What would Johnny Hodges think of the Montreux Jazz Festival? Born in 1906, Johnny Hodges’s became the most famous featured soloist in Duke Ellington’s orchestra for over 40 years. Renowned for the beauty of his tone and his mastery of ballads, Hodges was among the most influential saxophone players in the history of jazz. He also had a penchant for detail, commissioning some of the worlds most elegantly detailed, bespoke saxophones in the world.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock or have just emerged from the Burmese jungle, the beauty of the Cotswolds probably isn’t lost on you. You’ll have been briefed on its sleepy pubs and honeycomb-coloured grand piles, so you won’t need my all-encompassing sales pitch to convince you of its restorative charm. In my experience, though, one does need a good sherpa of sorts: a wise man to guide you through the alpaca fields and the orchards to the decent pubs and eateries. With little time left in the diary late last year, and my significant other spending Christmas with her family overseas, it was the last chance we would…
There are few places in the world that I have resisted going to, even with my insatiable travel appetite. One of those places, I’m embarrassed to admit, is Ibiza. Yes, I know the Ibiza groupies will be shaking in their itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny beachwear. But the all-night rave culture, combined with its rebellious Peter Pan spirit has not drawn me into the annual pilgrimage of beautiful people, who religiously pay homage to the White Isle’s shrine of eternal youth. I can party with the best of them, and who doesn’t love a bit of sparkle, glitz and glamour, but its reputation as the frenetic clubbing capital of the world and the most…
One of the challenges of our era is to find a balance of using precious downtime to travel and discover new places whilst recharging for the frenetic pace of normal life. This is even more testing when it’s a city break but I might have found a balance amongst the digital haze. I love Venice, but if there is one quibble with this magnificent city, it’s that its popularity combined with its architectural nature can make the overall experience feel quite intense, compact and busy. The recently-opened JW Marriott Venice Resort and Spa is the perfect antidote to the hustle and bustle of this rich destination. A place that is far from…
Having worked in marketing for many years, I take an interest in the branding of products and what the companies behind them choose as a name. It’s is often quite revealing, as to the intentions or perception that a company has for its product. You must also bear in mind that it sets a level of expectation for the consumer – so when a bold claim is made, they had better back it up. One such claim is naming your hotel group Shangri-La. Novelist John Hilton (no link) came up with the concept in his 1933 novel, Lost Horizon. It was described as a mythical place at the western-end of…
The idea of a sneaky few days away to a boutique country house hotel in the midst of Autumn with long walks, roaring fires, healthy food and the opportunity to be pampered at the same time is my idea of heaven. Add to this that it’s at Robin Hutson’s Lime Wood Hotel in the heart of the New Forest and I am taken to a different dimension altogether. Forgive me if I sound a bit like a Robin Hutson cheerleader, but quite frankly I am. For me Mr Hutson sits in the realm of hotelier aristocracy and if there is ever a lifelong achievement award as thanks from all of…
The fascination of ‘taking the waters’ for health and well-being seems to be imprinted in the human condition. From the Turkish baths of the Ottoman Empire, and the great bathhouses of the Roman Empire, to the modern sophisticated spa, we have used water as part of many social, physical and spiritual rituals. Hot springs, cold springs, sulphur springs, sea water, river water, mountain water: this precious natural commodity has provided external and internal therapy for every generation and culture. To review Evian, the source of one of the world’s best-known mineral waters, and home to the renovated Evian Resort, I jumped on the short flight to Geneva, crossing over the…
Many a revolutionary idea has been born out of Maslow’s hierarchy of need. In 2007, Joe Gebbia emailed his roommate, Brian Chesky with a quick scheme to make an easy buck. “I thought of a way to make a few bucks – turning our place into a “designers bed and breakfast”. If you don’t know the story of Silicon Valley’s newest member of the unicorn club then you really need to pick up a copy of the FT more often. Airbnb made waves, 100ft, see it from the beach and start running grade waves. I can’t really say I had any reservations about modern day sofa surfing, after all, the…
