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Island
living
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Page 20
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
New homes 4
Corfu 8
My home 32
Design
crazy
Jigianluca De Girolamo at The Original Pack Shot Company
School
report
Exposed: flat-owners hit by insurance scam. Mira Bar-Hillel reports
Space to party
■ Property: three-bedroom flat
■ Price: £349,995 (includes
a share of the freehold)
■ Agent: Kinleigh Folkard
& Hayward (020 8469 0202)
Faye Greenslade
Evening Standard Homes & Property Wednesday, 12 September 2007
PROPERTY
2
BUY OF THE WEEK
Visit our great new website: homesandproperty.co.uk
LONDON goes design mad this month. The London
Design Festival — Europe’s biggest — is a must for all

home lovers. There is a staggering number of events in
shops, exhibition halls, warehouses and studios all over
the capital. Top craftspeople, young designers and
established
names will
display their
wares and
share their
skills. Check
out the
London Tent,
in a former
brewery in
Brick Lane,
■ Decorating
T
AKE one Victorian conversion flat
in leafy Brockley, SE4, open up the
main space, and enjoy the results –
a 22ft reception room, perfect for
entertaining friends with its ample
seating and dining areas, along with
a high-spec, open-plan kitchen.
Sharing is easy in this flat with its three
bedrooms (two double) and a bathroom.
Off-street parking and a communal garden
are part of the deal, plus Hilly Fields Park and
Brockley train station are an easy walk away.
L
ONDON flat-owners are

being regularly ripped off by
their managing agents, who
charge them excessive
amounts for buildings insur-
ance. The agent or the free-
holder then collects a nice sum for
themselves in commission for giv-
ing an insurance company the busi-
ness. They do not pass this
commission on to the flat-owners.
And they do not have to disclose this
fact to the residents.
The practice is going on all over
London, claims chartered surveyor
Roger Southam, former president of
the Royal Institute of Chartered
Surveyors (RICS). He says the insti-
tute should crack down on the tactic.
Southam raised the issue more
KENSINGTON could be the home of a new 60,000-seat football
stadium. Billionaire Roman Abramovich has found a possible
site for Chelsea FC that runs along Warwick Road, between
Tesco in West Cromwell Road and Kensington High Street,
writes Compton Miller. It could take advantage of reasonable
public transport links via Olympia and High Street
Kensington stations.
“This huge development area is mainly owned by the
Prudential and two other developers,” says local Tory councillor
Victoria Borwick. “There’s already a scheme afoot to build
luxury flats, affordable housing, a school and a park there. But

who knows what the future holds?” The Russian tycoon dreams
of emulating Arsenal’s new 60,432-seater Emirates Stadium.
and try your hand at ceramics, mosaics or silversmithing.
Our website, homesandproperty.co.uk, will keep you at
the cutting edge of London’s design scene.
The hard hats are out again in Manhattan as
developers reach for the skies with new condos and
apartments. Our website tells you where to splash your
cash and revel in your wealth as a Brit with pounds in
your pocket and a favourable exchange rate.
Can’t stretch to the Eastern Seaboard? How about a
break in Devon? We reveal the best places to go.
Also, search for your
ideal home, catch up on the
latest property news and get
fantastic ideas for making
the best of your home, inside
and out.
■ Manhattan transfer
Blowing the
whistle:
Roger
Southam
than a year ago after press reports
about it. He was given the task of
investigating the practice by the
then president, Graham Chase. But
since then he has met with nothing
but obstruction from the RICS, he
told Homes & Property.

“I have spoken with various people
in the RICS executive office, only to
be told they’ll get back to me,” he
said. “They keep saying they aren’t
ready to start the working party. So I
decided to blow the whistle.”
Mr Southam discovered the prob-
lem when the freehold of Boardwalk
Place, E14, a property his company
Chainbow was managing, was sold
in September 2005 to a company con-
trolled by Vincent Tchenguiz. The
new company demanded insurance
amounting to more than £100,000 for
370 flats and houses in seven blocks.
“I went to a broker and got a quo-
tation for £60,000, including a 20 per
cent commission for the agent or
freeholder,” said Mr Southam.
The Government is considering
forcing the disclosure of more
details of service-charge accounts,
but says this would not include
details of insurance commissions.
Football pitch for Kensington?
Abramovich, right, and Chelsea scorer Didier Drogba
Taken for a ride
■ London Design Festival
IF HOLIDAY travel has given you a taste for homes
abroad then how about this? For the price of

a London studio (about £115,000) you could buy a
home in Canada’s coastal retreat, Nova Scotia. The
city will be a distant memory once you are settled
into this 1,800sq ft log-cabin, complete with 25 acres
of meadows and woods that meander down to your
own stretch of river. A honey-pine kitchen, various
living rooms, plus three bedrooms and a bathroom
span two floors, and large decks provide a platform
for soaking up the scenery. After a five-and-a-half-
hour flight to Halifax you can be at you new home
in less than an hour from the airport.
Call Kilmeny Fane-Saunders (020 7939 7923), or
visit www.secondhomenovascotia.com.
THE Yorkshire village
of Langtoft might not
be as exotic as Nova
Scotia (above) but for
a character cottage
this is hard to beat.
The outside, a façade
of sash windows and
whitewashed brick,
provides a pretty
canvas for window
boxes, while inside is
deceptively spacious with a 17ft sitting room with
open fireplace, kitchen/dining room, two bedrooms
and a bathroom. Time-poor gardeners can relax in
the back yard, large enough for seating, with a
timber shed and potted plants.

Scarborough (16 miles away) has trains that reach
King’s Cross in three hours. Beanland Illingworth
(01751 475557) is asking £122,500.
Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Canada
Langtoft, North Yorkshire
WHO’S MOVING
homes gossip
S
HADOW environment
secretary Greg Barker
is selling Woodside House,
his eight-bedroom Georgian
property near Sir Paul McCartney’s
home in Peasmarsh, East
Sussex, for £2.65 million through
Savills. This follows the recent
break-up of his 14-year marriage
to brewery heiress Celeste
Harrison, after revelations that
he was having a gay relationship
with antiques dealer William
Banks-Blaney.
The Barkers’ immaculate
Grade II-listed house, set in
15 acres, includes a walled garden,
tennis court, swimming pool,
coach house and garages.
The Tory MP for Bexhill and
Battle, who has three children and
is one of David Cameron’s most

trusted aides, already owns an
£800,000 Belgravia pied-á-terre.
Katie Hopkins
Rex Features
Christian Slater
Fabrizio Bensch
Sir Oliver Millar
Photonews Services
Greg Barker
David Wimsett
K
ATIE Hopkins, the pushy
Barnstaple-born Apprentice
star who became the first
contestant to snub Sir Alan Sugar’s
job offer, has resisted offers to
move to London. Instead she has
spent £300,000 on a four-bedroom,
three-storey, new-build terrace
near Exeter, where she was at
university. The self-confessed
ruthless alpha female lives with
her toddlers India and Poppy. Alas,
after a spate of raunchy publicity
earlier this year, she lost her
£90,000-a-year Met Office job.
D
AVID Cameron’s media
advisers, worried his
patrician image might mirror

1960s predecessor Harold
Macmillan, will be relieved to
learn there’s no chance of him
being tempted to invest in a
grouse moor. “As far as I’m aware
there are no moors for sale,” says
Andrew Rettie, Strutt & Parker’s
senior partner in Edinburgh.
“There are only 400 such
properties in Scotland and
Northern England and these
are the preserve of very rich
individuals and rarely come
on to the open market.”
F
OR most of his 40-year
royal career Sir Oliver
Millar, former surveyor
of the Queen’s pictures and
director of the Royal Collection,
lived in grace-and-favour
apartments at St James’s Palace.
But, upon his retirement in
1988, he and his wife, Delia,
moved to The Cottage, a seven-
bedroom Victorian brick-and-flint
house in Penn, Buckinghamshire,
which is now up for sale at
£1.25 million through Savills. The
Queen, who has always preferred

the gee-gees and corgis to
any kind of art, completely
relied on the erudite Van Dyck
expert’s artistic judgement.
Sir Oliver died four months ago
aged 84.
Christian thrown to the sharks by Compton Miller
Evening Standard Homes & Property Wednesday, 12 September 2007
PROPERTY
3
SWAP SHOP
Editor: Janice Morley
Deputy editor: Philippa Stockley
Advertisement manager: Louise McGaffigan
Editorial: 020 7938 6714/7245; advertising: 020 7938 7247
www.homesandproperty.co.uk
Homes &
Property, Northcliffe House, 2 De
rry Street,
Kensington, London W8 5TT
W
HEN hellraisin’ Hollywood heart-throb Christian Slater stars in
the Tinseltown satire Swimming With Sharks from next month he
will stay in the five-star 51 Buckingham Gate Hotel. It’s only
a short stroll across St James’s Park to the Vaudeville Theatre, where he
appears opposite Helen Baxendale for a 15-week run. Three years ago,
when this exuberant New Yorker made his London stage debut in One
Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, he brought his TV producer wife Ryan
Haddon, mother of their children Jaden and Eliana. “Christian loves
England but Ryan never felt at home,” a friend commented. Shortly

afterwards they parted. This award-winning red-brick hotel, as well as
having London’s longest bar, boasts a spa that will provide Slater with
“complete mental, spiritual and physical healing”.
A new
school of
thought
Across London, schools are working with house builders, transforming their space
to create new homes and improve school facilities. David Spittles reports
Evening Standard Homes & Property Wednesday, 12 September 2007
NEW HOMES
4
A
S THE new school year begins, there is a new
subject on the curriculum for pupils and teachers
at Central Foundation Boys’ School, a well-
regarded state secondary located on the fringe of
the Square Mile — it is design and architecture.
In a ground-breaking marriage of land sites,
work will soon start on a spectacular redevelopment of the
school that will include a new skyscraper already
trumpeted as “the residential equivalent of the Gherkin”,
the iconic office tower barely half-a-mile away.
The existing school will continue to operate with the
benefit of improved sporting and community-based
facilities, says developer Tudorvale, which is creating
136 apartments in glamorous glass-and-steel high-rise
buildings and converted classroom blocks.
Standing immediately south of Old Street roundabout,
opposite historic Bunhill Fields and cemetery, the develop-
ment will be a Barbican-like trophy address for City

workers, says Andrew Palmer, director of DTZ Residential.
“It’s the gateway to the City. Apartments will have
signature interior design, fantastic views and sell for up to
£850 a square foot, unprecedented for the EC2 postcode.”
Central Foundation also borders Shoreditch Triangle, a
trendy quarter of lofts, bars, restaurants and creative
businesses — and a diverting alternative to the pin-striped
Square Mile. The entry price is likely to be £350,000,
KINGSWAY Square in Battersea
struck a chord with Peter
Rutherford, 30, who bought
a two-bedroom flat there.
Hailing from Edinburgh,
where he still has a home,
Peter now works in London as
a banker. “I hadn’t really
considered a new development
but here was the perfect
compromise. It’s a fantastic
building — elegant rather than
trying too hard to be a fashion
statement. I love the sense of
grandeur and space — the
ceiling heights are 4.5 metres.”
‘It’s a fantastic building
rising to more than £1 million. Call DTZ Residential on
020 7710 8116.
The start of the autumn term certainly marks a new era
for school redevelopments in London. In Kensington, Places
for People, one of the UK’s largest property management

and development companies, is demolishing St Thomas’, a
dilapidated Seventies primary school, and building 69 flats
above a state-of-the-art new school at a cost of £14 million
for the school alone. Fifty-five of the flats will be sold on
the open market, funding the St Thomas’s project on Apple-
ford Road, close to fashionable Notting Hill Gate.
Apartments will have separate access and are
designed so they do not overlook the school and
playground. Construction is under way and flats
will go on sale in early 2008. Places for People has
roots in the housing association movement and
focuses on affordable homes, so prices will start
below the £250,000 stamp duty threshold.
“We believe this is a model that could be used
across the capital,” says Tim Weightman, develop-
ment director. “It pays for vital school maintenance
while meeting housing need, and frees schools from
relying on government funding for improvements.”
London Diocesan Board for Schools is a develop-
ment partner. Call 0845 603 7786.
Increasingly, schools led by entrepreneurial
governing bodies are collaborating with
developers. A number of schools have recently
traded their playgrounds and open space to make
way for housing to pay for educational improve-
ments and better facilities.
Nearing completion on Stamford Street, SE1, is a
scheme called Portico — 58 flats built behind the
listed entrance of London Nautical School.
It is a cracking location, moments from the South Bank

arts and media centre. Crown Estate spotted the investment
potential and stepped in to purchase all the flats from
developer Crest Nicholson. The homes will be kept as a
rental portfolio and let to local executives and people who
want a weekday pied-â-terre.
A decade ago Victorian school conversions propelled the
loft-living trend that had taken off in Clerkenwell. Dozens
of these splendid old schools have since been split into
fancy homes, many in the borough of Wandsworth, where
local politicians seem less sentimental about keeping open
state primaries and are using government money to build
new academies.
Just when it appeared the supply had dried up along
comes arguably the best building yet — former Battersea
Polytechnic, a listed red-brick gem dating from 1891.
It is being transformed by developer St James Homes into
a complex of 153 flats, from studios to triplexes, set around
landscaped courtyards. Homes in the refurbished old
buildings, which include the Great Hall, have double-height
‘This is a model that could be used across
the capital. It pays for school maintenance while
meeting housing needs’
Peter Rutherford was swayed to buy in Kingsway
Square, because of its space and sense of grandeur
Eighty-four flats are being created out of a building in Twickenham, west London,
that was once part of Brunel University. Prices are not yet set. Call 020 7710 8116
Paul Grundy
From £240,000: Kingsway Square, SW11. Homes are being
created in former Battersea Polytechnic, where the old library
will become a members only dining club. Call 0870 850 7674

About £350,000: an artist’s impression of how glamorous glass-and-steel high-rise blocks with 136 apartments
will look surrounding Central Foundation Boys’ School in Cowper Street, EC2. The school will benefit by having
improved sporting and community-based facilities. For more information, call DTZ Residential on 020 7710 8116
TP Bennett LLP
Evening Standard Homes & Property Wednesday, 12 September 2007
NEW HOMES
5
TO FIND MORE NEW HOMES, VISIT
homesandproperty.co.uk
spaces. Entrance to the development is via the grand foyer,
preserved in its entirety, with a sweeping staircase and
mosaic floor.
The design emphasis is on retention of fine period details.
The old library, which is oak panelled and has stained-glass
windows, is to become a members only dining club, a
fashionable new venue for SW11 (Battersea Park Road).
Called Kingsway Square, prices start at £240,000 for a studio.
Contact St James Homes on 0870 850 7674. Underground
parking spaces cost £15,000.
What makes these schools such appealing homes is the
solid, robust architecture. Often there is a boundary wall
providing privacy and security — a gated community
without being fortress-like.
The College, Wood Lane, TW7
Grade II listed Lancaster House and George Little
House were once part of Brunel University.
Jaspar Group, a niche conversion and restoration
specialist, is creating 84 flats. Prices yet to be
released. Call DTZ on 020 7710 8116.
L’Ecole, Benwell Road, N7

Big loft apartments and duplexes have been
created at this Victorian school, close to Arsenal
football club’s Emirates stadium. Prices from
£505,000. Call DTZ on 020 7710 8116.
Academy House, Chaplin Mews, N1
A new address for a fashionable Islington
location, close to City Road canal basin. Prices
are from £309,950. Call developer Crest
Nicholson on 0870 750 8403.
Mary Datchelor, Camberwell, SE5
This prestigious former girls’ school sits in
a conservation area fronting Grove Lane.
Part-conversion, part new-build, developer
St George is creating 90 homes. To register,
call 020 7587 3710.
Earning top marks
From £250,000:
St Thomas’ in
Kensington (right)
is being rebuilt as
a state-of-the-art
school, with 69
flats above. Call
0845 603 7786
From £505,000: L’Ecole (above and left) close to Arsenal
football club’s N7 stadium, is being converted into large loft
apartments and duplexes. Call DTZ on 020 7710 8116
The
imposing
façade of

the former
Battersea
Polytechnic
has been
incorporated
into
Kingsway
Square,
SW11, a
scheme of
153 flats.
Call 0870
850 7674
Playing the
Evening Standard Homes & Property Wednesday, 12 September 2007
OUT OF TOWN
6
T
HE Grange is a former rectory in a village
near Newbury. It started life as a simple tile-
hung Queen Anne vicarage suitable for a
modest country parson but sometime at the
end of the 18th century a vicar with grander ideas
and a budget to match added
a Regency extension with an
imposing classical front; a grand
living room with two long
windows overlooking hills and
woodland; and a magnificent
staircase, which spirals up to

the first floor and an equally
spacious bedroom.
When art historian Louise
Chapelle and her husband, Ian,
a retired pension fund manager,
bought the house in 2002 it
needed everything doing to it.
“We wanted to move out of
London and were looking for a
period house with big windows
and space.” For Louise, that
meant Georgian, and, she says,
“The Grange was perfect for us”.
It was riddled with damp. Curing this problem
involved lowering the Yorkstone terrace and
installing ventilation and then replacing all the
rotten joists and flooring. They employed English
Heritage-appointed craftsmen and the roof was
overhauled. The Grange was rewired and
replumbed; windows, cornices and skirtings were
repaired or replaced; and the outside walls were
stripped and repointed.
Louise was determined that every detail should
Louise Chapelle and her restored home, The Grange. “It was exciting returning it to its former glory”
The polished steel bath in the en suite bathroom
The kitchen
with
freestanding
Chalon units
runs into the

back
extension,
which is
filled with
light from
large leaded
windows
be in keeping with the period. She had Georgian
six-panel doors specially made in Norfolk to
replace the existing pine ones. “Whenever I saw
a Georgian door, I would measure it and keep
a note of the dimensions. I even went up to
strangers’ front doors with my tape measure,
hoping that no one would come out and ask me
what I was doing,” she says.
Louise scoured the world for suitable fittings,
with the brass beehive door knobs coming from
the Black Country; the
reclaimed maple floor
from Essex; the Regency
fireplace in the dining room
from London; and curtain tie-
backs from Egypt and France.
Ian and Louise bought the
house for £975,000 and the
restoration has cost them
another £800,000. The
Grange is currently divided
into two separate properties.
The main house, where Ian

and Louise live, has four
bedrooms and three
bathrooms. The adjoining
house, the Lodge, has three
bedrooms and is let for
£1,300 a month.
Ill health makes it difficult
for Louise to live in her home any longer and the
couple are moving to a more manageable space.
“It was so fulfilling and exciting, tracking
down the right pieces to return the home to its
former glory. But, for me, it was exhausting, so
we’re happy to leave it for new owners to enjoy.”
The Grange, including Grange Lodge, is on the
market for £2 million. For more information,
contact Jackson-Stops & Staff on 01635 45501, or
Knight Frank on 01488 682726.
The restored 18th century staircase
The Grange, Speen, Berkshire
W
HEN career women leave
London some turn
property into their career,
seeing the search for a new
home, and its renovation and
refurbishment, as a challenge
and a profitable exercise. We talk to two women
who found their crumbling wrecks riddled with
damp and dry rot and thought: “Oh Joy.”
Castle House is in the centre of Guildford,

a rich market town in Surrey, about 30 miles from
central London. It is a fine Jacobean house with
an elegant red-brick Georgian façade, and an
impressive porch with two columns each side of
the doorway topped with a classical pediment.
The house is in a pretty street in the old part of
Guildford, backing on to the castle…
Castle House, Guildford, Surrey
ANTIQUARIAN bookseller Charles Traylen lived
in Castle House for 50 years, and used to sit at a
desk that once belonged to Charles Dickens. How-
ever, the house fell down around him, and when
he died in 2002, aged 96, the new owner got no
further than stripping back to the Jacobean
timbers. It was too big a task for a part-timer.
Looking for a new project?
Anthea Masey meets
career women who took on
country wrecks and won
David George
David George
LOUISE CHAPELLE’S STORY
KATE VORLEY’S STORY
Evening Standard Homes & Property Wednesday, 12 September 2007
OUT OF TOWN
7
Kate, a mother of three who had run a busy
London legal office, had lived in Wandsworth for
10 years with her husband and family. They were
planning to leave the city when her husband

heard about Castle House. When Kate saw it she
knew it was exactly what she wanted.
It took Kate two-and-a-half years to gain all the
planning approvals and buy the house. During
this time she did a one-year interior-design
course at top London design school KLC,
Chelsea Harbour. More than simply choosing
fabrics, this proved to be a comprehensive exer-
cise in drawing, planning, wiring and plumbing
as well as design. “The course was tough and
gave me ideas and the confidence to get on with
the job,” says. Kate. She then hired a specialist
conservation architect, Richard Greening from
Nye Saunders in Godalming, who knew his way
round the planning system.
With designs in place they searched for the
right builder, but the quotes that came in were
double Kate’s budget. “At this point I decided to
hire the craftsmen individually and pay them a
daily rate. I was lucky to find an excellent site
foreman and carpenter, and I organised the
project with monthly visits from the architect.
I saved at least 50 per cent this way.”
The house had to be replumbed and rewired;
the windows were either overhauled or replaced
and the back wall of the house had to be rebuilt.
Exposed timbers in Castle House’s main bedroom
Guide price £375,000:
Combe Dale, Clayhanger
Lane, Chard, Somerset.

A listed thatched six- to
seven-bedroom house on
the market for the first time
in 70 years. For auction on
20 September. Through
Greenslade Taylor Hunt
(01460 65651)
£385,000: The
Cottage, Middleton
Moor, Suffolk.
A three-bedroom
cottage with large
garden, close to the
Suffolk Heritage
Coast. Through
Bedfords (01728
454505)
Busy mum Kate Vorley, with her children,
Imogen, nine, Ted, six, and Louis, five
£450,000: Old Coastguards, The Lifeboat
Slip, Appledore, Bideford, Devon. A two- or
three-bedroom house on the market for
the first time in 38 years with planning
permission for an extension. Though Stags
(01237 425030)
Properties to restore
renovation game
The new wall was faced with custom-made
“mathematical” tiles, which look like red bricks
but are actually rectangular tiles nailed to the

wall. The carpenter made a new back staircase
and laid new oak floors, sometimes on top of
existing floors, which the local conservation
officer insisted should be preserved.
The end result is a fine family home. There are
two reception rooms, a utility room and
a tucked away suite of rooms for the nanny on
the ground floor. A grand Georgian staircase
leads to the first floor, where there are two
elegant reception rooms — one used as a draw-
ing room, the other as a dining room — and
a family room, much loved by Kate’s three
children, Imogen, nine, Ted, six, and Louis, five.
The kitchen has freestanding units from
Chalon. The room runs into the back extension,
which overlooks, through leaded light windows,
a courtyard with an ancient magnolia grandi-
flora. Upstairs, on the second floor, there is a
charming rabbit warren of rooms, including an
impressive master bedroom, partially open to
the roof timbers, which leads to a dressing room
and an en-suite bathroom with an unusual free-
standing polished-steel bath. There are another
five bedrooms and two bathrooms and, on the
top floor, under the eaves, studious Imogen has a
tiny attic room that she uses as a library.
The former ballroom, which is joined to the
back of the house and forms one side of the
courtyard, has full-length Gothic-style windows,
leading on to the garden, and was a 19th century

addition. This is incomplete, but would make
a grand entertainment space, billiard room, or
could be rented out for photoshoots and parties.
Kate bought the house for £800,000 and spent
at least £1 million renovating it. “I have done up
this house so that it will last another 400 years,
and that doesn’t come cheap,” she says. When
the bills topped £1 million I stopped counting.”
With so much knowledge, and hungry for
another project, the family are now moving on.
“I began to realise you never really own a house
like Castle House, and if I stayed I would just
keep endlessly renovating. But that isn’t sensible.
I need a new project and for it to be profitable.
But we are definitely staying in the area. There
are good schools and shops, and lots of open
fields and surrounding villages.”
■ Castle House is on the market for £3 million
through Knight Frank. Call 01483 565171.
‘When the bills topped
£1 million, I stopped counting’
£500,000: Loup House, Lyme Road,
Axminster, Devon. A four-bedroom listed
Regency house in need of modernisation,
with a large enclosed garden. Through
Stags (01404 45885)
£695,000: Amberley Cottage, Littleworth,
Amberley, Gloucestershire. A 17th century
house with four bedrooms and two attic
rooms, and far-reaching views over the

Nailsworth valley. Through Murrays
(01453 755552)
£600,000: Higher Elston, Coppleston,
Crediton, Devon. A three-bedroom house in
need of restoration. There is planning
permission to convert the barns into
live/work units. Call Stags (01392 255202)
David George
David George
Factfile
■ Building your own property is popular here.
In rural areas you must have at least an acre
of land.
■ Lawyer and notary fees range from one to
1.5 per cent each.
■ Purchase Tax is nine per cent on the
Government Objective Value of Property. This is
set by officials but is generally substantially
below the real cost.
■ All property is sold in euros.
An
Ionian
sweetmeat
The beautiful island of Corfu,
with its mixture of classical
and Venetian influences,
is attracting large numbers
of British buyers to Greece,
says Cathy Hawker
Evening Standard Homes & Property Wednesday, 12 September 2007

ABROAD
8
A
MONG the green hills packed with olive
trees, and the welcoming Ionian Sea,
there’s something very British about the
Greek island of Corfu, made famous by
Gerald Durrell’s book My Family and
Other Animals. Whether it’s the cricket
pitch in the heart of Corfu Town or the lashings of
ginger beer consumed across beachfront tavernas,
it is easy to spot the remnants of British rule
mixed in with Venetian architecture and strong
Greek character.
Nowadays, the British come to Corfu to holiday,
around 495,000 of us last year, while another 10,000-
plus live there year round, all of whom should be
toasting the first season of direct scheduled flights
from London, which began in May this year.
“British Airways flights from Gatwick have been
a positive step for the local property market,” says
Piers Williams of North East Corfu Real Estate.
“The flights are well booked up by Corfu regulars
and we have high hopes the service will eventu-
ally extend beyond October into the winter. Corfu
is a beautiful island out of season.”
Williams specialises in the north-east corner of
the island, where steep green slopes make build-
ing difficult, curbing the over development seen
in parts of the south. There are few hotels and

apartments, and those hills provide blissful views
from glistening white villas across the sea to
Albania and the Greek mainland. This is already
a popular holiday area, nicknamed “Kensington-
on-Sea” for attracting the “right” sort of tourists,
and those tourists are now house-hunting. Most
want a property built from the light Corfiot stone
with exceptional sea views. Prices here range from
£339,600 up to £2.03 million, according to Williams.
“Our clients are generally looking for a four-
bedroom family villa of about 2,690sq ft upwards,
with a pool and plenty of outdoor space,” he says.
“The north-east coast remains particularly popu-
lar. One client described it to me as being like the
South of France in the 1960s.”
Thriving resort
In Kassiopi, once a quiet fishing village and now a
thriving tourist resort, Williams is selling an old
stone villa above the harbour for £305,570 with
four bedrooms, swimming pool and attractive
£575,000: this villa (above and below),
in San Stefanos, has four en-suite double
bedrooms, and great views. Through
Aylesford International (020 7351 2383)
From
£152,300:
Verde Blu is a
modern complex
just three
minutes’ walk

from Barbati
beach. Each
property has a
main apartment
and a guest
apartment
underneath,
which could be
let to generate
an income.
There is also
a large
communal
swimming pool.
Through Savills
International
(020 7016 3740)
The warm waters off
Kassiopi, which used
to be a quiet fishing
village, has enhanced
its appeal for tourists
and helped turn it
into a thriving
holiday resort that
is popular with
British families
From £61,000: one- and two-bedroom
apartments, three minutes’ walk from
the sea at Glyfada. Through Savills

International (020 7016 3740)
What’s on offer
‘BA flights from Gatwick have
been a positive step’
The wine-
dark sea
Axiom
Alamy
gardens, while £577,200 will buy a new four-
bedroom villa 10 minutes’ walk from chic San Ste-
fanos. “This small village with its lovely tavernas
is a popular place for British families to
holiday,” says Williams. “David Cameron and his
family came here last summer.”
Emma Wood of Savills associates The Corfu
Property Shop in Barbati has land for sale on a
ridge above Agni Bay. Priced at £112,000, it has
good views over the coast and planning permis-
sion for a large villa and pool. In Gouvia, north of
the Venetian capital Corfu Town, Woods is selling
Castello Monte Mar, three new houses hand-built
by local stonemasons with pools and landscaped
gardens priced from £227,500 to £292,000. “Corfu
has a fascinating landscape, warm, hospitable
people, low crime levels and an excellent climate,”
says Wood. “There is a rich, varied culture on the
island and Italy is just a ferry trip away. No wonder
British buyers are coming in large numbers.”
■ North East Corfu Real Estate: 00 30 69420 54500;
www.northeastcorfu.com, or Aylesford

International: 020 7351 2383; www.aylesford.com.
■ Savills International: 020 7016 3740;
www.savills.com/abroad.
‘There is a rich, varied culture
on the island’
The narrow streets of Corfu’s charming Old Town bustle with tourists exploring its craft shops and tavernas
Can sellers still avoid the costs of a HIP by calling
a spare bedroom “a study”, asks Jane Barry
Evening Standard Homes & Property Wednesday, 12 September 2007
ISSUE
11
FOR MORE EXPERT ADVICE, VISIT
homesandproperty.co.uk
T
HEE-BEDROOM houses joined
the HIPs club on Monday, when
it became an offence to sell
them without a Home Informa-
tion Pack. Homes of four bed-
rooms or more have required
the packs since 1 August, when the HIPs
initiative was introduced.
The packs will involve time and money
to prepare — the average cost is likely to
be about £500. But can sellers avoid both
by describing at least one bedroom as a
study, so that technically, they are selling
a two-bedroom home?
The Government admits there is no
legal definition of a bedroom.

According to property lawyer Ken
Byass of Moss Solicitors, the staged
implementation of HIPs was a last-
minute decision “thought up on the
hoof” by officials just before the HIPs
programme was due to be unveiled.
Realising there were insufficient
trained energy
assessors to pro-
vide all homes
for sale with a
key element of
the packs —
Energy Perfor-
mance Certificates — a decision was
taken to stagger their introduction.
“But,” says Byass, “I don’t think any-
one did any definition of a bedroom for
the purposes of these regulations.”
So is a bedroom just a room with a bed
in it? Does it stop being a bedroom if
you remove the bed?
“If there’s no bed, and it’s lined with
books and there’s a desk and a computer,
then it is obviously a study,” agrees
Byass. “But if you took the bed out only
last week it could amount to a misde-
scription to call it a study and the estate
agent and owner could be fined.”
Estate agents are answerable to the

Office of Fair Trading if they misde-
scribe properties. And, though there has
not been a rush of sales yet — many sell-
ers put their properties on the market
before the launch of HIPs —most agents
appear to be playing it by the book.
“Our aim is to be whiter than white,”
says Nick Taylor of agents John D
Wood. “An empty flat with several
rooms is one thing, but when you go
upstairs in a house it’s pretty obvious
which are the bedrooms.”
So is a bedroom any upstairs room big
enough for a bed? Well, no.
“From a lawyer’s point of view,” says
Rachel Howle of KJD Solicitors, “if a
three-bedroom house has a loft conver-
sion — you can describe the loft accord-
ing to how it has been used.”
Kirit Patel of agents Hoopers has just
sold a three-bedroom Dollis Hill house
with a three-room semi-basement exten-
sion, which has been on his books since
June. It could not be described as more
than three bedrooms because that is
how the extension was built, he says.
“The extra rooms are in the extension
and could all be used as living rooms.”
But at agents Camerons Stiff, in Willes-
den Green, a three-bedroom flat with a

studio, which
until this week
might not have
required a HIP,
had to be
described as four
bedrooms. Says
its Elaine Dyer: “We have to say four
bedrooms because we could not sell the
studio section separately, as it was not
self-contained.”
Not so clever, anyway
Many sellers may find that “downsiz-
ing” their descriptions simply does not
pay off. Though they might save £500 in
the cost of a HIP, a “two-bedroom flat
with study” will not sell as fast, or for
the same price, as a property described
as “three bedrooms”, agents warn.
And they add that potential buyers
look for a price drop of up to £120,000 for
every bedroom reduction and may not
be impressed by the potential of a small
room described as a study.
“I don’t know why they didn’t go for
square footage on HIPs,” says Sam Mur-
phy of estate agent Paramount com-
plains. “It takes out all the problems.”
HARRIETTE Kevill-Davies (right), a mature
student, became one of London’s first

sellers to be required to create a HIP.
Ironically, one of the four bedrooms of
her Clapham Edwardian home, on the
market with John D Wood for £765,000,
has always been used as a study.
“But it’s so big that, when you walk into
it, you are convinced it’s a bedroom,” she
‘Saying study, not bedroom
could mean you sell
more slowly and for less’
says. She decided to describe it as four
bedrooms and paid £400 for a pack to be
produced. When Homes & Property
spoke to her, five days after she decided
to sell, she was expecting the energy
assessor to arrive within two days.
“It’s all gone very quickly,” she says.
“But the HIP has delayed me getting on
to the market by about a week.”
‘The study is so big, you do think its a bedroom’
£756,000: Harriette
Kevill-Davies’s “three-
bedroom” terrace house
in Clapham could have
escaped a HIP before this
week, but a fourth room
— a large study — was
clearly big enough to
make a further bedroom.
Through John D Wood

(020 8871 3033)
£464,950: this first-floor
flat in Melrose Avenue,
NW2, has three bedrooms,
plus a studio (left). It has to
be described as four-
bedrooms, for HIP
purposes, because the
studio is not self-contained.
Through Camerons Stiff
(020 8459 1133)
Bedroom antics
Mark York
Picture
the look
Evening Standard Homes & Property Wednesday, 12 September 2007
SHOPPING
12
FOR MORE DESIGN NEWS, VISIT
homesandproperty.co.uk/design news
Design news by Katie Law
Going for luxury
Argos
Textured fabrics that look and feel luxurious, and black and mirrored glass, are
heavily featured in the new Argos home collection, much of which is not available
in the main catalogue, but can be found online. The Trudy black glass chandelier is
a snip at £58.99, the Symphony
collection of damask cushion
cases are good value at £14.99 a
pair and a chaise longue called

Jessica (left) is very affordable
at £199.99.
But the best value of all is
that Argos will deliver
anything in the home
catalogue for only £4.95, no
matter how much you order.
For more information, call
0870 600 2020, or visit
www.argos.co.uk.
Window dresser
Brume
Net-curtain haters who like to let in the
light, while keeping their privacy, will love
Brume’s easy-to-use adhesive window film.
This now comes in a range of designs
from the basic etched-glass effect to fancy
spots, curls, flowers, vintage filigree,
stripes and colours.
The latest addition to the collection is
solar film, which is great for protecting
against glare and heat. It comes in silver
or light grey and starts from £29 for a 1.2m
by 1m roll.
For more information, call 01364 73090, or
visit www.brumebasics.co.uk.
Drawing you in
British Art Fair
Celebrating its 20th anniversary
this year, the British Art Fair is

now on at the Royal College of Art.
If you want to buy a piece of
20th century or modern art by a
British artist you will find a wide
selection on offer from the
56 leading UK dealers here,
whether it is by Barbara
Hepworth, Grayson Perry or an
unknown. Or how about a David
Hockney called Pretty Tulips (left),
painted in 1969, courtesy of
William Weston Gallery.
Prices start from a few hundred
pounds and go sky-high.
Admission is normally £8 a person
but if you bring this page, two
people will be admitted for the
price of one.
The British Art Fair runs
until Sunday.
The Royal College of Art,
Kensington Gore, SW7 (020 8742
1611; www.britishartfair.co.uk).
What’s in your fridge, mate?
Bison
IF YOU hate the sight of plastic milk or juice
cartons in your fridge, invest in Bison’s beautiful
heavy-duty stoneware milk jugs, made in
Australia.
They come in milk, parchment, celery,

raspberry or gun metal colours and cost
from £11.50 for the smallest jug up to £33
for the largest.
There are matching mixing bowls, from £12 to
£99, penguin jugs, and a vinaigrette and dipping
dish set, too. Available from ICTC.
For more information, call 01603 488019,
or visit www.ictc.co.uk.
Expert Verdict
This mail-order and online company,
which sells innovative gadgets for
home and garden, has hundreds of
clever ideas, including a telescopic
ladder that extends to 3.8m and
shrinks to just 76cm (£199), remote
control adaptors for hard-to-reach
sockets (£24.95 for three), a type of
putty called Cyber Clean that
cleans your computer
keyboards (£7.95), and an
electric duvet (from £79.95) to
keep you extra warm as
colder nights approach.
To order, call 0844 482 1122.
For more information, visit
www.expertverdict.com.
Lined with linen
Lombok
This month sees the launch of a new linen range
from Lombok, the company renowned for its

pieces of chunky, reclaimed hardwood furniture.
In keeping with its Far Eastern ethos, the
collection includes a Chinese Flower range, with
floral motifs and traditional crewelwork on
pillowcases (from £9), a cotton-and-linen mix
range called Lilly, and rustic hemp table runners.
The colours are predictably muted and neutral,
designed to complement the furniture.
For more information, call 0870 240 7380,
or visit www.lombok.co.uk.
Reader giveaway
BT
The new BT Verve 450 handset combines
sleek good looks with modern technology,
including texting facility, inverse LCD
light, two positions (“flat and upright”),
a memory that can store up to 200 names,
a clock/alarm, call timer and
10 hours’ talktime.
It costs £49.99 for a single unit or
£79.99 for a twin, and you can register
up to five handsets.
BT are giving away a BT Verve 450
single unit to each of the first 10 readers
who send their name and address in an
email to
Birds of a feather
Francesca Galloway
This leading dealer in, and collector of, 18th,
19th and 20th century textiles is holding a selling

exhibition at her West End Gallery. This is the second
instalment of the
two-part show,
concentrating
on late 18th and
19th century
textiles.
Included are
chair covers
designed for
princes, kings and
emperors, as well
as designs for
Morris & Co.
Neo-Classicism
to Pop: European
Textile Design
1790-1970 is at
Francesca
Galloway, 31 Dover
Street, W1
(020 7499 6844;
www.francesca
galloway.com).
The exhibition
runs until
28 September.
That’s a good idea
The offer runs until 19 September.
Conditions apply.

For more information about this offer
visit www.shop.bt.com.
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A passion
for beauty
He began with a bric-a-brac shop, and spent
25 years restoring Crosshall Manor. Now Lord
Constantine is selling it all, says Katrina Burroughs
Evening Standard Homes & Property Wednesday, 12 September 2007
AUCTION
14
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T
HOUGH he has been in the antiques
trade for thirty-five years, Lord Vincent

Constantine is not a slick salesman.
Asked about the auction of his
private collection of furniture,
paintings, silver and china, his reaction
is to warn readers against impulse buys they
might regret. “Tell them to think before they
buy: they’ve got to like it, it’s got to be genuine
and they’ve got to be able to afford it. If they
buy with those guidelines in mind, as I always
have, they can’t go far wrong.”
He admits that his auctioneers, Lyon &
Turnbull, probably won’t find this his most
helpful comment. “I do tend to say what I
think,” he confirms, somewhat sheepishly.
“When they asked me to be an expert on
Antiques Roadshow I said, ‘I’ m not an expert,
I’ve never met an expert. Nobody really knows
the price of anything.’”
Craftsmanship
The pick of his house contents, up for sale next
month, includes 18th and 19th century furniture
and objects of every description: sculptures in
bronze, Paul Storr candlesticks in silver, Swedish
commodes, little Russian boxes and Victorian
console tables. His treasures have rather modest
estimates: bronzes start at £200; lighting at £500,
for a handsome neoclassical gilt bronze table
lamp; a set of four 19th century specimen
paintings of fruit on an apple green background
is expected to fetch £200-£400. The fine quality

furniture includes a Regency period rosewood
tub chair made by Gillows of Lancaster (est.
£3,000-£5,000) and a gorgeous pair of Victorian
mahogany bergere armchairs (est. £3,000-£5,000).
Lord Constantine can’t say where he picked up
the habit of collecting beautiful things. Despite
the impressive-sounding title (he’s a Knight of
the Order of St John of Jerusalem, awarded for
his charitable works) and a family history
that stretches back to the 12th
century, he has never lived in a
great house. “I come from the
cadet branch of the family,” he
explains. “That means the
poor side.” The son of a
military father, whose
mother died when he was
tiny, Lord Constantine
remembers no sumptuously
furnished family rooms, but
recalls the upheaval of
Estimate £2,500-£3,500:
two Charles II period gilt and
painted bronze lamps with
reeded columns (lot 618)
Estimate £3,000-£5,000:
19th century bronze bust of
a Roman emperor (lot 156)
Estimate £3,000-£5,000:
Regency giltwood mirror

with eagle cresting (lot 331)
Crosshall Manor, near St Neots, Cambridgeshire, is a favourite of Baroness Thatcher
The drawing room features built-in display units and an open fire with a carved marble surround
The dining room has an oak block floor and fabric-lined walls
incessantly moving house.
He emerged, however, with
a love of craftsmanship and
uniqueness, and a knack for
putting his fine finds
together in relaxing,
informal interiors, such as
his own home, Crosshall
Manor, near St Neots, in
Cambridgeshire.
As if by magic
Leaving school to open a bric-a-brac shop in
Bedford, he took a detour into the restaurant
trade (he remembers a diner complaining about
the background music and replying: “That’s
Handel’s Water Music — did you know it was
composed for a king? If it’s good enough
for a king, it’s good enough for you.”).
He soon concluded his forte was antiques,
and sourcing rather than selling.
“I didn’t do an art history degree,” he
says. “I just went on the road and put my
money where my mouth is. I’ve been
what they call a runner ever since.”
Runners are the dealers’ secret sources,
the invisible army of sorcerers that magic

up precisely the Art Deco chandeliers or
set of silver goblets that the top London
dealers want for their windows. Lord
Constantine, known to the trade
simply as Vince, is one of the best
and longest serving. His clients are
the royalty of the traditional trade:
Apter Fredericks, Mallett, Peter
Lipitch, Ronald Phillips. But
running, however established and loyal your
customers, is a seat-of-the-pants endeavour: he
can pitch up to the Fulham Road with cabinetry
worth six figures and come away with a
handsome profit. Or he can leave, as the saying
goes, with nothing. “I love finding something
that speaks to me. I’ve always bought from
passion rather than business sense. But running
is getting incredibly difficult,” he says.
Still, business hasn’t been bad. More than three
decades’ trading has allowed him to complete the
restoration of Crosshall Manor, a 17th and 18th
century, Grade II* timber-framed farmhouse that
had been almost ruined by a post-war
refurbishment when he found it 25 years ago. “It
had been gutted and modernised in the worst
possible way; its heart and soul had been
virtually destroyed,” he
says. “I saw it as a
great opportunity to
restore the warmth

and feeling to a
beautiful property.”
He stripped out
concrete and asbestos
“improvements”,
replumbed and
rewired, threw out
wall-to-wall floral
carpet and uncovered old oak boards, ripped out
grim Fifties fireplaces and restored original
features. He then added deep sofas and richly
coloured upholstery, forests of table lamps and
standard lamps and books everywhere.
Friend of Thatcher
“I have some wonderful memories of the house,”
says Lord Constantine. “It’s had some fantastic
visitors.” He is a longtime friend of Baroness
Thatcher. “On a good day, she still has such
sparkle and light,” he says. “She’s a dear, dear
woman.” He hosted a party at Crosshall for
President Bush Senior and Thatcher, six years
ago, and the pair evidently fell in love with the
place. “I couldn’t quite believe it,” he says, proud
as a doting parent. “When you think of all the
grand places they must stay in.”
Six months ago, aged 59, he decided to take a
break, put house and contents on the market,
put his charitable work on hold, and treat
himself to a gap year or two. “I’m not giving
up running,” he says. “But I like the idea of

taking some time out, taking some
pressure off myself and being footloose
and fancy free. I’ll go to Europe — I have
some tremendous friends to see — and I want to
spend some time in America. Of course, there
are still wonderful things to be found out there.
Afterwards, I’d like to help people form
collections for their homes, as I did at Crosshall.’
■ Crosshall Manor is for sale for £1.5 million with
Fine and Country. Call 0845 603 2825, or visit
www.fineandcountry.com.
■ Lord Vincent Constantine Collection sale,
12 October, Lyon & Turnbull, 33 Broughton Place,
Edinburgh, EH1. Call 0131 557 8844, or visit
www.lyonandturnbull.com. Tomorrow until
19 September, London view at 11-12 Pall Mall,
SW1. Call 020 7930 9115.
Estimate £8,000-
£12,000: a Regency
period rosewood
credenza (lot 155)
Lord Constantine, known as Vince in
the trade, is an antiques “runner”
Roger Arbon