I D E A S T O F I R E U P YO U R I M AG I N AT I O N
DE SIGN DI A RY HOTEL
Birch Set to be the country house hotel opening of the year, Birch, formerly the De Vere Theobalds Estate, is just under an hour’s drive from London in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. The 140-room property will also operate as a private club, with members having access to a co-working area, fitness studios, three bars, a heated lido and farm, as well as screening, music and art rooms. Self-improvement seekers will love the activities on offer, from sourdough making, gardening and foraging to pottery throwing and glass-blowing. Save time for the two on-site restaurants: both promise to be worth a visit, with farm-to-table dining overseen by The Dairy Group dream team, Robin Gill and Ben Rand. birchcommunity.com
D E S T I N AT I O N
BOOK
Petworth
Cabinet of Curiosities
After months indoors, there couldn’t be a nicer day out than one spent visiting this picturesque market town in West Sussex. Enjoy the rolling Capability Brown landscape, stately rooms and world-class art collection of Petworth House, learn about rural life at small local museums and rummage around the many antiques stores – Petworth Antiques Market has some great Art Deco barware. Don’t miss new gallery, Newlands House, orchestrated by the charismatic, globally renowned auctioneer Simon de Pury.
Whether you’re a collector of natural beauties, or just a hopeless hoarder, you’ll love this lavish new Taschen tome, packed with images of notable cabinets of curiosity, or Wunderkammer, by Italian photographer Massimo Listri. Antonio Paolucci’s introduction documents how 17th century European royalty and nobility created these lavish private galleries dedicated to representing ‘all of human knowledge’. There's plenty of interiors inspiration, whether it’s the trompe l’oeil Baroque rooms of Friedenstein or the Tiffany blue and gilt shelves laden with mollusc shells at Stift Seitenstetten. Cabinet of Curiosities, Massimo Listri, £100, taschen.com
FILM
Out of Africa Kenya is the indisputable star of Sydney Pollack’s classic film adaptation of Danish author Karen Blixen’s memoir, which stars Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. But Blixen’s homestead, with its heavy dark furniture, Limoges porcelain and brass candlesticks, patterned textiles, packer trunks, romantic mosquito net-draped bed and pale cream linens, is just as unforgettable. Channel the same elegant feeling by combining rattan furniture on the terrace with a serious drinks trolley laden with your best crystal. Don’t forget to serenade with Mozart on the Crosley turntable, the modernday equivalent of Denys Finch Hatton’s gramophone (the baboons might be harder to come by). Streaming on Netflix
Panama Luggage Rack 46x36x60cmH £150
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