Want to learn to skipper a super yacht? Or have an intimate week-long stag party with a difference? Perhaps you’re looking to entertain your business associates with real panache? Or have a memorable off-site meeting? Or do you just feel like throwing everything in a weekend bag and jetting off to Greece for some last-minute sun and sailing? And perhaps doing some water-skiing, wakeboarding and fishing too?

Now you can enjoy this luxury for a price that fits wallets that may already be slim after a summer holiday in Cap Ferrat, buying a Saro-Gem custom watch or splashing out on the new Jaguar F type.

Welcome to Misty Blue – a 63-foot luxury motor yacht that takes six guests plus crew. She’s unique, built entirely to owner David and Sharon Waldman’s high quality specifications. Think wood panelling, three roomy cabins with their own luxury marble en suite bathrooms, a big saloon, leather sofas and the thickest of vanilla hand-made Indian carpet. She’s 2002 vintage but looks spanking new after extensive re-fitting.

There’s never been a better time than now to step aboard Misty Blue. Not just because she cruises the newly fashionable Ionian Sea – to the destinations of your choice. Not simply because you swop grey skies for weather that’s blissful from now until November and boasts blue heavens again from April. But because this is the Lusso deal of the century, and perhaps the millennium.

Instead of the boat and crew costing you £18,000 to charter for six people for a week, she’s being offered to the Lusso lads (and ladies) for £11,950. Just £166 per person per night (based on six people). If you want something short and sweet, take a day’s cruise and gourmet meal aboard for £150 per person. Or a special Stars and Drinks evening – about which more later – a snip at £75 a head.

The week’s price covers as much alcohol as you can drink 24/7, skippering lessons if you’d like them, loan of watersports and fishing gear and breakfast and delicious home-cooked lunch every day plus one gourmet five-course evening meal during the week. Included too are a personal tender to take you to shore whenever you choose, plus all the yachting services of David and Sharon, the delightful crew of two… He’s the Captain/engineer; she’s the first mate/chef.

What’s the catch? There isn’t one.

If this sounds like an advertisement, it’s not. A promotion? It’s not. It’s just happened that David and Sharon read Lusso – possibly the universe’s leading luxury lifestyle magazine – and knew they wanted to share their yacht with its readers. Their kind of people.

You’ll be in good company if you cruise the Ionian. Billie Piper just holidayed there and so too Giorgio Armani, the latter on his own boat. And it’s a magnet for Oprah, Spielberg, Madonna and Abramovich. It offers some of the best sailing in the world.

Hop aboard Misty Blue and you can visit emerald islands in an azure sea. David will teach you to skipper, helping you with boat handling and navigation. Afterwards you’ll pop onshore to dance the night away in the groovy nightclubs of Lefkada. Or jump in the tender to nip across the waves to quayside bars with live music in Meganisi’s Port Vathy.

You may drop anchor by the floating Russian palaces – the mega yachts found beside Skorpios, the new party island belonging to 24 year-old Ekaterina, daughter of potash buhzillionaire Dmitry Ryboloblev. And swim to one of its beaches. Or you can learn to scuba-dive. And who could resist water-skiing or wakeboarding beside these James Bond-style party islands?

If peace is more your thing, David will take you to hidden bays and secluded beaches and the best harbours. You’ll probably see turtles swimming and swordfish jumping out of water and dolphins playing in the bow waves as you cruise along gently. He’ll also guide you on walks through gorges and villages. Or you’ll hug the coast at Misty Blue’s leisurely pace of 10 knots an hour, sailing past Lord Rothschild’s own private peninsula for the rich and famous on Meganisi.

You’ll eat barbecued sea bream, succulent octopus and stuffed vine leaves and drink ouzo and retsina. Then feast on watermelon sweeter than the sun. You’ll find few places to beat the Taverna Stavros Family on Meganisi. It’s on the marina, the tables set beside the bobbing boats and owner Nikolaos will treat you like a long-lost friend.

But when you don’t ever want to see taramasalata again, you can enjoy Sharon’s cooking on board. Coronation chicken for lunch, perhaps? Or a gourmet dinner with homemade fish cakes, lemon and lime sorbet to clean the palette, salmon with crème fraîche and dill and then the lightest of sticky toffee puddings.

You’ll sunbathe on deck then lie on a recliner sipping cocktails in the evening as the sun dips behind the hills. Just when you think it can’t get any better, you can stretch under a limitless sky, watching shooting stars. Or invite Steve Clarke-Lens on board for a Stars and Drinks evening. An eccentric Englishman who built his own felucca (Egyptian ship), Steve now struts the deck of Misty Blue with thespian abandon, pointing his torch into the night sky and hammily divulging fascinating facts about….oh well, I’m not going to spoil it by saying. Just go see for yourself.

North Norfolk has become the Martha’s Vineyard of East Anglia. Who needs the summer retreat for New England Brahmins when we have windy coast roads, mudflats and sanddunes? And Burnham Market. Now to outstrip anything they offer on Long Island, there’s even a blockbuster exhibition, Houghton Revisited, at Houghton Hall near King’s Lynn. It boasts works by Poussin, Rubens and Van Dyck.

The 7th Marquess of Cholmondley, has secured 70 masterpieces by Rembrandt and Velazquez back from Russia to exhibit in their original home, his family seat of Houghton Hall. (May 17th to September 29th.) The masterpieces were collected by Lord Cholmondley’s ancestor – Britain’s first prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole. They were then sold scandalously – to pay debts – in 1779 to Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, for the Hermitage, St Petersburg.

You should hire/buy/steal a Bentley to get to Houghton. They’re one of the sponsors of the exhibition, and I drove a Mulsanne there.

It’s almost impossible to fault the motor – it steers like a dream, has suspension as good as any bed, acres of leather interiors and detail that’s beyond perfect. (Heated door mirrors, doors that close ultra quietly, more seat positions than the Kama Sutra.) It also attracts a lot of attention.

But back to Houghton Revisited. Sir Robert Walpole amassed a collection of Old Masters in the 1720s and built Houghton specifically to house them. It’s the grandest of Palladian stately homes with a near -perfect interior by William Kent, the brilliant 18th century designer and architect. So it’s an exhibition definitely worth seeing. There’s also a contemporary sculpture park there – with works by James Turrell and Richard Long; an award-winning five-acre walled garden; and 4000 acres, including a deer park.

If you want to explore further you can also go to Holkham Hall where Viscount Coke lives with his family. Here you’ll find another walled garden, an alabaster hall, classical statuary and yet more Van Dyck and Rubens. (‘It is the perfect English house from the Golden Age of the Grand Tour.’ Simon Jenkins.) It’s definitely worth a visit.

The coastline of north Norfolk is the stuff of dreams. So take a brisk walk to Holkham beach which is privately owned by the estate – and is the sort of beach you’d find in Cape Cod. You can walks along its four soft, golden, sand- miles, with its saltwater lagoons framed by pinewoods.

WHERE TO STAY.

There’s plenty happening in Norfolk. The Victoria just re-opened (in May) after being refurbished. All the Rajisthani furniture gone and it has been relaunched as a traditional English country inn by the Estate. But it (still) has 10 comfortable rooms with artefacts from the attics and basement of Holkham, and what they call ‘drench’ showers.

That the restaurant has two rosettes may not attract everyone – but venison, beef and game come from the Holkham Estate . (Crabs from Cromer, mussels from Brancaster, cheeses from the nearby village of Wighton. ) Traditional classic French food is their speciality. It’s by the north gate entrance to Holkham Hall and 10 minutes by foot ( there are dog-friendly rooms) to the beach – so a great location (although you’re a minute’s walk from day trippers and the car park for the beach).

The Hoste is considered the best boutique pub. (A 17th century bar where supposedly Lord Nelson drank. ) Its décor is the higher end of dainty Peter Jones- style four- poster beds and freestanding baths – but it’s known locally for its good food,and good rooms . Its new (since 2012) owners have a host of other hotels, six in total, including a railway house and Vine House – a Georgian boutique hotel with French furnishings, a Mr & Mrs Smith favourite. Owners, Brendan and Bea Hopkins – Norfolk folk for 20years – created a buzz when spending £2 million on improving their empire. Pleasingly the Hoste is in the centre of Burnham Market with its Georgian buildings and village green.

The Lowes on the 1800 -acre Kelling Estate offer self -catering in converted farm buildings. It’s a hamlet of 11 period farmers’ flint and brick and barns. On arrival, you’re greeted by homegrown flowers, welcome logs and foods and Vicky, the cheery property manager. London interior decorator Emma Deterding (daughter- in- law of the previous owner of the estate) has done a stylish job – underfloor heating, cream carpets, contemporary fittings. A communal swimming pool, jumbo trampoline and tennis courts make it child -friendly. And doggie bedding makes it dog -friendly.

It’s Swallows and Amazons meets London – there’s even a studio on the estate for pilates, yoga and belly dancing – and it’s just two miles from the sea.

If you want a one-off experience with friends and family, there’s little to beat Voewood – a unique Arts and Crafts home with 14 bedrooms, accommodation for 34 and a Hall that fits 100. It’s eclectic, idiosyncractic and sometimes zany – with each room with a different look, including Fifties, Bloomsbury and Seventies. You’ll either love or hate the Klimt-style shimmery wallpaper, disco ball and dormitory of 7 singles.

Forget it if you want staff/service or an en suite – there’s outside catering and a mere 7 baths here. It’s also a bit spooky. Additionally its owner, antiquarian bookdealer and professional charmer, Simon Finch, lives in a wing, like a latter day Miss Havisham; but instead of a wedding dress, he wears a suit that looks like pyjamas. But it’s set delightfully among woodland and landscape gardens – including sunken gardens and a Grade 1 listed walled garden planted with persimmons, greengages and grape vines. And don’t miss it in August (24th to 27th) when there’s the Voewood Festival (literary, food, arts).

WHERE TO EAT.

Creake Abbey Café and Food Hall (opened April) in north Creake. It’s set amid watermeadows. The man behind it is Stephen Harrison – ex uni lecturer turned Borough Food Market man. Ali Yetman is head chef – she proved her culinary talent at the Wiverton Café in Holkham – and uses Creake Abbey Farmers’ Market as her larder. So you can’t go wrong.

It offers local artisan and organic food : try the pork pie with chilli jam or ( in season) Sharrington asparagus. Its butchery sells rare breed pork and the best of British cheeses. In the café, try pan -fried smoked haddock fish-cake with chilli jam, green salad and remoulade.

The Wiveton Farm Café is another must with its walled- kitchen- garden –to- plate homemade food. Inside the café is all nursery pink and turquoise; al fresco you’re surrounded by raspberry canes and strawberry fields overlooking the sea. Afterwards you can feast on the sweetest of PYO raspberries.

You can drive to Wells to have fish and chips on the pier or, even better, in the back of your Bentley. And, further along the coast, don’t miss just-caught lobster (£14), crab (£5) and local samphire at Cookie’s Crab Shop, Salthouse – a beach shack. Or buy fresh fish there and take it home. If you want DIY food, the Cley Smokehouse is superb.Its salmon fillet – traditionally hot roasted in an oak fired kiln – is succulent, smokey and superlative.

What else to do? You’re in North Norfolk to love the blustery weather with sea gulls hovering overhead and yellow broom waving in the salty air; to visit lots of churches – pilgrimage to Walsingham, and to breathe in the wildness of wind- lashed shores. You should definitely take a boat to Blakeney Point nature reserve .The baby seals will pop up inquisitively beside your boat and you’ll probably see a colony of grey seals lolling on the beach. (There are around 500 seals there.) Afterwards enjoy the marshes and boats bobbing beneath vast painterly skies by the tiny fishing village of Blakeney.

There’s also wildlife and nature at Pensthorpe in the Wenslun Valley – former gravel pits turned nature trails. Do visit if you like woodland walks, pond dipping and bird watching.

You don’t need to be a twitcher to visit Cley Marshes, a wildfowl haven.There’s a lovely walk on its wooden walkway among dense reedbeds, and you can relax in the hide overlooking pools and scrapes and saline lagoons, watching feathered happenings. The view from the visitor centre across the Marsh to the sea is magnificent.

At the end of it all, you can spend the evening with a Yetman’s beer – handmade in Norfolk’s one-man brewery – in front of a cracking log fire. Drink capuccinos in the smart Georgian town of Holt or walk by Jacobean flint faced houses. Then pop into your Mulsanne, breathe in the leather and veneer, press a button to set your seat vibrating and massaging…..and race back to town. The Hamptons are overcrowded and expensive. Who needs that when there’s North Norfolk up the road?