OUT OF OFFICE April 12, 2010 AT THE BRIDEWELL: WHIPPING IT UP As election fever takes hold, the Tower Theatre Company is reviving Steve Thompson’s rip-roaring dissection of Westminster double dealing and dirty tricks. Set just after a general election that’s returned the Tories to power with a tiny majority, the play is rife with rebellious backbenchers, backstabbing Chief Whips and [...]
A palace of calm after the storm April 12, 2010 Pétrus 1 Kinnerton St, SW1X 8EA 020 7592 1609 www.gordonramsay.com Cost per person without wine: £55 IT’S hard to believe that so tranquil a restaurant as this was born of an immense falling out. We all know the saga. For years Pétrus in Belgravia’s Berkeley Hotel was one of the shiniest jewels in Gordon Ramsay’s [...]
OTHER OPTIONS IN BELGRAVIA April 12, 2010 ZAFFERANO One of London’s most valued Italian restaurants, with a kitchen formerly led by Giorgio Locatelli, now by his protégé Andy Needham. Luxurious Italian dishes include duck lasagna with morel mushrooms and veal shin ravioli with saffron. 15 Lowndes Street, SW1X 9EY. 020 7235 5800, www.zafferanorestaurant.com BOISDALE OF BELGRAVIA The London home of Scottish good [...]
Stress-busting in a Cyprus spa April 11, 2010 IT’S Monday morning and while the rest of the guests at Aphrodite Hills are catching the Cyprus sun and feasting on fry-ups in the breakfast buffet, I’m being lectured in the gym. Timi, my stocky Cypriot personal trainer for the week, has more or less just told me and my five foot two, eight stone [...]
In the summer Switzerland’s mountains burst into life April 11, 2010 I’VE been skiing just once, when I was 11. My chief memories are of floundering in a snowdrift as my Austrian instructor sped off cursing my inability to stay upright, and the fact that by the end of the week I still hadn’t even mastered the snowplough. It really wasn’t for me. Since then, the [...]
TRAVEL NOTES April 11, 2010 Get a perfect beach body in St Lucia The plush resort of Cotton Bay Village on the Caribbean island of St Lucia has launched a series of “diva boot camps” for ladies to get in shape in beautiful surroundings. The week long courses aimed at solo travellers or small groups of friends include tailored nutritional [...]
Live in a Cold War bunker – the ideal home for a nuclear family with style April 8, 2010 JUST imagine the dinner party possibilities of living in an unusual house. No matter what other people tell you about their wonderful new stables or their eco-conversion, revealing that you live in a converted Cold War military base is sure to stop people in their tracks. Two of the most desirable properties currently on the [...]
Park Lane’s latest rentals show the recession is over April 8, 2010 NICKY Haslam is probably best known for attending pretty much every party to be held in London since about 1964. However, when he’s not sipping bubbly and exchanging bon mots with the global jet set, his day job is designing their homes. When it comes to living in sumptuous style, Haslam really did write the book [...]
FOCUS ON: BLACKHEATH, SE3 April 8, 2010 ST JOHNS PARK, SE3 Price: £550,000 This two-bedroom flat is on the raised ground floor of this Victorian residence close to the open areas of Blackheath. It has a large reception room with a bay window and space for a dining table. Both bedrooms are doubles. The property has shared use of the back garden [...]
SELLING April 8, 2010 Russell Hunt MANAGING DIRECTOR OF PROPERTY HUNT Q. Dear Russell, with the general election having been called, should I wait to buy a property? A. The election will certainly affect the property market and everybody is currently sitting on the fence awaiting the outcome on 6 May. The impact on the housing market will depend [...]