The Double Red Duke, Oxfordshire

May 17, 2021

Yesterday I visited the Cotswolds for a press preview of The Double Red Duke, housed in a wisteria-covered former coaching inn dating from around the 17th century. The building has been extended by its new owners (Country Creatures, who have two other hotels in the area: The Swan Inn at Ascott-under-Wychwood and the The Chequers, Churchill) to include a light-filled garden room and restaurant. This new addition is in Clanfield, about 25 minutes’ drive from Oxford, at the southern end of the Cotswolds.

It’s a perfect getaway from London: cosy, romantic, beautifully designed, and with a menu overseen by former Hawksmoor group head chef Richard Sandiford — cooking over fire and sharing plates feature heavily. The older part of the building is a maze of snug little sitting rooms where you can hole up when the weather (inevitably, or so it seems right now) turns blustery. Even in May the log fires were welcome (as were the complimentary wellies).

A weekend at Marshal Wade’s House in Bath

February 10, 2018

In early February we were lucky enough to spend a weekend at Marshal Wade’s House in Bath, a Georgian townhouse owned by the Landmark Trust. If you’ve never come across the Landmark Trust before or looked at their website, you’re in for a treat — they’re a charity who rescue historic buildings at risk, sensitively restore them, and then let them out as holiday homes. Most of their properties are in the UK but they also own a few in France and Italy. They’re all buildings that are full of history and character, and surprisingly reasonable if you’re travelling as a family or with a group of friends. I’d been on a tour of one of their properties in Spitalfields before, but had never actually stayed in one.

Marshal Wade’s House is in the very heart of Bath, next door to Bath Abbey and opposite the Roman Baths and Pump Room. It was built in the 1720s in the Palladian style for George Wade, an architectural enthusiast and an officer in the Scottish Highlands — it was acquired in the 1970s by the Landmark Trust and restored. The ground and first floors are let to the National Trust and currently house a shop, and so you climb up to the second and third floors to access the property, which has quite simply amazing views over the Abbey.

From the windows of all the rooms you feel like you can almost touch the wonderful facade of the church, with its angels climbing up Jacob’s ladder. To watch the town gradually come to life in the early morning light as you eat breakfast and listen to the Abbey bells toll the hour is an experience I won’t forget in a hurry.

I’d been to Bath several times before, but only as a day trip from London. Staying in this very special place was the perfect way to experience Bath for a slightly longer visit. I really can’t recommend it highly enough if you’re looking for somewhere to stay that combines a central location with a sense of history. There were wonderful details, like the glass-fronted bookcase filled with everything from 19th century encyclopedias to editions of Jane Austen novels (and Claire Tomalin’s excellent biography of Jane Austen, which I started while I was there but didn’t finish, and so now have to buy!).

The Landmark Trust properties don’t necessarily come with all mod cons (so, no dishwasher or TV, no fancy shower, no wifi) but even though I was travelling with my two young children (who frankly enjoy a bit of telly!) I found this to be refreshing rather than difficult. My eldest daughter in particular was desperate to stay longer, and I think we would all have quite happily stayed there for a week.

Bath is full of things to do — we walked up to the Royal Crescent and The Circus, visited the Fashion Museum and Assembly Rooms, walked across the Pulteney Bridge, and stopped at cafes at regular intervals to escape the rain! We’d visited the Abbey and the Roman Baths the previous year, so didn’t go this time, although I’d highly recommend both if you’ve never visited Bath before.

All in all, a really special weekend in a truly magical place, and one that I’d highly recommend.

The corner of Gay and Circus. Hands down the best address ever.

Disclaimer: my stay at Marshal Wade’s House was provided by the Landmark Trust on a complimentary basis. All the views expressed in this blog post are my own.

A weekend in Zurich’s old town with Marktgasse Hotel (sponsored)

November 27, 2017

In mid-November I travelled to Zurich as a guest of Marktgasse Hotel, a historic boutique hotel in the heart of the old town. It started life as two adjoining 15th-century inns and the current building incorporates some of those heritage elements into a design-led minimalist interior that is both cosy and welcoming. Rooms are decorated with attention to detail, with welcome flourishes like Aesop products in the bathrooms and art books by the bed. In the communal area you’ll find a book-lined library and adjoining salon, a selection of teas and coffees from Schwarzenbach, whose lovely shop is just around the corner, and a fabulous selection of travel and design books and magazines for you to sit and leaf through. I ate at both its restaurant, Baltho, and its café, Delish, which was packed most of the time with locals. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay and would recommend it both for its convenient location and its comfortable charm.

A room with a view - looking out from Marktgasse Hotel

The hotel is surrounded by the winding streets and alleys of the historic old town centre by the Limmat river. I’d never been to Zurich (or indeed Switzerland) before, and it was a bit of a revelation – I hadn’t expected to find such charming streets, full of old buildings which give a flavour of Zurich’s history as a centre of trade (many of the historic guildhalls still remain) and also as a centre of religious reform. Its Protestant cathedrals are well worth a visit, both for the views (the tower at Grossmünster church has wonderful panoramic views of the city) and for their modern stained glass, with windows by Giacometti at Grossmünster and by Marc Chagall at Fraumünster.

The thing I most enjoyed was simply wandering the streets of the old town – some of the highlights were the Villa Tobler, a mansion built in 1853 with an adjoining park that is open daily to the public for free, and the streets around it, in particular Trittligasse, Neustadtgasse and Frankengasse.

Towards the river I found that the best streets for photography were Predigergasse, Neumarkt, Augustiniengasse, and Spiegelgasse. On the other side of the river you’ll find the lovely area of Schipfe, which is well worth a wander on your way up to Lindenhof, a park at the top of a hill which overlooks the city and has wonderful views, in particular at sunset.

As far as cafes go, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Confiserie Sprüngli, where I tried their café gourmand – a tasting menu of little cakes and the chocolates they’re famous for. It was hugely popular with the locals as well as tourists, and their shop on the ground floor was like an Aladdin’s cave – my children would have loved it! As it was I stocked up on honey cakes and chocolates to take home with me, as well as their famous macarons, or Luxemburgerli as they’re called.

Café Schober and opposite it the café at Schwarzenbach Kolonialwaren were also lovely places for a coffee stop near the hotel.

I feel like I only scratched the surface of Zurich, and would have loved to spend longer there exploring the areas beyond the old town – as it was I had time for a brief trip to IM Viadukt and to Frau Gerold’s Garten, but would have liked to explore those areas more. I’d also have loved to visit a few places that were recommended to me but that I didn’t have a chance to try: ACID cafe, Bank, Juicery 21, and Kindli in particular. Something to go back for!

Disclaimer: I travelled to Zurich courtesy of Marktgasse Hotel. However the views and opinions expressed in this blog post are my own and it has not been drafted in collaboration with the hotel.

The old town and the Limmat from Grossmünster