GREAT ESCAPES September 20, 2009 Gothic Temple, BucksThis exquisite temple was built in 1741 and now belongs to Stowe School. It has one of the most important and beautiful landscape gardens in the country: it is one of the last additions to the garden at Stowe formed for Lord Cobham by Charles Bridgeman and his successor, William Kent. That same [...]
Vitamin cocktails and mango soup: fashion food hits London September 20, 2009 LULU GUINNESS DESIGNER TEAThe Metropolitan Hotel, home of the original London Nobu, is delivering its fashion week offering in typical high style. Enter the Lulu Guinness designed “afternoon de-light treat” – a tea composed of edible accessories made from healthy ingredients. Expect low-fat lip, oversized rose and clutch-shaped cupcakes and cookies in anticipation of Guinness’s [...]
Oscar golden boy’s stab at indie rom com is just too hip by half September 17, 2009 FilmAWAY WE GOCert: 15 BURT and Verona are a couple of slacker thirtysomethings living in the middle of nowhere. She’s an illustrator, he sells insurance over the phone, and mostly they knock about their beat up, backwoods house wondering what the heck they’re going to do when Verona has her baby. Deciding they can’t stay [...]
OUT THIS WEEKEND PREVIEWS September 17, 2009 FILMGAMER Brain-dead sci-fi action gubbins starring Scotland’s Gerard Butler. THE FIRM Another week, another film about footy hoolies. Nothing to do with John Grisham. 31 NORTH, 62 EAST British thriller about a prime minister who betrays the SAS for an arms deal. DVDSTATE OF PLAY Hollywood remake of the BBC journalism and politics drama, with [...]
WATCH THOSE LEGGINGS September 17, 2009 Sara Hollamby Style CounselI WAS walking round my town’s centre the other day, and saw at least two young (ish) women wearing leggings with a strap top, that went down to to the waist. In other words, they were walking around quite a large shopping centre virtually in a pair of tights, with nothing covering [...]
FOCUS ON: BRAINTREE, ESSEX September 17, 2009 HORSESHOES, CRESSING, CM77 8PQPrice: £825,000Formerly an ale house and dating back to the 1400s, this Grade II-listed property is set in a village three miles from Braintree – one hour from Liverpool Street by train. The five-bedroom house has retained its period features but has been updated to make a modern home. Stables and a [...]
Great getaways for those who are bored of London September 17, 2009 DOCTOR Johnson was of the opinion that those who are tired of London are tired of life. But he didn’t have to deal with packed commuter trains, paying four quid for a pint of lager or being mown down by cycle couriers every time he crossed Fleet Street. For many modern inhabitants of the capital, [...]
How to wear the 80s to work September 17, 2009 LONDON FashionWeek begins today and with it, the unofficial start to autumn and autumnal dressing.Yes, the catwalks will be full of next season’s spring/summer clothes, but they can still serve as an inspiration for making sure you’ve got all your clothes in place for the next few months. Harriet Apple, a designer and graduate of [...]
A true chalet paradise in the Alps September 16, 2009 ACTIVE Ski Retreats is not your average ski holiday resort. It’s not just that Sting has stayed in the chalet– it provides exceptional all-inclusive service, from the provision of the perfect ski boot, to delicious aperitifs to four course dinners, with an efficiency and enthusiasm that you’d be hard pressed to find elsewhere. All wood [...]
Brown is back, with silly plots, codes and terrible prose back September 16, 2009 THE LOST SYMBOLBY DAN BROWNBantam Press, £18.99 WITH AN initial print run of a million copies in the UK alone, and 6.5m worldwide, there is no doubt that Dan Brown’s latest – the follow-up, as you will know, to the Da Vinci Code – will be a publishing phenomenon. Robert Langdon, professor of symbology at [...]