VAL Charrington's hats may start life sketched out on the table in her kitchen but they are destined for much grander surroundings.

These are beautiful creations for parading at Ascot and weddings.

These are hats to make your eyes shine under impossibly large brims, to make you stand up straighter to make sure an elegant line receives its full attention, to make you feel delicious and attractive under a froth of sequins and feathers and gorgeously dyed flowers.

These are hats which are an art form.

Val Charrington's background is as a singer in television and cabaret so she has an unerring eye for theatrical detail and colour. Anyway, she admits to always 'having loved hats.'

In fact, now that hats have taken over from the cabaret and session singing engagements and a second life as the owner of the unusual bed and breakfast and restaurant business at the redundant Horsebridge Station, she wishes she had become a hat maker years ago.

"I just love it so much," she says.

With her daughters, hats by Val make an impact at the family's regular annual appearance at Ascot. You can always tell them by their style and the word Valeria on the inside brim.

As with so many with an interesting hobby, she went back to school for an introductory course, in this case millinery, and promptly found herself on an intensive two-year BTec course at Kensington and Chelsea College.

Now her world is built around feathers and flowers and diamant trimmings. Every hat is individually designed and individually made and many of the materials individually dyed over and over again for just the correct subtle colour in the Horsebridge Station kitchen.

Valeria Hats are at Peter Jones and in the Chelsea Collections in Fulham. They are also for hire.