How would you like to vacation here? “This most picturesque row of 17th-century cottages is in the Gloucestershire village of Snowshill, set high in the northern Cotswolds, two miles south of Broadway. The home of the Diston family for three generations, is a charming stone cottage with roses by the door, has a rear garden and an old fashioned stable door from which you can watch the world go by.”… Read the rest
If you’re looking for a dog-friendly pub in England, Scotland or Wales, I have a couple of resources for you. The first site, Doggie Pubs, is no-frills in both presentation and requirements: A pub’s food and drink have to be good, and your well-behaved dog has to be welcome to sit by you while you eat (it’s just not good enough if you can only have a beer with your dog).… Read the rest
There are few things nicer in life than going punting with a sweetheart or a small group of friends. You’re on the water among ducks and swans, someone’s brought a picnic, and since you’re all beginners, there will be lots of laughter.… Read the rest
I saw Murder on the Orient Express at an impressionable age, I guess — ever since, the Orient-Express train from London to Venice has seemed the acme of luxury to me. Someday I’ll go, but it won’t be with Chloe. The Orient-Express‘s extremely courteous Luxury Travel Manager tells me that dogs are not allowed on any of the Orient-Express trains (there are four in Europe and one each in Peru and Southeast Asia), or on either of their cruises (France and Myanmar).… Read the rest
Visiting the northern Brittany coast sounds completely delightful — Mont St. Michel, Paimpol, the pink granite coast — but several recent articles have revealed serious problems with Brittany’s northern beaches, especially in the Côtes-d’Armor department. Algae, washing up on shore and decaying, has made some beaches perilous:
Harmless while in water, the algae form dangerous gases — notably hydrogen sulfide, with its characteristic rotten-egg smell — when they wash up on land and decay.… Read the rest
There are eight “royal parks” in London — parks which are officially the hereditary possessions of the Crown but to which the public is given access. They are (in alphabetical order): Bushy Park, Green Park, Greenwich Park, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Regent’s Park, Richmond Park, and St.… Read the rest
The Mairie de Paris has published a useful list of Paris parks and gardens that allow dogs (PDF) — well worth consulting, because Paris is pretty strict about dogs in parks. [7/1/13 Please note that this link still works, but the resulting document is organized slightly differently, and more clearly, than I’ve described below.]… Read the rest
Getting to London with a small dog isn’t easy (though the PETS scheme has certainly made it easier), but once you’re there, you’ll be able to take your dog on all forms of public transit. The types of transit included under Transport for London‘s umbrella include the Underground (“tube”), buses, the Docklands Light Railway (“DLR”), river boats, the tram, and the London Overground rail system.… Read the rest
In a couple of previous posts, I described Relais & Châteaux and Grandes Etapes Françaises, two sources of luxurious and dog-friendly accommodations and restaurants in France (and around the world, in the case of Relais & Châteaux). Another company you should know about when you’re making plans for a glorious French vacation is the Châteaux & Hôtels Collection, which offers over 500 restaurants and places to stay located throughout France, with additional properties in Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Andorra.… Read the rest
It’s not particularly surprising that France’s Ordre des Vétérinaires doesn’t allow sites like AngloInfo to publish lists of English-speaking vets. It’s France, after all, and they do things their own way. The Ordre does have a searchable database of French veterinarians, and that’s useful (click on “Trouvez un vétérinaire”), but its search engine does not give you a way to identify English-speaking vets.… Read the rest
