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The A38 linking Exeter to Plymouth is a super-expressway so fast that you bypass Ashburton in a blink. Casual hearsay led us this small town on the southern fringes of Dartmoor National Park - more out of curiosity than in any high expectation. But moments...
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4 Mar 2013
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Filed under: Hotels & Restaurants, Uncategorized, Great British Chefs by Kit Chapman, Travel, Elizabeth David, Ashburton Devon, Joyce Molyneux, Nick Coiley, Carved Angel Dartmouth, Hole in the Wall Bath, George Perry-Smith, Agaric restaurant Ashburton, Dartmoor National Park
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A Difference in Food Cultures. Recently I’ve spent some time in Southern Spain, my parents are spending their retirement there & have integrated well with the locals. They have learnt the language & are very much self sufficient, yet the nearest...
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Two weeks of calm on the Sporades archipelago have broken. A stiff wind unsettles the sea as I gaze across the Bay of Skiathos. Poseidon is rattling his trident. His brother Zeus, first among the gods and god of the weather, reminds us that it was he...
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Kit Chapman's Blog
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17 Jun 2012
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Filed under: Hotels & Restaurants, My Archipelago, The Castle at Taunton, Uncategorized, Travel, British Hospitality Association, Politics, Skiathos, Athens, Greek debt crisis, Sporades, Greece, Eurozone crisis, Antonis Samaras, Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, Drachma, Europa, Greek election, Mount Olympus, New Democracy, Poseidon, Zeus
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On the beautiful Aegean island of Skiathos – the first in the Sporades archipelago – you might never gather that Greece was in deep crisis. Neither would you have the faintest notion that the country was in the grip of an historic general...
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Kit Chapman's Blog
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9 Jun 2012
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Filed under: My Archipelago, The Castle at Taunton, Uncategorized, Travel, Mamma Mia!, Skiathos, Greek debt crisis, Sporades, Greece, Eurozone, Greek General Election
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Tralee is a small Norman town in County Kerry, or the “Kingdom” as locals prefer to call this lost and ancient province in the deep south-west of Ireland. We checked into Tralee’s Grand Hotel on Thursday evening in a state of bewilderment...
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Kit Chapman's Blog
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18 Sep 2011
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Filed under: My Archipelago, The Castle at Taunton, Uncategorized, Travel, All-Ireland Football final, Ballyseede Castle Tralee, Carton House Maynooth Co Kildare, County Kerry, Croke Park, Dingle peninsula, Dublin, Grand Hotel Tralee, Ireland, Ring of Kerry, Rugby World Cup, St John's Church Tralee, Tralee Co Kerry
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Our friends were gathered around the breakfast table. We were discussing a plan for the day while Louise popped out to the local shop for some milk. When she returned ten minutes later, a litre of milk was not the only item lying in her arms. With a wide...
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Perhaps the best way of discovering the allure of the Aegean archipelago is to sail round it in a fine boat… not of the powered variety, but with an island breeze filling the sails of a handsome sloop. We were a family party of seven. Three generations...
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Kit Chapman's Blog
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25 Aug 2011
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Filed under: My Archipelago, The Castle at Taunton, Uncategorized, Travel, Aegean Sea, Skiathos, Skopelos, Athens Olympics 2004, God save the Queen, Limnonari, Mikis Theodorakis, Mythos lager beer, Sea Majore, Sporades, Zorba the Greek
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There is something very comforting about flying British Airways. Something more reassuring than any other airline. You can be sure that when you board your aircraft, you will not be greeted by a tall, twenty-something, leggy uniform off the pages of a...
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For all its peace and beauty, Skiathos is not entirely immune to the turbulence we are witnessing on the streets of Athens. The country is now gripped by a two-day general strike. Banks and public offices have shut down. Power cuts have become a tool...
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Kit Chapman's Blog
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29 Jun 2011
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Filed under: My Archipelago, The Castle at Taunton, Uncategorized, Travel, Politics, Skiathos Greece, George Papandreou, Aegean Islands, Athens, EU, Greek debt crisis, IMF
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Up at six to watch the sun rise. A sublime peace shimmers over the archipelago. After a wake-up mug of English Breakfast, I peel myself a peach. In doing so I rediscover one of life’s most sensual gustatory pleasures: the eating of this ripe, yellow...
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The Greek archipelago commands a special place in the culture of this nation – one quite distinct from the rest of Greece. The government, burdened by its debt crisis, even discriminates economically between the two. On the islands, VAT is levied...
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Kit Chapman's Blog
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11 Jun 2011
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Filed under: Hotels & Restaurants, My Archipelago, The Castle at Taunton, Uncategorized, Travel, George Mitzelos Skiathos, Greek islands, Greek Orthodox Church, Salt & Pepper Troulos Skiathos, Skiathos Greece, Troulos Skiathos
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We have returned to our Aegean island – the place that provided so much inspiration for the writing of My Archipelago, my latest book. On our first morning, just after six and on cue, the sun rose over the cliff-tops of Skopelos and cast its brilliant...
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Kit Chapman's Blog
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6 Jun 2011
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Filed under: My Archipelago, The Castle at Taunton, Uncategorized, Travel, Aegean Sea, Balbianello on Lake Como, Bellagio Lake Como, George Clooney, Goldie Hawn, Homer's rosy fingered dawn, Kurt Russell, Lake Como, Mamma Mia!, Skiathos, Skopelos
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I must confess to a twinge of envy for my old pal George Goring, owner of the eponymous hotel which became the Middleton family’s billet before the Royal Wedding. At a stroke, The Goring has become world famous and the most famous hotel in London...
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Kit Chapman's Blog
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30 Apr 2011
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Filed under: Hotels & Restaurants, Uncategorized, Kate Middleton, Prince William, Travel, Battle of Britain fly-past, BBC coverage of Royal Wedding, Buckingham Palace, George Goring, Horse Guards, London 2012 Olympics, Middleton family, Royal Wedding, The Goring Hotel London, The Mall London, The Queen's Diamond Jubilee, Westminster Abbey
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Louise and I spent this week in Thessaloniki, aka Salonica, Greece’s second city. This was my mother’s birthplace and scene of my parents’ famous romance after my father, a dashing Indian army officer, landed in Macedonia at the end...
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Kit Chapman's Blog
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2 Apr 2011
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Filed under: Hotels & Restaurants, My Archipelago, The Castle at Taunton, Uncategorized, Travel, Alexander the Great, Aristotelos Square Thessaloniki, Daios hotel Thessaloniki, Daniel Boulud, Electra Palace Thessaloniki, Excelsior hotel Thessaloniki, Halkidiki Greece, Lefkos Pirgos Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Macedonia Palace Thessaloniki, Mount Olympos, Nazi occupation of Northern Greece, Salonica, Thessaloniki
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I call it Beatrix Potter syndrome – a condition which makes English middle class stomachs wrench in the face of menus offering esoteric French classics. Some are declared mildly eccentric and best avoided, others are pronounced downright disgusting...
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Kit Chapman's Blog
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27 Feb 2011
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Filed under: Hotels & Restaurants, My Archipelago, The Castle at Taunton, Uncategorized, BRAZZ Taunton, Cote d'Azur, Travel, Le Bistrot L'Etage La Napoule, L'Oasis La Napoule, Cannes, Andouillette, Baba au Rhum, Beatrix Potter, Calf's head, Daube de Boeuf, Escargots, Frogs' legs, Lapin, Mille Feuille, Oursins, Sauce Gribiche, Sea urchins, Snails, Soupe a l'oignon, Stephane Raimbault at L'Oasis, Tete de veau, Tournedos Rossini