Antonia Windsor

When sightseeing plans are ruined by the weather, travel writer Antonia Windsor and her family decide to make the most of what their hotel has to offer instead – and they aren’t disappointed
“Oh look! A crocodile!” my six-year-old daughter Zenya squeals. We’d planned an action-packed itinerary in the Midlands, but spotting safari animals isn’t part of it. She jumps on the bed and puts her arms around it, because this crocodile isn’t deadly – it’s made out of rolled-up towels.
“Come and look a...

The combined effects of drought, flooding, conflict and global unrest have left millions facing starvation in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, with the head of the British Red Cross calling for urgent action
Communities across Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and beyond are facing their worst food crisis in decades, with 146 million people going hungry every single day. Some families are surviving on just one meal a day, and parents are making the difficult decision of whether to feed their...

Spend a night or two in the New Forest and you’ll begin to get used to waking to the sight of deer grazing outside your window, having to put your foot on the brakes as free-roaming ponies trot carefree across the road and stopping every few minutes while on a walk to take photographs of donkeys grazing under ancient oak trees.
But where are the best places to stay? Whether you’re looking for a boutique room above a pub, a smart townhouse with top-notch food or a grand country pile with roari...

Hampshire is such a varied county to holiday in. For city breaks you’ve got the ancient capital of Winchester and the lively harbour city of Southampton, among others; for country pursuits you’ve got some of the best fly fishing in the UK on the pure chalk streams of the River Test (the birthplace of modern-day fly fishing) and the South Downs National Park.
If you’re looking for a “beaker full of the warm South”, there are nine vineyards to explore and local gins and beers jostle with the wi...

I’ve given my ten-year-old my phone and she’s taking the job of photographing her parents very seriously. She doesn’t often see us standing together — as with many couples our lives tend only to intersect at the kitchen table — and she’s certainly never seen us with such a tremendous backdrop of mountain scenery.
A week ago, had I asked any of my three children — aged 6, 9 and 10 — to suggest the least likely location for a photo of their father, at least two would have said “up a mountain”. ...

The road to Yalikavak marina is lined with ancient olive and almond trees rising from dusty scrubland. It feels as though you might turn off any minute into a primitive smallholding with a few scraggy goats and free-roaming hens. Instead, you arrive into a different world entirely, a place where gleaming superyachts jostle for space beside a pristine promenade lined with designer shops in which haute couture is “curated” and hung sparsely on rails.
The Bodrum peninsula, a thumb of land that j...

Hotel address: Paseo de la Castellana, 22, 28046 Madrid, Spain
Website: rosewoodhotels.com/villa-magna
Price from: €700
Why book?
To hobnob with well-heeled Madrileños in a residential-style smart hotel in the smartest part of Spain’s capital city.
Set the scene
On a tree-lined boulevard in the ritzy Salamanca district, the dull grey facade of this modernist building has had a makeover by Spanish architect Ramón de Arana. Now, you walk up white stone steps to a building that epitomises mid-ce...

Mallorca has a proliferation of budget hotels. Put a search into Expedia or Booking.com for any day of the year and you’ll be met with an overwhelming list of affordable places to stay, from mega coastal resorts with multiple pools and activities, to characterful B&Bs in rural settings. Short of trawling through the reviews of each and every one, it can be difficult to make a decision on which is the best budget place to stay. That’s where we come in. We’ve done the hard work for you and pick...

Check the latest travel advice and current Covid-19 rules and restrictions by country.
If you're heading to St Lucia and have picked a coastal resort in which to base yourself for a visit to this dreamy eastern Caribbean island, then chances are you'll already have a powder-soft beach to lounge on that will become an instant favourite.
However, the beaches on this island vary considerably from secluded, sheltered bays on the west coast, where the shores are lapped by the warm Caribbean Sea, t...

Walk through the narrow, medieval streets of the old town of Mallorca’s capital, Palma, and you’ll begin to notice discreet gold plaques on the ochre-coloured walls of grand Renaissance houses. These mark their transformation into high-end hotels, many aimed at adults and all of them a long way from the sprawling resort hotels that hug the coast.
This handsome port city, with its tree-lined boulevards and seafront gothic cathedral, has long been a day-trip destination for cruisers or a quick ...

Check the latest travel advice and current Covid-19 rules and restrictions by country.
Verona is the city of love, or La Cittá dell'Amore in Italian, mainly because it was the fictional home of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
But huddle with your loved one at a terrace table in the central Piazza Bra, as the sun washes the ancient stone of the Roman amphitheatre in tones of rose and gold, and you would feel romantic even if the famous star-crossed lovers had never set foot in the city.
making...

Madrid isn't the first spot on Brit's Spanish holiday hit list, but with a string of new luxury hotels and a renewed buzz, all that could be changing says Antonia Windsor

Belgravia resident and novelist Len Deighton's 1960s spy classic The Ipcress File has been turned into a six-part series for ITV

Look at most maps of the world and you’d be forgiven for missing the Channel Islands. But zoom in on the English Channel between the south coast of England and the north coast of France. Here, you’ll see the specs of land that make up this unique Anglo-French archipelago of golden sand and shingle beaches, granite sea cliffs, and lush rural interiors.
The Channel Islands are Crown Dependencies, which means the Queen of England is their monarch, but they are not part of the United Kingdom. And...

Madrid is an old favourite of travel writer Antonia Windsor who spent a weekend visiting friends when she was young, free and single. But is the city still fun with three young children in tow?