Sunday 24 October 21  We woke at 09.00 and edged our way to a slow breakfast; saying farewell to our very attentive hostess and the very distinctive Villa Sironi and its fine location just off Corso Montebello in Tortona, to drive to Alba via the motorway towards Allessandria, then just south of Asti to turn … Continue reading Piemonte 7: Langhe 1 : 24 – 30 October 2021

Thursday 21 October 21  We left Gavi at 08.15, heading east towards Novi Ligure to pick up the motorway for Tortona; leaving via the toll just north of Tortona and weaving east through acres of industrial estate (and MacDonald’s) until we found a kindly woman in charge of a fuel station willing to tackle our … Continue reading Piemonte 6 : Colli Tortonesi : 21 – 24 October 2021

Wednesday 20 Oct 21 : Ovada  A different model today: a morning of appointments with various producers of mainly Dolcetto in the Ovada Consorzio office itself - half hour’s drive away to the south west. (It’s not a well known nor much appreciated denomination - but we leave no stone unturned) As we left Gavi … Continue reading Piemonte 5: Ovada DOCG : 20 October 2021

Friday 15 October 21  We left La Romana outside Nizza at 09.00 after a warm farewell from La Receptionist, (yes - they use the french!) taking a northerly deviation towards Alessandria to avoid a road repair. The plain of the river Bormida makes a dramatic contrast to the runs of hills, ridges and winding valleys … Continue reading Piemonte 4: Gavi DOCG: 15 – 19 October 2021

Tuesday 12 October Valentina, driving her beloved Cinquecento, arrived at La Romana promptly at 09.00. She freelances with the consorzio and other wine-related organisations putting her excellent English to good use as a guide and interpreter with real knowledge and love of wines, having qualified as a Sommelier. She also turns out to be wine … Continue reading Piemonte 3: Monferrato DOCG: 12 – 14 October 2021

Armed with the NHS vaccine pass, a negative covid antigen test and a successfully completed Travel Locator Form (assembling these added an extra day and shed-loads of worry to travel preparations) we set off at 07.30 for Stansted on Wednesday 6 October. The up train was late, and we lost half an hour en route … Continue reading Piemonte 2: Nizza Monferrato: 7 – 11 October 2021

This will be a brief record of five happy days in Lancashire and Yorkshire, firstly to celebrate a wedding, and secondly to try out the car! More will follow when the Piemonte adventure is chronicled!

It seemed a long wait before 17 May enabled people to eat indoors - and May was certainly a cold month. One of these two had a hot water bottle under her coat… Meanwhile the children were waiting for weather more suitable for cricket before shedding their coats - or their substitute helmets The bluebells … Continue reading At last – brief holidays and outings!

January: 2021 began chaotically. Schools opened on 5 January, only to close the next day for a second, full lock-down. Changes in Christmas arrangements had left many families disconnected, and the short, dark, cold January days compounded the misery of the stressed - furloughed perhaps, or working from home, caring for children, home-schooling - and … Continue reading 2021 – an even more surreal spring!!

I started this piece on Sunday 13 December 2020, exactly a year to the day since I woke up to the sickening news that the Conservative party, led by Clown Johnson, had won the General Election in December 2019 with a sizeable majority. It almost matched the bouts of nausea I felt in 2016 - … Continue reading 2020 – woe, woe and thrice woe…