While there are still some holdouts against the idea that animated entertainment can be perfectly suitable for adults, even hardened skeptics would be moved to open their minds to these tremendous series. Though many fully grown adults enjoy shows like “SpongeBob SquarePants,” our list includes only shows explicitly designed for them.

‘The Simpsons’ (1989-)

The longest-running scripted series in television history, “The Simpsons” has become a ubiquitous piece of popular culture, making it easy to forget how groundbreaking it was in 1989. A zany sitcom about a family of five in a town called Springfield (no, we will never know which state), where Homer (Dan Castellaneta), a nuclear plant technician with anger management issues and no-nonsense Marge (Julie Kavner) are raising their kids, Bart (Nancy Cartwright), Lisa (Yeardley Smith) and baby Maggie. Over the course of more than 800 episodes, the series maintains a “joke-a-minute spectacle that veered between absurdist physical gags and heartfelt family squabbles” and still “functions as an education in American culture,” said Jesse David Fox at Vulture. (Disney+)

‘South Park’ (1997-)

One of several groundbreaking ’90s-era animated series still in production, Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s ultra-cynical comedy remains centered around a group of dyspeptic, cursing fourth-graders, one of whom (Kenny, voiced by Stone) dies during almost every single episode of the first five seasons, with his friends exclaiming, “Oh my God, they killed Kenny!”

Irreverent and provocative, the series offers a long-running satirical take on pop culture and American politics. The show’s “bestiary of Main Street America, its hapless parents and inept leaders, its weird small businesses and petty local politics, its moral pretensions and amoral vanities do ring true, however exaggerated,” said Jacob Bacharach at The New Republic. (Paramount+)

‘Family Guy’ (1999-)

As historically significant as “The Simpsons” in making animated series appeal to grown-ups, creator Seth MacFarlane’s pointed farce about the misadventures of a dysfunctional family that includes a malevolent baby named Stewie (MacFarlane) is still going strong. MacFarlane also voices the bumbling patriarch, Peter Griffin, with Alex Borstein as his wife, Lois, and Seth Green and Mila Kunis as their older kids, Meg and Chris. The show “has laughs, and lots of them, poking fun at targets as diverse as prison perversion, Hitler’s inferiority and football announcers,” said Barry Garron at The Hollywood Reporter. It is “bright, entertaining and often witty and warm.” (Hulu)

‘The Boondocks’ (2005-2014)

“The Boondocks,” adapted from Aaron McGruder’s popular comic strip, is one of the few animated series to make a serious effort to tackle issues of race and privilege in contemporary America, albeit in an often intentionally crass fashion. When Robert "Granddad" Freeman (John Witherspoon) and his grandsons, Huey and Riley (Regina King on both counts), move from Chicago to a predominantly white suburb, they struggle to maintain their connection to their roots and situate themselves in a radically different culture. The writing is “funny and pungent from the start,” and the “Asian-influenced animation” makes it the “American show truest to the look and feel of serious Japanese anime,” said Mike Hale at The New York Times. (HBO Max)

‘Archer’ (2009-2023)

H. Jon Benjamin is Sterling Archer, an agent with a spy agency that was called International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS) in the early seasons before that became untenable. Archer is a jerk, a well-worn conceit made fresh by his dynamics with his colleagues.

Like “Parks and Recreation,” this is essentially an office comedy with a serving of espionage adventure on the side. A superb ensemble includes his mother, Malory (Jessica Walter), agent Lana Kane (Aisha Tyler) and nerdy Cyril Figgis (Chris Parnell) among many others. An “extremely silly show that consistently reveals itself as surprisingly mature via the thoughtfulness and expertise infused throughout all of its other production aspects,” it manages to be “at once categorically preposterous and occasionally brilliant,” said Mike LeChavillier at Slant Magazine. (Disney+)

‘Adventure Time’ (2010-2018)

Perhaps some might quibble with the inclusion of The Cartoon Network’s trippy, post-apocalyptic coming-of-age story on a list for adults, but Pendleton Ward’s endlessly inventive, uproarious and frequently touching series is for all ages. The show follows the adventures of a boy named Finn (Jeremy Shada) and his shape-shifting dog, Jake (John DiMaggio), who can bend and twist his body into anything from a brick house to a “Gut Grinder,” a monster who steals gold from local villages. “Adventure Time” is steeped in a “deeper, more earnest kind of surrealism that is distinct from some inchoate sense of oddity,” and the series “treats subjects like loss, romance and aging with great tact and feeling,” said Juliet Kleber at The New Republic. (Disney+)

‘Bob’s Burgers’ (2011-)

“Bob’s Burgers” is frequently contrasted with its more cynical fellow-travelers, like “South Park” and “The Simpsons.” Its bedrock appeal has always been its depiction of a more or less happy family struggling to get by while running a Jersey Shore burger joint.

H. Jon Benjamin voices Bob, with his wife, Linda (John Roberts), and their three goofy offspring, Tina (Dan Mintz), Gene (Eugene Mirman) and Louise (Kristen Schaal). Its “offbeat family dynamic is the show’s greatest asset,” and their often cringe-worthy foibles “remind us that families are often most tightly knit when they’re at their most pathetic,” said Joseph Jon Lanthier at Slant Magazine. (Disney+)

‘BoJack Horseman’ (2014-2020)

BoJack (Will Arnett) is a down-on-his-luck, hard-drinking horse and former sitcom star experiencing the familiar beats of post-stardom, including addiction and depression, in a lovingly realized alternate Hollywood in which animals and humans live side-by-side. That alone makes “BoJack Horseman,” which was the first adult animated series from Netflix, unique in the space.

In the first season, BoJack is on the comeback trail, half-heartedly working on a memoir with his biographer, Diane (Alison Brie), and possibly breaking up her marriage to Mr. Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins). It’s “one of the wisest, most emotionally ambitious and — this is not a contradiction — spectacularly goofy series on television,” said Emily Nussbaum at The New Yorker. (Netflix)

‘Arcane’ (2021-2024)

With so much animated content out there, it’s not easy to make something that feels genuinely fresh and that looks like nothing else on TV, but that’s exactly what showrunners Christian Linke and Alex Yee deliver with “Arcane.” Based in the universe of the game League of Legends, it revolves around sisters Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) and Jinx (Ella Purnell) and a haves and have-nots struggle between the gleaming city of Piltover and the run-down, oppressed “undercity” of Zaun.

As children, Vi and Jinx lose their parents in an abortive revolution in Zaun, and years later find themselves on opposite sides of an unfolding power struggle between the two city-states. Easily “one of the most lavishly acclaimed animated series of the past decade,” it is carried out with a “fascinating collision of style,” in which “various forms of traditional animation are spliced together with computer-generated 3D,” said Kambole Campbell at Empire. (Netflix)

“Maxed out on matcha lattes?” said the Financial Times. Try swapping the trendy, green-hued drink for its “toasty cousin”.

Hojicha has many of the same benefits as matcha but with much less caffeine. Made from green tea leaves roasted at a high temperature over charcoal, it has a distinctive “nutty” flavour. While it’s not traditionally paired with milk in Japan, in the UK hojicha lattes are starting to appear in cafes up and down the country.

At London matcha chain Jenki, for example, sales of hojicha lattes were 55% higher between January and April than the same period last year, said the BBC. The popularity of hojicha “feels like where matcha was two or three years ago”, Rashique Saddique, director of How Matcha, told the broadcaster. “It’s moving from niche to mainstream quite quickly.”

Less bitter and more earthy than matcha, hojicha also contains “significantly lower” levels of caffeine, with around 7.7mg per cup, compared to matcha’s 70mg, said Country & Town House. But it still boasts a range of health benefits; hojicha is “packed with antioxidants” like catechins and polyphenols which help to protect cells from damage, and the amino acid L-theanine which may help to calm the nervous system and improve sleep quality while enhancing focus.

The roasting process also breaks down the tannins and lowers the acidity, making it perfect for aiding digestion after a meal as it’s “gentler on the stomach than raw green tea”.

Traditional hojicha is “steeped like a loose-leaf tea” but it can also be mixed with milk and served hot or cold in a latte, said Vogue. “Look out for organic, shade-grown hojicha from Japan to avoid contaminants and ensure purity”, nutritionist Rhian Stephenson told the publication. And if you don’t fancy a latte, try adding the powder to smoothies or mix it into cakes, cookies or even ice cream.

Billed as “humanity’s fastest shoe”, Adidas’s Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3s represent “the cutting edge of trainer technology”, said The Guardian. “Lighter and bouncier” than any other “super shoe” on the market, they are designed to help runners “chase records”, and the shoes, which weigh under 100g – less than a bar of soap – did exactly that at the London Marathon last month.

Sabastian Sawe was wearing them when he became the first person to run a sub-two-hour marathon, and Tigst Assefa wore them as she beat the women-only record.

Adidas has pushed the limits of racing shoes once again in its mission to create “the lightest, fastest marathon racer possible”, said Women’s Running. With new, more responsive foam, a carbon-fibre infused rim around the edge of the sole, and “obsessive” weight savings, the Evo 3 is aimed at “elite runners chasing every possible advantage”, not for training or park runners, let alone everyday use.

Inspired by kitesurfing materials, the upper is so ultra-lightweight it “feels almost non-existent”; there’s just enough structure to keep the foot in place, but some runners might find the feel “minimal to the point of harsh”.

Support is focused on the forefoot where high-level runners need it most, said Harry Bullmore in The Independent, and the front offers a lot of bounce. My first few steps in the shoes felt awkward, like “driving a Formula 1 car through a city centre”. But when I started to run on a self-powered treadmill, they came into their own. My feet delivered decent energy and turnover was “snappy”– so snappy I thought I might get thrown off. “The shoe does not make the runner”, but at the elite level, when every millisecond counts, this £450 pair could make a vital, marginal difference.

Mother Nature shines at these seven protected areas, thanks to communities and coalitions that monitor and govern each spot so they remain pristine for generations. Travelers are asked to visit with this intent in mind and explore using official guides, treading lightly and leaving not a trace behind.

Banff National Park, Canada

Canada’s first national park is “brimming with natural beauty,” and its Rocky Mountain peaks and glacial lakes are only some of the “treasures” found in this “alpine wonderland,” said Condé Nast Traveler. The varied landscapes offer “geological drama,” filled with “spectacular” wildlife like moose, black bears and elk. There’s “no bad season to visit,” with canoeing popular in the summer, hiking and biking perfect for spring and fall, and skiing and snowshoeing made for winter.

Fiordland, New Zealand

Stretching across 5,000 square miles of southwestern New Zealand is Fiordland, the country’s largest national park. In a “land renowned for rugged beauty and heavenly wilderness,” Fiordland stands out with its “almost otherworldly splendor,” said Thrillist.

There is a lot to take in. The landscape includes forests, lakes, fjords, massive peaks and “craggy” coastlines, all home to “endangered wildlife found nowhere else on Earth,” said Thrillist. There are a few activities that every visitor should try to do, like take a cruise around Milford Sound. The sound is the park’s “most famous” fjord, and getting there involves a four-hour journey one of the “most scenic routes on the planet.”

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

The Andes’ Salar de Uyuni, at 4,000 square miles, is the world’s largest salt flat, formed by dried prehistoric lakes. Your experience depends on the time of year you visit.

It’s dry from May to November, and the flats are hard and can handle the weight of 4x4 vehicles. But when it rains December through March, the flats “transform into a gargantuan reflective mirror,” said Vogue. Stargazers should head to Salar de Uyuni between June and August, when the skies are at their clearest.

Tainui Atea, French Polynesia

On arrival, visitors to the Tahitian islands immediately notice the clear, clean waters of Tainui Atea. It’s the world’s largest marine protected area, spanning nearly 2 million square miles.

Seabed exploitation and fish-aggregating devices are prohibited, and as a result, the area has healthier reefs and lagoons, and stronger marine ecosystems. Travelers are encouraged to respectfully dive right in and go swimming, or hire local guides for outrigger canoeing and surfing lessons, kayaking trips, and diving and snorkeling excursions.

Trang An Landscape Complex, Vietnam

This “sublime” area is dominated by “hulking” limestone karst peaks and sweeping valleys dotted with pagodas and temples, said Afar. It is situated on the Red River Delta, and no visit is complete without climbing into a boat or kayak and meandering past the steep cliffs.

There are also dozens of ancient caves to explore, with many accessible only from the water. Trang An was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014 as a mixed cultural and natural property.

Vatnajokull National Park, Iceland

The “stunning” Vatnajokull ice cap may be the main draw of Vatnajokull National Park, but there’s “plenty else for visitors to see and delight in,” said Travel and Leisure. Jokulsarlon, a lagoon with “very photogenic” blue waters, is a popular spot, as is Diamond Beach, where “chunks of ice wash up on its black sand shores.”

Visit during the winter to see the Skaftafellsjokull glacier when it “extends to lower elevations,” said Travel and Leisure. Iceland is known for its dramatic landscapes, and Vatnajokull National Park offers the finest examples of “millennia of interplay between fire and ice.”

Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda

Gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park is on countless bucket lists — for solid reason. The park is “one of the best places” to spot mountain gorillas, with expert rangers leading groups into the forests, said Travel and Leisure.

Once the animals are found, you can watch at “close range” as they “feed, interact with each other and appraise their human visitors,” said Travel and Leisure. There are “luxurious” accommodations inside the park, where you can unwind after the high of seeing gorillas in the wild.

In Steven Soderbergh’s dark comedy, Ian McKellen turns in one of his finest performances, said David Sexton in The New Statesman. He plays Julian Sklar, a once-brilliant painter who hasn’t produced anything for years. A “vain, irascible wreck of a man”, he lives in adjacent townhouses in Bloomsbury, and fills his time by appearing as a “sarcastic” judge on a brutal TV talent show and selling appearances on Cameo.

His artistic reputation relies on a series of portraits of his former male lover, “The Christophers”, that he produced 30 years ago, and which are now highly sought after. At home, he has some unfinished Christopher canvases: he hasn’t looked at them for years, yet they’re on the minds of his “grasping, despised children” (James Corden and Jessica Gunning). They bribe former art forger Lori (the “formidable” Michaela Coel) to become his assistant. The plan is that Lori – who turns out to have a painful backstory of her own with Julian – will finish the paintings, so that the children can sell them for millions after his death.

Soderbergh is “a big name”, said Deborah Ross in The Spectator, but with this “deliciously sly” take on the art world, he has “gone small”. In what is effectively a two-hander, we follow Lori and Julian around his cluttered house as they “joust and the power shifts. Who was Christopher? Why does Lori hate Julian? Can fake art be true? It all comes out.” It’s an intimate, talky film and, if the plot doesn’t quite stack up, it hardly matters when the acting is this good. The script isn’t as sharp as it should be, said Tara Brady in The Irish Times, and the film is surprisingly muted, visually. Still, the performances are good enough to keep you watching.

It is a little-known fact that although 800,000 British children were evacuated from British cities during the War, two million stayed put as the bombs fell, said James Walton in The Spectator. This “riveting” BBC2 documentary is about those children.

Made to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the end of the Blitz in 1941, it features interviews with the last survivors of that cohort, many of whom are in their 90s or older, and who tell their stories with “extraordinary vividness”. This is the type of programming that shows the BBC at its “still considerable, even nation-unifying best”.

A “huge story is told via dozens of tiny, shattering personal reflections”, said Phil Harrison in The Guardian. Liverpudlian Ernie Gaskell remembers his father’s reassurances that the slate tiles on their roof would be strong enough to protect them. They weren’t. Jean Whitfield recalls the day her mother was killed by a bomb as she hung out her washing in Sheffield. Afterwards, a neighbour plied her with freshly baked lemon tarts. It’s more than just a story about this war; it gives insights into the impact on children of any war, and it’s “priceless”.

The stories are so moving, “varied and vivid” that the 90 minutes “goes by in a flash”, said Ben Dowell in The Times. Many of the interviewees talk about the resilience of the age. Others worry about new wars coming. The final word, though, goes to Patsy from Belfast, who we learn died earlier this year, and who is seen dancing in her kitchen to the strains of “Oh, You Beautiful Doll”. “What a luminescent moment that was.”

Ava Pickett’s debut play, “1536”, became the hottest ticket in town when it premiered at the Almeida, said Isobel Lewis in Time Out. Film star Margot Robbie was so impressed, she came on board as co-producer for this West End transfer. As if that wasn’t enough of a flying start, Pickett is also adapting her play for the BBC, and has written a film about Joan of Arc with Baz Luhrmann. Indeed, her rise has been so stellar, I found myself wondering if “1536” – about the lives of three young women in rural Essex, in the month of Anne Boleyn’s arrest, trial and execution – could really live up to the hype.

The answer is that it absolutely does, and then some. A devastating mixture of comedy and chilling horror, superbly acted, directed and designed, it is a “once-in-a-blue-moon theatrical experience. I laughed. I cried. I probably could have screamed too.”

This “sharp-tongued” play is not about Anne Boleyn herself, said Alex Wood on WhatsOnStage. It is “about the trickle-down effect of misogyny and how political events can ripple through society – to impact everything from female friendship to economic survival”.

The three friends hang out in the countryside, gossiping about men, work, and the rumours they hear about goings-on in the distant court, said Dominic Maxwell in The Times. But the king’s brutality towards his wife is emboldening the local men in their own acts of violence, and as the women talk in a “very 21st-century way, they risk being cancelled in a very 16th-century way”. In particular, Pickett subtly and skilfully maps Boleyn onto the character of Anna (Siena Kelly), an attractive serving girl whose sexuality is first prized, then punished.

“The building momentum and deepening sophistication are perfectly judged,” said Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph, “and the accusatory message about women’s constrained lives, then and now, emerges via consummate craft.” The last breathless line of the play is “Run!” And I recommend you do indeed run, to catch this superb production before it sells out.

Ambassadors Theatre, London WC2. Until 1 August

Many people first discovered the martial arts, a loosely related set of hand-to-hand combat practices, most closely associated with China, through the magic of the movies. This rich tradition has been showcased in the plots and action sequences of countless films, including these eight exceptional, beloved classics.

‘Enter the Dragon’ (1973)

“Enter the Dragon” will always be linked with the untimely death of its young star, Bruce Lee, prior to the film’s wide release. Lee plays Lee, a martial artist recruited by British intelligence to infiltrate the island drug and human trafficking ring operated by Han (Shih Kien) under the guise of a martial arts tournament.

Competing alongside two Americans, Roper (John Saxon) and Williams (Jim Kelly), Lee methodically dispatches Han’s henchmen and avenges his sister’s death in the process. Unquestionably the “most influential martial-arts movie ever made,” its profits, likely in excess of $100 million on a budget of less than $1 million, “were astronomical,” and the film has “more than stood the test of time,” said Tom Gray at BBC. (HBO Max)

‘The Karate Kid’ (1984)’

The 1980s were a time of rising Japanese cultural influence in the U.S., from Hondas to hibachi restaurants. And while “The Karate Kid” might not be the kind of martial arts movie that devoted fans consider canonical, it helped make the Japanese art of karate as “ubiquitous on the extracurricular landscape as Little League and piano lessons,” said Newsweek.

Daniel (Ralph Macchio), freshly arrived in Los Angeles with his widowed mother, keeps getting beaten up by Johnny (William Zabka), a karate black belt and the ex-boyfriend of Daniel’s crush, Ali (Elisabeth Shue). Daniel enlists his building’s janitor, Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), to teach him how to defend himself and compete in karate tournaments. The two develop a deeper bond than either anticipates. The film is an “exciting, sweet-tempered, heart-warming story with one of the most interesting friendships in a long time,” said Roger Ebert. (Prime Video)

‘Once Upon a Time in China’ (1991)

Wong Fei-hung (Jet Li) is a doctor and martial arts master in 19th-century Guangzhou, when the U.S. and other imperial powers were attempting to open China to the outside world by force. The film is a biopic of Fei-hung, a real-life Cantonese folk hero who resists efforts by a villainous American named Jackson (Jonathan Isgar) to create a human trafficking pipeline of sex workers and laborers to the United States.

Fei-hung finds himself fighting against Jackson’s local collaborators, including “Iron Vest” Yim (Yen Shi-kwan). A movie that moves “deftly between romping, fizzy martial arts action and sober depictions of the tense situation of China in the 1860s or ’70s,” it is “as much a grave history lesson as a giddy celebration of its stunt team’s physical prowess,” said Tim Brayton at Alternate Ending. (HBO Max)

‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ (2000)

In Qing Dynasty-era China, a renowned warrior, Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat), tries to track down the bandit who ambushed Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) and made off with Li Mu Bai’s Green Destiny sword. The trail leads him to Jen (Zhang Ziyi), trained by Li Mu Bai’s nemesis, Jade Fox (Cheng Pei-Pei).

Directed by the legendary Ang Lee, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” was a global sensation, characterized by mesmerizing fight sequences enhanced with magical realism, including a scene where warriors square off while floating above the treeline. It is still by far the highest-grossing foreign-language film ever released in the U.S. The film is known as “wuxia,” a “subgenre of martial arts cinema” that “finds its roots in seventh-century romantic literature and poetry,” said Matthew Thrift at the British Film Institute. Buoyed by the “undeniable elegance of Ang Lee’s direction,” it is also noteworthy for its “explicitly feminist take on the genre.” (Tubi)

‘Kill Bill Vol. 1’ (2003)

A movie that cemented the status of martial arts as an international cinematic genre, “Kill Bill Vol.1” was the first film from director Quentin Tarantino (“Pulp Fiction”) in the six long years after the release of 1997’s “Jackie Brown.” Uma Thurman is Beatrix Kiddo, an assassin known as Black Mamba who tries to escape her life of crime.

On her wedding day, her former boss and lover, Bill (David Carradine), kills the entire wedding party and leaves Beatrix in a coma. When she wakes four years later, she embarks on the titular revenge mission. Its “over-the-top style contributes heavily to the films’ memorability,” said Justin Kim at Loud and Clear Reviews, including the iconic scene in which “Beatrix faces off against 88 assassins in a no-holds-barred katana battle.” The movie was split into two parts, with “Kill Bill Vol. 2” released six months later, in 2004. (Prime Video)

‘Ip Man’ (2008)

Ip Man (Donnie Yen) is a martial arts grandmaster whose life in the Chinese city of Foshan is upended by the 1938 Japanese occupation. He and his family are stripped of their home and possessions, and Ip Man takes work transporting coal.

When Japanese General Miura (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi ) begins organizing brutal matches between his occupying soldiers and Chinese martial artists, Ip Man agrees to a public fight with Miura himself. A loose biopic of a real historical figure who later trained the legendary Bruce Lee, “Ip Man” benefits from “slick, frenetic and plentiful” fighting and “high production values, with stunning set design, locations, camerawork and its atmospheric score making the setting of Foshan come alive,” said Daniel Hooper at Eye For Film. (Peacock)

‘The Raid: Redemption’ (2011)

A film that features and popularizes “pencak silat,” an Indonesian martial art, “The Raid: Redemption” revolves around the efforts of a 20-person police SWAT team including new recruit Rama (Iko Uwais) to storm a squalid apartment complex. Their mission: take down the crime lord Tama (Ray Sahetapy).

The team is quickly trapped, and survivors must fight their way through Tama’s henchmen, floor by floor. It’s a straightforward set-up carried out with unusual panache, although it is not for anyone who can’t tolerate ultraviolence. The result is a “skull-splinteringly violent, uncompromisingly intense and simply brilliant martial arts action movie in a nightmarish and claustrophobic setting,” said Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian. (Pluto TV)

‘Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons’ (2013)

Director Steven Chow (“Kung Fu Hustle”) adapts a prominent Chinese fable in this difficult-to-categorize romp that remains almost completely unknown in the U.S. Tang Sanzang (Wen Zhang) is a demon-hunter who uses nursery rhymes to pacify spirits and return them to their human forms.

He is pursued by Miss Duan (Shu Qi), a rival demon hunter who dispatches them the old-fashioned way—by killing them. Chow’s success in “translating this ancient tale from scroll to screen” is due in large part to the care he takes to “include as much fun, sincerity, and humor in his interpretation as possible,” said Justin Cummings at Critics At Large. (Tubi)

Food markets are a gift for travelers. Many of the tastes and flavors of a region are conveniently in one spot, the produce is often as fresh as it gets and you can meet the farmers, butchers, cheesemakers, fishmongers and chefs. These 10 markets offer visitors a crash course in their region’s local cuisine, one delicious stall at a time.

Borough Market, London

The “sprawling” Borough Market was established in 1756, making it the “mother of all artisan foodie markets in London,” said Time Out. Slowly stroll by the stalls — there are more than 100, and you won’t want to miss bites of soft cheese, flaky pastries and fresh fruit. After perusing the goods, pick up more grab-and-go items, like a “hulking” sandwich from The Black Pig or crème brûlée donut from Bread Ahead, or “knock back freshly shucked oysters” and an “impromptu glass of wine.”

Chatuchak Market, Bangkok

Adventure awaits at the gigantic Chatuchak Market. There’s no way to see it all — there are a “whopping” 15,000 stalls across 35 acres — but what you do experience will be memorable, said Food & Wine. The weekend market sells just about everything, and is split into 26 sections.

In the food area, visitors can try well-known local delicacies, like mango sticky rice, boat noodles, fried crickets and bamboo worms. The best way to “wash it all down” is with a big glass of fresh watermelon juice or Thai iced tea. If you go with a group, try to stay together — the market is so big that “even locals get lost.”

Ferry Building Marketplace, San Francisco

Come to the Ferry Building Marketplace hungry. You can pull together an “amazing meal” by “grazing” through the dozens of gourmet restaurants and vendors, said National Geographic. Notable names include The Acme Bread Company, which uses organic flour for its artisan loaves; Gott’s Roadside, a local favorite for cheeseburgers and onion rings; and Hog Island Oyster Co., where fresh oysters are served with a side of water views. Three days a week, the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market takes place outside the building.

Granville Island Public Market, Vancouver

Once an industrial area, Granville Island has transformed over the years into a “paradise” of “incredible” food with the Public Market the “star of the show,” said Vancouver Magazine. Its display cases are “bursting” with cheeses, pasta, pastries and “beautifully briny” olives, and you’ll find yourself reaching for the “crunchy, tangy-sweet” honey mustard pickles from Hobbs Pickles and “infinitely snackable” elk juniper salami at Oyama Sausage Co. For a more substantial meal, sit down at Sen Pad Thai, where chef Angus An takes Thailand’s most famous dishes and “absolutely knocks each familiar favorite out of the park.”

La Boqueria, Barcelona

This is the spot for traditional Catalan and Spanish cuisine, where visitors line up for samples of “hand-cut jamón Ibérico” and watch “fishmongers gut a sea bream,” said Food & Wine. Stock up on souvenirs to bring home, like tinned fish and bottles of extra-virgin olive oil, and carve out enough time to “brave the lines” at El Quim de la Boqueria for tapas. For a taste of fresh seafood “plucked from the Mediterranean,” swing by Ramblero and try the grilled prawns, calamari and clams.

Mercado Medellin, Mexico City

This market is small but mighty. It covers one square block in Colonia Roma but is known throughout Mexico City for its “quality” fruits, vegetables, spices and seeds, said Condé Nast Traveler. Vendors also offer “rare” veggies from other Latin American countries — just look for the “Colombian and Honduran flags flying from various stalls.”

Every visit to the market should include stopping at the Cuban heladería for its “incredible” ice cream. You can’t go wrong with cinnamon, chocolate or nata, “made from the cream that rises to the top of clabbered milk.”

Nishiki Market, Kyoto

Nishiki Market started in the early 1300s as a fish market and over time grew into Kyoto’s “best spot for seafood, produce and local street food,” said Atlas Obscura. More than 150 stalls offer “traditional delicacies” like “freshly pounded” mochi and Kyoto’s “famous” tofu, alongside more “adventurous” dishes like tako tamago, a candied baby octopus stuffed with a boiled quail egg. One of Japan’s “finest” knife-makers, Aritsugu, is here and has had a presence in the market since 1510.

Queens Night Market, New York City

You can get your fill at Queens Night Market without breaking the bank. No item costs more than $6, an affordable spot to try foods that “highlight the diverse cultures found around Queens,” said Mashed.

There are about 100 vendors and walking among them feels like taking a global journey, with “Pakistani paratha rolls, Taiwanese popcorn chicken, banh mis, pierogis and Peruvian ceviche” all found along the route. The outdoor market is open on Saturdays in Flushing Meadow Corona Park, from April through the end of October.

Reading Terminal Market, Philadelphia

Philadelphia’s “butchers, bakers and local makers” have been showcasing their goods at Reading Terminal Market since 1893, said USA Today. It’s a given that cheesesteaks are available, but you’ll want to branch out and enjoy the “sushi, crepes and Pennsylvania Dutch pretzels.”

Bassetts Ice Cream, established in 1861, is the oldest ice cream company in the United States, and was the first tenant to sign a lease with the market. They are still “going strong,” with visitors lining up for scoops of peanut butter swirl, matcha green tea and good old-fashioned vanilla.

Viktualienmarkt, Munich

Viktualienmarkt is one of Europe’s “best outdoor food markets,” its stalls and shops a great mix of fresh and prepared foods, said The New York Times. For a “heavenly” sandwich, head to Luiginos Bio Feinkost and order a pastrami and cheddar melt (or eggplant, chevre and spinach for vegetarians).

If you’re in the mood for comfort food, Caspar Plautz is known for its creative take on potato dishes, and the stuffed spuds are a favorite. Every visit should include stopping by Lea Zapf for a “decadent” cake and Kaffeerosterei Viktualienmarkt for a cup of house-roasted coffee, which “might be the best in town.”

The briefest spell of sunshine sends Brits rushing to the park or pub. But if you’re looking for somewhere a bit more special to soak up the rays, try a buzzy terrace with a view. From trendy, canal-side spots to swanky rooftop bars, these are some of the best places to catch up over a cocktail.

The Gun, Docklands, London

The waterfront terrace at the Gun “feels a little like one of many harbourside restaurants in Amsterdam”, said London’s The Standard. Open all year round thanks to the retractable roof and glass walls, the views are “superb”, looking out “where the river bends around the O2 on its way to the Thames Barrier”. Sip a glass of rosé and “feast on oysters” or, come summer, enjoy a pizza from a van in the riverside garden.

Lock 91, Manchester

This “charming canalside garden” is one of the city’s “best-kept secrets”, said Secret Manchester. The fashionable bar is set within a carefully restored 19th-century lock-keeper’s cottage, and you can usually “snag a spot” on the “intimate” outdoor terrace. Once you’ve settled with a drink and begun soaking up the “serene” views, it’s hard to “pull yourself away” from this “addictive little suntrap”.

Blackstock Roof Garden, Liverpool

Set atop the newly revamped Blackstock Market, this “Mediterranean-inspired rooftop brings a slice of coastal Europe to Liverpool”, said Condé Nast Traveller. “Sun-drenched” breaks can be spent here enjoying brunches, afternoon teas and cocktails, while in the evening the terrace transforms into “the perfect place to dance under the stars”. Inside, there’s a “chic” lounge, ensuring the party continues “rain or shine”.

The Raeburn, Edinburgh

This “smart boutique hotel” is “often unknowingly overlooked”, said Condé Nast Traveller. Its “secret rooftop terrace” becomes a “real suntrap” over summer, and there’s also a first-floor mezzanine looking out over the historic Raeburn Place sports grounds for an “out-of-the-city type view that you won’t find anywhere else”.

Rockwater, Hove

“A beach bar with a rooftop terrace, what more could you possibly ask for?” said The Telegraph. Rockwater offers a “huge wine collection, along with cocktails and spritzes”, all with a sea view. And if you’re feeling peckish there’s a great selection of “luxurious seafood dishes” and handmade pizzas. Down at the beach, you’ll find “extra food shacks”, too.

Marrakech is “warm and golden” in early October, its medina fragrant with cumin and charcoal even before the day has “properly begun”. It’s lovely to wander here, said Finn Beales in the Financial Times, letting the sights and sounds of the city “wash over” you – the souks, the hammams, the “rooftop mint teas”.

But it’s also very touristy these days, and anyone looking for a “less-rehearsed” version of Morocco will want to get out into the mountains nearby. That’s what I did last autumn with five friends and the help of Unicorn Trails, a British operator that offers some of the world’s finest riding holidays. We spent six days in the saddle, heading into the High Atlas from Terres D’Amanar, and crossing passes above 3,000 metres to discover the valleys on the other side.

Some of my friends had “minimal” riding experience – just four lessons before we arrived. But with riders carefully matched to horses to suit their skill level, everyone was fine. My own Arab-Berber stallion was “sure-footed” and “unhurried”, allowing me to take photographs from the saddle, and our two guides were superb local horsemen, always “watchful, measured” and“unfazed” by unexpected events.

We stayed in lodges on some nights, and camped (roll mats, sleeping bags) on others. Sometimes we carried picnic lunches in our saddlebags, but when the road allowed, our support vehicle was waiting for us at midday with hot tagines and “generous” salads laid out in the shade of thuya trees.

There were moments of sadness, such as when we passed through villages destroyed by the earthquake of September 2023. But there was a great deal that was heart-lifting too, such as the view across the High Atlas from the Tizi n’Addi pass, “ridge after ridge dissolving into haze”; and moments of deep peace, such as during our long lunches, and after setting up camp at dusk, when herds of goats spilled through the foothills below us, and the stars above burned brighter and brighter, until they made the surrounding peaks “glow”.

The trip costs from £1,025pp, excluding flights.

May is peak season on Broadway. All the shows that want to meet the cutoff for Tony Award eligibility have opened. Now the Tony nominations have been announced, and not every show that opened this season will survive the coming months. All to say, now is your chance to see the best of Broadway’s new shows — while they’re still around.

‘Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman’

Two of the greatest theater actors of this generation: Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf. One of the finest theater directors of this era: Joe Mantello. Throw the trio together with one of American theater’s most studied texts, and the results are fireworks. Mantello’s production of “Death of a Salesman” plays fast and loose with the realism, as it should. This is the theater after all, where “real” is a construct, and the irreal tells us more about humanity than its inverse can. (through Aug. 9)

‘August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone’

August Wilson, the playwright who documented Black life across every decade of the 20th century in 10 plays, is back on the boards with this lively revival of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” the installment that occurs during the 1910s. As always, verisimilitude and the supernatural exist side by side in this tale of the denizens of a boardinghouse in Pittsburgh. The marquee names are Taraji P. Henson and Cedric the Entertainer as the owners of the boardinghouse, but Ruben Santiago-Hudson, an August Wilson stalwart, is the one to watch as the home’s resident conjure man. (through July 26)

‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’

Joy was always at the core of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Cats,” based on the poetry of T.S. Eliot. Still, the joy was flattened in the original production: A litter box of dancing humans dressed in furry leotards as, well, cats has limited allure. Leave it to Black and queer people to give the beloved musical its tenth life, a glorious, ecstatic one. “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” changes not a sandpaper-tongue lick of the text but moves the story to the underground world of ballroom. The performers vogue, they preen, they dip, they shake their asses. Never has the fringe shown Broadway just exactly how to put on the show of shows. (through Sept. 6)

‘Chess’

A Cold War rock-pop musical about a love triangle between an American chess champion, a Russian chess champion and the woman the two men love — sounds absurd? Yes, and very much no. “Chess” was a monster concept-album hit during the 1980s, meaning you likely already know the show’s breakout song “One Night in Bangkok.” The revival, the first on Broadway, tries to solve the show’s famously creaky text. You can decide for yourself if it does. One truth is certain: The score, written by two members of Abba, is a full-bore banger, and the cast, led by Aaron Tveit, Lea Michele and Tony nominee Nicholas Christopher, launch the songs far into the rafters. (through Sept. 13)

‘The Lost Boys’

Vampires have had a rough go of it on Broadway. Three bloodsucking musicals have tried over the last few decades to stick it out on the Great White Way, to no avail. “The Lost Boys,” an adaptation of the 1980s cult classic, might break the curse. It features a big-feeling score by the band The Rescues, a load of spectacular special effects and laudable performances by Tony nominees Shoshana Bean, as the family’s wayward mother, and Ali Louis Bourzgui as David, the town’s head rocker, er, vampire. (through Nov. 21)

‘Ragtime’

This musical adaptation of E.L. Doctorow’s grand novel about the intersecting lives of a WASP family, an immigrant jew and his daughter, and a big-dreaming Black piano player has returned to Broadway in a production that strips the hopeful, tragic story to its beating core. In this moment’s fraught political climate where the American dream frays more every day, “Ragtime” is a balm and a beacon. It knows well how this country can both uplift and fail its populace. (through Aug. 2)

‘The Rocky Horror Show’

Long before the movie anchored itself as a midnight-showing stalwart, Richard O’Brien debuted “The Rocky Horror Show” in London as a stage production. That theater piece is currently being revived with direction by theater wunderkind Sam Pinkleton at Studio 54. Tony nominee Luke Evans stars as the “sweet transvestite” Dr. Frank-n-Furter, in a performance whose “magnetism is off the charts,” said Helen Shaw at The New York Times. Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Juliette Lewis, Tony nominee Stephanie Hsu: The entire cast is stacked. The show is a touch rough-hewn and teeming with sexual extravagance — precisely as it should be. (through Nov. 29)

‘Titaníque’

Imagine Céline Dion narrating the tale of the movie “Titanic” by way of her own hit songs and a whole lot of camp and wild improvisation. Welcome to “Titaníque,” the ludicrous, delirious, side-splitting musical that began years ago in the farthest reaches of Off-Broadway and has now splashed its way onto Broadway. Tony nominee Marla Mindelle, who plays Céline, is an estimable loon — a loon with enviable comedic chops and glorious vocals. Sometimes you just want to gawk and guffaw. (through Sept. 20)

The journalist and host of BBC Radio 2’s lunchtime slot picks books ranging from murder mysteries to poetry anthologies. His second crime novel, “Turn the Dial for Death”, has just been published.

A Murder Is Announced

Agatha Christie, 1950

Don’t start with Christie’s best (“And Then There Were None”) or the most genre-bending (“The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”) or the ones that became multiple movies (“Death on the Nile”, “Murder on the Orient Express”). Start with a regular whodunnit that has a fabulous set-up: the murder is announced in a small ad before it happens.

The Last Enemy

Richard Hillary, 1942

I think this is the greatest book I have ever read. Written by a Spitfire pilot who flew and died heroically, it even contains instructions on how to bring down a Messerschmitt in a dogfight. I begged Penguin to let me read it on Audible, and they said yes.

The Good Daughter

Kumi Taguchi, 2025

Kumi Taguchi is an Australian TV reporter with whom I exchanged some messages on Twitter before it descended into the sewer that is X. Then, by happy coincidence, we met and she helped me with a Tokyo holiday. Now she has brought out an incredibly moving book about embracing her heritage, despite a painful relationship with her late Japanese father.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

John le Carré, 1963

When I was a little boy, I saw this book cover everywhere and the title hypnotised me. Children take everything literally: “From the cold? Why would a spy not be able to wear a coat, Mummy?” Now I see it for what it is – one of the greatest debuts in history, and the gateway to 25 million books sold by the remarkable le Carré.

The Rattle Bag

Edited by Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes, 1982

If you have only one poetry book, make it this one. If you read only one poem in it, make it “The Dream About Our Master, William Shakespeare” by Hyam Plutzik. Haunting.

Francisco de Zurbarán was a “genius” of the Spanish baroque, said Laura Cumming in The Observer. Zurbarán (1598-1664) “comes between El Greco and Velázquez”; he is “as wild as the former, as profound as the latter”.

Based mainly in Seville at the moment of the city’s greatest prosperity, he was lauded for his “electrifying” paintings of religious subjects, “hyper-real” down to the last fold of cloth and “pinprick of congealing blood”, and for his “radiant still lifes”.

There has never before been an exhibition devoted to Zurbarán in Britain, partly because the museums that own his greatest paintings are seldom prepared to loan them. This show at the National Gallery thus represents a coup: drawing on collections from Seville to San Diego, it brings together 40 works for a “magnificently choreographed” trawl through Zurbarán’s oeuvre. The paintings here are spotlit “in galleries dark as pitch”, just like the figures depicted in them. It’s a “stupendous” show that “astonishes from first to last”.

Zurbarán is “a mesmerising paradox, a mystical Catholic artist who paints with scientific accuracy”, said Jonathan Jones in The Guardian. The first painting shows Saint Peter Nolasco kneeling before a vision of Saint Peter hanging upside-down, his hands and feet nailed to an inverted cross. “You can see why Salvador Dalí loved this artist”: Zurbarán is “a primitive surrealist”.

It’s “an exhibition of intense religiosity”, said Alastair Sooke in The Telegraph, and often quite gruesome. The opening room contains three large pictures of suffering, lending it the “foetid air” of a torture chamber. An early, “strikingly realistic” crucifixion scene leads us to “Saint Serapion”, in which the subject – “wrists bound, head slumped” – “appears unable to take much more punishment”. Elsewhere, there’s a “bearded elder” pictured in the act of Christ’s circumcision; Saint Apollonia brandishing a pair of pliers, the instrument of her torture; and the famous “Agnus Dei”, depicting a lamb on a slab, “ready for slaughter”. Not all of Zurbarán’s compositional innovations have stood the test of time: his paintings often seem “theatrical”, their subjects like “actors whose performances don’t quite convince”.

Unlike Velázquez, Zurbarán never left Spain, and cannot match his “sophistication”, said Jackie Wullschläger in the Financial Times. The quality of his art was “uneven”, and in later years could be “vapidly saccharine”. But his work from the 1620s and 1630s, redolent of the vast colonial wealth and “harsh Counter-Reformation zeal” of Seville, was “superbly original and captivating”. On a smaller scale, his still lifes are stunning: in “Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose”, “cool silver and pale ceramic” contrast with the organic forms, reflecting on the mystery and fragility of the material world. This is a show that “significantly enlarges our understanding” of a fascinating artist.

National Gallery, London WC2. Until 23 August

The seemingly limitless budgets and bottomless demand for content of the streaming television era have allowed studios to dramatize both long-ago and recent disasters. These might never have gotten the Hollywood treatment a generation ago, ushering in a little-noticed golden age of disaster television headlined by the following eight series.

‘Tsunami: The Aftermath’ (2006)

The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami was by far the deadliest natural disaster of the 21st century, and one of the worst in recorded history, killing more than 227,000 people. Much less well-known than the 2012 film “The Impossible,” HBO Max’s “Tsunami: The Aftermath” is gripping viewing.

Ian Carter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a tourist in Thailand who searches for his missing wife and daughter after the wave strikes, while Tim Roth plays Nick Fraser, a journalist reporting on the almost unfathomable human loss who begins to wonder why his bosses want information about Westerners but not about the much more widespread local casualties and devastation. The “first-rate cast” also includes Toni Collette and a pre-Downton Abbey Hugh Bonneville. The series depicts the aftermath of the disaster, showing that “in death, human lives develop very different values to different communities,” said Virginian Heffernan at The New York Times. (HBO Max)

‘Chernobyl’ (2019)

HBO’s riveting, five-part dramatization of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster richly deserved its 10 Emmy Awards. Jared Harris is superb as Soviet nuclear scientist Valery Legasov, who helps convince apparatchik Boris Shcherbina (Stellan Skarsgard) that the situation is sufficiently grave that it can’t be covered up.

The series recreates ordinary Soviet life from the period with painstaking detail and spares no one and nothing in its criticisms of what led to the disaster and how it was handled. The superb ensemble includes Lyudmilla Ignatenko (Jessie Buckley) as the wife of a firefighter mortally wounded in the initial hours of the disaster and the fictional Ulana Khomyuk (Emily Watson) as a scientist who warns political leaders about the consequences of inaction. Chernobyl remains, thankfully, history’s worst nuclear disaster. Though the series takes many creative liberties with history, it “gets a basic truth right — that the Chernobyl disaster was more about lies, deceit and a rotting political system than it was about bad engineering or abysmal management and training,” said Henry Fountain at The New York Times. (HBO Max)

‘Five Days at Memorial’ (2022)

Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1,833 people in August 2005, remains one of the most under-dramatized disasters in memory. Perhaps audiences aren’t ready to confront it yet, much like the Covid-19 pandemic that remains without a significant dramatization.

One exception is the Apple TV+ drama “Five Days at Memorial,” which recreates the events at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans. Dr. Anna Pou (Vera Farmiga), Karen Wynn (Adepero Oduye), and Susan Mulderick (Cherry Jones) give viewers the perspective of a doctor, a nurse and an administrator at the hospital, which quickly loses power and access to clean water as the disaster gathers momentum. Framed by a post-hurricane investigation into the deaths of 45 patients at the hospital, the eight-part series is a “gripping affair, an engrossing medical thriller that doubles as a powerful indictment of government and corporate inaction and outright neglect,” said Manuel Betancourt at A.V. Club. (Apple TV+)

‘High Water’ (2023)

Disasters: They happen everywhere! In July 1997, parts of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic were struck by catastrophic river flooding that left more than 100 people dead. “High Water” tells the story of the Polish city of Wrocław, the country’s third largest city, which was completely inundated by floodwaters.

Fictional hydrologist Jasmina Tremer (Agnieszka Zulewska) is stuck with the unenviable task of convincing the provincial bureaucrat Jakub (Tomasz Schuchardt) and other officials that disaster is imminent, especially given that they all seem more focused on ensuring a successful visit from the Pope than on preventing tragedy. The series takes its time getting to the main event, building tension and sympathy for its characters before plunging them into ruin. A “character-driven ensemble” carries the show that despite the heavy subject matter, “doesn’t slip into the realm of soapy drama,” said Greg Wheeler at The Review Geek. (Netflix)

‘The Days’ (2023)

No less harrowing than “Chernobyl” is “The Days,” an eight-part dramatization of the Fukushima-Daichi nuclear disaster following the catastrophic 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Unlike its better-known counterpart, “The Days” is a much more faithful rendition of events, beginning with the earthquake-driven tsunami that inundated the plant and knocked its power offline.

The series is told from three perspectives, including the fictional Prime Minister Shinji Azuma (Fumiyo Kohinata), the power plant’s courageous manager, Yoshida (Koji Yakusho), and several workers who risked their lives to prevent the worst-case scenario from taking shape. The series takes “great pains to include every relevant number, fluctuating dial and horrifying factoid,” said Jonathon Wilson at Ready Steady Cut, and its “ability to ratchet up tension through its rapidly worsening disasters and complexifying circumstances is often profound.” (Netflix)

‘La Palma’ (2024)

The only show on our list that isn’t based on a true story is the Norwegian series “La Palma,” which depicts a mega-tsunami triggered by the eruption and collapse of a volcano in the Canary Islands. Loosely based on a controversial hypothesis, the show is built on familiar but very well-executed beats.

Fredrik (Anders Baasmo Christiansen), his wife, Jennifer (Ingrid Bolso Berdal), and their children, Tobias (Bernard Storm Lager) and Sara (Alma Gunther), are tourists caught up in the disaster, while Marie (Thea Sofie Loch Naess) and Haukur (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) are scientists who try and fail to warn the authorities that disaster is about to strike. Norway has quietly produced some of the best disaster films of the century, including 2015’s “The Wave,” and “La Palma” fits squarely in that tradition. The “relatively small main cast and a lack of melodrama make the show worth a watch,” said Joel Keller at Decider. (Netflix)

‘Every Minute Counts’ (2024-2025)

On the morning of September 19, 1985, a massive earthquake struck the megalopolis of Mexico City, killing about 10,000 people and leveling large swathes of the city. We see the tragedy through the eyes of several ordinary people, including Ángel Zambrano (Osvaldo Benavides), an obstetrician who helped evacuate dozens of newborn babies from a collapsing hospital, a TV reporter, Camila (Maya Zapata), and Chuy (Olaff Herrera) her cameraman.

A show that “can be exhausting to watch,” it is also an indictment of the authoritarian regime that governed Mexico at the time, depicting the consequences of “decades of government corruption that led to unenforced building codes,” said Melissa Camacho at Common Sense Media. “Every Minute Counts” is also the only listed series that was granted a second season, which was released in September 2025 and follows the surviving protagonists as the post-earthquake hours take shape. (Prime Video)

“A three-hour Japanese epic about a classical performance art (kabuki) isn’t the easiest sell,” said Deborah Ross in The Spectator, but it may be that you come away from this “masterfully sweeping” drama thinking – was three hours enough?

Spanning 50 years, it opens in 1964, in Nagasaki, with the brutal killing of a crime boss in front of his 14-year-old son Kikuo (Soya Kurokawa). A year later, Kikuo, who has already shown promise as an amateur kabuki artist, is sent to Osaka to sit at the feet of Hanjiro, a highly revered kabuki actor (played by the great Ken Watanabe). Hanjiro has a son who is the same age as Kikuo, and the two train together as onnagata – men who play the female roles. Over the years we follow their fortunes – their “deep friendship” and “blistering rivalry”. And of course there is a lot of kabuki, a form of theatre similar to ballet, which is “highly stylised” and involves “fantastically precise movements”. It makes for a “true spectacle”.

This “lavish picture” has become Japan’s highest-grossing live-action film of all time, said Wendy Ide in The Observer. Kabuki’s cultural specificity (including a mannered vocal delivery) means it is unlikely to replicate that success here. But even those not attuned to the art form will be moved by the “sumptuous period production design”, stunning costumes, and the “depiction of the savagery and suffering inherent in creative excellence”.

At times, the film “overindulges into soapier territory” and starts to flag, said Brandon Yu in The New York Times. But it comes back around with “moving flourishes”, to assert its ideas about the “beauty, bloodshed and loneliness of true artistic greatness”.

This “tame-by-design, family-friendly comic thriller”, set in England, is about a flock of sheep whose kindly shepherd, George (Hugh Jackman), is found dead in a field one morning, said Robbie Collin in The Telegraph. So the sheep do what any sheep would do and “trot off to the nearby village to work out who killed him”.

‘Eccentric characters’

It’s an “odd viewing experience”: the film is “pleasant” and “easily absorbed”; but “every so often you find yourself thinking, hang on a minute, I am watching a flock of sheep investigate a murder, and feel like you are having a stroke”.

Yes, the premise does sound “ludicrous”, said Alissa Wilkinson in The New York Times. But “The Sheep Detectives” manages to be both funny and “emotionally complex”, with its themes of grief and memory. The flock is full of “eccentric characters”, ably voiced by stars including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chris O’Dowd, Bella Ramsey and Bryan Cranston, while the village hosts all the usual suspects from a traditional whodunnit, among them a hapless cop (Nicholas Braun) and a waspish lawyer (Emma Thompson).

‘Machine-tooled’ entertainment

“On the surface it’s all delightful Little England wackiness a-go-go,” said Kevin Maher in The Times. But George lives in an Airstream caravan, the farmers drive US-style pickup trucks, and the CGI sheep have US accents. In short, this isn’t the shires at all, but an “Americanised nowheresville”.

It’s an Amazon co-production, so it has a “horrible ‘globalist’ sheen and the depressing sense” that it’s not a film so much as “filmed content”, made to “unfold” on “laptops in Beijing, Boston and Bradford”. Not every British film has to be an “analysis of national identity”, but it’s a pity to see the once venerable Working Title stoop to this “machine-tooled” entertainment.

For those who lived through it, the era of the Black Death must have been a “living nightmare”, said Katherine Harvey in The Times. During its first wave, between 1347 and 1353, the disease typically halved the populations of the areas it affected – killing at least 100 million people in Europe, Asia and North Africa. “Subsequent outbreaks, which occurred every few years until the 18th century, took millions more lives.”

In this “learned but horribly compelling” study, the British historian Thomas Asbridge offers a “global narrative” of the plague, from rural Ireland to the cities of Italy and Egypt. Punctuating Asbridge’s account are many “examples of horrendous personal tragedy”: a Sienese shoemaker who wrote of burying his five children “with my own hands”; a Carthusian monk who “watched 34 of his brethren die”, burying each in turn, “until he was alone with his dog”.

Written with great sensitivity to the “considerable psychological burden that unimaginable loss and the constant threat of new outbreaks placed on survivors”, “The Black Death” is a “powerful portrait of a world that stared death in the face”.

Most English-language histories of the medieval plague – a bacterial disease usually transmitted by fleas that had bitten infected rats – have been focused on western Europe, said Tony Barber in the Financial Times. Asbridge is “more ambitious”: he shows that the “Black Death was probably more devastating in cities such as Cairo and Damascus” – largely because orthodox Islam, which ruled that the plague was not contagious, prohibited flight from infected areas.

The most enjoyable sections of this book focus on those who “did well out of the pandemic”, said The Economist. “In Cairo, gravediggers raised their fees. There was a boom in religious art in Italy, because so many plague victims left money for paintings in their wills.” And in England, because so many clergymen died, laypeople – including, on occasions, “even” women – were allowed to hear final confessions.

The Black Death had a “long tail of consequences”, said Steven Poole in The Guardian. It probably encouraged Jewish migration eastwards – because Jews in western Europe, blamed for its spread, were massacred in their thousands. It produced labour shortages that “contributed to the end of serfdom”, and Asbridge claims it may “even have inspired the Protestant revolution”, by focusing minds on the “imminency of death”.

A work of impressive scholarship that evokes the “terror and pity” of this bleak period, “The Black Death” is a “magisterial survey”.

Of the many new products announced by Dyson last year, the PencilVac Fluffycones is the “most innovative”, said Ideal Home. Dubbed the “world’s slimmest vacuum”, it is ultra-light (1.8kg) and “compact”, and “very sleek” – thanks to a 38mm stick handle that houses the dust canister and Dyson’s fastest vacuum motor. It’s simple to use, with a swivelling floorhead that is “extremely manoeuvrable”. Its 55 air watts of suction is far less than most cordless models, but is more than enough for hard floors. And there’s the catch: the PencilVac is designed for hard floors only, so you’ll need another vacuum for carpets.

It might seem like “an unnecessary luxury”, but if you have hard floors, “you’ll actually enjoy using” this “flexible and friendly little cleaner”, said The Guardian. It comes with a free-standing charging dock which acts as a stand, and holds the combi-crevice tool. There are green lights, front and back, which really work to illuminate dust. The “odd name” is fairly self-explanatory: the whole device is squeezed into a 940mm-long pole and the fluffycones in the floorhead rotate in opposite directions to sweep dirt into the path of the central suction wand.

The collection bin is “a really clever piece of engineering”, said T3. The 0.8-litre dust compartment looks “tiny”, but it uses suction to compact dust at the top, which also stops blockages. The “syringe-style emptying system” reduces mess by pushing debris deep into your bin. Battery life is fairly short (up to 30 mins in Eco mode), but you can always fork out for a spare. The PencilVac is “really powerful”, it’s just a shame it can’t be used on carpets, or as a handheld (you can’t shorten the wand). But if you’ve got hard floors, it is “a fantastic option”.

Avoiding crowds while still experiencing the best of a culturally dynamic city is a win-win. At these seven spots, you will have more elbow room to see the sights and more chances to connect with locals and dive into their way of life.

Bisbee, Arizona

This former mining town changed its fortune, reinventing itself to become an artists’ haven. During the early 1900s, when copper, gold, zinc and silver production was booming, Bisbee prospered. By the 1970s, the mines dried up and shuttered.

Artists soon started to arrive and turned Bisbee into a creative community. Its downtown looks “straight out of a storybook,” and is a “wonderfully walkable” area, said Travel and Leisure. There are “alfresco art galleries” throughout Bisbee, and the sounds of “near-constant live music” fill the air.

Chachapoyas, Peru

In the mountains of northern Peru sits Chachapoyas, a city named in honor of the civilization that lived here from 800 BCE to 1470. The Chachapoyas, or “Warriors of the Clouds,” built several important sites in the area, including Kuélap.

This ancient fortress, built around 500 AD, comprises “towering defensive walls, over 420 circular dwellings and panoramic views,” said Time Out. A cable car sweeps visitors to Kuélap in about 20 minutes. After exploring the ruins, head back to Chachapoyas for a relaxing stroll through the historic city center, dating back to the 1500s.

Hue, Vietnam

Ornate palaces, pavilions, statues and royal tombs are waiting to be explored in Hue. This is where Vietnam’s last imperial dynasty lived in “extravagant regal splendor” and built a “citadel, gilded in bronze, enamel and lacquer,” said The Times of London.

Visitors can also receive the royal treatment once it’s dinner time. Restaurants in Hue serve the “1,000-plus dishes of the imperial household,” like banh beo (steamed rice cakes), com hen (clam rice), bun bo Hue (spicy beef noodle soup) and nem lui (lemongrass pork skewers).

Matera, Italy

Known as the City of Stone, Matera offers visitors a glimpse of what life was like in this region 10,000 years ago. Sassi di Matera, a network of cave dwellings carved into limestone, is its centerpiece.

The extraordinary settlement is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and features more than 100 rupestrian churches. The Crypt of Original Sin underwent “painstaking” restoration work and is “sure to take your breath away,” said National Geographic Traveler. Considered the “Sistine Chapel of cave art,” its frescoes are the “best in the region.” Artifacts dating to the Paleolithic era fill the Domenico Ridola Archeological Museum, while the Museum-Workshop of the Peasant Culture reconstructs a cave house, public wine cellar, and blacksmith, cobbler and cabinetmaker studios.

Meknes, Morocco

For a “relaxed slice of authentic Moroccan life,” head to Meknes, said Lonely Planet. It may be calmer here, but there’s plenty to do, starting with a trek to the “buzzy” Place El Hedim to see the Bab Mansour gate and wander the Dar Jamai Museum housed in a 19th century palace.

The Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail, Morocco’s longest-ruling sultan, is a “dazzling” display of mosaic tiles and “ornate” cedarwood, and though non-Muslims can’t enter the tomb, they can “peer through the doorway” and observe two clocks given to the sultan by King Louis XIV. Inside the medina are several souks dedicated to specific wares, like leather goods, carpets and spices.

Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka

More than 800 years ago, when Polonnaruwa was Sri Lanka’s capital, it was a “thriving” religious and commercial center, said Lonely Planet. After a series of invasions and natural disasters, the capital was abandoned, but the “glories of that age” remain.

Polonnaruwa’s archeological “treasures” include hundreds of temples, statues, tombs and stupas in a “compact core.” The sacred Quadrangle, home to many important Buddhist structures, is alone “worth the trip” to Polonnaruwa.

Wroclaw, Poland

The historic city of Wroclaw, spread across 12 islands connected by over 100 bridges, shows off its “cultural credentials” through beautiful design and ample opportunities to attend live performances, said The Times of London. “Gorgeous” Market Square offers examples of colorful gothic, baroque, art nouveau and contemporary architecture, and sharp-eyed visitors will have fun spotting hundreds of small bronze gnomes scattered around the city. Music lovers will appreciate spending an evening at the National Forum of Music, with its renowned acoustics, or attending free, open-air JazzOVO concerts in the courtyard of OVO Wroclaw during summer Fridays.

If you thought the new series of Jilly Cooper’s bonkbuster would be “dialling down the raunch, think again”, said Carol Midgley in The Times.

“Buckle up again for a brazen OTT romp through the 1980s posho set of Rutshire, where everyone seems to be rutting everyone else’s spouse before readjusting their bouffant hairdo and having another glass of champagne.”

Corinium boss Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant) was “whacked over the head with a gold statuette” at the end of last season, but he’s back to plan “messy revenge” on his former lover Cameron (Nafessa Williams) and his nemesis, Conservative MP Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell). On the surface, the “daft plot” revolves around a “TV franchise war”. Really, though, “Rivals” is about “love and power”. This is a show with “huge heart” that, “despite its deliberate corniness”, is “gloriously uplifting television”.

Series two also sees the “shaggers” preparing for the 1987 general election, said Sarah Dempster in The Guardian. Can Rupert keep his seat or will the “monstrous tabloid hack” Beattie team up with Lord Tony to “stitch him up like a kipper”? And who will win the battle for the “coveted” Central South West television franchise?

The acting is “superb” – everyone seems to be having the “time of their life” – and the dialogue is “fabulous”, peppered with “twinkling” jokes. “How best to reward such exquisitely knowing escapism? Ten stars? Ten thousand stars? ‘Rivals’ is beyond earthly praise.”

Little change has been made to the “basic formula”, said Rebecca Nicholson in the Financial Times. The “set-piece capers are as lively as ever” and there is even space for “tenderness” in the “simmering” relationship between romance novelist Lizzie (Katherine Parkinson) and Freddie (Danny Dyer). But this series feels “a bit more serious”, and some of the storylines about the TV industry “drag a little”. The show is at its best when it “embraces its silly side, and accepts its lot as a jolly old romp”.

I found it enormous “fun”, said Nick Hilton in The Independent. “Well written” and “well acted”, with “bucolic horniness” in spades, it’s a “rare treat in today’s television landscape”.

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They always share their delicious homemade breads and baked goods with you, and now it’s time to return the favor. These 11 handy gadgets, tasty ingredients and practical tools will soon be your favorite bakers’ newest kitchen indispensables.

Burlap & Barrel Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice gift bundle

Everything they need for a sweet treat or comforting warm beverage is in this collection. The star is Royal Cinnamon, Burlap & Barrel’s signature spice known for its intense flavor. Bottles of coconut sugar, cinnamon sugar crunch, panela cane sugar, chai base and Nyanza vanilla extract round out the set. ($86, Burlap & Barrel)

Challenger Breadware bread pan

The cast iron Challenger bread pan is beloved for a reason — it makes “incredible” loaves, said Food & Wine. One secret to its success is the “air-tight” lid, which mimics a steam oven and “creates an ideal baking environment.” The preseasoned pan was also designed with easy-to-grip handles for safer transfers into and out of the oven. ($299, Amazon)

Emile Henry French ceramic artisan cherry embossed ruffled pie dish

Raise their pie game with Emile Henry’s elegant ruffled pie dish. It’s made in France from durable Burgundian clay, which slowly and uniformly distributes heat. Pies come out of the oven properly cooked and ready to devour — after they cool, of course. ($70, Williams Sonoma)

Esembly Bowl Caps

These waterproof and machine-washable bowl caps keep dough safe and ingredients fresh. Each set comes with four stretchy caps, and you choose from a variety of patterns, including a colorful poppy print and sweet strawberry motif. Add the Sourdough Set for a starter cap, proofing cover and dual-layered bread bag. (Bowl Caps, $18, Esembly; Sourdough Set, $26, Esembly)

Goldie by Sourhouse sourdough starter warmer

Sourdough starter is at its healthiest and most active when kept between 75 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit, and the Goldie by Sourhouse ensures the starter stays in the “Goldilocks Zone.” This “sleek” countertop device lets you know when starter is too cold, too hot or just right, and turns a “scientific aspect of sourdough uncomplicated,” said The Kitchn. The Goldie also comes with a cooling puck to drop the starter’s temperature should it get too high. ($150, Sourhouse)

House of Noa Nama standing mat

Spending hours in the kitchen can be brutal on the knees and feet. The Nama standing mat, made of high density, ergonomic foam, offers relief. It is “supportive” and “hugs” feet, said The Strategist. Choose from a variety of patterns and sizes, starting at 22x36 inches. (starting at $59, House of Noa)

Le Creuset Vancouver pinch bowls

Le Creuset is known for its colorful glazed stoneware, and this collection of six bowls features a rainbow of hues. Use each one to measure and hold ingredients like salt, spices and herbs (up to two ounces), turning a “process as mundane as mise en place into something worthy of a photo shoot,” said The Strategist. The bowls can pull double duty and be used to serve dressings, sauces and dips as well. ($30, Amazon)

Mosser glass cake pedestal

Their cake stunners deserve to be displayed on an equally impressive stand. Mosser’s lovely vintage-inspired glass pedestal comes in three colors — jadeite, light pink and white — and is a statement on its own or when part of a dessert station. (starting at $50, The Vermont Country Store)

Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract set

The three pure vanilla extracts in this collection — Mexican, Tahitian and Madagascar Bourbon — are tasty additions to baked goods, or drizzled lightly on ice cream. The Mexican vanilla has a “deep, earthy flavor,” while the Tahitian boasts a more “floral, aromatic quality,” said Serious Eats. Madagascar Bourbon is creamier, with a rich finish. ($53, Williams Sonoma)

Oxo stainless steel food scale

Whether you’re making bread, cookies or a cake, using a food scale is the “key to baking precision,” said Food & Wine. Measuring by weight is “superior” to measuring by volume, and Oxo’s stainless steel scale offers “accurate” numbers and features an “easy-to-read digital display.” ($65, Amazon)

Paper Farm Press Blueberry Field tin recipe box

Important recipes need a safe storage space, and this tin box is primed for maximum kitchen security. It can hold 250 4x6 inch recipe cards, so there’s room for both new recipes and trusted family favorites. It begs to be showed-off — the tin is covered in a cute blueberry print with gold accents and comes with a starter set of 15 matching recipe cards and coordinating recipe divider tabs. ($36, Paper Farm Press)

Brazil is our “destination of the year”, said Jacqui Gifford in Travel + Leisure. With a restaurant scene that’s “on fire”, beautiful “untamed” landscapes, “spectacular” beaches and, of course, unbeatable carnivals, this is the hottest place to visit in 2026.

Brazil has seen a 37% year-on-year rise in visitors, thanks in part to the launch of its International Tourism Acceleration Program, said The Telegraph. The “goal was simple: to improve the country’s international air connectivity”. It’s now easier to reach Brazil than ever, with new flights from Europe to cities such as Manaus and Recife. And, this year, flights are due to begin between Lisbon and São Luís – “the gateway to the swirling dunes of Lençóis Maranhenses National Park”.

December to March is “peak season” in Brazil, bringing the “heat, summer rains and parties to the streets of Rio de Janeiro for Carnaval” in February or early March, said National Geographic.

If you decide to visit during the southern hemisphere’s spring (September to December), consider a wildlife-focused trip with a visit to the Pantanal – the world’s biggest tropical wetland that’s home to an array of creatures including capybaras, giant river otters and hyacinth macaws. August and September is “peak wild jaguar sighting season” when the big cats gather along the river banks to hunt for caimans.

And if you plan your trip for June (winter in Brazil), the seasonal rainwater lagoons at Lençóis Maranhenses reach their highest levels, ideal for swimming, and the weather is dry and sunny. This is also when humpback whales begin migrating from icy Antarctica to breed in the warmer waters off the coast of Bahia and Rio de Janeiro. It’s well worth booking a tour with Projeto Baleia Jubarte.

June to November (dry season) is also the best time of year to visit the Amazon. Consider exploring the dense, tropical rainforest on a river cruise, said Chris Moss in The Telegraph. “As a nature-lover and twitcher, I have marvelled at macaws, kingfishers, hummingbirds and giant otters.” Starting from Belém at the mouth of the Amazon, you can sail as far as Iquitos in Peru.

And if a city break is more your thing, spend a few days in São Paulo visiting the bustling city’s stand-out restaurants, bars and galleries. A trip to the “huge indoor market”, Mercado Municipal, is a “must”, said Time Out. The multi-storey “food heaven” is packed with “colourful and lively” stalls selling everything from delicious baked goods to exotic fruits and vegetables. “Be prepared to loosen your belt by a few notches to eat the market’s most famous sandwich: a small baguette packed with a brick-size wedge of mortadella.” Night owls can stay up late at Fabriketa – an “all-night electronic music party in an abandoned factory”.

Fresh off an early morning Eurostar service from London’s St Pancras, I feel excited when my taxi pulls up outside Maison Proust, and I discover its serene location on a tree-lined Parisian backstreet. Getting out of the car I wonder for a moment if I’m at the right place; I can’t see an obvious sign and its plain grey façade looks more like a private mansion than a hotel. As I contemplate getting back in the cab, a young man in an elegant navy suit appears from behind a grand door and welcomes me with a smile.

Inside, it’s a fun surprise to discover the decadent Belle Époque décor that evokes the style of the salons Marcel Proust would once have frequented. Standing in a darkened wood-panelled entry way lined with glass cabinets filled with curiosities, I am instantly transported back in time – and inspired to read some Proust, a great French author I am loath to admit I know very little about.

Sipping a welcome glass of chilled black tea infused with hibiscus and pepper in the cosy guest lounge and bar, I take in my new surroundings. It’s a theatrical mix of dusky blue velvet, distressed mirrors, wood panelling and tasselled lampshades that sets the tone for the rest of the hotel.

Waiting for my keys, I explore the thickly carpeted space and find a circular library, with a celestial ceiling inspired by “The Rotonde du Soleil” at Opéra Garnier, and a secret alcove. It’s the perfect spot for delving into Proust’s epic seven-volume novel, “In Search of Lost Time” (“À la Recherche du Temps Perdu”, I later learn he’s best known for.

Why stay here?

Set on a quiet street in heart of the Marais with its lively village atmosphere, luxurious Maison Proust is the ideal refuge for those who appreciate hotels with character, art, literature and history, and who seek a tranquil weekend escape in the heart of Paris. With its small, cosy spaces, it appeals to couples and solo travellers looking for a discreet base.

The hotel’s 23 compact, individually designed, street-facing rooms are split across six floors, set off curved darkened corridors. Ranging in size from doubles to junior suites, they’re named after Proust’s friends, including writers such as Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette and Emile Zola and painters such as Edouard Manet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

A peaceful night is guaranteed at Maison Proust, thanks to a combination of triple-glazed windows, blackout curtains, luxurious beds and high-quality linens. Rich colour palettes, sumptuous carpets and opulent fabrics like silk drapes and velvet sofas are décor hallmarks. Lampshades are decorated with pages from Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time”, while bathrooms clad in marble have deep tubs, showers – or both – and luxurious Italian body products made with almond milk and orange blossom.

Before you arrive, it’s worth reserving an hour-long session at the Salon d’Eau, an exclusive Moorish-style relaxation space, with a steam room and a warm 33ft lap pool. Book into Spa La Mer, which offers indulgent treatments like lifting facials and revitalising massages, by appointment only.

Eating and drinking

Although there’s no restaurant at the hotel, breakfast – continental, American or à la carte – is served in the light-flooded glassed-in winter garden decorated with huge portraits of women in Proust’s life.

Come early evening, snacks like truffle tarama, burrata with olives, artichoke hearts, smoked salmon, and French cheeses, to name a few, are served when the bar opens. Drinks-wise, a comprehensive menu features several absinthes, 16 gins and 40 whiskys. Cocktails are as rich as the surroundings, like the Albertine, a sweet and punchy concoction laced with cognac and apricot syrup and topped with champagne.

Things to do

If you can drag yourself out of your artfully decorated salon-style room, the excitement of the Marais awaits. Start with a browse around the cluster of upscale boutiques along the Rue Vieille du Temple, before exploring the dizzying choice of restaurants and bars on surrounding streets. Great options include Candelaria, Mesures, and the Marché des Enfants Rouges, the city’s oldest food market.

And it’s a 15-minute stroll to the Musée Carnavalet, whose temporary collection includes the reconstituted bedroom of Marcel Proust, featuring his polished-wood bed draped with a deep blue coverlet, his cane and coat, and the writer’s precious pen.

The verdict

The quiet yet central location in the Marais is a unique combination that promises a fun-filled but relaxing trip to Paris. With its darkened corridors and small decadent spaces, it’s the perfect romantic refuge from the nearby hustle and bustle, that inspires you to want to be creative, and to read more.

Ellie was a guest of Eurostar and Maison Proust.

Most standard-size cookbooks showcase between 100 and 150 recipes. In 2008, the author and cooking teacher Raghavan Iyer said “pshaw” and published his magnum opus, “660 Curries.”

“To us Indians, a curry is a sauce-based dish,” said Iyer, meaning “curry” as employed in Western instances like all-purpose “curry powder” is a term so general as to lose all significance. Curry instead is both the alpha and the omega. It’s both a saucy dish across the subcontinent and a hyper-regional way of preparing said saucy dishes.

Name your cooking weapon

Pick a base, and you are nearly guaranteed at least one recipe for it in “660 Curries.” More often, you will be bombarded with an array of options.

Consider the legume. Yellow split peas, horse gram, chickpeas, brown lentils and moth beans — Iyer assembles an armada of more than 15 different types of legumes for the Legume Curries chapter. The hits are present, including a faultless recipe for the restaurant icon, dal makhani, with its whole black lentils opulent with Punjabi garam masala, yogurt and heavy cream.

A behemoth is forever going to do the absolute most, so lesser-known regional specialties are everywhere across the book. Toovar dal (split yellow pigeon peas) is softened in a bath of unripe green mango, green bell pepper and coconut milk in a dish from the southwestern state of Kerala. Stressing the omnipresent influence of the Portuguese colonizers, chorizo cooks with red kidney beans and black-eyed peas in a spunky chile-vinegar tomato sauce in a Goan adaptation of Brazilian feijoada. Here and in the book’s other chapters on vegetables, seafood, poultry and eggs, meat, and paneer, curry is no catch-all. It slips, shifts and adapts.

To the curry-sphere and beyond

Iyer cheated a touch with the book’s title because some chapters exist outside of the sauce world. The opening chapter, Spice Blends and Paste, provides a constellation of building blocks and endless masalas with seven types of garam masala alone.

The final chapter, Curry Cohorts, dabbles in a touch of everything: rice preparations, including a Maharashtrian-style fried rice with peanuts and curry leaves; all manner of breads, such as poori, roti and naan; and even a mango cheesecake and saffron-licked green tea. “660 Curries” is an imposing endeavor. And, oh, how the book’s recipes work.

Iyer died, too young, at 61 in 2023. He was an admired teacher and an indefatigable researcher. And almost 20 years later, “660 Curries” remains as essential as it was when it first appeared. Scratch that. “660 Curries” is all the more pertinent now. The world needed time to embrace its sweeping, detailed grandeur.

From galaxies far, far away to apocalypse-ravaged wastelands and underground bunkers, these chilling dystopian TV shows transport us to another world – while amplifying our darkest, real-life fears. These are some of the best.

Paradise

Series two of “Paradise” is “better than ever”, said Tim Glanfield in The Times. With its “smart interwoven plotting” and “standout lead performances”, this dystopian political thriller might just be your “new favourite show”. Set in what appears to be an idyllic American town, the first instalment introduces Secret Service agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown). “Cracks in the seemingly perfect community” begin to show when the president is murdered and Collins is framed. The first episode of series two “answers long-held questions while raising even more”, introducing interesting new characters while weaving in flashbacks to deepen backstories. As the new series “unfolds, the secrets deep below the surface grow darker” and the “tension ratchets to new levels at each revelation”. It’s a must watch.
Disney+

The Testaments

“Brace yourselves,” said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian: Margaret Atwood’s sequel to “The Handmaid’s Tale”, published in 2019, “has come for us”. Set in the totalitarian regime of Gilead a few years after the TV series ended, “The Testaments” is focused not on the “handmaids” – who provide children to powerful men – but on the daughters of the elite, who are groomed from birth to become wives. The structure of the series departs radically from that of the book, but the show is so “consumingly brilliant” that I reckon even purists will forgive this, said Charlotte Ivers in The Sunday Times. Chase Infiniti plays Agnes MacKenzie, the adopted daughter of a high-ranking commander, who attends an elite school run by the fearsome Aunt Lydia (a returning Ann Dowd). There, she meets Daisy (Lucy Halliday), a Canadian who has come to Gilead voluntarily. At the school, “lucky” girls who get their period are paired off with much older men in a social process in which the “tea parties, balls and fripperies of Jane Austen” are mixed with Orwellian totalitarianism. It’s a “deeply uneasy combination”, but it makes for “spectacular television”.
Disney +

Westworld

The fourth season of Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan’s “knotty sci-fi thriller” proved “far more gripping” than the third instalment, said Richard Lawson in GQ. Set in Westworld, a futuristic Wild West-themed amusement park where sophisticated robots cater to the demands of wealthy guests, the final season feels like a cross between an “elegant” “Terminator” movie and “Bladerunner”. As ever it looks “mind-bogglingly expensive” (“all gleaming buildings and haunted desert”), and the excellent cast are back in “peak snarling, purring, quipping form”.
Amazon Prime

Andor

The second season of this “Star Wars” spin-off is “as thrilling as ever”, said Jack Seale in The Guardian. Exploring the events that lead up to the 2016 film, “Rogue One”, the action follows thief-turned-rebel-spy Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). Like everything in the franchise, the series is about an “underdog rebel movement fighting against a totalitarian empire in space”. But writer Tony Gilroy swaps the “magic and myth” for the realities of the “anti-fascist struggle”. This is “Star Wars” for grown-ups.
Disney+

The Walking Dead

One of the most “successful” dystopian TV series ever made, “The Walking Dead” follows a group of survivors during a zombie apocalypse, said Tim Glanfield in The Times. It’s an “epic, sprawling” show that takes you on a “rollercoaster ride through a dystopian America”, where staying alive hinges on the relationships forged, and even the smallest mistake can have fatal consequences.
Now

The Last of Us

Based on the 2013 video game, this “superb” post-apocalyptic drama combines “epic” action with “breathtaking emotional swerves”, said Ed Power in The Telegraph. Season one saw hardened survivor Joel (Pedro Pascal) and teenager Ellie (Bella Ramsey) trek through a desolate America overrun by “fungus-ridden” infected creatures to deliver the uniquely immune Ellie to a group of rebels who believed she may hold the key to a cure that could “save all of humanity”. Things didn’t go to plan and the second instalment picks up five years later when the pair are “uneasily getting on with life” in Jackson, Wyoming. Expect “gobsmacking set pieces” including a battle scene to “rival ‘Game of Thrones’”, and “reliably forceful” performances from Pascal and Ramsey. In all, season two takes everything that was good about the first series and “cranks it up to the absolute maximum”.
Apple TV+

Silo

The first season of “Silo” laid out some “captivating foundations”, said Nicola Austin in Empire. Based on the best-selling trilogy of novels by Hugh Howey, it “charted the aftermath of an apocalyptic event” that saw thousands of people forced underground to live in a giant bunker known as the silo. No one knows who built it or why, but they do know one thing: the outside world is toxic and leaving will result in almost certain death. Season two picks up after the “doozy of a cliffhanger” at the end of the first instalment, and “turns the temperature up on this pressure-cooker of a dystopia”.
Apple TV+

Severance

Following a “fantastically stylish, clever, trippy and compelling” first series, “Severance” is back on the small screen, and somehow it’s even better than before, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian. The first instalment follows Mark Scout (Adam Scott), an employee at the sinister Lumon Industries corporation, who has opted into the severance procedure to have his non-work memories separated from his work memories, giving him an “innie” and “outie” life. In the second season, “mysteries and revelations, clues and new enigmas are rolled out in perfect syncopation, getting wilder and weirder” as the show goes on.
Apple TV+

Fallout

The “bouncy, eye-popping energy” of this “post-apocalyptic action-comedy” makes for “perfect bingeing”, said Ed Power in The Telegraph. Based on the video game of the same name, “Fallout” is set in the year 2296, two centuries after the “downfall of humanity”, in a postwar America “devastated by a nuclear conflagration”. Wealthy survivors have taken refuge in subterranean Vaults but they are eventually forced to emerge into the “Californian wasteland”: a “hellscape, teeming with zombie-like mutants”. Delivering the “perfect payload of OTT action and childish humour”, it makes for a surprisingly “fun” watch.
Amazon Prime

“Is it a red wine, or a white?” said The Economist. “It is both.”

Trendy “blouge” wines have started popping up in bars around the world. A mix of white (blanc) and red (rouge) grapes, the resulting tipple is “light and refreshing, like a white, but with the structure and depth of a red”.

Mixing red and white like this is “not a new idea”. Winemakers have long been making champagnes from different coloured grapes. But recently producers have been “breaking new ground” with a growing number of “fresher” blouge wines often with “playful names to emphasise their novelty and expand their appeal”.

While rosé is made from red grapes alone with limited skin contact, and orange wines are made from white grapes in the style of a red with extended contact with the skins, blouge wines are a hybrid made by co-fermenting both red and white grapes. They are targeted at “younger, more adventurous” consumers keen to try something new.

Combining grape varieties gives producers more “flexibility” in the face of climate change. Hotter weather can lead to red grapes accumulating sugar faster, while the “ripening of skins and seeds can lag behind, causing a mismatch”. By adding white grapes to the mix, acidity is boosted while the high alcohol level found in ripe red grapes is diluted.

The pretty colours “tempt the Instagram lens”, said The Telegraph, luring “aperitivo-hour drinkers” on the lookout for wines with the “appeal of a light cocktail; often fruity and chilled, perhaps with a vestige of florality and a tinge of either astringency or sweetness”.

BoogieWoogie from Aubert et Mathieu is due to arrive in the UK this month, said The Guardian. A “light and juicy blend of red and white grenache grapes”, this is the “perfect match for tapas, pizza and picnics”.

Or try Domaine Lucas Madonia: The Blouge 2024, a “high-quality, natural” wine that uses grapes grown at a vineyard nestled on a “steep mountainside in the Swiss Alps of Valais”. Best enjoyed “cold on a sunny day after work”, the “fruity, aromatic blend” of chasselas white and gamay red grapes has a “clean, lively finish” with hints of “juicy strawberries and raspberries”.

When it comes to hotel room views, it doesn’t get much better than having your own private wildlife show. That’s exactly what you get at Chester Zoo, where the new safari-style Giraffe View lodges let you stay overnight overlooking the sandy enclosure where the male giraffes live.

“That’s Meru,” our friendly concierge tells us as we drop off our bags in our room. Beyond the glass, across a small rocky strip of water, the zoo’s eldest giraffe is craning his impossibly long, elegant neck up to a hanging basket of foliage and methodically stripping the branches of their bark. Below him, a smaller, paler giraffe – (Stanley, we soon find out) – prods his shoulder, demanding attention. It’s a mesmerising sight.

Cosy lodges with stellar views

The Reserve only opened last year, but the entire experience already feels like a well-oiled machine. We didn’t arrive until check-in, but wished we had got there earlier when we realised just how much there was to see. As well as an overnight stay in a luxury lodge, the After Hours package includes a two-day zoo pass. Guests get early access on both days from 9am (an hour earlier than the general public) to the Heart of Africa zone – a sprawling 22-acre habitat designed to mimic African grasslands. It’s home to more than 50 animal species, including zebras, rhinos, vultures, antelopes, and, of course, giraffes.

On arrival, we were given wristbands giving us exclusive access to The Reserve, and were whisked straight out on to the terrace overlooking the lakeside lodges for our welcome drinks. We opted for the Kenyan-inspired dawa cocktail: a refreshing – and surprisingly strong! – blend of vodka, lime, honey and sugar syrup. Despite being April in Cheshire, sitting out on the bright, sunny terrace, it really did feel like we were on safari (or what I would imagine it’s like, as a safari novice).

The lodges themselves are comfortable and modern, decorated in calming shades of oatmeal with plenty of natural wood and pretty rattan wall hangings. But the real draw is the views: floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors open out on to your own private balcony where you can watch the giraffes amble around the paddock. Perfect for families, a cute stuffed toy giraffe is also waiting on the bed.

An after-hours tour to remember

It’s easy for hours to slip by while you sit and watch the giraffes but we managed to tear ourselves away from our lodge for the after-hours tour. Every member of staff we met at Chester Zoo was warm, friendly and, above all, passionate about what they do. Ranger Ben was no exception. Together with another couple staying at The Reserve, we set off to explore the Heart of Africa zone – stopping off at the various enclosures to learn about the animals and their quirks.

We pass the female giraffes (Tula, we learn, is a “diva”, while Kanzee is the “adventurous” one), and stop to look at the inquisitive yellow mongooses, Cinnamon and Saffron. Perhaps most memorable of all are the aardvarks; they’re nocturnal so they’re still sleeping when we visit at dusk but peering into their cave we manage to catch a glimpse of their strange pink feet with shovel-like claws dangling in the air.

Next, we head into the Hidden Savannah – an indoor space where a colony of naked mole-rats are huddled together sleeping. We can’t spot the African bullfrog at first but soon find he’s blending in beneath a log, staying completely still as he lays in wait for his prey. There’s just time to stop off for a talk with another ranger, Ewan, who shows us the “enrichment” puzzles and feeders used to engage the lions and monkeys, and tells us about Chester Zoo’s biggest conservation projects, including work supporting the monitoring of giant anteaters in Brazil.

Back at The Reserve that evening, there’s a range of activities for guests. We opted for the Pangolin Talk, where Ben told us about the zoo’s research tracking critically endangered giant pangolins in southwest Uganda. (Ewan reappeared too, with a slightly unnerving giant pangolin puppet.) The only snag was our evening meal, which, after the incredible day we’d had, was disappointing and didn’t live up to the quality of the rest of our stay.

Skipping the crowds with early access

Thankfully, breakfast was much better, with a selection of pastries, fresh fruit and cooked traditional classics. Determined to make the most of the early access this time, we set out at 9am to explore the rest of the zoo. This felt really special: many of the animals we hadn’t been able to see the night before were just waking up and we could get to the best viewing spots before the crowds arrived.

Chester Zoo was recently voted the best zoo in the UK and it’s easy to see why. Spanning 130 acres, the sprawling site is home to some of the biggest habitats in Europe and with so much more space the animals looked happier and more relaxed than those in the old Victorian cages in London. It’s also a non-profit carrying out some incredible conservation work around the world, teaming up with local partners to support crucial research projects everywhere from Mexico to Madagascar.

There is so much to see and you really will need to get there early to have any hope of getting around the entire zoo. But the memory that will stay with me the longest is waking up, drawing back the curtains, and seeing two majestic giraffes amble right past the window. It’s an experience that will be difficult to top without getting on a plane to explore the countries and wildlife in Africa.

Irenie was a guest at The Reserve at Chester Zoo, chesterzoo.org

Framed by fjords and mountains on Norway’s southwest coast, Bergen is a beautiful city with a lively cultural scene, including some excellent New Nordic (“Neo-Fjordic”) restaurants. And the islands around it also offer a “very Scandinavian interplay of big, contemplative nature and fresh thinking”, says Toby Skinner in Condé Nast Traveller.

Compared with, say, the Lofoten or Stockholm islands, this archipelago remains “relatively under the radar”, but it is magical even so, and a delight to explore by road and on “peaceful” ferries. It’s a world of rocks and forests, “picture-postcard” seascapes, and villages of white weatherboard houses. Here and there, “immaculate” red boathouses sit by the shore, and there are some great bakeries and artisanal distilleries, as well as stylish boutique hotels.

Among the more recent openings is Lilløy Lindenberg, a private island retreat that sleeps 12 people in a “traditional” house and a “whimsically converted” boathouse. Both have “coolly Scandinavian” yet “playful” interiors featuring locally made objects such as “wobbly, organic-seeming” lamps by the glass-blower Sigrid Rostad. Summer days here are “slow, soft-lit reveries of saunas, boat trips and vegan feasts”, but it’s also worth visiting other islands. On “rocky, windswept” Fedje, you can taste “subtly complex” organic whiskies and spirits at the Feddie Ocean Distillery, and stay at Fab 8 (“crisply designed” apartments in a former sardine factory).

And there are two good hotels in the little fishing community of Bekkjarvik, on Selbjørn – the “traditional” Bekkjarvik Gjestgiveri and the “angular” Beckerwyc House, where the Bocuse d’Or winner Ørjan Johannessen serves “sublime” 16-course dinners made at the restaurant, Mirabelle. Before heading back to Bergen, Bekkjarvik Experience offers kayaking trips, fishing expeditions and more. I loved its sleek, black “Bond-worthy RIB”, which reached speeds of 70mph on a “roller-coaster-like tour of tiny islands”.

Everyone in my family is a fan of bread studded with salty briny olives, and this recipe takes that craving a step further, said Joe Woodhouse. Feel free to add a block of grated halloumi to the mix. You can also cut the flatbreads in half and freeze them. Just put them in the toaster to defrost and crisp from frozen.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 400g self-raising flour, or plain flour with 1 tbsp baking powder
• 200g wholemeal flour, plus more to dust
• 250g yoghurt, or kefir
• 3 tbsp olive oil, or oil from the sundried tomatoes, plus more (optional) for cooking
• 200g jar of sundried tomatoes in olive oil, drained and sliced
• 50g black olives, pitted and sliced
• 25g basil, stalks finely chopped, leaves chopped
• 3 tbsp drained capers
• 1 tbsp dried oregano

Method

• Put the flours in a mixing bowl. Mix the yoghurt or kefir in a jug with the oil and 200ml water. Add to the flour and knead to combine. Knead in the sundried tomatoes, olives, basil, capers and oregano.
• Divide the dough into 4 and roll out each piece on a floured surface to a diameter of about 20cm.
• Heat a griddle pan over a med-low heat. Add the flatbreads one at a time, brushing with olive oil first to get them extra crispy. Cook for 4-6 mins on each side until puffed and cooked through. To check if they’re ready, break a chunk off one, pull it apart and see if it is fluffy in the middle.
• Serve as is or spread with pesto, harissa or tapenade, or with a bowl of pickled chillies.

Taken from Weeknight Vegetarian by Joe Woodhouse

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Integrating art and creativity into your life, even for a few minutes a day, can have positive effects on your mental and physical health, according to scientific studies. Incorporating them can slow cognitive decline, reduce heart disease risk and improve well-being as you age.

Engaging in the arts is the “forgotten fifth pillar of health,” alongside diet, sleep, exercise and nature, said Daisy Fancourt, a professor studying the effect of the arts on people’s health, in her new book, “Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Save Lives.” There are plenty of ways to integrate creativity into your life, even if you aren’t a particularly artistic person.

Check out local resources

Spending time indulging in creative pastimes can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be to reap health benefits. Look for inexpensive opportunities in your community. If you have museums or other cultural institutions nearby, “see if they offer any hours free of charge,” said The New York Times.

Check with your library to see whether it offers free passes to some of these places, too, Fancourt said to the outlet. Local churches might hold musical performances that cost nothing. You can also check out plays put on by local schools or community theaters. They are not as expensive as a professional production, and it’s a “lovely way of supporting local artists.”

Introduce creativity into your social life

Try swapping drinks or dinner with your friends and family for more creative activities. When Fancourt meets up with her sister, “we often do mindful coloring,” she said. It doesn’t have to be a formal endeavor; you can just get together with people and discuss your latest creative endeavors. Making it a group activity may motivate you to continue injecting creativity into your daily life.

Find an activity that meets your current needs

With so many facets to the creative life, there is bound to be an endeavor that scratches an itch. Think about “which psychological needs aren’t being met in your life,” said The Guardian. If you’re feeling out of control in your everyday life, “pick a hobby that lets you take the lead without needing instruction,” such as “drawing, creative writing or clay modeling.”

If you want to acquire a new proficiency, try tasks that will “allow you to develop a new skill.” Giving yourself a goal to work toward, like a “performance or a gift to give to friends,” can be a “good motivator.” Remember that failure is “essential to building a sense of accomplishment,” so if those scarves you knitted unravel, “practicing dealing with such failures can build your sense of resilience.”

Spend time in nature

Immersing yourself in nature can help you link to your brain’s creative side. In a study titled “Creativity in the Wild: Improving Creative Reasoning Through Immersion in Natural Settings,” a group of hikers who spent four days in nature without devices increased performance on a creativity/problem solving task by 50%.

Nature, in this study, provided “emotionally positive stimuli,” said VeryWell Mind. By reducing phone and computer use, the participants weren’t “switching tasks or multitasking, attending to sudden events, maintaining task goals or inhibiting irrelevant actions.” Spending quality time outdoors improved the group’s creativity test scores because stepping away from technology and into nature helps you “think creatively about solutions and alternative options.”

Embrace the new

Diversity of arts experiences is “just as important as frequency of engagement,” said New Scientist. Every creative encounter offers “different sensory treats for our brains and bodies,” each with its own health benefits. Experiment with different versions of creative experience, heading for “moderate novelty” that is “outside your comfort zone, but still something you think you will enjoy.” Also, focus your engagement on real-life interactions over virtual, as “screen-based arts activities tend to be the ultra-processed foods of the arts world.”

When it comes to grand European cities, you would be hard pushed to find one more majestic than Vienna.

As the centre of the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian empires centuries ago, it was a hub of culture, art and, above all, architectural beauty – a legacy that endures today.

Modern Vienna is a thriving metropolis with a stylish centre. Locals and guests can indulge in treats from world-class art to Michelin-standard gastronomy, plus this year it is home to the festival of fun that is the Eurovision Song Contest. There are few more satisfying destinations in which to lose yourself for a weekend.

Things to do

First things first, if you plan to see a lot of sights (and you should!) grab a Vienna City Card and load it onto the ivie digital city guide app. It acts as a public transport ticket and offers discounts on major sights, while the app has suggested routes for self-guided walking tours.

For the best introduction to the city, get wandering! Check out the famous Ringstrasse, a 3.3-mile boulevard that circles the city centre, before heading inside the loop towards St Stephen’s Cathedral. This is the epicentre for high-end shopping, literally or window, among some of the most exclusive postcodes in the world.

You can’t miss the glorious Imperial Palace, seat of the Hofburg Dynasty, and one of the largest palace complexes in the world. It houses the Sisi Museum, which celebrates one of their most famous monarchs Empress Elisabeth, and the National Library, which gives the one in “Beauty and the Beast” a run for its money. You'll find the crown jewels on show at the Imperial Treasury.

You could spend a day at the stunning Schloss Schöenbrunn and gardens that celebrate 30 years as a Unesco World Heritage Site this year, and if you’re a war buff, make your way to the Museum of Military History, home to the car in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot, sparking the outbreak of the First World War.

Music fans really should try to pre-book for a show at the State Opera House, but if you don't have the time, then a behind-the-scenes tour is a great way to get a feel for the world-famous venue. Art lovers can’t go wrong with an afternoon at the Belvedere Palace, where Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss” hangs, but don’t miss out on the gallery’s huge collection of modernist, Renaissance and Medieval art too.

To delve deeper into Vienna’s cultural heritage, seek out the Museum of Applied Arts, the Foto Arsenal Wien photography museum, the Kunsthistorisches Museum and, my personal favourite, the Leopold Museum, which boasts an astonishing collection of Austrian art. In fact, the entire museum quarter has 61 cultural institutions, alongside bars, restaurants and outside spaces.

To experience what it might be like to live in Vienna, get out of the centre, too, and discover the city’s Grätzels (neighbourhoods). Each has its own unique vibe, from trendy Karmeliterviertel to the cobblestones of Neubau and Spittelberg.

Eating and drinking

Vienna is the only city in the world with a type of cuisine named after it, and its most iconic dish is the Wiener schnitzel (breaded, pan-fried veal cutlet). Try one at Salonplafond, where modern interpretations of Austrian classics are served in a grand dining room.

Michelin-starred Z’SOM takes its name from the Tyrolean dialect word for “together”, but its food is rooted in Latin America and is both exciting and unpretentious. Head chef and owner Diego Briones has created an accomplished, light-hearted menu with hero European ingredients such as white asparagus, accompanied by more unusual combinations like coconut and green papaya. Try it out for a night to remember.

Butcher and restaurant Praterwirt is a locals’ favourite, serving high-quality meats alongside authentic Budweiser lager straight from their own tanks. Perfect for a hearty plate on a cold night. If you’re looking to try an Austrian hot dog, then head to Alles Wurst, where they serve classic sausages alongside steak tartare. Expect to queue as this one’s popular.

Stepping away from the meat counter, Tian Bistro, under the guidance of Michelin-starred chef Paul Ivić, serves a five-star vegetarian menu with combinations such as lion’s mane mushrooms and chimichurri to satisfy the taste buds.

Grabbing a seat at one of Vienna’s coffee houses is a must. Take in the late 19th-century interiors at Café Sperl, or try a kaiserschmarrn, a sort of deconstructed pancake, at Cafe Landtmann, which also has a great outside space to enjoy the sun.

Where to stay

The plant-covered facade of Hotel Gilbert has made it one of the most identifiable and forward-thinking boutique hotels in the city. It has been awarded the Austrian Ecolabel for high sustainability standards, with bathroom products from organic local company Lederhaas and innovative heating solutions. There are 57 rooms, each decorated in a contemporary palette of blues and yellows, with even the smallest rooms well presented with modern bathrooms and plenty of space. A generous buffet breakfast is served in &Flora, the vegetable-focussed restaurant that is also popular in the evenings.

Jaymi McCann was a guest of Wien.info

Spring is in full swing and the new exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, “In Bloom: How Plants Changed our World”, has been perfectly timed for the season, said Tim Adams in The Observer. It’s “a celebration of the ways that plants have sprouted and unfurled in our artistic and scientific imaginations”.

With a series of artworks and other items sourced largely from the collections of Oxford University – from 17th-century flower paintings to preserved plant specimens to works of contemporary art – it also provides a potted history of this country’s horticulture.

Its story begins with John Tradescant the Elder, keeper of Charles I’s gardens, who travelled the world to bring back specimens for his patrons: phlox and jasmine from Virginia, horse chestnuts from the Balkans. That “zeal for collection seeded many branches of curiosity”: artists reproduced flowers in minute detail, helping Enlightenment thinkers to identify “the precise mechanics of plant reproduction”. As this exhibition moves from Carl Linnaeus to Erasmus Darwin to contemporary painters, it is “consistently illuminating”.

Dominating the first gallery is an “imposing” portrait of Tradescant’s son, John Tradescant the Younger, who succeeded to his role, said Alastair Sooke in The Telegraph. Depicted as a bearded gardener, he looks “every inch the Royalist horticulturalist’s crumpet”, like “a 17th-century Monty Don”. The Tradescants “embodied a new type of naturalist” who approached plant-collecting scientifically.

Among these was Mary Somerset, the Duchess of Beaufort, who showed off her plant collection at her Gloucestershire estate. She commissioned a “florilegium”, a book of flower illustrations: there’s a “dramatic, mind-bending” watercolour of a sunflower featured here, as strange as any painting by the surrealist Paul Nash.

This exhibition is full of interesting stuff – we learn that the Victorian obsession with ferns probably inspired the frond-like design of custard creams – but it struggles to tell both a scientific story and an aesthetic one. Its “overarching narrative could have done with more training and pruning”.

It’s a “rather special” show nonetheless, said Ann Treneman in The Times. I loved the paintings of tulips and roses, poppies and orchids: the still life of “broken and fraying” tulips by Simon Verelst (1644-1721) “feels so real that it almost pops out of the frame”. And a “scent trumpet” allows us to enjoy the “intoxicating” scent of the opium poppy.

The exhibition certainly tries “to cover too much ground” – and I could have done with more detail on the plants that have “changed our lives”: tea, for instance. Yet it has “oomph and originality”, presenting a “mix of the wonderful, the weird and the downright wacky”. “I would happily go back.”

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Until 16 August

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The vernal atmosphere of May is encouraging us all to gather newness around us and refresh our lives for the spring season. This month, readers have plenty of new books to choose from, including a touching immigration story, the memoir of a major voice in critical race theory and a psychedelic mystery set in South America.

‘Abundance’ by Hafeez Lakhani

Grief takes center stage in this debut about an Indian American family facing a medical crisis. Sakeena, the matriarch, is forced to consider all the choices that brought her from India to the panhandle, where she co-owned a Florida Dunkin franchise with her husband.

When the treatment plan for her illness clashes with her religious beliefs, her family must reckon with how to support her wishes. The novel is an “epic, multigenerational family story, imbued with a strong sense of place and philosophically specific characters,” said Literary Hub. (out now, $28, Penguin Random House, Amazon)

‘Backtalker: An American Memoir’ by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw

The mother of intersectionality and one of the foundational scholars of contemporary critical race theory, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, tells the story of how she got there by “starting to talk back,” said Literary Hub. The memoir “Backtalker” charts Crenshaw’s “extraordinary journey from precocious child to renowned public intellectual,” said The New York Times.

She coined the term “intersectionality” in 1989 to “urge us to consider the ways that bigotries rooted in gender, race and class overlap.” In addition to her scholarship on civil rights, race and feminist theory, Crenshaw is a law professor at both Columbia and UCLA. (out now, $30, Simon & Schuster, Amazon)

‘Electric Shamans at the Festival of the Sun’ by Mónica Ojeda, tr. Sarah Booker

National Book Award finalist Mónica Ojeda’s “psychedelic novel” follows a pair of friends who travel to a “drug-soaked and pleasure-seeking techno-shamanistic festival in Ecuador, held at the foot of an active volcano,” said Literary Hub. While one friend fully indulges in the event, the other remains wary of the ominous energy that naggingly haunts her. It’s a novel of “friendship amid hidden pasts, uncertain futures and the supernatural from an exciting young writer.” (May 12, $20, Coffee House Press, Amazon)

‘On Witness and Respair’ by Jesmyn Ward

The two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward presents a decade’s worth of her nonfiction, including reflections on Black literary giants and personal essays on the death of her husband and on raising her son in a fractured America. Ward’s work is “bearing witness to injustice,” said Kirkus Reviews. In her writing, she aims to “assert my own humanity and the humanity of those I love,” Ward says in the book. (May 19, $29, Simon & Schuster, Amazon)

‘How to See Like a Machine: Art in the Age of AI’ by Trevor Paglen

Artist Trevor Paglen, in his “incisive” new book, “distills key insights” from his work to “make the case that mainstream understanding of images remains stuck in an outdated paradigm,” said Art News. He examines the origins of the current media landscape, in which images evolve in response to viewer feedback. His ideas “carve a clean, linear path through our messy neural era,” engaging in the “kind of big-picture sensemaking that books remain well-suited to do, even as AI encroaches on this terrain.” (May 19, $20, Verso Books, Amazon)

If all of Shakespeare’s plays offer scope for reinvention, said Dominic Maxwell in The Times, his “wonky comedy” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” seems positively to cry out to directors: “Do something new to me!” As ever, summer is bringing a host of new “Dreams” across the country, and kicking off proceedings are two big productions – in Birmingham and at Shakespeare’s Globe in London – that foreground fun and silliness.

The former, from the Birmingham Rep’s new artistic director Joe Murphy and his deputy Madeleine Kludje, is a “larky”, panto-like “spectacle that feasts on popular culture, drag, local accents, crowd-play and newly added quips. It sets out to be fun, and it really is”.

Designed with Birmingham’s young, multicultural population in mind, this “lively, progressive” take on the “well-worn classic” has the feel of a “club night”, said Alison Brinkworth on WhatsOnStage. It features a highly camp Puck (Adam Carver, aka cabaret artiste Fatt Butcher), neon-pink lighting, gender reversals, queer romances, and pop hits including Queen’s “A Kind of Magic”. But although it opens with Hippolyta preaching about climate change, it is very “faithful to the Bard’s script and language”.

At the Globe, Emily Lim has produced a “crowd-pleasing” staging with a similar “kick-off-your-shoes-and-join-the-party kind of vibe”, said Theo Bosanquet on the same website. In one of several “ingenious little twists”, Puck accidentally squirts love potion into his own eye, and falls for an unsuspecting member of the audience.

Michael Grady-Hall is an “inspired” Puck, said Miriam Gillinson in The Guardian. “More court jester than fairy, he spends much of the show joking with the crowd, ad-libbing with exquisite timing and pelting everyone with bubbles.”

With “effervescent comic performances”, gloriously extravagant costumes, a charming set and hearty folk music by Jim Fortune, “this is the rarest of things: a ‘Dream’ the whole family can enjoy. Just cover the kids’ eyes for the slightly naughtier bits.”

Birmingham Rep to 24 May; Shakespeare’s Globe, London to 29 August

Set in a remote Irish hotel, this horror film is “effectively a love letter to jump scares”, said Kevin Maher in The Times. At the screening I was at, there were moments when people were “almost crying”, owing to the relentlessness of the frights.

The film stars Adam Scott (“Severance”) as Ohm Bauman, a “fabulously dyspeptic” bestselling American novelist who has come to Ireland, reluctantly, to scatter his parents’ ashes. They spent their honeymoon at this rundown hotel. He has no time for the yokels or the landscape, and demands a room “as far away from the craic as possible”, but when the hotel’s barmaid goes missing, he is drawn to a sealed-off honeymoon suite said to contain a Celtic witch notorious for dragging guests down to hell. “Cue the jump scares.”

With this “sly, self mocking” film, the Irish writer-director Damian McCarthy certainly proves himself to be “a dab hand at suspense”, said Jonathan Romney in the Financial Times. The build-up is finely tuned, and the opening is surprising. He is good at space too: the hotel’s cavernous interior and its winding corridors open up well, with lots of creaks and groans.

But when it comes to unpacking the tragedy Bauman carries on his shoulders, “Hokum” “overplays its hand”. A man haunted by the past, whose scepticism about the supernatural is challenged; a young woman in peril – the storyline is not original, said Billie Walker on Little White Lies. And nor are any of the spooky figures, which range from 1950s housewives to toothless hags. The film does deliver jump scares; the trouble is, it doesn’t deliver much else.

“Like Tom Cruise grinning away in the cockpit in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly is back, exactly as you remember,” said Robbie Collin in The Telegraph. In this “champagne-crisp” sequel to “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006), the “silvery terror” (Streep) is still editing Runway magazine with a “pursed lip that can crush an intern at 30 paces”, and dismissing her assistants with the dread words: “That’s all.”

But the world she inhabits has shifted. Miranda’s one-time assistant Andy (Anne Hathaway) has just lost her own job as an award-winning reporter, owing to cutbacks in the print media, and is rehired by Runway to help it cope with the fallout from a sweatshop scandal. There, she finds the once seemingly “invincible” Miranda struggling with the squeeze on advertising revenue in the digital age, bowing reluctantly to modern sensibilities on issues such as “body positivity”, and having to kowtow to “brash tech bros” for funding.

As Miranda navigates these “choppy seas”, Streep lets us glimpse a little more of the character’s “psyche without losing that magnetic elusiveness”, said Beth Webb in Empire. And there are some funny moments along the way, such as a scene in which Miranda tries to hang up her coat, having been told to stop throwing it at her assistants. But while the future of print journalism feels a topic worthy of exploration, the drama is “rather frictionless”.

The first film thrived on the dynamic between Miranda and Andy; here we’re supposed to fear B.J. Novak’s fashion-illiterate “Silicon Valley scion” and Justin Theroux’s Bezos-like billionaire, though both are “forgettable”. The sequel is also let down by Andy’s “dreary” romance with a real-estate magnate (Patrick Brammall), said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. Still, this is “good-natured” entertainment, and it is a pleasure to be reunited with Miranda’s former senior assistant Emily (Emily Blunt), who is now a hotshot at Dior, and the ever-loyal Nigel (Stanley Tucci). The film even allows another appearance by Andy’s cerulean-blue polyblend sweater.

The first film was made by Streep’s performance, said Deborah Ross in The Spectator. And she is terrific here too; but it’s a pity that the characters haven’t really developed over the years: Miranda is still icy, Emily scornful, and Andy high-minded. There are good lines (“Look what TJ Maxx dragged in,” says Nigel when he sees Andy), but the script is not laden with zingers, and the whole thing is more sentimental, and less satirical. In short, it is just not as good as the original.

It’s the morning of 29 June 2029. Whitehall is packed and there’s a huge police presence. Outside 10 Downing Street, the outgoing Labour PM gives a short speech; and not long afterwards, to thunderous applause and equally loud boos, his successor, Nigel Farage, takes his place behind the same lectern. “Is this your dream or your nightmare?” asked Lucy Denyer in The Telegraph. Either way, it’s a plausible scenario.

Reform UK currently has the most members of any party, the support of many of Britain’s most generous political donors, and a consistent lead in the polls. In this “by turns entertaining and downright terrifying” book, the journalist Peter Chappell offers a “speculative account” of what might happen if Farage were to come to power.

Chappell doesn’t “mask his dislike of Reform”, and the future he envisages – marked by rioting, parliamentary chaos and a full-blown constitutional crisis – is “definitely a worst-case scenario”. But nor do his predictions seem wholly far-fetched, as they’re based on a careful analysis of “what Farage and Reform have promised should they be elected”.

Chappell’s “semi-fictional Farage” wastes no time in withdrawing from the various human rights and refugee conventions, said Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian. That clears the path for mass deportations and sending Navy gunboats into the Channel to turn back small boats. He then goes to war with the BBC, falls out with J.D. Vance (who by now has replaced Donald Trump as US president) and comes close to starting a war in the Falklands. “Events unfold at a zippy pace”, and within just two years Farage is desperately clinging onto power. “My only worry is that Chappell may be too optimistic about the speed with which things fall apart.”

There’s much that is convincing in his account, particularly when it comes to how the protagonists behave, said Ethan Croft in The Times. “On his first day in Downing Street, Farage lights up the first cigarette smoked in No. 10 in decades.” Dominic Cummings returns to Downing Street, then “flounces out again”. Robert Jenrick gets demoted when he’s “caught plotting to replace Farage”.

But the book’s lack of partiality is a weakness: in Chappell’s “premonition, there is no scenario in which Reform succeeds on its own terms”, achieving a new political settlement, as in 1945 or 1979. Nor does he “extend his predictive powers” to what happens if Reform fails. “Don’t assume it will be a sudden return to the soothing centrist balms of the established parties. There could be something much worse waiting.”

Sometimes we all just need a bit of green. With these farms, you don’t need to leave the city in order to immerse yourself in the great outdoors. Whether you’re looking for animals, nature-orientated activities, or just a bit of peace and quiet, these sites will change your perception of what cities around the UK can offer.

Ouseburn Farm, Newcastle

East of Newcastle city centre, Ouseburn Farm is an “explosion of natural colour” bursting out of the “monochrome of the city’s tarmac and concrete”, said Patrick Barkham in The Guardian. “Rowan trees dripping with orange berries, purple verbena, sunflowers, sedum, nasturtiums” – all catch the eye here.

Since its inception more than 50 years ago, the “deeply tranquil” farm has been free for visitors, and also currently provides important work experience for adults with learning difficulties. While some city farms may be for show, Ouseburn is also a fully working farm, supplying vegetables to the “hip” restaurant next door, which sponsors the farm.

ouseburnfarm.org.uk

Hackney City Farm, London

Situated between Broadway Market and Columbia Road, Hackney City Farm offers a “more peaceful respite for ambling market-goers”, said Rhian Daly in Time Out. It’s become a “fashionable stop-off” in the area, thanks in part to Frizzante, the wholesome on-site Italian café.

The farm is “thriving with happy animals” and there is a pottery studio and garden to explore. It is also a “vital community hub” providing a vegetable box collection scheme for locals and a range of educational courses on low-impact living and beekeeping, as well as practical courses for asylum seekers and refugees.

hackneycityfarm.co.uk

Poole Farm, Plymouth

Walking around this “unique” farm is “almost like stepping back in time”, said Katie Oborn on Plymouth Live. Despite the proximity to busy main roads, the “impressive woodland carpet of bluebells and wild garlic” is in bloom and “livestock happily graze” in this “haven for wildlife”. Upon arrival visitors are “greeted by a chorus of birdsong” from the surrounding Derriford Community Park, which is open to the public. Streams run through the farm with “crystal clear” water, against the “peaceful” backdrop of lowing cows. Be sure to visit the Beaver Lookout, an “aptly named spot with a view of the river and its resident beavers”.

plymouth.gov.uk/poole-farm

Meanwood Valley Urban Farm, Leeds

Meanwood began life in 1980, operating from “two old caravans and today manages a site of 26 acres”, said Sarah McPherson on Discover Wildlife. For curious children, the wooded areas provide the ideal “minibeast-friendly” habitats to explore, and are regularly visited by school groups. Wildlife can be found in all directions, with kestrels up above, and intriguing smooth newts and white-clawed crayfish in the stream running through the heart of the farm.

mvuf.org.uk/

Spitalfields City Farm, London

“Thought Shoreditch was all about the vintage shops and trendy cafés? Wrong!” said Ellie Smith in Country and Town House. Mere minutes from the “hustle and bustle” of Brick Lane, you will find this fully functioning farm. The project began in 1978, originally as a community allotment site, but animals soon “joined the party”.

The “beautiful” green space supports many ventures, not only housing rare breeds from donkeys to parrots, but also hosting “Farm 2 Fork” family shows, where children can “sow and harvest food from the farm and learn how to cook it themselves”.

spitalfieldscityfarm.org.uk

Studios never take a breath these days, especially in an uncertain and highly competitive streaming environment. And once again, the current month is teeming with intriguing new and returning series for fans of everything from comedy to horror.

‘The Terror: Devil in Silver’

Three years after the short-lived Apple TV+ adaptation of “The Changeling,” horror novelist Victor LaValle gets another crack at the small screen with the third season of this anthology series, based on his 2012 novel of the same name. Dan Stevens (“Legion”) is Pepper, a man wrongfully committed to New Hyde, a psychiatric institution, for 72 hours.

There he meets fellow patients Dorry (Judith Light), Coffee (Chinaza Uche) and Loochie (b), all of whom may be dealing with the devil himself roaming the halls. Karyn Kusama (“The Invitation”) directs. The series “excels with its raw depictions of paranoia, delusion and appropriately enough, terror through creative, claustrophobic camerawork,” said Daniel Kurland at Bloody Disgusting. (May 7 on AMC+)

‘The Chestnut Man: Hide and Seek’

The Danish serial killer procedural “The Chestnut Man,” part of a wave of Nordic and Arctic noir entries, was one of the great, if unheralded, shows of 2021. The crime-solving duo of Europol’s Mark Hess (Mikkel Boe Folsgaard) and Copenhagen detective Naia Thulin (Danica Curcic) is one of the genre’s best pairings, as Mark’s talents and personal struggles become clear over the course of the season alongside their crackling chemistry.

In this season, the storyline of a grieving mother, Marie Holst (Sofie Grabol), and a new killer intersect, as Mark and Naia race to prevent more bodies from piling up. The show has “evolved in the years it was away, and the result is what I believe to be one of the best seasons for any show on Netflix,” said Felipe Rangel at ScreenRant. (May 7 on Netflix)

‘Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed’

The Apple TV+ hit comedy “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” won’t be the streamer’s only take on the OnlyFans economy this spring. In “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed,” Tatiana Maslany (“Orphan Black”) is a newly minted divorcee and single mom named Paula who develops a habit of spending time with Trevor (Brandon Flynn), a so-called “camboy.”

When she appears to witness a kidnapping on Trevor’s stream, all hell breaks loose even while she fights for custody of her daughter, Hazel (Nola Wallace), with her ex, Karl (Jake Johnson) — and coaches a youth soccer team. The show’s “plot is confidently off the wall, knows exactly what it’s doing and won’t feel the need to apologize for any of it,” said Carissa Pavlica at TV Fanatic. (May 20 on Apple TV+)

‘The Boroughs’

Executive-produced by the Duffer Brothers (“Stranger Things”), “The Boroughs” is billed as a cross between the 1985 sci-fi classic “Cocoon” and “Stranger Things.” Claire (Jena Malone) is getting her father, Sam (Alfred Molina), situated in a retirement community where there may be more than bingo and romance happening.

Jack (Bill Pullman), Judy (Alfre Woodard) and Renee (Geena Davis) are fellow retirees battling some kind of supernatural entity trying to steal their remaining time on the planet. The series will explore the “perspectives of people who so often aren't the heroes of these tales, because society often regards aging as a moral failure rather than an opportunity to tell fresh stories that draw on age and experience,” said Aimee Hart at Polygon. (May 21 on Netflix)

‘Deli Boys,’ season 2

One of the best comedies of 2025, creator Abdullah Saeed’s “Deli Boys” returns to Hulu for a second season. In the first season, feckless fail-sons Mir (Asif Ali) and Raj (Saagar Shaikh) inherit their father’s convenience-store-based drug trafficking empire and work with their Aunt Lucky (Poorna Jagannathan) to keep it afloat, which turns out to be both bloody and hilarious as they try to stay one step ahead of both the cops and their competitors.

In the second season, Fred Armisen (“Portlandia”) joins the cast as Lucky’s love interest, casino magnate Max Sugar. The first season is “full of hijinks and heart, centering on fully realized, flawed South Asian protagonists whose culture is seamlessly integrated,” said Saloni Gajjar at The AV Club. (May 28 on Hulu)

When it comes to nature documentaries, no one quite measures up to David Attenborough. The beloved broadcaster – who turns 100 this week – has been making thrilling and informative shows about the wonders of our planet for decades, spanning everything from the reptiles that roamed the Earth 66 million years ago to the wildlife battling for survival in sub-zero polar regions. These are his must-see shows.

Life on Earth, 1979

This landmark documentary is Attenborough’s “first step in what has become an inadvertent and profoundly influential lifelong mission to reframe how we see, hear and think about the natural world”, said Gabriel Tate in The Telegraph. In it, the broadcaster travels to 40 countries, documenting more than 500 species as he masterfully chronicles the history of life on this planet. The ambitious 13-part show’s “wow factor” comes from its balance of remarkable “breadth and intimacy”. Viewers had “never seen anything like this”. More than four decades later, Attenborough’s encounter with a group of Rwandan gorillas remains a “jaw-droppingly exciting union”.

The Private Life of Plants, 1995

Attenborough turns his attention to the fascinating world of plant life in this “vibrant” series, said Chris Harvey in The Telegraph. Anyone expecting a “coffee-table book celebrating colour, shape and pattern” will be shocked by what transpires. Yes, the timelapse visuals are “exquisite” but as “seeds explode or float gently to the ground” this breathtaking “tale of survival” is also often “riveting”.

The Blue Planet, 2001

I was “astounded” by Attenborough’s “first in-depth look at what happens beneath the rarely explored waves”, said Eleanor Parsons in New Scientist. “Extraordinary footage” reveals “alien-looking creatures in the ocean depths” and “blue whales from the air”. More than 25 years since watching, “I am still haunted” by the scenes showing a pod of orcas ruthlessly hunting a grey whale calf for hours to “eat only its lower jaw and tongue”. This doesn’t have the “glossy HD footage” of more recent shows, but it “changed the shape of nature documentaries” and sparked my “life-long interest in the oceans”.

Planet Earth I & II, 2006 and 2016

This enthralling series “showcases the untouched regions of the planet and the last true wildernesses”, said Charlotte Davis in National Geographic. Each episode “unveils a cornucopia of life”, and spans “pole to pole”, exploring habitats from remote deserts to jungles and mountains. The show returned a decade later examining how climate change is reshaping the Earth’s fragile ecosystems and looking at the lengths animals must go to “in order to survive”. Every instalment features a “Planet Earth Diaries” behind-the-scenes clip giving a “fascinating insight” into the challenges that came with “filming elusive plant and animal behaviour”.

Frozen Planet I & II, 2011 and 2022

The “extreme climates” of the North and South Poles take centre stage in “Frozen Planet”, said Davis in National Geographic. The series examines how the creatures that live here manage to survive in the “hostile and unforgiving” landscape. Attenborough brought the show back for a second season a decade later to “once again urge us to act now to protect our frozen regions”, expanding the scope to look at Greenland’s glaciers and the frozen grassy plains of the Himalayas.

Prehistoric Planet, 2022

This is “far from the first programme to try to bring long-extinct animals back to life on the small screen, but it is the best so far”, said Michael Le Page in New Scientist. The show uses cutting-edge CGI to depict the giant scaly reptiles that roamed the planet millions of years ago in “stunning detail”. Paleontologists have “praised” the show for its “accuracy and naturalism”. It returned for a third series in 2025, this time featuring animals like “sabre-toothed cats” and woolly mammoths from the Ice Age with Tom Hiddleston replacing Attenborough as the narrator. “It’s just not the same without him.”

Wild London, 2026

A fox “comes within a few inches of the greatest natural historian and broadcaster this country has ever produced” at the start of this documentary about wildlife in the capital, said Chitra Ramaswamy in The Guardian. “What an encounter!” The 99-year-old takes a look at the often unseen creatures living in his hometown in this “unexpectedly moving special”, reminding us that the “secret to a good life” is “appreciating what’s on your own doorstep”. In another “cheerful” encounter we learn how pigeons have “learned to navigate” the city using trains, “hopping on and off” before the doors close. “Honestly, does British telly get any better than this?”

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Moms always seem to know exactly what you need. This Mother’s Day, it’s your turn to reciprocate with a present that’s exactly what she needs. There’s a gift for every mom — and the other special women in your life — in this guide. The singular picks including a custom birthstone necklace so she can dazzle, a stylish convertible bag to keep her organized while on the move and a hot pot set for the gracious host.

Brook & York Build Your Own Birthstone Stacking Necklace

Keep her family close to her heart. Choose up to six 14k-gold-plated brass charms, representing the birthstones of siblings, parents and other relatives. The stones dangle from a dainty, 18-inch paper-clip chain, and you can mix styles (teardrop, baguette, round and mini round). (starting at $84, Brook & York)

Candy Letters starter kit

Let your mom get her message across in a fun way. Candy Letters are seasonal charms that snap right onto a letter board, adding a pop of color and whimsy. The starter kit comes with 12 of Candy Letters’ most popular icons, plus 294 white letters, characters and symbols, and a letter board. She can use it to decorate any room in her house and change it up as often as she’d like. ($40, Candy Letters)

Cheerie Lane Pro Popper set

If popcorn is her favorite snack, you, um, butter believe she’s going to love Cheerie Lane’s Popcorn Pro Popper Set. The kit comes with a metal speckle bowl, oven mitt and seven-pack of Cheerie Lane’s corncob-shaped popcorn pods (three butter, two sea salt, one rosemary garlic and one dill pickle). Prepare it on the stovetop, and in “less than six minutes,” there will be a pot full of “fluffy, buttery, perfect popcorn,” said The Kitchn. ($45, Cheerie Lane)

Fly by Jing hot pot starter set 

Everything she needs to have a “killer” hot pot party is in Fly by Jing’s starter set, said Food & Wine. The kit includes the electric hot pot that fits on a tabletop and can feed up to six people and the “fiery” soup base containing ginger, star anise, clove and tingly Sichuan pepper extract. It’s the “gift that keeps on giving.” Expect dinner invitations for “years to come.” ($130, Fly by Jing)

Lekfit Perfect Cryoball  

If she can’t go to the spa, bring the spa to her. The Perfect Cryoball is an icy tool that she can pull from the freezer or refrigerator and use on her face and body when she wants to reduce puffiness, boost circulation and relieve tightness and inflammation. The Cryoball comes in a sturdy box, so she can travel with it and experience pain relief on the go. ($60, Lekfit)

Lenox Spice Village 24-piece spice jar set 

Ready to enliven her life? Lenox’s “iconic” Spice Village set is an adorable addition to any kitchen, with 24 “storybook” containers for all her seasonings, said CNN. The shakers are practical while adding a “whimsical” touch to any decor style. ($299, Lenox)

Luyors Equinox Pro LED mask 

Up her skincare game with this LED mask that covers the face, neck and chest. The mask offers 656 medical-grade LEDs, four wavelengths and six light modes, all of which can enhance natural collagen and skin suppleness while targeting fine lines and redness. The mask is also lightweight, so she can rest comfortably or freely move around while wearing it. ($445, Luyors)

Luzè strawberry candle warmer lamp 

A sweet addition to any table or desk, this strawberry lamp provides both light and a flameless way to melt candles. The unit’s warming mechanism makes it safer to enjoy candles, and the candles themselves also last longer because they’re not burned through quickly while using the wick. Pair the lamp with one of her favorite scents for a complete set. ($50, Anthropologie)

Renpho Shiatsu foot massager

All she has to do is slip her feet into the massager’s chambers, press the power button and then sit back and let the machine get to work. The product delivers a “deep, Shiatsu-style massage,” with three deep-kneading levels and three squeeze intensities, said The Strategist. There’s also the option of soothing heat therapy, up to 131 degrees Fahrenheit. ($150, Amazon)

Swarovski Florere forget-me-not

Give her a flower that lasts forever. Swarovski’s Florere forget-me-not seriously sparkles, with the blue crystal petals featuring 875 facets to catch all the light. Forget-me-nots symbolize faithfulness and enduring love, making the piece a beautiful reminder of the bond you share. ($149, Swarovski)

VivaTerra ceramic birds wall art

This elegant set of ceramic birds adds a graceful touch to any wall. There are five different birds, painted in shades of blue and green with a glossy finish, and each has its own design. She can put her new flock up in a bedroom or living room, or outside in a covered area. ($79, Amazon)

WanderFull HydroBag 

Staying hydrated has never looked so chic. Made of vegan leather with gold hardware, the lightweight HydroBag can hold a reusable water bottle, plus daily essentials like keys, credit cards and a smartphone. It comes with a long cross-body strap and short chain strap, and is great for days when she’s on the go and wants a hands-free experience. ($84, WanderFull)

Your Reformer prop starter kit and curved weighted bands

Pilates is a great, low-impact way for women of all ages to strengthen their core muscles and increase their flexibility. Whether your mom is a beginner or a pro, YourReformer’s prop starter kit comes with what she needs for a solid session at home or in the studio: hand weights, a pilates ring and a pilates ball. Give her workouts a boost by also buying the curved weighted bands, which add resistance. (Prop starter kit: $59, Your Reformer. Curved weighted bands: $49, Your Reformer)

Few things are as thrilling as an equestrian adventure. From multi-day desert treks to gentle countryside hacks, a horse riding holiday is a great way to explore your surroundings and reconnect with nature. Here are some of the best places to saddle up.

Le Barn, France

This former equestrian farm just an hour from Paris is now a “stylish and welcoming retreat where every room looks out on to meadows”, said Kate Johnson in The Guardian. Located in the Rambouillet forest, the sprawling property shares 500 acres with a “world-famous” horse-riding training centre with “plenty of riding on offer” for all abilities. But the real draw is the magical weekly Whisperer’s Experience which teaches you how to “forge a connection by working on foot with a free horse and using your body language and exercises” to “build trust” and communicate with one of the elegant animals. “Be warned, it’s emotional.”

Reschio Hotel, Italy

Set amid the “quite outrageously beautiful” rolling hills and olive groves on the Tuscany-Umbria border, this 11th-century castle is home to a 36-room hotel and collection of farm buildings, said Steve King in Condé Nast Traveller. As well as offering an array of activities from wild swimming to truffle hunting, the estate is a “noted breeding and training ground for Andalusian horses”. Even if you don’t fancy taking a lesson, “you’d be mad not to go and pay a visit to the stables and see with your own eyes these extraordinary, otherworldly creatures”.

São Lourenço do Barrocal, Portugal

Vineyards and meadows “stretch out as far as the eye can see” at this 200-year-old estate in Portugal’s Alentejo region, said Chloe Frost-Smith in The Times. Riders can hack through “old cork forests and archaeological trails scattered with neolithic stone circles”, and end the day with a “canter towards the hilltop village of Monsaraz to catch the sunset”. There are plenty of other activities, too, from olive-wood carving to wine tasting at the surrounding vineyards.

Gleneagles, Scotland

This iconic Scottish hotel in the heart of Perthshire is one of the world’s “loveliest” spots for “golfing, relaxing and exploring the bonny lands beyond”, said Lydia Bell in Condé Nast Traveller. It’s also home to an excellent equestrian centre offering a jam-packed schedule of horse-riding lessons and walking tours. Facilities include two covered, heated show-jumping arenas, a large livery and woodland cross-country hacking.

Hollacombe Farm, Exmoor

And if you want to “take your horse on holiday”, consider checking into this self-catering property on the edge of Exmoor National Park, said Johnson in The Guardian. Set on “private rolling farmland”, the self-catering converted stone barn features “stabling and grazing for three horses”, and host Louise is “on hand as a guide”. Days are easy to fill riding through the “heather- and gorse-covered moorland” or galloping the length of Salcombe Sands beach. Bliss.

If the walls of these hotels could talk, they would regale guests with tales of lavish parties, milestone celebrations, newsworthy occasions and fascinating visitors. It would take quite some time to hear the stories too: These properties are all more than 100 years old, with one opening before the Revolutionary War.

Beekman Arms, Rhinebeck, New York

A who’s who of influential — and infamous — Americans have spent the night at the Beekman Arms, including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Benedict Arnold. The inn opened in 1766 and is believed to be the oldest continuously running hotel in the United States.

During the Revolutionary War, “militia drilled on its lawn,” and “townspeople took refuge within its walls during the fighting,” said The Independent. Life here is much calmer today, with guests appreciating the inn’s “charmingly creaky floors, fireplaces and quaint bedrooms.”

Claremont Resort & Club, Berkeley, California

This Bay Area retreat has been a beloved spot for rest and relaxation since it opened in 1915. Guests can lounge by one of three pools, enjoy a treatment in the spa or unwind in their room, soaking up views of the San Francisco skyline.

Those who prefer a more active stay are in luck. At The Club, they can play a few sets on the lighted tennis and pickleball courts, take a fitness class and cycle through the dry saunas, steam rooms and whirlpools. The guest rooms were recently renovated in calming shades of soft blue and gray, and the “plush bedding and fluffy down comforters make the beds feel like clouds,” said Condé Nast Traveler.

Congress Hall, Cape May, New Jersey

Congress Hall bills itself as the country’s first waterfront resort, which has proudly survived “fires, hurricanes and war.” It started as a boarding house for summer visitors and during the Benjamin Harrison presidency was considered the Summer White House.

The rooms are “comfortable” and have an “air of seaside whimsy,” and the hotel offers plenty to do year-round, said Travel and Leisure. During warmer months, guests can “dine alfresco and swim in the seaside pool,” and come December, the grounds turn into a “festive Winter Wonderland” with holiday vendors and a train for kids.

Fairmont Breakers Long Beach, California

The glamorous Fairmont Breakers Long Beach is ready for its close-up. The hotel is fresh off a renovation and is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year with special culinary events and activations, themed suite experiences and tours.

Original details remain, like plaster molding and “ornate” exterior motifs, and are combined with modern furnishings for a “compelling blend of old and new,” said Afar. Rooms are decorated in “whites and soothing blues,” with bathrooms “clad in marble,” and the “polished design” extends to the hotel’s restaurants and venues like Halo, the rooftop bar.

The Inn at Hancock, Hancock, New Hampshire

When The Inn at Hancock first opened its doors in 1789, it was a stop along a busy trade route, with lodgers arriving by stagecoach. Today, guests arrive via much faster transportation — but the property’s welcoming atmosphere remains.

The Inn at Hancock recently reopened after a three-year renovation, and the 15 suites are distinct, each one having its own decor, bespoke furnishings and period antiques. All of the dining options have unique characteristics as well, with the Restaurant spread out across three spaces: the Georgian-paneled Formal Room, bright and airy Garden Room and book-filled Reading Room.

The Inn at Stonecliffe, Mackinac Island, Michigan

The Inn at Stonecliffe, once a private summer estate, is now a “quaint” resort that feels like a “nearly perfectly preserved time capsule,” said Travel and Leisure. The Edwardian-style Tudor mansion dates back to 1904, and a renovation added modern updates like air conditioning but kept in place original details that “give the property its charm,” including hardwood floors, fireplaces and “beautiful” stained glass windows. Outside, guests have 15 acres to explore and can fill their day by playing games on the massive lawns, lounging in the Adirondack chairs facing the Straits of Mackinac and enjoying s’mores by the fire pits.

The NuWray Hotel, Burnsville, North Carolina

What’s old is new again at The NuWray, North Carolina’s oldest continuously operating hotel. The 1833 property recently reopened after a renovation, and during that process the owners repurposed old materials, converting wood from the ceiling into a bar top and original laundry sinks into ice holders. Guests appreciate how “intentional” the owners have been about “preserving much of the history of the building,” said the Asheville Citizen Times. They also love the speakeasy-style Washroom Bar in the basement and Southern food served at the Old Ray Restaurant.

Omni Parker House, Boston

Open since 1855, Omni Parker House is “as much a part of Boston’s history as the Freedom Trail itself,” said Condé Nast Traveler. It’s the birthplace of Boston Cream Pie and Parker House Rolls, with both still on the menu at Parker’s Restaurant.

The hotel’s downtown location puts the property in the “center of the action,” and its “sweeping marble lobby” makes a great first impression. Guests can learn more about Parker House history in the basement, where an “extensive” memorabilia display showcases some of the property’s “most memorable moments.”

The Wigwam, Litchfield Park, Arizona

The Wigwam has always been a gathering place. It opened in 1918 as a retreat for Goodyear Tire & Rubber employees and not long after became a guest ranch.

Spread across 440 acres, the resort combines “historic charm with modern comfort,” and its “spacious” casitas are “ideal for families,” said Arizona Foothills Magazine. Over the last century, The Wigwam has expanded to include nine tennis courts, three swimming pools, a spa and 54 holes of golf across three courses.

Wending its way around some of the highest peaks in the Pennines, the Settle-Carlisle Railway is among the greatest engineering feats of the Victorian age, and arguably England’s most scenic line. This year, it is celebrating its 150th anniversary, said Duncan Craig in the Financial Times – a good moment, I felt, for a week-long break travelling up and down it to explore some of the “extraordinary” hiking country it opens up, much of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Some of the buildings at its stations have recently been converted into holiday lets, and we stayed in one – the booking office at Kirkby Stephen. Painted in the “crimson-and-cream” livery of the old Midland Railway company, it is charming, cosy, and, of course, perfectly located for hopping on and off the trains. This is “the railway line that shouldn’t have been made”, so “fiercely undulating” is the terrain it traverses for much of its 73-mile length.

The Midland Railway company wanted a share of the “fast-expanding” London to Scotland rail market, and won Parliament’s approval for the line in 1866, as its rival, the London and North Western Railway, refused to share its tracks (now the West Coast Mainline). Built of local stone, the railway’s great viaducts are as grand as cathedrals, and seem to rise naturally from their landscape.

But, in fact, they came at great cost. Several thousand navvies worked on the railway, living in makeshift camps, and many died in accidents, or from exposure and disease in the bitterly cold winters. The journey south from Kirkby Stephen takes you past three majestic hills – Pen-y-ghent, Ingleborough and Whernside – to the “engineering crux and spiritual core” of the railway, the Ribblehead Viaduct, with its 24 soaring arches.

There’s also particularly good hiking around Dent, the highest station in England at 350 metres. A holiday cottage today, the lone building there has a picture window overlooking Dentdale – one of the country’s finest views.

Something special happens when cinnamon and puff pastry come together, says Moroccan chef Nargisse Benkabbou; it’s like culinary alchemy. And these knots are extra special because they include amlou, often referred to as “Moroccan Nutella”, a paste traditionally made with roasted almond butter, honey, and argan oil. The amlou in this recipe is slightly thicker than normal, so that it can be used to fill the knots without risk of it running out of the rolls during baking. Eat while warm – but they will keep in a sealed container for up to three days.

Ingredients (makes 12 knots)

For the amlou:

• 120g natural (ideally, roasted) almond butter, or substitute with peanut butter
• 1 1⁄2 tbsp (35g) honey
• 1 tbsp argan oil, or substitute with walnut or groundnut oil
• 1⁄4 tsp fine sea salt

For the knots:

• 2 sheets puff pastry (about 400g each)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 100g granulated sugar
• 3⁄4 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

• Combine the almond (or peanut) butter, honey, argan (or nut) oil and salt in a medium bowl and stir together until smooth and well blended.
• Unfold one of the puff pastry sheets on a lightly floured work surface. Use the back of a large spoon to spread the amlou over the sheet in a thin, even layer, about 3mm thick. The layer shouldn’t be thicker than a coin, as too much amlou will leak out when you slice the filled pastry.
• Place the second puff pastry sheet on top, making sure that the edges are aligned. Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the pastry rectangle lengthways into 2.5cm-wide strips.
• Line two baking trays with baking paper. Pick up one strip and shape it into a knot: hold the opposite ends of the strip, pull on them slightly, then roll it up into a spiral and tuck the end of the strip into the centre of the knot. Place the knot on a tray and shape the rest, dividing them between the two trays and leaving about 5cm between them.
• Cover the knots and transfer to the fridge. Let them rest for at least 45 mins, and as long as overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C fan, with the racks in the upper and lower thirds. Brush the knots with the beaten egg and transfer to the oven. Bake for 30 to 35 mins, switching the positions of the trays about halfway through, until the knots are puffed up and golden. Meanwhile, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
• Remove from the oven and let cool on the trays for 1 to 2 mins. Gently transfer each knot to the bowl of cinnamon sugar and turn to coat thoroughly, then transfer to a plate. Serve the knots warm or at room temperature.

Taken from Madaq: Simple Everyday Recipes with the Flavours of Morocco by Nargisse Benkabbou.

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With the real world defined by inequality and rapid technological change, it’s no surprise that filmmakers are offering critiques of both. This month’s new releases include a body horror film that takes aim at the GLP-1 dieting craze, a communist multiverse adventure and a character study about high-level art forgery. Oh, and escapism, in the form of a human-like octopus who helps lost souls find each other. Whatever brings you to the movies, there’s a proper destination for you in May.

‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’

Director Olivia Newman (“Where the Crawdads Sing”) helms Netflix’s adaptation of Shelby Van Pelt’s 2022 novel about Tova (Sally Field) a grieving aquarium custodian in the Pacific Northwest who befriends a sentient Giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus (voiced by Alfred Molina). When she is forced to take time off after a fall, she helps train an aimless young man, Cameron (Lewis Pullman), in the niceties of the job.

Marcellus, facing his imminent death, helps Cameron and Tova find the truth about their pasts. The novel’s “popularity has always given the project a built-in audience, and the film’s ensemble only adds to the appeal,” said The Playlist. (May 8 on Netflix)

‘Is God Is’

Writer-director Aleshea Harris adapts her own Obie-winning 2018 play “Is God Is” for the screen in what is being described as a mashup of spaghetti western, hip-hop and Greek tragedy. Sterling K. Brown (“Paradise”) plays “The Monster,” whose daughters, Racine (Kara Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson), are sent to kill him by their dying mother, Ruby the God (Vivica A. Fox).

The three women all bear scars, both physical and emotional, from a fire that he set when the girls were children. “Make your Daddy dead,” she tells them from her deathbed, dispatching them on a dizzying cross-country expedition. “Is God Is” is a “riveting revenge tale and exploration of the varied impacts of family trauma that’s packed with powerhouse performances,” said Collider’s Perri Nemiroff on X. (in theaters May 15)

‘Forge’

Brother and sister Coco (Andie Ju) and Raymond Zhang (Brandon Soo Hoo) run a sophisticated and successful Miami-based art forgery ring in director Jing Ai Ng’s understated thriller. They are hired by Holden (Edmund Donovan) to recreate a large, hurricane-damaged art collection that belongs to his grandfather.

Meanwhile, FBI Agent Emily Lee (Kelly Marie Tran) starts to close in on the lot as the siblings navigate a fraught relationship with their immigrant parents. “Forge” is a “top-shelf crime thriller” that’s “all about subverting appearances and how the have-nots can use people’s biases towards them to swindle and get ahead,” said Zachary Lee at Roger Ebert. (in theaters May 22)

‘I Love Boosters’

Writer-director Boots Riley (“Sorry to Bother You”) returns with his first feature film in eight years, and it’s a doozy. Corvette (Keke Palmer), Sade (Naomi Ackie) and Mariah (Taylour Paige) are a team of “boosters” who operate an organized shoplifting ring in a deliciously stylized alternate-reality Bay Area.

Things get wild when Jianhu (Poppy Liu) shows up with what she calls a “situational accelerator” that uses teleportation to target unhinged fashion maven Christie Smith (Demi Moore). “I Love Boosters” is the “first socialist stoner movie of the Trump era,” featuring a “conspiracy so insane that it’s about one molecule away from adrenochrome,” said Ryan Lattanzio at IndieWire. (in theaters May 22)

‘Saccharine’

The parade of movies taking aim at contemporary Ozempic-driven dieting trends continues with this body horror entry from director Natalie Erika James (“Relic”). Hana (Midori Francis) is a medical student who tries to kick-start a weight loss regimen by reverse engineering a mysterious diet pill she gets from an old friend.

The main ingredient: human ashes, which she obtains illicitly from a research cadaver. Unfortunately, her swift weight loss comes with a side of being haunted by the body’s ghost. The film shows that the “horror of one’s own body is the most insidious kind of body horror at play here,” said Guy Lodge at Variety. (in theaters May 22)

Malta’s 300 days of sunshine a year draw visitors, but there is much more to this island between Sicily and North Africa than optimal weather. Its history isn’t tucked away in corners, but on full display in the cities of Valletta and Mdina, and landmarks like St. John’s Co-Cathedral and the Megalithic Temples of Malta. Natural beauty also shines along the rugged coastline and in the sparkling turquoise waters.

History comes alive

Valletta is a small city, but it “packs a historical punch,” said The Independent. The Knights of St. John built Valletta during the 16th century, and the city remains “laced” with townhouses from that era that now “house atmospheric restaurants and bars.” Another early landmark is St. John’s Co-Cathedral, which dates back to the 1570s. From the outside, it looks “unprepossessing,” but inside you’ll find a “riot” of “lavish” details, including marble floors, a gilded vaulted ceiling and Caravaggio’s masterpiece “The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist.”

The ancient walled city of Mdina is “hardly touched by modernity,” said National Geographic Traveler. It’s been called the Silent City since the mid-1500s, when political power moved to Valletta, and is filled with “narrow alleys full of mystery” and “winding lanes with whispers of a bygone era.” The baroque Mdina Gate makes a grand statement, and visitors don’t have to be religious to find a “sense of spirituality” in the “gilded altars” and “detailed frescoes” of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Though a bit “gruesome,” the Mdina Dungeons are worth a descent and feature “macabre” dioramas showing how Malta’s former rulers once doled out “punishments and tortures.”

Snorkel, dive and swim in turquoise waters

Divers and snorkelers love Malta for its coves, accessible wrecks and clear water with high visibility. A top spot to visit is the “picturesque” Ghar Lapsi, a bay known to have “some of the best reef life on the island,” said Lonely Planet. Boat and shore dives can be arranged for all skill levels.

For unmatched views, head to the Blue Lagoon on the small island of Comino. This protected area boasts “luminous” blue water “flanked by caves” and is “unmissable,” said the Times of London. It gets crowded, and to curb the number of sightseers and make the experience more enjoyable for everyone, you must now book a slot to visit the lagoon.

A signature Malta experience

For a laidback experience, head to the sea and explore one of Malta’s traditional fishing villages. Marsaxlokk’s harbor is filled with colorful wooden boats, called luzzus, and it’s entertaining to watch the fisherpeople “studiously touch up” their “prized” vessels, said the Times of London. The action picks up on Sundays, when the town hosts a fish market where hawkers “loudly declare their wares.” During the week, artisans set up shop and sell their own handmade art, crafts and jewelry.

Ancient stone wonders

Some of the world’s oldest free-standing stone buildings can be found in Malta, and experts believe many of the structures were built before the pyramids of Egypt and Stonehenge. Among the most notable are the Megalithic Temples of Malta, constructed more than 5,000 years ago. They are “remarkable for their diversity of form and decoration,” and the Hagar Qim, Mnajdra and Tarxien temples are “unique architectural masterpieces” due to the “limited resources available to their builders,” said UNESCO.

Eating the Maltese way

Malta’s location between North Africa and Italy plays a major role in its cuisine. Dishes feature Arabic spice blends, touches of “Sicilian comfort” and a bit of “French flair,” all made with ingredients and seafood straight from the Mediterranean, said Broadsheet.

One Maltese staple is the pastizzi, a golden flaky pastry often filled with ricotta or peas that’s best served “straight from the oven” and “eaten with your hands,” said Broadsheet. The country’s national dish is fenek moqli, or slow-cooked rabbit stew, a “rustic, hearty” meal, and its “answer to lasagna” is timpana, a baked meat pasta “encased in buttery pastry.” On a simpler note, the seafood in Malta is “second to none,” and diners can’t go wrong choosing fresh grilled swordfish, lampuki (dolphinfish) or octopus stew.

In the small hours of 29 November 2019, a young man was captured on CCTV jumping from a fifth-floor flat on Millbank on the Thames. His body struck the embankment wall on the way down, and he drowned in the water below. It emerged that he was 19-year-old Zac Brettler, a former public schoolboy from Maida Vale known for telling “tall stories”, said Ian Thomson in The Guardian. That night, he’d been in the apartment with “gangland debt collector” Verinder Sharma, and another associate, a cryptocurrency and real estate trader named Akbar Shamji. There was evidence that the two men, who’d befriended Brettler weeks earlier, had assaulted him shortly before his death – though neither was charged by police, who concluded that the death was probably suicide.

In this “scrupulously researched” and “page-turning” book, The New Yorker magazine journalist Patrick Radden Keefe revisits the case – and reaches a different conclusion. Opening a disturbing window onto Britain’s capital, with its dirty money and “Walter Mitty-like” fantasies of wealth, “London Falling” is a “grimly absorbing” work.

Despite coming from a comfortable background, Brettler always “wanted more”, said Craig Brown in The Times. At his north London private school, he’d rubbed shoulders with the “offspring of dodgy oligarchs”, and envied “the way they would hire Ubers rather than walk a few minutes from dormitory to classroom”. He compensated by spinning fantasies: it emerged that when he’d met Sharma and Shamji, he’d posed as “Zac Ismailov, the son of an oligarch”, and had claimed he was about to come into a £200 million fortune. Radden Keefe suggests that this “bogus boast” is what sealed his fate – that when the pair discovered that he’d conned them, they lured him to the apartment to exact revenge. Brettler jumped, he thinks, in order to escape, believing he’d land directly in the water.

Radden Keefe – best known for “Empire of Pain”, his exposé of the Sackler family’s role in the opioid epidemic – specialises in character-based narratives from which “wider moral themes emerge”, said Martin Vander Weyer in Literary Review. “London Falling” is at heart a “desperately sad family story”, but Radden Keefe overlays this with a “disturbing glimpse of London’s sinister, money-driven, exploitative underbelly”. There are a few minor slips: no Londoner would think of calling Park Lane “a short street”. Overall, however, this “impeccable” book is a “masterclass of evidence-chasing, narrative clarity and authorial empathy”.

Visiting the Maldives is all about relaxation; finding the perfect spot under a swaying palm tree so you can while away the hours gazing out at the ocean with a fresh coconut by your side to sip on. Joali Being takes this one step further. The whole island is dedicated to wellness, with a cutting-edge spa and a sound healing centre all designed to have you floating back home on a dopamine high.

Why stay here?

Joali Being is a beautiful island in Raa Atoll with talcum-powder-soft sand, an aquamarine lagoon and lush greenery everywhere.

The resort revolves around the concept of four pillars when it comes to wellness – mind, skin, microbiome and energy. When you arrive, guests have a wellness consultation with a doctor. In mine, I share how I’ve been struggling with frequent migraines and insomnia. If your body is a temple, mine is on shaky foundations and threatening to collapse. She assigns me the mind pillar category, and later on sends me diet and supplement recommendations.

The beach and overwater villas are a strikingly modern take on a thatched Maldivian cottage with artfully curved roofs and extremely high ceilings. The resort was created by Turkish entrepreneur Esin Güral Argat, who believes in biophilic design – using nature in the decor to enhance a sense of wellbeing – which means lots of pleasingly curved edges and playful nods to the ocean.

Inside my overwater villa is a delightful pastel-hued confection in blush pink, creams and greys. The living room is decorated with a manta ray sculpture on the wall. The sliding doors into the bedroom have a cream-grey coloured shell pattern and there’s a desk with the quirkiest chair I’ve ever encountered – it looks like a Lego block with square prongs sticking out that retract as you sit on them. It’s surprisingly comfortable and a sign of how fun the resort’s style can be.

Before you arrive you’re given a pillow menu to fill out; I choose an anti-stress one with carbon fibres that are supposed to remove all the static electricity accumulated in your body throughout the day. The bed is huge, with romantic netting draped by its sides. There are no plug sockets near the bed to encourage guests to scroll less while they’re there but an extension lead is available if you want it.

It’s also one of the few villas in the Maldives where you’ll find a musical instrument instead of a TV (which, again, is also available on request). A glockenspiel sits on a shelf in the living room so I can indulge any musical whims. The bathroom is beautifully designed in sage green and white, with open shelving for your wardrobe and there are three different kinds of salts next to the bathtub. Outside there’s a large terrace with a sofa swing, which looks out on a stylish pool and a pair of sunbeds with steps that take you down into the ocean.

Eating and drinking

Flow, overlooking the beach, is where guests start their day with a bountiful breakfast buffet stuffed with healthy options, including gluten-free bread, vegan cake and delicious home-made granola. There’s freshly cut fruit, a salad bar and a crepe making station. There is also an impressive à la carte menu – my favourite dishes were the custard-like French toast and tasty crab congee that came piled high with fresh shiitake mushrooms, crunchy fried onions and chilli oil.

Mojo is the resort’s beach-side restaurant, which is the place to head to for lunch. I tried juicy tiger prawns with Vietnamese vermicelli salad in a sweet chilli dressing. I also had a perfectly chargrilled lobster with a light herb and leaf salad. Desserts on offer include mango with creamy sticky rice and a heavenly coconut sorbet served with fresh fruit.

There are several options for dinner. Mojo has a different menu for the evening and it’s beautifully lit up with fairy lights. I had a flavourful seafood paella loaded with mussels, clams and reef fish, along with a delicious octopus salad. Flow is also worth visiting at night; I ate succulent seared scallops and the most tender wagyu steak followed by a decadent chocolate mousse.

The Japanese eatery, Yutori, is an open-air circular restaurant overlooking the sea. I feasted on a prawn popcorn salad, which comes with a punchy spicy sauce, and delectable black miso cod, one of the signature dishes, which is marinated for 24 hours. For dessert, I had the wonderful matcha tiramisu, which layered earthy matcha with sweet mascarpone cream and a red bean compote. It was an incredible way to end a spectacular meal by the sea.

What else is there to do?

During my stay, I tried several massages at the beautifully designed Areka spa – the relaxing signature four pillars massage, reflexology and the mind therapy massage, which involves singing bowls being played before my treatment. The resort offers a watsu treatment in the Kaashi hydrotherapy hall, where guests float in the water with a therapist to support them, tapping into primitive feelings of being back in the womb. There’s also a cryotherapy chamber in the gym, Core, where you can enjoy a short sharp shock of cold Arctic air, known to reduce inflammation and help muscle recovery. Joali Being is dedicated to giving you the best wellness journey possible but don’t worry, it’s not a boot camp – you can be as strict or indulgent as you like when it comes to food and exercise.

Joali Being has a sound therapy centre, Seda, which offers sessions where you can lie on a bed with guitar strings underneath, surrounded by oversized instruments that are played by a therapist. Taking a stroll along the Discovery Sound Path is a fun way to pass some time. It’s a squiggle of a walk in a shaded garden that leads to several instruments, including a giant glockenspiel and sheets of metal that can be bashed like a gong.

B'Kidult, the children’s club, is a great space to leave the little ones for a few hours. It features a shallow pool for toddlers to splash about with their parents, an outdoor art pavilion for crafts, a yoga space for the whole family to perfect their downward dog and cute mini sunbeds.

The verdict

As if its beautiful beaches and stunning lagoon aren’t enough to lull you into a sense of deep relaxation, Joali Being will stop at nothing to enhance your sense of wellbeing. If your ideal holiday involves being pampered at a spa in between bouts of sun-tanning on the beach then this resort should be your holy grail. The staff make a Herculean effort to ensure you return home refreshed. It’s the ultimate wellness destination in the Maldives if you want to unplug and unwind.

Ann was a guest of Joali Being; joali.com/joali-being; begin your Maldivian journey with the experts at Angelfish Travel, angelfish.travel