The Long Weekend review: Thyme, Gloucestershire December 14, 2015 THE WEEKEND: Nestled deep in the Cotswolds countryside, former surgeon Caryn Hibbert has spent the last 12 years gradually buying up the 14th Southrop Manor and surrounding farm buildings to create an idyllic home away from home – first for her family and then for us, the lucky public. The result is Thyme hotel with [...]
On safari in Zimbabwe and Botswana November 27, 2015 It took me a long time to feel like I was in Zimbabwe. I had braced myself for a very different experience than the one I was having. If I’m honest, I was expecting to have to deal with nasty officials, hawkers, and dodgy taxi drivers. But instead I was standing next to Victoria Falls [...]
The Long Weekend: Cwmain Cottage, North Wales November 6, 2015 The weekend: It’s your choice whether you prefer a dreamy wander around North Wales’ romantic countryside, or a punishing hike up some of the UK’s most challenging mountains. The rest of this weekend will be spent recharging by a crackling log fire and getting to grips with the local beers in a nearby pub. WHERE? [...]
Play your own Game of Thrones in Northern Ireland November 6, 2015 Thronies, as they call themselves, have known for an age that the city of Belfast, and Northern Ireland in general, is the place to spot Game of Thrones film locations. Now even casual viewers (and readers) are following in the footsteps of the mythological characters, with popularity soaring for these epic, windswept landscapes. Based on [...]
The Long Weekend: Woburn, Bedfordshire November 2, 2015 Our new series on the perfect places in the UK to take a long, relaxing weekend break. First up, a foodie trip to Paris house in nearby Woburn. THE PITCH: A molecular gastronomy masterclass by a Michelin-starred chef surrounded by some of the most beautiful countryside in the UK. You will rustle up a feast before [...]
Azerbaijan’s majestic scenery is refreshingly untouched by global tourism October 19, 2015 ‘Azerbaijan border – Good luck,” read the sign at the Georgian frontier town. I gulped, hoisted my backpack and reached for my passport. Ominous cautions from its neighbours notwithstanding, Azerbaijan is trying to court people like me. It’s not, on the face of it, an easy sell. Human Rights Watch recently noted “Azerbaijan’s government has [...]
Cultures collide on the Jersey shore: The enduring UK weekend getaway October 9, 2015 I got into a taxi in Jersey and asked the driver to take me to The Horizon hotel. “You what?” he said. The Horizon hotel? “Don’t you mean l’oreezon, love?” he replied, breaking into a French patois, mid-sentence. It was then I realised I wasn’t in Blighty anymore. Things are different here; you can’t just [...]
Catch some rays in Antigua’s Mercers Creek Bay September 25, 2015 Annabelle Williams swims with stingrays in northern Antigua’s Mercers Creek Bay With their ethereal, otherworldly faces, stingrays could be from another planet. But here I am, standing waist deep in water, surrounded by dozens of these gray, pancake-like fish. In Mercers Creek Bay, northern Antigua, a breed of stingray known as the Southern [...]
Gotta be in it to wine it: 26 miles, 20 wine tastings, 1 Medoc Marathon September 21, 2015 A burly man is trying to force me to eat an oyster. Beside me, a group of fancy dress Caesars are jostling with a herd of pantomime Norwegian cows (they have udders on their heads, for some reason). They are all drinking glasses of Sauvignon Blanc. I’ve just run 24 miles, I still have another [...]
Cruising through the Moroccan Atlas Mountains in a 4×4 September 11, 2015 The ancient Greeks believed that Atlas was the primordial Titan who held up the sky. The mountain range that takes his name separates the Sahara desert from the Atlantic Ocean; Marrakesh, the cultural and spiritual capital of Morocco, rests in its shadow. This would be my base before I set off in a 4×4 to [...]