A home made from candy in a kingdom of treats seems fitting for the Sugar Plum Fairy, but a rising Royal Ballet star who is performing in The Nutcracker is finding bricks and mortar just as sweet. The British ballerina Yasmine Naghdi has bought a two-bedroom, two-bathroom flat with floor-to-ceiling windows and a large balcony in Wembley, northwest London.
Naghdi, 24, chose the area because of the easy commute to the Royal Opera House, in Covent Garden. She bought off-plan, so chose all the fittings, including the kitchen and the wooden floor. The gated building has a fitness suite, a car park, landscaped gardens and a concierge service; restaurants, shops and the national stadium are a few pointe steps away. Prices at Wembley Park Gate start at £429,000 for a one-bedder; the flats will be complete by next summer, and if you qualify for the London Help to Buy scheme, you only need a 5% deposit. 0844 811 4334, barrattlondon.com
RiRi goes Platinum
The only dilemma facing Rihanna and her entourage on a break in Barbados last Christmas was whether to lounge by the palm-fringed pool or swim in the aquamarine sea. The group stayed at Villa Bonita, a luxury six-bedroom pad with direct gated beach access on the Platinum Coast, which was hit by flash floods at the end of last month.
The house has been marketed for rental this year at $12,600 (£9,900) a night over Christmas, with a chef, butler and three other staff. If you’d rather have it for keeps, it’s also for sale at $9.75m — just reduced from $13.75m. RiRi, who was nominated for eight Grammys this year, yet is still known as Robyn to her old friends, has bought mansions for both her parents on the island where she was born. 00 1 246 432 0840, altmanbarbados.com
Scene of the crime
Advertisement
Though she wrote many of her novels at the country homes she owned in Suffolk over the years (Jeanette Winterson was a visitor), the high priestess of crime literature, Ruth Rendell, who died last year, was chiefly based in this elegant five-bedroom home on Maida Avenue, London W2.
The area inspired the Labour life peer, who is best known for the Inspector Wexford mysteries — and featured in her last novel, Dark Corners. The house is now being sold by her son, Simon, for £5.5m, following a recent price cut of about £500,000. The master bedroom overlooks Regent’s Canal, and there are plenty of built-in bookshelves. 020 7993 3050, marshandparsons.co.uk
