Holiday Extras

As Constable and Turner are to English landscape painting, Thomas Cole is to landscape art in America. He was a key figure in the development of ‘The Hudson River School’ merging descriptive realism and idealism, using the threatened, yet still unspoilt American rural expanses of the nineteenth century as his subject.

What can one say about a capital city both feared and envied? Moscow is both, a beacon for those who see Russia’s strength in its illustrious medieval past, but also a symbol of its unwillingness to accept the modern world at face value. This is the perfect opportunity to explore this ambiguity while exploring its Kremlin, its cathedrals and its mighty museums and musical life.

For sheer theatrical impact, the massed ranks of rhododendrons, azaleas and magnolias found in Ireland’s spring gardens is hard to beat. Iconic gardens such as Mount Congreve, Fota, Birr Castle Demesne, Kilmacurragh, Powercourt and that jewel of jewels, Mount Stewart will all be included. Based at very comfortable hotels including the renowned Ballymaloe House, this may very well be the ultimate post-winter tonic?