No more pain: how health farms became spas, and we got a bit soft October 19, 2009 WITHOUT FAIL, my grandmother and her mother used to go to a “health farm” for a week. It sounded like my idea of hell: a week of deprivation, nothing fun to do or eat. The end results spoke for themselves, though – they’d lose six kilos in a week and come home with wonderfully tapered [...]
OTHER GOLF VENUES September 28, 2009 BROCKET HALLJust 22 miles north of London, Brocket Hall is a spectacular location with two championship courses which are at their most beautiful in autumn. There is also a driving range, a putting green and you can hone your skills at the Faldo Golf Institute. To make the most of the location, you can also [...]
Trekking with condors and canyons makes the Wild West unforgettable November 22, 2009 COMPUTER-controlled fountains rising out of an artificial lake on the Las Vegas Strip cavorted to the strains of The Pink Panther. Later we joined the midnight crowds singing along to Don McLean’s American Pie at a laser show in Fremont Street, downtown where the first casinos were built. It couldn’t be a greater contrast with [...]
OUT OF OFFICE September 8, 2009 STARS AT TOWER FESTIVALThe Tower Festival is upon us yet again: hurry to get tickets for Nigel Kennedy on Thursday – on Friday there’s a Sadler’s Wells extravaganza not to be missed and on Saturday it just gets better with the divine Lesley Garrett and the Fron Male Voice Choir. Let’s hope the weather holds [...]
OUT OF OFFICE September 8, 2009 STARS AT TOWER FESTIVALThe Tower Festival is upon us yet again: hurry to get tickets for Nigel Kennedy on Thursday – on Friday there’s a Sadler’s Wells extravaganza not to be missed and on Saturday it just gets better with the divine Lesley Garrett and the Fron Male Voice Choir. Let’s hope the weather holds [...]
Top lady shot takes the helm at a new City member’s club October 11, 2009 CLAIRE Zambuni could be dangerous. A leggy blonde with Baywatch-style features and a big smile, I’d not be surprised to hear that men routinely fall at her feet. But its her way with a gun that makes her particularly worth buttering up – she’s the UK’s best lady shot, in the top three best shots [...]
Top lady shot takes the helm at a new City member’s club October 11, 2009 CLAIRE Zambuni could be dangerous. A leggy blonde with Baywatch-style features and a big smile, I’d not be surprised to hear that men routinely fall at her feet. But its her way with a gun that makes her particularly worth buttering up – she’s the UK’s best lady shot, in the top three best shots [...]
THREE MORE KING’S CROSS EATERIES August 17, 2009 ST PANCRAS GRANDThis high-profile effort from Searcy’s – designed by interiors guru du jour Martin Brudnizky – is just the place to eat the likes of potted salmon, stew and duck under the eye of a large clock and bulbous, elegant lamps. The soft purr of the Eurostar arriving and leaving is a wonderful aid [...]
THREE MORE KING’S CROSS EATERIES August 17, 2009 ST PANCRAS GRANDThis high-profile effort from Searcy’s – designed by interiors guru du jour Martin Brudnizky – is just the place to eat the likes of potted salmon, stew and duck under the eye of a large clock and bulbous, elegant lamps. The soft purr of the Eurostar arriving and leaving is a wonderful aid [...]
On women, work and savoir faire October 25, 2009 MEETING the author of French Women Don’t Get Fat, the bestselling diet book, is a rather daunting prospect for someone who is neither particularly thin nor remotely French – certainly not when it comes to Gallic standards of stylishness. I expected Mireille Guiliano to be scary – judgmental, fearfully immaculate and devastatingly tiny. I was [...]