It was the smartest shopping emporium I have ever encountered and it may be the sign of things to come. The Coronation Festival in the gardens of Buckingham Palace last week showcased the very best of British; smart marquees housed the Royal Family's favourite things. Every stallholder there held a Royal Warrant, which can only be granted by The Queen, The Prince of Wales or The Duke of Edinburgh.
Looking for leather goods? You can't go wrong with Ettinger. Somewhere to stay in London? You could do a lot worse than The Goring-it only recently received its warrant, a rare honour for a hotel, after the excitement of the Royal Wedding.
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You could nibble on Paxton and Whitfield cheeses and conclude with a Bendicks bittermint, before washing it down with a Tanqueray gin, unless you were driving off into the sunset in Jaguar's new F-Type. It was the kind of place you would expect to see Bond looking for something to give Moneypenny and there were many on Her Majesty's not so secret service as The Monarch viewed everything that was on offer.
There is talk of the concept going abroad to places such as the Far East. The Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee fired the starting pistol-now, the Royal Family has found a way to continue celebrating Brand Britain.
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A rare chance to own a Royston Summers house on Lakeside Drive in EsherThe development won the RIBA Architecture Award in 1976, and is a defining example of the Summers's work.
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Great Comp: The blissful garden flooded with rhododendrons and azaleas that's just beyond the M25Each spring, Great Comp Garden — just outside the M25, near Sevenoaks — erupts into bloom, with swathes of magnolias, azaleas and rhododendrons. Charles Quest-Ritson looks at what has become one of the finest gardens to visit in Kent.
