Annoushka - Jewellery

Méribel Vallée boasts a total of 52 lifts and one of the biggest ski areas in Europe, if not the world.

Last Saturday my husband John and I completed everyone of these for the Coeur Blanc challenge 2012. With three friends and our trusty guide Florent Chretien of Elite Ski School we covered 165 kilometres in the process and descended over 15,000 metres – just short of two Mount Everests – in 8 hours 40 minutes! I have to say the thigh burn was intense as we flew down the pistes. It felt like a great achievement to complete the challenge with ten minutes to spare! 

The Coeur Blanc was founded by Rory Tapner and Pierre Taylor in 2008 and in the three challenges (2008,2010 and 2012) has raised over £1 million for charity. This year we were skiing for Skillforce an education charity working with 10,000 young people throughout 150 schools in Great Britain who are in danger of leaving school without the skills and qualifications they need to succeed in life.  Ex-servicemen are employed as Skillforce instructors, drawing on their diverse life experiences to help make a difference to the lives of these young people. The aim is to prevent young people becoming excluded from education, training or employment by working on social and behavioural problems, risk of exclusion from school, truancy, lack of direction, motivation and self esteem and poor educational attainment.

SkillForce has been in operation for 10 years and put 40,000 children through its programmes. It’s a great charity and more information can be found on http://www.skillforce.org/

The Basel Watch & Jewellery Fair is a must, being the most important jewellery fair in our calendar.

As always the jewellery halls were filled to the gunnels with precious pieces from every corner of the earth, showing a full spectrum of styles and materials. Loose stones are always a highlight for us, as we love sifting through gems searching for treasures, though we have to try hard to exercise some restraint! Of course we’ve come home with some beautiful stones and are brimming with ideas as to how to make these unique gems into new stunning One of a Kind pieces.

 Though there was no lack of effort, it was disappointing not to see anything that really knocked our socks off at the fair.   We did see a lot of designers making a conscious effort to keep gold to a minimum, as a result of the price of gold having soared to dizzying heights recently. I am sure this has partly fuelled the current trend for lace inspired pieces as picked up by Vivienne Becker in her fantastic piece in this week-ends Financial Times How To Spend It magazine.

 Basel Highlights for us were a quirky display reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland by Rosato, and attending the launch party of the fabulous new Victory wrist watch by English watch brand Bremont.  The Victory watch was created with the National Museum of the Royal Navy, and each watch has original parts of the HMS Victory built into it. Despite no sample being on display they sold over half the edition at Basel alone!  Clearly they are the watch brand of the hour as they also had 14 watches stolen during the launch event….time flies while we were having fun.

               Alice in Wonderland by Roasto                       Victory wrist watch by English watch brand Bremont

Entering the New Forest always feels like a new discovery. Although we only live less than an hour away from the pretty market town of Lyndhurst, it could be a million miles away – life slows down as you pull off the A27 and enter a different world. The ‘Forest’ as the locals call it, is steeped in 1950s nostalgia – a time of strong local communities, clipped BBC accents, sports jackets, old fashioned sweets such as flying saucers, kola cubes and buttered brazils, and of course austerity.

The Pig would fit well in a world of post-war rationing – a sort of Private Function meets Babe. It is a classic country house hotel which prides itself on its self sufficiency and reliance on a lovely walled garden where all manner of produce is grown – although at this time of the year heavily dependant on poly-tunnels and fleece! The pigs themselves are Gloucester Old Spots living behind the house next to the chickens.

The concept behind The Pig is that not only is the produce organic but that it should be sourced from within 15 miles of the hotel. Much of this is done by James Golding, the chef (formerly at The Ivy) foraging in the Forest. It sounds a very expensive way of running a restaurant but the prices are very reasonable – £125 for a very comfortable room – and about £30 per person for dinner without wine. The rooms are small but beautifully done– the beds are fabulous and our room in the Stable Block had a lovely big bathroom upstairs with a Monsoon shower for two, freestanding bath and a chaise longue. Next to our bed were books on rearing pigs, caring for bees and keeping chickens.

We thought we were coming to a pub – but the only similarity was that relaxed feeling that pubs offer – the staff at the Pig are young enthusiastic and chatty and there’s a really informal atmosphere. The Pig is a smart Georgian House with carefully distressed details – shabby chic – with a great deal of style. I am a great fan of The Pig’s big sister Lime Wood, but I loved The Pig’s imperfections – the exposed brickwork and battered furniture it has a wonderfully “lived in” feel.

I can’t think of a better place to spend an old fashioned Christmas or winter break – heavenly and romantic.

I was intrigued by the Royal Ballet’s latest production of George Balanchine’s “Jewels” so I decide d to invite some of our most loyal customers to join me at the Royal Opera House for an evening of ballet and music by their sensational orchestra.

Choreographer Balanchine was inspired by the colour and beauty of the gemstones he saw in the collection of Van Cleef & Arpels and each movement used a different stone for its inspiration and a different composer for its sound.  This is the closing ballet of the season and I was looking forward to seeing the whole Company dancing together.  The choreography was indeed breathtaking with Fauré setting the lyrical, subtle scene of ‘Emeralds’, Stravinsky and some impressively performed New York jazz pieces energising ‘Rubies’ and Tchaikovsky’s peerless music accompanying ‘Diamonds’.

My favourite movement was ‘Rubies’, which was intense, rich, warm and feminine.  Yuhui Choe  is such a hypnotic dancer and her smile lit up the room.   The costumes of ‘Rubies’ really reflected the modern, dare I say approachable tone of the piece.

I was also captivated by Argentinian Marianela Nunez, whose precision and grace have, over the years, put her near the top on my list of contemporary ballet gems.  Her partner in ‘Diamond’ and in life, Thiago Soares, also gave an impressive performance and I was delighted to see that the energy of this newly married couple is as electric as ever. 

This ballet is now an obvious favourite of mine and my guests and I had such a wonderful evening!

I first had the inspiration for my Lattice collection when travelling in India, as often houses have lattice screens over looking courtyards, which give you a real feeling of mystery…I love to imagine the women gathering for tea and gossiping behind closed doors!

In this collection I’ve tried to capture the magical balance between light and dark, positive and negative that you find in the intricate patterns of Lattice doors, screens and windows in different cultures.

Shop the new Lattice collection.

Had a wonderful stay at Lime Wood Hotel, an extraordinary place situated in the New Forest National Park. It was rebuilt by Jim Radcliffe at a cost rumoured to be in excess of £60 million – that’s nearly £2 million per room since the hotel only has 30 or so rooms! But what is so unusual is how tastefully this huge amount of money has been applied – in this case every detail is exquisite and the craftsmanship superb. Whereas Babington House and Cowley Manor are beginning to look a bit frayed around the edges, this one feels as though it has been restored to last.

David Collins has done the interiors and they are fab – the taste is eclectic and luxurious and completely avoids the blandness you see in so many hotels. This is complemented by the owner’s own art collection.

The scullery is in the style of an 18th Century country house kitchen – it may sound a bit pretentious but it really isn’t because it is so beautifully executed with painted wooden floors, superb panelling with plate racks and walls brimming with pickles and other preserves.

Lime Wood Hotel

This place is going to give the excellent Chewton Glen a run for its money – although it is altogether more relaxed. Robin Hutson (ex Soho House, Hotel du Vin) is running the hotel for owner Jim Radcliffe, with Justin Pinchbeck taking the General Manager’s role.

We tried the Herb House, the hotel’s huge spa, for a mud bath. I couldn’t understand why my husband got the giggles until I looked in the mirror. I was covered head to foot in grey mud with only a plastic shower cap on my head! Nothing happens for 45 minutes as you heat up until the showers suddenly go on. I’m not very good at sitting doing nothing but I made up for it with a delicious dinner and a deep sleep in the most comfortable bed I have experienced.

Lime Wood "Herb House Spa"