Whatley Manor, Wiltshire
“It’s hardly surprising that the hotel once known as Twatley Manor decided to have a name makeover in favour of the more elegant Whatley Manor – now considered one of the most sophisticated hotels in the UK.”
“It’s hardly surprising that the hotel once known as Twatley Manor decided to have a name makeover in favour of the more elegant Whatley Manor – now considered one of the most sophisticated hotels in the UK.”
“A stay at a country house hotel always puts me in mind of JG Farrell’s literary masterpiece Troubles…” Tom Leahy swaps London for a weekend jaunt to North Wales.
Beautiful, otherworldly and showcasing the finest in Moroccan food and design, La Mamounia is a world away from the busy souks of the Medina…this is Morocco but not as Moroccans know it.
“I have, for years, suffered from a terrible affliction. None that might affect my health – at least it hasn’t yet – more my sanity; I have an uncontrollable tendency to double book myself.” Larry learns a lesson in diary mismanagement…
“We only play to a minimum of 80,000 people,” says the Turkish rock star with an ironic glint in his eye as he builds a pyramid out of macadamia nuts on the table that sits between us…
“Fresh from a £24 million renovation, The Caledonian now boasts two restaurants by the Galvin Brothers and a Guerlain Spa…” Alwynne tries Edinburgh’s plushest new arrival on for size…
“My favourite moments in Paris are when I feel I’m bushing right up against its golden age – that early 20th century heyday when Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picasso and a pantheon of other cultural icons roamed…”
“The Queensberry is enshrined in a set of four terraced houses built in 1771 by the 8th Marquess of Queensberry, father to the better known John Sholto Douglas who lent his name to the famous boxing rules…”
“What good things spring to mind when you think of Southampton? The Titanic, up to a point. Some fine medieval buildings. And, perhaps, the Spitfire, which was first designed here.”
“Arriving at Les Sources de Caudalie is a little like entering Wonderland, where nothing is quite as it seems and everything leaves you grinning like a Cheshire Cat…”
“Country: Club. Gun: Shot. Agent: Stirling. Murder: A scotch. Skyfall: I think you mean Ashdown old chap, and like Bond this story starts with a woman wielding a gun to my detriment…” Stirling is outgunned in East Sussex…
“I’ve always wondered what it felt like in ‘the old days’ when you climbed saddle-sore and weary from your steed, desperate to get out of the biting cold and into somewhere warm and cheery for a few hours…” Nick Hammond goes camping. Well, nearly…