Posted on
York in North Yorkshire, England, has a fascinating history, beautiful architecture, a fabulous selection of places to eat and drink and there's plenty to see and do. It's one of my most loved cities and here is a brief list of some of my favourite things to do in York.
Posted on
Baglioni Hotel
April has been another busy month which has involved some delicious scone eating in London, Birmingham and Exeter and saw me trying scones with nutella, I will give you my verdict about that shortly.
Posted on
On Christmas Eve, 24th December 1914 Agatha Miller married Archie Christie, her first husband, at Emmanuel Church, Guthrie Road, Clifton, Bristol. On a recent visit to the city I did a bit of research to identify the location of the church only to discover, like in all good detective novels, that things were not as they first appeared to be.
Posted on
This month's scone blog saw me making a return visit to To A Tea. To my deep shame as a City Guide, I have to confess to only recently discovering this delightful tea emporium in the City of London but it has quickly become one of my favourite tearooms. 
Posted on
Old Swan Hotel - Harrogate
Earlier this month I fulfilled my long standing wish to stay at the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate which has connections with the mysterious disappearance of Agatha Christie, the Queen of Crime.
On the evening of 3rd December 1926 Agatha left her home in Sunningdale and her 4 seater Morris Cowley car was later found abandoned at Newlands Corner in Surrey. By this time Agatha was aged 36 years old and was already a successful crime writer and her 6th novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd had just been published. Her sudden disappearance attracted both national and worldwide interest. The search for Agatha was the largest manhunt of the time, involving over 1,000 police officers and civilians, and reputedly the first search in England to use airplanes. Arthur Conan Doyle (author of Sherlock Holmes) gave a medium one of her gloves in the hope of locating her, however Agatha's whereabouts remained a mystery for several days.
Posted on
This month’s scone blog features four fabulous places to enjoy scones. I started off with a visit to the Delaunay Counter which is one of my favourite cake places in London. The Counter is a separate eat in/ take away deli, adjacent to The Delaunay Restaurant, and its menu is inspired by the grand cafes of central Europe. I often stop by for tea and cake but I have been curious to try their afternoon tea which is offered at an unbelievable price of just £12.95, so how could I resist!
Posted on
Today Mackintosh Architecture opens at RIBA (The Royal Institute of British Architects) and is on until Saturday 23 May 2015. Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868 – 1928), the Scottish architect and artist, is one of the most influential designers of the late 19th and early 20th century and this exhibition devoted to his work features over 60 original drawings, models and films. This is one of the exhibitions I am most looking forward to seeing in London this year as Mackintosh is very special to me as it was discovering more about his work that started my passion for architecture and design, particularly my appreciation of modernist styles.
Mackintosh was born in Glasgow and most of his surviving work can be found in his home city. In 2006 Wendy Jo, dear friend and fellow CRM lover, and I visited Glasgow and joined the Mackintosh in Style weekend organised by the CRM Society. The weekend was amazing as we visited so many wonderful buildings so I thought I’d post a few photos of our trip.
Posted on
Happy New Year everyone and welcome to Scones of the Year. It's now 12 months since I started Scones of the Month and today I'm announcing my top 10 favourite places to have scones in London in 2014. It's been a difficult dilemma as there are really so many wonderful places to chose from however these are some of my personal favourites, in no particular order, although I have saved my overall favourite to the last. Enjoy...
Posted on
Bond and Brook
In this final edition of Scones of the Month for 2014 I have included four reviews, including one I enjoyed on a day trip to Cambridge. I was lucky that December started with two consecutive days of afternoon tea #bliss. The first one was a visit to Bond and Brook, the second floor restaurant in Fenwick, the department store on New Bond Street.
Posted on
Mrs Mallowan, aka Agatha Christie, lived in Wallingford, Oxfordshire for many years and is buried in nearby Cholsey. In my quest to visit the key locations associated with the world's best selling author of all time, I made a visit to the town to discover its Christie connections.