Forget bad-boy rockers and dangerous-boy artists. There isn’t any hotel with a good pool in Milan, so if I’m not too pressed for time I keep an hour’s drive away in Cernobbio, at the Villa d’Este. The Ritz has a real pool, as does the Okura in Tokyo. Keep on the Basil Road Lodge, the last word quaint, old-fashioned institution. There’s a Picasso bust within the courtyard of St.-Germain-des-Prés that not many individuals find out about. It is full of rabbits and squirrels, and there is a Japanese garden. They serve wine, which is good, because you’ll be able to have your fish-and-chips and get pissed as properly. One of the best fish-and-chips in London is at Geales, just behind my native cinema. If I have any free time in Paris on a weekend morning, at about 10 I’m going to the Porte de Vanves (at Avenue Marc-Sangnier and Avenue Georges-Lafenestre), which is much less well known than the flea market at Clignancourt and an important place to find the random perfect thing: a lamp, a pen, an outdated shirt. In London, the place to be on Saturdays is Portobello (get there by nine), and Bermondsey is on Fridays (however you need to be there by round seven). I additionally love walking around the Left Bank, notably the Rue Jacob and Rue de Seine area. It’s the one time I get any peace and quiet. Stroll in Kensington Gardens — start by the palace, walk across the pond, go to the Serpentine Gallery, then circle again to the Orangery, a park café, to have a cheese sandwich and champagne. It has mannequin gardens (city, herb) and is the place to unravel any horticultural quandary. I put a couple of drops on my handkerchief to protect in opposition to all of the germs floating around. The meals is gentle, concentrating on easy Italian dishes. The store, he says, is a “assertion towards minimalism and black-and-white chic.” Not surprisingly for someone whose socks are Crayola-vivid, he hates homogenization. No books. No pc. I begin with a swim on the Royal Vehicle Membership in Pall Mall, a fantastic old private membership. Otherwise, I just deliver a pen and a notebook. In Tuscany, I am going to Lucca, a medieval walled town that has an antiques market the third weekend of each month in summer. It’s primarily a serious backyard devoted to medicinal plants. Inside I pack lots of mesh bags from Muji in Tokyo: one for underwear and socks; another for shirts, which I go away of their dry-cleaner bags. When it’s sunny sufficient for a picnic, I like Holland Park. However I don’t like airports. The Windsor Castle does nice pub food: sausage and mash, oysters and Guinness. I’ve purchased furnishings there and had it despatched the world over on the Shanghai Express. They supposedly serve very good croissants, but I’m quite boringly English; I order toast. For traditional English clothes, try Hackett or the Burlington Arcade. I like Alastair Little, near my home; it is intimate, with a small day by day menu, which means you don’t need to think too much. I’m interested within the minds that design toys, as a result of there’s no one tougher to please than a child. I also hate ready for bags, so until I’m going to Tokyo for two weeks, I simply deliver this lovely beat-up previous nameless leather bag I’ve–like jeans, it will get higher with age. The chef is from Sardinia, and he does wonderful grilled fish. I have about 300 toy robots, including a dinosaur that walks. In summer, another place I’m going for inspiration is the Chelsea Physic Backyard, which is open solely on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons. The coolest creator in Britannia, as any clotheshorse will inform you, is designer Paul Smith. For contemporary British and Russian painting, I am partial to the Caelt Gallery, just throughout the road from Lacy Gallery, which has fabulous antique picture frames. I’m going to Mr. Christian’s Provisions, pick up some Parma ham, bresaola, cheese, one thing from their huge selection of breads–and chill out. I use Heathrow as a result of I cannot be bothered to go all the way in which right down to Gatwick. I may base a whole collection on Cézanne’s use of color. Afternoons in Paris, I like going to the Musée d’Orsay. It is probably my favourite place of all. The backyard is run by both staff and volunteers, and it is typically filled with lovely old ladies serving tea and cakes. At this time, you’ll be able to see Paul Smith shops right here and there especially everywhere in the world. I actually get pleasure from being on planes. I really like the distinction between the mountains and the lake–the dimensions feels normal, till you see a seaplane go by and notice it is the dimensions of a fly in contrast with the Alps. Then have roast beef at Simpson’s on the Strand. The first to put the savvy in Savile Row, Smith has devoted the previous three decades to taking the familiar suit (not to say boxer shorts and the Filofax) and transforming it, via coloration, cut, and pattern, right into a witty wink at tradition. I attempt to journey in a swimsuit, or denims and a suit jacket, so the jacket does not get crushed within the bag. I also like Assaggi, however it’s tiny and you must ebook weeks forward. Part of an 18th-century estate, Painshill’s green gardens are examples of English eclecticism at its best. I do not really eat lunch, so in the afternoon I generally head to the Bethnal Inexperienced Museum of Childhood, within the East End near Brick Lane market, a good place for seeing the scruffier a part of London. If I do pack a swimsuit, I exploit acid-free tissue paper–you may inform it is acid-free when it’s very crinkly. A Nottingham boy made good, he opened his first shop in 1970 in an alley with a number of fundamental pieces; now his collections embody ladies’s put on, youngsters’s wear, leisure wear, formal put on–you name it, he designs it, from ties to toothbrushes. Then I am going to Patisserie Valerie for breakfast. Indeed, as the British Empire has shrunk, the Smith empire has grown, and these days the designer spends seven months of the 12 months jetting between his outposts in London, New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Manila, and Japan, the place Smithmania has created the necessity for 200 shops. I can easily spend three hours there, and then I stroll a block to a improbable food market. For high-end antiques, walk down New Kings Highway. As to what he likes, well, learn on. Much less well known is Painshill Backyard (Portsmouth Rd; 44-1932/868-113), in Cobham, 35 minutes from Woking Station. On Sundays in Tokyo there’s an antiques market within the Togo Shrine, a three-minute stroll from Harajuku station. I am especially partial to the colors of flowers just as they’re fading. Afterward, I might swing by the Photographers’ Gallery, or Hamiltons –it’s got fantastic work by Helmut Newton, David Bailey, and so many others. It’s on the solution to my office in Covent Garden and has a pleasant ambiance–filled with movie people. I feel it could be an excellent place to die–not that I’m planning on that or something. For dinner, I stay in Notting Hill (I’ve gotten lazy). For me, crucial factor at a lodge is the pool, so in Paris I always stay at the Ritz, and i all the time have the same room, however it is a secret. I’m an antique-aholic and a street-market addict. And that i always attempt to get there late so I will not have to attend. The only factor I won’t leave house without is my Braun travel alarm clock. A visit worth taking is to Wisley Backyard (44-1483/224-234), the Royal Horticultural Society Garden, in Woking, Surrey, 25 minutes by practice from Waterloo Station. On the plane I use nasal spray to clear my head and keep my ears from popping, and a geranium-primarily based antibacterial oil from Micheline Arcier, an aromatherapist near Harvey Nichols.