From Friday 7^th to Sunday 9^th June the world’s largest polo event takes place in Hurlingham Park, Fulham.

Featuring teams from all parts of the planet, this international polo event excels in providing a backdrop of entertainment during this extravagant tournament that includes a fight for the Olympic Trophy between Britain and the United States.

Throughout the event there will be six more city teams competing from high-net worth financial cities, witnessed by those spectating in the park.

The spiritual home of polo since 1875, Hurlingham Park is the home where the first formal rules for the game were first drawn up.

There will be the Fulham Food Festival, pitch-side bars and gardens courtesy of Champagne Lanson and Fever-Tree, a new VIP area for up to 300 guests and dancing in the renowned Mahiki Tent.

Friday 7^th June 2024

International Friday at Hurlingham Park will see the England Team defend their Trophy from 2023 and there will be three city matches during the course of the afternoon. This kick-start event is sponsored by Northern Data Group and presented by City A.M.

Saturday 8^th June 2024

Ladies Day presented by SheerLuxe will focus on the celebrations with opulent attires to boot. Dancing in the Mahiki Tent watching from prime locations in the Lanson Champagne Garden are all part of the festival for this spectacular event.

Sunday 9^th June 2024

This remarkable family day is packed full of festivities from London’s largest kids’ party to kids’ games including how to play polo with the Little Hooves Kids’ Club. This is a pitch invading day guaranteed to lure a family to the prospect of fun.

The afternoon sees off something for the grown-ups with Trophies awarded and a Mahiki Party to finish off the celebrations.

Further Information

Never has there been such an array of culture at Chestertons Polo in the Park. Each year tries to beat the activities of the last to create a satisfying festival in Fulham.

To book tickets and find out more information please visit:  https://www.polointheparklondon.com/

From 18^th to 21^st April 2024 there will be a retrospective on how to make an art form from growing plants in the city.

The inaugural show will be set at the Depot Mayfield in Manchester as the Royal Horticultural Society hits its 220-year anniversary.

From how to grow healthy houseplants to growing in hard to fit places, this opens as an opportunity to explore the country’s mass of urban spaces.

Manchester Cloud Gardener Jason Williams will feature his mantra of how to make city spaces greener with a fitting of four balconies facing north, south, east and west. A design brought about through a partnership with students from Manchester Metropolitan University’s Rise programme, with a maximum budget of £500.

Chelsea Flower Show’s medal-winners GrowTropicals endeavour to teach how to cultivate suitable plants in shady environments. While others may prefer the light of sunny spots on windowsills.

Amanda Grimes, a grower from the Midlands, is at the show with exhibits of Pop Culture Planting with Punk Rockery and 24-Hour Party Planting, an installation giving inspiration to get stuck in and to develop an art form out of planting.

According to Lex Falleyn, the show manager of the RHS Urban Show, “Urban Gardening is diverse and dynamic and the inaugural RHS Urban Show is an exciting opportunity to explore the important role gardening plays in greening up cities.”

Tickets can be purchased on this link: https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-urban-show

Opened in January 2024, the spa offers male and female grooming salons, and eight treatment rooms with gazebos and outdoor baths. 

Celebrating the peace of the outdoors, the spa is designed to bring the outside in on 

the Ummahat Island in Saudi Arabia. Outdoor cabins, open windows and pavilions are accompanied by the fragrances of Oud, and the sound of Arabian music.   

The design is a paradigm of the red sea, with jelly fish glass chandeliers and walls covered by blue patterns resembling the shapes of red sea corals.  

Treatments are exclusively rich with opulence. There are options of prescribed treatment ingredients of crushed diamonds, orchid stems, or a golden sensory awakening with a Rhassoul Body mask and 24kt Gold Hot Stone Massage, among many of the choices in this shrine. 

 Chakra balancing massages accompany yoga lessons in the yoga pavilion situated by the spa. 

This resort is to be reached only by chartered boat or seaplane. Surrounded by white sandy beaches, this makes a narrative for exquisite living. 

St Regis Hotels and Resorts is part of Marriott Bonvoy’s portfolio of over 30 extraordinary hotel brands. To book visit www.marriott.com. 

The V&A collaborates with supermodel Naomi Campbell to celebrate her 40-year career as a supermodel.

Showing prints from her campaigns to highlighting her extensive wardrobe and collections of haute couture fashion houses and the V&A’s own archive collection, the exhibition will be displayed from 22nd June 2024 to 6th April 2025.

The designs of Alexander McQueen, Burberry, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Gianni and Donatella Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld, and those towering platforms from her Vivienne Westwood 1993 catwalk fall will all be on display among with many more.

Campbell, a known activist has taken her inspiration from public figures including Nelson Mandela to embrace action and change. She has been at the front for the Vogue Italia ‘Black Issue’ 2007 and has campaigned for The Diversity Coalition since 2013.

She has walked the walk since been spotted as a schoolgirl by agent Beth Boldt while shopping with friends, aged 15.

By the age of 17 she has moved to New York, been on the cover of Vogue and was modelling in catwalk shows in London, Paris, Milan and New York.

Campbell’s earliest covers include being the first black model on the cover of Vogue Paris, by Patrick Demarchelier in August 1988.

From the early 1990s Campbell has been known as a supermodel, one of the most high-profile models in the world. Tickets are now available at the V&A and can be found on this link: NAOMI In Fashion – Exhibition at V&A South Kensington · V&A (vam.ac.uk)

This year the glamour and the glitz of Glyndebourne is overwhelmed with the tranquillity of performance and a little bit of art to add to the array.

Well-known as an operatic exploration, guests complement the setting by the spruce and glamour of their elegant wear.

From May there is a compilation of productions spanning from Franz Lehár’s operetta, The Merry Widow, to Bizet’s heart-rending Carmen.

On top of these new highlights there is a symphony of performance featuring David McVicar’s groundbreaking staging of Handel’s most lavish opera, Giulio Cesare, Barbe & Doucet’s spirited reimagining of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s 2003 production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde.

Music is not all that matters at Glyndebourne and away from the stages, there are galleries and gardens reflecting a cast of magnificent magnitude. Visitors can find an exhibition with the latest works of Conrad Shawcross RA, along with sculptures and drawings representing versions of subjects such as materiality, maths, and music.

Glyndebourne is one of the world’s leading opera houses that was founded in 1934 by John and Audrey Mildmay. It is situated on the edge of the South Downs National Park in East Sussex.

The Glyndebourne Festival 2024 runs from 16th May to 25th August 2024.  Public booking opens on Sunday 3rd March 2024. Glyndebourne members enjoy priority access to tickets – get one step closer to your must-see productions by joining the family at glyndebourne.com/membership.

For the first time this year Fashion in Motion at the Victoria and Albert Museum returns to work with Francesco Colucci for a fashion extravaganza.

Accomplished in his designs for TRAID window dressing he uses offbeat tools in layering, textiles, volume, and shape to find the obscure and the celebrated couture of style.

An audience will be exposed to the masterpieces in a show only being displayed in March and this will be seen in the V&A’s Raphael Gallery, to boot with a live dressing of his muse, Diamondpeachlollipop.

Making prominent the way in which Colucci works, four free shows on Friday 15^th March will be held at 13:00, 15:00, 17:00, & 20:00.

The V&A says: “Through his exceptional creativity, Colucci has created a trademark identity that centres on and promotes sustainability, self-expression, and reinvention.”

His inspirations are encouraged from the works of fashion sopranos such as John Galliano and Alexander McQueen to the Surrealist Art Movement.

Colucci is a graduate from Accedemia di Belle Arti di Rome and he has been a resident in London since 2009. His work has gone on to be published in the fashion pages of magazines such as Vogue and Le Monde.

Counting over 20 years of work with Fashion in Motion, the V&A has brought to the public a free to attend catwalk, giving passes to sit in the front row.

Tickets can be found at Fashion in Motion: Francesco Colucci · V&A (vam.ac.uk)

Celebrity photographer Andy Gotts brings Hollywood to London’s 45 Park Lane with an exhibition of his renowned artwork.

45 Park Lane is a prominent hotel situated across from Hyde Park and its sister hotel, The Dorchester.

Once The Playboy Club, a popular hangout for the rich and famous, it was designed by Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius.

The exhibition titled “And the winner is…” is a tribute to the current film award season and runs until May 16, 2024.

Capturing the personalities in film, Gotts awakens an understanding of the acting greats in the style of charismatic portraiture of those acclaimed in film.

This is not the only emphatic creative move by the hotel as Hollywood chef Wolfgang Puck has created a dynasty of the pallet which is available on the Cut restaurant menu until April 1 2024. Roast beef with a wagyu roasted Yorkshire pudding, creamed horseradish and watercress, a prawn cocktail roll with beluga caviar and Marie Rose sauce as well as native lobster ‘fish and chips’ with a spicy tartare sauce and triple cooked chips are served in this Hollywood themed event.

Elliot famed for being a chef at the Hollywood awards, has been executive chef at 45 Park Lane since 2022. Elliott said: “I am incredibly honoured to be bringing classic British dishes to Hollywood for a second year with Wolfgang, especially celebrating his 30^th year cooking for the awards. And to present the dishes here at 45 Park Lane from January alongside Andy’s incredible photography will be sure to bring a taste of LA to London.”

The magic of games has been mastered by the unmatchable talent of an award-winning designer who understands the art of play.

Founded in 2010, the hand crafted and evoking games including poker sets, backgammon boards, personalised games tables, playing cards and card boxes, all tailor made to suit a spirited clientele.

Some may be commissioned and Alexandra’s training as a fine artist has led to a talent of bespoke creativity. In her childhood where she would play backgammon with her step-grandfather in the backstreets of Cairo, she has been accustomed to the creation of unique games. Alexandra Llewellyn Design says: “Enchanted by the game’s inherent poetry of proportion and the harmonious geometry of its pieces and their movements, Alexandra’s training as a fine artist saw her apply that material expertise to a medium she had loved since childhood.”

With the design originating in London, the games are made by artisans inside the UK and the distinctive style is a peerless set of perfection. Each design can be personable to the client with custom made hand etched dates, initials, or a private message. Every detail is embraced with craftmanship, right down to the semi-precious playing pieces.

The details are intrinsic, and the signature backgammon sets have been made to travel size as well as full size with card boxes. The latest designs incorporate Alexandra’s favourite sunshine states or vivid butterflies to an after-dinner favourite – a Cuban Cigar.

There is a private appointment only showroom in Belgravia, where clients can go in to talk about commissions and see the craft of this set of ingenious game designs.

For further information visit Luxury Board Games | Alexandra Llewellyn | Custom Board Games

A tantalising display of complete works of art from back to front is on display at the national art museum in central Madrid.

Featuring the creations of over 100 artworks this exhibition explores the life of paintings from years past in a groundbreaking study of the backs of canvases. This journey has been created by artist Miguel Ángel Blanco, who has captured the works from reverse in this collection, which includes the Prado’s own as well as several partaking collectors and museums from across the globe.

Interestingly the back of a painting has most usually been ignored and it is only by looking at the whole picture that the journey of a canvas can be appreciated.

Van Gogh (1853-1890), René Magritte (1898-1967), Lucio Fontana (1899-1968), Pablo Palazuelo (1915-2007), are just a few of the selected artists that have been chosen for this unique viewing.

The museum opens with ‘the artist behind the canvas’, which is a collection of artists standing behind a canvas in their own studios.

There are different sections of the displays that rediscover important focuses of this new discovery. A forgotten landscape or figurine to a stamp from a previous exhibition have been analysed to create this exhibition.

The final section of the exhibition is ‘the nature in the background’ where past materials are discovered, even dust that has settled on long standing of works in exhibition halls. The museum writes that “A short time ago the Museo del Prado removed The Transfiguration by Giovanni Francesco Penni from the wall, allowing Miguel Ángel Blanco to collect some of the dust accumulated on its reverse, which he has used to make three box-books for his ‘Library of the Forest’.”

The exhibition On The Reverse is on until the 3^rd March 2024 and tickets are available on this link Prado Museum of Madrid (museodelpradotours.com)

Until 18^th May 2024 there will be an exhibition of the rare textile collection of the American legend of art, Andy Warhol.

The show is taking place in Edinburgh at the Dovecot Studios. This will be the first time that the collection has been shown in Scotland.  Sixty contemporary designs include fabric lengths, garments, prints, film, and photography.

The extraordinary works by the Pop Art extraordinaire show a variety of prints, reflecting the reproduction of basic and best patterns used repeatedly in the 1950s American textile trade.

As a celebration of his work, the Dovecot Café will be redesigned in homage to Serendipity 3. Warhol was a regular visitor of the Serendipity 3 café in New York where he was inspired by the ice-cream desserts to candy apples and pretzels that all made great reproduced prints.

Warhol worked on his pieces with passion and as a well-known artist of the time, his fabrics were worked and sold anonymously in the design district of New York.

Until 2023 this collection of long researched designs were hidden from public view until their showcase at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London.

Dovecot Director Celia Joicey says, “Dovecot is thrilled to be collaborating with the Fashion and Textile Museum to bring the first exhibition about Andy Warhol’s textile designs to Scotland. Warhol recognised textile as an artistic medium and, as a globally recognised name, offers Dovecot the opportunity to promote tapestry in the context of this joyful and vivacious work.”

Working alongside the Andy Warhol Exhibition, the Dovecot will be working with events including textile workshops. Tickets can be purchased on this link Andy Warhol: The Textiles (dovecotstudios.com)

An exhibition dedicated to the work of the French Master of Design is scheduled to be extended until 10th March 2024.

From the opening of her first millinery boutique in Paris in 1910 to the establishment of the House of CHANEL, this collection of her work takes an audience right through to her final collection in 1971.

There are over 200 looks, perfume, accessories and jewellery created by an influence still affecting the way that women dress in the present day.

Golden Era Hollywood stars such as Lauren Bacall and Marlene Dietrich wore her collections and these garments are just part of the highlights that see her Fashion Manifesto exhibition organised by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, reimagined by the V&A.

Chanel was a matriarch of her work, designing using the best fabrics and silhouettes that would go on to revolutionise her craft.

Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A, said: “As one of the most successful fashion houses in existence, CHANEL owes much to the templates first laid down by its founder Gabrielle Chanel, over a century ago. We are delighted to be partnering with CHANEL and the Palais Galliera on this exhibition, which provides us with the opportunity to explore the origins and elements of this enduring style and to display little-known historic Chanel garments from the V&A collection.”

The exhibition presented in partnership with Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.

Tickets can be bought on the Victoria and Albert Museum website See Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto · V&A (vam.ac.uk)

In a sleepy ordinary town comes a regular beat of worries. Joyce Maldonado wants to graduate and get out of this hole; young Jim Hopper can’t start his car and Bob Newby’s sister just won’t take his radio show seriously. Then a new arrival, Henry Creel turns up and he slowly starts to find out that it isn’t going to be easy, and the shadows of the past have a very long reach.

The production is designed by a multi award winning team and is the first time that the Netflix drama has come to life on stage at the Pheonix Theatre in London.

Created by the Duffer Brothers, Stranger Things began life in 2016 and went on to amass over 140.7 million views globally. The Eighties soundtracks saw it reboot classics sounds of the past including Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” that cast new life into a next generation of fanhood.

Collecting over 70 awards worldwide, fans everywhere celebrate November 6 – the day Will Byers went missing – as ‘Stranger Things Day.’

For further ticket information, performance schedule, full creative team and cast biographies,

please visit strangerthingsonstage.com

 STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW is written by Kate Trefry, directed by Stephen Daldry with co-director Justin Martin, set design by Miriam Buether, costume design by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, lighting design by Jon Clark, sound design by Paul Arditti, illusions design & visual effects by Jamie Harrison & Chris Fisher, video design & visual effects by 59 Productions, original music & arrangements by D.J. Walde, choreography by Coral Messam, movement direction by Lynne Page, wigs, hair and make-up design by Campbell Young Associates, technical director is Gary Beestone for Gary Beestone Associates, props supervision by Mary Halliday, dialect by William Conacher, fight direction by Kev McCurdy, casting by Jessica Ronane Casting CDG with additional casting by Charlotte Sutton CDG, and international casting consultancy by Jim Carnahan.

Original story by the Duffer Brothers, Jack Thorne & Kate Trefry

Based on the Netflix Series, Stranger Things, created by the Duffer Brothers