I
love my kitchen. From a purely practical point of view, it is the
room I spend the most time in, whether I’m cooking, eating or
watching TV, but also, it’s the heart of the home. We had all
the work done on the kitchen about three years ago. There used to
be a small extension at the back of the house and for planning reasons,
the upper storey of that had to be retained, so building a bigger
kitchen underneath it was quite a challenge.
We had a brilliant local
architect, Gennaro Picardi, who did an amazing job with sprayed silver
joists, so it looks a bit like a Twenties aircraft and makes me laugh
because the fulcrum for each beam is one tiny pin called a Jesus bolt.
Each is no bigger than a darning needle but they hold up whole of
the first floor.
It is a very modern structure, but we chose a colour scheme that evokes
the French country kitchen that my husband Sebastian knew from his
childhood — he’s half French — with lots of French
country blue paintwork and antique terracotta tiles, which we bought
in Normandy. They look wonderful. We have long since stopped trying
to shine them and they look all the better for it. A very clever designer,
Mats Lindroth, gave the kitchen a wonderful look, with clean lines
and masses of
cupboards for all the kitchen gadgets.
One thing I had built specially was a draining rack over the sink
with
doors in front of it. Spanish kitchens
always have them and it’s a brilliant
idea because you can stick
saucepans up there to drain
then just shut the doors. My
favourite item here is a ceramic
sculpture made by my mother,
Kathleen Cox, who was fairly
well known as a ceramic
artist in the Thirties. It’s
of three “Shawlies”, Dublin
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Prized
piece: the ceramic sculpture created by Mary’s mother |
women who wrapped themselves
in oversized shawls, one of whom is carrying a basket of flowers.
It’s one of my most treasured possessions.
Thanks to all the glass in the ceiling, it’s very light but
it’s east-facing. We get the sun for much of the day, but it
doesn’t get too hot. From here, we look out on to our lovely
little garden; in the summer, when the leaves are out, you can see
just the garden, rather than neighbouring houses.
We used to eat out a lot with friends, but the new kitchen has transformed
the house. It is the place where I really like to be — both
on our own, and with friends. I love those moments when we come back
from work — Sebastian is a professor of Contemporary Spanish
Studies at the LSE — and sit down with a glass of wine to ask
how each other’s day has gone. Sebastian and I prepare the evening
meal together and we eat at the oak, fold-out drawer-leaf table I
bought for £150 on eBay. It can easily seat eight.
I don’t
like big parties but I’m gregarious with close friends and love
cooking and entertaining. I enjoy making my own pasta, pesto and bread.
I feel that preparing and sharing food is a very important bonding
process, whether you are a couple getting to know each other or whether
you are entertaining others. I run personal introductions agencies,
which suits me down to the ground.
Drawing Down the Moon was the original agency, and was meant for thinking people.
it started in 1984 “and I took it over in 1986. I wanted
a job which meant I never had to retire and I thought, “I
can can carry on doing this until I’m 102. I have
three agencies now. And no, I didn’t meet my husband
through an agency. He was a neighbour, and I met him up a ladder, long before
I took over the agencies.
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