Best Hotels

Sometimes you wonder why on earth a hotel chose its name. Or what they were inspired by. Or who thought of it in the first place. And this is exactly what I put to the manager of Parenthèse Concept Room – a gem of a secret hideaway in the divinely terracotta city of Toulouse. “Parenthèses is the French word for brackets,” explains Jean-François. The perfect name for this boutique apartment, so it would seem. “It’s a secret place where time is suspended,” he told me. “When you stay here it’s as though you put your life in brackets, you put everything else on hold.

Set in the province of Salzburgerland are a number of wonderful tranquil lakes so pure that the water is drinkable. I came to Fuschl and her lake called Fuschlsee. From its different angles I sensed the lake’s different character and characters. At night the very few lights emphasised just how underpopulated the shoreline is.

Pulling out on to a main Surrey road in the Ferrari 488 Spider could not be easier as everyone spots the car from a mile away and lets you out immediately. It’s like having a special pass that says you never have to wait at a giveway. The Ferrari is pretty in matt opaque white and people just enjoy seeing it curve around the corner and swiftly accelerate away.

L’Hotel in the Rue des Beaux Arts on the left bank in Paris is utterly exceptional, the perfect bijou, boutique hotel. We pulled up in the opaque white Ferrari 488 convertible right outside the door, popped the front trunk and handed our bags over to the concierge. The entrance is discreet and easily missed, but once inside there is an impressive hall that extends past the front desk, though the bar, into the restaurant and ends in the exterior garden with its wonderful scalloped fountain.

The Victoria Palace Hotel is just off the Boulevard Montparnasse, behind the FNAC in the Rue Blaise-Desgoffe. It is an ideal location and laid back pied a terre close to the Jardins de Luxembourg, the Cartier Modern Art Museum and Odeon with all its fabulous restaurants and bars. It has a terrific parking space, which is a huge plus when you arrive in a Ferrari 488 Spider. The parking is at ground level next to the hotel and there is plenty of room.

Great hotel, but the star of the show is the chef Paul Evans.  You will surely hear much more of him in the future.  Paul was brought in to lift the cuisine to the peak of the Eden Hotel Collection’s trophy hotel; Mallory Court, nearby Leamington Spa.  Our dinner was outstanding, it was both innovative but without gimmicks and very accomplished with balances of flavours working in harmony.  In talking with Paul, he said there is even more to come as he settles into his relatively new role suggesting a return visit next year, if not sooner as his team in the kitchen is still evolving their s

A quick glance at my Formex watch confirms it's 8.15 in the morning as I approach the Beaumont Hotel in Mayfair, London. Six new Bentley Continental GT's shimmer in the morning sun lined up in a perfect row on the pavement. It's going to be a pretty cool two days driving these over the Cotswolds on this extraordinary Bentley gastronomic luxury tour.

Gweedore. Just take a moment to roll that word around your tongue. It’s a word worthy of folk-tales and enchanted forests – mystical, J.K.Rowling territory. A place, and a setting, worthy of Gweedore Court Hotel – or, as it’s also known, An Chúirt (you’ll have to ask someone else for the correct pronunciation I’m afraid!). A hotel as satisfying as the comfiest duvet on a crisp winter’s day, or that first summer sip of chilled-to-perfection Chablis.

The view from every window endorsed the fact that this was truly a ‘country house hotel’ set in spacious grounds surrounded by farmland.  Sipping pre-dinner cocktails on the sunny west facing terrace offered a timeless experience with the garden seamlessly flowing into the field with sheep quietly grazing, a couple of cock pheasants proudly strutting around, each asserting to be the most impressive and a lonely goose .  There was no fence to interrupt this idyllic scene as the ‘must have’ for grand houses since the 17th century was the ha-ha, that vista could have been any time in the last

The service received on the largest of yachts is unequalled; your every need and wish is anticipated but many yacht owners now demand a flunky service that does not allow for individuals to show any character.  Combining attentive service with personality without intrusion is very rare ashore; two examples are the Royal Crescent Hotel in Bath and the Tulchan Estate.  We have just enjoyed a stay on the estate which is on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park a picturesque hour’s drive south of Inverness.