Château les Oliviers de Salettes, Drôme This turreted mansion used to be part of a larger château surrounded by vineyards. Today its grounds are given over to parkland and lavender fields. The 13 double rooms and nine suites all have glorious rural views over one of France’s most unsung regions. …
Read More »The romance of Paris was lost on me – until Mark Rothko lured me back
Joy is the city that surprises you – that was my verdict as I wrapped up a recent long weekend in Paris. More than a decade had passed since I’d first visited the French capital, and I can recall very little from that two-day sojourn, just scattered memories of intimidatingly …
Read More »From surfing in Porto to Ljubljana’s fairytale architecture: readers’ favourite European city breaks
Inside a mirrored ark, Rotterdam A museum store – but not as you know it… The minute you spot the enormous mirrored ark that is Rotterdam’s Depot, you know you’re in for something extraordinary. Open to the public, its Escher-like staircases are designed to encourage visitors to get lost; to …
Read More »100 years of Winter Olympic history: why Chamonix is still king of the slopes
On a chilly winter’s day, exactly 100 years ago, four smartly dressed men boarded a train in Edinburgh. Willie Jackson and his son Laurence were both farmers, dapper Thomas Murray bred sheep and cattle, and portly Robin Welsh was a member of Edinburgh city council. At 54, he was a …
Read More »On the trail of a Celtic goddess: the Irish town celebrating St Brigid
“She really believed that if she brewed a lake of beer, it would solve the problems of the world …” When publican and brewer Judith Boyle, whose family has been in pubs and beer for five generations, utters these words in her namesake bar in the commuter town of Kildare …
Read More »Share details of a slow travel break – you could win a holiday voucher
It’s hard to imagine a time when life was generally lived at 3mph – walking pace and the average speed of a horse-drawn boat. When the railways were being built, some critics warned that that the human body was incapable of withstanding speeds of 30mph. Fast forward – literally – …
Read More »On the whisky trail: a weekend of wee drams in Moray Speyside, Scotland
The world outside my sleeper-train compartment was black and white: trees with feather-like branches silhouetted against snowy fields; the grey stretch of the A9 and then the sleek steel of a river; white candy-floss clouds against an ever paler sky. Whisky map By the time I was in my hire …
Read More »A musical tour of Berlin: from Wagner’s epic opera to techno raves
Music soundtracks our travels, kills time and distracts, entertainingly. In Berlin, which has more than 300 train stations and where you can see everything panoramically from the overhead S-Bahn, a well-loaded smartphone or MP3 player turns a journey into a film with a score. I have more records related to …
Read More »Ale and hearty: 10 of the best UK country pubs for a winter weekend
Tarr Farm Inn, Exmoor In the summer months, Tarr Steps heaves with families and visitors who come to cross the medieval clapper bridge that spans the River Barle. But in winter the woodland is tranquil, with lovely walks to the picturesque village of Dulverton. The Tarr Farm Inn – set …
Read More »On the menu for 2024 … 20 chefs and food writers pick their dream meals across Europe
Devon and Cornwall A few years ago, visiting Devon in a wet and windy summer, chef Margie Nomura, host of the Desert Island Dishes podcast, stumbled across Beachhouse cafe on a soggy dog walk at South Milton Sands. “We were lucky to get a table and warmed up with steaming …
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