Annie B Spain in the Press
I am very proud that my cooking holidays and gourmet tours in Spain have attracted so much positive press
Good Housekeeping, August 2022
I am delighted to have my culinary & Hiking holiday featured in GH. Click here to learn more about the trip.
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Conde Nast Traveller, May/June 2024,
I was delighted to be featured in Conde Nast Traveller, spotlighting the captivating Costa de la Luz. It is an incredible honour to be recognized as an expert on the region’s fabulous food culture. The magazine suggested spending a day with me to truly experience the culinary delights this delicious Spanish coastline offers. Sharing my passion for the vibrant flavors and food traditions of Costa de la Luz with a wider audience is a dream come true, and I am thrilled to guide others through its gastronomic wonders. Click HERE to read the article
Click here to read about how you can experience the gourmet delights of Costa de la Luz with me.
The Times, The Travel Doctor, February 2024
I am delighted to be featured in The Times, Travel Dr’s page as a recommended cooking holiday!
If you subscribe to The Times, read the article HERE
The Times, Bricks & Mortar, July 2023
I am delighted to be featured in The Times, Bricks & Mortar
If you subscribe to The Times, read the article HERE
The Sydney Morning Herald, June 2023
I am delighted to be featured in the Sydney Morning Herald. A great article from Belinda Jackson about our lovely day spent in my kitchen
Read the article HERE
The Daily Telegraph, 25 Feb 2023
From a swimming masterclass in Formentera to a Picasso odyssey and a tapas trail by train, Annie Bennett picks 30 inspiring trips for 2023
I am delighted to have my Culinary & Hiking Tour featured in the Daily Telegraph’s “Fall in Love with Spain again, Annie Bennett picks 30 inspiring trips for 2023” Please click here to read the online version.
Seafood, sherry and strolls: Vejer de la Frontera
The Sunday Times, 1 January 2023
‘Many factors inspired Annie Manson to buy a house in Vejer”
I am delighted to have been featured in the New Year’s edition of The Sunday Times 1st Jan 2023 Please click here to read the online version if you subscribe
Australia’s Delicious Magazine, Feb 2022
“The Captivating Gourmet Region of Cadiz”
I am delighted to have been featured in the February edition of Australia’s Delicious Magazine, along with so many others that make Cadiz such a delicious region to visit. Please click here to read the online version
The Telegraph, Saturday 13 March 2021
Is Vejer Andalucia’s most charming hill town?
Read the full article here; https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/is-this-andalucias-most-charming-hill-town/ar-BB1eBnka?fbclid=IwAR2knNE_kMPPg50MCsGJ9-Xyly29K0xHSEK3ywUbu-q4xwmTV9vUrNq8reg
Food & Travel Magazine, March/April 2021
New enriching experiences
Cookery & Hiking with Annie B
The Telegraph – December 2020
A perfect Christmas gifts for the frustrated Travellers
A Sherry kit & Zoom Class with Annie B
BBC GOOD FOOD – January 2020
Top 10 Foodie Hotspots for 2020
The foodie Cadiz with Annie B
THE TIMES – January 2020
The 50 best holidays in Spain for 2020
Tuna & Tortilla with Annie B
THE TIMES – September 8 2018
40 Great Autumn Escapes
My 4 nights & 3 days Short course
THE TIMES – January 2019 Top 50 Holidays in Spain
Delighted to be included in The Times, Top 50 Holiday in Spain with my special TAPAS course. January 2019
THE TIMES – October 2018. Foodie Holidays; Tour the tapas bars and the tastes of Cadiz
Read here what Journalist Paul Richardson wrote about my Ultimate Gourmet Tour of Cadiz in The Times feature. October 2018
THE OBSERVER – Recipes for Adventure; 10 of the best cooking holidays worldwide
I’m thrilled that my Menorca food and wine tour was included in the Guardian/Observer’s feature on global cooking holidays!
THE SUNDAY TIMES – Three ways to do a food tour; Menorca with Annie B
The Sunday Times Travel magazine features my “Menorca – a Unique Food & Wine Adventure” in the August 2018 issue.
GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
Cadiz with Annie B Spain, a Delicious Destination for 2018
Good Housekeeping , April 2018 – thank you for including my Ultimate Culinary Tour of Cadiz as a Delicious Destination for 2018
Top 50 Holidays in Spain 2018, The Times, January 2018
Delighted my Ultimate Culinary Tour of Cadiz was included by the Times in their top holidays in Spain for 2018
Short Breaks to Extend Summer, Jamie Magazine, September 2017
Such an honour to be name-checked as a ‘must-do’ in Jamie Oliver’s magazine, while he sings the virtues of Vejer as a sun and Sherry-soaked summer sojourn.
Top 10 Bake Off Breaks, The Sunday Mirror, October 2016
Excited to be included by the Sunday Mirror’s Top 10 Bake Off Breaks, especially as one of the 12 in the tent, Louise Williams, came on a course here in September 2015. So for the first time ever I’d actually been watching it! 2016 will be my Bake Off year for sure.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/travel/europe-short-haul/top-10-great-british-bake-9096563
Annie B’s Ultimate Almadraba Tour, The Financial Times, June 2016
Read all about Annie Bennett’s Almadraba experience with Annie B’s Spanish Kitchen via the link below
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/fc67e3d6-27e5-11e6-8ba3-cdd781d02d89.html#axzz4DnOtcBCB
Culinary holidays: One in the UK, one in Europe, and one long haul – The Independent, November 2015
MoVida Solera: A Celebration of Andalusian Food and Culture – Featuring Annie B – September 2015
Top 50 Holidays Spain – The Times, January 2015
In Spain’s Andalusia region, discovering tuna and sherry and a kinship with the Phoenicians – The Washington Post, June 2014
The Scotsman, October 2011
Tuck in to Europe’s tastiest weekends
The Sunday Times, June 2012
Spain: Vejer de la Frontera
By rights, the cobbled alleys of Vejer de la Frontera should be empty, the corpulent inhabitants unable to leave their beds without the aid of a crane. Yet here they are, the young ones svelte and stylish, the oldies twinkly of eye and sprightly of foot, all thronging the restaurants and tapas bars of the most food-obsessed little town in Andalusia.
Vejer (say it ba-hair, clearing your throat on the h) is a whitewashed Moorish village perched on a crest five miles from the Atlantic. In the past decade, it has accumulated an unlikely concentration of spectacularly good eating places, with an influx of innovators doing extraordinary things.
Go trad for breakfast, though, at Morillo (Calle Nuestra Señora de la Oliva 4), an unreconstructed working- men’s caff. Order a tostada (80p) — a slice of toast supplied with olive oil and fresh puréed tomato — and cortado coffee, or make like the locals and knock back an aguardiente. They’ll tell you spirits in the morning are needed for good digestion. They believe it, too.
If you’re here to learn to cook Vejer-style, you’ll now head off for your one-day course with Annie B (£95, or stay for four nights from £550, B&B, including three classes and one dinner; 00 34-620 560649, anniebspain.com). For the rest of us, some shopping.
Drop by the Pasteleria Galvan bakery (Calle Altozano 1; 956 450158) for the town’s speciality, tortas vejeriegas — somewhere between a cake and a biscuit, they’re firm, subtle, moreish and suitcase-friendly. As is the chorizo at Carniceria Paco Melero (Calle Juan Relinque 22; 956 450304).
For lunch, head to the seaside. El Palmar is a laid-back resort strung out along a vast golden beach, dotted with restaurants and bars. It’s hard to have a bad meal, but the ortigas fritas, or deep-fried sea anemones, at Francisco Alferez, on the beach road (956 232861; £4 for a filling half-plate) stand out. Crunch in and savour the explosion of seasidey goo.
Back for a siesta. You’ll need it: Vejer’s dozens of tapas bars and restaurants await. The best, after extensive research, is the tiny but ground-breaking Los Quatro Gatos (650 987686, losquatrogatos.com), where the young French chef Solfée Zeller dazzles for bafflingly low prices. Her chipito (“small glass”) of cod brandade with potato mousse, orange vine pearls and orange salt changed my culinary life — for £2.50.
For the rest, I’d recommend the tuna tartare with miso salad, mango, ice cream and wasabi (£14) at the posh La Vera Cruz (956 451683, restaurantelaveracruz.es), all slippery texture and sparkling flavours; the Moroccan-with-a-twist in a romantic town garden at El Jardin del Califa (956 447730, jardin.lacasadelcalifa.com; mains from £11); and the old-school La Bodeguita (Calle Marques de Tamaron; 956 451582), as much for the live music and matey vibe as the succulent pork cheek on couscous, which costs £2.
With everything, drink sherry. The varieties are complex, and Vejeriegas will bang on about them all evening. The finos are good, the olorosos better, the creams vile — this is all you need to know.
Travel details
Stay at the labyrinthine Hotel La Casa del Califa (956 447730, lacasadelcalifa.com; doubles from £60, B&B), woven together from eight ancient houses. Or try the tiny, stylish Escondrijo (956 447438, escondrijo.com; doubles from £92, B&B), in a courtyard house dating from Moorish days. Fly to Gibraltar, 60 miles away, from Gatwick or Liverpool, with EasyJet (0843 104 5000, easyjet.co.uk), Monarch (0871 940 5040, monarch.co.uk) or BA (0844 493 0787, ba.com). Europcar (0871 384 1087, europcar.co.uk) has three days’ car hire from £92. Stephen Bleach
Stephen Bleach travelled as a guest of Annie B and EasyJet
Annie B’s
Full Courses
Looking for the full Annie B experience? Have a look at the range of cooking holidays we offer…
MOROCCAN Cooking Course – 4 night short break, 2 cooking classes & a day in Tangiers
Spanish Culinary Classics – 7 nights, 4 cooking classes, Sherry tour & a gourmet tour of Cadiz
Annie B’s
Day Courses
Fly-by-night visit to Vejer planned? No problem. We also offer day classes to introduce you to the best of Spanish food…
People Love Annie B.
Here’s what they have said
I genuinely cannot wait to do it again!
Lorna, Glasgow - 7 night Culinary Classics May 2022
Cooking in Annie’s own home was a relaxed affair, with a group of people of varied experience and knowledge, her easy (and often hilarious) manner effortlessly manages the day so you don’t have to stress about your ability. The quality of the experience and value for money was second to none and I genuinely cannot wait to do it again!.
Why Vejer de la Frontera
It’s breathtakingly beautiful. Your first glimpse of the town is as a blinding flash of white on a hilltop against the bluest of blue skies. Up close it’s just as easy on the eye, too – a labyrinth of narrow, cobbled streets winding its way between quiet squares, churches and handsome historical buildings, it’s a photographer’s dream.
How to get to Vejer
Whether it’s your first time here or you need help organising a large group, getting to Vejer de la Frontera could hardly be easier.
Hotels & Places to Stay Around Vejer
You’re spoilt for choice! Private terrace? Spectacular views? Use of private pool? Hotel? B&B? Apartment? Vejer is filled with lots of wonderful places to stay.