One of my favourites is Laura Ashley’s Grace a lovely vintage-style range

One of my favourites is Laura Ashley’s Grace, a lovely vintage-style range in soft pink, enhanced with velvet ribbon trims and crocheted lace (£55 for a double duvet cover).Laura Ashley also has a range of lovely bedspreads, including the fringed and beaded Mia, in ethnic, gypsy shades (£100) and Summer Palace in delicate blue silk, with embroidery of birds and flowers with Swarovski crystals (£300). For iron beds, Feather and Black ( www.featherandblack ; 01243 380600), incorporating the Iron Bed Company, sell a four-poster, Florence, for £849. For a more dramatic variation, check out Conran’s Turned Ball Bed, £7,995, made from burned ash and carved into columns of decreasing spheres. Synergy Styles produces a huge range of reproduction French furniture in painted hardwood and wrought iron, including the Bordeaux carved bed, £1,395, and a lovely glazed armoire, £989.Some prices are very reasonable; their Painted Cream range includes a pretty chest of drawers at £245, and a flowery wall-mirror at £85. They also stock a range of modern handmade lights from £275.At the French specialist Judy Greenwood Antiques (020-7736 6037), the selection begins at around £690.For a Moulin Rouge feel, look at the sexy black feather shade lamp at £85, and the red beaded flower lamp, £35, at Synergy Styles ( www.synergystyles.co.uk, 0800 781 2152), which also sells pretty table lamps starting at £20.For the ultimate in evocative scented candles, Diptyque, in London W11, sells irresistible Feu de Bois candles (below) with an authentic log-fire aroma, £29.50 each.BEDS AND FURNITUREA soft, inviting bed is essential, of course – but don’t go for the wholesale Mills and Boon-esque fantasy, otherwise your partner might take fright.For a modern version of the four-poster, try the Conran Shop’s Lim Canopy Bed, £2695 ( www.conran ), a simple aluminium frame from which you could drape your own voluptuous fabrics.

Simple chandeliers in black or red crystal start at around £40 from Heals ( www.heals.co.uk; 020-7636 1666), while Grand Illusions ( www.grandillusions.co.uk; 020 8607 9446) sells a very pretty painted wire Fantasie Chandelier, £36, with matching wall sconces, £21.50.If budget is no problem, Glory Chandeliers ( www.glory-chandeliers ; 020-7633 0696), a family-run business in SE1, can supply antique, handmade Italian chandeliers from £2,000. Need to spice up a tired love-life? Want to impress a new partner? Then it’s time to introduce a touch of romance into your bedroom interior. Some of the things you need to consider include floral motifs, tactile, sensuous textures and soft, seductive lighting. Think ornate French romantic, sluttish Moulin Rouge or irreproachable English country virgin, and shake your boudoir, baby…
LIGHTINGA chandelier will provide an exciting, twinkly light, while wall-lights and table lights cast a softer glow and create suggestive shadows.

The electronic gambling commission has reported a £750,000 profit.Buyers pay 5.5 per cent stamp duty and 4 per cent conge (a property tax) along with 1 per cent document duty for homes worth over £150,000. The house prices and new industries are extremely modern, but almost everything else on the island stopped in the 1960s.The lowdownCost of living: You pay £200,000 for a two-bedroom flat near the cricket pitch or £450,000 for a four-bedroom house in good condition. A large stone house with an acre of land and coastal views will be £625,000. One-offs such as converted churches or forts will be more than £1m.Attractions: Cricketer Ian Botham, commentator John Arlott and Tory grandee Edward du Cann used to live here but in the absence of celebrities, there are two 1938 London Underground carriages that criss-cross the island on an hourly basis.Downside: Alderney’s eccentric property market is hard to call – some properties find buyers within a month but one large home has been on the market for 13 years.How to get there: There are daily direct flights from Southampton, Bournemouth and Brighton, but other locations need connecting flights, usually from Jersey. Travel to or from London takes five hours.USP: This place is Miss Marple meets The Prisoner. There are no parking meters on the main street, the airport lounge has a box of unfinished knitting that locals toy with while waiting for flights, and the police Land Rover’s number plate is 999..