TRAVEL NOTES April 3, 2011 BYBLOS’S NEW SEASON PACKAGE To celebrate opening for the 2011 season, Saint Tropez’s most iconic hotel, Byblos, is offering a seductive package to entice early season weekenders. Enticements are indeed numerous, with an Alain Ducasse restaurant, Byni’z for tapas and cocktails by the pool, a luxurious Sisley spa, recently refurbished rooms and suites and the [...]
A unique blend of Swiss refinement April 3, 2011 The well-heeled traveller automatically thinks of the imposing Dolder Grand when staying in Switzerland’s financial centre. He is wrong to do so. Filling nine lovingly restored, historic townhouses in the very heart of Zurich, the Widder Hotel is a deluxe little hotel in a quiet street just off Bahnhoffstrasse, the top class shopping street. The [...]
Desert dreaming: a second home in the sun March 31, 2011 BUSTLING markets, scorching heat, exotic dress and fantastic food. It is hard to believe that the almost otherworldliness of Marrakesh is just three and 35 minutes away from London. Charl Ackerman, a London-based property developer with Aylesford International, uses his home in Marrakesh like many do their country home: “I often fly out on weekends. [...]
SELLING March 31, 2011 Martin Bikhit MANAGING DIRECTOR OF PRIME CENTRAL LONDON ESTATE AGENCY KAY & CO. Q. I have had three agents value my home. Two were around the same level but one was much higher. What shall I do? A. It is always very tempting to go for the highest valuation. However, it might not be the [...]
PROPERTY NEWS March 31, 2011 PYRENEES SECOND HOMES PRICES SET TO SOAR A new flight path from London City to Pau, France is getting property agents excited. Andrew Hawkins of Chesterton Humberts says: “This will make the already popular area more accessible, making it more attractive for buyers.” Prices there are currently lower than Provence and the Cote D’Azur, so [...]
CAMBRIDGE March 31, 2011 HIGH STREET, WEST WICKHAM Price: £460,000 This grade II listed thatched roof cottage is tucked away from main road and wrapped within beautiful gardens. There are three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. Downstairs there is a lobby, sitting room, dining room, farmhouse kitchen and bathroom. Contact: Tucker Gardner on 01223 708269 or go to www.tuckergardner.com [...]
Cool loft living, thanks to the Victorians March 31, 2011 THE grandly impressive school buildings of the Victorian era tend to present wonderfully idiosyncratic conversion opportunities. This month’s property of the month is a case in point. Thackeray School in Battersea was a typical Victorian development – a towering redbrick affair, if rather more elegant than some examples of the genre. Built between 1876 and [...]
Jake gets deja vu March 31, 2011 FILM SOURCE CODE Cert: 12A EVER wondered what it would be like to wake up in someone else’s body and live the last eight minutes of their life over and over again? Probably not, but that’s exactly what happens to Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhal), in this suspenseful action thriller. The “Source Code” of the [...]
ALSO OUT THIS WEEKEND March 31, 2011 FILM KILLING BONO Entertaining comedy drama set in 1970s Dublin about a fledgling U2’s jealous rivals. HOP Disappointing cartoon about the son of the Easter Bunny, as voiced by Russell Brand. ORANGES AND SUNSHINE Earnest, harrowing drama about the forced migration of kids in care to Australia. DVD TAMARA DREWE Gemma Arterton and Roger Allam [...]
Celebrate Mother’s Day with a luxurious high tea March 30, 2011 LANDMARK LONDON The grand Marylebone hotel is well-known for its splendidly lavish Sunday brunch buffet served in the vast atrium of the Winter Garden, with everything from pastries and salads to roast dishes, and a sweeping array of desserts topped off with a chocolate fountain. As an added treat for Mother’s Day, you can mix [...]