Sri Lanka tours have become one of the World’s most popular holiday choices.
This holiday hotspot seemingly has it all – Charming people with diverse religious and cultural backgrounds. The island and the landscape of Sri Lanka is as diverse as its people and I think this is what has been the major pull.
Spanning 430 km North to South and with a width of 225 km, Sri Lanka Holidays offer so much.
From the idyllic coastline that stretches a lengthy 1340 km to Sri Lanka’s tea country, where the landscape is dramatically different with lush surroundings and temperate forests, there is much to see and do.
Tea Country
Safari seems the way forward. Asian specialists, cazenove+loyd like to do things a little differently. Why safari in a battered, bumpy four x four when you can take to the skies and really get to see Sri Lanka…all of it.
From Colombo, the private Bell Jet Ranger helicopter heads for Kandy, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one corner of Sri Lanka’s cultural triangle.
The other two corners, the ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa in the north can be circled in a few hours by helicopter, giving passengers a clear aerial view of the ancient ruins. The helicopter lands next to the UNESCO World Heritage site, Sigiriya.
Sigiriya
From the north, it is just a one hour flight to Sri Lanka’s Tea country. Clients stay in a converted tea plantation bungalow and can visit local tea factories and explore the countryside by foot, bike or raft.
Galle, the most important town in the south of Sri Lanka, is the final stop on the safari. The flight from the Highlands to Galle takes in the sights of the Kothmale reservoir, local waterfalls and the sacred Adam’s Peak which contains the footprint of Buddha.
Fly over Adam’s Peak at sunrise and witness the distinctive triangular shadow the mountain casts on the surrounding plain.
View From Adams Peak
An unbelievable island offering mile after mile of Seductive beaches, cultural heritage sites, differing landscapes of Mountains to lush green lagoons and leafy forests and waterfalls and rivers bursting with suitably diverse organisms.
It has to be seen by air, surely the only way to take in all this Island has to offer.
A five night flying safari with cazenove+loyd (http://www.cazloyd.com 020 7384 2332) costs from 3,455 per person based on four people travelling, as part of a tailormade itinerary. The price includes a night at Kandy House, two nights at Lavender House in the Highlands and two nights at Galle Fort Hotel on a bed and breakfast basis with private helicopter flights throughout. The itinerary does not include international flights.
The Magical and mystical Cornwall has so much to offer. Every time I have visited Cornwall, It has been memorable.
For such a location, I prefer to rent cottages instead of a Hotel. This is where there has been a slight issue.
More times than I would prefer, there has been an element of “roughing it”. Maybe that has been down to my choice of rental cottages in Cornwall, maybe it has been down to the standard available.
This problem has been picked up by the team behind Simply Time in Cornwall. Experienced in self catering in Cornwall, The Ogg family have inserted luxury and quality into their 3 cottages USP’s. They have created the ultimate Cornwall rent cottage in 3 variations.
Here’s the Oggs – “We learned from first hand experience what makes or breaks a self-catering holiday. We decided that you shouldn’t have to comprise on quality, style or location and have strived to combine the best of everything in our properties. Our approach is based on the levels of service and hospitality we expect ourselves.”
Too right.
The three cottages are located in Mid Cornwall, in the Historic and picturesque port town of Charlestown, complete with harbour and sea views. For perfect holidays cottages Cornwall can offer no more luxurious than these.
Extensive renovation and thoughtful interior design has resulted in 3 cottages suitable for those with exacting standards. The finish is professional and makes for three homely, functional, highly presentable, Luxury Cornish holiday lets.
Differing from most Cornish rentals, each cottage has its own garden and outdoor eating space. Two of the cottages are next door to each other, whilst the third is a couple of doors away.
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Posted by Chantelle on Wed 1st September 2010 at 01:08 PM, Filed in Luxury Hotels
Afternoon tea always seems like such a relaxing and deliciously appealing way to spend an afternoon, as it’s a quintessentially British pastime, and there’s no better place to be than in The Lanesborough. Aspleys at The Lanesborough has launched London’s first tea sommelier service to strengthen their reputation as the best place in London to have afternoon tea and we were invited to sample it. We arrived early so we were able to lounge around in the Withdrawing Room surrounded by sumptuous furnishings for half an hour or so before being seated for afternoon tea, which started promptly at 4.00pm.
Aspleys
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Beefeater Gin, the only international premium gin distilled in the heart of London, is one of the city’s best kept secrets. As part of London Open City the Beefeater Gin distillery will be opening its doors exclusively to the public on 18 and 19 September on a complimentary basis for pre-booked tours. Lussorian readers would do well to sample the drink, Beefeater has been awarded the trophy for World’s Best Gin more times than any other in the last 10 years by the International Wine and Spirits Competition, the most prestigious awards organisation for wines and spirits.
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Posted by Paul Handley on Wed 1st September 2010 at 08:02 AM, Filed in Luxury Clothes
With Summer drawing to a close for another year, It’s time to look ahead.
It’s time to pack away your shorts for another year. It’s time to invest wisely. Soon it will be cold. How do you look good and stay warm at the same time? For Women cashmere is the answer.
Luckily for us, Clan Douglas Cashmere Studio are launching their first collection for Autumn Winter 2010 next week.
Clan Douglas Cashmere Studio is a division of Hawick knitwear ltd. Arguably the home of British Knitwear, Hawick supply collections for all the major players in the industry; Lyle & Scott, Pringle, Burberry, Black fleece by Thom Browne, Agent Provocateur.
Scottish cashmere is renowned for its high quality and luxurious texture, and Clan Douglas Cashmere Studio is proud to claim its heritage, design and production as exclusively Scottish.
The sumptuous feel of cashmere is emphasised by the variety of styles available in the Clan Douglas Cashmere Studio collection.
The finest yarns are used to ensure the production of elegant colour details and consistent superior quality.
The 30 piece collection includes intricately designed cardigans, knitted dresses with contemporary silhouettes, exquisite twin sets with a modern twist, oversized cowl-neck jumpers and signature Studio Stripe accessories; all hand-finished by craftsmen and craftswomen.
The collection’s creator is designer Alex Feechan, an award-winning designer with a 1st class honours degree and an MA from the prestigious Royal College of Art, London.
Furthermore, and this is a nice touch, every designer cashmere piece in the collection has been given the name of a Scottish poem to reflect its authentic origins.
Clan Douglas Cashmere Studio will be available at various boutiques around the country & online at http://www.cashmerestudio.com. Recommended retail prices start at £144 to £599 - available at selected boutiques including; Austique on the King’s Road, KJ’s Laundry in Marylebone, Bridget Salmassian in Wimbledon Village.
Please enjoy the collection and, below,one of the poems used in tandem with the new collection -
Those Winter Sundays by Robert E Haydn
Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueback cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labour in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,
Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?
