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
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
So far, summer 2009 has lacked sunshine in every sense. We’ve seen a generous onslaught of rain, we’ve lost the King of Pop and a perfectly coiffed Charlie’s Angel and the sound of someone sneezing on a tube is enough to send swine-flu-dreading commuters scuttling for cover. Our medicinal mood-booster? Ice-cream. Pure and simple. What [...]
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 [...]
It’s fun playing tourist in your hometown – especially when the sun is out. No, I don’t for a moment mean queuing up at Madame Tussaud’s (what is with that obsession for waxworks when there are so many better things to do in London?), let alone hitting senses-assaulting Piccadilly Circus. I am talking about seeing [...]
KITEBOARD PRO Date 1-5 July Place Tarifa, Spain Style Elemental acrobatics Setting Andalucian surf On the southern tip of Spain, Tarifa has rising kudos as a sun-kissed weekend party town and is now a hot spot for windsurfers and kitesurfers – the Strait of Gibraltar channels perfect, warm winds right onto the sandy beaches here. [...]
London On Film Festival 2009 launches this June at the Lexi Cinema in NW10, as part of the Mayor’s Story of London Festival. From Tuesday 16 to Sunday 21 June Chamberlayne Road will give La Croisette a run for its money with film, debate, art, music and live performances for audiences of all ages, including [...]
Some of London’s best gardens appear for just five days a year – at the annual RHS Chelsea Flower Show, kicking off this year on Tuesday 19 May. Green-fingered royals and celebs mingle with young-fogey hipsters rediscovering home-grown gardening trends, there’s inspiration and planting plans for your own patch of turf, and champagne and lobster [...]
QUEEN’S DAY Date 30 April Place Amsterdam, Netherlands Style A right royal knees-up Setting Clubs & canals You might not expect a head of state’s birthday to inspire a 24-hour party, but Queen’s Day does exactly that. The date, which still honours Juliana, late mother of the present queen, Beatrix, has become a national day [...]
