How cute is Tobermory? It’s the main town on Mull, famed for its coloured buildings and role as Balamory on CBeebies (catchiest theme tune ever). Tobermory was built as a fishing port in the 18th Century and has lots of nice independent fish restaurants (don’t tell Rick Stein), a few great pubs, a fish and chip van, […]
Drove back from Scotland last night, ending a tour of Glasgow, Mull, Perthshire, Glasgow again. I feel sad to have left, revived to have been. Does everyone have a particular type of landscape that stirs them the most? Mine are the scenes that I learnt early on – sometimes slightly bleak, often with rain. Scenes […]
There were two things that blew my mind when I visited my old school friend in Paris years and years ago: Her tiny perfect rented flat, filled as it was with flea market furniture. And, the discovery of the city beach… I read that 5,000 tons of sand is transported by barge from Normandy to […]
The roofs of some shops in Herne Hill. Actually, just a handful of the 30 roofs along Norwood Road and Railton Road, which The Urban Wild Project plans to plant with sedum over the next 3 years. The ambitious green roof project is the first of its kind from the organisation, which is run by […]
Like all good travel reports, my Sardinian highlights focus on the plants on people’s balconies and also, pink and yellow buildings. First, here’s a quick swatch of the beach where we spent most days, just south of the island’s capital Cagliari. To the left, a lagoon for breeding flamingos – I never saw any here, […]