Now, Tipsy Cat isn’t one of those cats who likes eating birds and cat food (she dines on delicious treats like chocolate and champagne), but she does like watching birds and generally enjoying nature.  With this in mind, our first main stop in Ecuador was the Bellavista Cloud Forest – nestled above the capital of Quito and just under two …

After all those steps going up and down Waynapicchu, we were tired.  So it was a good thing that we had decided to relax in the Sacred Valley and that Tipsy had booked us into a great resort, Kuychi Rumi.  It wasn’t one of those luxury 5 star, purpose built hotel resorts.  It was far more homey than that.  And we …

Only having little paws, we decided to take the train up to the sweet little town of Agua Calientes, and then on to Machu Picchu (MP, as everyone calls it).  The tour operator at our hotel in Cusco had organised the Vistadome train tickets, entry tickets, and guide for us – we’d booked and hotel ourselves online – and our stay …

Unfortunately, our entry into Cusco wasn’t the best.  Our plane had to turn around just as we were beginning our descent into the mountains (poor visibility) and return to Lima, refuel, re-crew and return (sadly without even a glass of water offered on the second flight, or any explanation).  Luckily for us, even though we were hideously late (over 3 …

Our first stop on our South American journey and we couldn’t have had a warmer welcome, with our new friends welcoming us with open paws on the plane journey itself and introducing us to quinoa – which is very tasty, especially when popped and eaten with yoghurt – (such a shame you can’t buy it here in London), and indeed …

National Trust property and country pile of the de Rothschilds, this is a lovely Jacobean house – with beautiful paintings and collections, and extensive gardens – great for pottering about in.  Take some time to look round the collections of art bits and bobs out on display.

Tipsy particularly enjoyed the swathes of daffodils and cat napping on convenient trees and benches.

Just to let you know, we’re not being sponsored by anyone to write this blog post.  We’ve only put in the clickable links so that’s it’s easier for you to find things.  We’re nice like that 🙂

Being a city cat who had had enough of the ‘cat race’ for a while, Tipsy decided that it was time to dust off the cobwebs and get some air into her lungs and whiskers, so we set off for the Chilterns and a bracing springtime walk on the Dunstable Downs.  Just over an hour away from London, it’s the perfect …

If it hadn’t have been for the biting wind chilling us to the bone and grey skies being all wintry and grey, Dublin could easily be mistaken for a continental city.  Euros and kilometres aside, it has the relaxed and friendly air of a European capital: during the day, people stroll around enjoying the road furniture and stop to chat …

Champagne tasting in Champagne is just as good as it sounds.  Reims is a bustling little town that is famed for its magnificent cathedral built by grateful champagne-growing benefactors, pink Fossier biscuits, and, of course, champagne – the two of which go together in a typically French way – it would naturally be just too prosaic to dunk biscuits in …

  Walking around Bruges, or Brugge as it is known in Flanders, is like walking around a fairy tale.  The town is simply enchanting, with beautiful houses with delightfully stepped roofs (no boring triangles here), picturesque cobbled lanes, charming bridges spanning leafy, tree-lined canals and, more importantly still, chocolate shops occupying every fourth shop in sight.  Shop numbers one, two and …