The Hamptons Hits The Highlands

Few properties epitomise classic Hamptons style and grandeur as elegantly as this superb Bowral estate.

Dubbed ‘Bathampton’, the 5-bedroom, 4-bathroom, 2-car garage home is located on a 5.6-acre plot that combines the traditional codes of luxury with bespoke contemporary finishes.

These codes are displayed through the combination of custom window furnishings, imported wallpaper and light fixtures, herringbone parquetry, bamboo wool carpets and marble mosaic tiles underfoot. Wainscoting, wallpaper, deep-stacked cornices and skirtings further add to the home’s character.

The end result is a magnificent pile that delivers an overwhelming sense of refinement while retaining the essence of family living.

Entering through the stately entrance hall, a sweeping staircase ascends into a double storey landing. The lower-level plays host to an elegant home office and study and a sitting room adjacent.

Elsewhere the lower floor sees the gourmet kitchen and adjoining butler’s pantry — the former fitted with Carrara marble benchtops, Nicolazzi tapware, Ilve gas cooker and Smeg combi oven.

The kitchen is pointed towards a large dining space, sunroom and, via French doors, the alfresco entertaining space set on a silver granite paved area that overlooking the manicured English style gardens and indulgent 12×8-metre in-ground saltwater pool.

The master bedroom, also found here, sees a deluxe walk-in robe and lavish ensuite with a clawfoot bath, separate shower and toilet plus a generous ‘his’ and ‘hers’ stone-topped vanities, heated floors and towel rails.

Each bathroom and the mudroom boast underfloor heating, a guest powder room, adorned with a porcelain pedestal basin and mosaic marble tiles.

On the second floor comes a further four bedrooms, a craft room or nursery and a gallery space.

Outside, the aforementioned English style gardens are supported by a substantial shedding, a bore and irrigation system, a dam and invisible dog fencing alongside arguably the largest display of hydrangeas in the highlands.

The listing is with First National Real Estate’s Reece Woods (+61 423 851 197); POA. firstnationalrealestate.com.au

The personal wardrobe of the late fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, who is credited for introducing punk to fashion and further developing the style, is headed to auction in June.

Christie’s will hold the live sale in London on June 25, while some of the pieces will be available in an online auction from June 14-28, according to a news release from the auction house on Monday.

Andreas Kronthaler, Westwood’s husband and the creative director for her eponymous fashion company, selected the clothing, jewellery, and accessories for the sale, and the auction will benefit charitable organisations The Vivienne Foundation, Amnesty International, and Médecins Sans Frontières.

The more than 200 lots span four decades of Westwood’s fashion, dating to Autumn/Winter 1983-84, which was one of Westwood’s earliest collections. Titled “Witches,” the collection was inspired by witchcraft as well as Keith Haring’s “graphic code of magic symbols,” and the earliest piece being offered from it is a two-piece ensemble made of navy blue serge, according to the release.

“Vivienne Westwood’s sense of activism, art and style is embedded in each and every piece that she created,” said Adrian Hume-Sayer, the head of sale and director of Private & Iconic Collections at Christie’s.

A corset gown of taupe silk taffeta from “Dressed to Scale,” Autumn/Winter 1998-99, will also be included in the sale. The collection “referenced the fashions that were documented by the 18th century satirist James Gillray and were intended to attract as well as provoke thought and debate,” according to Christie’s.

Additionally, a dress with a blue and white striped blouse and a printed propaganda modesty panel and apron is a part of the wardrobe collection. The dress was a part of “Propaganda,” Autumn/Winter 2005-06, Westwood’s “most overtly political show” at the time. It referenced both her punk era and Aldous Huxley’s essay “Propaganda in a Democratic Society,” according to Christie’s.

The wardrobe collection will be publicly exhibited at Christie’s London from June 14-24.

“The pre-sale exhibition and auctions at Christie’s will celebrate her extraordinary vision with a selection of looks that mark significant moments not only in her career, but also in her personal life,” Hume-Sayer said. “This will be a unique opportunity for audiences to encounter both the public and the private world of the great Dame Vivienne Westwood and to raise funds for the causes in which she so ardently believed.”

Westwood died in December 2022 in London at the age of 81.

The Hamptons Hits The Highlands

This stylish abode in the Southern Highlands oozes classic charm.