Pedal power: a cycle tour of Munich

A red squirrel darts across the path and I apply the brakes.

Unperturbed the animal pauses, perhaps to assess whether I come bearing anything edible, before it turns and scampers up the trunk of an ancient oak tree.

I move off again, slowly gathering speed past more elderly oak trees and a shady lake where three swans swim regally across still waters.

This little vignette does not take place in some rural idyll, however.

Light relief: a cigar tour of London

Cigar smoking, as any aficionado knows, is very much a matter of taste. Few people know that better than Edward Sahakian who, for more than 30 years, has run the famous Davidoff store on in London’s historic St James’s district.

‘Every cigar has a time and a place,’ he says. ‘I’d smoke something different on a cold, wet day in London, for example, than I would on a warm afternoon in Havana – with a Mohito.’

Given that Sahakian’s shop contains at least 220 different cigars – at the last count – that’s plenty for his customers to be getting on with. And many of them, like him, like few things in life quite as much as a good cigar.

‘I’d say the process of enjoyment all starts when you open the box,’ adds Sahakian. ‘There could be 10 or 20 cigars in there, but one of them will catch your eye. That’s where the attraction all starts.’

Live like a duke at Château de Brissac, Angers

‘These aren’t our greatest tapestries,’ says the Duchess de Brissac, indicating two large, intricate and, frankly, priceless-looking creations on a drawing-room wall. ‘They aren’t actually originals. But they do well here.’

She’s absolutely right. The room looks as though it could be expecting the Three Musketeers to walk in at any moment and start planning how best to thwart the latest dastardly plans of Cardinal Richelieu.

In fact, the whole Château de Brissac is redolent with that same atmosphere. Located near Angers, in the Loire region of France, with huge grounds and dramatic turrets it looks a lot like a storybook castle.