I was back last week in Norn Iron as we like to call it affectionately (my children have no idea what I am talking about, both being blessed with a very south of England enunciation). I have considered reverse elocution lessons for them but have now resigned myself to their well spoken fate…! I don’t refer to it as a holiday because principally it isn’t really (when you have lived half your life there) and secondly the weather sadly never seems to warrant the definition. Husband is convinced I spend the whole time there drinking tea and speaking (lots) in a very Northern Irish accent (it gets worse more pronounced as the week goes on). He is not far off the truth but it is good to catch up and boy they do like their good food and wines over there so the menu happily extends beyond the tea. There is competition in abundance amongst restaurants and so many good ones. Thankfully I have moved on since my Friday night pizzas at Speranzas as a student but it is a bit of an institution in Belfast and excellent venue for tea with the kids. Cayenne, (formally Roscoffs) the Paul Rankin restaurant at Shaftsbury Square in the centre of town is, I think, worth the biggest mention. Cayenne is a great place to sit around one of their round tables and do a bit of that said catching up. Local ingredients and really good interesting Irish food and Belfast ambiance at its best. The menu changes all the time but talk about Northern Irish fusion, Asian Seafood Chowder followed by Fermanagh organic Chicken Schnitzel. This place is great. Another place we love to go and sit for lunch in Belfast (and did so last week) is Shu. I always warm to places where the staff seem to be enjoying making my experience comfortable and fun but are not at pains to.  This place is bright and elegant and relaxed with a lovely seasonal menu. I had anchovy and rosemary vinaigrette and then a risotto of summer vegetables with crème fraiche. An award winning restaurant where children can sit nicely at lunch and busily occupy themselves with a colouring pencil masterpiece is good to know. When we are over there we stay about 30 miles outside Belfast in a village called Dundrum, just at the foot of the Mournes and where I spent my childhood summers. I tried to go for a run most mornings last week, childcare allowing. I jogged across the deserted sand dunes of Murlough Nature reserve dodging the rabbits and wild Exmoor ponies that keep the grass cut ….to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world (not even slightly biased) and found the time to sit and remember our summers as kids determinedly dipping into the freezing cold Irish Sea…all very Shirley Hughes! Brennans ice cream is last on my 'must' experiences from last week. A very different experience from anything ice cream like you have tasted. A home made and closely guarded recipe and only available in one flavour, their own. Pure and just amazingly delicious and this is from one that doesn’t really do ice cream. Their distribution now appears to be much more effective than it was 25 years ago so available all over, certainly Co Down. We spent the day at Castlewellen Park and picked up the obligatory ‘poke’ (Nothern Irish for cone) en route home through Newcastle. Tired and happy kids in the back, catching the drips!...Maybe it did all qualify as a 'wee' holiday after all!

Natasha and I go back a while to when we both started our respective on line businesses a few years ago. The Handpicked Collection is an on line gift retailer with a genius of a difference, a concept that fits perfectly with anyone that doesn’t want to be bombarded with too much choice even if that choice is good!  The Handpicked panel of experts are a well qualified bunch (check them out on the website) They select  a few very lovely things to buy as presents and tell us why. I love solutions, this  is a great one! It gets a lot of flack. Which I think only adds to my burning love for the place. Wales, Cymru, Heaven. From the moment you drop down from the Bristol hills to see the sweeping curve of the Severn Bridge with the hills in the distance, my heart lifts. So this summer ditch Cornwall, scrap Scotland, and instead take a week, pack your car and gently discover what I feel are world class holiday highlights only a few hours down the M4: - A few days walking in the Brecon Beacons & Black Mountains – climbing Pen-y-Fan if you’re feeling energetic and the skies are clear, followed by a long lunch at the Felin Fach Griffin. Their food is local, simple but perfectly executed and the atmosphere epitomises why we got so excited about gastropubs in the first place. They also have lovely rooms and it’s so blissfully relaxed you’ll find it hard to move on. - If you can tear yourself away, drive west to Tenby where you can soak up the Georgian beauty and marvel at the dramatic sands below. It’s a bit faded but you feel like you’ve stumbled across a well kept secret. Drive on to the Lily Ponds at Bosherton and meander through this special place down to the beach where you follow the coastal path to Barafundle beach. It’s only accessible on foot and - I swear to God - rivals any beach I’ve seen. Hurst House is a lovely place to stay in Laugharne, Dylan Thomas’ birthplace. - On a little bit north to Newport, stay a few nights at the Llys Meddeg – like the Felin Fach it’s described as a restaurant with rooms but the rooms are special too – big roll top baths and beautiful local wool throws from Melin Tregwynt. Sunday lunch is a must here. Newport itself is a world away from its Gwent twin – the long beach below the village is perfect for walks, games and barbeques while the sun sets and in the village there’s a fantastic butcher, excellent places to eat and a junk/antique shop where you’ll find eclectic things to take home as memories. Happy days.

Much to my shame I didn’t even realise it was the First Night. I thought we were just trotting along to watch our good friend, Peter sing…at the Proms. I duly caught the 2.37 and met husband at Waterloo. We hooked up with our other friends and ate in the Café Consort, sharing a nice bottle of Pinot, rustic bread, olives. I ate Pumpkin & sweet potato Thai red curry with jasmine rice & grilled lime relish. Food was all vey fine but the food was all a bit secondary as the restaurant was just a lovely place to be pre Proms on a sunny July evening. A mix of art deco and Albert hall tradition. I had forgotten what a truly amazing venue the Albert Hall is. I think the last concert I was really  impressed with there was Sting and the Dream of the Blue Turtles about 20 odd years ago and I haven’t been back enough times since. Prom 1 felt like a  very special event. The music was Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand…all in German and if honest a bit high brow musically for me but sitting there in the middle of it all last night I felt quite privileged. The combination of the dedicated promenaders all standing in the centre of the hall, the hundreds talented musicians and choristers full of skill and passion, all just coming together to make the most wonderful sound happen… seems an odd thing to say but I was just loving the human-ness of it all. There was a sort of an epitome of human achievement coming together in the architecture, the acoustic and the passion and talent…was one of those proud to be part of the human race sort of evenings!

I think right hand man/ girl and  muti-tasking left hand man/ girl  is the best way to describe Jules.  Operations and organization  at Travelwrap Towers would be less than efficient shall we say without her! Anyway, if anyone needed a break last weekend this girl certainly did! Last weekend I was whisked away for a birthday treat and a little bit of R&R following a small operation on my toe. The venue and location was a secret and how nice if it could stay that way, because the newly opened South Sands Hotel in Salcombe, Devon is quite special. The windy drive and hairpin bends down to the bay was quite picturesque and I couldn’t help but feel slightly frustrated at my lack of mobility for the weekend beautiful walking and running land! However, we arrived at South Sands a New England-style boutique hotel with its clapperboard exterior perched on the edge of a sandy sheltered beach and I couldn’t wait to just relax on the terrace overlooking the estuary and hills beyond with my Tatler and afternoon tea. Thankfully I bought one of my many Travelwraps – (one is not enough I have come to realise it’s a bit like shoes, you need several to match the mood, outfit and moment) Breaking Waves was perfect for the occasion, the whole hotel oozed chic, but don’t worry about sandy feet! The nautical theme ran through the hotel, with 22 bedrooms many had a sea view and some you could practically touch the sand from the private balcony. His and hers Roll-top baths overlooking the sea and an 8ft bed. It even offered private beach suites with funky style Quba beanbags and family style accommodation. I loved the practical tide-clocks in the room so you could plan you day around the tide with a ferry to Salcombe or the option of hiring a sail boat (maybe next time!) Just to add, the dining ethos of fresh fish and simple dishes, not too stuffy but not ‘pubby’ was delicious. My seabass was yummy and I had the best night sleep listening to the waves lapping against the shore. Next time I will take my running shoes but I will certainly be back.

Georgie is the founder of Sheer Luxe, the mandatory first port of call for all things lovely on line. Sign up for their Daily Luxe which is a little mini feast of tempting things to distract about coffee time every morning. Georgie also runs SL conferences for people like me to get together with like minded bods in luxury on line retail. You have never been to a better dressed conference! She is married to The Accountant and lives in London. Come January she is going to have to push the Louboutins to the back of the wardrobe and swap them for the Bugaboo and a pair of sensible heels..but I suspect it will not be long before the Louboutins are aired again!   My favourite place in the world? There’s no contest really. It’s the Residence in Mauritius. It isn’t the most over the top hotel in the world (if you want gold finishing touches then head down the road to the Prince Maurice / Saint Geran / Tousserok) but it really is the most special place in the world. We went there on our honeymoon in 2006 and back to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary a year later. The beach is the best on the island. Fact. The staff are so friendly and the service is exceptional. Would like me to unpack for you madam? Yes please. The décor is simple, white in the main and colonial. The food is delicious – we ate so many scallops it was obscene. And when we returned a year later the staff all remembered us. Plus the hotel was full of chic Europeans and not brassy Brits – always a bonus. And the best thing about Mauritius as a destination? The climate, it’s warm with a breeze so it’s really not too hot and the UK time difference is only four hours. I hear from friends that they’re wonderful with children too and when we have our first in January I’m planning on it being our first family holiday!

Sarah’s blog, The Frockaholic is a step up and away from the whole yummy mummy thing. Sartorial elegance at it's very sharpest.  She is also a regular Mumsnet contributor and I was very glad to have her on side when not so long ago the Mumsnet lot decided to debate the finer qualities of the Travelwrap. They did come down on our side but  I now know how David Cameron felt! Sarah lives in London with her husband 3 children, Phoenix, Cassian and Leon. It never fails to bemuse me, the ‘by Gordon Ramsay’ endorsement emblazoned on the signage: “I love the Leon chain. Its meatballs are amazing.” I mean, is that it?? Is that the best they could come up with? Where is all the other foodie celebrity praise, and what mention of Leon’s other delights?? No kidding, this place rocks, ticking more boxes than a door-to-door survey-taker. For me, with my various food intolerances (read- terror of weight gain conveniently assuaged with the marking as ‘off limits’ all forms of gluten, dairy and meat) eating out, especially en famille, can be a trial – not least for my husband who fondly remembers me as a Sunday-Roast-and-few-pints kinda girl. He may not have the satisfaction of seeing me chowing down on a leg of lamb these days, but at least at Leon I can partake of more than a handful of edamame, with menu items clearly marked as veggie, dairy free, gluten free and so on: the Sweet Potato Falafels are to die for, as is the Rainbow Superfood Salad. The kids’ meals are great too: treat-y enough to keep them happy, healthy enough to pass muster under my watchful eye and smilingly served with activity sheets and stickers. With the children in tow, our favourite outlet is the one in Spitalfields Market on a weekday, where Phoenix and Cassian can run about in between deserted market stalls and Leon can gurgle in his pram, adorned with the “Leon: Big and Strong” badges that gorgeous staff always cooingly hand over when we tell them what our youngest’s name is. Solo, it’s Carnaby Street all the way: armed with a bag of books from foreign language bookshop Grant and Cutler located just down the street, plus a couple of magazines – Grazia and Vogue, natch – from the newsstand across the road, and the prospect of a childfree afternoon spent mooching around Liberty, the only thing more indulgent is a Leon Better Brownie (wheat and gluten free, not dairy free, but hey come on) with my soy cappuccino.

Lorna has one of the most impressive little black books in the PR industry. I would like to think it is not difficult to get the media to say lovely things about our cashmere Travelwraps but I think without Lorna they may not be making quite so much noise! She lives in London with her husband, Chris and little girl Rhia. Its Bathsheba, Barbados …. We went there in 1999, Rhia was all but 1 year old – the right age when kids under 1 went free, but the wrong age for her to recall anything! It was our first time as a family traveling back home to Chris’s birthplace and where his family now reside having returned home in 1997 for good. It was one of the first sights that absolutely took my breath away. It’s situated on the east coast of Barbados and one can travel to it from any other part of the island within a few hours as you can travel the whole of the country in one day! It’s famously known as Bathsheba, the wife of Kind David as she bathed in milk to keep her skin beautiful and soft. Legend has it that the surf covered white waters of Bathsheba, rich in minerals and life is said to resemble Bathsheba’s bath in both appearance and health giving value! Wide white sand beaches stretch along a dramatic coastline of striking rock formations, broken away from ancient coral reef, against which the Atlantic rollers break in cascades of foam. The area has pretty fishing villages, home to a small community of fishing folk and their families always available to entice you in their culture and beautiful surroundings, local rum shops, sea-view restaurants and on the outskirts flourishing botanical gardens with an array of bright floral colours and foliage.

We have always veered away a bit from Beaulieu in the New Forest as it always just appears to be full of rivers of tourists arriving on coaches from Germany but Husband and I were between drop off and pick up at a children’s birthday party a couple of weeks ago and so popped in to the Montague Arms Hotel. Now this has to be one of the loveliest places in the Forest to sip a cup of perfect Earl Grey tea al fresco and catch up on the Body and Soul section of the Saturday Times. Tea was presented in the beautifully old fashioned way (as it should be), white china cup and saucer and tea strainer. The afternoon was getting on and I asked if I could have a scone and butter. They didn’t have any left in the kitchen so they offered to whip one which they did, in fact a whole plateful so that even husband couldn’t resist when they appeared back 15 mins later with them complete with clotted Cornish cream and homemade strawberry jam. Not much chat as we luxuriated in being able to riffle through the Saturday papers but a vey civilized couple of hours was spent and managed to avoid all exposure to Bobby the Clown!

Welcome to our new blog, The Travelwrap Notebook. Here we aim to talk about lovely places around the world to travel to, eat, sleep and just be… First up is one of my favourite places this side of the Irish Sea, Barton Cliffs, this is where I run (not for very long, about 3K at the moment but getting longer and better at it!). It is one of my favourite places mostly because it feels so fresh and serene. It’s a difficult place to have a busy head! We drop the children off to school and then we run down to the beach, looking out at the Needles on the IOW and then back down the beach. Some days it is harder work than others but when we get back we can usually conquer quite a few more Travelwrap orders and office headaches than if we hadn’t! We try and run a couple of times a week and are just back from our run this morning, Jules and I. Jules keeps operations at TTC running very smoothly and you will be hearing about some of her favourite places to be in the near future alongside some of our guest correspondents I have lined up to share.