Bajan Breakfast Banana Bread, Smoky Mexican Bean Soup, Ah Yeung’s Sweet and Sour Fish, Tian Provencal, Cypriot Pastitsio, Alabama Peach Crisp, Nanny’s Fresh Orange Layer Cake … the list of delicious recipes from home and abroad sets my taste buds tingling. I’m enveloped in the foodie delights of Lavender and...

I was getting a crick in my neck but I couldn’t stop gazing up at the enormous golden Buddha, silhoutted against a vibrant blue sky. He gazed out across the town, oblivious to the people below. The searing afternoon heat shrouded me in a humid embrace and the scent of...

‘They Shall Not Grow Old’ is the title of an extremely moving documentary by New Zealand film director, Peter Jackson. They Shall Not Grow Old tells the story of British Soldiers enlisting to fight in Europe, many lying about their age to go save the world. It was commissioned by IWM...

A great wave of tranquility washed over me and for a few minutes, all was right with the world … I was sitting beside a labyrinth and stone circle, gazing across a field towards the Lake District mountains and Morecambe Bay. Crows wheeled overhead and in the distance a herd...

“Daddy, it’s alive, it’s breathing smoke!” The little boy shrieked with delight as the huge black engine chuffed under the bridge into the station. There was something supremely elemental about it as the steam hissed noisily, fire roared and smuts flicked over the admiring passengers. I was on the Keighley and...

For those of a certain age, St Moritz is synonymous with the uber-cool jet-setters of the Swinging Sixties. Renowned playboy Gunter Sachs epitomised this hedonistic era when he married French pin-up movie star Brigitte Bardot. and made Switzerland their winter playground. The Gunter Sachs Lodge and The Dracula Club, overlooking the Olympic Bob Run course, are where people...

As summer drifts into autumn, fruit is in abundance, not only in our gardens and allotments but also in grocers and supermarkets. One of the easiest ways to use up a glut of fruit is to make jam. Plums are full of pectin that makes jam set easier, so here’s...