Tracing a 135-mile horseshoe-shaped route through rural mid-Wales, Glyndwr’s Way passes through the splendid hill country that was at the heart of Owain Glyndwr’s 15-year rebellion against the English from 1400.

I am fascinated by this “great Welsh hero”, said Kevin Rushby in The Guardian, so I decided to hike the trail’s southern half, from the “pretty” border town of Knighton to Machynlleth, where the building in which Glyndwr held his Welsh parliament still stands.

I can’t say that I ended the journey feeling any wiser about the man himself – but it was a wonderful walk: “quiet, very quiet”, with highlights including the “lovely, slightly eccentric” town of Llanidloes, and the 564-metre-high peak of Foel Fadian, which affords some “great panoramas” of Snowdonia.

Marvellous mobiles in Philadelphia

Best known for his huge mobile sculptures – bright, abstract forms hanging from suspended metal frames – Alexander Calder was born in Philadelphia in 1898, and last year, a new museum dedicated to his work opened in the city, said Michael Joseph Gross in Travel + Leisure.

Designed by the architects Herzog and de Meuron, the galleries at Calder Gardens are “uplifting”, light-filled spaces in which the work is presented without labels or “curatorial statements” (Calder believed that we should interpret his art “on our own terms”). Outside, there’s a “meadowlike”, 1.8-acre sculpture garden laid out by Piet Oudolf (the Dutch landscape designer behind the High Line in Manhattan), to which admission is free.

It’s a worthy addition to a city known for its great art institutions, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Barnes Foundation, which has a huge collection of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings.

A handsome port in northern Spain

The port city of Avilés, in Asturias, was once known for its “steelworks and pollution” – but with few factories left now, said Isambard Wilkinson in The Times, its air is much cleaner, and it is well worth a visit.

Avilés’ old town is one of the “loveliest” in northern Spain, with its Renaissance palaces, “leafy” parks and medieval churches, including two dedicated to Thomas Becket (“Santo Tomás de Cantorbery”). And in 2011, the city was given a major boost by the opening of the gleaming-white Oscar Niemeyer Centre, a “futuristic” arts venue designed by the Brazilian architect.

If you visit the centre, try to eat at Yume; the city also has another fine restaurant, Casa Tataguyo, which serves traditional Asturian cuisine. From nearby San Esteban de Pravia there are boat trips on the “majestic” Nalón estuary; it also has an excellent hotel, the Gran Hotel Brillante.

For hikers, the mountains of Sweden’s far north provide an “overwhelming” sense of freedom, thanks to the country’s right to roam and an almost complete absence of paths. It’s a feeling I wanted my children to experience, said Adam Weymouth in the Financial Times – and so last August, we took them camping in the region.

We travelled by train across Europe to Stockholm, and spent a weekend there before taking the sleeper to Björkliden – a journey of roughly 17 hours. This tiny place lies 155 miles north of the Arctic Circle, beside Torneträsk, a 43-mile-long lake. From the station, you can climb into the hills, and soon feel entirely removed from civilisation; if you kept walking south, you wouldn’t hit a road for 60 miles.

We could pitch our tent where we liked thanks to the right to roam, so we chose a high bluff where there was a decent breeze to keep the bugs away. From there, we struck out on daily rambles across “bare” hills, where summits are as high as or higher than Scotland’s, though they are neither jagged nor particularly craggy.

During long days outdoors, we saw reindeer and golden plovers, and the children climbed rocks, picked blueberries and slithered down the snowdrifts that persist all summer. There were rivers of the “most glacial blue”, and lakes where we swam for “frantic seconds” in water that was “magnificently cold”. At night, the “buttery evening light” bled from sunset into sunrise at around 3am. Despite all the sunshine, the average daytime high in Björkliden in August is 11C or 12C, while at night, the temperature falls to 4C to 5C, making this a distinctly “coolcation”.

The weather was changeable, and after a week, with “damp” children and no food left, we moved into a small log cabin at the Abisko Mountain Lodge, near the village of Abisko (population 150). The meals there were excellent, and the lodge proved to be a good base for further walks, including to the Kårsa Glacier, a place of “alien” beauty that made the kids “giddy” with excitement. But as the glacier has shrunk by 80% since the 1940s, it also left me with a troubling sense of “loss”.

The best crime thrillers consider the way violence, an endemic feature of human societies, can spiral out of hand. These four superb films approach that reality from very different vantage points.

‘The French Connection’ (1971)

A pulse-pounding narrative follows hard-nosed New York City cops Jimmy Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) as they try to bust up a heroin ring based in France. It’s a “story about ugly things and awful people, headlined by one of the era’s finest antiheroes,” said Tim Brayton at Alternate Ending. (Prime Video)

‘Fargo’ (1996)

In this mordantly funny parable, Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) hires two inept sociopaths to kidnap his wife and puts himself on a collision course with small-town cop Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand). The film “rotates its story through satire, comedy, suspense and violence, until it emerges as one of the best films I’ve ever seen,” said Roger Ebert at the time. (MGM+)

‘Memories of Murder’ (2003)

Director Bong Joon Ho’s iconic procedural follows a sometimes hilariously inept investigation into a series of small town murders. The film “challenges and subverts the serial killer procedural in its entirety,” said Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian. (Prime Video)

‘Blue Ruin’ (2013)

Macon Blair stars as Dwight Evans, a man living on the margins of society who learns that his parents’ killer is being released from prison. Dwight then sets off to seek revenge. The movie succeeds by “probing deeper than usual into the effects (and practicalities) of violence,” said Kim Newman at Empire. (Peacock)

The broadcaster and champion of the high street, who transformed the fortunes of Harvey Nichols, picks her favourites. She will be talking about her latest book, “I Shop, Therefore I Am”, at Stratford Literary Festival on 1 November.

Letters to a Young Poet

Rainer Maria Rilke, 1929

This book isn’t really about how to become a better poet, it’s about how to live. Rilke writes about solitude, love, patience and learning to live with uncertainty.

The Sea, The Sea

Iris Murdoch, 1978

Both entertaining and deeply unsettling. I love the way Murdoch gets inside the mind of someone who is completely convinced by his own version of reality. I once followed her around an airport because I so wanted to talk to her about this book – but was too in awe to say anything.

The Cost of Living

Deborah Levy, 2018

In this moving memoir Levy details the reality of reclaiming autonomy post-divorce. It sharply critiques the invisible burdens placed on women, while weaving in hopeful observations of everyday life.

Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath

Heather Clark, 2020

This deeply researched book rescues Plath from the tragic cliché of her death and is focused instead on the immense vitality of how she lived. Plath is shown not as a passive victim of despair, but as a brilliant intellectual and visionary poet.

The Age of Innocence

Edith Wharton, 1920

Wharton’s portrayal of 1870s New York society shows a world that is both dazzling and suffocating. The central romance captures the conflict between desire and duty, while the bittersweet ending shows how the choices we make can shape an entire lifetime.

Cider with Rosie

Laurie Lee, 1959

I’m blessed to have a house in the Slad Valley where Lee grew up. When I see the apple trees in bloom, it brings home this chronicle of his childhood. He evokes the warmth of a chaotic, loving family and the transition of a rustic world into the modern age.

The films Monica Dolan tends to appear in “aren’t massively high profile”, said David Jenkins on Little White Lies, though she is “one of the finest and most thoughtful actors working today”. In this true-life drama, she plays Galway-based amateur historian Catherine Corless, who in 2010 chose the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, in her home town of Tuam, as the subject of an assignment for her evening class in local history.

In the course of her research, Corless discovered that, over four decades, 800 babies and infants had died at the home. Their deaths had been concealed, and their remains buried on site. Some were dumped in a disused septic tank. Dolan “tamps down the melodrama and ups the raw emotion” in a film that “carefully hits all of its expected beats”.

The scandal was the subject of a 2017 New York Times article, said Kevin Maher in The Times, which is adapted here by screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz.

Sensitively directed by Frank Berry, the film “advances clearly and respectfully” through the investigation, as Corless insists on answers from the religious order that ran the home, and the Catholic establishment, and so uncovers evidence of systemic abuse and appalling cruelty. Yet she is herself an “unexpectedly complex” figure, who is recovering from depression – and also haunted by the cruelty that she meted out to the Bon Secours children she met in her youth.

It is “a painful, devastating film”, said Cath Clarke in The Guardian. Dolan really excels here, as do the actors who play the survivors. Some appear only briefly, “but their faces stayed with me”. You’d expect a drama like this to be “a difficult watch”, but with such assured performances, it is the opposite: you can’t look away.

Oxfordshire: Church Cottage, Turville

Characterful 17th century Grade II cottage that featured in The Vicar of Dibley. 2 beds, family bath, kitchen/breakfast room, recep, garden, parking. £375,000; Robinson Sherston.

Norfolk: The Cottage, Fleggburgh

This quaint, storybook thatched cottage enjoys a peaceful setting between Broads National Park and the east Norfolk coastline. 2 beds, shower room, kitchen/dining room, recep, utility, garden, outbuilding, parking. £375,000; Sowerbys .

Buckinghamshire: Hambleden, Henleyon-Thames

An idyllic cottage in the heart of the village, close to the 12th century church of Saint Mary the Virgin. Surrounded by rolling Chilterns countryside, the village of Hambleden is celebrated for its quintessential charm and is perfectly positioned between the riverside towns of Marlow and Henley-on-Thames. 3 beds, 2 baths, kitchen, recep, study, utility, garden, garage. £825,000; Moveli.

Devon: Rose Cottage, Babbacombe

Picturesque Grade II thatched cottage dating back to the 1840s. The property occupies a delightful location, perched above Babbacombe Beach, with wonderful sea views which can be enjoyed from a number of terraces. Main suite, 4 further beds (1 en suite), family bath, kitchen, 3 receps, garden, outbuildings, parking. £850,000; Knight Frank.

Devon: Strawberry Cottage, Tiverton

A beautifully renovated thatched cottage set in over an acre of mature gardens. 3 beds, family bath, kitchen/dining room, recep, snug, study, garden, garage with room above. £575,000; Stags.

Oxfordshire: Thorne Cottage, Hornton

An attractive honey-coloured Hornton-stone cottage dating back to the 17th century. The property is full of character, with plenty of original features such as mullioned windows. 2 beds, family bath, kitchen, 2 receps, detached 1-bed selfcontained annexe, garden, garage. £525,000; Butler Sherborn.

Yorkshire: The Hollies, Harome

This charming thatched cottage sits in a secluded halfacre in one of the region’s most desirable villages. 2 beds, 2 baths, kitchen, 2 receps, 2 selfcontained 1-bed cottages, garden, parking. OIEO £875,000; GSC Grays.

The Party, on ITV1, is “a tale of class division, toxic privilege and cold betrayal”, said Anita Singh in The Telegraph. Based on Elizabeth Day’s 2017 novel, this “juicy psychological thriller” is about the friendship between Benjamin Fitzmaurice (Tom Cullen), a rising star of the Conservative Party, and working-class outsider Martin Gilmour (Luke Evans).

And it unfolds across three timelines: school and university days, where a tragedy binds the two together; Ben’s birthday bash in the present day, and the aftermath, in which Martin is in a police interview room, bloodied and shaken. “Something terrible happened at the party,” he says, and, over five episodes, we find out exactly what.

The notion of a working-class boy thrust into a world of “glittering hedonism” isn’t exactly fresh, said Ben Dowell in The Times. Alan Hollinghurst’s “The Line of Beauty” covered this ground, as did “Saltburn” more recently. But this drama “sings its own plangent song”, and the series features some “beautiful” performances, too. The young Martin’s awkward Christmas viewing of “Coronation Street” with his mum is “particularly heartbreaking”.

It’s a shame that the main themes – class, sexuality and repression – are not more forensically explored, said Phil Harrison in The Independent. We never really discover why these two men behave the way they do. A fine supporting cast, meanwhile, feels underused. Still, the series is very entertaining. “It’s not a party you’d want to attend, but it’s one you’ll happily, voyeuristically observe with a shudder.”

The popularity of the NBA, which begins its season on Oct. 20, skyrocketed starting in the early 1980s. And the heightened salience of the growing fast-paced sport in American popular culture has created its own literary canon, including these four standouts.

‘The Breaks of the Game’ by David Halberstam (1981)

David Halberstam embedded himself with the 1979-1980 Portland Trail Blazers and here describes the daily travails of a team struggling to return to championship form. It is “one of the best books I’ve ever read about American sports,” said Christopher Lehmann-Haupt at The New York Times.

‘The Whore of Akron: One Man’s Search for the Soul of LeBron James’ by Scott Raab (2011)

Esquire’s Scott Raab followed LeBron James in the years before and after he left the Cleveland Cavaliers for a book that doubles as a kind of memoir covering the writer’s tumultuous personal life. It’s a story of a “truly talented writer pouring his heart and soul into a book about a city he loves,” said John Krolik at Cavs: the blog.

‘Hoop Dreams: A True Story of Hardship and Triumph’ by Ben Joravsky (1995)

Joravsky movingly chronicles the lives and challenges of the celebrated film documentary’s protagonists, Arthur Agee and William Gates, both of whom hailed from troubled Chicago neighborhoods. “Hoop Dreams” is “at once a heart-wrenching and uplifting story of survival,” said Publisher’s Weekly.

‘Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s’ by Jeff Pearlman (2014)

The 1980s-era Los Angeles Lakers won five NBA championships, and Pearlman covers the dramatic achievements of the team on the hardwood in addition to its off-court exploits. The book functions as an “excavation of a long-lost era, as well as a pulsing, utterly relevant roadmap into our 21st-century sports celebrity culture,” said Dave Zirin at The Nation.

“As a teacher of young girls, her behaviour today would see her cancelled, de-platformed and almost certainly up in court,” said Magnus Linklater in The Times. At a private girls’ school in 1930s Edinburgh, Jean Brodie indoctrinates her pupils with her fascist politics, goes in for sexual grooming, and is having an affair with a fellow teacher.

She is “every headteacher’s nightmare”, and yet she is also brilliant. She fosters an elite set of girls who, she says, are the “crème de la crème”, and she encourages them to have the highest of ambitions.

Maggie Smith won an Oscar for her performance as this extraordinary character in the 1969 film version of Muriel Spark’s book. And in Vicky Featherstone’s stunning new stage production, Gayle Rankin makes her “more extraordinary still”, said Mark Fisher in The Guardian. Sharp-tongued, bohemian and sexually forthright, this Brodie is as impossible to ignore as an “exotic moth”. Pupils and staff love or loathe her, and “you never doubt why”. But only one teenager, Sandy, sees through her, and brings her down as if she were a Coriolanus or a Lear, “too damaged by her private losses to see her own flaws”.

To call this National Theatre of Scotland production “spectacular is to understate the case”, said Joyce McMillan in The Scotsman. The stage is dominated by giant, pink-carpeted steps that “echo the architecture of the great fascist arenas of 1930s Europe”. On a 30ft screen behind them, images of great works of art and fascist rallies “haunt the moments between scenes”. Such visual grandeur could have overwhelmed the action but the formidable cast prove a match for it, and, while David Harrower’s adaptation is long, it never loses pace. It builds to a “devastating” end.

Rankin is magnificent, said Mark Brown in The Telegraph, and she is supported brilliantly by everyone from Maureen Beattie as the headteacher to the “superb” five-strong ensemble who play the Brodie girls. This is terrific narrative theatre, “atmospheric, visceral and cerebral”.
Lyceum, Edinburgh, to 18 October, then touring Scotland to 7 November

“After a career spent getting readers excited about credit-default swaps (‘The Big Short’) and sabermetrics (‘Moneyball’)”, the American journalist Michael Lewis “decided to try to help people understand the importance of civil servants”, said Sam Freedman in The Guardian.

He did this first in “The Fifth Risk”, his 2018 book about the damage caused by the first Trump administration’s “almost complete lack of interest” in the workings of government. Now, he has written a “loose sequel” dealing with Donald Trump’s return to office and, “this time around, the problem is not indifference but malicious intent to destroy”.

“Blockers” is an account of the vandalistic work of Elon Musk’s Doge and “other agents of chaos”, notably Republican operative Russell Vought, who essentially became Trump’s cost-cutter-in-chief when Musk fell out with the president. At the same time, it shines a light on the “blockers” – Musk’s derisive term for the “dedicated officials” who did their best to hinder his reforms.

The book is a “rollercoaster”, said Laura Miller on Slate. It alternates between “heartening stories of stellar federal civil servants” and “blood-pressure-spiking accounts” of the “Elon-worshipping idiot boys” sent to slash their budgets or hound them from their jobs. In one chapter, we see an IRS official “locking herself in a darkened conference room” to avoid a “capricious Doge goon who wanted her to give him confidential information on seven million taxpayers”.

Another is focused on Francis Collins, who was sacked from his senior role at the National Institutes of Health. Among a host of distinguished achievements, Collins was “instrumental in identifying the gene responsible for cystic fibrosis”. Yet he was forced to leave at short notice, carrying his possessions in “a small cardboard box”. Lewis suggests that, ironically, the person ultimately responsible for his dismissal was Vought, whose own daughter has cystic fibrosis.

Such stories aren’t just personal tragedies, said Tim Adams in The Observer; they are calamitous for America. The cuts carried out by Musk and others led to “vast institutional knowledge” being removed at a stroke, “to be replaced by venal incompetence”.

The aim was to “dispose of and humiliate” an entire class of people who cared about the good that government could do, and about following legal due process. Nor did Doge’s reforms even succeed on their own terms: despite Musk’s boast that he would cut $2 trillion from the government’s $7 trillion budget, this year’s federal spend is estimated to be $7.4 trillion. Lewis has produced an “essential record” of a dismal episode in American history.

Look up when you enter the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall and “you won’t be able to stop looking up – because it’s raining musical instruments”, said Jonathan Jones in The Guardian.

If Tarek Atoui had “just left it at that, it would still be an impressive, intriguing installation”, but the Lebanese artist takes things a step further. His “sculptural creations” are set alongside an “ever-changing” soundscape including an “earth-shaking bass note” that “throbs from a hanging trumpet”. Together, “it’s entrancing”: the installation is an “interconnected musical machine”.

After last year’s “debacle” that saw Máret Ánne Sara hang 72 reindeer hides in the Turbine Hall, the Tate has pulled things back with Atoui’s “beguiling, poetic installation”, said Alastair Sooke in The Telegraph. Various musical instruments appear to “float in mid-air” and from a distance “softly illuminated drum skins resemble glowing planets or moons”.

Below this “cosmic ensemble” visitors can “linger on rough-hewn, bed-like stones with a pleasingly sculptural quality”. A collection of large bowls are peppered throughout the space, “as if to catch the notes and vibrations falling like rainwater from the instruments above”.

Behind an “imposing plinth” technicians control the “swelling, ‘sonic landscape’” using mixing desks “bristling with multicoloured wires”. In this way, Atoui’s installation is “both high and low-tech”, bringing together modern technology and “something much older and more analogue, soulful and warm”.

I thought it was a flop, said Laura Freeman in The Times. Atoui has produced a work that is “visually fiddly and portentously orchestrated”. Instruments are hung alongside “various unappealing vents” and the music is mostly “muted: a generalised, Goop-y wellness-retreat backing track”. Overall it’s a “thin, mannered, cluttered commission and a waste of a magnificent space”.

Atoui’s installation is “certainly no spectacle” and lacks an “immediate wow factor”, said Jo Lawson-Tancred on artnet. His assortment of hanging instruments and wires “looks a bit like a cross between a boiler room and a mid-tier design store”. But the artist has managed to “fill the venue and redefine it”, conjuring a sculpture out of sound and asking visitors to “gather, mingle and improvise” their own sounds in response. His installation may prove “surprisingly memorable”.

This is an artist who has “grabbed the opportunity to work in this vast space with both hands”, said Jones in The Guardian. His work is “rich, ingenious, funny, sad, mystical” – it’s an installation to “lose yourself in for hours”.

Tate Modern, London, from 13 October until 11 April 2027

“My most cherished, most powerful food memories involve two ingredients: rice and pork,” said chef Donald Link in his book “Real Cajun: Rustic Home Cooking from Donald Link’s Louisiana.” It is a common refrain for people who were raised in the prairies and bayous of southern Louisiana.

The rice is there in the region’s popular eggplant dressing, dirty rice with chicken livers and in crawfish pies. Pork appears as cracklins, those deep-fried nubbins of seasoned pork belly and in all manner of Deep South charcuterie. Rice and pork even tango together in the region’s legendary sausage called boudin. Donald Link, born in southwest Louisiana, is the owner of a handful of restaurants in New Orleans, and “Real Cajun” takes you on a personal tour of all these tastes of his homeland, plus legions more.

Two foundational ingredients

No two boudins are alike, but the “truth is, they are all good,” said Link in his book. If you have had the privilege of eating multiple boudins from different shops, you know Link spills facts. His stars both pork shoulder and liver, plus two types of fresh chiles, a glut of spices and, of course, white rice.

Lima beans appear in a stew alongside smoked sausage; a suave pork roast is served over, yes, rice. Even chicken thighs are stuffed with sausage. Pork is ubiquitous, and rice nearly as much so, appearing in a gratin with zucchini, a soup with chicken and a fritter known as calas.

And beyond

Freshness and fiber are everywhere across “Real Cajun” too. Tender lettuces are slicked with a scallion-buttermilk dressing. Tomatoes bring a lush tang to stewed okra.

A sweet finish is obligatory. So there are recipes for satsuma-buttermilk pie, chocolate-pecan tart, blueberry cobbler and a staple of Link’s youth: lemon meringue pie. Man cannot live on rice and pork alone.

Jimmy McGovern’s prison dramas are always a “difficult watch” but his third and final instalment of “Time” is a “horror story”, said Anita Singh in The Telegraph.

It’s set in the “roiling hell” of a young offenders’ institution, where the inmates are often locked up for 23 hours a day to stop them from attacking each other. The only returning character is Marie-Louise (Siobhan Finneran), the “non-judgemental” prison chaplain who brings a “stillness and kindness which act as much-needed respite from the chaos”.

David Tennant gives “one of his best-ever performances” as corrections officer Bobby Bailey, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian. Although “wearied by the job” and returning home each day to an unhappy marriage, he is “not entirely devoid of compassion for the lads in his care”.

Many of the young actors are making their TV debut but the quality of their performances is “astonishing”. The boys’ pain and anger is brought powerfully to life by McGovern and his co-writer Sam Bailey; they do a “wonderful, terrifying job of conveying the kinetic energy pent up and desperate for release, and the seething fury ever threatening to erupt, in every scene”. This portrait of masculinity “probably won’t garner the attention that Jack Thorne’s ‘Adolescence’ did. But it should”.

McGovern has managed “brilliantly to recapture the suffocating, febrile, terrifying climate of prison” once again, said Carol Midgley in The Times. Tennant’s “moral ‘journey’” proves fascinating, and the scenes with Finneran “quietly trying to connect with these troubled young men amid her own heartbreak are some of the finest of the series”.

The series is “not entirely without fault”, said Abby Robinson in Radio Times. Some of the dialogue in the closing scenes feels “at odds with the more grounded style” of the rest of the series, and there is one “unforeseen moment that feels unnecessarily cruel and designed to provoke a reaction, rather than further” the show’s themes. In all, though, “Time” is a “moving, tense and riveting watch”. This latest “urgent” instalment “cements its place as one of the most important shows on British television”.

“As Brits battle the country’s often-dire rail network”, railway pubs are sometimes the only thing that “keeps us sane amid countless delays, cancellations and strikes”, said Ed Cunningham on Time Out. If you find yourself at a loose end, or in need of travel refreshment, here are some of the best places across the country for a railway pint.

Tap on the Line, Kew, London

“Perched right on the platform at Kew Gardens station is a charming little boozer,” said Katie Forge on Secret London. London is known for its quirky pubs but few are this “unique”. The Tap on the Line (pictured above) is the only pub in the capital which sits directly on a tube station platform, and is one of the last remaining 19th-century stations. “It’s one of the very few places in the city where you can see your train coming, sink your pint, and still be on board by the time the train is ready to depart”. It also has regular live music, pub quizzes and a “wonderful atmosphere”.

The Sheffield Tap, Sheffield

“By my estimation the best station pub in Britain, the Sheffield Tap even stands out in a city full of excellent places for a pint,” said Will Hawkes in The Telegraph. This “Edwardian treasure” has been carved out of the station’s former “Refreshment Rooms”. It had been lying derelict until the mid-1970s, but has been given a second lease of life. It oozes class with a “mahogany bar, ornate barrel-plaster ceiling and terrazzo floor”, and even has a brewery in the “magnificent inner room”, which used to be the first class dining room. “A very elegant place for a pint indeed”.

Scott & Brassey, Carlisle, Cumbria

The Scott & Brassey has only been open since February, said Rachel Dixon in The Guardian, but you can still feel the history of the site. Its predecessor, the 301 Miles From London, closed in 2023, and customers can enjoy the same spot on platform 4, now with a “slick makeover”. There’s still the same original wooden entrance lobby, “hammerbeam roof and Tudor-style stone fireplaces”. Eight handpumps line the mahogany bar, and the feature wall behind is full of clocks, so there’s “no excuse for missing your train”.

Bank of Conwy, Conwy, North Wales

This warm, welcoming pub is across the road from the station at the “heart of this beautiful seaside town with a castle overlooking the harbour”, said Phil Mellows in The i Paper. It has been open since 2015, and has “warmly embraced modern craft beer”, with local favourites from Wild Horse Brewing down the coast at Llandudno. The building itself is a “nicely restored Grade II-listed former bank”, and has plenty of good cask ales on the pumps too, for “those of a more traditional disposition”.

The beauty of Lisbon’s pastel-hued architecture is one of the Portuguese capital’s major draws. Travellers enticed by beautiful surroundings would do well to stay at the newly opened Tarabel Lisbon, a luxury boutique hotel that prides itself on its decor. When you walk in, you’re greeted by an enormous antique birdcage wrought in the shape of a palace, with faux birds perched on top. This playful sensibility sets the tone for your stay.

Why stay here?

Situated on a hill in the Estrela neighbourhood, the Tarabel has no bad views. On one side, the former townhouse faces the splendour of the US Embassy building and its gardens. The other looks out at the show-stopping expanse of the Tagus estuary: the 25 de Abril Bridge, the Port of Lisbon, and the huge Christ the King monument across the river in Almada. An entire evening can be spent just sitting on the terrace with a glass of wine, watching the boats and cruise ships go by.

Tarabel’s impeccably manicured garden is on an incline, and is split into levels that naturally carve the space into smaller, intimate sitting areas. Parakeets – real this time – fly overhead and perch in the trees lining the garden. At the bottom is the emerald-green pool, providing guests with welcome respite from the heat. Bright white and yellow parasols complement the lush foliage, and looking up toward the hotel from the bottom of the garden you can see the large-scale tile artwork conceptualised by the owner and designer, a love letter to the azulejos (traditional ceramic tiles) of Lisbon.

The rooms

Rooms are spacious and luxurious. Most of the furniture comes from the owner’s personal collection, gathered over the course of a lifetime from visits to flea markets all over Europe. A trefoil side-table from Portobello Market sits next to a rococo settee from Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen, stripped and reupholstered in a modern fabric. The Tarabel also borrows some styling choices from its sister location in Morocco, such as the pleated rattan accents and the occasional white-painted lattice woodwork.

Although bright whites dominate the hotel’s design, the warmth of unvarnished wood furniture does much to temper its starkness, and judicious use of pops of colour – fresh greens, yellows and florals – gives visual interest to the luxe space. Surprising, quirky additions are peppered throughout, such as a small trompe l’oeil ceiling fresco of a conservatory roof, complete with climbing roses and birds. It’s the attention to detail that makes this gathering of unique pieces work.

Eating and drinking

The quaint collection of flea-market finds extends to the cutlery and tableware, down to the miniature silver-lidded salt shakers. Everything is served on antique porcelain, mis-matched in design, yet unified in style.

The menu at Tarabel is a fusion of Portuguese, French and Italian cooking, with offerings sure to please most palates. The starters opened strongly: the fresh hamachi sourced from the Azores was buttery and tender, and the scoop of homemade basil sorbet perched on the tomato carpaccio was surprisingly delightful. The chicken’s accompaniment of roasted and pickled vegetables provided a light, pleasant contrast to the meat.

The standout dish, however, was the juicy scarlet prawns on a bed of creamy, lemony Portuguese rice. It exemplified the principles of Portuguese cooking: simple, unfussy flavour profiles and a focus on high-quality ingredients. It’s a must-try dish for any seafood lovers. Desserts are delicious and uncomplicated. Chocolate moelleux and tropical sorbet, both elevated with a flavoured crumble (cardamom and lime, respectively) finished off the meal with a satisfying hit of sweetness.

The staff are attentive and put in a lot of effort, ready to share tips and favourite restaurants, and really go the extra mile to make your stay pleasant and memorable. I took a croissant from the breakfast spread to my room to have later, only to find that after a few hours it had been replaced on the (now clingfilm-wrapped) plate by two pastries.

Things to do

While there’s no shortage of things to do in central Lisbon, the hotel’s location encourages a trip west, to the historic district of Belém. There, a short walk along the waterfront can take you from the Belém Tower to the Monument of Discoveries, and the luscious Vasco da Gama garden. The stunning Jerónimos Monastery nearby is also well worth a visit, and as a reward for a hard day of sightseeing, right next door you can try the original pastel de nata at Pastéis de Belém, the bakery that created the world-famous egg custard tart in 1837.

The verdict

Tarabel’s design sensibility fits right in with the beauty of Lisbon’s architecture, and if you’re looking for a room with a view of the river, there’s few places where you could do better. Whether in a plush suite or poolside, the hotel offers a wonderful place to rest whenever you’re not exploring Lisbon.

Julia was a guest of Tarabel Lisbon; tarabellisbon.com

As the weather cools and “socks go on”, it’s time to ditch light summery white wine for the “big, hearty, broad-shouldered” whites that can do justice to a “comforting lasagne”, said Jane MacQuitty in The Times.

Autumn calls for full-bodied whites that deliver a “hefty wallop” of flavour, fruit and alcohol. Those that have spent time on sediment or oak chips, or been fermented and aged in oak, tend to have the “rich, creamy, nutty” flavours that comfort food needs.

One of the best “cockle-warming” options is chardonnay from Australia, California or South America. These winemakers tend to “ramp up the flavour to full volume”. Bodega Catena Zapata make some “cracking” wines in Argentina and their 2021 Angelica Zapata Chardonnay is a “gorgeous, toasty, vanilla-scented mouthful, with stylishly integrated oak”.

I keep an eye out for whites that are “like a good cardigan, at once coddling and breathable”, said Mina Holland in The Guardian. For “ripeness, body and freshness”, I’d recommend a bottle from Galicia in northern Spain. Try Aldi’s specially selected albariño from the Rías Baixas appellation, which “rarely disappoints”, or a “fuller bodied godello” from nearby Valdeorras, like the Wine Society’s Exhibition range.

As “spiced stews and curries” become more enticing, pair them with “aromatic central European wines, such as a zippy, limey Mosel riesling”. Tesco Finest Steep Slopes “hits the spot when paired with a spicy takeaway” and, at £8, won’t blow a hole in your budget.

I’m drawn to a rich, oaky chenin blanc from South Africa or the Loire, said David Williams in The Observer. With its “apple-store scents”, it is “perhaps the quintessential autumn white”, and pairs perfectly with roast chicken. The barrel-fermented Kaapzicht Bush Vine Chenin Blanc is “weighty with honeyed pear and ripe golden apple” and “balanced with a flash of fresh acidity”. It is “probably South Africa’s greatest gift to the wine world”.

The Costa del Sol has had a bad rap. The ultimate package holiday destination, its name was once synonymous with mass tourism, cheap deals and expats seeking sun. But those days are over.

The 93-mile stretch of Mediterranean coastline in southern Andalusia has gone upmarket and repositioned itself as a year-round destination with an average of 320 days of sun annually. Five-star hotels are opening further down the coast away from Marbella’s flashy nightclubs, and attention has turned from the region’s famous beaches and golf courses to its whitewashed mountain villages, natural parks and cultural sights, including Málaga, with its Moorish architecture, art scene and huge range of museums.

Fairmont La Hacienda Costa del Sol – the only Fairmont property in Spain and which opened in 2025 – is at the forefront of the region’s reinvention and has recently added a new beach club. Unlike so many hotels there, it doesn’t close after the summer making it a great choice for winter sun.

Why stay here?

To switch off and enjoy the sea views with plenty of pampering. The hotel is on a quieter stretch of coast on the border of the lesser known Costa de la Luz, between Sotogrande and Gibraltar. If you’ve heard horror stories about the queues to register for the EU’s Entry/Exit System at busy Málaga airport, you can easily swerve them by flying to less crowded Gibraltar instead, just half an hour away.

Fairmont La Hacienda is on a hillside overlooking the Mediterranean, a golf course and the distinctive Rock of Gibraltar itself. On a clear day, you can even see Morocco. Cleverly, the whole resort is upside down to maximise the spectacular views through a wall of glass in the top-floor lobby. Rooms are below and the pools and gardens on the ground floor – though this does make the lifts a little confusing as numbers go up even though floors go down.

It’s all impossibly chic inside – shades of white and biscuit-brown with warm wooden furniture, dark green plants and rattan lamps. Corridors are cavernous and there’s space and dappled light everywhere, with lingering airport niggles soothed as soon as you walk in the door by staff proffering cold towels and fresh juice.

There’s no bad – or small – room. All 150 king rooms have private terraces, with pale woods and décor in cool taupe shades, while some of the suites have plunge pools, private gardens or two bedrooms. If you fancy more space, there are 47 villas scattered around the grounds with between four and nine bedrooms each plus full kitchens. All have a sleek minimal feel, with jute rugs and linen cushions adding just a touch of colour to the all-neutral palette. Marble bathrooms have pricey Le Labo products and my signature sea view studio suite had a free-standing bath almost big enough to swim in, plus a bath pillow and wooden bath rack with space to hold a wine glass. It was quite tempting not to leave the room at all.

Eating and drinking

Food is a major focus. I felt like I was never more than a few minutes away from a platter of jamon croquettes or a bowl of juicy green olives. My favourite restaurant was Umbra, a poolside spot shaded by a bamboo ceiling and dotted with plants, which has a tapas-style menu of patatas bravas, fried calamari, prawn tacos and delicious roasted aubergine with sugar cane honey. Dishes can also be ordered straight to your lounger if walking the few steps from the pool feels like too much effort. Similarly, if you’re snoozing on the Blue Flag-certified beach, there’s no need to go far as the hotel’s new seasonal beach club La Cala de La Hacienda has Mediterranean dishes including gazpacho, grilled king prawns and burrata salad, washed down with a glass of cold Spanish albariño wine.

Back in the main hotel building, Il Faro Trattoria has sweeping sea views from its terrace and serves Italian classics including pizza and pasta. Desserts are the real stars of the show, with include limoncello sorbet with Italian meringue, mango and basil panna cotta and tiramisu all featuring. This is also the place for breakfast – a generous buffet of pastries, eggs, fruit and cheese. It’s worth arriving before 9am to avoid waiting for a table (and to try to nab one on the terrace).

However, the fine-dining restaurant Dalmar is the ultimate foodie destination if you’re hoping for a special occasion meal. Overseen by Benito Gómez, whose Ronda restaurant Bardal has two Michelin stars, it specialises in elegant Andalusian dishes such as marinated anchovies, chargrilled avocado with a spicy corn and vanilla dressing, and chicken roasted in a mushroom fricassee, all interspersed with tasty unexpected treats and served alongside local wines.

Things to do

Most guests do little more than walk on the beach, doze in the poolside cabanas or pop to the gorgeous spa, which has a range of hydrotherapy pools, a heated indoor pool, cold plunge baths, two hammams and a salt inhalation room for even more relaxing. There’s also a padel court, a 24-hour sea-view gym and a yoga studio with a resident teacher for those who really can’t sit still, while the neighbouring golf course is one of the best in Spain.

To explore further, the hotel can arrange trips to lively Marbella, the village of Jimena de la Frontera with its eighth-century castle or to Gibraltar, which is even easier to get to since the border crossing was removed as part of a new treaty in July. I headed to smart Sotogrande to tour the coastline by catamaran, watching dolphins swimming alongside the boat over a glass of cava then plunging off the back of the boat for a swim in the shadow of the Rock of Gibraltar.

The verdict

This stylish hotel has all you need for a do-nothing getaway, from its soothing décor and sea-view pools to its cossetting spa and impressive restaurants. Better still, it’s just a short flight away whenever a weekend reset is long overdue.

Siobhan Grogan was a guest of Fairmont La Hacienda Costa del Sol

Created in the 17th century, Japan’s Fujiko faith fuses Shinto and esoteric Buddhism in its reverence for Mount Fuji, the country’s highest peak. The faith still has some adherents, and visitors can join their pilgrimages, says Kate Crockett in Condé Nast Traveller, hiking 2,300 metres up the mountain’s lower slopes to the point, accessible by road, from which most climbers head out for the 3,776m summit. It’s a “soothing” one-day walk through ancient forests, which offers “tantalising” views of Fuji’s “snow-capped” peak, and stops at shrines along the way. You can do part of the route on horseback, and it’s worth staying longer, to visit other holy sites and sample the region’s “elegant” old pilgrims’ lodges – and perhaps the new luxury retreat Gora Kadan Fuji, with its “restorative” outdoor bath.

A four-day trip costs from £2,950pp, half-board (kammui.com)

The charm of Croatia’s “little Tuscany”

Most visitors to Croatia head for the “scrubby” and “sun-bleached” mountains and islands of Dalmatia. Set far inland, the rolling Samobor Hills are a different world entirely, said Mary Novakovich in The Guardian. Here, you’ll find a lush, “harmonious” landscape that could “out-Tuscany Tuscany”. The area is criss-crossed by forested trails, particularly in the Žumberak Nature Park, where residents of nearby Zagreb come to hike and bike at weekends. But the hills also offer less strenuous pleasures, including wineries known for their “elegant” sparkling wines. More than three dozen of these lie along the circular Plešivica Wine Road, including the “bucolic” 18th-century Griffin, and the “serene” Korak, which has a refreshingly unpretentious Michelin-starred restaurant. Also unmissable is the town of Samobor itself – the prettiest place in Zagreb county, full of “graceful” Habsburg-era houses in shades of “buttery yellow, apricot and pistachio”.

A week at Nadal’s school of padel

Often described as a cross between tennis and squash, padel is booming, with an estimated one million players in the UK. Being “utterly hooked”, I signed up for a week-long training camp at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, said Jemima Kelly in the Financial Times – an “exhausting” experience, but “fun and exhilarating” too. Located in Manacor, the academy not only delivers world-class coaching in both tennis and padel, it has “top-notch” accommodation too, making a stay here feel like a proper holiday. Training days run from 8.30am to 6pm, but include a 3.5-hour break for long lunches and trips to the beach. I was impressed by the attentiveness of our coach, Rodri Ovide, and loved the resort’s spa.

The week costs from €3,984, full board (rafanadalacademy.com)

Isolated in the South Atlantic Ocean, 1,200 miles west of Angola, the volcanic island of St Helena has a “magic” that is “hard to define”, said Michael Binyon in The Times. It derives partly from the “beauty and variety” of the island’s landscapes, including “rich steep pastures” and “rugged bare mountains” rising to 820 metres. But it’s also to do with the island’s small size and friendly atmosphere: St Helena is less than one-third the size of the Isle of Wight, and is home to just 4,200 people.

Then there’s its pleasant tropical climate, its extraordinary history, the charm of its old buildings, and the sense of “stepping back into an earlier age” (although there is Wi-Fi here). In any case, I find it so “enticing” that I’ve returned seven times since first visiting in 2009.

The island is Britain’s oldest colony after Bermuda, having received its charter in 1659 during the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell’s son Richard. Its tiny capital, Jamestown, has “barely changed in two centuries”, and has the oldest Anglican church in the southern hemisphere, as well as a “beautiful” botanic garden. The governor’s mansion, Plantation House, was built in 1791 by the East India Company, and is famed today as the home of Jonathan, a tortoise from the Seychelles who is now aged about 194 and thought to be the oldest creature on Earth.

St Helena’s other “world-famous resident”, Napoleon, was exiled here in 1815, after the battle of Waterloo. The farm where he lived, Longwood, is now French property and has been restored to how it looked on the day of his death in 1821.

The island has an extraordinary wealth of endemic wildlife, with hundreds of species found nowhere else on Earth; and it’s also a good spot for diving and for dolphin-watching trips, although it has no proper beaches. If you go, I can recommend the Mantis St Helena hotel. But be warned that flights (from Johannesburg, plus Cape Town in summer) are often cancelled due to bad weather. If you can, add a few days to your trip just in case.

Sutherland: Creel Lodge, Golspie

A striking contemporary house designed by the architect Lachie Stewart. The house is located in a spectacular setting on the banks of Loch Fleet. 4 beds, 4 baths, kitchen, 2 receps, study, garden, studio, garage/boathouse/workshop. OIEO £750,000; Galbraith.

Midlothian: The Library Suite, Bonaly Tower, Edinburgh

Elegant flat in the former library of an A-listed Scots neo-baronial residence, boasting a 29ft-long drawing room. Set in approx. 10 acres of communal grounds at the foot of the Pentland Hills. 3 beds, 2 baths, kitchen, 2 receps, garden, garage. OIEO £1.1 million; Strutt & Parker.

Sutherland: Pollanaich, Nedd

An eye-catching Highland country house with breathtaking views over Loch Nedd and the northwest Sutherland coastline. 4 beds, 3 baths, kitchen, 3 receps, garden, boathouse, parking. OIEO £575,000; Galbraith.

Highlands: Ros-Mhor, Fearn

A handsome modern house designed in the Scottish vernacular style occupying a dramatic clifftop setting with views to the Moray coastline. 5 beds, 5 baths, kitchen, 4 receps, garden, parking. OIEO £695,000; Galbraith.

Highlands: Kinlochmaree House, Kinlochewe

A magnificent Victorian manse adjoining the Beinn Eighe & Loch Maree Islands National Nature Reserve. The property, which has been sensitively renovated, is set in approx. 1.4 acres of mature gardens. 6 beds, 4 baths, kitchen, 2 receps, 2-bed holiday let, garden, orchard, stone outbuilding, parking. OIEO £675,000; Paton & Co.

Argyll and Bute: 1 & 2 Beinn Tioraidh, Isle of Coll

Two charming traditional croft cottages (available together or separately) set in a wonderful rural location just a short walk to the beach. Each cottage has 1 bed, 1 bath, open-plan kitchen/living/dining room, shared garden and timber shed, parking. OIEO £250,000 for both properties; Bell Ingram.

Isle of Skye: Carters Rest, Glendale

Delightful coastal property with views across Loch Pooltiel and the Little Minch towards the Isle of Harris. 4 beds (3 en suite), family bath, kitchen, 2 receps, self-contained 1-bed annexe, garden, sauna, parking. OIEO £550,000; Savills.

The Turner Prize no longer inspires the excitement and the “ire” that it used to, said Waldemar Januszczak in The Times. Once the “main event” of Tate Britain’s schedule, it is now a travelling show, chugging around provincial museums. In principle, this is an admirable attempt to “spread the word about contemporary art”, but in practice it means the Turner has become rather a sideshow.

This year’s iteration takes place in Middlesbrough, a corner of the country that has recently been much maligned. As ever, it presents the work of four British artists (or artists working in Britain) who are nominated for exceptional exhibitions in the past year.

The winner receives £25,000, the runners-up £5,000 each. And in this case, the participants truly deserve it. All of the nominees field “solid showings” – and, for the first time in years, “there is a genuine sense of the display putting its finger on Britain’s artistic pulse… I loved it.”

‘Boring’ at points

This year’s show, which features no painters, is “relatively conventional – and even, at points, boring”, said Alastair Sooke in The Telegraph. Kira Freije (b.1985) fashions figurative sculptures from “aluminium casts of parts of her own body and others’ faces”, creating “skeletal” effigies draped in “faded scraps of folksy fabric”. She fills a room with them, her creations projecting “a dramatic, sorrowful quality” that evokes “a broken world populated by impoverished survivors”. It’s impressive enough, but it feels “rehashed”: Freije fails to “synthesise” her influences.

Far better is the French artist Marguerite Humeau (b.1986), whose huge sculptures of animals, including a dying elephant and dramatically enlarged fungi, have “genuine flair, originality and refinement”. Humeau’s description of her own art – she says she is on a “quest” for “transcendence” – can sound a bit “hippy-dippy”, but the “unsettling” proliferation of sculptural forms she creates is “bizarrely beautiful”.

‘Feels, smells and tastes’ like modern Britain

Far from being disappointing, “this is one of the strongest Turner Prize shows in recent memory”, said Mark Hudson in The Independent. The favourite to win is 31-year-old Tanoa Sasraku. One piece covers an entire wall with paper imitations of fabric patterns used by her father, a Ghanaian fashion designer, coloured with saturated earth dyes. It has the air of “something Mark Rothko might have produced”, if he’d worked with wrapping paper.

My personal favourite, though, is Simeon Barclay (b.1975), who presents a spoken-word piece synced to a video, itself presented within a replica of the Huddersfield nightclub he was barred from as a teenager. It’s about growing up Black in South Yorkshire, and it hymns the M62 – the motorway “that connected Huddersfield, and by extension Barclay, to the wider world”. Maybe it’s odd to have spoken-work poetry in an art prize, but it’s a piece that really “feels, smells and tastes” like modern Britain.

Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art. Until 29 March.

“Welcome to Bentley’s EV future,” said Top Gear Magazine – of the flagship new Torcal, unveiled last week. “The most powerful and torquey Bentley ever”, it has the same “whopping” 113kWh battery as the new Porsche Cayenne, with which it shares an EV platform, giving it an “ample” range of 360 miles. Add in 400kW charging and you’ve got a “capable transcontinental cruiser”.

The battery promises to retain 90% of its capacity after 100,000 miles of driving, because Bentley envisages the car as an “heirloom” to be “passed down through generations”, along with signet rings and castles.

Bentley’s first EV blends “heritage with cutting-edge innovation”, says CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser. Production is due to begin in Bentley’s Crewe plant this year, with just two trims from launch, both with twin-motor powertrains and four-wheel drive. The standard car packs 811bhp, while the 876bhp S has “more of a sporting bent”, said Autocar.

With 995lb-ft of torque, it can get from 0-62mph in just 2.9 secs, with a top speed of 162mph. “Tuned for maximum refinement”, its bespoke suspension uses active dual-valve dampers to create a “true ‘magic carpet’ ride”.

The Torcal is “impressively spacious inside”, said PistonHeads, with the “material plushness” that customers expect, including the world’s first 100% merino wool car upholstery. Bentley has opted for proper knurled buttons instead of a passenger display; the driver’s curved touchscreen is a “nice touch” and the adjustable seats are “exceptional”.

Live orchestral recordings have been used to replicate the noise of a combustion engine; other sound effects include a finger on the rim of a crystal glass for the voice command response. This is “one of the best Bentleys ever”, says Walliser – and with a lower-price Range Rover Electric arriving imminently, “it will need to be”.

Fall is when studios love to drop some of their juiciest awards-season contenders. And October’s slate unsurprisingly features several buzzy, prestigious new offerings, with a movie for virtually all tastes.

‘East of Eden’

Florence Pugh stars in this adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel. She plays Cathy Ames, who shoots her husband, Adam (Christopher Abbott), and flees to run a brothel after delivering their twin boys. The series offers an “allegory of the moral corruption of a nation,” said Inkoo Kang at The New Yorker. (on Netflix now)

‘War’

Creator George Kay’s new drama tackles the divorce between actress Carla Duval (Sienna Miller) and tech tycoon Morgan Henderson (Dominic West) while foregrounding their warring law firms. The series is an “old-school adult drama,” said Michel Ghanem at The Cut. (on HBO Max now)

‘Carrie’

In this new take on Stephen King’s novel from horror auteur Mike Flanagan, updated for the social media era, Summer H. Howell plays Carrie White, the shy student whose bullying results in supernatural tragedy. Flanagan’s take on the story makes “everyone a little more sympathetic,” said Katie Rife at Inverse. (on Prime Video now)

‘The Diplomat’ season 4

“The Diplomat” returns with President Grace Penn (Allison Janney) and Vice President Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell) scrambling to contain the fallout from a shocking act of espionage while Hal’s wife, Kate (Keri Russell), tries to salvage the international order. It’s a show that “treats politics as something deeply personal,” said Lacy Baugher Milas at Paste Magazine. (Oct. 15 on Netflix)

Edward Albee’s “stone-cold masterpiece” about marital despair, and life’s necessary illusions, was first staged in 1962 – and it is as riveting now as it was then, said Claire Allfree in The Telegraph.

That is partly because the “ritualised savagery” exhibited by George and Martha – the middle-aged couple who have invited a younger faculty member and his wife to their home on a college campus for after-party drinks – “points to a broader spiritual malaise in middle-class America that feels darker and more resonant with each passing decade”.

But it is also because Albee’s writing lets actors fly, said Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times. Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup are so scintillating as the drink-sodden pugilists that “you check yourself for bruises as you stagger out”. Staged in the round with the audience ringside, Marianne Elliott’s sublime production is “shockingly good”.

“I don’t think @sohoplace is the perfect venue. Nowhere with that name could be,” said Andrzej Lukowski in Time Out. But it is the perfect venue for this magnificent play. As the action deepens, and we realise that what is unfolding is a twisting game, the thrill of having Anderson and Crudup just feet away is “replaced by a sort of horror, a sense that we are not simply watching events from a distance but are physically in the room for the madness”. It is a “special” theatrical experience.

Anderson is “wonderful” as the ferocious, fragile Martha, the part for which Elizabeth Taylor won her second Oscar, said Fiona Mountford in The i Paper. And Crudup is really terrific – wry, relaxed, dangerous – as her disappointed husband. If he doesn’t scoop an Olivier for this, “I will be astonished”.

Josh Dylan and Phoebe Horn are “compelling”, too, as the guests-cum-victims Nick and Honey, said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian. There’s more humour in this staging than in others I’ve seen and, to my taste, not enough darkness and “emotionally eviscerating” moments along the way. But the ending is as “devastating” as ever.
@sohoplace, London W1. Until 19 December.

Molly Manners directed four episodes of Netflix’s “One Day”, the hit adaptation of David Nicholls’ bestselling novel; now, she has made an impressive feature debut, said Tara O’Brady in The Irish Times.

“Extra Geography” is set in a boarding school in North Yorkshire in the early 2000s, and “follows two close friends (newcomers Marni Duggan and Galaxie Clear) “who decide that academic success is not enough”. They must also become “worldly”. So they assign themselves a project to fall in love, and alight upon their geography teacher (Alice Englert). However, a complication arises in the form of an interschool production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, which “brings boys into their previously closed world”, and tests the girls’ bond.

Adapted from a story by Rose Tremain, “the film treats adolescence as a nerve-racking rollercoaster of exaggerated stakes and cringe comedy, allowing both girls to be selfish, mean, insecure and, simultaneously, endearing”.

A “frothy, funny coming-of-ager”, featuring “uncommonly good” performances from its two young stars, “Extra Geography” is quite simply “sublime”, said Kevin Maher in The Times. It has touches of the US high-school comedy “Booksmart”, with added class tension because we’re in the UK. The script contains plenty of “zingers”, but the ending is “bittersweet”.

The film “plots a safer route” than Tremain’s novel, in which the girls project “colonial fantasies of New Zealand onto their part-Maori teacher”, said Hanna Flint in Time Out. It’s a shame it detours around that rocky terrain but this barbed satire about female friendship and rivalry is still “a road worth taking”.

In August 2022, author Salman Rushdie was being interviewed at an event in upstate New York when a man rushed onto the stage and stabbed him 15 times in the neck, chest, eye, hand and stomach. His assailant, Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old from New Jersey, later said he had been motivated in part by the 1989 fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini over Rushdie’s book “The Satanic Verses”. This “excellent” documentary, directed by the Oscar-winning Alex Gibney, tells the “terrifying, inspiring story” of how he survived that ordeal, said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian.

It is narrated by Rushdie himself and makes use of “intimate” hospital-bedside video footage shot by his wife, the poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths, as well as archive footage of his life and career, and of the attack. “What emerges is Rushdie’s courage and his remarkably level-headed, calm and unafraid writerly voice”, insisting on the “primacy of literature” and “freedom of expression”.

It is not an easy watch, said Philip Concannon in Sight and Sound. Rushdie lost an eye in the frenzied, 27-second attack, and the sight of it bulging out of its socket is “truly shocking”. The archival footage, too, of the “vociferous” reaction to “The Satanic Verses” is “astonishing”.

“Knife” attempts to be an “incisive anatomy of the stabbing”, yet it shows “little interest in understanding the psyche” of Matar, said Shaurya Thapa in Time Out – a man so consumed by extremism “that he’d barely glanced at ‘The Satanic Verses’ before he picked up the knife”. And its “near-hagiographic framing” of Rushdie becomes “monotonous”. Still, the film is surprisingly lively, and the clips of him in hiding in the 1990s – sitting in a safe house playing Nintendo – are fascinating.

It’s tempting to think of the porn industry as a “seedy underground thing, which good people ignore and to which bad people are addicted”, said Lucy Thynne in The Telegraph. But as the journalist Patricia Nilsson argues in her fascinating book “Guilty Pleasure”, the reality is more complex and disturbing.

Porn, she points out, isn’t significant only because it is a big industry worth tens of billions, and is intensely addictive; it also provides “nothing less than the model for the internet we all use today”. Algorithms, targeted adverts, attention-grabbing headlines: all were forged in the “crucible of early porn websites”. Porn sites helped pioneer secure online payments and high-definition streaming.

All this, says Nilsson, helps explain why even using non-sexual content online often “makes us feel so weird”, and why scrolling feels like a compulsive, even “masturbatory” act of self-gratification. Her book isn’t perfect – the editing is sloppy – but it is intelligent and “necessary”.

Quite aside from the thesis it advances, “Guilty Pleasure” is a compelling history of porn, said Sarah Ditum in The Times. Nilsson begins with a sketch of the pre-internet industry. Here, “her tone is nostalgic, even rosy”, and she underplays the exploitation it involved. She then charts the rise of “tube sites”, which allowed user-uploaded videos, often pirated from traditional porn films, to be watched free with adverts. It was these sites that developed the “grammar of the attention economy, devising ways to keep users hooked that would be carefully studied by more salubrious businesses”. Then came a “more intimate kind of porn”, with the rise of platforms such as OnlyFans that enable “performers to sell sexual pictures and videos direct to consumers”. These, Nilsson writes, “formalised what the internet has been moving towards for years: the commodification of the self”.

Once, owners of porn companies were flash publicity-seekers like Larry Flynt and Hugh Hefner, said Amelia Gentleman in The Guardian. But Nilsson observes that today’s bosses tend to be “tech nerds” and money men with no particular interest in porn. She brings several such figures “out of the shadows”, including the “mysterious” Bernd Bergmair, an Austrian ex-banker who controlled the Pornhub empire between 2013 and 2023.

One might expect this book to be a “depressing read”, said Marie Le Conte in The Observer. But it proves surprisingly entertaining: “substantial, enriching and enjoyable enough that it leaves you feeling sated – just like having sex, instead of merely watching it”.

Halloween is all about “dressing up, carving pumpkins, sharing treats and enjoying spooky fun with friends and family”, said the BBC. Here are some of our favourite activities from across the country. Pick pumpkins in Yorkshire, cuddle tarantulas in Oxfordshire, or encounter ghostly figures in the Tower of London: no tricks, only treats.

Ghosts and ravens at Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London

“Where better to mark All Hallows’ Eve than some of London’s most haunted locations?” said Connor Sturges in Condé Nast Traveller. Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London are putting on their usual “spook-tacular” events for all ages throughout half term. Expect “roaming ghostly apparitions” as the sun sets, and follow autumn trails “filled with pumpkins, scarecrows and seasonal surprises” around the Palace grounds. For the first time at the Tower, there will be “early-bird access into the fortress for a unique encounter with the ravens”, while wardens regale you with tales of the Tower’s “darkest secrets”.
24 October to 1 November; hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace; hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london

Pumpkin Picking at Stockeld Park, North Yorkshire

A trip to Stockeld Park is “fantastic” all year round, said Alice Saville in Time Out. But it “lures” you in with an “added bonus” of themed adventure playgrounds around Halloween time. You can jump on a tractor and head out into the fields to select your own pumpkin, before settling in for a day of autumnal fun. The main event is a “pumpkin slingshot” which is included in your ticket price, but there are also wand-making sessions and a friendly roving scarecrow.
24 to 31 October; stockeldpark.co.uk

Scarefest at Alton Towers Resort, Staffordshire

Each year, the theme park “raises its Halloween game to offer an increasingly spookier experience for their annual Scarefest celebration”, said Amy Burns in The i Paper. This year it has after-dark rides on Nemesis Reborn, plus Wicker Man and The Smiler. Over the years, the park has introduced more “live actor experiences” and Halloween is the ideal opportunity to expand this trend – and offer “genuine frights”. To tone down the scare factor, you can head to Amigos in the Afterlife or Trick o’ Treat Town, where live actors will “amuse younger visitors and even hand out a few treats”.
10 to 11 October, and 16 October to 1 November; altontowers.com

Victoria Park Guardians, Victoria Park, Manchester

As October draws to a close, Stretford’s Victoria Park “transforms into an interactive family trail”, said Emmeline Banks in Secret Manchester. Teams gather together to solve clues to “uncover the mystery of the Keeper’s missing key” from the 13 Guardians hidden across the park’s paths, gardens, and historic spots. It’s designed for ages three to 12, and can take up to 90 minutes, but it’s well worth the reward waiting for you at the end.
24 to 31 October; eventbrite.com

Thrill-seeking at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire

The Palace’s “haunted half term” has plenty to offer for a family day out, said Fran Watts in The Independent. Handling animals in the ZooLab is perfect for little ones, allowing them to see tarantulas, snakes, giant snails and more up close. There are also witch storytelling sessions, circus workshops and the popular Pip and Posy trail. “Older thrill-seekers may want to wait until after dark” for the spooky trail – think “immersive entertainment, light displays, jumpy twists and turns and Halloween food and drinks”.
22 October to 1 November; blenheimpalace.com

Whitney Houston was a cultural icon who sold more than 200 million records.

Yet her achievements “were, and remain, obscured by public interest in her private life: her sexuality, her relationships, her relationship with drugs”, which ultimately contributed to her untimely death in 2012 at the age of just 48, said Liam Kelly in The Telegraph.

This, in part, is what makes her such a “compelling character” for Emily Lordi’s new biography, “Holding Lightning: the Life, Loves and Art of Whitney Houston”.

The version of Houston’s story that has played out time and again in the many books and documentaries produced since her death is of the “wholesome choirgirl” destroyed by her marriage to bad boy singer Bobby Brown in 1992, said The Times’ Victoria Segal. The tale is one of a “sparkling pop princess sliding catastrophically off the rails and into the drug abuse that claimed her health, her voice and, ultimately, her life”.

Refusing to “reduce Houston’s story to another ‘good girl gone bad’ narrative”, Lordi, a critic and professor of English at Vanderbilt University, instead “presents a pluralistic take on her life” in which the singer’s “queerness, drug use and eccentricities are not dismissed as aberrations (as they were in her lifetime) but rather seen in the wider context of her unique talent and the pressures placed on her to embody Black excellence”, said Priya Elan in The Guardian.

Going even further, Lordi “repeatedly and persuasively” makes the case that while she almost never wrote her own material, Houston was an artistic “genius”, said The New York Times culture editor Leah Greenblatt.

While Lordi’s analysis can “tip into academic mode, and she sometimes overreaches in her attempt to make the singer all things to all people”, the book “works eloquently to elevate and re-reframe an icon, and in its best moments also allows her the grace of something she longed for and rarely got to be: life-size”.

More and more Parisians have been “reaching for a glass of Chartreuse” in recent years, said Morwenna Ferrier in The Guardian. But the “intensely green” herbal liqueur isn’t always easy to find.

Chartreuse dates back to 1605 when Carthusian monks were “entrusted with the recipe” by Duke François Annibal d’Estrées. Containing 130 ingredients including plants, barks and spices, the original recipe for the so-called “elixir of long life” took the monks “over a century to decipher”. Eventually, they settled on what became the base of today’s Chartreuse – a secret recipe known by just three monks.

It’s always been “pricey” but it got even harder to find when, in 2021, the Carthusian monks “suddenly announced plans to cap production” in order to devote themselves to prayer, sparking a global shortage.

The elusive liqueur is usually found in more “ambitiously stocked” bars. Its popularity has increased since the pandemic, when a “taste for the weirder, top-shelf” alcohols. At Combat, an “edgy-cool” bar on the Rue de Belleville, you’ll find it served cold in a “crystal-cut sipping glass” or mixed with gin, lime and a maraschino cherry in a cocktail, The Last Word.

Les Cave des Papilles, Le Saint Sebastien and Cave Pur Jus are other spots in Paris where you can find the “electric-green liqueur”, said Joel Hart in Bloomberg. Chartreuse drinkers are a “motley crew” – you’ll see them everywhere from luxury hotels to “low-key cave à mangers”.

Beyond the capital, every May the annual Les Fêtes de la Chartreuse takes place in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. It’s a “triple celebration”: of the liqueur itself, the “verdant mountain range” after which it is named, and the “area’s natural bounty at the height of spring”, said Matt Ortile in Condé Nast Traveler.

Chartreuse comes in two main expressions: green and yellow. I like the former. “Herbaceous” and “almost overwhelming”, drinking it straight “feels like a meadow grabbing you by the throat, and saying ‘Do you like that?’ (My answer is yes)”. But the yellow version “has its charms too” – it has a lower alcohol content and feels “sweetly cosy, like a good morning kiss from a casual lover”.

Unless they are holding back some last-minute surprises, studios have not timed their best horror releases to coincide directly with Halloween this year. They are instead distributing them over the course of the larger pumpkin, sweater and apple-picking season. Whether you are looking for a zombie apocalypse, ghost story or blood-soaked slasher, you won’t be disappointed.

‘Never After Dark’

Airi (Moeka Hoshi) is a sought-after traveling medium who specializes in releasing tormented spirits so they can move on to the next plane of existence. She is hired by Teiko (Tae Kimura) to clear a ghost from his sleek countryside hotel while her son, Gunji (Kento Kaku), brings a Dana Scully energy as the supernatural skeptic. The spirit is called The Gaping Mouth Man (Mutsuo Yoshioka), and he is more than the icily competent Airi bargained for. Anchored by Hoshi’s “deeply present, engaged performance,” writer-director Dave Boyle’s film “builds atmosphere and tension to a truly insane final act,” said Brian Tallerico at Roger Ebert. (in theaters now)

‘Resident Evil’

Even hardcore fans of the 90s-era Capcom game would admit that most of the “Resident Evil” movies have been pretty mid. Now, with “Weapons” and “Barbarian” director Zach Cregger on board, the franchise has been given new life.

“Resident Evil” follows, often from the first-person vantage point like in the game, disheveled hospital courier Bryan (Austin Abrams) as his late-night organ delivery is waylaid by a viral outbreak that swiftly turns people into tentacled, zombie-like nightmares. Cregger’s “lean, gripping and relentless” film shows “how movies and video games can merge in a way that makes them stronger for sharing their DNA rather than disfiguring them both,” said David Ehrlich at IndieWire. (in theaters now)

‘Verity’

Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson headline director Michael Showalter’s adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling— and originally self-published — novel. Johnson plays Lowen Ashleigh, a down-on-her-luck ghost writer hired to complete a bestselling thriller series for the novelist Verity Crawford (Hathaway) after she is rendered comatose in an accident. But when Lowen starts digging around, she unearths terrifying secrets about Verity and her husband, Jeremy (Josh Hartnett). It looks like a “thrilling movie that promises a ton of mystery,” said Anthony Nash at ComingSoon.net. (in theaters now)

‘Other Mommy’

Rob Savage (“Host”) helms this tale of Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark) an eight-year-old menaced along with her father (Jay Duplass) by a sinister, shapeshifting doppelganger of her mother (Jessica Chastain) whom she calls “Other Mommy.” Based on a novel by Josh Malerman (“Bird Box”), this nutty-looking movie is almost guaranteed to be the commercial horror hit of the fall by virtue of Chastain’s presence. The film’s theme “explores the limits of family and how fragile the bonds built within it can be if parents don’t guarantee their children a safe and stable homelife,” said Ricardo Serrano Denis at The Beat. (in theaters Oct. 9)

‘The Cycle’

Is the latest film from writer-director Jordan Downey (“The Head Hunter”) a creature feature? Psychological horror? Whatever it is, the trailer will make your skin crawl.

When three bodies are found brutally torn apart in a house, Meg (Deborah Ann Woll) is informed by Ian (Will Hochman), the detective working the case, that one of them is her dad, who has been missing for 36 years. After the discovery of the body, Meg finds herself at the “center of a mystery involving an estranged father, a horrifying crime scene and secrets that apparently refused to stay buried,” said Hannah Hunt at Collider. (Oct. 23 on Shudder)

‘Victorian Psycho’

The best way to describe “Victorian Psycho” might be “Saltburn” meets “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” Maika Monroe plays Winifred Notty, an unrepentant sociopath who takes a job as a governess for the two children of Mr. and Mrs. Pounds (Jason Isaacs and Ruth Wilson) at their secluded manor and swiftly begins butchering the staff.

Monroe, known for her quietly understated performances in horror classics like “It Follows” and “Watcher,” really lets loose here. A movie that refuses to “take itself or its form too seriously,” it delivers a “nasty, happy little surprise with grotesque kills and a staunch refusal to pull back on the promises of its title,” said Josh Korngut at Dread Central. (in theaters Nov. 13)

“It is smelly, slimy and contains bacteria”, said Justin McCurry in The Guardian. But after centuries of being eaten for breakfast by Japanese people with “nerves of steel”, natto is popping up in health shops around the world as a superfood to “rival kimchi, kombucha and kefir”.

Made of fermented soya beans, sometimes chopped “hikiwari-style”, which are “held together by strands of mucus”, natto is packed and frozen to retain its nutritional value. The beans – which smell like “particularly ripe stilton cheese” – are extremely versatile: they can be eaten alone or topped with “mustard, shredded onion, wasabi and a splash of dashi”.

Many Japanese people wouldn’t touch natto with “barge-pole-length chopsticks”, and those in the west and south often remain “sceptical”. It’s more popular in the country’s eastern and northern regions where it is used to bulk out soups during the “long, bitterly cold winters”.

Natto is certainly “polarising”, said Erika Hobart on BBC Travel. Some people think it “tastes revolting”, but push through because of the benefits. The Japanese have long believed that consumption of the ancient dish is linked to “improved blood flow and reduced risk of stroke”. It’s packed with protein, fibre and vitamin K which is vital for bone and heart health.

According to a long-term study published in the British Medical Journal in 2020, researchers at Japan’s National Cancer Center found that men and women who ate fermented foods like natto every day “reduced their risk of dying from a stroke or heart attack by 10%”.

Now, the “highly nutritious gooey” beans are beginning to gain popularity outside Japan, said Tomohiro Osaki in the Taipei Times. Recent trade statistics from the country’s finance ministry show exports tripled to 5,248 tonnes between 2017 and 2025. China is the biggest consumer, followed by the US, Thailand and Hong Kong. This may be in part because the pandemic has spurred people on to find ways to strengthen their immune systems and improve their gut health.

If the texture puts you off, try whisking it into “submission”, by using chopsticks in “repeated circular motions”, said McCurry in The Guardian. “Natto novices” can try mixing the beans with chilli oil to make them more palatable, or even using them “as a topping for fish and chips”.

Scattered across southern Finland are “dozens” of lakeside hotels, many with saunas, self-catering cabins, and “gleaming” steps into the water.

On a four-night road trip from Helsinki to Lake Saimaa in September, I stayed at three, said Annabelle Thorpe in The Guardian – and found the region more beautiful, peaceful and “sunkissed” than I could have imagined.

First came the Radalla resort, with its “chic” cabins, and next, Sahanlahti, which has a “butterscotch yellow”, 18th century main house and an excellent restaurant. Between the two, I enjoyed a “hearty” bowl of elk soup and a tasting of berry wines at the Ollinmäki winery.

And last came Järvisydän – a 100-room resort with “starkly modern” glass-walled cabins – where I “whizzed out” in a motor boat to pick chanterelle mushrooms and look for rare ringed seals on Saimaa’s islands.
From £749pp, excluding flights, with Discover the World.

An enchanting town in the Tarn

With its charming medieval streets and “mighty” gothic cathedral – one of the world’s largest brick-built churches – the town of Albi in southern France makes for a lovely short break, said Jane Knight in The Times.

Set in the Tarn region, an hour’s drive north of Toulouse, it’s also known for its Toulouse-Lautrec museum, a big collection of works by the famously “diminutive” and dissolute painter, born here in 1864.

Visiting in June, I stayed at Villa Caroline, a pleasant hotel with four “rustic-chic” rooms, and I enjoyed a day’s e-biking from nearby Gaillac, which lends its name to the surrounding wine region, one of France’s oldest. At Domaine Gayrard, I tasted some organic wines made with rare local grape varieties, and visited Cordes-sur-Ciel, a fortified medieval town set high on a rocky hilltop with “sweeping” views.

A venerable paddle steamer turns 80

Launched in Glasgow in 1946, the PS Waverley is the last seagoing passenger-carrying paddle steamer in the world, and this year she celebrates her 80th anniversary.

With two red-and-black funnels and giant paddle wheels, she is a “glorious” sight, says Chris Moss in The Telegraph, and a “nostalgic” reminder of a more “sedate” era when Britain was home to hundreds of boats like this. Named after Sir Walter Scott’s novel, the Waverley was built to operate around Loch Long, replacing a vessel that was sunk by enemy fire during the evacuation of Dunkirk.

These days, however, she plies routes all around the UK. This month, she’ll be sailing mostly around London and the Southeast before returning to Glasgow for her final voyage of the season, on 18 October.
waverleyexcursions.co.uk

A vast “concrete jungle” with “notoriously awful” traffic, the Brazilian city of São Paulo does not attract many foreign tourists, said Tomé Morrissy-Swan in The Telegraph. They tend to opt instead for the “glamour and natural beauty” of Rio, or the “vivaciousness” of Salvador – and yet to skip it is to miss a “gem”.

Fifty miles across and home to some 21 million people, the urban area it dominates is the biggest in South America. Exploring it can be “tiring”, and the weather is often “grey and drizzly, even cold (by Brazilian standards)”. But the riches it harbours – artistic, architectural, musical, culinary – are “endless”, and many of its most tourist-friendly areas (such as “bohemian” Vila Madalena and “upmarket” Jardins) are walkable, and “relatively safe”.

In the mid-19th century, São Paulo was a “provincial backwater”, home to just 30,000 people. From the 1870s, however, a coffee-fuelled economic boom attracted huge numbers of immigrants, and the city soon overtook Rio as Brazil’s leading industrial and, later, financial centre.

Today, it is an art lover’s “paradise”, with hundreds of museums and galleries, such as the Pinacoteca (great for Brazilian art) and the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), an extraordinary modernist building on “giant” red stilts. Fans of modernist architecture will find much else to enjoy, too – not least in Ibirapuera Park, with its striking array of mid-century buildings by Oscar Niemeyer, including the pavilion that now houses the superb Museu Afro Brasil.

São Paulo is also a great city of music. For traditional samba, try late-night spots in Pinheiros (Ó do Borogodó, Julinho Clube); less “raucous” are Bona Casa de Música and the “stunning” Casa de Francisca.

The food is terrific here too. Thanks to its waves of immigration, there are lots of excellent Japanese, Italian and Middle Eastern restaurants, but there are also plenty of wonderful Brazilian places. Two of these – Tuju and Evvai – recently became the first restaurants in Latin America to win three Michelin stars.

Fall is when some of the country’s flashiest food publications name the year’s best new chefs and restaurants. Get in on the remarkable cooking happening at these standout spots.

Broken Spanish Comedor, Los Angeles

In the most welcome of homecomings, Ray Garcia, the chef of the cherished, shuttered Broken Spanish, is back with Broken Spanish Comedor. This “iteration feels more self-assured,” said Bon Appétit when it named the restaurant one of the Best New Restaurants for 2026. Garcia’s cooking in this latest phase is “punchy, bold and assertively spicy.” Angelenos and knowing visitors are thrilled he’s back.

Honeysuckle, Philadelphia

Omar Tate and Cybille St. Aude-Tate, the chef-owners of Honeysuckle, are “professional storytellers,” said Bon Appétit. Their background in visual arts and children’s books, respectively, is put to delicious use as the pair trumpets foods of the African diaspora in a “stylish living room” that feels like you are in the “midst of a great party.” The restaurant’s Money Burger says it all: two beef patties on Japanese milk bread napped with spunky cheddar and caviar remoulade.

John’s Food and Wine, Chicago

The wide-ranging menu, swerving from grilled cabbage salad with kimchi and candied sunflower seeds to branzino with cucumber and dill, is faultless. Yet the star of John’s Food and Wine, perhaps, is the business model, which “prioritizes paying every staff member a competitive wage and incentivizing them to stay and grow their career at the restaurant,” said Food & Wine magazine when it awarded the spot Restaurant of the Year last month.

The Paper Bridge, Portland, Oregon

You know your pho, so you may think you know the scope of Vietnamese food. The way pho is most often served in the U.S. is southern Viet-style, but that’s only one way to do it. The Paper Bridge, an homage to the cuisine of the country’s north, would like to take you on a palate-expanding journey. Nearly all rice noodles served at Viet restaurants in the States are dried, but the Paper Bridge has “perfected its fresh rice noodles,” said Food & Wine. And those specimens are everywhere on the revelatory menu.

Devon: Smugglers Cottage, Dittisham

This attractive Grade II 17th-century cottage sits on a bank of the River Dart with direct access to the beach. 4 beds, 2 baths, kitchen, 3 receps, boathouse, large waterfront terrace. £1.5 million; Inigo.

Wiltshire: Mill Barn, Bishopstrow

Delightful period house on the Wylye. 4 beds, 3 baths, kitchen/dining room, recep, study, utility, outbuildings, garden, parking. OIEO £1.285 million; Strutt & Parker.

Devon: Eastney, Kingswear

A charming Victorian house with impressive views over the Dart Estuary. 5 beds, 4 baths, kitchen, 3 receps, sun room, workshop, garage. £2.5 million; Jackson-Stops.

Hertfordshire: Lock 42, Bulbourne

Picturesque house in an idyllic location beside the Grand Union Canal. 4 beds, 3 baths, kitchen/family room, 3 receps, utility, workshop, garden, parking. £950,000; Brions.

Buckinghamshire: Formosa, Lock Island, Marlow

This extraordinary flood-proof floating house was featured on Grand Designs. 4 beds, 3 baths, open-plan kitchen/recep, games room, utility, garden. OIEO £2.25 million; Hamptons.

Inverness-shire: Onich, Fort William

A magnificent Scottish baronial manor on the banks of Loch Linnhe. The property is set in approx. 4.71 acres of land. 8 beds, 7 baths, kitchen, 5 receps, spa, three fully glazed pods, a detached studio, garden, parking. OIEO £1.3 million; Strutt & Parker.

Hampshire: Longstock Mill, Stockbridge

Elegant Grade II house and mill set in approx. 2.4 acres on the River Test. 4 beds, family bath, kitchen/breakfast room, 2 receps, 1-bed annexe, 2-bed cottage, detached Grade II mill, outbuildings, garden, swimming pool, parking. £2.7 million; Myddelton & Major.

Wiltshire: The Old Brewhouse, Quemerford

This handsome Grade II Bathstone house overlooks the River Marden and features a private island garden with its own summer house. 4 suites, kitchen, utility, 3 receps, wraparound courtyard gardens, parking. OIEO £600,000; Fine & Country.

For this eighth-generation ES, Lexus has “gone all-in” with only an electric version on offer in the UK, said Car. There’s also only a front-wheel drive, motor/battery combo; and the options are just trim and colour.

It has a 77kWh battery, paired with a 221bhp motor for a peak range of 361 miles. It can be fast-charged at 150kW. A smart, luxury four-door saloon, it’s “good; just not eye-catchingly special”.

BMW, Mercedes and Audi have cornered the “Large, Swanky Saloon” market and, with stiff competition from “posh SUVs”, the new ES is likely to be a “rare sight” in the UK, said The Telegraph. It’s “no tearaway” but can do 0-62mph in eight seconds, with a top speed of 99mph.

The ride is “soft and bouncy” in town but, on rural roads, there’s less body control and lots of roll in the corners. The steering is accurate and the brakes are “excellent”.

At 5.1 metres, the new ES is longer than the previous model, creating a “plush”, spacious cabin, said Auto Express. Typical for a Lexus, the quality of the interior is “superb”, with decent levels of standard kit.

The “crystal-clear” 14-inch infotainment system is quick to respond, and there’s a customisable display for the driver. But, while it’s one of the best in class for comfort, it can’t compete on charging, range and performance.

Following sold-out runs in New York and Los Angeles, “Table 17” – Douglas Lyons’ “heartfelt” and “hilarious” one-act play about a pair of ex-lovers reuniting for what might be a date – has arrived in the UK, said Isobel Lewis in Time Out.

Zipping back and forth in time to show us moments from the couple’s past relationship, this breezy piece constantly wrong foots the audience, flipping from “laugh-out-loud hilarity to genuine tragedy in minutes, changing costumes and switching timelines at equal pace”.

Directed by Tony-winner Zhailon Levingston, the production is a “stylish and exhilarating theatrical experience” that is driven by “powerful, emotive” performances. It also has a deft, confident humour that makes the play’s “emotional rug pulls all the more devastating”.

“As psychological enquiry, Lyons’ writing doesn’t cut particularly deep,” said Matt Wolf on London Theatre: his play sits on the “featherweight” end of the dramatic scale. What makes it work – here as in New York – is a top-flight cast “charging through the text’s cheesier moments”, and “roping the audience in from the start as ready participants in the fun”.

Musical theatre star Marisha Wallace turns in a typically “magnetic” performance as flight attendant Jada, said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian. Jamael Westman (London’s first Alexander Hamilton) makes her ex properly rounded by “sensitively balancing his ridiculousness with his depth of emotional injury”. And Michael Rishawn almost steals the show with his delicious comic turn as the restaurant host, as well as other ancillary characters.

For me the “real magic” lies in the way the Kiln Theatre’s small space has been transformed by Amy Jane Cook’s sleek, nightclub-meets-cabaret design, said Hang Yuen on What’s on Stage. A luminous tiled platform, a curved ribbed booth, and tiny amber table lamps put the audience inside an intimate late-night lounge, with a striking geometric ceiling, and excellent coloured lighting, completing the effect.

This is not a deep play, that is true, but it’s inventive and entertaining and also powerfully theatrical.

Kiln Theatre, London NW6. Until 24 October.

“Sometimes it feels as if all human life is contained in this deeply moving documentary from the veteran American filmmaker Ross McElwee,” said Kevin Maher in The Times. “Grief and loss, marriage and family, work, success, failure and fame are all embraced.”

McElwee started making the film in 2008 as a light-hearted personal piece about an attempt by Hollywood producers to turn his 1986 indie documentary “Sherman’s March” into a drama series for streaming.

That project stalled but, following the death of his 27-year-old son Adrian from a fentanyl overdose in 2016, he went back to the footage he had shot for it – and created this documentary. It also makes use of home-movie clips, previous documentaries that Adrian had appeared in, and Adrian’s own work as an aspiring filmmaker.

“Remake” serves as a eulogy for Adrian, but McElwee also asks whether, in constantly filming his son instead of interacting with him directly, he let him down as a parent.

This is “one of the most outstanding films of this year”, said Jonathan Romney in the Financial Times, and easily the “most unapologetically personal”. And while it seeks to celebrate Adrian’s life, it is desperately sad.

“Every shot of Adrian – a cute, chatty little kid, fishing off a pier, pretending to run a restaurant, and slowly getting older and bigger – becomes painfully charged,” said Leslie Felperin in The Guardian.

“It’s not just that the little kid is gone”; Adrian himself is gone. “Remake” slowly reveals what led to Adrian’s death. The result is a “profoundly moving work”, about parenting and about art, which “lingers in the mind long after the tears have dried”.

Chichester Festival Theatre has put an “ingenious spin” on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by transporting the action to John Major’s Britain, said Fiona Mountford in The Telegraph.

It’s the summer of 1994 and the “frolics in the Athenian forest” have been transformed into an illegal rave on the South Downs. As the Conservative government of the time “struggles to reassert the supremacy of law and order” by introducing legislation to criminalise raves, the countryside is turned into a “place of freedom and self-expression away from the constraints of city life”.

In this riotously fun production, Theseus (Tom Kanji) – now “Theseus Howard, Member of Parliament for Chichester” – is preparing to marry Hippolyta (Celeste Dodwell). The “tangled quartet of young lovers” has also been updated: Hermia (Angela Sant’Albano) chooses to run away with a “gender-switched” Lysanda (Ellie Larkin) so she can escape the clutches of Demetrius (Kieran Taylor-Ford), who in turn is the source of the “unrequited affections” of Helena (Freya Parks). But the South Downs are being used to host an “all-night rave” filled with “mind-altering substances”.

The term “love juice” appears twice in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, which Justin Audibert and Hannah Joss have used as “textual justification” for staging their “lovingly juiced up” play around a “narcotic, orgiastic woodland party”, said Mark Lawson in The Guardian. Comedian Munya Chawawa makes his theatrical debut as a “bewitchingly played” Nick Bottom. His physically energetic performance filled with “slapstick gymnastics” paused the show with “earned applause”.

Neon lights and “post-psychedelic imagery” provide the bright, funky rave-inspired backdrop, said Neil Norman in The Stage, and the sets are cleverly put together. This is a “punchy, techno delight to revel in for two and a half hours”, said Theatre and Tonic, with stand-out performances, choreography and costume design. “You would be an absolute fool to miss it.”

Fall is when a new batch of shows take to the road. This year, you can live forever, see the future, island hop to Cuba or rewrite the 19th American century through guffaws. It’s going to be a good theatrical autumn.

‘Buena Vista Social Club’

A tale of four intertwined lives as much as it is a partial story of Cuban history from the 1950s through the 1990s, “Buena Vista Social Club” sings, strums and sways. The “interconnections between musicians, songs and a society have rarely been evoked as vividly, and as lovingly,” said The New York Times. The talent present is staggering: actors, singers and musicians, of course — many times all at once. But dancers take the stage too because when Cubans play music, there will assuredly be dancing. (through Sept. 12, 2027)

‘Death Becomes Her’

Yes, this musical adaptation is based on the 1992 movie. No, it aims not to mimic that cult classic, other than with a whole lot of how’d-they-do-it stage magic. This “Death Becomes Her” is a self-aware beast, mocking both itself and our culture’s obsession with staying forever young. You are guaranteed big production numbers and side-splitting comedy. (through Sept. 5, 2027)

‘Maybe Happy Ending’

“Maybe Happy Ending,” equal parts technical marvel and emotional heart-render, is a touch difficult to explain. It goes something like this: soon-to-be obsolete humanoid robot model of the future meets a newer humanoid robot model and the two embark on a transformative road trip. The musical is intimate, delicate, futuristic and profound. (through Aug. 29, 2027)

‘Oh, Mary!’

There are surprise hits, and then there is “Oh, Mary!.” The frazzled, smutty and extremely queer brainchild of Cole Escola began its life far from Broadway in 2024 and was an instant, titanic hit with in-the-know culture fiends. It moved to Broadway a few months later — and has been running since. A newly launched tour brings the very historically inaccurate tale of an alcoholic, wannabe cabaret-singer Mary Todd Lincoln to the nation’s theaters. Bring tissues for the guaranteed tears of laughter; do not, however, bring your children. (through May 16, 2027)

Forget “muddy trenches”, said Belen Edwards on Mashable. In Sky’s new legal drama, “War”, battles are fought in “elegant wood-panelled rooms or glassy offices perched high above London’s streets”.

But the “polished” setting doesn’t mean the fighting is clean – far from it. The lawyers at the rival firms locking horns in this high-profile divorce case are “itching to get absolutely filthy”.

The combative couple at the centre of the series are film star Carla Duval (Sienna Miller) and tech mogul Morgan Henderson (Dominic West). In the first of many “underhanded” chess moves, Carla enlists her friend to “honeytrap” her husband so she can kick-start divorce proceedings. It’s a “tantalisingly bitter amuse-bouche for all the delicious drama to come”.

Miller and West are “perfectly cast” in this “tasty divorce drama”, said Anita Singh in The Telegraph. Writer George Kay provides a “snappy script” that charts the couple’s descent into “rancour” and a “battle over Morgan’s fortune”. Carla’s team is led by a “plucky husband-and-wife team” played by James McArdle and Phoebe Fox, while Morgan opts for the “Machiavellian” St John Smallwood (“a classy Pip Torrens”).

Add to the mix a supporting cast that includes Celia Imrie, Nick Mohammed and “actor-of-the-moment” Aran Murphy (the “lookalike son” of Cillian), and the show has “a lot going for it”. But after the first “irresistible” episode, you do start longing for “fewer backroom legal meetings” and more scenes with the warring couple.

And while the “scheming” and betrayal can be “thrilling”, said Judy Berman in Time magazine, despite the persuasive acting, some of the characters feel “underdeveloped”. Kay invokes “big, timely issues” from “extreme wealth” to the dark side of social media “without finding much to say about them”.

Mostly, though, “War” is a “triumph”, said Gareth McLean in Radio Times. “Glossy, smart, very high-end and thoroughly entertaining”, it’s the kind of show that makes you “want to be a lawyer when you grow up – even if the way they operate is pretty appalling”.

My idea of Sweden was based entirely on Scandi-noir dramas, all bleak landscapes, depressed people and woolly jumpers. Driving from the airport in early December the grey skies and vast landscape of fallow fields and red farm buildings confirmed that impression, especially as the sun started to set at around 4pm. But alongside those dark skies and empty spaces there was already a feeling of calm as we whizzed along in our rental car, which was of course a Volvo.

At almost twice the size of the UK but with a population density 90% lower, Sweden is a land of open landscapes and wild coastline. We were touring a small part of West Sweden made up of three provinces: Bohuslän, Dalsland, Västergötland. Lakes, mountains, forests and the endless islands are all within a few hours of Gothenburg so even without a car everything is accessible using the excellent trains, buses and ferries.

A charming seaside village

We started in Lyckorna, a historic seaside resort founded in 1877 by Robert MacFie, the son of William Andrew MacFie (credited with introducing curling to Sweden in 1846) who established a spa and bathing resort on this forested ridge. Now a charming village, with its traditional church with prominent spire overlooking the town and the old clock tower converted into a wonderful mussel and fish restaurant.

We arrived in time for Lucia Day, an annual Christian festival celebrated throughout Sweden and as iconic as the midsummer crayfish parties. There was a procession to the church of white clad handmaidens (tärnor), star boys (stjärngossar) and gingerbread men (pepparkaksgubbar) with candle wreaths on the maidens’ heads – now battery powered rather than actual flames.

We were staying just up the hill at Villa Sjötorp, a classic summer house completed in 1901 by Carl Emil Haeger. The white clapboard exterior topped with typical Norse dragon heads was taken back into the family in 1995 by Haeger’s great great granddaughter Ellika Modenfelt, who painstakingly restored it to its former glory with the help of local craftsmen. The minute we entered we were greeted by glorious colour, festive winter decorations and happy people. Our bedroom overlooked the sea with a large ceramic-tiled chimney and a classic cast-iron bed. Here we found the genius Swedish invention of single duvets on the double bed. At first we were bemused by it but as we snuggled under our individual goose feather duvets we had a blissful night’s sleep without having to fight for the covers.

The living areas featured elegant rooms with gilded wooden carved ceilings, a welcome fireplace and a popular restaurant serving delicious food from local sustainable and organic producers. As we were there in December we got to experience a traditional Julbord, a magnificent spread with a heavy focus on pickled herring. Ellika talked us through how to approach a frankly intimidating volume of food starting with 10 varieties of pickled herring served alongside wholemeal crackers and dark bread, washed down with brännvin, the Swedish schnapps which comes with its own song. Next up was a variety of fish and salads before we moved onto the cured meats and, finally, the hot food including baked ham, meatballs, sausages and a potato and salt-fish casserole. We finished off with more cheese and bread, and a selection of sweets and desserts. The highlight was the herring of which the Swedish are rightly proud, and obsessed with. You can eat it fresh and it’s delicious simply grilled.

It was hard to crawl out of our comfy bed early but we were booked to go kayaking along the coast. Our lovely hosts had prepared a breakfast of breads, fruit, coffee and boiled eggs with tubes of Kalles Kaviar Original, a smoked cod’s roe paste that’s almost as much of a national obsession as the herring.

Ancient oyster beds and rocky islands

Perhaps the best way to experience West Sweden is on the water. Ingela and Marcus run Skärgårdsidyllen Kayak & Outdoor activities in the magnificent archipelago of Grönemad, Grebbestad. It had been many decades since I’d been kayaking so Ingela kindly offered to go in a tandem kayak with me as, despite the comprehensive safety instruction and dry suit, I didn’t fancy falling into the North Sea in winter. Under grey and sleeting skies we paddled out onto the water where we passed ancient oyster beds and rocky islands with traditional fisherman’s huts. Eider ducks and black guillemots kept us company as Marcus and Ingela talked about the history of the area including pointing out their house overlooking the sea. They also run guided kayaking tours in the national marine park of Kosterhavet, hiking, paddle boarding and yoga, fishing and food tours throughout the year. You couldn’t wish for better guides and their glowing good health is testament to the benefits of outdoor life.

If you have time it’s well worth exploring Grebbestad, a popular seaside town with excellent seafood options, but we had a boat to catch. About nine miles off the coast of Bohuslän you can find Väderöarnas Värdshus, an inn with 22 rooms. This rugged island has cliff paths leading to the old pilot lookout, and sheltered coves. Set within the Väderöarna marine nature reserve, in season you can fish for lobster and crayfish but in December the best thing to do was have a wood-fired sauna and hot tub, complete with cold plunges into the dark winter sea.

But the highlight was the warm, friendly people who are proud of their country. They were keen to explain the best ways to enjoy the visit, from the choice of drinks to have in the hot tub, to sauna etiquette and braving that night-time dip. The sea didn’t exactly look inviting but cheered on by the Swedes I made like the locals and took the plunge, although – full disclosure – it was teeth-achingly cold so I stayed in for just enough time to defend national pride before jumping back into the hot tub. At dinner our enthusiasm for herring shocked them as they were sure all English people hated them. When we assured them we thought they were delicious it sparked a discussion from all the guests over the best places to eat Julbord. No one could agree where that was but when I asked what made a great Julbord the geneßral consensus was the more herring the better. As we sat outside wrapped against the cold and stared up at the star-filled sky, only the gentle lapping of the sea and the happy sound of the drinking songs disturbed the silence of the wilderness. Those Scandi dramas might have depicted the landscape, but they failed to prepare us for the warmth of the people.

Natasha was a guest of Visit West Sweden; westsweden.com

To create the illusion of “movie magic”, cinema has always relied on “smoke, mirrors and sleight of hand”, said Evelyn Richards in National Geographic. With the help of cutting-edge technology and behind-the-scenes brilliance, “monsters tower over cities, broomsticks take flight and hand-drawn sketches become fantastical worlds”. The film industry spans all continents, which means there are many fascinating museums where you can learn all about what it takes to “make the impossible look real”. Here are some of the best.

Lumière Museum, Lyon, France

If you want to understand cinema, it “helps to visit where it all began”, said Richards in National Geographic. The Lumière family’s photographic plate factory is aptly located on the Rue du Premier-Film. This was the setting for “Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory”, filmed in 1895 by Louis Lumière, and “considered one of the world’s first real motion pictures”. In the “ornate art nouveau” Lumière family home, you can look at early cameras, objects and archive material that chart the moving-picture experiments the Lumière brothers conducted. And the “Hangar du Premier-Film, where that pioneering footage was filmed, fittingly houses a cinema today”.
institut-lumiere.org

Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Turin, Italy

The “vertical museum” in northern Italy “takes visitors on an elevator ride through cinema history”, said Chonx Tibajia in Tatler Asia. It is housed in the “striking” Mole Antonelliana, once the tallest masonry building in Europe. One of the museum’s main draws is its variety: “expect vintage cameras, interactive installations and rare stills, from Italian neorealism to spaghetti westerns”. And, once you’ve climbed 500ft to the top, you can sit back and enjoy an extraordinary, panoramic view – a “real-life establishing shot of the city”.
museocinema.it

Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles, US

This new museum, created by Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas, gets “five out of five (death) stars from me”, said Kinvara Balfour in The Telegraph. Its “sleek and spaceship-like” design is “comfortable and spacious” both outside and in: “rather like an Apple headquarters on Mars, with a big garden and some Yoda statues on plinths”. There are more than 40,000 exhibits, including a digital Sistine Chapel, silent films, archive material and, of course, plenty of Star Wars and Indiana Jones costumes, props and vehicles. You can also venture beyond film to see art from Banksy, Norman Rockwell and Diego Rivera. It’s a “once-in-a-century kind of a public offering”.
lucasmuseum.org

Sound of Music Museum, Salzburg, Austria

For fans of the cult 1965 film who wish to “start at the very beginning”, this new Austrian museum “could be a very good place to start”, said Joshua Thurston in The Times. The exhibitions celebrate both the singalong classic and the story of the real-life Von Trapp family, who fled the Nazis in 1938. In the 17th-century Hellbrunn Palace, “where many scenes from the film were shot”, you can see “nearly 450 objects, including props, costumes and recordings of the music”. The highlight is a replica of the pavilion used as a backdrop when Liesl von Trapp and her suitor Rolf Gruber sing “Sixteen Going on Seventeen”.
salzburg.info

Ghibli Museum, Tokyo, Japan

Even if you haven’t seen “My Neighbour Totoro” or “Spirited Away”, a tour of this museum dedicated to Studio Ghibli’s work will leave you “mesmerised”, said Gregory Wakeman in Smithsonian Magazine. It’s a “children’s, technology and fine arts museum all rolled into one”, and a love letter to animation. The space is designed by Hayao Miyazaki, the studio’s co-founder, so that both adults and kids “can aimlessly walk around and get lost”. The architecture is “gorgeous”, with bridges, balconies, buildings and a rooftop garden. Superfans can also take a trip to Ghibli Park, four hours south of Tokyo, which “brings to life” many of the settings of Ghibli movies, including Mononoke Village from “Princess Mononoke” (1997) and Howl’s Castle from “Howl’s Moving Castle” (2004).
ghibli-museum.jp

A cow’s urgent mooooo pierced the stillness of the Irish countryside – and my daydream. I was standing in a field at Rigney’s Farm in County Limerick, imagining what it would be like to say goodbye to the city and move thousands of miles to start a new, simpler life on the other side of the Atlantic.

I wasn’t alone. This late morning visit to the farm was a stop on Abercrombie & Kent’s small group journey Ireland: Legends of the Emerald Island, and I was accompanied by eight other travellers and our expert guide, Barbara Hunter. We were almost at the end of our adventure, having started in Dublin, and my affection for the country only deepened as we made our way through lush green landscapes, explored tiny villages – and their pubs – and met traditional Irish musicians and storytellers who perfected the art of good craic (fun times and friendly conversation).

Exploring Ireland, one village at a time

This was my first visit to Ireland, and the nine-day itinerary was a flawless introduction to all things Éire. There were the sights and pursuits listed in the tour books –taking in the rugged coastline during a drive on the Ring of Kerry, standing on the windswept Cliffs of Moher, riding a horse-drawn jaunting car through Killarney National Park, viewing the ancient Book of Kells – along with activities in small villages that connected you with locals.

Those were the experiences I’ll never forget. Our first stop outside Dublin was at Malzard’s Pub in Stoneyford, County Kilkenny. Fifth-generation owner Fred Malzard greeted us with a smile and offer of any drink we’d like, and within minutes I was in a booth sipping a Rockshore cider, listening to a traditional Gaelic storyteller, or seanchaí, spin a yarn. He was accompanied by a nattily dressed musician who before long had us singing folk songs at the top of our lungs.

After a bowl of delicious lamb stew, we headed outside for a quick hurling lesson. Hurling is one of Ireland’s national sports, and involves moving a ball down the field, either by hitting it or carrying it for up to four steps. Fred showed us how to smack the ball with the hurley stick, and, spoiler alert: I don’t have a future in the game. I did walk away with a souvenir ball and newfound appreciation for the sport.

Our trek around the southern part of Ireland, then up to Newmarket-on-Fergus in County Clare, took us through tiny towns, and I loved seeing the countryside and its ancient stone ruins and castles unfold before me. It was in those villages that we were able to enjoy homemade sausage pies and learn how to hand-churn butter at Rigney’s Farm, take a ferry to Whiddy Island for lunch and storytelling with a longtime resident, and learn about sustainable oyster farming at Kelly Oysters in County Galway. We gathered on a pier above the Atlantic, where Michael Kelly shucked us oyster after oyster, each one deliciously plump with the right amount of saltiness. Adding a splash of gin and squeeze of lemon only enhanced the flavour.

Having the opportunity to chat with locals about everything and anything – their work, their culture, their unfiltered thoughts on the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship – made these stops feel more like social calls than planned excursions. Abercrombie & Kent crafted the itinerary to include several of these special, one-of-a-kind opportunities, which let us experience a side of Ireland most visitors don’t get to see.

A taste of Irish hospitality

Hospitality is ingrained in Irish culture, and we received a warm welcome and top-notch service at the four hotels we stayed at. In Dublin, we checked into the contemporary Anantara The Marker, in the Docklands, which had one of the best breakfast buffets I’ve seen; the local meat and cheeses were fantastic. In County Cork, we stayed at Castlemartyr Resort, a historic property with elegant rooms that looked out at the countryside and Castlemartyr Golf Course.

We ate a lovely dinner here one night in the modern Canopy Restaurant, and the next evening set off for an unforgettable meal at the famed Ballymaloe House. The vegetables, grown just steps away, were exquisite, and we all got excited when the dessert trolley rolled in. Everything was prepared in-house, based on the ingredients in season, and we indulged in fresh sorbet served in an ice bowl, chocolate torte, an incredible fruity meringue and Mrs Allen’s Carrageen moss pudding.

Sheen Falls Lodge in Kenmare looked like it was straight out of a movie. A rushing river cuts through the property, and while I usually enjoy settling into hotel rooms, I couldn’t stay inside. I spent as much time outside as possible, walking along the pathways, snapping photos of blooming geraniums and enjoying a drink on the bar’s stone patio.

Our final hotel was Dromoland Castle, and our arrival was as dramatic as the landscape itself. We were greeted at the gate by three galloping horses and over a dozen hounds, who gracefully led us to the castle, where we were met by the delightful staff. It felt like a scene from “Downton Abbey”. I could have spent a week here exploring every nook and cranny of the castle and its 450 acres. The little touches also stood out; turndown service included a gift each night with different Dr. Barbara Sturm skin products, a welcome sight after a long day.

A journey to remember

On our first night, our guide Barbara told us the trip would go by in a flash, and she was right. It felt as if one minute we were stepping onto the bus for the first time, headed to Trinity College and St Patrick’s Cathedral, and the next it was time to say goodbye after our final dinner at Dromoland Castle.

Sharp as a tack with wit to match, Barbara was a wonderful guide, answering every question with aplomb. She brought along items like Irish linen to show us examples of traditional wares, and a map to point out where we were and where we were headed next. Our intrepid driver, Dermot, ferried us safely from stop to stop, and we all had room to spread out on the large, comfortable coach.

As a solo traveller, I was slightly apprehensive before arrival, but my fears disappeared the minute we all met and introduced ourselves. My fellow travellers’ enthusiasm for travelling and trying new things inspired me to do the same, and I enjoyed their company. I was on the trip by myself, but was never alone.

Abercrombie & Kent arranged a journey that was smooth from start to finish, and I appreciated all of the small details that made a huge difference, such as having laundry done at the halfway point (not having to pack a ton of clothes meant more room for souvenirs). I didn’t have to worry about a thing; all of my focus was on taking in the sights and enjoying the ride.

I left Ireland knowing I would be back. The Emerald Isle is a special place, and now that I’ve had a taste of the gorgeous scenery and rich history, I need to dive deeper – there’s more dramatic coastline to explore, villages to traverse, traditions to witness and craic to be had.

Catherine Garcia was a guest of Abercrombie & Kent

With summer at its end, many people are thrilled with the arrival of cooler weather, warm-beverage season and changing leaves. But you can also ring in the onset of fall with a collection of new albums from big-name artists.

Mykki Blanco, ‘CAFE PARADISO’

Mykki Blanco is a singular individual in the music space, a rapper who rose from humble beginnings to collaborate with some of the industry’s biggest names. Now, he has released his fourth studio album, “CAFE PARADISO,” marking his first LP in four years.

Unlike his prior albums, “CAFE PARADISO” follows Blanco as he “emerges completely reborn, trading the persona-driven theatrics of previous releases for something more interior, sensual and exacting,” said Transgressive Records. The LP also pulls large amounts of symbolism from Blanco’s life on the road, having lived in New York City, Portugal, Chicago, Switzerland and more. (out now)

Leon Bridges, ‘Happiness Anytime’

Leon Bridges has become one of the most influential names in the soul and R&B genres. Coming off his successful country-inspired 2024 album “Leon,” Bridges is releasing his fifth LP, “Happiness Anytime.”

The album combines the “sonic warmth of his beloved 2015 debut ‘Coming Home’ with the adventurous groove of his Khruangbin collaborations,” said DIY Magazine. There is a “feeling that we have to fix the problems of the world; you feel inadequate or it can be debilitating. My role is to be light,” Bridges said in a release of the new music. (out now)

Orville Peck, ‘Mule’

Orville Peck’s popular country music, as well as his proclivity for not showing his face, make him another singular musician. Now the South Africa-born artist is back with his fourth studio album, “Mule,” his third LP in just six years.

The record is a “chronological account of the year I lost my way,” Peck said on Instagram. It represents a “candid account of his journey through addiction and sobriety and how he rebuilt his life,” said Music Row, describing the “divide between the larger-than-life persona of Orville Peck and the man behind the mask.” (out now)

Space Afrika, ‘Quiet Storm’

Electronic duo Space Afrika released their debut album in 2014, and since then have been steadily rising in the techno music space. Their fourth LP, “Quiet Storm,” expands on its “predecessor’s sound and scale in every direction as a sprawling, collaborative vision shaped with profound patience and intention,” said label Dais Records. The album’s songs “allude to spirituality and the human condition, the tension between boldness and softness, ambition and the inner demons that persist.” Numerous big names in the techno genre also contribute. (out now)

Pabllo Vittar, ‘Lost in Lust’

Pabllo Vittar leveraged a successful career as a drag queen to launch a musical platform, becoming an icon among Brazil’s LGBTQ+ community. Now the singer is back with her seventh LP, “Lost in Lust,” which will mark Vittar’s fifth studio album in just six years.

One notable song from the album, “Rockstar,” features Villano Antillano, who “made history as the first openly transgender and nonbinary artist to enter Spotify’s Global Top 50,” said The Line of Best Fit. The LP itself “pulls from pop, dance and electronic music while keeping Brazilian influences.” The single “Rockstar” is out now. (Oct. 1)

Greta Van Fleet, ‘Palace for the People’

Greta Van Fleet has been entertaining audiences for over a decade since its founding in Michigan, and the rock band’s forthcoming fifth studio album, “Palace for the People,” looks to continue a string of successes. The album sees the band “continue to explore themes of humanity, connection, resilience and transcendence — building a body of work that feels both deeply personal and universally resonant,” said Blabbermouth.

The LP itself was heavily inspired by the band’s 2022 world tour. A single from the album, “Saw You Stand,” is out now. (Oct. 9)

Geologist, ‘The Sirens’ 

Now you can dig in with Geologist, as the musician’s next outing, his fourth LP, “The Sirens,” is soon hitting the market. The Baltimore-born artist, who is also a member of the experimental pop band Animal Collective, “harnessed the power of the moon to record music,” said Pitchfork.

Geologist, working with visual artist Kyle Simon, accomplished this by fitting a telescope with optical lenses. When the telescope is pointed at the night sky, light from lunar objects is then “converted into an electrical signal via an analog amplifier.” The album’s first single is available now. (Oct. 16)

Anderson .Paak and Cordae, ‘Heavy is the Crown’

Anderson .Paak and Cordae are two of music’s most innovative artists, and fans of rap can rejoice at “Heavy is the Crown,” the pair’s first combined LP. The two rappers “go way back,” having “first linked on ‘RNP’ from Cordae’s 2019 debut ‘The Lost Boy,’ and have remained frequent collaborators,” said Pitchfork.

The two seem to have a close relationship, given the LP’s album art is a nod to the 2008 comedy film “Step Brothers.” No music from the album has been released as of yet. (Oct. 23)

La Roux, ‘Old Flames’

Elly Jackson maintained her La Roux persona after her collaborative producer left in 2012, and she has been on a roll ever since. She is now set to release her first album in six years, and her fourth overall, “Old Flames.”

The album’s songs address the English singer’s “breakdown of a 17-year relationship, addiction and dealing with identity,” said The Line of Best Fit. It “says things how they are: how I am and who I am. It’s been a process of admitting what I got wrong,” she told the outlet. A single from the LP, “Cabin Fever,” is out now. (Nov. 6)

Ane Brun, ‘I Thought We Were the Same’

Norwegian musician Ane Brun released two albums in 2020, then took a break from LP work. Now she’s back with a vengeance with “I Thought We Were the Same,” her 11th studio album.

The LP is “being promised as Brun’s most personal work yet,” said The Needle Drop. With her latest release, Brun “wanted to experiment with how far I could take my music into a clearer and more pop sound with distinct choruses and hooks without the music losing its nerve,” she said in a release. The lead single from the album, “Hold Me,” is out now. (Nov. 6)

A fresh local cob, boiled, with butter, salt and cracked black pepper, is "too tempting to resist”, said Rosanna Dodds in the Financial Times. But the “golden vegetable” is cropping up everywhere, it seems, and in desserts too: from ice cream to lattes.

August and September are “peak” harvest months for sweetcorn and the UK’s “long summer days and sandy coastal soils” make it particularly good for growing the sweetest cobs.

But sweetcorn is a “global vegetable” and “comes in many guises”. From West Africa to China, the cob is a subject of “international adoration”.

Long used in “sandwich fillings and pizza toppings”, it has recently been “popping up on social media in sweet treat form”, said Alys Davies on the BBC. Using corn in desserts is part of a bigger trend of mixing unexpected sweet and savoury flavours, Shokofeh Hejazi, from food trends agency thefoodpeople, told the broadcaster. It has a creamy texture when blended, which is perfect for the “swavoury” movement.

Hejazi says experimental corn desserts have yet to become mainstream but there are some venues already embracing the trend. These include the peach and sweetcorn danish pastry available at the popular east London bakery Pophams and gelato store Snowflake’s sweetcorn-flavoured Snow Cob.

Sweetcorn drinks are also on the rise. Crystelle Pereira, a former “Great British Bake Off” finalist known for her “wacky flavour combinations”, has created a recipe for a sweetcorn latte, said Davies on the BBC. Inspired by a frappé she enjoyed on a trip to Thailand, she recommends using a blender to make corn milk from cooked sweetcorn, coconut milk, coconut cream, a squeeze of honey and vanilla bean paste. The milk is topped with a shot of espresso, whipped coconut cream and cornflakes.

If you prefer something savoury, try Felicity Cloake’s recipe for the perfect sweetcorn fritters in The Guardian. They taste best made with fresh corn but you can make “very decent” fritters with corn from a can too. Delicious served with a dollop of creme fraiche, they go with most things, “including a cold beer”.

Since its premiere on HBO Max in the US last year, the Canadian ice hockey drama “Heated Rivalry” has become a “cultural phenomenon”, spawning trivia nights, costume contests and “no fewer than four parody musicals”, said Sarah Bahr in The New York Times. It catapulted its actors to stardom and created another, more unlikely star too – the glamorous lakeside house where the male lovers “cosy up”.

In Canada, such holiday homes, no matter how grand, are called “cottages”, and spending the summer in “cottage country” – the wilderness of forests and lakes beyond Canada’s cities – is a long-standing tradition. To sample it, I headed to Muskoka, a glorious region with more than 1,600 “sparkling” lakes, where the cottage featured in the TV show lies.

A two-hour drive north of Toronto, Lake Muskoka and its neighbours have been attracting the rich and famous for 150 years. Today, the likes of Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have cottages in the area – but despite high property prices, a holiday here can be relatively affordable, as the best experiences – “water- skiing shows, stunning hikes, weep-worthy sunsets” – are often free.

I stayed at a hotel in the small town of Gravenhurst, on Lake Muskoka itself, which has some decent restaurants and “charming” tea rooms, and is a good base for swimming, canoeing, sailing and hiking. I also stole a “distant glimpse” of the “Heated Rivalry” cottage, a “three-bedroom beauty with glass walls, floor-to-ceiling windows and a central granite fireplace” that was recently listed on Airbnb, starting at £1,625 per night.

I browsed farmers’ markets “brimming” with fresh local produce, and visited Bala – “Ontario’s cranberry capital” – where Muskoka Lakes Farm & Winery offers wine tastings and tours of its cranberry bog. I admired the “hulking” historic steamships that run sightseeing cruises from Gravenhurst. And I walked the Huckleberry Rock Lookout Trail – perhaps the region’s “prettiest” hike – up to a large “perch” of pink granite with sweeping views across the lake.

With its pale beaches and low-lying, forested interior, the Brazilian island of Boipeba is a slice of “heaven”, says Chris Haslam in The Sunday Times.

It lies in the tropical state of Bahia, 30 minutes by small plane (or a longer journey by boat and taxi) from the city of Salvador, and it gets busy from December to March. Even so, the absence of high-rise hotels and cars makes for a laid-back vibe, and at Easter, I found it “quiet”.

The weather was pleasant, too – not too hot at 28 degrees. A boat tour of the island’s mangroves and reefs was “like a promo reel for the Brazilian Tourist Board”; the food (including lots of spicy seafood stews with coconut milk) was wonderful; and I can recommend my hotel, the beachside Pousada Víla Sereía, which has lush gardens and just four cabins.

Poland’s lively capital of cinema

It lacks the charming medieval old town of Wrocław or Kraków, but the Polish city of Łódz (pronounced “wudj”) has two strengths of its own, says Kevin Rushby in The Guardian.

The first is its film industry. Poland’s best-known directors – Wajda, Polanski and Kieslowski – studied at its film school; more recent talents such as Paweł Pawlikowski have shot films here; and the city’s Museum of Cinematography is a “tour de force”.

The second is its industrial heritage. Łódz is chock-a-block with “handsome” Victorian-era textile factories – huge red-brick buildings that have been “beautifully” restored to house restaurants, bars, shops and more.

It’s a “stunning” example of urban regeneration underpinning a “vibrant” cultural life. Music and dance are “never far away” here, and there are some other first-rate attractions, including the “fascinating” Museum of the Factory, with working looms dating back to the 1880s.

The wondrousness of Great Orme

Extending for two miles northwest of Llandudno, the Great Orme peninsula makes up in “rugged” splendour what it lacks in size, says Kerry Walker in The Telegraph.

You can reach its 221-metre highest point on Britain’s only cable-hauled tramway, built in 1902, but it’s also worth walking the circular, four-mile Great Orme Nature Trail, which commands views back to Snowdonia. Rare wildflowers bloom in spring and summer, bringing “clouds” of butterflies, and the headland’s cliffs are home to “spectacular” colonies of seabirds.

Stay at the Lighthouse, a hotel in a Victorian lighthouse, or Lansdowne House (also charming), and look out for the peninsula’s long-horned goats. Descended from a pair given to Queen Victoria by the Shah of Persia in 1837, they found fame during Covid, when they “ran riot” in Llandudno’s deserted streets.

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Bring on the burning stoves and the hot-air blast of a roaring oven. Autumn’s new cookbooks are an inspiriting combination of history, practicality, design and, of course, endless attractive recipes.

‘Boucherie’ by Chase Cormier

One-time butcher, now a scholar, Chase Cormier is an ideal documentarian of the indispensable south Louisiana culinary tradition known as boucherie. The term, deep in the rural stretches of the Pelican State, can signify the art of butchering; it can also denote the raucous gatherings in which a pig — or pigs — is slaughtered and its parts processed and preserved for future sustenance.

Cormier is “not sentimental,” said Kitchen Arts & Letters in an email review. Instead, he tells the story of how meat processing has changed over the centuries and how the idea of Cajun food has been “shaped, sold and reinvented.” Personal and regarded from a keen bird’s-eye view, “Boucherie” is a pocket-sized book that has a grand vision. (out now, $23, LSU Press, Amazon)

‘Cookbooking: A Fan’s Guide’ by Debbie Berne

Beauty is not strictly in a successful recipe but also in how the best cookbooks are presented. “Cookbooking,” by designer Debbie Berne who designed innumerable cookbooks and died last December, is a “savory tribute to cookbooks as aesthetic objects,” said Publisher’s Weekly.

The book’s range is astonishing. It touches on iconic tomes like “The Joy of Cooking,” dissects homespun community cookbooks often assembled by-hand and draws the thread from TV show-themed cookbooks to the current wash of food — and very much not-food — celebrity cookbooks. “Cookbooking” presents the finished product with a “lighthearted tone and loose structure,” a “colorful celebration” of a cookbook factor that the genre’s lovers sometimes take for granted. (out now, $30, Hardie Grant, Amazon)

‘Happy Snacking, Don’t Die!: Foraging and Vegan Recipes with Black Forager’ by Alexis Nikole Nelson with Jeanelle Hayner Olson

If you know the Black Forager on social media, you love her — or you should. Alexis Nikole Nelson, the freewheeling, insanely knowledgeable person beyond the handle, debuts her first cookbook, “Happy Snacking Don’t Die,” and as the title intimates, the book is a bounty of charming encouragement and cheeky asides. The “joy Nelson injects into the book makes foraging approachable,” said Emily Conover at ScienceNews.

You will learn that the fruits of the linden tree are akin to an earthier chocolate and that “practicality, safety and play” can coexist, said Bettina Makalintal at Eater. All this while you fumble your way into better trying understand and, yes, consume the plant world gloriously sprouting everywhere around you. (out now, $35, Simon & Schuster, Amazon)

‘Kincentricity: Connecting to Nature with American Indian Food Traditions’ by Enrique Salmón

Enrique Salmón, a Rarámuri (Tarahumara) scholar and professor in the San Francisco Bay Area, trumpets his book’s central tenet, “kincentricity,” as an “Indigenous worldview emphasizing the interconnectedness of all living beings and our responsibility to be good stewards of the planet we share,” said Jamie Feldmar at Saveur.

The book’s introduction, subtitled “Sharing Breath with Our Relatives,” takes the reader on a wander through the kincentricity’s complementary notion, iwigara, the “total interconnectedness and integration of all life in the Sierra Madre [Mountains], physical and spiritual.” You acquire, through Salmón’s clear sense of place, an ethnography of the people tied to this land and then glean, in the ensuing chapters on native foodstuffs like huckleberries, mesquite and stinging nettles, that no matter where you live, plucking the thread that links all life is a right and proper way to exist on this planet. (out now, $35, Rizzoli, Amazon)

‘No. 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World’ by Meherwan Irani with Jamie Feldmar

Meherwan Irani, owner of a few Chai Pani restaurants in the southern United States along with the spice company Spicewalla, is one of a number of Indian American chefs who have noted the strong parallels between the cooking of the Indian subcontinent and that of the South. In Irani’s debut cookbook, “No. 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World,” he drives the point home, with a “healthy mix of expected recipes and those likely new to most Americans, allowing readers to explore a wider variety of Indian cuisine,” said Aaron Pahl at Library Journal.

Collards, black-eyed peas and chiles are a few of the through lines between the cuisines. Irani sometimes rams them together in innovative ways. His Sloppy Jai is his adaptation of keema, a spiced ground meat dish, served like a Sloppy Joe as a thrilling, messy sandwich. Proof that “Indian cuisine is not only approachable, but that it’s not that different from what you’re already cooking and eating,” said Alana Al-Hatlani at Southern Living. (out now, $40, Ten Speed Press, Amazon)

‘Gather Around My Table: Simple, Flavorful Recipes from My Global Pantry’ by Kay Chun

Imagine, if you will, those translucent shrimp dumplings, har gow, you snag as a dim sum cart wheels past you. These, though, are dressed with butter and parmesan, like the liveliest comfort pasta you have ever eaten. Welcome to Kay Chun’s recipe-creating world, where you can use her book “Gather Around My Table” as your guide.

There is an effortlessness and an inevitability to how Chun creates dishes. She employs “low-lift but flavor-packed flourishes,” said Makalintal at Eater, to recipes like chicories in a caper-raisin vinaigrette and sticky date snacking cake with the addition of prunes for a double wallop of dried-fruit vigor. All the things you ever wanted to eat, in Chun’s capable hands, were there all along. (Oct. 6, $40, Knopf, Amazon)

‘Daily Dessert: Treats on Repeat’ by Caroline Schiff

Dessert-making need not always be like climbing Kilimanjaro. Sometimes it can be a stroll across a hillock, and celebrated New York City pastry chef Caroline Schiff has written a “book about making baking less annoying and more chill, a boon for anyone who would love baked goods more often but hates the thought of all the fuss,” said Makalintal at Eater.

One steady aspect of frippery-free baking is desserts that keep. Expect clementine snacking cake, granola treated with the flavors of halvah, malted milk chocolate truffles and rosemary-hazelnut shortbreads. A sweet treat should be both for now and later because, as Schiff wrote in the book’s introduction, “around the globe, dessert is, well, just that — daily. Many countries and cultures have joyfully and intentionally built the practice into their everyday lives,” Now it’s your turn. (Oct. 13, $35, Abrams, Amazon)

‘East to East: Recipes and Stories from Mumbai to New York’ by Rachel Gurjar

Forever toggling between the tastes of Mumbai and New York, the recipes of Gurjar, a former editor at Bon Appétit, are like skyscrapers: big-flavored with dependable foundations.

Burrata, served with pistachios and tamarind-glazed roasted grapes, yelps why it will forever be craveable. A chicken Caesar salad receives a deep plane facelift by treating the bird kebab-style. Yes, those are the invigorating spices of chai in that espresso martini and that taco bowl is loaded not with seasoning packet-laced ground beef but spunky lamb keema. The familiar has never been quite so promisingly electroshocked. (Oct. 13, $35, Chronicle Books, Amazon)