Getting the flavour of…
A hip wine tour in California
California’s best-known wine-producing area is the Napa Valley, but nearby Sonoma County has a more “laid-back” vibe, “smarter” restaurants and “equally luxurious” hotels, says Fiona Sims in The Times. It’s an easy day out from San Francisco, but at three times the size of Napa, it’s worth a more extended “gourmet tour”. In the Sonoma Valley (known for its “rich” zinfandels and cabernet sauvignons), stay at the “chic” Hotel Les Mars in Healdsburg and dine at Singlethread, which has two Michelin stars for its Japanese-influenced cuisine. Among the best vineyards offering tastings are Ram’s Gate, the Keller Estate, Dry Creek, Iron Horse, Idlewild and Banshee. Finally, repair to the coast to sample “salty, more savoury” pinot noirs and chardonnays, and stay at the ravishing Timber Cove Resort. For more information, see www.sonomawine.com. Two idyllic Italian islands Tourism has taken a toll on Capri, but just across the Bay of Naples are two other glamorous islands that move at a slower pace, says Mia Aimaro Ogden in The Sunday Times. Beloved by “Lollobrigida, Loren, Burton, Taylor” and others, Procida is a “dusty” little paradise 40 minutes by boat from Naples, with a pastel waterfront and Pozzo Vecchioa, the black-sand beach made famous by the film Il Postino, in which the exiled poet Pablo Neruda strikes up a friendship with a local postman. Far larger and greener is Ischia, famed since ancient times for its thermal spas, the most stylish of which is Negombo, where 14 pools are hidden among “lush” terraces overlooking the sea. Long Travel (01694-722193, www. long-travel.co.uk) has a three-night trip from £821pp, including flights.
A safari in the Shetlands Wild, windswept and almost treeless, the Shetland Islands are “on most nature-lovers’ bucket lists”. In summer, the sun barely sets, the cliffs are “crammed” with breeding birds, and minke whales are often seen offshore. To visit key sites with local experts, try one of Shetland Nature’s week-long trips, says Lucy Gillmore in The Guardian. Guests spend one day spotting otters on Unst (the most northerly inhabited island in the UK) and another at the Hermaness nature reserve, where great and Arctic skua “dot the moorland”, the “haunting” call of the curlew “floats on the air”, and there are puffins and gannets “galore”. Other highlights are Fetlar island, for red-throated divers, golden plovers and dunlin, and the tour’s finale, a sea-life cruise on MV Dunter. From £1,395 for seven nights, all-inclusive, but excluding travel to Shetland (01595760333, www.shetlandnature.net).