A fleapit hotel with knife fights on tap
CONTINUING our series featuring the holiday memories of famous people, this week television presenter SIAN LLOYD, 60, recalls her lifetime of adventures… First holiday I can remember
My most memorable childhood holiday was camping in the Dordogne with my family when I was about nine because it was when I first fell in love with simple, rustic food. I remember liking tomatoes for the first time, the crustiness of the bread, the thick, creamy butter, all the different cheeses and varieties of charcuterie. I am a great foodie and it all started on that holiday.
Top school trip
To Stratford-on-Avon when I was 13. My friends and I met a gang of American boys and arranged to see them in a cafe. They told us America was the greatest because they put men on the Moon. I remember holding hands and drinking frothy coffee and feeling terribly cosmopolitan.
First time abroad
It was probably when I was a baby, but the first time I went abroad without my parents was a secondary-school skiing trip to Switzerland. None of us had ever skied before but with just half an hour’s instruction – ‘benzeenees!’ – we were whizzing down the Jungfrau in a blizzard. Health and safety wasn’t an issue then.
My honeymoon
My ex-husband and I were rather greedy and had several. Jordan was fantastic, in an amazing hotel with lots of swimming and lazing by the pool and a visit to Petra. Our adventurous honeymoon was to Patagonia. The scenery was awesome. The view from our window in the Explora hotel in Torres del Paine National Park will stay with me for ever.
Best holiday
I’ve got a thing about trains and taking the Ghan from Darwin to Adelaide was wonderful. I was in Platinum Class and had a suite with a butler. On a journey of four days across the outback, I wasn’t bored for a moment.
Worst trip
About 25 years ago I went to Spain with my then boyfriend who was very laid-back – ‘Let’s just roll up and find somewhere,’ he said. One night we rolled up to a village near Barcelona at 10pm and found a fleapit. Greasy pillows, dirty sheets and people outside spitting at each other and pulling out knives, and there was nowhere else to stay.
Dream destination
I long to return to Cloudy Bay winery in Marlborough on New Zealand’s South Island. I cycled up to the cellar door on a wonderful bike tour years ago. I vowed I would return one day.