There is nothing quite like avoiding the multitudinous crowds when visiting a popular attraction. Something about being among a throng and herded around gets my goat. So it was with some delight that I recently visited the sanctified stones of Stonehenge for an hour with just nine others. There was no herding around, and you […]
There’s another big kid on the block in London’s ever-growing high-rise City. Officially known as 20 Fenchurch Street, unofficially and widely known as the “Walkie Talkie” due to its shape, the building is a gleaming edifice rising over lovely Leadenhall Market. The 37-storey building by world-renowned architect Rafeal Viñoly has a distinctive shape in that it widens […]
On a recent trip to Athens, we had the good fortune to book a tour through those lovely and wise folk at Context. Their learned docent Smaro met us at our wee boutique hotel, The O&B on the edge of the Plaka, where we ventured through lanes and flower-strewn alleys on a sun-dappled late autumnal afternoon (it seems […]
We like a new way to see an old thing. Preferably one that does not involve a selfie; there are far too many shots of people’s mugs eclipsing the Taj or Victoria Falls. So when the new walkway opened up at London’s rather old Tower Bridge, it was time to revisit this ancient way of […]
What is this “Bamford Country” we speak of? That would be the namesake of Lady Carol Bamford, the force behind sublime properties the Wild Rabbit in Kingham and Daylesford Organic in blink-and-you-miss-it Daylesford. Stay in one of the Wild Rabbit’s stylish 12 bedrooms named after woodland animals (and spacious enough to invite several of them […]
There’s probably something you look for immediately on your first day exploring a new destination. Maybe it’s the most interesting museums, delicious street food, local markets; everyone has their go-to travel highlights. As for me, after a long journey to a new city, I often steer myself toward the places where people rest—eternally, that is. […]
One of the best benefits of a trip to Iceland is the plentiful and seemingly endless source of geothermal energy. My favourite implementation of this energy is in the hot pots, both natural and man made. To be clear, I’m not talking about an Asian stew here; hot pots are part hot tub, part mineral […]
Garden lovers will feel blissful at Barnsley House, an 18-bedroom, modern but country-style hotel near Cirencester, about a half hour drive from Thyme. Internationally recognized English garden designer Rosemary Verey (advisor to Prince Charles and Elton John) lived here with her husband David, an architectural historian and keen gardener, for nearly fifty years until her […]
I like my boyfriend. Really, I do. The fact that he has a cottage in one of the prettiest parts of the Cotswolds, only a seven minute drive from the glorious Daylesford Hay Barn Spa, and another three minutes from the divine Wild Rabbit, is just a happy coincidence. To my credit, when we first started […]
London’s hotel scene is constantly evolving; from the super-swanky to the terrifically traditional, the uber-quirky to the design focused, it is a plethora of delectable choices, but tricky to keep up with. We try to keep our clients abreast of what’s on offer, so here are a few of the latest offerings in the UK’s […]
Fun fact of the day: did you know that if it weren’t for Iceland’s strict importation law on horses, The Lord of the Rings would have been filmed there instead of in New Zealand? In fact, Iceland and its many varied landscapes were actually the inspiration for many of J.R.R. Tolkien’s locations of Middle Earth. […]
Digging up fresh Trufflepig dirt often takes me from my Tuscan mountaintop to Rome, down the coastal Aurelia road (whose condition has not improved much since it was built by the Roman censor Aurelius Cotta in the third century BC). Whenever possible, I make a small detour to the Tarot Garden, the astonishing sculpture park […]
Trufflepig is pushing east, and we’re opening a new position for a Toronto-based trip-planner to head up our trip planning from Munich to Moscow. Expanding the boundaries of our trip planning eastwards from where they have so-far been stubbornly stuck in a winstub in Strasbourg will take some gumption, so this person needs to be […]
No matter how many tourists you have to plow through, or how many times you’ve already been to pay homage, the Pantheon sits in the top tier of Rome’s startlingly beautiful, historically rich, architecturally astonishing must-see attractions. Built almost 2000 years ago, the Pantheon was originally commissioned by Marcus Agrippa in the reign of Augustus […]
I have had some growing pains over the years, as I learned to use my new digital camera. It was a world of difference over film, and I humbly admit that I did, on occasion, get caught up in the allure of certain “features” the camera offered. Remember that colour bleed, where you pull just […]
Edinburgh is arguably one of the most beautiful cities in the UK. The Scottish capital is a wonderfully evocative metropolis, the old town and new town are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and the city has much in store for the intrepid visitor. As you wander along Princes Street, Edinburgh Castle towers over the city grandly, […]