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Mark Palmer rss

Rocamadour, in the Dordogne valley

Notes on…The Charm of the Dordogne

25 May 2013

It’s only 150 years since a toff was roasted in the remote Dordogne village of Hautefaye. The poor soul was a French aristocrat resented by the locals. Perhaps he was… Read more

The old ways: family skiing in Switzerland, 1961

Downhill for generations

17 November 2012

My 22-year-old daughter is feeling a little low. Me, too, actually. I’ve just told her there aren’t enough pennies in the coffers to go skiing this season — just as… Read more

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Holidays from hell

29 September 2012

Everyone thinks travel writing is a doddle. You soak up the sun for a couple of weeks and when you get home the words pour forth, dazzling the reader with… Read more

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The pecking order

30 October 2010

Every now and again you read about ‘Empty Nest Syndrome’ — a curious affliction suffered by parents who are sad that their children have left home. It sounds like heaven… Read more

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A social pariah in the shires

23 June 2010

We like our little cottage in a pretty Wiltshire village on the River Kennet — and we just hope the village likes us. It’s hard to tell. ‘I see you’ve… Read more

Rock the kasbah

4 June 2008

Hats off to Richard Branson’s mum. If it wasn’t for the formidable Mrs B, most of us wouldn’t be able to stay at Kasbah Tamadot in Morocco, and that would… Read more

Licence to thrill

23 January 2008

‘Well done, mate, nice one,’ says a man on the way to work as my Aston Martin DB9 rolls off a giant transporter outside my house at 8 a.m. on… Read more

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Heel thyself

31 October 2007

I am buying a pair of shoes. And this is something I have never done before. Not really. Not at a Savile Row tailors where the shop assistant asks you… Read more

Piste off

27 December 2006

We all have our ski chalet horrors. Mine came while staying in the swanky French resort of Megève in the mid-1980s and it put me off the whole caper for… Read more

A very secret Santa

13 December 2006

‘I’ve already spent £500 and I don’t even like shopping,’ says Jane Scott. ‘But I suppose that’s half the point of it.’ I suppose so. Better to spend money you’ve… Read more

‘We don’t do burglary’

17 May 2003

I like my Vespa. In fact, I can’t think of anything that has improved the quality of my life in London more in the last couple of years than my… Read more