“It was always a great affair, the Misses Morkan’s annual dance.”

Only today, ON the Epiphany, I’m standing outside the four-storey Georgian townhouse in Dublin where the party took place – 15 Usher’s Island. James Joyce’s great-aunts, the Misses Flynn, lived and taught music here from the 1890s, just like Aunt Kate and Aunt Julia in the story, and Joyce’s parents attended the pair’s annual Christmas parties. The house faces the river Liffey near the James Joyce bridge, which was opened on Bloomsday, June 16, 2003, and designed to look like an open book.

The building is now derelict but if I close my eyes, I can almost hear the dance music drifting from the upstairs window, as Gabriel, the Misses Morkan’s nephew, prepares to give his annual after-dinner speech.

“The piano was playing a waltz tune and he could hear the skirts sweeping against the drawing room floor. People, perhaps, were standing in the snow on the quay outside, gazing up at the lighted windows and listening to the waltz music.”

Gabriel is full of ‘notions’, looking down on everyone, including his poor aunts who go through agonies of anxiety to give their annual dance, even as he eulogizes their lives and qualities of humanity and hospitality.

“What did he care that his aunts were only two ignorant old women.”

He crashes through the party mildly insulting people, worried that the quotations he has chosen for his speech will “be above the heads of his hearers”, whose “grade of culture differed from his” and curtly dismissing an invitation to visit the West of Ireland because he’s holidaying on the Continent. In fact he does a pretty good job of insulting the whole country – “Irish is not my language”, “I’m sick of my own country, sick of it”.

One of the things I love most about The Dead is the descriptions of its hospitality, the big table staggering under the weight of food – the “fat brown goose”, the “great ham, stripped of its outer skin and peppered over with crust crumbs”, “a round of spiced beef” and “a dish of hot floury potatoes wrapped in a white napkin”. The “minsters of jelly, red and yellow; a shallow dish full of blocks of blancmange and red jam, a large green leaf-shaped dish with a stalk-shaped handle, on which lay bunches of purple raisins and peeled almonds, a companion dish on which lay a solid rectangle of Smyrna figs, a dish of custard topped with grated nutmeg, a small bowl full of chocolates and sweets wrapped in gold and silver papers.” It’s like Nigel Slater wandered into 19th century Dublin, took off his galoshes and climbed the stairs to be greeted by Julia and Kate.

The longing to depict Irish hospitality is the reason why The Dead was written. It was a late addition to Joyce’s Dubliners short story collection, written three years after the collection was finished. In 1906, the year before he wrote it, he told his brother Stanislaus that:

“I have reproduced (in Dubliners at least) none of the attraction of [Dublin], for I have never felt at my ease in any city since I left it, except in Paris. I have not reproduced its ingenious insularity and its hospitality. The latter ‘virtue’ so far as I can see does not exist elsewhere in Europe.”

The Dead was the remedy to redress the balance.

It’s a story of two halves: the busyness and bustle of the party which ends with the plaintive song The Lass of Aughrim, Gabriel’s wife Gretta in thrall, listening on the stairs, “grace and mystery in her attitude as if she were a symbol of something”. After the party, Gabriel and Gretta take a horse-drawn cab to the Gresham Hotel, where the mood changes and Gabriel is full of romantic notions.

“He felt that they had escaped from their lives and duties, escaped from home and friends and run away together with wild and radiant hearts to a new adventure”. (This is the man who only a few hours earlier abruptly dismissed her entreaties to visit the West of Ireland where she is from.

“O, do go, Gabriel, I’d love to see Galway again”.

“You can go if you like,” said Gabriel coldly.)

What a wanker.

I follow the path they took along the quays to the Gresham, past Adam and Eve’s – the Franciscan Church of the Immaculate Conception where Aunt Julia was the leading soprano – the “lamps burning redly in the murky air” – “across the river, the palace of the Four Courts stood out menacingly against the heavy sky”.

The second-hand bookshops that Gabriel visited every day, Hickey’s on Bachelor’s Walk, Webb’s and Masseys on Aston’s Quay, are long gone. But instead there’s the Winding Stair on Ormond Quay, now one of Dublin’s oldest bookshops, with cosy café and view of the Ha’penny Bridge upstairs.

I cross O’Connell Bridge and, just like Gabriel, salute the towering figure of Daniel O’Connell. Halfway down O’Connell St, I stop off to say hello to James Joyce himself, immortalised in bronze on the corner of North Earl St. Then I continue on to the Gresham, now owned by the Spanish RIU Hotels and Resorts, with a large Spanish staff and clientele – Gabriel would have been delighted.

Recently revamped, many of the bedrooms have had a shiny new makeover, though the swirly carpets and heavy chandeliers add a slightly old-fashioned touch. I can imagine Gretta standing by the thick brown curtains looking wistfully out at the falling snow, as Gabriel looks at her, longing to “cry to her from his soul, to crush her body against his, to overmaster her”.

He imagines she is thinking what he is thinking and feeling what he is feeling and “his heart is brimming over with happiness”, but she flings herself on the bed and starts to cry, sobbing “I am thinking about that song, The Lass of Aughrim”.

A boy she knew in Galway, Michael Furey, used to sing it to her – “I was great with him at that time”. Ill and delicate, when he heard she was leaving Galway for Dublin he stood outside her window one night to tell her he didn’t want to live and died a few days later – “I think he died for me” Gretta says.

Gabriel realises he has never felt like this “but he knew that such a feeling must be love. The tears gathered more thickly in his eyes and in the partial darkness he imagined he saw the form of a young man standing under a dripping tree”, as the snow starts to fall again.

“It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, further westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.”

It became a hotel in 2011, and this year Ballyfin in Co Laois was voted the Best Resort Hotel in the UK and Ireland by Travel+Leisure magazine and the Best Hotel in Europe by The Telegraph.

But is it?

Well, it’s certainly attracted a lot of high profile guests, including lords and ladies and, in more recent times, the honeymooning Kardashian Wests and George and Amal Clooney.

Of course, you don’t need to be aristocratic or a celebrity to stay at Ballyfin – you just need the funds to finance it. And with rooms starting at €810 (and running up to four figures) you’ll need to dig deep. But Ballyfin was built for entertaining (you don’t plan sumptuous reception rooms including a Gold Room, Saloon and 80-foot library in your house for cosy family tete-a-tetes) and the entertainment here is lavish.

Our very grand entrance

It starts as soon as we reach the end of the long driveway where six people are lined up at the foot of the mansion’s steps to welcome us. Car doors are opened, luggage is deftly removed, and we’re in the great entrance hall in front of a roaring fire sipping glasses of champagne before you can say ‘I bet that lake was expensive’.

The current house dates to the 1820s and was home of the Coote family for one hundred years. Keen to impress the neighbours, the Coote’s spent lavishly (their family motto is appropriately ‘Coute que Coute’ – ‘cost what it may’), fitting out the house in Carrara marble, scagliola columns, marquetry floors, Bacchanalian friezes and Roman mosaics, including a floor from the ancient city of Pompeii. Yes, that’s right. An entire floor was shipped over from the Italian UNESCO World Heritage Site (cost what it may, remember?).

The Cootes moved out in 1928 and, after a stint as a boarding school, Ballyfin has been picking up awards as a hotel ever since. ‘But we don’t want it to feel like a hotel,’ say the staff, ‘we want to keep that relaxed and friendly country house feel’ and indeed it does feel like staying in a friend’s home, if you have the type of friends who own vast country piles kitted out with antiques and an art collection dating from the 17th century.

Wandering around Ballyfin

Every room is a treasure trove of beautiful things, many purchased from the Coote family who put much of the original furniture into storage after selling the house. Staff are always on hand to offer cups of tea or fulfil your random desires. Can’t find that copy of the Irish Times you saw on a coffee table earlier? No worries, here’s a fresh one, so uncreased it looks like it’s been ironed. Want to know more about the history of the house or the provenance of that urn on the mantelpiece? No problem, everyone seems to be a walking catalogue of knowledge.

And nobody more so than Lionel, who takes us on a tour of the 600-acre grounds in a horse and carriage and shares his vast store of Ballyfin history. We rattle along through woodland (51,000 trees were planted as part of the restoration of the grounds), past walled gardens, tennis courts and the helipad, before driving up to the stone tower, built during Famine times to provide employment for the locals. You can see 16 counties from the top on a clear day.

We circle the orangerie with its 4,000 panes of handcut glass, once used for growing exotic flowers and fruit, including pineapples so revered they couldn’t be eaten. We pass the pretty cascade waterfall, pouring down from the temple (yes, there’s a temple) to the lawns outside the dining room. And we catch glimpses of the tunnels, burrowed underground so the servants could scurry about their business unseen.

There are just 20 rooms in Ballyfin, all individually decorated (you didn’t think George and Amal would be bunking down in Premier Inn style uniformity now, did you) with canopy beds, chandeliers and marble bathrooms galore. Our beautifully wallpapered bedroom, with cosy armchairs and a fireplace, has an entire terrace overlooking the garden. The Georgian vibe is brought right up to date downstairs in the super-plush spa, with a grand swimming pool surrounded by luxury thick-mattressed recliners and sauna and jacuzzi nearby.

At dinner that night, we go for the tasting menu with wine pairing and enjoy delicate plates of seafood tartare, pork ravioli, Sika deer, salmon with fennel and a few extra little courses the chef sends out – just for fun and not because we needed the extra food, but we lapped it all up appreciatively.

Had we so desired we could have gone clay pigeon shooting or horse riding in the grounds or even tried our hand at archery or falconry. But for our one-night trip into luxury we were content to assume the role of ladies of the manor, feet up, fans gently rustling.

Ballyfin, Co Laois, Ireland; visit Ballyfin.com. Double rooms from €810.

I’m rocking in a hammock outside my tent at the Nubia Luxury Camp – just eight tents at the foot of the immense drifting sand dunes of Erg Chebbi, the romantic views of every desert-set film you’ve ever seen. But these are no ordinary tents. If a famous drinks company did tents this is what they would create, kitted out with king-sized beds, electricity and running water – yes, that does mean flushing toilets. There’s a ‘lounge’ tent with cosy couches and a fully fitted dining area, but it’s much more fun to eat outside, having breakfast as the sun rises or dinner beside the campfire, candlelit lanterns flickering around the sand dunes.

Breakfast this morning includes a date syrup that is part of the traditional Berber breakfast, eaten with olives and bread, Lahsen, who serves it, tells me. Though it’s unlikely the Berbers went on to eat an omelette, several pancakes and granola served with coconut fruit yoghurt, as I did, as well as a basket of bread accompanied with three different types of jam, a dish of honey and a bowl of chocolate spread.

Who are the Berbers?

According to local folklore, the Berbers are descended from the children of Adam and Eve and are the earliest settlers in Morocco. Though “settlers” isn’t probably the best way to describe these nomadic tribes. And Lahsen knows their customs very well, being one of them. The Nubia Camp is run by local Berbers, employed by the Beldi Collection which owns it. Many of the tribes are now settling in villages and towns around the edge of the desert, Lahsen tells me, wanting to find work and educate their children.

But nomadic tribes do still travel the Sahara and later that day I meet some of them, visiting nomads Ali and Hra at their desert camp. Spread out across several hundred feet of rocky sand, it has several separate tents and wooden shelters, a space for showering and a lush green garden.

There’s a joyful reunion during my visit between Ali and somebody I assume is a desert local, until I get talking to him later and find out he’s a biker from Berlin, who’s made the trip by motorcycle from his adopted home in Greece for the past three years and is now firm friends with Ali.

Ali and Hera are entertaining us in their ‘living room’ tent, where they also sleep, serving us mint tea and later lunch – platters of barbecued meat, roasted vegetables and salad. Food is one of the greatest joys of visiting Morocco and for dinner back at the camp, chef Omar feeds me delicious lamb tagine with dates, chicken roasted with lemon and vegetable couscous. These are the sorts of dishes I determine to recreate at home as I wrap a tagine in several layers of clothes to protect it in my suitcase, knowing deep down that it’s unlikely to happen unless I pack the star-filled Moroccan sky and a bit of the Sahara as well.

Camp Nubia is a 9-hour drive from Marrakesh, allowing for several stop-offs for tea, photographs and the bathroom, and a leisurely hour and a half break at the Riad Dar Sofian – an oasis within a literal oasis, where lunch is served around a palm-fringed pool.

Back to the Riad Louhou

Flying into Marrakesh from the UK is like flying into the 1001 Arabian Nights, with its exotic domed roofs, red towers and turrets. It’s a city of souks and palaces, mosques and the medina, which is the old part of the city where I’m staying in a riad, a traditional Moroccan house with a central courtyard.

The Riad Louhou is also owned by the Beldi Collection, each of its five bedrooms overlooking the traditional courtyard. What’s not so traditional is the pool on the roof terrace, making it an attractive choice, you can also eat up here at one of the al fresco tables or under luxurious draped curtains in the shade.

It’s an easy walk from here to the souks, the labyrinthine network of lively markets selling everything from food to furniture, where light filters through in small openings to keep the setting cool and a bit mysterious. No space for cars, just travellers on foot, riders on scooters and the occasional donkey pulling a cart. Heavy loads are carried by scooter, from the weekly grocery shop to a mound of cut branches still bearing oranges, and one man who nonchalantly drove through the media balancing – I kid you not – four dozen eggs on his knee.

You can find everything from gleaming brass lanterns to colourful jars of olives, fabrics and glassware, china and silver, slippers and handbags, silks, leathers, beads, metalwork and more, as well as several winding streets of workshops where you can see the artisans at work. I go with a guide, Mustapha, and so I’m not hassled by the sellers at all, in fact I sort of get to hang out with them as Mustapha frequently stops to greet people he knows with lots of hugs and touching of hearts.

What else to see in Marrakesh

He also takes me to see the mausoleum, built for the 16^th century Saadian dynasty, grand burial rooms richly decorated with glittering mosaics and Carrera marble, ceilings carved from molten gold. And more richness at the lavish Moorish 150-roomed Bahia Palace, built in the 19^th century for the sultan and his harem by 100 master craftsmen from Fez, on a site covering 8 hectares, with its stucco work, fine filigree and beautiful arabesque ceilings.

As a woman travelling alone, I’m looked after very well by Youssef, my driver and guide from Marrakesh to the Sahara. Nobody hassles me but I do get asked a few times if I am really travelling by myself, with several worried enquiries about the existence of a family back in the UK, so they can reassure themselves I’m not an orphan wandering the world alone.

Crossing the Sahara

The journey Youssef takes me on to the Sahara follows the ancient caravan route from Marrakech through the stunning landscapes of the High Atlas Mountains, through Berber villages and the lush green Draa Valley. The views are stupendous, across red mountain ranges and into redbrick towns, through olive trees and cactus plants, passing men riding donkeys and children waiting for school buses. The last two hours are off-road through the desert, bumping across sand dunes and stones, but the destination is worth it, a Sahara camp just before sunset.

And then sitting on a camel, I’m led across the sand by Sakaria from the camp, to watch the sun go down from one of the highest dunes. This is bucket list stuff that everyone should get the chance to try at least once in their lifetime.

I love the fact I’ve become someone who gets up to watch the sunrise and travels an hour to see the sun set, things I wouldn’t contemplate for a minute doing at home – though in fairness, you’d be hard pressed to find a camel in Croydon.

But this is one of the joys of holidays, the space and the freedom to step outside of your routine and do different things, a chance for a while to be somebody else. Or maybe, just for a while, a more open, more interesting, more inspired version of yourself.

Information and contacts

Double rooms at the Riad Louhou £130, suites £150. Nubia Luxury Camp B&B £160 per person per night, half board for one-night, full board for 2 nights or more. Phone UK: 0044 (0)1223 968178, email stay@thebeldicollection.com, www.thebeldicollection.com

The marshes cover 37 square hectares, close to the city of Saint-Omer in the north of France. They feature 700km of waterways, 170km of which are navigable by escute – a traditional long flat-bottom boat made from oak (you can visit the workshop and see how they are made as part of the boat trip; from £9.50, Lesfaiseursdebateaux.fr/en/)). It’s a nature lovers paradise, with hundreds of different plant species and 240 different types of bird, including grey herons, great crested grebes and little bitterns.

But the marshes are no tourist trap theme park. Over 5,000 people live here, their boats moored on the banks. Children learn to swim and drive a boat as youngsters and with over 50 houses only accessible by boat, the postmen drive boats too. Many of the residents work as market gardeners, growing vegetables – including Saint-Omer’s famous summer cauliflower – in the peaty black soil, a tradition that stretches back almost 100 years.

We meet one of them after our boat trip. Loïc Boulier grew up in Paris but swapped his city life for the marshes 15 years ago and now grows 40 different types of vegetables and fruit in a canal-side garden near the pier. I admire his burgeoning artichokes, shiny aubergines and butternut squash, nibble on fiery mustard leaves and fragrant lemon basil and have my first taste of black cherry tomatoes – delicious!

DINNER AT THE CHATEAU DE BEAULIEU

Loïc supplies fruit and vegetables to local families and businesses, and you don’t have to travel far to taste the local produce on some very fancy dining tables. Like the 2-Michelin-starred restaurant at the Chateau de Beaulieu, with stunning views of the surrounding gardens. I hoover up tiny plates of Cote d’Opale crab, Japanese style tuna and Boulonnais lamb with poached pear among countless other dishes and realise that the secret with tiny food plates is to eat lots of them.

Cauliflower is so beloved in this region that not only did one welcome me in the light-filled foyer on my arrival (encased in delicate porcelain), it’s also the main desert, served meringue style with oozing sorrel sauce and vanilla ice cream. This is followed by a traditional sweet trolley, with shelf upon shelf of handmade wonders. Everything we eat is handmade – in fact I half expected to find a woodwork shop nestled deep in the gardens, churning out the tables and chairs we were sitting on.

There isn’t one. But there IS a menagerie of animals – many rescued and taken here to live out their days in 5-star comfort – including donkeys, goats, geese, rabbits, hens and two big Vietnamese pigs.

There are vegetable gardens that supply the hotel kitchen with 70% of its needs, the rest is bought locally. Flower gardens provide edible garnishes and colour. A river runs through the grounds, circling the 16^th century building, moat-like. From my bedroom – a chic haven with wooden floors and elegantly patterned wallpaper – I can see a fountain, ringed by woodland.

The vibe is relaxed and stylish – from the chic bar with elaborate cornicing to the modern bistro spilling out onto the garden terrace with its fire pit barbecue. Next up, owners Christophe (also the head chef) and Delphine Dufosse plan to open a spa on the grounds with swimming pool and river views (rooms from £240, gastronomic menu from £120, bistro lunch £36 for 2 courses; Lechateaudebeaulieu.fr).

OFF TO THE COAST: HOTEL ATLANTIC

For Michelin-starred dining overlooking the English Channel, the Hotel Atlantic in Wimereux offers fine dining with seaside sunset views. We eat plates of mackerel, mushroom risotto, sea bream and a rich chocolate desert, alongside homemade bread with seaweed and local vegetables, each plate matched to a different wine. Our sommelier is full of stories, passionate about his job and a joy to listen to (rooms from £147, dinner from £82; Atlantic-delpierre.com/en)

There’s a lot to explore in this Hauts-de-France region, awarded the European Region of Gastronomy in 2023 to recognise its cultural and gastronomic heritage. Start off by ditching the vineyards – wine is SO passe – these days it’s all about craft beer and artisanal gin.

WINE? SO OVER!

Exclusive to this area are the award-winning gins produced by the Persyn family, among the last surviving producers of genievre – a type of juniper gin – using the recipes and methods passed down through the generations from the 19^th century. The distillery itself is a bit like a museum, with copper stills that have been in use for over 100 years distilling local organic cereal, rye, oats and barley, before it’s matured in oak casks (tours from £6; Genievredehoulle.com)

The craft beer produced in the recently restored Abbaye de Clairmarais brewery has a provenance stretching back to the 12^th century – though health and safety regulations have forced them to update their methods since then!

Brewed here by monks until the State took over the abbey after the French Revolution, the current brewery was launched five years ago by a few locals keen to continue the tradition. A tour takes you through the brewing methods and types of beer produced – from mild to pungent – you’ll get a chance to sample them at the end (free tours, book in advance; Abbayedeclairmarais.fr)

SAY CHEESE (GROAN…)

You’ll need something to soak up all that beer and gin and you’ll find it at Les Frères Bernard cheesemakers, surrounded by fields of cows. Cows are quite the thing here, you’ll find pictures of the beauties whose milk has been used to make the produce. You can watch the cheese makers at work through big glass windows from the shop Monday to Friday, 9.30 to 12.

THE BIGGEST FISHING PORT IN FRANCE

Nearby, France’s largest fishing port is located at Boulogne-sur-Mer, where 36,000 tonnes of fish are unloaded every year. Stalls line the footpath in front of the sea, boxes upon boxes of glistening fish, lobsters with tails flapping, crabs and oysters, stallholders cracking jokes with customers. It’s bustling and busy and you won’t find fish any fresher unless you dive for it.

The market is located conveniently close to the port of Calais for our return trip to the UK. We have just time to grab lunch at the Dragon Shed, watching the Calais Dragon go by – a mechanical 12-metre-high dragon that takes groups of people on short city tours, while blowing out water and fire at unsuspecting passers-by (£8.50; Compagniedudragon.com/en).

It’s all great fun and a fitting end to a few days of fun, food and chilling in Hauts-de-France. For more information on the region visit www.visitpasdecalais.com.

Hauts-de-France: Getting there

Travelling to the region from the UK is easy by ferry; DFDS offers up to 30 crossings per day on its Dover to Calais service and up to 24 daily sailings from Dover to Dunkirk. I hadn’t been on the ferry for years and was surprised by the luxury – it’s more ‘cruise ship’, less ‘floating canteen’. Floor to ceiling windows flood the stylish lounges with light and a chance to enjoy sweeping views of the white cliffs of Dover, there are smart dining areas and cafes, shops and outdoor decks with picnic tables and benches.

Fares start at £68 one way for a car and up to four people, with day trip and short break fares also available throughout the year starting at £39 return. Upgrade to the premium lounge for the full first-class experience for only £14 per person.

For more information and to book visit www.dfds.com

For his last night out in Zurich, Joyce went to the Kronenhalle bar. Three days later, on 13 January 1941, he was dead, following surgery on a perforated ulcer. He’s buried in Fluntern Cemetery beside Zurich Zoo, the final stop on the tram line. The journey is a steep one, up some of Zurich’s prime real estate hills, past detached mansions on leafy streets with stunning views. Joyce was fond of the Zoo’s lions and when he was buried his wife Nora said she liked to think of him lying there listening to them roar.

The Kronenhalle was also a favourite with designers Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent and artists Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso, whose art can still be seen on the walls alongside works by Miro, Matisse and Klee. Today it’s as much art gallery as bar and restaurant – expect to pay around £18 for a cocktail and double that for a main course. Zurich may be cool, but it certainly isn’t cheap.

Opposite the Kronenhalle, the Café Odeon, founded in 1911, was another home away from home for emigres such as Joyce, Lenin and the Dadaists, who were founded in Zurich. These days, with its marble topped tables, red banquettes and Art Noveau vibe, it’s a smart spot for food and drinks – try the 2-course set menu lunch, around £23.

Located in ‘Bellevue – ‘beautiful sight’, the area is a good place to start exploring Zurich’s Old Town, where the river Limmat meets Lake Zurich under the Quaibrucke – Quay Bridge. These crystal-clear waters are clean enough to swim in and many people do. Close by the bridge, the Frauenbad – ‘women’s baths’ – is an area traditionally reserved for women with a covered-in section for privacy.

Following the Limmat along to where it merges with the river Sihl, in pretty Platzspitz park beside the National Museum, I find another of James Joyce’s favourite places. Mentioned in Finnegan’s Wake, “legging a jig or so on the Sihl”, it’s where he had his favourite photograph taken, standing facing the river. Today the rivers’ names are inscribed on the wall as Ljmmat and Sjhl – the ‘j’ replacing ‘i’ in his honour.

Along the river, the Fraumünster, ‘women’s church’, with its Marc Chagall stained-glass windows was built on the site of a 9^th century women’s abbey and faces the Grossmünster, with its soaring Romanesque twin towers, dating back to the 1100s. The shady Lindenhof with its 52 lime trees and river views is home to the 9^th century St Peter’s church, with its distinctive tower and the largest clock face in Europe. Celts, Romans and Ottonians once made their homes here, now it’s a good spot to play a game of chess on giant boards with life sized pieces.

For a more contemporary look at the city, take the number 4 tram to Zurich West, the city’s former industrial area, now home to its cool cultural quarter, where theatres, galleries, museums and artist studios have replaced factories and shipbuilding yards. (The tram is known locally as Zurich’s design and cultural line, as it passes by all the city’s major cultural institutions.)

I’m staying in some luxury at the Storchen Hotel, with its elegant riverfront cocktail bar and upstairs, a restaurant terrace overlooking the water and soaring Grossmünster towers. From here, I watched the sun go down over a Michelin-starred dinner of scallops, oysters and ravoli, accompanied by several amuse bouches and some of the hotel’s own Chardonnay. Across the water people were dining on outdoor terraces and picnicking by the river’s edge, the Alps rising in the distance.

The next morning, I woke up to a view of swans bobbing on the Limmat and breakfasted on eggs from the hotel’s hens. They live on a farm at the lake, near the Stochen’s sister hotel, the Alex, which I could travel to by private riverboat if I took the notion.

If you’re not up for Michelin dining, you’ll find lots of great foodie alternatives. Zurich is big on responsibly sourced ingredients and also home to the world’s oldest vegetarian restaurant. Open since the 1880s, Hilel is currently run by the fourth generation of the family who founded it. Main courses from £20-£25.

And, of course, there’s chocolate (you didn’t expect me to visit Switzerland and not mention chocolate). Lindt’s Home of Chocolate – producing the good stuff since 1899 – is a 20-minute journey from Zurich, where you can take a tour of the museum and visit the biggest Lindt chocolate shop in the world (Admission £13 adults, £9 children, Lindt-home-of-chocolate.com).

When you’re done with culture (and chocolate), you can be in the countryside (with chocolate-coloured cows) in under 20-minutes, with all of the Alps to explore. Whether it’s a starting point for your Swiss tour or a city destination, there’s a lot more to Zurich than banks.

CONTACTS AND PRICES

The Storchen Hotel is a member of the exclusive Preferred Hotels and Resorts group, rooms from £380; Preferredhotels.com. For more information on Zurich, visit Zuerich.com and MySwitzerland.com. A Swiss Travel Pass, from £186 for 3-days, offers unlimited travel on the country’s rail, bus and boat network, Mystsnet.com.

Hot sun, great food, lovely people, impressive art and architecture – and all just under two hours flying time from the UK. Or, if your eco conscience is bothering you, take the train. Eurostar it from London to Paris, then on to Florence via Milan.

ARRIVING IN FLORENCE

Florence is the capital city and gateway to Tuscany, a region that enjoys an average annual temperature of 20 degrees, with eight hours of sun every day from spring. (Though it’s cheaper to fly to Pisa, just over an hour from Florence with regular fast bus and train connections.)

It’s is a cool city, stretching out from both banks of the Arno, giving it a glorious vista. It’s the final resting spot of Michelangelo and Galileo and the birthplace of Pinocchio. It holds nearly a third of the world’s art treasures according to UNESCO and the biggest collection of Renaissance art on the planet, which resides in the Uffizi Gallery.

To make the most of your time, stay central. The Gallery Hotel Art is located right beside the famous Ponte Vecchio, the medieval closed-in stone bridge, lined with jewellery shops. The smart 4-star boutique hotel has a buzzy downstairs bar, a library dining room and stylish bedrooms – opt for a top floor room with a shady terrace. Dine stylishly in its sister restaurant, the chic Café dell’Oro, around the corner – authentic and inventive Italian dishes with riverside views.

It’s surrounded by narrow cobblestone streets and huge open piazzas and nearby attractions include the Santa Croce, where you’ll find the tombs of Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Galileo as well as works by Giotto and Donatello, and the aforementioned Uffizi Gallery, built in 1581 for the de Medici family with masterpieces dating from the 14^th century including many from their private collections.

You can visit some of the family tombs at the Basilica of San Lorenzo and one of their former homes at the Pitti Palace Museum, which is surrounded by great little neighbourhood cafes. There are markets selling local art, souvenirs and Pinocchios everywhere; his story was published in the late 19^th century by Florentine writer Collodi.

And while it might be hard to leave Florence, you should. The Tuscan countryside is on your doorstep and it would be a criminal shame to miss those ancient medieval hill towns, vineyards, olive groves and stunning views.

OFF TO VOLTERRA

I enjoyed those views in style from the Borgo Pignano in Volterra, just over one hour’s drive from the city, travelling up mountains as the sun set, catching tantalising glimpses of scenic valleys. But it was pitch black when we arrived and despite the lanterns flickering on the terraces and a floodlit cocktail bar in the garden, I could see nothing else. So, I went to bed excited for morning (and that hasn’t happened so much since I was a child at Christmas).

I wasn’t disappointed. Miles of glorious countryside stretched out before me as I opened the shutters in my suite under the eaves of the 18th century villa, the sky gently pink. I was also pretty excited about the grand piano in my bedroom (yes, you read it right – grand piano!), not to mention the 4-poster bed and the huge colourfully painted bathroom.

I explored the estate as the sun rose – the infinity pool carved out of a limestone quarry, the terraces with armchairs overlooking the valley, the gardens with their golden-coloured family maisonettes glowing in the early morning Tuscan sun, all with stupendous views.

The hotel is set on a 700-acre estate with a working organic farm that supplies a large amount of its produce – heritage vegetables and herbs from the garden, wines from the vineyard, oil from the olive groves and eggs from the hens. There are pigs and a stable of horses, forests with flocks of deer and pheasants. You can tour the farm in a 4×4, by mountain bike or on horseback and take a picnic to enjoy on the way.

After breakfast, a local artist gave me a lesson in oil painting on the garden terrace. I learned how to select a landscape view, mix colours and build a scene on canvas to take home with me, coming over all lady-artist-in-Tuscany for three hours (cost €50). Afterwards I lay by the infinity pool, looking over the valleys in the 28-degree October heat and thought, it’s 12 degrees and raining in the UK.

The pool is heated by woodchip-fired boilers that, along with solar panels, fuel the hotel’s heating and hot water systems using timber supplied from their forests. There are no plastic bottles here. Water is served in re-useable glass bottles and bathroom toiletries are supplied in ceramic containers – both toiletries and containers are handmade locally. The gardens are fed by filtered harvested rainwater, natural and man-made lakes irrigate the farm. No surprise really that the hotel won the Conde Nast Johansens Excellence Award for Best Sustainable Hotel in 2019.

The restaurants offer seasonal and organic food from the estate and local area. Eight-course fine dining tasting menus offer the chance to eat direct from the farm – truffles and mushrooms, snails and cured meats, vegetables and a whole selection of cakes, all served with a selection of organic and biodynamic wines from the region – and that’s just one option! You can eat in one of the villa’s cosy dining rooms or at a communal shared table in front of a medieval fireplace

AND FINALLY… MAREMMA

Two hours away from Volterra, in the Maremma region where chic Florentines and Senesi holiday, the landscape is very different. Bordering the Tyrrhenian Sea, the area has more Blue Flag beaches than anywhere else in Italy, bar Liguria. Around the 5-star L’Andana hotel the countryside is completely flat, the seaside is a short drive away and the Maremma Nature Park stretches along the coast, perfect for walks.

The hotel’s large estate was once the site of Duke of Tuscany’s summer residence. Today it has two swimming pools, a golf range, tennis courts and its own vineyard. There’s a large indoor spa and a thunderstorm, cutting through the hot sunshine on the day I arrive, gives me the perfect excuse to curl up there on a sunlounger all afternoon.

Rooms are set out in the main villa – where my room is kitted out with a luxury lounging area and a sumptuous bath the size of a small pool – and the nearby more family-focused farmhouse.

There’s a Michelin-starred restaurant in the grounds but if you want to eat a more normally priced dinner, there’s an all-day menu available in the main hotel at La Villa restaurant or you can head out to explore the local area – the towns of Castiglione della Pescaia and Grosseto are nearby, Florence and Siena are a 2-hour drive.

And early the next morning I take that 2-hour drive to the airport and back to the UK, rested, sun-kissed and cultured up. But already missing the ice cream.

CONTACTS AND PRICES

Gallery Hotel Art from £200 per night, excluding breakfast, visit lungarnocollection.com/gallery-hotel-art; Borgo Pignano from €300 per night, including breakfast, visit borgopignano.com or call +39 0588 35032; L’Andana from €440 per night, including breakfast, visit www.andana.it, call +39 0564 944 800 or email info@andana.it

An earlier cathedral was destroyed by fire in 1067, shortly after the Norman Conquest and rebuilding began under the first Norman archbishop, Lanfranc, whose elaborate plans goaded the archbishop of York into a frenzy of building. Lanfranc had claimed primacy for his cathedral over York. York wasn’t having it and built its own cathedral, York Minster, on a scale to rival Canterbury. Read more about York Minster here.

Treasures to see on your visit

For such a big story, it’s surprising that today only a small altar marks the site of Thomas Becket’s murder in the cathedral. It was erected after the visit of Pope John Paul II to the cathedral. He commented that he had visited memorials to St Thomas Becket all over the world, but here in his own cathedral there was nothing to remember him by.

Becket’s body was taken to the crypt after his murder, today in that crypt you’ll find an evocative sculpture by the artist Antony Gormley, most famous for his Angel of the North artwork. Made from old iron nails taken from the repaired roof of the cathedral, it outlines the shape of a floating body and is suspended above the site of the first tomb of the archbishop.

Check out the medieval wall art in St Gabriel’s chapel – left intact throughout the Reformation as the chapel was walled up; the Great South Window, featuring some of the oldest stained glass in the world, dating from 1175, and considered to be one of the most famous works of English medieval painting; and the ship’s bell from HMS Canterbury, which is rang every day at 11am.

The Canterbury monks’ medieval priory is now the cathedral chapter house, with its own separate entrance through the cloisters outside. Monks often worked on transcribing manuscripts in the cloisters, where the light was better for doing such delicately detailed work. The priory dates from the Norman period with later Gothic additions. The timber ceiling is a rare example of a surviving 600-year-old design – most were destroyed by fire. The glass in the windows is Victorian, though the masonry surrounding them is medieval.

Important tombs include the grave of King Henry IV and the tomb of the Black Prince, Edward of Woodstock, the oldest son of Edward III, who died before he could inherit the throne.

Canterbury: cathedral city

Canterbury is surely one of the most atmospheric and attractive cities in England, with its medieval winding streets, river location and ancient city walls. It has been one of the country’s biggest attractions for centuries, from the pilgrims who came to pay homage to the shrine of Thomas Becket in the cathedral to the countless numbers of tourists who flock there every year.

Where to stay: Take up residence in the cathedral grounds – Canterbury Cathedral Lodge is a comfortable modern hotel and conference centre that offers you the chance to wake up to stunning cathedral views. Not only that, you get free admission to the cathedral and can go in and out as many times as you like.

What to do: The Canterbury Heritage Museum showcases everything from the city’s Roman history to the assassination of Thomas Becket, and the museum also houses the Rupert Bear Museum. Mary Tourtel, who created Rupert, was a Canterbury local.

For more history and a deeper look into Canterbury’s Roman past, there’s the Roman Museum or you can get cultural at the Beaney House of Art & Knowledge, with its museum and art gallery. The Eastbridge Hospital, set up for pilgrims, soldiers and the elderly in 1180, is also well worth a visit for its Romanesque undercroft, chapel and 16^th century almshouses, all sitting across Britain’s most ancient road bridge, which is over 800 years old.

Nearby, St Martin’s Church is the oldest parish church in England in continuous use and you can also visit the ruins of Augustine’s Abbey, which is part of Canterbury’s World Heritage Site and dates from 597. A small museum on the site tells the story of the re-establishment of Christianity in all of England from here.

Cathedrals of Britain: London and the South East by Bernadette Fallon is published by Pen and Sword and on sale for £12.99

Known as the ‘Ship of the Fens’, Ely Cathedral rises majestically from the surrounding landscape. Once it stood on an island, surrounded on all sides by water, but the draining of the Fens marshland several centuries ago reunited the land around the cathedral with the rest of the countryside. It still retains some of that other-worldly allure however and today rises magically from the early morning mists. The first church on this site was founded by a woman, Ethelreda, a 7^th century Anglo-Saxon princess, although buiding on the present cathedral didn’t start until 1081.

Lincoln

On top of one of the steepest hills in Britain, Lincoln cathedral can be seen from most parts of the county and was described by the Victorian critic John Ruskin as ‘the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles’. For a time in the Middle Ages, it was the tallest building in the world and is one of the few English cathedrals standing on the rock it is built from. Founded in 1072 by William the Conqueror’s travelling companion and supporter, the Benedictine monk Remigius, today its great west front is all that remains of the original Norman building.

Norwich

Built by the Normans soon after their victory at Hastings in 1066, Norwich Cathedral and nearby Norwich Castle were clear demonstrations of the invaders’ power and influence in what was then England’s second biggest city. As much a political statement as a religious one, the cathedral’s narrow nave with its soaring height and dramatic vaulting was deliberately sized to create the impression of power and grandeur. Its foundation stone was laid at the east end of the building in 1096.

Lichfield

Founded in the 8th century and filled with delicate angels, Lichfield Cathedral has come close to destruction several times over the centuries. The three spires of the cathedral are known locally as ‘the ladies of the vale’ and can be seen from all directions – but by the time they were completed there had already been a cathedral on the site for 600 years. The first church was built in 700, then demolished and rebuilt by the Normans in the 11 century, while today’s cathedral dates mainly from the 1400s.

Peterborough

While considerably less revered than its famous neighbours in Ely, Norwich and Lincoln, Peterborough cathedral has great historical significance and holds many treasures. It is one of the finest Norman buildings in the country and one of the few medieval cathedrals whose core structure remains essentially the same as it was on completion. Its 13th century wooden ceiling is the only one of its type in the UK and one of only four from this period surviving in all of Europe. It’s the final resting place for one of the nation’s most famous queens and maybe just have inspired part of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

St Edmundsbury

A modestly sized and recently conferred cathedral, St Edmundsbury received its status in 1914 when the former parish church of St James became the cathedral for the newly created diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. But it has a huge and unique heritage, sharing its site with a spectacular ruined abbey laid out over several acres that marks it as a place of religious worship for over 1,000 years. And its other unique aspect is a more contemporary one. It boasts the country’s newest cathedral tower, a mere infant in the grand scheme of cathedral histories, completed in 2005.

Oxford

England’s smallest cathedral, Christ Church Oxford survives today due to a series of fortunate coincidences. One of the oldest buildings in Oxford, it dates from the 12th century and as well as a cathedral, it’s the chapel for Christ Church College, one of the largest and wealthiest colleges in the university.  It has strong links with several monarchs and famous literary figures and, unusually, its patron saint, Frideswide, is a woman. But it hasn’t been without controversy, particularly in more recent times.

Cathedrals of Britain: East and Central by Bernadette Fallon is published by Pen and Sword books, £12.99, buy online here

Read more

Around the UK in 30 cathedrals

Cathedrals of Britain: London and the South East – Canterbury, St Paul’s, Westminster Abbey, Southwark, Westminster Cathedral, Rochester, Chichester

Cathedrals of Britain: West, South West and Wales – Winchester, Salisbury, Wells, Gloucester, Exeter, St Davids, St Asaph’s

Cathedrals of Britain: North of England and Scotland – York, Durham, Ripon, Wakefield, Sheffield, Bradfield, Edinburgh, Aberdeen

Image credit: Lichfield Cathedral, Bernadette Fallon

The Old Deanery, Ripon

Located across the road from Ripon Cathedral, with fine views of its soaring façade, this beautiful stone building is the former home of the cathedral deans. Dating back to 1625 and blessed with character and period detail, it still has its impressive original oak staircase and is full of individual quirks, like the gently sloping floorboards and thick-walled window seats. There are just eleven rooms altogether, each one totally individual. Live the life of a cathedral dean for a day. (Theolddeanery.co.uk; from £100)

Grays Court, York

Just a short cobbled-street’s walk from York Minister, this wonderful hotel was the first official residence for the treasurers of the minster, commissioned by the first Norman Archbishop of York, Ealdred. With part of it dating back to 1080, it’s possibly the oldest continuously occupied house in the UK and has the only private access to York’s city walls, which surround the edge of its lovely gardens. Inside it’s all luxury boutique hotel and beautiful design, just what you’d expect from a building that was owned by royalty when the treasurers moved out in the 16^th century. It was given as a gift by King Edward VI to the Duke of Somerset and has been voted Visit York Hotel of the Year for the last three years. (Grayscourtyork.com; from £200)

Littlecote House, Berkshire

Famously associated with royalty and political intrigue, it was here that Henry VIII wooed Jane Seymour, in the house that her grandmother lived in. A 16^th century Tudor manor, it has also hosted the likes of Elizabeth I, James I, Charles II and William of Orange. The D-Day landings were planned within these very walls, which also hide a secret passage behind the library bookcases. There’s a Roman villa in the grounds, which also offer a putting green, tennis and bowling courts. And, like any self-respecting 16^th century building, several rooms are said to be haunted with the ghosts of former residents. You can even bring some history home with you; nearby Hungerford is famous for its antique shops. (Warnerleisurehotels.co.uk)

Tulloch Castle, Dingwall Ross-Shire

Wake up in a four-poster bed in a 12^th century highland castle. Overlooking Cromarty Firth and the Black Isle, close to the ancient town of Dingwall, the former home of the Bains and Davidsons has been beautifully restored as a 22-bedroom hotel. Wander through the 250-year-old panelled Great Hall, admire original period fireplaces and ceilings, eat in The Turrets Restaurant and after you’ve finished being Laird of the Castle, explore the nearby Cairngorms National Park. There’s easy access to Inverness and the coast is just a six-minute drive away. (Part of the Bespoke Hotel Group, Bespokehotels.com/tullochcastlehotel; from £127)

Billesley Manor, Stratford upon Avon

The manor house of Billesley can be traced back to 705AD and was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. It’s said that William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in the 8^th century church in the grounds in 1582, and that his granddaughter also was married here. The charming hotel is a warren of twisting corridors and winding staircases, there’s a priest hole, grand stone fireplaces and an imposing Great Hall which hosts the morning breakfast buffet, a drawing room to take morning coffee and a library that Shakespeare purportedly visited. After its 17th-century heyday, the manor fell into disrepair, was refurbished in the early 20th century and has been a hotel for the last 50 years. (Billesleymanor.com)

Stonefield Castle, Mull of Kintyre

The 19th-century baronial home of the Campbell family (pictured top of the page) is set in 60 acres of woodland gardens and boasts a famous collection of Himalayan rhododendrons. From the wall-mounted stag’s head in the entrance hallway, enjoy one finely proportioned room after another, from drawing room to library and bar, into a long lounge with crackling open fire. Deep window seats look out to front and back gardens leading down to the broad expanse of Loch Fyne. It’s just two miles from the idyllic fishing village of Tarbert, one of the most attractive villages on the Mull of Kintyre peninsula. (Part of the Bespoke Hotel Group, Bespokehotels.com/stonefieldcastle; from £130)

The Midland Hotel, Bradford

Love the glamour of the old railways, with their puffing steam trains and waving white hankies on the platform? You’ll love The Midland Hotel in Bradford, a throw-back to the heyday of railway hotels and dating from 1885. It still has many of its attractive Victorian features, including grand foyer, glittering chandeliers and old-world appeal – and obviously it’s conveniently placed for transport, right beside the train station. It’s hosted the great and the good over the years, among them Laurel and Hardy, The Beatles and George Formby. It also attracted quite a lot of publicity when the Shakespearean actor Sir Henry Irving died on the main staircase, following a performance at the nearby Theatre Royal. He was attended to by his manager, no less famous a personage, Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula. (Peelhotels.co.uk/Midland-Hotel; from £70)

Oatlands Park, Surrey

Overlooking Weybridge’s Broadwater Lake, this was once the site of Henry VIII’s grand Tudor palace which he had redesigned for Anne of Cleeves – Elizabeth I, James I and Charles I also spent time here. Rebuilt as a Gothic mansion in the 18^th century, it has been a hotel since 1856, and has welcomed several notable guests over the years including the poet Edward Lear and writer Emile Zola. On 10 acres of gardens and wooded parkland, the hotel has 144 rooms and still sits close to royalty – Windsor Castle is just down the road. (Oatlands-Park-Hotel; from £72)

Buxton Crescent, Peak District

The 5^th Duke of Devonshire’s fashionable 18^th century Georgian crescent is home to the newest ‘old’ hotel on our list, opening later this year for the first time. The 81-room, five-star hotel, with renovated Assembly Rooms and rooftop pool, has a thermal spa built on the site of the original Roman Baths, situated over the main mineral water spring. A medieval place of pilgrimage and fashionable spa town in the 1700s, Buxton has one of only two sets of warm springs developed by the Romans in the UK – the other is at Bath. (Buxtoncrescent.com; from £155)

Mandarin Oriental, London

Once the 19^th century Hyde Park Court and Club, these days the 138 former bachelor flats, (along with the bachelors’ drawing, dining, billiard and smoking rooms) have been transformed into a very swish five-star hotel. Bette Davis, Cary Grant, Elizabeth Taylor and Gandhi have all stayed here, royalty has its own entrance opposite Hyde Park and Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret had dance lessons here as young girls. The Sultan of Zanzibar brought 12 goats to stay with him on his visit in 1929 and Rudolph Valentino stopped traffic when he stepped out on to the balcony to wave to several thousand screaming women on the footpath outside. Winston Churchill took refuge here during the Second World War and soldiers on leave from the trenches in World War 1 were given beds in ballroom if they had nowhere else to go. (MandarinOriental.com/London; from £740)

A version of this article was published in The Scotsman in summer 2020

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