Mar 28

2013

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Life in England: Exploring Rousham

The other day I was driving back from Bicester Village (I bought a Céline silk blouse and Marni guipure lace top) with my friend Miranda who is a renowned landscape designer. When she saw the sign to Rousham, she insisted we take a detour. Before the house even came into view we had already seen a stone cow shed in the shape of a mini-castle and a charming gate house with three uniquely decorative chimneys. Then we saw the house in the distance. It was first built around 1635 and has stayed in one family the entire time. Even on a gloomy, frigid early spring day, the house was magnificent. ..

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Feb 11

2013

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I ♥ Your Home Style: Lee Radziwill

Inspired by Sofia Coppola’s excellent mini-doc of Lee Radziwill for The New York Times, I decided to revisit some old favorite “Lee” images in my archive. While I was doing some additional research to round out an homage to her, I discovered something even more pressing – pictures of her houses from the last few decades. She had many houses, from many phases of her life, during the administration of many husbands, throughout a handful of countries...

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Jan 16

2013

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On the Road: New Year’s, New York

Before moving on from the holidays, I can’t not also share with you our first family visit back to New York for New Year’s. I wasn’t sure about choosing New York as our vacation at first. I really wanted to relax after the bustle of a full on English Christmas, and I knew NYC would be loads of fun, but would it be relaxing?? My answer came when our friend Miranda asked us to house sit in Brooklyn while she and her family went off to Colorado...

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Dec 10

2012

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Life in England: My Favorite Houses

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Often as I am driving along the country roads in England, I throw on the brakes, screech up onto the curb, and whip out my phone to take a picture of a house that has caught my eye. There are great houses everywhere here! My taste ranges from sheds to thatch huts to stately homes, and I seem to prefer Georgian architecture over gothic or Victorian – not that I would be able to tell you that without my husband’s input. He can look at any house and tell you what century, decade, and style of architecture it belongs to. I envy this knowledge, but I do not possess it. Despite being a History of Art major in college, I focused the bulk of my architectural history classes on the 20th century. It also doesn’t help that I am American, where there isn’t the same exposure to historical architecture that you would have coming from Europe. I hope some of it will rub off on me while I’m here.

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Sep 10

2012

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On the Road: The Adirondacks

Here I am. I’m back in England for good now and will be finally resuming my daily posting schedule. This summer was pretty much a write-off in terms of getting enough time to myself to do anything creative. I’m not complaining though. I think I really needed the break. I’ve been with my kids 24/7, setting up our life here in England, traveling a lot and having loads of friends to stay. It’s been great, but I am ready to get down to the daily life I imagined for myself here – spending most of the day in my garden shed / office writing and being creative while the kids are at school, with maybe a break in the day to go for a ride on my Polo, my favorite horse...

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Jul 26

2012

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On the Road: Spain, part 3

When we decided to go to Spain, the first thing I did was call my friend (who happens to be my husband’s first wife) to find out where we should take our horse-fanatic daughter riding in the countryside. The first Mrs Brooks is a fan and connoisseur of all things riding and all things Spanish and she has great taste, so I knew she was just the person to ask. She thought Trasierra would be prefect for us, as its causal enough for kids but chic-enough to make adults happy, and there is great riding nearby...

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Jul 23

2012

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On the Road: Spain, part 2

Trasierra may be the most inherently stylish place I have ever visited. A former private house lovingly rebuilt, restored and redecorated by English ex-pat Charlotte Scott, it sits on a 450 acre site just 30 miles north of Seville. The house has everything you need – chic, cozy rooms done up in a mixture of English chintz, Spanish pottery and classic antiques; fantastic home cooked food using fresh fruit and vegetables from their massive kitchen garden; and most importantly, a laid back and personal vibe that has you feeling you’re staying in someone’s home, rather than in a hotel...

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