Kelly Hoppen on the art of a supremely stylish trip to Antwerp

The interior designer strolls the Belgian cobbles in search of incredible vintage furniture, chic shops and buzzing galleries

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Where is your favourite destination and why?

Antwerp. I’d been to Brussels last year to buy vintage furniture, and we did the same this year. That was a wet and very dreary day, but we traipsed around and we bought a load of pieces for the studio because we're doing a revamp. We decided we'd drive on to Antwerp because it’s somewhere I've wanted to go for a zillion years and it didn’t disappoint at all. Belgium is very well known for its exceptional vintage furniture scene and Antwerp’s interior dealers are just as unmissable as those in Brussels. It has some incredible specialised dealers, offering an amazing mix of mid-century modern, Art Deco and antique pieces. I was like a child in a candy store, completely in my element!

When was the last time you were there, and who were you with?

Last year with Lucy and Sam, my lead designers. I’m always trying to source new pieces and obviously everybody goes to Paris, Milan, all of those places. I always try to be the first to go to somewhere new.

Where do you like to stay there?

We stayed at a really beautiful hotel called Botanic Sanctuary, which was once a monastery. It has the old stonework, the wooden beams and the old chapel, When I was in my bedroom looking out, you could see this incredible pool in a glass house and it was lit up at night. My room was huge and it felt like you were in a barn in the Cotswolds, but very Antwerp, with lots of linens. It had the best breakfast I've had in a hotel in years. It was extraordinary actually. We kept getting up for more and more and more.

What was your favourite meal there?