Svalbard: dogsledding at Trappers’ Lodge

I am faced by a yard full of excited huskies. In fact, the word ‘excited’ doesn’t really do justice to their state of near-frenzied anticipation.

The venue is Svalbard, Norway’s Arctic archipelago that is around a 600-mile flight north of the city of Tromsø at a line of latitude of 78°North, and I am about to try my hand at dog-sledding through the polar winter.

It is just before 4pm and it is dark. In fact, it has been dark all day. Around midday the sky flirted with a slightly bluer shade of black, but I don’t think I would have even noticed if it hadn’t been pointed out to me.

A year at the Royal Hospital Chelsea

Prince Harry meets the veterans

Chelsea Pensioners are a feature of London. These smartly turned out gentlemen (and a few ladies, nowadays) in their red or blue jackets are as much an icon of the UK capital as the Palace of Westminster, St Paul’s Cathedral or black taxis.

Until recently, photographer Patricia Rodwell was like almost every other Londoner – generally aware the Pensioners existed, but with no clear idea of their day-to-day lives.

A chance meeting with the governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, however, sparked her interest in the place and its residents. She resolved to use her camera to record the progress of a year at an institution that can trace its roots back to 1682 and the reign of King Charles II.

10 top European festivals for summer 2012

St Petersburg: home of the White Nights Festival

There is a huge variety of summer festivals in Europe this year. Here are 10 of the best. 

St Petersburg, Russia

White Nights Festival

11 June – 2 July

www.saint-petersburg.com

The world-famous festival owes its name to the light skies that characterise midsummer nights in the northern latitudes. 

Summer visitors to St Petersburg can experience a huge variety of cultural events; with opera, ballet and classical concerts much in evidence. 

Grouse shooting at Swinton Park, North Yorkshire

Mark Cunliffe-Lister and his dog, Myrtle

Rain was forecast, but it hasn’t arrived. Instead a late summer sun beats down on the Yorkshire moors, creating a shimmering heat-haze above the purple carpet of heather.

The silence is disturbed only by the hum of bees and the distant cry of a kestrel. The scene is one of unchanging, undisturbed and unparalleled British countryside.

There is more to this timeless scene, however. It is the first day of the grouse-shooting season (traditionally 12 August) at the Swinton Park estate in North Yorkshire and, strung out behind a low stone wall, a line of nine guns is waiting.

A long weekend in Angers, France

The 12th-century Cathedral of St Maurice, Angers

The historic city of Angers lies around 180 miles southwest of Paris – just over an hour and a half’s journey on the TGV, making it a feasible destination for a long weekend.

FRIDAY

Afternoon

The modern train station is on the edge of the compact city centre and within walking distance of several of the city’s main hotels.

Review: Aikwood Tower, Selkirk, Scottish Borders

Aikwood Tower: the Reiver's return…

The Border Reivers weren’t big on luxury. After a hard day spent stealing their neighbours’ cattle or otherwise getting up to mischief they’d retire to their strongholds for a few mugs of ale before falling asleep in a heap – and quite possibly in their armour – in front of the fire.

The Reivers roamed the No Man’s Land between England and Scotland in the 16th and 17th centuries, and traces of their presence can still be seen today.

One of the more obvious of these is Aikwood Tower, 40 miles south of Edinburgh. While from a distance the Reivers would find it familiar, however, they would probably be left dumbfounded by its luxurious interior.

Traditional luxury at the Carlton Hotel, Cannes

The Carlton: a façade to remember

Cannes is a city of grand hotels, and they don’t come any grander than the Carlton, whose vast white façade, towering above the famous Croisette, is one of the city’s signature sights.

The hotel was built between 1909 and 1913, much of the money supplied by a Russian aristocrat who wanted to create a Côte d’Azur resort for his wealthy countrymen. Given the popularity of the place now with Russian visitors he had more foresight than he perhaps realised.

The hotel’s 343 rooms include 39 suites, each named after an actor who has a link with Cannes and its film festival. The grandest of these are on the seventh floor and include the Grace Kelly, the Cary Grant and the Sean Connery.

Falklands War Surrender Telex goes on sale

With the Falkland Islands back in the news, Bonhams will soon be auctioning a copy of the original Falklands War Surrender Telex.

This document, announcing the laying down of arms by the Argentine Forces under General de Brigada Mario Menendez in June 1982, is to be sold at the auction house’s marine sale on 3 April.

The auction takes place immediately following the 30th anniversary of the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands (2 April 1982).

Picasso & Modern British Art at Tate Britain

Nude, Green Leaves and Bust

Pablo Picasso was perhaps the most influential artistic figure of the 20th century and Tate Britain is this year exploring the effect he had on art in the UK.

Its methodology is to consider the stimulus Picasso provided to seven British artists: Wyndham Lewis, Duncan Grant, Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, Francis Bacon, Graham Sutherland and David Hockney. As a parallel theme it also considers how the Spanish artist was received by British collectors.

The show is entitled Picasso & Modern British Art, a title that was chosen for specific reasons, says its curator, Chris Stephens.

France: the best places to eat in Lyon

The bouchon: Lyon’s foodie heart

If any French city can claim to be France’s culinary capital, it is the east-central metropolis of Lyon.

The secret of the its gastronomic success is a deep-seated love of food that permeates the very fabric of the place, combined with a fortuitous position adjoining two of France’s finest wine regions, (Côtes du Rhône and Beaujolais), and some of its most fertile farmland.

One of the best ways to gain an insight into the mouth-watering array of produce available in the region is to visit the Halles de Lyon-Paul Bocuse, close to the city’s Part Dieu railway station.