Here's the blog I posted after a memorable visit back to Turkey Hill, my former home in Westport Connecticut, in June of 2017.
I am so happy to share photos with you from my very special visit to my former Connecticut home.
Over the weekend, I traveled about 30-minutes to nearby Westport and to Turkey Hill, the place I called home for more than 30-years. I was invited there to lead a tour and to speak at a fundraising event for Positive Directions, a community-based, not-for-profit organization offering alcohol and substance misuse prevention and counseling services. Casey Berg, the current owner of Turkey Hill, is a member of the Positive Directions Board. Of course, I was thrilled with the opportunity and excited to see how my old home had changed. As many of you know, Turkey Hill was a dream place for my family and me. I learned so much from all the work we completed there - all by ourselves, without the use of outside contractors. We restored the home, built new structures, developed the landscape and designed the gardens and borders. Turkey Hill was my original farmhouse and my first 'laboratory', where my ‘empire’ began. It's been featured in my magazines and on my television shows. I would not be who I am today without the vast knowledge I gained at Turkey Hill.
If you missed the special Facebook LIVE broadcast I hosted there, please go to our Facebook page and watch it - just click on this highlighted link - I know you will enjoy it. The Berg family made what I started even better - the home and the gardens look amazing. I am so happy this special place is in their care. Here are some images from my wonderful visit. And please tell me what you think about Turkey Hill's evolution in the comments below - I'm excited to hear from all of you.
Here I am with Casey Berg, who moved to Turkey Hill with her family 10-years ago.
I love how much this antique farmer’s home has evolved over the years. When I first heard about this house, I learned it had once been an onion farm. It was on two acres, and had a few large trees. There was no garage or barn, just an old picket fence and an unkempt yard. My husband and I did a ton of work to create what became my “laboratory”.
As part of the tour, I hosted a special Facebook LIVE to show the evolution of Turkey Hill. Here we are at the front entrance.
Inside the foyer, we saw several photos of Turkey Hill. This picture is of my garden shed down by the barn.
I laid the wide path of antique brick that leads to the cherry tree – one of a dozen we received from Japan. And I planted a broad allee of boxwood on both sides. The boxwood shrubs still look great.
This purple beech tree was definitely not this large when I planted it. It was a gift to my husband, Andy, for his 40th birthday. It looks so majestic now.
And, I built the roof for the well. We did so many things without the use of any contractors. This home was where I experimented and learned. My husband and I did lots of excavating and sculpting of the land – we also constructed a barn, a chicken coop, and a garden shed.
This indoor porch is also the same – with all the wonderful glass doors. I painted Turkey Hill the color of drabware – the Bergs chose a similar and very pretty color as well – it matches the landscape so nicely.
Here is a view of the home from the far end of the pool. The new pool at my Bedford, New York farm, was inspired by this pool.
Here is the pool from the other end – so serene.
This hornbeam hedge allee is new to me – I love it. It is a nice addition to the garden.
At the end is a simple sitting area under the shade of a beautiful apple tree.
And this is the flower garden. In the center is an armillary sphere – a model of objects in the sky consisting of a spherical framework of rings that represent various features of astronomy.
The garden still has a many pretty flowers and colors – the poppies, and alliums, and irises. When I designed the gardens, I considered structure, texture, and varied plant material. It is so full and gorgeous.
Here is another stunning floral border.
Much of the pool area has not changed – I love all the layering of the foliage – everything has just grown so much over the years.
The iron arches were originally made by my brother. The Bergs kept them and just painted them a different color. I love all the pathways and all the grass – everything is so lovingly maintained.
Here is another beautiful arbor leading into another garden.
Here is the orchard, located beyond the garden and pool on the way to the barn.
This is my first gardening book, “Martha Stewart’s Gardening: Month by Month”, published in 1991. The Bergs keep it on a table in their den.
The Bergs connected the carriage house to the main house. This den is part of that new addition.
Here is the old fireplace in my kitchen – one of seven in the home. I spent so much time stripping this of all the old paint – it was so great to see again. On the left side is a dutch oven, which still works.
This wall of cabinets was part of Turkey Hill when I lived here – my goal was to have enough space for all my entertaining dishes and silverware.
This is a view looking at the back of the house with the expansive porch.
Here I am joined by Casey, and the Bergs’ architect, John Fifield, of Fifield Piaker Elman Architects, PC. John did such a fine job melding the old with the new – and borrowing the exterior details and proportions to form the existing house so it feels like it was always there.
Here I am with landscape architect, Chris Kusske, of Kolkowitz and Kusske. He did a fabulous job with the gardens. Chris said his goal was to make Turkey Hill more usable for the Bergs while respecting the existing garden beds.
Here is Levi, who started working for me in 1982. He continued to work at Turkey Hill after I moved to Bedford, and has kept all these gardens looking so amazing over the years.
As we continued the tour – many visitors arrived. Look closely and you can spot my longtime publicist and dear friend, Susan Magrino.
And, I am sure you all recognize Laura. She started working for me here at Turkey Hill – she loves this property so much. She came for this special tour. On the ledge is my four-month old puppy, Empress Chin – she is growing into a gorgeous Chow Chow.
Here is Levi working in the flower garden.
I showed guests this special tree – can you see why it is so special?
If you look closely, these branches connect from the trunk to a heavier, older limb, and actually keep it from breaking. I have never seen a tree like this.
This is Jose – he helps Levy with all the gardening. Does he look familiar? His brother is Wilmer, who works at my farm.
After touring the gardens, we walked passed the hedges toward the shed and barn.
Here is my old garden shed – it is where I said something very special – do you know what phrase I coined in this structure? If not, listen to my Facebook LIVE show by clicking on the link in the introduction above.
This is Lynn Abramson, chairman of the Board of Positive Directions, a community-based, 501(c)(3) not-for-profit located in Westport, Connecticut. It is the primary provider of alcohol and substance misuse prevention and individual counseling services. She welcomed everyone for attending and spoke a bit about the organization.
About 100-people arrived to hear my garden talk.
It was such a beautiful day – perfect for an outdoor event. It was so nice to see such an enthusiastic and interested crowd.
I spoke about the history of the gardens -what I had done when I lived here, and how it has evolved. I also shared some of my gardening tips with the audience.
This is the chicken coop – there are no chickens in here now, but it still looks the same. When I lived here, the chicken coop was home to about 80 excellent laying hens, and roosters.
And, here are some of my current and former colleagues who joined me at Turkey Hill for the special visit.
Before I left, I stopped for a quick photo with Basil Hero, executive director of Positive Directions, and members of the Positive Directions team.
The last post on this great trip to the UAE includes our visit to the Louvre Abu Dhabi. This blog was originally posted on December 5th, 2017.
If you’re ever in Abu Dhabi, I encourage you to visit the Louvre Abu Dhabi - a most beautiful and interesting art and civilization museum.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi was inaugurated last month as part of a 30-year agreement between the city of Abu Dhabi and the French government. The new museum is an architectural masterpiece by designer, Jean Nouvel, and includes a growing collection of ancient archaeological finds, paintings, and both historical and contemporary installations. Hundreds of pieces represent ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire, ancient Chinese dynasties, the Renaissance, the Impressionists, and the Modernists. My grandchildren, Jude and Truman, loved the Louvre Abu Dhabi and were interested to see every piece of work. In fact, we saw many, many visitors enjoying their visit to this marvelous museum.
We had a wonderful stay in the United Arab Emirates - it's truly a vacation destination for adults and children alike. There is so much history, culture and modern development in the UAE - if you haven't been there, I hope these last three blogs inspire you to add it to your list of places to visit. Enjoy these photos.
Here I am at the newly inaugurated Louvre Abu Dhabi.
The museum is approximately 260,000 square feet with more than 85-thousand square feet of galleries, making it the largest art museum in the Arabian peninsula.
The architect for the building is Jean Nouvel who also designed the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. Nouvel’s dome is inspired by the shade and open lattice of the mashrabiya, a protective Arabic screen.
The web-patterned ceiling allows the sun to filter through the space. The dome weighs about 7500 tons, 200-tons more than the Eiffel Tower.
The art work is spread through 23-galleries, and the inaugural display includes about 600 objects – 300 from French museums, two dozen from Middle Eastern collections and about 230 from the Louvre Abu Dhabi itself. It is an amazing collection of works.
This is the image of a queen or goddess made out of black stone from Egypt in 360 BCE.
Here is a marble basin inscribed with the name of Bonifilius from Northern Italy in 1300. Water basins served as symbols of purification and artistic expression.
This is the Statue of Gudea, prince of Lagash, praying, circa 2120 BC. It is made from diorite, an igneous rock composed of minerals.
This is one piece of a funerary display showing Jewish, Muslim and Christian stones. It is meant to present the history of the world and its major religions.
Here is the sarcophagus of Henuttawy – painted wood, stuccoed and painted cloth from the Egyptian civilization in 950-900 BCE. This area displays interpretations of royalty and divinity of early times.
Here is an Abyssinian Chieftain made from marble, bronze and lapis lazuli from about the year 1870.
Visitors admired this giant engraved stone Cuneiform wall with excerpts from Creation Myth tablets – it is from the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin.
This is called “Walking Man, on a Column,” by Auguste Rodin, cast in 2006 by Fonderie de Coubertin.
Here is a page from the “Blue Qur’an” made of gold on dyed parchment, about the year 900 in North Africa.
Many also admired this “Mari-Cha” lion made of bronze from southern Spain or southern Italy around 1000–1200. This lion is one of the most important works of art from the Mediterranean region. The tube in its mouth and the holes on the body show that the object once made noise.
Another well-loved piece at the museum is “La Belle Ferronnière,” by Leonardo da Vinci.
Here is Giovanni Bellini’s “Madonna and Child” from Venice, Italy between 1480 and 1485. It’s an oil on panel work.
This is the “Fountain of Light” by artist Ai Weiwei.
Did you see this on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48? I loved this installation showing the beauty in the charred bottoms of large pots and pans. It is called “Food for Thought — Al Muallaqat,” by Maha Malluh, an artist working in Saudi Arabia. Blackened by use, these stew pots show the marks of the past and the amazing stories told during mealtimes.
Here is a camel figure showing its two humps. It is called a Bactrian camel – a large, even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of Central Asia. During our safari in Dubai, we rode Dromedary camels with one hump.
This is part of a six-fold screen made with ink, and gold leaf on paper – I loved all the details.
This shows hilye, a type of calligraphy that describes the attributes of the Prophet. It includes ink, various colors and gold on paper laid on cardboard – Kazasker Mustafa Izzet, turkey, Istanbul, 1894-1895.
This painting is titled ‘The Fifer’ by Edouard Manet, 1866.
A team of water engineers designed this watertight basement and group of tidal pools within the galleries to give the illusion of a “museum in the sea”.
Truman loved looking into the tidal pools.
The views outside the museum, and all around Abu Dhabi were so beautiful.
Here I am by the pools – inside and out, these buildings display the great talents of architect Jean Nouvel – it was a wonderful visit to the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Whenever I am on vacation, I always try to pack in as much as possible. Here is another encore blog from our trip to the UAE. This one originally ran on December 4th, 2017.
There is so much to see in the United Arab Emirates!
During our brief stay, we took a one-day excursion to Abu Dhabi, the island capital and the UAE's second most populous city behind Dubai. Abu Dhabi is located on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western coast. While there, we visited the newly-opened Louvre Abu Dhabi museum, dined in the luxurious Emirates Palace, and watched the famous Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit. We also toured the majestic Sheikh Zayed Mosque. It was a wonderfully informative and fun-filled day.
Enjoy more of our photos.
We ate lunch at Mezlai in the Emirates Palace, a luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi, which opened in 2005. The views are so stunning.
This is the plaza outside the Emirates Palace.
And here is Truman running down one of the side hallways of the palace. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my short video of Truman on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48.
Here is Truman running back – he had so much fun. Emirates Palace was designed by Wimberly Allison Tong and Goo. It has 394-residences spread over two wings with an expansive marble floor.
Here I am in a pit at the Yas Marina Circuit, the venue for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke, and is located on Yas Island, about 30-minutes from Abu Dhabi.
We had a virtual pit stop in the pits of the race track where we visited with the mechanics crew of Lewis Hamilton’s Formula One Mercedes car.
Here is the back of the race car being serviced.
It can be very hard to hear what is happening at a race track with all of the horsepower thundering up into the stands. Here is a wall of headsets for those who want to get all the commentary and information on the race.
Here is a view looking down one side of the track.
And here is the other side – it was all very exciting. The Formula One race is the last of the season. This year, the race was won by Valtteri Bottas, with Lewis Hamilton in second and Sebastian Vettel coming in third.
That evening, we also visited the Sheikh Zayed Mosque. Here it is from afar – so amazing.
The Sheikh Zayed Mosque is the largest mosque in the country, and the key place of worship. It was designed by Syrian architect Yousef Abdelky and covers an area of more than 30-acres.
Here is one of the minarets of the mosque. A minaret is a distinctive tall spire with a conical or onion-shaped crown. It has a base, a shaft, a gallery and provides a visual focal point to the structure.
Here is a view looking up into one of the domes.
The mosque is large enough to accommodate more than 40,000 worshippers.
The 96-columns in the main prayer hall are clad with marble and inlaid with mother of pearl, one of the few places where you will see this craftsmanship.
Here’s Truman examining the marble inlays on the walls of the mosque.
Here is a beautiful marble flower on the floor – one of many brightly colored mosaic and white marble low-relief floral displays designed by Kevin Dean, an artist and designer who has also worked for the Natural History Museum in London and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
The carpet in the main prayer hall is considered to be the world’s largest carpet, made by Iran’s Carpet Company and designed by Iranian artist, Ali Khaliqi. It measures 60,570 square feet!
The carpet was made by some 1200 to 1300 carpet knotters. It weighs 35-tons and is predominantly made from wool originating from New Zealand and Iran.
The intricate designs of the carpet are stunning. It took more than two-years to complete.
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque has seven imported chandeliers from Faustig in Munich, Germany that incorporate millions of Swarovski crystals.
Here is a view looking up at the same fixture.
Here is a look up into a another gorgeous light.
The pools along the arcades of the mosque reflect the columns. The unique lighting system was designed by lighting architects Speirs and Major Associates to reflect the phases of the moon.
Here I am in the Sheikh Zayad Mosque with the traditional coverings – such a magnificent place to visit. Tomorrow, I will share photos from our tour through the Louvre Abu Dhabi – you will love it.
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