Get the low-down from the original style-seekers' latest good-time hunting expeditions, find destination inspiration and insider tips from around the world. Welcome to the official Smith blog: we hope you enjoy your stay
Last week, we banished all Scrooge-worthy cries of ‘but it’s only NOVEMBER!’ from the office as we embraced the massive Christmas-shaped bang taking place over London’s Hyde Park. We donned our bobble hats, slipped on our mittens and skipped along to the bright lights of Winter Wonderland to try out the 20-acre festive playground…
With a [...]
Jelly. A curious entity – reminiscent of school days, lumpy custard and Seventies trifles. Many would agree it’s an unlikely object of passion. Not Bompas & Parr, the oddballs behind the Horseless Carriage of Curiosities, Flavour Tripping and the breathable cocktail. Their slippery creations include wobbly wedding cake-alternatives for adventurous brides, alcoholic stars for Courvoisier, [...]
It can be tough sometimes, working for boutique travel experts, whose daily tasks include jetting around the world, seeking out glamour-soaked hotels in wow-factor destinations. No really, it can. Especially when said work involves testing out our luxurious hotels’ facilities, just to check they are still as top-notch as ever – the spa for instance, [...]
LEWES BONFIRE
Date 5 November
Place Lewes, East Sussex
Style Pyro pandemonium
Setting Not-so-sleepy Sussex streets
Indulge your pagan and your pyromaniac urges with the UK’s greatest bonfire bacchanale.
Event Highlight The Bonfire Societies signal the start of the processions by racing barrels of burning tar down the High Street at 6.30pm, after which the whole town seems to parade past [...]
As summer slowly slips away, the music and alfresco festivals have dismantled their seasonal gazebos to make room for the fallen leaves lacing our London streets. But it’ll take more than a chilly autumnal breeze to keep us Smiths from venturing out to savour the gastronomic delights of the very first London Restaurant Festival (8-13 [...]
There are a few things you can rely on finding at the English seaside: fish ’n’ chips and candyfloss; stocky-legged kiddiwinks with buckets and spades. Less predictable is the weather. And something you really might not expect? A world-class Italian pasticceria – that’s a patisserie, for those in the know.
So imagine our delight when [...]
To be fashionable these days, it seems you need to be in pop-up format. Walls, foundations and just plain standing still have become deeply uncool, due to a recent flurry of fold-away activity, from eateries to bars, boutiques to parties. Smith HQ jumped on the (unstable) bandwagon a while ago – we’ve lusted after vintage [...]
Yup, it’s that time again. No, not the weekend (though undeniably, ’tis also that), but instead, the moment when we cast our spotlight on this week’s best-in-show hotel. Having waxed lyrical about a cosy Norfolk cottage, a traditional Thames-side inn and a boutique Cotswolds guesthouse, we’re keen to get back to nature at our chosen [...]
LA TOMATINA
Date 26 August
Place Buñol, Spain
Style Paint the town red
Setting Fruit-soaked Mediterranean square
My heart belongs to Painswick. No, it’s not a tubby waistcoated Dickens character, it’s an adorable tiny town in the South Cotswolds. I’m a shallow soul really. A gorgeous boutique hotel, a sprinkling of couldn’t-be-cuter shops (Ha’Penny Antiques, left), an excellent deli and a country pub and I’m smitten. Throw in your chocolate-box Cotswold-stone village [...]
