Travel in county Berkshire

Cookham, a Thames-side village in Berkshire, was described as “a village in heaven” by the artist Stanley Spencer (1891-1959), who lived there most of his life. He is best known for his paintings of biblical events transposed to Cookham’s streets, gardens and riverbanks. Today the village houses the Stanley Spencer Gallery, a converted Methodist chapel run entirely by volunteers. The gallery opened in 1962 and was refurbished in 2007, with a mezzanine floor added to show more of the 100-odd works in the collection. Two exhibitions are staged every year. The summer show, A Brush with History: Stanley Spencer and Modern British Art, runs until 5 November. The winter exhibition, Everywhere is Heaven: Stanley Spencer and Robert Wagner, begins on 9 November and is the gallery’s first collaboration with a living artist. As well as paintings and drawings, the museum contains memorabilia such as Spencer’s pram, which the eccentric artist used to push his canvas and easel around the village – wearing his pyjamas under his suit if it was cold.£7 adults/£3.50 age 18-25/under-18s free, daily until 5 November, Thursday to Sunday only from 9 November to 24 March

Organizing a group trip can be a daunting task. Deciding where to go, what to do and where you'll stay with a group of people — who all have their own opinions — can be challenging enough to nearly convince you not to go.

I’ve been to all seven continents and to some of the most unique spots on earth yet the one place I return to time after time is Miraval. Although they now have wellness destinations in the Berkshires and Austin, Texas (neither of which I’ve visited yet), as well, the original Miraval in Tucson, Arizona will always feel like home to me and my husband.

It is a sunny winter morning, and I can see snowcapped peaks in the distance. The fragrance of pine fills the air. Birds chatter in the trees above. All is peaceful. And yet I feel as though I have just climbed a mountain—and I don't mean my recent four-mile uphill hike to the temple of Kunjapuri. I am on day seven of a weeklong stay at Ananda in the Himalayas, the lauded palatial destination spa near the spiritual hub of Rishikesh in northern India. I've come to work my way through a glut of issues, including work stress, niggling joint pain, anxiety, loss of libido, constant fatigue, and sleep disruption. The uncertainty that followed the COVID-19 pandemic had worsened all of them.

Amtrak is making it easier to travel around the Big Apple from the bustling streets of New York City to the soaring peaks of the Adirondacks, the thundering roar of Niagara Falls, and beyond with a buy-one-get-one ticket sale.

In the Gilded Age, Boston and New York grandees flocked to western Massachusetts. They built scores of homes called Berkshire Cottages that were, in fact, cottages in name only. Many of these impressive villas and grand estates are thankfully still there, some thriving under new guises.

Warren Buffet is famous for being one of the world’s savviest investors, earning billions for himself, and plenty for his stockholders as well. As chief of the Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, he’s been accorded the honorary title of the Oracle of Omaha.

When legendary investor Warren Buffett began investing in airline stocks last year, it was big news in the investing community. Theretofore Buffett had been a staunch critic of the industry’s underlying economics, and regularly unleashed scathing takedowns of airline investments. Like this, from 2002:

Enjoy the tranquillity and serenity of the waterways as you travel along the Great West Way this summer. Rediscover the real essence of England while watching wildlife from a narrowboat or sipping cool beers in a river-side pub garden.