Inspiring Travel Writing from Catherine Cooper
Catherine Cooper is a freelance travel writer specialising in family travel and spas. She is based in SW France.
Articles by Catherine Cooper
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Cryotherapy
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Catherine Cooper
Cryotherapy is almost mainstream in many parts of Eastern Europe where it is used to treat ailments such as arthritis and osteoporosis while athletes use it to ease injuries and improve performance. The super-freezing treatment also increases the...
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Women in Wine
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Catherine Cooper
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France
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Bordeaux Region
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Bordeaux
I joined a “Women in Wine” course – for women and about women wine-makers throughout the Bordeaux region. Our group of twelve was varied – ranging in age from late 20s to mid 60s and including a doctor, banker, stay-at-home mum and marketer, but...
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Spa with the Kids
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Catherine Cooper
Family holidays are great, but sometimes it is nice to be able to lie around doing not very much without someone small poking you with a stick, rubbing sand into your stomach, demanding you play Frisbee, buy them an ice-cream or bury them in the...
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Ski Resorts with a Difference
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Catherine Cooper
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Switzerland
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Swiss Alps
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Zermatt
Relax in the spa The Üebergossene Alm Alpin Resort and Spa in Dienten am HochKönig is a great place to go to relax. It offers a huge range of saunas and steam rooms, including a Devil’s Sauna for those who like it really hot and a mountain crystal...
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Hiking with Donkeys
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Catherine Cooper
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France
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Loire
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Fercé-sur-Sarthe
Claude and Elayne Danjou moved to a farm in the Alpes Mancelles in the Sarthe region of north-west France from Paris in 1997 and started collecting donkeys which they now hire out to tourists. Their first donkey was acquired simply to keep the grass...
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Malta
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Catherine Cooper
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Malta
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The Three Cities
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Valletta
The lack of traffic makes for a relaxed place to stroll around its quirky steeply-stepped stone streets, browsing the shops and stopping for drinks at its pavement cafes such as Caffé Cordina in Piazza Regina – the oldest café in Valletta with an...
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Oukaimeden
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Catherine Cooper
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Morocco
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Marrakech Region
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Marrakech
Staying at the chic and comfortable Riad Akka in the heart of Marrakech for the weekend, we were heading off on a day trip to the tiny ski resort of Oukaimeden, just 74km south of Marrakech in the Atlas Mountains – around an hour and a half’s drive...
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Ski Joering
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Catherine Cooper
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France
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French Alps
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Savoie
Savoie born and bred Jacques Fillietroz offers ski joering excursions to tourists from his ranch La Cavale in Arc 1600 in the French Alps (nearest easyJet airports are Lyon or Geneva). Jacques was given his first pony at the age of eight by his...
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Tyrol
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Catherine Cooper
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Slovenia
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Bled Region
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Tyrol
I choose the Austrian Tyrol in September – too early in the year for skiing but none the less plenty to keep a five year old and his mother happy. We head to Gerlos – in winter a busy ski resort but out of season populated mainly by cows...
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Palma Sharks
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Catherine Cooper
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Spain
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Mallorca
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Palma
What do you think it takes to dive with sharks, other than nerves of steel? Years of training, perhaps? A cage? No need for any of that. In Mallorca, Palma Aquarium allows PADI (or equivalent) qualified visitors to dive in its enormous tank, which...