SHERBORNE Travel Writing Festival has never felt more important than this year, when our international travel possibilities seem so fragile and risky. Over the weekend 10th to 12th April, speakers at the Powell Theatre in Abbey Road will take audiences on journeys of adventure, history, nature, deep into today’s fractured and dangerous world. Curated by…
THE 2026 programmes of Banff Mountain Film Festival screenings are touring the UK, and local dates continue throughout the year. The short films range from extreme climbing and kayaking to mountain biking and other dazzling adventures in wild places. With extreme climbing, kayaking, mountain biking and the one of the world’s most gruelling races, the…
WHEN we were young, salt came in an instantly recognisable tin, with a cute little pouring “beak” and a drawing of a child chasing a chicken and pouring salt on it. Nowadays, a tin like the one illustrated here is a collector’s item! Salt has been an essential in the human diet since the earliest…
LIKE most regions of Italy, Friuli Venezia Giulia has no shortage of attractions for visitors but one of its most appealing is what is NOT there … hordes of tourists. Friuli, as it is known – if it is known at all – is sometimes called ‘Secret Italy’ because of its location, perched at the…
HAVE you ever wondered how Saffron Walden got its name? Or why Saffron cake is one of Cornwall’s most famous dishes? Nowadays most saffron is grown in Spain and Iran, but for centuries, England had a flourishing saffron industry, whose roots are largely lost in time and myth. In her new book, Fool’s Gold: A…
THINK of Devon and food and you instantly picture cream teas and the finest fresh fish, but the county has a lot more to offer on the culinary front, from brewery tours to wine tasting to food festivals. Here’s a taste of what’s available across the county this spring and summer: Brewery Tour at Salcombe…
AS the second season of Gentleman Jack returns to our screens, the interest of the audience will once again turn to Shibden Hall, the beautiful Tudor house where Miss Anne Lister grew up, and where she lived with her aunt, uncle and sister – when she wasn’t travelling, usually with her lover and wife, Ann…
APPLES and the drinks we make from them have an ancient history, buried deep both in the wild fruit forests of Kazakhstan and in European myths and legends. There is something irresistible and indomitable about our mutual relationship. Here’s a story from Ukraine, via the American food website and newsletter Broken Palate. It is both…
VENICE is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Perhaps the most beautiful. And it has some famous (and famously expensive) hotels and restaurants. But with the emphasis on seafood, of course, and the traditional dishes such as fegato, it doesn’t have any kind of vegetarian food culture. So when we went to…
THERE was a time when the only spices in the average kitchen were nutmeg, pepper (usually white and finely ground) and possibly cinnamon. Names such as baharat, sumac or zaatar were, literally, foreign to the average British cook. Tastes and cooking knowledge have moved on hugely and nowadays, in part thanks to inventive and inspiring…