All the rooms are nicely fitted out in subtly spot-lit soft grey, with some smart black-framed prints and designer wall-lights and fresh flowers. On a freezing night, the welcome inside is warm-as-toast as coats and scarves are shed. I want to keep shedding down to my socks so that I can bask in the sheer sunniness of it all.This friendly, eager-to-please attitude is also evident on the Mediterranean-driven menu, which is miraculously full of stuff I really want to eat. There are no high-status corners, no booths, and no obviously better positions. Never have I seen people so fussy about where they want to sit. Is this some sort of secret Kensington ritual? One group after another are brought to their tables, only to baulk like horses at the stable gates. They peer around, furtively searching for a more advantageous position – whatever that may mean – before reluctantly settling down It’s like musical chairs without the music.

Perhaps it’s because there are so many seating options at 11 Abingdon Road. Around 100 covers are divided into four flow-through dining rooms – some smoking, some non – at tables round or square. And it would take some huge revelation to convince me otherwise. But shafted by whom? By certain employees of the Welsh Rugby Union, undoubtedly, but what about the players and any of his coaching “assistants”? Well, let’s just say that a number of people should be taking one long hard look at themselves in that team-room mirror And if I was them, I would not like what I was seeing..

“Shafted”. That was my short but accurate description on Welsh TV on Friday night concerning the events that rocked my country last week – and I’m sticking to it Yes, I believe Mike Ruddock was shafted. Most of the big hitters in the top flight are of the view that relegation equals oblivion but first Bristol and now Quins are proving that it ain’t necessarily so.. Saracens got a 10-point start from a smart try on the shortside of a scrum by Dan Scarbrough and a conversion and penalty by Glen Jackson. But the tell-tale signs of a side lacking in confidence were writ large. When Sarries dithered and tossed away possession to cough up two tries to Northampton’s flankers, Paul Tupai and Sam Harding, Saints never conceded the initiative..

This time last year Harlequins were up to their necks in quicksand and when the end came, against Sale in the last match of the season, they slipped quietly from the Premiership and there was barely a dry eye in the house. Saracens, by contrast, must feel the plughole’s swirl sucking them down: this was their seventh League defeat in a row since they beat Newcastle last November. Four soft first-half tries did not just hand a bonus point and, ultimately, victory to London Irish but left the West Country side looking vulnerable at the wrong end of the Guinness Premiership table.. Four second-half tries by Sean Lamont, the Scotland wing, and eight in all to equal their highest points total in a League match, ushered Northampton one place up the Premiership table and further away from the clammy clutches of the perspiring relegation candidates. Lewsey, recovering from a shoulder injury, should be fit for the Calcutta Cup, but Voyce said: “I want a good performance to keep the pressure on Andy Robinson.”.

A smart new railway station would be no consolation for a return journey to the Football League.. Martin Allen had talked about marching – rather than riding – into The Valley but the gap of more than a league between these two sides proved decisive as Charlton reached the last eight of the FA Cup for only the third time since they won the competition back in 1947 They have never been beyond the quarter-finals since. Brentford were not exactly cannon fodder in some footballing Charge of the Light Brigade -they are too capable for that – but they did bravely carry the fight throughout a committed contest with little prospect of real reward They were also undone, to extend the image, by a Russian. Steve Coppell is a very, very steady man with a wealth of experience and although he doesn’t want to talk about promotion until the job’s done, his back-room team have already spent time searching for the right players. If you go back over the last few seasons you can see that the clubs that have survived, as far back as when Birmingham City came up, did invest well in players.”Norwich, Palace and Sunderland may all have felt that with increased wages and the possibility of immediate relegation they could not push the boat out, but these days every promoted club is virtually guaranteed £18m in broadcasting and merit money, as opposed to £500,000 in the Championship.If it takes an act of faith to entrust about half of that to the manager, Pardew and Paul Jewell have justified their respective chairmen’s backing and so, almost certainly, would Coppell, given how well he has built the team since taking over in October 2003.In the meantime, Sheffield United, a public limited company, are going down the path of a share issue intended to raise £10.7m, of which about £7m will be set aside for “additional investment in players’ wages and for working capital purposes”.Neil Warnock, who was tempted to make the leap to the Premiership with Portsmouth in November, will hope that much of that working capital comes his way.Signing a crop of 30-somethings last month (including three new strikers) ought to help ensure that promotion is secured one way or another after 12 years below stairs. John Madejski wanted to make sure the business had some sort of financial stability and we built a lot of non football-related facilities and income.

He believes: “Reading have the speed and the energy in the team to have a real impact in the Premiership.” It is taken as a given that they will get there, despite a first defeat in 34 games at Luton on Friday night.What is equally clear is that leaving loveable but tatty old Elm Park eight years ago for the Madejski Stadium, just off the M4 with its hotel, conference centre and rugby union tenants, has made them infinitely better equipped to compete at the higher level than they would have been in 1995, when a 2-0 lead was lost in the play-off final against Bolton.Nigel Howe, Reading’s chief executive, says: “The difference between Elm Park and the Madejski Stadium is really a revolution. I think Sunderland have spent about £3m and it doesn’t always equate because wages distort that, but it is a rough guide.”Pardew has naturally taken a particular interest in the attempts by his former club Reading to follow in West Ham’s footsteps. There is no reason why the teams who get promoted cannot spend the same kind of money. We have obviously spent a bit more now because we are safe and have dipped into the future with the signing of Dean Ashton. Although Murray denied that, the outlay was still barely half of West Ham and Wigan’s, and the difference in subsequent fortunes is clear.As West Ham’s manager, Alan Pardew, put it last week: “The one thing that is a bit of the benchmark for the teams that get promoted now is to look at what West Ham and Wigan spent, which is around £7m. Unfortunately for loyal Blades, it referred to an area round the railway station rather than their team.

But on a night when United matched the runaway train that is Steve Coppell’s Reading, the notion of regeneration in the city might have prompted some thought – concern even – about exactly how much investment will be required if the next stop is indeed to be the Premiership.
The evidence from clubs taking that route in the past two seasons leads to a depressingly straightforward conclusion: those that spend stay up and those that try to survive on the cheap return whence they came.Two years ago, Norwich City and Crystal Palace spent less than a £1m each in transfer fees during the summer, trotting out the old line about giving a chance to the lads who won promotion; West Bromwich Albion invested £6.2m, brought in three more players in the January transfer window and escaped relegation on the final day.The recent public spat at Sunderland between Mick McCarthy and his chairman, Bob Murray, stemmed from McCarthy’s words being interpreted as suggesting that the club’s spending policy was designed with the likelihood of relegation in mind. Supporters arriving by train for last Tuesday’s hugely enjoyable 1-1 draw between the Championship’s leading teams, Sheffield United and Reading, could hardly have missed the large posters proclaiming £50million worth of rebuilding. “Ridiculously, in the second half, I was thinking of making substitutions to win the game, not to save it,” he said. But he added that he felt his side were “not yet out of the woods”.Asked about the penalty, and McCarthy’s sending-off, Kelly said: “I thought it was a penalty immediately, but it was a very harsh decision to give him a red card.

Blackwell, who criticised the officials for “a very poor game” that produced four yellow cards and one red, admitted his team had only themselves to blame.Kelly, who succeeded Craig Levein in the manager’s role at Leicester last month, was satisfied with his team’s heroics and admitted that he even began to think of stealing a victory against the odds. The first thing he did afterwards was to apologise to the rest of the team – that shows the spirit in the camp now.”. There were only five in all.
Given the encouragement of recovering from an early deficit, when Iain Hume fired Leicester ahead after four minutes with a low, right-foot shot, Leeds should have dominated. The dismissal of the defender Paddy McCarthy, who was also sent off in the fixture at Elland Road, for pulling down Rob Hulse, not only gifted the visitors a penalty, but also numerical advantage.Robbie Blake, with a cool low shot in Paul Henderson’s bottom left corner, scored from the resultant spot-kick, but from then on Leeds offered almost nothing as an attacking threat and the game degenerated from a roller-coaster into a stalemate. We were really not quite at it and there was something missing I don’t know why It just didn’t happen.

He won the lengthy court battle, but lost the respect of his fanbase as a result.Donovan is having none of it. “If you’re looking for a psychological reason as to why I took so many drugs, you won’t find it unless you know more about my own psychology than I do,” he says. “I’m not trying to be a smart arse here, but I don’t think you do. Look, the main reason I took drugs was simply to have a good time.”He has been clean for six years now, and attributes his newfound health to family life. He met the mother of his children, former set designer Angela Balloch, while appearing in The Rocky Horror Show in London.

By the time she became pregnant, in 2000, they were already drifting apart.”We had the kid, we split up, but then I sort of realised that, you know, children were a means for me to move on from my reckless days, so we got back together, had a second child…” He pauses for breath here, and pulls on the whiskers of his beard. “They say Davey is a baddie,” Nighy arches an eyebrow, “but I think he’s just a man who’s had very bad luck.”Even in the rare Nighy films that are failures, critics single him out for commendation. One wrote of the recently released Underworld: Evolution that “There’s only one reason to see this outrageously silly fantasy-horror extravaganza of vampires and werewolves – and that’s the fact that Bill Nighy is in it.”But all this praise looks unlikely to go to his head, as he remains appealingly deaf to the siren call of glossy-mag celebrity. This is Jason Donovan at 37 years old, a far cry from the TV hunk and pop star of old, but an undeniably voluble presence full of expletive-laden enthusiasm and a refreshingly blunt compulsion towards honesty.

They have to buy fruit and veg from Spitalfields market cheaply and sell it, for maximum profit The men spend £300 and make £300 The women wear revealing clothes and flirt with traders They pay £40 for more and better stock, making £1,000. “He’s not wrong,” he said.THE APPRENTICES: THE TASKS SIR ALAN SET HIS WOMENIn the first programme in the new series of ‘The Apprentice”, 14 contestants are divided into two teams, men versus women. The winner, Tim Campbell, still works for Amstrad, promoting facial care products. “He’s done very well with getting on with what he was told to do.” The product has done less well, admitted Sir Alan “He needs to rethink the marketing.

It has not been the greatest success.”One fan of The Apprentice, who has toiled quietly in an office for years, said he loved it because the sort of bumptious, high-flying, arrogant hotshots who made his working life a misery were usually shown to be full of hot air Sir Alan chuckled. She does not get involved in his business, and keeps a low profile. The mogul, whose father was a tailor, grew up in a council house in Hackney, east London.His Amstrad word processors were a household name at the start of the computer revolution in the Eighties. Other products such as an emailing phone have been less successful, but Amstrad still expects a healthy profit this year.The first series of The Apprentice had more than two million viewers, highly unusual for a business programme on BBC2. and all that stuff.”The Sugar attitude to women was questioned last year, when he fired a female every week for the first half of the last series of The Apprentice. “I have been disappointed by women in the programme,” he said then.

That was at the Norwich Union Classic in July 2003. Two years and seven months on, Isinbayeva, with her beaming smile, and upward mobility, has become the star attraction at whatever meetingshe graces. There was more chance of the TV cameras following her out of the track and into the toilets at the National Indoor Arena yesterday than there was of the lensmen missing any vault she made in the Norwich Union Grand Prix – just in case she might attempt a world record on the way..

But if I go the distance, I’ll be criticised for that.”But if I see the other guy’s chin, I’m gonna hit it before he hits me.” Jackson Williams, a 24-year-old from Norwich, is the other guy, though one hopes not just a fall guy. He is certainly a step up from the Belorussian battered in 75 seconds by Amir last month, with 12 wins in 15 bouts.Williams lacks a troubling punch but originally learned his craft from Brendan Ingle, the trainer who honed the defensive skills of Naseem Hamed and Johnny Nelson. Williams is a trainee sports science teacher who runs ultra-marathons He must hope his boxing boots are made for running, too.. By the time Jason Gardener got to his marks in the National Indoor Arena yesterday, Mark Lewis-Francis had already crossed the finish line in the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Like Gardener, the so-called “Bath Bullet”, Lewis-Francis, the one-time Billy Whizz kid from the West Midlands, is aiming to be on the medal rostrum when the 100m men of the Commonwealth go for gold, silver and bronze in the MCG next month. The Bedford brawler is not someone to slug it out toe to toe with. Williams has to box clever, be as bold as he was against Tyson and as demonstrably dominant as he was against Harrison. That way he can at least win on points.Amir Khan, who makes his sixth professional appearance, is already having to weather more punches outside the ring than inside, but he deals as ruthlessly with critics of his opponents as he has the fighters “I can’t win,” he says “If I knock him out in a round, he will be no good. But the scars healed and Williams’s humbling of Harrison leaves him still harbouring ambitions to collect a world title.

Yet he will be back to square one if he loses to a fighter who, for all the breathless assaults of 18 unbeaten contests, is still a 38-year-old novice.Williams will know that Skelton, in spite of his technical limitations, will be braver and busier than Harrison. Yet he admitted he did not prepare as professionally as he should have done for the former Olympic champion; similar laxity would prove foolhardy against a man who, unlike the hesitant Harrison, will not take a backwards step.The fight could be a thriller or a stinker, depending on how effectively Williams counters Skelton’s unskilled labours. He is all heart, hustle and muscle, while Williams, with an orthodox pedigree stretching back via championship level to the amateurs, has the skill, the punch and above all the experience to win. All he needs to do is put it all together on the night.But with Williams nothing is ever that simple.

We were a solace to players who wanted to play football and felt they couldn’t because they were gay. Now we are about celebrating a way of life.This year we had a tough decision to make about sponsorship. We were offered sponsorship by gay , and we had a big debate about having “gay ” across our shirts. It’s not so much that all these athletes feel too intimidated to play in the standard Games, but it’s more a celebration of a culture and a way of life. But you don’t have to be gay to play in the Gay Olympics.We have straight players in our team now It’s not a gay boys’ club. We would always want to be known as Stonewall, but as we’ve become more successful there seems to have been less homophobic abuse towards us, and what we represent to people is slightly different.

We’re not having a very good season this year – it’s a team in transition. But in 2004 we won the County Cup.Every four years we enter the Gay Games, which were started in 1990. It has the majority of sports that are in the standard Olympics: swimming, athletics, football… By this stage the abuse was coming not so much from the sidelines as from the other players. I had it from a couple of teams, they’d say, “Have you got Aids?” Some teams were fine, others were always a problem. You still get a bit of that, but generally things are very different now.I heard about Stonewall in 1997, and, soon after, I joined the team. Strangely, some of the younger teams were worse than the older, more mature teams.In 1999 we went into the Middlesex County first division, and won that Now we are in the Middlesex County premier division.

They would shout, “You’re a queer”, “don’t touch him, you poof.” It was quite evil. They played on Sundays, and when a team was playing Stonewall they would get a much bigger crowd to support them Their wives and friends would turn up Even their kids would come and shout hate. In any team there is going to be mickey-taking, but some of the sniping was at a pretty base level.
From the start, we were the only gay team. Stonewall has always played in straight leagues and, at the beginning, it was sometimes difficult. They didn’t get a fair crack of the whip in terms of team selection There were people not wanting to shower with them.

It puts everything else out of alignment, as it’s a kind of perversion. “Gideon’s depression is the result of the world he inhabits,” Nighy muses. “The film is a telling comment on the way we’re all dominated by spin these days It’s a profound meditation on PR and its effect on everyone. It’s taken over our lives because it’s been developed into a system.”People now prefer it to making decisions – it’s easier just to apply the system. It is true that he does sometimes seem to be on a mission to snatch James Brown’s crown as the hardest-working man in showbiz. “It could have come under the title of ‘overkill’ – which could be a bit vulgar.”I did a lot of work over four or five years – The Young Visiters, State of Play, Love Actually – which all came out at the same time. By then, people were either going to say ‘I can’t take it anymore’ and kick me off the island or pat me on the back and say ‘Well done’.

Luckily, they didn’t kick me off the island.”The praise should be pouring forth once more when Gideon’s Daughter premieres on BBC1 next Sunday. In this poignant film, Nighy gives a moving performance as Gideon, a government PR guru who, unbeknownst to his acolytes, is on the brink of total emotional collapse.One of the principal reasons for Gideon’s breakdown is his disenchantment with the spin that increasingly seems to govern society. I could speculate to be sociable, but I just look up to the skies and thank my lucky stars.”I don’t experience the effect of fame very much,” he drawls insouciantly (he does a lot of insouciant drawling, which made him perfect casting as the voice of Dylan in the recent cinema version of The Magic Roundabout, and may be another reason for his status as a blue-rinse heart-throb) “Nothing much changes around here But professionally, it’s all to the good It makes me more castable. But I’m not secretly thinking it’s because I’m incredibly talented I haven’t suddenly become the greatest actor in the world I don’t know why it’s happened. “The odds are against it, aren’t they?” says Nighy, pushing his thick-rimmed glasses back up on to the bridge of his nose “You work away and try to keep your nose clean I’ve had a healthy career for some years. Touch wood, I’ve always had a gig, and I’ve been very lucky that it’s accelerated mightily in recent years.

Coles Bay (freycinetcolesbay ), 31km along a sealed road from the Highway, is the closest port of call to all the activities Freycinet National Park has to offer and it is advisable to book accommodation during the peak season.To escape the madding summer crowds yet remain within a five-minute striking distance of Coles Bay, head for the mountains and the luxurious lodges on Mount Paul (mountpaul onfreycinet), owned by two intrepid English women, who exchanged their Suffolk home for 1,200 acres of wilderness and views of the peninsula. Renowned for establishing the best caf?n the east coast, the founders of The Left Bank have moved, but their trademark fare lives on, including a famous lemon tart.From there the highway bypasses the glorious Freycinet National Park and it is best to reserve the stunning three-hour walk to the pure white sands of Wineglass Bay for an entire day’s experience. Perched on the clifftop and commanding panoramic views, Kabuki offers impeccably prepared Japanese or local dishes and accommodation in self-contained units. About six miles further on brings another highlight, Kate’s Berry Farm, famed for its jam, wine and fresh fruit ice cream.On the western shore of Great Oyster Bay, Swansea bustles as a popular holiday resort featuring some fine colonial buildings, including the 1838 Morris’s General Store. The museum of local history at Glamorgan Community Centre, dating from the 1860s, vividly recalls the lives of the east coast’s early settlers,, whose descendants still live in the area today. On a clear day, the Hazards seem to glow with an unearthly pink light.Further along, 12 miles south of Swansea, the Japanese restaurant Kabuki by the sea (kabukibythe seas .au) comes as a surprise in this surreal setting. From Orford the road continues, with the ocean reflecting the outline of the Freycinet Peninsula and its precipitous granite cliffs, the Hazards, etched with orange lichen.

The locks and cells have not been altered since 1825 and stepping inside the dank darkness of the solitary confinement cells evokes the same chilling sense of despair as wandering through the ruins of Port Arthur.From Richmond, you wind through some pretty countryside until a narrow riverside road heralds the coast at Orford, opening up dramatic vistas of Maria Island (parks.tas.gov.au). Yet for all Richmond’s old-world charm, the Richmond Gaol, built five years before the establishment of Port Arthur, stands as a grim reminder of Tasmania’s past. It also has live music and gourmet food stalls – Salamanca Markets is an entertaining weekly event not to be missed.Hobart is the perfect starting point for an expedition up the east coast, dubbed the “sun coast” for its temperate climate. The spectacular winding coastal roads, farmhouses, orchards and vineyards are reminiscent of the countryside of the south of France – except that the vast tracks of surf-dashed beaches are deserted and you won’t see many cars on the road.A 20-minute drive from Hobart brings you to the historic town of Richmond. Built by convicts in 1823, the town’s bridge spanning the Coal River is the oldest road bridge in Australia.Very little has changed in Richmond in the past century, although the colonial cottages have metamorphosed into teashops, antique emporiums and galleries.

Every Saturday from 8.30am to 3pm, this strip converts into the Salamanca Market, with a profusion of crafts, woodwork, ceramics, jewellery, high-quality second-hand books and retro fashion. There you will find a former jam factory which has been skilfully reinvented as the jam-packed Henry Jones Art Hotel (thehenry jones ), with its ever so trendy front bar. The fabric of the old building provides the highlights of the new. Many of the luxuriously appointed rooms incorporate exposed wooden beams and metre-thick sandstone walls.This new development, which showcases the work of Tasmania’s artists and includes an acclaimed restaurant, has revitalised this side of the docks, which some years back had a forlorn and neglected feel.A short stroll from the wharves takes you to Salamanca Place, again a classic Georgian stretch crammed with galleries and old-fashioned pubs with a seafaring theme.

This is no deprivation vacation. From dusty elephants to basking crocodiles, safari is Kenya’s main attraction.

Since then, a comprehensive study has reviewed the interaction between humans and leopard seals in the Antarctic More information: 01223 221 400, antarctica.ac.uk. In July 2003, Kirsty Brown, a marine scientist based at Rothera, was attacked and drowned by a leopard seal. Expect no sunlight whatsoever for several weeks in mid-winter (late June), while those enjoying a very white Christmas will encounter 24-hour daylight.The BAS will advise you on everything you need, including how many pairs of long johns to pack But the threat is not just from the weather. Stays range from a couple of months to semi-permanent postings. The moving ice is a constant danger and the base at Halley, located on a floating ice sheet, edges hundreds of metres closer to the water each year. While there is currently a vacancy for a “molecular phylogeneticist”, maintaining a working population in an environment where temperatures can plummet to -50C also requires support staff such as engineers and chefs.Anywhere else, the term “field assistant” would mean little more than a gofer; here it can translate as a fully qualified mountaineer.

Research is conducted from five BAS stations: Rothera, Halley and Signy on the Antarctic continent, King Edward Point and Bird Island in the sub-Antarctic region of South Georgia.The range of volunteers is probably more diverse than for any other scientific field project in the world. More information: hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volunteer Antarctica The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has conducted research in and around Antarctica for the past 60 years. BAS data is used by scientists all over the world (particularly those who monitor ozone levels and climate change). On the plus side, participants will gain experience not only in geo-logic mapping but also in the various field techniques used by vulcanologists.Those wishing to take part are expected to make their own travel arrangements to and from Hawaii, but the USGS provides rent-free accommodation as well as bikes and vehicles on the islands. In addition, “applicants should not have respiratory or other health problems that might be aggravated by exposure to volcanic fumes or intense heat.”While the location is undeniably glamorous, the reality can be rather more prosaic; you must be willing to spend days hiking over uneven ground in the rain, often with a heavy pack while carting cumbersome equipment. “Volunteers must be in top physical shape,” reads the official literature, “and have a working knowledge of location and outdoor survival skills in a wide range of environments, ranging from arid desert and dense rainforests to alpine snowfields”, all of which occur on Mauna Loa. The primary goal is to produce geologic maps of the volcano and compile a record of its eruptive activity during the past 10,000 years.Most applicants tend to be studying for a degree in geology or environmental science, but there is more to it than that.

By far its biggest project is taking place on the active volcano of Mauna Loa, the world’s largest. Details: earthwatch Volcanoes The Hawaiian Volcano Obs-ervatory, part of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), measures volcanic activity on the islands’ five active peaks. In contrast, winters are dry and cold, particularly at night, when temperatures can touch 0C Prices start at £1,800 for a 14-day stay, excluding flights. Under the direction of a field team leader, participants will be taught all the skills they need, including radio tracking and how to monitor a meerkat’s weight.In addition, volunteers can also join biodiversity surveys, recording the size and activity of native bird colonies, and outreach projects, helping the local community to conserve this pristine environment.Fourteen-day packages are offered during the Kalahari winter, from April to September, which means you will be spared the punishing desert sun; in summer, temperatures can reach 40C. Meerkat behaviour in neighbouring Namibia has been well documented and the Earthwatch scheme, run in conjunction with the University of Cambridge meerkat project, hopes to discover parallels with their South African cousins: primarily, how the breeding behaviour of these sociable animals affects their survival. Earthwatch has 142 projects in progress, and one of the more popular is the chance to observe meerkats, the little mammals made famous by Sir David Attenborough’s documentaries, at South Africa’s Kuruman River Reserve.The 25 sq km reserve is located in the Kalahari Desert, 17km south of the Botswana border. Since its inception 35 years ago, around 80,000 volunteers have contributed 10.8 million hours of scientific research.

Back to Italy’s glory days Back in its Fifties heyday, Italy’s Amalfi Coast was the playground of the rich and famous. Now the smart set are returning to enjoy the refurbished Hotel Caruso in Ravello. The harbourside alone has had a £21m facelift and the town has grabbed two Michelin stars in the new 2006 guide. The Elephant (01803 200044) is a stylish bar restaurant right on the harbourside and Orestone Manor is a country-house hotel on the rural outskirts.
Who goes there? Rik Mayall, Cilla Black and G?rd Depardieu Contact: Orestone Manor (01803 328098; orestone co.uk) offers dinner, b& b from £370 for two nights for two. Out go the cream teas, in come Michelin-starred restaurants and boutique abodes. OK, so you can still stay in Fawlty Towers-style guesthouses, but Torquay has tidied up its act.

Throughout May, rent the Domaine de Carignan, a villa sleeping nine at Coursan in the Languedoc with Pure France (0871-288 4198; purefrance ) The price is for a week’s rental Ref 11044. Prices correct at time of going to press and are per person based on two sharing, unless stated Subject to availability. That British riviera touch

Torquay and the English Riviera are back. Get seven nights for the price of six at Queen Ada resort in Bodrum in Turkey with The Mediterranean Experience (0870-499 0676; themed ) until 14 May The price includes flights from Gatwick and b&b £995…

NCL (0845-658 8010; uk.ncl ) is offering a seven-night western Mediterranean cruise for departures on 14 May. The price of the trip, which calls at Naples, Rome, Florence, Villefranche and Barcelona, is all-inclusive but flights are extra £599… The price includes return flights from Gatwick, transfers and b&b £295… Spend seven nights at Lake Garda with Voyages Jules Verne (0845-166 7035; vjv ). The price, for departures on 6 May, includes flights, transfers, half-board and the services of a local guide £499… Aoife O’Riordain

£269…

The bloodthirsty French captain, whose real name was Olivier LeVasseur, was captured on Mauritius, but not before he had hidden his treasure somewhere in the Seychelles. Standing before the gallows, legend has it he took out his map, tore it into several pieces and threw it into the baying crowd declaring: “Find my treasure who may.” No one has yet, though people still look for it.While following the treasure trail around Mah?Fleming hired a car, buying a local driving licence in Victoria for five rupees. Many Seychellois believe there are still huge caches of buried treasure, including what is generally considered to be the greatest missing hoard of them all, that of the 18th-century buccaneer La Buse (The Buzzard). During my visit, there was even talk of adding an 007-shaped Jacuzzi outside, and a version of Monty Norman’s Bond theme to be played every time the toilet door is opened.Among Fleming’s fascinations nearly five decades ago were the pirate tales that are told throughout the Seychelles.

One of the first hotels on the islands, it has reopened after being turned into a luxury five-star retreat. The hotel now consists of 40 wooden villas within a m?nge of paths, elevations and landscaping, all with stunning views of the Indian Ocean and the striking Silhouette Island a few miles away.Bond fans will find the rebuilt hotel packed with Fleming associations: not only is the pretty private beach where Fleming swam exactly as it was during his visit, but the new management, Hilton Worldwide Resorts, has paid tribute to the author by dedicating a villa to him.In a move that will surely make The Northolme the ultimate honeymoon destination for 007 enthusiasts, the oceanfront Ian Fleming Suite comes complete with a king-sized circular bed, Blofeld-style spinning chair and, best of all, the complete library of James Bond DVDs and novels. That grand old hotel, The Northolme, built before the First World War, has recently undergone a dramatic transformation. May have to cut their losses and fall back on the Seychelles … Just go and have a look.’ M glanced out of the window at the driving March sleet. ‘Don’t get sunstroke.’”Upon arrival, Bond becomes entangled with a sadistic American multi-millionaire called Milton Krest and his attractive but unhappy wife Liz. Among the five short stories that combine to make up the book was one set entirely in the Seychelles, which Bond, like Fleming, travels to from a rainswept London in the spring: “M had told Bond he was sending him to the Seychelles,” wrote Fleming.