Tales from chilly Prague
February 14, 2012
…with the upstairs resembling more a building site, than the Suffolk boutique hotel…
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Swan House, Beccles, Suffolk NR34 9HE
Call us: (UK) 01502 713474
A magically naughty moment at the market
August 20, 2011
All of a sudden in one magically naughty moment, the son lifted the tail of the dress…
read more…I’m exhibiting at the Tate Modern!
June 11, 2011
…few days away from the Restaurant in Beccles, completed with my first Tate exhibition!
read more…Tales of War Horses in London
May 27, 2011
The problem of how to celebrate my step daughter’s birthday is always a tricky one. Do I give her yet more clothes and risk bursting her wardrobe; treat her to dinner somewhere other than the Swan House Restaurant…
Magical tales from Austria
March 4, 2011
I had a surreal and truly magical experience today, as I was uplifted to the piste in a cable…
read more…Tales from Switzerland: chilled out in Zum See
January 22, 2011
This has been my 59th ski trip to date, some of which have been pure holiday, most of which I’ve worked as a ski guide, occasionally attended training courses and other times coached.
read more…Tales from Tuscany: Late sun in Sienna
January 9, 2011
Here’s a pic that reminds me of our excellent late summer visit to Sienna last year. Although the city is a wonderful experience and a place I have long wanted to visit, some of the less heralded nearby Tuscan towns,…
Tales from Italy: Joy in Gioia
September 10, 2010
Just found this pic on my iPhone that I had forgotten about. Gioia in Southern Italy, pronounced ‘joya’, put on this excellent almost Bruegelesque ‘festa’ of music and dance in mid August. Oh for a little of their heat…
read more…Tales from Italy: Courgette flowers for lunch
August 22, 2010
Although Beccles and thoughts of the restaurant in Suffolk should be a thousand miles away from this sun-baked Italian landscape, I’m always on the look out for new ideas to bring back to the Swan House. For lunch today, Carmela’s…
read more…Tales from Italy: I was a fugitive from a chain gang
August 18, 2010
It’s Wednesday early evening and I’ve just planted a couple of lemon trees in the hard baked ground outside Carmela’s house in Southern Italy. Using a pick axe and spade, I feel I now know what it’s like to be…
read more…Tales from Italy: Italian drivers
August 13, 2010
We’re spending a few languid weeks away from Suffolk and Swan House in Carmela’s home in Southern Italy. Situated 30 miles due north of Naples in the foot hills of the Matese Mountains, it’s a region that’s poor by our…