All Brits love May. Two glorious days of (free) annual leave, woollens firmly retired to the back of the wardrobe and endless evenings fuelled by Aperol Spritz. This Spring bank holiday we’re packing up our disposable BBQs and heading west for something much more wholesome - Porthilly Spirit festival on the Cornish Coast. A brand new three-day independent festival, showcasing and celebrating the finest elements of the outdoors, food, wellbeing, and music - including feasts from Chef and Writer Anna Jones and Tomos Parry, of Michellin-star Shoreditch haunt, Brat. From 24th to 26th May 2019, Po...
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From acrobatic yoga to extreme water sliding, Camp Wildfire certainly isn’t your average festival. Think the scouts meets Hogwarts meets Glastonbury, with adventurous activities, team houses and musical highlights with a dash of glitter. But for if you’re an adventurous spirit with a good attitude then this is definitely an event to get on the calendar for next year. It was my third year at the weekend festival and it proved to be better than ever, with more quirky activities added to the line-up and some sunny weather lifting spirits. Unfortunately I couldn’t get to the site on the Friday...
Read more →Hold up folks! Summer is not quite done yet. The team at It's Rude to Stare have been busy eating at the Wilderness banquets, getting lost in the fields at Farr Festival and swinging from the trees at Lost Village and there are still some of the best festivals yet to come! A line up of stellar gatherings, with OnBlackheath, Bestival and Festival No.6 are all lined up in September - providing a magical finale to what has been a jam-packed summer. So dust off those head-dresses, pick out the transfer tattoos and treat yourself to a new festival outfit from our pick of the best festival clothin...
Read more →Following on from its debut last year, with the creation of 'Krug Island', the Krug Festival returns, and looks set to be even more magical. This year, Krug is transporting its unique festival experience to the grand English wilderness, taking up residence in The Grange Estate in Hampshire, partnering with specialist music and online platform, Mahogany to create 'Krug Festival - Into the Wild'. The event, taking place on Saturday 29th July, will be formed of musical performances accompanied by culinary delights from Francis Mallmann and unified by Krug Champagne, taking guests on...
Read more →It was 7pm and we were pulling up to a palace. This definitely beat the local London boozer on a Thursday night. After taking a speedy train from Paddington to Oxford - still enough time for an enjoyable G&T en route - we were taxiing it up to the entrance of Blenheim Palace. Built between 1705 and 1722, this place has played host to an array of fine gentry and it is where Sir Winston Churchill was born. Now the stately home - the Duke of Marlborough's primary residence - is open to the public with a mix of events on throughout the year, from musical extravaganzas to open air cinema ses...
Read more →POP UP PICTURES: present sunset screenings with Rick Stein at Chewton Glen this July For the perfect summers evening, and a mini escape away from London, we recommend Pop Up Pictures sunset screenings, a summer of al fresco cinema at two stunning locations both less than two hours away from London. What's more, the godfather of cookery, Rick Stein is providing guests with a two-course feast, whilst Tom Kerridge has kindly provided his famous Hand & Flowers ice cream to finish everything off. Starting the summer at the picturesque Clivedon House in Buckinghamshire, the cinema will then ...
Read more →I first experienced Camp Wildfire last year. It rained non-stop, I was covered in mud, but it didn't deter me from returning for more. This underground festival, which mixes outdoor adventuring with musical revelry, is pretty unique. On this year's menu, there was a whole host of activities to tantalise campers, from beekeeping classes to tie dye workshops. New offerings included zorbing, ice cream-making and natural headdress building. Thanks to an online scheduling system, this year was much more organised. Before I landed in the Kent countryside - just a 30 minute ride from London Victo...
Read more →It was 7pm on a Saturday and London's West End was bustling. But we managed to escape the rabble by diving into J Sheekey. Sat on the fish restaurant's newly-opened summer terrace we could watch the madness from a safe distance. Drunk revellers passed us by, interspersed with smartly-dressed theatre-goers. J Sheekey is one of my favourite central spots for seafood but I hadn't been for years. On my return, I was delighted to find nothing much had changed other than the re-vamped terrace area. Everything is done to perfection. Old-school character dressed with a dash of modern-day pizzazz...
Read more →The Barcelo Bobadilla rises up from the sparse Andalusian planes like a magnificent but secret palace, constructed purely for the pleasure of its guests, who check in to check out from normal life. The wonderful thing about the hotel is that it’s close enough to visit the neighbouring cities of Granada or Malaga for instance but it feels like it’s completely in the middle of nowhere, miles from civilization.
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