Getting the flavour of…

Vineyards in the Aeolian isles

One of Sicily’s oldest winemaking dynasties, the Tasca family have recently opened two of their estates to paying guests, offering vineyard tours, wine tastings, great food and “pretty” accommodation, says Mia Aimaro Ogden in The Sunday Times. There’s a sense of “splendid isolation” at Regaleali, a bumpy two-hour drive south of Palermo, but Capofaro is even harder to reach. Still, this remote hideaway on Salina – the greenest of the Aeolian islands, 25 miles off the Sicilian coast – is well worth the “pain” of the six-hour journey there via hydrofoil and taxi. Comprised of white buildings clustered around an old lighthouse, rooms are decorated in the traditional Aeolian style, and there’s a “sexy” outdoor restaurant overlooking Stromboli and overseen by Ludovico De Vivo, a chef who has worked at both Noma and The Fat Duck. Doubles at Capofaro cost from £240 b&b (capofaro.it).

Walks and smokies in Arbroath

Many of the yachts in Arbroath’s marina never leave the harbour – the “tides and swells of the North Sea” are too treacherous most of the year, says Rob Crossan in The Daily Telegraph. But the lobster and crab fishermen still head out each day into these “relentlessly unforgiving” waters. Arbroath’s “status as a working fishing harbour (just about)” still seems to define it. This is a “time warp” town with amusement arcades on the seafront and squat buildings huddled “against the brutality of the sea”. You’d never mistake it for Whitstable, yet Arbroath has its own charm. There are the “immense ruins” of the Abbey, where the declaration of Scottish Independence was drafted in 1320, and “blissful” coastal walks along Seaton Cliffs: perfect for walking off an Arbroath smokie, the smoked haddock that is the town’s most famous export.

A Norman family beach break

Stretching from Cherbourg in the north to touristy Mont Saint-Michel in the south, Normandy’s Cotentin peninsula is easy to reach by ferry from the UK. Its west coast feels like “a well-kept secret”, and there are so many beautiful beaches along its 75-mile length that it’s ideal for a family summer holiday, says Carolyn Boyd in The Times. Stay at Le Castel, a “genial and family friendly” guesthouse with a swimming pool and “huge” play tent, which is within easy reach of the fabulous Plage de Montmartinsur-Mer. Nearby, too, are the lovely sands of Gouville, the “jaw-dropping” Plage de la Vieille Église at Barneville-Carteret, and the “enchanting” old town of Granville, whose Musée Christian Dior occupies the designer’s childhood home. Suites at Le Castel cost from £1,500 for a family of four for seven nights in August (le-castel-normandy.com).