IT was the best of times, it was the worst of times. What the Dickens was I doing at a health spa? What seemed improbable at best became inexorable when I married Rachel last year. In contrast to me, Mrs Hedges has an exemplary lifestyle—my children joke that she will live to be 150—and is a connoisseur of all things mindful, body and spirit.
I think taking her fishing for our honeymoon may have influenced the reason that I found myself at Chiva-Som in Thailand, where she had been five years ago. The last time I had been to Thailand was 28 years before that and much of Bangkok has changed out of all recognition. There is a newish airport, ever more skyscrapers and giant flyovers that criss-cross the metropolis. One thing, however, hasn’t changed, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. It remains sublime, an oasis of calm that has set the standard as one of the greatest hotels in the world. Dinner on the balcony by the bustling Chao Phraya River brings together all the skills of this great culinary nation. My favourite place to eat was on the far bank opposite the hotel, to which its staff delivered us after a short ferry ride and where the hotel chefs produced the finest Thai meal I have ever tasted.
Conversely, Chiva-Som was uncharted territory. I had no idea what to expect and was frankly nervous as we sat and discussed with the staff our current health and habits. Mine felt like a confession, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Below, pods of koi carp lounged in the water as we sipped tea. The fish helped, but I don’t like tea.
この記事は Country Life UK の September 06, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Country Life UK の September 06, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
