Say the name ‘Beatrix Potter’ and no doubt images of cute bunnies, dim-witted ducks, sailing frogs, frisky squirrels, naughty kittens, mischievous mice and perky pigs come to mind. Her little books have had a place of many children’s hearts for over a hundred years. At my son’s birth he got two copies...

Winston Graham set his ‘Poldark’ series of historical novels in Cornwall, where he’d lived for over 40 years. In the recent TV adaptation of Poldark, the full glory of the dramatic coastline has entered all our homes. Ross Poldark (curly-locked Aiden Turner) and his lady-love Demelza (red-head Eleanor Tomlinson) spend a lot of...

Binibeca Beach With more beaches than Majorca and Ibiza combined, it’s not surprising that Menorca is a popular Spanish holiday destination. But there is much more to this tiny island on the edge of the Balearics. With a convoluted history due to its strategic position and a Mediterranean landscape, Menorca...

The ‘Great Men’ of Casa degli Omenoni Tucked away in a little backstreet near Il Duomo, Milan’s famous Cathedral, is Clubino, an exclusive gentlemen’s club. Historically it is better known,  appropriately, as the Casa degli Omenoni – the House of the Great Men (rebuilt 1565-67). Adorning its facade are eight enormous...

Nocturnal Rainbow on Coniston “If a picture paints a thousand words Then why can’t I paint you?” David Gates, BREAD Those were the words that came into my head as I tried to photo over 200 coloured LED lanterns slowly drifting across Coniston Water in the springtime dusk. Looming over the...

When people visit an area you love for the first time, you want it to look its best, to show it off in all its glory. I remember going to Skåne, Sweden on my first group blog trip one summer; it was dull, cool and cloudy with ‘occasional showers’ almost every...

Rebuilt on the site of a medieval citadel, the opulent and impressive baroque Konopiste Castle (Konopiště) is in old Bavaria, now the Czech Republic, about 50km SE from Prague. Its most famous owner was Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, who bought it in 1875 when he was 24 years old. ...