Here’s how to navigate Chelsea Flower Show season properly from the gardens worth your time to where to eat, drink and soak up the atmosphere afterwards. Chelsea during flower show week feels like London at its absolute best. Flowers spill onto pavements, restaurants suddenly become impossible to book, everyone stays outside slightly longer with a glass of something cold, and for one week only, the whole neighbourhood feels different. As a London-based wine journalis

Certain travel experiences feel quintessentially Italian. Drinking espresso standing at a bar. Wandering sun-drenched piazzas at golden hour. Ordering a plate of pasta so good that you immediately start planning your next trip back. And then there’s discovering a wine window in Florence. Tucked into the walls of historic palazzos across the city, Florence’s famous wine windows, known locally as buchette del vino, are one of Tuscany’s most charming traditions. I finally f

It's the moment of the year I love when the new vintage starts arriving on shelves and the spring has sprung. The 2025s are here, and there is a lot to get excited about. Provence rosé is back in force. Two of my favourites have just landed: the new Mirabeau, which keeps getting more refined year on year, and Château Léoube — quietly one of the most beautifully made rosés in Provence, organic, coastal, and a long way from the supermarket pink shelf. If you've been buying t

The oldest wine I’ve ever tasted was a 1996 Vorberg from Cantina Terlan, nearly 30 years old, and it was, without exaggeration, one of the most remarkable white wines I’ve ever experienced. Still incredibly alive. Still vibrant. Still completely compelling. Taste: Textural, nutty, melon, honeydew. Voluptuous, layered, and bright. The kind of wine that makes you stop mid-sip.

If you love wine, you need to try sake like this. Sake cocktails in London are one of those experiences that completely change how you think about sake. If you are used to wine, this is an easy and exciting step into something lighter, more aromatic, and unexpectedly elegant. At Sticks'n'Sushi, sake is treated with the same care as wine. The result is sake cocktails that are crisp, floral, lifted, and beautifully balanced. They are not heavy or overpowering, instead they

This is the kind of restaurant you tell your friends about immediately, especially if you love bold flavours, Thai food in London, and standout Borough Market restaurants. Tucked into the heart of Borough Market, Kolae brings the fire and intensity of Southern Thailand to London in the most unforgettable way. This is not subtle dining; it is food with confidence, heat, and personality in every single dish.

One of the things I’ve learnt travelling through Tuscany is that the most interesting stories are rarely the loudest ones.They sit slightly to the side.Just beyond the well-known names. In Val d’Orcia, between Brunello di Montalcino and Montepulciano, that’s exactly where I found them. This part of southern Tuscany is everything you imagine it to be, rolling hills, cypress-lined roads, soft winter light, but it’s also where a quieter shift is happening.Less about prestige.

Skiing the Dolomites isn’t just about the slopes, it’s about where you eat, drink, and soak up the mountain atmosphere. The food scene in the Dolomites is just as memorable as the skiing itself, with everything from high-altitude fine dining to lively après-ski spots that turn into late afternoon parties. Here is my ultimate dining guide for eating and drinking in the Dolomites and Alto Badia.

One of the most underrated white wines in Italy — and a personal favourite of mine- is Vernaccia di San Gimignano. In a region globally celebrated for powerful reds, this historic Tuscan white quietly holds its own, offering depth, texture and remarkable ageing potential. If you’re searching for the best white wines of Tuscany, this is where I’d start. Expect aromas of lemon peel, ripe pear, crushed almonds and wild Mediterranean herbs. On the palate, it’s dry, structured

Think Tuscany is only for sun-soaked summers and golden wheat fields? Think again. A winter trip to Val d’Orcia reveals a quieter, moodier, more cinematic side of the region, one that feels deeply authentic, atmospheric and wonderfully unhurried. This UNESCO World Heritage landscape, famous for its rolling hills, cypress-lined roads and storybook hill towns, transforms in winter. Morning mist settles in the valleys, olive groves shimmer silver in low light, and sunset turn

Winter in Montalcino and Montepulciano is a different kind of magic, softer, slower, and infinitely more atmospheric. If you’re considering a winter trip to southern Tuscany, particularly in the weeks leading up to Christmas, expect fewer crowds, mist-laced mornings and that low golden light photographers dream about. The medieval streets feel almost cinematic, with wood smoke curling into the cool air and church bells echoing across nearly empty piazzas.

I recently returned from a trip to South Africa where I was lucky enough to visit some wonderful wineries! Creation Wines is just twenty years old but has quickly become one of the most exciting wineries in the Western Cape. Set amidst verdant gardens in the heart of Walker Bay set up by married couple JC and Carolyn (who separately hail from wine-making families in Switzerland and Stellenbosch) who have done an incredible job turning a bare piece of farmland into biodiverse