Buy on the island of dreams

Country & Town House | 23 Apr 2018

Imagine a palm-fringed beachfront retreat. An 8,500 sq/ft tropical villa built in 2005. One boasting a massage temple – with sides open to the jungle foliage – and a colonnaded walkway. An outside sitting room with a chandelier and a 49ft dining room overlooking monkeys swinging in the Khomba tree and the courtyard swimming pool. Add to this six colonial bedrooms with soaring ceilings and inside/outside bathrooms open to the fireflies that sparkle in the inky sky.

• Travel: Asia/ Oceania

Hotfoot it for half term: The Spyglass

Country & Town House | 23 Oct 2017

It would be hard to get closer to the sea without being on a boat. Spyglass is a bijou erstwhile fisherman’s cottage which was once part of a fort – all whitewashed outside and shabby chic maritime inside. It’s reached along the tiniest pedestrian-nly lane, by iPhone torch if you’re late (which the kids will love).

• Travel: Europe/ Africa

The Weekender: 48 Hours in Florence

Country & Town House | 24 Jul 2017

Florence, cradle of the Italian Renaissance and the place where Leonardo and Michelangelo worked, packs more beauty per millimetre than any other city. There’s something gasp-worthy wherever you go, from architecture to 15th-century frescoes, bas-reliefs and al fresco statues. Plus there are cobbled streets with botteghe (artisanal workshops), piazzas for relaxing with a cappuccino or a glass of Brunello di Montalcino, trattorias for ribollita (traditional bread soup) and (thankfully, given the crowds) a pedestrianised central zone. And then there’s all that Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana that just has to be bought.

• Travel: Europe/ Africa

The Weekender: 48 Hours in Amsterdam

Country & Town House | 24 May 2017

Amsterdam may conjure visions of wayward stag parties, slow living and windmill peripheries but the city is fast becoming the creative hub of Europe, a marked return to its golden age of merchant prosperity and artistic flair…

The reopening of the Stedelijk, Van Gogh and infamous Rijksmuseum after years of renovations are testament to this, as are a host of new design-led hotels, restaurants and bars.

• Travel: Europe/ Africa

Exclusively Ethiopia

Country & Town House | 24 Mar 2017

High-end luxury has yet to make a big inroad in Ethiopia. Outside of Addis Ababa, you may get patchy Wi-Fi (the government tends to switch the internet off from time to time), bumpy rides and restaurants where many of the choices on the menu are unavailable. But don’t let this deter you. This is perhaps the most intriguing country in Africa. A place of scale, biblical beauty, canyons and chasms. Of historical treasures aplenty. And, above all, of a colourful, gracious and welcoming people. So here are some of the fabulous options for a trip there, many of which are hidden secrets that you won’t find with an internet search, because they don’t have a website.

• Travel: Europe/ Africa

Spa Guide 2017: Cugó Gran, The Gut Makeover Retreat, Menorca

Country & Town House | 24 Feb 2017

No calorie counting, no low fat, no deprivation. Just excellent, abundant gourmet meals. Who knew that losing weight was so much fun? Or who realised that the gut is the control centre of good health? That there are the on-going clinical trials that have used a gut-friendly diet to reverse early onset Alzheimer’s, improve diabetes and treat depression? And that you can sort out digestive issues and improve sleep and skin conditions with food? Welcome to The Gut Makeover Retreat in Menorca. The brainchild of Jeannette Hyde, an erstwhile journalist turned nutritionist. And author of The Gut Makeover – a four-week programme to revolutionise your health. She’s evangelical about the gut – having burnt out ten years ago and, finally, healed herself with ‘real’ food. 

• Travel: Europe/ Africa

House Party

Country & Town House | 24 Apr 2016

This is a cool, modern house in which to bring together all generations of your family for a weekend shindig. Party central is near Stawley, Somerset. It’s a converted 16th-century dairy farm-turned-cider press that is now glossy-interiors-mag-feature-meets-heaven. There’s a 25-metre living/dining/playing space, another barn-turned-games room with a roaring fire in a monumental contemporary fireplace, acres of bleached wood floors and under-floor heating.

• Travel: Europe/ Africa

6 of the best flower arranging classes in London

Country & Town House | 24 Dec 2015

Looking for the best flower arranging classes in London? Caroline Phillips selects the pick of the bunch from London’s top floristry schools.

• Homes, Interiors & Property

The last days of summer in Sicily

Country & Town House | 24 Sep 2015

Tell people that you’re going to holiday in Sicily and you can see, on their faces, their imaginations conjuring up pictures of rolling hills, cypresses, red clay roof tiles baking in the sun, plump tomatoes bursting with flavour, cornfields, sheep and exotic, if benign, undercurrents of Godfather-related history. How satisfying, then, to realize that our family trip to SoloSicily‘s Fattoria Corleonese (near that Corleone, but more of that later) was to deliver on all of the above and more.

• Travel: Europe/ Africa

These are the best therapists for keeping your brain beautiful

Country & Town House | 24 Aug 2015

Beauty starts from within – our round-up of experts is a good place to start on the road to wellbeing

• Health, Beauty & Spa

Monaci delle Terre Nere: an Italian hideaway from heaven

Country & Town House | 24 Aug 2015

‘I always dreamt of making an earthly paradise,’ reveals erstwhile engineer Guido Coffa. Mission accomplished. Working with his girlfriend Ada Calabrese – a passionate amateur interior decorator and an architect, Guido has created Monaci delle Terre Nere, the sort of boutique hotel that makes heaven look second rate. The property sits in 40 acres of organic farmland in the fertile foothills of Mount Etna, the volcano coughing angrily behind, the Mediterranean Sea beckoning serenely in front. The dusky-pink villa dates from 1800 – a noble family’s private home turned winery, then farm – and there are 19 bedrooms/suites, some in outbuildings on the estate. The refurbishment took five years and the result is the epitome of rural chic – where stylish-rustic meets cool-contemporary. ‘Having fallen in love with it instantly,’ he remembers. ‘I decided to devote my life and every drop of my energy to its resurrection.’

• Travel: Europe/ Africa

The best of head-to-toe preening in London

Country & Town House | 24 Aug 2015

Did somebody say ‘time for a makeover’? We round up some of London’s best beautifiers

• Health, Beauty & Spa