The Wind Down With Zara Dawson

Think of your doctor in their favourite bathrobe. Your boss in PJs and fuzzy slippers. Elton John all curled up in bed. The point is – no matter what we do out in the world – we all eventually come home.

Meet Zara and her husband Lex. Their business Golden Ticket revolves around creating homely spaces for high profile actors/musicians/models to wind down in when they’re in the UK. One day they can be getting a client’s cat flown over from the US on a jet and the next, interior designing a house ready for a client and their family to move into.

But how do Zara, Lex and their son Jax like to unwind when they’re not looking after clients? We chat winding down rituals and bedtime routines.

Zara and her son Jax at their home in London

What do you do out in the world?

My husband Lex and I started our company Golden Ticket 10 years ago. We look after high profile actors/musicians/models when they’re over here shooting in the UK. It started out initially as finding them a place to live but we now offer everything from private jets to get them over the pond to hiring them luxury yachts when they fancy a bit of downtime and everything in between!

One day I can be getting a client’s cat flown over from the US on a jet and the next, interior designing a house ready for our client and their family to move into. It’s so varied and no two days are the same.

We also offer the same service in LA & New York so we do tend to have to work round the clock but luckily we love what we do and have a great team who helps to make it run smoothly.

Zara and Lex sleep in Linen in Clay

You’ve recently moved home. What feeling does your new place give you when you walk through your front door?

It really makes me feel happy, uplifted and content. It’s a beautiful double fronted Edwardian house with a marble fireplace in almost every room and lots of original details still in place including the beautifully detailed coving and stained glass front door.

We fell in love with it before it was even on the market. We drove by one evening and said ‘now, that’s our dream home’. Fast forward a few weeks and it came on the market and felt like it was meant to be.

Describe your interior style.

I absolutely love incorporating old and new - modern with vintage pieces thrown in.

We are working with an interior designer on our home renovation as we just haven’t got as much time as we’d like to put into it. I can’t wait to start trawling the antique fairs and reclamation yards to find those one off pieces.

Where in your home are we most likely to find you reading, drinking coffee and taking a moment to yourself?

Either on the sofa in the kitchen or in my hammock in the garden (which is probably my best ever purchase!)

Our old house had quite a small kitchen whereas our kitchen in our new house is large with bi-fold doors that open onto the garden. It really is the heart of the house and where I feel happiest to just take 5 with a coffee and a book.

How do you like to relax as a family?

Nothing relaxes us more than getting to the beach. A few times a week in the summer, we’ll hop in the car after Jax has finished school and head down to Whitstable or Tankerton and have dinner on the beach.

It means Jax has a slightly later bedtime but I’ll settle for that in return for being able to grab these special little moments as a family.

Does your family have a bedtime routine and what does it look like?

From a few months old, we’ve always had Jax’s routine as bath, story and bed and it’s the routine he’s still in now, although he reads us a story or two now instead of the other way round!

He’s always been a great sleeper and I think this routine has helped settle him. Once he’s asleep, Lex and I will try and watch something together. Lex generally then starts making calls to LA around 9pm for an hour or two whilst I snuggle down to an early night!

Do you manage to steal the occasional lie in and how do you like to spend that extra time in bed?

Jax doesn’t wake until nearly 8am on a weekend so I’ll take that as a lie in! I’m an early to bed, early to rise type person whereas Lex is the opposite so 9am is probably the latest you’ll ever find us all in bed!

Describe your perfect weekend.

Saturday, Lex would take Jax out on a bike ride whilst I spend a bit of time around the house alone which I love! It always feels like such a treat.

We’d then have brunch (Lex makes a mean potato rosti with poached eggs and avocado) and then we’d head into Greenwich to get a coffee and have a walk around the park before heading home.

The afternoon would be spent playing out in the garden when our great British weather allows!

Sunday, we’d head out for brunch with friends in Blackheath before heading home and up into the loft room where we’d watch a Disney movie on the projector whist snuggled under a duvet… Perfect.

What products help you to really wind down well?

I love the Balance Me Beauty Sleep CBD Concentrate which I roll on my wrists every night before bed and the Susanne Kaufman Herbal Whey bath powder

What are your favourite items in your home and why?

Lots of the vintage pieces. I found an old ‘Ice Cream’ sign in an eclectic shop on the Jurassic Coast last year which had been taken from a fair in the 70’s. It’s on a piece of battered wood and is painted with pastel pinks and greens and I adore it.

I also brought lots of pieces back from California in 2019 - we visited the most amazing antiques barn out there, in the middle of nowhere, and I ended up buying lots of pieces for Jax’s room including a gorgeous worn leather baseball glove from 1962 and some old American sports pennants.

Quickfire Questions:

Are you Relaxed, Classic, Linen or Luxe?

Linen

What three things do you do before you go to bed?

Double cleanse with Nini Organics cleansers, pop on my CBD roller on my wrists and kiss Jax goodnight

What’s your trick for going to sleep?

I have to fall asleep whilst watching something - normally Real Housewives of Beverly Hills!

My sheets make me feel…

Like I’m sleeping in a cloud

The song I fall asleep to is…

Anything from the Fall To Grace album by Paloma Faith

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Zara sleeps in Linen in Clay. Get the look here.

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Zara’s Lie In List

Read:

An interiors magazine to get some inspiration

Watch:

My all time favourite movie is Stand By Me. It takes me straight back to my teens whenever I put it on!

Listen:

I love podcasts - Finding The Funny, My Therapist Ghosted Me, Alan Carr’s Life’s a Beach & Table Manners are my go to at the moment.

Check out:

@carolynclarejewellery for the most beautiful jewellery - I wear my bracelets from her every day without fail
@fromtheposthouse - a subscription box full of the coolest homeware pieces
@jojoglow recyclable cleansing pads. Eco friendly and just gorgeous.
@yvonneellen for the most stunning home and giftware. If you head to her Instagram page you can watch the entire design process from her initial sketches to the finished pieces.