Brooklands Hotel Surrey – travel review
I live in West London but whenever I consider a weekend break I turn right instead of left at the end of the road. That...
The Terrace at The Montagu Arms – hotel and restaurant review
The New Forest is a beautiful and ancient area in the south of England and is in fact very far from ‘new’. It was a...
Careys Manor Hotel in The New Forest – hotel review
This is one of the most beautiful and unspoilt corners of the British Isles. The New Forest is an area in southern England with an...
Ivy Roost Cottage, New Forest – travel review
My first taste of self-catering was as a 7-year-old and it did rather taint my expectations of that style of holiday for the following half-century....
Chef Matthew Tomkinson, The Terrace, Montagu Arms, Beaulieu – interview
He is a Michelin-starred chef and a Roux Scholarship winner but Chef Matthew Tomkinson seems untouched by his celebrity. He is a nice bloke who...
The French Horn at Sonning – hotel and restaurant review
Sonning! It sounds ancient and smart and indeed it is just that. It’s a chocolate-box pretty spot that is so quintessentially English and timeless. That...
Chef Josiane Diaga at The French Horn – interview
The French Horn is iconic, quintessentially English and has a celebrated restaurant. The chef has an equally enviable reputation but she isn’t English. This is,...
Michael Emmanuel of The French Horn – interview
It was a hot evening, a rare one in England this summer, when we walked into The French Horn. This is perhaps one of the...
Anderida, Ashdown Park Hotel – restaurant and hotel review
Ashdown Forest is an ancient area of heathland about 30 miles (48 km) south of London in East Sussex. It was once a medieval hunting...
Humphry’s Restaurant – Stoke Park – review
It is indeed a park, and a world-renowned 27-hole golf course set in landscaped grounds. Lots of facilities for club members, as well as for...
Stoke Park – Country House Hotel review
It’s the kind of country-house estate that we believe has disappeared. How can there be anything this magnificent so close to London (only 35 minutes...
Auberge du Lac at Brocket Hall – hotel and restaurant review
Stately Homes have always held a fascination. Great houses set amongst manicured lawns, and trees often grown from seedlings collected by intrepid botanists a couple...
The Elms Hotel Worcestershire – hotel review
This is an imposing Queen Anne mansion. Go on, admit it, you can’t remember who Queen Anne was and didn’t know she was a builder....
Brockencote Hall for lunch – restaurant review
Joseph and Alison Petitjean have owned and run Brockencote Hall for the last 24 years. They had been living in France and were just married,...
Castle House Hotel, Hereford – review
I confess, this isn’t a part of the country I know well. OK, it’s true, I am a city sort but I am increasingly charmed...
the bell at skenfrith, Monmouthshire – hotel review
the bell (note the corporate lower-case letters) at Skenfrith, Monmouthshire could easily be overlooked. You need to know it’s there and it’s worth the drive...