Bath is my favourite British city to visit, especially in the snow. It is small enough to walk round; beautiful when the winter sun glints off the buildings; there are plenty of independent, quirky shops for loitering; and my treat veggie restaurant, Demuths, for dinner.
Demuths has its own cookery school and I treated myself to their Edible Gifts Workshop. This was the perfect combination of making it yourself and eating as you make!. We made dark chocolate, rum-truffles; white chocolate and pistachio snowflakes; then chocolate coated peppermint creams & caramelized hazelnuts. We learned to create perfect cantuccini and mince pies; a delicious chilli and persimmon jam plus an infused cranberry gin that looked lovely and tasted divine. What I don’t eat when I make it at home will be amazing homemade presents.
To sate my Christmas fetish, I also joined Demuths Christmas Cookery Course to get more imaginative with that standard and somewhat unexciting dinner. Brace yourselves parents and in-laws. We created a centre piece Moroccan style bastilla, to go with saffron roasted parsnips and griddled squash and fennel, followed by an over the top Dark Chocolate and Chestnut Roule. And we will start with that cranberry gin I have just decided not to give away this year.
It is in a listed Georgian building with gloriously distracting views of the Abbey from back windows.

www.vegetariancookeryschool.com
6 Terrace Walk, Bath, BA1 1LN
+44(0)1225427938
Google map: bit.ly/w3V80q

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Between Covent Garden and the Thames, down Villiers St off the historic Strand awaits Gordon’s Wine Bar. This is London’s oldest wine bar and must be one of the world’s best. Visiting Gordon’s is a unique experience of London’s history. Before becoming a wine bar in 1890, the building was home to Samuel Pepys and also an illustrious brothel or two. Outside, in Villiers St, the building now has the appearance of a deserted and condemned old building from Dickensian London and is often unrecognised by the most dedicated visitors. The only clue is the dusty original gas-lit lamp above the door, labelled “Gordon’s Wine Bar”. Take the narrow steps down into the unlikely darkness.
The bar has the appearance and feel of a dark basement untouched since Pepys left. Nicotine stained walls of tongue-n-groove boards, history-stained stone floors, and rickety tables and chairs under the low, brick-domed ceiling of the original wine cellars are not retro but original features. Candles light the reticent faces of illicit encounters. The staff are efficient and friendly and pull schooners and beakers of sherry, Madeiras, or port from the barrels stacked behind the bar. Excellent wines are also available by bottle or glass. Recently homemade food has been introduced, and the tables spill out into Watergate Walk to the side. But stay indoors to enjoy the uniqueness and excellence of Gordon’s Wine Bar, and drink deep the history of London.

www.gordonswinebar.com/
47 Villiers Street, London WC2N 6NE
+44(0)20 7930 1408
Google map: bit.ly/yoMnP7

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

A carefully positioned tent at Nash Point will be flicked by the reassuring red-beam from the adjacent Trinity-lighthouse every 10 seconds, all night. Just 100m off shore, the historic bell on the buoy warns of the start of the treacherous Nash Sands and tolls sleepily with the change of tides as the rip between the sands and the shore speeds and slows. Such magic tent-nights. Below the cliffs are limestone pavements as old as creation, studded with myriad fossils, notably ammonites filled with star-sparkling quartz crystals. Steps in the pavements are lined with smooth, grey, stone balls, rolled by the perfect waves of history, while the cliffs above are layered limestone blocks as neat as a bricklayer’s. An Iron Age hill-fort guards the easy path from campsite to the beach. To the West stretches a clean, yellow-sanded beach with gentle water for swimming but no crowds. Cliff walks run West and East and are wildflower heaven.
The grassed campsite is a courtesy of the local farmer, and arranged by the local villagers serving strong tea and home-made Welsh cakes in the entrance to the clifftop car park. There are no facilities, but with the lighthouse and the bell for company, and fossils for entertainment, what else do you need?

Nash Point is on the Vale of Glamorgan Heritage Coast, near Marcross and Monknash, between Barry and Dunraven, CF61 1ZH, Wales
Google map: bit.ly/m4NoHo

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Naxos is a glorious antidote to the Greek beach experience. The largest and most agricultural of the Cyclades, it has an active present and a crowded history, that intertwine offering myriad pleasures. The ferry from Pireaus or other islands stops at the capital, Hora, a bustling port. High above the port is the ancient Venetian citadel of Kastro that has just been restored alluringly with millions of Euros. The central Tragaea plateau is the treat. Here a milder climate and friendly villagers welcome walkers. Aged olive and fig trees shade byzantine churches linked by ancient paths and tracks joining the villages. Halki keeps alive the unique citron distilling; Filoti spreads in the lee of Mt Zeus, the highest mountain in the Cyclades and excellent walking; Apiranthos exhibits the local marble in steep stairs and paving while offering wildflower walks and giddy sea views to the East. The plateau has scattered fortified towers and two of the island’s three 7th century BC, rejected male statues or Kouros, that lie on the hills where they were carved. Forget the moped and hire-car. Travel by local bus to see more and enjoy a warmer welcome.

Google map: bit.ly/j7mJMo

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Step a mere 100m south from Bath Abbey and the Roman baths into one of the oldest streets of Bath and enter the finest vegetarian restaurant in Britain. There are no Cranks eating in Demuths. The food is exuberant, exciting, an act of love, reflecting Rachel’s eye for colour, texture, flavour and artful combinations as seen on her world-wide travels. The simple ingredient becomes a blissful experience. Try her potato bonda (a green chili potato ball in a gram flour batter served in a spiced tomato soup with toasted cumin oil) or the beetroot aranchi (beetroot risotto balls stuffed with Somerset brie, served with apple jelly, yellow beetroot, pickled fennel, and rocket on a pink grapefruit and mint dressing). Try the Italian bitter chocolate cake and you may hear the angels singing. There are more meat-eaters among the regulars than either vegetarians or vegans. And if still not tempted, in 2008 Demuths was awarded ‘Bath restaurant of the Year’. That means the ‘Best of ALL’ restaurants in Bath. That’s no ordinary vegetarian diner.

2 North Parade Passage, Bath, BA1 1NX
+44 1225 446059
www.demuths.co.uk
Google map: bit.ly/euBVNV

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

The oldest Royal hunting-forest in England still wears its Iron Age and Roman footprints well. Pristine ancient oakwoods and pre-industrial landscapes make for interesting walking and impressive views for all levels of fitness. Newland, just south west of Coleford, is ideal for starting circular walks. Four km east across old field patterns is Clearwell and its ironstone caves and stone quarries. A more arduous 4.5 km forest walk follows wooded ridges and steep valleys westward down to Offa’s Dyke path and the Wye. Returning to Newland find the walker’s reward in the 14th Century Ostrich Inn. The pub has avoided modernisation and its ageless character and welcome are therapeutic. The six-foot wide inglenook warms the soul and tired feet. Finding the priest hole may delay choice from the 8-10 local real ales. The food is restaurant grade in variety and quality, but at pub prices. Oh, and you wont have to take your boots off.

The Ostrich Inn, Newland, Forest of Dean, Nr. Coleford, Gloucestershire
theostrichinn.com/
Google map: bit.ly/i33QgM
+44(0)1594 833260

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends