A lot of people are rather dismissive of Etsy. Well, not I. Here in the Tat universe, we are fans of the cottage-industry marketplace. It can't be denied that it has had some rather odd interlopers of late: quite a lot of pieces now come from that great nation, China. That in itself is no bad thing, but it does make this once proudly handmade, independently owned corner of the internet something a little different from what it once promised to be. All that being said, I have put together a list

We are simple people. We want a nice plate of chips, perhaps a good white wine and a well-poured pint. I, too, would like to hear my companion speak without some deafening beat overhead. Perhaps a comfy chair or banquette; I'd like to be able to stay there all day and perhaps watch the night draw in by candlelight. I feel we are not asking too much, and thankfully, we in London are lucky enough to have quite a few such places to choose from. We have outlined our favourites below, and if you'd li

Yes, “a train ride away” doesn’t narrow it down much, but most of these jaunts take under two hours — a small price to pay to see some of the finest houses in the land. You can’t say fairer than that. If you’d rather stay close to home, go to Ham House. It’s an extraordinary place, right on the river, where the air still smells faintly of the seventeenth century.