House prices fall 0.5 per cent March 6, 2012 British house prices dipped 0.5 per cent in February, largely offsetting January’s 0.6 per cent rise, data from mortgage lender Halifax showed. House prices fell 1.9 per cent in the three months to February compared with a year ago, taking the average price of a home to £160,118. Lower inflation in the coming months should [...]
The rise of gourmet cinema March 5, 2012 WE settled into our indecently capacious seats, placed our drinks on the sidetables and leaned back, sighing with satisfaction. This was certainly the First Class cabin of cinemas: leg room enough for a couple of giants; an array of buttons for seat adjustment and waiter-summoning and, of course, a substantial food menu masterminded by one [...]
Something more than Sauvignon March 5, 2012 HEAD SOMMELIER AND MANAGER OF LUTYENS RESTAURANT WITh spring on the way, my thoughts have turned to warm weather wines. But I wish people would think outside the Sauvignon Blanc box. If you like SB, shake it up a bit with these grapes: Albariño: When I started my career in London in the late 90s [...]
WHERE TO WINE AND DINE WHILE YOU WATCH March 5, 2012 THE AUBIN CINEMA The Shoreditch House cinema is open to the public: it’s a 45-seat theatre with velvet chairs and a tasty snack bar. The one odd thing about it is that it’s within an Aubin and Wills “concept store” – A&W is the more grown-up arm of Jack Wills. £10 (regular seat); £24 (deluxe [...]
Out with the old skin and in with the new for spring March 5, 2012 KATE SOMERVILLE: EXFOLIKATE INTENSIVE EXFOLIATING TREATMENT £80, uk.spacenk.com Celebrity facialist Somerville has created the ultimate skin polish and deep-clean. Expect to glow. RODIN: OLIO LUSSO LUXURY BODY OIL £68, liberty.co.uk City PM’s top treat for the body, this warm, golden oil smells of health and will soften your winter-hardened skin right up. OMOROVICZA: GOLD SUGAR SCRUB [...]
Trick your body into dropping a dress size March 5, 2012 FITNESS & DIET EXPERT IF you’re having trouble shedding those winter pounds, try these tips for getting the ball (and the fat) rolling. Get scribbling Carry a notebook with you for a week and write down every morsel that passes your lips – studies show that you wind up eating 15 per cent less if [...]
Episode 48: Noel’s birthday party plans March 5, 2012 Noel lies in bed, staring up at the constellations of stars glowing in the dark on the ceiling above him. Recent bedtime stories have whizzed us through child-friendly, abridged nineteenth century classics: Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde, Dracula and most recently, Treasure Island, as much for my ill-read benefit as for Noel’s. And tonight, we’ve just [...]
Optimism in the air for property show March 4, 2012 AROUND 19,000 delegates are expected to attend MIPIM, the world’s largest property conference, which begins in Cannes today – a rise of 1,000 compared to the year before. More than 90 countries are attending the four-day extravaganza to discuss investment opportunities and showcase property from Canada to Manchester and Birmingham. Event organiser [...]
The ultimate no-fuss, late-season ski resort March 4, 2012 WE are having dinner in the swankiest restaurant in Les Deux Alpes when a strange story comes through on the iPhone. A high-flying Tory MP has been pictured at an outrageous Nazi-themed stag do in nearby ski resort Val Thorens (he is eventually forced to resign as an adviser to David Cameron). Though just a [...]
Luxury by the racetrack at Ellenborough Park March 4, 2012 IT’S hard to know which view to admire more: the grand sweep of Ellenborough Park’s main house, which began life as an sixteenth-century manor, or the view from that house of Cheltenham racecourse. The rails are so close that a decent pair of binoculars could almost save you buying a ticket to the club enclosure. [...]
