Meet the hosts of Sheen Road

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Sheen Road is the residence of young police detective, which perhaps accounts for the tremendous attention to detail all across this home. She and her fund manager husband are long term residents of Richmond, and when they’re not entertaining they’re next door in Richmond Park, making the very most of a location that’s so good, it’s almost criminal…

Why did you join onefinestay?

The flexibility of the letting arrangements as well as the breadth of the service . Both from how properties are marketed, prepared and returned made having 'guests' much easier to get comfortable with . 

What do you love most about your home?

Definitely Richmond . Views and green spaces that we never tire of. Having central London on our doorstep provides all the distraction we need when needed but we don't feel we that we have to compromise living here at all . No sense of claustrophobia and all the charm of a village .

Where do you go when you have onefinestay guests?

We are lucky enough to have just bought a house in the south of France which we are doing bits of work to and so we have been able to go there more often and will hopefully do some more ski breaks.

Who would be your guest of honour? 

The cast of the West Wing circa Series 2. The chat would be racy but never quite overstepping the liberal mark . 

What is your favourite insider tip for travellers to London?

Saturday brunch with the papers on one of the riverboats in Richmond then a walk along the Thames.

Meet Laura

  

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When did you join onefinestay?

January 2012

And what is it that you do?

I have joined the company as Head of Host Relations. I am going to look after hosts, and ensure everything runs smoothly.

Where do you live in London?

Raynes Park, which is near Wimbledon. A little out of the hustle and bustle of London life, but it is great being close to Wimbledon Common.

Where do you wish you lived in London?

In a townhouse on the edge of Richmond Park, I love London, but also love green open spaces, overpriced pubs and rugby.

What is your favourite type of tea and why?

Earl grey tea and it tastes best with a piece of fruit cake.

When making a cup of tea, do you pour in the milk or the tea first?

Milk first every time.

Who would be the guest of honour at your dinner party?

Murray Walker his voice would take me back to my childhood and being made to watch Formula One on a Sunday afternoon with my Dad.

When did you last get lost?

My most used application on my phone is Google maps, so I generally know where I am, it’s just not always where I am supposed to be.

What is the furthest North you’ve been? 

Oban on the West Coast of Scotland, we spent a long weekend there with friends, enjoying unseasonably nice weather, and walking two Munro’s in one day.

What was the best experience you ever had on holiday?

Going to New York with my sister, we were there when Barak Obama became President, which was an amazing experience. Sitting in a sports bar on Bleecker Street watching the results coming in was like nothing I had experienced before, and I feel like I witnessed a little bit of history.

What is your favourite spot in London which you wouldn’t find on a map? 

Half way across Waterloo Bridge, it’s technically on a map, but the view isn’t and in my opinion it’s the best in London.

What will the title of your memoirs be?  

“Truth be told.”

 

In 2011 onefinestay gave to me...

12 Meeters Greeting 

11 Coders Coding 

10(0)Guests A-staying

9 Cleaners Cleaning 

8 Tonnes of linen

7 Snappers Shooting

6 Bikes A-hanging

5 Star Service

4 Founding Fathers 

3 Hundred Homes

2 Christmas Trees 

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And a bear busted drunk ‘neath the tree

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Wishing the very special team who make onefinestay happen all the best over the busy Christmas period. 

 

onefinestay at The Luxury Property Show

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The maintenance team turned their hands to bit of set design this week when they built a onefinestay style living room for The Luxury Property Show at The Hurlingham Club. 

The annual event showcases only the finest properties from around the globe, and offers visitors a unique opportunity to view and buy from the finest collection of the world's most luxurious properties.

A few members of the onefinestay team took to the stand for the two day event and met many people interested in joining our service. The show has also enjoyed wide press coverage, including TV presenter Melissa Porter who interviewed our Head of Maintance Linden Dover. 

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We would like to thank our friends over at made.com who lent us some of their fantastic furniture - including this Boundary Sideboard: 

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Startups vs. corporate, it’s like Apple vs. PC

 

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There is a movement underway in London’s tech scene. People are turning their backs on the banks and the big bucks and joining start-ups. Silicon Roundabout is expanding from strength to strength and we start-ups are beginning to mobilise against the grey suits and snap up London’s best talent. And this was why onefinestay’s tech team donned their branded t-shirts and headed to a disused brewery on Brick Lane last Sunday.

This was Silicon Milkroundabout’s recruitment event. This event allows anyone from a grad level coder to CTO’s to meet Silicon Roundabout’s most exciting start-ups, many of which are on huge recruitment drives, including ourselves who are currently hiring for 10 different positions in the technology team.

Our team spent the day chatting algorithms and Mr Jobs, and were impressed by the emerging talent of interesting and smart people who are yearning to join London’s ever expanding start-up scene.  This bi-annual event has enjoyed amazing growth having double the attendees than the event in May. 

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We’re very excited to see start-ups emerge as a career path which rivals those of the corporate offerings. In the run up to the event we tweeted some reasons why you should join a start-up. Here were our favourites:

Because you’ll never have to buy a suit (ever)

Startups vs. corporate, it’s like Apple vs. PC
So you don’t have to lie to your friends about what you do..
If you’re a developer who doesn’t want to have to explain daily to some overpaid trader that you can't fix his BlackBerry

So join the movement today, and visit our jobs page

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Meet Kevin

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This is Kevin - bad boy turned consultant. He's busy building the onefinestay machine, and with his passion for powerpoint and Transformers, there's no man better qualified. Kevin DJs in his spare time, hates Aubin and Wills and will be found on the weekends in East London's latest 'pop-up' something or other. 

When did you join onefinestay?

July 2011

And what is it that you do?

I am building the onefinestay machine. I document and build the business processes that make onefinestay work, and help develop the specifications for the software team to support those processes.

Where do you live in London?

In a couple of weeks I am moving from the hipster-haven of Hoxton to hipster-haven - London Fields. Ever since I moved to London I have always lived in Hackney. It captures everything that’s amazing about London; it’s so diverse, where beautiful Georgian townhouses sit metres from sixties housing estates and there’s always a new pub or shop to discover. 

Where do you wish you lived in London?

De Beauvoir-still in Hackney, this is one of the nicest “villages” in London that I have ever seen. Gorgeous townhouses, upmarket delis and amazing gastro-pubs, and all only a stone’s throw from Shoreditch, Dalston and Angel. I think if I lived there I would never need to go further than a mile from my home ever again.

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What is your favourite type of tea and why?

I always used to be a big fan of English Breakfast with a tonne of sugar and milk until quite recently. I still like my trusty builders’ tea, but my eyes were opened when I tried delicious Chinese Oolong, best served from a copper teapot into a fine china cup!

When making a cup of tea, do you pour in the milk or the tea first?

Whichever comes to hand.

Who would be the guest of honour at your dinner party?

David Attenborough-I could listen to him talk all day, and I don’t think there are many people alive today who have seen the things he’s seen

When did you last get lost?

In Plitvice in the Croatian interior. It’s an amazingly verdant lake district only a 100 miles or so from the capital Zagreb and one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Unfortunately the Croatians are not so good at marking their footpaths and we spent hours wondering in the baking sun trying to find the ferry back to the park entrance.

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When did you last have an epiphany?

About 6 months ago when my colleagues started leaving the consultancy where I worked and going to work for start-ups, I realised there was life outside the city and that that was where I wanted to be.

What is the furthest North you’ve been?

My birthplace -Jasper in Alberta, Canada.

What was the best experience you ever had on holiday?

Taking the Trans-Siberian railway from Moscow to Ulaanbataar. Being on a train for 7 days with a group of strangers, with miles of emptiness stretching away from you in every direction and unbelievable scenery is an experience I’ll never forget. 

What is your favourite spot in London which you wouldn’t find on a map?

The lookout point in Greenwich near the observatory. It gives a completely different perspective on the city to the one I normally see from North London and the views of the o2 and Canary Wharf are just fantastic. 

Tell us a secret.

I have the the decepticons insignia tattooed to my body… but I won’t tell you where.  

What will the title of your memoirs be? 

Before consulting: Tales of a rebellious youth

 

This week - 150 reasons to be happy

This was a good week for onefinestay. We were very happy to announce that we now have 150 homes on onefinestay.com. This means that 150 people have trusted us with the keys to their weird and wonderful homes. This also means that we are growing. Very fast. And we’re very proud to have gone from just 6 members just over a year ago to 150 (and counting) today.

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Home number 150 - Porteast Apartments

More homes, means more people. We have a new face coming through the doors of our Clerkenwell office almost every day. It’s all been really rather exciting.

As Greg Marsh put it on Wednesday:  “This is a really exciting time for us. The company’s success has proven beyond doubt that people with beautiful homes are keen to have guests to stay in them while they’re away, providing the right systems and support are in place from professional services like onefinestay. While we were initially inspired by the boom in CouchSurfing and home-swapping, the interest we are seeing among owners of distinctive homes in the most beautiful parts of London goes to show there is a potentially huge market for ‘serviced home stays’.”

If you’d like to give us more than 150 reasons to be happy, then read all about what it means to join onefinestay on our member’s page http://www.onefinestay.com/hosts/

Meet Tom H

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This is Tom. Last seen on a Caribbean island with Victoria’s Secret models, he abandoned the world of fashion photography to join the more glamorous, and better looking onefinestay tech team. He’s our one and only Scot. And no stranger to mixing it up, he holds a world record for cocktail mixing.

When did you join onefinestay?

Feb 2011

 And what is it that you do?

I work in the tech team but exactly what I do has been changing so frequently that I'd struggle to define it any more specifically. One of the joys of a company that grows so fast is that it keeps us on our feet.

 Where do you live in London?

East London, near the river. It's really peaceful and out of the way with plenty of quiet little spots to hide away in.

Where do you wish you lived in London?

The top of the OXO tower; I love the Southbank, great views and it's pretty handy for the cocktail bar.

What is your favourite type of tea and why?

Lapsang Souchong; reminds me of a good peaty whisky and is an acceptable morning drink.

 When making a cup of tea, do you pour in the milk or the tea first?

Milk?! In my tea? I think not.

 Who would be the guest of honour at your dinner party?

Steve Jobs, even before this was a cool answer.

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What is your favourite word?

Caffeinated

 When did you last get lost?

Walking up the LA Hills on my own. It was fun until the thirst came and it began to dawn on me that all this was pretty barren and dry until fairly recently. Quite a strange feeling when you can see the ocean to your right and see the Warner Brothers' water tower to the left. So, given the views I was probably not quite lost, but certainly out of my comfort zone.

 When did you last have an epiphany?

I problem solve all day, so I get surprised with minor epiphanies quite often; last night as I was leaving work I had a flash of inspiration on how to fix an outwardly dull issue.

 What is the furthest North you’ve been?

Reykjavik, but that was only a lay-over on my way to Canada. Banff, the final destination on that trip is bound to be the furthest North I've spent any time in. I'll give you one guess as to why I might be in Banff in the winter.

 What was the best experience you ever had on holiday?

Sat deep in a crater in the Pacific Ocean, (with SCUBA on) seeing the silhouettes of two hammerhead sharks come around the crater walls and sweep down towards and past me. Far more massive than I had expected, they just seemed so majestic and ancient.

 What is your favourite spot in London which you wouldn’t find on a map?

Little corner of the Limehouse Cut, on the canal and near a few bridges, it's all over and under in a Victorian style.

 Tell us a secret.

Sure, the password to all the computers in onefinestay is [removed by editor]

 What will the title of your memoirs be?

Tip Top Tommy's Trials, Travels and Tribulations

 

Curiouser and curiouser… A most splendid tea party in a most splendid garden

On the Sunday just past, with a nod to the white rabbit, onefinestay members and friends walked through a curtain door, in the heart of London to a secret garden like no other. The Ornamental Gardens at 45 Milbank were transformed into a magical Mad Hatter Tea Party for an afternoon of glorious festivities.  

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Amongst the higgledy-piggledy furniture, picnic blankets and gallons of tea, roamed onefinestay staff dressed in all manner of costumes. We had our very own Alice, The White Rabbit, Card Men and The Queen of Hearts, all provided by renowned costumiers, Prangsta. And, don't you know, they were the same costumes used in the Globe Theatre production of Alice in Wonderland.

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But there was more than Battenberg, scrumptious sandwiches and the wobbliest of jelly. The Dixie Ticklers, an acoustic band who usually spend their time amongst the vintage and festival circuits, played live jazz music from the bushes. Not only that, but the Mad Hatter, and magician Darius, was amongst the crowd, showing some devilishly mysterious magic tricks to one and all. 

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While the grownups who liked a little more than tea, (the pimms went down a treat) met and exchanged tales of their travels and their beautiful homes, the children were whisked away by The Queen of Hearts to their own corner of the garden to indulge in all kinds of games, from skittles to twister, face-painting and even a very special treasure hunt. 

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Of all the silly nonsense, it was a real pleasure to natter with our members, and what an eclectic bunch you are. Thank you so much to all who came, and for those who didn’t, fear not, as there are many more onefinestay members events to come. 

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Who would live in a house like this?

For me, each onefinestay listing is a little like an episode of through the keyhole. By assembling the jigsaw pieces of a home; the style, the layout, the colour schemes, furnishings and gadgets, you can begin to glimpse a little of the life of a person that lives in "a house like this".

Working in the onefinestay operational team, I'm in the privileged position of visiting our homes and meeting their charismatic owners - Lloyd Grossman eat your heart out! So let me take you on a journey through the keyhole and share with you some of the connections between home style and host lifestyle.

 

Lonsdale Road is a home styled by an individual with her own unique design flair. Light and bright, but almost bursting at the seams with a collection of items discovered over the years, paying testament to the many roads she has explored. It has taxidermy, a table constructed from wooden pallets, and even a sign ‘borrowed’ years ago when leaving school for the final time...  The result is eclectic, extroverted and yet creative, much like the host.

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Add into the mix a plethora of feather boas, hats, and even fancy dress and we have a lady who isn’t afraid of social situations.

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The final clues are lamps in the lounge and bedroom, strange contraptions which are out of their natural habitat. (Clue: a photographer's studio)

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So who would live in a house like this? You can click through to the listing to reveal the occupation of this creative soul. And if you like what you see here, perhaps book a stay and get your very own glimpse of life...through the keyhole! Here's til next time!