The Wrap
Our journal of all things cashmere

There’s nothing like a pre-Christmas trip to the mountains for getting in the festive spirit. But there’s no need to get on a plane: in London, the mountains come to you. Here are five of the Capital’s best Alpine experiences.

Ice shots in Soho

I can’t imagine why anyone would visit the Soho’s ICEBAR (above) in summer but it’s a great way to spend 40 minutes (which is all the time you’re allowed) at this time of year. 

Fancy Christmas away this year but don’t want to be parted from your pet? Our friends at PetsPyjamas have sniffed out five perfect getaways for the festive season and, if you book through their website, they will throw in a personalised Pet Christmas Box. Our founder Niamh Barker has also selected the perfect Travelwrap or cashmere accessory to wear on those wintery walkies.

Roaring log fires and snow-dusted turrets: what could be more magical than Christmas in a castle? We’ve found five that perfectly fit the bill and, because castles can be drafty places, we’ve asked our founder Niamh Barker to suggest a Travelwrap for each destination. Who knows? Perhaps you’ll find it under the tree…

Pentillie Castle, Cornwall 

Set high above River Tamar, Pentillie Castle (above) was built by Sir James Tillie in 1698.

As Pan, the prequel to Peter Pan, goes on general release this week, news reaches us of the relaunch of the magical island on the west coast of Scotland where J M Barrie wrote the screenplay for the first film adaption of Peter Pan.

This is the new Messner Mountain Museum Corones in the Dolomites. It’s the sixth in a series of museums built in collaboration with the legendary mountaineer, Reinhold Messner. Each of the museums has a different theme and MMM Corones, on the summit of Mount Kronplatz, is dedicated to the discipline of alpinism.

When I worked at The Telegraph, Italy used to win every readers’ travel poll we ever ran. It won everyone else’s awards, too. Plus ça change: this month alone it has scooped Best European Tourist Destination in The Times Group’s Readers’ Travel Awards, as well as Food and Travel Magazine’s Destination of the Year 2015 Award.

Well, that was summer, say hello to autumn. But there are compensations: September is a fantastic month for gathering wild mushrooms – Hen of the Woods, Chanterelle, Lions Mane, Bolete, to name but four. So if you go down to the woods today, take a basket and someone who knows what they’re doing. Here are five of the best foraging days out.

Four reasons not to visit Venice with children in summer: the heat, the crowds, the smell and the expense…or that is what the travel guides tell you. I beg to differ.

The trailer for the new London-based James Bond movie, Spectre, was released last week and it’s put us in a 007 frame of mind. We probably won’t be driving an Aston Martin DB10 through the streets of the capital, but there are plenty of other great ways to channel our favourite spy.

What could be more James Bond than soaring high above the capital in a helicopter? There are several tours available but The London Helicopter is the only helicopter tour company to fly from a central London location.

Regular visitors to this blog will know how much we love Scotland, but there’s so much hapapening in Wales this summer, we might have to shift our allegiance. Here’s what we’re most looking forward to.

The Pembrokeshire coastline can hold its own against some of the finest in the world – stroll along Barafundle beach on a sunny July afternoon and you could almost be in the Caribbean. But this summer we’re planning to head inland for some of the best watersports in Europe. First up, the new £2.5 million watersports and visitor centre at Llandegfedd Reservoir (above).