As we had joined tours to different parts of the island on previous visits, this break was to be a leisurely discovery of places we had previously neglected: like Funchal…

For a few days of sun and warmth at the end of January my partner and I returned to Madeira for our third visit. We did consider other destinations but…

I don’t normally travel in the U.K. in December, nor do I book accommodation before knowing anything about the area! But last weekend I did both on impulse and convinced…

I didn’t know about the light show at Stourhead last year until after Christmas. This year I looked out for the event and managed to get tickets for the opening…

When it comes to autumn, it’s difficult not to wax lyrical about the harmonious medley of mellow colours seen everywhere, none more so than at National Trust’s Stourhead.  It’s practically…

Preface I confess to feeling a tinge of sadness when the clock goes back by an hour at the last weekend of October. The summer’s officially over with shorter and…

At the last weekend when we visited my daughter and son-in-law in London, they gave us a surprise treat – tickets for the reopening of Leighton House Museum on 15…

The joy of Autumn It’s the time of the year when summer plants put away their brightly-coloured flowers, some trees start shedding their leaves, sprinkling the ground with colours of…

I always look forward to our annual trip to Warwickshire to visit my partner’s brother in Claverdon, Warwickshire. The journey from the New Forest by car is about 125 miles…

When one thinks of Warwickshire, Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick immediately spring to mind. However the elegant spa town of Leamington Spa nearby has a lot going for it, too. It has…