RIP Treillage

I had heard through the grapevine a few weeks ago that Bunny Williams’ and John Rosselli’s beautiful New York shop, Treillage was to close, but I was asked not to say anything until it was publically announced. And it was, yesterday, to much sadness. The shop was located in an old blacksmith’s space on the Upper East Side of New York City, along a street that is semi-residential, and not well trafficked, unlike the avenues. Regardless, the things that Bunny and John have collected for the shop are always exquisite and unique, just like the space they inhabit.

The stock in the store was a mixture of garden-related items, furnishings and furniture, and artworks.

Garden statuary sat side-by-side architectural elements.

Art pieces, like this stunning cabbage tureen evidenced Bunny’s whimsical taste.

Although the shop was rustic, there was plenty of refinement like this little French settee.

Treillage will be closing up in June, but its on-line presence, Treillage NY, will remain.

Many thanks to Bunny Williams and John Rosselli, and the staff at Treillage for making this shop a must-visit in NYC for me and so many others.

The Bone Broth Bandwagon

Connor’s been feeling poorly the last few weeks, and I know he’s aching. I was reading an article in the Financial Times a week or so ago about bone broth and how good it is for you. According to the FT, “It is filled with easily assimilated proteins and amino acids that are the building blocks of tissues. Amino acids repair the tissue damage — they are good for rosacea and heal inflammation and infection in acne. Hyaluronic acid and collagen attract water to the cells and plump up skin from the inside.” While they were talking about fashion models during Paris Fashion week, I thought I’d try it out for Connor and maybe even for me!

I started by buying some bones, and got some neck bones, shin bones and ox tails, which I think are actually from cows. I put them into the oven on 350*F for about a half an hour. The house filled with the most gorgeous smell from the roasting meat. About half-way through the cooking, I turned each piece over to make sure it cooked evenly.

After they’d cooked a bit, I took them out and filled a huge pot with cold water and added the bones. Because of the cold weather we’ve been having, the cold water is realllly cold, and I could hear the hot bones cracking in the cold water.

After the bones came to a boil, I turned the flame way down and it will cook for the next several hours. Just before I go to bed, I will pull the bones out and strain the broth, or stock into jars and refrigerate them. The fat in the broth solidifies on the top, and it’s simple to remove it before it’s served.

For Connor, I will pour it over some dry dog food and for me, I will attempt to drink it. Although I do love things like bouillon and consommé, I am not sure I will like this.

I make a similar broth or stock for Connor all the time, but I use a roasted chicken carcass. After the chicken bones have simmered for an hour or so, I take them out of the stock, and then reduce the stock by about half. If I do it right, the collagen in the bones jells the stock a bit and Connor loves it.

If this works out and he likes it, I will invest in a good stock pot. I used to have the most gorgeous copper stock pot, but I got rid of it when I moved to the UK, and haven’t really needed a huge pot since then.

What’s Emily Up To?

I have been an admirer of Emily Evans Eerdmans for years, and am lucky enough to count her as one of my friends. We have had several dinners together both here in Baltimore, and in New York, where we were laughing so hard and talking so much that it was difficult to eat!

Emily, as you might know, is well known as an author, having written Regency Redux: High Style Interiors: Napoleonic, Classical Moderne, and Hollywood Regency the first book about the resurgence of the regency style. She also co-authored the recent retrospective with Mario Buatta which was received with great acclaim. Emily also wrote The World of Madeleine Castaing, the definitive book on this seminal French decorator who was not as well-known as she should be.

Emily has just opened a new venture, Eerdmans Fine Art, which specializes in the acquisition and and de-acquisition of art and antiques, appraisals and collection management, a huge necessity if you’ve got any kind of collection. Emily’s fine arts background and her extensive network in the arts and antiques world make her the perfect person for this new venture.

Emily has also opened newly launched 1st Dibs storefront, filled with goodies in a range of styles and price points. How about this gorgeous pair of Hollywood Regency Bergère chairs. The coral linen just kills me!

Or this set of four brass Chiavari chairs with the perfect Clarence House fabric on the seats?

Emily is on the board at the Decorators Club in New York, and co-chairs their excellent lecture series, which always features top-notch speakers, including the amazing Mitchell Owens, a.k.a. The Aesthete’s Lament. She also gives lectures, and is an entertaining and informative speaker.

A word about the wonderful watercolour at the top, which makes me smile each time I see it. The picture was done by a mutual friend of Emily’s and mine in London. It’s a riff on the famous image of Pauline de Rothschild peeking out from a jib door in her Paris flat.

You can see Emily’s blonde hair and her trademark red lipstick. I love that two of my favourite people are represented in this little painting!

I’ll Take This: Manor House With Secrets

As I was perusing the Guardian for the latest betting odds on Friday’s Gold Cup race, I chanced upon this gorgeous manor house, complete with some secrets!

Honestly, I just love a house with a lot of light, don’t you!

This house, and it’s called Flass, was re-built in the mid-19th century close to the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales and incorporates parts of the original house on the property. It’s a Palladian style manor house, with many of its original period details remaining, including a number of its fireplaces. And I love that there are bells to ring the servants next to each fireplace!And I love that there are bells to ring the servants next to each fireplace! Jeeves, come stoke that fire, my man!

This is one of those amazing country houses with lots of nooks and crannies, and little spaces that would make a perfect place to curl up and read a good book.

One of the intriguing things about this house is that it has a couple of secret passageways! In the library, push a button under one of the shelves and a door opens into the ballroom. Hmmm, if I had to guess, I’d say it was the shelves with the false book-fronts left on them.

I am guessing that this is part of the ballroom.

While this appears to be the main hall.

Isn’t this just amazing? Check out the etched glass on the dome!

I am thinking that I’d buy this house just to have this kitchen! I am curious as to whether it’s original to the house though. Seems a bit fancy for the servants!

In the tower, a panel swings out to reveal a staircase to the top of the tower, but curiously, the real estate listing doesn’t mention this.

The house has eight bedrooms in the main section, plus six in a “maisonette” somewhere close by, and is set in 17.5 acres of ground and a river runs through it. The price is £1,500,000, but it looks like it needs a lot of work, and of course, a ton of furnishings! The listing is here.

Tweed & Tattersall

This week kicks off the most wonderful time of the year, in my mind. It’s the beginning of horse-racing season. In the UK, this season is launched with the massive Cheltenham Festival of Racing. For 51 weeks of the year, Cheltenham is a small Regency town nestled in the Cotswold hills,but for Festival week, more than 237,000 people arrive to take part in the racing. A huge contingent of more than 20,000 arrives from Ireland, as there are a significant number of Irish-bred horses and jockeys racing. Of course, the Guinness Racing Village is an attraction, too!

Special steam trains come from London bringing racing fans who bet millions of pounds during the week. That’s one thing that was fun about living in the UK: I could bet on anything and everything. I even went to the local betting shop to put down a fiver on the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

The races are broadcast live via some of the betting sites like Paddy Power (it’s Irish!) and BetFred, but you have to do a bit of fiddling to be able to watch and bet if you have a US-based IP address. Luckily, I know the way around that obstacle and time my Friday lunch hour to coincide with the running of the biggest race of the Festival… the Gold Cup. And using my UK bank account, I put a couple of pounds down on a favourite, like Sam Waley-Cohen, an amateur jockey who won the Gold Cup several years ago (and who fell in the Maryland Hunt Cup, a much harder race!).

The other attraction of these races is seeing what everyone wears. When I used to go to the races at Chepstow, the course closest to where I lived in Wales, the dress of the day was something that kept you warm, something that kept you dry, and something to keep the sun out of your eyes. That generally meant wool trousers, waterproof boots, a heavy cashmere sweater, a long Barbour coat and of course, a hat. Unlike some of the other races, like Ascot, Cheltenham doesn’t have a dress code, although there is a preponderance of tweed and Tattersall. And hats.I much prefer the looks above to this look.

Wednesday is Ladies Day when all of the crazy outfits come out. Even though it’s still bloody chilly in the Cotswold hills this time of year, women arrive in skimpiest of summer outfits.

I have a Pinterest board called “What to wear to the races… or not”, so be sure to follow along for the next few days, here.

I love this picture of the Queen’s grand-daughter Zara Philips-Tindall, although she doesn’t look too thrilled about being kissed.

A Country Garden in a Late Winter Snow

I took advantage of a brilliantly sunny and almost warm day to head up to the country garden to take some pictures. While I got about eight inches of snow, just 10 miles north, they got more than 10 inches, which limited our walking around a little. Snow hides a lot of sins, and after a horror story I heard over the weekend, I didn’t want to risk falling!

I love this allée of trees and the beautiful bronze stag at the beginning and the bench and urn at the end of it.

The stag is really a gorgeous piece and sits on a plinth, surrounded by evergreen, although you can’t quite see it here.

There were remnants of the glorious garden in the summer and these wisteria branches almost reminded me of antlers over a ranch gate out west.

All of the garden’s benches invited you to sit a spell and have a chat, but we soldiered on.

All around the property, you see stone sculptures tucked in unexpected places.

Everywhere we walked, we saw that something had been there before us, including rabbits and foxes.

We stopped by to say hi to the cow (or steer), who came over to say hey to us and seemed very interested in Michael’s hat.

The barn was looking gorgeous in the sunlight and the snow. I can’t wait until it gets a little warmer and we can get to work on a super-secret project in there for later in the spring.

I love this view, I think it’s my favourite vista on the property.

Hope you had a great weekend, too!