In most cities I visit, I find myself on a manic dash to visit all the cool new stores, restaurants and museum shows I’ve read about or heard about from friends. Not in New York though. When I return to the city (there’s only one, right?) these days, I find myself wanting to go back to the same places over and over. I want to feel like I’m home. I want to go to all the places that make it feel like mine. On my most recent trip, because Christopher and the kids were with me, we woke up on our first day there, left the house and found ourselves doing our usual weekend routine – walk down Houston, get the kids a smoothie at Miss Lilly’s, get ourselves a coffee at Third Rail and then head to Washington Square park – except because we didn’t have Ginger with us, we went to the playground (for old time’s sake) instead of the dog run. We wandered back down Broadway, all feeling slightly overstimulated by all the people and shops. So we took a detour on 2nd Street and went to see our friend Hugo’s annual painting show at John Derian. I wanted to buy every single piece.
It felt so good to be in the city, but exhausting too – I’m not used to having adrenaline running through my body all day anymore.
We continued our trip down memory lane the next morning by heading out to the North Fork where we’ve spent the last 8 summers. Our house there is rented to friends at the moment so we stayed with some other friends, although we got a glimpse of home when we stopped by to check up on it. It was lovely to be there and not feel responsible for doing the dishes in the sink or making sure the pool was the right temperature. We have so many lovely memories with friends and their families on Long Island, and while there it felt like we had never left.
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| On our morning school run we would often pop into Miss Lilly’s for a smoothie on our way to school. Marvin makes the best ones in the city, and he always makes sure you leave there with a smile on your face. |
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| Christopher misses his mornings at Third Rail so much that he drinks his coffee in England from a mug that has the barista’s face on it. |
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| Heading into Washington Square park sans Ginger 🙁 |
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| Zach reliving his glory days in the playground. Coco felt that she was too old be seen on the monkey bars. |
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| One of the wonders of jet lag is getting the city all to yourself in the morning. |
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| My favorite new painting of Hugo’s at John Derian. |
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| Paperweights at John Derian. |
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| Just before we decided to leave New York I was redoing our apartment and I was really looking forward to hanging some of these papier maché animal heads in Coco’s room. Someday….. |
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| Apart from Freeman’s, which is in our building, Lovely Day is our go-to family restaurant in the city. It’s mostly Thai food, but it also has a burger for Zach who doesn’t love Asian food. I love this picture because, while we were waiting to be seated, Zach just pulled up a chair at a table of complete strangers – who didn’t even speak English! – and made friends. |
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| We couldn’t go to Long Island and not stop at Brieremere for a pie. At this time of year they do a fresh fruit pie (strawberries in May/June) with cream on top that is just completely irresistible. |
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| Even though we knew we wouldn’t be schlepping things back to England, we also had to stop at Beall and Bell in Greenport. It’s my favorite furniture store ever. It’s unpretentious, reasonably priced and is jam packed with eccentric stuff. The owners Ginger and Ken have an incredible eye for style. |
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| Beall and Bell. |
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| Beall and Bell. |
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| Amy (our host for the weekend) and our friend Leo who just did the incredible San Francisco Bay Lights project. |
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| Zach reunited with his favorite rope swing at Amy’s house. |
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| I can’t tell you how good it felt to watch the late day sun shining on the water and across into the house. |
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| There’s nothing like a North Fork summer sunset. I made everyone come outside to appreciate it with me. |
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| Reunited with our North Fork friends – Yvonne, Leo, John and Rachel. |
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| I love the mix of rag rugs and Missoni rugs in Amy’s guest bathroom. |
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| The little glimpse we got of our house while visiting the friends who are renting it from us this year. |
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My last view of New York at the airport.
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Dear Amanda, where would you suggest staying in North Fork and in Keene Valley – Adirondacks for a long weekend? Thank you
Neither place are known for their hotels. I would recommending renting a house. But here's what there is…….
North Fork – The Greenporter in Greenport is ok (not luxe but nice basic) and the Silver Sands is a kitschy old authentic motel. For a nicer hotel you could stay at Andre Balasz's Sunset Beach on Shelter Island and visit the North Fork from there.
Keene Valley has a perfectly simple B&B or two, but if you want more luxury The Lake Placid Lodge is classic rustic style, has great food and fantastic setting on Lake Champlain. It's about 30 mins from Keene Valley.
xx
I love your friend's camel colored vest! I have been looking everywhere for something like that. Do you know who makes it?
I think it's Carhart.xx
Love your blog and how understated you make ease and luxury be. Having access to privilege, I had trouble striking the right balance till my mid- twenties. 8 years on, it sits better with me, makes me more reflective and thoughtful. I sense a kindred spirit on this blog! Keep them coming..love from India.
Amanda,
I sooo know exactly what you mean by owning places!I grew up in Bath and hadn't visited it for 10 years as no family left there, until a Christening in April and felt like I owned the WHOLE place! Was wonderful and sad at the same time!!
Anyway- I love your style and at the risk of being cheeky I think you'd love our clothes- they'd fit in to ALL your lives!!
visit masonbentleystyle.com
Love the understatement. The greatest luxury …
Amanda, I so enjoy all of your thoughtful, stylish photos and musings. I grew up fox hunting on the North Fork back when it was all farms, and we always got pies at Briermere's on the way home. It's so nice to have a peek in that world again.