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Clive Aslet rss

The staircase at Ashburnham House, Westminster, with its extraordinary columnar gallery and lantern, designed by Inigo Jones and his pupil, John Webb

Old palaces for new plutocrats

27 October 2012
Great Houses of London James Stourton

Frances Lincoln, pp.352, £40, ISBN: 9780711233669

Having lived in London for 35 years, I thought I knew its architectural highlights pretty well, but this book is a revelation. It shows an aspect of the city that… Read more

Dec_The_Flower_House_1

Et in arcadia ego

26 June 2012
An Artist in the Garden: A Year in a Suffolk Walled Garden Tessa Newcomb and Jason Gathorne-Hardy

Full Circle Editions, pp.192, £25, ISBN: 9780956186997

The economy is in tatters, Europe in turmoil — but don’t worry: there is an antidote to the prevailing angst, and it’s provided by this book. It could be read… Read more

Newly Refurbished Kensington Palace Is Reopened Ahead Of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Celebrations

Welcome to the doll’s house

23 June 2012

What do Historic Royal Palaces think they are doing? They’re the people who look after the five royal palaces not occupied by the Queen, and their activities have been constrained… Read more

The house that coal built

8 March 2007
Black Diamonds Catherine Bailey

Penguin/Viking, pp.518, 20

I opened this book expecting to  find the sort of volume a considerate host would place in your country- house bedroom. It is a bit more than that. Taking the… Read more

Ups and downs of Bankside

25 February 2006
The House by the Thames and the People who Lived There Gillian Tindall

Chatto, pp.258, 20

Walk over Lord Foster’s wobbly bridge from St Paul’s and you will see, squashed between Tate Modern and the reconstructed Globe Theatre, a three-storey house that, according to an inscription,… Read more