48 HOURS IN… BOURNEMOUTH Tom Shone takes to the road
IN AN ALFA ROMEO GIULIA QUADRIFOGLIO
How do I begin to describe how much fun the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is to drive? At its core, it’s a performance car with a powerful twin-turbo 2.9 V6 engine, but it can also function perfectly as a practical four-door saloon. On our drive through the New Forest in dynamic mode, it handles like a dream: the steering is direct, the automatic gear changes are lightning quick and the engine growls. All complemented by the easyto-use entertainment system (which has amazing sound).
WHERE TO STAY
The Green House hotel is not only an exquisitely curated luxury boutique hotel but also the greenest in the UK. Electricity is produced on site, its furniture and fittings are ecologically sourced and waste oil from its kitchen is turned into fuel, to name just a few of its credentials. But none of that stops it being totally luxurious. Our room was beautifully appointed, with a cast-iron roll-top bath and a queen-size bed so comfortable it was difficult to want to get out of it in the morning.
Just a short walk from the hotel, on a clifftop overlooking the wonderful Bournemouth beach, is the Russell-cotes Art Gallery & Museum. It’s housed in one of the last Victorian villas to be built in England, which was originally commissioned by Merton Russellcotes as a gift for his wife, Annie. The couple then filled it with artworks and artefacts collected from their extensive travels. The villa was left to the people of Bournemouth and is bursting with incredible and eclectic paintings and sculptures. There is also a lovely cafe, from which all profits go to maintaining this amazing piece of heritage.
FOOD AND DRINK
Bournemouth has an enormous choice of places to eat and drink, however, the hotel’s award-winning restaurant is unmissable. Arbor, named after the Latin for tree, has a pretty dining room that, aptly, features an eight-foot-tall tree sculpture. As you would expect, the food is seasonal, locally sourced and delicious. We dine on ham hock terrine, then ribeye steaks followed by an amazing treacle tart, all washed down with a bottle of lovely organic merlot.