Every day, those in search of Iceland’s most perfect Instagram shot will get up at dawn, just so that they can score a photo of a deserted, pristine Blue Lagoon. To one side of the lagoon, though, is The Retreat, which takes Iceland’s most seminal experience – bathing in its milky blue geothermal waters – and … Read more
An illuminating 200th birthday tour with the Lady of the Lamp: Exploring Florence Nightingale’s family home and the museum dedicated to her Next week marks the 200th birthday of inspirational nurse Florence Nightingale Her former family home in Derbyshire is now a B&B – you can stay in her bedroom London’s St Thomas’s Hospital hosts … Read more
Britain at its best: Exploring the Llyn Peninsula, a coastal corner steeped in classic Celtic culture The Llyn peninsula is a 30-mile spit of land or the ‘Land’s End of North Wales’ Angela Epstein checked into cosy Gwesty Ty Newydd Hotel overlooking the bay Whistling Sands feels like you’re ‘on a Greek island at the end … Read more
Northumberland is scarcely a ‘secret’, but I had long presumed that it was so far away from where I lived, I would never visit. Then, a chance (and generous) gift from my sons of four nights in a boutique hotel to mark a big wedding anniversary took me there. The North-East, with its dramatic coastline, … Read more
Our first sight of the brilliant blue iceberg was from the road bridge. A shimmering galleon making stately progress through the channel where the lagoon feeds the ocean. It had been polished by its voyage down the glacial lake so it glittered like a sapphire, its ethereal beauty anointing the landscape. We had been expecting … Read more
Originally it was Poland, then Estonia, and now we — that’s my sister and me — are smitten by Moldova. You could put it down to our Yorkshire upbringing: give us dark, curious buildings and heavy stews and we’re happy. Moldova, a small former Soviet state in south-east Europe, was a surprise. All I knew … Read more
Hockney hotspots: Exploring the glorious Yorkshire Wolds in search of the sights that inspired our greatest living artist An exhibition devoted to David Hockney’s drawings opens this week Some of his best-loved works were inspired by the little-known Yorkshire Wolds An online interactive map has been launched to help find his favourite spots By Simon … Read more
Chicago towers above the Midwest in the same way that the Emerald City perches above the Land Of Oz (it’s no surprise that The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz was written here). The city can also be just as magical: come here for Lake Michigan’s beaches and parks (temperatures hit 95F in summer), grand avenues full … Read more