Dawn Chorus: Meet Farrow & Ball’s new paint colours, shop the must-have hotel merchandise and find out what Tom Parker Bowles likes to order from Greggs

Paint the walls Dibber

Paint is not normally headline-making news, but Farrow & Ball, best known for their peculiarly named pigments, has introduced 12 new shades — the first change to their very carefully curated palette (technically, nine new colours and three resurrected from the archive) since 2022. 

Designed to celebrate ‘unsung heroes in our homes’, colour curator Joa Studholme and creative director Charlotte Cosby looked to everyday household items for inspiration.

There's ‘Dibber’, a down-to-earth green taken from garden tools, ‘Marmelo’, a terracotta nod to marmalade, and ‘Duster’, an aged ochre inspired by, yes, you guessed it, dusting cloths. 

The decision to add new colours to the 132-strong palette was not made lightly — for every new colour, one must be retired (though it lives on comfortably in the archive, awaiting possible resurrection). The new cohort of deeply rich, grounded shades are familiar yet unexpected; a reminder to indulge in the ‘treasures right under our noses’.

How to take the hotel home

Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, the French Riviera’s crown jewel, has launched an online boutique.

The Eden-Roc Riviera Collection includes Bamford bath robes, Dear Annabelle stationery and Rue de Verneuil handbags, as well as the hotel’s own hefty coffee table book and branded, inflatable pool ring.

The appetite for hotel shops full of homeware bits and bobs and apparel, branded merchandise and collaborations has been steadily growing over the last few years — with Hotel du Cap following in the footsteps of properties such as Hotel Il Pellicano, Grand Hotel Tremezzo and The Carlyle.

Intriguingly, hotels don’t feel the need to work with people, brands and labels from the same country, in the way they do with interior designers, artisans and chefs. Instead, these collaborations cross borders connecting hoteliers, designers, tastemakers and travellers. See: Olivia von Halle’s (British) silk pyjamas for The Carlyle (American; below), and Emilia Wickstead’s (also British) printed dresses for Sense of Lake (Lakes Como’s Grand Hotel Tremezzo and Passalacqua’s shared store).

And in contrast to the fashion world’s ongoing obsession with unbranded, ‘quiet luxury’, when it comes to hotel merchandise, the logo is king. It’s on those pool floats; it’s on caps (I have eight and counting…); it’s on jumpers (Frame for The Ritz Paris; Sporty & Rich for Le Bristol). Oh, and obviously it’s on tote bags (I have too many to count, and counting).

You don’t even need to have stayed at the hotel in question because these boutiques are increasingly available to order from online. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship: the hotels are reaching a younger audience some of whom might not be able to check in right now, but likely will in the near future; the wearers (or accidental brand ambassadors) get to make a visible, and stylish, statement about who they are — or would like to be.

It's giving souvenir shopping a whole new meaning.

Steak slice rules supreme

Inside our most recent issue, out today (March 4th), I asked contributors to the magazine’s London Life section to write about where to find the capital’s best baked goods.

There is a blood-orange Danish pastry, a Swedish cinnamon bun and a saffron tea cake. There’s also a steak bake from Greggs which Tom Parker Bowles claims makes him the ‘happiest of all’. I had somewhat higher expectations of our food columnist and the author of Cooking & The Crown, but he makes a compelling case. Sort of.

‘It’s a mass-produced, ultra-processed mouthful… However, that combination of burnished, flaky puff pastry (which I’m pretty sure is not even on speaking terms with real butter), soft beef and rich, savoury gravy [is] so darned addictive.’

Don’t forget to check back for the full line-up which we will be revealing online later on today.

Who let the dogs out?

Assouline’s new tome pays tribute to the most stylish and beloved canine companions throughout history, such as Sir Winston Churchill’s bulldog and Maria Callas’s poodle.

‘For centuries, dogs have been part of our cultural fabric and the companions of chic individuals, from aristocrats to modern-day influencers,’ explains Assouline. ‘In a world where fashion, history, and fame often collide, Chic Dogs is a whimsical ride through time, showcasing our four-legged friends not just as pets but as true stars of history and culture.’

Churchill bought a bulldog, Dodo, when he was still a student at Harrow School, selling his bicycle in order to cover the costs, but his most famous pet was Rufus, a poodle, which he acquired during the Second World War. It was the bulldog association that stuck though, not just because of his looks (you know what they say about dogs who look like their owners), but because of his defiance towards Nazi Germany which earned him the moniker ‘the British Bulldog’.

Eighty years on, the British bulldog’s future still looks rosy and they sit comfortably inside the rankings of most popular British dog breeds. The same, sadly, cannot be said for the English Toy Terrier (above) which, it emerged earlier this week, now finds itself among the 35 most vulnerable native dog breeds.

One of the biggest problems facing Britain’s oldest native toy dog breed is the fact that a lot of people don’t even know that they exist — despite the fact that they date back to the Tudor era. Their popularity peaked in Victorian times when they were used to keep buildings free from rates. Last year, the Kennel Club registered only 100 English toy terrier pups, versus 38,000 labrador ones.

To help remedy the situation, the English Toy Terrier (Black & Tan) Club is taking over the Discover Dogs Zone at this year’s Crufts event and encouraging visitors to come along and meet the more than 80 dogs, and their owners, first hand.

An ink-redibly good idea

On March 22nd, Ham Yard Hotel is hosting a creative stationary workshop in collaboration with Scribble & Daub.

Ticket holders will learn how to make dip pen and ink illustrations with expert tutelage from founder Caroline Kent, and come away with a personalised brass stitched box, their own dip pen and nib and Windsor & Newton drawing ink.

Kent — who lives in East Sussex and spends anytime she’s not doodling tending to her garden and wildflower meadow — has worked for Vogue, Dior and Mr & Mrs Smith; her creations are stocked in Liberty and Fortnum & Mason.