Womad is the one festival everyone in the office is desperate to snag the tickets for, an accolade that used to belong to the great Glastonbury, but in recent years a shift towards the world music started to become apparent in our camp, perhaps we are getting a little older, perhaps the change in music policy at Glastonbury had us hankering for something a little less commercial or maybe with maturity comes an appreciation of everything Womad stands for. The calm, warm and friendly air, the respect for the site, lack of rubbish, the diversity of audience, the workshops and general gorgeousness of the Womad site make it our top pick for the summer!

Picture by Matt Crossick

Charlton Park hosts the festival with performances from every corner of the world, representing the very best of global music, where else would you be able to have breakfast in Spain, lunch in Iran and finish the day with friends listening to the street sounds of Africa. The site, as always promises to be spectacular, the arena housing most of the main stages with a super chilled area at the top nestled in The Arboretum, featuring the very laid-back BBC Radio 3 Stage, the wooded area is always set to captivate your mind, stunningly beautiful, laid back and quiet enough to loose yourself for a picnic in the woods.

The Flags of Womad

The program remains, as always, fairly eclectic. I am sure even the hardiest supporter of world music would be hard pushed to know every artist on the bill but that’s what makes WOMAD so fantastic.  Here are just a few of the people you can expect to see this year:

Brooklyn verses Manhattan is an old and tired debate for any true New Yorker, over the past 100 years battles have been fought in real estate, music, art, food and in this decade it seems tourism. There is no doubt that people coming to New York for the very first time will pay over the odds to stay on the small island of Manhattan to be best placed to explore all the iconic tourist attractions like the Statue of Liberty and The Empire State Building, and sure for the main list-ticking tourist attractions you can’t beat Manhattan, but I can not recommend highly enough a stay over the river, Brooklyn has stolen my heart, Manhattan never stood a chance.

During the property boom of the 90s the real estate in Manhattan became unbearably expensive the middle classes were forced off the small island into Brooklyn,  pushing up the prices of the brownstones around the park, in prospect place, higher than most Brooklynites could afford, forcing them West and East. Whilst annoying for the wannabe property magnates of the area, they brought with them a higher and more decadent type of business, creating a remarkable bohemian area full of fabulous independent shops, boutique restaurants and galleries, the real estate might be expensive but Brooklyn manages to retain the independent vibe Manhattan lost years ago to Starbucks and Chanel. To see Manhattan through the eyes of it’s inhabitants you need to befriend a millionaire pretty sharpish, in Brooklyn you simply need to just get out there and explore, it’s accessibility and beauty win over for me every time.

The guest house we chose to stay with in Brooklyn was Lefferts Manor guest house, a charming Brooklyn townhouse set on a quiet tree lined road minutes from the subway. The rooms were clean, quiet and sun drenched, but by far the most impressive thing about Lefferts is Mark, our host, the unofficial ambassador for Brooklyn. He is great for a recommendation on a place to eat, incredibly helpful and genuinely warm, we couldn’t recommend him and Lefferts highly enough, sure as hell beats staying in a box hotel with no soul, but be aware we are not the only people who heap praise on this guest house so booking is advisable, months in advance.

It would be impossible to list every great thing we found in the leafy green quiet streets of Brooklyn but a couple of personal highlights were:

The View

The View from Brooklyn

No where in New York gives you a better and more iconic view of the New York city of your dreams than the view from side of the river in DUMBO looking up towards Manhattan island, taking in The Brooklyn Bridge. Lie on your back and soak it up for full mind blazing effect.

The Galleries of Dumbo

Forget overpriced galleries in Chelsea, Dumbo is where all the cool kids hang out. Affordable (just) art and multi media spaces litter the Brooklyn shore line, and dedicating just one day of your trip to view these collections would be a day well spent. Dumbo Art Centre was a highlight for me, with regular exibitions and workshops accompanied by tables groaning under the weight of wine and nibbles.

The Amazing Food

Don’t miss Williamsburg’s quiet unassuming neighbourhoods with the best bagels I have ever eaten and stunning pizza for $1 a slice. Dinner is a slightly more decadent affair at Al de La trattoria on the uber stylish Park slope. The restaurant is run by a couple who met and fell in love traveling through Italy before returning to bring Venetian food to the people of Brooklyn, be warned portions are large but stunning, the casunziei is a must!

The Parks

Central park is beautiful there is no disputing that, every trip to New York City must incorporate a visit, preferably a picnic within its boundaries but Prospect Park in Brooklyn comes a close second. Our visit in Spring saw the park literally festooned with vibrant blossom and unlike Central Park we were able to find a quiet corner to call our own.

The Bars

Brooklyn bars are cool, where Manhattan feels a little too formal and stuffy in places, save from of course the East Village and Chelsea, Brooklyn is still retains an urban edge despite selling $10 cocktails from newly renovated warehouse style spaces, littered with work from local artists.

Choose your time of year to visit wisely, Spring was fabulous but busy, make sure you book accommodation well in advance!

Normally a typical restaurant review starts with a discussion about the restaurant, the warm and friendly welcome, the opulent surroundings and beautiful clientele, waxing lyrical about the lavish, glamorous style of The Living Room, but regular readers of the magazine will already know we love the restaurant. We love the care attention taken by the staff, love the perfectly selected wine list and staggering cocktail menu, today our review has to start elsewhere, and its no bad thing! I simply can’t shift the memory of desert from my mind, and frankly I am not sure I want to … ever!

We left The Living Room on Bristol’s Harbourside an hour ago, the taste and image of the utterly delicious salted caramel and dark chocolate torte fills my mind, it’s perfectly soft, smooth and slightly salted caramel centre is unlike anything I have ever tasted, and already I have searched the internet looking for a recipe. It was nothing short of stunning and the best desert I have tasted in years, perfectly short pastry, dark chocolate and that amazing caramel, Wow! My dining partner ate a wonderful white chocolate and bourbon biscuit cheesecake served with basil syrup, which was a show stealer, sweet and yet somehow crisp and fresh! Amazing puddings! Right now that’s done, and trust me the puddings alone are worth a trip down there, I guess I need to go back to the starter.

As the menu is a perfect celebration of Spring and Summer where better to start than with a mixed deli board, the glorious sunshine of the last few weeks put Bristol’s climate somewhere closer to Barcelona, and this is reflected in our choice of starter, the sharing platter is a perfect summer dish, mixed Spanish meats including chorizo, prosciutto and salami sit next to olives, mozzarella and the most beautiful tomato hummus with bread, a perfect start to a summer meal and wonderfully reminiscent of holidays spent in the sunshine, all washed down with a lovely house crisp Chardonnay.

The taste of a warm summer

The taste of spring continues with a honey and mustard rack of lamb served pink complemented with potato gratin, beautiful soft with wafer thin layers and a light but flavour packed red wine jus. I opted for the surprisingly delicate mackerel filet and tantalising cod cheeks in a Pernod cream sauce, which was beautifully creamy with a slight bite of aniseed, which slices though the cream, complemented by the crispy pancetta. The menu is a perfect pitch for Spring, light, subtle and fragrant without compromising on the flavour, this menu is the best of modern English cuisine, intelligent, exciting and seasonal. A wonderful celebration of the season, The Living Room gets it right again!

David Penfold

“Bollocks, it’s raining.” I peek out from my flat’s doorway late one afternoon – suede boots were not the best choice. I’ve got a coffee date with an impossibly sexy blue eyed man and now I’m going to turn up looking like a drowned rat! I arrive at the café soaking wet. I see him; black shirt, black slacks and those blue eyes. Right from the hello I am in a jelly-like state burning what feels like 1000 calories a minute purely from nerves. The night is a blur of amber light, electricity and butterflies that will not tire. When I eventually arrive home in a love-drunk state where everything is pure poetry, I don’t sleep a wink for the butterflies don’t sleep. Nearly three years have passed since that first date and although the butterflies still flutter each time he comes through the door, there’s nothing quite like those first date flutters and here are a few places you may find yours.
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Having recently moved to Bristol, I’m still discovering with delight the many quirky pubs and bars this whacky city has to offer. Obviously it’s a given that to settle into a new place, one must consume copious amounts at the local - it’s the only way to get to know somewhere, really - so one rainy weekday night, anoraked to the max and looking trendy with it, my friends and I decided it was time we cycled on over to St Werburghs to check out a boozer we’d heard a lot of very good things about, the heralded Duke of York. If you find yourself lost in the residential abyss of St. Werburghs, here’s a little tip: look out for the enormous graffiti flamingo. When you’ve reached this big pink beauty, you’ve reached your destination. Covered in flora and fauna, frogs and birds, the outside of this pub promised a lot. The inside proved even better.

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The pet dog. The faithful hound bounding along at your heels as you stride over the land, looking up at you from time to time, seeking your acknowledgement before proudly looking about so as to see off any potential danger. Then running off to play with other dogs or gleefully chasing a ball, and returning to your side as soon as you give a whistle. Obedient to a turn, the bond between dog and man seems to be almost tangible, as if you can communicate on a higher lever, anticipating each other’s thoughts and actions…er, yes, well, maybe that’s not quite how it goes down. In fact, I can honestly say my dog will let me down, run away, ignore me and generally disappoint me every single time I take her out.

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Expert Style Advice from the Bristol-based Designer, Dress-Maker and Stylist

Diamonds, the traditional engagement gift, accepted as a token of a promise to spend eternity with someone, but what makes one diamond better than another - the clarity? The cut? The number of carats? All of these things, but actually I would argue that it goes much deeper than that. What really matter is where it came from.
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The Soil Association’s tagline follows: healthy soil, healthy people, healthy planet. Sounds thoroughly wholesome. It is.

The Soil Association are committed to ensuring that food we eat is nutritionally good. Based in Edinburgh and our fair city of Bristol, they work in schools, set standards and are consistently campaigning for organic farming and security, opposing genetically modification, antibiotics and pesticides. They have Monty Don as their President. You know him, very recognisable face, a garden and travel presenter with bestselling books such as Fork To Fork and The Jewel Garden. He was the Observer’s gardening editor too, don’t you know? Don speaks indisputably well and (whole)heartedly about the SA, organic food and growing:
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The Royal family. A pillar Great Britain. The focal point of British family life. The driving force at the heart of our country. Yes? Well, maybe once upon a time. I don’t think that the once well respected royals have quite the same standing within society as they used to, at least not within Britain’s youth circles anyway.

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Waxmouse, otherwise known as Dave Bain, is an extremely active and creative young man with many strings to his bow. A thoughtful DJ who really puts a lot of effort into his work, Dave has a real drive to seek out music that excites him and, as a result, his sets are diverse and interesting. His many years of record collecting have given him an innate skill in recognising music that is right on the cutting edge yet he also has a knack of spotting tunes that are timeless and will still sound great ten years from now. As well as being a DJ, Dave is a prolific artist whose work is highly sought after and when you see it you’ll know why. Here’s a little insight into the things that make him tick:

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