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<strong>J’AIME</strong><br />
Y O U R L O C A L L U X U R Y L I F E S T Y L E M A G A Z I N E<br />
M A R C H 2 0 2 2<br />
Festival<br />
fever:<br />
win tickets to<br />
Lichfield Literature<br />
Festival<br />
THE<br />
SUPERMODEL<br />
FAVOURITE:<br />
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HE’S A<br />
STAR!<br />
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for Lichfield’s<br />
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SPRING’S BRIGHTEST TRENDS
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Welcome to <strong>J’AIME</strong><br />
He’s only gone and done it!<br />
Here at <strong>J’AIME</strong> HQ we awaited the news of the new<br />
Michelin Guide with baited breath as, for the first time,<br />
there was the very real possibility of a star arriving a little<br />
closer to home. And when the announcement was made,<br />
it was jubilation for Lichfield as Upstairs, the stunning<br />
restaurant by acclaimed chef Tom Shepherd, was<br />
awarded the one star accolade - just four months after<br />
opening. It’s a tremendous achievement for Tom, gaining<br />
not only the first star in Lichfield, but in Staffordshire<br />
as a whole. And with Birmingham retaining its five<br />
Michelin stars too, it was a very good day for our neck of<br />
the woods indeed.<br />
And the foodie treats keep on coming in this issue; we<br />
chat to talented young Lichfield chef Jack Dubberley<br />
about taking a chance during lockdown to set up a<br />
fine dining concept of his own, as well as catch up<br />
with David and Anette Taylor about their immersive<br />
walled garden dining experience, Grace and Savour, at<br />
Hampton Manor.<br />
Elsewhere, Lichfield Literature Festival takes over the city<br />
this month; we chat to author and art historian Dr Amy<br />
Jeffs ahead of her appearance at the festival, plus you<br />
can win tickets to a special Cornish cream tea afternoon<br />
with bestselling Lichfield author Phillipa Ashley.<br />
And ahead of Mother’s Day, inspirational local mum<br />
and business owner Melissa Bettson talks to us about<br />
adapting to the pandemic and motherhood, plus we<br />
round up so great gift ideas for the mums and motherfigures<br />
in your life.<br />
If you enjoy what you read in this issue, then why not<br />
help us to spread the word? As well as being delivered<br />
directly to homes in selected postcodes across the<br />
area, you can pick <strong>J’AIME</strong> up free of charge in major<br />
supermarkets around the Midlands, as well as read the<br />
whole thing - and plenty more! - online at<br />
www.jaimemagazine.com<br />
EDITOR: AMY NORBURY<br />
EDITOR@JAIMEMAGAZINE.COM<br />
ADVERTISING: JAN ASHLEY<br />
ADVERTISING@JAIMEMAGAZINE.COM<br />
07388 335 931<br />
DESIGN: DESIGN@JAIMEMAGAZINE.COM<br />
CONTRIBUTORS: KATY EDGINGTON,<br />
SUE OCKWELL, JACK GOULD, JEAN<br />
LAMB, DEBORAH MITCHELL<br />
<strong>J’AIME</strong> IS PUBLISHED BY ASHBURY<br />
PUBLICATIONS LIMITED.<br />
Check us out online at:<br />
WWW.JAIMEMAGAZINE.COM<br />
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3
CO N T E N T S<br />
InsideJ’aime this month...<br />
6 Lichfield Literature Festival - Author and art<br />
historian Dr Amy Jeffs comes to Lichfield this<br />
month<br />
10 Tuppenhurst Barn - Inspirational mum and<br />
business owner Melissa Bettson on fulfilling<br />
ambitions and juggling motherhood<br />
14 Property - Property of the month<br />
16 Property - A family pad from Chosen Home<br />
18 Interiors - Bright and breezy with Bright Skies<br />
24 Interiors - Embracing those curves<br />
28 Mother’s Day - Gift guide<br />
32 Movie magic - The Force is strong for Richard<br />
Winterton’s specialist auction<br />
34 Food and drink - Talented chef Jack Dubberley<br />
on his culinary ambitions<br />
38 Food and drink - A spicy delight from Thyme<br />
Kitchen<br />
40 Food and drink - The exciting opening of Grace<br />
and Savour at Hampton Manor<br />
46 Food and drink - A new dining concept at<br />
Swinfen Hall<br />
48 Food and drink - A star is born in Lichfield<br />
50 Travel - An historical trip to Greece<br />
54 Competition - Win tickets to A Cornish Cafe<br />
Cream Tea Afternoon at Lichfield Literature<br />
Festival<br />
56 What’s On - Events around the Midlands this<br />
month<br />
60 Wealth Matters - The world of finance with<br />
Jean Lamb<br />
62 Fashion - A jean-ius combination<br />
64 Beauty - What’s your skin type?<br />
66 Health - A weight loss revolution at Spire<br />
Little Aston<br />
SPONSORED BY<br />
4
F E AT U R E<br />
A new mythology<br />
of Britain<br />
AHEAD OF HER LICHFIELD LITERATURE FESTIVAL APPEARANCE THIS MONTH, DR AMY JEFFS TELLS<br />
KATY EDGINGTON ABOUT HER FIRST BOOK, STORYLAND: A NEW MYTHOLOGY OF BRITAIN<br />
After a turbulent 2020 and 2021, Lichfield Literature<br />
Festival returns to its usual place in the calendar this<br />
year and will take place between Thursday, March<br />
24 and Sunday, March 27 at venues around the city.<br />
“In my new role as Literature Programmer, I really<br />
wanted this year’s programme to offer something for<br />
everyone,” says Anna Millward in her introduction to<br />
the Festival guide, and she’s certainly managed to tick<br />
a huge number of boxes, pulling together a packed<br />
programme of in-person literary events over the long<br />
weekend. They run the gamut from historical nonfiction<br />
to crime stories and novels to a draw-along for<br />
the kids with award-winning author and illustrator<br />
Rob Biddulph.<br />
One of the many titles that will come under the<br />
Literature Festival’s spotlight is Storyland: A New<br />
Mythology of Britain (riverrun), which was published<br />
last September. To mark the occasion, <strong>J’AIME</strong><br />
caught up with author Dr Amy Jeffs, an art historian<br />
specialising in the Middle Ages as well as an artist.<br />
In 2019, Amy earned her PhD in Art History from<br />
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, after studying<br />
for earlier degrees at the Courtauld Institute of Art<br />
and the University of Cambridge. During her PhD<br />
she co-convened a project researching medieval<br />
badges and pilgrim souvenirs at the British Museum.<br />
She then worked in the British Library’s department<br />
of Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern manuscripts<br />
and is currently a Fellow at the Paul Mellon Centre<br />
for Studies in British Art. It was her undergraduate<br />
degree that forged Amy’s passion for art history and<br />
specific interest in the Middle Ages.<br />
“When I was 18, the University of Cambridge gave<br />
me a place to read Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic.<br />
It offers a mixture of language, literature, art history<br />
and more obscure subjects like codicology (the study<br />
of manuscripts, especially how they are made) and<br />
palaeography (script history). I just loved it and from<br />
BA to PhD I have rarely ventured beyond the 16th<br />
DR AMY JEFFS WILL BE AT LICHFIELD<br />
LITERATURE FESTIVAL THIS MONTH<br />
6 www.jaimemagazine.com
AMY’S INCREDIBLE LINOCUT ILLUSTRATIONS<br />
BRING STORYLAND TO LIFE<br />
century,” said Amy.<br />
Despite being described first and foremost as an<br />
art historian, as an artist, a regular contributor to<br />
Country Life magazine, and now an author, Amy’s<br />
work defies attempts at pigeon-holing. Her writing<br />
is often accompanied by her own linocut and woodengraved<br />
prints. Amy started producing linocuts of<br />
Britain’s medieval origin myths when she was living<br />
in Somerset and writing up her thesis.<br />
“These turned into 24 illustrations for a series of<br />
Country Life articles about medieval legends set<br />
in Britain, which in turn became a proposal that<br />
helped me find Georgina Capel, my agent, and then<br />
Quercus, my publisher. I had thought for a long time<br />
that the stories could make a beautiful book.”<br />
Storyland was the result and is her first book.<br />
Steeped in magic and vividly reimagined for modern<br />
readers, it is a beautifully written and illustrated<br />
mythology that revives some of the oldest legends<br />
set in some of the wildest landscapes of medieval<br />
Britain. From ancient origin stories through sections<br />
entitled ‘Prehistory’ and ‘Antiquity’ and right up<br />
to the Middle Ages and the Norman Conquest,<br />
Storyland treads in the footsteps of Brutus and<br />
Scota, Lear and Cordelia, Arthur and Merlin,<br />
Edward the Martyr and the giant Gogmagog - each<br />
illuminated by Amy’s dramatic linocuts. Of course,<br />
it was this series of artworks that came first, but<br />
there were several aspects to the creative process that<br />
worked together towards the end product.<br />
“For me, making the art and writing the text, as well<br />
as travel and composing songs, helped me home<br />
in on the aspects of each story that captivated me<br />
most,” explains Amy.<br />
Each story is positioned with a historical<br />
commentary, where Amy makes clear where she’s<br />
used dramatic and artistic licence and what her<br />
primary source material was. But why did she choose<br />
this route when she could have simply stuck to the<br />
retelling of each legend?<br />
“My first answer is that when I read retellings of<br />
myth, I’m often eager to know more about the<br />
author’s process,” she answers. “I wanted to offer<br />
a commentary that was clearly separate from the<br />
stories, as well as a primary source reading list at<br />
the end, so that readers could stay in the fiction if<br />
they wanted to or journey deeper into the medieval<br />
material.<br />
“My second answer is that these wonderful stories<br />
are common property but little known. If readers<br />
want to write their own retellings, then a way into the<br />
original material could be helpful. I wanted to write<br />
a useful book, as well as an engaging one.”<br />
For the layperson, many of the myths and legends<br />
may not be familiar, although certain names, places<br />
and landmarks will ring a bell. For Amy, it’s tricky to<br />
say what exactly she hopes readers will find in these<br />
stories and what they should take away.<br />
“I know readers will bring all sorts of brilliant<br />
perspectives to the stories that I could never dream<br />
up,” she says. “But I’d love readers to recognise the<br />
places described in the book that are local to them,<br />
whether it’s the red earth of the Clent Hills or the<br />
toadflax that grows on the north Cornish coast.<br />
STORYLAND IS<br />
AMY’S FIRST BOOK<br />
www.jaimemagazine.com<br />
7
“Likewise, writing this book deepened both my<br />
love of places that I might not otherwise have paid<br />
attention to. I hope Storyland helps foster a sense of<br />
wonder at the antiquity and mystery of our collective<br />
relationship with these islands.”<br />
Although these ancient stories deal with emotive<br />
human themes like extinction, parenthood, defiance,<br />
love, loss and the yearning to belong, many of<br />
them draw links between Britain and the rest of the<br />
world that go back thousands of years. This is no<br />
coincidence, as Amy explains.<br />
“These myths were not seen as myths in the Middle<br />
Ages. They were deep histories that often served<br />
political functions, including connecting their patrons<br />
with the illustrious societies of the Old Testament<br />
and Classical worlds. It’s important to acknowledge<br />
that we still emphasise historical narratives of which<br />
we are proud: that emphasis is always political.<br />
“We all belong in the world, but that reality is too<br />
often blurred by myths of domination and exclusion.<br />
Perhaps old stories can help us spot modern mythmaking<br />
and think about it more critically.”<br />
Her personal favourite among the myths included in<br />
the book is also the subject of her favourite linocut,<br />
and it happens to be the same one that was used for<br />
the cover.<br />
“It shows the goddess Diana appearing to the exiled<br />
Trojan, Brutus, who will come to found and give his<br />
name to Britain. By telling him where to go and what<br />
to do, she gives the exiled Brutus a sense of vocation.<br />
I love that idea: of being adrift and then suddenly full<br />
of purpose. Diana has become the personification<br />
of vocation in my<br />
mind.”<br />
The critical response<br />
has been positive;<br />
Storyland has<br />
become a Sunday<br />
Times bestseller, the<br />
Times’ Historical<br />
Fiction Book of<br />
the Year, and was<br />
shortlisted for<br />
Waterstones Book of<br />
the Year. So, how is<br />
Amy feeling about<br />
the way it has been<br />
received and the<br />
public reaction to it<br />
so far?<br />
“Bringing the tales<br />
in Storyland to a<br />
wider readership was like introducing a new friend<br />
or partner to my family; I hoped they’d get on, but<br />
it was out of my hands,” she says. “The reaction<br />
to Storyland has been disarmingly positive and as<br />
readers have started forming their own relationships<br />
with and creative responses to its stories I’ve felt huge<br />
relief and pleasure.”<br />
The future is certainly looking full of promise for<br />
the multi-talented Dr Jeffs. At the moment, Amy is<br />
working on two new book projects inspired by the<br />
Middle Ages, which she says she “can’t stop thinking<br />
about”. The first is just about to be announced as<br />
we go to press, while the other is still waiting in the<br />
wings for now. I wondered, is she looking forward to<br />
engaging with the public during her appearance at<br />
Lichfield Literature Festival?<br />
“After the seclusion of the past couple of years, it’s a<br />
privilege to meet people face to face,” Amy replies.<br />
“I’ve learned so much from people’s questions<br />
and ideas about Storyland and when I go back to<br />
my desk and start writing again, those affirming<br />
interactions put wind in my sails.”<br />
To follow and find out more about Amy’s work,<br />
find her on Twitter @amy_historia, Instagram @<br />
historia_prints and at amyjeffshistoria.com. Prints<br />
of her artwork are available for purchase via art-ofillustration.co.uk.<br />
You can catch Amy at Lichfield Literature Festival<br />
on Saturday, March 26 at 3.30pm at The Hub at St<br />
Mary’s on Market Street. Tickets are priced at £10.<br />
To book, visit lichfieldliteraturefestival.org<br />
8<br />
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F E AT U R E<br />
Passion, pushing<br />
and asking for help<br />
KATY EDGINGTON CHATS TO INSPIRATIONAL BUSINESS OWNER MELISSA<br />
BETTSON, WHO RUNS TUPPENHURST BARN B&B AND CAFE JUST OUTSIDE<br />
LICHFIELD, ABOUT ADAPTING TO THE PANDEMIC AND TO MOTHERHOOD<br />
March is the month we<br />
celebrate not only Mother’s<br />
Day but also International<br />
Women’s Day, so when<br />
better to catch up with an<br />
inspirational female local<br />
business owner and mum,<br />
Melissa Bettson?<br />
When she finished her degree,<br />
Mel was set on coming home<br />
but not to farm at Tuppenhurst<br />
as several generations of<br />
her family had before her.<br />
Searching for a way to make<br />
her own contribution to the<br />
farm, she was out with her<br />
German Shepherd, Bear, who<br />
she sadly lost last year, when<br />
she had the idea to transform a<br />
listed 17th century outbuilding<br />
into a dog-friendly café and<br />
boutique bed and breakfast.<br />
After a painstaking restoration and renovation<br />
process, Tuppenhurst Barn B&B and Café opened<br />
in June 2019, with four spacious ensuite bedrooms<br />
including an accessible ground floor room.<br />
The farm is also home to an equine arena, available<br />
for hire and membership, where Bea of Houndspeak<br />
Dog Training also runs her puppy classes and<br />
evening classes. As well as running both businesses<br />
and baking all the cakes for the café, Mel lets out<br />
the family’s 500 acres of land for sheep and arable<br />
farming.<br />
Located just outside Handsacre and a stone’s<br />
throw from the Trent and Mersey Canal, the café<br />
offers a menu of light breakfasts, light lunches and<br />
homemade cakes which go down a treat with the<br />
many walkers and cyclists who visit each week. The<br />
MEL BETTSON, WITH<br />
DAUGHTER MAISIE AND<br />
PARTNER JORDAN<br />
impact of Covid-19 has inevitably been felt across<br />
the business. The breakfast menu now focuses on<br />
the most popular items, like bacon and sausage<br />
sandwiches, croissants and pancakes, and previously<br />
long opening hours have been reduced.<br />
“We’re now open Thursday to Sunday, 10am until<br />
3pm, which has worked really well throughout<br />
winter,” Mel explains. “Maybe in summer we’ll<br />
expand those hours, but it gives the staff a break,<br />
especially because the B&B was almost fully<br />
booked from the time we were able to reopen until<br />
Christmas. It’s been very full-on, but it’s been great.”<br />
The café also serves afternoon teas and is available<br />
for private hire. With capacity at a comfortable<br />
25 indoors, it’s proving a popular venue for baby<br />
showers and other small parties. Another effect of<br />
the pandemic has been to expand the offering into<br />
10 www.jaimemagazine.com
private catering as people look to host in<br />
their own homes. Mel’s partner Jordan<br />
was furloughed at the outset, so they<br />
worked together in the café for a while<br />
when Mel was unable to have staff in.<br />
“There are definitely more people who<br />
will sit outside now at any time of year<br />
and whatever the weather,” she’s noticed.<br />
“If we are full inside, quite often people<br />
will choose to sit outside even in the rain<br />
and the cold!”<br />
This Mother’s Day, the team will be<br />
offering afternoon tea to eat in or take<br />
away. The demand for takeaway options<br />
has continued despite the lifting of<br />
restrictions, and the business has adapted<br />
accordingly.<br />
“A lot of people want an afternoon tea to<br />
have at home, or they might have older<br />
parents that don’t want to come out,” Mel<br />
notes. “It’s something a bit different to<br />
coffee and cake - a bit of a celebration.”<br />
Mel will be celebrating this Mother’s Day with her<br />
own daughter, Maisie, who arrived in September<br />
2020. Since then, she has mostly been fitting in<br />
farm-related office-based work in the evenings and<br />
spending as much quality time as possible with<br />
Maisie. I wondered how becoming a mum has<br />
affected Mel’s outlook on her businesses and life in<br />
general?<br />
“I think Jordan would say that when we met I was<br />
very career-focused and wanted to compete with<br />
my horse and do this and do that, and kids weren’t<br />
really in the mix,” she says. “When we started talking<br />
about having a baby and our future together she very<br />
quickly came along. I didn’t realise how much having<br />
BAKING DELICIOUS CAKES AND TREATS FOR THE CAFE<br />
HAS BEEN ONE OF MEL’S MANY JOBS<br />
MEL’S MISSION TO DIVERSIFY HER<br />
FAMILY’S FARM SAW THE OPENING<br />
OF A CAFE AND B&B<br />
her would change everyday life, but now every<br />
day is about her and fitting everything around her.<br />
Having her around is brilliant. She comes with me<br />
everywhere. She walks into the cafe and she knows<br />
where everything is. ”<br />
With baby number two - a boy - due at the end of<br />
April, Mel is keen for the family business to support<br />
them to be able to go and do what they want to<br />
do - whether they want to be involved, to take it in<br />
their own direction, or whether it’s just there in the<br />
background.<br />
“They’ll do what they want to do and very much<br />
be who they want to be, but having this there is a<br />
way that they can do that,” she explains. “There is<br />
something here if they want to come back to it. It<br />
will be absolutely lovely if they<br />
do want to come back to it, but I<br />
know myself that if I was pushed<br />
to do something I wouldn’t want<br />
to do it!”<br />
One of the great lessons Mel<br />
shares from becoming a business<br />
owner and becoming a mum<br />
is the importance of a strong<br />
support network. Zoe Niven,<br />
owner of Daisy’s Kitchen in<br />
Rugeley, baked for the café when<br />
it first opened, before Mel took on<br />
the baking herself. When she fell<br />
pregnant, Mel asked if Zoe would<br />
consider taking it on again so that<br />
www.jaimemagazine.com<br />
11
THE BUSY B&B IS JUST ONE OF THREE<br />
BUSINESSES MEL RUNS<br />
she could step back a bit when the time came.<br />
“It’s been great to have that support,” Mel says.<br />
“Because there’s a lot of work involved that I won’t<br />
stop doing - all the bookings, admin and office work<br />
for all three businesses - and I won’t have maternity<br />
leave so to speak. The baking front is where I can<br />
actually get help from somebody else. Zoe’s bakes<br />
are great, so I spoke to her after Christmas when I<br />
was ready to take a step back, and she’s now doing<br />
our baking for the next few<br />
months.”<br />
For other young women or<br />
mums who have or want to start<br />
their own business, Mel believes<br />
you should do something that<br />
makes you happy and have<br />
the courage to do it even if it’s<br />
years in the making. It may not<br />
always go the way you planned,<br />
but it might develop into<br />
something else.<br />
“I think you need to do<br />
something you’re passionate<br />
about and something that has a<br />
strong feeling behind it that will<br />
push you forward,” she stresses.<br />
TUPPENHURST BARN’S CAFE HAS<br />
BEEN A HIT SINCE OPENING IN 2019<br />
“When I was thinking about the cafe and B&B, I<br />
wanted to build a place where I would walk to with<br />
the dog and where I would take my family.<br />
“You have to have something pushing you. For me<br />
it was wanting to build a dog-friendly place and<br />
wanting to do something here was very important<br />
to me, especially after my dad passed away. I had<br />
a sense of responsibility and, I suppose, a sense of<br />
duty. But it had to be something I wanted to do,<br />
where I would wake up every day and think ‘I love<br />
doing this’. I love running my own business. It’s hard<br />
work but I love it.”<br />
Mel counts herself lucky to have a great team of<br />
people on hand to help in different ways. She works<br />
closely with her café manager, as well as having a<br />
very supportive and understanding partner in Jordan.<br />
“He has his own full-time job, but he’ll be the one<br />
out there at 6am harrowing the arena or unloading<br />
the wholesale orders,” she says. “I think it’s very<br />
important to remember that you can’t do it all<br />
by yourself. I thought I could at the start - but<br />
you can’t, and you definitely can’t when you have<br />
children because your children come first. I got quite<br />
disheartened when I couldn’t do it all. I thought<br />
I was doing something wrong. You’re not doing<br />
anything wrong; you do need that support and you<br />
shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help.<br />
“Before I would kick myself and not want to ask for<br />
help - I would see it as a weakness. But now I realise<br />
it’s not. We’re all human. You need to be passionate<br />
and be your own driving force, but you also need<br />
someone behind you putting a bit of fuel in every<br />
now and again.”<br />
For more details visit<br />
www.tuppenhurstfarm.co.uk<br />
12 www.jaimemagazine.com
will be exhibiting a collection of<br />
original 19th & 20th century paintings<br />
by recognised British and European artists.<br />
Exhibition runs from Jan 22nd to Mar 31st <strong>2022</strong>.<br />
Prices from £1,000 to £18,000<br />
Jonathan Armigel Wade (British b. 1960)<br />
‘The New Arrival’<br />
Jonathan Armigel-Wade (British b. 1960) The New Arrival Oil on board Signed (lower<br />
right); further signed, titled and numbered 1930 (verso)20 x 29cm (7¾ x 11¼ in.)<br />
Particularly noted for his ‘curvispective’ style of oil painting, often of interiors,<br />
hunting/sporting scenes, coastal and harbour views, quiet rural scenes and distorted<br />
perspectives. His paintings are often described as ‘little excursions for the mind’.<br />
William Oliver (1823-1901)<br />
‘A failed Romance’ 1888<br />
William Oliver Williams was born in Worcester. He moved to London and enrolled at the Royal academy in 1848.<br />
He became a very successful figurative and genre artist.<br />
He regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of Artists and British institution in London.<br />
Examples of his work can be found in the Royal Collection and the V&A museum London, as well as the<br />
Manchester Art Gallery, Russel Cotes Gallery and Sheffield Museum. His work is also popular in North America<br />
This painting is in remarkable condition and looks as though it could have been painted a few years ago. it is the best<br />
painting by Oliver that we have ever seen.<br />
George Chambers (1803-1840)<br />
‘The merchant barque Crown and<br />
Paddle Steamers off Folkestone’ 1826<br />
Born in Whitby, from the age of 10 George Chambers started working as a cabin boy<br />
and was later apprenticed to the master of a brig trading in the Mediterranean<br />
He proved to have an exceptional innate talent for art and so impressed local captains<br />
with his decoration of their ships that the owner released him from his apprenticeship<br />
so he could devote himself full time to painting.<br />
In 1825 Chambers worked his way on a trading vessel to London where he was greatly<br />
helped by Christopher Crawford, Landlord at the Waterman’s Arms Inn in Wapping.<br />
King William IV and Queen Adelaide who bought a number of his<br />
paintings to add to the Royal Collection. Three of his paintings are in<br />
the National Maritime Museum<br />
The Midlands leading gallery for original paintings, designer jewellery,<br />
handmade ceramics, glass and bespoke furniture.<br />
www.artifex.co.uk - 0121 3233776<br />
The Mitchell Centre, Weeford Road, Sutton Coldfield B75 6NA<br />
Open 7 days a week. 10am to 5pm (4pm Sundays)
P R O P E RTY<br />
Property of the Month<br />
EACH MONTH WE SHOWCASE ONE OF THE MOST LUXURIOUS PROPERTIES CURRENTLY ON THE<br />
MARKET IN THE MIDLANDS. THIS MONTH’S SELECTION IS A STUNNING FOUR-BEDROOM FAMILY<br />
HOME WITH PRIVATE GATED DRIVEWAY SITUATED ON THE SOUGHT-AFTER FOUR OAKS ESTATE<br />
1A Wentworth Road, Four Oaks Estate, Sutton Coldfield: £925,000<br />
On the market with Aston Knowles: 0121 362 7878<br />
THE AGENT SAYS: As you enter the property through<br />
the porch, you are welcomed into the impressive reception<br />
hall. It provides access to the utility space and WC as well<br />
as the dining room with front aspect, featuring an exposed<br />
beam and fireplace with surround, making this the perfect<br />
place for entertaining or more formal dinners with family.<br />
The study is a bright generous sized space with a front<br />
aspect, perfect for those who are working from home. The<br />
drawing room is flooded with light from the patio doors<br />
either side of the feature chimney breast.<br />
The kitchen is accessed through double doors from the<br />
reception hall; with tiled floor, island unit, AGA and open<br />
plan area to the rear with views over the garden, it provides<br />
a great space for families and could be adapted for more<br />
informal dining.<br />
The first floor features the principal bedroom with en-suite<br />
shower room with his and hers sinks and sky light; the<br />
impressive dressing area also has a sky light. The guest<br />
bedroom is located at the front of the property and has<br />
an en-suite and built-in wardrobes. Two further bedrooms<br />
and a family bathroom with stand alone bath and separate<br />
shower cubicle complete the first floor accommodation.<br />
The property is set back from the road with a gated gravel<br />
driveway which provides ample parking.<br />
The rear garden features established shrubs and trees and<br />
a well-kept lawn area. The patio immediately to the back<br />
of the property is perfect for outdoor seating. A summer<br />
house to the rear of the garden provides great storage<br />
space.<br />
W E L O V E : T H E H O M E ’ S G E N ER O US P R O P O R T I O NS<br />
14 www.jaimemagazine.com
0121 362 7878<br />
astonknowles.com<br />
GEORGIAN PINES, TALBOT AVENUE - Sutton Coldfield<br />
GUIDE PRICE £1,500,000<br />
A spacious four-bedroom property providing tremendous<br />
potential to create a stunning family home.<br />
Situated in the highly regarded area of Little Aston, well<br />
placed for access to Streetly village, Sutton Coldfield and<br />
Birmingham City Centre. There is a good selection of everyday<br />
amenities in Streetly village and the property is located<br />
close to Sutton Park; one of Europe’s biggest urban parks.<br />
The area provides an excellent range of schooling for both<br />
primary and secondary education in the state and private<br />
sector.<br />
The property features an extensive driveway with parking<br />
for multiple vehicles, complemented by the two separate<br />
garages at either side of the property.<br />
ACCOMMODATION<br />
Ground floor: reception hall, drawing room with access to<br />
conservatory, dining room, study, kitchen/breakfast room, WC,<br />
utility.<br />
First floor: principal bedroom with fitted wardrobes and en-suite,<br />
bedrooms two and three with fitted wardrobes, fourth<br />
bedroom with dressing room, family bathroom.<br />
Gardens and Grounds: integral garage, second garage,<br />
beautifully presented landscaped gardens with pond,<br />
driveway with ample parking.<br />
THE DETAILS<br />
4 BEDS 2 BATHS<br />
Approximate gross internal floor area including garages<br />
3,373 square feet (313 square metres). EPC Rating: C<br />
ASTON KNOWLES 8 High Street, Sutton Coldfield B72 1XA 0121 362 7878 enquiries@astonknowles.com www.astonknowles.com<br />
@astonknowles
P R O P E RTY<br />
A wonderful family home<br />
A SPACIOUS FAMILY HOME WITH BAGS OF POTENTIAL IN A SOUGHT-AFTER<br />
LOCATION IS CHOSEN HOME’S PICK OF THEIR PROPERTIES FOR SALE THIS MONTH<br />
Talbot Avenue, Little Aston, Sutton Coldfield: offers in the region of £1,300,000<br />
On the market with Chosen Home: 0121 222 1180<br />
THE AGENT SAYS: Located at this prestigious address<br />
in Little Aston, this deceptively spacious family home has<br />
tremendous potential to extend and further improve, subject to<br />
planning.<br />
Close by is the stunning 2,400 acre Sutton Park as well as<br />
Streetly Tennis Club and both Little Aston golf club and Aston<br />
Wood golf club. Nearby Streetly and Mere Green offer a host<br />
of high street and independent shops, cafes, restaurants and<br />
bars as well as a Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencer Food Hall.<br />
On entering the property, you are greeted with a bright and<br />
welcoming reception hall with stairs rising to the first floor and<br />
doors opening into the ground floor accommodation. A bright<br />
living room to the rear offers delightful views over the mature<br />
and private rear garden and opens into the defined dining area<br />
which again enjoys views over the garden.<br />
To the front, a spacious home office with fitted furniture is a<br />
relaxing place to work or study looking out over the fore garden<br />
and mature trees. The breakfast kitchen to the rear opens via<br />
double doors into a superb garden room with large windows<br />
and benefiting from the addition of a log burner. Completing<br />
the ground floor accommodation is a guest wc, utility room, a<br />
large pantry, gardeners wc and a generous double garage.<br />
To the first floor, you will find four double bedrooms and a<br />
modern re-fitted family bathroom. The main bedroom features<br />
fitted wardrobes, a modern re-fitted en-suite and enjoys views<br />
over the rear garden. The three further bedrooms all feature<br />
fitted wardrobes with two of them enjoying views to the rear<br />
with one to the front.<br />
The mature rear garden is a triumph, having a large patio area<br />
perfect for entertaining and large expanses of lawn with mature<br />
borders and a plethora of fauna and flora. Areas of hard<br />
standing offer spaces for sheds and outbuildings while secure<br />
gated side access leads to the front of the property with parking<br />
for several vehicles, lawned fore garden and mature borders.<br />
Regional manager, Rob Shotton says: “Award winning Chosen<br />
Home are delighted to offer this lovely family home for sale<br />
at this prestigious and sought after address. The current<br />
owners have maintained the property to a high standard but<br />
reluctantly, it is now time for them to move on. Already offering<br />
spacious accommodation, there is tremendous potential for the<br />
new owners to remodel and extend to create a most wonderful<br />
home.”<br />
To organise a viewing, please call Chosen Home on<br />
0121 222 1180 or email team@chosenhome.com.<br />
16 www.jaimemagazine.com
Excellent<br />
“ If you are planning on<br />
moving home in the future,<br />
definitely use Chosen Home.<br />
You will not be disappointed.”<br />
Mrs P of Sutton Coldfield<br />
Trustpilot review February <strong>2022</strong><br />
chosenhome.com<br />
Call 0121 222 1180
I N T E R I O R S<br />
Bright<br />
and breezy<br />
EVERY year, Dulux colour experts translate global design<br />
trends into the new Colour of the Year. The shade for<br />
<strong>2022</strong> is Bright Skies, an airy and fresh tone that opens up<br />
and breathes new life into any space.<br />
Described as “a light, airy and optimistic blue that’s good<br />
for the soul,” Bright Skies is a shade which can revitalise<br />
any room of the home, bringing a bright and breezy vibe<br />
to your interior decor.<br />
Combine with a vibrant palette to create an uplifting space<br />
perfect for kids’ bedrooms or play spaces, or embrace<br />
nature by pairing with trend-led greens for a harmonious<br />
feel.<br />
The experts at Dulux said: “Over the past 18 months, our<br />
lives have been turned upside down, but we’ve also had<br />
time to rethink the way we live and reassess what’s really<br />
important. It’s these discussions that led to our key themes,<br />
open skies and a breath of fresh air.”<br />
Inject a splash of Bright Skies into your home by<br />
revamping your walls, or add a touch of that freshness<br />
with carefully chosen accessories.<br />
JONATHAN ADLER ETHER CHAIR IN BERGAMO<br />
ICE, £1,750, SWEETPEA & WILLOW.<br />
WWW.SWEETPEAANDWILLOW.COM<br />
£425<br />
£275<br />
£30.50<br />
£58<br />
DARCEY SWIVEL ACCENT CHAIR IN<br />
LAGOON, PEPPERMILL INTERIORS,<br />
BURNTWOOD BUSINESS PARK.<br />
WWW.PEPPERMILLINTERIORS.COM<br />
TALL HAND PAINTED BLUE VASE,<br />
NEEDWOOD LIVING, ALREWAS.<br />
WWW.NEEDWOODLIVING.CO.UK<br />
HORIZON PENDANT IN SKY BLUE,<br />
PEPPER SQ. WWW.PEPPERSQ.COM<br />
BLUE LINEN FLORAL DRUM<br />
LAMPSHADE, FROM THE GARDEN<br />
COLLECTION BY HELEN ROUND.<br />
WWW.HELENROUUND.COM<br />
18 www.jaimemagazine.com
WELCOME TO BAYLISS BATHROOMS,<br />
THE LARGEST INDEPENDENT LUXURY<br />
BATHROOM SPECIALIST IN THE REGION.<br />
OUR UNRIVALLED ONE STOP PROJECT<br />
MANAGED SERVICE, FROM DESIGN<br />
THROUGH TO INSTALLATION, IS FOCUSED<br />
ON TURNING YOUR DREAM BATHROOM<br />
INTO REALITY.<br />
WHATEVER YOUR REQUIREMENTS,<br />
WE CAN PROVIDE YOUR BATHROOM<br />
SOLUTION. WE WELCOME YOU TO VISIT<br />
OUR NEW WEBSITE OR SHOWROOM TO<br />
EXPLORE THE BAYLISS EXPERIENCE AND<br />
ALL THE OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO YOU<br />
We offer a complete ‘One Stop’ process to turn your bathroom dreams into reality, which includes:<br />
• A bespoke 2,500 sq ft showroom with over 20 bathroom displays located in Sutton Coldfield<br />
• A specialist design team to create designs to match your every need<br />
• Expert knowledge of our partner brands giving you access to superb products and tiles.<br />
• In-house installation teams working to the highest possible standards<br />
• Management of all aspects of the Project, providing you with a single point of contact, every step of the way<br />
• For those customers who require a Supply Only service, access to all leading brands at competitive cost.<br />
BAYLISS BATHROOMS, 23 GATE LANE, BOLDMERE, SUTTON COLDFIELD B73 5TR<br />
0121 362 1800 - www.baylissbathrooms.co.uk
ALLERTON VELVET ACCENT CHAIR,<br />
PEPPERMILL INTERIORS,<br />
BURNTWOOD BUSINESS PARK.<br />
WWW.PEPPERMILLINTERIORS.COM<br />
£199<br />
£285<br />
ANDERSON FOOTSTOOL IN DUCK EGG BLUE,<br />
CULT FURNITURE. WWW.CULTFURNITURE.COM<br />
£49.95<br />
HUCKLEBERRY BLACK THREE WAY OVER<br />
TABLE LIGHT WITH BLUE SHADES, ICONIC<br />
LIGHTS. WWW.ICONICLIGHTS.CO.UK<br />
BEPUREHOME POTTERY GLASS<br />
PENDANT LIGHT, CUCKOOLAND.<br />
WWW.CUCKOOLAND.COM<br />
DULUX BRIGHT SKIES, FROM<br />
£17.50/2.5L. WWW.DULUX.CO.UK<br />
£70<br />
£79<br />
£650<br />
ELINORE MEDIUM CANDLE HOLDER,<br />
SWEETPEA & WILLOW.<br />
WWW.SWEETPEAANDWILLOW.COM<br />
MIRREN VELVET SEATING RANGE IN AQUA, FROM PEPPERMILL INTERIORS,<br />
BURNTWOOD BUSINESS PARK. WWW.PEPPERMILLINTERIORS.COM<br />
ABSTRACT ART PRINTS, FROM £30,<br />
FROM CLAUDE & LEIGHTON.<br />
WWW.CLAUDEANDLEIGHTON.COM<br />
20 www.jaimemagazine.com
BLUE TICKING STRIPE DUVET COVER, £135,<br />
CHALK PINK LINEN COMPANY.<br />
WWW.CHALKPINKLINENCOMPANY.CO.UK<br />
LAZY LINEN BEDDING BUNDLE IN<br />
CORNFLOWER BLUE, £45, LOAF.<br />
WWW.LOAF.COM<br />
EZRA UPHOLSTERED SINGLE BED IN<br />
BLUE, £299, CUCKOOLAND.<br />
WWW.CUCKOOLAND.COM<br />
WILD BLUE MEADOW MURAL BY SIR EDWARD,<br />
FROM £35/M2, WALLSAUCE.<br />
WWW.WALLSAUCE.COM<br />
DULUX BRIGHT SKIES, FROM<br />
£17.50/2.5L. WWW.DULUX.CO.UK<br />
52
HIGH-END PATIO FURNITURE FROM A PROFESSIONAL OUTDOOR FURNITURE<br />
SUPPLIER WITH OVER 30 YEARS COMBINED EXPERIENCE IN SUPPLYING<br />
PRODUCTS TO THE TRADE AND RETAIL MARKET PLACE. RATTAN, MYANMAR/<br />
BURMA TEAK AND ALUMINIUM FURNITURE ALL GUARANTEED BY CE, FSC, SGS<br />
AND OTHER CERTIFICATIONS OF WICKER FURNITURE.<br />
£1,645.00<br />
£1,445.00<br />
WE AIM TO SUPPLY THE BEST QUALITY<br />
PRODUCTS AT THE LOWEST PRICE AFFORDABLE.<br />
WARRANTY<br />
All products carry a 12<br />
months manufacturer’s<br />
warranty.<br />
WEATHER RESISTANT<br />
Resistant to all weathers<br />
with a durable robust powder<br />
coated finish. High Quality<br />
Aluminium is used.<br />
FAST DELIVERY<br />
Prices quoted on the site<br />
are for single deliveries.<br />
For any questions please<br />
call our team.
Spring Sale<br />
£200 OFF & FREE DELIVERY ON ALL ORDERS<br />
£1,545.00<br />
£1,345.00<br />
£1,845.00<br />
£1,645.00<br />
ALL PRODUCTS ARE MAIL ORDER BUT YOU CAN VISIT OUR SHOWROOM<br />
AT SHENSTONE WS14 OEA TO SEE THE QUALITY OF THE PRODUCTS.<br />
£1645.00<br />
£1,445.00<br />
£1,575.00<br />
£1,375.00<br />
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR ASSISTANCE<br />
PLEASE CONTACT OUR FRIENDLY TEAM:<br />
Telephone: 0121 759 6000<br />
Email: sales@aluminiumpatiofurniture.co.uk<br />
Website: www.aluminiumpatiofurniture.co.uk<br />
Showroom address: Unit 1, Shenstone Storage Estate,<br />
Shenstone, Staffordshire WS14 0EA
I N T E R I O R S<br />
Embrace<br />
those curves<br />
OUR homes are our sanctuaries, and making them feel<br />
as cosy and welcoming as possible is key, especially in the<br />
light of the pandemic highlighting the importance of our<br />
surroundings on our wellbeing. And one trend which is on<br />
the radar for <strong>2022</strong> is all about embracing the most cosy<br />
aspects of design.<br />
Curvature has made a huge comeback within interiors,<br />
with curves popping up on everything from furniture and<br />
accessories to the very fabric of our homes; the walls and<br />
windows in particular. Soft, feminine and graceful, curves<br />
are found repeatedly in nature, making them naturally<br />
easy on the eye and soothing to the heart.<br />
Offering a cocooning, cosy feel, these fluid forms create a<br />
playful and fun aesthetic as opposed to the static rigidity<br />
of straight lines.<br />
From the soft, round edges of a sofa to the meandering of<br />
an art feature - no matter what room of the house, this<br />
soothing trend is one to keep up with.<br />
FAUX LEATHER HANDLE ROUND LOG HOLDER, £125,<br />
COX & COX. WWW.COXANDCOX.CO.UK<br />
DEEP SAGE AND BRASS ROUNDED<br />
DESK LAMP, COX & COX.<br />
WWW.COXANDCOX.CO.UK<br />
£225<br />
WHITE AND GREY CERAMIC LAMP,<br />
NEEDWOOD LIVING, ALREWAS.<br />
WWW.NEEDWOODLIVING.CO.UK<br />
£225<br />
£238<br />
£75<br />
GOLD ROUND LUXE DRINKS TROLLEY,<br />
AUDENZA. WWW.AUDENZA.COM<br />
LORIENT RETRO DINING CHAIR, PEPPERMILL<br />
INTERIORS, BURNTWOOD BUSINESS PARK.<br />
WWW.PEPPERMILLINTERIORS.COM<br />
24<br />
www.jaimemagazine.com
Family Business Est. 1974<br />
TWO OF OUR MOST RECENT INSTALLATIONS<br />
VISIT OUR NEW, LARGER SUTTON COLDFIELD SHOWROOM TO SEE AND FEEL THE QUALITY<br />
Call to discuss your kitchen project and book a FREE, no-obligation design consultation today<br />
128-138 Hardwick Rd, Sutton Coldfield B74 3DP<br />
Tel: 0121 353 4999 - www.kitchensbybroadway.co.uk<br />
Email: enquiries@kitchensbybroadway.co.uk
£249 £25<br />
OLBIA ROUND STONEWARE VASE,<br />
CULT FURNITURE.<br />
WWW.CULTFURNITURE.COM<br />
ELLIOT ROUND COFFEE TABLE IN WHITE<br />
MARBLE AND BRASS, CULT FURNITURE.<br />
WWW.CULTFURNITURE.COM<br />
TALL CURVED AMBER VASE,<br />
NEEDWOOD LIVING, ALREWAS.<br />
WWW.NEEDWOODLIVING.CO.UK<br />
£70<br />
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CASSINI TWO WAY GOLD CEILING SHADE,<br />
ICONIC LIGHTS. WWW.ICONICLIGHTS.CO.UK<br />
ROXY REAL LEATHER SOFA, PEPPERMILL<br />
INTERIORS, BURNTWOOD BUSINESS PARK.<br />
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£4,500<br />
ONZA EASY FIT PENDANT,<br />
DAR LIGHTING GROUP.<br />
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JONATHAN ADLER ETHER CURVED SOFA IN<br />
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26
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ARIEL UPHOLSTERED BED, £2,410, SWEETPEA &<br />
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MAYFIELD RATTAN STOOL, £145, GARDEN<br />
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GRACE PAINTED PATTERNED GLASS TABLE LAMP<br />
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PAST TWO YEARS, WHEN THE UK WAS IN THE GRIP OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, THIS YEAR THERE<br />
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‘MY MUM’ HAND SCULPTED ONE OFF<br />
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ARTIFEX GALLERY, MITCHELL CENTRE.<br />
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£19.95<br />
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DUSTY PINK AND GREEN ORCHID<br />
PHALAENOPSIS PLANT,<br />
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ANGELS AND VEGANS CHOCOLATE SELECTION BOX,<br />
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£5.50<br />
£245<br />
HOT DIAMONDS SILVER AND WHITE TOPAZ<br />
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£114<br />
EAST OF INDIA CERAMIC HEART, CURBOROUGH GIFT<br />
SHOP AT CURBOROUGH COUNTRYSIDE CENTRE<br />
LA PERLA NOURISHING BODY BALM,<br />
HARVEY NICHOLS.<br />
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28 www.jaimemagazine.com
£13.99<br />
£89<br />
CLOGAU SILVER BEADED HEART<br />
BRACELET, JOHNSONS JEWELLERS.<br />
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LIFE CHARMS ‘MUM’ BRACELET IN PRESENTATION<br />
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£12.50<br />
OXIDISED SILVER, 18CT YELLOW GOLD<br />
AND DIAMOND PENDANT, ALLEN BROWN<br />
JEWELLERY AT HEART OF THE COUNTRY<br />
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£85<br />
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ROSIE MADE A THING ‘MUM’ MUG,<br />
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CURBOROUGH COUNTRYSIDE CENTRE<br />
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TI SENTO SILVER DOUBLE ENTWINED<br />
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ST EVAL BAY AND ROSEMARY CANDLE,<br />
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ROSE AND MAGNOLIA COLOGNE,<br />
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30 www.jaimemagazine.com
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F E AT U R E<br />
The Force is strong in Lichfield<br />
ICONIC MOVIE PARAPHERNALIA WILL BE UP FOR GRABS THIS MONTH AT A<br />
SPECIAL STAR WARS-THEMED AUCTION BY RICHARD WINTERTON AUCTIONEERS<br />
Toys from a galaxy far, far away are to<br />
go under the hammer at a special Star<br />
Wars auction in Lichfield.<br />
Richard Winterton Auctioneers is<br />
offering free valuations of items to<br />
be consigned in the March 17 sale<br />
celebrating the iconic film series.<br />
The auction is planned to take place<br />
at The Hub at St Mary’s in Market<br />
Street, Lichfield, in conjunction with<br />
the ongoing Star Wars exhibition May<br />
The Toys Be With You, which closes on<br />
Sunday, March 20.<br />
Billed as an ‘absolute must see for fans<br />
of Star Wars’, the exhibition features<br />
one of the UK’s finest collections of<br />
vintage Star Wars toys and original<br />
cinema posters, celebrating the vintage<br />
toy line as well as the iconic design and art of the<br />
movies.<br />
Back when the movie Star Wars broke box office<br />
records in 1977 no-one could have predicted that the<br />
merchandising would go on to earn even more than<br />
the film itself. The toys of Star Wars took the world<br />
by storm and became the must-have playthings for<br />
an entire generation.<br />
From 1977 to 1985 an estimated 300 million action<br />
figures were sold, allowing children to re-enact the<br />
adventures of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and<br />
Han Solo.<br />
May The Toys Be With You is both a celebration of<br />
the now highly collectable vintage toy line and also<br />
of the iconic design work and art of the Star Wars<br />
movies. From X-Wing Fighters to lightsabers, these<br />
fantastical designs have fired our imaginations and<br />
stamped their place on our cultural landscape.<br />
For little kids and ‘big kids’ alike, this is an<br />
unmissable opportunity to view many rarely seen<br />
Star Wars treasures. This exhibition has broken<br />
visitor attendance records at a host of museums<br />
around the country and is currently delighting movie<br />
fans from Lichfield and beyond.<br />
The Hub creative director, Anthony Evans said:<br />
“Star Wars is a massive cultural phenomenon, loved<br />
by children, parents and grandparents alike so it’s<br />
32 www.jaimemagazine.com
super exciting to bring May The Toys<br />
Be With You to Lichfield. As well as the<br />
exhibition, we’ve also included Star Wars<br />
themed shows and events in our spring<br />
line-up.”<br />
Auctioneer Richard Winterton said: “As<br />
a lifelong Star Wars fan, The Force is<br />
certainly with this spectacular exhibition<br />
which is already inspiring people to<br />
hunt out their old Star Wars toys and<br />
memorabilia.<br />
“Now with three film trilogies and<br />
numerous spin-offs, Star Wars is more<br />
popular than ever and the Force is<br />
especially strong for original toys and<br />
memorabilia.<br />
“It’s a perfect time to see what they might<br />
make under the hammer, so we’re deploying our own<br />
Imperial Probe Droid to join in the search!”<br />
Viewing for the Star Wars auction is expected to be<br />
held at The Hub on Wednesday, March 16, the day<br />
before the sale. More information will be released<br />
nearer the date.<br />
The Hub will benefit from a percentage of the<br />
proceeds from the auction and Richard Winterton<br />
Auctioneers also sponsored a private viewing of the<br />
exhibition in February.<br />
Anyone wishing to book an appointment to discuss<br />
their Star Wars items should call The Lichfield<br />
Auction Centre at Wood End Lane, Fradley Park<br />
WS13 8NF, on 01543 251081 or email<br />
office@richardwinterton.co.uk.<br />
THE STAR WARS EXHIBITION IS CURRENTLY<br />
TAKING LICHFIELD BY STORM<br />
Richard Winterton Auctioneers has a long<br />
association with The Hub at St Mary’s and holds free<br />
valuations of watches, jewellery and silver there on<br />
Tuesdays from 9.30am to 11am.<br />
Free tickets for May The Toys Be With You must be<br />
booked for weekends, where timed entry slots are<br />
available every 30 minutes; however on weekdays<br />
people can just turn up.<br />
The exhibition is open on Mondays to Saturdays<br />
from 9.30am to 3pm, and Sundays from 10am to<br />
4pm, with an Autism-Friendly viewing time on<br />
Sundays from 100am until 11am, with visitors being<br />
asked to keep noise levels to a minimum and the<br />
lights turned down.<br />
For more details and to book weekend tickets visit<br />
www.thehubstmarys.co.uk<br />
RICHARD WINTERTON WILL BE<br />
AUCTIONING SOME ICONIC<br />
MOVIE MEMORABILIA<br />
www.jaimemagazine.com<br />
33
F O O D & D R I N K<br />
Taking a chance<br />
TALENTED LICHFIELD CHEF JACK DUBBERLEY TOOK A HUGE GAMBLE TO LAUNCH HIS UNIQUE FINE<br />
DINING EXPERIENCE IN THE MIDST OF A GLOBAL PANDEMIC - BUT IT’S A RISK WHICH HAS PAID OFF<br />
AS DINERS HAVE EMBRACED HIS CULINARY CONCEPT. AMY NORBURY DISCOVERS MORE<br />
Starting a new business is always somewhat of a<br />
risk. But starting a new business in the middle of<br />
a global pandemic - and into one of the worstaffected<br />
industries - could be said to be bordering<br />
on madness. But, for talented Lichfield chef Jack<br />
Dubberley, it has been a brave move which has paid<br />
off in spades.<br />
Jack’s love of fine dining, passion for the freshest and<br />
most seasonal produce, and skills in the kitchen have<br />
seen Dubberley Delicious, his unique ‘chef ’s table’<br />
concept, go from strength to strength since launching<br />
last year.<br />
Situated just outside the city in a cabin at The Plant<br />
Plot garden centre, it may not be the first place you<br />
think of when it comes to discerning dining. But<br />
Jack’s whole ethos is about defying expectations.<br />
Once you step inside the cabin, the garden centre<br />
location is irrelevant as you are greeted by a smart<br />
dining room facing the open kitchen. With just one<br />
table seating up to ten diners, the place is yours as<br />
Jack becomes your own private chef for the evening.<br />
The idea behind Dubberley Delicious came about<br />
while Jack and his sister Lucy were shopping for<br />
a Mother’s Day present at The Plant Plot, shortly<br />
LICHFIELD CHEF<br />
JACK DUBBERLEY<br />
before the pandemic hit proper and the country went<br />
into the first of three lockdowns which changed the<br />
hospitality industry for good.<br />
“We joked that we should rent a cabin to start a<br />
food business because the overheads would be<br />
manageable,” says 28-year-old Jack.<br />
Jack was sous chef at acclaimed hotel Swinfen Hall<br />
but, having spent most of his career on-and-off in<br />
the Swinfen kitchen, he longed for a place to call his<br />
own. Then when Covid-19 hit, he - alongside chefs<br />
up and down the country - found himself stuck at<br />
home as restaurants and hotels closed for months on<br />
end.<br />
“We didn’t go back until the end of July, and things<br />
had obviously changed a lot in that time,” says Jack.<br />
“I’d also had a lot of time to think about what I<br />
really wanted to do.”<br />
Remembering his and Lucy’s conversation, Jack<br />
got in touch with the owners of The Plant Plot and<br />
pitched the idea of a fine dining chef ’s table-slashcookery<br />
school. It was proposed to be a setup unlike<br />
anything else in or around Lichfield - and the owners<br />
jumped at the idea.<br />
“I wanted to do something different, more intimate,”<br />
34<br />
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says Jack. “People come here and they have their<br />
own space for as long as they want, and they can<br />
help to design everything about their event.<br />
“If you want a certain thing on the menu, you can<br />
have it. You can have your own drinks and even your<br />
own music.<br />
“And it’s a complete experience; you get to see<br />
everything that goes on in the kitchen, and if you<br />
want to get involved with things like plating up, you<br />
can.”<br />
Jack and his family spent months transforming the<br />
cabin into a working kitchen and stylish dining room.<br />
With the pandemic still raging and the opening<br />
delayed, Jack adapted by offering design-yourown<br />
dine-at-home boxes, then outdoor fine dining<br />
barbecue events as the weather warmed up.<br />
Finally, as restrictions eased and indoor dining was<br />
once again allowed, Jack welcomed his first diners to<br />
Dubberley Delicious in May last year.<br />
Jack runs every aspect of the operation himself,<br />
going from chef to waiter, sommelier and pot wash<br />
throughout the course of each event. On busier<br />
nights, sister Lucy - a full time teacher - pitches in, as<br />
well as helping Jack with his social media.<br />
“It’s a family business, and we’re excited by every<br />
single booking we get,” says Jack. “It makes us happy<br />
knowing that people want to come here.<br />
“We want people to feel like they’re getting a special<br />
experience, and go away happy. Luckily, our reviews<br />
speak for themselves, and we get people coming<br />
through word-of-mouth recommendations. Also,<br />
we’ve found that most of our guests so far have<br />
already come back. And we’ve got regulars who have<br />
been four or five times.”<br />
Jack’s passion for what he does is the driving force<br />
behind Dubberley Delicious, and his love of cooking<br />
JACK HAS TRANSFORMED A<br />
GARDEN CENTRE CABIN INTO<br />
A UNIQUE ‘CHEF’S TABLE’<br />
EXPERIENCE<br />
started at a young age: “I’ve always enjoyed cooking<br />
with my mum, and baking,” he says. “I’d always<br />
watch famous chefs like Gordon Ramsey on the TV<br />
too.”<br />
It was at Lichfield’s Friary School, studying for his<br />
GCSEs, where Jack’s food technology class saw<br />
him spend a day in a professional kitchen, receiving<br />
tuition from chefs and honing his skills by cooking<br />
for his family and teachers later that evening. The<br />
experience sparked Jack’s interest in the culinary<br />
world and, with his exams done, he decided to apply<br />
to UCB’s College of Food in Birmingham.<br />
“I passed the first year really well and I enjoyed it;<br />
there were a few rough patches, like seeing a whole<br />
fish being gutted for the first time, but it<br />
showed me a lot about what to expect,” says<br />
Jack.<br />
As part of his course, Jack had to find work<br />
experience in a professional kitchen, so<br />
he approached the team at the prestigious<br />
Swinfen Hall Hotel, who offered him a stint<br />
in the kitchen.<br />
During Jack’s second year at college he<br />
contacted Swinfen again about a part time<br />
job to complement his studies - only to be<br />
offered a full time role.<br />
“It was a bit of a shock,” says Jack. “I was<br />
halfway through my NVQ Level Three, but I<br />
went away and thought about it, weighed up<br />
my options and decided that taking the job<br />
was the best way to go, to get a start in the<br />
36 www.jaimemagazine.com
industry.<br />
“It’s a job unlike any other, and while college<br />
was great, there’s no replacement for the<br />
experience of working in a kitchen.”<br />
Jack swiftly worked his way up through<br />
the Swinfen kitchen, the head chef quickly<br />
spotting his passion and potential.<br />
“We built a strong team of chefs, and we<br />
were really busy, both with weddings and<br />
with the restaurant,” says Jack. “I was there<br />
for four or five years to begin with, and it was<br />
a great place to learn the trade.”<br />
A brief interlude at Dormy House Hotel in<br />
the Cotswolds was cut short when the head<br />
chef who recruited Jack left the business. He<br />
decided to return to Lichfield and Swinfen<br />
Hall jumped at the chance to take him back, where<br />
he worked his way up to sous chef, helping the team<br />
to earn a coveted three AA rosettes.<br />
When the opportunity came along to help set up a<br />
new restaurant in Lichfield, Larder, Jack decided to<br />
embrace the challenge. It was a risk, to go from a<br />
well-established set-up to something completely new,<br />
but the prospect excited the ambitious young chef.<br />
“The aim was to get started and earn rosettes, and<br />
within six months we’d got two AA rosettes,” says<br />
Jack. “It was good, and we were the best restaurant<br />
in Lichfield on TripAdvisor.<br />
“The passion was there, I was second in command<br />
working closely with the head chef and we were all<br />
working well as a team.”<br />
But a change in management curtailed Jack’s<br />
ambitions, and when Swinfen came calling once<br />
again, he returned to their kitchen for a final stint.<br />
“I’m all about fine dining, doing the higher end of<br />
the food scale because that’s where the challenge is,<br />
and you always need to be challenging yourself. I like<br />
JACK’S COOKING IS<br />
SOPHISTICATED AND SEASONAL<br />
JACK CREATED WILD GARLIC<br />
POPCORN TO USE SOME OF THE<br />
FRUITS OF HIS FORAGING<br />
to push myself and I want my food to represent the<br />
very best of what I can do.”<br />
A keen forager, Jack loves working with local<br />
ingredients and making the most of the abundance<br />
of wild plants on his doorstep.<br />
“I like going to pick wild garlic; every year in<br />
February I’ll be scanning the local area to see<br />
when it’s ready and how much is there. I’ll pick a<br />
load then spend time making wild garlic oils and<br />
pestos, thinking of what else I can do and how I can<br />
preserve it to use throughout the year instead of just<br />
using the leaves when they’re in season,” says Jack.<br />
“One of the chefs who really inspired me is Tommy<br />
Banks; his book is fantastic, and it talks about the<br />
hunger gap, when fresh, local produce is harder to<br />
come by.<br />
“It’s about preserving things throughout the year so<br />
you have them available when you can’t get local<br />
produce. It’s great in the summer but then there<br />
are periods that are very limited. And I want to use<br />
ingredients which are as local as possible.”<br />
While Jack’s table can be booked seven days a week<br />
to fit in with customers’ requirements, he also<br />
offers cookery classes, covering things like<br />
butchery, knife skills, baking and bread-making.<br />
He hopes to bring his popular barbecues back<br />
for summer too.<br />
“The long term aim is to move out of the cabin<br />
and do something along the same lines, but<br />
a little bit bigger,” says Jack. “It’s just about<br />
getting to the point where we can take the risk<br />
again.<br />
“But this is just the beginning.”<br />
For more information visit<br />
www.dubberleydelicious.co.uk or find<br />
Dubberley Delicious on Instagram and<br />
Facebook @dubberleydelicious<br />
www.jaimemagazine.com<br />
37
F O O D & D R I N K<br />
An eggs-cellent idea<br />
JACK GOULD, BRUNCH CHEF AT CURBOROUGH’S THYME KITCHEN,<br />
SHARES A DELICIOUS NEW DISH FROM THEIR ALL-DAY MENU WHICH<br />
IS SURE TO SPICE UP YOUR LUNCHTIME<br />
Thai green curry eggs with jasmine rice<br />
INGREDIENTS<br />
For the sauce:<br />
1 stalk lemongrass<br />
2 green chilis<br />
1 red onion<br />
5 cloves garlic<br />
2” piece of ginger<br />
1 tsp brown sugar<br />
1 tin coconut milk<br />
1 lime<br />
1/2 bunch coriander<br />
1/2 bunch basil<br />
1/2 tsp cumin<br />
1/2 tsp white pepper<br />
1/2 tsp ground<br />
coriander<br />
3 tsp fish sauce<br />
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar<br />
Salt to taste<br />
For the garnish:<br />
2 eggs<br />
100g jasmine rice<br />
1/2 stalk lemongrass<br />
2 kaffir lime leaves<br />
20g cashews<br />
1 tbsp natural yoghurt<br />
1 lime<br />
Salt<br />
For the sauce, dice the onion, garlic and chilli.<br />
Fry in oil for two minutes then add the spices and<br />
fry for a further three to five minutes. Add the<br />
fish sauce, rice wine vinegar and sugar and cook<br />
out for a further two to three minutes. Add in the<br />
coconut milk and simmer for five to ten minutes.<br />
Remove from the heat and blend together with<br />
the fresh herbs until smooth, adding the lime and<br />
salt to taste.<br />
Wash the jasmine rice for ten to 15 minutes until<br />
the water runs clear then add to a saucepan with<br />
the lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves. Place your<br />
index finger on top of the rice and add water<br />
until it reaches your first knuckle. Boil the rice for<br />
five to ten minutes until almost all the water is<br />
gone, then cover the pan and leave to steam for a<br />
further five minutes.<br />
Heat a frying pan with a small amount of oil and<br />
toss the cashews until golden brown. Add salt to<br />
taste. Make the lime yoghurt by adding the zest<br />
juice of half a lime to the yoghurt and mixing<br />
well.<br />
Break the eggs into a pan of simmering water<br />
with a tablespoon of white wine vinegar and<br />
poach for two minutes, then remove and drain.<br />
Serve the eggs on top of the sauce with the rice<br />
on the side - spoon the yoghurt on the rice and<br />
finish with a sprinkle of cashew nuts.<br />
38 www.jaimemagazine.com
Celebrate Mother’s Day at Moor Hall Hotel & Spa<br />
in Sutton Coldfield. Our 4* country house hotel has a<br />
choice of experiences to treat your mum.<br />
AFTERNOON TEA WITH LIVE MUSIC<br />
SUNDAY LUNCH IN THE OAK ROOM<br />
SUNDAY LUNCH IN THE COUNTRY KITCHEN<br />
HALF SPA DAY WITH PROSECCO & CAKE<br />
Visit our website to book and to purchase a range of gift vouchers!<br />
Half Spa Day for just £49<br />
Includes a 25 minute spa treatment,<br />
four relaxing hours in The Spa with<br />
access to the gym, indoor pool, sauna,<br />
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plus a glass of Prosecco and slice of cake<br />
Available Monday to Friday until 31st March,<br />
subject to availability. £10 supplement for weekends.<br />
Buy as a Gift Voucher - valid until 31st May <strong>2022</strong>.<br />
Moor Hall Drive, Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield B75 6LN<br />
0121 308 3751 weddings@moorhallhotel.co.uk<br />
www.moorhallhotel.co.uk<br />
Mothers Day<br />
‘<br />
A T T H Y M E K I T C H E N<br />
Are you looking to treat your Mum<br />
on Mother’s Day?<br />
Maybe she’s a fur baby Mum, a step Mum or even<br />
an overworked and underpaid Mum!<br />
Whatever your relationship, come along to Thyme Kitchen<br />
and spoil your special Mama on Sunday March 27th!<br />
Book a table for Sunday lunch and your ‘Mum’ will receive<br />
a complimentary glass of fizz and a floral suprise from<br />
Ivison Florists, Lichfield.<br />
#everyoneiswelcome<br />
If you would like to book please call 01543 264050<br />
or via our website www.thymekitchen.co.uk<br />
Curbourough Countryside Centre, Watery Lane, Lichfield, WS13 8ES
F E AT U R E<br />
Inside the secret garden<br />
GRACE AND SAVOUR AT HAMPTON MANOR IS A NEW IMMERSIVE WALLED GARDEN DINING<br />
EXPERIENCE. KATY EDGINGTON FINDS OUT MORE FROM DAVID AND ANETTE TAYLOR<br />
PHOTOS BY FJONA HILL<br />
Hampton Manor Estate’s eagerly<br />
anticipated third destination<br />
restaurant, Grace & Savour, finally<br />
opened its doors on February 25. Led<br />
by husband and wife team head chef<br />
David Taylor and house manager<br />
Anette Taylor, we spoke to the couple<br />
about what to expect from the new<br />
walled garden restaurant, cookery<br />
school and luxury accommodation.<br />
After spending the last year visiting<br />
farms, meeting craftspeople, potters,<br />
fishermen, and fine-tuning the<br />
experience, the pair were excited for<br />
the opening and the chance to share<br />
and develop that experience further.<br />
David started at 16 years old at a little bistro called<br />
Pierre Victoire, before moving to study Culinary Arts<br />
Management at University College Birmingham. He<br />
landed a second-year placement at Gordon Ramsay’s<br />
Maze under Jason Atherton. Working brutally long<br />
hours in his first Michelin starred kitchen taught<br />
him a lot, and at the end of the placement Jason<br />
connected David with Glynn Purnell of Purnell’s in<br />
Birmingham, where he headed next.<br />
THE WALLED GARDEN GROWING<br />
PROGRAMME OVERSEEN BY DR<br />
SALLY BELL PRODUCES AN ACRE OF<br />
ORGANIC PRODUCE<br />
GRACE & SAVOUR IS BUILT INTO THE<br />
FABRIC OF THE WALLED GARDEN<br />
“Glynn really nurtured my confidence, taught me to<br />
believe in myself as a cook - which I struggled with -<br />
and taught me the importance of always improving<br />
my craft. I was there for seven years, five as sous chef.<br />
I loved and always will love my time being a part of<br />
the Purnell’s family. Glynn built the foundation of<br />
how I cook and gave me the confidence to step out<br />
and go abroad to cook.”<br />
David went on to complete stages at Grace in<br />
Chicago, Momofuku KO and Atera in New York,<br />
and Relae in Copenhagen before<br />
a job opportunity came up at<br />
Maaemo in Oslo. During his<br />
time there the restaurant won<br />
three Michelin stars. He was<br />
head chef at the five star Thief<br />
Hotel on Oslo’s harbourfront for<br />
three years, but with a hunger to<br />
get back into restaurant cooking,<br />
David called James Hill, one of<br />
the directors at Hampton Manor,<br />
who made him and Anette an<br />
offer they couldn’t refuse.<br />
Anette, by contrast, came quite<br />
late into hospitality. With a<br />
degree in sign language, she<br />
40 www.jaimemagazine.com
worked as an interpreter for many<br />
years before going into project and<br />
leadership roles in organisations<br />
from the Salvation Army to one<br />
of the biggest music festivals in<br />
Norway.<br />
“It’s not exactly your typical way<br />
into hospitality, but at the same<br />
time I would say that it is what<br />
has shaped my heart for it,” she<br />
says. “For me, hospitality is all<br />
about people. To make people feel<br />
seen, that there is room for them,<br />
that they belong. A guest’s time<br />
is precious, and for a night they<br />
will be trusting us with that time,<br />
and nothing is more exciting than<br />
making those moments special.”<br />
Grace & Savour was the couple’s dream scenario:<br />
a purpose-built small restaurant with rooms where<br />
they’re able to put extra effort into the finer details.<br />
“Sustainability has always been in our hearts, so to<br />
create something that not only looked inwards but<br />
outwards too is really special,” adds David. “James<br />
and Dr Sally Bell, Hampton Manor’s directors, gave<br />
me an insight into how broken our supply chains are<br />
and as we delved deeper it became so much more<br />
than just a restaurant; it’s an opportunity to help<br />
make things better than the way we found them.”<br />
The restaurant and development kitchen with five<br />
adjoining garden bedrooms are built into the very<br />
walls of the historic Victorian Walled Garden on the<br />
45-acre family-run West Midlands estate, providing<br />
guests an opportunity to relax and reconnect with<br />
nature.<br />
Overnight guests arrive at 3pm for a garden tour and<br />
THE BEDROOMS OVERLOOK THE<br />
WALLED GARDEN<br />
menu introduction with David. Before dinner, estate<br />
maps and wellies are to hand for those wanting to<br />
explore, or you’re welcome to relax in your bedroom<br />
lounge from where you can glimpse the chefs at work<br />
in the open kitchen.<br />
The evening’s 15 course tasting menu celebrates a<br />
revolution in growing and farming where the focus is<br />
on soil health, biodiversity and sustainability. David<br />
constructs the menu season to season, reflecting<br />
what’s available at the time of harvest: protein-heavy<br />
in the winter and more vegetable and wild flora<br />
focused in the spring and summer.<br />
“The broth that currently starts the menu is meant to<br />
be warm and inviting after coming in from the cold,<br />
whereas in the summer I might start with a bright<br />
and refreshing raspberry, yoghurt and rose filled<br />
nasturtium flower.”<br />
David and Anette have spent the past 12 months<br />
seeking out and forging partnerships with likeminded<br />
suppliers who are working sensitively in their<br />
environments, using a range of<br />
practises including re-wilding,<br />
diversification, agroforestry,<br />
organic principles, and<br />
biodynamic farming.<br />
Solely focusing on British<br />
organic produce and British<br />
heritage, the 15 courses are a<br />
journey through various UK<br />
farms. Dish by dish, David<br />
is trying to tell their stories.<br />
Although he won’t always give<br />
away every detail for fear of<br />
weighing down your evening, if<br />
you ask he promises there will<br />
always be more stories to tell.<br />
“The pumpkin seed butter in<br />
www.jaimemagazine.com<br />
41
the fish dish, for example, I made<br />
because the pumpkin farmer is trying<br />
to make a pumpkin seed oil to fry<br />
with,” he says. “Pumpkin seed oil is<br />
much healthier and an even better<br />
frying oil than rapeseed, vegetable<br />
or sunflower, which are all highly<br />
processed, so supporting him in this<br />
task is really important to me.”<br />
Plymouth-based fish supplier Sole<br />
of Discretion only uses boats 10m<br />
or under and supports the local<br />
fishermen with good pricing, buying<br />
them new nets to help lower by-catch,<br />
and only taking fish caught in the<br />
most sustainable way.<br />
“When I call Sole of Discretion, I order what is<br />
best and plentiful and so that means we have a fish<br />
dish that’s ever-changing, reflecting the season and<br />
the natural unpredictable circle of the sea. We are<br />
currently serving it with mussels in pumpkin pickle,<br />
that pumpkin butter and a mussel cream sauce.”<br />
Paviland’s Farm on the Gower Peninsula is a<br />
2,000 acre farm which is attempting to go fully<br />
regenerative. Their Welsh Black cattle graze on<br />
more than 300 different varieties of wild plants and<br />
herbs, giving the beef a wonderful deep flavour and<br />
tenderness.<br />
“We are also working with Ram Hall Farm where<br />
they make Berkswell Cheese,” David adds. “The<br />
family are fifth generation cheesemakers, pig farmers<br />
and crop growers. The jump to regenerative is a big<br />
risk for them, but we are trying to take what we can<br />
to support them in their journey. Ram Hall were<br />
previously using their whey to water their plants,<br />
THE WALLED GARDEN IS A<br />
PLAYGROUND FOR THE KITCHEN<br />
TEAM TO TEST WHAT THEY LEARN<br />
FROM OTHER GROWERS<br />
which is great, but we now buy it from them for our<br />
caramelised whey dish and it’s delicious!”<br />
The Walled Garden itself produces an acre of food<br />
using organic principles. The growing programme<br />
is overseen by Dr Sally Bell, a specialist in lifestyle<br />
medicine. As well as being part of the GRFFN<br />
Project (Growing Real Food for Nutrition), a UKwide<br />
initiative that looks at how growing methods<br />
affect nutrient density, the garden is a playground for<br />
the kitchen team to test what they learn from other<br />
growers. The aim is for 50 per cent self sufficiency as<br />
they still want to support local producers. Soft fruits<br />
will be a focus.<br />
“We have plans for a beautiful timber fruit cage,”<br />
David shares. “Berries are often heavily sprayed with<br />
chemicals and they never travel well. They’re often<br />
picked under-ripe to make sure they survive the back<br />
of a bouncing lorry, but this heavily impacts quality<br />
and flavour. Ripe soft fruit tastes completely different<br />
picked in the late afternoon compared to first thing<br />
in the morning, and so<br />
picking time is everything.<br />
I’m really looking forward to<br />
what we’ll create from these<br />
delicious berries.”<br />
Each of Grace & Savour’s<br />
five beautifully designed<br />
garden suites looks out across<br />
the garden to the kitchen.<br />
Decorated in a muted palette<br />
of clay, mud, and earth<br />
tones, each has their own<br />
luxurious en-suite bathroom<br />
and is bathed in natural<br />
light from the floor to ceiling<br />
windows. At the heart of the<br />
rooms is a bespoke bath time<br />
42 www.jaimemagazine.com
Take control<br />
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itual that celebrates the scent of<br />
the garden, designed by King’s<br />
Heath organic skincare brand,<br />
Harvest.<br />
Although a small number of<br />
tables are available to nonresidents<br />
for dinner Wednesday<br />
to Saturday, Anette heartily<br />
recommends that guests book<br />
the full experience and stay<br />
overnight in one of the luxurious<br />
garden suites.<br />
“It is something special to allow<br />
yourself to get away from the<br />
hustle and bustle of everyday<br />
life: to just immerse yourself in<br />
the beauty of our garden, the<br />
tranquillity you will find in our bath time ritual, and<br />
to have the time with your loved one to have those<br />
conversations that go a bit deeper than the ones over<br />
the dinner table at home with the kids. But to be fair,<br />
it can also be summed up in one word: bathtubs. Any<br />
one of the gorgeous handmade concrete bathtubs<br />
in five different colours from Warrington + Rose is<br />
worth a stay on its own.”<br />
After breakfast the following morning, the cookery<br />
experience in the test kitchen invites guests to learn<br />
the stories of the farmers and the creation of the<br />
garden through a light-hearted, fun exploration of<br />
how to work with nature, culminating in a gardeninspired<br />
lunch that each guest plays their part in<br />
preparing.<br />
“The test kitchen will be all about connecting<br />
guests with the produce and where it comes from,<br />
overlooking our walled garden in a laid back<br />
atmosphere,” Anette adds. “We will change the<br />
classes regularly to reflect the season, so it could be<br />
all about hand dived scallops where we will show<br />
guests how to open them, go over some simple<br />
preparations and taste them, or it could be a table<br />
full of different foraged items and we will create a<br />
selection of infusions for them. It’s to give guests the<br />
opportunity to really get under the skin of Grace &<br />
Savour.”<br />
Anette is hoping guests will feel ‘optimistic and<br />
relaxed’ after immersing themselves in this unique<br />
environment.<br />
“By optimistic, I mean that you can go away feeling<br />
you are on a journey, knowing a little bit more than<br />
you did yesterday. Sharing knowledge is something<br />
that should be fun and interesting! We often have<br />
a very all or nothing mentality when it comes to<br />
sustainability but we’re on a journey ourselves, and<br />
we’re inviting our guests to join us. Relaxed because<br />
it’s impossible not to be when you’re in that garden,<br />
experiencing it with someone you love.”<br />
Bookings are open now for dinner (£135pp for the<br />
15 course tasting menu), or for overnight experiences<br />
(from £360pp, inclusive of dinner, breakfast, garden<br />
room and test kitchen experience).<br />
For more information, visit<br />
www.hamptonmanor.com/grace-savour<br />
44 www.jaimemagazine.com
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SATURDAY<br />
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F O O D & D R I N K<br />
Staying in the dark<br />
AN INNOVATIVE DINING CONCEPT WHERE GUESTS ENJOY A SURPRISE MENU COMPLETELY<br />
IN THE DARK IS COMING TO SWINFEN HALL HOTEL, NEAR LICHFIELD, THIS MONTH<br />
They say that, when you enjoy a<br />
meal, you eat with your eyes before<br />
you eat with your mouth. But what if<br />
you couldn’t see what you were being<br />
served?<br />
That’s the idea being an innovative<br />
dining concept which comes to<br />
Lichfield’s Swinfen Hall Hotel this<br />
month, in partnership with Dans Le<br />
Noir?<br />
Dine in Darkness is an immersive<br />
culinary experience where diners taste<br />
gourmet, creative and seasonal cuisine<br />
in complete darkness, accompanied<br />
and served by unexpected guides.<br />
Experiencing heightened flavours,<br />
aromas, textures and temperatures as you enjoy an<br />
unknown - and unseen - menu, this is an original<br />
culinary journey where your senses are fully<br />
awakened. Focusing your attention on taste, losing<br />
the colour of a wine and instead smelling, touching<br />
and tasting amplifies a range of sensations that<br />
stimulate your emotions.<br />
Guided and served by a blind or partially sighted<br />
person, this unusual dining experience is a moment<br />
of positive empathy that breaks our preconceived<br />
ideas of disability.<br />
Diners don’t choose what they’re going to enjoy in<br />
THE MENU IS A<br />
COMPLETE SURPRISE<br />
THE EXPERIENCE TAKES PLACE<br />
COMPLETELY IN THE DARK<br />
the dark; however, dietary requirements are taken<br />
on board and the menu is adapted to ensure the<br />
experience is complete and safe.<br />
After experiencing your meal in the dark, the team<br />
will present you with the menu so that you can<br />
discover the dishes and drinks that you have been<br />
served.<br />
Dans le Noir? is a unique sensory, convivial, and<br />
human experience, created by Ethik Investment,<br />
an independent European group founded in 2003<br />
and specialised in social innovations. This successful<br />
international project where guests enjoy a 100 per<br />
cent surprise menu in complete darkness, served and<br />
guided by a team of visually impaired guides, is now<br />
in seven countries and 11 cities. Whether as<br />
permanent venues or pop up concept, Dans<br />
le Noir? offers a powerful, gourmet and<br />
meaningful adventure, already experienced<br />
by two million people worldwide.<br />
This special pop up restaurant will be open<br />
throughout March, with seatings from 6pm<br />
until 9.45pm Wednesday to Saturday, and<br />
12pm until 3.45pm on Sundays, priced at<br />
£95 per head for a delicious surprise threecourse<br />
menu all perfectly paired with wine.<br />
For more information and to book your place<br />
visit www.swinfenhallhotel.co.uk<br />
46 www.jaimemagazine.com
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F O O D & D R I N K<br />
A star is born<br />
LICHFIELD HAS LANDED FIRMLY ON THE MIDLANDS CULINARY MAP AFTER<br />
ACCLAIMED CHEF TOM SHEPHERD EARNED THE CITY ITS FIRST COVETED MICHELIN<br />
STAR WITH HIS RESTAURANT UPSTAIRS - JUST FOUR MONTHS AFTER OPENING<br />
It’s the day chefs around the country wait for with baited<br />
breath; to see who’s in, who’s out, who’s gained, who’s<br />
lost - and if their name appears in the coveted Michelin<br />
guide.<br />
While Birmingham is the most awarded area outside<br />
of London, with some five starred eateries in the latest<br />
iteration of the culinary bible, the wider Staffordshire<br />
area has not made it onto Michelin’s radar. Until now.<br />
Upstairs by Tom Shepherd, on Lichfield’s Bore Street,<br />
has earned rave reviews and been booked solidly since<br />
its launch in October last year. The new Michelin<br />
guide announcement awarding Upstairs a star just four<br />
months after opening makes it the only restaurant in<br />
Staffordshire to have ever received the honour.<br />
In the guide, inspectors noted that, ‘like the chef himself,<br />
the cooking is confident yet restrained. Tom’s experience<br />
shines through in the detailed yet unfussy dishes, which<br />
are beautifully presented and come with well-thoughtthrough<br />
flavour combinations. Perfectly pitched service<br />
from a cheerful young team completes this enjoyable<br />
dining experience.’<br />
Named due to its position above his father Paul’s<br />
family-run jewellery shop, City Jewellers, in the heart<br />
of Lichfield, Upstairs promises a contemporary British<br />
fine dining experience, with Tom and his team creating<br />
flavour-led, produce-driven menus inspired by the<br />
seasons and surroundings.<br />
Tom said: “I’m absolutely elated that we’ve been<br />
awarded a Michelin star, especially given we’ve only<br />
been in operation for four months. In addition, being<br />
the first ever Michelin starred restaurant in Staffordshire<br />
only adds to the enormity of the achievement.”<br />
Sutton Coldfield-born Tom is no stranger to Michelin,<br />
having previously retained Birmingham eatery Adams’<br />
star - as well as three AA Rosettes - during his tenure as<br />
head chef. He also worked at Nottingham’s two Michelin<br />
starred Restaurant Sat Bains as development chef,<br />
as well as being sous chef to Michael Wignall at The<br />
Latymer, a two Michelin starred restaurant in Bagshot,<br />
Surrey.<br />
Before opening Upstairs, Tom made a name for himself<br />
in Lichfield with his innovative Dine at Home box<br />
collaboration with Sauce Supper Club, serving sellout<br />
CHEF TOM SHEPHERD<br />
weekly fine dining menu boxes to discerning diners<br />
around the city and beyond throughout the Covid-19<br />
lockdown.<br />
Speaking to <strong>J’AIME</strong> ahead of Upstairs’ opening last<br />
year, Tom said: “We want to create a restaurant which,<br />
in my opinion, is yet to be seen in Lichfield. We really<br />
want to bring a new experience, and we hope that when<br />
people walk through the door they notice that difference<br />
in delivery.<br />
“They can sit down, have some incredible food, because<br />
how we source and how we cook is what I’ve learned<br />
throughout my whole career and that’s not going to<br />
change, it’s going to be elevated even here.<br />
“We want to produce a restaurant that will fulfil, and<br />
hopefully exceed, people’s expectations.<br />
“I’ve worked in some incredible restaurants and with<br />
some incredible people, and it’s time now to go it alone.<br />
And the fact that it’s here in Lichfield, above my dad’s<br />
shop, couldn’t be more perfect.”<br />
And now, with the news of the industry’s most<br />
prestigious accolade, Tom has certainly exceeded every<br />
expectation, cementing Lichfield’s growing reputation as<br />
a culinary hotspot.<br />
Upstairs by Tom Shepherd is at 25 Bore Street,<br />
Lichfield. For more details visit<br />
www.upstairs.restaurant or email<br />
reservations@upstairs.restaurant for booking<br />
enquiries.<br />
48 www.jaimemagazine.com
Food & Drink + Assems Advert_2780.qxp_Layout 1 14/02/<strong>2022</strong> 16:00 Page 1<br />
Explore the new Food & Drink Trail<br />
You can find them on the brand new<br />
Tamworth Food and Drink Trail.<br />
for a real taste of Tamworth<br />
There’s so much to see and explore in the historic market town<br />
of Tamworth including one of the best preserved motte and<br />
bailey castles in England, extensive pleasure grounds with<br />
tennis, cycle hire and new adventure playground, major edge of<br />
town retail park, bowling alley, theme park, ski centre and a<br />
traditional town centre.<br />
The heart of Tamworth is home to more than 50 food and drink<br />
establishments, including a wide array of independent bars,<br />
restaurants and cafes.<br />
From locally-brewed ale to<br />
homemade ice-cream,<br />
handmade burgers to the<br />
freshest bagels, British bistro<br />
to Japanese sushi…and<br />
everything in between.<br />
Find out more at: www.visittamworth.co.uk/food-and-drink-trail<br />
At the newly refurbished Tamworth Assembly Rooms.<br />
Tenors Unlimited -<br />
That's Amore! Fri 11 Mar<br />
Top Secret: Science<br />
of Magic Sunday 13 March<br />
Dark Side of the Wall<br />
Saturday 12 March<br />
Revenge<br />
Thursday 17 March<br />
Box Office: 01827 709618 www.tamworthassemblyrooms.co.uk<br />
Corporation Street, Tamworth, Staffordshire. B79 7DN<br />
*Please note that these events were correct at time of print and are subject to government guidelines, please check our website for latest updates.<br />
Sleeping with Beauty<br />
Saturday 19 March
T R AV E L<br />
Following in ancient footsteps<br />
IF THE RECENT WINTER OLYMPICS HAVE WHET YOUR APPETITE FOR A LITTLE SPORTING<br />
COMPETITION, WHY NOT INCORPORATE THIS INTO YOUR NEXT HOLIDAY? SUE OCKWELL<br />
TRAVELS TO NEMEA, ON GREECE’S PELOPONNESE PENINSULA, TO FOLLOW IN THE<br />
FOOTSTEPS OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS FOR A MODERN TAKE ON THE PANHELLENIC GAMES<br />
THE SEASIDE RESORT OF TOLON MAKES A GREAT<br />
BASE FOR VISITORS TO THE NEMEAN GAMES<br />
Part of the original four-year cycle of the Panhellenic<br />
Games, which were designed to stop tribes from<br />
warring with one another for at least two weeks a<br />
year by encouraging them to compete in the sporting<br />
arena instead, Ancient Nemea is a must-see, mustexperience<br />
ancient sporting arena. After all, where<br />
else can you run on the earth trodden by Ancient<br />
Greeks more than 2,000 years ago?<br />
The original Games went from Olympia in the first<br />
year, to Isthmia and Nemea in the spring and summer<br />
of year two, then to Delphi for year three, before<br />
moving on to Isthmia and Nemea again for the fourth<br />
year. Then it was back to Olympia to begin the cycle<br />
all over again – hence today’s Olympic Games being<br />
held every four years.<br />
If you want to relive the excitement of the Games and<br />
become an Ancient Greek for a day, you can take part<br />
in the Modern Nemean Games.<br />
Everyone can run in the Modern Nemean Games, no<br />
matter their age - the oldest runners have included a<br />
97-year-old man and a woman of 100! - or ability.<br />
My husband and I took part in 2012 and 2016 and<br />
were due to do it again in June 2020, but the Seventh<br />
Modern Nemean Games was, understandably,<br />
postponed due to Covid-19. The Games were again<br />
postponed in 2021 but – hurrah! – they are returning<br />
in <strong>2022</strong>, now scheduled for Friday, June 24 to Sunday,<br />
June 26, with the races themselves being held on<br />
50 www.jaimemagazine.com
THE ANCIENT TEMPLE OF ZEUS IN NEMEA<br />
Saturday, June 25.<br />
The story of the Nemean Games is such a great, lifeaffirming<br />
story. The site was discovered by Professor<br />
Stephen Miller, an archaeologist from California’s<br />
Berkeley University, in 1974. He had seen aerial<br />
photographs which clearly revealed an oblong shape –<br />
the stadium floor.<br />
He bought the site from several local owners including<br />
a young Greek man who wanted to pay for his<br />
education; at the point of signing, the young man<br />
said that he felt guilty as he’d never been able to grow<br />
anything on the land. Professor Miller reassured him<br />
that this did not matter – he wished to dig for ancient<br />
remains.<br />
Professor Miller made Nemea his<br />
home, and continued for many<br />
decades to fight hard to ensure that<br />
the site was kept open year-round for<br />
interested visitors. He masterminded<br />
the concept of the Modern Nemean<br />
Games and organised the four-yearly<br />
event with a team of locals and<br />
other supporters, both from Greece<br />
and internationally. Sadly Professor<br />
Miller died last year after a period<br />
of ill health – but, importantly to<br />
him and to many others, his legacy<br />
lives on.<br />
The Modern Nemean Games see<br />
some 1,500 people run in the 90m<br />
“race” on the ancient stadium floor<br />
– barefoot, as the Ancient Greeks<br />
would have run - towards more<br />
than 100 flags fluttering behind the<br />
eternal flame; one flag for every<br />
nationality running. There is also a<br />
7.5km run, following In the footsteps<br />
TRADITIONAL COSTUMES ARE<br />
A HUGE PART OF THE GAMES<br />
of Herakles, for those who seek<br />
more of a challenge.<br />
The Modern Neman Games<br />
are held over a weekend in<br />
late June - normally every four<br />
years, although the sequence<br />
was of course disrupted by<br />
Covid. On Friday evening, there<br />
is an opening ceremony at the<br />
nearby Temple of Zeus, with its<br />
wonderful pillars. There were<br />
just three standing back in 1974<br />
but Professor Miller and his<br />
archaeological workers pieced<br />
together a further six columns<br />
and there are nine now standing,<br />
which is hugely impressive.<br />
A choir sings dressed in Greek costume of wonderful<br />
pleated, flowing robes, the ‘goddess’ speaks and lights<br />
a torch from the eternal flame, Spartan soldiers clad<br />
in 40kg of armour are commanded to lay down their<br />
arms - the purpose of the original Games - which<br />
they do with a big clank, and the procession walks the<br />
short distance to the arena itself, via an ancient tunnel<br />
complete with 2,000 year old graffiti to light the flame<br />
at the stadium itself.<br />
On the Saturday morning and afternoon, runners<br />
arrive at their appointed time (you run in approximate<br />
age groups and female and male runners are grouped<br />
www.jaimemagazine.com<br />
51
separately), change on the<br />
ancient changing room floor<br />
where a canvas tent is erected<br />
over the ancient flagstones,<br />
anoint themselves with oil as<br />
the ancients did to prevent<br />
dehydration and dress in a<br />
simple cotton chiton supplied<br />
by Nemea at no charge – this<br />
is a pretty much free-of-charge<br />
event and no commercialisation<br />
is allowed, making it very<br />
different from the Olympics<br />
these days.<br />
Participants then take an oath<br />
to uphold the spirit of the<br />
Nemean Games, walk barefoot<br />
through the 36m tunnel and emerge blinking into the<br />
daylight and the stadium itself.<br />
A trumpeter, clothed in the robes of the time, two<br />
millennia ago, announces each runner’s name and<br />
their city and country. An official, similarly clothed -<br />
as are all organisers, from judges to slaves - proffers<br />
a helmet containing marble chips engraved with the<br />
A RIBBON AND PALM FROND AWAITS<br />
THE WINNERS OF EACH RACE<br />
TOLON BEACH, GREECE<br />
track number in which you will run; you select a chip<br />
and walk to the starting point of the 90m race.<br />
There, the starting mechanism of rope and wood,<br />
with two rows of rough-hewn grooved limestone, one<br />
groove for toes, the other for your heel, awaits. Blackrobed<br />
judges with birch twigs ensure that your feet are<br />
in the correct position.<br />
“Ready, steady, go!” is announced in Greek,<br />
the starting mechanism falls forward and<br />
the race commences, towards the flags and<br />
the eternal flame. The spectators shout<br />
encouragement, cheer and clap. It’s like a<br />
fascinating and very exciting grown-up sports<br />
day, and is hugely enjoyable and wonderful, in<br />
equal measure.<br />
The winner of each race is awarded, as in<br />
antiquity, a ribbon tied around their head, and<br />
a palm frond. The traditional ancient wild<br />
celery crown, dug freshly from nearby fields,<br />
comes at the end of the day. All bask in the<br />
simple pleasure of winning – but everyone<br />
is a winner, as this is such a heart-warming<br />
event. Being part of ancient history and<br />
becoming an Ancient Greek for a day is such a<br />
wonderful experience.<br />
To travel to Nemea for a holiday at the time<br />
of the Nemean Games in June, book with RB<br />
Collection for a week’s hotel or self-catering<br />
accommodation in nearby Tolon, a lovely<br />
seaside family resort set on a sandy beach<br />
facing a wide bay. We will also arrange a<br />
transfer for the 40-minute drive there and<br />
back to Ancient Nemea, which is much better<br />
than driving yourself after a long day in the<br />
sun and saves a huge amount of hassle in<br />
terms of trying to find a parking space.<br />
52 www.jaimemagazine.com
The apartments overlook the<br />
lovely bay, and are within an<br />
easy barefoot beach walk of<br />
numerous small-scale tavernas,<br />
ice cream parlours and so on;<br />
Tolon is a buzzy little seaside<br />
town, popular with the Greeks.<br />
Register to run in the Nemean<br />
Games by visiting www.<br />
nemeangames.org – for<br />
<strong>2022</strong>, there is a modest €5<br />
charge, payable on the day.<br />
It used to be totally free of<br />
charge, but the tiny €5 charge<br />
is more than justified, even<br />
if it simply buys the many<br />
volunteers who work their<br />
socks off a celebratory beer at the end of the day.<br />
The number of runners is of necessity limited to<br />
circa 1,500 people, so reserve your place now via the<br />
Nemean Games website, as I have just done!<br />
What else can you do during your holiday to<br />
Greece apart from visiting Nemea and, if you wish,<br />
participating in the Modern Nemean Games?<br />
Tolon is set on a huge sandy bay, perfect for swimming<br />
and watersports. And Ancient Assini, from where<br />
ships sailed to Troy centuries ago, is a ten-minute walk<br />
from Tolon and is definitely worth a visit, with a wellsignposted<br />
walk, picnic seats with a great view, and an<br />
interpretation centre.<br />
Ancient sites abound nearby – from Epidavros and<br />
Mycenae to Tiryns and Nemea itself, and also Corinth<br />
and its famous canal together with the site of the<br />
Isthmian Games; the Peloponnese is where civilisation<br />
began.<br />
THE STADIUM OF THE NEMEAN GAMES<br />
RELIVE ANCIENT HISTORY<br />
AT THE NEMEAN GAMES<br />
Nafplion, the first capital of Greece postindependence,<br />
before Athens, is a 20-minute bus ride<br />
or an hour’s boat trip along the coast. It boasts marble<br />
pavements, Venetian buildings, a castle high above the<br />
city, and a ‘floating’, very photogenic, castle in the bay.<br />
Best of all, after running the 90m race, and watching<br />
and cheering on other participants for as long as you<br />
wish, return to your base in Tolon, sit at a taverna<br />
table on the beach with a well-earned drink, wriggle<br />
your feet in the sand, watch little flying fish on the<br />
edge of the gentle waves and dream of history…<br />
while your excellent meal is prepared and served al<br />
fresco.<br />
I can’t wait to run (not very fast…) again this June,<br />
and I hope you’ll be tempted to give it a try too. And<br />
why not become a member of the Nemean Games to<br />
receive early announcements and more information?<br />
It’s a very modest €15 per annum per person, and<br />
supports an excellent idea,<br />
enjoyed by many, in a<br />
very practical way.<br />
Hoping to see you<br />
there, to celebrate a<br />
very unusual way of<br />
understanding just a little<br />
about ancient history in<br />
Greece.<br />
To book your holiday<br />
to Greece call RB<br />
Collection on 01543<br />
258631 or email vip@<br />
rbcollection.com.<br />
Visit us at our office on<br />
Boley Park, Lichfield by<br />
appointment, free parking<br />
is available.<br />
www.jaimemagazine.com<br />
53
CO M P E T I T I O N<br />
Win tickets for a Cornish Café<br />
Cream Tea Afternoon<br />
LICHFIELD LITERATURE FESTIVAL IS BACK WITH A BANG THIS YEAR, RUNNING A BUSY<br />
PROGRAMME OF EVENTS AT VENUES AROUND THE CITY FROM THURSDAY, <strong>MARCH</strong> 24<br />
UNTIL SUNDAY, <strong>MARCH</strong> 27 - AND WE HAVE A PAIR OF TICKETS UP FOR GRABS<br />
We’ve teamed up with the Festival organisers to offer<br />
two tickets to a very special Mother’s Day event taking<br />
place at The Hub at St Mary’s on Sunday, March 27.<br />
One winner and their lucky companion will join the<br />
audience for a Cornish Cream Tea Afternoon with bestselling<br />
local author Phillipa Ashley.<br />
The ticket includes your very own taste of Cornwall - a<br />
scone with cream and jam, and a choice of tea or coffee<br />
- to enjoy while you listen to Phillipa’s talk.<br />
Phillipa is a Sunday Times and Amazon Top 10<br />
best-selling author of lively and uplifting romantic<br />
fiction including the Cornish Café series. Her first<br />
novel, Decent Exposure won the Romantic Novelists<br />
Association New Writers Award and was filmed as a<br />
US TV movie. She has sold over a quarter of a million<br />
ebooks and 100,000 paperbacks with publisher Avon.<br />
Her most recent books include An Endless Cornish<br />
Summer, the beginning of a brand new series also set in<br />
Cornwall, and A Special Cornish Christmas, published<br />
at the end of 2021. Her 2020 Christmas release, A<br />
Surprise Christmas Wedding, was a Top 10 Sunday<br />
Times bestseller.<br />
For more information and to book tickets for<br />
Lichfield Literature Festival events, visit<br />
www.lichfieldliteraturefestival.org.<br />
Competition!<br />
For your chance to win a pair of tickets to the<br />
opening day of the show, simply answer the<br />
following question:<br />
Which English county is the setting for<br />
Phillipa’s best-selling ‘Café’ series?<br />
• Devon<br />
• Cornwall<br />
• Dorset<br />
Send your answer, along with your contact<br />
details, by email to competitions@<br />
jaimemagazine.com with the subject<br />
‘Lichfield Literature Festival competition’,<br />
by 5pm on Sunday, March 21. Terms and<br />
conditions apply. Visit www.jaimemagazine.<br />
com for details.<br />
AUTHOR PHILLIPA ASHLEY WILL BE TALKING<br />
AT LICHFIELD LITERATURE FESTIVAL<br />
TERMS AND CONDITIONS:<br />
• The event runs on Sunday, March 27, <strong>2022</strong> from<br />
3.30pm-5.00pm.<br />
• Prize includes 2x tickets – no travel, parking, expenses or<br />
accommodation is provided.<br />
• Winners will be picked at random and notified via email on<br />
Monday, March 22.<br />
• Contact information will be supplied to a third party who will<br />
send your winning tickets electronically via email.<br />
• The prize is for one pair of tickets, so there will be one winner.<br />
• Prize cannot be swapped for cash or sold on.<br />
• Details correct at time of print.<br />
• The promoter of this competition is <strong>J’AIME</strong> Magazine.<br />
54 www.jaimemagazine.com
N E E D A<br />
S P E C I A L<br />
E S C A P E ?<br />
I N V E S T I N Y O U R H O L I D A Y W I S E L Y<br />
Holistic Centre for Body, Mind & Spirit<br />
Confused?<br />
Hurting?<br />
Stuck?<br />
Need Help?<br />
Ask Sonia, a highly<br />
skilled and experienced<br />
counsellor and<br />
psychotherapist, and<br />
founder of the Anam<br />
Cara Holistic Centre<br />
R B C O L L E C T I O N . C O M - 0 1 5 4 3 2 5 8 6 3 1<br />
For more information<br />
Call: (Confidential line) 0121 353 1508<br />
Visit: www.anamcaraholisticcentre.co.uk<br />
STEP INTO<br />
Spring!<br />
Shop<br />
Dine<br />
Relax<br />
Enjoy<br />
heartofthecountryvillage.com<br />
Swinfen, Lichfield. WS14 9QR
W H AT ’ S O N<br />
What’s on in March?<br />
READY TO GET OUT AND ABOUT THIS SPRING? THERE’S THEATRE, MUSIC, LITERATURE<br />
AND MORE TO ENJOY IN LICHFIELD, SUTTON AND BEYOND THIS <strong>MARCH</strong>…<br />
WHAT: DISNEY’S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST<br />
WHERE: BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME<br />
WHEN: <strong>MARCH</strong> 3 TO 26<br />
The most enchanted musical of all time, Beauty and the Beast returns<br />
to the stage for a new, completely reimagined UK and Ireland tour,<br />
stopping off in Birmingham for a run of shows this month.<br />
Spectacularly reimagined using the latest theatrical innovations,<br />
Disney’s beloved ‘tale as old as time’ has been brought to life on stage<br />
like never before, with all the charm and elegance audiences expect<br />
from Belle and her Beast.<br />
Disney first debuted Beauty and the Beast on Broadway 26 years ago.<br />
Members of the original creative team have reunited on this new<br />
production that features all of the spellbinding songs of Alan Menken,<br />
Howard Ashman and Tim Rice including Belle, Gaston, Be Our Guest<br />
and, of course, Beauty and the Beast.<br />
For more details and to book tickets visit<br />
www.birminghamhippodrome.com<br />
WHAT: THE TIGER WHO CAME TO TEA<br />
WHERE: LICHFIELD GARRICK<br />
WHEN: <strong>MARCH</strong> 5 AND 6<br />
Direct from the West End, the Olivier Award nominated smash hit<br />
show The Tiger Who Came to Tea is celebrating over 10 years on stage<br />
and appears on tour in Lichfield this month. When the doorbell rings<br />
just as Sophie and her mummy are sitting down to tea, they wonder<br />
who it could possibly be? What they certainly don’t expect to see at the<br />
door is a big, stripy tiger! Join the tea-guzzling tiger in this delightful<br />
family show, packed with oodles of magic, sing-along songs and clumsy<br />
chaos! Tickets for this stunning stage adaptation of the classic tale of<br />
teatime mayhem are priced at £16. For more details visit<br />
www.lichfieldgarrick.com<br />
WHAT: MAD HATTER’S AFTERNOON TEA<br />
WHERE: MOOR HALL HOTEL AND SPA<br />
WHEN: <strong>MARCH</strong> 6<br />
Enjoy a curiouser and curiouser afternoon tea with the Mad Hatter,<br />
Alice, the White Rabbit, Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee at Moor Hall<br />
Hotel and Spa on Sunday, March 6. It’s the perfect treat for any Alice in<br />
Wonderland fan, young or old, and there is guaranteed to be craziness,<br />
fun and even some singing and dancing. You’ll want to make sure you’re<br />
on your best behaviour, otherwise the Queen of Hearts might declare<br />
it’s “off with their heads”!<br />
Tickets for the afternoon tea experience are priced at £32 per adult and<br />
£22 per child, although bear in mind this event may not be suitable for<br />
very young children if they are easily frightened. Arrive from 12.30pm<br />
for a 1pm start. For more details visit www.moorhallhotel.co.uk<br />
56 www.jaimemagazine.com
WHAT: DITA VON TEESE: GLAMONATRIX<br />
WHERE: THE ALEXANDRA, BIRMINGHAM<br />
WHEN: <strong>MARCH</strong> 14 AND 15<br />
The ever-dazzling International Queen of Burlesque, Dita Von Teese,<br />
returns to the stage with the most lavish touring burlesque show in<br />
history with her all-new revue, Dita Von Teese: Glamonatrix.<br />
The Glamonatrix burlesque revue takes audiences on a stunning visual<br />
journey with one show-stopping performance after another. The uberglamorous<br />
variety show presents extravagant new production numbers<br />
from Dita and the cast, with costumes created by famed corset maker<br />
Mister Pearl, British designer Jenny Packham, French couturier Alexis<br />
Mabille, burlesque icon Catherine D’Lish, Brooke Brothers and more.<br />
Shoe aficionados will delight in the extraordinary bespoke footwear by<br />
Christian Louboutin.<br />
The Glamonatrix tour follows Von Teese’s The Art of the Teese<br />
which is the most successful burlesque tour of all time, playing to sold<br />
out theatres in cities across the United States, Canada, Europe, and<br />
Australia.<br />
For more details visit www.atgtickets.com/birmingham<br />
WHAT: REMI HARRIS JAZZ & BLUES PROJECT<br />
WHERE: CATHEDRAL HOTEL, LICHFIELD<br />
WHEN: <strong>MARCH</strong> 16<br />
Acclaimed guitarist Remi Harris and his band present an eclectic<br />
show featuring music from the acoustic jazz of the ‘30s and ‘40s to the<br />
electric blues of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Influenced by such greats as Django<br />
Reinhardt, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Green and Wes Montgomery, Remi<br />
has dedicated himself to a life of guitar since the age of seven. His<br />
playing has taken him from busking on the streets of his local towns<br />
to performing at prestigious events and venues around the world,<br />
including the Montreal Jazz Festival, Buckingham Palace, BBC Proms<br />
at the Royal Albert Hall with Jamie Cullum, and on national radio and<br />
television.<br />
The show will feature a mix of jazz and blues standards, original<br />
compositions, improvisations and new arrangements of familiar tunes.<br />
Remi will play a variety of acoustic and electric guitars and will be<br />
joined on stage by Tom Moore on double and electric bass and Shane<br />
Dixon on drums. Doors open at 7.45pm and tickets are just £12. For<br />
more details visit www.lichfieldarts.org.uk<br />
WHAT: REVENGE BY ROBIN HAWDON<br />
WHERE: TAMWORTH ASSEMBLY ROOMS<br />
WHEN: <strong>MARCH</strong> 17 AND 18<br />
Directed by Louise Jameson (EastEnders, Doc Martin, Doctor Who,<br />
Bergerac), the national tour of this cat and mouse stage-thriller stops off<br />
in Tamworth for two nights only.<br />
Bill Crayshaw MP, leads a charmed life, hailed in the corridors of<br />
Parliament, lauded in business, and loved at home. That is until he<br />
returns from a business trip to find his party agent has been killed in a<br />
terrible, tragic accident - or was it?<br />
Mary Stewart isn’t so sure and arrives at his door asking some awkward<br />
questions - in reality, is his success founded on murder, corruption and<br />
double-dealing?<br />
But how does she know so much about his private life - a jealous<br />
journalist peddling seedy lies? This one seems prepared to go to<br />
extraordinary lengths to ensure his political, business and personal<br />
lives are ruined. Is her motive journalism, blackmail, seduction… or<br />
revenge?<br />
As the tension mounts and suspense increases, shots ring out and the<br />
initial game of cat and mouse turns into a deadly battle, twisting and<br />
turning between truth and lies, to reach a thrilling climax that will keep<br />
audiences guessing until the final curtain.<br />
Tickets are priced from £19.50, visit www.<br />
tamworthassemblyrooms.co.uk for details.<br />
www.jaimemagazine.com<br />
57
WHAT: LICHFIELD LITERATURE FESTIVAL<br />
WHERE: VARIOUS<br />
WHEN: <strong>MARCH</strong> 24-27<br />
This month brings a packed programme to town for the Lichfield<br />
Literature Festival, with something for every bookworm. History fans<br />
will enjoy events with leading UK historians, including Simon Thurley<br />
discussing the Stuarts, Tristram Hunt on ‘the radical potter’ Wedgwood,<br />
and Tracy Borman reflecting on the British monarchy. Magiciancomedian<br />
Ian Keable explores the 18th-century hoax, Jay Rayner<br />
performs his hit show about killer dishes, and Amy Jeffs - who we spoke<br />
to for this issue - journeys through mythological Britain.<br />
On Saturday, expect an evening of crime with mortician Carla<br />
Valentine dissecting the forensics of Agatha Christie followed by crime<br />
writers Nadine Matheson and Vaseem Khan exploring a brand new<br />
collection of short stories. Festival favourite Alison Weir serves up tales<br />
from the Tudor Court while Nikki May celebrates her sizzling debut<br />
novel Wahala, and poetry performance comes from new Staffordshire<br />
indie publisher Fawn Press.<br />
For those with a nose for non-fiction, there’s Anita Sethi’s brave and<br />
brilliant book of nature-writing; former soldier Harry Parker at the<br />
frontiers of man and machine; BBC Radio 4 presenter Justin Webb<br />
reflecting on his childhood; former BBC R4 Today programme<br />
producer Sarah Sands taking inspiration from monasteries around<br />
the world; and researcher Yen Ooi exploring the ancient Chinese<br />
philosophy of Rén.<br />
Children will love hearing from Christopher Lloyd how Nature operates<br />
in a world without humans, as well as drawing with official World Book<br />
Day Illustrator Rob Biddulph. For full programme details and to book<br />
tickets, visit www.lichfieldliteraturefestival.org<br />
WHAT: SUTTON COLDFIELD VINTAGE & ARTS FAIR<br />
WHERE: SUTTON COLDFIELD TOWN HALL<br />
WHEN: <strong>MARCH</strong> 27<br />
Now in its tenth year, the “biggest and best vintage fair in the<br />
Midlands” returns to Sutton Coldfield Town Hall this March. With<br />
70 stalls of vintage fashion, arts, crafts, homewares, style and tasty<br />
treats brought to you by traders from across the UK, there’s plenty of<br />
browsing and delights to discover. Lovers of vintage style and fashion<br />
won’t want to miss out on this extra special event. Head along to<br />
explore three whole rooms of great atmosphere and unique finds, full<br />
of colour and creativity. Plus, there is live entertainment livening up<br />
the Hall throughout the day, and a wonderful selection of cakes and<br />
refreshments if you need some sustenance for all that shopping! Entry<br />
to the Fair is £1 per person, with entry between 11am and 4.30pm. For<br />
more details visit www.suttoncoldfieldtownhall.com<br />
WHAT: AN AUDIENCE WITH WAYNE SLEEP<br />
WHERE: TAMWORTH ASSEMBLY ROOMS<br />
WHEN: <strong>MARCH</strong> 30<br />
Wayne Sleep invites you to join him as he looks back over a glittering<br />
career spanning five decades. Using his own rare film footage and<br />
photos, Wayne will describe how he became a Principal Dancer at the<br />
Royal Ballet before going on to starring roles in the West End, founding<br />
his own dance company, and touring the world with his own show. His<br />
first steps into the world of film and TV are illustrated with rarely seen<br />
clips and cover his TV series The Hot Shoe Show, being a special guest<br />
on The Morecambe and Wise Show, starring alongside Sean Connery,<br />
and off-camera gossip from The Real Marigold Hotel.<br />
Wayne will talk about everything from his celebrity reality show<br />
appearances to his relationship with Princess Margaret and close<br />
personal friendship with Diana, Princess of Wales. Finally, any evening<br />
with Wayne wouldn’t be complete without a dance step or two and the<br />
audience won’t be disappointed. Doors open at 6pm for a 7.30pm start.<br />
Tickets are priced at £20.50-£22.50. For more details visit<br />
www.tamworthartsandevents.co.uk<br />
58 www.jaimemagazine.com
MR ASH GULATI<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
HIP AND KNEE<br />
SURGEON, AND<br />
ROBOTIC SURGERY<br />
SPECIALIST.<br />
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(ORTH), AO FELLOW<br />
(TORONTO), PHD (OXFORD),<br />
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LEAVE JOINT PAIN BEHIND<br />
Based in Sutton Coldfield, Mr Ash Gulati specialises in hip & knee<br />
replacements, sports injuries management, and cutting edge,<br />
high-precision minimally invasive robotic-assisted surgery, reducing<br />
post-operative pain and facilitating a quicker recovery.<br />
I AM TOTALLY FREE FROM PAIN AND<br />
WALK BETTER THAN I HAVE DONE IN<br />
YEARS, I HAVE MY LIFE BACK<br />
Knee replacement patient of Mr Gulati<br />
APPOINTMENTS<br />
ARE AVAILABLE<br />
EVERY WEEK<br />
AT SPIRE LITTLE<br />
ASTON HOSPITAL.<br />
If you think you would benefit from an outpatient consultation to<br />
discuss your joint pain, or to plan ways to solve your orthopaedic<br />
problems, why not book an appointment today:<br />
Private Secretary: Nikki Thomas - Telephone: 07985414676<br />
Email: nikki.thomas24@btinternet.com - Visit: www.agulati.co.uk
F I N A N C E<br />
ADVERTISING FEATURE<br />
Wealth Matters<br />
A MONTHLY REVIEW OF THE WORLD OF FINANCE FROM<br />
LICHFIELD FINANCIAL ADVISER JEAN LAMB DipPFS<br />
This month I thought we should look at “the cost<br />
of living”. I’m actually referring to our country’s<br />
infrastructure groaning under the strain of an evergrowing<br />
and ever-ageing population.<br />
IN DENIAL<br />
Many Britons are in denial about the challenges of<br />
later life care and simply adopt the “it won’t happen<br />
to me” approach. To quote Clint Eastwood in his<br />
Dirty Harry persona; “You’ve got to ask yourself one<br />
question ‘Do I feel lucky?’”<br />
Unfortunately for many, being lucky in this scenario<br />
could be defined as not outliving your capital which<br />
is a rather downbeat definition. Nowhere is this<br />
more acutely felt than in the area of long term care<br />
funding.<br />
A lack of forward planning in this area is especially<br />
concerning given longevity estimates. Today, a<br />
65-year-old male can expect to live for another 20<br />
years and a 65-year-old woman 22 years, and 25<br />
percent of those are likely to add a further seven<br />
years onto those figures (Source: Office for National<br />
Statistics, National Life Tables – United Kingdom,<br />
January <strong>2022</strong>).<br />
THE ISSUES<br />
For those already in or about to go into care the<br />
issues for them and their family tend to revolve<br />
around whether they have enough resources to fund<br />
the care home that they actually want to be in until<br />
the end of their life, and whether this may decimate<br />
the legacy that they want to leave behind for their<br />
family.<br />
For most people, paying for care requires creating<br />
income from their capital and assets. There are<br />
several ways of achieving this; probably more than<br />
you may at first think, and it is important to assess<br />
how each fits the individual set of circumstances.<br />
It is likely that the best solution may actually be a<br />
combination of options.<br />
HELP IS AT HAND<br />
The good news is that there is a wealth of<br />
information, practical help and professional advice<br />
out there to help individuals and their families tackle<br />
later life planning issues. For instance, Age UK is<br />
an excellent source of factsheets covering many<br />
scenarios and common areas of concern.<br />
Later life advice is recognised within my own<br />
profession as a specialism requiring distinctive<br />
expertise and attributes from those who advise in<br />
this area. Indeed, a requirement for membership<br />
of SOLLA, the Society of Later Life Advisers of<br />
which I am myself a member, is an explicit later<br />
life advice accreditation. Therefore, given that this<br />
level of specialist advice is available, I would urge<br />
anyone who may need to use their assets to help fund<br />
care fees to seek professional, accredited advice at<br />
the earliest opportunity which could make all the<br />
difference.<br />
I firmly believe later life should be a greater life; a time for<br />
celebration and enjoying life in the way that you want and<br />
that best suits your needs. And if your health is not all it<br />
could be, it should also be a time that you feel comfortable and<br />
financially secure. So perhaps it’s time to think about it, talk<br />
about it and plan for it sooner rather than later.<br />
Jean Lamb is Principal of Jean Lamb Wealth Consultancy<br />
6A Market Street, Lichfield, WS13 6LH - Tel: 01543 417342<br />
Email: jean.lamb@sjpp.co.uk - Website: www.jeanlamb.co.uk<br />
Jean Lamb Wealth Consultancy is an Appointed Representative of and represents only St. James’s Place Wealth Management Plc (which is<br />
authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the Group’s wealth management products<br />
and services, more details of which are set out on the Group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/products.<br />
60 www.jaimemagazine.com
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supported to live a fulfilled and enjoyable life.<br />
Rosemary Lodge Care Home is family run home and has<br />
Rosemary Lodge Care Home is a family run home and has<br />
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been a highly regarded part of the community for over 30<br />
years. Offering 24 hour care, our fully trained staff work<br />
years. Offering 24 hour care, our fully trained staff work<br />
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together to communicate with residents and ensure<br />
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All Rosemary rooms are Lodge on-suite, Care Hoe is and a family are run designed home and to has comfortably<br />
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full Wi-Fi<br />
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residents the opportunity of keeping in touch with family<br />
All rooms are en-suite, and friends and are designed with video to comfortably calls. accommodate<br />
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Our commitment to offering just the right amount of care<br />
Our commitment to offering just the right amount of care<br />
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community and with the care professionals who work<br />
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with us. We value our staff highly and recognise that their<br />
care and commitment are great part of our success.<br />
care and commitment are a great part of our success.<br />
We also offer respite care, holiday stay and limited day<br />
We also offer respite care, holiday stay and limited day<br />
care. To arrange visit or to learn more about us please<br />
care. To arrange a visit or to learn more about us please<br />
get in touch using the contact details below.<br />
get in touch using the contact details below.<br />
ALSO AVAILABLE FOR FREE PICK UP IN LEADING<br />
SUPERMARKETS ACROSS THE AREA.<br />
INTERESTED?<br />
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in this beautiful ‘home from home’<br />
Our commitment to offering just the right amount of care and support has led<br />
to an excellent reputation in the community and with the care professionals<br />
who work with us. We value our staff highly and recognise that their care and<br />
commitment are a great part of our success.<br />
We also offer respite care, holiday stay and limited day care. To arrange a visit<br />
or to learn more about us please get in touch using the contact details below.<br />
Rosemary Lodge Residential Care Home<br />
Rosemary Lodge Residential Home<br />
Rosemary 191 Walsall Lodge Road, Residential Lichfield. Staffs. WS13 Care 8AQ. Home<br />
191 Walsall Road, Lichfield, Staffordshire, WS13 8AQ<br />
In the 191 first Walsall instance Road, please Lichfield, contact Jane Staffordshire, Evans - Registered WS13 Care Manager 8AQ<br />
Please contact or Shirley the Registered Kent - Administration Care Manager. Jane Evans<br />
Please contact the Registered Care Manager Jane Evans<br />
Tel: 01543 01543 415223 415223 E-mail: - Email: contact@rosemarylodge.co.uk<br />
roselodgehome@aol.com<br />
Tel: 01543 415223<br />
Website: www.rosemarylodgecarehome.co.uk<br />
E-mail: contact@rosemarylodge.co.uk<br />
www.rosemarylodge.co.uk<br />
Website: www.rosemarylodge.co.uk<br />
CQC RATING GOOD
FA S H I O N<br />
A jean-ius combination<br />
EFFORTLESSLY CHIC FOR ANY OCCASION, THE JEANS AND BLAZER COMBO<br />
WILL ALWAYS BE A SARTORIAL WINNER, SAYS AMY NORBURY<br />
WHEN it comes to fashion, there are those flash-in-the-pan<br />
trends whose moment in the fashion lexicon is up before quicker<br />
than you can say ‘curtain drape top’, and there are those trends<br />
which just don’t translate from the designer catwalks onto the<br />
high streets.<br />
And then there are trends which stand the test of time; trends<br />
which we can rely on season after season for a splash of sartorial<br />
style, and which become our go-to, failsafe, wardrobe staples.<br />
For a reliable outfit formula, jeans and a blazer are hard to beat.<br />
Simple, classic style with enough iterations to suit just about any<br />
occasion, this is a wardrobe game-changer which will never let<br />
you down.<br />
Immortalised by the supermodels of the Nineties - it was pretty<br />
much Kate Moss’s uniform for at least a decade - the jeans-anda-blazer<br />
combo continues to be emulated by their contemporary<br />
counterparts to this day. As well as, well, just about everyone<br />
else.<br />
It’s the ultimate dress-up/dress-down combo which can be<br />
switched up at the drop of a hat by a quick change of footwear<br />
and some carefully chosen accessories.<br />
So revive your own favourite jeans with a stylish blazer for a<br />
supermodel-approved uniform which will stand the test of time.<br />
For the ultimate in chic off-duty casual, pair a crisp tailored<br />
blazer with relaxed, boyfriend cut jeans and white trainers;<br />
combining comfort with style, it’s the perfect weekend look.<br />
If you’re steadfastly refusing to ditch the skinny jeans, opt for an<br />
oversized blazer to balance your silhouette and add an on-trend<br />
touch to your outfit. Pair with a slim-fit T-shirt and Cuban<br />
heeled boots for day, or opt for a silky cami top and strappy heels<br />
for play.<br />
Or try a cropped blazer teamed with high waisted jeans to offset<br />
the raised hemline if you’re after a more fashion-forward twist.<br />
Look for a cropped boucle style for that Chanel vibe - oversized<br />
sunglasses are a must here.<br />
When it comes to your denim, remember there’s life beyond<br />
black and navy. Flip the look on it’s head with pale jeans and a<br />
dark blazer. Or if you’re looking for the most elegant iteration of<br />
the trend, a pure white blazer with smart, well cut indigo jeans<br />
always offers a sophisticated outcome.<br />
CROPPED BLAZER, £68, LIPSY.<br />
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62 www.jaimemagazine.com
£49.50 £1,750 £90<br />
CHESHAM GIRLFRIEND JEANS IN PALE<br />
WASH, FATFACE. WWW.FATFACE.COM<br />
BROWN DOUBLE-BREASTED WOOL<br />
BLAZER, BALMAIN AT HARVEY NICHOLS.<br />
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JAYDE BLACK FLARED JEANS,<br />
FREE PEOPLE AT HARVEY NICHOLS.<br />
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£209<br />
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SHAWL COLLAR BLAZER,<br />
IVY & OAK AT HARVEY NICHOLS.<br />
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NINA INDIGO SKINNY JEANS,<br />
RAG & BONE AT HARVEY NICHOLS.<br />
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SIENNA BLAZER, PRIMARK.<br />
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LIME OVERSIZED BLAZER, £65, RIVER ISLAND.<br />
WWW.RIVERISLAND.COM
B E AU T Y<br />
What’s your type?<br />
FROM SIGNS OF AGEING TO AN OILY T-ZONE, IT’S ESSENTIAL TO<br />
UNDERSTAND YOUR COMPLEXION WHEN PICKING THE MOST EFFECTIVE<br />
PRODUCTS. DEBORAH MITCHELL, FOUNDER OF HEAVEN SKINCARE,<br />
SHARES HER MUST-HAVES TO TACKLE YOUR SPECIFIC ISSUES<br />
Mature Skin:<br />
As we age, so too does our skin. We start to<br />
notice fine lines and wrinkles, our faces may<br />
feel dryer and we lose that youthful plumpness<br />
we took for granted in our 20s. Added to that,<br />
sun-exposure, lifestyle factors such as smoking,<br />
diet, and maybe not having kept up with that<br />
daily skincare routine and it’s no surprise we<br />
start to look our age.<br />
But all is not lost and boosting your collagen<br />
levels can really help. Collagen is found in<br />
abundance in our skin when we’re younger<br />
but as we get older the amount diminishes –<br />
in fact, by the time we’re 50 we’ve already lost<br />
up to a third. Try adding a few drops of my<br />
new Collagen Drops to supercharge your<br />
favourite moisturiser or apply directly to the<br />
skin and massage in to tackle blemishes and<br />
break-outs.<br />
Oily Skin:<br />
Oily skin can be difficult to cope with... no sooner have you<br />
washed your face that you notice it starts to look greasy<br />
again. The problem is caused by excess sebum, the oily<br />
substance that protects and hydrates our skin and is vital<br />
to keep it looking healthy. However when we produce too<br />
much, our pores become clogged and this is often more<br />
noticeable during teens, pregnancy and the menopause due<br />
to hormonal changes.<br />
While it may sound strange, using oil on your face actually<br />
helps because it stops your skin thinking it needs to produce<br />
any more so add a serum to your daily routine. My<br />
Clarifying Serum is perfect for those who suffer with<br />
excess oil and brings the skin back to equilibrium. Apply<br />
one or two drops after your cleansing routine or add to your<br />
favourite moisturiser.<br />
64 www.jaimemagazine.com
Sensitive Skin:<br />
If you suffer from redness, blotchy patches and itchiness then you have sensitive<br />
skin – and you’ll know that a whole host of factors exacerbate the problem.<br />
Typically, weather conditions, air pollution and diet play their part in making<br />
the issue worse, but harsh chemicals often found in beauty products and<br />
makeup don’t do you any favours either. I would advise you to ditch anything<br />
that contains irritants and replace them with products that are made using<br />
natural ingredients because these will soothe and calm your complexion. I also<br />
recommend you deeply cleanse skin every day to remove pollutants.<br />
Heaven’s silky soft Hydro Cleansing Milk has been created using organic<br />
jojoba, which is the closest match to our own natural oil, to balance and<br />
conditions. Simply apply to your face and neck in the morning and night and<br />
massage in a circular motion before rinsing with warm water.<br />
Normal Skin:<br />
I get asked a lot what exactly is normal skin, and the easiest way to explain it is to<br />
take you back to those pH tables you learned about in your school science lessons.<br />
The pH level of our skin – measured on a scale of 1-14 – refers to how acidic or<br />
alkaline it is. Your complexion is healthiest, or normal, when it is slightly alkaline,<br />
at 6.5 to 7.5. Put simply, this means your skin is performing as it should.<br />
Just because your skin is balanced and calm certainly doesn’t mean you should<br />
rest on your laurels; you still need to have an effective daily routine, morning<br />
and night, to ensure your complexion remains where it is happiest. To maintain<br />
great skin use Peppermint Hydrogel to minimise oil secretion, balance the pH<br />
levels, refine pores and diminish blemishes.<br />
Heaven Skincare by Deborah Mitchell is available at Heaven Health & Beauty, 13a Market<br />
Place, Shifnal, Shropshire. You can also shop online at heavenskincare.com.<br />
www.jaimemagazine.com<br />
65
H E A LT H<br />
Weight loss could start with<br />
‘balloon pill’ and a glass of water<br />
A SLIMMING ‘BALLOON PILL’ THAT CAN BE TAKEN WITH A GLASS OF WATER IS THE NON-INVASIVE<br />
WEIGHT LOSS TREATMENT OF CHOICE AT SPIRE LITTLE ASTON HOSPITAL IN SUTTON COLDFIELD<br />
The Allurion ‘balloon pill’ works by filling the<br />
stomach and making the patient feel full more<br />
quickly and so enables them to cut back on the<br />
amount they eat.<br />
But, unlike other slimming aids available - such as<br />
the gastric band, sleeve or bypass - there is no need<br />
for surgery, a general anaesthetic or an overnight stay<br />
in hospital.<br />
Instead, a small capsule that contains the balloon<br />
is attached to a thin tube and swallowed. Once it<br />
reaches the stomach an X-ray is taken to check it is<br />
in the correct position before the balloon is released<br />
and filled with up to 550ml of saline.<br />
Designed to deflate after 16 weeks and pass naturally<br />
through the body, the Allurion balloon is aimed at<br />
people with a BMI of 27 or above in order to help<br />
them ‘kick-start’ their dieting regime.<br />
The procedure is overseen by consultant general<br />
surgeon Mr Amir Khan, who explained: “It isn’t a<br />
‘miracle pill’; it still needs the patient to eat less and<br />
choose their foods more wisely but it is a great aid to<br />
those who are serious about weight loss.<br />
“The balloon will reduce the hunger pangs but the<br />
CONSULTANT GENERAL<br />
SURGEON MR AMIR KHAN<br />
patient still has to show willpower and determination<br />
in order to get the very best results from the process.<br />
It may be that the patient is advised to stick to a<br />
liquid diet for a couple of days after the procedure<br />
but they will then be able to move onto solid foods.<br />
“What is really important is that they use the feeling<br />
of fullness provided by the balloon to help them<br />
change their eating habits. Smaller portions and<br />
healthier options really are the key to success.”<br />
KICK START YOUR WEIGHT LOSS WITH<br />
THE ALLURION GASTRIC BALLOON<br />
YOU CAN LOSE AN AVERAGE OF 10 TO 15KGS (1.57 TO 2.36<br />
STONE) IN 16 WEEKS THANKS TO THE BALLOON.<br />
How to go private:<br />
Pay for treatment directly – You can simply pay for your<br />
treatment as and when you need it with our fixed price package which<br />
covers all your treatment costs.<br />
Pay for treatment with a loan – Our finance partner offers a<br />
range of repayment plans, including interest-free finance, to help you<br />
spread the cost.<br />
Mr Khan is offering free virtual mini consultations on<br />
Thursday, March 17 from 6.30pm. Call 0121 514 7034 for<br />
more information or to make an appointment.<br />
66 www.jaimemagazine.com
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Audio and scientific equipment<br />
Antique and modern furniture<br />
Video gaming and Pokémon<br />
Musical instruments<br />
FREE LOCAL VALUATIONS - NEAR YOU<br />
Watches, Jewellery, Silver & Antiques<br />
Lichfield<br />
The Hub at St Mary’s<br />
Market Square, WS13 6LG<br />
Qualified<br />
All members of our jewellery<br />
department are certified<br />
gemmologists and diamond graders<br />
Record-breaking<br />
international sales<br />
More than 3,800 bidders from<br />
all over the world joined our<br />
online auctions last month<br />
Online services available<br />
Virtual estimates, online auctions<br />
and contactless collections.<br />
Valuations, viewing and consignments<br />
by appointment only<br />
Jewellery, Watches & Silver<br />
The Lichfield Auction Centre<br />
Fradley Park (close to the A38)<br />
Wood End Lane, WS13 8NF<br />
BY APPOINTMENT<br />
Thursdays<br />
9.30am - 4pm<br />
With David and the<br />
team for general<br />
valuations and advice<br />
Tuesdays<br />
9.30am - 11am<br />
Meet Ben for general<br />
advice and auction<br />
consignments<br />
BY APPOINTMENT<br />
Thursdays<br />
9.30am - 4pm<br />
With Heather,<br />
gemmologist<br />
& diamond grader<br />
FREE General Valuations of your pictures, antiques and collectables<br />
By appointment only - with our team on Thursdays from 9.30am - 4pm Call 01543 251081<br />
The Lichfield Auction Centre<br />
Wood End Lane, Fradley Park WS13 8NF<br />
01543 251081<br />
office@richardwinterton.co.uk<br />
The Tamworth Auction Rooms<br />
34-35 Church Street, Tamworth B79 7BX<br />
01827 217746<br />
tamworth@richardwinterton.co.uk<br />
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