For those familiar with the suburbs of Newcastle, NSW they will immediately spot the interloper amongst these. So, yes, we are in Cornwall. Wild camping on the wilds of Dartmoor had been my first night's goal but the lack of easily accessible tracks which didn't lead to some isolated farmhouse was making this dream look next to impossible. This coupled with a cutting wind (this is mid-Summer?) made us shrug our shoulders and follow a brown camping sign. We dismissed the first site at the back of The Plume of Feathers in the middle of a village and pressed on. As we drove away the large, grey, forbidding building which Graeme had mistakenly thought was some kind of factory suddenly morphed into the famous Dartmoor prison – the centrepiece of the village. Prison land everywhere. What ... read more

What a coup! What coup? The Velvet Revolution? No, the mere fact of gathering all three girls and us together on one continent, in one country, in one city and even in one apartment. So it happened in Prague. Engineered; not by happenstance, I might add. So who did we choose to show us around this wonderfully photogenic city? Who would show us some different things and give us some quirky information about this jewel of the Czech Republic? Filip was his name. He was the irrepressible, bouncy, pogo person who we were hoping we would not have as we waited with the Sandeman's free tours group. Enthusiasm I like, effervescence in a guide I was not sure of. But young Filip, born in 1989, the year of the aforementioned Velvet Revolution proved himself to be ... read more

Gaining access to the castle in Calitri had proved impossible for six years for the cousin and his intended. Thwarted by irregular opening hours they prepared us for the possibility that it just might not happen. A chance meeting at the Manhattan restaurant, where we went for pizza one night and incidentally where the UEFA cup match between Real Madrid and Bayern was being beamed for the edification of local football enthusiasts, with Titti Lampariello ensured that we would have our very own Saturday morning guided tour. Titti works at the Tourist Information Centre as a volunteer and said she would be more than delighted to show us round. The door to the ceramics museum at the base of the castle was open, the main gate was not. The castle caretaker was nowhere to be seen. ... read more

After completing auditions for the remake of the Italian Job we dropped down into a mist-laden valley hiding the ski and summer resort of Lago di Laceno. Between seasons, a ghost resort with nary an animal grazing to break the eerie silence. In Summer it is hard to find a picnic spot, competing with vast family groups bar-be-queing, spit-roasting, pasta boiling and generally cavorting. Snaking down through more heavily wooded forests once favoured by Neapolitan mafia in days gone by, we hit the cobbled streets of Bagnoli Irpino. Even through driving rain its picturesque qualities shone through. It should be, said my cousin, the amount of EU money that has been thrown at it. Narrowing into a lane we turned a corner more suited to pedestrians than motor vehicles. The strange purpose built town of Conza ... read more

Overwhelmed by Victorian pomposity;baroque, roccoco, romanesque, byzantine and modern design, and ultimately aching hips I took a seat looking down the Sacred Silver and Stained Glass Collection Room and contemplated the amassing of all these art and design treasures in the magnificent Victoria and Albert Museum. Colonialism, imperialism and conviction of unshakeable right has allowed us to see such diverse pieces as the incredible Ardabil silken carpet, an example of Iranian artistry of the 1530s, to Tipu's Tiger, a mechanical wooden sculpture from the 1790s in India. Ethics cast aside one is able to marvel at an Italian chapel, a French medieval staircase and Chinese statuary. So here we have Art and Design over the centuries. Built or created to impress, to advertise wealth and promote greed of ownership. Avarice never having been one of my ... read more