We all smile in the spring when the birds all start to sing in your English royal garden… and if you want to continue your monarchist garden party (or if you just like pottering about) then there’s plenty of horticultural happiness still to be had.
Now our friends at Keith Prowse Attractions in Ireland are urging us to spend our summers out among the English shrubs.
Something that my own little English rose is availing of as an invitee of the Son and Heir to Hampton who now knows London like the back of his hand.
And we’re reliably informed that His Charlesness and Her Camillaness are both keen gardeners and are regular attendees.
Set over 11 acres and with over 550 exhibitors, the grounds of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea are transformed.
It’s a patchwork of inspirational show gardens and vibrant plant displays.
Chelsea saga
Rosy days are here again: Chelsea Flower Show
Keith Prowse offer:
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show Packages Include:
Return flights to London (Fly from Dublin, Cork or Shannon)
Two nights in a 3*, 4* or 5* Hotel (Check in Thursday 25th or Friday 26th May)
Breakfast daily
Full Day ticket to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the Friday or Saturday
Price for above staying in 3* Ibis Earls Court from €669pps, depending on travel date and flight times
Hampton horticulture
Hello flower: My flower girl
Now my own green-fingered gal, here in the Land of Flowers, the Netherlands, will be attending the big garden event of later in the summer from July 6-10…
The RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival
Regarded as the largest garden event in the world, the renamed Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival offers visitors the chance to witness spectacular show gardens from the world’s best designers.
And marvel at dozens of spectacular plants & floral displays from around the world.
So there’s a focus on health and wellbeing as well as live music (be sure to know your English Country Garden), entertainment and delicious food.
Return flight to London (fly from Dublin, Cork or Shannon), including taxes
Two nights in the 4* Wellington Hotel
Breakfast daily
Full Day ticket to the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival
Price for above staying in the 4* Wellington Hotel is from €679pps, , depending on travel date and flight times
I’ve been saving all my money just to take you there, I smell the garden in your hair. It’s the Marrakech Express… or what I like to call The Riad to Marrakech.
With apologies to those Sixties hipsters Crosby, Stills and Nash (and sometimes Young) who were, of course, far more lyrical about the Red City.
We dare say that they would have stayed at some hippy hang-out.
But I suspect that Stephen and Graham, and RIP to David, would now frequent the Royal Mansour Marrakech.
Groovy: Sixties rockers
Situated at the foot of Marrakech’s ramparts, in the western part of the medina are the lush, landscaped gardens at Royal Mansour Marrakech.
Spanning four acres, it is the vision of award-winning Spanish landscape designer and Bonsai curator Luis Vallejo, drawing on Arab-Andalusian tradition into play.
And going off on a tangent, my green-fingered pal here is doing so well with her bonsai garden that she’s thinking of downsizing.
Festival of flowers
Bonzai bonzer: Luis Vallejo
Back to Souk City and the The Jardin’art Festival over the spring unfolds in the city’s Jardin des Arts.
To offer a variety of botanical events, concerts, and gorgeous floral displays for all to enjoy.
And thanks to our friends in Marrakech, and believe me you need all the pals you can get in this bustling city with false guides round some of the souk corners, we have these gardening tips to share.
Straight from Luis’s mouth.
Verdant vision: The Royal Mansour
Incorporate a water feature (or several –as is the case at Royal Mansour Marrakech, home to 150 water fountains)
‘Like constant background music, a small stream of water in movement’.
Plant fruit trees and aromatic plants, to elevate the senses. At Royal Mansour Marrakech, the garden features several species of palm tree, citrus fruits (spanning lemon, sweet and bitter orange).
As well as various fruit trees (inclusive of olive, pomegranate, fig, persimmon, carob, quince, guava, medlar and more).
Various aromatic herbs are also grown for use in the spa, from marjoram to rosemary.
Choose plants of varied colour, texture, and volume – select seasonal plants that inspire your imagination and offer a link to Morocco.
Vallejo chose multiple species of trees, from conifers and coral trees to tamarisk and mahogany trees, offering a textural variety.
Choose from decorative foliage, ground cover plants and climbers to create dimensional levels.
In addition, he intentionally selected native and naturalised flora allowing for year-round flowering – meaning vibrant colour all year round!
Add a coloured rug or cushions into a cosy corner, and sip a Moorish tea, for an authentic Moroccan experience.
It may be atoll order to regenerate our oceans but you’ve got to start somewhere and the Polynesians are helping by encouraging us to adopt a coral on Tahiti.
And for those of us who aren’t natural sea dwellers and are clumsy on our feet then this probably applies to us.
And not even the hurt of cut feet comes close to the real damage, that you’re destroying the coral.
Thankfully there are proper snorkellers out there, and conservationists.
Coral group
New wave: Tahiti locals
Located on Moorea, the Coral Gardeners have made giving back much easier for travellers through their Adopt a Coral programmes.
Where guests can adopt, personalise, track and plant a coral in the nurseries scattered through the atoll.
Additionally Te Mano o Te Moana has carried out incredible work to rescue and rehabilitate species of tea turtles which can be visited at the Turtle Rehabilitation Centre in Moorea.
A word to the wise too, and you will be reminded constantly if you visit an atoll anywhere, do not take any of it home as a souvenir, even in your foot.
Bedside manner: And leave it how you found it
Rather purchase home-made products, like here in the South Seas Made in Fenua keepsakes produced by the artisans and craftspeople.
Tahiti holds a prominent place in the world of sustainability with the largest marine sanctuary in the world.
While they also encourage give-back-packer tour operators which offer beach clean-ups.
As well as various coral reef preservation experiences, solar-powered boats and even resorts which run on coconut oil.
Native charms
Playing to the balcony: Taoahere Beach House
The best way to enjoy your Tahitian trip is by staying in a native guesthouse managed by a local family.
Guesthouses provide a unique opportunity for visitors to get immersed into a more authentic visit, a personalised experience.
And a chance to connect with local people and the islands.
Owners and on-site managers assist with guiding through local excursions.
Such as pearl diving, snorkelling hiking and more.
And a reminder for those who remember Tahiti from The Bounty but are trying to place it again our Polynesian pals helpfully sent us their USP.
South Pacific
Brush strokes: And challenge your inner Gauguin
Like straight out of a film, they’re located in the South Pacific and consist of 118 islands and atolls.
Made up of the Society Islands including Tahiti and Bora Bora, Tuamotu Islands, Gambier Islands, Austral Islands and Marquesas Islands.
All of which drew the attentions of artists Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse.
The current Embraced by Mana campaign highlights their diversity.
Access from the UK is usually via Paris or Los Angeles with connections from Air Tahiti Nui.
Yes, sure, if you want to lighten the load in your wallet.
Like clockwork
Tubeway Army: London Underground
One rider, of course, is the network for trains that go underground, the Tube, which works like clockwork.
And where you can swipe your bank card and so avoid queuing at ticket offices.
While their joined-up Oyster card, like the Leap card in Dublin and across a raft of cities makes a mockery of my own city, Edinburgh’s crumbing transport links.
It’s not the only area Scotland’s capital needs a good clean-up and a new facelift.
On a podium
Piece of history: With Stonewall Jackson in Virginia
Take our statues, those we put on a podium to look down on us.
Something of a hobbyhorse of your chronicler statues, as much as I’d love to see the royals and empire builders brought down to earth I’m realistic.
And while we do we should be redressing the balance by putting up more statues of our women, animals, cultural, sports, entertainment and international icons.
And maybe even objects of national endearment like the National Express coach.
Because be sure if it had been around in Dick Whittington’s Day he’d have hopped on it.
Out of Africa
Statue ahoy: Sailormen
It was rewarding too to see a celebration of post-colonial empowerment.
London In the statue of Malawian John Chilembwe which occupies the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.
Where he towers over the colonial ruler and where he is now the only African and person of colour thus celebrated.
The fourth plinth should be something we all hold onto.
It is an idiosyncrasy in the square dominated by Admiral Horatio Nelson, victor of the Napoleonic naval battle, that there is another plinth up for grabs.
Three corners are occupied by the ruling elite, King George IV, Henry Havelock and Charles James Napier.
Havewho, Napiehow? Yes, quite. Havelock and Napier were bigwigs during the Indian Raj.
The fourth plinth
Jesus: And Mark Wallinger
The reason why we should embrace the fourth plinth, originally meant for King William IV, 180 years ago, is that it is now a rolling statue.
No, not like Edward Colston who was rolled into the river in Bristol.
But every couple of years an artist’s new statue goes up.
Mark Wallinger’s Ecco Homo of Christ in 1999 making way to a number of others including an Anthony Gormley erection (stop it)!
To just now and Samson Gambalu’s Antelope which will come down in a year.
To accommodate Teresa Margolles’ 850 Improntas, casts of the faces of 850 trans people from London and the world.
The fourth plinth truly does sound like the solution, the future… London a national monument.
And something I’ll be recommending to Edinburgh council.
To pull down the spaceship of Walter Scott and replace it with the city’s most famous citizen, Sean Connery.
All of which we were reminded of when our friends at LHW alerted us to the new intake of six hotels which have been added to their 400+ roster.
And yes for all the swish billets we’ve stayed in over the years we still have 399+ to visit…
O Flower of Amsterdam: The Dylan
But every journey starts with one step.
This season’s LHW collection includes four new hotel openings…
An ambitious city resort on Samarkand’s Silk Road, an architectural jewel in Milan, a mountaintop hideaway in Montafon and a vibrant dining destination in Montevideo.
And they are joined by two storied hotels…
A grand lakeside estate in Lausanne and a Roman hotspot with historical charm.
Get thee to a seminary
Water place: The Portrait for wellbeing
Portrait Milano (Milan, Italy) NEW OPENING December 2022: And there’s plenty of them in holy Italy.
LHW tell us that this is one of the oldest seminaries in Europe, dating back to the 16th century.
And only recently opened to the public for the first time.
They tell us Portrait embraces the lively Piazza del Quadrilatero.
With the elegant, vaulted colonnade animated by restaurants and bars, boutiques, a lush garden and a wellness centre.
There are 73 sophisticated rooms and suites and other accommodations will provide an oasis of privacy and peace, surrounding guests by timeless elegance.
Smooth as the Silk Road
Asian peace: And tranquility
Samarkand Regency Amir Temur (Samarkand, Republic of Uzbekistan) NEW OPENING Autumn 2022: Billing itself as the crown jewel of the Silk Road.
Any viewer of Joanna Lumley’s excellent travelogue will know all about one of the world’s oldest trade routes.
The name pays tribute to Uzbekistan’s 15th Century national hero, who made Samarkand one of the most illustrious empires.
The 233-room hotel features charcoal-grilled dining at El Sabor, 20th floor Sky Bar.
With panoramic views, and the Nephrite Spa & Wellness offering beauty and wellbeing treatments from Valmont and Thalgo alongside a hammam and pool.
Surrounded by thousands of years of history and magnificent UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The hotel is located steps from a first-of-its kind Eternal City, an entertaining and immersive ‘model city’ which was designed and created by Uzbek artist Bobur Ismoilov to honour the artistry and tradition of Uzbekistan.
Nature’s ski lodge
Mountain high: In Austria
Falkensteiner Hotel Montafon(Montafon, Austria) NEW OPENING December 2022: And this being the mountains, then the focus is on sustainability.
The 123-room hotel is designed to blend into the surrounding mountains.
And the outdoor facilities have been harmoniously integrated into the surrounding skiing and hiking areas of the Erlebinsverg Golm.
The first certified, climate neutral ski area in Austria.
A dedicated ski shuttle connects to over 27 miles of scenic ski slopes, offering endless opportunities for skiing and winter sports.
Montevideo star
South American dream: In Uruguay
Hotel Montevideo (Montevideo, Uruguay) NEW OPENING December 2022: Transforming an iconic corner of the city into an elegant destination for dining and design.
Hotel Montevideo taps into the vibrant energy of Uruguay’s bustling capital city.
Each room offers floor-to-ceiling windows and a private balcony to take in the city views.
At the hotel, savour authentic local fare created by renowned chef duo Ale Morales and Flor Coureges at Polo Bamba during the day.
And journey to the Sky Bar at Piso 10 for awe-inspiring sunsets that attract travellers and locals alike.
It has been restored to fuse old-world charm with modern luxury.
The estate near Lac Léman is divided between the historic Savoy Wing and the contemporary Park Wing.
Each of the sumptuously outfitted 196 rooms and suites are punctuated with Art Nouveau influence.
The Sky Lounge boasts spectacular 360° views of Lausanne, Lake Geneva.
Eternal pleasure
No place like Rome: And what a view
Hotel Splendide Royal Roma (Rome, Italy): Established within an historic estate dating back to the 1800s.
The recently renovated Hotel Splendide Royal Roma is situated in the heart of Rome’s most prestigious neighbourhood.
Steps away from the Via Veneto, and the extraordinary Villa Borghese Gardens, the hotel offers unparalleled access to the very best cultural, culinary and shopping experiences in Rome.
All of which you can do seamlessly and in budget.
Each of the 69 exquisitely-decorated rooms and suites effortlessly balance the old-world elegance of period furnishings, classical art, and historic details with the understated refinement of modern luxury.
Boasting award-winning dining at the signature Mirabelle Restaurant and breathtaking views at the rooftop lounge.
This is a city hot spot that is a favourite with visitors and locals alike.
All of which is leading up to you rewarding yourself by staying in one (or more) of the Leading Hotels of the World in the new year.
Qatar’s hosting of the Jules Rimet Trophy is a great pride for that Gulf state but also the greater region.. a chance to have the world calling the Middle East.
And here on your favourite site we have the contacts to relay to you what the Middle East are saying back.
Following on from a certain meeting of minds in Sharm el-Sheikh in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt…
The world of travel is ready to do its bit too.
They have outlines five sustainable trends to look out for in the Middle East’s travel sector.
And what that looks like is a concentration on sustainable trends.
Of green airlines, eco hospitality, sustainable attractions, locally sourced produce and forward-thinking government initiatives.
All to be pushed through and without all the double talk associated with COP27, at Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2023, at Dubai World Trade Centre from 1-4 May.
ATM’s theme for its 30th edition is ‘Working Towards Net Zero.
And tourism, as we all know, plays a major part in addressing climate change.
According to Sustainable Travel International, tourism-related activities account for
approximately 8% of worldwide carbon emissions.
Greener airlines
Electric Qatar? Flying high to the Gulf
Etihad Airways have been leading the way, having recently received the Environmental Sustainability Innovation of the Year award from the Centre of Aviation (CAPA).
For its progress towards net-zero targets and UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The Abu Dhabi-based airline expect to cut single-use plastic waste by 80% by the end of this year and is also on course to achieve a 20% reduction in passenger fleet emissions intensity by 2025.
And while Qatar’s national football team may be licking their wounds after their opening-day victory, its national airline is flying high (sorry)!
Qatar Airways is making significant progress towards lowering its carbon emissions through similar initiatives, such as waste reduction and water conservation.
Our hospitable hospitality sector are also focused on saving the earth… and giving us a good holiday to boot.
The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has partnered with Hotelbeds to help increase inbound travel while promoting green hospitality.
Step up Dubai which boasts eco-adventures ranging from sustainable camping to
wildlife safaris in conservation areas.
Elsewhere in the UAE, Terra – The Sustainability Pavilion, first developed for Expo
2020 Dubai and now located in Expo City Dubai, continues to wow guests.
With an immersive journey through forest roots and ocean depths.
Locally sourced produce
Paris of the Middle East: Beirut
The Middle East’s hospitality sector is making significant sustainability inroads through
the roll-out of sustainable food and beverage.
Dubai-based restaurant Lowe has focused on delivering delicious meals that have no detrimental impact on the planet since opening its doors in 2019.
Beirut’s Baron uses organic produce to create all its recipes.
And credit where where credit is due, our tourism leaders are showing their government what to do.
The Dubai College of Tourism (DCT) and Dubai Sustainable Tourism (DST) launched a new course earlier this month to enhance sustainable tourism offerings.
Available on Dubai’s innovative learning platform, Dubai Way empowers participants to drive water and energy savings.
Through effective green governance and procurement practices.
And in the week that’s in it with Cop27 around the corner we’re reminded that sustainability and gastronomy don’t have to be strangers, in fact they complement each other just fine, in European culinary hotspot San Sebastian, or Sustain Sebastian if you will.
