Box of delights: the chocolate maker’s home that's a rich assortment of tastes

Humorous touches and an eclectic art collection sit alongside immaculately preserved features in this handsome Regency townhouse in Bath

I have done remarkably little to this house,” says Bill Keeling, who moved from the “claustrophobia” of London to a quiet leafy street in Bath five years ago. “I find the city architecturally beautiful,” he says. The former foreign correspondent bought the Georgian townhouse from two elderly authors and has barely touched the interior since. Ripping the guts out of a house to create a temporary experience is, he thinks, the ultimate in vanity. “It’s vulgar to put in the latest form of down-lighting so it looks like an airport lounge.” The original cornicing and mouldings remain and most rooms retain fireplaces and antique grates, wooden shutters and sash windows. Polished wooden floors are adorned with handsome rugs.

“Georgian Regency is a period I love,” says Keeling, co-owner with his brother of Prestat chocolates, which are made in a west London factory. “It is a transformative part of history – the industrial revolution, the coming of the railways, the death and removal of high society. My style is eclectic,” he continues, leading me into the bright drawing room, with floor-to-ceiling sash windows and painted in classic Little Greene Tivoli Blue.

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from Home And Garden | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2PijVJV
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Box of delights: the chocolate maker’s home that's a rich assortment of tastes

Humorous touches and an eclectic art collection sit alongside immaculately preserved features in this handsome Regency townhouse in Bath

I have done remarkably little to this house,” says Bill Keeling, who moved from the “claustrophobia” of London to a quiet leafy street in Bath five years ago. “I find the city architecturally beautiful,” he says. The former foreign correspondent bought the Georgian townhouse from two elderly authors and has barely touched the interior since. Ripping the guts out of a house to create a temporary experience is, he thinks, the ultimate in vanity. “It’s vulgar to put in the latest form of down-lighting so it looks like an airport lounge.” The original cornicing and mouldings remain and most rooms retain fireplaces and antique grates, wooden shutters and sash windows. Polished wooden floors are adorned with handsome rugs.

“Georgian Regency is a period I love,” says Keeling, co-owner with his brother of Prestat chocolates, which are made in a west London factory. “It is a transformative part of history – the industrial revolution, the coming of the railways, the death and removal of high society. My style is eclectic,” he continues, leading me into the bright drawing room, with floor-to-ceiling sash windows and painted in classic Little Greene Tivoli Blue.

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from Property | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2PijVJV
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Gardening tips: plant striking heucheras

Then welcome swifts with a nifty nestbox and get the must-have book to up your GYO game

Plant this To call Heucheras “foliage filler plants” doesn’t do justice to these herbaceous perennials. Heucheras aka Coral Bells will plug gaps in containers and borders: choose from dozens of cultivars whose leaves range from purple-black (Black Pearl) to lime green with red veins (Electra), with some striking oranges (Orange Dream).

Build this The swifts are coming. These birds swoop back into Britain after their winter migration, but their numbers have halved in the past 20 years. As old buildings are knocked down, swifts are losing their nesting sites. Put up a swift nestbox – visit rspb.org.uk to buy a box or get a guide to make one.

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from Home And Garden | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Zpc41C
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How to grow tomatillos

Our gardening expert on nurturing the tart tomato relative for a Mexican salsa

Last year I forgot to grow tomatillos and, come September, daily lamented my mistake. Never again; I am sowing them now. You wouldn’t expect a sour-tasting relative of the tomato to get under your skin, but once you’ve married it with lime, salt, chilli and coriander, the common tomato looks rather basic in its sweetness. Tomatillo, Physalis philadelphica, with its crisp flesh and tart flavour, is the key ingredient for a Mexican salsa, whether used raw or roasted. It works equally well as a base for soups and combines well with white beans, pork and chicken.

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from Home And Garden | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2UrAkfP
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Gardening tips: plant striking heucheras

Then welcome swifts with a nifty nestbox and get the must-have book to up your GYO game

Plant this To call Heucheras “foliage filler plants” doesn’t do justice to these herbaceous perennials. Heucheras aka Coral Bells will plug gaps in containers and borders: choose from dozens of cultivars whose leaves range from purple-black (Black Pearl) to lime green with red veins (Electra), with some striking oranges (Orange Dream).

Build this The swifts are coming. These birds swoop back into Britain after their winter migration, but their numbers have halved in the past 20 years. As old buildings are knocked down, swifts are losing their nesting sites. Put up a swift nestbox – visit rspb.org.uk to buy a box or get a guide to make one.

Continue reading...

from Property | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Zpc41C
via IFTTT

How to grow tomatillos

Our gardening expert on nurturing the tart tomato relative for a Mexican salsa

Last year I forgot to grow tomatillos and, come September, daily lamented my mistake. Never again; I am sowing them now. You wouldn’t expect a sour-tasting relative of the tomato to get under your skin, but once you’ve married it with lime, salt, chilli and coriander, the common tomato looks rather basic in its sweetness. Tomatillo, Physalis philadelphica, with its crisp flesh and tart flavour, is the key ingredient for a Mexican salsa, whether used raw or roasted. It works equally well as a base for soups and combines well with white beans, pork and chicken.

Continue reading...

from Property | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2UrAkfP
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‘I’m not just chasing likes’: at home with The Sartorialist’s Scott Schuman

Moments from the lives of others fill his walls. But what is life like behind the lens in his New York apartment?

Scott Schuman doesn’t always ask if he can take someone’s picture. If a great shot presents itself – a tender moment he captured last month between an older man and what appears to be his granddaughter, say, or a stylish woman dashing across a cobbled square – he will take a quick snap. But other times, he likes his subjects to look directly into his lens: confident, beautiful, often in sunglasses – sharply dressed women and men in the world’s most fashionable cities.

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