Classical Italy

Six night tour from just

₤519

per person

Prices include

• _______ flights from London to Rome

• Six nights’ hotel accommodation, bed and _______

• _______ _______ of Siena, Rome and Florence

• Services of a _______ _______

Italy is renowned for its art, architecture, design, music, food and wine. You will take a _______ _______ to Rome and then _______ to the heart of Tuscany for the first three nights. During your time here you will visit the stunning cities of Siena and Florence, where you will visit the magnificent Uffizi gallery.

_________ dates and prices

London Gatwick September 28 London Heathrow August 31 Manchester September 7 Birmingham October 9

Price ₤519 ₤529 ₤549 ₤549

Prices based on two people sharing a twin room. _______ _______ not included but strongly recommended. Single rooms are _______. This holiday is operated by Riviera Travel. For further details, call 01283 743614

Appendix

TV Programmes Review

The BBC series House Invaders

Gordon Whistance and the House Invaders team create innovative designs on a shoestring budget.

Here are some reviews of the people who saw this programme.

Only if I was mad

House invaders, if you ever invite them to my house, you will definitely be in a lot of trouble. I mean the designs are cheap and nasty. I know they only have a day or whatever but I could get better results in an hour.

Linda Barker and Anna Ryder need glasses or something, or is it just their sick way of taking the mickey, or even practising to improve their career.

When I have been totally bored I have watched House Invaders and believe me by the end of the programme I have been in hysterics with their ideas and tears for the poor homeowners.

Both women seem to have a fetish about bright colours, it is so totally dated. Painting blinking flowers on wardrobe doors. Get real.

The design kit/bag whatever you call it, reminds me of Mary Poppins, but at least she pulled out welcoming things.

Painting good wood or colour washing is a crime, I say let nature be in a room, more harmonious, don’t you think.

They have even replaced wood with that cheap MDF stuff or whatever it is called. SAD.

The curtains have been cut in half and an unmatching piece inserted through the middle of them. If your curtains aren’t long enough, lower the rail or add a fringe, do not ever add a piece on. It looks like an obvious mistake in measuring.

They paint so many parts of the house Tiles/furniture/floors etc. I wonder if they realise that some of us (now and again, twice a year) like to give our house and its contents a good scrub. What happens then to your gold leaf design?

One of the ladies, I cannot remember which keeps asking one of the labourers to make a rough frame and then she stretches a piece of material over it, dabs a load of paint on it and calls it a picture. So much for Picasso.

Make cupboard doors out of chicken wire or add cheap checked material to the inner section get real, are they really practical solutions?

The last programme I watched about six weeks ago (It was a repeat) they sectioned off a room (adults/kids).

The labourer made a doorway partition out of something and it was made to look like a square/triangle/circle etc. Can you imagine a little kid running through the gateway and ripping his/her eye out on the protruding part of the triangle? They did say they rounded off the end but it still looked lethal to me.

When you have young children in the house your best bet is to crawl around on your hands and knees and then you will see the dangers of unsuitable furniture. So ladies and gentlemen if you need any tips about altering a room… Do not invite house invaders to your home. Unless you are totally bewitched by the TV crew and the 15 minutes of fame.

So, so show.

The House Invaders show is being re-aired on BBC Prime. It's the first time around for me and as a new house owner I was really looking forward to some good tips and while I find the show very entertaining and I can see how some of their ideas could be developed into solutions I can live with if done more professionally, I'm mostly disappointed.

Colours may be a matter of taste and the programmes were done in the 1990s where people still used vivid colours on the wall, and some people like my mother still do. But I don't know very many people today who want blue or pink walls or cactuses painted in their kitchen. All that stencil work and other glue on things look very tacky to me. Don't make me recall those towel blinds!

Like most of the other reviewers I also wonder about the excess supply of paint, wood, and fabric in these houses, but I don't own any of that, I don't even own a sewing machine. Maybe that's because I'm such a snob and have an idea about curtains hanging in straight panels which means sewing three gatherings at every child hands space. But of course they don't have time for this so they take some old towels, sew them together and tie them up with ribbons.

But not all they've done is terrible. They made a new table for an office which they painted a horrible yellow, but I loved the table and the finish! It made it look very expensive.

I realize all is a matter of taste, and most of their ideas are good for quick fresh ups of your house if you are a DIY and your standard isn't too high. For the rest of us, there is little inspiration to gain from this show. Generally I hate everything Anna does; all those colours and so called contemporary style isn't for me. Linda Barker's ideas could be re-developed into good ideas but it's going to cost money.

For young adults who're moving out for the first time and are willing to experiment, this is a good show to gain inspiration from. It may also be a good source of inspiration for children's rooms or a house you don't care that much about.

Poor Jake Robinson could be put to so much better use showing some professional makeovers.

Sometimes It Hits, Sometimes It Really Misses!

The concept of House Invaders is a good one, there's no denying that; a designer comes into your home for a day and transforms three rooms using only materials you already have. However, although some of the makeovers look really effective, others are completely naff! I hate the idea of painting over wallpaper borders in the same colour as the walls, for example. Surely, when the paint has dried you will see the line?

Anyway, the presenters are designers Linda Barker or Anna Ryder Richardson, who along with their two handsome sidekicks (why do I never get workmen like them!) 'invade' someone's home and improve it for no cost.

It's a programme definitely worth watching if you like interiors, but I am always intrigued at how these people always seem to have the exact materials needed for the makeovers. You don't ‘just happen to have’ blue fabric ‘which would go well coordinated in the bedroom with this paint’, enough MDF just lying around to build an antique book case, or a set of ceramic tiles hidden away ‘which would be exactly right to liven up that dowdy kitchen’ … Do you???

Anyway, I don't want to nit pick. The programme is entertaining at the end of the day.

For more information visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/

Notes

take the mickey – UK INFORMAL to laugh at someone and make them seem silly

naff – UK SLANG not stylish or fashionable