Wednesday 27 November 2013 Not born with a Homes& silver spoon? Then buy one Silver gifts Property Page 22

NEW HOMES: BLACKFRIARS FIRES UP P4 THANKS FOR U.S. DESIGN P10 KENWOOD REOPENS P17 SPOTLIGHT: KENTISH TOWN P28

‘The truth about my £250 million Mayfair mega-mansion’ Phones 4u billionaire John Caudwell: Page 20 REBECCA REID REBECCA London’s best property search website: homesandproperty.co.uk 2 WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Online homesandproperty.co.uk with This week: homesandproperty.co.uk Property Out of town buy in partnership with of the week search go for a Bourton this Christmas London buy of the week £895,000: if you want to escape to loft living in an SW4 mews the country in time for Christmas, this Cotswold stone farmhouse in Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, is perfect. Its Life changer As it will look: the 1961 Shell Centre is a South Bank landmark posh gated entrance, sweeping lawns, former stables and outbuildings let Loose in an news: impress. Inside there are open fires, beamed ceilings in the reception oast house Nine’s a crowd on South Bank rooms and a family room that opens £875,000: a whole “oast” of on to a large terrace. Five bedrooms possibilities await in lovely Loose, A BITTER battle is being new shops and offices. The and a family bathroom are upstairs. Kent, at this character home and its fought out to decide the project has already been Through John D Wood. listed barn — perfect to rent out as a future of the iconic Shell approved by Lambeth wedding venue. The Oast House has Centre as part of the council and has the O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/ bags of family space in the kitchen/ long-awaited regeneration support of Mayor Boris outoftownbourton breakfast room, glorious views of its of Waterloo. Johnson but will be the walled garden from the double- Canary Wharf Group and subject of a planning £895,000: inspirational loft-style living is all yours at this aspect sitting room, plus deep Qatari Diar are planning a inquiry due to its scale. mews development near Clapham High Street. At ground beams and open fires in the dining £1.2 billion redevelopment Westminster council says level are two double bedrooms (one en suite) and a main and drawing rooms. Four bedrooms of the landmark 27-storey the scheme could ruin bathroom. One floor up, impressive light and space awaits are on the first floor, and there tower that will cluster eight Thames views and local in the reception room with its vaulted and part-glazed, are two more above. Through new buildings of up to 37 residents say the new double-height ceilings, wood floors, and chic, open-plan Geering & Colyer. storeys around it with towers will block the light kitchen/breakfast bar. Stairs go up to a mezzanine-level room for 877 homes, plus to their homes. dining space and roof terrace. Through Douglas & Gordon. O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/ lifechangerloose O Read Ruth Bloomfield’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/buyoftheweekclapham Faye Greenslade

Editor: Janice Morley Win two Powerball PTC ceramic heaters

PLUS: you can buy one for only £49.99 TO ENTER 180 degrees and can be manually VISIT homesandproperty. contact you with relevant from our online shop and receive a For a chance to tilted up or down, ensuring that the co.uk/rules for details of our offers and services that second one free. win a pair of warmth spreads everywhere you usual promotion rules. may be of interest. Powerball PTC need it to. Safe, efficient, reliable and When you respond to Please give your mobile THESE efficient Neostar Powerball ceramic heaters, portable, these heaters are perfect promotions, offers or number and/or email heaters use PTC ceramic technology visit homesand for the winter months ahead. competitions, the London address if you would like to to achieve fast heat-up times with property.co.uk/ Evening Standard and its receive such offers by text reduced energy consumption, offers before the BUY a Neostar Powerball PTC sister companies may or email. together with high levels of safety end of December 8. ceramic heater now for only and reliability. Despite their compact £49.99, plus £4.99 p&p, from Editorial: 020 3615 2524 size — only 43cm high (approx 17in) — homesandproperty.co.uk/shop Advertisement manager: Mark Wood they deliver an impressive 2,500 Usual rules apply. and receive a second heater free. Advertising: 020 3615 0527; Homes & Property, watts of heat, variable to 1,250 watts. For details, visit WE ALSO have two pairs of heaters Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, Kensington, London W8 5TT. For maximum effectiveness, they homesandproperty. to give away. oscillate automatically through co.uk/rules. To enter, see panel, left. hot homes: for buyers 
  seeking a profitable project £275,000: this studio flat in

 Kensington High Street needs a    makeover, plus a new kitchen and bathroom. Visit homesand property.co.uk/ highstken

LONDON’S architectural landscape is continually being reinvented as new skyscrapers spring up and office blocks are converted into homes. There are also plenty of unmodernised properties in the capital to tempt home hunters looking to make tight budgets stretch further with a bit of DIY. And for the serious space creators among us, there !  
 are major renovation projects ripe for extending into side returns, basements or lofts.     We take a property tour to find homes with   improvement potential across London — even in      

      some of the most sought-after residential districts.

O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 3 homesandproperty.co.uk with News Homes & Property By George, Bobby’s home is a dazzler VillageThis is the life for Brad and Penélope headline that É KING of darts Bobby “Dazzler” É BRAD PITT and Penélope George is selling his home. The goes like this Cruz, left, are currently sports personality and presenter has entertaining cinemagoers listed George Hall in Essex, right, É HERE is some text that goes like across London with their latest with Strutt & Parker for £2.5 million. this and runs on and on but this is film The Counsellor. George, 67, was famed for his only for dummy purposes and Directed by Ridley Scott, the flamboyant tournament entrances, sometimes the par must end. movie also stars Cameron Diaz kitted out in top-to-toe bling Then it starts again like this and and Michael Fassbender. It tells including a crown, a cloak and goes on again for a further few lines the story of a lawyer who finds carrying a candelabra — so his home before coming to and end. it starts himself out of his depth when he was never going to be understated. again like this and goes on again for becomes involved in drug The 17-bedroom country house in a further few lines before coming to trafficking. Ardleigh, near Colchester, exceeds and end Despite the gritty plot, one of

8,100sq ft and has a pub-style Then it starts again like this and the shooting locations was AFP entertainment room with bar and goes on again for a further few lines genteel Waddesdon Manor, a snooker table. Plus, there are three before coming to and end. it starts magnificent 19th-century lakes in the grounds and George again lÉ HERE is some text that mansion in the village of Miami price is charges a daily rate to the public goes like this and runs on and on but Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire. not so nice for for fishing. this is only for dummy purposes and The visit to the neighbourhood

A real bobby-dazzler, indeed. REX FEATURES sometimes the par must end. of Pitt, below, and Cruz brought Matt Damon Then it starts again like this and an extra sprinkling of glitz. For a goes on again for a further few lines slice of the glamour, take a look É
MATT DAMON has knocked before coming to and end. it starts at the new local Kingsfield Park £620,000 off the asking price of his again like this and goes on again for development. Miami Beach mansion, below. a further few lines before coming to Marylebone is a little over an The Elysium actor and his and end hour away from the newly built Argentinian wife Luciana Barroso, Then it starts again like this and Aylesbury Vale Parkway station above, first listed the property for goes on again for a further few lines so these homes are perfect for £12.4 million seven months ago but before coming to and end. it starts commuters who want the have so far struggled to find a buyer. again like this and goes on again for convenience of London at a Built in 1935, the house has seven a further few lines before coming to fraction of the price. Three- bedrooms, a wine cellar and cinema. and end bedroom homes start from It is located in an A-list hotspot, By Amira Hashish £229,950 through Martin which has also attracted the likes of Grant Homes. Jennifer Lopez and Calvin Klein. One grand design leads to another. . . É KEVIN McCABE is the leading living exponent of the ancient art of cob building. A favourite on Grand Designs, he makes houses out of mud using his bare hands and is now on a mission to build a “cob citadel”. Got some The master craftsman featured on gossip? the hit Channel 4 show, trying to Tweet achieve his dream in Devon. But to @amiranews finish the job he needs to raise extra funds so he is selling the neighbour- ing Keppel Gate, right, which he built about 11 years ago. Listed with Jackson-Stops for £995,000, it really is one of a kind. Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud was suitably impressed. SPLASH NEWS

O See homesandproperty.co.uk/mccabe AP 4 WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property New homes homesandproperty.co.uk with Bank on Blackfriars to become one of the bright lights of the future

Rooms with HE start came with the open- views: above left, ing of Blackfriars South, the The opening of a new train station heralded One the Elephant first new train station on the will have 284 south bank of the Thames for the rebirth of Blackfriars. Now come 30,000 apartments 120 years. A year later the jobs and new designer homes to add a fresh Tarea of Blackfriars is on a roll with anew housing and office developments, part David Spittles of a major regeneration initiative linking sheen to SE1, says Southwark’s historic waterfront to reborn including tourists, pour out of South- Redevelopment of a giant concrete Elephant & Castle. wark Tube station on Blackfriars Road data centre between Bankside and The location, a 20-minute stroll from to make their way to Tate Modern and Blackfriars Road will create a new five- Covent Garden and the Bank of Eng- Shakespeare’s Globe at Bankside each acre urban quarter with 490 homes land, once known as the Piccadilly of year. The area is not only a cultural and and a new public square, with disused the south, will be among the brightest tourist destination — and an expanding railway arches opening up for use as lights once again in the capital. More residential neighbourhood — increas- shops, galleries and restaurants. than 30,000 jobs and 2,500 homes are ingly it is a place for office workers, “The site is right on the river and coming, providing yet another boost especially media and finance-sector extremely under-utilised,” says Mark to the fêted SE1 postcode. employees. Harris, managing director of Carlyle Blackfriars Road, a boulevard-style Part of the area’s charm is its urban Group, a hedge fund which is steering View of St thoroughfare running south from the residential mix: riverside flats, hand- the project. Paul’s: a new river, is the spine of this zone. More some Victorian terraces, charitable and South Bank Tower is another nota- riverside square than a dozen large projects are under church housing, reasonably well cared- ble project, with 191 private apartments planned by the way or in the pipeline, including One for council estates, factory and ware- and one of London’s largest private Carlyle Group Blackfriars, a glitzy new skyscraper house lofts and live-work homes. roof gardens, plus residents’ lounge being built at the foot of the bridge and already smashing price records for southside homes — studio apartments cost from £960,000. The glass-clad tower tapers in at the bottom and when complete in 2016 will be similar in height to the 591ft Gherkin. Call devel- Neo Bankside: oper St George on 020 7871 7188. left and below There will be affordable flats for first- left, 217 time buyers, cheaper homes and loft- apartments near style apartments tucked away in side Tate Modern, in streets. Southwark planners aim to four hexagonal replace outmoded Sixties office blocks pavilions from 12 with mixed-use schemes that create to 24 storeys links to back streets and help to bring the area back to life as a neighbour- hood. The Southwark council masterplan sets high architectural standards, steered by a design panel that has some lofty ideals — to promote organic change that respects the fabric of the existing neighbourhood and ensures better homes and more jobs for local people. Transport for London is planning improvements including pavement widening along Blackfriars Road, which has relatively light vehicle use but is one of the capital’s busiest cycling routes.

ALAMY More than 30 million people, Improvements: Blackfriars Road, running south from the river, is the area’s spine EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 5 homesandproperty.co.uk with New homes Homes & Property

£625,000: above and below, South Bank Tower, 197 flats and one of London’s largest roof gardens (020 7182 2477)

From £960,000: and sky bar. Prices from £625,000. Call next to historic almshouses on Glasshill as part of “prime” central London — the studios and flats CBRE on 020 7182 2477. Street. Prices from £925,000. Call first time an area south of the Thames From £820,000: at One St George’s Circus, with its impressive estate agent Daniel Cobb on 020 7357 has been covered. Back from the river- Southside in Blackfriars, obelisk, marks the south-eastern end 0026. front, homes typically range between Union Street will seen here on the of Blackfriars Road, and here Barratt Union Street Café, the new Gordon £700 and £900 a square foot, relatively be a designer right, part of a is planning a 400-home scheme that Ramsay restaurant, will attract the good value for a buzzing postcode so apartment forest of new includes a 28-storey tower alongside a fashionistas to the area. It occupies a close to all the action. complex towers on the prized conservation area. large warehouse space alongside a “The area has raw edges but buyers south bank Affinity Sutton housing association is black-cab garage, itself a development who know it intimately and follow the building 53 homes at 90 Blackfriars improvements planned will get the Road, while Linden Homes is soon to Blackfriars is considered message,” says Nick Davies, new homes start an 86-home development director of Stirling Ackroyd. between Surrey Row and Pocock a part of ‘prime’ central He and others believe that nearby Street. London — the first time for Elephant & Castle, in the early stages of a 10-year regeneration programme GRUBBY GOES GLOSSY an area south of the Thames and offering cheaper property, will be For decades the small-scale commer- a big beneficiary of the Blackfriars cial district between Blackfriars Road target. Southside in Union Street is makeover. and Borough was judged the wrong another launch as a former car park Currently disconnected, the two side of the tracks, too close to grubby site becomes a designer apartment areas will be joined up by a ribbon of railway viaducts to be a desirable place complex. Prices from £820,000 to development, with One the Elephant, to live. But the area is smartening £2.25 million. Call 020 7749 3310. a new 284-apartment skyscraper, and up fast. Launching next week is a Leading property consultants Knight One Blackfriars forming the bookends boutique scheme of eight apartments Frank and CBRE consider Blackfriars of this revitalised district. 6 WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Commuting homesandproperty.co.uk with

HE rolling hills and Attractive: the affluent market towns centre of of Surrey are among the Haslemere. most expensive real estate The town boasts in Britain. While the community Government’sT Help to Buy scheme spirit and a low offers 95 per cent mortgages in an crime rate effort to help first-time buyers and second steppers, the upper property value limit of £600,000 won’t stretch far in the swankiest parts of the county. Virginia Water, for example, reached the milestone this summer of becoming the only area outside London where an average home now costs £1 million or more. But don’t let the eye-watering costs of Surrey’s gated enclaves deter you. Outside of Virginia Water, the footballers’ mansions of Englefield Green and the increasingly oligarch- friendly Wentworth Estate, there are plenty of other options to explore without the need for a seven- figure budget.

WEYBRIDGE There are period homes in this affluent Georgian town which can be bought for £600,000 or less, and residents can take advantage of its

great commuter links, cracking ALAMY state schools and excellent shops and facilities. The town’s average property price is currently £663,389, according to Zoopla, up almost nine per cent in the past year — an excellent Surrey with fringe benefits on top performance and one that promises future price rises as families from monthly farmers’ market, and sports London are lured south-westwards. You don’t have to be clubs from athletics to rugby. Commuting is a breeze since trains At present the town’s average to Waterloo take about half an hour, as rich as an oligarch property price is £459,000, up and an annual season ticket costs almost eight per cent in the past year. £2,396. or a top footballer to Chris Hebert, manager of Christopher Nelson, deputy live in Britain’s most Hamptons International, says manager at John D Wood estate £600,000 would buy you a three- agent, says you can find a family expensive county, says bedroom, semi-detached house in house in the town for below the centre of town within walking £600,000, although it won’t be a Ruth Bloomfield distance of the station. country pile. “The schools in Haslemere are a £585,000: this cottage in Haslemere “You can buy a 1,493sq ft, four- real draw for those moving out of dates from the 1880s (01428 642307) bedroom, two-reception room HASLEMERE London,” adds Hebert. “Shottermill Edwardian terrace house in This market town has become first and middle schools and Weybridge for just under £600,000, increasingly alluring for London Fernhurst Primary are extremely or a three-bedroom, postwar commuters thanks to the opening of popular and their catchment areas 1,231sq ft terrace house with Hindhead Tunnel, which has helped tend to be tight. From a private communal gardens for £385,000.” with traffic gridlock on the A3 school perspective, The Royal Schooling is excellent, with Nelson between London and Portsmouth. School, Haslemere Prep, Amesbury recommending a string of schools As well as being from 49 minutes by School and St Edmund’s are including Cleves and St James junior train to Waterloo (annual season attractive options.” schools and Heathside School for ticket £4,456) Haslemere is less than Over the past year the town has

seniors. The town centre is pretty an hour’s drive to Heathrow or the started to show signs of a property PHILLIPS BARRY with good traditional pubs, notably south coast, and right on the recovery — not only are prices up but Popular: Godalming is a £450,000: a three-bedroom cottage the Queen’s Head, and since doorstep of the South Downs Hebert says the number of applicants quintessential small English town in Weybridge. Call 01932 821160 Weybridge is on the Thames there is National Park which, says Adrian is up 51 per cent year on year. Lack of plenty of watery fun whether it be Hardwick, of Keats estate agents, stock, however, is a consideration. River Wey and there are several nice branch manager of Burns & Webber canoeing, strolling the towpath or means it is possible to have the best “It is not usual to have three families waterside pubs, a weekly market, a estate agents, estimates that about having a drink in a riverside pub. of all worlds. “There are a lot of great bidding on property,” he says. summer food festival and weekly 60 per cent of his buyers are London The town has good parks. facilities in the town, plus it is really open-air concerts at Godalming commuters. For £600,000 you could Weybridge Heath is expansive while easy to get around.” GODALMING Bandstand from May through to buy a three-bedroom Edwardian or Brooklands Park is particularly well- The pretty town centre has a good THIS is the kind of quintessential September. There is also plenty to do Victorian semi in the sought-after equipped for children with a play mix of independent and high street small English town that Surrey does for outdoor types: hire a canoe and suburb of Busbridge, which is within area, BMX track and skateboard shops, cafés and restaurants, plus so well, with a centre peppered with explore the river or join the town’s walking distance of the town centre park. film, music and theatre at the 16th-century buildings and plenty of cricket, cycle or tennis clubs. and station. “Weybridge has a traditional high Haslemere Halls. There are regular useful shops on the cobbled high Education is a big draw. Rated In Charterhouse, also close to the street with a mix of boutiques and festivals (from music to beer) in this street — plus, for London exiles, “good” by Ofsted are Godalming station, property is a little less national retailers, restaurants and community-spirited town, known for a Waitrose. Junior School, Green Oak CofE expensive and you could pick up a cafés,” says Nelson. its safe, low-crime feel, plus a The town sits on the banks of the Primary School and Nursery and three- to four-bedroom Victorian St Edmund’s Catholic Primary School semi for between £450,000 and Watery pursuits: for younger children, and £500,000. homes on the Broadwater School and Rodborough Godalming is blessed with plenty of River Wey in Technology College for seniors. And satellite villages but the two most Weybridge, left of course, Godalming is home to the popular are Milford and Wormley leading independent school, because they both have their own Charterhouse. station, as well as quality primary £319,950: Cherry Trains to Waterloo take from schools. A four-bedroom, detached Tree Cottage, 43 minutes and an annual season postwar house in Milford or a three/ right, in ticket costs £4,156. Average property four-bedroom period property in Godalming. Call prices stand at £433,194, up 3.3 per Wormley would cost about

ALAMY 01483 427 101 cent year on year, and David Driscoll, £600,000. EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 7 homesandproperty.co.uk with Affordable homes Homes & Property

POTTING an area on the up is not an exact science but there are some clues to watch for. Woolwich Imminent transport improve- ments are a no-brainer, as is anS influx of big-name house builders into a previously run-down district. A joins the subtler, but no less important pointer is evidence of grass roots arts-led regeneration. cultured On the basis of these factors, Woolwich in south-east London has it all. The regeneration money is cer- tainly there, in the form of the monster club £750 million Woolwich Arsenal devel- opment which will eventually bring 3,700 new homes to the area courtesy of Berkeley Homes. Transport improvements come in the form of a new Crossrail station which, when it opens in 2018, will offer direct For young buyers, this services to Canary Wharf in eight min- utes, to Bond Street in the West End in south-east London 21 minutes, and to Heathrow airport in 47 minutes. district has become For community-based arts regenera- a one-stop shop for tion look no further than the newly opened Woolwich Grand Theatre, living, working and bringing everything from film screen- ings to rollerdisco. socialising, says It is also an indication of the strength of the local community that the area Ruth Bloomfield has a clutch of schools judged “out- standing” by Ofsted, the government series of modular, low-rise buildings Square, complete with water cascade the last few years,” said Mo Clarke, sales Convenience store: owners of flats at schools watchdog. linked by a network of courtyards, and outdoor screens, and the nearest negotiator for L&Q. “It is like it has had £86 million Woolwich Central have the walkways and sky gardens, designed station is Woolwich Arsenal in Zone 4, a facelift. The town centre used to be biggest Tesco in Europe right on site BE FIRST IN THE QUEUE by leading architects Sheppard Rob- on the Docklands Light Railway. just a bus terminal — now there is a First-time buyers who would like to get son. Some of the homes have either a Priority will be given to people living lovely amphitheatre where they show CHANGE FOR THE BETTER in on the ground floor of Woolwich’s balcony or a glazed-in winter garden. or working locally who earn, as a house- tennis and football on big screens, and On a far more serious note, the death embryonic reinvention — because it is, The development is well-located near hold, between £37,000 and £48,413. it is attracting new businesses, such as of Drummer Lee Rigby outside the to be fair, still rough around the edges newly revamped General Gordon “Woolwich has changed so much over upmarket coffee shops. Ever since Royal Artillery Barracks in May sent — can do so through supermarket giant developers started pumping loads of shockwaves through the area. And Tesco. Its development arm, Spenhill, money into the area it has been very up according to Metropolitan Police fig- is behind the £86 million Woolwich and coming.” ures the crime rate in Woolwich River- Central scheme which includes 60 Since, predictably, there’s a giant side, currently standing at 8.53 per one- and two-bedroom flats on offer Tesco supermarket — the largest in 1,000 head of population, remains from housing association L&Q Europe — already open on site, resi- significantly higher than the Greenwich (lqgroup.org.uk) on a shared-owner- dents will not have far to carry their borough average of 6.47. ship basis. shopping, although for retail therapy One-bedroom flats on the site start of the more enjoyable kind, it might be OWEVER, Ms Clarke from £205,000. A 35 per cent share will better to head to the boutiques and believes the area is a safer therefore cost £71,750 and a monthly cafés of nearby Greenwich and Black- place to live than people rent of £305.36 will also be charged. heath, as Woolwich Market is fairly think. “ I can remember Two-bedroom flats start at £260,000, basic and the shops on Powis Street are when Brixton was an area and buying a 35 per cent tranche will uninspired. Hthat people felt was very dangerous cost £91,000, plus a monthly rent of And, apart from the Grand’s café, and now they wouldn’t think twice £387.29. Buyers must also factor in a there aren’t many places to while away about living there,” she says. monthly service charge of £173.32. a pleasant hour over a cappuccino. “Woolwich is going through that same One of the plus points of Woolwich change. People who work in the City Central, affordability aside, is that this From £71,750: for 35 per cent of a and Canary Wharf are coming to look is a good-looking scheme featuring a Woolwich Central one-bedroom flat here now.”


      
    
 
  North of the river, south of the river and anywhere in between, talk to Savills. 8 WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Homes abroad homesandproperty.co.uk with

OLIDAY homes don’t come much more exclusive than those in the Maldives. For a start, foreigners can only buy Join Branson and the Beckhams Hproperty on a handful of the 2,000 islands that make up this Indian Ocean idyll. With its crystal-clear seas, the Maldives Then there is the issue of the neighbours: Richard Branson, offers the ultimate retreat for celebrities Madonna, Paul McCartney and the Beckhams have all enjoyed and urban entrepreneurs. Now they can downtime there. And you can see why. If you like buy a home there, says Cathy Hawker soft, white sand beaches, clear-as- crystal tropical seas and splendid isolation in an exceptional spot, then this is the place to be — so long as you have a shedload of money. British Airways flies direct non-stop from London to Male, the capital, in 10 hours and then it’s a speedboat or seaplane journey to your chosen island. WHERE THE TOURIST IS KING The Maldives has had its problems in recent years. The Islamist government, formed after a bloodless coup last year, promptly issued a ban on spas. The ban only Kick back and relax: lasted briefly but was an almighty each year 900,000 shot in the foot, as pretty much the tourists head to the sole source of the islands’ income is Indian Ocean paradise tourism. Global warming means that is the Maldives

there is much debate about the effect ALAMY of rising sea levels on the islands, which have an average elevation of only available on short-term lease — brought in from abroad. The only off- arriving to lay the first stone on the Condé Nast Traveller put it in its top less than five feet, making this the currently a maximum of 50 years — plan project there to date, 12 Blues, totally undeveloped Lundufushi 100 worldwide resorts and it’s not lowest lying country in the world. and all building materials apart from launched amid much fanfare in 2010 island, failed to prevent the project hard to see why. In almost all the islands, property is sand and a little wood must be but even the country’s president sinking financially without trace. The resort espouses “intelligent Despite all these issues, tourism luxury” with no gold taps, no marble Pared-back figures have more than doubled since or any trace of bling. Homes are perfection: 2003 with 900,000 visitors heading handcrafted using eucalyptus wood homes at Soneva there each year. and palm tree leaves on the roof, Fushi, the first decorated with simple wooden luxury resort in AN ISLAND HOME furniture and outdoor showers, in a the Maldives, are Homes are for sale at Soneva Fushi, a stripped-back style. The dress code is for sale from long-established and eye-wateringly “no shoes” and guests freewheel £1,985,000 for a expensive resort 30 minutes by around the island on old-fashioned seaplane from Male. It comes sit-up-and-beg bikes. Official airline partner two-bedroom NETWORKING / SEMINARS / EXPO suite. Call 020 garlanded with prestigious awards. “For urban entrepreneurs living in 7016 3740 Leading luxury travel magazine polluted, congested cities, what is truly luxurious isn’t a branded 6 DECEMBER 2013 • 10am - 3pm restaurant or a bottle of Cristal but The Ballroom, The Grosvenor House Hotel, experiences you cannot have in Park Lane, London New York or London,” says Sonu Shivdasani, chief executive and owner of Soneva Resorts. “They appreciate a simple life, walking Buying, investing barefoot in the sand when you are used to high heels and business suits. That’s what we mean by intelligent or working in property? luxury.” See the showcase of the best residential Soneva Fushi was the first luxury resort in the Maldives. Eton- and and commercial projects selected to win Oxford-educated Sonu and his this year’s prestigious International Swedish ex-Vogue model wife, Eva, bought the 100-acre island in 1995 Property Awards and live there for half the year. The resort has 52 per cent repeat guests, Meet award-winning developers, architects, an impressive figure in the ever- In bud: The 5 expanding world of five-star resorts interior designers and property professionals Lagoons, the and strong eco-credentials. from the UK, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, biggest floating At Soneva Fushi, plastic bottles are development in banned, 85 per cent of all rubbish is Africa and the Americas. the world — with recycled and it has more solar panels the first 18-hole than anywhere else in the Maldives. This event is also a must for anyone working in floating golf Homes start from £1,985,000 for a course — is in the 3,300sq ft two-bedroom Crusoe property-related fi elds. The full event programme planning, a joint suite. These are certainly lifestyle is available online. venture between purchases but Sonu says a rental the Maldives yield of four per cent is proven to be Register online before 4 December for FREE ENTRY government and possible. Only 16 private residences Dutch Docklands will be built to add to the existing 50 www.internationalpropertyevents.com International. It hotel residences. Eight homes have been sold to date. VIP Tickets also available. Call Russell Clarke on +44 (0)1245 250981 will offer two- to four-bedroom IN ASSOCIATION WITH houses and villas CONTACTS from £640,000 O Soneva Fushi for sale through Savills and whole islands (savills.co.uk/abroad; 020 7016 3740; from £6.4 million sonevafushi.com) 10 WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Design homesandproperty.co.uk with

Left: beaded pillow in Topiary design; below, Bel Air mini scoop vase, £98, both from Jonathan Adler, Sloane Avenue. Right, slice café and dining chairs from Seattle- based Graypants (graypants.com/ slice-chairs) London loves US homeware and a major store is launching here. It’s a special relationship, says Barbara Chandler

ARK Thanksgiving tomorrow with American homeware from Stateside stores and designers. Already anM important part of the London shopping scene, they get a significant addition next Thursday when Brooklyn-based home furnishings and gifts chain West Elm opens its first UK store in the capital. In Tottenham Court Road, it’s taking on a street already saturated with furnishers including Habitat, Heal’s, BoConcept, Futon Company, Sofa Workshop, Natuzzi, Raft, Dreams, Lombok and DFS. So what can West Elm do differently at number 209? It has a huge breadth of merchandise and styles — the fat catalogue is stashed with upholstery, tables, cupboards, chairs, rugs, linens, mirrors, tableware and more. There’s no particular “look”. You’ll find simple, modern pieces — plump sofas, glossy white coffee tables, sleek storage — alongside rural stick- back chairs, reclaimed wood, and deluxe satin cushions, ready-to-hang velvet curtains and metallic finishes. “I’d say our magic is in this mix,” says creative director Vanessa Holden. West Elm’s plans include British merchandise and ideas — there’s a wall of British art, for example — free consultations from stylists and fun workshops. “Our stores are hands-on creative spaces,” says Holden. Other Americans in London include:

ANTHROPOLOGIE Talk to the hand: 36cm pottery Arrived on Regent Street in Peace Hand (£225) from 2009 with fashion and Jonathan Adler, Sloane furnishing. King’s Road Avenue (jonathanadler.com) followed the next year, and another branch has Long Island drawing room just opened in Guildford. or American-in-Paris The merchandise is bijou, apartment. Furniture is with quirky furniture plus oversized, with layered china, glass, quilted and berry shades, rich chocolate embroidered linens and and cream, glossy lacquer, decorative cupboard knobs. vintage leather, tweed, cashmere and tartan. There JONATHAN ADLER are also cut-crystal goblets, This potter-turned-retailer manly chessboards, tasteful has 25 US stores and a South crockery and huge, Kensington satellite which luxurious cushions. opened in 2011. He calls his style “cheeky chic”. Bold SHERIDAN COAKLEY ceramics and gold/neon The founder of SCP East accessories are mixed in and West, two of London’s with classic sofas and favourite design stores, is lighting, and hand-loomed cultivating a new wave of rugs. US design talent, inevitably labelling his project the RALPH LAUREN “special There are two relationship”. stores with pricey, Many American sophisticated designers are also homeware. Think makers. Coakley posh hunting lodge, says: “US design is EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 11 homesandproperty.co.uk with Design Homes & Property

City limits: the Megatropolis ceramic collection by Brooklyn-based illustrator Mark McGinnis for SCP, with items from £16.25, features images inspired by New York urban life — though every piece is made in Stoke-on-Trent (scp.co.uk)

Above left: Above: Brook Adelphi Lounge Street Club Chair designed Ottoman from by Sally Sirkin Ralph Lauren, Lewis at J Robert from £1,514 Scott, Design ordered from the Centre Chelsea US online store Harbour (020 at ralphlauren 7376 4705) home.com

Left: chevron Above: Westley grain dresser, Thunder carpet £699, at the first (2ft 6in by 9ft) UK West Elm from US designer store, opening Madeline December 5 at Weinrib’s flat 209 Tottenham weave range, Court Road £325 (madeline (0800 404 9780) weinrib.com)

are now American. At its best, America can offer a glamour that owes a lot to Hollywood and art deco, delivered with impeccable craft and bespoke options taken for granted. J Robert Scott’s craftspeople in California excel at cabinet-making, gilding, inlay, upholstery and stonework, and have perfected a new technique for dip-dye veneers. Donghia stocks deluxe furniture, plus gold and silver, textured and light-reflecting, creamy fabrics. There are tiles and taps at Ann Sacks, rugs at Stark Carpets and top-quality leathers at Edelman. Samuel & Sons Passementerie stocks more than 10,000 tassels, borders, braids and fringes. The White oak and leather: Market shelf Nanz Company offers extravagant by Lostine, £750 at SCP (scp.co.uk) hardware that turns doors or cabinets into statements. genuinely different, and uninfluenced Fabrics and papers abound, many by Europe.” from old-established names with awesome archives, such as Brunswig DESIGN CENTRE CHELSEA & Fils and Ramm, Son & Crocker. HARBOUR Artisanal specialist Tissus d’Hélène, At Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, has hand-blocked, hand-screened beloved of interior designers, more and/or hand-dyed and washed than a fifth of the 550 luxury décor fabrics and papers from 23 small brands spread over 89 showrooms American studios. 16 WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Reader promotion homesandproperty.co.uk with

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O The companies listed here are wholly independent of the Evening Standard. Care is taken to establish that they are bona fide but we recommend that you carry out your own checks prior to purchases and use a credit card where possible. To offer feedback on any of these companies, email [email protected] with “Bargain News” in the subject line. For more bargains, visit alisonathome.com or homesandproperty.co.uk/offers.



  
     


 
  
     

     
 
  
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 "      !   EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 17 homesandproperty.co.uk with Restoration Homes & Property They’re taking off the covers at Kenwood It really is stunning. Tomorrow, Kenwood House, a fabulous Georgian villa with priceless art, reopens after a £6 million restoration, says

Philippa Stockley CHARLES HOSEA Neoclassical gem: Kenwood House, in 70 acres at the edge of Hampstead Heath

OMORROW, 18 months after tions of Old Master paintings amassed, century in style, but fresh and springy. it was closed for restoration, including works by Rembrandt, Gains- In Mansfield’s day, the hall doubled as Kenwood House in Hamp- borough, Vermeer, Reynolds and a dining room, with tables carried in stead reopens to the public. Turner — built up by brewing magnate and out as required. This national treasure in Edward Guinness, Lord Iveagh, who You then pass the newly blue staircase, moreT than 70 acres of sweeping park- bought the empty house after a contents lit by a specially made lantern in the land was restored by English Heritage sale in 1925 to hold his collection, but spirit of an Adam lantern at Osterley, for £6 million, including £4 million died before it was installed and into the Library anteroom. Either side from the Heritage Lottery Fund. bequeathed it all to the nation. of the door, in niches, stand Flora and Curators traced missing furniture and Before Kenwood closed it was in bad a Muse. The original statues, bought in used old bills and drawings to have repair, particularly the roof. In the Sev- 1771, were lost, so these two beauties other pieces copied. New paint colours enties, much of it was refurbished with have been cast from sculptures owned were hand-mixed to match the origi- the wrong paint colours, heavy gilding by the Duke of Northumberland, at nals. Joiners, gilders and other crafts- and false marbling. Now the subtler Syon. Nearby are two stone seats with people worked round the clock to original hues are restored, the differ- leather tops, carved for Robert Adam finish on time. ence is striking. As EH’s Head of Proper- by Sefferin Nelson in 1773. Sold in the Where two years ago there were strip- ties, Jeremy Ashbee, says: “The Iveagh 1922 contents sale, they were spotted

lights, fitted carpet, and an echoing CHARLES HOSEA Bequest said we were to create a generic by a dealer who had seen them in a entrance hall with a desk and ropes, The Great Room, or Library: architect Robert Adam’s 18th-century masterpiece feel of an 18th-century gentleman’s Country Life photo from 1913. Now, now there are hand-made carpets on home, so that is what we have done.” incredibly, they have returned home. old pine boards, a roaring fire, chan- Adam’s delicate plasterwork was Like a sleeping beauty coming to life deliers, and sofas and chairs where you painted in airy pale blues and pinks set again, Kenwood has many more such are encouraged to sit, to gaze perhaps off by white. His masterpiece is the stories to share. at a landscape designed by Humphry Library, or Great Room, where Lord Repton in the late 18th century for the Mansfield worked, read and enter- O GET THE LOOK second Lord Mansfield. tained. There are sofas, mirrors, and Bespoke hand-knotted rugs: from gilded window seats upholstered in red Hill & Co (Hillcorugs.com) OLD MASTERS brocade, one original, two copied. An Lanterns and chandeliers: from The house was much smaller when 18th-century card table and chairs stand Wilkinson (Wilkinson-plc.com) built in 1700 on hilltop land bought in on a pretty 1780s needlework carpet. Paper and Paints from paper-paints. 1616 by John Bill, later the King’s co.uk; Classidur paints at traditional Printer. In the 1760s, architect Robert BEAUTY RESTORED paints.co.uk Adam added wings and the soaring When you enter the house, its front Christmas tip: the Kenwood House gift portico, to make Kenwood a fitting now correctly painted a sanded mousy shop has an Adam plasterwork-design home for William Murray, Lord Chief colour, under the great portico, the fire range including a leather Oystercard Justice and first Earl of Mansfield, in the big hall is immediately welcom- holder, £9.95, and stocks 18th century- whose portrait hangs in the hall. ing, as is a new hand-knotted rug, 18th inspired liqueurs and boxed toys. This stunning Georgian villa, remod- elled and lavishly decorated by Adam, Romantic: delicate plasterwork was O For more information on Kenwood

houses one of the finest private collec- CHARLES HOSEA repainted in the original blue and white House, visit english-heritage.org.uk 20 WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property My homes homesandproperty Homes from phones John Caudwell (net worth £1.5 billion) pours money and passion into old buildings. He tells Liz Hoggard the real story of his £250 million Mayfair mega-mansion and why he plans to give away most of his fortune E’S ONE of the richest men it away. When he sold Phones 4u back in the country and almost in 2006 for £1.5 billion, he pledged to certainly Britain’s highest give at least half of his wealth to income tax payer. Phones 4u his charitable foundation, Caudwell founder John Caudwell, 61, Children, in his lifetime. Hhas a net worth estimated at £1.5 billion Some people might call it a midlife and he has a passion. “I just love old crisis, he jokes, but “it was much more buildings,” he says. like a midlife illumination”. You might think the mobile phones When Caudwell sold the mobile phone magnate would love stainless steel and company, he began to focus on London. sheet glass, not stone carvings and His current interest is “grand Mayfair mullioned windows. “But I love mag- architecture”. nificent architecture,” he explains. “In “I looked at all the normal places — general I hate modern architecture, Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Mayfair. especially the stuff put up in the Sixties, And what I saw within Mayfair was a Seventies and Eighties. With just a bit phenomenal potential. What I call more skill and effort from the architects, Mayfair village has these nice quiet back- and without that much extra build cost, roads and lovely cobbled streets, beauti- you can end up with something so much ful architecture and it’s a fantastically more beautiful.” convenient place to live. Harrods is a Caudwell, 61, hit the headlines last 10-minute walk away, Hyde Park, three month when it was claimed he plans to minutes.” tunnel between his two homes in Mayfair He is increasingly attracted by London — one formerly owned by Prince Jefri, the property and is now working on plans playboy brother of the Sultan of Brunei to transform what he calls “an unbeliev- — to create a “mega-mansion” with a ably ugly Sixties eyesore” — Mayfair potential value of £250 million. It would Audley Square multistorey car park — feature an enormous games room, sauna, which he bought for £155 million last pool, media room, car park and plant year. He plans to turn it into super-prime room. The two-storey basement would residential apartments and townhouses. be 14,000sq ft, and the lower-ground “We’ll have this beautiful building, floor would have bedrooms, staff quar- feature-rich, clad in Portland stone. It’s ters, security rooms, two suites and a just so exciting from an aesthetic point laundry room. of view to be in that privileged position to be able to change a part of Mayfair that MAN OF MANY PASSIONS has become ugly and run-down.” It was a great story. Here was yet another But Caudwell is a mass of contradic- greedy fat cat planning an underground tions, as he cheerfully admits. An “out- “iceberg” extension. Columnists queued and-out capitalist”, he believes that up to speculate that the property would corporates should pay their fair share of have a floorspace of up to 50,000sq ft, tax; he has personally contributed more making it only slightly smaller than West- than £200 million to the Treasury in minster Cathedral. income tax over the past five years. In fact the story wasn’t accurate. The A self-confessed adrenaline freak two houses are already linked at base- whose hobbies include motorcycles, ment level. By developing and restoring helicopters and planes, he is also the property Caudwell hopes to increase passionate about philanthropy. “I have its value so that when he dies, it will this very strong view that society has benefit his charity. become far too polarised between rich

He wants to make lots of money on the and poor. You’ve got to encourage SWNS luxury development — but only to give people to create wealth, and in creating Mega-mansion: John Caudwell, main picture, at his Mayfair flat in one of two linked houses he owns and aims to develop, above
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 21 y.co.uk with My homes Homes & Property SWNS Lovingly restored: Broughton Hall, Staffordshire, the 50-bedroom Jacobean manor house where Caudwell, partner Claire Johnson and their son live most of the time. “I’ve managed to keep it absolutely in synch with the period, both inside and out,” he says

‘Where I struggle is, ultimately, certain people can become so wealthy that it’s inequitable in a society where people in Britain are suffering, whether through illness or low wages’

than £10 million. Last year Sir Elton John private islands, but travelling to cities was guest of honour at their annual such as Ghent and Bruges are a pleasure: fundraiser. With Hollywood actress Eva “I’ve always sought out the medieval Longoria, Caudwell co-hosted a gala at town centres for the cosiness, the inti- the ME Hotel in the West End last week macy. I love the Shambles in York. I get for the Global Gift Foundation, dedicated an energy out of these places. There’s to philanthropic events worldwide. nothing more boring and soulless than For a very rich man, he has known the big, modern high streets with wall- hardship. His father suffered a stroke to-wall shop windows.” when Caudwell was 14 and died four Ironic, perhaps, when along with years later. His mother went out to work Carphone Warehouse chairman Charles at 7am each day. “The trauma that lack Dunstone, Caudwell helped to build the of money held made me realise that high street in the Nineties. financial security was very important, His least favourite London buildings but, equally, so was good health.” include the old American Embassy — He left school before A-levels and did “I’ve always thought the fascia was an a variety of menial jobs before gaining atrocious, ugly monstrosity” — and the an HNC in mechanical engineering at Shard at London Bridge. “I think it’s Michelin Tyres. He ran a corner shop spectacular and it’s good for that area of and mail-order business selling motor- London, but I’m not sure what part it

REBECCA REID REBECCA cycle clothing. plays in the long-term future. How do you preserve these big glass structures wealth they create jobs and often get young son have a top-floor apartment in purposes.” He knows celebs will pay for HILE living in a caravan and make them look right in 100 years’ wage escalation for people down the the larger of the two, a Grade II-listed, a through-the-keyhole tour. The problem in 1987, he bought 26 time? I suspect you don’t. chain, and it’s all a big success story. But 22,000sq ft mansion, built in 1877. Most is it doesn’t work as a house, he says. mobile phones. It took “People make their money out of them where I struggle is, ultimately, certain of the time they live in his family home “The basement level is dreadful. It was a year to sell them on, for the next 20, 30 years, there’s a rise people can become so wealthy that it’s in Staffordshire, a lovingly restored, 50- converted into an Arabesque swimming but he had found his in value as the area becomes esteemed inequitable in a society where people in bedroom Jacobean manor house with pool. The commercial kitchen is under- niche,W and his firm, Phones 4U, grew because of the Shard, and then what Britain are suffering, whether through crafted timbers. “I’ve managed to keep neath the mews house, if you can call it rapidly. For his head office in Stoke-on- happens is the building starts getting illness or low wages.” The answer, he it absolutely in synch with the period, a mews house,” he jokes. “And the dining Trent he rescued a derelict Victorian tile jaded. The properties around it come up claims, is to lead by example and make both inside and outside.” room is right at the front door, so the factory. in value, as it diminishes,” he warns. it almost socially unacceptable not to The London house, which features food has to come all the way along the “It had no roof, no windows, the walls “Then, at some point in the next 100 give away large tranches of your wealth. marble floors and a ballroom, and is basement and up the stairs. were blown out. I refurbed all the pitch- years, somebody says: ‘So long as we can After he made his declaration, Bill Gates thought to be the largest of its type out- “At the front of the house where the pine beam, had thousands of bricks get the right planning permission, this and Warren Buffett followed suit and set side the Crown Estate, is actually a show- swimming pool is at the moment, I’ll put specially made, and created an incred- is a knockdown and build again’.” up The Giving Pledge. case for his charity fundraising events. the original living accommodation back ibly beautiful building.” His own children are expected to earn Prince Jefri may have spent millions in there, just as it would have been in the An early marriage to Kate produced a living — Rebekah is carving out a RAGS TO HUGE RICHES decorating it with ornate gilt and lac- era of Upstairs Downstairs, plus the bow three children. Rebekah, 34, is an successful career in the States. “I want Self-educated after leaving school at 15, quering, but it’s not to Caudwell’s windows, which are whited out at a interior designer, Libby, 25, is a journal- them all to understand the importance Birmingham-born Caudwell is clever and taste. basement level — madness. So I’m ist, and Jakob is 18. Caudwell also has a of family, friends and doing what’s right highly likeable. Yet he remains a cartoon “When I first came to look at it, I felt a redesigning things to be traditional and daughter, Scarlett, 11, from a relationship for society.” Though he openly admits figure for some of the press. Perhaps combination of awe and horror. I didn’t more functional. Yes, it will involve with Jane Burgess, and son, Jacobi, nine, philanthropy has made him a shrewder because of the snobbery surrounding know whether to love it or hate it. And digging out more basement, but most of from his current relationship with property developer. his origins — he was a second-hand car those instincts were absolutely right. it is already there.” Claire. “When I look at my car park develop- dealer before forming Phones4u. What I loved was the Beaux Arts archi- It would be a pity if Caudwell were Today he owns Bentleys, a racing car ment, I see that ironically it will be sold We meet at the infamous “mega-man- tecture of the outside, the grandeur of simply dismissed as “the man with the and helicopters, but nothing beats to the richest people in the world to sup- sion”, which still doesn’t have heating. the scale of the rooms inside. The ball- Mayfair man cave”. He is bullish to raise cycling through London, he says. “Many port the poorest people in the world. Caudwell bought the two properties for room I absolutely adore, and I run a lot funds. In 2001 he founded Caudwell a time I’ll wander off the beaten track And not only that, it will be transforming £81 million last year, planning to restore of charity events from there. We have Children, which provides treatment and and discover a little gem, like a Victorian part of Mayfair. I’ll be leaving behind a their original period grandeur. He and big dinner parties for 80 people, it’s equipment for sick, autistic and disabled garden square with big, red-brick legacy that I absolutely believe will be his partner, Claire Johnson, and their great for networking for charitable youngsters. It has already raised more houses.” There are foreign holidays to standing there in 500 years’ time.”
22 WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Shopping homesandproperty.co.uk with Nothing quite beats the seductive sparkle of silver — but chrome and stainless steel have polish, says Corinne Julius

THE SILVER VAULTS Clockwise from top left: Mediterraneo CELEBRATE stainless steel fruit holder by Emma One of the most enjoyable ways to Silvestris for Alessi (£105); Kastor buy a decorative silver object is to Savour your silver pencil sharpener in chrome-plated visit the London Silver Vaults at 53-64 zamak by Rodrigo Torres for Alessi Chancery Lane, WC2 (020 7242 3844; exhibiting work by the Association of (£37); a pair of George II Sheffield plate silvervaults.com). This underground Contemporary British Silversmiths, tea caddies (£400) from the London warren of strongrooms, home to 25 available through their website Silver Vaults; doll’s house furniture in silver dealers, is celebrating its 60th (contemporarybritishsilversmiths. solid silver, from a set of table and birthday. Prices start at under £100. org), from December 1 to 24. Pieces three chairs, 1985 (£425) from the There are cute 1939 red bean coffee range from Rachel Elizabeth Wood’s London Silver Vaults; Domus cafetière spoons by William Suckling of horse napkin rings, £170, to Richard by Nick Munro in stainless steel and Birmingham, £120 for six, and Fox’s candleholders, £140, and Clive wicker, at Aram Store, from £75; “wobble-weighted” antique silver Burr’s silver yo-yo, £120. Diamond stainless steel pendant light salt and pepper shakers that look by Joss Barton, from £290 at Heal’s modern but date from 1884, at £350. FAKE IT WITH CHROME Elegant silver and glass 1890s claret Gleaming chrome and polished THE SWISH OF SILVER jugs are £175, while designer/maker aluminium pieces range from Alessi’s Try a swish of silver textile with V-shaped sterling silver and silver-gilt Portaombrelli umbrella stand in Dedar’s new metallic sheer Lux, flutes by Stuart Devlin, from 1960, chrome-plated steel, £132, or its £170.50 a metre (Design Centre are £3,250 for six but available singly. snake paper knife £19, to a wide Chelsea Harbour, SW10; 020 7357 variety of bowls and fruit dishes, 9939; dedar.com). Fameed Khalique’s AWARD-WINNING CAA from £36 (22 Brook Street, W1; 020 beaded hand-embroidered textiles for For modern silver, often matt-finish 7518 9090; alessi.com). Glittery interiors are from £490 a metre (Unit rather than highly polished, head to goodies at Heal’s include Michael 101, 190 St John Street, EC1; 020 7490 Contemporary Applied Arts at 89 Aram’s Forest Leaf Collection, with 5524; fameedkhalique.com). For Southwark Street, SE1 (020 7436 intricate foliage patterns on the ice wallpaper, try Galerie Wall Coverings 2344; caa.org.uk). CAA stocks pieces bucket, £197, tongs, £43, and vase, (01892 700 730; galeriewallcoverings. by contemporary makers such as £166 (Tottenham Court Road, W1; com). Idylia is a silver-grey forest award-winning Simone ten Hompel, 020 7636 1666; heals.co.uk). glade and Trianon is a metallic silver whose spoons start at £280, or new Aram Store (10 Drury Lane, WC2; classical design on matt silvery-grey. star Adi Toch, whose lidded oil 020 7557 7557; aram.co.uk) has silver- drizzlers with gold spouts are £1,300. coloured chairs and tables, including SILVER LIGHT Large driftwood and silver spoons by the DKR chromed metal chair by Joss Barton’s Diamond laser-cut Grant McCaig are £675 each, and his Charles Eames for Vitra, at £331. The stainless steel pendant lights are “pleated” fine silver beakers are £750 still-edgy Asymmetric Chaise by stunning — from £290 at Heal’s (as each. Lucian Taylor’s hydroformed Harry Bertoia for Knoll is £6,108, and before). At Aram Store (as before) the TIG welded stainless steel spoons are the Leaf Chair by Lievore Altherr Fun 2TA sequin table light is £549, £190 a pair. Molina for Arper in chromed metal is and the bell-shaped Pantop table £270. The wiry dining table by lamp is £308, both for Verpan by SILVERSMITHS AT Warren Platner for Knoll, £2,520, Verner Panton. Battery-operated GOLDSMITHS’ makes a strong statement, while a Otenzia is a stainless steel silver For smaller-scale pieces of silver try side table in the same series is £636 shimmer ball light, from £220 at MPD The Goldsmiths’ Centre at 42 Britton and the classic E1027 adjustable London (Studio 8, Fairbanks Studio, Street, EC1 (020 7566 7667; chromed metal and glass-topped side 75-81 Burnaby Street, SW10; 020 7352 goldsmiths-centre.org) which is table by Eileen Gray is £599. 3887; mpdshop.co.uk).

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2)(5+1)02)2 3 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 23 homesandproperty.co.uk with Outdoors Homes & Property Books to make it a green-fingered Christmas From gorgeous Italian estates to growing rhubarb in a dustbin, we leaf through top titles from the gardener’s wish list Pattie Barron

THE GARDENS OF VENICE AND THE VENETO VENICE, Verona, Padua — the very names stir the senses. In The Gardens of Venice and the Veneto, art historian Jenny Condie explores 20 sublime gardens of the Veneto region in north-east Italy. They were created centuries ago at villas and palazzos to dazzle, entertain or declare a family’s status. Many are open to the public,

which is handy, because just looking ALEX RAMSAY at Alex Ramsay’s pictures of them Italianate splendour: the garden of could have you hopping on the next Palazzo Cappello Malipiero Barnabò flight to Verona.

you can buy it for £28 including p&p by CAROLINE ARBER O The Gardens of Venice and the calling 01903 828 503 and quoting Writer’s retreat: dahlias create a blaze Veneto (Frances Lincoln) costs £35, but code APG 47. Last orders, December 19. of colour along a path at Monk’s House VIRGINIA WOOLF’S GARDEN RHS CONTAINER GARDENING CAROLINE ZOOB and her husband USING pots, you can grow beautiful had the thrilling — and daunting — exotics that would not survive for long task of tenanting Monk’s House, in the open garden, you can bring Virginia Woolf’s idyllic Sussex home, paved areas to life, screen a view, from the National Trust for a decade fill a gap, or soften the impact of until 2011. Zoob’s book, Virginia masonry. This is the message from the Woolf’s Garden, tells the story of this Royal Horticultural Society, which, in glorious patch, where Woolf worked Container Gardening, brings the point on many of her major novels in the home with more than 500 ideas for writing lodge tucked into a corner of great pot plantings, as well as showing the orchard. Planting plans, how to give them expert care through sumptuous pictures of all the garden the seasons. areas and Woolf’s words make this something special. O Royal Horticultural Society Container Gardening (Mitchell Beazley) by Ian O Virginia Woolf’s Garden ( Jacqui Hodgson costs £12.99, but you can buy it Small) costs £30, but you can buy it for £8 including p&p by calling 01903 for £24 including p&p by calling 828 503 and quoting code HP/MB584. 01903 828 503 and quoting code APG GAP PHOTOS/FRIEDRICH STRAUSS GAP PHOTOS/FRIEDRICH Last orders, 17 December. ANDREW LAWSON 49. Last orders, 19 December. English gem: a statue in Sir Roy Strong’s The Laskett Gardens, Herefordshire

GROW YOUR OWN CROPS planters, snip coriander from a THE NEW ENGLISH GARDEN Scampston Hall in Yorkshire, and IN POTS colander and even nurture a GARDEN historian Tim Richardson Christine Facer’s madcap plot in the WOODEN crates are ideal for sowing grapevine in a roomy terracotta pot. presents 25 important gardens made, Cotswolds. If you are seeking fresh salads, recycled rubber trugs are the Author Kay Maguire provides the or remade, over the last decade, in ideas for your own garden, this is the right size for growing onions, and how-tos and don’t-dos behind 30 The New English Garden. book to consult. galvanised dustbins? Just the job for potted projects. These include the renowned Great a crop of rhubarb. Dixter, Highgrove and the Olympic O The New English Garden (Frances If your experience of growing O Grow Your Own Crops In Pots (Mitchell Park, as well as lesser-known gems Lincoln) costs £40, but you can buy it edibles in containers has been Beazley) costs £16.99, but you can buy it such as Wildside, Keith Wiley’s for £32 including p&p by calling 01903 limited to tomatoes in a grow-bag, for £11 including p&p by calling 01903 relaxed plant paradise in Devon, 828 503 and quoting code APG 48. this is the book that will inspire you 828 503 and quoting code HP/MB583 Piet Oudolf’s flowering prairie at Last orders by December 19.

to grow sweet potatoes in fabric Last orders, December 17. / ALAMY IMAGEBROKER THE WILDLIFE GARDENER THE most ordered urban garden can be converted to a haven for wildlife, Buy it: RHS plants in time for the big day without becoming a refuge for weeds. In The Wildlife Gardener, Kate MAHONIA Soft Caress, voted autumn, before falling to Bradbury, editor of Wild London Chelsea Flower Show’s Plant reveal spectacular orange, red magazine, details the flowers that of the Year, is a covetable and yellow stems. Position in bring in the bees and butterflies, the evergreen with fern-like full sun for best colour; grows berries that birds, such as waxwings, foliage that will thrive in to 1.5m. Supplied in a 9cm pot. above, love and the shallow pond container or border. From Mahonia Soft Caress costs that kick-starts a fascinating water late summer to mid-autumn, £19.99 for one plant, or £29.98 world of tadpoles, diving beetles and sprays of bright yellow for two, saving £10. Cornus dragonflies. flowers are followed by deep Midwinter Fire costs £6.99 for A field guide identifies which blue berries; grows to 1m. one, or £13.98 for three, saving species, from birds to amphibians, Supplied in a 13cm pot. £6.99. Readers can save a grace our gardens. Cornus Midwinter Fire is further 15 per cent by entering primarily grown for its code 311213 at the checkout at O The Wildlife Gardener (Kyle Books) autumn and winter colour. rhsplants.co.uk before costs £14.99, but you can buy it for The green leaves of this midnight on 19 December to £12.99, including p&p, by calling 01903 upright, deciduous shrub turn Winter colour: Mahonia Soft Caress, ensure delivery before 828503 and quoting code KB WG/HP. bright orange-yellow in above, and Cornus Midwinter Fire Christmas. Last orders, 18 December. 28 WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Property searching homesandproperty.co.uk with

HE historian Gillian Tindall describes how spotting the words “The fields lie sleep- ing underneath”, inscribed Spotlight on a grimy lintel above the frontT door of a squat in Prince of Wales Road in the early Seventies, provided the impetus for The Fields Beneath, Kentish Town her ground-breaking history of Kentish Town. In the book — first published in 1977 and recently reissued with a new introduction — Tindall describes how the village became established on the Handy for River Fleet, and how it is likely to have got its name, not through any connec- tion with Kent, but from the Anglo- Saxon ken-ditch, meaning the bed the Heath of a waterway. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Tindall writes, Kentish Town became a Grade II-listed: Parliament Hill Lido is open all year round summer retreat for London’s wealthy. She describes how its hayfields were and full of rapidly covered over with housing in the period from 1830 to 1850, and reveals that the arrival of the railway in the 1860s, far from improving the character, area, precipitated its decline, with large homes turned into cheap lodging houses and bedsits. And she writes of Kentish Town’s position today, as a this suburb’s desirable inner-city suburb where the many houses now returned to single- family occupancy sit alongside council- owned period homes and more modern estates. in the swim Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town lies sandwiched between Chalk Farm to the west, Quirky shops, pretty homes and Holloway to the east, Camden Town to the south and Highgate to the north, historic to boot, when people with the 800 acres of Hampstead Heath within walking distance. buy here they want to put down WHAT THERE IS TO BUY roots, discovers Anthea Masey Mixed bag: coffee stall on eclectic Kentish Town Road The main roads have a smattering of Georgian houses and terraces, but the with either family money or good jobs. Up and coming: price per square foot streets are mainly full of early and mid- They tend to be young professionals or varies between £600 and £700. As a Victorian terrace homes. These vary couples commuting to work in the West general rule prices are higher east of in size from large, four- and five-storey End or the City who like the area for its Kentish Town Road, so the best place houses in the Dartmouth Park conser- quiet streets, the inner-city liveliness to look for value is west of this main vation area and roads such as Caver- of its high street, and its proximity to thoroughfare. sham Road, to small, two-bedroom Hampstead Heath. cottages in much-photographed London-based French families come SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS Leverton Street, where the properties to the area for the two private French The busy town centre spreads south- being painted in a wide variety of schools that have opened in the last wards from Kentish Town Tube and colours gave rise to the urban myth that two years. “The Thameslink train train station along Kentish Town Road, they were built for a community of station is the unsung hero of the area,” where there is a mix of mainly inde- Portuguese fishermen. says Nunes. Trains take nine minutes pendent shops — it’s the kind of place Kentish Town was once famous for to Farringdon and 12 minutes to City where a health food supermarket, its piano makers, who left a legacy of Thameslink. Earth Natural Foods, finds itself sharing Victorian warehouses that are now Staying power: once settled in Kentish a street with tanning shop, Tanning finding new uses. Town people rarely have the urge to Temple. Owl bookshop is long-estab- The area attracts: Clive Nunes, of leave, according to Nunes, who says lished, while Phoenicia, which calls Women’s institution: Michael Albert owns Blustons fashion estate agent Winkworth, says Kentish Photographs:: most sales are to locals trading up and itself a food hall, has a café, butcher, shop in Kentish Town Road, run by his family for 82 years Town is now drawing first-time buyers Graham Hussey down the property ladder. bakery and deli specialising in Mediter-

To find a home in Kentish Town, visit: homesandproperty.co.uk/kentishtown

£900,000 £795,000 £650,000 £599,995 A SPLIT-LEVEL apartment in Ryland Road with A THREE-BEDROOM ground-floor flat in York Way THIS two-bedroom garden flat in Lady Margaret A TWO-BEDROOM maisonette set on the top two two bedrooms, two receptions and a south- with stylish open-plan living, an en suite master Road has been completely refurbished and has a floors of a period building in Fortess Road, close facing balcony. Through Anscombe & Ringland. bedroom and two terraces. Through Foxtons. private landscaped garden. Through KFH. to Kentish Town Tube. Through Winkworth. O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/ryland O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/yorkway O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/margaret O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/fortess EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 29 homesandproperty.co.uk with Property searching Homes & Property

CHECK THE STATS

■WHAT HOMES COST: BUYING IN KENTISH TOWN (Average prices) One-bedroom flat £365,000 Two-bedroom flat £566,000 Two-bedroom house £818,000 Three-bedroom house £983,000 Four-bedroom house £1.83 million Source: Zoopla.co.uk

RENTING IN KENTISH TOWN (Average rates) One-bedroom flat £1,404 a month Two-bedroom flat £1,933 a month Two-bedroom house £2,045 a month Three-bedroom house £3,385 a month Recycling: this little bike repair business Four-bedroom house £5,618 a month also sells old ones after a makeover Source: Zoopla.co.uk

photographer Rankin. The Beardsmore GO ONLINE FOR MORE is a modern art gallery on Prince of Wales Road. O The best schools There is a fringe theatre at The Lion O The best streets in Kentish Town and Unicorn gastropub in Gaisford — and the most expensive (not Street with the resident Giant Olive always the same) Community Theatre Company. The O The best shops and restaurants Forum in Highgate Road is a rock music O The latest housing developments venue, but sadly the nearby live indie O The latest on the renting scene music venue, The Bull and Gate, closed O How this area compares with the in May. There are Sunday night poetry rest of the UK on property prices readings at the Torriano Meeting House O Smart maps to plot your property in Torriano Avenue. search Animal lovers head for Kentish Town City Farm in Cressfield Close off Grafton For all this and more, visit Road. Swimmers are well-catered for locally. The glorious Victorian baths in homesand Prince of Wales Road reopened in 2010 property.co.uk/ after a £25 million restoration and there spotlightkentishtown is year-round outdoor swimming at the Parliament Hill Lido and the Women’s ranean food. Doppio — it means a Fridays and Saturdays. There is a twice- What a pretty spot: colourful homes and Men’s Ponds on Hampstead double espresso in Italian — is a new weekly market, one of London’s oldest, reveal residents’ pride in Kelly Street Heath. café and coffee specialist. Harry’s Fine on Thursdays and Saturdays in Queen’s Kentish Town has its own community HAVE YOUR SAY Food is a butcher, fishmonger and deli. Crescent. North of the station, Kentish OPEN SPACE newspaper and website magazine, the Pane Vino is the local Italian bistro and Canteen is an all-day brasserie with Hampstead Heath is convenient for Kentishtowner, currently selling Ich Bin KENTISH TOWN The Bengal Lancer is a well-rated Shebeen, a bar selling poitín, in the Kentish Town, while local parks include Kentishtowner T-shirts and tote bags. Indian restaurant and takeaway. basement. Along Highgate Road there Cantelowes Gardens which has a chil- Travel: Kentish Town and Tufnell Park @BenhamReeves fantastic area to Blustons is a Kentish Town institution, are several oriental carpet shops and dren’s playground, tennis courts and Tube stations are on the Northern line live in: vibrant, organic and great a women’s clothing shop run by the a branch of Soho House’s Pizza East a skatepark. Talacre Gardens has a with trains to the City and West End. transport connections. Why not take a Albert family for three generations. with Chicken Shop in the basement and children’s playground. Kentish Town train station is on Thames- sneak peek @pianoyardNW5 Along Prince of Wales Road, The Dirty Burger, selling cheeseburgers, in link with trains to Farringdon and Black- Grafton pub is getting good reviews for a corrugated-iron shack at the back. LEISURE AND THE ARTS friars. Kentish Town West is on the @HousePresso for food in Kentish it resident kitchen, The Fat Butcher, In Fortess Road close to Tufnell Park Kentish Town has long had an arty Overground with trains to Highbury & Town @harrysfinefoods with a former chef of St John bar and Tube station, Future & Found has an reputation and a number of galleries Islington (connecting to the Victoria @phoenicianw5; QC market and the restaurant in Clerkenwell. The Fields unusual selection of interior accesso- have settled in the area in recent years. line) and Stratford. All stations are in veg stall by the Tube. #nw5 Beneath is a popular modern café, and ries, and Harrington & Squires is a The Zabludowicz Collection is based Zone 2 and an annual travelcard costs under the railway arches in Wilkin letterpress printer. In Dartmouth Park in a former Methodist chapel in Prince £1,216. @HousePresso for top breakfasts Street Mews there’s Camden Town there are local shops along York Rise of Wales Road and also has hub loca- Council: Camden council is Labour- @kentishcanteen & surely world Brewery, a micro brewery with a bar including Truffles Delicatessen and tions in New York and Finland. Annroy controlled and Band D council tax for famous by now @marioscaff for and street food outside on Thursdays, Jackson Bros the butchers. in Grafton Road is the gallery of the the current year is £1,324.48. possibly the best bacon sarnie ever

@The_Abbey_Tav @thegraftonnw5 @southamptonNW5 @TheOxfordNW5 @assemblyNW5 KTown Pub Posse

@Owenmeowenyou Camden Town Brewery, The Oxford, The Lion and Unicorn, The Abbey Tavern, Aces and Eights, Delicious, The Grafton, Mamma Mia.

@SandringhamsUK the Collège Français Bilingue de Londres opening in #kentishtown has led to huge demands for property since Sept 2011 TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE @relolondon best places in Kentish Who returned from Kentish Town Town Road: manicures at Tips to Toes saying: “A calm twilight pervades a (314); Sammy’s hardware (313); and clear sky, the lamp-like moon is hung Natasha’s flowers under the canopy out in heaven, and the bright west retains the dye of sunset.” There is a clue in the picture. Find the NEXT WEEK: Dulwich Village. answer at homesandproperty.co.uk/ Do you live there? Tell us what spotlightkentishtown. you think @HomesProperty A good walk, then a nice pint: Parliament Hill Fields, Hampstead Heath. Right, brewer Ian McRae at the Camden Town Brewery
30 WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Ask the expert homesandproperty.co.uk with Tell fairy godmother how to grant my wish Fiona WHAT’S ON OUR estate agent’s advice we accepted an YOUR offer from cash buyers for our flat. Contracts McNulty PROBLEM? Qwere to be exchanged quickly with completion IF YOU have a a month later. Now our seller has gone into a OUR LAWYER ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS question for nursing home and her daughter is hounding us, saying Fiona McNulty, the house must be sold urgently to cover the fees. But please email one of the couple buying our flat suddenly says she I AM saving to buy a flat legalsolutions@ must sell her own flat first to raise the cash. I feel we and my godmother has standard.co.uk have been misled from the start. What can we do? Q said she will let me have a or write to Legal deposit of 10 per cent of Solutions, Homes YOUR agent should have checked at the outset the price of whatever I want to & Property, your buyers’ ability to proceed by asking for proof buy. It’s a fantastic opportunity London Evening A of funding such as bank statements or a letter and I would like to take her up on Standard, 2 Derry from the bank showing sufficient funds to enable it, but I want to make sure that it’s Street, W8 5EE. them to proceed. If your agent knew they had a flat to sell all done properly — any advice? We regret that first, then he or she should have established how far that questions cannot sale had progressed, if at all, and whether they could YOU need to establish if your be answered proceed without the flat selling. godmother intends to make a individually but Instruct your lawyer to obtain confirmation from your A gift of the money to you or we will try to buyers’ lawyer of their clients’ current situation. Can they whether it is to be a loan, or if feature them proceed? If not, why not? Have their circumstances she is expecting to have a share in the here. Fiona changed? What is the true situation regarding the sale of flat in return for the 10 per cent. McNulty is a their flat? If the replies received are unsatisfactory, then Whatever the case, you need to partner in the give the buyers an ultimatum — for example, if there is no disclose the arrangement to your certifying her identity. If the deposit Another way to safeguard the deposit residential exchange within seven days, the property will be mortgage lender. is to be a loan, your godmother may is for there to be a declaration of trust property, farms remarketed or the contract withdrawn. Really this is all Tell the lawyer who conducts the wish to take a second charge over between you and your godmother. and estates team you can do, as you cannot require your buyers to proceed purchase for you that your god- your new flat. Discuss this with your This would protect her 10 per cent at Withy King LLP if they are not financially in a position to do so. mother is providing the deposit. It lawyer as many mortgage lenders share in your property and would (withyking.co.uk). Question your agent about the advice they gave you at would be easiest if she puts the would not find that acceptable. need to cover such matters as the outset but they will probably say that the buyers’ money in your account and you then If she makes it an outright gift, with whether interest is to be payable on situation changed. transfer it to your lawyer’s client no interest in the property, then the loan, when it is to be repaid, account. If she pays the money make sure she signs a deed of gift. whether it is a fixed sum she will get More legal O These answers can only be a very brief commentary on directly to the lawyer, he or she will This official legal document may be back or a share in your property, etc. Q&As the issues raised and should not be relied on as legal advice. be required to follow anti-money used for transferring money or other Take advice from your lawyer Visit: homesand No liability is accepted for such reliance. If you have similar property.co.uk laundering rules, which will involve property, without payment in return. regarding setting this up. issues, you should obtain advice from a solicitor. 32 WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Inside story homesandproperty.co.uk with A fixture in the bathroom puts off my renters

MONDAY penchant of Americans. We turn up at Being based in Knightsbridge means a property in Chelsea — a quintessen- that about 70 per cent of our applicants tially British, Georgian townhouse. The are international, predominantly from Diary of owners have friends staying, but we France, the United States, Russia and believe it has been arranged that the the United Arab Emirates. a lettings visitors will go out to allow us to show Many clients from overseas are per- the house. fectly happy to sign a tenancy contract agent The viewing is going well with lots of before seeing a property. I have just “Oooh” and “Aah” and “Isn’t this won- agreed the let of a beautiful maisonette derful?” until I open the door to the in Chelsea to a Frenchman who hasn’t options in Belgravia and Knightsbridge, upstairs bathroom to find one of the yet viewed the place. However, this and I am not giving up. She is back in owners’ guests sitting on the loo, and morning a friend offers to view it on the country next week. funniest of all, they don’t seem his behalf. It isn’t my finest moment Today is turning out to be frustrating. remotely surprised! — I forget my umbrella and turn up We have a great three-bedroom lateral My couple have already offered on looking like a drowned rat to meet an flat, on the market for some time now, the previous house they viewed, so all immaculately groomed dead ringer for for which I received an offer last week. is not lost. Aussie actor Chris Hemsworth. The landlord was proving difficult to Needless to say, he loves the property get hold of but the offer was finally FRIDAY and gives great feedback to the new accepted last night. I don’t think I actually spend more than tenant. A holding deposit is taken and I therefore call the applicants today 20 minutes in the office all day today. the client is set to move in next week. to let them know the great news, but I love it when I’m so busy. I find it even Done deal. because the landlord took so long to better when I meet interesting people get back to us, they have gone off and and this is one of those days. TUESDAY made an offer on another place. These I end up showing about 10 flats to a The richer the client, the bigger the things happen and after five years as very well-known singer. Of course I diva, it seems. Despite my softly-softly an agent you learn nothing is a dead all the way up to £25,000-a-week pent- linen to give a plain room some char- have to be very professional through- approach on the phone to a Russian cert until the keys are in the door. The houses. I feel that, however messy a acter, and recommending where to get out and he has even brought eight of lady who viewed a property on Satur- flat is still in the applicants’ top two and current tenant is, there is always poten- lovely candles to eliminate the smell of his entourage along with him. We have day, I’m told the flat she saw was they say they will let me know their tial to make a property beautiful. new paint (diptyque is a must). second viewings booked in for next “revolting” and she absolutely does not decision asap. Fingers crossed. My “inner Kelly Hoppen” comes out, week and I now have tickets to his want to take it. This flat is actually gor- and I make a point of showing potential THURSDAY concert. A great result. geous, my dream home with ceilings WEDNESDAY applicants what can be done, and I’m taking out a lovely couple this five times my height and a bathroom It’s an occupational hazard that I fre- how the place could look when they morning who specifically want some- with an incredible rain shower. Oh quently find myself wanting to move move in — for example, rearranging the where very traditional and British. O Anna Kahan is a senior negotiator well, you can’t please them all. She is into a lot of the properties I see. Our furniture to maximise space, suggest- (Imagine lots of chintz and florals, very at Carter Jonas in Knightsbridge and immediately sent another list of stuff ranges from £300-a-week studios ing a trip to Designers Guild to get bed Laura Ashley). This is a particular Chelsea (020 7590 4697).

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103 The Broadway, Thorpe Bay, Essex, SS1 3HQ T: 01702 311042 E: [email protected] W: www.dedmangray.co.uk   
    

Immaculately presented 3 bedroom property in Eresos Village, on the Island of Lesvos, Greece. A 2 up 2 down main house, upstairs balcony, private courtyard with awning, a traditional Greek oven, tool shed & out building (guest bedroom & separate shower room/ hand basin & W.C.) Solar panel. Commercial Property Ground floor: large kitchen/lounge, dining room, large modern bathroom. OFFICES Air-con in: main bedroom, kitchen/lounge MAYFAIR FOR SALE BY and guest room. AUCTION 2 min walk from the village square, 12th December 2013 shops and local amenities. Only 4km Garages 4 & 5 Hallam Court, from Eresos Beach, traditional Bars & 999 Bridford Mews W1 (2 Vacant Garages - Restaurants along the beautiful waterfront. sq ft Reserve Below £100,000) 5 rooms s/c BARNETT ROSS ONLY: £140,000 £38,000 pax Tel: 020 8492 9449 Email owner directly at: [email protected] 020 79304981 www.barnettross.co.uk 34 WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property New homes homesandproperty.co.uk with New-build apartments in an electrifying destination SmarSmaSmarar The word from the street David Spittles

From £260,000: BRIXTON was a fashionable place to for new-build live and shop a century ago, with one-bedroom department stores attracting people flats in Acre from across south London. The riots Lane, Brixton of the Eighties turned it into a no-go residential zone for many but a renaissance is under way, cemented by a new generation of young and more affluent buyers adding to the cosmopolitan mix. One of the new attractions is Brixton Village — a lively arcade-style THE marketing suite on the jetty, pedestrian boulevard leading to the Priced from market on Electric Avenue winning complete with its grass roof, is one river, expansive landscaped £1.12 million: plaudits for its diverse range of high- All you good reason to visit Fulham communal gardens, children’s play two-bedroom quality food outlets. Riverside, a 463-home estate being areas, outdoor ping pong tables and flats with The lure of the period home is built on the north bank of the a croquet lawn. Thames views at strong but new build has come to the Thames, on one of the few remaining There are some shared-ownership Fulham Riverside area. Genesis housing association has need, by undeveloped riverside stretches in homes. Once all the properties are launched a scheme in Acre Lane. central London. sold, the marketing centre will be One-bedroom flats are priced from The eight-acre project is a handed to a local environmental £260,000, with shared ownership refreshing example of imaginative charity, providing a safe access point available. Call 0808 118 3131. the river urban planning, providing a wide to the Thames for boating and EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2013 35 homesandproperty.co.uk with New homes Homes & Property Eyes right for impressive heritage homes

FEW properties set the heart racing officers’ mess and cadets’ quarters, as much as prized heritage while new buildings are named after conversions, and the latest release of distinguished alumni such as homes at Royal Military Academy, Churchill and Kitchener. right, on the leafy slopes of Shooters The Parade looks over the old Hill in south-east London are “the parade square — where young cadets flagship homes our customers have would have practised their drill — and been waiting for”, according to a surviving cricket pitch, one of the Danny Durkan, chairman of oldest in London. developer Durkan Estates. The restored cloisters have been Built in the late 18th century in converted into houses and flats of grand baronial style, the 21-acre grand proportions and come with complex was once a training school courtyard gardens. for elite officers and has been New-build mews properties are for redeveloped into an estate of 328 sale, too. Prices from £375,000. Call homes, some carved from the former 020 3689 7823.

A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY AT SOVEREIGN COURT

HAMMERSMITH is a convenient place improvements is bringing swish new mixed-use scheme with 196 homes, to live if Heathrow and the West End homes and better public spaces. this time by developer Grainger. are on your routine agenda. Even the listed town hall is having its Ashlar Court, bordering handsome This area of travel Zone 2 is about as former ceremonial steps reinstated to Ravenscourt Park, is a redevelopment close-in as you can get in west London, connect with a new town square and of a listed Art Deco hospital educational activities. The façade of with relatively affordable flats and Curzon cinema. accommodation block into 68 homes, former Kops Brewery is being family houses, and a lively arts scene In King Street — Hammersmith’s high including a pair of detached houses. retained, while old Fulham Wharf is — led by the Lyric, Apollo and Riverside street — a car park site is making way A rooftop extension maintains the to become an ecological reserve. Studios — that gives Theatreland a run for Sovereign Court, left, a new red-brick building’s fine symmetry, A new Sainsbury’s superstore is for its money. scheme with 418 homes plus offices, while an underground car park and a also part of the scheme, together While locals lobby for a tunnel to shops and restaurants. formal garden are being created with restaurants, cafés, bars, a replace the ugly and polluting flyover It’s just 150 metres from the Tube behind the lodge-style concierge crèche and a gym. Two-bedroom that splits the area in two, station and prices start at £499,950. entrance. apartments with river views are Hammersmith’s tired town centre is Call St George on 0800 008 6977 for Prices from £750,000. Call Savills on priced from £1,121,000. Call Barratt getting a facelift. A package of details. Also coming soon is another 020 8987 5572. on 0844 811 4334.