Bucks &amp; Oxon


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-life-s-a-beach-for-cliveden-guests">Life&#8217;s a beach for Cliveden guests</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="747" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/Palm-Hotel-copy.png" alt="The Palm Hotel " class="wp-image-173982" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/Palm-Hotel-copy.png 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/Palm-Hotel-copy-800x598.png 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/Palm-Hotel-copy-400x299.png 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The lobby and bar area of the Palm House Hotel</figcaption></figure>



<p>As the one-time country retreat of US tycoon William Waldorf Astor, Cliveden House near Taplow has always had transatlantic appeal. Now guests staying at the Bucks hotel have an equally glamorous sister bolthole Stateside. Cliveden&#8217;s owner Iconic Luxury Hotels (whose other UK hotels include Chewton Glen in the New Forest and The Lygon Arms in the Cotswolds) has made its first foray into the US and will open the uber-swish Palm House in the heart of Florida&#8217;s ritzy Palm Beach in November. It takes a lot to top Cliveden&#8217;s outdoor pool (famously the birthplace of the Profumo scandal), but <a href="https://www.palmhouse.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a first look at Palm House</a> shows it&#8217;s on the money. We&#8217;ll see you on the sunset pool deck.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-port-mahon-is-shipshape">The Port Mahon is shipshape</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="814" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/ThePortMahon.jpg" alt="The Port Mahon East Oxford" class="wp-image-173977" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/ThePortMahon.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/ThePortMahon-800x651.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/ThePortMahon-400x326.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Chef Paolo and manager Lawrence at The Port Mahon</figcaption></figure>



<p>Raise a glass to hospitality entrepreneur Jonathan Perritt, who has taken over the rather dilapidated <a href="http://www.theportmahon.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Port Mahon</a> pub in East Oxford and given it a new lease of life. Perritt also runs two gastropubs in London &#8211; The Mall Tavern in Notting Hill and The Stag in Hampstead &#8211; but has long hankered to expand outside the capital and heard that East Oxford, with its buzzy indie business scene, was the place to be. Fun fact/myth: The Port Mahon is so-named because the pub was awarded to a Captain in the British Navy for his bravery in the 1756 Battle of Mahon &#8211; and it has the home-made &#8216;Mahonnaise&#8217; to prove it. Business has been brisk now the pub is shipshape once more, pulling in a crowd of students, locals and young families with rotating local Oxon &amp; Glos ales and a seasonal menu, working with local suppliers like the Oxford Wine Company and spirits merchant Amethyst. Chin chin.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-spandau-star-sings-for-his-supper">Spandau star sings for his supper</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="750" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/TonyHadley.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-174060" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/TonyHadley.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/TonyHadley-800x600.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/TonyHadley-400x300.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>Former Spandau Ballet star Tony Hadley promised to sing at the launch night if his fellow Bucks villagers managed to save their 17th-century inn, the Hundred of Ashendon, after two years of closure. Well, he&#8217;d better start warming up because the community fundraising pot has hit its £550,000 target, with 190 small shareholders investing anything from £100 to £10,000.&nbsp;Now it&#8217;s all hands to the beer pumps as the villagers complete a whirlwind refurb ahead of re-opening. Hadley, who lives in Thame, was supported by the unlikely combo of local Tory MP Greg Smith and ex-PM&#8217;s wife Cherie Blair, who also lives nearby, so it&#8217;s shaping up to be quite a party. Since Hadley once owned a brewery I reckon he can organise the requisite celebratory p**-up.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-final-act-for-florence-pugh-s-family-cafe">Final act for Florence Pugh&#8217;s family café</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/CafeCoco.jpg" alt="Cafe Coco Cowley Road" class="wp-image-174065" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/CafeCoco.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/CafeCoco-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/CafeCoco-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/CafeCoco-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>Clinton Pugh&#8217;s social page bills himself as &#8216;father to special people&#8217; &#8211; which is perhaps underselling it. He&#8217;s the Dad of Oscar-nominated actress Florence Pugh and three other talented thesps: <em>Game of Thrones</em> actor Toby Sebastian, actress and voice coach Arabella Gibbins, and actress Rafaela Pugh. They all cut their teeth in the Oxford cafes he runs &#8211; but he&#8217;s revealed that, despite a handout from Florence, he&#8217;s had to sell Café Coco on Cowley Road after racking up around £900,000 of losses. Mr Pugh says the villains are Oxfordshire City Council, whom he blames for their &#8216;ill thought-out traffic calming disaster&#8217;. His Spanish-inspired Café Tarifa was repossessed last year, so we hope his KazBar venue keeps on rocking.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-andy-warhol-show-incoming-to-mk">Andy Warhol show incoming to MK!</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="995" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/JoanCollins-1000x995.jpg" alt="MK Museum Andy Warhol exhibition" class="wp-image-173984" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/JoanCollins-1000x995.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/JoanCollins-800x796.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/JoanCollins-400x398.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/JoanCollins.jpg 1030w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Andy Warhol, Joan Collins, 1985. ©The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. ⁠</figcaption></figure>



<p>Who says Milton Keynes has no culture? A huge Andy Warhol exhibition is coming to the MK Gallery next spring, in partnership with the Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland. The pop art exhibition, called <em>Portrait of America</em>, will display over 130 of Warhol’s most iconic artworks from the 1950s to 1980s, including the world-famous series of Marilyn Monroe and two paintings of British art duo Gilbert &amp; George. There&#8217;ll also be early drawings, painted silkscreens and a photographic series, plus symbols of Warhol&#8217;s fascination with mortality &#8211; ie., guns, skulls and war. It will run from 15 March to 29 June, but you can <a href="https://mkgallery.org/event/andy-warhol-portrait-of-america/?dm_i=772Y,S6U2,1597YY,3SYPM,1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">book ahead here</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-oxford-hotels-get-the-readers-vote">Oxford hotels get the readers&#8217; vote</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/Old-Parsonage-Hotel-Oxford-High-res-Facade-Night-Exterior-Parsley-Press.jpg" alt="The Old Parsonage Hotel Oxford" class="wp-image-173986" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/Old-Parsonage-Hotel-Oxford-High-res-Facade-Night-Exterior-Parsley-Press.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/Old-Parsonage-Hotel-Oxford-High-res-Facade-Night-Exterior-Parsley-Press-800x534.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/Old-Parsonage-Hotel-Oxford-High-res-Facade-Night-Exterior-Parsley-Press-400x267.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>Good to see Oxford put on the map in the Condé Nast Traveller UK Readers’ Choice Awards. Discerning jetsetters voted in their thousands (it&#8217;s like a kind of posh TripAdvisor) and they named the <a href="https://www.oldparsonagehotel.co.uk/">Old Parsonage Hotel</a> and the <a href="https://www.oldbankhotel.co.uk/">Old Bank</a>, both in Oxford city centre, among the UK&#8217;s top 35 hotels outside London. The Old Bank on the High Street has outstanding views of the Radcliffe Camera and St Mary’s Church, while the draw at the Old Parsonage on Banbury Road is its cosy library. Did somebody say weekend mini-break?</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-take-a-trip-with-cate-blanchett">Take a trip with Cate Blanchett</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/MarshmallowLaserFeast.jpg" alt="Evolver installation" class="wp-image-174067" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/MarshmallowLaserFeast.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/MarshmallowLaserFeast-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/MarshmallowLaserFeast-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/MarshmallowLaserFeast-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>Room for one more cultural event? Well, we hear Cate Blanchett is coming to Oxford. Not personally, alas. She&#8217;s the narrator for a new virtual reality installation called <em>Evolver</em>, which takes viewers on an immersive journey through the breathing human body. It&#8217;s the work of a collective called <a href="https://www.instagram.com/marshmallowlaserfeast/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Marshmallow Laser Feast</a> and it&#8217;s already premiered at the Tribeca Festival and at Cannes, so it should be quite a trip. Head to the pop-up space on Little Clarendon Street to experience it for yourself &#8211; open daily from Fri 25th Oct to Thurs 14 November.</p>


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