The hotelier, curator and writer discusses the creative backdrop – and exceptional dinner party potential – on offer at her Bayswater mews.

Vanessa Branson is sitting at the huge wooden table in her St Petersburgh Mews home, doors flung open, cup of tea in hand, blowing away the cobwebs after a night of “hosting the YBAs”. As backdrops for getting together some of the country’s most era-defining artists go, Vanessa’s place certainly looks the part. Sequestered away on a cobbled street close to Queensway, it’s a gallery in an unconventional sense.

Countless artworks fill the walls and every available surface – an archive from Vanessa’s creative past. “It’s a bit unexpected,” she concedes with a laugh. If the art sets the scene – layer upon layer of paintings, photography and sculpture – the tardis-like footprint provides the breathing space to appreciate it all.

“The brilliant thing about this house is that it’s just so well designed,” Vanessa continues. Originally reconfigured by its previous set designer owners, the warehouse-like ground floor kitchen and dining room can accommodate a crowd. At a squeeze, Vanessa has managed to seat 48 for dinner. “I host a lot of friend’s book launches here because you can stand up on the counter and give speeches,” she says of the vast wooden island centrepiece. “The circulation is good too, with stairs going up to the living room. It’s such an easy space. You come straight in and you’re in this sociable area where you can throw open the doors to the courtyard in the summer.”

As a one-time gallerist and long-time curator, art has been a defining constant in Vanessa’s life. “So much of our lives are circumstance,” she reminisces. It was a summer romance with a history of art student (under the Italian sun, naturally), that charted her course. Milestones followed. First, an eponymous gallery on Notting Hill’s Blenheim Crescent opened at the tender age of 23, which showcased several emerging artists, including William Kentridge’s UK debut. Two decades later, a boutique, art-filled riad, El Fenn, established with partner Howell James on the outskirts of the Marrakech medina. In 2009 came the founding of the Marrakech Biennale.

Currently, a cultural programme of writers’ workshops and residencies on Eilean Shona, a remote Scottish island Vanessa has been “caretaker” of for 30 years, occupy much of her time. A rugged 2,000-acre wilderness, it sits dramatically at the entrance to Loch Moidart where J M Barrie wrote the screenplay for Peter Pan.

She’s “learning on the job”, she affirms – and it’s working. Madonna chose El Fenn for her 60^th birthday party celebrations, no less. Creating spaces people want to spend time in is clearly a strength. So, what’s the secret? “Oh, there’s no formula,” she demurs, with typical understatement. “I don’t have a style, or a period I stick to particularly, I’ve just done a lot of interiors by now. I think you only need one or two really great anchor pieces to pull everything together.

“I don’t really give the colour schemes much thought, either,” she continues. “It’s just big paint colours everywhere.” If the ground floor of St Petersburgh Mews is all poured concrete floors and exposed beams, the living room is a colour wheel of rich jewel tones that cocoon the space in comfort, with a dazzling glass fireplace by Danny Lane that flickers away once lit. Up on the top floor, hidden behind a door that conceals its own staircase, the serene bedroom suite is a study in monochrome, with views out over the rooftops. “This is my private little sanctuary, and I’ve kept it all white. It’s really light with windows on both sides; it’s got good feng shui. You’ve got the old synagogue there and the Greek Orthodox Cathedral,” she points out, surveying the scene. “Then beautiful St Stephen’s Church is over there.”

Days here are soundtracked by the faint peal of the church bells and the rhythmic, occasional rumbling of the Circle line (you can peek down onto the tracks from a viewpoint off the terrace). Tucked away behind its gates, it’s still remarkably quiet though, affirms Vanessa – but with so much on the doorstep.

“The proximity to Queensway is my favourite thing about living in this house,” she says. “When I have my dog here it’s great because Hyde Park is just down the road. Every time I return, it’s fabulous that I can drive up in my car right outside and unload. I can leave the gate open because it’s such a peaceful mews.”

She likes the normalcy and the community that comes with the neighbourhood, too. “I can walk down to the Gate Cinema to catch a 5.30pm screening and be back in time to go out for supper.” Her go-tos include local institution Halepi that’s been serving unfussy Greek cuisine for decades. For breakfast over the papers, there’s The Park overlooking Hyde Park – “they’ve got it absolutely right on the menu. Jeremy King knows exactly what he’s doing”.

For Vanessa, it all comes back to familiarity. Whichever part of the country, or the world, she finds herself in, feeling at home – that kick-of-your-shoes and exhale quality – is essential. Stays at El Fenn are big family affairs, involving all four of her children – including son

Ivo, founder of climate positive vodka brand, Sapling – and grandchildren. Up in Scotland, as well as tending to Eilean Shona’s nature reserve and introducing wild ponies to the wilderness, she plans to stay in all the island’s rental cottages so she “can get a feel for them”.

“I love sharing spaces, and always have,” she smiles. “I just like having bedrooms full. It’s that feeling of having a parallel narrative that’s going on next to yours.” She considers herself a caretaker of Eilean Shona, because “you can’t take it with you”, and the same could be said of St Petersburgh Mews.

“Having others living in a space when you’re not using them, it keeps places alive.”

St Petersburgh Mews is available for short stays from £1,000 per night