EXPLORING MY ADOPTED CITY AND BEYOND
How can one put pen to paper, or, in my case, digits to keyboard, in order to do any amount of justice to the heavenly, naturalistic paradise that Sarah Raven has created at Perch Hill, her home and farm in East Sussex. Cocooned in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the home that Sarah shares… Continue reading
The maze of beauty that entwines the hilltop town of Arezzo, nestled within a picturesque series of undulating valleys in eastern Tuscany, is due, in part to the striking Renaissance architecture that adorns this ancient settlement. However, originally colonised by the Etruscans almost three thousand years ago, the strategically located hilltop town became one of… Continue reading
Disappointment looms large in life, and although not always catastrophically so, my tulip dreams this past week were nevertheless, monumentally shattered. But alas, we pick ourselves up in times of crisis, put our big girl pants on, and soldier onwards as best we can with heads held high and spirits triumphantly roused. Such calamitous events… Continue reading
A dreamy day to wander – or so I had hoped. Despite the weather’s utmost efforts to thwart our meandering mood, Dan and I wrap ourselves in copious layers, ready to face the bitter, unrelenting wind that raps unwelcomingly upon our sixth-floor apartment window. No matter, I set my woollen beret on a fashionably jaunty… Continue reading
I have become infatuated with Paris this spring. Not because my own adopted city is lacking in floriferous bounty; London is currently flush with an impressive array of brightly coloured bulbs, all unfurling in spectacular abandon. Right now, the city is a veritable smorgasbord of flowery delights and wistful scents. Yet the promise of Paris… Continue reading
The lines blur incoherently between the changing seasons. In Australia, I eagerly counted down the days until March, when the stifling heat of a long and unrelenting summer was meant to stand gallantly aside, allowing autumn to respectfully saunter in. It never did. The eucalypt leaves, brittle like corn chips, crunched noisily under foot. Months… Continue reading
Alighting from any train station in London is a little like stepping back in time. Of course, the modern city of the 21st century, with its financial beating heart and diverse contemporary architecture has its feet firmly planted in the here and now. Yet one cannot turn a cobbled corner without being jolted back to… Continue reading
Tucked inside London’s inner city north lies an expansive parkland spanning 320 hectares of ancient woodlands and picturesque wild meadows. Hampstead Heath sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the city’s highest points, between the pretty neighbourhoods of Hampstead and Highgate. The Heath, as it is warmly referred to by the locals, is a tranquil… Continue reading
Camera in hand, I have spent the last year or so exploring and documenting my travels around this vibrant and enigmatic city that I now call home. More than simply a travel journal, The Sunday Londoner was created by an inherent need to focus on the beautiful and inspirational at a time when my sense… Continue reading
As we drift in and out of sleep, in our little rented apartment four stories above the city of Madrid, the low murmur of merriment rises from the street below, where the throng of festive revelry continues, unabated in its collective ebb and flow. Theirs is a familiar noise that would keep me wide awake… Continue reading