Notes on…
The Surrey hills
I live in the oldest village in England. How come? Well, in a field below the big house, there is…
Goodwood
The South Downs cover 260 sq miles from Hampshire’s Itchen Valley to Eastbourne in East Sussex. Nestled near the southernmost…
Shropshire
I found the land of lost content last week, west of the Clee Hills in the Shropshire Housman wrote about,…
Southwold Sailors’ Reading Room
The Southwold Sailors’ Reading Room is a gorgeous bit of Inside. Like any coastal town, Southwold has an awful lot…
Cathar country
I once spent three months living in the Languedoc, writing my first novel. The highlight was the few days I…
The Britten Theatre
When friends from overseas with the slightest interest in music ask for recommendations about what to see in London, I…
West Middlewick Farm
In springtime in our family, we always have the same old argument: where should we go on our summer holiday…
The doorstep
You have probably been hearing a lot about doorsteps recently. Politicians love to demonstrate how much they care about ordinary,…
Kentish wine
As a wine bore, holidays abroad are a battle with the family to cram in as many vineyard visits as…
Swiss trains
When Theresa May went off to Switzerland on a walking holiday last August, she said it was the ‘peace and…
Scafell Pike
Within a couple of miles of England’s deepest point is its highest. Towering a kilometre above the hidden depths of…
Ruislip Lido
Most mornings, if I’m not too hung-over, I go for a run around Ruislip Lido — a mile there, through…
Marmalade
Marmalade’s had a rough old time of it lately. A recent report in the Telegraph declared it is dying out;…
North Berwick
My home town is better than yours. Don’t take my word for it. This month North Berwick was crowned ‘best…
Cherry blossom
In what I like to think of as The Spectator’s back garden — most people call it St James’s Park…
The Suffolk-Essex border
You’ve already seen a picture of the Essex-Suffolk border. Assuming you’ve seen Constable’s ‘The Haywain’, that is: the Stour (the…
Dublin’s Jewish museum
I love small museums, and the Irish Jewish Museum in Dublin is a little gem, located in the neighbourhood once…
Wetherspoons
Of all the stories I’ve heard about the fallout from Brexit — families divided, work jeopardised, friendships ended — the…
Rodin at 100
The girl who posed for Auguste Rodin’s figure of Eve on the ‘Gates of Hell’ was, the sculptor said, a…
Dogs for children
Henry, our springer spaniel, has died, suddenly and prematurely. With the passing weeks, we are becoming accustomed to the strange…
British placenames
British placenames are so good you can read the map for entertainment rather than navigation. Hardington Mande-ville, Bradford Peverell, Carlton…
Corduroy
Every Christmas, I ask my loved ones for at least two pairs of corduroy trousers. Off with a sigh tramps…
Late-season skiing
There’s trouble brewing in the Alps. Skiers arriving in the mountains over Christmas were greeted, not by snow-clad chalets and…
Not owning a car
On two occasions, sainted members of my family have offered me a car for nothing. Both times, I turned them…
Pub quizzes
For more than 20 years now, I have been trudging up the hill to the Prince of Wales in Highgate…
