OTHER ARTY THINGS TO DO IN THE PALM BEACHES ISLAND LIVING TOURS

Leslie Diver served on Palm Beach’s Architectural Review Commission and Landmarks Preservation Commission for 10 years and now leads tours of the town. Choose from several itineraries, focusing on different aspects of Palm Beach, from architecture and history to antiques and gardens. There’s the option of signing up to a walking, cycling or driving tour. Leslie is as frighteningly knowledgeable about the area’s famed architects as she is about the town’s celebrity-residents.

islandlivingpb.wixsite. com/islandlivingtours Italy and have been to the rest of Europe, from London to Paris. But after seeing everything and everywhere, Florida, where I first got my big break, feels like home.”

Jenny Kiker, another Arts Warehouse resident, agreed. “I’m from Charlotte, North Carolina, and went to art school in Savannah, Georgia. I’ve been living in the Palm Beaches for six years. I love Florida: the plants, trees, the greenery, the beautiful weather, which all inform my work. I’m happy to be living in a creative beach town.”

Palm Beaches’ 47-mile (75km) shoreline, also known as Florida’s Gold Coast, is home to some of America’s best beaches, so it seemed only fitting to end my trip by the sea. I headed to Breakers (thebreakers.com) in Palm Beach, a hotel close to the water and right at “the breakers”, where waves splashed and sprayed. Opened in 1896 by the ubiquitous Flagler, the hotel was built to accommodate travellers on the magnate’s Florida East Coast Railway, a railroad that first allowed people to travel through the Palm Beaches and along the Atlantic coast.

I sat down at the hotel’s Seafood Bar with a front-row seat to views of the sea and waves crashing against the jetties, with coconut palms along the promenade framing the picture. The sun streamed through the window. “This is wonderful,” my friend sitting next to me said. I had to agree.

IN AND OUTThe Flagler Museum, above; and the striking Arts Warehouse, left