I explore a new beach every day: How the one per cent are doing Lockdown 3 – Telegraph.co.uk

There are fewer Bentleys parked up in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea this January proof, if it were needed, that the one per cent are locking down elsewhere. Fairy lights still twinkle in some windows, a mark of those who escaped before Christmas and havent come back; unlike the first shutdown in March, when Covid scared the super-rich into submission, this time theyre refusing to let the virus spoil their fun. Last time they sacrificed their staff and had to log on to online classes showing them how to do basic tasks such as changing sheets and using an iron, explains Jess Simpson, founder of Jess Simpson Property Search. Now, they are determined to make the experience as comfortable as possible.

For many this means retreating to a country pile either their own, or one they have rented specifically for lockdown complete with furniture and staff. And while little may happen in the countryside in January at the best of times, Covid evacuees are keeping things interesting: booking top name restaurant chefs to cook them dinner through new online platform Sprout At Home when luxury groceries from readymade meals from Harrods, Hakkasan and The Delaunay wont do, and unwinding with virtual yoga with Tara Nash.

Indeed this lockdown has been a useful opportunity for self-improvement, explains Martin Reith, chairman of luxury PR firm Luchford, who is locked down at Essenden, his country estate. I am doing a course in Bitcoin and Ive got fitness training [online] with Doug Tannahill at [boutique gym] BXR London, he says. Ive lost weight and have started shopping at Mr Porter. In the evenings he has been steadily working his way through the wine list from Hedonism, a fine wine boutique. What an amazing way to travel the world in lockdown, he says.

While the Government has continued to make international replete with as many roadblocks as possible many one per centers, unable to deal with the bleak British weather, have circumnavigated restrictions in search of the sun. Theyve been using private jets where they still have a justifiable work excuse, Simpson explains.Most of our clients at this level have multiple international business interests.

Antigua is one of the Caribbean islands still accepting British citizens and it is from here that one particular British property developer has been posting unashamed snaps from the golf course, alongside images of himselfand his girlfriend drinking ros on the beach. According to Work Mango, a concierge service that has been helping British high net worth individuals to relocate during lockdown, a villa at Antiguas Jumby Bay an exclusive island two miles off the mainland currently rents out for 92,000 per week with private chef, kitchen staff, butlers, housekeepers and gardeners. With Virgin and BA still flying there direct, and testing in place before reaching the island and once on it, British jet-setters can make the most of restaurants et al being open until 11pmand hotels free of curfew.

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I explore a new beach every day: How the one per cent are doing Lockdown 3 - Telegraph.co.uk