Innehållsförteckning för January/February 2025 från Victoria

Dear Friends The magazine you hold in your hands shelters the dreams of many women. Our special section Business of Bliss highlights the paths of eight extraordinary entrepreneurs. Among the professionals in this year’s panel, meet a sewist whose empty nest prompted a rewarding creative endeavor, a pair whose friendship has grown alongside their popular skincare line, and a longtime nurse who shifted her nurturing spirit toward fashion design. Inspiration continues to the very last page, where a daughter proudly introduces us to her hero in poignant Chimes essay, “Mom’s Courageous Heart.” This issue also represents a dream come true for Victoria’s editorial team, as we welcome to our pages The Countess of Carnarvon, who serves in the distinguished role of Lady-in-Residence for 2025. We first met through a historical…

Winter beckons us home. Fewer daylight hours lead to illuminated windowpanes contrasted against the dark sky. Puffs of visible breath and the smell of cold fill our senses. This once-dreaded season has become a favorite thanks to my mother. I used to agonize over the doldrums of shorter days and chilly weather, finding the lack of activities humdrum. Now, I relish it. After complaining to my mother of my winter blues one year, she reminded me that winter is a time forreflection and restoration. It’s a delightfully slow season sandwiched between the bustle of the holidays and the busyness of spring. It’s a time to restore your mind with long conversations over hot cups of tea, your body with a bath and a good book, and your soul with evenings…

THE SWAG WAYNESVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA Perched atop the misty peaks and heathered treetops of the Great Smoky Mountains lies a hospitable hideaway, which was once a potato farm and private residence. The founding couple often opened their mountain escape to guests, later transforming the space to an eighteen–guest room inn, as all who visited fell in love with the sweeping vistas andlog cabin charm. THE CHANLER NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND As if painted by a master artist’s hand, Newport’s famed scenic path Cliff Walk is a sight to behold, with this storied mansion overlooking the water a perfect locale to rejoice in the beauty and still the soul. Formerly a congressman’s abode, The Chanler at Cliff Walk opens to fine-dining restaurants and twenty guest rooms offering ample privacy and old-fashioned luxury.…

Ever since she can recall, Holly Hollon has been immersed in a world of artistry. As the daughter of a graphic designer who valued creativity, her childhood was saturated with crafting and imagination. During her teenage years, the young girl perused magazines in the checkout line of a grocery store, where beautiful designs on a specific cover captured her heart. This seed planted the beginnings of her career, as over the years she fell in love with branding suites. Later, as she entered college, Holly declared archi-tecture as her major. But at a student art show, her passion for typography, calligraphy, and print design reawakened, and she shifted studies to graphic design. After graduation, Holly held several jobs with varying degrees of creative opportunity before launching a part-time freelance business…

My mother was eighty when she wrote her first book, walked her first five-mile race, and made her last quilt. As a child, I remember coming home from school to find my mother cross-legged, sitting on the bed with notebooks and papers scattered in front of her and her thoughts locked inside the pages she had carefully written and rewritten. It wasn’t until noticing the smell of burnt toast and the quiet giggling of my two brothers, little sister, and me that she quickly shoved those thoughts in the bottom drawer, along with the notebooks and papers. Mom was the young mother of four children, and with clothes to wash, meals to prepare, gardens to dig, and questions to answer, there wasn’t much time for pursuing her secret love of…

LADY-IN-RESIDENCE Alongside her husband, the 8th Earl of Carnarvon, The Countess of Carnarvon has cared for and dwelt within the iconic walls of Highclere Castle since 2001. Though readers may be familiar with the estate’s history, which extends to Anglo-Saxon times, the strongest public impression came in 2010 with television series Downton Abbey, a costume drama set in this remarkable Hampshire, England, home. Eager to share the heritage of “the real Downton Abbey,” The Countess of Carnarvon has written books and an extensiveblog highlighting stories of the castle. These unique glimpses into the building—and the five thousand acres that surround it—include both modern anecdotes of the people and animals who work and live there and the rich legacy of those who came before. The esteemed author began her writing career…

An old wooden sign stands on a high trackabove Highclere Castle at a road junctioncalled Three Legged Cross. It says“Emswoth 63 miles” and points along the Wayfarers Walk. This is a prehistoric track that follows the chalk ridgeway along the downs with beautifulviews across fields, parkland and woodlands to the north, and the castle on one side, whilst the flatter landscape to the south leads towards the port of Southampton and the English Channel. This is one of the oldest routeways in southern England, stretching along the downlands, and is well situated from the perspective of bygone travelers. Well-drained and firm underfoot, shaded in part with some protection from rain and wind, the path winds through the higher contours of the landscape, offering long views of any impending danger, whatever…

Visit our website to read this issue’s online stories and to find more of the content you love. Take a closer look at some of our favorite January/February features: Seeds of Contentment While away winter’s cold and quiet days amid the tranquil enjoyment of cultivating the soil, coaxing life to bloom within the sanctuary of an indoor garden. Meet the Entrepreneurs Our 2025 Business of Bliss panelincludes eight impassioned women whose professional paths offer inspiration for success. With Romantic Spirit Turn to Victoria for the sweetestarray of ideas for celebrating Valentine’s Day—bestowing gifts of loving-kindness to family, friends, or your beloved. Sublime Getaways Find welcoming escapes worthy of a New Year’s holiday in our curated list of cozy boutique inns, bed-and-breakfasts, and hotels across the country. We love your ideas!…

“THE BUSINESS OF LIFE IS THE ACQUISITION OF MEMORIES. IN THE END THAT’S ALL THERE IS.”—Mr. Carson, Downton Abbey…

“Embroidery is just magical for me, from start to finish.” VILCY NELSON SPECIALTIES BY V Tampa, Florida Since girlhood, Vilcy Nelson has felt at home seated at the craft table, her imagination flowing freely with possibility. When her mother signed the youthful artist up for sewing classes, she had found her niche. Over the years, as Vilcy started her own family, time dwindled, but her creative spark remained alight, waiting to be roused. As her youngest child was poised to fly the nest for college, the seamstress and her husband were also building a new house that realized her primary request: a room for crafting. Ready to fill the soon-to-be space, Vilcy stopped by a local sewing store and, to her surprise, fell in love with an embroidery machine and…

On blustery winter days, there is nothing better to counter the doldrums than an indoor haven overflowing with early spring floribunda or lush green foliage. Whether purchased from a local gardening center or carefully cultivated by hand, green tendrils stretching skyward carry a reminder that even in the depths of winter, there is growth to treasure, both within our hearts and in the world around us. Tending these shoots breathes new life into our spirits and offers reassurance that balmier times will return. Serious plant enthusiasts may use this season to peruse seed catalogs, prepare garden plans, or even start seedlings. But one need not possess great horticultural skills or a large space to enjoy fostering winter blooms. Almost any location with bright, indirect light can provide an ideal spot…

In 1998, Ari Millner wanted to learn how to dance. Needing a record player to properly practice but lacking the funds to buy one, he acquired some books his school library was planning to discard and set about selling them online. Before long, this venture became a successful pattern for the self-proclaimed “natural archivist,” who progressed from vending antique volumes to prints and much more. Settling into a noteworthy Manhattan neighborhood in 2004, Ari renamed his enterprise Prints Charming Soho, hopeful but unaware that his best days lie ahead. Years later, he was exhibiting at the Nashville Antiques & Garden Show when his collection of hundred-year-old Clayton and Bell stained glass window drawings caught the eye of Jordan Marxer, the former editor of Victoria. “She took the breath right out…