles of the stuff she wants to keep and the stuff she doesn’t. A taking stock sort of gathering. While somebody else called out, “Funnily enough, it makes me think of fabric and folds. But that’s probably because I’m old-fashioned and love anything with pleats.”

Concerts, rugby matches, supper parties, weddings (the famous ‘we are gathered here today’ line of traditional verse came up time and time again). Packing, reorganising, collecting (memories of nostalgic stamp and sticker collections were mooted once or twice too). Gathering in all its many guises has one clearas-day, collective thought – the bringing together of people, or things, to make you feel good, inside and out.

Question number two. What does your home have to do with gathering? The answer – a heck of a lot.

Everyone back to my place, supper’s ready, your turn to pick a film, and so on. These are all phrases that leave our lips day in day out, because your home’s a place of community and togetherness. It’s a place and an opportunity for gathering.

But go beyond people and allow yourself to be materialistic for a moment. The very nature of filling your home with everything from furniture to photo frames is an exercise in gathering. You pick out, you ponder over, you amass, and you arrange the belongings in your home so they’re in tune with your family’s rhythm.

Collecting and curating for your home is a very personal expression of gathering. Together with the people that you fill it with, it’s how you make it lived in and loved.

People and products. Thoughts and memories. Inspiration and ideas. Open your arms wide, gather one, gather all, and add them into the melting pot that is your home. A home filled not just with your tribe, but with the stuff of life that you’ve hunted and gathered to write your own story and that help you to live it best.

Your sacred, special place.

to gather together What do you think of when you hear the word gather?

(Other than the obvious and general understanding of people aplenty).

W

e asked around at Neptune HQ. One person said, “It’s when I have all of my chicks back home with me during the university holidays or at Christmastime. I gather them close and I cluck away.”

Another person said, “It’s a big get-together at somebody’s house for me. Getting everyone in the one room to have a few drinks, something to eat and to have a good laugh.” A third spoke of going on holiday, talking of how he thinks of gathering everything he wants to take with him on the bed before it’s bundled into a suitcase.

A fourth detailed how she was torn, because first, she thought of loved ones, and then she thought of having a clear-out and gathering big piles of the stuff she wants to keep and the stuff she doesn’t. A taking stock sort of gathering. While somebody else called out, “Funnily enough, it makes me think of fabric and folds. But that’s probably because I’m old-fashioned and love anything with pleats.”

Concerts, rugby matches, supper parties, weddings (the famous ‘we are gathered here today’ line of traditional verse came up time and time again). Packing, reorganising, collecting (memories of nostalgic stamp and sticker collections were mooted once or twice too). Gathering in all its many guises has one clearas-day, collective thought – the bringing together of people, or things, to make you feel good, inside and out.

Question number two. What does your home have to do with gathering? The answer – a heck of a lot.

Everyone back to my place, supper’s ready, your turn to pick a film, and so on. These are all phrases that leave our lips day in day out, because your home’s a place of community and togetherness. It’s a place and an opportunity for gathering.

But go beyond people and allow yourself to be materialistic for a moment. The very nature of filling your home with everything from furniture to photo frames is an exercise in gathering. You pick out, you ponder over, you amass, and you arrange the belongings in your home so they’re in tune with your family’s rhythm.

Collecting and curating for your home is a very personal expression of gathering. Together with the people that you fill it with, it’s how you make it lived in and loved.

People and products. Thoughts and memories. Inspiration and ideas. Open your arms wide, gather one, gather all, and add them into the melting pot that is your home. A home filled not just with your tribe, but with the stuff of life that you’ve hunted and gathered to write your own story and that help you to live it best.

Your sacred, special place.

Taking mirrors al fresco

Arabella St John Parker, freelance gardens editor, shares her home-grown ideas for all the different ways she likes to use mirrored surfaces in her precious patch of green.

Taking mirrors al fresco

Arabella St John Parker, freelance gardens editor, shares her home-grown ideas for all the different ways she likes to use mirrored surfaces in her precious patch of green.

W

hen it comes to using mirrors in the garden, I favour the less is more approach. Shiny surfaces everywhere, à la Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, quite frankly, would induce a minor migraine. I would also feel distinctly self-conscious, surrounded by multiple reflections of myself. No, no. I recommend a subtle approach. Think of the mirror and its surface as your garden’s accent colour and statement piece combined, and one of the ideas opposite could be all you need to propel you into mirror-dom.

CR E ATE A FOC A L POINT

ADD A GLINT TO GAR DEN POTS

Use a decorative display of wall-hung mirrors to draw the eye, to reflect one of your favourite sections of the garden (it then means you get to appreciate that view twice – the real version and the reflected one), or to ornament a particular area of your garden, such as a backdrop to your dining terrace, glimpsed on the wall at the far end of a path. Be creative with your choice of mirrors (think about their shapes, sizes, frame types and colour), and look out for vintage pieces and mix them with newer finds, including interior mirrors. Neptune’s Lavenham and Carter mirrors are favourites of mine.

Remember though, they’ll weather and show signs of age when they live outdoors. But embrace it, celebrate it.

They’re signs of habitat and nature at play.

Mixing one or two decorative mercurised glass vases into a group of planted containers is a quick, easy way to work mirror into a plant scheme. If you decide to plant up the vases, you'll almost certainly need to drill decentsized holes into the bottom so the soil can drain freely.

If the neck is wide enough, you could keep the plant in its plastic pot and place it inside the glass one, resting on some stones. After a heavy rainfall, tip away excess water to save the plants from drowning.

ST Y L E U P YOU R TA BL ETOP A permanent arrangement of mercurised glass candlesticks and tealights, bowls, and objets on a weathered garden table reminds me of long summer evenings, even in spells of April showers. Collect mercurised glass pieces as often as you see them – the older or more mottled the better – revelling in how they reflect sunlight, moonlight and candlelight.

ST RUC T U R A L HIGHLIGHTS Use a sheet of mirror as an underlay for a wall trellis, decorative fence or even your garden gate. Choose a natural, textured structure such as woven willow or hazel, chestnut palings or even a fine, old, wrought-iron gate, and plant scramblers and climbers that are not too dense – roses, clematis and honeysuckle – so you can still see the glint of the mirror behind.

Acrylic mirror sheets would work well here too, and better still when used as veneers for the front of a raised bed or the risers of your garden steps, creating dashes of mirrored light at ground level. The acrylic is shatterproof and lightweight, so it’s safe from stray cricket balls.

Finally, keep an eye out for salvaged architectural pieces that are already mirror-glazed. Candle wall sconces are classics, or for something more unique, you might like a mirrored sundial – both of which I spotted at The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in Battersea Park earlier this year.

Who says mirrors have to be on a wall, after all?

Previous page: Fleming medium mirror £125 / Lutyens bench £1,265 On the left: Southrop tall planter £295 and small planter £205 both painted in Silver Birch / Terracotta plant pots from £10

W

hen it comes to using mirrors in the garden, I favour the less is more approach. Shiny surfaces everywhere, à la Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, quite frankly, would induce a minor migraine. I would also feel distinctly self-conscious, surrounded by multiple reflections of myself. No, no. I recommend a subtle approach. Think of the mirror and its surface as your garden’s accent colour and statement piece combined, and one of the ideas opposite could be all you need to propel you into mirror-dom.

CR E ATE A FOC A L POINT

ADD A GLINT TO GAR DEN POTS

Use a decorative display of wall-hung mirrors to draw the eye, to reflect one of your favourite sections of the garden (it then means you get to appreciate that view twice – the real version and the reflected one), or to ornament a particular area of your garden, such as a backdrop to your dining terrace, glimpsed on the wall at the far end of a path. Be creative with your choice of mirrors (think about their shapes, sizes, frame types and colour), and look out for vintage pieces and mix them with newer finds, including interior mirrors. Neptune’s Lavenham and Carter mirrors are favourites of mine.

Remember though, they’ll weather and show signs of age when they live outdoors. But embrace it, celebrate it.

They’re signs of habitat and nature at play.

Mixing one or two decorative mercurised glass vases into a group of planted containers is a quick, easy way to work mirror into a plant scheme. If you decide to plant up the vases, you'll almost certainly need to drill decentsized holes into the bottom so the soil can drain freely.

If the neck is wide enough, you could keep the plant in its plastic pot and place it inside the glass one, resting on some stones. After a heavy rainfall, tip away excess water to save the plants from drowning.

ST Y L E U P YOU R TA BL ETOP A permanent arrangement of mercurised glass candlesticks and tealights, bowls, and objets on a weathered garden table reminds me of long summer evenings, even in spells of April showers. Collect mercurised glass pieces as often as you see them – the older or more mottled the better – revelling in how they reflect sunlight, moonlight and candlelight.

ST RUC T U R A L HIGHLIGHTS Use a sheet of mirror as an underlay for a wall trellis, decorative fence or even your garden gate. Choose a natural, textured structure such as woven willow or hazel, chestnut palings or even a fine, old, wrought-iron gate, and plant scramblers and climbers that are not too dense – roses, clematis and honeysuckle – so you can still see the glint of the mirror behind.

Acrylic mirror sheets would work well here too, and better still when used as veneers for the front of a raised bed or the risers of your garden steps, creating dashes of mirrored light at ground level. The acrylic is shatterproof and lightweight, so it’s safe from stray cricket balls.

Finally, keep an eye out for salvaged architectural pieces that are already mirror-glazed. Candle wall sconces are classics, or for something more unique, you might like a mirrored sundial – both of which I spotted at The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in Battersea Park earlier this year.

Who says mirrors have to be on a wall, after all?

Previous page: Fleming medium mirror £125 / Lutyens bench £1,265 On the left: Southrop tall planter £295 and small planter £205 both painted in Silver Birch / Terracotta plant pots from £10

“ Blue blue electric blue, that’s the colour of my room where I will live, blue blue. Pale blinds drawn all day, nothing to do, nothing to say.”

BLUE

B Former editor-in-chief of ELLE Decoration UK and internationally-acclaimed authority on design and colour, Michelle Ogundehin joins us for the third time to do one of the (many) things that she does best – delving deep into the world of colour, unpicking the history and analysing the psychology behind the colour blue.

et you’re singing along already, right? For these are the opening lyrics of one of David Bowie’s most famous songs, Sound and Vision, perfectly capturing the moody symbolism of the colour blue.

Then again, if we really want laconic soundtracks par excellence, consider the quadruple platinum-selling Kind of Blue recorded by Miles Davis in 1959, one of the greatest jazz albums of all time, and a cornerstone of many a student CD collection. And what of the blues itself, the very manifestation of strife and melancholia in musical form. Or the phrase, ‘to have the blues’, itself assumed to originate from the 17th-century English expression ‘the blue devils’, which described the fevered hallucinations experienced by an alcoholic of the age in the midst of cold turkey. In fact, by the 1800s, to be ‘blue’ was slang for drunk, as is ‘blau sein’ today in colloquial German.

Thus, can it be that blue, widely acknowledged as the planet’s favourite colour, is intrinsically symbolic of woe or extreme inebriation?

In truth, this is but one side of this eminently fascinating hue. Blue is indeed routinely recalled as the world’s most popular colour, no doubt because it’s instantly reminiscent of an idyllic vision of nature: cloudless summer skies and warm calm seas. And by virtue of this association, it’s said to confer feelings of tranquillity and inner peace. As a result, many corporate logos and uniforms, professional to scholarly, tend to be rendered in crisply inoffensive midblues in order to prompt thoughts of dependability and promote loyalty in the ranks. Likewise, blue is included in 53% of the world’s flags.

However, in India, blue is commonly thought to bring bad luck and be the colour of mourning, as is dark blue in Korea. Yet the Greeks believe that blue wards off the ‘evil eye’, and it’s of course the default clothing colour for the Virgin Mary. And yet, blue is known to suppress the metabolism – present food on a blue plate and your appetite will wane. So, is blue the colour of death and suppression, or divine protection?

But pivot again and we have the popular idioms ‘blue sky thinking’, meaning to think imaginatively and without constriction. To have ‘blue blood’ infers someone of aristocratic heritage. ‘A bolt from the blue’ can certainly mean bad news but also a burst of inspiration. And how about the ‘blue fit’ connotations of explosive anger? The list goes on, for blue is clearly nothing if not a colour of immense contradictions.

Some of this contrary nature can be explained by its many variants: blue being unusual in colour terms for being a rather imprecise catch-all for a huge array of shades. In other words, the meanings ascribed to dark blue or navy differ significantly to those attached to lighter tones. For example, veer towards the indigo end of the blue spectrum and these shades are widely held to be representative of intelligence and dignity. Why? Because it’s a strong, upright colour, yet one that lacks the hard edges and absolutism of black – dark blue commands without being dictatorial. But, tend towards brighter blues and a different picture emerges.

“ Blue blue electric blue, that’s the colour of my room where I will live, blue blue. Pale blinds drawn all day, nothing to do, nothing to say.”

BLUE

B Former editor-in-chief of ELLE Decoration UK and internationally-acclaimed authority on design and colour, Michelle Ogundehin joins us for the third time to do one of the (many) things that she does best – delving deep into the world of colour, unpicking the history and analysing the psychology behind the colour blue.

et you’re singing along already, right? For these are the opening lyrics of one of David Bowie’s most famous songs, Sound and Vision, perfectly capturing the moody symbolism of the colour blue.

Then again, if we really want laconic soundtracks par excellence, consider the quadruple platinum-selling Kind of Blue recorded by Miles Davis in 1959, one of the greatest jazz albums of all time, and a cornerstone of many a student CD collection. And what of the blues itself, the very manifestation of strife and melancholia in musical form. Or the phrase, ‘to have the blues’, itself assumed to originate from the 17th-century English expression ‘the blue devils’, which described the fevered hallucinations experienced by an alcoholic of the age in the midst of cold turkey. In fact, by the 1800s, to be ‘blue’ was slang for drunk, as is ‘blau sein’ today in colloquial German.

Thus, can it be that blue, widely acknowledged as the planet’s favourite colour, is intrinsically symbolic of woe or extreme inebriation?

In truth, this is but one side of this eminently fascinating hue. Blue is indeed routinely recalled as the world’s most popular colour, no doubt because it’s instantly reminiscent of an idyllic vision of nature: cloudless summer skies and warm calm seas. And by virtue of this association, it’s said to confer feelings of tranquillity and inner peace. As a result, many corporate logos and uniforms, professional to scholarly, tend to be rendered in crisply inoffensive midblues in order to prompt thoughts of dependability and promote loyalty in the ranks. Likewise, blue is included in 53% of the world’s flags.

However, in India, blue is commonly thought to bring bad luck and be the colour of mourning, as is dark blue in Korea. Yet the Greeks believe that blue wards off the ‘evil eye’, and it’s of course the default clothing colour for the Virgin Mary. And yet, blue is known to suppress the metabolism – present food on a blue plate and your appetite will wane. So, is blue the colour of death and suppression, or divine protection?

But pivot again and we have the popular idioms ‘blue sky thinking’, meaning to think imaginatively and without constriction. To have ‘blue blood’ infers someone of aristocratic heritage. ‘A bolt from the blue’ can certainly mean bad news but also a burst of inspiration. And how about the ‘blue fit’ connotations of explosive anger? The list goes on, for blue is clearly nothing if not a colour of immense contradictions.

Some of this contrary nature can be explained by its many variants: blue being unusual in colour terms for being a rather imprecise catch-all for a huge array of shades. In other words, the meanings ascribed to dark blue or navy differ significantly to those attached to lighter tones. For example, veer towards the indigo end of the blue spectrum and these shades are widely held to be representative of intelligence and dignity. Why? Because it’s a strong, upright colour, yet one that lacks the hard edges and absolutism of black – dark blue commands without being dictatorial. But, tend towards brighter blues and a different picture emerges.

Here, images of the sea are usually evoked and with that ideas of cleanliness, liberation and freedom. Whereas if contemplating very vivid blues, of the kind found in a child’s paint palette, we stray accordingly towards youthful optimism and naivety. And by increasingly adding white, we enter the territory of the sky, and all the associated connotations of heaven and celestial harmony. Thus, pale blues have come to signify serenity and calm.

Yet, as the French artist Yves Klein once said while in dogged pursuit of the perfect tone for a sky, “blue has no dimensions. It is beyond dimensions.” And certainly, in art the use of blue was defined less by its associations and more by its rarity.

At times more expensive than gold, the first blue pigment, a Mediterranean summer sky-hued blue, was created around 2,200 BC by the early Egyptians.

They mixed ground limestone with sand and a copper-containing mineral, such as azurite or malachite; heated, powdered and then probably combined it with something like egg white to make a glaze. It was highly prized and used to decorate only important ceramics and the tombs of pharaohs. Nevertheless, this ‘Egyptian Blue’ was the definitive azure right up until the Medieval era.

By then, the more intense blue seen in European paintings of the time is likely to be ‘Ultramarine Blue’, made from the semi-precious gemstone Lapis Lazuli imported by Italian traders from mines in Afghanistan. Also known as ‘True Blue’, it was highly sought after and, again, the preserve only of the wealthy for special commissions. The striking

blue headscarf worn by Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring is a wonderful Dutch Baroque example – and reputedly his love for the colour was such that he pushed his entire family into debt over it!

Then there’s the deeper-toned ‘Prussian Blue’, discovered in the early 18th Century by a German dye-maker who accidently combining potash with blood.

It was used by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai for his iconic 1831 woodblock series Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji, including The Great Wave off Kanagawa and later exclusively by Picasso during his depression-inspired 1901-1904 Blue Period. It was much cheaper than the pigments that preceded it, and more resistant to fading too, and so rapidly became the new blue du jour – albeit very briefly ousted by Cerulean Blue, as favoured by the French Impressionists Monet and Morisot (and more recently made famous by Meryl Streep in the film of The Devil Wears Prada!). And of course, no quick dip into the pantheon of iconic blues would be complete without returning to Yves Klein, who trademarked an artificial derivative of the earlier Ultramarine blue as his signature colour for a decade of paintings from 1947 to 1957.

But it’s not all historical intrigue. Excitingly, a new blue was deemed to have been created just a decade ago. Named YInMn blue, it was discovered, again by chance, by a Professor Mas Subramanian and his team at Oregon State University while experimenting with new materials for electronics. Composed of yttrium, indium, and manganese, hence the peculiar

name, it was subsequently released as a commercial pigment in 2016. Such was the fanfare at its reveal, this deep blue with a reddish undertone was swiftly inducted into none other than the Crayola canon of wax crayon colours!

Thus, has blue held the world transfixed, and I’d suggest that its power lies in its very accessibility – it is the most democratic of colours, meaning all things to all people. After all, could denim jeans really have been any other colour? However, I believe there's a distinction to be made between the social meanings ascribed to the shade, and the more literal, emotional ones. For example, its positive attributes are quite obviously linked to the seemingly limitless expansiveness of air and water, the very building blocks of life itself. Whereas I’d posit that many of the negative associations derive from the fact that blue rarely occurs naturally in food – bar black grapes, blueberries and a few potatoes – thus something blue would ordinarily be either rotten or poisonous; ergo blue equals desolute to bad.

In a now typical volte-face, blue-coloured coffees to cocktails might soon be adorning the menus of every hip restaurant and bar in town courtesy of the latest culinary import from the Far East, the Butterfly pea plant, aka the blue pea. Thanks to its leaves, food and drink can now be rendered brilliant blue in seconds without affecting the flavour. Whether this food fad will sell is debatable; regardless it’s certainly a fitting next chapter in this colour’s eminently twisty history.

(Page 12) Deeper II print by Miranda Carter £230

Here, images of the sea are usually evoked and with that ideas of cleanliness, liberation and freedom. Whereas if contemplating very vivid blues, of the kind found in a child’s paint palette, we stray accordingly towards youthful optimism and naivety. And by increasingly adding white, we enter the territory of the sky, and all the associated connotations of heaven and celestial harmony. Thus, pale blues have come to signify serenity and calm.

Yet, as the French artist Yves Klein once said while in dogged pursuit of the perfect tone for a sky, “blue has no dimensions. It is beyond dimensions.” And certainly, in art the use of blue was defined less by its associations and more by its rarity.

At times more expensive than gold, the first blue pigment, a Mediterranean summer sky-hued blue, was created around 2,200 BC by the early Egyptians.

They mixed ground limestone with sand and a copper-containing mineral, such as azurite or malachite; heated, powdered and then probably combined it with something like egg white to make a glaze. It was highly prized and used to decorate only important ceramics and the tombs of pharaohs. Nevertheless, this ‘Egyptian Blue’ was the definitive azure right up until the Medieval era.

By then, the more intense blue seen in European paintings of the time is likely to be ‘Ultramarine Blue’, made from the semi-precious gemstone Lapis Lazuli imported by Italian traders from mines in Afghanistan. Also known as ‘True Blue’, it was highly sought after and, again, the preserve only of the wealthy for special commissions. The striking

blue headscarf worn by Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring is a wonderful Dutch Baroque example – and reputedly his love for the colour was such that he pushed his entire family into debt over it!

Then there’s the deeper-toned ‘Prussian Blue’, discovered in the early 18th Century by a German dye-maker who accidently combining potash with blood.

It was used by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai for his iconic 1831 woodblock series Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji, including The Great Wave off Kanagawa and later exclusively by Picasso during his depression-inspired 1901-1904 Blue Period. It was much cheaper than the pigments that preceded it, and more resistant to fading too, and so rapidly became the new blue du jour – albeit very briefly ousted by Cerulean Blue, as favoured by the French Impressionists Monet and Morisot (and more recently made famous by Meryl Streep in the film of The Devil Wears Prada!). And of course, no quick dip into the pantheon of iconic blues would be complete without returning to Yves Klein, who trademarked an artificial derivative of the earlier Ultramarine blue as his signature colour for a decade of paintings from 1947 to 1957.

But it’s not all historical intrigue. Excitingly, a new blue was deemed to have been created just a decade ago. Named YInMn blue, it was discovered, again by chance, by a Professor Mas Subramanian and his team at Oregon State University while experimenting with new materials for electronics. Composed of yttrium, indium, and manganese, hence the peculiar

name, it was subsequently released as a commercial pigment in 2016. Such was the fanfare at its reveal, this deep blue with a reddish undertone was swiftly inducted into none other than the Crayola canon of wax crayon colours!

Thus, has blue held the world transfixed, and I’d suggest that its power lies in its very accessibility – it is the most democratic of colours, meaning all things to all people. After all, could denim jeans really have been any other colour? However, I believe there's a distinction to be made between the social meanings ascribed to the shade, and the more literal, emotional ones. For example, its positive attributes are quite obviously linked to the seemingly limitless expansiveness of air and water, the very building blocks of life itself. Whereas I’d posit that many of the negative associations derive from the fact that blue rarely occurs naturally in food – bar black grapes, blueberries and a few potatoes – thus something blue would ordinarily be either rotten or poisonous; ergo blue equals desolute to bad.

In a now typical volte-face, blue-coloured coffees to cocktails might soon be adorning the menus of every hip restaurant and bar in town courtesy of the latest culinary import from the Far East, the Butterfly pea plant, aka the blue pea. Thanks to its leaves, food and drink can now be rendered brilliant blue in seconds without affecting the flavour. Whether this food fad will sell is debatable; regardless it’s certainly a fitting next chapter in this colour’s eminently twisty history.

(Page 12) Deeper II print by Miranda Carter £230

In light of our newest seasonal shade, Flax Blue, interiors writer, author and all-round fountain of design knowledge Kate Watson-Smyth, of the multi award-winning blog Mad About the House, muses on how to develop a blue palette in your home.

B SINGING THE BLUES

lue is the world’s favourite colour. Time and again in opinion polls, it emerges as our most popular shade.

That said, blue can be a hard colour to get right when it comes to interior design. Too pale and it can appear cold, too bright and it doesn’t work in our northern hemisphere. But when you find the right shade, blue is calming and relaxing, warm and soothing. It’s also surprisingly versatile as it’s friends with most of the other colours on the spectrum. That means, you can integrate it into the overall colour palette of your home without too much difficulty.

Neptune’s new seasonal colour for their spring collection is called Flax Blue, inspired by the petals of the plant from which linen is sourced. And this soft pale shade, with a hint of grey, is versatile enough to suit any room in the house.

Let’s start with the kitchen, where the Victorians felt that blue kept the flies away and often added a bag of laundry blue (a form of detergent that made clothes appear whiter) to the distemper to colour the walls. Over one hundred years later, and it’s still a popular kitchen colour, although perhaps for different reasons. Flax Blue is the perfect friend to Neptune’s soft white Salt shade – use that on the walls, and oak on the work surfaces for instant crispness. Or, with Neptune’s Henley kitchen, let wood be more of a colour in your scheme by having some cabinetry in oak and some painted in Flax Blue.

You could even consider the Suffolk kitchen with Flax Blue for the base cabinets and a mustard or ochre tone for the top – very modern. If you want your blue to be subtler, just paint one key piece in the kitchen Flax Blue, like a dresser or larder, and then pick up on the blue tone in a tiled splashback, perhaps.

Holborn 5ft dresser £2,930 / Theo armchair, Harry Flax Blue £770 / Charlie sofa, Harry Flax Blue £2,065

In light of our newest seasonal shade, Flax Blue, interiors writer, author and all-round fountain of design knowledge Kate Watson-Smyth, of the multi award-winning blog Mad About the House, muses on how to develop a blue palette in your home.

B SINGING THE BLUES

lue is the world’s favourite colour. Time and again in opinion polls, it emerges as our most popular shade.

That said, blue can be a hard colour to get right when it comes to interior design. Too pale and it can appear cold, too bright and it doesn’t work in our northern hemisphere. But when you find the right shade, blue is calming and relaxing, warm and soothing. It’s also surprisingly versatile as it’s friends with most of the other colours on the spectrum. That means, you can integrate it into the overall colour palette of your home without too much difficulty.

Neptune’s new seasonal colour for their spring collection is called Flax Blue, inspired by the petals of the plant from which linen is sourced. And this soft pale shade, with a hint of grey, is versatile enough to suit any room in the house.

Let’s start with the kitchen, where the Victorians felt that blue kept the flies away and often added a bag of laundry blue (a form of detergent that made clothes appear whiter) to the distemper to colour the walls. Over one hundred years later, and it’s still a popular kitchen colour, although perhaps for different reasons. Flax Blue is the perfect friend to Neptune’s soft white Salt shade – use that on the walls, and oak on the work surfaces for instant crispness. Or, with Neptune’s Henley kitchen, let wood be more of a colour in your scheme by having some cabinetry in oak and some painted in Flax Blue.

You could even consider the Suffolk kitchen with Flax Blue for the base cabinets and a mustard or ochre tone for the top – very modern. If you want your blue to be subtler, just paint one key piece in the kitchen Flax Blue, like a dresser or larder, and then pick up on the blue tone in a tiled splashback, perhaps.

Holborn 5ft dresser £2,930 / Theo armchair, Harry Flax Blue £770 / Charlie sofa, Harry Flax Blue £2,065

Moving into the sitting room and the softness of Flax Blue can bring a warm, relaxing feeling – think of Provence in the summer holidays. In here, you might add a sofa in one of Neptune’s Mustard-coloured fabrics and then some denim-blue or navy cushions to anchor the scheme.

Try painting the walls in Lily. If you want a room to always feel relaxing then make sure you keep to a relatively symmetrical design – a candlestick at either end of the mantelpiece, a picture in each alcove (mix up the style so it’s not too coordinated) and a mirror between to bounce the light around. And if you want to create something a little bolder, then consider adding a sofa in Harry Rust linen with patterned Emma cushions in Teal and Mustard. Flax Blue is a tone that laps up other colours.

It goes without saying that Flax Blue is a perfect colour for the bedroom. The best way to create the most relaxing feeling is to paint all the woodwork the same colour as the walls. This stops the eye being distracted by a white outline of doors and skirting boards. To really intensify this feeling of calm, you could go up over the ceiling as well. Then you can either add strong colours in the form of the bedding and rugs, or keep it pale and light depending on whether you’re a night owl or a morning lark. I’d use the Tolsey or Elgin rugs in a Flax Blue bedroom. For the rest of the room, you can keep to shades of soft blue and off-white, or spin the colour wheel to the other side and bring in more rust, orange and mustard for a contrast. It comes down to how

soothing you want it all to be. Flax Blue’s always going to keep things mellow though.

If, at this point, you’re asking, should I be using Flax Blue in every room then? It’s a fair point. One of the questions that I’m often asked, is how to create a cohesive tone throughout the house, and this doesn’t mean having the exact same colour in every room. You do need to pick your hero shade, however. Soft or strong, you’ll want to reference it in ways big and small throughout the house, even if it’s only on all four walls in one room. If we were to take Flax Blue as your home’s hero shade, and for the sake of argument, let’s use it for our imaginary hall.

From there you might continue it through to the sitting room walls but adding splashes of mustard, oak accents, rust and patterns – both floral and stripes. Moving to the kitchen, you might use it on the lower cabinets only, giving you freedom to bring in pale shades of Salt, Old Chalk, Lily or Silver Birch to upper cabinets – and if you match the cupboards to the wall colour, it’ll open up the space and make it feel bigger. Oak flooring throughout your downstairs rooms will add to the sense of continuity and flow. Upstairs, you might reference the colour simply in a painting, a candle or a chair on the landing. Or maybe you’ll go the whole hog in the bedroom. But you don’t need to worry about it too much. Once you’ve fallen in love with a colour, you’ll find it cropping up again and again without you even really making a conscious decision. It’ll become second nature.

Hear more from Kate If you haven’t already subscribed, Kate’s now into the second series of her own interiors podcast. Together with TV presenter and designer Sophie Robinson, in each episode of The Great Indoors, they dissect a design topic, sharing their advice and expertise on all things homely. You can download it for free now.

Madeleine chair, Harry Flax Blue £495 / Grace cushion, Harry Flax Blue £93 / Florence cushions, Chloe Denim £79 and Finian Mustard £81

Moving into the sitting room and the softness of Flax Blue can bring a warm, relaxing feeling – think of Provence in the summer holidays. In here, you might add a sofa in one of Neptune’s Mustard-coloured fabrics and then some denim-blue or navy cushions to anchor the scheme.

Try painting the walls in Lily. If you want a room to always feel relaxing then make sure you keep to a relatively symmetrical design – a candlestick at either end of the mantelpiece, a picture in each alcove (mix up the style so it’s not too coordinated) and a mirror between to bounce the light around. And if you want to create something a little bolder, then consider adding a sofa in Harry Rust linen with patterned Emma cushions in Teal and Mustard. Flax Blue is a tone that laps up other colours.

It goes without saying that Flax Blue is a perfect colour for the bedroom. The best way to create the most relaxing feeling is to paint all the woodwork the same colour as the walls. This stops the eye being distracted by a white outline of doors and skirting boards. To really intensify this feeling of calm, you could go up over the ceiling as well. Then you can either add strong colours in the form of the bedding and rugs, or keep it pale and light depending on whether you’re a night owl or a morning lark. I’d use the Tolsey or Elgin rugs in a Flax Blue bedroom. For the rest of the room, you can keep to shades of soft blue and off-white, or spin the colour wheel to the other side and bring in more rust, orange and mustard for a contrast. It comes down to how

soothing you want it all to be. Flax Blue’s always going to keep things mellow though.

If, at this point, you’re asking, should I be using Flax Blue in every room then? It’s a fair point. One of the questions that I’m often asked, is how to create a cohesive tone throughout the house, and this doesn’t mean having the exact same colour in every room. You do need to pick your hero shade, however. Soft or strong, you’ll want to reference it in ways big and small throughout the house, even if it’s only on all four walls in one room. If we were to take Flax Blue as your home’s hero shade, and for the sake of argument, let’s use it for our imaginary hall.

From there you might continue it through to the sitting room walls but adding splashes of mustard, oak accents, rust and patterns – both floral and stripes. Moving to the kitchen, you might use it on the lower cabinets only, giving you freedom to bring in pale shades of Salt, Old Chalk, Lily or Silver Birch to upper cabinets – and if you match the cupboards to the wall colour, it’ll open up the space and make it feel bigger. Oak flooring throughout your downstairs rooms will add to the sense of continuity and flow. Upstairs, you might reference the colour simply in a painting, a candle or a chair on the landing. Or maybe you’ll go the whole hog in the bedroom. But you don’t need to worry about it too much. Once you’ve fallen in love with a colour, you’ll find it cropping up again and again without you even really making a conscious decision. It’ll become second nature.

Hear more from Kate If you haven’t already subscribed, Kate’s now into the second series of her own interiors podcast. Together with TV presenter and designer Sophie Robinson, in each episode of The Great Indoors, they dissect a design topic, sharing their advice and expertise on all things homely. You can download it for free now.

Madeleine chair, Harry Flax Blue £495 / Grace cushion, Harry Flax Blue £93 / Florence cushions, Chloe Denim £79 and Finian Mustard £81

LESS. IS. MORE. An old adage it may be, but at Neptune, the philosophy of ‘ less is more’ runs deep, as Nicky, our product director, explores.

When we defined gathering as our direction for this season, we then asked, why don’t we concentrate on two principle areas? Gathering can mean all sorts, but it felt like there were two meatier aspects to gathering that rang true to us as a brand.

And by extension, to you, your life, your world.

Less is more is that first segment.

When my team and I design the Neptune collections, we do so with real rigour. It doesn’t hamper the creative process. It doesn’t clip our wings. It keeps us focused on creating designs with real purpose. Having edited collections rather than reams and reams (and reams and reams), is an enormous part of our mindset. It’s what we believe makes designing your home less daunting. I know that I’m a bit sick of how much choice I’m faced with whenever I go shopping. Quite literally.

I’ve been known to feel mildly nauseous at the prospect of shopping, be it for a new dress for me or a new dresser for my home. Designing less means that you find ways to make your products think even harder for themselves. They need to do more. They need to multitask – the design word de jour (or de decade rather.

I don’t speak French). That’s us. We do more for your home, with fewer designs.

An edited, less-is-more approach to product design then spills into home design.

We’re less of the Marie Kondo (the woman du jour, for some) school of thought.

We’re not saying rid your home of everything unless it sparks joy. Seeing my children’s PE kits in the kitchen corner doesn't fill me with joy, but they’re a sign of family life, real life that makes my house home. But, we do believe that by investing in well-made, properly considered, less trend and more timeless pieces, by buying slowly and investing thoughtfully, by sticking to a handful of colours rather than a truck-load, our homes can become calmer, happier spaces. Spaces devoted to the things that you really love rather than settled for. Spaces that feel full without being filled. Spaces that better express who you really are.

As for the second segment, you’ll have to wait until May to find out what that is.

LESS. IS. MORE. An old adage it may be, but at Neptune, the philosophy of ‘ less is more’ runs deep, as Nicky, our product director, explores.

When we defined gathering as our direction for this season, we then asked, why don’t we concentrate on two principle areas? Gathering can mean all sorts, but it felt like there were two meatier aspects to gathering that rang true to us as a brand.

And by extension, to you, your life, your world.

Less is more is that first segment.

When my team and I design the Neptune collections, we do so with real rigour. It doesn’t hamper the creative process. It doesn’t clip our wings. It keeps us focused on creating designs with real purpose. Having edited collections rather than reams and reams (and reams and reams), is an enormous part of our mindset. It’s what we believe makes designing your home less daunting. I know that I’m a bit sick of how much choice I’m faced with whenever I go shopping. Quite literally.

I’ve been known to feel mildly nauseous at the prospect of shopping, be it for a new dress for me or a new dresser for my home. Designing less means that you find ways to make your products think even harder for themselves. They need to do more. They need to multitask – the design word de jour (or de decade rather.

I don’t speak French). That’s us. We do more for your home, with fewer designs.

An edited, less-is-more approach to product design then spills into home design.

We’re less of the Marie Kondo (the woman du jour, for some) school of thought.

We’re not saying rid your home of everything unless it sparks joy. Seeing my children’s PE kits in the kitchen corner doesn't fill me with joy, but they’re a sign of family life, real life that makes my house home. But, we do believe that by investing in well-made, properly considered, less trend and more timeless pieces, by buying slowly and investing thoughtfully, by sticking to a handful of colours rather than a truck-load, our homes can become calmer, happier spaces. Spaces devoted to the things that you really love rather than settled for. Spaces that feel full without being filled. Spaces that better express who you really are.

As for the second segment, you’ll have to wait until May to find out what that is.

S P R I N G F LOW E R S Styled and potted by Hannah Redman

Flowers and greenery in the home are a must. Not so vital as table and chairs or bed and mattress, but high on the list if you want to introduce pockets of colour and scale, and to show signs of life and nature from hallway table to sitting room sill.

But, when they wilt quicker than they flower, you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s only worth having them in your home every now and then, as a treat, maybe once a month.

This is where the beauty (and utility) of life-like blooms comes in. They last, they mean your home’s never without flowers, and they’re rather perfect for pollen sufferers too.

Here, our resident floral expert, Hannah Redman, fresh from a workshop with none other than royal wedding florist Shane Connolly, creates three spring flower bouquets. Using some of our Flower Shop’s mainstays amongst many of our newest hedgerow blooms from our spring collection, and carefully choosing stems that reflect what’s naturally in bloom at that time of year, she’s even paired them with the perfect pot that suits their style and size.

S P R I N G F LOW E R S Styled and potted by Hannah Redman

Flowers and greenery in the home are a must. Not so vital as table and chairs or bed and mattress, but high on the list if you want to introduce pockets of colour and scale, and to show signs of life and nature from hallway table to sitting room sill.

But, when they wilt quicker than they flower, you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s only worth having them in your home every now and then, as a treat, maybe once a month.

This is where the beauty (and utility) of life-like blooms comes in. They last, they mean your home’s never without flowers, and they’re rather perfect for pollen sufferers too.

Here, our resident floral expert, Hannah Redman, fresh from a workshop with none other than royal wedding florist Shane Connolly, creates three spring flower bouquets. Using some of our Flower Shop’s mainstays amongst many of our newest hedgerow blooms from our spring collection, and carefully choosing stems that reflect what’s naturally in bloom at that time of year, she’s even paired them with the perfect pot that suits their style and size.

The springtime bouquet “This is the time when I would be growing peonies, tulips and alliums. I’ve chosen very delicate stems, but with leaves and petals that are all quite rounded. The Lady Fern, for example, would be much too feathery for the Peonies; Eucalyptus is a much better friend. For me, the Peony is what makes this arrangement the essence of spring. If you like the idea of keeping your life-like flowers in-sync with the seasons, you could possibly make this stay relevant until June.”

“These arrangements do reflect what would be blooming in nature, but there’s equally no reason that you can’t use them all year long.

And remember, you can add in real flowers as well if you prefer. But the benefit of life-like ones is that, though the arrangement can seem costly, you don’t ever need to replace them.”

Eucalyptus spray, Green £13 / 'Petal-feel' Peony bunch, White £18 / Corn Parsley stem £9 / Broseley large pot £30

The springtime bouquet “This is the time when I would be growing peonies, tulips and alliums. I’ve chosen very delicate stems, but with leaves and petals that are all quite rounded. The Lady Fern, for example, would be much too feathery for the Peonies; Eucalyptus is a much better friend. For me, the Peony is what makes this arrangement the essence of spring. If you like the idea of keeping your life-like flowers in-sync with the seasons, you could possibly make this stay relevant until June.”

“These arrangements do reflect what would be blooming in nature, but there’s equally no reason that you can’t use them all year long.

And remember, you can add in real flowers as well if you prefer. But the benefit of life-like ones is that, though the arrangement can seem costly, you don’t ever need to replace them.”

Eucalyptus spray, Green £13 / 'Petal-feel' Peony bunch, White £18 / Corn Parsley stem £9 / Broseley large pot £30

The midsummer bouquet “When I change my flowers, I like to try to keep at least one aspect from the previous arrangement in my next one. I’ve kept the Corn Parsley from the spring bouquet and moved it into this, a real showstopper of a vase. Delphiniums are what this display is all about. They dictate that this is to be a tall arrangement – I’d keep Delphinium stems tall, as the stem’s a huge part of its profile. So just go with the height and the drama. It’s quite a country look though, and that stops it from being overly imposing. Every type of stem should stand at a different height so they all get airtime. Add your foliage first – this is your mass. Keep the Hydrangea low. Let the Lady Ferns stay tall and wispy, but not as tall as the Delphinium, and the spires of the Sea Arrowgrass can soar as high as they like. You can bend the stems rather than cutting them – you won’t be able to see as the vase isn’t glass. This also helps them to appear more life-like.

The overall shape you’re looking to create here is a soft arc.”

“Greenery is worth its weight in gold. If I were to invest in anything, it’d be greenery. You can reuse it in so many arrangements.”

Delphinium, White £14 / Corn Parsley £9 / Sea Arrowgrass £14 / Rowan Blossom £13 / Agapanthus £13 / Hydrangea, Green £19 / Lady Fern £12 / Haybrook medium vase £43

The midsummer bouquet “When I change my flowers, I like to try to keep at least one aspect from the previous arrangement in my next one. I’ve kept the Corn Parsley from the spring bouquet and moved it into this, a real showstopper of a vase. Delphiniums are what this display is all about. They dictate that this is to be a tall arrangement – I’d keep Delphinium stems tall, as the stem’s a huge part of its profile. So just go with the height and the drama. It’s quite a country look though, and that stops it from being overly imposing. Every type of stem should stand at a different height so they all get airtime. Add your foliage first – this is your mass. Keep the Hydrangea low. Let the Lady Ferns stay tall and wispy, but not as tall as the Delphinium, and the spires of the Sea Arrowgrass can soar as high as they like. You can bend the stems rather than cutting them – you won’t be able to see as the vase isn’t glass. This also helps them to appear more life-like.

The overall shape you’re looking to create here is a soft arc.”

“Greenery is worth its weight in gold. If I were to invest in anything, it’d be greenery. You can reuse it in so many arrangements.”

Delphinium, White £14 / Corn Parsley £9 / Sea Arrowgrass £14 / Rowan Blossom £13 / Agapanthus £13 / Hydrangea, Green £19 / Lady Fern £12 / Haybrook medium vase £43

The summer’s end bouquet “Artichokes are a sure signal of late summer. They’re so fantastically architectural and strong. But I’ve added the Lady Fern, continuing it from our previous arrangement, and that really mellows things, as I believe bouquets at this point of the year should feel. I’ve also reused our Corn Parsley – this also makes the bouquets less costly – and if you wish to bulk it out further, add more Hops or some Gypsophila. I rather like this as a smaller, simpler arrangement though. Lead with the Fern in this case, and then feed the Artichokes through.

Six or so Hops should suffice, or a few less will do just fine.

And then add your Corn Parsley. This one’s all about greenery and I’d use it in any room in my home.”

“If your stems aren’t staying in the position you want, create a nest at the base of the pot using chicken wire. This is especially helpful when using lower pots where you have less support, such as in this bouquet.”

Artichoke bunch £56 / Lady Fern £12 / Corn Parsley £9 / Hops bunch £36 / Haybrook round vase £42

The summer’s end bouquet “Artichokes are a sure signal of late summer. They’re so fantastically architectural and strong. But I’ve added the Lady Fern, continuing it from our previous arrangement, and that really mellows things, as I believe bouquets at this point of the year should feel. I’ve also reused our Corn Parsley – this also makes the bouquets less costly – and if you wish to bulk it out further, add more Hops or some Gypsophila. I rather like this as a smaller, simpler arrangement though. Lead with the Fern in this case, and then feed the Artichokes through.

Six or so Hops should suffice, or a few less will do just fine.

And then add your Corn Parsley. This one’s all about greenery and I’d use it in any room in my home.”

“If your stems aren’t staying in the position you want, create a nest at the base of the pot using chicken wire. This is especially helpful when using lower pots where you have less support, such as in this bouquet.”

Artichoke bunch £56 / Lady Fern £12 / Corn Parsley £9 / Hops bunch £36 / Haybrook round vase £42

Moodboards, sketchbooks, scrapbooks – the joy of gathering inspiration in an analogue way is a cathartic change to digital domination. And you don’t have to be creatively dexterous to do it, as editor of ELLE Decoration Country and former interiors editor of Sunday Times Style, Claudia Baillie contemplates.

How I gather...

Many moons ago, I had the exceptional good fortune to study art. First, a wildly diverse foundation course where blindfold drawing and experimental twig paintings were the norm, then a fashion and textiles degree where I learned to pattern-cut, fit zips and sew plackets – badly, I might add. The thing these courses taught me – other than that I wasn’t to become the next Vivienne Westwood (although she remains my hero to this day) – was the absolute joy of a sketchbook.

We may have Pinterest folders and saved Instagram posts a-plenty, but in this heavily digitised world, nothing beats a tactile journal so stuffed with drawings, cuttings and swatches of fabric that its pages creak when turned, and the covers spring back open when you try to squash them shut.

Anyone can start a sketchbook. You don’t have to be ‘good at art’, and neither do you need to have hours set aside – just add to it as much and as often as you please. The most important thing to remember is that it doesn’t have to be perfect; drawing didn’t quite work out? Turn the page and start again. Tore something from a magazine but it’s not very neat? Just tape it in anyway. It can be a place to collate project ideas or renovation notes, a visual diary, or simply somewhere to bring together snippets of things you love. A personal project, you don’t have to present it to anyone else and, as any art teacher will testify, a more carefree approach helps bring pages to life.

Unlike mine, your sketchbook may not contain experimental twig paintings, but, as a way to gather inspiration that doesn’t involve a keyboard, it’s a wonderful pastime that I hope will bring you uncompromised joy.

Moodboards, sketchbooks, scrapbooks – the joy of gathering inspiration in an analogue way is a cathartic change to digital domination. And you don’t have to be creatively dexterous to do it, as editor of ELLE Decoration Country and former interiors editor of Sunday Times Style, Claudia Baillie contemplates.

How I gather...

Many moons ago, I had the exceptional good fortune to study art. First, a wildly diverse foundation course where blindfold drawing and experimental twig paintings were the norm, then a fashion and textiles degree where I learned to pattern-cut, fit zips and sew plackets – badly, I might add. The thing these courses taught me – other than that I wasn’t to become the next Vivienne Westwood (although she remains my hero to this day) – was the absolute joy of a sketchbook.

We may have Pinterest folders and saved Instagram posts a-plenty, but in this heavily digitised world, nothing beats a tactile journal so stuffed with drawings, cuttings and swatches of fabric that its pages creak when turned, and the covers spring back open when you try to squash them shut.

Anyone can start a sketchbook. You don’t have to be ‘good at art’, and neither do you need to have hours set aside – just add to it as much and as often as you please. The most important thing to remember is that it doesn’t have to be perfect; drawing didn’t quite work out? Turn the page and start again. Tore something from a magazine but it’s not very neat? Just tape it in anyway. It can be a place to collate project ideas or renovation notes, a visual diary, or simply somewhere to bring together snippets of things you love. A personal project, you don’t have to present it to anyone else and, as any art teacher will testify, a more carefree approach helps bring pages to life.

Unlike mine, your sketchbook may not contain experimental twig paintings, but, as a way to gather inspiration that doesn’t involve a keyboard, it’s a wonderful pastime that I hope will bring you uncompromised joy.

A handful of our columnists, along with our co-founder Giles (who’s known for throwing a good party), share their ways of packing in plenty of people to their homes when all and sundry descend.

Ways to fit everyone in Louise Gorrod “Whether I’ve got a few friends or a huge group, I still like to cook a proper meal – even though my dining table struggles to sit more than six. My way around this is to cook ‘bowl’ food – a fragrant curry perhaps – that asks for fork alone. It means it doesn’t matter if you’re perched on the arm of a sofa or leaning against the radiator. And if I really need an extra seat, I grab a side table from the living room and pop a cushion on top!”

Giles “First thing I say if we have a swarm coming for supper – get rid of the chairs! Pull out those benches! Pack everyone in! It’s the best way. Who cares where the extra chairs are put while everyone’s here? You’re all there to see each other and eat good food – not stare at the chairs. And if people are stopping for the night, when they turn up at the door, I get them inside and go: find a room and just make yourself at home. That’s an order!

It’s more relaxed that way, when people get to treat your home like their own. And the kids don’t ever seem to want a bed anyway – they all just want to be in the same room with cushions everywhere. We’ll even grab the ones from the garden furniture and the sofas if we have to!”

Michelle Ogundehin “My squash and a squeeze go-tos are stools. They’re the ultimate in multi-functional furniture. Doubling as spare seats to side tables, step stools to perfect play things for smalls, I find them indispensable. Plus, the stool was one of the first pieces of furniture ever to be created.

It’s included in practically all cultures, and designs range from super simple to uniquely sculptural. What’s not to love?”

Jo Leevers “Getting everyone over at our house is about supper parties more than sleepovers. I have an ongoing deal with my friend and neighbour – when she has lots of people over, our spare kitchen chairs get carried over the road. When I do, vice versa. It’s worked well so far.

If we ever have a date clash I guess we’ll go begging further along the road – because everybody needs good neighbours…”

Olivia sofa bed, Hugo Pale Oat £2,670 / Florence cushion, Chloe Denim £79 / Westmeath throw £210 / The Crown Setting Sail print £80 / Deeper III print by Miranda Carter £140

A handful of our columnists, along with our co-founder Giles (who’s known for throwing a good party), share their ways of packing in plenty of people to their homes when all and sundry descend.

Ways to fit everyone in Louise Gorrod “Whether I’ve got a few friends or a huge group, I still like to cook a proper meal – even though my dining table struggles to sit more than six. My way around this is to cook ‘bowl’ food – a fragrant curry perhaps – that asks for fork alone. It means it doesn’t matter if you’re perched on the arm of a sofa or leaning against the radiator. And if I really need an extra seat, I grab a side table from the living room and pop a cushion on top!”

Giles “First thing I say if we have a swarm coming for supper – get rid of the chairs! Pull out those benches! Pack everyone in! It’s the best way. Who cares where the extra chairs are put while everyone’s here? You’re all there to see each other and eat good food – not stare at the chairs. And if people are stopping for the night, when they turn up at the door, I get them inside and go: find a room and just make yourself at home. That’s an order!

It’s more relaxed that way, when people get to treat your home like their own. And the kids don’t ever seem to want a bed anyway – they all just want to be in the same room with cushions everywhere. We’ll even grab the ones from the garden furniture and the sofas if we have to!”

Michelle Ogundehin “My squash and a squeeze go-tos are stools. They’re the ultimate in multi-functional furniture. Doubling as spare seats to side tables, step stools to perfect play things for smalls, I find them indispensable. Plus, the stool was one of the first pieces of furniture ever to be created.

It’s included in practically all cultures, and designs range from super simple to uniquely sculptural. What’s not to love?”

Jo Leevers “Getting everyone over at our house is about supper parties more than sleepovers. I have an ongoing deal with my friend and neighbour – when she has lots of people over, our spare kitchen chairs get carried over the road. When I do, vice versa. It’s worked well so far.

If we ever have a date clash I guess we’ll go begging further along the road – because everybody needs good neighbours…”

Olivia sofa bed, Hugo Pale Oat £2,670 / Florence cushion, Chloe Denim £79 / Westmeath throw £210 / The Crown Setting Sail print £80 / Deeper III print by Miranda Carter £140

From flax to fibre A story about Belgian linen

Linen, the fabric. Flax, the fibre from which it’s woven. But how much do we think of its roots – historical and agricultural – when we invite that soft and breezy linen cushion onto our bed, that relaxed yet refined linen sofa into our sitting room, that ever-so crumpled but instantly comforting linen napkin onto our laps at suppertime?

Linen’s a fabric full of detail, strength and intricacy, and so is its story. One that helps us to appreciate its presence in our homes, with every meal, every sofa session and every bedtime.

From flax to fibre A story about Belgian linen

Linen, the fabric. Flax, the fibre from which it’s woven. But how much do we think of its roots – historical and agricultural – when we invite that soft and breezy linen cushion onto our bed, that relaxed yet refined linen sofa into our sitting room, that ever-so crumpled but instantly comforting linen napkin onto our laps at suppertime?

Linen’s a fabric full of detail, strength and intricacy, and so is its story. One that helps us to appreciate its presence in our homes, with every meal, every sofa session and every bedtime.

A

tale as old as time – almost. Linen’s story dates far back, with flax widely believed to be one of the most ancient agricultural crops in existence.

In Switzerland, an archaeological dig unearthed charred remnants of linen threads, ropes and fishing nets from Neolithic times. Excavations in Spain found flax traces from the Bronze Age, and there’s evidence of flax being harvested for fibre as far back as 4,000 years BC. Flax as food and flax as fibre is engrained in history. It’s proven that it can last the course.

Millennia later, flax is being grown the world over. Flax farming is well-documented and well-understood, and so cultivating as far as China and, Kochi in India, and as close to home as…home (smaller flax crops are cultivated in Great Britain) is doable, and indeed done – though the yields are rarely as high-quality as those grown in Western Europe. France is in the lead when it comes to its number of flax crops, but it’s Belgium that’s long been regarded as the premium producer of the world’s finest flax fibres and linen fabric.

But what is it about Belgium linen that makes it so coveted, so of-its-own-class? “Linen is in our blood.

It’s not just our climate and our soil conditions that make us excellent flax producers, it’s that linen is part of our culture,” explained Thomas Luys of Libeco, the world-renowned makers of the Belgian linen used for our Chloe, Harry and Finian textiles. “And there’s a real difference to note. Belgian linen means grown and woven in Belgium. It’s an actual trademark, and something we’re very protective of. Belgian flax is different though. That’s just a case of using the locally grown fibre (which has the benefit of our cool climate, mineral-rich soils and small, interlacing rivers that provide an ideal amount of moisture for the crop here in the Flanders region). But it misses out on the other huge part of the production process. This linen won’t have been woven in Belgium to the strict standards of our linen specialists. It’s not made in the Belgian way.” It’s Belgian born, but not bred.

Wherever the crop is grown, flax farmers need to follow similar steps, from sowing the seeds to pulling the stalks, and from loosening the flax fibres (known as ‘retting’) to harvesting the flax fibres (known as ‘scutching’). One of the more surprising elements in the production process comes after pulling – the flax isn’t brought in from the rain, scooped up from the soil, tucked away in a barn.

Not yet anyway.

(Left) Bales of retted flax, ready for scutching – where the woody stems are removed and the raw fibre is revealed.

(Right) Post-scutching. These natural linen fibres are now ready for spinning.

A

tale as old as time – almost. Linen’s story dates far back, with flax widely believed to be one of the most ancient agricultural crops in existence.

In Switzerland, an archaeological dig unearthed charred remnants of linen threads, ropes and fishing nets from Neolithic times. Excavations in Spain found flax traces from the Bronze Age, and there’s evidence of flax being harvested for fibre as far back as 4,000 years BC. Flax as food and flax as fibre is engrained in history. It’s proven that it can last the course.

Millennia later, flax is being grown the world over. Flax farming is well-documented and well-understood, and so cultivating as far as China and, Kochi in India, and as close to home as…home (smaller flax crops are cultivated in Great Britain) is doable, and indeed done – though the yields are rarely as high-quality as those grown in Western Europe. France is in the lead when it comes to its number of flax crops, but it’s Belgium that’s long been regarded as the premium producer of the world’s finest flax fibres and linen fabric.

But what is it about Belgium linen that makes it so coveted, so of-its-own-class? “Linen is in our blood.

It’s not just our climate and our soil conditions that make us excellent flax producers, it’s that linen is part of our culture,” explained Thomas Luys of Libeco, the world-renowned makers of the Belgian linen used for our Chloe, Harry and Finian textiles. “And there’s a real difference to note. Belgian linen means grown and woven in Belgium. It’s an actual trademark, and something we’re very protective of. Belgian flax is different though. That’s just a case of using the locally grown fibre (which has the benefit of our cool climate, mineral-rich soils and small, interlacing rivers that provide an ideal amount of moisture for the crop here in the Flanders region). But it misses out on the other huge part of the production process. This linen won’t have been woven in Belgium to the strict standards of our linen specialists. It’s not made in the Belgian way.” It’s Belgian born, but not bred.

Wherever the crop is grown, flax farmers need to follow similar steps, from sowing the seeds to pulling the stalks, and from loosening the flax fibres (known as ‘retting’) to harvesting the flax fibres (known as ‘scutching’). One of the more surprising elements in the production process comes after pulling – the flax isn’t brought in from the rain, scooped up from the soil, tucked away in a barn.

Not yet anyway.

(Left) Bales of retted flax, ready for scutching – where the woody stems are removed and the raw fibre is revealed.

(Right) Post-scutching. These natural linen fibres are now ready for spinning.

Instead, the crop is purposefully left in the fields for up to six weeks to be able to tease out the flax fibre from the hardy ‘bask’ (other methods include soaking the flax fibres in a vat of warm water for several days, which produces a blonder yarn. Field-retting, on the other hand gives the flax a greyer tone). The farmers leave nature to take its course rather than using chemicals or force. The alternation of sun, rain and dew creates micro-organisms that dissolve the pectin in the stem of the plant. The farmers’ expertise is crucial here. When the flax is left on the field too long, it starts to rot and that harms the fibre’s strength.

Bask softened and onto scutching – the name given to process of physically extracting the raw flax fibre from the stem. It’s entirely mechanical and uses no chemicals. It’s then combed, ready to be spun into yarn. “Any leftovers from the hardy flax bask are generally turned into bedding for horses or chipboard. Every part of the fibre is used,” Thomas pointed out.

Yarn gathered on a warp beam, ready to be woven into linen cloth.

“Flax fibres undergo a very technical spinning process,” he continued. “Fine yarns are wet-spun, because it makes them glossier and smoother. Shorter fibres are dry-spun to give a coarser look. For us, it’s an art to understand what sort of fibre will produce the desired fabric and finish. You need to appreciate them on an individual basis.” Then it’s time for weaving, where the yarn is first checked for strength and evenness of colour. Each weaver is trusted to control and know the idiosyncrasies of the particular loom. They work together. Man and machine.

Woman and machine. The loom will always identify if a thread is missing or broken, but it’s the weaver who locates it, mends it with what’s known as a ‘weaver’s knot’ and determines when the work can continue. But even under the watchful eye of the weaver, a final mending stage is always needed to repair faults; the word ‘fault’ not being an error on the weaver’s part. “Breaks on the loom aren’t something that can be avoided in weaving linen – they’re part and parcel of working with natural fibres and creating cloth. Our menders have eyes of lasers.

Instead, the crop is purposefully left in the fields for up to six weeks to be able to tease out the flax fibre from the hardy ‘bask’ (other methods include soaking the flax fibres in a vat of warm water for several days, which produces a blonder yarn. Field-retting, on the other hand gives the flax a greyer tone). The farmers leave nature to take its course rather than using chemicals or force. The alternation of sun, rain and dew creates micro-organisms that dissolve the pectin in the stem of the plant. The farmers’ expertise is crucial here. When the flax is left on the field too long, it starts to rot and that harms the fibre’s strength.

Bask softened and onto scutching – the name given to process of physically extracting the raw flax fibre from the stem. It’s entirely mechanical and uses no chemicals. It’s then combed, ready to be spun into yarn. “Any leftovers from the hardy flax bask are generally turned into bedding for horses or chipboard. Every part of the fibre is used,” Thomas pointed out.

Yarn gathered on a warp beam, ready to be woven into linen cloth.

“Flax fibres undergo a very technical spinning process,” he continued. “Fine yarns are wet-spun, because it makes them glossier and smoother. Shorter fibres are dry-spun to give a coarser look. For us, it’s an art to understand what sort of fibre will produce the desired fabric and finish. You need to appreciate them on an individual basis.” Then it’s time for weaving, where the yarn is first checked for strength and evenness of colour. Each weaver is trusted to control and know the idiosyncrasies of the particular loom. They work together. Man and machine.

Woman and machine. The loom will always identify if a thread is missing or broken, but it’s the weaver who locates it, mends it with what’s known as a ‘weaver’s knot’ and determines when the work can continue. But even under the watchful eye of the weaver, a final mending stage is always needed to repair faults; the word ‘fault’ not being an error on the weaver’s part. “Breaks on the loom aren’t something that can be avoided in weaving linen – they’re part and parcel of working with natural fibres and creating cloth. Our menders have eyes of lasers.

Right: The final inspection, when the cloth has been mended, sheared, dyed and washed.

Left: Thomas from Belgian linen manufacturer, Libeco, inspecting a stonewashed and dyed linen sample.

Right: The final inspection, when the cloth has been mended, sheared, dyed and washed.

Left: Thomas from Belgian linen manufacturer, Libeco, inspecting a stonewashed and dyed linen sample.

Their role is to scour the lengths of linen for smaller breaks,” Thomas told us. The key is knowing how to spy them quickly, tend to them gently, and nurture the cloth to beauty. “Any repairs are done by trained hands and are so invisible that they’re absorbed into the weave. There’s a misconception that slubs [the raised lines and bumps seen in most linen] are signs of broken fibres knotted back together, but slubs are in fact a natural part of the flax fibre’s construction.” Like freckles, like dimples, like birth marks, they’re signs of development and individualism.

They’re marks of its path to creation.

Now walk back into your bedroom and look at that cushion, hurry back downstairs into the sitting room and lie back on that sofa, start supper early so that you can hold onto that napkin, and think – this is one of the most natural, long-lasting fibres in the world. Every part of the plant has been used. It’s hypoallergenic. It’s got next to no chemicals in it. It’s part of the earth. And me and my home are now part of its story. Long let us never say ‘the end’.

Our Chloe and Harry Belgian linens, all made at Libeco.

(Top to bottom) Harry Flax Blue £68 per metre / Chloe York Rose £75 / Chloe Denim £75 / Harry Rust £49 / Samuel Rust £36

Their role is to scour the lengths of linen for smaller breaks,” Thomas told us. The key is knowing how to spy them quickly, tend to them gently, and nurture the cloth to beauty. “Any repairs are done by trained hands and are so invisible that they’re absorbed into the weave. There’s a misconception that slubs [the raised lines and bumps seen in most linen] are signs of broken fibres knotted back together, but slubs are in fact a natural part of the flax fibre’s construction.” Like freckles, like dimples, like birth marks, they’re signs of development and individualism.

They’re marks of its path to creation.

Now walk back into your bedroom and look at that cushion, hurry back downstairs into the sitting room and lie back on that sofa, start supper early so that you can hold onto that napkin, and think – this is one of the most natural, long-lasting fibres in the world. Every part of the plant has been used. It’s hypoallergenic. It’s got next to no chemicals in it. It’s part of the earth. And me and my home are now part of its story. Long let us never say ‘the end’.

Our Chloe and Harry Belgian linens, all made at Libeco.

(Top to bottom) Harry Flax Blue £68 per metre / Chloe York Rose £75 / Chloe Denim £75 / Harry Rust £49 / Samuel Rust £36

T H E E D I T E D WA R D R O B E The less-is-more way of thinking doesn’t just apply to our homes, as British Vogue’s Jo Rodgers writes, with wardrobe in mind…

O

n a raw day in January, my husband and I came home to London, opened our wardrobe, and found disaster: moths. Sometime while we were scraping mud off our boots in Gloucestershire, paper crowns askew, a vast family of flutterers had crept in and discovered the land of milk and honey and wool. Who could blame them for staying? They bunked in the folds of the Kelly-green jumper that belonged to my grandmother and the fine navy coat that I liked to wear on walks in Hampstead Heath. Even the grey cashmere hot water bottle cover was eaten through at the corners, so the orange British Standard rubber peeped out.

I walked around looking like Swiss cheese for a week before deciding to accept this blow as a Sign From The Universe. I needed to buy some new things, but not to replace everything that had been lost. Using as my guide the capsule closets of France and Italy, where women have an alchemical ability to dress year-round on two pairs of trousers and a silk scarf, I shed not only the moth scraps, but also anything else I habitually passed over: the ill-fitting, the oddlycoloured, the worn-once.

Acres of rails became bare. In considering how to start again, I took into account my occupation as a writer, our drafty Georgian house where I mainly work, and our young baby, who uses all clothes indiscriminately as handkerchiefs.

Then, once the wardrobe was lined with cedar (a moth deterrent, people say), I bought a round-necked jumper the colour of oatmeal and another that looks like heather, both soft as rabbits. I feel a thrill knowing they’re on the shelf, and go upstairs just to stroke them. Three plain muslin blouses followed, for meetings, and then – the pièce de résistance – a bespoke, wine-coloured coat that I plan to be buried in, like a pharaoh with his bucket of gold (because it cost about that). While the fabric was pinned, I forgave the moths their feasting, which has been a reminder about the pleasures of owning fewer, lovelier things.

But let’s hope it’s true about the cedar.

Chichester grand wardrobe, Shell £2,960

T H E E D I T E D WA R D R O B E The less-is-more way of thinking doesn’t just apply to our homes, as British Vogue’s Jo Rodgers writes, with wardrobe in mind…

O

n a raw day in January, my husband and I came home to London, opened our wardrobe, and found disaster: moths. Sometime while we were scraping mud off our boots in Gloucestershire, paper crowns askew, a vast family of flutterers had crept in and discovered the land of milk and honey and wool. Who could blame them for staying? They bunked in the folds of the Kelly-green jumper that belonged to my grandmother and the fine navy coat that I liked to wear on walks in Hampstead Heath. Even the grey cashmere hot water bottle cover was eaten through at the corners, so the orange British Standard rubber peeped out.

I walked around looking like Swiss cheese for a week before deciding to accept this blow as a Sign From The Universe. I needed to buy some new things, but not to replace everything that had been lost. Using as my guide the capsule closets of France and Italy, where women have an alchemical ability to dress year-round on two pairs of trousers and a silk scarf, I shed not only the moth scraps, but also anything else I habitually passed over: the ill-fitting, the oddlycoloured, the worn-once.

Acres of rails became bare. In considering how to start again, I took into account my occupation as a writer, our drafty Georgian house where I mainly work, and our young baby, who uses all clothes indiscriminately as handkerchiefs.

Then, once the wardrobe was lined with cedar (a moth deterrent, people say), I bought a round-necked jumper the colour of oatmeal and another that looks like heather, both soft as rabbits. I feel a thrill knowing they’re on the shelf, and go upstairs just to stroke them. Three plain muslin blouses followed, for meetings, and then – the pièce de résistance – a bespoke, wine-coloured coat that I plan to be buried in, like a pharaoh with his bucket of gold (because it cost about that). While the fabric was pinned, I forgave the moths their feasting, which has been a reminder about the pleasures of owning fewer, lovelier things.

But let’s hope it’s true about the cedar.

Chichester grand wardrobe, Shell £2,960

In this exclusive Q&A, Giles Kime, interiors editor of Country Life magazine, talks to James Probert from Historic Houses, which helps independent owners of some of Britain’s most extraordinary, lived-in, historic homes to protect, cherish and champion their houses and gardens. Here, James explains how and why learning from the past is important in shaping the future of the places we call home.

HOMES MAKING HIS TORY

Giles: What exactly is Historic Houses?

James: We represent more than 1,600 historic houses, castles and gardens across the UK. They’re all in independent hands – in most cases the families and individuals who still live in them, rather than being in the care of the state or belonging to big organisations like the National Trust – and are of immense historical significance.

Giles: What's unique about the houses owned by your members?

James: Rather than being museums, most are homes where owners do everything from bringing up their children to running businesses that allow them to carry on living there. It gives them a distinct character and a relevance to the modern world. People – and sometimes dogs – really sit on the furniture in these places!

Giles: Are they all rather grand and imposing?

James: Althorp, Blenheim and Holkham are most people’s idea of a stately home, but our house members come in all shapes and sizes. Whether they’re a world-famous place that’s appeared on cinema screens, or a tiny manor house tucked away down a country lane, every one is still alive and being used today, as well as offering a fascinating insight into the past.

Giles: What aspects of a historical home do you think we can learn from most, and inspire modern-day homes and interiors?

James: There’s hardly a building in our collection that hasn’t seen lots of change to the way it’s used – sometimes wholesale, like an abbey becoming a home, and sometimes to specific rooms (not many houses these days keep servants in their servants’ quarters!). What visitors love to be able to see is the story of all that change still written in the fabric of the house and its rooms, from the stones that betray a blocked-up window on the facade to the innumerable hooks in the walls of old kitchens that we can have fun guessing the original purpose of.

Today, many of us won’t be starting interior decoration from scratch in a brand-new house – some will, but lots of people are working on older foundations in one way or another, whether it’s in a thirties semi with art deco stained glass over the door or a chic warehouse flat in a regenerated industrial district. If they learn one thing from our member houses, it’s that respecting and celebrating that heritage doesn’t mean being tied to the fashions of the past or giving up on your personal vision – the most fun way to make an individual contribution to a building is to leave your own mark alongside the little clues of what’s gone before, rather than just remove them.

In this exclusive Q&A, Giles Kime, interiors editor of Country Life magazine, talks to James Probert from Historic Houses, which helps independent owners of some of Britain’s most extraordinary, lived-in, historic homes to protect, cherish and champion their houses and gardens. Here, James explains how and why learning from the past is important in shaping the future of the places we call home.

HOMES MAKING HIS TORY

Giles: What exactly is Historic Houses?

James: We represent more than 1,600 historic houses, castles and gardens across the UK. They’re all in independent hands – in most cases the families and individuals who still live in them, rather than being in the care of the state or belonging to big organisations like the National Trust – and are of immense historical significance.

Giles: What's unique about the houses owned by your members?

James: Rather than being museums, most are homes where owners do everything from bringing up their children to running businesses that allow them to carry on living there. It gives them a distinct character and a relevance to the modern world. People – and sometimes dogs – really sit on the furniture in these places!

Giles: Are they all rather grand and imposing?

James: Althorp, Blenheim and Holkham are most people’s idea of a stately home, but our house members come in all shapes and sizes. Whether they’re a world-famous place that’s appeared on cinema screens, or a tiny manor house tucked away down a country lane, every one is still alive and being used today, as well as offering a fascinating insight into the past.

Giles: What aspects of a historical home do you think we can learn from most, and inspire modern-day homes and interiors?

James: There’s hardly a building in our collection that hasn’t seen lots of change to the way it’s used – sometimes wholesale, like an abbey becoming a home, and sometimes to specific rooms (not many houses these days keep servants in their servants’ quarters!). What visitors love to be able to see is the story of all that change still written in the fabric of the house and its rooms, from the stones that betray a blocked-up window on the facade to the innumerable hooks in the walls of old kitchens that we can have fun guessing the original purpose of.

Today, many of us won’t be starting interior decoration from scratch in a brand-new house – some will, but lots of people are working on older foundations in one way or another, whether it’s in a thirties semi with art deco stained glass over the door or a chic warehouse flat in a regenerated industrial district. If they learn one thing from our member houses, it’s that respecting and celebrating that heritage doesn’t mean being tied to the fashions of the past or giving up on your personal vision – the most fun way to make an individual contribution to a building is to leave your own mark alongside the little clues of what’s gone before, rather than just remove them.

Giles: What are the biggest challenges of owning a historic home?

James: There are plenty! One of the chief reasons that Historic Houses exists is to offer support in addressing the practical pitfalls that can face owners of these special places, from large country houses to listed homes of any kind. Our advice covers legal, tax and succession issues, questions of health and safety, fire risk and access, and ideas to help with restoration projects or commercial activities designed to generate the income that allows them to survive. Keeping these places standing is something all kinds of people can get behind and support, regardless of where they call home themselves – which is why we have fifty thousand or so individual members (plus they get into our open houses for free!)

Giles: How do you celebrate the work and beauty of these homes?

James: As well as a quarterly magazine that shares ideas and information among owners and visitors, our awards are intended to focus on excellence in restoration, gardens and now, for the first time, kitchens.

Historic Houses will soon be launching its first awards scheme in conjunction with Country Life magazine and Neptune to honour the kitchens within its properties.

Giles: Why kitchens?

James: The most significant change made to historic houses by their owners in the twenty first century is usually the creation of a large, multipurpose kitchen.

This can be a challenge in any house but doing so in a precious, listed building can present significant design challenges. But it’s important that period houses evolve – they’re family homes and need to work for today’s

inhabitants if they’re to stand a chance of surviving for the next generation. So, we’ve joined forces with Neptune and Country Life to share examples of ideas and ingenuity in doing just that. We can’t wait to reveal what we discover.

Giles: And finally, is there anything you’ve seen in your historic houses along the way that you’ve thought, I’ll do that in my own home?

James: Lots of our houses bear inscriptions, either outside or inside. They range from the straightforward and showoff (often about who built the house) to the incredibly intimate and poetic (especially popular with Arts & Crafts architects and designers, who often incorporated quotations into their interiors – William Morris wrote his own poem to be embroidered around the top of his four-poster bed at Kelmscott Manor). If I found the right place to put something in my very modest home, I’d love to quite literally leave my mark, in the form of lettering art – carvings in the wood or stone fabric of the house that convey something of my loves in literature.

Life Books + music + food + travel

Find out more at historichouses.org and look out for more details of the awards in the March edition of Country Life.

Life’s loveliest pleasures

Giles: What are the biggest challenges of owning a historic home?

James: There are plenty! One of the chief reasons that Historic Houses exists is to offer support in addressing the practical pitfalls that can face owners of these special places, from large country houses to listed homes of any kind. Our advice covers legal, tax and succession issues, questions of health and safety, fire risk and access, and ideas to help with restoration projects or commercial activities designed to generate the income that allows them to survive. Keeping these places standing is something all kinds of people can get behind and support, regardless of where they call home themselves – which is why we have fifty thousand or so individual members (plus they get into our open houses for free!)

Giles: How do you celebrate the work and beauty of these homes?

James: As well as a quarterly magazine that shares ideas and information among owners and visitors, our awards are intended to focus on excellence in restoration, gardens and now, for the first time, kitchens.

Historic Houses will soon be launching its first awards scheme in conjunction with Country Life magazine and Neptune to honour the kitchens within its properties.

Giles: Why kitchens?

James: The most significant change made to historic houses by their owners in the twenty first century is usually the creation of a large, multipurpose kitchen.

This can be a challenge in any house but doing so in a precious, listed building can present significant design challenges. But it’s important that period houses evolve – they’re family homes and need to work for today’s

inhabitants if they’re to stand a chance of surviving for the next generation. So, we’ve joined forces with Neptune and Country Life to share examples of ideas and ingenuity in doing just that. We can’t wait to reveal what we discover.

Giles: And finally, is there anything you’ve seen in your historic houses along the way that you’ve thought, I’ll do that in my own home?

James: Lots of our houses bear inscriptions, either outside or inside. They range from the straightforward and showoff (often about who built the house) to the incredibly intimate and poetic (especially popular with Arts & Crafts architects and designers, who often incorporated quotations into their interiors – William Morris wrote his own poem to be embroidered around the top of his four-poster bed at Kelmscott Manor). If I found the right place to put something in my very modest home, I’d love to quite literally leave my mark, in the form of lettering art – carvings in the wood or stone fabric of the house that convey something of my loves in literature.

Life Books + music + food + travel

Find out more at historichouses.org and look out for more details of the awards in the March edition of Country Life.

Life’s loveliest pleasures

In the kitchen In the spirit of all things gathered and gathering, this volume’s recipes are for sharing. Big plates, tabletop barbecues, cake for cutting. Dishes that are as

CHARGRILLED BABY AUBERGINES

with salsa verde and quinoa

Makes enough for: four Put aside: 15 minutes for prep and 20 minutes for cooking

fresh as a spring morning and as light as a summer’s night.

The cook behind our menu is Georgie Prowse – a nutritional therapist and our resident chef at Neptune HQ. She’s part of the small team who’re busy devising the food and finding the growers for our soon-to-open café at Neptune Bath (more details of that on page 78). In these five plates, she shares our food philosophy – wholesome, healthy, seasonal produce that’s simple to combine and second-helping worthy.

Not only do they give you food for thought on what to serve this spring, be it on the barbecue or at the kitchen table, but they’ll give you an inkling about what you to expect when you pull up a chair at The Neptune Café come May…

W H AT Y O U ’ L L N E E D

W H AT TO D O

200g quinoa 1 cucumber finely diced 2 lemons zest of two, juice of one 1 pomegranate seeds only A pinch of salt and pepper 8 baby aubergines halved and scored 1 garlic clove peeled and finely chopped 50ml olive oil 60g flat leaf parsley fresh 40g basil fresh 25g mint fresh 15g capers rinsed

1 Begin by cooking the quinoa. Rinse it through in cold water and then add it to a pan with 400ml of boiling water. Cook on a gentle heat for ten minutes. Once all of the water has evaporated, leave it to cool before adding the zest and juice of the lemon, chopped cucumber, salt and pepper, half of the pomegranate seeds and half of the chopped parsley. Store it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.

2 Next, brush each aubergine with oil and place them onto a white-hot barbecue (not a flaming one or they’ll crisp straightaway). Cook them for four minutes or so on each side until tender and slightly charred. If you don’t have a barbecue, use a griddle pan on the hob.

3 While the aubergines are grilling, you can make your salsa verde. Put the garlic, basil, mint, capers, remaining parsley and oil into a blender. Blitz until you’re left with a chunky paste. If you want it a little smoother, add a dash of water.

4 Now you’re ready to serve. Find a large dish or plate, covering the base with your quinoa mix. Then, place the baby aubergines on top before drizzling over the salsa verde and topping with the reserved pomegranate seeds.

Y O U C O U L D A LW A Y S …

Salsa verde is a great way to use up any leftover herbs, so – so don’t feel like you need to stick to parsley, basil and mint. Play around with other green herb combinations to see which you like. Parsley, coriander and chive is another trio that works well with this dish.

In the kitchen In the spirit of all things gathered and gathering, this volume’s recipes are for sharing. Big plates, tabletop barbecues, cake for cutting. Dishes that are as

CHARGRILLED BABY AUBERGINES

with salsa verde and quinoa

Makes enough for: four Put aside: 15 minutes for prep and 20 minutes for cooking

fresh as a spring morning and as light as a summer’s night.

The cook behind our menu is Georgie Prowse – a nutritional therapist and our resident chef at Neptune HQ. She’s part of the small team who’re busy devising the food and finding the growers for our soon-to-open café at Neptune Bath (more details of that on page 78). In these five plates, she shares our food philosophy – wholesome, healthy, seasonal produce that’s simple to combine and second-helping worthy.

Not only do they give you food for thought on what to serve this spring, be it on the barbecue or at the kitchen table, but they’ll give you an inkling about what you to expect when you pull up a chair at The Neptune Café come May…

W H AT Y O U ’ L L N E E D

W H AT TO D O

200g quinoa 1 cucumber finely diced 2 lemons zest of two, juice of one 1 pomegranate seeds only A pinch of salt and pepper 8 baby aubergines halved and scored 1 garlic clove peeled and finely chopped 50ml olive oil 60g flat leaf parsley fresh 40g basil fresh 25g mint fresh 15g capers rinsed

1 Begin by cooking the quinoa. Rinse it through in cold water and then add it to a pan with 400ml of boiling water. Cook on a gentle heat for ten minutes. Once all of the water has evaporated, leave it to cool before adding the zest and juice of the lemon, chopped cucumber, salt and pepper, half of the pomegranate seeds and half of the chopped parsley. Store it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.

2 Next, brush each aubergine with oil and place them onto a white-hot barbecue (not a flaming one or they’ll crisp straightaway). Cook them for four minutes or so on each side until tender and slightly charred. If you don’t have a barbecue, use a griddle pan on the hob.

3 While the aubergines are grilling, you can make your salsa verde. Put the garlic, basil, mint, capers, remaining parsley and oil into a blender. Blitz until you’re left with a chunky paste. If you want it a little smoother, add a dash of water.

4 Now you’re ready to serve. Find a large dish or plate, covering the base with your quinoa mix. Then, place the baby aubergines on top before drizzling over the salsa verde and topping with the reserved pomegranate seeds.

Y O U C O U L D A LW A Y S …

Salsa verde is a great way to use up any leftover herbs, so – so don’t feel like you need to stick to parsley, basil and mint. Play around with other green herb combinations to see which you like. Parsley, coriander and chive is another trio that works well with this dish.

GRILLED MACKEREL FILLETS

with shaved fennel, watercress and orange salad

Makes enough for: four Put aside: ten minutes for prep and ten minutes for cooking

W H AT Y O U ’ L L N E E D

W H AT TO D O

4 fresh mackerel fillets pin-boned 1 large fennel bulb 150g watercress with the stalks removed 1 orange segmented 1 lemon zested and juiced A pinch of salt and pepper 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 30g pine nuts toasted

1 Start by halving and finely slicing the fennel, placing it in a bowl with the watercress and orange segments.

2 Mix together the olive oil, salt and pepper with the zest and juice of the lemon, and stir them into your fennel bowl.

3 Now to the mackerel. On each side, lightly score the skin of all four fillets and season with salt and pepper before brushing with a little oil. Then, pop each one onto a non-stick pan on the hob, skin-side down on a medium-high heat.

4 Cook them through for two minutes before flipping them over. They’ll only need 30 seconds on the other side.

5 Serve on a large platter with the fennel salad on the base, followed by the mackerel, before scattering the toasted pine nuts across the top.

Y O U C O U L D A LW A Y S …

Cook this dish on the barbecue instead. Use whole mackerel rather than fillets though. Just grill them for a bit longer – five minutes on either side is plenty

GRILLED MACKEREL FILLETS

with shaved fennel, watercress and orange salad

Makes enough for: four Put aside: ten minutes for prep and ten minutes for cooking

W H AT Y O U ’ L L N E E D

W H AT TO D O

4 fresh mackerel fillets pin-boned 1 large fennel bulb 150g watercress with the stalks removed 1 orange segmented 1 lemon zested and juiced A pinch of salt and pepper 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 30g pine nuts toasted

1 Start by halving and finely slicing the fennel, placing it in a bowl with the watercress and orange segments.

2 Mix together the olive oil, salt and pepper with the zest and juice of the lemon, and stir them into your fennel bowl.

3 Now to the mackerel. On each side, lightly score the skin of all four fillets and season with salt and pepper before brushing with a little oil. Then, pop each one onto a non-stick pan on the hob, skin-side down on a medium-high heat.

4 Cook them through for two minutes before flipping them over. They’ll only need 30 seconds on the other side.

5 Serve on a large platter with the fennel salad on the base, followed by the mackerel, before scattering the toasted pine nuts across the top.

Y O U C O U L D A LW A Y S …

Cook this dish on the barbecue instead. Use whole mackerel rather than fillets though. Just grill them for a bit longer – five minutes on either side is plenty

PURPLE SPROUTING BROCCOLI, A S PA R A G U S A N D F E TA

with lemon garlic pangrattato

Makes enough for: four Put aside: 15 minutes for prep and 20 minutes for cooking

W H AT Y O U ’ L L N E E D

W H AT TO D O

400g purple sprouting broccoli 150g asparagus 200g feta 1 lemon zested and juiced 1 large clove garlic peeled and chopped 150g leftover sourdough the staler the better A pinch of salt and pepper

1 Put the broccoli and asparagus in a pan and blanch them in boiling water for one minute. Quickly put them under running cold water immediately after to stop them cooking further – you want them to stay al dente.

2 Next, tip the sourdough into a food processor and pulse until it turns into chunky breadcrumbs.

3 Now to the hob. Heat a non-stick frying pan with a little olive oil and add the sourdough breadcrumbs and garlic. Let them begin to brown, stirring occasionally for about five minutes.

4 Add the lemon zest and a pinch of salt to the pan, and take it off the heat as soon as the crumbs are golden brown in colour. Tumble them into a bowl and leave them to one side.

5 In the same frying pan, heat a little more olive oil and add the blanched vegetables. Fry until slightly charred. Once cooked (but still crunchy), squeeze over the fresh lemon juice.

6 Use a shallow dish or platter for serving, with the vegetables in first, the crumbled feta over the top and finally, the garlic pangrattato. Season with a little salt and pepper, and enjoy.

Y O U C O U L D A LW A Y S …

Try using the same method with any seasonal green vegetables. Baby leeks and pak choi works well. You could also add woody herbs to the pangrattato, like thyme or rosemary if you’d like a bit more bite.

PURPLE SPROUTING BROCCOLI, A S PA R A G U S A N D F E TA

with lemon garlic pangrattato

Makes enough for: four Put aside: 15 minutes for prep and 20 minutes for cooking

W H AT Y O U ’ L L N E E D

W H AT TO D O

400g purple sprouting broccoli 150g asparagus 200g feta 1 lemon zested and juiced 1 large clove garlic peeled and chopped 150g leftover sourdough the staler the better A pinch of salt and pepper

1 Put the broccoli and asparagus in a pan and blanch them in boiling water for one minute. Quickly put them under running cold water immediately after to stop them cooking further – you want them to stay al dente.

2 Next, tip the sourdough into a food processor and pulse until it turns into chunky breadcrumbs.

3 Now to the hob. Heat a non-stick frying pan with a little olive oil and add the sourdough breadcrumbs and garlic. Let them begin to brown, stirring occasionally for about five minutes.

4 Add the lemon zest and a pinch of salt to the pan, and take it off the heat as soon as the crumbs are golden brown in colour. Tumble them into a bowl and leave them to one side.

5 In the same frying pan, heat a little more olive oil and add the blanched vegetables. Fry until slightly charred. Once cooked (but still crunchy), squeeze over the fresh lemon juice.

6 Use a shallow dish or platter for serving, with the vegetables in first, the crumbled feta over the top and finally, the garlic pangrattato. Season with a little salt and pepper, and enjoy.

Y O U C O U L D A LW A Y S …

Try using the same method with any seasonal green vegetables. Baby leeks and pak choi works well. You could also add woody herbs to the pangrattato, like thyme or rosemary if you’d like a bit more bite.

C H O C O L AT E O L I V E O I L C A K E

and yoghurt

Makes enough for: ten slices Put aside: 20 minutes for prep and 50 minutes for cooking

W H AT Y O U ’ L L N E E D

W H AT TO D O

150ml olive oil extra virgin or regular olive oil 50g cocoa powder a good-quality, branded option is generally better than a supermarket’s own version 2 shots of espresso adding in water to make it up to 100ml 10ml vanilla bean paste 160g ground almonds ¾ tsp baking powder 160g honey clear & runny 3 large eggs free-range A large pinch of salt Icing sugar for dusting Plain yoghurt for serving

1 Preheat your oven to 165°C and line a springform tin (so the cake’s easier to lift out) with parchment and a little oil to grease.

2 Sift the cocoa powder into a small bowl and mix with the espresso to form a thick, smooth paste. Whisk in the vanilla and set aside. If it goes a bit thick or if it cools too much, just add a splash of boiling water to help it to loosen.

3 In another bowl, combine the almonds, baking powder and salt.

4 Now, take a third (and final!) bowl to whisk the honey, eggs and olive oil. Use an electric whisk or freestanding mixer to get as much air in as possible, beating for about three minutes.

5 Turn down the speed and add the cocoa paste. Once it’s fully mixed in, add the almond mixture, scraping down the sides to make sure nothing’s been missed before pouring your cake batter into the lined tin.

6 Bake for 50 minutes, before checking with a cake skewer. It should come out clean but the cake should still feel fairly springy. Let it cool – don’t worry if it cracks a touch – and then release it from the tin, ready for cutting.

7 Serve each slice with a generous dollop of cool yoghurt and a dusting of icing sugar.

Y O U C O U L D A LW A Y S …

Swap the espresso with orange zest and juice. As long as you make it up to 120ml with water. A pinch of cardamom would also work well.

And, if you want to make it coeliac-friendly, just use gluten-free baking powder.

C H O C O L AT E O L I V E O I L C A K E

and yoghurt

Makes enough for: ten slices Put aside: 20 minutes for prep and 50 minutes for cooking

W H AT Y O U ’ L L N E E D

W H AT TO D O

150ml olive oil extra virgin or regular olive oil 50g cocoa powder a good-quality, branded option is generally better than a supermarket’s own version 2 shots of espresso adding in water to make it up to 100ml 10ml vanilla bean paste 160g ground almonds ¾ tsp baking powder 160g honey clear & runny 3 large eggs free-range A large pinch of salt Icing sugar for dusting Plain yoghurt for serving

1 Preheat your oven to 165°C and line a springform tin (so the cake’s easier to lift out) with parchment and a little oil to grease.

2 Sift the cocoa powder into a small bowl and mix with the espresso to form a thick, smooth paste. Whisk in the vanilla and set aside. If it goes a bit thick or if it cools too much, just add a splash of boiling water to help it to loosen.

3 In another bowl, combine the almonds, baking powder and salt.

4 Now, take a third (and final!) bowl to whisk the honey, eggs and olive oil. Use an electric whisk or freestanding mixer to get as much air in as possible, beating for about three minutes.

5 Turn down the speed and add the cocoa paste. Once it’s fully mixed in, add the almond mixture, scraping down the sides to make sure nothing’s been missed before pouring your cake batter into the lined tin.

6 Bake for 50 minutes, before checking with a cake skewer. It should come out clean but the cake should still feel fairly springy. Let it cool – don’t worry if it cracks a touch – and then release it from the tin, ready for cutting.

7 Serve each slice with a generous dollop of cool yoghurt and a dusting of icing sugar.

Y O U C O U L D A LW A Y S …

Swap the espresso with orange zest and juice. As long as you make it up to 120ml with water. A pinch of cardamom would also work well.

And, if you want to make it coeliac-friendly, just use gluten-free baking powder.

This volume’s Book Club has been put together by Crispin, the owner of P&G Wells, the close-to-300-year-old independent bookseller just a stone’s throw from Neptune Winchester.

In keeping with our theme of gathering, he’s picked several collections of books. Old favourites amongst recently published, chronicles to collect and series to build on, book by book.

And as always, there’s something for every age...

SOUNDTRACK TO THE SEASON

BOOK CLUB

For this volume’s music must-hears, we thought, why not continue with thoughts of gathering?

Because together with food, a toe-tapping beat or a lost-in-thoughts melody is the way to draw people close. With that in mind, we’ve drawn up a playlist full of songs that, within a few notes, have you picturing exactly that. Here’s what made it into our charts…

INSPECTOR MAIGRET

by Georges Simenon Rowan Atkinson re-introduced us to the lugubrious character of Maigret, a French police inspector from the 1950s, during the televised series released two years ago.

But it’s the written word that’s been celebrated all over the world, with The Guardian referring to Simenon as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. There are 76 novels and 28 short stories to collect in the Maigret detective series, though, since late 2013, Penguin Books has been translating 75 of them, releasing one a month. These crime stories are gripping, easy to digest and a notable part of modern-day literary history.

FING

by David Walliams For nearly ten years, David Walliams has been delighting children with his badly-behaved adults, notably Gangsta Granny and also The Demon Dentist. His latest book, Fing, was published this February and follows the story of Myrtle Meek who demands a ‘fing’ from her parents.

But, what on earth is a fing, you might ask, as did Myrtle’s parents? This, says Walliams, “I think is my funniest book. I wanted to write a story just to make children laugh, and nothing else.” It certainly did the trick for me, and is one that I highly recommend adding to your Walliams library.

GARDENLUST

by Christopher Woods A whole range of books has already been published this year and at the tail end of last year, about magnificent gardens throughout the world. Many of them are themed with one feature in prominence, and they all have spectacular photographs with good accompanying commentaries.

Traditional values are recognised in The English Garden

by Ursula Buchan and Andrew Lawson as well as in Gardens of the Arts & Crafts Movement by Judith B. Tankard, and Walled Gardens by BBC presenter Jules Hudson.

Others in my anthology include Shakespeare’s Gardens

by Jackie Bennett, and Oxford College Gardens by Tim Richardson. And exotic possibilities can be seen in Morocco in Bloom by Giuppi Pietromarchi and Giulio Pietromarchi, and Italian Gardens of Lake Como by Lucia Impelluso and Dario Fusaro.

My key pick of this rich field is Gardenlust, which presents a whole range of modern ideas for gardens. The spectacular city gardens of Singapore are featured, and the vertical gardens in Sydney. There are modern settings for divine statuary in India, and for tiles in North Africa, and back in England, the geometric designs of Kim Wilkie are featured. Gardenlust succeeds in reminding us that we don’t have to impose ideas and plants from other times and places: we can benefit from freshness and diversity by remaining local.

1

Rebirth – Napkey

2

Salzburg – Worakls

3

Prayer in C – Lilly Wood and The Prick

4

To Build a Home – The Cinematic Orchestra

5

Easy Field – Stereoclip

6

Lights Down Low – MAX

7

I Need – Maverick Sabre

8

Naked – James Arthur

9

Leave a Light On – Tom Walker

10 Say Something – Justin Timberlake

Our Stories playlists are compiled by a man called Jasper Burnham who, for years, was a promoter for some of the world’s most well-known record labels. He has worked with artists including James Blunt, David Gray and Missy Elliot. He truly understands how to create the perfect atmosphere through music. He also happens to run one of our stores – Neptune Colchester.

Follow the playlist on Spotify by searching @Neptune_home or, easier still, click the camera icon in the Spotify search box and scan the code below.

This volume’s Book Club has been put together by Crispin, the owner of P&G Wells, the close-to-300-year-old independent bookseller just a stone’s throw from Neptune Winchester.

In keeping with our theme of gathering, he’s picked several collections of books. Old favourites amongst recently published, chronicles to collect and series to build on, book by book.

And as always, there’s something for every age...

SOUNDTRACK TO THE SEASON

BOOK CLUB

For this volume’s music must-hears, we thought, why not continue with thoughts of gathering?

Because together with food, a toe-tapping beat or a lost-in-thoughts melody is the way to draw people close. With that in mind, we’ve drawn up a playlist full of songs that, within a few notes, have you picturing exactly that. Here’s what made it into our charts…

INSPECTOR MAIGRET

by Georges Simenon Rowan Atkinson re-introduced us to the lugubrious character of Maigret, a French police inspector from the 1950s, during the televised series released two years ago.

But it’s the written word that’s been celebrated all over the world, with The Guardian referring to Simenon as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. There are 76 novels and 28 short stories to collect in the Maigret detective series, though, since late 2013, Penguin Books has been translating 75 of them, releasing one a month. These crime stories are gripping, easy to digest and a notable part of modern-day literary history.

FING

by David Walliams For nearly ten years, David Walliams has been delighting children with his badly-behaved adults, notably Gangsta Granny and also The Demon Dentist. His latest book, Fing, was published this February and follows the story of Myrtle Meek who demands a ‘fing’ from her parents.

But, what on earth is a fing, you might ask, as did Myrtle’s parents? This, says Walliams, “I think is my funniest book. I wanted to write a story just to make children laugh, and nothing else.” It certainly did the trick for me, and is one that I highly recommend adding to your Walliams library.

GARDENLUST

by Christopher Woods A whole range of books has already been published this year and at the tail end of last year, about magnificent gardens throughout the world. Many of them are themed with one feature in prominence, and they all have spectacular photographs with good accompanying commentaries.

Traditional values are recognised in The English Garden

by Ursula Buchan and Andrew Lawson as well as in Gardens of the Arts & Crafts Movement by Judith B. Tankard, and Walled Gardens by BBC presenter Jules Hudson.

Others in my anthology include Shakespeare’s Gardens

by Jackie Bennett, and Oxford College Gardens by Tim Richardson. And exotic possibilities can be seen in Morocco in Bloom by Giuppi Pietromarchi and Giulio Pietromarchi, and Italian Gardens of Lake Como by Lucia Impelluso and Dario Fusaro.

My key pick of this rich field is Gardenlust, which presents a whole range of modern ideas for gardens. The spectacular city gardens of Singapore are featured, and the vertical gardens in Sydney. There are modern settings for divine statuary in India, and for tiles in North Africa, and back in England, the geometric designs of Kim Wilkie are featured. Gardenlust succeeds in reminding us that we don’t have to impose ideas and plants from other times and places: we can benefit from freshness and diversity by remaining local.

1

Rebirth – Napkey

2

Salzburg – Worakls

3

Prayer in C – Lilly Wood and The Prick

4

To Build a Home – The Cinematic Orchestra

5

Easy Field – Stereoclip

6

Lights Down Low – MAX

7

I Need – Maverick Sabre

8

Naked – James Arthur

9

Leave a Light On – Tom Walker

10 Say Something – Justin Timberlake

Our Stories playlists are compiled by a man called Jasper Burnham who, for years, was a promoter for some of the world’s most well-known record labels. He has worked with artists including James Blunt, David Gray and Missy Elliot. He truly understands how to create the perfect atmosphere through music. He also happens to run one of our stores – Neptune Colchester.

Follow the playlist on Spotify by searching @Neptune_home or, easier still, click the camera icon in the Spotify search box and scan the code below.

The Ethicurean, Somerset A stroll down a quiet country lane, through a door in a tall brick wall, and you’ve arrived at The Ethicurean. This

KITCHEN GARDENS three to visit

There’s something romantic about a kitchen garden. Neat, Mr McGregor rows of lettuces; mossy-branched apple trees heavy with fruit; arching tunnels of peas; and beds edged in tumbling nasturtiums – they all speak of country houses and living in tune with the seasons.

And what better way to experience all of that than to taste the vegetables, dig your fingers into the soil, or even sleep in a kitchen garden? Here are three of our favourites.

restaurant, led by the seasons and a menu that’s centred around vegetables, sits in a glasshouse and former potting shed, looking out across the restored Victorian kitchen garden to the Mendip Hills beyond.

The Ethicurean is open from Tuesday–Sunday for lunch and supper. theethicurean.com Middleton Lodge, North Yorkshire Not only can you eat what’s grown in the kitchen garden at Middleton Lodge (in one of their two restaurants), but if you stay in the Potting Shed, you’ll also sleep nestled right in among the vegetable beds. Set in a 200-acre private estate on North Yorkshire’s moors, it’s the very definition of peaceful too.

Rooms are available from £120 including breakfast. middletonlodge.co.uk Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Oxfordshire If you’d like to really dig into a kitchen garden (pun intended), then there’s nowhere quite like it than Le Manoir. Expect workshops on micro-herbs, mushroomgrowing and cultivating apples, taught in the hotel’s 11 gardens – which include an orchard and two acres of organic vegetables.

Garden school courses start at £110 and include lunch in the glasshouse. belmond.com/lemanoir

Suffolk six-seater dining table, Silver Birch £845 / Provence dining chair £125 / Havana dining chair, Silver Birch £245

The Ethicurean, Somerset A stroll down a quiet country lane, through a door in a tall brick wall, and you’ve arrived at The Ethicurean. This

KITCHEN GARDENS three to visit

There’s something romantic about a kitchen garden. Neat, Mr McGregor rows of lettuces; mossy-branched apple trees heavy with fruit; arching tunnels of peas; and beds edged in tumbling nasturtiums – they all speak of country houses and living in tune with the seasons.

And what better way to experience all of that than to taste the vegetables, dig your fingers into the soil, or even sleep in a kitchen garden? Here are three of our favourites.

restaurant, led by the seasons and a menu that’s centred around vegetables, sits in a glasshouse and former potting shed, looking out across the restored Victorian kitchen garden to the Mendip Hills beyond.

The Ethicurean is open from Tuesday–Sunday for lunch and supper. theethicurean.com Middleton Lodge, North Yorkshire Not only can you eat what’s grown in the kitchen garden at Middleton Lodge (in one of their two restaurants), but if you stay in the Potting Shed, you’ll also sleep nestled right in among the vegetable beds. Set in a 200-acre private estate on North Yorkshire’s moors, it’s the very definition of peaceful too.

Rooms are available from £120 including breakfast. middletonlodge.co.uk Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Oxfordshire If you’d like to really dig into a kitchen garden (pun intended), then there’s nowhere quite like it than Le Manoir. Expect workshops on micro-herbs, mushroomgrowing and cultivating apples, taught in the hotel’s 11 gardens – which include an orchard and two acres of organic vegetables.

Garden school courses start at £110 and include lunch in the glasshouse. belmond.com/lemanoir

Suffolk six-seater dining table, Silver Birch £845 / Provence dining chair £125 / Havana dining chair, Silver Birch £245

THE STORY OF A STOR E Neptune Winchester Deborah Barker, former editor of Homes & Gardens magazine, heads back to Neptune Winchester – whose launch event she attended over seven years ago.

She meets the team, interviews the store designers, and chats to the guests to uncover the story behind our very first store.

Seven years ago, in March 2012, Neptune began a new chapter in its story and opened its first store. Since then, a further 30 buildings have had the Neptune name hung over the door, from York to Belfast, but this is the tale of the first – the transformation of an empty Georgian pub into Neptune Winchester.

Up to this point, Neptune had grown rapidly as a kitchen and furniture maker, but had never operated a store of its own – somewhere customers could see, touch and be inspired by its collections. One that felt like home.

A few towns close to the Wiltshire HQ were identified as potential locations, but it was The Percy Hobbs in Winchester that caught the eye of Neptune’s head of property, Tim Buxton. There was something about the traditional feel and series of rooms that were both cosy and striking. “I like pubs and the way they fit in to their locality,” said Tim. “This was a nice building with bay

windows, but the part I really liked was the long barn, which we retained and is now where the Limehouse kitchen is situated.”

Come into any Neptune store today and you’ll immediately recognise they feel far more like homes than shops. It was Winchester where that ethos was born.

“While we had a firm philosophy of what we wanted our stores to be, this was our first go, and I think our vision evolved while we were working on it,” remembers Tim. “We started thinking we wouldn’t need to do too much, but ended up almost ripping it apart. We’ve never been a brand to do things by halves. We don’t really do half-hearted.”

As a result, many details, such as Neptune’s core palette of materials and how it works with them, came from Winchester. “We spent 18 months on that build,” recalls Tim, “but we learned an enormous amount and I really think we did get it right.”

CELEBR ATING CH A R AC TER

A W ELCOMING EMBR ACE

A lot of thought went into working with the architecture of The Percy Hobbs, turning its occasional quirks into an architectural advantage. For example, the pub’s different levels, with its steps from room to room and exposed roof beams, bring personality and the feeling of flow that recalls a real home rather than a bland retail space.

What does Neptune Winchester feel like today?

“Calming, very relaxed, a place where you feel perfectly at home as soon as you step over the threshold,” believes store leader, Sam Blades “I don’t believe a day goes past without at least one customer saying, when can I move in?’.”

At its heart is a series of spaces, from cosy living rooms to lofty-ceilinged kitchens. The ‘home’ philosophy created at Winchester went on to shape all 30 stores that followed, yet each one deliberately retains an individual element of its previous life, meaning no Neptune store ever feels quite the same. Those yesteryear duties have included bakeries, barns, a 17th-century gate lodge and even a railway terminus.

“Within that model, we try to make sure that each store has its own ‘wow’ space, or even a collection of them,” says Fred Horlock, head of store design “My first ‘wow’ has always been the Suffolk sitting room with its big, open ceiling and log-burning stove. So warm and cosy. We put a lot of effort into working around tricky bits like roof rafters, because they’re the elements that give a room personality.

It’s not just about creating a kitchen or a bedroom, it’s about showing people what you can do with space.”

Does Sam remember what he felt like on opening day?

“I was so tired, but so excited. The store looked and felt like a real home and it was wonderful to meet our customers for the first time.” And Tim? “Ha! Yes, sheer relief! But I also know everyone felt really proud of what we’d achieved.”

Today, Neptune Winchester has regular gatherings in store, from floristry masterclasses to cookery events. “It’s nice to see the store really come to life; the events become like a party in someone’s home with people spreading around sitting on the sofas, chatting and enjoying themselves” laughs Sam. The outside is landscaped – as you’d expect with Neptune’s garden roots – and the front of the store bursts into life every summer when the lavender blooms. Over the years there have been tweaks and updates, and each season, the rooms are redressed to showcase new collections.

But ever since that opening day, Neptune Winchester has continued to be an inspiring space that embraces customers, so they want to return. After all, it’s a building that has welcome in its genes.

“The way the rooms are set out is very clever, with features you wouldn’t think of.

I love it and want to move in every time.”

Henny Welby-Everard, a guest at Neptune Winchester.

THE STORY OF A STOR E Neptune Winchester Deborah Barker, former editor of Homes & Gardens magazine, heads back to Neptune Winchester – whose launch event she attended over seven years ago.

She meets the team, interviews the store designers, and chats to the guests to uncover the story behind our very first store.

Seven years ago, in March 2012, Neptune began a new chapter in its story and opened its first store. Since then, a further 30 buildings have had the Neptune name hung over the door, from York to Belfast, but this is the tale of the first – the transformation of an empty Georgian pub into Neptune Winchester.

Up to this point, Neptune had grown rapidly as a kitchen and furniture maker, but had never operated a store of its own – somewhere customers could see, touch and be inspired by its collections. One that felt like home.

A few towns close to the Wiltshire HQ were identified as potential locations, but it was The Percy Hobbs in Winchester that caught the eye of Neptune’s head of property, Tim Buxton. There was something about the traditional feel and series of rooms that were both cosy and striking. “I like pubs and the way they fit in to their locality,” said Tim. “This was a nice building with bay

windows, but the part I really liked was the long barn, which we retained and is now where the Limehouse kitchen is situated.”

Come into any Neptune store today and you’ll immediately recognise they feel far more like homes than shops. It was Winchester where that ethos was born.

“While we had a firm philosophy of what we wanted our stores to be, this was our first go, and I think our vision evolved while we were working on it,” remembers Tim. “We started thinking we wouldn’t need to do too much, but ended up almost ripping it apart. We’ve never been a brand to do things by halves. We don’t really do half-hearted.”

As a result, many details, such as Neptune’s core palette of materials and how it works with them, came from Winchester. “We spent 18 months on that build,” recalls Tim, “but we learned an enormous amount and I really think we did get it right.”

CELEBR ATING CH A R AC TER

A W ELCOMING EMBR ACE

A lot of thought went into working with the architecture of The Percy Hobbs, turning its occasional quirks into an architectural advantage. For example, the pub’s different levels, with its steps from room to room and exposed roof beams, bring personality and the feeling of flow that recalls a real home rather than a bland retail space.

What does Neptune Winchester feel like today?

“Calming, very relaxed, a place where you feel perfectly at home as soon as you step over the threshold,” believes store leader, Sam Blades “I don’t believe a day goes past without at least one customer saying, when can I move in?’.”

At its heart is a series of spaces, from cosy living rooms to lofty-ceilinged kitchens. The ‘home’ philosophy created at Winchester went on to shape all 30 stores that followed, yet each one deliberately retains an individual element of its previous life, meaning no Neptune store ever feels quite the same. Those yesteryear duties have included bakeries, barns, a 17th-century gate lodge and even a railway terminus.

“Within that model, we try to make sure that each store has its own ‘wow’ space, or even a collection of them,” says Fred Horlock, head of store design “My first ‘wow’ has always been the Suffolk sitting room with its big, open ceiling and log-burning stove. So warm and cosy. We put a lot of effort into working around tricky bits like roof rafters, because they’re the elements that give a room personality.

It’s not just about creating a kitchen or a bedroom, it’s about showing people what you can do with space.”

Does Sam remember what he felt like on opening day?

“I was so tired, but so excited. The store looked and felt like a real home and it was wonderful to meet our customers for the first time.” And Tim? “Ha! Yes, sheer relief! But I also know everyone felt really proud of what we’d achieved.”

Today, Neptune Winchester has regular gatherings in store, from floristry masterclasses to cookery events. “It’s nice to see the store really come to life; the events become like a party in someone’s home with people spreading around sitting on the sofas, chatting and enjoying themselves” laughs Sam. The outside is landscaped – as you’d expect with Neptune’s garden roots – and the front of the store bursts into life every summer when the lavender blooms. Over the years there have been tweaks and updates, and each season, the rooms are redressed to showcase new collections.

But ever since that opening day, Neptune Winchester has continued to be an inspiring space that embraces customers, so they want to return. After all, it’s a building that has welcome in its genes.

“The way the rooms are set out is very clever, with features you wouldn’t think of.

I love it and want to move in every time.”

Henny Welby-Everard, a guest at Neptune Winchester.

Real NEPTUNE HOMES Getting to see our designs out there, in your homes, with your

Down a quiet country lane in the village of Bolney, West Sussex, is the red-brick, Victorian home of Vivienne Cutler, her husband, Matt, their two boys, Luca and Isaac, one Neptune kitchen and one Neptune laundry room…

personal stamp on them is what our readers tell us they look forward to most of all. And they’re the stories that we love writing about the most too. This time, our editor gets to see inside three very different homes with three very different kitchens – one of which has the most blissfully calm and orderly laundry room…

Vivienne & her Chichester kitchen

THE PROJECT “I walked into Neptune Hove and I fell in love,” were the words that Vivienne used less than a minute into our conversation. “I liked both the Chichester and Suffolk ranges, but in Hove, I spotted their Chichester laundry room and it was love at first sight. Luckily my husband agreed!” It was the prospect of a cohesive scheme that led Vivienne to ultimately pick Chichester. “One room joins the other, so I liked how everything would coordinate absolutely perfectly.”

Working with Lee as her designer, he suggested a kitchen split into two sections and a laundry room split into two as well – one part with appliances and the sink, and another with ladder shelving that Vivienne calls her ‘laundry pantry’. In the main part of the kitchen, all of the

day-to-day activity takes place, and by the kitchen table is their ‘entertaining cabinetry’, including the ice trough that Vivienne had spied on Instagram and Lee sourced for them. There’s also a beer fridge, a wine fridge, a filter tap and plenty of cupboard space for glassware. “It means people can be all together in one space, but without anyone getting under my feet,” Vivienne explained.

“I think everyone’s encouraged to help themselves to everything too, which is great for me as I just want people to feel at home.”

“Lee was like my fairy godmother, making everything happen and run like clockwork. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

LIFE IN HER NEW KITCHEN What’s your favourite thing to do in your new kitchen?

“I’m certainly not the best cook but I do know how to host a great party! We do everything in here. It’s such a great entertaining space. Everyone loves coming into the kitchen and nobody likes to leave, us included.”

What’s your favourite part?

“Out of the whole space, my laundry room is my favourite. We’re all about multi-use rooms these days and I find it really calming that this is a single-use space. It’s just so nice to not have part of your kitchen taken up with a washing machine, tumble dryer and cleaning stuff, or washing spread around the house.

It’s all contained and the most chilled-out part of the house. And the cabinetry work is ingenious – Neptune’s thought of everything.”

What could you now not live without?

“In the kitchen, the bi-fold larder cabinet. Everything’s so well organised and it just makes my life better day to day. Honestly. Neptune just makes everything so easy!

And in my laundry room, the spray tap – it sounds silly, but it’s the handiest thing, especially for cleaning the boys’ muddy boots!”

Real NEPTUNE HOMES Getting to see our designs out there, in your homes, with your

Down a quiet country lane in the village of Bolney, West Sussex, is the red-brick, Victorian home of Vivienne Cutler, her husband, Matt, their two boys, Luca and Isaac, one Neptune kitchen and one Neptune laundry room…

personal stamp on them is what our readers tell us they look forward to most of all. And they’re the stories that we love writing about the most too. This time, our editor gets to see inside three very different homes with three very different kitchens – one of which has the most blissfully calm and orderly laundry room…

Vivienne & her Chichester kitchen

THE PROJECT “I walked into Neptune Hove and I fell in love,” were the words that Vivienne used less than a minute into our conversation. “I liked both the Chichester and Suffolk ranges, but in Hove, I spotted their Chichester laundry room and it was love at first sight. Luckily my husband agreed!” It was the prospect of a cohesive scheme that led Vivienne to ultimately pick Chichester. “One room joins the other, so I liked how everything would coordinate absolutely perfectly.”

Working with Lee as her designer, he suggested a kitchen split into two sections and a laundry room split into two as well – one part with appliances and the sink, and another with ladder shelving that Vivienne calls her ‘laundry pantry’. In the main part of the kitchen, all of the

day-to-day activity takes place, and by the kitchen table is their ‘entertaining cabinetry’, including the ice trough that Vivienne had spied on Instagram and Lee sourced for them. There’s also a beer fridge, a wine fridge, a filter tap and plenty of cupboard space for glassware. “It means people can be all together in one space, but without anyone getting under my feet,” Vivienne explained.

“I think everyone’s encouraged to help themselves to everything too, which is great for me as I just want people to feel at home.”

“Lee was like my fairy godmother, making everything happen and run like clockwork. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

LIFE IN HER NEW KITCHEN What’s your favourite thing to do in your new kitchen?

“I’m certainly not the best cook but I do know how to host a great party! We do everything in here. It’s such a great entertaining space. Everyone loves coming into the kitchen and nobody likes to leave, us included.”

What’s your favourite part?

“Out of the whole space, my laundry room is my favourite. We’re all about multi-use rooms these days and I find it really calming that this is a single-use space. It’s just so nice to not have part of your kitchen taken up with a washing machine, tumble dryer and cleaning stuff, or washing spread around the house.

It’s all contained and the most chilled-out part of the house. And the cabinetry work is ingenious – Neptune’s thought of everything.”

What could you now not live without?

“In the kitchen, the bi-fold larder cabinet. Everything’s so well organised and it just makes my life better day to day. Honestly. Neptune just makes everything so easy!

And in my laundry room, the spray tap – it sounds silly, but it’s the handiest thing, especially for cleaning the boys’ muddy boots!”

This period property, set within the grounds of a Cheltenham estate, is large in every way. From the square footage of the house itself and the seven acres of land that surround it (where you’ll find the family’s four alpacas – Cloud, Muffin, Pablo and Larry) to the scale of the rooms and the family of eight who live inside its confines.

Welcome to the home and the Henley kitchen of Charlotte, her husband, Lee, their four boys and last but not least, their two pet pooches.

Charlotte & her Henley kitchen

THE PROJECT zBefore Charlotte and her family even moved into their new Cheltenham home, renovation work had long begun, with a team of 30 or so people refurbishing every room over three months. The kitchen was a part that Charlotte had been imagining for some time, with a picture of a Neptune kitchen in a magazine that really sparked her imagination.

The kitchen she’d been eyeing was Suffolk, but as she looked around Neptune Cheltenham, Charlotte decided that it was our Henley collection that would most suit her home and style. She liked its subtle grandeur. “Kate was our kitchen designer, and I explained to her that I wanted the height and the wow of the kitchen I loved in the magazine, with its full-wall dresser. That was the key part of my brief. She was brilliant, and completely understood what I wanted and how to make it work in a way that

suited our home. At first, I was nervous about a run of oak cabinets mixed in with our Charcoal-painted ones, but it’s perfect.”

Charlotte’s wish list, aside from her ‘wow’ wall cabinetry, included a big island and sub-zero fridge – a request of Lee’s – but most of the conversations pivoted around the vast dresser section. “We had Neptune’s Bespoke Workshop alter the cabinets so they went right up to the architrave. Kate suggested that so we could really show off the ceiling height – such a great designer’s tip. We added the oak ladder to reach up high, though we don’t need to go up there often. We use it when we need it, otherwise it just looks so smart.” Other parts of Charlotte’s design included a bespoke Henley window seat with storage below, two larders and a work station that blends into the cabinetry as they wanted somewhere for a family computer that wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb.

Once Charlotte’s kitchen was installed and all settled in (“I used Neptune’s installation team because I wanted their lifetime guarantee. It meant I could step back and relax,” Charlotte added), she decided to bring Neptune back to design a room for her dogs and a laundry room upstairs. “For the dogs’ room, I chose Chichester cabinets for a bit of a change and I had them painted in Juniper which Kate thought would suit the light of the room and would flow well from the hallway. We have Neptune’s housekeeper’s cabinet, a deep butler’s sink for dog washing and bespoke dog bed cabinets too. And upstairs, I have almost two of everything from the Chichester laundry collection. It’s one of my favourite rooms in the house.”

LIFE IN HER NEW KITCHEN What’s your favourite thing to do in your new kitchen?

“Having a glass of wine in here with Lee or my friends.

It’s such a lovely room to be in. It’s where I like to unwind as much as cook. I call it my living kitchen.”

What could you now not live without?

“My two ovens that are integrated into the island, and the amazing extractor fan that I saw on the Limehouse kitchen that disappears into the worktop. It’s incredible!”

This period property, set within the grounds of a Cheltenham estate, is large in every way. From the square footage of the house itself and the seven acres of land that surround it (where you’ll find the family’s four alpacas – Cloud, Muffin, Pablo and Larry) to the scale of the rooms and the family of eight who live inside its confines.

Welcome to the home and the Henley kitchen of Charlotte, her husband, Lee, their four boys and last but not least, their two pet pooches.

Charlotte & her Henley kitchen

THE PROJECT zBefore Charlotte and her family even moved into their new Cheltenham home, renovation work had long begun, with a team of 30 or so people refurbishing every room over three months. The kitchen was a part that Charlotte had been imagining for some time, with a picture of a Neptune kitchen in a magazine that really sparked her imagination.

The kitchen she’d been eyeing was Suffolk, but as she looked around Neptune Cheltenham, Charlotte decided that it was our Henley collection that would most suit her home and style. She liked its subtle grandeur. “Kate was our kitchen designer, and I explained to her that I wanted the height and the wow of the kitchen I loved in the magazine, with its full-wall dresser. That was the key part of my brief. She was brilliant, and completely understood what I wanted and how to make it work in a way that

suited our home. At first, I was nervous about a run of oak cabinets mixed in with our Charcoal-painted ones, but it’s perfect.”

Charlotte’s wish list, aside from her ‘wow’ wall cabinetry, included a big island and sub-zero fridge – a request of Lee’s – but most of the conversations pivoted around the vast dresser section. “We had Neptune’s Bespoke Workshop alter the cabinets so they went right up to the architrave. Kate suggested that so we could really show off the ceiling height – such a great designer’s tip. We added the oak ladder to reach up high, though we don’t need to go up there often. We use it when we need it, otherwise it just looks so smart.” Other parts of Charlotte’s design included a bespoke Henley window seat with storage below, two larders and a work station that blends into the cabinetry as they wanted somewhere for a family computer that wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb.

Once Charlotte’s kitchen was installed and all settled in (“I used Neptune’s installation team because I wanted their lifetime guarantee. It meant I could step back and relax,” Charlotte added), she decided to bring Neptune back to design a room for her dogs and a laundry room upstairs. “For the dogs’ room, I chose Chichester cabinets for a bit of a change and I had them painted in Juniper which Kate thought would suit the light of the room and would flow well from the hallway. We have Neptune’s housekeeper’s cabinet, a deep butler’s sink for dog washing and bespoke dog bed cabinets too. And upstairs, I have almost two of everything from the Chichester laundry collection. It’s one of my favourite rooms in the house.”

LIFE IN HER NEW KITCHEN What’s your favourite thing to do in your new kitchen?

“Having a glass of wine in here with Lee or my friends.

It’s such a lovely room to be in. It’s where I like to unwind as much as cook. I call it my living kitchen.”

What could you now not live without?

“My two ovens that are integrated into the island, and the amazing extractor fan that I saw on the Limehouse kitchen that disappears into the worktop. It’s incredible!”

In the heart of Englefield Green village in Surrey stands a large villa, circa 1899. It’s a property that Liz Hudson has known, loved and desperately wanted to live in for most of her adult life. And 20 years ago, to her delight, she become the proud owner, unpacking boxes with her husband, Steve, their two children Lily and Louis (“We’ve been trying to get rid of them but still have one left,” she jokes), and most recently, their two rescue dogs, Bridget and Teddy.

Liz & her Chichester kitchen

THE PROJECT It wasn’t very long after Liz and her family were all settled that the renovation ideas began to sprout. The kitchen though, came much later, finally starting on 16th January last year. “I’d been planning the kitchen for years. So when we finally said yes, let’s do this, the date became etched in my mind as a day of historic significance,” she remembers, laughing.

Liz consulted old notes she’d jotted down years ago when she started planning her dream kitchen. “I’d noted the Chichester kitchen island. I remember loving it; I just assumed Neptune would be out of my price range. But I thought I’d go along to Neptune Weybridge and see, and that was it really. There was no way I could have any other kitchen after that,” she smiled. “I remember saying to Karon [their Neptune kitchen designer], ‘I can’t afford this Karon!’, and she said very calmly and positively, ‘You’ll be surprised.’” She was brilliant from the word go.”

During Karon’s home visit, Liz was able to show her the rest of her home and how her style was eclectic and livedin rather than perfectly coordinating and pristine. “Karon really got me and my style. She made sure I’d have room to mix in some antique cupboards and I know she just wanted me to have the kitchen of my dreams rather than selling me as many cabinets as she could. I felt like she really connected with us and our home,” Liz continued.

“I remember her suggesting a breakfast bar and me saying, ‘No, no, no, I don’t want that. Terrible idea.’ But what she did was gently guide me at times where she believed it was for the better, and I’m so glad I listened. It’s now one of my favourite places to be, because I can enjoy views of our garden. Something Karon had appreciated but I hadn’t at the time.”

Liz also has a real love for colour, choosing our Teal paint for her island to complement her beloved glazed metro tiles that form the stove’s splashback. “I’d seen them in House & Garden years ago. They’re from a company called Milagros who make them by hand in Mexico. The colour has such depth. It’s jewel-like, just like my Teal kitchen island, and my Neptune brass handles go with it exceptionally well.”

“I love every part of my kitchen and I honestly don’t really use any other room in the house that much.

Everywhere else feels so sad in comparison. We have a lovely snug, a gorgeously bright living room, but they just don’t get a look-in any more. This is the room that makes me happiest.”

LIFE IN HER NEW KITCHEN What’s your favourite thing to do in your new kitchen?

“Drink gin, probably! We have an open house every Friday and people just pop in, be it for one G&T or several, and I love how our kitchen can accommodate that. And in second place would be sitting at my breakfast bar – I hope Karon reads this and can think, I told you so!”

What could you now not live without?

“This is going to sound odd, but, my spray tap. I use it several times a day and it’s a small, simple thing that makes life so much easier.”

In the heart of Englefield Green village in Surrey stands a large villa, circa 1899. It’s a property that Liz Hudson has known, loved and desperately wanted to live in for most of her adult life. And 20 years ago, to her delight, she become the proud owner, unpacking boxes with her husband, Steve, their two children Lily and Louis (“We’ve been trying to get rid of them but still have one left,” she jokes), and most recently, their two rescue dogs, Bridget and Teddy.

Liz & her Chichester kitchen

THE PROJECT It wasn’t very long after Liz and her family were all settled that the renovation ideas began to sprout. The kitchen though, came much later, finally starting on 16th January last year. “I’d been planning the kitchen for years. So when we finally said yes, let’s do this, the date became etched in my mind as a day of historic significance,” she remembers, laughing.

Liz consulted old notes she’d jotted down years ago when she started planning her dream kitchen. “I’d noted the Chichester kitchen island. I remember loving it; I just assumed Neptune would be out of my price range. But I thought I’d go along to Neptune Weybridge and see, and that was it really. There was no way I could have any other kitchen after that,” she smiled. “I remember saying to Karon [their Neptune kitchen designer], ‘I can’t afford this Karon!’, and she said very calmly and positively, ‘You’ll be surprised.’” She was brilliant from the word go.”

During Karon’s home visit, Liz was able to show her the rest of her home and how her style was eclectic and livedin rather than perfectly coordinating and pristine. “Karon really got me and my style. She made sure I’d have room to mix in some antique cupboards and I know she just wanted me to have the kitchen of my dreams rather than selling me as many cabinets as she could. I felt like she really connected with us and our home,” Liz continued.

“I remember her suggesting a breakfast bar and me saying, ‘No, no, no, I don’t want that. Terrible idea.’ But what she did was gently guide me at times where she believed it was for the better, and I’m so glad I listened. It’s now one of my favourite places to be, because I can enjoy views of our garden. Something Karon had appreciated but I hadn’t at the time.”

Liz also has a real love for colour, choosing our Teal paint for her island to complement her beloved glazed metro tiles that form the stove’s splashback. “I’d seen them in House & Garden years ago. They’re from a company called Milagros who make them by hand in Mexico. The colour has such depth. It’s jewel-like, just like my Teal kitchen island, and my Neptune brass handles go with it exceptionally well.”

“I love every part of my kitchen and I honestly don’t really use any other room in the house that much.

Everywhere else feels so sad in comparison. We have a lovely snug, a gorgeously bright living room, but they just don’t get a look-in any more. This is the room that makes me happiest.”

LIFE IN HER NEW KITCHEN What’s your favourite thing to do in your new kitchen?

“Drink gin, probably! We have an open house every Friday and people just pop in, be it for one G&T or several, and I love how our kitchen can accommodate that. And in second place would be sitting at my breakfast bar – I hope Karon reads this and can think, I told you so!”

What could you now not live without?

“This is going to sound odd, but, my spray tap. I use it several times a day and it’s a small, simple thing that makes life so much easier.”

Share your story

Do you have a room in your home that’s top to toe Neptune?

Whether it’s a Neptune kitchen like Liz, Charlotte and Vivienne, a boot room, a bedroom, a garden room, or even your whole home, we’d love to hear your story. Simply share your pictures on Instagram or Facebook using the hashtag #realneptunehomes or get in touch with us at yourstories@neptune.com We’re all eyes and ears.

#realneptunehomes

Share your story

Do you have a room in your home that’s top to toe Neptune?

Whether it’s a Neptune kitchen like Liz, Charlotte and Vivienne, a boot room, a bedroom, a garden room, or even your whole home, we’d love to hear your story. Simply share your pictures on Instagram or Facebook using the hashtag #realneptunehomes or get in touch with us at yourstories@neptune.com We’re all eyes and ears.

#realneptunehomes

NEWS & VIEWS Seasonal updates and happenings in the world of Neptune

Shades of: SPRING

Stylist, photographer and writer for one of our favourite magazines – The Simple Things – Louise Gorrod reviews two of the pieces from our new spring collection.

Product focus: THEO OCCASIONAL ARMCHAIR Don’t be fooled by its petite proportions, the Theo occasional armchair is a hard-working piece of furniture. Think of it as a furniture version of a much-loved pair of jeans – versatile, timeless, snug and comfortable. There’s no denying that this chair is a classic example of British design, inspired by a particular style of antique armchair. Its pleasing details will win you over – the swoop of its side profile, the antiqued brass castors and the simple pleasure you get from the double piping along the bottom edge. Aside from the good looks and huggable comfort, Theo has the ability to slip into any room.

Its little footprint makes it perfect for the bedroom or as a decorative piece in a passing space, but we find it works nicely in the sitting room. It’s the perfect extra chair for when guests come over. No more squeezing on the sofa or pulling up a dining chair – this is the snug seat everyone makes a beeline for.

As with all of Neptune’s upholstered pieces, Theo comes in a choice of textile coverings, meaning you can really make it your own. From plush rich velvets to the softest wool, each fabric has its own character, but I think pure linen is hard to beat with its fine textured weave and soft, durable finish. I reckon Theo’s a future family heirloom in the making.

Applying Flax Blue to your walls is like opening the windows on the first day of spring – it instantly lifts the room. Available in eggshell and matte emulsion, it’s easy-going enough to work on all four walls, but I really like it paired with Salt, a bright (but not brilliant) white, which brings out the best in this soft and subtle blue.

A go-to colour for bedrooms and bathrooms, it has a knack of making any space vibrant, fresh and restful – try it in any room that you want to inject calm and tranquility into.

IN THE BESPOKE WORKSHOP

A BORROWED DETAIL

Did you know that at Neptune HQ in Wiltshire, we have our very own Bespoke Workshop. It’s where we design custom pieces for your homes, from altering the dimensions of one of our pieces to better suit the room for which it’s destined to new cabinet concepts for kitchens. Here’s a round-up of some of the most recent designs to leave our workshop door.

“Neptune Bury St Edmunds’ senior designer, Lara spoke of her client’s bespoke design project, which was about form rather than fuction: “I worked on a Chichester kitchen recently where the client loved the usability and the size of the Suffolk double-door larder but they wanted it to look like the rest of their Chichester cabinetry. So that’s exactly what the Bespoke Workshop made, just for them. They also liked Chichester’s traditional beading so much that they wanted it at the ends of the cabinetry, rather than the smooth side panels. We’ve never done that before, but our Bespoke Workshop altered all the visible ends so that they had the same beaded frame. It looked great!”

AN ACCESSIBLE KITCHEN DESIGN “My clients, John and Sarah, were looking for a wheelchair-friendly kitchen,” explained Suzie, one of the kitchen designers at Neptune Chichester.

“With our Bespoke Workshop, we designed a low larder and an island that was at table height with a large overhang and integrated hob so Sarah could easily use it for food prep and cooking. Sarah also said that she wanted to be able to wash up as much as chop and cook, so we designed a bespoke sink cabinet with taps positioned closer to the front and at the side. Having curved cabinetry meant it was easier to manoeuvre around, and so we altered curved wall cabinets to use them on the floor and lowered the heights of all of the base cabinetry too.”

GO BESPOKE If you’re interested in having a bespoke cabinet or piece of furniture made, just speak to your local Neptune store. They’ll be able to look at options and costs with you. neptune.com/stores

A LARDER-DISHWASHER CABINET “Not too long ago, our Bespoke Workshop made a totally custom-made cabinet for my clients, Carys and Simon – two very keen cooks,” Hayley from Neptune York told us. “We were struggling to find a way to fit in everything they needed, in a flow that made sense; I didn’t want to put a dishwasher on the other side of the kitchen away from the bin and sink or it would’ve been an awkward way to move around the kitchen. So, we had to figure out a way to make it happen. The Bespoke Workshop suggested we alter the larder cabinet, swapping the bottom drawers for an integrated dishwasher. I remember thinking, how the heck are they going to make that happen? But they did and Carys absolutely loved it.”

Inspiration at your fingertips: @NEPTUNEHOMEOFFICIAL Whether you’re seeking ideas to update your space or just a little interior escapism, our Instagram feed is a melting pot of inspiration. Alongside our daily posts you can browse insider tips, scroll through Q&As with stylists and designers, and take a peek inside some real Neptune homes.

NEWS & VIEWS Seasonal updates and happenings in the world of Neptune

Shades of: SPRING

Stylist, photographer and writer for one of our favourite magazines – The Simple Things – Louise Gorrod reviews two of the pieces from our new spring collection.

Product focus: THEO OCCASIONAL ARMCHAIR Don’t be fooled by its petite proportions, the Theo occasional armchair is a hard-working piece of furniture. Think of it as a furniture version of a much-loved pair of jeans – versatile, timeless, snug and comfortable. There’s no denying that this chair is a classic example of British design, inspired by a particular style of antique armchair. Its pleasing details will win you over – the swoop of its side profile, the antiqued brass castors and the simple pleasure you get from the double piping along the bottom edge. Aside from the good looks and huggable comfort, Theo has the ability to slip into any room.

Its little footprint makes it perfect for the bedroom or as a decorative piece in a passing space, but we find it works nicely in the sitting room. It’s the perfect extra chair for when guests come over. No more squeezing on the sofa or pulling up a dining chair – this is the snug seat everyone makes a beeline for.

As with all of Neptune’s upholstered pieces, Theo comes in a choice of textile coverings, meaning you can really make it your own. From plush rich velvets to the softest wool, each fabric has its own character, but I think pure linen is hard to beat with its fine textured weave and soft, durable finish. I reckon Theo’s a future family heirloom in the making.

Applying Flax Blue to your walls is like opening the windows on the first day of spring – it instantly lifts the room. Available in eggshell and matte emulsion, it’s easy-going enough to work on all four walls, but I really like it paired with Salt, a bright (but not brilliant) white, which brings out the best in this soft and subtle blue.

A go-to colour for bedrooms and bathrooms, it has a knack of making any space vibrant, fresh and restful – try it in any room that you want to inject calm and tranquility into.

IN THE BESPOKE WORKSHOP

A BORROWED DETAIL

Did you know that at Neptune HQ in Wiltshire, we have our very own Bespoke Workshop. It’s where we design custom pieces for your homes, from altering the dimensions of one of our pieces to better suit the room for which it’s destined to new cabinet concepts for kitchens. Here’s a round-up of some of the most recent designs to leave our workshop door.

“Neptune Bury St Edmunds’ senior designer, Lara spoke of her client’s bespoke design project, which was about form rather than fuction: “I worked on a Chichester kitchen recently where the client loved the usability and the size of the Suffolk double-door larder but they wanted it to look like the rest of their Chichester cabinetry. So that’s exactly what the Bespoke Workshop made, just for them. They also liked Chichester’s traditional beading so much that they wanted it at the ends of the cabinetry, rather than the smooth side panels. We’ve never done that before, but our Bespoke Workshop altered all the visible ends so that they had the same beaded frame. It looked great!”

AN ACCESSIBLE KITCHEN DESIGN “My clients, John and Sarah, were looking for a wheelchair-friendly kitchen,” explained Suzie, one of the kitchen designers at Neptune Chichester.

“With our Bespoke Workshop, we designed a low larder and an island that was at table height with a large overhang and integrated hob so Sarah could easily use it for food prep and cooking. Sarah also said that she wanted to be able to wash up as much as chop and cook, so we designed a bespoke sink cabinet with taps positioned closer to the front and at the side. Having curved cabinetry meant it was easier to manoeuvre around, and so we altered curved wall cabinets to use them on the floor and lowered the heights of all of the base cabinetry too.”

GO BESPOKE If you’re interested in having a bespoke cabinet or piece of furniture made, just speak to your local Neptune store. They’ll be able to look at options and costs with you. neptune.com/stores

A LARDER-DISHWASHER CABINET “Not too long ago, our Bespoke Workshop made a totally custom-made cabinet for my clients, Carys and Simon – two very keen cooks,” Hayley from Neptune York told us. “We were struggling to find a way to fit in everything they needed, in a flow that made sense; I didn’t want to put a dishwasher on the other side of the kitchen away from the bin and sink or it would’ve been an awkward way to move around the kitchen. So, we had to figure out a way to make it happen. The Bespoke Workshop suggested we alter the larder cabinet, swapping the bottom drawers for an integrated dishwasher. I remember thinking, how the heck are they going to make that happen? But they did and Carys absolutely loved it.”

Inspiration at your fingertips: @NEPTUNEHOMEOFFICIAL Whether you’re seeking ideas to update your space or just a little interior escapism, our Instagram feed is a melting pot of inspiration. Alongside our daily posts you can browse insider tips, scroll through Q&As with stylists and designers, and take a peek inside some real Neptune homes.

For painting, for moodboards, for…sketching Our art director’s recommendations for where to find your next (or first) sketchbook – one shop, one brand, and one do-it-yourself approach.

CHOOSING KEEPING

MIDORI

BOUND

For a book that feels like a work of art in itself, try Choosing Keeping.

Their collaborations with J Jeffery and Antoinette Poisson – featuring reproductions of historical papers on the covers and handmade paper inside – are particularly beautiful.

As is their ‘Grand Tour’ set, which comes with a petite, leather-bound sketchbook, a tin of 12 watercolours made using natural pigments, and a foldable, brass-handled brush.

If minimal, clean design is more your thing, then take a look at the Japanese brand Midori. The brownpaper pages of their Camel notebook are a particular favourite because they feel less intimidating than blank white pages, while the Kangaroo version is made up of pockets for tucking sketches and tear-outs into.

Or, choose one of their simple, MD cotton books and protect it with the note-bag – an undyed leather pouch that ages to tan over time.

Making your own sketchbook means you can start the creative process before you’ve even put pen to paper, and make a book that’s the perfect fit, whether it’s a tiny, concertinafolded book or one that’s filled with different colours and sizes of paper. Bound by Rachel Hazell is an inspiring – and straightforward – book to get you started.

choosingkeeping.com

thetravellingbookbinder.com

thejournalshop.com

LOOKING FOR A NOTEBOOK? Have a listen to episode two of entrepreneur Kevin Rose’s podcast, The Kevin Rose Show, where he talks to stationery-expert Brad Dowdy about all things notebooks. You can listen on iTunes, SoundCloud or Stitcher.

At your local Neptune store: THIS SEASON’S GET-TOGETHERS

Coming very soon: THE NEPTUNE CAFÉ

In case you haven’t been to one before, every Neptune store holds workshops, talks, classes and demos, and we’d love you to come along. If you’d like to know what’s coming up at your local Neptune store, just head to their page on our website.

Home and food go hand in hand. That’s why, we’ve been busy in the kitchen, working with local nutritionists, growers and chefs to create a menu that balances health and happiness to use in our very first café. It’s due to open at Neptune Bath in May 2019. More details to come…

neptune.com/stores

Gloucestershire-based interior designer Lauren Gilberthorpe looks at two sitting room schemes using real (and recent) client room plans.

Using similar furniture in the same-sized room, each one shows a different way to encourage togetherness and proximity to your nearest and dearest. She also talks us through how to pull furniture away from the walls and into the heart of your space.

A final thought

Lauren Gilberthorpe on: furniture groupings and creating layouts

For painting, for moodboards, for…sketching Our art director’s recommendations for where to find your next (or first) sketchbook – one shop, one brand, and one do-it-yourself approach.

CHOOSING KEEPING

MIDORI

BOUND

For a book that feels like a work of art in itself, try Choosing Keeping.

Their collaborations with J Jeffery and Antoinette Poisson – featuring reproductions of historical papers on the covers and handmade paper inside – are particularly beautiful.

As is their ‘Grand Tour’ set, which comes with a petite, leather-bound sketchbook, a tin of 12 watercolours made using natural pigments, and a foldable, brass-handled brush.

If minimal, clean design is more your thing, then take a look at the Japanese brand Midori. The brownpaper pages of their Camel notebook are a particular favourite because they feel less intimidating than blank white pages, while the Kangaroo version is made up of pockets for tucking sketches and tear-outs into.

Or, choose one of their simple, MD cotton books and protect it with the note-bag – an undyed leather pouch that ages to tan over time.

Making your own sketchbook means you can start the creative process before you’ve even put pen to paper, and make a book that’s the perfect fit, whether it’s a tiny, concertinafolded book or one that’s filled with different colours and sizes of paper. Bound by Rachel Hazell is an inspiring – and straightforward – book to get you started.

choosingkeeping.com

thetravellingbookbinder.com

thejournalshop.com

LOOKING FOR A NOTEBOOK? Have a listen to episode two of entrepreneur Kevin Rose’s podcast, The Kevin Rose Show, where he talks to stationery-expert Brad Dowdy about all things notebooks. You can listen on iTunes, SoundCloud or Stitcher.

At your local Neptune store: THIS SEASON’S GET-TOGETHERS

Coming very soon: THE NEPTUNE CAFÉ

In case you haven’t been to one before, every Neptune store holds workshops, talks, classes and demos, and we’d love you to come along. If you’d like to know what’s coming up at your local Neptune store, just head to their page on our website.

Home and food go hand in hand. That’s why, we’ve been busy in the kitchen, working with local nutritionists, growers and chefs to create a menu that balances health and happiness to use in our very first café. It’s due to open at Neptune Bath in May 2019. More details to come…

neptune.com/stores

Gloucestershire-based interior designer Lauren Gilberthorpe looks at two sitting room schemes using real (and recent) client room plans.

Using similar furniture in the same-sized room, each one shows a different way to encourage togetherness and proximity to your nearest and dearest. She also talks us through how to pull furniture away from the walls and into the heart of your space.

A final thought

Lauren Gilberthorpe on: furniture groupings and creating layouts

Spread your furniture

Keep it close

“In this home, I used more furniture, but they’re smaller pieces. This will make the room feel busier, whereas fewer, larger pieces change the atmosphere to one that’s more calm.

But all of the seating is angled towards one another so it’s very much convivial in feel, and the centrepiece being circular adds to the room’s messaging too.”

“Pairs of things help a room to feel balanced and more formal (symmetry often has this effect). If you have a large space, don’t be afraid to have two matching coffee tables or footstools rather than one huge one which can look over-scaled depending on the style of your sofa. These can also be very costly to source and may need to be made to measure. Having two matching pieces and positioning them side by side, means they act as two distinct items but they look united, so your room feels less cluttered.”

Choose low, armless chairs here – they don’t mask the view of the room when you enter, inviting you in.

Try to position seating in a circular or triangular layout.

It’s the best for sparking conversations.

A circular footstool in the centre of the room adds a softer shape and eases the flow whilst walking around the room.

A particularly wide sofa (2.4m or more) makes the most of the space and avoids unused areas either side. It makes the fireplace (or TV) the feature too.

(Don’t forget the importance of a rug to zone the areas you want people to gather in. It marks it out as the key area of the sitting room).

Two smaller stools will also be more flexible should you wish to move them in the future, but will cover enough space to enable all of the seats to reach them.

Don’t be afraid to put your sofa in the middle of a room. It’s a misconception that putting it against the walls will make your room feel larger. Actually, that can just create a void in the middle of the room that’s more difficult to use.

Furnishing all areas of the room is important, and if there’s a walkway like here where you wouldn’t want any furniture, furnish the walls instead with large scale artwork or a gallery wall.

Spread your furniture

Keep it close

“In this home, I used more furniture, but they’re smaller pieces. This will make the room feel busier, whereas fewer, larger pieces change the atmosphere to one that’s more calm.

But all of the seating is angled towards one another so it’s very much convivial in feel, and the centrepiece being circular adds to the room’s messaging too.”

“Pairs of things help a room to feel balanced and more formal (symmetry often has this effect). If you have a large space, don’t be afraid to have two matching coffee tables or footstools rather than one huge one which can look over-scaled depending on the style of your sofa. These can also be very costly to source and may need to be made to measure. Having two matching pieces and positioning them side by side, means they act as two distinct items but they look united, so your room feels less cluttered.”

Choose low, armless chairs here – they don’t mask the view of the room when you enter, inviting you in.

Try to position seating in a circular or triangular layout.

It’s the best for sparking conversations.

A circular footstool in the centre of the room adds a softer shape and eases the flow whilst walking around the room.

A particularly wide sofa (2.4m or more) makes the most of the space and avoids unused areas either side. It makes the fireplace (or TV) the feature too.

(Don’t forget the importance of a rug to zone the areas you want people to gather in. It marks it out as the key area of the sitting room).

Two smaller stools will also be more flexible should you wish to move them in the future, but will cover enough space to enable all of the seats to reach them.

Don’t be afraid to put your sofa in the middle of a room. It’s a misconception that putting it against the walls will make your room feel larger. Actually, that can just create a void in the middle of the room that’s more difficult to use.

Furnishing all areas of the room is important, and if there’s a walkway like here where you wouldn’t want any furniture, furnish the walls instead with large scale artwork or a gallery wall.

OUR STORES

STORE IN STORE

Bath, BA1 5BD, 01225 465 301

Neptune by Holloways, Worcestershire, WR6 5DE, 01886 884665

Belfast, BT7 3GB, 028 9691 9988 Neptune by Treehouse Midmar, Aberdeen, AB51 7NB, Bournemouth, BH2 5SL, 01202 555 024

01330 830 101

Bristol, BS8 2QY, 01172 464 200

Neptune by Creative Classics, Ayr, KA7 2HD,

Bury St Edmunds, IP33 3PH, 01284 731 025 Canterbury, CT1 3TY, 01227 209 300 Cheltenham, GL50 4DW, 01242 330 420

01292 292 570 Neptune by Sims-Hilditch, Bath, SN14 8JR, 01249 783 087, weekdays only Neptune by Woods of London, Blackheath, SE3 0TA,

Chesham, HP5 1NG, 01494 398 472

020 8852 1713

Chester, CH2 4JR, 01244 478 777

Neptune by Robert James Interiors, Coventry, CV8 3HB,

Chichester, PO20 2EW, 01243 904 417 Chiswick, W4 4HH, 020 3814 1220 Colchester, CO3 8LT, 01206 212 650 Edgbaston, B15 3AA, 0121 437 4137

02476 544 818 Neptune by Hunters, Derby, DE1 1SY, 01332 349 285 Neptune by Woods Furniture, Dorchester, DT1 1HN, 01305 262 666 Neptune by Richard F Mackay, Edinburgh, EH11 2SG,

Farnham, GU9 0BB, 01252 713 047

01313 133 300

Fulham, SW6 2TD, 0207 3719 997

Neptune by Bradley Gardens, Wylam, NE41 8JH,

Guildford, GU1 3AJ, 01483 345 480 Hailsham, BN27 1DQ, 01323 849 483 Hove, BN3 4QD, 01273 458 459 Reading, RG10 9SA, 01189 326 060 Southport, PR4 6JA, 01772 812 812 Tonbridge, TN9 1RF, 01732 351 866

01661 852 176 Neptune by Bridgewater Interiors, Gateshead, NE8 2AJ, 0191 477 6680 Neptune by House of Wood, Hereford, HR1 3NU, 01432 820 612 Neptune by Aberford Interiors, Leeds, LS25 3DP, 01132 813 209 Neptune by Ben Heath, Newbury, RG14 5SA,

Weybridge, KT13 8DX, 01932 901 234

01635 523 123

Wimbledon, SW19 1RX, 020 3362 8240

Neptune by Wilton Kitchens, Salisbury, SP2 0HX,

Winchester, SO21 1HL, 01962 850 556 York, YO32 9TW, 01904 231 870 Wiltshire Outlet, SN5 8YG, 01793 427 439

01722 743 332 Neptune by Allen & Allen, Wilmslow, SK9 1BJ, 01625 535 255 Neptune by Sacarello Interiors, Gibraltar, GX11 1AA, +350 (0)20077994

We have Neptune stores across the whole of the UK, Ireland and Europe. To see all of our homes, visit neptune.com/find-a-store

NEW Neptune by Appleyard, Norfolk, NR25 6AR, 01263 712315 Neptune by Malone & Smyth, Co Fermanagh, 02867 741 885

neptune.com/signup

Stories comes out a few times a year, but every week, there are new articles on our online journal that we share on our weekly email.

Not only that, our subscribers are first to hear about seasonal promotions, design launches, exclusive events and our newest stores.

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neptune.com | stories@neptune.com | @neptunehomeofficial

OUR STORES

STORE IN STORE

Bath, BA1 5BD, 01225 465 301

Neptune by Holloways, Worcestershire, WR6 5DE, 01886 884665

Belfast, BT7 3GB, 028 9691 9988 Neptune by Treehouse Midmar, Aberdeen, AB51 7NB, Bournemouth, BH2 5SL, 01202 555 024

01330 830 101

Bristol, BS8 2QY, 01172 464 200

Neptune by Creative Classics, Ayr, KA7 2HD,

Bury St Edmunds, IP33 3PH, 01284 731 025 Canterbury, CT1 3TY, 01227 209 300 Cheltenham, GL50 4DW, 01242 330 420

01292 292 570 Neptune by Sims-Hilditch, Bath, SN14 8JR, 01249 783 087, weekdays only Neptune by Woods of London, Blackheath, SE3 0TA,

Chesham, HP5 1NG, 01494 398 472

020 8852 1713

Chester, CH2 4JR, 01244 478 777

Neptune by Robert James Interiors, Coventry, CV8 3HB,

Chichester, PO20 2EW, 01243 904 417 Chiswick, W4 4HH, 020 3814 1220 Colchester, CO3 8LT, 01206 212 650 Edgbaston, B15 3AA, 0121 437 4137

02476 544 818 Neptune by Hunters, Derby, DE1 1SY, 01332 349 285 Neptune by Woods Furniture, Dorchester, DT1 1HN, 01305 262 666 Neptune by Richard F Mackay, Edinburgh, EH11 2SG,

Farnham, GU9 0BB, 01252 713 047

01313 133 300

Fulham, SW6 2TD, 0207 3719 997

Neptune by Bradley Gardens, Wylam, NE41 8JH,

Guildford, GU1 3AJ, 01483 345 480 Hailsham, BN27 1DQ, 01323 849 483 Hove, BN3 4QD, 01273 458 459 Reading, RG10 9SA, 01189 326 060 Southport, PR4 6JA, 01772 812 812 Tonbridge, TN9 1RF, 01732 351 866

01661 852 176 Neptune by Bridgewater Interiors, Gateshead, NE8 2AJ, 0191 477 6680 Neptune by House of Wood, Hereford, HR1 3NU, 01432 820 612 Neptune by Aberford Interiors, Leeds, LS25 3DP, 01132 813 209 Neptune by Ben Heath, Newbury, RG14 5SA,

Weybridge, KT13 8DX, 01932 901 234

01635 523 123

Wimbledon, SW19 1RX, 020 3362 8240

Neptune by Wilton Kitchens, Salisbury, SP2 0HX,

Winchester, SO21 1HL, 01962 850 556 York, YO32 9TW, 01904 231 870 Wiltshire Outlet, SN5 8YG, 01793 427 439

01722 743 332 Neptune by Allen & Allen, Wilmslow, SK9 1BJ, 01625 535 255 Neptune by Sacarello Interiors, Gibraltar, GX11 1AA, +350 (0)20077994

We have Neptune stores across the whole of the UK, Ireland and Europe. To see all of our homes, visit neptune.com/find-a-store

NEW Neptune by Appleyard, Norfolk, NR25 6AR, 01263 712315 Neptune by Malone & Smyth, Co Fermanagh, 02867 741 885

STORIES

A different perspective.

STOR IES FOR SPR ING

VOLUME 9 SPRING 2019

Twenty eight. That’s the number of paint shades in our collection and the only colours you’ll ever need. Each one as timeless as the next. Each one blended by us to complement the others.

Paint, made easy.