June 6, 2021
Don’t despair at the green-list gloom — we still have Iceland, and it’s grand up north 10
Britain’s best
honeymoons Seeking romance? The UK has it all 6
2 June 6, 2021 The Sunday Times
Travel
WHY YOU CAN’T BEAT A DIP IN A CITY POOL LIZ EDWARDS
A
Commissioning editor, Travel s the warmer weather brought out the swimmers, so the footage this week of the new Sky Pool, below, at Embassy Gardens near Vauxhall in London brought out quite the range of responses — from dizziness and envy to indignation and outrage. The pool isn’t open to residents of the building’s shared-ownership housing, and its speedy installation seemed at odds with its developers’ failure to remove dangerous cladding from its block at New Providence Wharf before a fire there last month. But whatever the wrongs and rights of the 35m-high human aquarium, it did focus my mind on the unvarnished joy of the city swimming pool. The urban counterparts of all those backto-nature dunking spots have rather been overlooked lately. And even the keenest pond botherer has surely read enough about wild swimming — we’re probably OK for books, newspaper articles (yes, guilty) and social-media posts (ditto) . . . It’s time to shift focus. For one thing, a city pool is relatively faff-free. It’s ironic that the natural option requires more planning (you don’t have to consult tide timetables or a map to establish the safest exit point of a pool) and more kit (wetsuits, tow floats, bobble hats). You can save yourself the Dryrobe purchase when you have a changing room, with walls; you get to leave your belongings in a locker rather than a bush; and pools are more accessible — good luck getting to that secret bend in the River X or a hidden cove on the Y Coast in a wheelchair, or on public transport. The appeal of the city pool goes way beyond the practicalities, though. A couple of hours in the right one can be as reviving and rejuvenating as a mini holiday, not least because it comes minus the airport stress, let alone all the other nonsense associated with foreign travel these days. One of my favourite things to do on a day off is to go for a dip at the Oasis Sports Centre near Covent Garden. I think there are gyms and classes, and I’ve definitely seen an indoor pool, but my goggles are always trained on the outdoor one. The view from there is of the backs of flats and offices and the odd plane flying overhead, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it free of leaves, but nevertheless it’s 27.5m of aquatic heaven. Forty lengths and a loll in the sun with a good book lifts my spirits at least as much as a plunge into
an icy lake, and I don’t need a Thermos or hip flask to cope with the aftermath. Perhaps in winter I’m less inclined to linger poolside but the empty lanes and steam curling languidly up from the heated water work a magic of their own. The name of the place is key to the beauty of city pools: they are an oasis, a haven. You feel the peace and calm all the more because they come in such contrast to the beep-beep, quick-smart, rush-hour, don’t-stop pace of the city outside — it’s similar to that wondrous transition you feel when stepping from souk to riad. Sometimes that mini holiday might be part of another, actual holiday, and then the babushka-doll effect carries a thrill in itself. In Zurich last August my reward for prising myself out of bed early came in the form of having the Frauenbad at Stadthausquai almost to myself. The art nouveau timber bathing pool, built over the Limmat River, is a glorious place where women go to swim, natter and read (men can only come in once it’s transformed into an after-dark drinking spot). When I realised that my first length had been against the current, and that my muscles hadn’t atrophied in lockdown, I
A couple of hours in the right one can be as rejuvenating as a mini holiday could relax into enjoying my duck’s-eye view of the city. It was a sort of sightseeing, without the sore feet. I’ve done rather well for pools in Paris too. There’s the piscine at the Hotel Molitor, right, as fabulous for the stories linking it to the Life of Pi, Johnny Weissmuller and the original bikini as for its chic yellow, white and turquoise art deco looks. You have to be a hotel guest to use this pool but there are more democratic options in the French capital. The annual Paris Plages makes a beach of stretches of the Right Bank and the Bassin de la Villette, and Piscine Joséphine Baker is a wonderful pool floating in the river in the 13th arrondissement. You don’t have to be in Seine to swim here but it helps. I’ve had highs — in the pools on the 27th floor of the Crown Metropol in Melbourne (twinkly city views, far more compelling than the Gordon Ramsay restaurant downstairs) and the 118th floor of the Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong — and lows, including the pool in the former bank vault deep in the basement of Hotel de Rome in Berlin. I’ve no idea when my next overseas trip will be but even if I get no further than Reading this year, I’ll be fine — the Thames Lido there is a delight.
PARIS PISCINE
The Molitor pool was built in the French capital in 1929, and was hugely popular before falling into disrepair and closing in 1989. It became an open-air studio for artists, but was then demolished, before being rebuilt in its original form and reopened in 2014. It is now part of a hotel of the same name, with views of the Eiffel Tower from the rooftop restaurant.
YOUR VIEWS The best of this week’s emails, posts and comments
For more great articles, including a gallery of the world’s best hotel pools, see our digital editions
DIGITAL
Revival of the rails The feature by Peter Conradi (“Nod off in Paris and wake up in Nice”, last week) brought back happy memories, and the news that France is planning to reintroduce long-distance night trains is very welcome. Travelling by train is good for the environment because it can replace short-haul flights, and it also appeals to old romantics. The first night of our honeymoon, in March 1967, was spent on the Blue Train between Paris and Menton, in the south of France. It was in a six-berth compartment, shared with a passenger who drank beer all night and workers from eastern Europe — not the most romantic of journeys. But in the morning, when the Côte d’Azur came into view with the sun sparkling on the Mediterranean, we agreed that travelling on the night train was a splendid way to begin our marriage. I cannot wait to travel the route again and see what’s changed. I suppose it’s too much to hope that steam trains may also be reintroduced. Doug Goodman, London I had a memorable journey aboard the Blue Train early one year in the 1970s. It was magical to leave a damp winter in Yorkshire behind one day and wake up
to the sun and almond blossom of Provence just two days later. Chad Graftberry, via thetimes.co.uk I enjoyed your article by Mark Smith, aka the Man in Seat 61 (“Trains on track for a great revival”, last week). As a student living and studying in Russia in the early 1990s I frequently travelled between Moscow and St Petersburg on the Red Arrow overnight trains, and I have fond memories of those adventures. I also travelled extensively across Europe by rail. The most challenging and enriching trip I did by train was from Beijing to St Petersburg. I did it over three months, stopping in places such as Xian and crossing the Gobi Desert to Urumqi in Xinjiang province. We went over the Blue Mountains to Kazakhstan and rattled down to Almaty before journeying onwards to Uzbekistan and the magical cities of Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara. Finally we headed north through Russia, to Moscow and St Petersburg. One of the best things about train travel was the extraordinary chance to meet local people — the more off the beaten track I went, the more curious they were about me. BellaCiao, via thetimes.co.uk About eight years ago I decided that travelling across Europe by night train would be fun, and the route I came up with started in Bucharest and ended in London via Budapest, Vienna, Cologne and Brussels. It wasn’t just fun, it was
COVER PHOTOGRAPH: JOHNNY GREIG/GETTY IMAGES
The Sunday Times June 6, 2021 3
POSTCARD FROM...
CALIFORNIA Visitors are toasting their new-found freedoms in festive-feeling Napa and Sonoma, says Matt Villano
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COVID BLUES
Portugal is getting back to normality (“What are the latest Covid rules in Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Turkey and Croatia?”, last week). I have been living in the Algarve for several weeks and it’s total bliss, with hot, sunny weather and blue skies. I’m off to Spain next week, which is also casting off the Covid blues, according to my good friends. Keith Blair, via thetimes.co.uk I can’t be bothered with any of this, regardless of how up to date articles such as this are about the rules. I’m staying in the UK until I can have a foreign holiday that resembles one before Covid. Andrew Rathe, via thetimes.co.uk
FINDING NETHERLANDS
I enjoyed reading Andrew Eames’s article about sailing the Dutch section of the Wadden Sea (“Going Dutch”, last week). Of course Amsterdam is wonderful — it is the most beautiful city in the world — so if you’re going to Enkhuizen, the port where Eames boarded, rent a bike from Amsterdam to cycle to Durgerdam, then along the IJsselmeer to Enkhuizen, which is also a lovely city. The scenery and villages along this route are so beautiful and are not well known to foreigners. Lady Kaaskop, via thetimes.co.uk
DEUTSCHLAND UBER ALLES
Henning Wehn (“My Hols”, last week) is quite right about hotel quality being far better in Germany than in the UK. My work as a courier has taken me to numerous German hotels and a fair number of British ones, and Germany wins by a country mile. Stuart Shurlock, via thetimes.co.uk
WIN A TWO-NIGHT B&B STAY IN THE UK WITH ELITE HOTELS Congratulations to Doug Goodman, who wins a £250 voucher with the Eden Hotel Collection. For your chance to win a two-night B&B stay
with Elite Hotels (elitehotels.co.uk), plus a dinner and afternoon tea, email travel@sundaytimes.co.uk, tweet
@TimesTravel or comment on one of our stories at thetimes.co.uk. T&Cs: thesundaytimes.co.uk/ travelletters
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a life-changing experience. I fell in love with the countryside and the people of Romania on that trip (that’s one of the great things about rail travel — you really get to know people in a way that you don’t on a flight). Two years later I emigrated. Tim, via thetimes.co.uk
t’s a glorious Saturday afternoon in the California Wine Country city of Healdsburg, and the place is crawling with visitors. On Center Street a group of wellcoiffed women sit round an umbrellashaded table in front of Cartograph Wines and sip pinot noir made from grapes that grow near by. On a bench in front of a sweetshop named Noble Folk children and their parents devour homemade ice cream in flavours such as almond matcha and Lucky Charms. Near the gazebo on the town plaza two twentysomethings toss a Frisbee back and forth. Minus the face coverings the scene could be from any other weekend at any point in the past decade. The fact that it’s taking place after a long 15-month struggle with Covid-19 has given everyone in these parts reason to be hopeful. Wine Country, like most of California, is open for business, and tourists have been arriving in Sonoma and Napa counties in recent weeks — from all over the US and Europe — to toast their new-found freedoms. Tourism officials say that visitor numbers are at their highest since the pandemic started, up by as much as 230 per cent in some parts of the region. The nicest hotels — such as the brandnew, 130-room Montage at the north end of Healdsburg — are booking up quickly at upwards of £500 a night. This summer there might even be a way for UK travellers to get in on the fun, if Boris Johnson can convince President Biden at the G7 summit in Cornwall this week to agree to exempt double-vaccinated British and American travellers from quarantine restrictions. Here, Sonoma and Napa will do away with mask mandates and all other Covid-19 restrictions from June 15. “Everything is finally getting back to normal,” says Dustin Valette, a chef with his own eponymous restaurant in Healdsburg, and who is opening
Downtown Napa has the feel of a college town at weekends
A vineyard in Sonoma, where tastings, above, are back on travel itineraries
another place to eat this summer. “I love to see it.” In Napa, the more famous of the sister wine regions, “normal” has been the norm for the past couple of months. At weekends downtown Napa has the feel of a college town, with crowds of people (extra-animated after a few glasses of wine) gathering along a new pedestrian-only stretch of Main Street or loitering outside tentlike dining areas in front of their favourite restaurants. Up valley, where hundreds of wineries dot a landscape lined with vineyards, traffic is back to pre-pandemic levels, and by-appointmentonly tastings are filling up — indoors and out. Visitors aren’t only living for the present; they’re banking on the future. Every year Napa plays host to a threeday music festival named BottleRock. Last year’s event was postponed and rescheduled for this September, and with headliners including Stevie Nicks and the Foo Fighters, tickets sold out in an hour. Don’t worry, though — there is still plenty of fun to be had. Take the tasting experience at the cult favourite Memento Mori winery in south Napa, for instance. At the modern man-cave-vibe tasting room visitors are greeted with a flute of bubbles from the Champagne Paul Launois portfolio, then dive into a flight of different cabernet sauvignon wines, from selections that might include the 2018 Memento Mori Vine Hill Ranch. Over the course of each visit staff regale guests with the story of how the winery was born — three longtime friends who battled life-threatening illness and other adversities came together to create a brand that celebrates every moment. Given our collective experience during the pandemic, this narrative is a good reminder of what matters most in life. Matt Villano is a journalist based in Sonoma, northern California
The Sunday Times June 6, 2021 5
What was announced on Thursday? The government was expected to add to its green list of destinations deemed safe for people to visit without having to quarantine or self-isolate on return to the UK. However, amid concern about new variants and rising case numbers overseas, it did not add any territories to the list. What happened to Portugal? The only mainstream holiday destination on the original green list was downgraded to amber, meaning that from 4am on Tuesday holidaymakers returning from the country to the UK must quarantine for ten days. They will also be required to take PCR tests at home on the second and eighth days after arrival. Those wishing to reduce their period of self-isolation can take an additional test on the fifth day. A negative result from this would permit them to go out in public again. Arrivals may not use the NHS for any tests. What happens if I have a holiday booked? It may still go ahead. Travel companies largely rely on Foreign Office travel advice and will only cancel holidays if it advises against all but essential travel to a particular destination. At the time of going to press the Foreign Office had not changed its advice for Portugal, meaning that holiday companies may decide to continue operating trips to the country. What if I don’t want to quarantine? In the past “disinclination to travel” would not have been
WHAT ARE THE NEW RULES FOR
SUMMER? Carvoeiro in the Algarve. Portugal is now on the government’s amber list
Portugal is off the green list and our holidays are in disarray. Here’s everything you need to know. By Ben Clatworthy a worthy excuse to rearrange a holiday but times have changed. With official government advice urging people not to travel to amber countries, holiday companies are being flexible in allowing people to rearrange their trips. Operators will allow you to defer to a later date, while some may be willing to offer a refund, but there is no legal obligation for them to do this. What about flights? Airlines will be able to continue operating services to Portugal. Unless your flight is cancelled there is no
automatic right to a refund. However, like tour operators, many are allowing passengers to alter their departure dates without charge or claim a voucher to be redeemed against a later flight. I still want to travel. What are the requirements? You will be required to present a negative PCR test result when boarding your flight to mainland Portugal, Madeira or the Azores. On return you must also present a negative test, taken in the past 72 hours, at the UK border. You must then self-isolate at home
for a maximum of ten days, as explained above. These rules apply regardless of vaccination status. Can I get insurance to travel? As long as the Foreign Office does not red-list a destination you will be able to buy a standard travel insurance policy to protect you and your holiday. However, beware of exclusions. While many providers now offer some form of Covid-19 cancellation cover, very few will cover you if you test positive before departure
and have to self-isolate. Look for a comprehensive policy with medical and cancellation cover for coronavirus, along with scheduled-airline-failure cover. Make sure to take out the policy at the time of booking, not departure. Which.co.uk has an extensive guide to Covid-19 travel insurance policies. Where do I obtain the tests on my return? You must buy a package from a government-approved provider. Analysis by The Times has found that on average Britons face paying
NISANGHA/GETTY IMAGES
Travel £141 for a test, with some day-two and day-eight packages costing as much as £399. The list of approved providers can be found at gov.uk. Will there be queues at the UK border this summer? Possibly. But only if more destinations are added to the green list before the school holidays. Documents seen this week by The Times revealed that even a modest expansion of the list could make the delays much worse, with modelling by the Department for Transport estimating that if demand rises to about 20 per cent of pre-pandemic levels — or 80,000 arrivals a day — there could be waiting times of up to four hours at Heathrow and about three hours at other airports. When will the green list next be reviewed? Ministers are reviewing the lists every three weeks, although there will also be three formal assessments in which the thresholds for green, amber and red will be scrutinised; these will take place on June 28, as well as no later than July 31 and October 1. When will more countries go green? Travel companies and airlines have their fingers crossed that more countries will be added to the green list at the end of the month. This will be crucial for the school holidays. However, after the miserable review last week, travel industry bosses said that consumer confidence had been “crushed for summer”.
6 June 6, 2021 The Sunday Times
Travel UK
GREAT BRITISH
HONEYMOONS Boris and Carrie might be waiting until next year for an exotic honeymoon but the UK offers the perfect escape for newlyweds, says Lara King
O
ur honeymoon was the ultimate tailor-made multi-destination holiday. We slept in secluded woodland lodges, strolled on deserted beaches, feasted on fresh local produce, watched spectacular sunsets and soaked up the culture and history of places we’d never visited before. Yes, you guessed it, we stayed in England. With more than 260,000 weddings postponed since the start of the pandemic, on top of the 280,000 that usually take place each year in the UK, couples are queueing up to walk down the aisle as restrictions are lifted over the summer. But what about the romantic getaway after the nuptials? Even for countries on the UK government’s green list, navigating the red tape required to get in makes the wedding seating plan seem like a breeze in comparison. And the rules are liable to change at short notice — for better or for worse. Many couples are holding out hope. One bride-to-be tells me that she’s still set on a road trip from Lake Como to the Amalfi Coast in July, and “the only thing that’s changed is that my spreadsheet now has a column for cancellation policies”. Others have been forced to hedge their bets. “We have a three-week trip to California booked for straight after our September wedding — and a back-up trip to the Cotswolds,” says Miki Vyse, 30, from West Yorkshire. But why worry about swab tests for the Seychelles or self-isolating after St Kitts?
The truth is that Britain is the best place for a honeymoon — as my husband and I learnt just before Covid struck. We divided our two weeks between Norfolk, Yorkshire and the Cotswolds. We already spoke the language, had the currency and didn’t have to worry about whether my passport was in my married name or not. But the benefits went beyond that. Our wedding may have been the happiest day of our lives, but it was also one of the most exhausting — and the last thing we wanted after our 4am finish was a dash to the airport. So we checked into a grade II listed gatehouse on the Holkham Estate, where we married. We got to enjoy beach walks, pub meals and postparty debriefs with friends and family who had travelled from all over to be with us. And, important for us, our dog could be part of it too. It’s no surprise that couples’ top honeymoon requirements are a romantic, luxurious place to stay, a good climate and a taste of the unfamiliar. OK, Britain may not be the safest bet on the climate front, but it does a good line in the rest. We rambled in the idyllic Cotswolds countryside, explored historical sights and undid our prewedding diets in spectacular style, with particularly memorable meals at Grantley Hall in Ripon, Yorkshire, and the Old Swan in Minster Lovell, Oxfordshire. But some of our honeymoon highlights were things that no luxury itinerary would have featured, such as fish and chips for breakfast at the beach where I spent my
£4,645
THE AVERAGE COST OF A HONEYMOON IN 2019
LUIS HOLDEN; ASHLEY COOMBES; MATT PORTEOUS
The Sunday Times June 6, 2021 7
Stay at Arcadia Glamping in Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, left, or charter a yacht in Jersey, right. Lara and her husband with their dog on their wedding day, top left
childhood holidays or the party that my in-laws arranged for us a week after our wedding. Of course long-haul adventures might win more likes on social media, but they come at a price — a survey by the wedding website Hitched showed that in 2019 an average of £4,645 was spent by UK couples on their honeymoons. There is an ecological cost too. The Maldives remains the most popular destination for newlyweds, but all those 11,000-mile round trips are leaving large carbon footprints
on the archipelago’s white sand beaches. So perhaps it’s little surprise that the British honeymoon is showing signs of a post-Covid comeback. Kuoni added holidays in the UK and Ireland to its collection for the first time in May last year, and has found them “very much in demand” among honeymooners into 2022. Couples still considering a break in Britain this year may want to move quickly, though. Ellie Austin-Williams, 28, from southwest London, postponed her wedding from Continued on page 8 →
260,000
WEDDINGS POSTPONED SINCE THE START OF THE PANDEMIC
8 June 6, 2021 The Sunday Times
Travel UK → Continued from page 7 October 2020 to September this year and has planned a honeymoon in Seville (on the amber list at present) because “given how difficult it is to book anywhere in the UK, we figured we’d roll the dice on Spain”. For others a British honeymoon has proved an unexpected silver lining to a year of Covid cancellations. Andrea Michael, 32, from Hertfordshire, says: “We’ve moved our wedding from last August to this August, and
have shifted our honeymoon from Mauritius to Cornwall. It means we’re doing a fancy trip for a third of the price, and we’ll save the Mauritius trip for an anniversary.” As for me and my husband, one of the best things about honeymooning in Britain was that we were able to return to our secluded woodland lodge for our first anniversary — you couldn’t do that on a budgetblower in the Maldives. And that once-in-a-lifetime longhaul adventure? Well, we’ve got the rest of our lives for that.
FIVE LOVED-UP BREAKS PRIVATE SPA IN THE LAKE DISTRICT
A spa suite at the Gilpin Hotel, near Windermere
At the Gilpin’s spa suites the hot tub, plunge pool, sauna and steam room are for just the two of you. Spa therapists can come to you for in-suite pampering, and you’ll find sunloungers for sunny days, a fireplace for chilly nights, and a fully stocked cocktail bar and wine fridge for, well, any time. If you do make it out the family-run hotel also has a Michelin-starred restaurant dishing up the finest Cumbrian fare, and 100 acres of woodland to explore. Windermere is a five-minute drive away. Details B&B spa suites from £690 (thegilpin.co.uk)
SECLUSION IN SCOTLAND
If wide open spaces are calling, it’s hard to beat Scotland. Kuoni has experienced huge demand from honeymooners for its new 516-mile Premier North Coast self-drive tour (kuoni.co.uk). But if you would rather veer off the beaten track, book into Arcadia Glamping Cabins in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, where you can soak in your own fairy-light-illuminated, sunken outdoor bath and toast marshmallows on the wood-burning chiminea. With a sculpture trail and the West Highland Way to explore. Details Self-catering doubles from £170; minimum two-night stay (thewanderlist.uk)
ECO-FRIENDLY INDULGENCE IN CORNWALL
At the Scarlet, an adultsonly hotel, you can sip champagne in a log-fired, clifftop hot tub, above, or settle into an outdoor wood-barrel sauna and watch the waves break on Mawgan Porth beach below. With solar panels, a biomass boiler, rainwater harvesting and even bedroom slippers made from recycled plastic, the hotel’s green credentials are second to none. But it’s the spectacular sea views that stand out — whether from the indoor or outdoor pools, the restaurant, the bar or the floor-to-ceiling windows in the 37 bedrooms. There’s also an Ayurvedic spa with canvas relaxation pods big enough for two. Details B&B doubles from £245 (scarlethotel.co.uk)
HIDEAWAY ON THE ‘HONEYMOON ISLAND’
THE HIGH LIFE IN HAMPSHIRE
For the height of luxury, why not try a treehouse? Chewton Glen’s treetop suites may sit 35ft from the New Forest floor, but there’s not a rickety rope ladder in sight. Instead you’ll find a cosy cabin, above, with spectacular valley views, as well as wood-burner, underfloor heating and an outdoor hot tub. The suites are eco-friendly, with rainwater harvesting and low-energy lighting. Honeymooners can book in-room spa treatments and have food hampers delivered, while the main hotel offers a pool, a ninehole golf course, tennis courts and a croquet lawn, plus two restaurants. Details Treehouse suite with breakfast hamper from £1,150 (chewtonglen.com)
For honeymooners with hearts set on an island getaway, Jersey has officially reopened to visitors from the UK mainland. Dubbed the “honeymoon island” in the 1950s, it attracted so many newlyweds that hotels struggled to find enough double beds to cope. There are no such problems today at Longueville Manor, a luxury 30-bedroom hotel in St Helier with heated outdoor pool, above, walk-in wine cellar, spa, awardwinning restaurant and 24 beehives producing fresh honey for breakfast. Charter the hotel’s yacht for champagne with your sealspotting, and check into the Cottage Suite, a 500-yearold retreat with oak beams thought to have come from Spanish Armada ships. Details B&B Cottage Suite from £800 or doubles from £200 (longuevillemanor.com). Fly to St Helier
10 June 6, 2021 The Sunday Times
Travel Green list Don’t despair — Iceland is still on the green list, and its less-travelled north has all the scenic drama of the south without any of the crowds, says Felicity Cloake Arctic Ocean Siglufjordur Arskogssandur Hauganes Akureyri
ICELAND Reykjavik
Eyjafjardarsveit 20 miles
200 miles
L
anding in Iceland feels like touching down on another planet, and not just because of the otherworldly landscape around the airport. Simply watching the world go by from my room at a Reykjavik hotel while I await the result of my free PCR test is a genuine thrill. After being given the all-clear a few hours later I gawp at everything — the colourful corrugated houses, the cinnamon buns, even the cute heart-shaped traffic lights — gulping down the glorious strangeness of it all like lungfuls of fresh air. However, as exotic as the area around Reykjavik might be to someone who has barely left her postcode since early December, it’s hardly terra incognita. Its sights — the milky azure waters of the Blue Lagoon, the exuberant spume of the Strokkur geyser and the thundering Gullfoss waterfall — are familiar from countless breathless travel shows and Tube adverts. As a result, nearly 80 per cent of visitors to Iceland last year spent their time in the south of the country, home of this so-called Golden Circle of attractions. Yearning for something wilder, I board a small plane north to the town of Akureyri, the capital of the Arctic coast, along with a girls’ football team heading home after a match and a man with a beard plaited down to his navel. I’m the only non-Icelandic speaker on the plane. Looking down over the centre of the country, I appreciate why my cab driver had been momentarily flummoxed when I’d commented on the vast emptiness of the road between the airport and the capital — that was nothing compared to this. The wilderness out here is extreme,
broken up by lakes and rivers, valleys and peaks, but with rarely a track or any other sign of human activity. The least densely populated country in Europe, it was also one of the last to be settled, and it still feels very much like a work in progress. The north is one of the country’s earliest-populated regions but, archaeology aside, there’s little visible evidence of its 9th-century Viking colonisers thanks to the Icelandic preference for building with timber, despite the lack of trees. Yet, in contrast to the almost otherworldly weirdness of the south, the scenery of the north feels ancient, rooted in the centuries-old sagas still told to children today. The coastline is as dramatic as the deep blue of the fjords and the snowy ridges that tower above them, hugged by swooping roads that turn every drive into a cinematic car advert. It’s the kind of place where the hire company reminds you to pull over to take a photo, rather than simply stopping in the middle of the highway. Perhaps unsurprisingly this is a place that inspires fierce loyalty. On a whalewatching expedition out of the village of Hauganes my guide, Julius Freyr Theodorsson, tells me proudly that he’s the 32nd generation of his family to live in this spot and then shows me the proof on his phone (the national database of genealogy is one of the country’s most popular websites). Like Siggi Olafsson, whom I meet at the Kaldi brewery in nearby Arskogssandur, Theodorsson tried life in the capital (population 120,000) but soon came home — as Olafsson says with a shudder: “Reykjavik wasn’t for me.” Fishing still dominates life here; Elvar Reykjalin, who spent 30 years at sea, tells me that without it there would be no Iceland. He’s one of the last to salt cod in the traditional fashion, working in a shed plastered with framed photographs of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather bringing in the catch, just as his brother does today. There are pictures of his grandchildren learning the trade too. It takes guts to turn a fish factory into a visitor attraction, but with it becoming harder to make a living from small boats many locals have had to adapt to stay in the place they love. The Olaffsons started
WHAT ARE THE RULES? l Travellers from the UK who have
received two vaccine doses are asked to provide proof of this, either through the NHS app or with a letter that can be obtained by calling 119, or 0808 196 8565 for those in Scotland.
l Fully vaccinated travellers are also required to take a PCR test on arrival and quarantine in their hotel room while awaiting the result (usually a few hours).
l Those who aren’t fully vaccinated
must present a negative PCR test that is no more than 72 hours old and quarantine for six days, taking further PCR tests on the second and sixth days after arrival.
l All visitors must register before travelling to the country.
l When in Iceland facemasks must
be worn in places where social distancing is not possible or ventilation is poor, such as on public transport and in cinemas. Otherwise they can be removed.
l Travellers from Britain do not need to quarantine or self-isolate on their return from Iceland.
l More information on travelling
to Iceland, including the pre-arrival registration process, can be found at visit.covid.is. Katie Gatens
NORTHERN
ENLIGHT
Siglo Hotel, in Siglufjordur, right; Felicity Cloake, far right
TENMENT
MARC ESPOLET /GETTY IMAGES; RAGNAR TH. SIGURDSSON/ARCTIC IMAGES; ALAMY; NORTH SAILING; FELICITY CLOAKE
The Sunday Times June 6, 2021 11
Siglufjordur town, left; outside the museum at Akureyri, the unofficial capital of the north, above; whale spotting, right
Everything in the north is just better. I’m sorry, it’s a fact Iceland’s first microbrewery in 2006, after Siggi’s father was badly injured at sea — as well as running tours they now have a bar, a restaurant and even a beer spa (an enterprising idea inspired by a trip to Prague). Similarly, Whale Watching Hauganes was set up by fishermen in response to increasing tourist interest in their workplace; in doing so they’ve brought new life to this strip of houses beside a spectacular black-sand beach. Reykjalin tells me that he was widely mocked a few years ago for opening a restaurant next to his fish-salting shed. “They’re not laughing now,” he says with some satisfaction as he shows me around his latest ventures — a greenhouse heated with geothermal energy to grow produce for the kitchen of the nearby Baccala Bar and a quartet of steaming waterfront hot tubs. Less fancy, perhaps, than the striking new Sky Lagoon on the outskirts of the capital but at about £6 a visit (paid into an honesty box) it’s considerably
cheaper — and it’s arguably more fun to run into the Arctic Ocean between dips than to cool off in a plunge pool. The beauty of the north draws in newcomers too. The American chef Matt Wickstrom fell in love with Iceland and its cuisine while working at Dill, the country’s first Michelin-starred restaurant, and is now cooking “new Icelandic” (everything from meatball pizza to traditional sheep-dung-smoked cod’s roe with seaweed sourdough) at the Lamb Inn, a farmstay in the unusually lush valley of Eyjafjardarsveit. His wife, Aurora, is in charge of the drinks, producing homemade aquavit infused with ingredients such as moss, rowanberry and dill, served alongside local beers and imported wines. Gisli Egill Hrafnsson, a photographer who runs the Brimslod Atelier, a beachside guesthouse that also offers food-focused workshops and tours, expresses his frustration that there isn’t more investment in promoting the north
as a destination, given the notorious overcrowding at southern sights in high season. Indeed, the closest I come to a crowd all week is when a bunch of heliskiers join me in the outdoor hot tub at the stylish Siglo Hotel, a low-rise green building in Siglufjordur that will be familiar to fans of the Nordic noir series Trapped. Reluctant as I am to take sides here, having spotted three humpback whales and a porpoise in less than an hour, caught a cod before my line hit the bottom of the fjord and enjoyed more sunshine in a day than I’ve had at home for weeks, I’m inclined to agree with Theodorsson when he says, gesturing at the world around our boat: “Everything in the north is just better. I’m sorry, it’s a fact.” Felicity Cloake was a guest of Discover the World. Seven nights’ B&B self-drive costs from £1,492pp, including car hire and domestic flights (discover-the-world.com). Fly to Reykjavik
The Sunday Times June 6, 2021 15
Travel UK MARTIN MORRELL; MARK BAUER/ALAMY
A
nyone opening an eagerly awaited hotel off the A303 these days is, it seems, obliged to have had an association with Soho House, the celebrated private club cum hotel group founded by Nick Jones. You hardly need the nose of Ted Hastings in Line of Duty to join the dots in the case of the Bradley Hare in west Wiltshire. The cool pub with rooms opens tomorrow, and it’s a reinvention of the dilapidated Somerset Arms in Maiden Bradley, the ancestral seat of the Duke of Somerset and run in conjunction with his estate, Bradley Park. Let’s start with Ben Jones, the general manager. No, he’s not a relative of Nick but he did spend four years as restaurant manager at Babington House, Soho House’s exclusive country retreat, so he knows exactly how to put the trickiest of guests at ease. Then there’s James Thurstan Waterworth, the pub’s codirector. He is a former European design director for Soho House, so that’s the gorgeous interiors sorted. Add Dave, a skilful barman, and Rebecca, a therapist with magic hands (both of whom are also ex-Babington) and the requisite retox/ detox components are in the bag too. As I arrive Ben, Dave and the Hare’s other director, the catering entrepreneur Andrew Kelly, are “workshopping” cocktails — which sounds so much more professional than getting a bit tipsy before lunch service. Always a team player, I do some “focus grouping” of the seasonal sour, for which egg white transforms gin, rhubarb syrup and lime into a flirty cloud of tart perfection. It is a drink that could lead you astray, particularly in a bar such as this. Thurstan Waterworth has done a great job of creating an inviting lair that encourages guests to linger for a dangerously long time. Admittedly the backdrop is the ubiquitous double act of elegant Georgian proportions with Farrow & Ball paint chart and bare floorboards, but here it is layered with interesting fabrics, from Perde kilim rugs to chairs covered in pink antique saris. The quirky fittings and abstract art from the St Ives School also help to elevate the space to something more soulful. The pub is on the Glasto side of proceedings — a place to hang out in scruffs and wellies and chat to the locals. You’ll want to iron something for the more glamorous dining room, though, with its candlelit tables in intimate window alcoves and dining nooks warmed by a roaring fire. Controversially Jake Shantos, the Hare’s chef, is not ex-Soho House, but he has worked in the Botanical Rooms restaurant at the Newt in Somerset, the best country house hotel in the UK, so I’ll let him off. First I have a date at the teeny Potting Shed spa, which is a stroll along Church Street to a spot in the grounds of Bradley Park. If Richard Curtis did spas they’d look like this — a hobbit house built into the boundary wall, sweet-scented wisteria around the door and a mossy treatment room. My facial is reassuringly right-on: organic, vegan, eco-friendly — and it is also absolutely fantastic. Sadly my country walk is less inspiring. Considering Maiden Bradley is within the West Wiltshire Downs area of outstanding natural beauty, I don’t find anything beyond averagely pretty. Parish councillors must have dozed off during their planning meetings, judging from some of the houses, and the main road is surprisingly busy. However, the worldclass gardens of Stourhead, the Hauser & Wirth art gallery in Bruton and the independent shops of Frome are within 15 minutes’ drive, so if you like distractions they are on hand. I am content to while away time in my
The pub is a place to hang out in scruffs and wellies and chat to the locals
WILTSHIRE SETS THE
BAR HIGH
The former Somerset Arms boozer in Maiden Bradley has been given a Soho House-style makeover — and it’s bound to please the punters, says Susan d’Arcy Room 12, left; the dining room, above; Hamilton Weston wallpaper in one of the bedrooms, top right; the West Wiltshire Downs, below
Frome
A359 Bradley Hare Bruton Stourhead 5 miles
room. There are a dozen of them at the Hare, and they are all different, with a contemporary bias — seven over the pub and the others in the Coach House next door. Thurstan Waterworth and his wife, Scarlett (a former lead designer at Soho House, natch), are antiques junkies, so each bedroom is furnished with their finds over the years, from 18th-century candelabras to vintage South African rugs repurposed as bedheads. His favourite rooms are “snuggy” No 2 (from £115, B&B), for its garden views and Georgian-inspired floral Hamilton Weston wallpaper, and the light and spacious No 12 (from £175, B&B), which has an eye-catching storage chest made from a hollowed-out tree trunk and a freestanding bath with room for two. At dinner I join a mix of tweedy locals (I suspect most residents of Maiden Bradley had their second vaccinations some time ago) and Thurstan Waterworth’s super-trendy design team, down from London to do some “road testing”. Everyone seems equally comfortable, and my smoked aubergine, parsley salad and flatbread (£6) followed by pork ribeye, hispi and burnt cauliflower (£18) are plate-lickingly good. Some of those vegetables may have been grown by my fellow diners because the pub operates a barter system in a drive to woo back villagers who had more or less abandoned the old boozer. Neville Dean, who lives opposite, explains that previous landlords were a colourful bunch, including a former male stripper who served pints wearing nothing but a butcher’s apron and a mischievous grin. Guess what? He was ex-Soho too — the district of London that is. Susan d’Arcy was a guest of the Bradley Hare, where B&B doubles cost from £115 (thebradleyhare.co.uk)
18 June 6, 2021 The Sunday Times
Travel POLA DAMONTE /GETTY IMAGES; JAMES SHAW/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
MY HOLS NICOLA ADAMS
The Olympic gold medallist trained in Miami and swam with a shark in the Maldives When I was growing up in Leeds my family and I used to spend the school n New summer holidays in y— York. It was a bit of a novelty, really the kids in my school were mostly going camping, while me and my mum, dad y year and brother went to America every to visit relatives. I remember it wass always very hot and we’d go to all the sights — the Empire State Building,, Statue of Liberty and Twin Towerss — but the theme parks were my favourite. We’d take the subway h, to Coney Island, right by the beach, ed and have a lot of fun. The supersized e portions of pizza and burgers were incredible. I was never able to finish a meal. During my career I was lucky enough to travel what feels like everywhere in the world, but one of the best places I went as part of a boxing team was the 2010 world championships in Barbados — thatt was absolutely amazing. We did a warm-weather training camp in Miami before flying to Barbados. Everyone on the team wanted to be at that tournament — I wonder why! I’ve never seen so many coaching staff for so few boxers. I remember sitting down to a
COMPETITION WIN A LUXURY BREAK FOR TWO IN LONDON AT THE GORING
WHERE WAS I? “I do love a tuna sandwich,” Friend sighed as he unpacked our lunch. “You too?” “Sometimes,” I told him. “Oh come on. Good ol’ tunny: yes or no?” he insisted. All right then, yes. Friend handed me a sandwich. “Which makes me think we should visit a museum,” he said. “What do you reckon?” “Maybe.” Usually I love a good museum. But today I was tempted by an enigmatic castle in this market town. Friend rolled his eyes. “Museum: yes or no?” he asked. OK, yes. “Final question,” Friend said. “Direct or scenic route?” “Scenic,” I told him. So instead of driving southeast we detoured. Four miles south-southwest of the castle we skirted a racing venue, first officially used for that purpose in 1948. Two miles south of that we made a pitstop at a National Trust garden, nibbling at the edge of its 250 acres.
South Beach in Miami, where Nicola Adams trained for the 2010 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships breakfast of mangoes ma and tasting them just so much better than the — they were jus ones I’d eaten at a home, it blew my mind. After training w we’d go running down to the sea for a swim s — we even took jet skis out an and went snorkelling. I got so close to stingrays and turtles; it was aw awesome. Tha That’s one of the things that I love about holidays — seeing diffe different wildlife. On a trip to Tha Thailand I visited the Elephant Hill Hills sanctuary at Khao Sok, wh which was really cool. You ge get to feed the elephants and w wash them in a river. You ca stay in a floating cabin can on a big lake and go hiking th through the jungle. I am qu adventurous in that quite re respect, and I like to see the cu culture too. I know it’s a bit of a cliché but probably p the most amazing I place I’ve been is the Maldives. It was one of those holidays where you could re relax, and if you didn’t want
Finally we headed eastsoutheast. “Why is there a fishing museum so far inland?” I mused en route. Friend laughed. “It wasn’t that kind of tuna, mein Freund,” he explained, which was much too cryptic for me. Still, I was delighted when we arrived at a park, 12 miles from the garden. I’d wanted to see it for years. “Sorry. We’re not here for the main attraction,” Friend said. Finally I snapped. “Does sightseeing really have to be this binary?” I gasped. “Today it does,” he said, and led me to a museum next door. Opened in 2007, it’s best known for a groundbreaking device, the first of which was used 77 years ago. Even I had to admit it was a colossal achievement. Sean Newsom
THE QUESTIONS 1 What is the name of the racing venue? 2 What is the name of the museum?
to move for a week you wouldn’t have to. What I loved most about the Maldives, though, was that almost all the wildlife there is underwater, so you have to go diving or snorkelling to make the most of it. It was so nice to get up in the morning and walk down some little steps from the villa to the sea, and see turtles, dolphins and sharks. I even saw a guitarfish, which is apparently very rare, so I was very happy about that. I learnt the names of all the fish and felt incredibly lucky to be able to see the animals in their natural habitat. When I was travelling for boxing there was a lot of pressure on going to bed early, eating the right food and keeping to a strict training schedule. I couldn’t see as much of the countries I visited as I wanted because most of the time I was in a gym or preparing for a competition. Now that I’ve retired I’m able to go back to those places and experience the culture, have a little bit of fun and chill out. When I returned to Miami after retiring I spent time at the beach, went clubbing and ate some really good food — with
boxing being a weight-controlled sport the nutrition was very precise and very strict. To be able to go back there and eat in some really good Cuban restaurants and learn how to salsa dance was brilliant. I tried Cuban cigars — I wasn’t really a fan, to be honest. I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about, but when in Rome . . . As for holiday calamities, I have turned up to an airport without my passport — that was a nightmare. It was before a flight back to Scotland to present a BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, and I’d left everything at home. I eventually got my suit on just in time to hand out the award. It was touch and go, and everybody was sweating, but it worked out in the end. Interview by Katie Gatens Nicola Adams OBE, 38, is a double Olympic boxing gold medal-winner and lives in Leeds with her partner, Ella Baig. You can watch Adams on Bear Grylls’s Wild Weekend on ITV Hub
showcases lobsters from Port Isaac, Della Vite prosecco from the Delevingne sisters and decor by the British beachwear company Love Brand & Co. From August 16 to 31 Teddy the Shetland will be The Goring’s “Pony in Residence”. For details visit thegoring.com. The prize must be taken before May 25, 2022, subject to availability and excluding blackout periods (thesunday times.co.uk/wherewasi).
HOW TO ENTER THE PRIZE The winner and guest will stay for two nights, B&B, in a Belgravia Suite at The Goring, near Buckingham Palace. It was opened in 1910 by Otto Goring, and is the only five-star hotel in London still owned and run by the family that built it. Since 2016 its restaurant, The Dining Room,
has held a Michelin star, and the prize includes one set-menu dinner for two here (excluding drinks). From June 14 to 20 Rick Stein is bringing a splash of the Cornish coast to The Goring’s leafy garden with a pop-up seafood restaurant and barbecue. It’s part of the hotel’s summer celebration, Lobster & Fizz, which
Only one entry per person, at thesundaytimes.co.uk/ wherewasi by Wednesday. Normal Times Newspapers rules apply. No correspondence will be entered into.
LAST WEEK’S PRIZE The answers are Eglinton Castle and the Irvine Golf Club. Kate Andreopoulos of Oxfordshire wins a luxurious city break for two at Rosewood London.