Spring In Morocco 2025 – Day 2. Casablanca & Rabat


We left Marrakesh after breakfast and drove 245 kms. on the A3 to Casablanca and then to Rabat. We visited the Hassan II Mosque and its ablutions hall in Casablanca with an excellent English-speaking local guide. The mosque is one of the largest in the world and sits on an outcrop jutting over the ocean.…

Spring In Morocco 2025 – Day 1: Beaming Down


In March 2025, we visited Morocco for the first time, and spent two-weeks on an extensive tour with Exodus Adventure Holidays. That Sunday morning, Freedom Airport Taxis took us to Leeds/Bradford Airport from Harrogate to catch the 07.25 am Ryanair flight to Menara Airport in Marrakesh. It is the only direct flight from Leeds/Bradford to…

Tasting At Hambledon Vineyard


Early in April, we were delighted to accept an invitation from John Fells & Sons to visit Hambledon Vineyard for a tasting. We drove to London, took the train to Petersfield and a taxi to the vineyard. We could see the South Downs ancient chalky soil as we neared Hambledon. The welcome at the winery…

Autumn In The Azores. Day 1 – Beaming Down


In September 2024, we spent two weeks in the Azores Archipelago, sometimes called “The Other Eden.” It consists of nine volcanic islands situated in the Atlantic Ocean, mid-way between Europe and America. The islands were discovered and settled by Portugal in 1427. We drove to Gatwick Airport from Harrogate, left our car with Maple Parking…

Spring in Kleinbottwar – 2024


Kleinbottwar is a pretty little village in the Württemburg wine region of Germany and is known principally for its Riesling wines. There are three adjoining Grosse Lage-classified vineyards in the area on a southwest- and south-facing hillside to the northeast of the village, on low-yielding, stony Keuper soils. In the middle of the three, Süssmund is one of Württemburg’s…

Sri Lanka 2024: Sembuwatte Lake & Hunnas Falls


In February 2024, I spent 3 days at Elkaduwa between Kandy & Matale, visiting Sembuwatte Lake and Hunnas Falls Beaming Down We left scorchingly hot Colombo at 6 in the morning and drove towards Kandy on the A1, stopping at Leone Cafe in Weweldeniya for a breakfast of hoppers, curries and tea. Green View Holiday…

Christmas 2022


We spent ten days over Christmas in Kleinbottwar – a pretty little wine village in the Württemburg region of Germany on the Murr river, around five kilometres northeast of its confluence with the Neckar river. Christmas Festivities started on the 23rd. Hot Glühwein was drunk with sausages in the evening with neighbours. There were heaps of…

A Summer’s Day In Kleinbottwar


Kleinbottwar Kleinbottwar is a small village in the Baden-Württemberg wine region of Germany. It lies halfway between Ludwigsburg and Heilbronn on the Murr river and is an outlying district of the town Steinheim an der Murr. The Summer of 2022 was sunny and hot. In the last week of August, I spent two days at my son’s house…

Summer In Jura – 5. Château Chalon


The hilltop village of Château Chalon on the Premier Plateau with vineyards on the slopes below it is a wine village in the Château-Chalon AOC in Jura, 37 km north of Clairvaux-les-lacs. The AOC, created in 1936, is regarded as the unofficial grand cru for vin jaune of the Jura. The soil is grey marl and there are…