Colonna & Small's has long been one of my favourite speciality coffee shops in the UK and I stop by every time I visit Bath for a coffee and to stock up on beans. I was thrilled to hear that Maxwell and Lesley Colonna-Dashwood were opening a second coffee shop a little closer to (my home). It finally opened on Leather Lane in Clerkenwell earlier this month and — spoiler alert — it's just as wonderful as the Bath original!
It's always great when a favourite coffee shop breaks new ground...especially when that coffee shop is Oxford's NewGround, where social responsibility meets superb coffee. I visit their Headington roastery most times I'm back in Oxford and now they have a shiny new café and wine bar in the city centre.
Once a year, my mum and I take a trip together, spending a long weekend in a new city or region. This year, it was the turn of Glasgow — a city we'd both wanted to visit for quite some time. With a population of around 635,000, 'dear green place' (as Glasgow is affectionately known), is the largest city in Scotland and the third largest in the UK. Its compact city centre is easy to explore on foot or by public transport and there is plenty to keep you occupied for a long weekend — and beyond — from murals and Mackintosh architecture to whisky, walks and waterside fun.
Glasgow has been on my to-visit list for some time — as a destination for both a city break and a speciality coffee tour. I recently spent a long weekend there with my mum and was able to explore the vibrant and diverse speciality coffee scene of Scotland's largest city. Read on to find out more about the coffee shops and roasteries I visited on my trip. As usual, my very favourites are marked with an asterisk and have purple icons in my map below. Stay tuned for a separate post about all the other things we got up to during our stay in Glasgow.
Welcome to my guide to spending a perfect — and perfectly caffeinated — weekend in Birmingham. My entire family is from the West Midlands but I didn't spend a lot of time in Birmingham growing up. I've been remedying this in recent years — often when passing through en route to Wolverhampton Wanders matches. On these stops, I usually prioritise speciality coffee and food (in that order) but a long weekend in Brum a few months ago inspired me to put together this itinerary. Read on for industrial heritage, quirky museums and plenty of great places for food and coffee — and there's a map and downloadable one-page cheatsheet at the end!
Planning a French vacation on a budget? Cannes probably isn't the first destination that springs to mind. The Euro cents soon add up in the glamorous French Riviera city known for its Film Festival premieres and parties, designer shops and glitzy beachfront hotels. But it is perfectly possible to experience some of the best of what Cannes has to offer — from beautiful beaches, history, culture and, of course, delicious food — without breaking the bank.
Since I moved back to London 15 years ago, I have spent a lot of time eating my way around the city's increasingly diverse and impressive restaurant scene. To help me keep track — and for when friends and family asked for recommendations — I started jotting down my favourites in a Moleskine City notebook, which eventually evolved into a Google Sheet and then a blog post in 2016. An update was long overdue and here it is: my 50 favourite restaurants in London.
