Located in the stunning lantern room of the Victorian 1888 ‘Home for Destitute children’ building on Sugnall Street and is merely a stones throw away from Hope Street and Liverpool city centre. This area is one of the richest areas of the city in terms of culture and arts.
Paul Askew is well known for his passion for local produce and seasonal ingredients.
Thanks dear J. for the great company.
Clos Maggiore is an oasis of calm in the heart of Covent Garden. Influenced by the stylish country inns of Provence and Tuscany the unique interiors create an unparalleled warmth and intimacy. The cherry blossomed adorned conservatory features a fully retractable glass roof creating a bright and airy dining space in summer months and in winter months it is transformed at night by candles, starlight and a crackling fire. Chef Marcellin Marc’s love of Provencal cuisine is recreated with individual style and flair.
https://goo.gl/maps/Beya8fMY7A52
The second addition to the independently owned Zetter Group’s ‘Townhouse’ boutique hotel family, the 24-bedroom Georgian townhouse and cocktail lounge enjoys an enviable location on Seymour Street in London’s fashionable Marylebone.
Feeling more like the private home of an eccentric relative than a conventional hotel & bar, the property features 24 bedrooms and an award-winning cocktail lounge, Seymour’s Parlour.
SEVEN PARK PLACE
Seven Park Place by William Drabble was launched in September 2009 and was awarded one Michelin star only one year after opening and four AA Rosettes.
In Seven Park Place William Drabble has created his own inimitable style menu, influenced by classic French cuisine, using the best British ingredients and taking inspiration from the seasons. Of course, like any great chef, William has his signature dishes, poached native lobster tail with cauliflower purée and lobster butter sauce springs to mind.
The design and décor of Seven Park Place is an elegant and intimate space, with only 26 covers and nine tables. The restaurant uses rich colours and natural fabrics in bright, jewel inspired colours, to produce a stunning backdrop for the perfect dining experience.
Walk 51 miles through the stunning Somerset countryside of the Quantock Hills, the Brendon Hills and Exmoor, a landscape that inspired Coleridge to produce some of his best known work.
From Nether Stowey on the Quantock Hills, where Coleridge lived for three years, walk:
You will travel through a variety of landscapes: heathland, moorland, deciduous & coniferous woodland, farmland, deeply wooded valleys and historic villages with expansive views over the coast towards Wales. Most villages along the route have at least one pub to provide you with welcome refreshment. There are also a number of delightful tea rooms and village shops to visit.
The Coleridge Way can be completed over six consecutive days, making it ideal for an excellent walking holiday. Stay for a few days and enjoy the high quality bed and breakfast accommodation along the way, all offering a friendly welcome and some providing a luggage transfer service to make your break even more relaxing.
The full guide:
¡HAKKASAN MAYFAIR!
www.hakkasan.com/locations/hakkasan-mayfair/
Head Chef Tong Chee Hwee oversees the kitchen, where dishes unique to Hakkasan Mayfair have been created, such as steamed New Zealand mini lobster, Black truffle roast duck, and Sliced blue abalone in Hakka sauce.
In October 2011, less than a year after opening, Hakkasan Mayfair was awarded a Michelin star.
Whereas there is another HAKKASAN at Hanway Place in London, we believe that same is not as good, just more popular and crowdy. Hakkasan Mayfair is at its best during lunch time.
For Shashi:
Out of the several excellent options for this country, we would conceive a “TOUR DE FRANCE” on a clock-wise round direction.
The only upsetting fact for anybody challenging this trip, would be daring to cover the large geography of France on a tour; as it will be impossible not to miss wonderful spots just a few milles within your proximity throughout the whole journey, because France is the perfect country (THIS IS A MUST THING TO TAKE IN MIND) “to switch-on the eco-GPS mode” and drive and stop as it goes with the flow…
If it is your 1st time in the french country-side, you will have to agree that France is truly majestic, from a natural point of view & also from a historical perspective: dozens of beautifully preserved and ancient villages will be on your route (and off your route too, unfortunately).
There is a web-site which we strongly recommend as a reference guide, (this official site lists the most beautiful villages of France). You can click the map and choose your preferred route…the whole country is spotted by true marvels:
http://www.les-plus-beaux-villages-de-france.org/fr
http://www.france-beautiful-villages.org/en
To reduce the journey towards Provence to a shorter tour, we would highlight 4 main sections which we consider not to be missed :
PROVENCE REGION, (further south would not be as pretty).
Provence has an iconic scenery such as the Italian Tuscany, or the British Cotswolds, or Cornwall.
The Provence is wonderful, specially during late spring (early June is the month of the lavender harvest collection).
Here are a few name of villages and spots which we would suggest not to be missed :
LOURMARIN, GORDES, ROUSILLON, BAUX-EN-PROVENCE, THE CASTLE OF “MARQUIS DE SADE” .
All these landscapes had inspired many impressionist painters such as Van Gogh, Matisse, Cezanne and this reason is why many impressionists made famous the Provençal colors (inspired by the natural beauty).
https://goo.gl/maps/4zwXmhTi55U2
AUVERGNE & MASSIF CENTRAL (Central Plateau of France)
This is the largest volcanic area within the whole continental Europe.
The scenery here is pretty amazing, rolling hills everywhere and extinct volcanoes which are nowadays covered by green valleys, (hence this is not a typical lava landscape; more to the contrary it is a lush green fertile area).
https://goo.gl/maps/FyZaU6NPJ3S2
Reducing this south-bound journey through MASSIF CENTRAL (direction to PROVENCE) would represent missing out Lyon city (aprox 150 milles East-bound, from the Auvergne area).
Lyon would alternatively be as worth it, considering this city is the gastronomical capital of France and arguably the worldwide coulinary capital tooconsidering that The Red Michelin Guide was born here.
The city itself is the second largest in France (together with Marseilles, same sized) and has an interesting city centre, mainly focused on upscale restaurants and a vibrant night-life.
AQUITAINE & BURDEAUX
Aquitaine has undoubtfully some of the most beautiful French Atlantic coast which only Bretagne could be able to rival.
In Aquitaine one can find unspoilt landscapes of LANDA trees (endemic from France) and The Dune of Pilat (the largest sand dune in Europe which is so emblematic that it is even being represented in some french coins).
BOURDEAUX area (close to Aquitaine) is, as everybody knows, a temple of wine. Hence, this region is spotted by pretty vineyard hills and pretty villages, all over.
https://goo.gl/maps/2FLHknNmwT32
LOIRE VALLEY
This alluring valley flows along the Loire river and is famous for all the Ancient Castles on each side of the shores of the river. Truly appealing. Specially since you can sleep in these castles. Find some fast facts of Loire in this article from the GUARDIAN:
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2014/sep/21/loire-valley-france-where-stay-eat-drink
A beautiful stop, on the way up to LOIRE VALLEY coming from the south (AQUITAINE), would be the ÎLE DE RE (near La Rochelle), but it all depends on the available time.
IMPORTANT TO NOTE:
A great alternative to LOIRE valley and aprox at the same latitude, is the amazing BRETAGNE coast, however when looking at the map, the longitude of BRETAGNE results quite large, and a long drive is necessary to reach FINISTERRE (BREST area).
Bretagne is best along the coast, (rather than in the hinterland), and remarkably beautiful are the small islands of OUESANT & BELLE ISLE EN MER.
After this overall 1st glance, one would need to plan the journeys according to the longest leg distances, which are here for further reference (BASED ON GPS- ECOLOGICAL MODE)
LONDON – CALAIS – GIVERNY (3 HOURS TRAIN + 4,5 HRS ECO DRIVE TO COVER 250 KM FROM CALAIS)
https://goo.gl/maps/FKC5t3dCto92
GIVERNY – AUVERGNE (7,5 HRS ECO DRIVE – 500 KM)
https://goo.gl/maps/MZf3J3dqLF92
AUVERGNE – PROVENCE (6,5 HRS ECO DRIVE – 400 KM)
https://goo.gl/maps/GZy8KBBvRWn
PROVENCE – LOT REGION (7 HOURS ECO DRIVE – 420 KM)
https://goo.gl/maps/LuYs89Gkfi62
LOT REGION – AQUITAINE (3 HRS ECO DRIVE – 200 KM)
https://goo.gl/maps/VdMSFcfyZT92
AQUITAINE – LOIRE VALLEY (6 HRS ECO DRIVE– 450 KM)
https://goo.gl/maps/cBuyFefosao
LOIRE VALLEY – CALAIS (7,5 HRS ECO DRIVE – 450 KM)
https://goo.gl/maps/hZTFZoY9YTB2
Choose which area might be more interesting to explore in depth…
Above proposal (suitable for a challenging road-movie short holiday) would take 7 legs of aprox 400 km.
DAY 1 & start of DAY 2 would be proposed as follows:
DAY 1. – LONDON / CALAIS (3 HRS BY TRAIN) + CALAIS / GIVERNY (4,5 HOURS ECO DRIVE – 250 km)
Claude Monet’s garden at Giverny is one of the best known gardens in France. Some of Claude Monet’s most famous works were painted in Giverny. These include his Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge paintings. The Impressionist artist lived in Giverny from 1883 until his death.
An optional place to stay overnight would be LA ROCHE-GUYON (listed as some of the most beautiful villages in France), just 11 km from Givenchy.
https://goo.gl/maps/Xzoao6aa82m
DAY 2. – STOP OVER IN VERSAILLES PALACE in the southwest out-skirts of Paris.
Distance from Giverny 65 km (55 minutes).
If you already know the Versailles Palace (a pre-booking would be worth-it) it would be ideal to continue enroute from Giverny direction southeast (avoiding the highways)…towards Massif Central /or Lyon.
For anybody challenging this tour, IBERICA MARITIMA will be delighted to give some closer “zoom-in details” as France is one of our well known neighbourhoods.
A truly fabulous greek restaurant in the heart of London where I was invited by Mrs Meike, manager of our business friends Messrs. ECONOMOU (EISA AGENCY). www.eisaagency.com/
Thank you Meike for the invitation & this wonderful tip, and thank you Irina for sharing with me a few good London restaurants where we have been together despite not all of them will be published. I still have to tip for Hakkassan Mayfair and will keep adding our new favourite discoveries.
Thank you George, thank you Yulia & thank you Tony for the great company.
http://milos.ca/restaurants/london
Google maps:
https://goo.gl/maps/U9Th3wNGyUU2
Arguably, (or possibly unarguably for those who know better than us), this is the best cantonese restaurant outside Hong Kong…All what we can assure is : Truly amazing!
Worldscape 100
THE COTSWOLDS, Countryside B&B at Chipping Norton, U.K.
www.rectoryfarm.info
The Cotswolds were designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1966, being one of the reasons, the well preserved & remarkably beautiful honey-coloured stone villages, widely spread among the rolling hills of Central England…(all of this remind us to the italian Tuscany).
AONB : http://www.landscapesforlife.org.uk/
Rectory Farm, offers luxury bed and breakfast accommodation in this area of the Cotswolds and is a secluded 270 year old, creeper-clad Country House situated in its own 450 acre valley of scenic farmland in the heart of the north Cotswolds. A charming setting for anyone seeking luxury in every sense. A natural 2 acre garden leads down to 2 cute spring-fed trout lakes (fishing can be arranged for guests) and into a unspoilt countryside beyond.
Don’t miss to note the funny & curious names of some of the COTSWOLDS villages:
SLAUGHTERS (upper & lower); BIRDLIP, GARNNY’S PUMPS…STOW ON THE WOLD
Google maps:
