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I spent some time thinking about the title for this post. Should it be what to buy for your nightgown, what to buy IN your nightgown or where to go in your nightgown? Maybe where to put yur nightgown? All of these would have been appropriate, but the truth is if I hadn’t just spent so much on the yacht, I’d have been snapping up this lovely ten million dollar bargain.
Hiding away in Clayton, Georgia is this modest, 62 acre property with it’s own chapel, four villas and a fifteen suite lodge. The chapel is, apparently a popular desination for weddings, which is no surprise after you see the view, and the fabulous waterfalls on the property.
Best of all, a property that size has to have room for LOTS of nightgowns and robes, so pretty well ideal for me. Do you think it would be just too greedy if I put this on my Christmas list? I’ve been a very good girl.
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My current favourite, 'Josephine' our Empire style nightgown. Why feel like a queen when you could feel like an Empress?
I recently realised that my closet was simply not luxurious enough for my nightgowns, but what to do? Some valuable paintings for the wall? There’s no wall space left between the hanging rails. It’s a difficult problem, I finally had to choose between a mural for the ceiling, or a brand new gold floor. Or aluminium. Or copper, or (heaven forbid) imitation gold leaf. And the best thing about all these choices is that each is available on sustainable and renewable hardwood, bamboo or engineered wood floors from ecolux.
Sounds good, and should look good too, but I’m wondering if gold is a little vulgar, or maybe too down market? Perhaps I’ll wait until the platinum version is available.
Just recently we’ve been looking for a new home here in the USA. Renting is expensive, I didn’t like the pool man and the refrigerator needed to be cleaned, so obviously we had to look for somewhere else, maybe a little more permanent. And of course there’s the problem of the nightgowns. I need a closet of a decent size for them, and probably another one for my robes, and that’s before we get to handbags, hats and everything else. Space is useful, especially if you’re plus size like me (it’s good to be in scale with your surroundings) and have a very large dog (have I mentioned him before?) I also need space for husband, mother and two children, but that’s a different problem. Back to the nightgowns.
Apparently one of the great things about the USA is the choice of property, there are even a few bargains to be had right now. According to forbes.com some properties are going for less last years asking price: it’s now possible to pick up a 21,897 square foot Jacobean manor for only $60 million, not the $125 million it was valued at last year!
So what to choose? A Beverly Hills estate modeled after the Palace of Versailles for only $125 million, but who wants an imitation? Albermarle House in West Virginia is on the market for only $100 million and looks charming, but 300 acres might be quite a lot to maintain, so my vote would have to go to Aaron Spelling’s home in Los Angeles. At $150 million it’s the most expensive home in the USA, but since it’s coming up the Christmas I think the dedicated present wrapping room is pretty essential, don’t you? The entire floor which is given over to closet space should just about be enough for all the nightgowns.
Jenson Button's Bugatti Veyron
So, luxury yachts don’t take your fancy? There are other ways to get your luxury sleepwear from A to B, and of course the humble automobile (or car as we call it in the UK) comes immediately to mind. Or maybe not so humble. Those of you who watch Top Gear (and if not, why not?) will know the Bugati Veyron well from Jeremy Clarksons race, but did you know that for only nine hundred thousand or so (that’s about 1.5 million dollars) you could have not just a Bugatti Veyron, but one whose previous owner was none other than Fomula 1 World Champion Jenson Button. Apparently the car, which is black (and after all color is the most important thing) has only 2,452 miles on the clock and comes “complete with all usual refinements for a £1,000,000 supercar”. Which means of course that it’s a bargain at the price!
I would buy it, but there’s just not enough room for all my nightgowns.
Luxury Yachts
Now that everyone, their next door neighbors, their best friends and their cats have what at least look like Louis Vuitton luggage, how can you transport your luxury sleepwear?
There’s something to be said for having a wardrobe waiting for you at each locale, and don’t get me wrong we’d love to help you build it, but we know our clients love their nightgowns and robes so much they don’t want to be parted from them, so how do you get them from place to place?
Obviously one must be careful about one’s luggage, but here’s a company whose customization may fit the bill. T.T. Trunks provide luxurious personalized and specialized luggage of several kinds, from a complete mini bar to a vanity. Of course you may find that having perfect luggage gives you a yen to travel, in which case there can be no better way to see the world than luxury yacht. Check out project 1011 which is said to include (amongst a great deal) an underwater observation chamber, a mini submarine and an indoor swimming pool.
Well, now I know what I want for Christmas.
Nov 162009
Elizabeth Robe from Certain Style
Today is one of those days when I really love my robe. It’s a fantastic day here in Florida, reasonable temperature, blue sky, fluffy clouds, but somehow Autumn (fall in American) is in the air, and I don’t want to give the impression that I’m sitting here typing in my robe, but the truth is I’d like to be. I’ve been feeling sniffly since yesterday, rotten headache, slightly itchy throat, you know the kind of thing. Not enough to go and lie groaning in bed, just enough to do everything badly.
And that was what got me thinking about robes. Women’s robes specifically. They seem to fulfill an interesting function, a little bit like soup, they’re somewhere to go when you don’t feel you can manage full blown clothes, which, I suppose is something to do with their origins. In the UK we don’t call them robes, they’re still dressing gowns, the gown you wear when you’re not dressed, so stop you from being undressed. It is actually quite an odd idea. For us though, the concept is simpler. The robe is what you put on when you haven’t had a chance to get dressed. You can answer the door in it, fetch the mail and deal with the housekeeper. But for people in public life the robe is more. If you live surrounded by assistants and other staff, a robe is essential. Pull it on, do up a couple of buttons and you’re not only decent you’re positively elegant. As Mrs Blair discovered that day she got the flowers and ended up on the front page of the newspapers in her nightgown…..
So that brings me back to my robe. When I was a child my grandmother described the way she looked in her towelling dressing gown as ‘like a bag tied in the middle’. A vivid, if not flattering description of the shape. In the average robe there’s no shaping, no style, just a straight garment with a belt. It may cover, but it rarely flatters. And so when it came to Certain Style I wanted to do it a different way, to create robes that could be put on quickly, but would achieve the ‘instant elegance’ that the original ‘dressing gowns’ had been designed for. With Sheba, Elizabeth and Catherine the Great I think we’ve achieved that aim. Robes that can make the change from sex and sleep to sunlit success in one easy step, without sacrificing comfort in between.
What do you think is important in a robe? Is it comfort or elegance? Is there a place for both? Next year we plan a more conventional terry version, but we’ll be avoiding the ‘bag tied in the middle’ – tell us what you think is important in a robe!
May 112009
I do not enjoy journeys. It’s not the means of travel that bothers me, I just don’t have a lot of patience. If I’m to go away for a weekend I want to get where I’m going pretty quickly and get on with the relaxing thing as soon as possible. As a result, when I’m in the UK and feel the need to get away, I like Jersey. It’s different enough to make you feel as though you are ‘away’, but near enough to make the journey short and relatively simple. It’s an international destination, but without a foreign language, and for all these reasons, it gets my vote as a good place to visit. Our last weekend visit was great. It hasn’t always been that way. Weekends in Jersey can be dire unless you find the right place to stay. We stayed at the Atlantic Hotel which was excellent, but on a previous occasion we stayed at a rather larger hotel where everything was vastly expensive and the service was terrible. You’ll know how bad things were when I tell you the KIDS sent their food back. TWICE.
Jersey is not a cheap place to stay and is not over endowed with tourist attractions. There is a short tourist season and anyone venturing to the island outside it is likely to find things closed and shuttered. A little like the Greek islands then, but without the sunshine. Or the wine. Or the food. Or the people. OK. Maybe not so much like the Greek islands at all.What Jersey does have is
- Excellent seafood
- Duty free shopping
- A Fantastic zoo
Add some interesting history and you have a leisurely weekend (even long weekend) destination. Hire a car to see the sights and don’t forget to sample the seafood. Of course you can fly to the other islands or to France and boat trips are another possibility. We’d recommend
Jersey Zoo – fascinating animals including gorillas, orangutans and lemurs as well as lovely gardens.
The Falconry display – not much publicity but well worth watching.
The Atlantic Hotel – adult and child friendly, a lovely place to stay
The Atlantic Hotel – adult and child friendly, a lovely place to stay
Catherine Best Jewellery. The Channel Islands own exclusive jewellery designer. Not cheap by any means but very different and well worth a visit. The restaurant next door serves excellent seafood.
Other much touted attractions include Jersey Goldsmiths, Jersey Pearl and the Jersey Pottery but none of these proved very exciting.
I enjoyed my weekend break on Jersey, and now that I have found somewhere to stay, I’m looking forward to repeating it.
May 112009
Glastonbury sits on a former island in the Somerset Levels – the Isle of Avalon. It has been a magnetic pilgrimage place since ancient times, a Druidic centre and one of Europe’s greatest medieval abbeys. It is also an easy journey from airfields like Wycombe Air Park and West London Aero Club. An aerial view is another way to appreciate just why this site is so special. It is also an easy trip to combine with Avebury – perhaps as an Arthurian themed tour.The town is overlooked by the Tor, a sacred hill, which stands on a former island. Millions of years ago the iron rich waters of this spring seeping down through the soft sandstone gradually formed a crust. As the softer stone was eroded by wind and water over the millennia the iron hardened stone of the Tor gradually rose above the landscape. In time the low-lying land around the Tor was flooded leaving an island in a marshy inland sea. The sides of the Tor have a succession of seven banks encircling it. Many regard the banks as a ceremonial labyrinth built about four thousand years agoTradition has it that Joseph of Arimathea built the first church and King Arthur and Guinevere were buried here. Once it was home to Saints Patrick, Dunstan, Benedict, David, Bridget and others. Another tradition tells of Joseph bringing Jesus here as a young man. Some believe Mary Magdalene visited after the Crucifixion.
Glastonbury Tor
In ancient times Glastonbury was the home of a Druid college and one of Britain’s three perpetual choirs. Around four thousand years ago, it was a megalithic centre along with Avebury and Stonehenge, when the banks on the sides of the Tor were shaped. There are also strong Goddess traditions here stretching back five thousand years.
Glastonbury is renowned for its complementary healers and practitioners. They offer a comprehensive service from local naturopaths, homoeopaths, chiropractors, herbalists, Chinese medicine practitioners, counsellors, therapists and other healers..
Visitors to Glastonbury see it as one of the great sacred sites of the world. They people come here on a spiritual quest, drawn by the myths, legends, spiritual energies and people.
One of the most popular sites is the Abbey in the centre of Glastonbury. It’s traditionally the first Christian sanctuary in Britain. Many believe that the Holy Thorn tree that can be seen in the grounds originated from Joseph of Arimathea’s staff and others are convinced that King Arthur was buried in the Abbey beside his lovely wife Queen Guinevere. The abbey includes a new Visitor’s Centre with an award-winning Museum.
Chalice Well is an essential call for all who come to explore the mysteries and ancient lore of the Isle of Avalon. The waters of both the Red Spring at Chalice Well and the adjoining White Spring still have a reputation for their cleansing, healing and transformative qualities and people collect the waters from each spring.
The Glastonbury Story is a modern exhibition, telling the story of Glastonbury. For centuries Glastonbury has fascinated artists, travellers and poets alike. It’s been a place of pilgrimage for thousands of years. Now you can step into another dimension in an exciting exhibition spanning time itself.
Nearby are other places which are held to be sacred sites; these include the two ancient oaks of Gog and Magog, believed to be the last remains of a Druidical avenue leading up to the Tor. The Glastonbury Conservation Society has recently replanted a line of oak trees to commemorate this ancient tradition.
It’s easy to eat out in Glastonbury and the area is especially good for vegetarian, vegan and organic meals. Glastonbury’s spiritual reputation doesn’t prevent it from having more than its fair share of pubs, ranging from small and intimate to the large and extremely noisy.
Should you decide to extend your visit there are numerous places to stay, although there are no large luxury hotels in Glastonbury. However, there is a campsite within walking distance to town – and several others a little further out – perhaps staying a little closer to nature will enable you to better experience Glastonbury’s spiritual atmosphere!
Who should I take?
Glastonbury is best suited to adults, especially those with an interest in the mystical or spiritual. It can also provide a number of romantic moments, standing alone on the Tor with your loved one will be an image you’ll never forget.
Indicative websites
Glastonbury Online http://www.glastonbury.co.uk/
Glastonbury Abbey http://www.glastonburyabbey.com/
The Ancient Isle of Avalon http://www.isleofavalon.co.uk/