I wasn't in any hurry to get from Edinburgh to Kelso. The drive through the Scottish Borders is one of those routes that's worth taking your time over, with quiet roads, rolling countryside and villages that tempt you to stop more often than you'd planned. It also seemed the ideal opportunity to get to know the new Mazda CX-5.

The car I was driving was fuelled by sustainable fuel from Sustain, produced by recycling atmospheric CO₂. It's part of Mazda's belief that there isn't a single answer to reducing emissions and that different technologies will all have a role to play.

There is a very particular kind of family occasion that sees my wife Emily heading to Cornwall in shorts and a bikini, entirely sensibly, while I sit beside her in a white suit, sweating gently in what turned out to be a genuinely sweltering 35 degrees. The occasion demanded it.

There is a particular kind of English shame that comes from arriving at a country pub in something the size of a small yacht, only to spend ten minutes reversing it into a space clearly designed for a Fiat Panda and a bicycle. I know this shame intimately. I have worn it like a poorly fitted dinner jacket. So when the keys to the Lexus LBX landed on my desk, my first reaction was not excitement about badge prestige or hybrid credentials. It was relief. Here, finally, was a Lexus that might fit into my life rather than requiring me to reorganise the entire village.

There is a moment, somewhere between your third glass of Grenache poured on the banks of the Columbia River and a Basque-inspired Garnacha raised above Walla Walla's rolling hills, when Washington State stops surprising you — and starts making complete sense. This is a wine region that actively refuses to be defined by a single grape, a single style, or a single landscape. Over seven extraordinary days, I discovered that this refusal is not a weakness. It is Washington's greatest strength.

There is a particular difficulty in ending a successful story. Do too little and the finale feels like a cynical exercise in badges and scarcity. Do too much and the qualities that made the original so compelling can disappear beneath the additions.

Early one bright and sunny morning in May, we packed up the bike and headed east. Our bike for this journey was the 2026 Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 ST. Born from the sun-baked asphalt of the American West Coast, the Pan America ST represents a fascinating paradox: the seamless intersection of unyielding Milwaukee iron and genuine apex-hunting intent.

Ducks waddled passed the sash window, rabbits hopped across the lawn, whilst bees and butterflies traded places on the heads of flowering plants. In the far distance the dramatic Great Glen High Route, climbed steeply through ancient forests to open moorland, beckoning us towards them.

In this issue, I explore a collection of drinks that celebrates both deep rooted tradition and innovation. We begin in Bordeaux and Rioja, where regional classics are being thoughtfully reimagined for contemporary palates, before traveling to the storm swept coast of Galicia for an early harvest Albariño that captures the very essence of the region. For the spirits lover, I look at Japanese blending philosophy and a bold Scottish malt.

Arrival in Poreč: Bentleys, Marble and a Very Good First Impression

There is a particular moment on any holiday when you know, with total certainty, that you are going to be fine. Mine came approximately eleven seconds after arriving at the Pical Resort, Valamar Collection in Poreč, when I clocked a Bentley Continental GT, a Ferrari and a Lamborghini Urus parked outside the entrance like a pair of expensive bookends. This, I thought, is no ordinary family resort. Quelle surprise.