Visiting an Olive Oil Producer in Monchique, Algarve We were recently pondering a press trip to the Algarve and as part of the itinerary we visited the amazing Lagar dos Pardieiros olive oil producing business up in the high hills near the lovely little town of Monchique. I was so taken by the amazingly hard-working and interesting Miguel Gonçalo Oliveira Santos Bigodinho , who now runs the family business, that I thought we’d produce a special article here based on our visit

A Taste of England’s West Country — in the Heart of France Imagine a vast area that boasts all the best bits of the West Country and very few of our less scenic zones. A place of forested hills and deep river valleys which combine to provide a rural heartland that seems to stretch on-and-on. A region so rich in history, there seems to be a castle on every knoll and evidence of prehistoric humankind somewhere near every cliff and cave. Okay, so the Dordogne , which lies hundre

A Dartmoor Hike from Cadover Bridge to Great Trowlesworthy Tor If you love Dartmoor’s wild edges and secret stories, this short circular walk from Cadover Bridge takes you deep into Trowlesworthy Warren , past ancient pillow mounds, granite tors, and the haunting white scars of the china clay pits . It’s a fine mix of moorland solitude, industrial history, and far-reaching views over Plymouth and the South Devon coast During our stay at Boringdon Hall , we took a five-minute

Boringdon Hall Hotel : History, Luxury and Michelin-Star Dining Every region has a small clutch of grand hotels whose names and reputations are well known to most local people. They are the places to which we doff our collective cap — the venues which host our big social events and special occasions — the hostelries where we expect the best to simply be the best. Best bib-and-tucker, best food, best service, best accommodation etc etc… I can think of half-a-dozen such hotels

A Journey to the Wye Valley: Where England Meets Wales “Oh sylvan Wye! thou wanderer thro' the woods, how often has my spirit turned to thee!” So wrote William Wordsworth 227 years ago in his poem Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey. And I am repeating them here because I happen to be in Tintern, looking across at the River Wye. Like a great many West Country folk, I have visited this most beautiful of valleys on several occasions and never failed to be impressed

Perfect Porlock Weir Porlock Weir is one of my favourite places in the world and I have written about it many times. As the nicest of our local seaside haunts I’ve been visiting the place since I was a small boy - and later writing many different newspaper articles based on many different subjects down there where the Exmoor hills dip to meet the sea. I popped down to the Weir this week with a spare hour to spare and walked in the rain. Porlock Marsh: Britain’s Fastest Changi

Ortigia: Where Greek History Meets Baroque Splendour Syracuse (Siracusa in Italian), on Sicily’s eastern coast, has a history that rivals just about any other old port in the Mediterranean. Once described by Cicero as "the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all," its true nucleus remains the tiny, altogether captivating, island of Ortigia . Connected to the mainland by a couple of short bridges, this island is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and for very good r

Rediscovering Old Friends and New Adventures in South Devon Social media has many downsides but one useful role it plays is in allowing users to keep up with old friends. Occasionally their posts can surprise and delight you - which is what happened recently when I saw an Instagram photo and note from an old colleague saying: “Really enjoying life - wish I’d done this years ago.” The photograph showed a lovely waterside inn, tucked away deep in the South Devon countryside - a

A Taste of Tunisian Life in Just 20 Minutes Just 20 minutes - that’s all we had time for as we entered the central medina in Tunis some 20 years ago – and I was fed up because, to do the vast, fascinating, colourful labyrinth justice, you need a day. That was a year ago and I had to be dragged out of the medieval bazaar kicking and screaming, grabbing handfuls of ludicrously cheap herbs and spices as I went. The man from the Tunisian tourist office looked concerned – it hadn’

Fantastic News for This Website Fantastic news! For me, at any rate. This website has earned me the position of finalist at the British Guild of Travel Writers annual awards . Along with two other people, I am up for Travel Blogger of the Year. So I am over the moon - partly because I began the website six years ago merely as a bit of fun and as a challenge to see if I could do such a thing. And that is exactly how the website has continued.  Oh, and I’ve also been shortliste

Six Guinness World Records Smashed at Malvern The CANNA UK National Giant Vegetables Championship Six Guinness World Records were broken the Three Counties Autumn Show last weekend, with 132 growers battling it out for medals, including the longest sweet pepper and heaviest celeriac. Other world records included the world’s tallest runner bean plant (26 feet, two inches) and the world’s longest radish (25 feet, seven inches - there’s a lot of long thin root involved). Weird a

There Ought to Be More of Them… There ought to be more of them… is what my friends and I were agreeing while driving home from the Three Counties Autumn Show at Malvern last weekend. We were talking about large-scale country shows that take place at this time of the year because we hugely enjoyed our visit to the show, which is billed as the “UK’s biggest harvest season celebration”. It offers the ultimate demonstration of something this nation can do very well indeed… We are

A Sudden Shock on the Local News The thing about belting around travelling here, there and everywhere is that you can miss important things which happen back at home. For example, after one trip abroad this summer I was sitting in our living room with the local news on in the background, when I spotted a very good friend dominating the TV screen. It was Ian Macnab aboard his boat the Duchess of Cocklemoor - so I turned the sound up and was appalled to hear that this wonderfu

The Magic of Estuaries No one needs a newspaper article to tell them that estuaries are very, very special places. These zones where rivers meet the sea create a magical mix of fresh and salt water - a brackish blend that makes them some of the most productive and important habitats on Earth. Estuaries serve as nurseries for fish and shellfish, and are critical feeding grounds for thousands of migratory birds. But they’re more than just wildlife havens, estuaries are nature’s

End of Summer - Autumn in the Air Most years since the turn of the century, my newspaper column has found itself tumbling into that mellow period which marks the end of summer, and declaring: “Autumn is in the air!” as if it’s been some totally new and unexpected sensation. Which is odd… I hardly ever write newspaper articles which herald the arrival of winter or summer. Once or twice I have written about the first hints and glories of spring, but there’s something about the

South West Coast Path in the Spotlight The South West Coast Path has been making headlines recently, partly thanks to the now rather infamous Salt Path debacle, but also because we’ve had a glorious summer (if you’re a walker and not a farmer, that is) and increased numbers - inspired by the book or the film - have been trudging along at least some of its 630-mile length. But where should our most famous long distance trail really begin and end? Minehead or Portishead – Where

A Traditional Welcome on the Lemanak River After an hour (some of which was spent at high speed) we reached the long-house where we’d be staying as guests of the local Iban people. I could hear the welcoming bell before we arrived – a woman and a child came down to the river bank to greet us and we were marched ceremoniously up to climb the ancient steps cut out of a single log, which took us aloft to the entrance of the long-house. I was first in line to enter the long commu

Favourite West Country Hikes and Weather Challenges Over the two decades I was writing a regular weekly walks article here in the West Country I was asked countless questions by readers - the most common of which was: “What’s your favourite hike?” Impossible to answer. This region has some of the best walking routes to be found anywhere in Europe, so picking just one would be like trying to name your favourite piece of music. Too many to choose from. An embarrassment of riche

Heatwaves in the UK and the West Country’s Cool Escape Heatwaves are hitting us thick and fast – indeed the UK is enjoying or enduring one this very day. Which is why I went out early this morning for the daily dog-walk. However, here in the West Country we do have a secret weapon in our armoury which helps us when the heat gets too hot. I am talking about the West Country’s most extensive icon – the myriad deep sunken lanes that wend and weave their way from one end of the r

Speke’s Mill Mouth – Devon's Hartland Peninsula A True Secret Seaside in North Devon Speke’s Mill Mouth has the complete kit of parts necessary to be named as one of the region’s great secret seasides. You can only access it by descending a wobbly looking staircase that looms next door to a giant waterfall – and the area boasts rare butterflies, a long lost Swannery which went the same way as a saint’s chapel and a herd of wild horses. That list alone puts it firmly into our