Garden gnomes. I have often wondered where they originated from, and why they make appearances (less commonly than they used to perhaps!) in our gardens. Well not mine, but you know… It’s one of those obscure thoughts that can be found whirling around the inside of my skull on the odd night that I can’t […]
family travel Austria
An Innsbruck Intermission
We spent the last week in both Austria and Bavaria, dividing our time between the mountains of Mittersill and our old home of Munich for the remainder, in what was probably our favourite trip of 2017 (so far!)… Leaving behind a grey Gatwick, and buffeted on our way by reasonably gentle Hurricane Brian (who names […]
Sunday Photo – At a Crossroads
Hallstatt – Austria
Once upon a time, many many moons ago, the ancient town of Hallstatt was only reachable by boat… I bet those Hallstatt folk used to laugh at how peaceful their lives were in their picturesque hillside town, and at how few visitors were able to spoil the tranquillity of their streets, and destroy the […]
Log Cabin Life – Carinthia
We have stayed in a wide variety of places in this part of the world – from our beautiful but not so cosy Zugspitze Iglu, a fabulously well equipped canvas “house” (in a snow storm) in the heart of the Black Forest earlier this year, my special birthday palace near Garmisch, and a medieval hotel […]
Troll Castles and Buttercup Eaters – Austria
I just had a few main aims on my birthday this year – to go up a mountain, come back down said mountain a bit later, read a book for at least an hour in peace, and to have a glass of champagne and maybe eat some chocolate at some point, that was honestly it… […]
A Birthday at Theresa’s – Hotel Theresa – Zell im Zillertal
If you are not overly familiar with Austria’s Tyrol region, you might imagine it to be a place to visit exclusively in the winter – when the snow is deep, the sauna’s are ready to soothe any ski induced aches and pains, and dinner typically involves some form of melted cheese… Of course it does […]
The Quiet Hotel – Wolfgangsee
There must be few places left in the world as beautifully peaceful and quiet as Hotel Falkenstein on the far banks of the Wolfgangsee in Austria. This hotel is such a well kept secret that I am not going to make myself popular with certain family members for letting you in on it! Not only […]
Morning Mists
Kept company by the early morning squawks of the odd lake bird, and the gentle trundling of the little robotic lawnmower trimming the grass of the hotel we were staying in beneath me, I did wonder whether I was perhaps of sane mind sitting out on a freezing balcony whilst the rest of my family […]
Autumn in the Alps
Our home for the bank holiday last weekend – a guest house on a working dairy farm not far over the border into Austria – a working dairy farm complete with acres of free range fun for the Small People (plus our lovely super-fit hiking friends – more on them later!). As you might expect […]