Catch my breath

When we wandered into the room booked for our meeting in West Dean last week, I was astounded to see the "the labio-morphic Mae West sofa Dali and James created in 1938 in a suggestively shiny version of Schiaparelli's 'shocking' pink" was in residence flanked by their champagne lamps. It was wonderful too see them outside a curated exhibition.

I wish now that I'd caught the V&A' s "Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design" last year.

I must find out more about the estate's Monkton House for which "Dali advised that one room should be designed to pulsate 'like the stomach of a sick dog".