Arts and Culture
Feature: Leeds Castle
Known as the loveliest castle in the world and dating back some 900 years, Leeds Castle oozes history, romance and intrigue and is one of my favourite places for family day out.
From the adventure playground to the maze and grotto, there is so much to keep the children entertained. Whether they are watching the falconry display, enjoying a trip across the lake or just running around and exploring the beautiful grounds, it’s the perfect place to get them enjoying the British summertime.
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The ultimate equestrian safari with Belmond & Jodie Kidd
The African safari, the original daddy of all wild adventures. Scenes of the open savannah dotted with herds of grazing wildebeest, the air filled with the sounds of wildlife; zebras braying, crickets chirping, and the distant trumpeting from a herd of elephants. The heat ripples the horizon as you scan the plains in search of ‘Africa’s big five’. Sounds like the staple safari dream. The Belmond have created an itinerary that will take your expectations of a safari experience to the next level by uncovering the treasures of Botswana and it’s Okavango Delta on horseback. This exclusive Belmond itinerary, hosted by world-class horse rider and fashion icon Jodie Kidd, will get you closer to nature than ever before.
Featuring Dinosaurs in the wild: the voyage of a lifetime
The whole experience is like going on the greatest safari ever – except you’ll travel back in time with expert guides (actors - but the kids have no idea) to see with your very own eyes what life was actually like 67 million years ago, surrounded by prehistoric animals. It is recommended that children should be five years plus, but we have a very robust dinosaur loving three year old and I knew he would get so much out of the experience - plus I really didn’t want him to miss it. So with a little friend of the same age in tow we all boarded the time machine and were transported back an astonishing 67 million years to meet living dinosaurs. We were on a journey to visit the incredible research station, TimeBase67 where scientists are studying dinosaurs in the past. When we arrived the children's faces were a picture as they fully believed everything they were being told, it was just the cutest thing.
Featuring London Craft Week 2018: The Sybarite’s top picks
Kicking off five days of workshops, tours and exhibitions all across London, celebrating unique and beautiful craftsmanship in all its forms. With over 200 different brands, designers, and galleries involved in the festival this year, The Sybarite have narrowed the vast programme down to our top five picks for you to discover.
Featuring Roman luxury | discover ancient origins within a...
It was my first time in the city (can you tell?), and beyond my girlish squeals of glee and excitement driving through the beautiful city at night, we stopped just in front of the Colosseum at the Palazzo Manfredi, where later we spent two wonderful evenings. This charming 17th century palace was built metres away from the Colosseum and a training school for gladiators of ancient Rome. The beautiful building of the Palazzo Manfredi began life in the 17th century as the villa of the Evangelisti family, designed by architect Giovanni Battista Mola. It then passed to the Venerabile Confraternita della Ss Trinità dei Pellegrini e dei Convalescenti (Venerable Fraternity of the Holy Trinity of Pilgrims and Convalescents), as commemorated by the two stones on the façade. In 2002, the villa was purchased by Count Goffredo Manfredi, one of Italy’s most famous entrepreneurs and construction magnates, and thanks to him, Palazzo Manfredi, our superb luxury hotel, was born.
Featuring A night at the Oscars – 90th Academy Awards
Predictions in and glad-rags on, the biggest names in the movie business gathered together on Sunday night to celebrate the hottest date in the awards season calendar: The 90th Academy Awards – The Oscars! Leading on from the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes, the front runners including Three Billboards, The Shape of Water, The Darkest Hour and I, Tonya each with high hopes of bagging the most wanted man in Hollywood – Oscar. The past week of snow and ice cold winds have taken the toll, leaving me with a less than fabulous sinus cold… but I was not about to let that stop me from enjoying the awards from the comfort of my sofa. Lemsip in hand, I cheered on my favourite nominees, making note of movies I still need to see in the cinema (I mean that clip of Saoirse Ronan throwing herself out of a moving car in Ladybird has got to warrant a watch right?).
Andreas Gursky’s exhibition at Hayward Gallery
In fact, when I realised that after visiting Modigliani’s exhibition I’d have to wait till April to see a new exhibition at the Tate Modern, I was starting to feel a longing to return to the South Bank. But, the sky answered my prayers and so it happened: the re-birth of the gloriously brutalist Hayward Gallery tucked between The National and The Royal Festival Hall. And what better way to show-off this spectacular architecture than to hold the first major UK retrospective of the work of acclaimed German photographer Andreas Gursky. Around 60 photographs, many renowned for their scale that can often exceed three metres in height, stand beautifully in the gallery’s immense rooms. Gursky’s illusory and boundless landscapes, created by clever digital manipulation, appear like tapestries, creating abstract worlds from gigantic ‘99 Cent’ shops (my dream), to frantic Formula 1 tracks (my nightmare) and artificially abstracted landscapes such as Rhine II (which, just in case you started picturing it in your living room, fetched over £3 million at Christie’s New York in 2011, so becoming the most expensive photograph ever sold).
Featuring The best of the BAFTAs 2018
Welcoming some of the biggest names in film, the absolutely fabulous Joanna Lumley introduced this year's BAFTAs with some incredible acrobatics from the company of Cirque du Soleil. “Power to the people.” - Frances McDonagh A glamorous ceremony and a night for celebrating cinema, with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri cleaning up five awards, including Best Film, Best British Film, Original Screenplay, Leading Actress (for Frances McDormand) and Supporting Actor (for Sam Rockwell). Meanwhile, stars showed their support for the Time's Up campaign by wearing black on the carpet, with Sam Rockwell, McDormand and Lee Unkrich using their winner's speeches to highlight issues of diversity and equality in the industry. Frances McDormand accepted her award for best leading actress in a dress, not totally in black, admitting to having a “little trouble with compliance”. Nevertheless, she said she stood in full solidarity with her sisters, “What I’m most proud of,” McDonagh told the audience, “especially in this Time’s Up year, is it is a film about a woman who refuses to take any more shit”.
Featuring A tool case you can travel with for generations to come –...
This is perhaps the only tool case needed for those that appreciate fine craftsmanship and beauty.
Featuring Film maker Therese Shechter: “Being child free could be...
The film, My So-Called Selfish Life, is funded via a Kickstarter campaign, (Shechter’s third crowdfunded film project), which closes next week. The film will show how choosing to be child free in today’s society is not an easy option, and something which can be met with strong reactions from the surrounding community. Film maker, writer and speaker Therese told her mother already in high school that she wasn’t going to have children, and that if her parents wanted grandchildren they would have to look at her sister. While always knowing she didn’t want children, Therese kind of assumed she would have them anyway. “That had a lot to do with my ideas of what women did. I just assumed I would have a partner who wanted kids, and my friends would have kids and I would kind of have to go along with that,” she says.
Investing in contemporary art: a gallery owner’s guide
Investing in artwork is of course not purely financially motivated, but many investors who are attracted to traditional methods of investment are diversifying due to the higher potential returns from investing in contemporary art. Normally the impetus for purchasing artwork is a combination of financial return coupled with a passion and desire for the artwork, visually as well as part of a growing status symbol. Art is increasingly becoming part of a social lifestyle membership which is exaggerated by the increasing importance of social media in people’s daily lives. Deloitte Art & Finance Report in 2016 showed that 72% of collectors were primarily motivated by emotional returns, 61% by social returns (being part of a social scene, network of like-minded people), and 64% by financial considerations (investment returns). The average return has been 10.85% per year 1965 – 2016 (Mei Moses Art Index).
Featuring The treasures worth more than their weight in gold
Watchshop has conducted a survey and discovered that 42% of the British Public 'would only consider selling their family heirlooms in times of financial crisis' but if their family heirlooms were made of solid gold, would their worth be as impressive as these? The Watchshop has also compiled a list of both historical artefacts and modern day amenities that are worth more than their weight in gold, with everything from nail polish to 19th-century stamps all making the list, as well as cocktails and locks of late musician's hair.
Featuring London Art Week: Our recommendations
This highly anticipated event will draw in thousands of art enthusiasts from all around the globe over the week. London Art Week focuses on the celebration of 'an array of exceptional art from across the past seven millennia' and will do so by allowing both novices and experts to enjoy 'world class art up close' in over 40 galleries and three leading auction houses; and with everything from impressionist paintings to cocktail master classes and from ancient sculptures to exclusive private tours and dinners - there really is something for everybody. For an exclusive morning, head to the members-only The Groucho Club on 3rd July to take a look at the unrivaled contemporary art collection with Nicky Carter, 'former art director and longtime member of the original arts & media private members club' and will go on an tour of the intimate club nestled in the centre of the bohemian heart of London and will end with an exclusive limited-edition cocktail at the SoHo bar, created by The Groucho Club to celebrate London Art Week.
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