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

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

Annie B in The Times February 2024Annie B in Vejer in the Times Feb 2024

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

Annie B The Times July 2023

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

annie-b-in-the-telegraph-2023

‘Many factors inspired Annie Manson to buy a house in Vejer”

Annie B in the Sunday Times 1 January 2023

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

“The Captivating Gourmet Region of Cadiz”

Cadiz featured in Australia Delicious

Cadiz featured in Australia Delicious

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

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

Annie B in Food & Travel, March 2121

Annie B in Food & Travel, March 2121

Read about it here

Delighted to be included in The Times, Top 50 Holiday in Spain with my special TAPAS course. January 2019

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

Guardian/Observer Menorca

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

Sunday Times Travel Aug 2018

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

almadraba tuna fishermen spain

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

Shane Delia’s Moorish Spice Journey – Watch Shane cooking with Annie B – November 2015

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

Listen to how Annie B created her Spanish Kitchen with Pancho Campo MW, August 2015

Fabulous Seafood & Sherry Pairings – LA Times, August 2015

LA Times Coverage of Annie B

Top 50 Holidays Spain – The Times, January 2015

The Times Top Holidays Spain Sherry Tour

Top Learning Holidays – The Sunday Mirror, December 2014

jamon iberico

Top 10 Food & Drink Holidays in Spain – The Telegraph, December 2014

telegraph travel review

Where to Cook in Spain – The Independent, December 2014

In Spain’s Andalusia region, discovering tuna and sherry and a kinship with the Phoenicians – The Washington Post, June 2014

blue fin tuna being lifted out of the sea

Frontier Gastronomy in Vejer – Essential Marbella, February 2014

The Telegraph, December 2013

Passport – Monarch Airlines Mag, April 2013

Country Living,

February 2012

The Sunday Times, January 2012

Vogue Living, Nov/Dec 2011

The Guardian, April 2011

The Guardian Press - April 2011

The Independent, March 2011

The Independent Press - March 2011

Foodtripper, February 2011

Food tripper Press - Feb 2011

Good Housekeeping, November 2010

Grupo Califa, April 2010

Grupo Califa Press - April 2010
Vejer

Vejer

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…

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

And now Cadiz!

Jennifer G, Liverpool, September 2019

We first met Annie when we attended one of her week long cooking courses a few years ago. Since then we joined her on her Menorcan Tour and this year her Cadiz Tour. Great food and wine and enjoying our days with wonderful like minded people. No one day the same and always interesting. Highly recommended.

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.

Learn more about Vejer

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