Notes on…
South Africa
There are plenty of places to fly to for winter sun, but only one place that offers five-star hotels for…
The Venice Accademia
The Accademia is one of the smallest of the world’s great art galleries, and picture for picture perhaps the most…
The Venice Accademia
The Accademia is one of the smallest of the world’s great art galleries, and picture for picture perhaps the most…
The Clare Valley
It is a century and a half since The Spectator noted the exceptional qualities of South Australia, a colony of…
The Clare Valley
It is a century and a half since The Spectator noted the exceptional qualities of South Australia, a colony of…
Lake Iseo
If you’ve never heard of Lake Iseo, you’re not alone. Nestling shyly between chocolate-box Como and glamorous Garda, the smallest…
Lake Iseo
If you’ve never heard of Lake Iseo, you’re not alone. Nestling shyly between chocolate-box Como and glamorous Garda, the smallest…
Cirencester
Everywhere you look in Cirencester there’s another animal: a cockerel, a hare, a sheep or a skulking lioness. I rather…
Cirencester
Everywhere you look in Cirencester there’s another animal: a cockerel, a hare, a sheep or a skulking lioness. I rather…
Albania
Seferis’s line about his native Greece, ‘Our country is a closed in place, all mountains’, haunted my mind as I…
Albania
Seferis’s line about his native Greece, ‘Our country is a closed in place, all mountains’, haunted my mind as I…
The Grand Tour
The Grand Tour usually culminated with Naples, ragamuffin capital of the Italian south, where Vesuvius offered a visual education in…
The Grand Tour
The Grand Tour usually culminated with Naples, ragamuffin capital of the Italian south, where Vesuvius offered a visual education in…
Secret ski resorts
Skiing holidays have a problem. They’ve lost their sense of adventure. Yes, the first flurries of winter which arrived recently…
Secret ski resorts
Skiing holidays have a problem. They’ve lost their sense of adventure. Yes, the first flurries of winter which arrived recently…
Christmas markets
Why the fuss about German Christmas markets? Surely they’re just schmaltzy shanty towns, full of stuff you’d never dream of…
Christmas markets
Why the fuss about German Christmas markets? Surely they’re just schmaltzy shanty towns, full of stuff you’d never dream of…
The Lake District
Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling is the best thing in the Lake District. I lived near Wigton, just north of the…
The Lake District
Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling is the best thing in the Lake District. I lived near Wigton, just north of the…
Anglesey: la dolce vita in north Wales
We teased our friends by saying that our holiday would be on a far-away island. The Maldives, perhaps? No, Anglesey,…
Anglesey: la dolce vita in north Wales
We teased our friends by saying that our holiday would be on a far-away island. The Maldives, perhaps? No, Anglesey,…
Adventures on the isle that seduced Odysseus
Gozo — Malta’s tiny island neighbour — was once rather a crucial spot in the Mediterranean. The Knights of Malta…
Adventures on the isle that seduced Odysseus
Gozo — Malta’s tiny island neighbour — was once rather a crucial spot in the Mediterranean. The Knights of Malta…
Look beyond ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ in The Hague
What a fate it is to be hung next to the most famous painting in a gallery. To be overlooked,…
Look beyond ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ in The Hague
What a fate it is to be hung next to the most famous painting in a gallery. To be overlooked,…
