Innholdsfortegnelse for 25-Mar-2020 i Country Life

ZURICH has long had a reputation as a city of grey suits, but it would be wrong to dismiss it as dull and boring. Over the years, it was the cradle of Dadaism, the last home of James Joyce and, as I was surprised to discover when living there in recent years, it is now a metropolis with a thriving nightlife. A walk through the city will reveal not only striking art installations (not least Niki de Saint Phalle’s colourful Guardian Angel in Zurich Main’s station concourse), intriguing architecture (such as the Freitag Tower, a panoramic building constructed from former freight-containers, which houses a showroom for must-have bags made from recycled tarpaulin), but also more nightclubs than almost anywhere else in Switzerland—you can find a new bar, club or restaurant…

GLIDING through crystal-clear waters at twilight, gin and tonic in hand, has to be one of life’s greatest pleasures. From May to September, there is nowhere in the world better to sail than the Mediterranean: the sea is clear and calm and the scenery is spectacular. The Med is a Mecca for super-yachts in summertime, but, as Alasdair Pritchard from Knight Frank’s Private Office (020–3553 7755) points out, only very few people can afford a vessel large enough to be comfortable for any length of time: ‘The majority of those who sail prefer to own a villa on the water, and charter boats as they go along,’ he notes. So where are the best locations from which you can easily get out on the waves? ‘From May to September, there…

Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Aix-en-Provence, France June 30–July 18 Set against the striking backdrop of the Archbishop’s Palace, this festival has an eclectic programme that mixes crowd-pleasers (Così Fan Tutte by Mozart) and lesser known operas (Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel) with classical concerts (Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra will play Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and Mahler’s Symphony No 4 in G Major) and more unusual offerings, such as the UNESCOrecognised polyphonic songs of Sardinian ensemble Tenores di Bitti (www.festival-aix.com). Savonlinna Opera Festival, Savonlinna, Finland July 3–August 1 A lakeside town in Finland may not seem an obvious location for an opera extravaganza, but Savonlinna held its first festival more than 100 years ago (thanks to the intuition of Finnish soprano Aino Ackté) and the current one has been run…

YOU not in Trafalgar Square now,’ shouts our builder, as he sees me race down towards Charlestown. I’ve arrived on the West Indian island of Nevis, of which Charlestown is the capital, and forgotten the first rule of living in the Caribbean: time. There’s plenty of it and no one rushes. Time brings calm and good manners. We’re essentially in an episode of Call the Midwife in the tropics, where everyone says ‘Good morning’, ‘Good afternoon’ or ‘Good evening’ —never ‘Hello’ or ‘Hi’, the verbal equivalents of a rude gesture. More colloquially, you’ll hear ‘Whassup?’ (what’s happening?). Where time stretches out like the balmy Nevis days, other liminal phrases include ‘Soon reach’, which could mean someone’s just around the corner, or perhaps that they’ve set sail from a neighbouring isle.…

Mammoth, California, US 2,424m–3,368m (7,953ft–11,050ft) Close to Yosemite National Park, Mammoth boasts 3,500 acres of skiing, with a quarter of it suitable for novices. Dine in style at the Tamarack Lodge or grab a drink at the Dry Creek Bar. For a change of scenery, visit June Mountain until late April; it’s half an hour away by shuttle, which is covered by your lift pass. Go for 150 of America’s best ski runs For sale Le Souleiado, a four-bedroom country house, with media room, gym and garage. $3.65 million (£2.8m), Mammoth Lakes Resort Realty (001 760 924 8521; www.mammothlakes resortrealty.com) Saas Fee, Switzerland 1,800m–3,500m (5,906ft–11,483ft) A traditional ski village, complete with cowsheds and surrounded by a ring of peaks as high as 4,000m (13,123ft), Saas Fee has skiing for everyone.…

IT’S 30 years since Philip White first visited Hestercombe, near Taunton in Somerset, when he was so fired up by the derelict landscape that he mortgaged his home to kickstart its restoration, for which he was chosen as COUNTRY LIFE Gardener of the Year in 1997. Over the decades, the Hestercombe Gardens Trust has brought 50 acres of important gardens back from the brink. The 18th-century landscape garden—complete with a spectacular waterfall, the Great Cascade—was designed in the 1750s by Hestercombe’s former owner, Coplestone Warre Bampfylde (1720–91), himself an amateur artist, architect and colonel. There’s a Victorian shrubbery, too, and—last, but very much not least—are the Edwardian Formal Gardens, one of the finest collaborations between Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll, luminaries of COUNTRY LIFE itself. However, Hestercombe has not…

1960s unpublished Low tide on Lindisfarne, Northumberland, proves fruitful for this pair of foraging winkle pickers. Known in different areas as buckies, wilks or willicks, winkle is the late-16th-century shortening of the mollusc’s full name, periwinkle. The COUNTRY LIFE Picture Library contains 120 years’ worth of photography and articles from the world’s leading architectural and gardens experts. Many are available to license or purchase in print form from £28 plus VAT. Please email enquiries to clpicturelibrary @ti-media.com…

SOMETIMES, a garden catches you unawares. Mostly, in such cases, this is because of its situation or the extraordinary views it affords. Rarer—but more rewarding—is when you happen upon a garden that has been planted in a way that is entirely different to any other. Such is the experience as you walk into the Stumpery at Arundel Castle, designed and constructed by head gardener Martin Duncan with the castle’s garden team. The upended roots of ancient yew, sweet chestnut and oak stumps—harvested on the estate mostly from casualties of the October 1987 storms—explode with colour. Species tulips sparkle in spring (Tulipa Turkestanica, Linifolia, Sylvestris, T. pulchella humilis Persian Pearl and T. clusiana Peppermintstick). Later, there are acid-yellow lupins, dierama and, then, the real fireworks as the martagon lilies burst into…

EVEN those of us with no more space for planting will splash out on at least one new specimen every year and buying them has never been easier. You can find ones in supermarkets, DIY centres and even on petrol-station forecourts. These plants can be tempting, but to be sure of a well-grown specimen or something out of the ordinary, you need to visit a plant nursery, even if it means travelling further than the nearby supermarket. Local nurseries, often specialising in a particular plant group, are where plants are raised on site by people who are passionate about their work. As well as discovering locally grown plants that have been nurtured in conditions similar to those in your garden, it is here that you will find expert information on…

• Decorating the margins of a number of 13th-century manuscripts are what appear to be doodles, depicting knights in armour (both mounted and on foot) battling giant snails. Other medieval illustrations showed snails in grotesque bestiary and demonic guises, the creatures clearly generating a bizarre fascination among artists • The largest artwork representing a snail is the Henri Matisse collage L’Escargot (above), a gouache of vibrantly coloured paper patches assembled under his directions by the artist’s assistants in 1952–53, when he was too arthritic to paint. The work was acquired by Tate Modern in 1962 • After spotting a snail on a bicycle outside the house of Sigmund Freud, Salvador Dalí became obsessed with the paradox of a soft body and hard shell. He produced an etching Woman with Snail…

SNOW, and the sort of snow that denies physics. Snow that falls, but only to swoop up to collect under the chin, under the brim of a cap. Snow, and the sort of snow that confirms meteorology. Snow that turns the blue air of a March, spring-promising morning white. People wish for snow at Christmas, but, in my lifetime, there have been more pale Easters than white Noëls. So, no change there for English country folk. In 1820, John Clare observed in The Shepherd’s Calendar: ‘March month of “many weathers” wildly comes/ In hail and snow and rain and threatning hums.’ In the UK, according to the Met Office, snow or sleet falls on average 3.9 days in December and 4.2 days in March. The Great Blizzard of 1891 came…

Radicchio, pear, walnut and feta pasta ‘Bitter leaves add interesting flavours to spring dishes’ Serves 4 Ingredients 400g pasta, such as fusilliOlive oil2 radicchio, cut into wedges50g walnuts, chopped1 clove garlic, crushed or grated2 pears, peeled, cored and diced100ml double cream200g feta, crumbledA small bunch parsley leaves, chopped75g parmesan, grated Method Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta according to the instructions. Add a splash of olive oil to a large frying pan set on a high heat. Cook the radicchio wedges for a few minutes on each side until charred, seasoning them as you go. Remove them to a plate with tongs. Gently toast the walnut pieces in the same frying pan. Add the crushed garlic and diced pear, and toss…

SMALL, but perfectly formed, Cleverley’s shoe shop is tucked down The Royal Arcade, off Bond Street, London W1, and discretion is key—the company’s list of loyal customers reads like a Who’s Who of royalty, film stars, and the rest. ‘We are one of a small handful of independently owned, bespoke shoemakers in the world,’ says George Glasgow Jnr, co-owner and CEO alongside his father George Glasgow Snr. If in doubt, call them George—the only exception is master shoemaker John Carnera, who has been chiselling lasts since he was a boy and was alongside George Cleverley and Mr Glasgow Snr in 1978, when the three formed the company. The clatter from above the shop has been accused of being a tape recording, but no, the workshop is real. If you ask…

FEW projects transform a house as effectively as an oak-frame extension. For those looking to create new, versatile spaces, such as a living room, dining room, yoga studio or artists’ workshop, the possibilities are truly endless. Every Oakwrights design celebrates the highly individual beauty of green oak, time-honoured craftsmanship and state-of-the-art construction that will look as elegant from the inside as it does from afar. Throughout the seasons, an extension complements a home. In summer, it will bring you even closer to Nature and the great outdoors, while in winter, an oak frame extension gives a warm welcome to all those who spend time there, providing an additional area that can be enjoyed whatever the weather. ‘Here at Oakwrights, our frames are built with green oak, which is environmentally-friendly, not…

Copper bottomed Drummonds baths are available in a variety of beautiful finishes, now including Burnished Copper. Created by wrapping the cast-iron tub in sheet copper, which is then burnished and polished by hand to create a luminous lustre, the effect is shown here on the Wye bateau bath, £10,740 (020–7376 4499; www.drummonds-uk.com) Into the mix Add character to the simplest showering space with an interesting mix of softly coloured tiles: Gelato gloss ceramic wall tiles in Azura, left, and Marine, £47.47 per sq m, with Melrose Grey porcelain floor tiles, £43.13 per sq m, all Mandarin Stone (01600 715444; www.mandarin stone.com) Get trolleyed Taking its inspiration from the Arts-and-Crafts era, the Edwin bobbin trolley is made from English oak and stained in a choice of three shades or painted. It…

TIZIANO VECELLIO—Titian—was, with Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael, one of the cluster of men who took Renaissance art to unprecedented heights. Each, however, did so in a slightly different way: Leonardo through uniting art and science; Michelangelo through the heroism of the human body; Raphael through stately grandeur. Titian (about 1490–1576) came from a different tradition to the others: as central Italians, they gave precedence to disegno— drawing and the intellect behind the design—whereas Titian came from Venice where colorito— colour and painterliness—were more prized. When this background coincided with subjects that fitted his sensibility, he was one of art’s greatest sensualists. Nowhere was he more sensual and nowhere were his gifts for rich colour and equally rich storytelling more evident than in the six paintings based on mythological stories from…

THE cool grey city of love is certainly urban. Yet it is the place for people who don’t like cities, who long for fresh air, dog walks, open spaces and endless views. San Francisco, or SF—never San Fran or Frisco—has a unique character, preserved from untrammelled development in much of its 49 square mile demesne by the simple fact that it’s bounded on three sides by the sea. Only in its southern environs, where neighbourhoods stretch down the Peninsula to merge eventually with tech capital Palo Alto, does it become more akin to other urban areas. In SF proper, SoMa (south of Market, the long street that cuts diagonally through the city’s road map from Twin Peaks to the Ferry Building) is the epicentre of new building, with skyscrapers springing…

OVER the past half century, the Caribbean has earned a reputation as one of the world’s hotspots for sun-soaked property. However, as buyers’ expectations evolve, the region must refrain from resting on its laurels and, this year, Antigua has taken the lead, launching three new developments that meet the most exacting standards. The most high profile of these is Half Moon Bay, a low-density scheme on the island’s south-eastern coast (001 268 562 9147; www.halfmoonbayantigua.com). ‘I love the Caribbean, and there are some incredible properties here, but my clients really don’t have the time or the inclination to choose and run a private house,’ explains William Anderson, Half Moon Bay’s CEO. ‘Owners are usually only here for a few days, so they want everything ready to go when they arrive.…

Best for unbridled creativity Hungarian architect Antti Lovag disliked the boxy shapes of traditional housing, which he found constraining, so he chose to give his buildings sinuous forms. Never is this approach more evident than at Le Palais Bulles, the Bubble Palace, which sits on the Massif de l’Esterel, in Théoule-sur-Mer taking in magnificent views of the Bay of Cannes. The property was originally designed for visionary entrepreneur Pierre Bernard (for whom Lovag also created nearby Maison Bernard, now open to the public), but was later bought by another creative genius, Pierre Cardin, who called it his ‘own bit of paradise’. This cluster of interlinked pods, broken up by swimming pools, waterfalls and a 500 seat theatre, is not for everyone, not least because the interiors are equally as curvy…

ROCKHOPPER penguins took the internet by storm last week, after they were released from their enclosure and given a tour of the aquarium in which they live. Staff at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago closed the zoo on March 13 and decided to let the birds out to have a look around. Wellington was the first to be released and took a particular interest in an Amazon-themed area, waddling up to the glass and inspecting the black-barred silver dollars, fish with which he would never come into contact in the wild. Afterwards, penguins Edward and Anna were shown the rotunda. The pair, who will be building a nest in about a week’s time, seemed incredibly curious about their surroundings, checking out the collection of fish before waddling over to the…

Trash talk WE can all echo Marc Swan’s complaint about rubbish on the A-roads (Letters, March 11). It seems that elf ’n’ safety is partly to blame for the situation. My county-councillor son tells me that partial road closure is required before litter pickers can be deployed to major roads without a hard shoulder. At local level, it’s down to the residents. Here at Staunton Harold, we operate a zero-tolerance policy, with good results. I think that if people see rubbish, they feel less compunction at adding to it. John Blunt, Leicestershire Hair of the dog T was amusing that, in your issue I of February 26, you trumpeted as unmissable Chiswick Auctions’s private collection of works relating to Lord Byron (Town & Country Notebook), listing as one of…

HUNKERED down at home in the country, only the two of us, I’ve never seen the spring as I’ve seen it this year. No engagements, no meetings, no agricultural or any other conferences and, much more sadly, no parties: Covid-19 has driven us to isolation and it’s a revelation. We haven’t moved house, but, for nearly three weeks, we’ve looked out on our very local world wholly differently. Yes, the magnolias have blossomed as they always do at this time of year, but we’ve inspected every stage of their blossoming: the beginnings, as the buds start to break, then the odd individual forward bloom opening to its fullness, then more and more of them until the whole avenue is ablaze with the heavy white flowers. These magnolias have been a…

Sarah Raven is a gardener, cook and writer, and runs a mail-order nursery ‘Below an apple tree, a mother goes through her daughter’s hair looking for nits, sitting on daisies and buttercups in the grass, with foxgloves in the shade behind. There’s a house cow grazing and oxen being led away, perhaps to haul in the harvest from the cornfields ripening beyond. Last year (on the back of a tricky calving season), I fell in love with cows. Looking at this painting is the perfect antidote to an anxiety-filled Brexit, coronavirus, Johnson-Cummings-uncertainty world–and much more the sort of life I want and aspire to lead’ JEAN FRÉLAUT was the son of Gen Auguste-Louis Frélaut. He was born in Grenoble, but, on his father’s retirement, the family moved to near…

FROM our perch on the hillside, we look out in every direction with views uninterrupted. It is a remarkable prospect, but with the openness comes a set of very clearly defined conditions. We have wind and unfettered sunlight, which influences everything we do on the high ground. We seek shelter in a storm or in the heat of summer, then the shadows that finger up the emerald slopes beckon us down towards their source. There, in the woods, we find another world. One that is damp and cool and still, even on a blustery day when the wind is caught in the branches and you look back up the hill to see the garden being buffeted. I take my time studying the natural environments Where the trees run in the…

THE least celebrated British global champion is probably the terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc Sammy. Bred in Grantham by amateur trainer Maria Welby, this prime example of Cornu aspersum, carrying the number 36, triumphed in the 25th annual World Snail Racing Championship that was held last July on the cricket field at Congham in Norfolk, beating the 12 fellow finalists remaining after 202 other entrants had been eliminated (‘Ready, steady, slow!’, August 15, 2018). On a damp cloth atop a table, Sammy covered the 13in course in 2mins 38secs, swift enough for the day, but well short of the internationally accepted snail’s pace of 0.029mph. However, set aside the English taste for eccentricity. Snails have been the subject of mystique and respect in distant times and their multifarious forms have attracted…

A MOSAIC in the vestibule of the Bank of England shows two Mycenaean lions (guardians of the treasury) standing on a map of the south coast of England. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice that slightly to the east of London is a red tile. It marks the position of Owletts, home of Sir Herbert Baker, who remodelled the Bank from 1925–39. Baker, the supreme architect of Empire, who designed more than 300 buildings in South Africa before becoming Lutyens’s rival and nemesis in New Delhi, grew up in the house. As a young man, arriving at the Cape to keep an eye on his younger brother Lionel’s venture fruit farm—a project that seemed to promise golden returns and into which their father had put the last of his money —he met…

DEHYDRATED in long, shallow pans, then scraped up and poured into great plastic colanders, it looks like nothing more than the beginnings of a snowman. Pure, driven snow, crunched together and ready for moulding—but, of course, it’s not snow. Closer inspection reveals that it’s salt, white crystals, dried and ready for deployment. Salt from Droitwich Spa was once some of the most coveted on the planet. A massive bedrock of the stuff runs underneath this old town, the remnants of long dessicated sea and lake beds. It bubbles up, mixed with pure spring water, only three miles from where I’m standing at Churchfields Farm. It’s even been claimed that this is the world’s oldest salt-brine spring, 10 times saltier than the ocean and packed with mineral goodness. It was the…

Following renovations to their Cheshire farmhouse, Oakwrights customers Mr and Mrs Addington decided to extend the layout of their property and create an additional light and bright space in the form of an oak-frame extension. ‘We love our home and its location, so it was important to us that this investment made the most of the surrounding views and remained in-keeping with the character of our home,’ says Mr Addington. They felt Oakwrights truly captured their concept for a bespoke garden-room design. ‘We worked with their in-house teams to create symmetry with the oak trusses, positioning one centrally over a large set of double doors, so our new space could extend further and open out onto the patio area.’ The couple also opted for Oakwrights’ face-glazing system, which is secured…

WOULD you like some good news? I think we could all do with a bit of it, so here it is—spring is on the way, and with it, the blooms, warm evenings and sights and sounds of Nature. Where better to enjoy it than in the garden? When I think of the perfect spring evening, I imagine a cool glass of white wine, friends and a firepit. The joy of a green space is that, like our own preferences, they come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from the organic wildness of Highgrove to the more regimented lines and planting of Arley Hall. The garden is in our DNA and, after a long winter, spring is when it comes back to life. ‘The garden is in our DNA and…

Bloomin’ marvellous MEDELLÍN, Colombia, is known as the city of eternal spring for its mild weather and its Botanical Garden has azaleas in bloom nearly all year round, as well as a massive collection of orchids. That said, the best time to visit is early August, when the Feria de las Flores, the Flower Festival takes place: among other events, growers create magnificent displays on chair-like frames called silleteros, which they carry on their backs in a flamboyant parade. Drink with a view SAN DIEGO residents flock across the bay to the historic Hotel Del Coronado for coffee and drinks in a scenic setting. The building is a grand wooden confection dating from the late-Victorian era —its opulent Crown Room is said to be the place where the then Prince…

Beaches Half Moon Bay, with its pristine coral sand and greenery tumbling down to the shore, makes you feel as if you’re on a desert island Pigeon Point, a beautiful sandy beach on the south coast, is quiet during the week and has fantastic facilities for families Galleon Beach is only minutes across the water from English Harbour and offers brilliant snorkelling, as well as a nesting turtle population Restaurant Relocated from English Harbour’s waterfront to Pigeon Point beach, buzzy Catherine’s Cafe has perfected modern French Caribbean cooking and has a killer cocktail list (www.catherines-cafe.com) Event Every April, the Antigua Sailing Week features five days of incredible competitive racing, together with some of the most glamorous social events of the year (www.sailingweek.com)…

NEWS that Sir James Dyson has bought a bungalow in Singapore for £26.5 million is the latest proof that, after years in the doldrums, these derided properties are recapturing the imagination of buyers worldwide. Bungalows originally came from India’s Bengali region—the word derives from the Hindustani bangla, which means ‘in the Bengal style’—where the British constructed single-storey buildings with wide, overhanging eaves and large verandahs as rest houses for travellers. In 1869, architect John Taylor built the UK’s first modern bungalow in Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, which was regarded as a refreshing departure from ornate Victorian architecture. Thirty-five years later, the Americans followed suit in California and Washington and the style took off across the world. After a boom in popularity in the 1930s and again in the 1960s, bungalows progressively fell…

LANDOWNERS in Dorset have joined forces to create the first ‘super national nature reserve’ (NNR) in the UK. The new Purbeck Heaths NNR will bring together 11 types of habitat, with the goal being to create a landscape that encourages wildlife to move around more easily. It will combine three existing NNRs at Hart-land Moor, Stoborough Heath and Studland and Godlingston Heath, which will be linked by other reserves, conservation areas and an ecofriendly golf course, creating a single expanse some 8,000 acres in size. Purbeck Heaths is one of the UK’s most biodiverse places, with thousands of species of wildlife, 450 of which are listed as ‘rare’. One is the carnivorous sundew plant: it catches dragonflies, digests their bodies and spits out the wings. More convivial species include…

Quiz of the week 1) In the Roman calendar, which month came first? 2) Who illustrated Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865)? 3) Which is the tallest mountain in England? 4) Who is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated? 5) Which two seal species are found in UK waters? Time to buy Wall Mounted Wellington Boot Rack, £45, Chester & Cooke (01733 602609; www. chesterandcooke.co.uk) The Riddle silk pocket square, £45, Geoff Stocker (www.geoffstocker.com) The Chelsworth Fedora in Olive Green, £124, Hicks & Brown (01284 598005; www.hicksand brown.com) ‘The function of music is to liberate in the soul those feelings which normally we keep locked up in the heart’ Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks…

This cheerful little harbinger of spring is now in full throttle, painting woodland floors throughout the UK in splashes of palest yellow. With five notched petals clustered around a deeper-yellow centre and rosettes of wrinkled, hairy undersided leaves at the base, this native perennial will provide nectar for pollinators, including brimstone and small tortoiseshell butterflies, until the month of May. An indicator of ancient woodland, primroses represent youth and eternal love and will protect a home from bad fairies, according to Irish tradition. April 19 is known as Primrose Day, marking the death of Benjamin Disraeli—Queen Victoria is said to have sent the Prime Minister bunches of his favourite flower.…

TALL bearded irises, which usually carry TBI after their name, are available to plant now. Doing so will give them a wonderful start and probably enable them to flower towards the end of May. Normally reaching three feet high or slightly more, they are the last group of bearded irises to flower. These sun-loving plants flower according to height: the Miniature Dwarfs (between two and eight inches high) begin in early April and the rest follow on. The most popular TBI sell out early, although you’ll get another bite of the cherry in late summer, when nurseries divide their field-grown plants after flowering and send out some as bare roots. When planting, give them their own space because the rhizomes must get full sun. Once established, these drought-resistant plants will…

HAVE a look at these,’ said Yoko. A contact in Japan had just emailed her some photographs of farmsteads, temple precincts and private gardens. All appeared to be scenes from an era long-past, yet the pictures were recent. The effect was strange, as if the photographer had been time-travelling, and it was heightened by the azaleas that dominated each image. These ranged from impressive trees with gnarled black boughs to immense shrubs with domed crowns atop forests of sinuous stems. They were the largest evergreen azaleas that I’d ever seen—and the most vivid. Incandescent blooms covered them completely. In some, the flowers were in a salmon as soft as a bullfinch’s breast; in others, they ran cool in wisteria mauve. Greatest of all, to my eyes, were the examples in…

IN 1901, Hilaire Belloc, an ardent Catholic, embarked on a lengthy pilgrimage of faith. Starting near Nancy in southern France, he trekked across the Swiss Alps and headed down into central Italy, through Tuscany and on to the Holy City. He called his account of the journey The Path to Rome (1902) and said it was ‘the only book I wrote for love’. It certainly became among the best loved—and most widely read—of his books. Yet it’s hard to read his writing on his beloved county of Sussex, where he lived for much of his life, and not detect great warmth and affection for his adopted county. Belloc wrote more than 150 books in his long career, churning out material at a rapid pace and not always letting scruples about…

Find your wild side PORT LYMPNE Hotel and Reserve, part of the Aspinall Foundation in Kent, is takin bookings for its newest offering, Leopard Creek, due to open in July. There, you will have an up close and personal view of two critically endangered Amur leopards and two white rhinos: a one-off and, frankly, mind-blowing experience (as anyone lucky enough to have been on a safari will contest). Choose from a cosy two-person cub, stylish four-person cabin or a luxurious four-person wigwam with elegant interiors by design director Victoria Aspinall herself. It is the perfect place to hide away for a few days and get back to Nature, knowing that your money goes towards preserving these special and endangered animals. From £530 per night (01303 264647 www. aspinallfoundation.org/portlympne) Racing…

WHEN it comes to conjuring schemes for her own home, interior designer Emily Todhunter confesses to being something of an un-decorator. ‘I like to live with things that are already there to see what ideas come up. In the case of this room, I left it almost exactly as it was—and am delighted with the result.’ This is the master bathroom of her Georgian farmhouse in Wiltshire. The scale and aspect of the room, together with the original panelling, fireplace and generous sash windows, combine to create a space that lends itself to switching off. ‘A bathroom is about the only place you can do that, when you have children and dogs at home. Here, I sometimes enjoy simply sitting in one of the window seats, taking in the view.’…

LAUNCHED onto the market in recent weeks at a guide price of £6.5 million through Savills (01225 474501), the exquisite, Grade I-listed 25, Royal Crescent, Bath, is one of only a handful of complete townhouses in single private ownership in this most prestigious of English addresses. The first crescent of terraced houses ever constructed in England, the Royal Crescent was designed by John Wood the Elder and built by his son, John Wood the Younger, who became Bath’s principal architect following his father’s death in 1754. Between 1767 and 1775, Wood created the 500ft-long curved façade with its 114 Ionic columns. An ingenious sales concept allowed each original purchaser to buy a length of the façade and commission his own architect to build a house behind it to his…

LAST month, the Edinburgh auctioneer Lyon & Turnbull included items whose provenances from Scottish aristocratic collections attracted strong bidding; further research might add still more to their interest. Which member of the Kerr family, marquesses of Lothian, brought two elaborate Ottoman saddles, complete with their velvet and silk saddlecloths, home to Newbattle Abbey? Such saddles appear on the market from time to time and, contrary to rule of thumb, here the older was the less expensive, at £9,375. It was held to be 18th century and the red cloth was worked with metal thread embroidery. The other was more sumptuous, covered with star-like metal mounts and, crucially, on the pommel was the coat of arms of Abdulhamid II (reigned 1876–1908), the last Sultan to wield effective power. This boosted the…