ITALY
PORTO  ERCOLE
IL PELLICANO

I am as affected by the weather as the next man. During my one hundred mile drive from Rome to Porto Ercole, it rained. It should not have been raining. The season and the location positively forbade rain. But no-one had communicated this prohibition to the black clouds overhead. So it rained. Indeed, it poured, for hour after long hour. My spirits sank as surely as my handling of the hire car deteriorated. It was therefore something of a minor miracle that, having negotiated the final, winding couple of miles from Porto Ercole to the exclusive locality known as Lo Sbarcatello, I suddenly felt quit cheerful. The reason was that I knew immediately that I had arrived at a great hotel. Even though sodden, the gardens were pristine and exquisitely manicured. Within, the entrance lobby was a carefully modulated statement of luxury and good taste, from the handmade tiles on its floor to the plump silk cushions on its sofas. I smiled and I felt at home, as so many do when they come here. It is called the ‘Il Pellicano effect’.

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UNITED KINGDOM
SOMERSET
BATH  (COLERNE,  WILTSHIRE)
LUCKNAM  PARK

Deep down, I have always wanted a mile-long drive to my country house. The thought of turning through high gates and then trundling further and further away from the noise and bother of the troublesome world, through my own hundreds of acres, is appealing in a way which is quintessentially English. Herein is neither ostentation nor vulgarity: it is simply the desire to be at rest in the gentle countryside which is the pride of our nation. Ideally, the drive would be lined with mature trees, and it would lead to an 18th Century mansion of modest size but exquisite proportions. Its interior would welcome the visitor with comfortable furnishings, expressive of a refined sensibility, and the hospitality within its walls would stir in every departing guest the urge to return. If this is your desire, too, I have good news for you: it is all on offer at a wonderful hotel eight miles from the city of Bath – Lucknam Park.

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ITALY
MILAN
RISTORANTE SADLER

The Milanese are a proud people. Truth to tell, they have a great deal to be proud about. Milan’s vast Gothic cathedral is an architectural wonder of Europe; its opera house, La Scala, is rightly regarded as among the most important in the world; on the wall of one of its convents is arguably mankind’s greatest artistic achievement, The Last Supper; and its designers and their shops are revered by everyone, everywhere, who has an interest in fashion. In Milan everyone cares about beauty, style and good taste. It is no surprise, then, that the city houses a chef of remarkable brilliance. What is startling is that he has an English name.

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