Half past ten on a Tuesday night in late September, parked on a gravel pull-off by Kleifarvatn lake, engine off. Our guests, a couple from Singapore celebrating twenty years of marriage, had been asleep in their Reykjavík hotel forty minutes earlier. Now they stood beside our van holding cups of hot chocolate, staring at what […]

A client once asked me, on the 14th tee at Cape Kidnappers, why nobody had mentioned his handicap all week. I told him I had stopped listening for it around day three. He looked almost relieved. That doesn’t mean golf is incidental on these trips. It isn’t. Tee times, slope ratings, signature holes all matter […]

Few voyages combine spectacular scenery with such a strong sense of place as Hebridean Island Cruises’ Lord of the Highlands. This intimate 19-cabin ship feels more like a floating Scottish country house than a conventional cruise liner; complete with polished wood interiors, tartan touches and a welcoming crew who quickly know every guest by name.  Sailing […]

A client wants a six-bedroom villa near Santa Gertrudis for the second week of August, with a heated pool and room to seat fourteen for dinner. The advisor has until the end of the day to come back with options before the client’s attention wanders to another agency. Whether the answer takes twenty minutes or […]

Ask ten charter guests why they picked the French Riviera and you’ll get ten different answers, and that’s really the point of this coastline. Unlike a lot of Mediterranean destinations that have one clear identity, this stretch of water between St Tropez and Nice changes character every twenty or thirty nautical miles. I’ve had clients […]

We never miss the opportunity to visit Hoi An and Danang as they are two of our favourite destinations in Vietnam, whilst the fact that they are just 30km apart makes it perfect to combine them as part of the same trip. From the picturesque streets and UNESCO heritage of Hoi An Ancient Town to […]

The UK countryside is much-loved by both residents and visitors alike. Famed for its beauty, the rural landscape of the British Isles is home to lush, green landscapes that are the envy of many other parts of the world. As well as being home to a number of stunning national parks, the UK is a […]

A client called me from outside Noema at twenty past nine on a Tuesday evening in August. He had a reservation for nine o’clock. He had been at the villa when he should have been in the car, and he had spent the intervening twenty minutes standing in a road with no reliable pavement trying […]

On 7th June 1930, a young Alfred Wainwright – then in his early twenties – went on a day trip to Windermere and decided to climb a nearby hill. The panoramic view from the top transformed his life forever. That summit was Orrest Head, just a short, 15-minute drive from our luxury holiday apartment at […]

Let me tell you about a call I received one July, about four days before a client’s arrival in Mykonos. He had booked a villa through a well-known platform. Magnificent photographs. Strong reviews. Considerable money paid. And then, four days out, the owner rang to say it was not available. Double booking. The platform was […]