Anyone up for a spot of foraging? To mark the revamp of Pavilion Road, just off Sloane Square in south west London, developer Cadogan has launched what it claims is central London’s first “edible trail” in an attempt to encourage visitors to forage for ingredients as they stroll along – and perhaps return home to grow their own.
Designed by Peter Oates, head of gardens across the Cadogan Estate, the trail will change with the seasons. Summer produce includes Chelsea figs, blueberries, Riesling grapes and, er, ready-planted pineapples. There is, of course, a tech element in case you feel this is all too back-to-basics, with visitors able to scan a QR code on the planters to download growing notes and recipes.
And don’t worry if foraging isn’t at all your thing – the three smart restaurants which have opened up on the road should mean the lazier among us will also eat well.
Holidays are coming
As the UK roasted in temperatures exceeding 38 degrees last week, planners at Westminster City Council were in the grips of winter – at least in terms of their workload, as they sorted through Christmas-related applications including a yuletide display at retailer Marina Rinaldi. It is a quirk of planning schedules that applications for Christmas displays often land in the summer months, with plans for this year’s Winter Wonderland attraction in Hyde Park already underway. But the UK’s record-breaking heat from earlier in July really underlined just how odd it feels to be thinking of twinkling lights and mince pies at this time of year. Mind you, with Selfridges already having opened its Christmas shop, maybe Diary too should start planning its presents. There are only 21 weekends left to get it all done.
Hot vacation reads
Property’s very own bard, Savills’ executive director David Williams, has published his latest collection of comical poems. Ghastly Holidays takes us through the trials and tribulations of our breaks from work, and the horror stories that we so often return to the office with. Diary presents here an extract from the poem How To Drive Greek, tackling that perennial favourite gripe of British drivers overseas: “Mirrors are merely decorative,
To assist in personal preening,
They have no further part to play, And yes, they have no meaning.” Williams’ latest collection of poems, which follows 2014’s Filthy Creatures, is available from www.oortpublications.co.uk and Amazon. £1 from each paperback sold goes to ABF The Soldiers’ Charity.
Just delightful
How does the team at CBRE Capital Advisors feel about its latest hire, ex-JP Morgan banker Benjamin Rouah? See if you can spot a common theme. Tim Ryan, the firm’s head of strategic advisory, says he is “delighted that Benjamin has joined” in CBRE’s press release. Meanwhile, Fabrice Allouche, CBRE’s chief executive for France, where Rouah will be working, says the crew is “delighted to welcome Benjamin to the team”. In fact, it is only Rouah who lets the side down, seeming quite ambivalent about his new post in the release. Only joking, he says he is “delighted to be joining” the firm. Diary is absolutely delighted to hear it.
What’s in a name?
Diary is feeling increasingly settled in at its shiny new offices in Bishopsgate, in London’s Square Mile. But it can’t help but think there might have been another home worth holding out for, given the recent news that Ballymore has plans for a brand new, 13-storey office in its Embassy Gardens development in Nine Elms. Sure, the commute might not have been as convenient for everyone. OK, there would probably have been fewer meetings within walking distance. But any such drawbacks would have been totally worth it, provided Ballymore sticks with its planned name for the upcoming building – EG:HQ.
At Her Majesty’s pleasure
Just in time for the final season of Orange Is The New Black, a study has set out to see how the size of the average hotel room in London compares to that of a prison cell. Cheery! Boutique serviced apartment provider Cuckooz (which, it should go without saying, has more than just a passing interest in discouraging potential customers from staying in the city’s hotels) reckons they don’t compare well. Members of a family of four staying in an average London hotel room have just 69.3 sq ft of space each, Cuckooz calculates. By comparison, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment states that a prison cell should be a minimum of 64.5 sq ft. And that’s before we even get onto comparing the quality of the breakfasts…
