Travel

Promenading along the waterfront in a Mediterranean resort is one of the joys of life, that special light, the dreamy atmosphere, the cafés and other distractions all make for an emotive and memorable experience.
Seeking the real style of promenading

At any time of year Ljubljana is a delight. We have just added another time to visit: early December for the St. Nicolas celebrations which lift the city into another dimension. The mix between a religious festival and commercial interests is so much better than in the UK, it is the equal of Antwerp which we had assumed was way ahead of anything we had experienced previously.

Saas Fee obviously gets into the blood as successive generations come to ski in this low-key and very relaxed resort.  The large village is car-free and whilst there are plenty of shops, bars and restaurants, they are not adorned with the intrusive signage seen all too frequently these days.   

Gravetye Manor is a beautiful country house hotel with 17 bedrooms and suites, nestled in the most glorious gardens. The gardens at Gravetye, created by William Robinson who lived there from 1884 until his death in 1935, are really rather special, and their history and that of the Elizabethan Manor is fascinating to discover during your stay.

I landed at a small regional airport and was then whisked across a beautiful, well-manicured rural landscape dotted with small communities.   We skirted a low mountain passing small farms on the well-kept roads; the skies were clear as there is no heavy industry.  There was obviously a healthy, expanding economy here together with a surprising number of substantial houses, whilst a renewal programme of older local authority houses was widespread despite looking really quite serviceable.  Eventually we arrived at a spruce long, low building where arguably the best and most innovative watchma

Scuba Diving is one of the most fascinating, thrilling, adventurous and exploratory sports that anyone can do. You get to kit up like an aquanaut with high tech gear, generally in gorgeous and sunny locations and explore a brave and wondrous three dimensional new world that is so many times larger than our two dimensional home. Ian Fleming fell in love with free diving and Scuba Diving in Jamaica and some of the greatest scenes he wrote took place in the sea, under the sea or even simply walking out of the sea.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget what’s sitting on your doorstep. OK, so maybe we all remember the nearest good wine shop, that fabulous local bar, and the location of great local restaurants. But that's not quite the point. 

True perfection is an extremely rare quality particularly in an object.  I have come across it only once; a Ming Dynasty vase, one of a pair; they were made for the Imperial Palace, the owner bizarrely allowing me to handle it; magic.  I checked out the British Museum’s world class collection and nothing matched the purity and appeal of those Ming vases.   Near perfection which I assume takes into account an element of taste is also very rare; as a pure design as opposed to just a car is the Koenigsegg, the integrity of the design and the craftsmanship is sublime as is its performance.   Ro

We could have been forgiven for thinking that we had stumbled upon a film set as we emerged from the wooded lane and crossed the old stone bridge under which a tinkling brook – yes it did tinkle – flowed.  A lady dressed in an overall added to the scene as she waved and smiled as we passed.  The over-used word ‘quintessential’ is certainly justified here as it has picture perfect historic buildings of an English village with its cricket pitch set along the tranquil River Windrush complete with neatly mown verges and roses in full bloom.

Having been an avid winter sports enthusiast since I was old enough to stand upright without assistance, Austria has long been on my radar during the colder months. And there’s no better destination in the country than Kitzbuhel, the Alpine enclave renowned for hosting the Hahnenkamm.