travel

Cliveden Literary Festival: History, Politics, and Decadence at Cliveden House

4th September 2017 by Gemma Leave a Comment

Cliveden House Hotel (photo from Luxurious Magazine)cliveden literary festival

One of my many interests is visiting stately homes and historic residences. There’s a few of them in London, but the remarkably grand ones are outside the capital, far from any form of public transport. Palatial houses come with extensive grounds and beautiful gardens after all.

My husband and I keep a list of houses we want to visit but we’ve never come across Cliveden House. It is jointly owned and looked after by the National Trust and Iconic Luxury Hotels. The former handles the gardens and the grounds while the latter manages the house as a luxury hotel.

Imagine my delight when I was asked to look around the place in anticipation of the Cliveden Literary Festival!

So why hold one at Cliveden House? That would involve some history-telling, so bear with me and I’ll try to keep this as short as possible!…

Photo Log: Things To Do In Santander

28th February 2017 by Gemma 2 Comments

Santander, in case you were not aware, is not part of the Spanish Basque region. It is the capital of Cantabria, a different area altogether, but also lies along the northern coast. The city is roughly two hours by bus from Bilbao. things to do in santander

Santander is not a city that would pop in a tourist’s mind. What are entertaining things to do in Santander, anyway?

However, I have a somewhat personal connection to it: one of my lovely colleagues that I used to work with was born and bred in Santander….

Photo Log: Bilbao 2016

21st February 2017 by Gemma 4 Comments

Around the same time last year, we went to Northern Spain, somewhat skirting the coast of the Bay of Biscay for a week. We flew into Bilbao, took a bus to San Sebastián and spent most of our time there, then another bus to Santander, before returning to Bilbao to see the city for two days then flew back to London. This post has photos from Bilbao so I’m obviously going backwards — it was a bit easier to sort out the photos this way!

Bilbao is the biggest city of the Basque Country, or Euskal Herria in Basque. The Basque Region includes three provinces in France (Northern Basque) and three/four in Spain (Southern Basque — someone correct me, please, as to whether Navarre is definitely in Basque?).

When you hear of Bilbao, is the Guggenheim Museum the first thing you of? I wouldn’t blame you because that’s what came to my mind too. It’s the most architecturally imposing building in the centre of the city, and its very modern design rises quite singularly from the other buildings around it. …