Escape to Essaouria

The Luxury Channel | 10 Apr 2019

There’s a man in a baseball cap and wellington boots opening and selling sea urchins beside the sand-coloured ancient ramparts. Call it African fast food. Nearby on the quay, a youngster is dragging a dead young shark into a lorry, and then pulling another finned specimen behind him and yet another Mini Jaws — taking them to a restaurant. There are piles of fishing nets waiting to be mended, and at the other end of the port, boats being built in the traditional style in which they have been constructed for centuries.

It’s easy to get the 2000.2 miles here from the UK and it’s well worth it, even for a long weekend. Welcome to Essaouria (pronounced essa-weera), the laid-back, hip, Atlantic-side Moroccan town. Somewhere known for its writers and musicians. The place that’s also renowned for its bohemian vibe and wind. (It’s dubbed the ‘Wind City of Africa’). Except when I’m there in early October, there’s not even a breeze: just a haze of fog playing over the beach and crashing waves.

• Travel: Europe/ Africa

Somatheeram Ayurveda Village

Our Man on the Ground | 7 Apr 2019

Sometimes festivals are held at Somatheeram Ayurveda Village. These boast henna painting, palm reading, and guests’ futures also being revealed by a toothless, old soothsayer with a parrot that selects cards with his beak for his master to interpret. The bird picks a lucky card for me, emblazoned with the elephant god, Ganesha. “You shall be very happy lady when you go home,” the parrot tells me, via his master and an interpreter.  “Ganesha helps if you are starting a new job or new projects.”

• Travel: Asia/ Oceania

Escape to Farr Estate

The Luxury Channel | 15 Mar 2019

Go in spring and you’ll see deer gambolling on the lawns. In summer, the days are long and the light bright for striding across heather-carpeted hills and for lazy days fishing on its loch. In autumn, there’s bracing wild swimming.

Close your eyes and imagine spruce and pine trees dappled in snow. Or walk through the wardrobe and you’ll find a picture-perfect scene of virgin snow-capped hills, ancient monkey-puzzle trees sprinkled with white powder beside icy lakes. Yes, in winter it’s like Narnia or a winter wonderland. Idyllic, no?

• Travel: Europe/ Africa

All is Wellness

Spear’s | 11 Mar 2019

• Travel: Asia/ Oceania

Myanmar is experiencing a gastronomic revolution

Straits Times | 31 Jan 2019

• Food,
• Travel: Asia/ Oceania

Elephants Never Forget

Country & Town House | 4 Jan 2019

We’re going to search for cave elephants – the elusive quadruped Babars found ‘tusking’ salt off cave walls. There’s just basic camping on offer. And malaria and yellow fever aren’t a lure either. But I’m a mahout manqué and will do (almost) anything to see elephants. Even hike for four days from a little-explored part of Uganda to Kenya.

That’s why my 22-year-old daughter Anya and I are being driven 165 miles from Entebbe to Mount Elgon in Eastern Uganda. Past Lake Victoria, egrets and bamboo forests.

• Travel: Europe/ Africa

Beauty Test

Country & Town House | 1 Dec 2018

Facialogy? What’s that? It’s a combo of a blissful Vaishaly Signature Facial with a relaxing, health-promoting reflexology treatment.

• Health, Beauty & Spa

Burmese Days

Harper’s Bazaar | 1 Dec 2018

Tourism to Myanmar is up and the 21st century has barely intruded. There are majestic rivers, thousands of temples and Buddhism is still a way of life. It will be quite unlike any land you know about.

• Travel: Asia/ Oceania

A bend in the river

Country & Town House | 25 Nov 2018

We’re cruising downstream past majestic mist-tipped mountains, buffalo wallowing at the riverside and long tail ‘taxi’ boats. Beside rubber plantations, banana trees and bamboo stilt houses. Fishermen casting out traditional nets from deserted white beaches. Mahouts bathing their elephants. And locals sieving for gold. The stuff of Asian adventure stories or Oriental fairy tales, perhaps.

• Travel: Asia/ Oceania

A passage to India

Country & Town House | 1 Oct 2018

Peeping out above a pine forest, Oberoi’s mountain retreat in the foothills of the Himalayas can’t help but sweep you off your feet. Built on the site of Lord Kitchener’s summer residence, it’s Alpine lodge meets colonial old-world charm. The 85 rooms with marble bathrooms are calm, neutral and cosy with Burmese teak panels, roaring fires and polished parquet floors. Best of all are the floor-to-ceiling windows which max out the spectacular snow-capped view.

• Travel: Asia/ Oceania

Africa’s jumbo hike! Joining a four-day trek to find Uganda’s CAVE elephants – and they are worth every step

Daily Mail | 29 Sep 2018

Today you’ll climb the ladders and cliffs known as the Wall of Death,’ says Peter, chief warden at Mount Elgon’s National Park office in Uganda. ‘Nobody,’ he adds, ‘has yet died on them.’

My daughter, Anya, 22, and I look at one another. It’s too late to turn back. We’ve already flown eight hours to Nairobi, then another 75 minutes to Entebbe. 

• Travel: Europe/ Africa

A dog’s life

Country & Town House | 23 Sep 2018

It’s a haunting place, if not haunted. You can almost hear the Tudor hounds and patter of paws past. This is Hales Hall near Norwich, Norfolk, a drop-dead gorgeous medieval estate in formal gardens of topiary, box hedging and lavender avenues. It boasts nine acres of moated meadowland and buttercups with fairytale cottages and a Great Barn (perfect for parties) – offering overall accommodation for 25.

• Homes, Interiors & Property,
• Travel: Europe/ Africa