It’s ten years since Prince William met his future wife while they were both studying at St Andrews University. Being a romantic sort, I’m sure the heir to the throne will want to celebrate the milestone by whisking Catherine off for a quiet break back where their courtship began. And I’ve found just the place…
Avid readers of these travel pages may recall that my boating holidays are never without incident. There was the time when traffic backed up after someone (me) couldn’t work out how to raise the barriers at the Shirley drawbridge on the Stratford Canal. Then there was the time, near the famous Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, when we…
Here’s something you don’t see every day – a fox taking food from the outstretched hand of a toddler. The fox, and his two pals, are as tame as domestic dogs after being rescued by wildlife ranger Gary Zammit and hand-reared at Feadon Farm in Portreath, Cornwall. The farm is believed to be the only place…
It’s the annual dilemma that has the potential to put the skids under the most stable of marriages – where to go on holiday. He wants to immerse himself in history, she wants to immerse herself in a good book while lazing on the beach. He wants some high-octane thrills to get the adrenalin pumping,…
The helicopter was taking off not 50 metres from the window of our hotel room. Yet, such was the quality of the floor to ceiling triple-glazing, we could hardly hear the whirling of its blades. My wife and I had come to expect nothing less during our weekend at the new Hotel Verta in Battersea,…
You know the scene, it’s Friday afternoon and friends at work start asking what you’ve got planned for the weekend. ‘’I’m off to Basingstoke,’’ I excitedly revealed. Eyebrows were raised. Basingstoke? Really? Why? Was I visiting relatives? Did I have a wedding to attend? Had I simply lost my marbles? The north Hampshire town, I…
We’d stayed in an apartment with a lovely sea view and we’d stayed in an apartment with a cosy log fire. But until recently, my wife and I had never stayed in an apartment built on the orders of the Pope on the very spot where a bona fide miracle had taken place. The apartment,…
With just months until my 40th birthday, I was on the look-out for a good midlife crisis to strike fear into my wife. Should I buy a sports car? No, I haven’t the money. Should I take up an extreme sport? No, I haven’t the bottle. Should I have an affair with a much younger…
Ascending the Langdale Pikes in the Lake District we suddenly realised that we’d have to ford a stream if we were to reach the top. The family walking ahead of us, including a girl of about seven, managed to negotiate the fast-flowing waters, so it couldn’t be that difficult, we thought. But when we reached…
Beep, beep. ”Who’s that beeping?’’ asked my mum as dawn broke on the first morning of our boating break. Beeep, beeep. ‘’There they go again,’’ said the 70-year-old, who was putting on her face in her tiny bedroom, curtains drawn. Beeeep, beeeep. ”I don’t know who they’re beeping at,’’ my mum shouted to my wife,…
Holidaying Hack 