Five Good Things: what to do, see, buy and book this February

“We want the finest wines available to humanity! We want them here and we want them now!” We also want many of the excellent lots – the Italian bronzes or ormolu candelabra, perhaps – in Bellmans’ upcoming Interiors sale on 22-24 February. It includes a hoard of treasures from the late Bernard Nevill’s estate – many of which featured on the sets of that gloriously quotable film, Withnail and I. As it happens, we at Inigo have the good fortune of being rather familiar with the chattels in question, having sold Nevill’s Carlyle Mansions apartment last year. See how many you can spot in our pictures before stretching your bidding arm in anticipation. Visit Bellmans for details.

Does anyone need reminding that it’s Valentine’s Day? Likely not, but stick with us… While we won’t be telling you where to find choice chocs or cringe-worthy cards, may we invite you think about your flowers? The clever people over at SSAW – who, you might remember, cooked us a festive feast in December – have launched their Why Buy Roses in February? campaign, aiming to increase awareness of the ecological impact of flowers grown abroad (a bouquet of 15 stems grown and sold in the UK produces 95 per cent fewer carbon emissions). Consider the collective’s bunch of seasonal cyclamen, £35, or some snowdrops – as shown on the shoppable poster they’ve commissioned from artist Rosanna Morris, available for £15. Vist SSAW for details.

Ceruado was already something of a destination for vintage-homeware hunters when, in 2019, when the sisters who gave their surname to the brand – Emily and Victoria – designed lines of their own. These days the firm is feted for its fabulously frilly-skirted furniture, along with its quirky collaborations with the likes of Tess Newall. Now, a new family of furniture and fabrics joins the ranks: the ‘Orpha’ collection is inspired by the painterly mark-making of Henri Matisse and Sonia Delaunay, as well as other Fauvists and Orphists. The newly launched range is as playful as it is pretty – and it has our name all over it. Now we just need to decide whether it’s curtains or cushions we want… Both, probably. Visit Ceraudo for details.

Almanac aficionados will know our love of Petersham Nurseries goes way back (read our article on the owners’ house here), but the announcement of its new venture has sharpened our appetites afresh. La Goccia, the group’s Covent Garden restaurant, has announced its new whistle-wetting outfit: a supremely classy-looking bar opening on 10 February. Inspired by nature, its cocktails are all pepped up by herb garnishes, fruit notes and spikes of spice, while the decoration is heavy on horticulture too. Artworks from owner Francesco Boglione’s own collection – Oisin Byrne’s decadent dahlia paintings, rosebuds by Alex Katz – hang on the walls above a bar made using leaves hand-dipped in bronze. Nothing common or garden about that… Visit Petersham Nurseries’ website for details.

Last Chance… to catch ‘Late Constable’, which runs till 13 February at the Royal Academy. It’s a spectacular show of storm-tossed seas and churning skies, of doom and gloom and clotted paint. Most of the works were made when Constable was mourning his wife, Maria, and his grief is almost palpable in the radical freeness of his brushstrokes, by turns blotched, frenzied and streaked. It’s a thrilling exhibition, as invigorating as a walk in the winds and rain he depicted with such force.

If, however, you don’t get to Constable in time, make your way to the RA regardless for ‘Whistler’s Woman in White’, which runs 26 February-22 May. A considered study of the painter’s professional and personal relationship with Joanna Hiffernan, whose flaming tresses also ignited the painterly passions of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Gustave Courbet, it looks set to be a rich show of wide-reaching pleasures. Visit the Royal Academy’s website for details.