Western Europe

Lake Geneva is like Switzerland in a microcosm – home to snowy mountains, beautiful wine villages, nightlife and plenty of cowbells ringing in the rolling pastureland – it’s the perfect place for a break. Housing historic castles, cathedrals and the beautiful blue lake itself, it’s the largest body of water in Switzerland; literally split in […]

One of the things I absolutely love about London is how many hidden gems there are around every corner. One of my favourites is The Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garret, so today it’s getting a full dedicated post as I love it so much. What is The Old Operating Theatre & Herb Garret? The Old Operating […]

The South Bank is one of my favourite areas in London. It’s slightly more laid back than the centre of the city across the river, and is a really nice area to spend the day, so if you’re visiting England’s capital it’s really worth spending some time in. It’s particularly lovely in the summer as […]

The first weekend in January, my husband and I embarked on our annual tradition of spending a weekend in London. Each year we choose a neighbourhood and explore it in depth, slowly trying to get through the mega city that is England’s capital. In 2024, our choice was Shoreditch. This post is actually going to […]

Back in January, I headed for my annual tradition of a weekend in London. For this trip we chose to spend our time exploring Shoreditch, East London, in depth. During the trip, we stayed at Nobu, part of the famous restaurant/hotel chain. Now, I am going to preface this review with moan. We stayed in […]

As part of Mum and Dad’s winter visit to Tromsø, they also took an overnight trip to the little island of Sommarøy, around a 1 hour ride out from Tromsø. Sommarøy in winter is truly magical, and with the sun up for only a few short hours each day, it casts a beautiful pink, gold and […]

It’s time for another familial guest appearance on the blog, and this time it’s from Travelling Mum. Travelling Mum (and Dad) were dreaming of some winter sun, and planning a break for January to escape the cold in England. They couldn’t find anything they liked, so whilst I’m not quite sure what logic was applied […]

During my recent stay at Airelles, Le Grand Contrôle, another out of hours tour I had the privilege of enjoying was of Le Petit Trianon (literally ‘the small villa’). In 1758, Louis XV decided to build a new palace in the middle of his gardens for his long term mistress Madame de Pompadour, and Le Petit […]

During my stay at Airelles, Le Grand Contr?le, a hotel within the grounds of The Palace of Versailles, I was so privileged to be able to go on an after hours tour of The King’s Apartments within the Palace. The Palace’s history is inextricably linked with Louis XIV. Although the location existed for centuries before […]

It’s nearly Christmas again and I’m not quite sure how another year has gone by. Christmas is one of my favourite times of year, and as always my last post before the main event is a little bit of festive, little bit of reflection. I’d planned a couple of Christmassy trips prior to the big […]