Louise and I are comfortably installed in a pretty “bastide” on a hillside facing the medieval village Saint-Paul de Vence in the South of France. It is home to the Michelin-starred chef Alain Llorca. Last night we enjoyed a truly exceptional dinner which included the best plate of asparagus we have ever eaten. The spears, spanking fresh, came with a [...]
Archive for February, 2012
Alain Llorca: Garlanded by Michelin, sneered at by TripAdvisor
Posted in Hotels & Restaurants, Uncategorized, tagged Alain Llorca, La Colle sur Loup, La Colombe d'Or, Michelin Guide, My Archipelago, Saint-Paul de Vence, The Castle at Taunton, TripAdvisor on February 27, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
TripAdvisor. A game of love and hate.
Posted in Hotels & Restaurants, Uncategorized, tagged My Archipelago, The Castle at Taunton, TripAdvisor on February 25, 2012 | 4 Comments »
Hoteliers and restaurateurs rage on about TripAdvisor. It used to be the guide books. Now, in this electronic world, print is surrendering to the internet. My view on TripAdvisor? I am an agnostic. It has become part of our lives. It will endure. So we had better get used to it and stop whingeing. It’s so much easier, isn’t it, [...]
Music. Food. Love. The Chilingirian Quartet plays Schubert at The Castle
Posted in Hotels & Restaurants, Music, Uncategorized, tagged Bernard Gregor-Smith, Music at The Castle, My Archipelago, Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" Quartet, Schubert's String Quintet in C D956, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, The Castle at Taunton, The Chilingirian Quartet on February 17, 2012 | 2 Comments »
At the start of another Music Weekend – this year is our 36th season – I am reminded of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Duke Orsino’s opening muse, “If music be the food of love, play on, Give me excess of it…” These festivals are special. I launched them in 1977 to fill otherwise empty bedrooms over dreary winter weekends and we [...]
Brussels fiddles while Athens burns.
Posted in Politics, Society, Uncategorized, tagged Brussels, European Union, Eurozone crisis, Greece, My Archipelago, The Castle at Taunton on February 15, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Greece, my Motherland, is close to anarchy and social collapse. The Greek people – the poorer classes that is - are close to despair. Meanwhile, the rich have been quietly shipping their cash reserves out of the country… an estimated 85 billion euros over the past few months. Much of this wealth is landing in London. Estate agents in Knightsbridge, [...]
