Nothing is quite what it seems at Cheeseburn… from the moment you stroll into the gardens of this beautiful Northumberland country house. There’s a surprise around every corner. Expect the unexpected wherever you venture – from the lush manicured lawns to the potting shed, and even the old […]
North Shields is the town where I started my first job 30 years ago… it seems like the Stone Age when I look back. Back then, much of North Shields’ waterfront was derelict or rotting away and the town was looking grim. Since then, there has been a […]
Fancy a trip around the islands of Venice on your own boat? What could be better than messing around in a motor boat, acting like George and Amal Clooney on their Italian holiday? Just one snag… how to drive the boat. I’m sure that the Clooneys had a private […]
When I told friends that I was going to Skye for a week’s holiday, they warned me that rain, hail or thick fog would descend and ruin the trip. “It always rains in Scotland” was their warning cry. But they were wrong – when I arrived, it didn’t […]
Money makes the world go round, and if you visit Ruthwell, a small village in Scotland, you’ll find out why. This sleepy village seems an unlikely place for a major revolution in banking, but that is its claim to fame. Blink and you’d miss a white cottage on the high street, […]
It’s hard to imagine that the sleepy town of Aldborough was once on the front line of the mighty Roman Empire. Today, it’s a charming but sleepy backwater in north Yorkshire, by-passed by motorists who zoom past on the A1 on their journeys to bigger places. But back in the 2nd Century, Aldborough was […]
Gavin Turk is infamous for being one of the Brat Pack of Young British Artists. It’s no surprise that his first major solo show in more than a decade is wonderfully anarchic. The maverick artist’s back catalogue fills Damien Hirst’s splendid, new London art palace hidden away in the back streets of […]
What could be better than a leisurely walk in the park especially when you’re surrounded by priceless sculptures worth millions of pounds? The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is one of my favourite places to enjoy a gentle stroll and a dollop of culture. It was recently voted Britain’s Museum of […]
Fashion is red-hot in London this summer as the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition takes centre-stage at the Victoria and Albert Museum. This blockbuster show had crowds queuing around the block when it previewed in New York in 2011 but now it’s here in the UK – and it’s […]
A trip to Dumfries a few weeks ago turned into an unexpected pilgrimage in search of one of Scotland’s legendary poets. The town was once home to Robert Burns, writer, poet and cultural icon – and his legacy is apparent everywhere you go. We arrived in Dumfries after […]