As I pulled up at The Royal Duchy Hotel in the new Audi E-Tron GT Quattro, I was splendidly greeted by the concierge James who showed me to my free electric charging parking space and immediately made me feel at home. He has worked at The Duchy for just under 40 years and is an expert on the hotel and the area. In fact, Mark, the manager and James are genuinely good company and skilled at predicting a guest’s every wish.
When Ducati first released details of the Desert X, I presumed it would be a styling exercise based on an existing platform; Multistrada perhaps. How wrong was I?
I’ve only managed a brief 45-minute ride so far, so this is just my initial thoughts and some technical details.
Why go to all the trouble? By which I mean a Mediterranean summer holiday with spiralling temperatures, lengthy traffic jams and overcrowded flights for the holiday that never really stands a chance.
Colour me surprised as the Polestar 2 is dropped off at my garage. It is actually a good-looking animal. A solid, relatively low SUV come hatchback with sharp, carved haunches. It has a certain presence.
We toured around Surrey to fully appreciate its capabilities, taking in a very fine Gastro pub along the way, the Victoria Oxshott.
The Mercedes EQS 450+ is the first truly luxurious electric car. Mercedes has put everything into this, their new flagship, building the electric platform from scratch rather than adapting an S-Class. Think of this as a fully realised concept car with no compromise. Mercedes laying out their stall for the next few years with a luxury limousine that drives like a hatchback.
If you want to mess about on the water in perfect luxury, with lots of interior space and superior stability, even in choppy seas, then a catamaran is the way to go. Here’s a selection of the best new luxury multihulls from some of the best design studios out there.
Excellence Luxury Villas give us their Top Tips for booking a luxury villa or chateau this holiday season.
Renting a Chateau in France or renting a luxury Villa in Italy is always a challenge, which is why we take all the pressure off and help you to find the best luxury villas for rent anywhere in the world.
Investing in wine and whisky is popular with high net worth, but the barriers to entry are falling as more people seek tangible investments.
Over the last 15 years, wine has offered an average return of 13.6% which makes it one of the most interesting and secure alternative investments available. Of course, you still need to pick wisely with wines from Bordeaux, Burgoyne, California, Italy and Australia performing best.
Whisky is an interesting investment and passion for may high net worth. Delving into the different whiskies and learning the ropes is in itself very pleasurable. Invest in what you know and enjoy and you can't go too far wrong. Plus you won’t be short of friends to drink it with should the market fall. Though alcohol always sells well, particularly if you can afford to wait out any drop in prices.
A rare vintage bottle of Macallan sold for more than £1 million at auction in recent years. The potential if you pick the right brand is quite thrilling.
