Outside of London
So we took a last-minute weekend down in the New Forest. There was literally one place on booking.com available, The East End Inn, pretty much middle of nowhere. We got there and discovered that slightly bizarrely it was owned by the bass guitarist of Dire Straits and had a (kinda average) seafood restaurant attached. Apparently …
I know what kind of cuisine I like. I like powerful flavours. I like them sharp, sour, bitter, umami. Ferments and pickles. Charring and smoking. Herb and spice. I’m not so bothered by delicacy and cream, butter and elegant simplicity. I think this explains why sometimes my lukewarm reviews of places like Five Fields and …
Well that was foolish. Go for a seven hour hike on a blazing hot day and then try to have an evening tasting menu at 8:30. Reader, I did very nearly fall asleep in my dessert. So I’m maybe not going to do The Small Holding justice, which is a shame because what I absolutely …
You can tell when a hotel room has been designed by someone (probably a woman) who stays in hotels a lot. There are a few telltale signs, but the most infallible is the full-length mirror. The first point: does the place even have a full-length mirror? Does it have any kind of useful mirror at …
Serendipity. We decided to walk a section of the Thames Path starting in Wallingford, and then up popped a review by Jay Rayner of the Five Little Pigs in Wallingford. So we decided that brunch at the ‘Pigs would be a great start to a six hour walk! Wallingford is an odd town. It looks …
