Notes on…
The perfect malt
It was poker night. Five yuppies crammed round a table in a room at the back of a south London…
Seville
On our second night in Seville we got lost. We’d been to a flamenco concert, my first, a little way…
The Alps, with children
It’s a terrible moment, the realisation that you’ve spawned a monster. Parenthood, it becomes clear, has wiped stylish holidays off…
Gloucestershire
The heat was still sweltering as we headed off at dusk towards the hide to watch wildlife with our enthusiastic…
Gleneagles
Pity the folk at Gleneagles. They have the misfortune to host the Ryder Cup this year. Nothing, surely, can surpass…
Lucerne
When Queen Victoria came here for her summer holidays, Lucerne was already a bustling tourist destination. Today it’s just as…
Prague
Prague, ‘Golden Prague’, is rich in music, architecture, glassware, pilsner and natural beauty. It is one of those places where…
Killarney
Here’s a question for a Guinness-sponsored pub quiz: who or what is a ‘jarvie’? The answer is the gypsy driver…
Chinese porcelain
Next time you’re in a shop that sells Chinese blue and white porcelain, pick up a piece and turn it…
Radøy
The Immigrant Church at Sletta emigrated from North Dakota 18 years ago. Built on the prairie by Norwegian settlers in…
London Hotels
The test of a truly great city is reinvention. Does it have the courage to change? London holds a PhD…
Salzburg
Salzburg is so ridiculously pretty, it’s sometimes hard to take it seriously. Standing on the ramparts of its knights-in-armour castle,…
Wexford
I might have had chance to visit the famed Wexford Opera Festival when I was walking out with Bernard Levin…
A stay at the spa
I know James Bond is partial to strutting around not-quite-enveloped in a dressing gown, but whether your robe is monogrammed…
Goodwood Festival of Speed
You smelt them, it was said of the Mongol hordes, before you heard them, and by the time you heard…
Art fairs
In 1967, two Cologne-based gallerists came up with the Cologne Art Market — a trade fair where German galleries could…
The Himalayas
As the aircraft descends into the high altitude military airport at Leh, the first glimpse of the Himalayan Kingdom of…
The Alpes-Maritimes
My mother always said she wanted to ‘die tidy’. But I never imagined she would file everything away quite so…
Eastern Germany
Ever since the Berlin Wall came down, I’ve been pottering around eastern Germany, where my father’s family came from, and…
Athens
Where in the developed world can you ride a moped, minus helmet, at 2 a.m. under the noses of weary…
Book clubs
Everyone knows somebody who belongs to a book club. From informal gatherings of bookish friends in living rooms and cafés…
Sicily
Western Sicily has been a crucible of aspiration and grandeur: the human condition at its most exalted: unsurpassable art and…
Madrid
I got Madrid utterly wrong for quite a long time. It’s a lovely city to walk in, and I thought…
Notes on… Wallpaper
Every night, while my husband reads by screen-light, my mind runs like an invisible rat two miles north to the…
Paris
No city really multitasks like Paris, shorthand for romance, culture, fashion, gastronomy and the kind of street life you find…
