Alfresco eating

Adding an outdoor dining area is one of the best ways to enjoy the outdoors in your own back yard.  Lunch in the sun or dine under stars. Creating an outdoor dining area can be as simple as putting a picnic table in the yard or as complex as building a large outdoor kitchen... view image search

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Living inside-outside

The lovely thing about a garden is that it can become an extra room at a moment's notice. Cushions, candles and festive napkins can all be borrowed from indoors to create a fantasy dining room. It can seat all your friends or just a special few. With bowls of flowers and thick candles you can transform your garden into a peaceful retreat in which everyone will enjoy whiling away hours, even as day passes into night... view image search

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The Colonsay Hotel

Set on the hillside above the harbour, The Colonsay hotel commands spectacular views over the sea to the neighbouring island of Jura. Built in 1750 as an inn for the local population, the exterior of The Colonsay has remained largely unchanged. It is now possible to fly on and off the island (on one of four scheduled flights), but most visitors and locals come and go by ferry, just as their forebears have for hundreds of years, alighting at the tiny harbour which looks up a single-track road to the hotel. The white-washed walls of the hotel are a heart-warming sight for the traveller and a warm welcome awaits inside. When Jane and Alex Howard bought The Colonsay hotel in 2004 it was more than 30 years since the family had been forced to sell in harder times. As they refurbished the building they were aware of how important it was to make every aspect welcoming to islanders as well as visitors... view feature

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Wild Living - The Stowaways

Jane and Peter Smith’s holiday haven not only reflects its seaside surroundings, but it also has the flexibility they need to accommodate five children, relatives and friends. "Peter’s view was that it should be as comfortable as our home in London," says Jane. To help her fulfil this aim, and to create a house that could cope with varying numbers of visitors, Jane turned to neighbour and interior designer Clare Teed, who is also mother of Robert and Joseph’s surfboarding mates, Sam and Toby... view feature

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Ocean Colour

This old house of La Flotte that was once a munitions depot has a page in the history of the island. It was the front post at sea, defending the interests of France against the English who had invaded La Rochelle... Since then, this barricade has been turned into a row of cabins, side by side like ramparts looking out on to the beautiful Ré Island. Completely redesigned, the house rises from its past; a monochromatic home with gentle shades of white and grey punctuated with red accents. Roland and Michele wanted to create a space that contrasted their surroundings with its own harmonious nuances; yet the atmosphere remains that of the ocean. The taste of beautiful things, noble materials and curtains, with subdued, light linens; the rooms all have a different charm. Small, they are no less comfortable in this holiday home with the ocean view and multiple nuances... view feature

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The Beachcomber

With her bright and airy home on the Kent coast, Maxine Sutton is perfectly placed to source the pebbles and shells that sit alongside her own textile creations dotted around every room. Three years ago the family moved from South London to Kent in the hope of finding more space not only for the family and a much longed for dog, but also to accommodate Maxine’s work. She uses hand and appliqué to create wall hangings and other fabric-based craftworks. The couple’s hands-on and creative abilities were well used around their house... view feature

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In Nature's Embrace

Bees landing heavily in pale pink dog roses, whose fragrance mingles with salt water as the birds chirp loudly accompanying the rolling waves. All a pleasant background music for Danish summer life, at its best. The cottage was inherited by the Potts family as a holiday home and soon, as one good idea lead to the next, it wasn't long before they had built the house completely. "We have deliberately made sure that we can see the water from all windows and doorways. I never get tired of looking down. When we come up here, I go down and look at the water and it is also the last thing I do before we leave here," says Suzanne Potts, who along with her husband, own the company No Mess, which specializes in products for storage... view feature

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Beach Hut Deluxe

This new build holiday home on the Isle of Wight was designed by an architect using a simple grid plan so that standard panels of ply wood could be quickly and efficiently slotted into a frame to form the base of the structure. The house was specifically designed to cope with a family who enjoy water sports and sailing so the main bathroom is beside a side door and is fully waterproofed so that wet suits can be stripped off without the restrictions of a curtain or enclosure. The colour scheme chosen by the client is bright, because she is a passionate fan of colour... view feature

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Up on Deck

I'm not a seafaring person, I didn't think I was going to like it," admits Zoe Ball, recalling how her husband, Norman Cook, aka DJ Fatboy Slim, had some difficuly convincing her that they should buy barracuda, a 100ft yacht that was used as a German spy boat in the second world war. "I couldn't say,'I hate boats, when Norman told me about it, but after a dodgy experience in the Seychelles, I did fear that feeling of claustrophobia"... view feature

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