The epic restoration of the Marble Saloon at Stowe included stabilising the plasterwork decoration of the 17 metre-high coffered dome and Roman triumphal frieze, identifying missing elements through research of historic photographs, and replacement of these with hand-modeled elements created using materials to matched the original composition. As well as carefully cleaning the marblework that gives the saloon its name, lanterns reproduced from a nineteenth century watercolour have been re-introduced, as have four ?Athenienes? ? gilded torcherers copied from two surviving originals. The Marble Saloon at Stowe is the jewel in the crown of the principle monument of the famous Landscape Gardens and its restoration one of the greatest of this generation.
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The elegant country home of a motor racing daredevil who drove round the world in a 1936 Bentley and crashed a Range Rover into his own front porchPeasemore House, with its collection of barns, workshops, stables and more, is an ideal home from which to plan an adventure — something that was a passion of its present owners. Penny Churchill explains more.
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‘In my twenties I was asked by a newspaper to test out an orgasm machine. I said, "Absolutely"’: Elizabeth Day on her early career in journalism and consuming passionsThe author and journalist chats to Lotte Brundle.
