Travel

“Why wouldst thou leave calm Hartwell’s green abode...Apician table and Horatian Ode?”
Lord Byron referring to Louis XVIII’s departure from Hartwell House.
Owned by the National Trust, Hartwell House is an exceptional opportunity to stay in a magnificent and eccentrically decorated English stately home in Buckinghamshire. Set in 90 acres of verdantly landscaped garden, just 40 miles from London, it personifies a style and character unique to Jacobean (and Georgian) country houses.

If Imagination had a home, Iceland would be it.

Maybe the long, rather forgettable name of Bad Kleinkirchheim puts people off visiting which surely contributes to this resort being quieter than you would expect for a village in an extremely picturesque valley. The locals simply call it ‘BKK’. The village is also long as it follows the wide valley bottom but, along the way, it has more attractions than most resorts that make it a year-round holiday destination.

I was determined to immerse myself in Japanese modernity.
I didn’t sadly get to visit the gadgets and gimmicks of Akihabara, famous for its many electronics shops but I went instead to Takeshita Street in Harajuku. Here young girls, dressed up as rebel schoolgirls with their ties at half-mast, dream of being snapped up as models. Both kitsch and cute as they acted out their fantasy of perfection for the Instagram age.

Christmas and New  Year are all about tradition from the religious aspects leading through to two occasions when memorable dinners are de rigueur.  For these festivities, you can justify exploring beyond the normal choices. For me, the best wines are those fresh discoveries; they add new, pleasurable and exciting experiences to the dinners.

Interview With Jeff Hadeed Managing Partner South Point Hotel Antigua.
South Point is a privately owned all suite boutique hotel that enjoys an exclusive waterfront location next to Antigua Yacht Club in the heart of English Harbour in Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage site.  

Follow the Swiss; they know the best places to stay for a holiday and they do not have to go far; within sight of Mont Blanc is Conge in Italy’s Aosta Valley.   They jointly account for the most visitors to this idyllic village of some 1,500 inhabitants.   
Conge is just over 1,500 metres above sea level on a plateau at the confluence of four valleys.  From our second hotel’s suite we could steal a glimpse of the snow covered summit of Mont Blanc between the mountains and from the other window; we had an uninterrupted view across the National Park to the Paradis glacier.  

The pace of everyday life is such that a holiday without any pressures in idyllic, uncrowded countryside does not always sustain its promise.  Luxury and total relaxation have to be essential ingredients whilst relative isolation and lack of passing interest can soon lose its appeal.  However, adding the ingredients of the home of some of the world’s best wine – Burgundy and the most relaxing, eco-friendly and luxurious means of travel – Hotel/Barge through unspoilt countryside is an unbeatable combination.  
 

I was fortunate enough to be asked to join a group trekking in Nepal for nearly a month in May. I was there to try to photograph the wonderful landscapes, the mountains, the flora and fauna, also the people and rural life. The others in the group were Laura Owens (WPA-World Pheasant Association) council member from Fauna and Flora International, with a friend, Suzanne Martin, and Louisa Lewis, an artist.

It wouldn’t be at all difficult to think of 360 reasons why staying at 3Sixty Hotel in Nafplio would be one of the best ideas you’ve had all year. A list as glorious as a never-ending gelato menu – and equally as scrumptious. But life is enough of a list as it is (albeit, for me at least, a ‘to do’ one), so instead let’s take a leap into the Hellenic microcosm of Nafplio, home to the Neoklasiki Hotel Group, and, quite frankly, home to the friendliest Greeks I’ve ever met.