The bestselling historical fiction writer, whose new book, Nero, is out today, urges visitors to the Eternal City to make time for the quieter pleasures on offer around its seven hillsI have loved Rome all my life. I went first when I was 10, to stay in a convent. The highlight then was slipping into a cage with two guard dogs, convinced I had a gift...

Alongside rare birds, reptiles and insects, this corner of Dorset, poignantly depicted in Mike Leigh’s Nuts in May, serves up brilliant heathland walks, sea views and pints of local aleMike Leigh’s brilliant 1976 Dorset-based comedy Nuts in May begins with Keith and Candice-Marie taking the chain ferry from Sandbanks across the mouth of Poole harbour...

Straddling Perthsire and Angus, the five-day, 64-mile hiking route takes in soaring mountains, golden glens and some beaver-curated rewildingThe carved face of a cateran stares out of the waymarker before me. Deriving from the Gaelic word ceatharnach, meaning a lightly armed warrior, “cateran” later came to denote the cattle raiders particularly active...

Tell us about your favourite things to do and see in our national parks – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays breakThis year marks the 75th anniversary of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, which secured access for everyone to some of our wildest and most beautiful places. There are now 15 national parks across the UK,...

Unesco listing for the city’s Roman temple put this city on the map last year, but there are uncharted delights in the surrounding towns as wellThe director of a newly refurbished boutique hotel in the old town of Nîmes tells me he has gained and lost a star recently. The hotel’s restaurant, Rouge, run by Benin-born chef Georgiana Viou, recently won...

In the coastal city of Essaouira, our writer masters the ceremonial art of tea-pouring and learns how to make flaky chicken pastilla and gazelle horns with almond paste and orange blossom waterIt is early morning on the edge of Essaouira’s medina and the famous Atlantic winds are picking up. The sea looks tawny and wild, the sky is darkening by the...