In the last issue of LUSSO, we pondered on how Michel Roux Jr was getting on in the weekend wasteland that is Whitehall, following the re-design of the bar at Roux at Parliament Square. Well, own horn a’ tooting, Roux at the Pembury was named after the chef’s birthplace. Left slightly confused by the particular…
Watch out Marrakech aficionados, there’s a new hotel in town; an establishment so ravishing it will have you weeping into your babouches and begging to be imprisoned like a princess in one of its towers. Introducing the Royal Mansour. In contrast to many of the red rose city’s trendy establishments, where you go to be…
The names of the royal couple, and, coincidentally, of seven or eight of my collection of offspring, scattered around this great land like Aston Martins in a world of Hyundais. Not since one of my own weddings has the country seen such a spectacle. And my weddings – well, they are hard to beat. There…
It should really be expected that a night spent in Edinburgh – even in a five-star hotel – would be no ordinary stopover. After all, there’s barely a building in Scotland’s capital without its resident ghost. The Scotsman has five ghosts, the hotels barman tells me. In any other city this might seem a bit…
It may be part of the Costa del Sol, but you’ll soon forget this five-star complex’s not-so-glamorous location and will be rewarded with multiple delights. Head west from Malaga International Airport on the Autopista del Mediterrneo, past the meandering golf courses and tennis courts. Shortly, you will arrive at the little known, but somewhat historically…
The V8 Vantage has always been a favourite in the LUSSO office for a small supercar. It just never had the power to kick it into the true supercar league with the Ferraris and Lamborghinis. But now Aston have squeezed a V12 engine into the car. This gives 510bhp and 420lb of torque, powering the…
Just off the breathtaking Piazza Popolo is the elegant yet contemporary Hotel de Russie. Ask any Roman in the know. This is the place they go to for the all important aperitivo hour and to mingle with Hollywood A-listers. I was slightly disappointed to not be able to get a room on a Saturday, only…
I’m finally reading Simon Mawer’s The Glass Room. It has moved up and down the teetering pile of books beside my bed for months, gently taunting me. I have heard great things about it, but always something more pressing has intervened. This Friday, though, I will read it, losing myself in the wartime world of…
Like most boys, my love for cars started when I got my first Scalextric at Christmas (actually, in my case, it was always a Birthday AND Christmas present one of the disadvantages of being born in December). I remember driving it into the walls and over my dogs paws. I soon discovered at a very…
Bovey Castle, sitting in 400 acres of rolling hills in the middle of Dartmoor National Park, is a delight to discover. You really do get the sense of getting away from it all down here: the remote setting, the sheer length of the drive down and even the final few directions: turn right on to…