WORLD TOUR: Famille Summerbelle

LAST YEAR JULIE MARABELLE, creative director of children’s decor design company Famille Summerbelle did what we all talk about. She, her husband Simon, and their two year old daughter Ophelia, took off. A world tour followed - intended as an inspiring few months of non-work life - prior to settling down to develop their newly launched company, and relocating to Paris from London.

Here, she shares her highlights of the trip, and her family-friendly pointers for a smooth life on the road…

LittleBig: What was the country that surprised you most with its child friendliness?

Japan [pictured above left] was a really pleasant surprise. We didn’t know quite what to expect, but we were astonished by just how friendly people were. Men and women would go out of their way to engage with Ophelia. On one train journey to Kyoto a little old lady made an origami swan which she gave to Ophelia - it was just wonderful. Read the rest of this article

Posted 7 February 2009 in Travel

OLDIE BUT GOODIE: The Olde Bell Inn

By Jenny Dalton

IT WAS AN experiment to see if it is possible to harness the ‘holiday’ spirit in just two days, and only half an hour away from home.
Even before my son arrived, three and a bit years ago, I’d never done anything so unusual. Weekends away - although not common - were to Barcelona or Paris, or in the UK, to Yorkshire or Cornwall - not just a 35 minute jaunt round the M25/M40.
But demoralised by the approach of a cold, dark winter, and seduced by the promise of Ilse Crawford’s first UK designed hostelry - and also, I have to say, bolstered by the increasingly fashionable idea of holidaying close to home - it was hard to turn down the opportunity to capture a little bit of Autumn romance at the recently made-over coaching inn..

It should be said, the Olde Bell Inn - in Hurley, a lesser known Berkshire village close to the rather more famous Henley - and a couple of miles walk up river (The Thames) from Marlow, is a work in progress. The Inn itself - with parts dating from the 1100s - consists of seven bedrooms featuring supersize beds, Bestlite lamps and roll-top baths, a cosy pub bar at the front complete with friendly village locals, and a restaurant at the back. The futher rooms and barns in a large complex across the road from the Inn are undergoing the Studio Ilse treatment right now - and once complete one imagines would be the perfect party / wedding venue. Read the rest of this article

Posted 19 December 2008 in Travel