Resource Magazine

Just in case we don’t update our website as often as usual over the coming two weeks, fear not: the editorial team are off on a grand tour (of sorts) of France and Spain in a shiny, new, dashing, black Land Rover Discovery. Celebrating grand touring trips of old, we’ll be meandering down through France and Spain, stopping off at local markets, tasting the local wines and cheeses and staying in some gorgeous hostelries along the way.
Heading from Gloucestershire, out east to the Eurotunnel (so easy and painless) we’ll be spending our first couple of nights in the decadent, unashamed luxury of the George V – arguably Four Seasons’  jewel property. A full review, including a review of the two Michelin star Le Cinq, will be online as soon as we’ve finished basking in its glory.
Onward then, down through France (stopping off at various gastro-packed chateaux) and onto Rioja where we’ll no doubt fill the boot of our beautiful beast of a vehicle with cases of vino. Then on to the beautiful, ancient city of Granada in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and on to glitzy, brash and bawdy Marbella – where we’ve heard the locals have already started topping up their tans on the beaches. We kid you not. On the reverse journey, we’ll be taking in Madrid, San Sebastian, Biarritz and La Rochelle, to name just a few luxurious stopovers. And because we’re driving, we’re packing the Discovery and our Globetrotter cases with all of the most essential creature comforts: an iPod Touch for a vast array of tunes and audiobooks to keep us entertained; cashmere blankets and cushions so that both driver and passengers are cosy and comfy; an outfit for every eventuality; delicious toiletries so that we can spritz and moisturise the whole way; a few bottles of Champagne plus some delicious snacks in our coolbox in case we get peckish before our planned pitstops; our shiny MacBook Pros so we can update Resource online; a pile of gorgeous, glossy fashion mags and destination guides; Tod’s driving loafers for maximum comfort (and a pair of fabulously unnecessary leather driving gloves for maximum grip when we’re driving through Paris); and enough space left over for any essential and frivolous purchases that we make along the way. Cheap flight to Málaga? No thanks.
Email us with any must-see or must-eat travel suggestions for our trip, and we’ll post news and reviews all along the way. Á bientôt!

A sighting of Land Rover’s beautiful LRX distracted us momentarily from Apple’s latest launch: the wafer-thin, super-pretty, size zero MacBook Air. Dubbed ‘the world’s thinnest notebook’, Apple’s latest supermodel has its sights firmly set on the wireless generation. According to its creators, it’s a thin as your index finger, and yet still boasts a bright, crystal-clear 13.3-inch widescreen LED display, a backlit keyboard and a large multi-touch trackpad which steals some clever functions from the iPhone and iPod Touch. One of the machine’s biggest coups is in what it lacks: rather than add a few pounds, the MacBook Air has been built without an optical drive (in other words, there’s no disk drive, for those of still using 80s parlance!). If you must install a DVD or use a CD, then you can do so remotely from your desktop computer (Apple is, quite rightly, assuming that us Macophiles boast two, three, sometimes four kinds of their addictive pieces of kit). Fast, thin and very, very pretty, Apple is very much still strutting its stuff and putting PCs in their place. Do we really need to tell you that we want one?

www.apple.com

… And it’s beautiful. 60-year-old Land Rover’s LRX hybrid-crossover is a catalogue of technological advancements and incredible detailing, without losing sight of the brand’s core values. From the iPhone docking system, to its tyres engraved with the LRX logo; from the spacious interior that glows colourfully depending on how the vehicle is being used (green for economy mode, red in sports mode, blue in standard), to the floating LCD graphics on its electronic display; from its 4×4 agility, to its sound environment credentials. Muscular yet sleek, the compact two-door signifies the future of the Land Rover brand: lighter (thanks to the use of polycarbonates and aluminium), more environmentally friendly (from chromium-free dyes, carpeting made from sustainable source, fabrics made from recycled plastic bottles, improved fuel efficiency and reduced C02 emissions) and yet still practical and gorgeous, the LRX is expected to hit showrooms in three years. Your iPhone is going to have to wait a long time for its rather swanky new mobile home.

www.landrover.com

If you’re at a loose end this Sunday, then head on over to Daylesford, kitted out in your Hunter’s and thermals, for an hour and a half of wildlife spotting and foraging with Daylesford’s environmental scientist Tim Field and their rather superb Executive Chef Paul Collins. Not just a chance to get back to nature and to take top tips on cooking, gardening and the raising of happy, healthy organic, free-range chickens (as is the current topic du jour), but you can also have a bit of a snoop around Lady Carole Bamford’s backyard. We hope the next foraging trip will be through her house proper so we can see whether her real-life is as beautifully immaculate and perfectly designed as her lifestyle store.
The wildlife/foraging tour takes place on Sunday 20th January from 11.30am until 1pm
Call Daylesford Organic for more information: 01608 731700
www.daylesfordorganic.com
Talking of happy chickens, be sure to sign up now to support the Chicken Out! campaign:
www.chickenout.tv

Foie gras is, arguably, the most controversial foodstuff you can put into your mouth. In some states in the US it’s been banned, while conversely Michelin-starred chefs serve it in its many forms all across their menus. High-end supermarket chain Waitrose has come up with the perfect solution for foodies who take the ethical treatment of the animals they eat very seriously: thanks to the launch of Faux Gras. Excellent name (soon to be trademarked by Waitrose), wonderful product. Foie gras proper is produced, as you no doubt know, through the force-feeding of geese and ducks – and with some 63% of the British population believing that foie gras should be banned, faux gras’ launch is timely. This new product is made from the livers of birds that have been allowed to roam freely in British farms and even swim in ponds if the mood takes them – all the richness of the controversial pate, without the cruelty. The livers are blended with goose or duck fat to produce a decadently creamy texture, definitely reminiscent of its more brutal French cousin. And with prices starting at just £4.99, it’s a damn sight cheaper too. What’s good for the goose…
www.waitrose.co.uk

For some, the idea of a slice of toast hot from the toaster slathered with melting butter and topped off with a generous scraping of Marmite is foodie heaven. An acquired taste, it’s easy for those of us that love the yeasty spread to see why it might not be for everyone’s palate. Despite its recent carnation in a squeezy format (talk about lowering the tone, for goodness sake), we’re still firm followers of the spread here at Resource. And we’re especially excited about getting our mouths around the new limited edition version of Marmite. Made with Champagne and launching especially for Valentine’s Day, only (well, we say only…) 600,000 jars of the yeast extract will be available containing 0.3% Champagne and boasting a very special gold-coloured label. If you’re looking to really treat your Marmite-loving loved-one this Valentine’s Day, then go the whole hog and buy them a Marmite-branded Dualit toaster too. Marketing gimmickry gone mad! (Er, we’d still love to try it, though. And yes, we’d quite like the toaster too).
www.marmite.co.uk

Those of us who already own shiny, gorgeous iPhones know that looking after your mobile phone has taken on new critical levels of care. Move all spillable beverages away from the iPhone; do not dump new iPhone into the bottom of handbag/briefcase filled with potential scratching items; do not allow iPhone to be handled by anyone under the age of 18; ask envious friends to please wash and dry their hands before fondling one’s iPhone; place on soft piece of material when putting iPhone down onto hard surfaces; stop wearing diamond earrings so that they do not scratch the iPhone when talking on iPhone; carry the iPhone using only a gentle-but-firm fingertip grip on its outer-most edges. Really. Come on. While we adore Apple’s most covetable piece of kit, our lives cannot be ruled by our mobile phone. However beautiful it is. And so to the iPhone’s antithesis: the mobile made for the anti-iPhone set who see their mobile as – gulp – an essential piece of kit that needs to withstand day-to-day knocks. Appropriately, big yellow digger company JCB have come to the rescue with their JCB Toughphone. Encased in tough rubber and the company’s trademark yellow, the phone has been given an IP54 rating, meaning that it’s shock resistant, dust resistant, splash resistant, drop resistant and can be used in temperatures ranging from minus 20 to 60 degrees Celcius. Handy. As well as being a butch little number, it’s also fully-loaded with gadgetry including Bluetooth, tri-band and built-in speakers. Nowhere near as pretty as the iPhone, and not quite so packed with modern technology, it is, however, pretty darn useful for those of us who just can’t offer the commitment levels an iPhone demands.

Available from Bamford And Sons
Tel: 020 7881 8010
www.bamfordandsons.com