W
hen Zimbabwean-born couple Lauren and
Bob Ward decided to swap their country life in
peaceful South Lantau for Hong Kong Island,
it was in pursuit of a life a little closer to urban
amenities for their three children, Andy, five, Katie, three,
and Daniel, 18 months. Yet, finding an apartment in a quiet,
peaceful location was still a priority.
“Our friends showed us this apartment with the little garden
and all the greenery. We knew we’d found the place. We love
being close to the Pok Fu Lam Reservoir; it’s great for walking up
to the Peak and accessing some beautiful trails,” Lauren says.
The apartment’s style feels old-colonial, a reminder of
Bob and Lauren’s childhoods spent growing up in Zimbabwe.
“We enjoyed lovely old homes with high ceilings and parquet
flooring. This old apartment reminds us a little of home,” says
Lauren. A self-confessed lover of an old-fashioned look –
“modern” and “minimalist” are not in her style vocabulary
– each piece has a history, its own story to tell. There’s a
Moroccan folding tea table with a brass tray that belonged
to Lauren’s grandparents – who bought it on their honeymoon
in Kenya just weeks before her grandfather was called up for
WWII. Even a hot pink, shabby chic chair sits and waits rather
