501 Places

One of our favourite walks in New York was to wander down from our apartment on the Upper East Side and along Madison Avenue towards Midtown. If you’re after some serious people watching, Madison Avenue in the 60s (between 60th and 69th Streets) takes some beating. On these blocks you’ll find many of the top [...]

“Phew, what a scorcher!” This clichéd headline is almost guaranteed to appear in a tabloid sometime during a British summer; usually on the first day that the thermometer hits 25c. Coupled with a picture of bikini-clad middle aged women eating ice cream by the beach, the story will describe how our country is experiencing the [...]

I’ve already written about the excitement of flying into Barra. To many people, simply choosing a destination for the sake of the flight there might seem a bit pointless. So what is there to do once you arrive on this tiny Hebridean island? Well, the good news is that the isle of Barra and its [...]

As one of life’s hopeless dreamers there are places, experiences and events that have long been on my wish list. Anyone who has a similar list will know that the list will never be empty. Each year another couple of places may be ticked off the list, while another dozen are added to the end, [...]

There’s something unique about life on a small island. You get a sense of community that is elusive to the places where most of us live. I’ve noticed this on our many visits to the remote corners of Scotland, and experienced this most of all on our recent trip to Barra, a tiny island at [...]

Turquiose waters, stunning secluded beaches, the ocean dotted with tiny picturesque islands and a warm friendly welcome from the locals. Where am I describing? The first thoughts when we hear these words are probably of the Caribbean, or of some beautiful resorts in Thailand or the South Pacific. Well, for those in the UK who [...]

Canterbury was the first city taken by William the Conqueror in 1066, and it fell without a struggle. Almost a thousand years later it is the first port of call for many French daytrippers and weekend tourists, much like Boulogne is for the English (although with the pound as weak as it is these days, [...]

If anyone had suggested to me a few years ago that I would become one of London’s biggest admirers, I would have dismissed them as mad. I had a strong dislike for the city and on our essential visits to the city I would arm myself with a thick skin, replace my natural smile with [...]

When asked to recommend good places to eat in London, most of us would tell visitors to steer clear of anywhere in the West End. Much like those along the Champs Elysees or those within a block of Times Square, most places here cater purely for the tourist market and don’t expect repeat business from [...]

Seeing the aurora borealis for the first time is one of my most vivid memories. We were staying in the Shetland Islands, around 100 miles north of the Scottish mainland, and had returned to our cottage after dinner. It was just before midnight, and being early April it was still bitterly cold when the wind [...]