Autumn in Smaland, Southern Sweden

While we are all patiently waiting for spring to arrive in London, let me show you the wonderful autumnal colours of Smaland, a province in southern Sweden I visited back in October last year. 

This beautiful area is packed with picturesque lakes, pine and spruce forests and is just great for everything outdoors. It’s also home to Sweden’s famous children’s book author, Astrid Lindgren (think Pippi Longstoking). Some of her most well-known books are set in Smaland. 

Our trip has started with an overnight stay at one of Smaland’s manor houses, Vastana Manor. As we arrived when it was already dark, it took us all morning to admire the house’s fascinating details.

We then headed to the old town of Granna, famous for its wooden red houses and rock candy making. You can find a few shops along the main street and have a go at making your own peppermint rock, which we willingly did. It’s such a fun process to watch and try! 

A walk around Granna to admire the red timber houses.

My favourite Swedish tradition that I happily adopted is ‘fika’ - a break with a coffee and a sweet pastry (Swedish cinnamon buns are just the best!) shared with your friends, colleagues or relatives. Of course, we stopped for a fika in Granna.

Granna is also known for its delicious organic ice cream (I opted for lingonberry, red berries common in Sweden) and crisp bread.

After savouring all the delicacies we boarded a ferry to Visingso island. 

Surprisingly, there’s a muesli making facility on the island, home of Susanne Dalsatt and her family who have been producing organic muesli since 1972! 

A few more pretty red houses and autumnal hues of Smaland taken on the way to our next destination.

Have you ever heard about Bruno Mathsson? - I haven’t before this trip but this furniture designer and architect is well known in Sweden. His designs are really interesting and were way too modern for his time! Bruno Mathsson carefully studied the mechanics of sitting in search of the perfect sitting curve for his chairs’ designs.

We visited Bruno Mathsson Centre in Varnamo and saw his birth home which now houses a museum/showroom of his furniture (photos above). We were also lucky to be able to visit Bruno’s and his wife Karen’s house in Tanno. It was built in 1964 has been basically left untouched since the couple lived there.

Autumn truly is the best time to visit Smaland - just look at those colours and patterns!

This local specialty is called raggmunk - a dish made from grated potatoes, bacon and lingonberries. Not pictured here - a super fun Segway cross-country adventure we shared at Isaberg Mountain Resort.

I was a guest of Visit Smaland. All opinions are my own.

What to do in Paraty, Brazil

This autumn I had an opportunity to visit South America for the first time. I don’t need to tell you how excited I was! My discovery of this amazing continent has started with Brazil.

After spending 5 days in Rio de Janeiro (a separate post coming soon), I headed to Paraty. Perched between the sea and the mountains, 125 miles south of Rio de Janeiro, this charming town is not to be missed. Its historic centre is quite small so you can easily explore it in a day. I wouldn’t normally stay longer than a day but since I didn’t organise this trip myself, I was offered to spend two days there and thanks to this have fallen completely in love with this place.

I was fascinated by the colonial architecture of Paraty’s historic centre but the locals were the reason this experience was so special. As the town is a popular tourist destination, everyone speaks English (that’s not the case in bigger cities) and is super friendly!

Things to do

Take the time to admire Paraty’s Portuguese colonial architecture with its 17th and 18th century buildings with colourful doors and windows dating back to the time when it was an important port during the Brazilian Gold Rush.

After the gold rush, the town became the centre of the sugarcane production and later the coffee production. Paraty is still well-known for its cachaça, a distilled spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice, most famous outside of Brazil as the main ingredient of caipirinha cocktail. Make sure to visit local distilleries to sample some locally made cachaça.

Take a boat tour to discover some of the area’s most idyllic islands and beaches. Most of the tours start at around 11am and takes about four hours. Alternatively, take the time to wander around and absorb the town’s history while the majority of its visitors are away on one of the tours.

Try locally roasted coffee at cafe Montanita and chat with their friendly baristas.

For an unforgettable local experience, learn to cook Brazilian dishes with the wonderful hosts Yara Castro Roberts, a Brazilian chef and author of the book The Brazilian Table, and her husband Richard Roberts at their Academy of Cooking & Other Pleasures. They will welcome you to their beautiful home for a magical evening of cooking, chatting and eating while learning about Brazilian culture, food and the couple’s international experience.

Where to stay

There are a few hotels, hostels as well as bed and breakfast in the historic centre. I stayed at the Porto Imperial, a charming hotel located in a former commercial warehouse, dating back to 1804, right in the historic centre, where boats used to dock to transport goods arriving or departing from Paraty.

Paraty is also home to a lovely puppet theatre - Teatro Espaco where you can enjoy an incredibly touching performance. The puppets are so real that almost look like humans!

If I ever go back to Brazil, I hope I will have an opportunity to return to Paraty but for now I’m looking through those photos that are bringing back warm memories.

48 hours in the most beautiful parts of England with MGallery by Sofitel

I am often asked about the best day trips from London. This trip was slightly longer than a day but it should give you plenty of ideas for a day trip or even for a week of travel around England. As I am based in London I usually travel only for a day but thanks to MGallery by Sofitel this time we had an opportunity to stay a bit longer and explore more.

The first stop of our trip was Windsor for an afternoon tea at Castle Hotel Windsor.

On Sunday Windsor was incredibly busy so we were glad to find a moment of calmness over a delicious afternoon tea in the Castle Hotel. The pale green elegant Georgian building is located right in the centre, just around the corner from Windsor Castle. The hotel has been in service since the 15th century and has been awarded eight Royal Warrants.

After savouring all the treats we headed to the Cotswolds and, of course, we couldn’t miss a quick visit to Castle Combe. The day was a bit rainy but the village looked even more authentic with an overcast sky. If you haven’t been to Castle Combe yet, you definitely need to add it to your list as it’s surely one of the prettiest villages in England!

We got there in no time thanks to our trusty companion, Mini 3-door Hatch that was kindly provided to us for the trip. We had so much fun driving this little beast!

You don’t need more than couple of hours in Castle Combe as it’s so tiny.  And it’s only 30 minutes away from Bath where we were staying for the night.

We arrived in Bath just in time to see the lovely Francis Hotel in the daylight. The hotel is located in the very heart of Bath and occupies seven of the original 18th-century townhouses on the Queen Square. The city of Bath is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the hotel is Grade 1 listed. Throughout the 18th century, Queen Square remained a residential district of Bath. Soloman Francis, a local builder, first opened a hotel at No.10 in 1858. Later, the hotel has expanded.

Taking the advantage of staying overnight in the city we decided to pop in the Roman Baths, a well-preserved Roman site for public bathing. It is now open as a museum, you cannot bath there anymore but there are plenty of other spas in the area if that’s what you are after.

If you are planning to visit Bath you can also check out this post from my previous trip.

I can talk about Bath forever as it’s one of my favourite cities in the UK (and if you are visiting for the first time you need to allow at least a day to see everything) but it was time for us to head further.

Having initially planned to spend more time in the Cotswolds, we realised that we could also visit Frome and Wells in Somerset so we decided to make a little detour.

Packed with historic buildings and lovely independent shops, Frome is worth visiting for a few hours.

I loved Frome but a real discovery of this trip was Wells. Most known for its Cathedral, Wells had city status since medieval times and is now considered to be England’s smallest city.

After admiring Vicar’s Close, claimed to be the oldest purely residential street with original buildings surviving intact in Europe, it was time to head to Cheltenham where we were staying for our second and final night of the road trip.

Passing through the pretty villages of the Cotswolds we have arrived to the Queens Hotel in Cheltenham.

Impressed by the grand white (Grade II listed) building of the hotel we had a really warm welcome with cocktails waiting for us in our rooms. The hotel has recently undergone a complete restoration but it still retains many of its original features including the wallpaper designed by Augustus Pugin, a key feature in 19th century architecture and design. We loved the gorgeous Georgian staircase too!

That was the end of our exciting girls’ road trip but I will surely return to those beautiful areas of England and will hopefully stay at MGallery by Sofitel hotels again.

In partnership with Mgallery by Sofitel and Mini. All opinions are my own.

2 days in the French part of Switzerland with Nespresso

A couple of weeks ago I was invited by Nespresso to spend 2 days in their headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland to learn everything about their coffee production process and sustainability initiatives. 

I am very excited about the opportunity to work with Nespresso over the next 6 months as I've been an active user of their products for a few years already, and it's always fascinating to know more about the brand you encounter with on a daily basis.

For me coffee drinking is a serious business - I usually only drink one cup a day (2 cups max when I'm on holiday) so I want to make the most out of it! 

We started the trip with a tour of the campus that has this gorgeous view. We then learned about the sustainability program that the company has implemented on all levels - starting from the coffee farms to the factories and finishing with the packaging - Nespresso capsules are made of 100% aluminium which is fully recyclable (more on it later).

After a delicious lunch and coffee, we set to explore the factory where the capsules are produced. No pictures at the factory are allowed but I can assure you it's made up to all the possible standards of Swiss efficiency - the factory is a closed loop system in terms of energy consumption. Factory tour followed by coffee tasting and we even had an opportunity to channel our inner baristas (not as easy as it seems!).

The day finished with a wonderful dinner at Lausanne Palace Hotel where we stayed for the night. It was really interesting to try the whole menu inspired by Nespresso coffee.

Next morning I set my alarm early to have some me time to wander around the beautiful Lausanne. I stopped in the old town and then made my way to the lake.

The morning officially started at Nespresso boutique with a coffee recipe workshop. We tried a few coffee cocktails based on unexpected flavour combinations and saw a latte art demonstration just to realise once again that it's not as easy to make as it looks.

The day continued with a visit to the capsule recycling plant in Moudon where we saw with our own eyes that not only the aluminium capsules are fully recyclable but the coffee grounds are too - they are being separated at the facility and are later used for green energy and compost, so nothing goes to waste. 

When I shared stories from the trip on my Instagram I received many questions about the capsule recycling. There are a few options that are currently available in the UK:

- take a full recycling bag to your local Boutique

- request a collection when placing an order online 

- drop off your bag at any CollectPlus point (in case your Boutique is far away) with a dedicated label - more information here.

Did you know that Switzerland produces some delicious white wines? During the trip, we had an opportunity to meet Blaise Duboux, owner of the vineyard in Lavaux region and 8th generation winemaker. Blaise uses recycled coffee grounds to fertilize and nourish the soil in his vineyard. Not only the wines taste amazing but the views are incredibly beautiful too!

I was a guest of Nespresso. All views are my own.