I sometimes think I'm not sufficiently demanding of life. Do I drink the cup to the dregs? For a long weekend, such as the one past, there is nowhere I would rather be than Ramsgate. Apart from the charms of its architecture and topography, which never fail to delight, it provides the comfort of familiarity the knowledge that things are as we like them, or as much as possible as such a state of affairs can be achieved in an imperfect world. Meeting Philippe Brown of the travel company Brown + Hudson, however, has sown doubt.
Brown + Hudson offers bespoke travel, hand crafting each holiday to its distinctly high-end clients' needs. If, like one American client, you happen to enjoy cycling, mingled with cultural stops of just 30 minutes (your maximum attention span), with chicken served every night at 6pm, they fly to, as it might be, Australia and prepare the route in advance.
To keep some children amused, they gave each one a potted plant, with a pupa attached. For days, the children carried their plants everywhere, so as not to miss the hatching of the butterfly-a heavenly blue one. Recalling it makes even Philippe go misty-eyed. Could he find me some pupae for Ramsgate?
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Rodel House: The Georgian marvel in the heart of the Outer HebridesAn improving landlord in the Outer Hebrides created a remote Georgian house that has just undergone a stylish, but unpretentious remodelling, as Mary Miers reports. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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380 acres and 90 bedrooms on the £25m private island being sold by one of Britain's top music producersStormzy, Rihanna and the Rolling Stones are just a part of the story at Osea Island, a dot on the map in the seas off Essex.
