An intelligent mix of culture, style, travel, food and property, as well as where to go and what to see.
The great British summer is upon us. And, since few of us are venturing abroad, now might be the time to enjoy this season’s round of ‘makeaway’ boxes and bring something special to those long overdue barbecues. Upgrading the supermarket burger and sausage shop to fancy charcoal-griddled kebab part prepared by a catering professional has never been
Well it looks like none of us had the chance to jet off to Tokyo for the Olympics this year. But if you Deliveroo some sushi and get the right kind of drinks in you can still have a pretty good time watching on the telly. Japan has a great culture of craftsmanship and a love
If you’re still feeling sceptical about traffic light holiday chaos, or – along with the estimated five million other UK citizens – are stuck with a Covishield jab and concerned a European escape might end at the border, never fear – Blighty has your back. Only a car (or train) journey away are sun-dazzled shores
One of the great sorrows of the pandemic has been India. Its own harrowing experience of the virus has been dreadful to see. And less importantly but still poignantly, India’s disappearance from the list of possible destinations for travel for the foreseeable future has created a sense of morose yearning among those itching to get back.
I am always slightly nervous about presenting recipes which are distinctly regional: locals tend to be fiercely defensive, proprietary even. about how their particular delicacy should be made and enjoyed. Devon and Cornwall have long been engaged in a battle as to whether cream or jam comes first on their otherwise very similar scones (personally,
If the sun is shining and the likelihood that all holiday destinations barring the South Sandwich Islands will probably be on the amber or red lists, the prospect of a British seaside break doesn’t look half bad. Of course, 50 per cent of the UK population will be thinking the same thing, so be prepared
There have been various style know-it-alls who have been ruminating over the possible, perhaps inevitable, return of suits which have Miami Vice proportions. The Eighties cop show was bold in its broad silhouette, generous pleats, puffy shoulders and unstructured loucheness that undid 100 years of tailoring’s mission to flatter and ennoble. In 2021 it feels
Summer barbecues open up a wealth of opportunity for culinary exploration. Here are four tips for taking your barbecuing to the next level, followed by three of my recipes to try for yourself: lamb cutlets with asparagus, garlicky prawns and the delightfully colourful Pepper Piedmontese. Each of these dishes have been paired with wine chosen by Andrew
Have you ever wanted to fly? For me the urge comes whenever I see a bird hovering directly over a hedge, flying into the wind so it can maintain a position and spot prey. It’s not the prey I’m interested in, just the sensation. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to defeat gravity? Like many of us,
While most of us won’t be making it abroad to sip Apérols and swan around piazzas at dusk, London offers the next best thing. From rooftop feasts in Mayfair to fine dining among a wildflower meadow, these are the best summer terraces for al fresco drinking and dining. Kutir, Mayfair The rooftop of this Mayfair
When it comes to source material for decent drama, police archives have a track record for delivering the goods. If you’ve binge-watched all the best true crime documentaries already, here are eight of the best fictional adaptations to keep you on the edge of your seat: The Salisbury Poisonings iPlayer Televised back in spring 2020,
If you’re looking to get onto the housing ladder, you’ll at least be considering a new build property. In England, according to the Office for National Statistics, there were nearly 245,000 new additional dwellings between April 2019 and March 2020. And according to building control figures, the number of homes completed was 49,470 between January
If you’ve tried to buy a second-hand van any time in the last 12 months, you might have noticed that the popularity of these humble commercial vehicles has travelled from the tradesman’s entrance right around to the front door. The word on the street is that ‘pre-loved’ vans have become highly sought-after for two principal
One of the most striking features of the second Covid summer has been the soaring prices of holiday cottages. How dare the owners of static homes in the vicinity of the coast be charging quite so much for the uneven pleasures of a week in a caravan park? Well, get used to it because as
Wandering through the sheep pens at the Great Yorkshire Show, it’s clear that a sheep is not ‘just’ a sheep. The sheer array of livestock on display is a lesson in itself. Sheep with fluffy legs; sheep with four enormous horns. Pink sheep, white sheep, brown, black and piebald sheep. Dreadlocked sheep; sheep with huge
There are few things more comforting than a pie, but often that level of comfort is directly proportional to the amount of effort required to make it. Pastry bases that must be prepared, then chilled, lined, blind baked and re-baked; fillings that require pre-cooking, or sauces that need thickening. Not so with spanakopita. Spanakopita is
In Tokyo the 32nd Olympic games are well underway and unless you’re trying for a medal chances are you’re watching from home. Not to worry though, as London is full of ways to get a taste of Japan while travel restrictions remain in place. Here are some of the best places to eat and drink
The reopening of theatres continues to be a vexed issue in the light of the pandemic. The closure of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella hours before curtain up on press night due to some cast and crew being forced to self isolate being a high profile example of the struggles the theatre industry is facing. Despite
It would be fair to say that despite working in a similar genre and having a propensity for making cameo appearances in many of his movies, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan is no Alfred Hitchcock. That’s not to denigrate Shyamalan; he’s made some entertaining pictures, but he’s unlikely to reach the exalted status of the ‘Master of
There was a palpable feeling of freedom in Henham Park, Suffolk over the weekend – as masks disappeared and social distancing was replaced by dancing. For a blissful 72 hours, Covid was all but forgotten as Latitude became the first major festival to return in nearly two years. And even if the cost of that
As MPs and peers vacated the Houses of Parliament for their summer holidays last week, we take a look at five homes for sale with political links. Where Pitt stopped A bronze plaque on the front of Pitt House, a grand Georgian property in Bath, informs visitors of its famous former resident. William Pitt the
The long-delayed 2020 Olympic Games finally kicked off on July 23 in Tokyo. Events are being held without spectators after a spike in coronavirus cases locally. Even so, the breathtaking feats of athletic prowess will be enough to inspire many people to get off their sofas and into the great outdoors. Here are the best
Have you got what it takes to go ‘wild swimming’? No, not so much the hardiness or the love of sinking your feet into the boggy bottom of a lake or feeling something brush against your ankle that could be a fish, a plant or something more sinister. Have you got the right kit? Outdoor
The NHS App is playing a vital role in keeping us safe. It monitors those around us and identifies potential risk. We are alerted to the danger, given the right advice, and then compelled to take immediate action. It would be a pity if this multi-billion pound investment wasn’t utilised to its full potential to protect
I have an ambivalent attitude to sushi. It has become, on the one hand, one of the favoured foods of the joyless ‘clean eating’ and perpetually-dieting brigade. On the other, sushi is as delicious as it is healthy; filling but not heavy; dainty but not pretentious. No need to feel abashed then about being a
The postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics have not been without controversy. After being delayed for a year, a survey commissioned in May by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper revealed that 83 per cent of those polled were not in favour of the event going ahead in 2021, as COVID-19 cases soared and vaccine rates remained low. One
I’m standing in a farmyard in Somerset, drinking in the clear country air, soaking up the summer sunshine and marvelling at the lovely view. However this view is rather different from the sort of thing you tend to see on most farms. I’m here to see some modern art, stuff my face and enjoy a
I don’t know about you, but my brain has felt like soup for the last week. If I were to see you in real life, I would probably say to you ‘My brain feels like soup; does yours?’ and then ten minutes later I’d ask the same question, because my brain is soup and I
Before she became associated more with tragedy than comedy, there was a joke which went: ‘What’s Amy Winehouse’s favourite tube station?..High Barnet’. Not the best joke admittedly and one that required a degree of knowledge of rhyming slang – but it did anchor the beehived chanteuse and the borough she came from together in the
