Richmond is one of the loveliest places to live in London with its leafy green parks and gardens, the Thames running through it, taking you one way into central London, the other south towards Hampton Court Palace and beyond. It’s easy to find nature and beauty and good places to walk; it’s not quite so […]
The day promised to be the best of my trip weather wise (rain and even thunderstorms forecast later), so I wanted to make the most of it. Hence the bus ride to Éze in the morning, which I wrote about last time, for magnificent views, then a return to Nice where I had an excellent […]
It’s a bank holiday weekend here in UK and remarkably – for we are renowned for our bad holiday weather – the temperatures have soared, there are no clouds for the sun to hide behind and in London (more specifically Richmond) yesterday we hit 32C. It was hot. On Richmond Green crowds squashed tightly into […]
It was ages ago that my friend Jay told me about the Persian cafe on Richmond Hill and I was immediately keen to try it. Persian food really appealed. However, I rarely walk up Richmond Hill as it’s in the opposite direction to the centre of the town as I make my way in from […]
Freddie and I went on another expedition this morning. This time to South Kensington, home of London’s biggest and most popular museums (the Victoria & Albert, Natural History, and Science museums) and thus in peak holiday time, a very busy place. Hence we set off early and managed to arrive at 10.00am just as doors […]
You can never have too much good gelato. Or you can’t if you’re Travel Gourmet. There are so many great gelaterie in London these days, it’s slightly taken the edge off going to Italy, where for so long a highlight of an Italian holiday was eating ice cream that was far superior to anything you’d […]
Freddie (4) and I had gone on an expedition to Kingston in search of a hippopotamus. Despite being set on the Thames and therefore near water, it was of course highly unlikely – if not impossible – that we would encounter a live member of the species there. But Freddie, who is gradually making a […]
Since starting the blog, people often ask me to recommend restaurants. It’s a compliment and very nice to be asked but also slightly difficult for a number of reasons. I’m not a professional restaurant critic and while I go out to eat quite a bit to meet up with friends, it’s often to the same […]
Annie and I have been having fun trying out new restaurants of late – The Oystermen last month; Cinnamon Bazaar the month before. I suggested we went to Tredwells the next time and booked a table. I’ve been wanting to go there for ages as it’s one of Marcus Wareing’s restaurants and prides itself on […]
I’ve had a wonderful morning of exploration in an area of Florence slightly away from what’s become my ‘usual’ walk through the city. I’d read about the Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, a 13th century pharmacy founded by Dominican monks in 1221 shortly after their arrival in Florence. It’s one of the oldest […]