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This year I managed to make my autumn colours pilgrimage a little earlier than usual. I did this by visiting Westonbirt Arboretum at the end of October, rather than chancing it to the middle of November. I’m glad I did, as, according to our guide at the arboretum, this particular weekend was deemed to be one of the best.
I’ve enjoyed a couple of cookery courses this year, and when I saw the range of classes on offer at The Foodworks Cookery School, it was an Indian cookery course that caught my eye. The cookery school is located on the edge of the Colesbourne Park Estate, between Cheltenham and Cirencester, in the Cotswolds.
It’s the first time I’ve been to The Foodworks and it was fairly easy to find. The converted barn was brightly lit and welcoming on a dark October evening. I was warmly greeted at the reception desk with a glass of wine and a Foodworks apron, then ushered through to the kitchen.
Usually when I’m visiting London, I’m on a mission, whether work related or catching up with friends or family. But recently I had an opportunity to spend a day making the most of the city, with no agenda apart from to indulge my favourite pastimes of eating, street art and photography. I stayed around London’s east side, rather than going into the centre.
Here are my top 5 recommendations for things to do on London’s east side:
I had a Saturday afternoon free to myself in London and wanted to make the most of exploring a different side to the city. I have trained in and out of Liverpool Street station countless times over the years, but never explored the surrounding areas of Spitalfields and Shoreditch. I took a Shoreditch street art tour to find out what gives this newly fashionable area, its beating heart.
Seeing Carol Kirkwood, from BBC Breakfast, giving her weather forecast under grey skies at Cotswold Lavender this morning, I realised how lucky I was to visit the lavender farm last week on the hottest day of the year.
I made my journey that day as I knew it was close to harvest time and didn’t want to miss the lavender at its peak.
It’s over 25 years since Glasgow was named as the European City of Culture, yet the city is bursting with more culture now than ever before. In fact National Geographic has named it one of the top 20 best places to visit in the world for 2016. This buzzy destination is home to an outstanding collection of museums and galleries (mostly free entry), a world-class music scene and a fascinating mix of historic and contemporary architecture. On their Glasgow city break, Mrs & Mr Jones discovered all this, alongside fabulous shopping, hotels and restaurants.
When I was invited along to East India Café’s Indian cookery masterclass afternoon, I couldn’t believe my luck. It sounded to me like a perfect Sunday afternoon – eating, chatting and learning new recipes.
East India Café sits on The Promenade in Cheltenham. It’s not your usual Indian curry house; it serves Anglo-Indian food with cuisine harking back to the days of the Raj. Being an Indian Summers fan, and having enjoyed the trials and tribulations of Ralphie, Cynthia, Afrin et al, I was keen to understand more about the food of the times.
It was a snowy, April morning when I set off towards the Forest of Dean for my first official foraging in the forest experience. I was a bit concerned about getting stuck in a snowdrift en route and wondered how we were going to forage beneath the white stuff, but as I neared the little village of Clearwell, I was surprisingly relieved the rather large flakes had turned to drizzle.
I received a warm welcome at Tudor Farmhouse, a boutique hotel tucked into the village, and was introduced to our guide for the morning, Mr Raoul van den Broucke.
The four day Cheltenham Festival is the biggest jump racing festival in the UK, where top horses, jockeys, trainers and owners battle it out on the track at Prestbury Park to win over £4.1 million in prize money.
This particular week in March is the most exciting of the year to be in Cheltenham, when the town dresses up to look just as good as the best dressed race-goers. Recent figures suggest the Festival brings in £100 million to the Cheltenham economy (University of Gloucestershire). This is not surprising when hotels, restaurants and bars are bursting at the seams.
“Snow-clouds of elder-blossom banked in the sky, showering upon me the fumes and flakes of their sweet and giddy suffocation. High overhead ran frenzied larks, screaming, as though the sky were tearing apart.”
From Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust designed the Laurie Lee Wildlife Way to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Gloucestershire’s most famous 20th century author. Their 5-mile trail takes a circular route around the beautiful Slad Valley, which has become immortalised in the words of Laurie Lee. It links four nature reserves and is dotted with ten poetry posts, each featuring one of Lee’s poems.
In advance of the official opening, I pulled on my walking boots, grabbed my waterproofs and made some cheese and pickle sandwiches to join the Trust’s celebration walk. Our 6-mile circular walk was a variation on the official walk and began at Hawkwood College, perched on a ridge above Stroud.