His book-loving mother, Jemima, had formerly been in service with the Fox-Strangways family at Stinsford and provided insights into the world of the country house. Aged 16, Hardy was apprenticed to ...

Presided over by a splendid couple, Francis Coulson and his partner Brian Sack, a stay at Sharrow Bay came complete with a gargantuan afternoon tea, Sack’s famous icky sticky toffee pudding and ...