Country Life Magazine – February 27, 2024: The latest issue features ‘Britain’s Top Dogs’ – Our favorites, decade by decade…
Previews: Country Life Magazine – Feb 28, 2024
Category Archives: Homes
Previews: Country Life Magazine – Feb 21, 2024
Country Life Magazine – February 21, 2024: The ‘The Fine Arts Issue’ – Artists who say it with flowers and the AI debate; Wig law, daffodils and how does your hedgerow grow?….
Artificial art
With the technology powering artificial intelligence advancing so rapidly, what can artists do to protect their original work?
Blooming marvellous
Michael Prodger examines how flowers have inspired artists for centuries, from the ancient Egyptians up to the present day
On a wig and a prayer
The periwigs that were a 17th-century status symbol are still a mainstay of our legal system, as Agnes Stamp discovers
Hedge of eternity
They have long been used to contain cattle or define boundaries, but hedges can be beautiful, too, argues Charles Quest-Ritson
Trumpet majors
Alan Titchmarsh takes a wander with Wordsworth as he dreams of spring daffodils ‘fluttering and dancing in the breeze’
Norman Foster’s favourite painting
The architect falls under the spell of a gritty, but humorous work
All in a day’s work
Jamie Blackett is ready to man the barricades to scupper plans for an unwanted national park
Brothers in art
John Goodall applauds the restoration of Leighton House in London, which formed the hub of a 19th-century celebrity circle
Man of the world
Mary Miers follows the globe-trotting Sir John Lavery from Ireland to Africa and beyond
Follow your art
An inspiring oil painting was at the centre of a heist with a happy ending, reveals Carla Passino
Where be dragons?
A protective force in China and Wales, but a symbol of greed and evil in England: Lucien de Guise delves into dragon lore
The good stuff
Hetty Lintell celebrates the best of the Art Deco era with earrings old and new, but always modern
Is this London’s most exquisite hotel room?
The astonishing King’s Lodge suite at The Connaught is fit for a monarch, finds Rosie Paterson
Interiors
Amelia Thorpe shares the very best of London Design Week
A seed of an idea
Tilly Ware meets the wild-seed pioneer ‘nurturing the future’
A tower of thorns
Ben Lerwill finds the salt of the earth on the coast of Scotland
Kitchen garden cook
Melanie Johnson on rhubarb
Love and marriage
A real-life couple are in harmony on stage, finds Michael Billington
Home Tours: Mygunya By The Circus In Australia
Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the Innovative Home 00:55 – The Original Integrated Brief and the Inspiration 01:44 – Behind the Brick Selection 02:34 – A Focus on the Landscaping 02:58 – The Material Palette and Key Features 04:07 – The Layout of the Home 05:19 – A Great Collaboration
The built connections bring in a wealth of natural light while also playing off the textures of the external materials, which are also used inside the house to add extra detail and idiosyncrasy that makes the family house what it is. Situated just across the road from Edinburgh Gardens, Mygunya by The Circus is in a heritage area that features a lot of Victorian and Edwardian buildings. After being approached by the clients, who had just bought the house, the team was given a brief that requested a contemporary home for a large family.
In answer to this, they increased the bedroom sizes and opened the architecture of the home to better integrate the interior spaces with the garden. In the conceptualization of the residence, Matt Gibson Architecture + Design revised three distinct pavilions that would come together as one innovative structure. The first pavilion is the original heritage Victorian-era home, while the second is the new contemporary building in cream brick by Brickworks and the third pavilion – to the west side – holds a north-facing family room and a series of individual gardens.
Architecture: Cliffside House In New South Wales
Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to An Interior Designers Own Home 00:41 – A Magical Site 01:35 – The Evolution of the Style and Mood 02:13 – Robust Materials and Textures 03:53 – Blending the Old and New 04:33 – A New Passion for Gardening 04:52 – Favourite Aspects
Nestled amid boulders, Cliffside emerges as a dream home that caters to every need. Located an hour south of Sydney within the Royal National Park, the home boasts a layout that closely aligns with the owners’ preferences, yet it lacked a personalised touch to truly make it their own. To address this during the design process, Thomas Hamel of Thomas Hamel & Associates – who is also the client – focused on fulfilling his and his partner’s needs and desires for a residence that would serve as their forever home.
As seen in the house tour of an interior designers own home, the style and mood of the interior have evolved organically, shaped by the owners’ cherished collections of treasures and souvenirs. Drawing inspiration from the boulders and the coastal location of the beach house, Thomas Hamel & Associates curated a palette for the interior of Cliffside that harmonised with its environment. This led to the incorporation of cohesive materials throughout the home, such as custom-designed wallpaper from Los Angeles, imparting a natural plaster texture. Complementing this, the furnishings exhibit a similar sense of harmony, featuring rough-hewn timbers reminiscent of forest elements turned into sculptural pieces.
Previews: Country Life Magazine – Feb 14, 2024
Country Life Magazine – February 13, 2024: The latest ‘How Do I Love Thee?’ – Let me count the ways; Rough collies, red roses and royal caviar; Glass acts – the coolest conservatories; Head start – why real gentlemen wear hats….
The romance of the rose
With its velvety, softly scented depths, the red rose has long beguiled lovers. Charles Quest-Ritson falls under its spell
Thoroughly good eggs
Tom Parker Bowles savours the unctuous delights of caviar from the mother-daughter team at King’s Fine Foods, ethically farmed and utterly delicious
Taking the rough with the smooth
Famed for their loyalty, rough collies are happy finding hidden sheep, bounding up Munros or simply curling up with children. Katy Birchall meets Lassie
In the hat of the moment
Time was when every gentleman of every background wore a hat. It’s time to fall back in love with bowler, beret and bonnet, recommends John F. Mueller
Interiors
Amelia Thorpe admires the most stylish conservatories
Sir Karl Jenkins’s favourite painting
The composer chooses an ethereal Italian scene that literally reflects his own music
Behind the scenes at the cathedral
Fiona Reynolds explores the environs of St Albans in Hertfordshire, from the longest nave in Europe to the River Ver
A Georgian reinvention
With imagination and style, late-18th-century Marlwood Grange in Gloucestershire has been transformed into a family home fit for the 21st century, discovers Jeremy Musson
The good stuff
Hetty Lintell gets a handle on the most colourful handbags
Music to our ears
As the famous opera house at Glyndebourne, East Sussex, turns 90, the gardens are more glorious than ever. Tiffany Daneff admires a symphony of planting
More pudding, pease
Tom Parker Bowles tucks into the succulent, comforting suet pudding, an old favourite that deserves to return to our plates
More than a pretty face
Admired for his portrayal of dewy eyes and diaphanous fabrics, John Singer Sargent rose to the top of the portrait-painting world. Mary Miers follows his career from peripatetic childhood to Society favourite
Architecture: A Cliffside Home Tour In Sydney
00:00 – Introduction to the Cliffside Home 00:55 – An Exciting and Historical Brief 02:13 – The Layout and Walkthrough of the Home 04:28 – Key Materials and Special Aspects 05:21 – Incorporating the Rich Natural World 06:53 – Favourite Aspects
Inside a cliffside home, Renato D’Ettorre Architects creates a minimalist beach house with a strong sensorial and emotional experience through materials and spatial composition. The initial brief focused on bringing this bay inside the architecture of the home and creating an open family home with almost no walls, so you could glimpse the water and cliff faces at every turn. “It is the outside that we wanted to create the magic, not what we’re doing inside – the inside is a frame almost, to frame the view,” says Renato D’Ettorre, lead architect for GB House.
“The entry sequence is one of my favourite parts of the house,” says Renato. The path is deliberately placed to the south to make the entry elongated so that one is encouraged to slow down. “It is a sensorial experience – you can see the end of the pathway, the horizon, but before you get there, you have to navigate this pathway where you have a watercourse and perforated red terracotta breeze blocks on either side of you, before arriving at the front door,” says Renato. The perforations brighten inside a cliffside home with patterns of light, moderate the summer sunlight and enable airflow. In this way, lighting works in harmony alongside the materiality of the dream home.
Previews: Country Life Magazine- February 7, 2024
Country Life Magazine – February 6, 2024: The latest features The Travel Issue – View the world from the very best hotels; The map-makers who broadened our horizons; Out of the ashes – Chillingham Castle rescued and Waxwing explosions and snowdrop heaven….
Travel
- Richard MacKichan rides with the eagle hunters of Mongolia
- Jo Rodgers asks what makes a good hotel great as we introduce Country Life’s inaugural list of the world’s top establishments
- All the latest travel news and new openings with Rosie Paterson
- Nigel Tisdall tails the elusive jaguar in Belize
- Catherine Fairweather is on the strait and narrow in Istanbul
- Richard MacKichan puts the fun back into flying
- Pamela Goodman swims with pigs in the Caribbean
A castle of curiosities
The history of Chillingham Castle in Northumberland is a turbulent and memorable one, peppered with family disputes, imprisonments and a live toad. John Goodall explores
Windows on the world
The urge to chart our surroundings is centuries old. With map in hand, Matthew Dennison ventures forth in search of mammoth tusks and globes
Irruption of the waxwings
Mark Cocker marvels at the exquisite plumage of this European songbird as it flocks to our shores to feed on a glut of its favoured winter berries
Get down on your knees
James Alexander-Sinclair joins the wandering throng as snow-drop lovers descend on Thenford in Northamptonshire to luxuriate in 900 varieties of Galanthus
Joanna Jensen’s favourite painting
The founder of Childs Farm chooses a rural scene to sum up ‘a picture of my England’
Groundhog day
The shortest month can also feel like the longest, delaying the arrival of spring, but what can February tell us about the year ahead? Lia Leendertz reveals all
Thunderous waterfalls and torrents hoarse
From the most dramatic plumes to the calmest cascades, we seek out the corners of the kingdom where water and gravity collide to magical effect
The good stuff
Hetty Lintell says green for go with a selection of stylish and useful khaki travel accessories
Interiors
Sally Stephenson on the secrets of illuminating period houses and Amelia Thorpe’s lighting picks
London Life
- Russell Higham on piazza plans for the Docklands
- Carla Passino meets the man who shaped Mayfair
- Martin Fone reveals the saga of ‘London’s Eiffel Tower’
Kitchen garden cook
Melanie Johnson harnesses the delicious flavours of rosemary
Architecture Tour: ‘OG House’ In Halifax, Canada
Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the Architects Own Home 00:55 – The Family Centred Brief 01:58 – The Layout and Walkthrough of the Home 03:42 – A Focus on the Light and Sculpted Areas 04:28 – The Neutral Material Palette 04:59 – Customised Furniture Pieces 05:57 – Proud Moments and Favourite Aspects
As the project’s architect, Omar, says, the brief for this home was to create a house for his family as well as a new studio space for his budding practice. As it happens, his architecture studio grew rapidly over the course of the build, and as such, the ground floor studio space is now an extension of his original waterfront studio and a place to work on community projects with his team. This project illustrates a seamless understanding of how domestic and non-domestic principles can coexist within an architects own home.
The footprint of this house was heavily defined by the site and its setbacks from abutting properties and to the street. Cleverly, Omar has used these parameters to gently guide the architecture and ensuing build. In the house tour of an architects own home, Omar highlights the site’s various constraints, which have been reinterpreted as opportunities in designing a compelling piece of architecture. As Omar says, “the volume was resolved from the outset, so it became a process of articulation and sculpting, and in some cases, sacrificing overall square footage for moments of joy, delight and surprise.”
Previews: Country Life Magazine-January 31, 2024
Country Life Magazine – January 30, 2024: The latest issue features How British Rivers Got Their Name; Where to find a really wild man; Miniature collecting and more…
‘Still glides the Stream, and shall for ever glide’
From the Piddle and the Polly to the Yox and the Yeo, the meanings behind the namesof Britain’s rivers run deep, as Vicky Liddell discovers
Call of the wild
The protective, stick-wielding Wild Man that strides through much medieval art has taken on fresh meaning in recent times, reveals Susan Owens
Chainsaw gardening
Taking a blade to our gardens may seem drastic, but a severe pruning sometimes leaves plants and trees in better health, suggests Charles Quest-Ritson
There is wonder in the little things
Huon Mallalieu puts miniatures under the microscope and finds a world of small marvels celebrating power, loyalty and love
Allan Mallinson’s favourite painting
The military historian chooses a moving First World War scene
Murder most pitiful
John Goodall investigates the dramatic events that shaped the history of 18th-century Gilmerton House in Lothian
The devil makes work for idle hands
As dedicated craftspeople fashion a revival in the art of needlepoint, Matthew Dennison can see a pattern emerging
‘Full of a watchful intentness’
John Lewis-Stempel embraces the ‘faerie enchantment’ of the heath as he visits the inspiration for a classic Thomas Hardy novel
Interiors
Matthew Dennison celebrates the Soane chimneypiece that is still hot property after 200 years and Amelia Thorpe’s selections keep the home fires burning
Lord of the rings
Ben Lerwill meets Simon Turner, an arboreal artist who creates wonderful ceramics using the contours and curves of trees
Luxury
Hetty Lintell on high fashion in the Highlands, switching off the stress and astonishing rubies, plus some of McFly drummer Harry Judd’s favourite things
Kitchen garden cook
Melanie Johnson knows her onions, giving an understated kitchen staple a starring role
Ireland’s call
The well-oiled Ireland winning machine can repel France’s strength in depth to retain rugby’s Six Nations Championship, argues Owain Jones
And much more
San Francisco Design: A Tour Of Redwood House
Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the Art-Filled Oasis 00:46 – The History of the Home 01:43 – A Unique Layout 03:36 – The Textured Material Palette 04:25 – Favourite Moments 05:06 – The Sustainability Practices
“When I first walked into the space several years ago, I was completely enamoured with the scale, geometry and volume of it,” says architect Brett Terpeluk in this house tour. “There was something so peaceful, calming and embracing about the space that I felt immediately connected to the architecture.” Retaining this essence was essential to Brett and the clients, and, as such, the scope focused on “leaning up” the decor and interior design, enhancing the existing volumes and increasing the square footage, as documented in this house tour. As the architect says, the home’s unusual footprint and layout provided intriguing foundations from which to work.
“This house is very unique in that instead of having a monolithic house with a street presence and large backyard, it’s broken down into a series of courtyards and volumes.” This stacked approach to architecture results in a combination of moments enlivened by views of the cityscape and landscaping at the house’s edges. As well as sightlines, texture plays an important role in animating the architecture and interior design, which was an intentional move from the architect. The redwood remains a prominent feature and the staircase, which is profiled in the house tour, is one of Brett’s favourite moments for the “haptic feedback” it provides upon touching the handrail. The clients’ love of colour can be seen in the furniture and art, as well as in the tones throughout, notably the kitchen cabinetry.
sertions but also to original architect Albert Lanier’s design.
Boomers Daily 