marygostelow 107 posts 0 comments

"One of several visual images of Four Seasons Firenze that come immediately to mind, the day after leaving, is a dawn tour of its amazing 4.5-hectare grounds, currently dotted with truly memorable sculptures. I particularly loved artist Antonio Nocera’s stylised heads, almost Klein-blue in colour, and the nearby (and also lifesize) white marble…

"I was lured back to Tuscany for the launch of Toscana Resort Castelfalfi’s new golf clubhouse but the highlight turned out to be truffle hunting, which is,…

Want to feel you own, momentarily, an English country house? The Pig at Harlyn Bay, which opened on 31 July 2020, is already the hottest rural find in the UK.…

I dream, like many, of returning to Sabi Sand Singita Ebony Lodge, situated on 18,000 hectares bordered by the Sabi and Sand rivers in northeastern South Africa. I remember from last time that it's 12 thatched villas are an Olympian feat of vertical support poles growing out of precipitously steep undergrowth, ingeniously evolving, as if…

"When it’s time to return to Europe, think about putting Amsterdam on the itinerary. You may well have done it before but there is always some new to blend with…

Want to learn Mongolian cooking or how to make a bow and arrow and then use them? Want to talk to Mongolian herders with a translator on the ground? Now, you…

As soon as it opened in October 2015, the 317-room Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, owned by Mirae, became a magnet for wealthy Koreans. My 72-square-metre corner suite had an amazing view of Gwanghwamun Palace and onto the distant hills – thanks to my 10 sweeping windows.

I wanted to see what makes the 4,750-room Wynn Las Vegas work from a luxury point of view; the arrival boded well. RVP Ramesh Sadhwani, a skilled GM who had…

Ten years ago, The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong, opened on 21 June 2010 at precisely 11.08am. It is still an Art Deco jewel, on the upper floors of the César…

I was amazed that the idea of combining retail with lodging is 110 years old. In 1910 the management of Le Bon Marché department store, which had been founded by Aristide and Marguerite Boucicaut in 1852, decided to open a hotel for their most favoured customers, but instead of calling it Le Bon Marché they named it Lutetia, the original Roman name…