Financial Times Europe - 02.11.2019 - 03.11.2019

2 ★ FTWeekend 2 November/3 November 2019

I very much like

the idea of creating

a kind of fantasy

for guests to enjoy —

an escape from

everyday life

Lavish love on

your guest

bedrooms

My guest bedrooms feel tragic and

unloved, no matter how hard I try to

cheer them up. I want to start again

— but how?

Guest bedrooms should be supremely

comfortable and a pleasure for friends

and family to spend a night or two in.

We should have just as much

decorative fun with them as we do

with our own bedrooms because,

even though they might not get as

much use,they should never feel

unused and cheerless.

They must be filled with pictures,

objects and the right touches to help

create a warm and inviting

atmosphere. I very much like the idea

of creating a kind of fantasy for guests

to enjoy — an escape from ordinary,

everyday life.

Let’s start with the walls. At home in

Gloucestershire I had an idea to paint

one of our two guest bedrooms a

chocolate brown colour. Duncan vetoed

the idea and I think he was probably

right. Would a visiting friend, frazzled

from the city, want to spend a weekend

in a dark room? I rather liked the idea

of spending a night inside a chocolate

gateau but I guess it is not for everyone.

We decided we

wanted these spaces

to feel light and fresh, so

ended up painting one a

peachy pink and the other a soft, light

blue. Not exactly groundbreaking, but

our landing is a brownish mustard and

our guest bathroom is an incandescent

shade of arsenic (protective glasses are

provided upon entry), so the bedrooms

offer light relief.

We have had fun experimenting with

headboards. They are still being made

— our own will be shaped like a broken

pediment in egg-yolk yellow linen.

Guests will get either an emerald-green

pagoda or a more classic olive rectangle

with cut corners. Headboards must not

be boring, but if you are not sold on an

unusual shape, at least consider your

choice of fabric.

Incorporating old

furniture into a bedroom

instantly adds character and

warmth. I adore bashed and

bruised brown furniture,

such as the chest of drawers

I bought for one of our guest

rooms from the Arundel-

based dealer Spencer

Swaffer, and I am currently

eyeing up a George IV

mahogany wardrobe from

Edinburgh’s Georgian Antiques

for the other. Made in about 1830, it

is thin and tall (perfect for the alcove I

have in mind) and fairly plain, with

only a few hooks inside. It is topped

with a proud, raised plaque and

decorative scrolls. It is marvellous.

Final touches make all the

difference. Think in layers: ticking

striped bed linen, say, with a block-

printed throw (I recommend the

Organic Shop near Cirencester for

these). Of course, you will need piles of

books for flicking through first thing in

the morning. Well-chosen books will

make any forgotten old room feel used

and loved.

I have tried to give proper thought to

the selections in our guest bedrooms

because I know what most of our

guests will want to read about. Or,

more likely, I know what I think they

want to read about. (If you come to

stay for the weekend, I hope you will

enjoy brushing up on folk customs of

the Cotswolds and the life of King

Ludwig II of Bavaria.)

What else? Water in a handsome jug,

a couple of glasses (special ones for

guests, please — I favour splodgy,

brightly coloured Murano tumblers

from Laguna B, pictured, available via

Rita Konig’s online shop), fresh flowers

in a silver beaker.

If you want to try something truly

extraordinary, think about tenting the

ceiling and adding curtains around the

bed. I am thinking of a much-loved and

shared photograph of a city guest

bedroom by the interior designer Veere

Grenney, which showcases this device

to startling effect. The room is small,

but all the elegant fabricsmake it feel

extremely luxurious — the opposite of

tragic and unloved.

Luke answers readers’ questions on design

and stylish living every week. Email him at

[email protected] and follow him

on Instagram @lukeedwardhall

House Home

Lift your

sights

with Kaprun — the agent is selling a

new three-bedroom penthouse there

for €799,000. Further west in Ober-

gurgl, in the Tirol’s Ötztal valley, the

new Kirchenkogel gondola last year

openedanewsectionofthemountainto

skiers, including off-piste. The lift takes

2,400 people an hour up to the top

(2,839m) of the Kirchenkogel moun-

tain, complete with champagne and

caviarservice.

Alpine Marketing, an Austrian ski

property agency, is selling apartments

at Obergurgl Lodge, with spa and park-

ing from €452,400 with a guaranteed

net rental return of 4 per cent from the

managementcompanyStratusHotels.

With or without champagne, the lift is

helping to attract skiers, whose num-

bersincreasedby3percentintheÖtztal

valley between the 2017/18 and 2018/19

seasons, according to the Office of the

Tyrolean Provincial Government. This

contrasts with a fall in numbers in high-

profile resorts, such as St Anton am Arl-

berg and Kitzbühel (the latter is cur-

rentlyupgradingits35-year-oldlift).

HoteliersintheAlbergsaythatvisitor

numbers decrease when the snow

across Austria is good because skiers

can choose resorts at lower altitudes,

whichtendtobecheaper.

Of the three major Alpine markets,

Austria has fared best for second-home

price growth, according toa report by

UBS, the Swiss investment bank.

Between 2013 and 2018 Austrian Alpine

pricesrose 20 per cent, outperforming

the French Alps, which were up by 15

per cent, and Switzerland — down 4 per

cent. Reasons forSwitzerland’s decline

include the strength of the Swiss franc,

Continuedfrompage 1

restrictions on the construction of

secondhomesandlowrentalyields.

UBS identifies the Valais’ Saas Fee as

thesoleSwissprimemarketresortdefy-

ing this trend, with price growth of 14.3

per cent in 2017-18 alone andaverage

prices of €9,300 per sq m. These results

cannot be attributedsolely to new lift

infrastructure, as there have also been

hotel upgrades andrestaurants opening

inthetraditionalhigh-altitudeskitown,

says Simon Malster. “For the smaller

resorts like Saas Fee and Grimentz, the

introduction of the annualMagic Pass

[in 2016] is almost as important as new

lifts in giving access to a wider range of

resorts [30] for property owners,” he

says. The Magic Pass is issued by a joint

venture between the resort partners

and costs€500 or adults andf €270 for

children for the winter seasons. The

agent is selling a four-bedroom resale

chaletinSaasFeefor€1.2m.

For pretty little Grimentz in Switzer-

land’s Valais, a link in 2013-14 to the

higher altitude Zinal has also helped it

buck the downward price trend for

Swissresorts.

“A decrease in lift queues and a

doubling of the ski area has helped

sustain tourism numbers, at a time

when visitors to Switzerland were down

5 per cent,” says Will Herrington of

the agent Frozen Action. “Apartments

in the piste-side Les Chalets d’Adelaide

development have increased by 17

per cent since the lift went in.” Prices

now start from€769,000for a two-

bedroomapartment.

Lift company strategy can also

hold things back. “The former manage-

ment focused on creating extensions —

of connecting Saas Fee to Zermatt, a

resort very keen not to be connected to

us — rather than improving the current

lifts,” says Simon Bumann, chief execu-

tive of Saastal Bergbahnen, the Saas Fee

liftcompany.

“We are investingSFr6.5m-7m this

yearonrefurbishinggondolas,aswellas

SFr5m on artificial snow-making to

keep the top of the ski area viable as the

glacierbeginstomelt.”

A new connection to Italy via Monte

Rosa is perhaps more viable than Zer-

matt “one day”. But as many Alpine

locals can attest, waiting for a lift can

takedecades.

Inside

Andermatt

Swissskiresortontheascent

Pages6&7

UKproperty

KentishTowntaintedby

London’sslowdown

Page4

Design

Woodenitbenice:Poradataps

intoitsItalianroots

Pages12&13

Architecture

HowAlpinedesignscaled

newheights

Pages8&9

Gardens

Hottipsforcomposting

Page14

Interiors

Howtomakeyourchaletchic

Page15

RobinLaneFox

Kew’sJurassiclark

Page16

House & Home Unlocked

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cFrance here are few restrictionsT

on buying residential property in

the French Alps, or requirements to

rent out your holiday home. The

exception are some of the larger

developments that are sold on a

leaseback scheme, which involves

leasing your property back toan

operator for a period of typically

nine to 11 years withsome weeks

for personal use.

cAustria enerally only EU citizensG

may purchase property in Austria

(unless they purchase via a

company with one of the directors

an EU citizen), with the exception

of a small number of homes with

“second-home” status — or

Zweitwohnsitz. In most Austrian ski

resorts new-build developments

come with “buy-to-let” status and a

rental obligation, which requires

owners to rent out their property

for a certainnumber of weeks per

year, to prevent “cold beds”in

tourism areas.

cSwitzerland here areT

restrictions imposed at a national,

regional and local level on where

and what foreigners may buy in

Switzerland. The Lex Koller law

established a permit system so only

certain properties are eligible for

foreign ownership. Foreigners may

only buy a residential (second

home) property in tourist reasa.

However, since 2012 the Lex Weber

law has preventednew building

permits being granted for second

homes in any communes where

second homes already make up 20

per cent of thestock. There are a

few exceptions where old permits

are still valid such as inAndermatt

(see pages 6 and 7); plus there can

be further restrictions at a regional

(canton) and local (commune) level.

How to buy: the

mountains to climb

Global ski trips per region

Million











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Sources:  International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism; Skiresort.info

Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Asia Pacific

Americas

Western Europe

Alps

Ski infrastructure investment in the Alps

m













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Ski lifts installed across all continents

Number, -



Europe

North America 



Asia



Australia and Oceania

When the snowacross

Austria is good, skiers

choose lower-altitude

resorts, which are cheaper

(Top)

Apartments at

Obergurgl Lodge

start at

€452,400;

(above) four-

bedroom chalet

in Saas Fee,

€1.2m; (right)

Saas-Fee,

Switzerland

Alamy

Luke Edward Hall

Readers’ questions

Ski Special

Gstaad, Switzerland, €4.08m

Kitzbühel, Austria, €10.68m

Méribel, France, from €1.3m

Sebastian Devenish

NOVEMBER 2 2019 Section:Weekend Time: 10/201930/ - 17:47 User:elizabeth.robinson Page Name:RES2, Part,Page,Edition:RES, 2, 1