Surrey Homes | SH30 | April 2017 |Gardens supplement inside

This page: One of the spare rooms is home to another
mannequin, called Charlie (above). It’s their family tradition for
everyone to dress up for Christmas dinner. A pale blue 1930s
bell boy’s suit, with the traditional chin strap hat, which Adrian
wore a couple of years ago, hangs on the end of the bed.
“He gave me three weeks and I stayed five years,” says
Adrian. “It was wonderful. One of my jobs was dropping
the hats off to Buckingham Palace for the Queen.”
“Philip was a very good friend and mentor. Until he
died two and a half years ago, I would have tea with
him once a week and he kept giving me guidance.”
Indeed Mr Somerville’s presence pops up around
the house in the form of a lovely Parker Knoll chair
in the kitchen and a beautiful purple shamrock plant
with its borscht-red leaves cascading down a jardinière
upstairs, which were both presents from him.
But perhaps the Royal milliner’s greatest gift to Adrian
was his professional finesse which is gloriously apparent on a
table in the area between the kitchen and the sitting rooms.
Presided over by the male mannequin spotted on the
way in (whom I’m told is called Major Lynch, after the
father of a friend whose uniform he wears) is an array of
Adrian’s amazing hats and the tools of his trade – hat
61 wealdentimes.co.uk