France To Restrict Travel From Britain To Fight Omicron

PARIS (AP) — France will sharply restrict travel to and from Britain because of fast-spreading cases of the omicron coronavirus variant, putting limits on reasons for traveling and requiring 48-hour isolation upon arrival, the government said Thursday.

The move suddenly disrupted travel plans for families and others on both sides of the English Channel. Travelers questioned whether the measures were politically driven, and U.K. officials suggested they were pointless.

With omicron now seeded around the world, “red list” travel bans “wouldn’t be effective or proportionate,” said Boris Johnson’s spokesman, Max Blain. He said Johnson hadn’t spoken to French President Emmanuel Macron about the move, and that Britain doesn’t plan to take a reciprocal measure.

The new French measures will take effect first thing Saturday, just after midnight, “in the face of the extremely rapid spread of the omicron variant in the U.K.”, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said in a statement.

The French government is holding a special virus security meeting Friday that will address growing pressure on hospitals in France from rising infections in recent weeks. Delta remains the dominant variant in France, but omicron is spreading so fast in Britain that it’s raising concerns across the Channel.

French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said on BFM television that tourism and business travel to and from Britain will be strongly curtrailed, and all those arriving from Britain will need to have a negative virus test less than 24 hours old, and to test again upon arrival and isolate “in a place they choose” for at least 48 hours pending the result.

The measures will apply to vaccinated travelers as well as unvaccinated travelers.

U.K. travel industry officials expressed dismay at the French restrictions, describing the new rules as a hammer blow to the industry. Travel officials demanded government help for battered businesses.

“The winter sports and school travel markets are particularly exposed, and the government must now bring forward a support package if we are not to see company failures and job losses,” said Mark Tanzer, chief executive of travel and trade association Abta.

Tanzer said the sector has had little opportunity to make money since the start of the pandemic nearly two years ago, and will now be faced with another wave of cancellations.

There are several hundred flights scheduled between Britain and France over the week leading up to Christmas, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. That’s the equivalent of more than 90,000 seats, though the new restrictions mean they are likely to be largely empty.

The U.K. recorded the highest number of confirmed new COVID-19 infections Wednesday since the pandemic began, and England’s chief medical officer warned the situation is likely to get worse as the omicron variant drives a new wave of illness during the Christmas holidays.

According to France’s new measures, citizens of any EU country can still enter France from Britain, in addition to non-EU citizens with a long-term EU residency permit or long-term visa, and some other categories of people including truckers who are only transiting France, diplomats and health care workers. All other foreigners are not allowed in.

People will only be allowed to leave France for Britain if they aren’t French, or if they have an urgent health or legal reason to travel.

The abrupt move comes after weeks of political tensions between France and Britain over post-Brexit fishing rights and how to deal with migration in dangerous small boats across the English Channel.

It also comes as France’s government is desperately trying to avoid a new lockdown or stricter measures that would hurt the economy and cloud President Emmanuel Macron’s expected campaign for the April presidential election.

UK Ditches Plans For Vaccine Passports At Crowded Venues

LONDON (AP) — Authorities in Britain have decided not to require vaccine passports for entry into nightclubs and other crowded events in England, Britain’s health secretary said Sunday, reversing course amid opposition from some of the Conservative government’s supporters in Parliament.

Health Minister Sajid Javid said the government has shelved the idea of vaccine passports for now but could reconsider the decision if COVID-19 cases rise exponentially once again.

“We’ve looked at it properly and whilst we should keep it in reserve as a potential option, I’m pleased to say that we will not be going ahead with plans for vaccine passports,” Javid told the BBC.

The U-turn came just days after both the government’s vaccines minister and the culture secretary suggested that vaccine passports would still be necessary, despite growing opposition from lawmakers.

In particular, members of the governing Conservative Party have objected to such passports as an unacceptable burden on businesses and an infringement on residents’ human rights.

The idea of requiring people to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative test for COVID-19 has been uncomfortable for many in Britain, where people generally aren’t required to carry identification documents.

Other European nations are using similar documents showing peoples’ vaccination status as a way to re-open society — although the rules vary widely. Each of Germany’s 16 states has slightly different rules on what is required, but in general, people are required to show a negative test, vaccine or recovery certificate before being allowed to participate in indoor dining, drinking or dancing.

Passes are required in France when frequenting bars, cafes, restaurants, museums and other places where the public gathers and for long-distance travel on buses, trains and planes. In Italy, where discos have not re-opened since the start of the pandemic, so-called Green Passes are required to dine indoors, attend a concert or for domestic travel by trains, buses, planes or ferries, although local transport is exempt.

Travelore Update: Britain Lockdown Restrictions Easing Next Week

LONDON — Britain is saying goodbye to months of tough lockdown restrictions, thanks to an effective vaccine rollout program.

Starting Monday, all restaurants, bars and museums can largely reopen, and people can socialize indoors. It’s the biggest step yet to reopen the country following a sharp drop in new infections and deaths.

Many credit Britain’s universal public health system for getting hundreds of thousands vaccinated every day. Experts say that infrastructure was key, helped by the government’s early start in securing vaccine doses and its decision to delay the second dose.

Almost 38 million people, approximately 68% of the adult population, have received their first dose. Almost 19 million have had both doses. Experts say the National Health Service can target the population and easily identify those most at risk because almost everyone is registered with a local general practitioner.

Deaths in Britain have come down to single digits in recent days. In January, there were up to 1,477 deaths a day amid a second wave driven by a more infectious variant first found in Kent, in southeastern England.

New cases have plummeted to an average of 2,000 a day, compared with nearly 70,000 a day during the winter.

However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed concerned this week about a resurgence because of variants of the virus, including one from India. Britain has totaled nearly 128,000 confirmed deaths, the highest toll in Europe.

UK to Ease Lockdown Next Week, Will Test Vaccine Passports

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s slow but steady march out of a three-month lockdown remains on track even as coronavirus cases surge elsewhere in Europe, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday, as he confirmed that businesses from barbers to bookstores will be allowed to reopen next week.

Johnson said it’s too soon to decide, however, whether U.K. residents will be able to have summer trips abroad. He confirmed that the government will test out a contentious “vaccine passport” system — a way for people to offer proof they have protection from COVID-19 — as a tool to help travel and large events return safely.

Four weeks after England took its first step out of lockdown by reopening schools, Johnson said Britain’s vaccination program was proceeding well and infections were falling. He said the next step would come as planned on April 12, with the reopening of hairdressers, beauty salons, gyms, nonessential shops and bar and restaurant patios.

“We set out our road map and we’re sticking to it,” Johnson said during a news conference.

But, he added, “We can’t be complacent. We can see the waves of sickness afflicting other countries, and we’ve seen how this story goes.”

A ban on overnight stays away from home in England will also be lifted April 12, and outdoor venues such as zoos and drive-in cinemas can operate again.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are following similar but slightly different paths out of lockdown.
B
ritain has recorded almost 127,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest toll in Europe. But infections and deaths both have fallen sharply during the current lockdown and since the start of a vaccination campaign that has given a first dose to more than 31 million people, or six in 10 adults.

The government aims to give all adults at least one shot of vaccine by July, and hopes that a combination of vaccination and mass testing will allow indoor socializing and large-scale events to return.

It says all adults and children in England will be encouraged to have routine coronavirus tests twice a week as a way to stamp out new outbreaks. The government said free lateral flow tests will be available free starting Friday by mail, from pharmacies and in workplaces.

Lateral flow tests give results in minutes but are less accurate than the PCR swab tests used to officially confirm cases of COVID-19. But the government insists they are reliable and will help find people who contract the virus but don’t have symptoms.

Britons are currently banned by law from going on holiday abroad under the extraordinary powers Parliament has given the government to fight the pandemic. The government said Monday it won’t lift the travel ban before May 17 — and maybe later.

“The government hopes people will be able to travel to and from the U.K. to take a summer holiday this year, but it is still too soon to know what is possible,” it said in an official update.

Once travel resumes, Britain will rank countries on a traffic-light system as green, yellow or red based on their level of vaccinations, infections and worrying new virus variants. People arriving from “green” countries will have to be tested but won’t face quarantine.

The government also is testing a system of “COVID-status certification” — often dubbed “vaccine passports” — that would allow people seeking to travel or attend events to show they either have received a coronavirus vaccine, tested negative for the virus, or recently had COVID-19 and therefore have some immunity.

A series of events will start this month, including soccer matches, comedy shows and marathon races. The government said the first events will rely only on testing, “but in later pilots vaccination and acquired immunity are expected to be alternative ways to demonstrate status.”

The issue of vaccine passports has been hotly debated around the world, raising questions about how much governments, employers and venues have a right to know about a person’s virus status. The idea is opposed by a wide swath of British lawmakers, from left-of-center opposition politicians to members of Johnson’s Conservative Party, and the policy could face stiff opposition when it is put before Parliament later this month.

Conservative legislator Graham Brady said vaccine passports would be “intrusive, costly and unnecessary.” The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, called the idea “un-British.”

The government said vaccine passports were all but unavoidable, since many countries were certain to demand proof of COVID-19 status for entry. And it said barring British businesses from asking customers for similar proof would be “an unjustified intrusion on how businesses choose to make their premises safe.”

The government said, however, that vaccine passports would never be needed to access “essential public services, public transport and essential shops.”

Johnson acknowledged that vaccine passports raised “complicated ethical and practical issues” and stressed their introduction wasn’t imminent.
“We’re some way off finalizing any plans for COVID-certification in the U.K.,” he said.

Pound Worth Less Than Euro In British Airports As It Plummets To 8-Yr Lows

The official exchange rate of the British pound has fallen to €1.085, the lowest since 2009. But at British airports, one Sterling buys far less than €1. Travelers exchanging cash at 

Southampton Airport’s Moneycorp branch on Thursday were getting only 87 euro cents for every pound. This is the worst rate since the financial crisis. At the desk, travelers get just €439 from £500.

Moneycorp sold euros at a better rate in Southend and Stansted airports but also estimated the European currency higher than Sterling. Other currency bureaus like Travelex did the same.

The companies say that maintaining desks at airports is expensive, and if clients order cash 24 hours ahead, the rates would be better.

“The reason for our higher airport rates is the significant cost associated with operating there – from ground rent and additional security to the cost of staffing the bureaus for customers on early and late flights,” Pauline Maguire, retail director at Moneycorp told the Sun.

Britain’s currency has weakened dramatically since the Brexit vote in June last year. It has added uncertainty over the future of business, and trading arrangements in the country.

However, the pound is up eight percent against the US dollar this year, which makes it difficult for economists and analysts to estimate the fluctuations in Sterling.

“So which indicator is right? Eventually, economic fundamentals assert themselves, and they suggest that the pound’s journey south against the euro is probably closer to the end than the beginning,”wrote Dean Turner, an economist at UBS WM in a note last week.

‘Premium Application Centre’ Offering Personalised Services For UK Visa Applicants Opens In Houston

Centre in Houston is the latest to be launched after positive response to similar centres in New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, and Boston

A Premium Application Centre offering personalised services for UK visa applicants, enabling them to submit UK visa applications at short notice, has been opened by the UK Home Office’s commercial service provider VFS Global, in Houston, TX.

Customers applying for work, travel or study visas for the UK can now have their visa applications considered within 24 hours following submission of applications at this new Application Centre.  The new services are expected to be of particular interest to personnel from the Technology and Energy industry, students and business travellers among other professionals travelling to the UK. The Centre in Houston is the latest to be launched for UK visa applicants after positive response to similar centres opened in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco and Boston.

To book appointments or know more about the services offered at the centre, applicants can visit https://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/usa/

Premium Application Centre in Houston: 700 Milam Street, Regus Centre – Suite 1300, Houston, TX 77002. Email: UKHOU_Premium@VFSGlobal.com

The services on offer at the Premium Application Centres are:

• Super Priority Visa Service: Next day processing and return of your visa
• Priority Visa Service: Quicker processing of your visa application within 3 to 5 days
• Flexible appointment choices during regular or prime time appointment slots
• Walk-in Without an Appointment: Walk in without a prior appointment
• Passport and Document Pickup during flexible hours
• Biometric enrolment: Fingerprint, signature, photo and biographic data capture
• Digital Assist: Personalised form-filling services at the centre
• Get it Right Service: Personalised document checking by the centre staff and the opportunity to submit missing documents to the UK Decision Making Centre within prescribed time-frame
• Certification Service: Copies of your original documents are certified by the centre staff, allowing you to submit certified copies instead of your originals
• Courier Service: Express delivery to the UK Decision Making Centre and return courier mail service of your passport and documents to the address of your choice
• SMS Service: Automated real-time messages on the status of your passport and documents at each stage of your application

Commenting on the new centres, Anil Katoch, COO – Americas & Caribbean, VFS Global, said, “The Premium Application Centres are convenient for UK-bound travelers in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and Houston, who will for the first time be able to get their visas processed within 24 hours. These centres cater to the growing demand for more personalised services for customers who have to make unplanned journeys to the UK or who are under time constraints.”

On Demand Mobile Visa
where the visa service comes to your Work site, Home or Business!

The Centres also offer the on-demand services which enables customers to submit applications from the convenience of a location of their choice. Whether it is your worksite, home, university campus or office, VFS Global staff can travel to the desired location to accept applications and enroll biometrics.

ODMV is ideal for individual customers who have demanding schedules and value the personal, private service it provides. In contrast it is perfect for larger groups where bringing the service to you makes the process easier for the group and more cost effective for the company.

For further information on the Premium Service VAC and other services, please visit: http://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/usa

*VFS Global will be responsible only for accepting applications for UK Visas and Immigration. All applications submitted will continue to be assessed and processed by UK Visas and Immigration. Timelines for turnaround of visas are as per the discretion of the authorities.

Britain Is Now The Cheapest Place To Buy Luxury Goods

By 

SAABIRA CHAUDHURI and

 

SIMON ZEKARIA, www.wsj.com

Sterling has plunged, but makers of many designer brands haven’t yet raised prices

LONDON—Attention luxury shoppers: Britain is now the cheapest place to buy that coveted Louis Vuitton handbag.

Since Britain voted in June to leave the European Union, sterling has tumbled 17% as of Friday’s close, having set fresh three-decade lows last week. The fall has ratcheted up prices here of imported wine, electronics and even some cars. But most luxury-goods makers—protected by typically fat margins for their products—haven’t yet raised their prices. That has suddenly made the U.K. the least expensive market in the world for a bevy of luxury goods, according to analysts.

The low prices are drawing high-end tourist dollars, as spending in other top luxury-shopping destinations in Europe slump. Spending by foreigners on items for which buyers seek tax refunds—ordinarily big-ticket items—surged more than 36% in August in the U.K., compared with a year ago, according to a UBS analysis of data provided by Global Blue, a tax-refund service.

That compares to a fall of nearly 20% on the year for the same sort of purchases in France, where tourism has been laid low by a raft of terror attacks. In Italy, spending fell more than 11% in the same period.

ENLARGE

“It’s definitely cheaper now,” said Dirk Hamann, a Berlin-based businessman emerging from the Valentino store on London’s Old Bond Street. Mr. Hamann and his wife Rika splurged, buying two jackets and a sweater at the store.

Especially price savvy are the throngs of Chinese shoppers who have flocked to Europe in recent years, picking up luxury items in bulk to take advantage of a lower euro and to avoid Chinese import duties. Many of these purchases end up on a vast gray market, where middlemen profit by reselling handbags and watches at a premium to European prices, but at a big discount to prices in Asia.

Chinese tourists have already ratcheted up purchases at Westfield Corp.’s two big London shopping malls, which include stores for British luxury firms like Aquascutum, Aspinal and Burberry, according to Myf Ryan, Westfield’s chief marketing officer for the U.K. and Europe.

“What we have seen is Chinese tourists bulk-buying designer items,” she said. Ms. Ryan said these tourists are buying an average of 10 items, or double the count from last year.

ENLARGE

For all stripes of tourists, Britain is suddenly a much more affordable destination after the Brexit vote. Travel bookings for the period between October and December from the U.S. to Britain are up 6% from the year-ago period, according to VisitBritain, the U.K. tourism agency. Bookings from India are up 11%, and bookings from China are up 24%.

“We know that when people budget they budget in their own currency, which means their money goes so much further,” said Patricia Yates, director of strategy for VisitBritain.

For luxury shoppers, the savings can still be substantial, especially for visitors from the U.S. and Asia. According to an analysis of pricing conducted by Deloitte for The Wall Street Journal, a Speedy 30 handbag from Louis Vuitton cost £645 in London, or $802 as of this past Friday. That compares to €760 ($850) in Paris and $970 in New York. In China, the bag costs 7,450 yuan, or $1,115. A spokeswoman from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE declined to comment.

A men’s cashmere V-neck sweater from Brunello Cucinelli, meanwhile, cost £650 ($808) in London, compared with $940 in Paris, $995 in New York and $1,287 in China. A Brunello Cucinelli spokesman said “prices are defined at the launch of every new collection; as for protocol, garment prices are defined in each currency and realigned keeping them updated, based on their relative exchange-rate fluctuations.”

Jonathan Coen, the commercial director for London’s Heathrow Airport, says there has been a noticeable uptick in luxury sales there.

“Since the Brexit vote, Heathrow’s luxury brands have seen a significant increase in sales,” he said. Sales of jewelry and watches rose 16.6% in July from the year-ago period in Britain, according to Britain’s statistics agency.

Sales from bookings are up 9% on the year at Edwardian Hotels London, a privately owned chain of 11 upscale hotels in London.

“We’re seeing particular strength in our five-star hotels,” said the group’s director of revenue, Linton Wadsworth. “People are taking advantage of great dollar rates.”

At the Arch London, a boutique hotel near London’s fashionable Bond Street, demand has surged.

“We’ve noticed a big increase in overseas guests this quarter,” said the hotel’s finance director, Alon Bejerano.

Robert Wall contributed to this article.

Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at saabira.chaudhuri@wsj.com and Simon Zekaria atsimon.zekaria@wsj.com

Actor Robert De Niro Plans To Bring His Hip And Homely Hotel Style To London’s Covent Garden

 by PJ Cunningham

Robert De Niro is following up on his successful entry into hotel ownership in New York by opening another luxury premises in London.

Robert De Niro at Cannes Film Festival 2016. Image by Getty Images

The Oscar winning actor’s Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca adds a touch of rustic quiet to bustling Manhattan. Now he wants to do the same with his plans for the plush Wellington Hotel in Covent Garden. His New York premises has become a popular destination for such big screen stars as Kate Hudson, Kristen Stewart and Jennifer Lawrence. In the hotel’s restaurant, locals have to work hard to get on the reservation list as the A listers wine and dine. Nearby, others eschew the food area to relax in a Japanese ryokan-styled spa and swimming pool encased with a roof made of wood 250 years old. With cosy open fires for guests to warm themselves at and relax during the cold winter evenings and an open air cocktail courtyard for summer months, the hotel isn’t so much hip, as homely and tastefully laid out.

De Niro and his business partners plan to bring similar styled facilities to London. The 83-room luxury Wellington Hotel is also expected to include a central courtyard, a spa, two restaurants and a café. If the project gets the green light from Westminster City Council, building on the hotel should begin next year and be finished within a two-year time-frame. In a statement, De Niro promised that the hotel would honour the heritage of its immediate are while bringing to London what they had managed to do in New York. The Wellington would be the latest in a list of boutique hotels opening in the English capital in the past few years.

Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/2016/05/19/robert-de-niro-open-luxury-hotel-london/#ixzz496hCx7W9

Where to Find The Top London Art Exhibitions

© National Gallery, London

With the New Year come new resolutions, promises, plans – and best of all – new art exhibitions in London! From the Impressionists to the Modernists, sculpture to fashion, London honors all forms of art, and this year’s upcoming exhibitions are guaranteed to impress. 

 the Natural History Museum

Come see art and silence collide in this photographic exhibit by Michael Benson celebrating the past six decades of space exploration. The exhibit features original music by Brian Eno and NASA and ESA have provided raw data for the exhibit. So if you’ve ever wanted to see outer space for yourself, now’s your chance. Visit theOtherworlds exhibition website for more information.

 Somerset House

 The Museum of Innocence.  Find out more here.

 Royal Academy of Arts

Some of the most beautiful and important paintings from the Impressionists, Post-Impressionists and Avant-Garde artists come together in this exhibition examining the role of the garden. From Monet to Renoir, Klimt to Van Gogh, this exhibit won’t disappoint. Booking tickets in advance is highly recommended for this show since it will surely be a popular event. Find out more and book tickets in advance on the Royal Academy of Arts website. 

 Science Museum

You know Leonardo da Vinci as a painter – but how well do you know him as an engineer? In 2016, the Science Museum will showcase his incredible talent through historical models of Leonardo’s inventions, large-scale reproductions of his famous drawings and sketches, interactive games, bio-inspired robotics and more. Find out all the exhibition details here.

 National Portrait Gallery

Ahh, Vogue. The illustrious fashion magazine turns a century old this year, so you can expect a range of photographs celebrating iconic looks and trends since 1916 on display at the equally stylish National Portrait Gallery. Find out more here.

 National Gallery

Eugène Delacroix is considered one of the most, if not the most, influential artist of his era. This exhibition, the first of its kind in over 50 years in the UK, celebrates Delacroix, as well as examines his influence on contemporaries including Courbet and Géricault, who would later go on to influence the likes of Manet and Van Gogh. Read more about this exhibition here.

 The Courtauld Gallery

Two major exhibitions are paying homage to Botticelli this year. This one focuses on the stunning drawings Botticelli created for Dante’s Divine Comedy, as well as a collection of exquisite Renaissance illuminated manuscripts. Find out more at theCourtauld Gallery website.

V&A

Florentine artist Sandro Botticelli gifted the world with his exquisite painting, the Birth of Venus. But he also greatly influenced artists who would follow in his footsteps – an impact that will be on display come March. Find out all the exhibition information here.

 British Museum

How much do you know about ancient Egypt? What about ancient Greece? This groundbreaking exhibition will shed light on new discoveries found lurking at the bottom of the sea. Two cities that have been lost to time are about to see daylight once more. Book your tickets online here.

 Tate Modern

Georgia O’Keeffe Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico / Out Back of Marie’s II 1930 Oil on canvas mounted on board Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Gift of The Burnett Foundation © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

From her paintings of New Mexico to erotic flowers, Georgia O’Keeffe helped define American modernism. The landscape painter and feminist artist’s work will grace the Tate this July, a century after her New York debut. Find out more information and book your tickets online in advance by visiting the Tate Modern website.

Contributed by Alex, www.Londonperfect.Com

There's More To British Food Than Tea And Biscuits...

WRITTEN BYHANNAH STUART-LEACH
From top-notch local produce to an incredible array of global cuisines, there’s plenty in Britain to please a foodie visitor. Belgian food photographer and author, Regula Ysewijn – known on her blog as Miss Foodwise, tells us what she loves most about eating in Britain. 

Tell us about your first experience of British food?

© Regula Ysewijn

It was when we started travelling to Britain as a family, when I was 8 or 9. It was a whole new world of food. Back in Belgium we didn’t have Indian food, for example, so trying that first chicken curry with poppadums and mango chutney was a revelation in flavour.

What do you think is unique about British food?

© Regula Ysewijn

British food is fusion by nature, but still it has a clear identity. The honesty of the food is what I think defines it – Britain has outstanding produce.

Have you noticed anything that stands out about British eating and drinking habits?

© Regula Ysewijn

The need for tea, for instance – there is a constant need for tea at any given occasion! Someone always asks if you would like a ‘cuppa’, and everyone partakes in the ritual. It doesn’t matter if you’re an accountant, artist or builder – everyone stops for tea.

[For an affordable afternoon tea experience, try Lutyen’s Lounge, London.]

What’s your favourite foodie destination in Britain?

© Regula Ysewijn

I don’t want to sound obvious, but London is definitely the foodie destination because of its diversity. It’s something we don’t have in Belgium.

I also like Bakewell in the Peak District for its Bakewell pudding, and I love eating crab sandwiches on the quay in Boscastle, Cornwall.

What’s the most underrated British dish?

© Regula Ysewijn

Pies and puddings, they are both versatile and wholesome. I dived into the history of the British pudding and discovered such a rich and intriguing history that I spent 2 years writing a book about it.

The result is Pride and Pudding: The History of British Puddings, Savoury and Sweet, which will be published by Murdoch Books on 7 April 2016.

What’s your favourite meal of the day here?

© Regula Ysewijn

The iconic English breakfast. My husband and I have a favourite – in the B&B we have stayed in for many years in Rye, East Sussex. [The couple love the pretty town so much they even got married in the Town Hall.]

Yvonne, the landlady, is the master of the ‘fry up’. She uses eggs from next door’s honesty box, bacon and sausages from the local farm shop and vegetables from her garden. Often people have a final slice of toast with marmalade afterwards, a bit like a breakfast dessert. How can you not be fond of that?