A week of Summer and some small changes.

I decided it would be interesting to start including more posts about my life and the things I have been doing; There is so much going on lately that it seems a waste not to write it down and share it with you all. After spending the Winter in Dubai and the end of Spring traveling throughout Europe it has been a real pleasure to come home to Scotland for the Summer. There is not really much to do here but it is this simple way of life that is such a joy for me. I have been able to focus on my personal aims and objectives and I feel I am progressing more than ever before. 

I will still post about Interiors and decoration as much as possible, however I really have to find something fascinating to write about otherwise I don't feel I can give my all to the topic. This is largely the main reason why my posts are so sporadic! You will see from my feature about Villa Windsor that this is the kind of thing that gets me excited, sadly it is a rare occasion.

It has been such a beautiful week in Scotland. As always the weather has been unpredictable but when the sun shines and the breeze is gentle and warm it is such a tranquil place to enjoy. My plan for the week was to sort out home affairs and try to get back into a routine. After locking the house up for  so long it really needed a spring clean and some love and attention. 

Spring Cleaning in the house made me feel so much more content

I also had a busy time this week conducting interviews to find a new housekeeper. At the risk of sounding too #firstworldproblems, I find it so stressful trying to rely on instinct to hire someone trustworthy who will come into your life and witness the most personal aspects of it. As well as looking after the house, the housekeeper also needs to be a 'nanny' to my Shih Tzu, Sophie, who needs looking after when I am traveling. I am pleased to report that this task has been successful and we will have a new member of staff starting in the next few weeks.

Sophie listening attentively to her potential new Nanny

On Tuesday the sun looked as though it would grace the skies without the hindrance of cloud or rain so I raced out of the house and headed into the small town North Berwick, which is just a ten minute walk from my home. Most people would describe this town as a Village; It is a tiny coastal town filled with independent stores and restaurants. At the heart there is a beautiful garden and park..the perfect place to have an ice cream and enjoy the efforts of the locals who have planted flowers and bulbs with great precision.

The Village Garden looking pretty

Enjoying some warm sunshine

To me there is nothing nicer than starting the morning in the company of Horses. Here in North Berwick we have a fantastic stables where I ride two to three times a week. Its location is the most glorious mixture of countryside and coast and the amazing choice of hacking routes all culminate in a wonderful canter along the beach. My horse absolutely hates to walk but patiently waits until he is instructed to trot and then bolts into a canter after three strides! I suppose you have to appreciate his enthusiasm for life. 

McDuff is always eager to get going..he loves to canter.

Hopetoun House is a 45 minute drive from my home and very close to the City of Edinburgh. After planning to visit since I moved here, I finally did so this week. Sadly it was somewhat of an anticlimax. First impressions are vital and the lack of visual beauty as you drive along the approach to the house is quite disappointing. Two oblongs of grass lawn are the only relief of colour in a sea of grey stone which sets the tone for the rest of the experience.

A canvas of grey stone, although the Georgian Facade is impressive

I hate to moan, but the Interiors of Hopetoun were also a let down. Including the Entrance Hall there are only four rooms that were mildly impressive; The others looked a little worn out and tired and I am usually a sucker for threadbare English style decor. 

The Yellow Drawing Room was my favourite at Hopetoun

The Red Drawing Room

The Dining Room is filled with family portraits

This past weekend has mostly seen rain filled hours with Sophie and I taking refuge indoors. This is when I enjoy looking through all my books, most of which I have pored over a thousand times but still find enchanting. I love nothing more than reading about the way other people live..for my sake I hope you do too.

To see more, follow me on Instagram: @nicolasdepompadour

An English Residence

 My Granny has moved house fifteen times throughout her life and is again considering moving house once more after living at her current property for five years. I have to confess I think I am very much the same and never seem to stay at a property for more than a few years. For me the joy in buying a property is renovating it to ones liking and once this has been achieved, moving on to do the same thing somewhere else. Needless to say it is a great bonus if you can manage to earn a profit throughout the process. 

It is during the Spring and Summer months that you are most likely to sell a house. The warm weather pushes house hunters to venture out of hibernation to find a property just in time to enjoy the Summer and be most at home for Christmas with family. Here are two of the prettiest English homes for sale right now.

 The Circus, Bath

Bath is one of the prettiest spa towns in England and was once a favoured retreat for the British Aristocracy. The Lords and Ladies of the day would travel to Bath from London to take the waters and escape the hustle and bustle of the city. Not wishing to compromise on luxury they often bought exquisite town houses which were built over six stories and provided the space and comforts needed. 

I have always loved Town Houses and this one is exquisite with over six thousand square feet of space including Drawing Room, Dining Room, Games Room, Library, seven Bedrooms and five Bathrooms.  

What I particularly like about this house is that the rooms have been kept to how they would have originally been used. The basement floors of Town Houses were used as kitchens and servants quarters. Today when many people buy Georgian Town Houses they bring the Kitchen to the ground floor (which I detest) and use the basement for saunas, steam rooms and other 21st century mod cons (shudder) However with this house, every room is as it once was, and in my view where it should be. 

The Drawing Room is located on the first floor (Second floor if you are reading in America) which is typical of Georgian Town Houses. These houses were designed with full length sash windows on this floor to afford the occupant wonderful views and beautiful light throughout the day. 

As you can see, this room has been exquisitely decorated in the classic style which really complements the bones of the house. I particularly love the wall to wall carpet which gives such a comfortable look and must feel heavenly to walk on.

The Dining Room is located on the ground floor of the house which in the past made it easier to transport food from the kitchen down below. For modern living it is perhaps not the most practical way to live but who cares? For me, beauty beats practicality and I prefer the kitchen with it's noise and smells to be right out of the way!

The Library is next to the Dining Room on the ground floor and has a pretty bow window that overlooks the garden. 

The ground floor accommodation concludes with this perfect little Games Room with it's fabric lined walls. Just behind the vase of flowers on the card table you will notice a jib door; This leads to a powder room. This room is utterly charming and so beautifully decorated.

The ground floor Entrance Hall with its stone flag floor and cantilever staircase. I think it is a good idea to leave entrance spaces rather neutral in colour.

The Master Suite is located right above the Library and shares the same style bow window as a result. Such a romantic, elegant room.

The Master En Suite which has been kept traditional. I always prefer the use of carpet in bathrooms so that you can use the room as a place to relax and unwind.

Town Houses don't normally have garden spaces as the owners had large Country Houses with acres of land. However this house has a delightful garden which has been landscaped to maximise the outdoor experience. 

 The Circus, for sale with Knight Frank 

The Old Vicarage, Wiltshire

Have you ever seen such a pretty chocolate box house? The Old Vicarage is situated in the picturesque Cotswolds, perhaps the perfect place to own an English Country House. Unlike The Circus, this house has scope for redecoration depending on personal taste and preference. Structurally and internally sound, this house is ready and waiting for Colefax and Fowler wallcoverings and Stark carpet.

The Old Vicarage has just over five thousand square feet of space including large Entrance Hall, Drawing Room, Dining Room, Sitting Room, Orangery, Five Bedrooms and Four Bathrooms. Included in the sale are a number of outbuildings such as log store, green house and ancillary accommodation. 

The heavenly gardens were designed by Chelsea Gold Medal award winner Peter Dowle and are compartmentalised into different sections to include a Victorian Garden,  Italianate secret garden, woodland garden and herb garden.

The Drawing Room is a good size and architecturally pretty. How would you decorate this room?

I just love how the light pours though the sash windows in this Country Kitchen. You will notice the newly built Orangery that leads off this room.

The Orangery definitely needs a special touch to transform it into a place worth using. 

One of the Bedrooms in the property. I think that this is perhaps the best room in terms of decoration but then again a new house is there to do as you please!

And finally the heavenly garden with nothing but countryside to view for miles.

The Old Vicarage, Wiltshire, For sale with Strutt and Parker

So which would you prefer? The grand Townhouse in Bath or the pretty Country House in Wiltshire?

Please note, this article is NOT an advertisement and was written purely for the interest of the reader and myself.

Of Dogs and Décor

 Dogs have been 'mans best friend' for hundreds of years, living side by side with us in our homes and even sharing our beds. It is no wonder then that so many choose to capture their beloved animals in paintings..a commemorative depiction of their much too short lives. During the eighteenth century in particular, the aristocracy were very keen to include their dogs in paintings. Perhaps one of the most famous is of Madame de Pompadour who was painted by François Boucher with her pooch standing sweetly by her side. Others chose to devote the entire canvas to their canines, a perfect example above from the collection at Chatsworth.  The fashion to use dogs as part of décor has never really left the classic home and if you really search enthusiastically many antique paintings are still available to add to your collections. 

Madame de Pompadour commissioned this painting to send a message to her former lover King Louis XV. She wanted to emphasise that although they were no longer lovers, she would still be a loyal courtier and confidante. If you look closely to the bottom left, you will see her loyal little pet sitting patiently on the bench. 

It was Mario Buatta who first piqued my interest in delightful Canine paintings and how they can be used to great effect in a room. Since then I have always admired the beauty and elegance of our beloved friends who grace the walls in gilded frames. In Mario's New York apartment, the paintings are almost everywhere you look and even more lovely with their ribbon, connecting each one together.

The exuberance of this interior always makes me smile. The menagerie of colour and pattern could be garish but somehow works beautifully well. 

Another Buatta interior. This time the dogs were used to delight visitors at The Kips Bay Show House.

The American socialite and philanthropist Brooke Astor was famed for her fine taste and who can forget this inspiring staircase which sweeps through the air, watched on by an adorable pack of dogs. 

Brooke Astor the tastemaker in another of her exquisite residencies. 

When I first saw Iris Apfel's New York apartment in the pages of Architectural Digest I was struck not only by the eccentricity of the design but also by the wonderful clutter that she had amassed and arranged so perfectly over the years. This is a home that tells the story of a life lived to its fullest with every space filled with objets of beauty and interest. 

The above picture is a hallway in the apartment. I love how this space has been used to store more treasures and the dog paintings work so well in adding to the chic cluttered look.

A penchant for dogs? This one holds a selection of jewellery.

I have yet to start collecting canine art, so for now this one will just have to do!

An idyllic Easter

Easter always signifies the beginning of Spring for me and this year Mother Nature was right on time here in Scotland. Towards the end of last week the miserable clouds had drifted away and brilliant sunshine greeted me when opening my bedroom curtains. I hate to be one of those boring British people who obsesses over the weather but I really feel much happier when I can venture outdoors without a coat and sense all the lovely things that Springtime brings. 

Aside from hosting a Dinner for the neighbours, my Easter weekend was blissfully peaceful. This is one of the things I like most about this holiday. Unlike Christmas, there is no pressure to pull out all the stops and plan what seems like never ending festivities. At Easter time people seem happier with simplicity and if weather permits, enjoying the outdoors. 

One of my favourite things to do is set the table. Whether it be for a light breakfast or lavish dinner I really enjoy creating a beautiful setting to celebrate food and the pleasure it brings. Excessive to some, I dine like this for all meals and get real enjoyment from using my things rather than leaving them abandoned and unused. This year I decided to keep my table quite classic and the only hint of Easter was Chocolate eggs in a small bowl at the centre of the table. I used a Wedgwood dinner service with simple, embroidered napkins and bowls of fruit to add colour and freshness. 

The remainder of my weekend was spent enjoying the Garden. Being able to sit out on the lawn overlooking the Sea was an incredible reminder of how beautiful Scotland is, especially in Springtime. In just a few weeks the trees will have new leaves and the flower beds will begin to bloom.

Tea overlooking the Firth of Forth

Sophie and I enjoying much needed Vitamin D

Although the trees are still looking bare, daffodils are a sure sign that things can only get better

Taking advantage of free time I spent much of Sunday evening on Pinterest pinning more images of inspiration. I now have three new additional boards..Linens, Hardware and Table Settings.

Finally I would like to share a very rough sketch of a floor plan I have created for my new home in the Caribbean. This plan is very basic and messy..I actually debated whether I should create a 'neat' version but what is the point in that? At least this plan shows my ideas as they came to me. When I created this plan I listed all the rooms that I want in my new home and then tried to think of a layout that would be classically Georgian i.e Square and symmetrical. I also wanted to incorporate a layout that would work logistically. You will see that a suite of service rooms run off the Dining Room which makes for functional entertaining. 

I hope you all had a great weekend

N