Bishopstrow
Bishopstrow Hotel
Wiltshire is humungous. It’s one of those counties where you think you know where you’re going until you’re almost there, at which point you realise you’ve no idea at all.
And it’s no surprise… Wiltshire borders six counties; Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. So it is with a touch of discombobulation that we arrive in Bishopstrow via Bath – which, whilst lovely, turned out not to be on the way at all.
But never mind… because Bishopstrow Hotel and Spa is a magnificent sight for the weary traveller. The ‘honey-stoned’ Georgian Manor is set in a thirty-acre estate that backs onto Salisbury Plain. Bishopstrow boasts a history that can be traced back to the Domesday Book and is located just one mile from Warminster. (click the title to read more)
HERSHESONS
Hersheson’s have been in the game since Daniel Hersheson, (owner of a warrant for services to royal hair) flung open the doors of their first salon in 1992. In 2006, Daniel was joined by his son Luke and the father/son duo now run two busy salons and a blow dry bar in Selfridges, Oxford Street.
I attend the newest addition to the family, the two-year-old Belgravia salon on a day so wet and windy that I arrive looking like the ultimate before picture; a red-faced. windswept, drowned rat.
The neutrally toned calming space, brightened with pops of their signature blue, makes it a fitting refuge from the biblical apocalypse raging outside. The reception staff are warm and sharply dressed in matching blue suits. At one end of the salon, the Notting Hill cafe Farm Girl serves delicious coffees, juices and healthy snacks. And it’s not just hair and healthy eating under this roof; downstairs there’s a brow bar and a nail salon. What more does a girl need? Well, facial acupuncture and spiritual therapy apparently. Did I mention they have their own product line? More on this later. (click the title to read more)
BISCUITEERS
Biscuiteers made their fortune harnessing not one but two of the great human weaknesses; refined sugar and bespoke personalised gifts. There’s a certain glamour to a personalised item isn’t there? Perhaps it makes you think of Elton John in his monogrammed Versace robe, or maybe it reminds you of 90s school trips searching that museum gift shop for an elusive keychain with your name on it.
In 2007, husband and wife team Harriet Hastings and Stevie Congdon made it their mission to shake up the personalisation market with their new business, Biscuiteers. The online gifting retailer offered not just your name immortalised in iced sable biscuit, but your face, your cat’s face, your business logo, anything you like really. (click the title to read more)