About the Editor

“The Travel Editor of The Telegraph has asked me to stay in a few hotels and write about them,” Paddy told me, “and take you!” I spent the next eighteen years as ‘my husband’, never named, driver, bag carrier and shower tester. When we had travelled enough motorway miles, slept in enough hotel beds and eaten in enough restaurants, Paddy and I decided that a website using journalists’ reviews to describe the hotels would be popular and useful. I am delighted you are a reader and hope that you might become a contributor by writing to us.

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19 July 2010

FORGET THE MYSTIQUE, JUST ENJOY IT!
We have long since moved on from the days when the appreciation of wine was, like opera, an elitist thing. Now most of us drink the stuff, have done so for some time and are at the point where we realize that a bit more understanding of how it works on the tastebuds will, like a bit more understanding of opera, makes the whole experience a lot more enjoyable.
A surprising number of the hotels, restaurants-with-rooms etc that we include in our website hold dinners and wine tastings fairly frequently. We are in the process of building up a list of places where you can enjoy one of these events, preferably by staying the night even if you live fairly near.

Here are some of the places.
Glewstone Court, Ross on Wye, hold their annual Al Fresco wine evening with Brian Joy. A few places are still available for this on Friday 30th July,
Lovelady Shield Country House Hotel, Lake District call their next event, the Call My Bluff Wine Evening. Alan Whitehead and Peter Haynes will be your hosts. Provisional date - 5th & 6th November.
Brockencote Hall, in Worcestershire host an evening with journalist and broadcaster, Philippe Boucheron describing and discussing the wines carefully matched to the menus of that evening. On Thursday, 21st October and on Thursday 25th November.
Hotel TerraVina, in the New Forest, have proprietor Gerard Basset, currently The World's Finest Sommelier. Who could be better qualified to host a wine event? They have a whole program of dinners and tastings.