May 2015!
London Calling…
A little bit of Mexico came
to London, I was invited by the Mexican Tourist Office to Selfridges for an
evening of fine modern Mexican gastronomy. One of the top chefs from Mexico,
Javier Plascencia prepared a delicious & innovative five-course tasting
menu. Javier is regarded as one of the most prominent names is the industry
& his style of cuisine is a combination of Mexican & Mediterranean,
known as Baja Mediterranean cuisine. He uses local ingredients from the Baja
California region. It was
also an opportunity to meet the new
Director of the UK & Ireland, Vicente Salas, who hosted the dinner.
I was invited to a glorious
reception to be one of only 60 travel companies given by Mélia Hotels at the
beautiful Mélia Me. There is no other hotel terrace like this in Europe, it is
just spectacular! (http://www.melia.com/en/hotels/united-kingdom/london/me-london/index.html)
I was able to meet with my good
friends Eva Varela and Ana Ramirez, I rely tremendously on Ana, she is a pillar
of strength for me at Mélia Paradisus in Playa del Carmen. (http://www.melia.com/en/hotels/mexico/playa-del-carmen/paradisus-playa-del-carmen-la-esmeralda/index.html)
Talking of Playa, I have had
various conversations with reference to future business with Escencia (http://hotelesencia.com/) and Le Reve (http://www.hotellereve.com/) two of my
very favourite boutique hotels.
I have recently had the pleasure
of enjoying a fantastic photoshoot with my gorgeous Grandson (Nieto) Charlie,
executed by the brilliant Vanessa Champion, I am looking forward to doing more
work with this very talented woman in the future. (http://print.vanessachampion.co.uk/)
The Tower of London…
I have grown up with this Historic
Palace, passing it almost every day on my way through London, visiting as a
child with my parents, the odd school trip, taking guests visiting from abroad
and also taking probably the entire total of Mexicana Airlines employee’s over the years. So, when Joanne
suggested we take out little Charlie to the Tower, I did not think I was in for
many surprises, well, how wrong could I have been! It is a sensational place to
visit, so interesting & with so many new things to do & see. The animal
exhibition is incredible, how many people I wonder know that there is an
elephant, lions, tigers, monkeys and a polar bear all within the walls of the
castle! So, if you get the opportunity then please re visit, you will thank me
for my suggestion! (http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/)
Devon…
Is there anywhere more beautiful
on earth to be in the month of May than on Dartmoor, Devon. I am lucky enough
to be able to visit this exquisite area on a regular basis as this is where I
keep my horse Ricardo. He lives at a stunning livery stable called Babeny Farm
(http://www.babenystables.co.uk/)
Babeny not only offers some of the most wonderful riding available in the heart
of Dartmoor, but the proprietor Dee Dee is now able to offer horsey holidays
wherein you can bring your own horse to stay & discover the undiscovered.
Travelling between London and Devon is easy by train, I consider myself to be
100% a Great Westerner! I am not always lucky enough to travel first class but
on my latest trip I did and it was superb, actually it is in fact the best way
to travel! (https://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/)
Two for the Road…
We decided to drive my tiny smart
sports car to Barcelona then to take the ferry to Mallorca. I was dreading this
drive which was a total of 1200 miles but it ended up to be most enjoyable.
We set off from London on a
beautiful sunny morning and headed for Dover and DFDS (http://www.dfdsseaways.co.uk/) We had
priority boarding and also access to the sea view lounge. The services were
excellent and the journey exceptionally pleasant.
We disembarked at Dunkirk so,
there we were with no satellite navigation system and just four pieces of paper
on which Peter had written some instructions. I being the navigator had to
match this up with the huge map of France we had purchased, as you can imagine
this proved to be a disaster! Three hours later, after a terrifying, continuous
circle around Lille where there were massive trucks bearing down on my tiny
vehicle, we ended up in the middle of nowhere! It was now 7.30pm, unlike Spain
or even Paris, dinner in France is not served late! So after some discussions
and my hopeless map reading we arrived at a little town called Laon. We
discovered the most delightful six room Inn called La Besace (http://www.la-besace.fr/html/welcome.html)
There was a sumptuous dinner being prepared for the guests, but with only six
rooms they were full. The proprietor offered us a little room in the garden but
with no shower or toilet, I thought this might be a little tricky, Peter by
this time did not care as he was so hungry but I suggested (wrongly) that we
continued onto Reims. After some more of my non-existent map reading skills we
eventually arrived in darkness to this city and proceeded to look for a room.
There were none! They had a huge medical conference taking place so everywhere
was fully booked.
We proceeded to return to the
motorway where upon Peter informed me we were running out of fuel! It was at
this point I gave up the will to live! We limped along at 5km an hour and
eventually came across a service station where I brought some cheese and bread
to make sandwiches in the car. I do have to say however, that motorway service
stations in France bear no resemblance what so ever to ours in the UK. The
incredible pastries, fresh produce and excellent selection of wine available
where second to none! Not a limp sausage roll or dried up corned beef sandwich
in sight!
We drove on towards Lyon to a
place that I will not mention because I never want to see it again where we
stayed in an Ibis. Arriving at 2am and leaving at 7am! The morale of this
little story is that I can’t wait to return to the wonderful little La Besace
Inn where we should have stayed in the first place!
So after a few hours’ sleep we
started on the road again heading for Narbonne, Peter on his miserable four
pieces of paper had omitted to make the important map reference of Marseilles
hence hours and hours of driving round in circles, what we had overlooked was
the heat, this part of the journey was only cheered up by the welcome sight of
a Riverford Farm Truck which thundered passed us. After lots of waving &
light flashing I felt a bit more cheerful.
Our arrival into Barcelona was
spectacular on account of the fact that Peter had forgotten to write down on
the infamous four pages the junction number of the road to the port.
Anyway, all’s well that ends
well, we arrived safely and in plenty of time to catch the Balear ferry to
Mallorca. Another fabulous ferry crossing and joy of joy Spanish food!
Back on Dry Land…
Meanwhile back in the office I
continue to work on my new project “My Private Mexico” with the help of my
wonderful assistant Lisa. Please watch this space for developments.
Ascot…
Once again we were off to Ladies
day at Ascot, there is nothing like this anywhere in the world, it’s the
quintessential English scene! Anyone who knows me knows that I am very fond of
horses so what better way to spend a gorgeous sunny day than at the races
enjoying a picnic with loads of Champagne & Pimm’s! A chance to wear a
terrific hat & all in the great company of my daughter.
Well I guess that’s enough from
me for now so I’d like to wish everybody a great summer!
