Favourite Places in the World
Ever since a very young age, I’ve loved to travel and explore the world. My first trip abroad was on a school trip to Brugge, I must have been about 9 or 10 years old. During my early teens, I did 3 years of school trips to Colmar in France. In my late teens I spent a lot of time in Italy, staying with Italian friends I’d met in the UK. I got to see so much of Italy this way, a country I truly love and feel a part of. I loved it so much, that when I decided to pursue a career in photography and found a course in Rome to learn Fashion Photography, it was a no brainer. I had to go. I lived there for two years and loved every moment of my time there. My heart really belongs in Rome. It’s just a truly beautiful place and the people are amazing.
Italy
Certaldo
https://www.discovertuscany.com/tuscany-destinations/certaldo-an-overview.html
Rome
I spent a lot of time in my late teens early 20’s staying in Rome with my Italian friends. Then aged 23 I went to live there. Studying at the Isituto Europeo Di Design for two years. I love Rome with a passion. I feel as much a Roman as I do British. I’ve spent so many free hours in my youth walking the streets. Not as a tourist, but as a local. When at college, I’d ride past the Forum and the Colosseum on my Vespa every single day for two years. Then I’d take my Vespa down many of the tiny side streets all over the city often with my good friend Massimo on the back, a fellow photographer with a fantastic knowledge of the history of Rome. It’s still one of the most magical places in the world.
Greece
Paxos
Skiing
Telluride
One of my favourite places in the world. It always feels like a 2nd home (maybe 3rd – as Rome is my 2nd home). Just love skiing here, it’s such a fantastic mountain. But also love just being in the town. It’s an old mining town in a box canyon. So the canyon is blocked at the end during the winter. Meaning you don’t get through traffic. It is a place made up of hobos, locals and the mega rich. Ralph Lauren has a ranch down the road. Franz Klammer, famous downhill skier lives here. We’ve met him, on the slopes once. Was our first time in Telluride skiing with our favourite ski instructor Andi McCann. He used to be a downhill skier himself and knew Franz as a friend. So when Franz was skiing past, he stopped to say hello – while we were in a class. Then swished off, fluid as hell.
Love the restaurants. Love the hotel, the New Sheridan, full of history and right in the centre of town. Love the mexican restaurant opposite the hotel, down in the basement. We had dinner there one night with Quentin Tarantino. Well, not with him, but he was sat two seats away from us at the bar. We spent the evening talking to his minder/friend. The best Margaritas there too. I could drink those all night – though I’d probably not make it across the road back to the hotel if I did.
Just the perfect ski resort. Costs a lot of money to get there, as it’s not exactly local to any of the main airports. We used to fly into Denver, stay with my cousin, then drive the 6 hours across the rockies to get there. But I dearly love it. It feels like home every time I think of it. Maybe one day we’ll return.
Breckenridge
If we can’t ski in Telluride, then Breckenridge is probably my second favourite ski resort. The mountain is fantastic for the amount of open black runs through the trees and a wide amount of runs of all levels, that meet up nicely all over the mountain.
Maldives
Reethi Beach Resort
We were very fortunate, that during Carol’s time working for Wedding & Home magazine in the 90’s, we got to go on some fabulous honeymoon trips around the world, to 5 star resorts. One of these was our first ever visit to Reethi Beach in 1999, where we stayed in one of the water bungalows. What a stunning place. We got to visit two other resorts, in the following two years, but they simply didn’t compare to Reethi Beach. It has the perfect reef. A shallow beach on one side, where you can snorkel out to the reef and swim with huge turtles and parrot fish. Millions of fish. You will never have seen so many fish. If you can imagine an aquarium in a shop that has been overstocked, it was like that. One day, we snorkelled alongside a turtle who was around 5-6ft long. Literally alongside, within touching distance. So beautiful. If I had to choose a resort to go back to in the Maldives it would be the first one I’d look at again.