Travel Ideas from Adrian Mourby

Everyone needs a hobby. Unlike some politicians I don’t make model buses out of old wine box-thingies. I prefer gin. Drinking it with tonic, mixing it into martinis or visiting the distilleries where it is made and meeting fellow gin-enthusiasts. We are fortunate to be... more

The English Country House Opera is a unique British phenomenon (although it is now being copied in Europe). The idea is simple: opera performed not in a city venue, but in a country house, either in the residence itself or in the grounds, or even a purpose-built theatre... more

While England has been going through its “Ginaissance”, Scotland has seen its national drink –unfashionable as late as the 1980s - reach stratospheric levels of desirability around the world. Wealthy people want to own bottles that retail in four figure sums. Wealthy... more

Once upon a time Britain’s pubs and hotels were places where you stayed the night if you lacked friends or relatives nearby. But you certainly didn’t go to a pub or hotel to eat. That’s what cafés and restaurants were for. But then in 1890 César Ritz arrived at London’s... more

Walking is good for us. When Bill Bryson hoofed it along the Appalachian Trail, he was delighted how much wisdom he gained and how much weight he lost. Wordsworth used to tramp all day composing poems in his head and Rousseau covered great distances on foot in order to... more

London is one of the most exciting places in the world to go out drinking. And drinking is a fine way to spend an evening as long as you’re sensible. In London, there are watering holes to cater for just about every taste. The problem is choosing the right bar.

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Many hotels in Britain were once the homes of lords and ladies, barons and dukes. When Evelyn Waugh published his Brideshead Revisited in 1945 he did not believe that the English country house would survive in new post-World War II Britain. Many country houses were... more

We all complain that Christmas seems to go on forever. It certainly starts too soon. Even before the bonfires of 5 November have fizzled out is done, department stores will be playing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and Paul McCartney will be Simply Having A... more

In the summertime hotels are bases from which we can venture out and explore the world. In the autumn, as nights get longer and we feel the first chills of winter, the British hotel becomes a place for hiding oneself away - or just indulging in comfort.

The ten... more

Once upon a time summer time in Britain was synonymous with coastline for most of us. From June till the end of August steam trains delivered families to busy seaside railway stations all over Britain. I remember that the first sight of the Irish Sea, North Sea or English... more

There are still some countries in Europe where dining rooms hide the fact that they are part of a hotel. It’s taken the Italians in particular decades to accept that one can dine well in a hotel. Even so they usually still give the restaurant a different name from the hotel.... more

Not long ago taking a room over a pub was what the traveller did if there were no hotel or boarding house nearby. In the twenty-first century however the British pub with rooms has taken off as a place to stay. The transformation began when pubs opened their doors to a wider... more

The big transition from one year to the next is essentially an arbitrary matter. One day we are in this year and the next day we're in another but they're still just two 24 hour days. Nevertheless New Year carries huge significance, it is also an opportunity to take stock,... more

Cocktail bars, as opposed to pubs and private drinking clubs, used to be very much a big-city phenomenon in Britain, but the modern hotel has brought what was once a very exclusive drinking experience within reach of most of us.

It was London’s Savoy that first... more

Traditionally summer is when the British go to festivals. Shortly after World War II Edinburgh’s International Arts Festival made August synonymous with a celebration of culture. Then in 1970 Glastonbury showed that pop festivals were also big business. Ever since, more and... more

Summer is finally upon us which means, if you are British, that you’ll probably be thinking of a trip to the seaside. This nation has a curious relationship with our storm-tossed coast. We love it and it in turn has reciprocated over the years by protecting us from many... more

It’s only when you try hiking in other countries that you realise how very blessed Britain is with its National Trails. I’ve walked down footpaths in Greece that terminate abruptly in someone’s newly built villa or strolled down footpaths that come to a dead end in America... more

My home is in Oxford which can sometimes feel like living in a film set. It’s a familiar experience to find the road you want to walk down closed off by a lighting van and location caterers. But the whole of Britain is a gift to film makers. One reason is the extraordinary... more

There is something about water – lakes, lochs, rivers, and the sea itself - that answers a very deep need in us all. We are drawn to it. We want to swim in it , sail across it or just walk alongside it listening to the sounds of benign burbling. A day spent walking along a... more

I proposed to my first wife above a launderette in Middlesbrough and to my second in the tiny kitchen of my Oxford flat. Neither location was inherently romantic but the end result - in both cases - was positive.

These days however it's becoming common practice to... more

Soon it will be New Year and all over the country Drinkcember will give way to the hairshirt self-denial of Dry January. Anything that seemed celebratory over the Christmas period is out, and we will become a nation of herbal tea-drinkers and carrot-stick munchers. If all... more

Christmas shopping shouldn’t be a chore.

Many years ago I worked out there are two ways to make it pleasurable. One is to collect presents for people throughout the year as you see things they’d like. This means that – as long as you can remember where you... more

Autumn is the only British season that gets us all quoting poetry. Keats put it well with his “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” and all those “gathering swallows” twittering in the skies.

Autumn is certainly the time of year that inspires us to put away... more

In the opening to his novel The Portrait of a Lady, American author Henry James declared, “under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea”. James then went on to set his perfect scene with... more

This month Alice through the Looking Glass is released in the UK, yet another British film that makes the most of our countryside and its historic buildings. Not surprisingly a lot of classic hotels have featured in British films too. It’s not uncommon for a film crew to... more