Stuck for wine this Xmas? Try a Madeira my dear December 12, 2011 HEAD SOMMELIER AND MANAGER OF LUTYENS RESTAURANT In the great age of exploration, Portuguese sailors would fill the holds of their ships with the wines of Madeira and sail to the New World. Like many wines of the era, destined for export, they were fortified – grape spirit was added to improve their stability and [...]
FOOD & BOOZE NEWS December 12, 2011 KRUG TOASTS HAPPINESS WITH EXHIBITION Krug today launches its Happiness exhibition at The Royal Academy of Arts, in which it asked celebrities to “create their own version of happiness” and donate it to the exhibition. David Bailey, Vivienne Westwood and Tony Blair are among those to have contributed to the exhibition, which will raise money [...]
Vintage charm on the tiny island of Nevis December 11, 2011 GOOGLE “Nevis” and you’ll find very little about it on the internet. It’s a tiny Caribbean island, barely seven miles long, south of St Kitts and west of Montserrat, which harks back to a West Indies of 200 years ago. This is a place of sugar plantations, wooden Georgian cottages and Negroni-red sunsets – an [...]
Feel refreshed with a winter weekend in Fjord Norway December 11, 2011 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE As winter sets in, and one long dark evening seems to stretch into another, it is tempting to batten down the hatches and reach for the remote. Commutes home in the darkness, followed by evenings spent glued to the sofa, remote in hand, can leave even the most cheerful of souls feeling lethargic [...]
SPITALFIELDS December 8, 2011 QUAKER STREET, E1 Price: £930,000 Moments from Brick Lane and Spitalfields, this two bedroomed penthouse flat sits within a secure, gated residential development with secure off-street parking. Furnishings are state-of-the-art and super sleek. www.foxtons.com WOODSEER STREET, E1 Price: £550,000 A one-bedroom ground floor flat with lovely original features including a mezzanine level and amazing original [...]
IMPROVE December 8, 2011 CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF APD INTERIORS WWW.APDINTERIORS.COM Q. Dear Andrew, we have just moved to a house where the living room is long and thin. How do I avoid it looking like a bowling alley? A. Everyone would love large square rooms in their home, but the reality is very different. However, even with a long [...]
PROPERTY NEWS December 8, 2011 CITY IS BOOMING, SAYS REPORT Knight Frank has added the City of London and the City Fringe to its Prime London index, which includes neighbourhoods such as Knightsbridge, Belgravia, Chelsea and Kensington, citing an uplift in the supply of new high end properties, improved amenities and transport. Prices in the square mile have risen by [...]
THE LONDON BAROMETER December 8, 2011 DIRECTOR OF DOUGLAS & GORDON Unlike Autumn 2010, this year has seen business stay lively, and it looks as if it’ll stay that way right through to Christmas. Just when we thought that stock levels were going to continue to decrease, we have seen a 45 per cent increase in new instructions compared with November [...]
Kitty cat wins over awful rom com December 8, 2011 Film PUSS IN BOOTS Cert: U After the grouchy cash monster that was the Shrek series, Dreamworks has quite rightly laid the franchise to rest, instead focusing on the series’ most interesting character: a small cat who looks cute but kicks arse. It may well have been a disaster, but thankfully there are enough gags [...]
Look dazzling for your Xmas bash December 8, 2011 MOST of us get ready for festive bashes in the loos at work – after a crazy day. We certainly don’t have time to spare primping for mid-week dos. The key is having the outfit ready to go, but even more importantly, having the right makeup for instant glamour and shine. At the end of [...]