Notes on…
Secrets of Sicily
Western Sicily has been a crucible of aspiration and grandeur: the human condition at its most exalted: unsurpassable art and…
The right way to see Madrid
I got Madrid utterly wrong for quite a long time. It’s a lovely city to walk in, and I thought…
I never thought I'd write about wallpaper. But I'd never seen wallpaper like Marthe Armitage's
Every night, while my husband reads by screen-light, my mind runs like an invisible rat two miles north to the…
Paris
No city really multitasks like Paris, shorthand for romance, culture, fashion, gastronomy and the kind of street life you find…
Notes on... Venice
For Henry James it was ‘the repository of consolations’. Wordsworth, an earlier visitor, called it ‘the eldest child of liberty’.…
The great art of country houses is still getting better
Last year 114,000 people flocked to Houghton Hall in north Norfolk for a once-in-a lifetime opportunity. Part of the great…
A perfect haven of peace in north Devon
It was late September. My wife and I were feeling overworked and overstressed — our mental states not helped by…
The Marche
When I first visited the Marche a dozen years ago, folk who knew about such things tapped their noses and…
Valentine’s Day
One of the many things I love about my wife is that she doesn’t make me do anything for Valentine’s…
South-west Ireland
Of course one feels free on a holiday: that’s what holidays are for. But I have rarely felt freer than…
Golf in the Algarve
My second tee shot soared high and straight, then hurtled down towards the lake; a repeat of my first. I…
Amsterdam
‘What are people in your country saying about Holland these days?’ one Dutch friend recently asked me. I hadn’t the…
Gardens for all seasons
Winter garden visiting is a solitary pastime, lending itself to the misanthrope, and is highly recommended. When it’s so cold…
The pleasures of the Dordogne
Call me a trencherman or worse, but I tend to think of the Dordogne as a giant restaurant-cum-farm shop, set…
Music in Vienna
There is no finer city in which to hear music than Vienna. Or, to put it more felicitously, there is…
