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The ultimate collection of stylish boutique hotels worldwide.

Mr & Mrs Smith

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Get the low-down from the original style-seekers' latest good-time hunting expeditions, find destination inspiration and insider tips from around the world. Welcome to the official Smith blog: we hope you enjoy your stay

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Archive for the 'Design' Category

Style monitor: down to the wire

Monday, October 19th, 2009

No one has her fingers wrapped quite so tightly around the London fashion pulse as Smith’s roving stylista Toni Jones. Here’s her latest despatch from the front line…
Barbed wire is the latest precious metal. The prickly sheep-snaggler synonymous with prison blocks and Pammy Anderson is an unlikely style hero, but Burberry’s new barbed-wire jewellery collection [...]

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The Romans, Moors and Crusaders have long left Lisbon, and what they’ve left is a hillside city brimming with culture, character and cool. From the Moorish Alfama district to the bustle of Baixa, every pocket of Portugal’s capital has its own treasures to offer the savvy traveller. We’ve gambolled in the gardens and mused over [...]

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Couture comes to the baggage carousel

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

Of all the fabulous finery that billowed and swished its way down the catwalk at London Fashion Week 2009, Smith HQ fell hardest for Erdem’s whimsical watercolour dresses. In particular, the demure and divine ankle-length silk gowns with their daubs of jewel-bright colour, available from Net-a-Porter - well, before they (predictably) sold out that is. [...]

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Lovely doubly boutique luxury for less

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

You know what you like to buy and you’re no sucker for marketing… Do you shun the red sale stickers on discounted produce at the supermarket? Do you laugh in the face of Bogof offers in Boots, resisting the urge to hoard toothpaste for the sake of a pound or so? Well, this is one [...]

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Hotel of the week: Thirty Two, Cotswolds

Friday, August 14th, 2009

It all began with a fabulous Portuguese farmhouse back in July. We’ve since raved about an A-list friendly  LA villa, a cosy Norfolk cottage and a traditional Thames-side inn. But we just can’t keep our hotel-loving minds still and now we’re  excited about — drum roll, please — a  boutique guesthouse in the Cotswolds’ capital, [...]

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Pet-friendly hotels

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

There’s animal magic in the air at Mr & Mrs Smith this week, so prick your ears and wag your tails for our brand new selection of pet-friendly hotels. In the past, we’ve picked out dream wedding venues, family getaways, budget boutiques and safari stays – and now we’ve rounded up 133 luxury retreats, [...]

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My heart belongs to Painswick. No, it’s not a tubby waistcoated Dickens character, it’s an adorable tiny town in the South Cotswolds. I’m a shallow soul really. A gorgeous boutique hotel, a sprinkling of couldn’t-be-cuter shops (Ha’Penny Antiques, left), an excellent deli and a country pub and I’m smitten. Throw in your chocolate-box Cotswold-stone village [...]

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Balearic-based concierge service, Deliciously Sorted, arranges private chefs, jet and boat charter and VIP entry to Ibiza and now also Mallorca’s best destinations. Who better then, to give Mr & Mrs Smith the inside scoop on the island’s hotspots than Deliciously Sorted’s on-isle red-carpet roller-outers, Tor Cooper-Evans and Claire Gauvain from TLC? (right, [...]

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It’s fun playing tourist in your hometown – especially when the sun is out. No, I don’t for a moment mean queuing up at Madame Tussaud’s (what is with that obsession for waxworks when there are so many better things to do in London?), let alone hitting senses-assaulting Piccadilly Circus. I am talking about seeing [...]

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A deliciously curious experience

Friday, July 10th, 2009

All aboard the eccentric carriage of culinary and cocktail curiosities making its way across the UK courtesy of Hendrick’s. Its bonkers bar-cum-dining room rolled into Edinburgh today until Sunday; Manchester, 30 July–2 August; London, 1–4 October. No, we haven’t been drinking – not today at any rate…
Ever imagined munching aphrodisiac lavender marshmallows? Or rose bush [...]

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