People look different and I like their aesthetic. I also like their creative approach to managing their challenges – such as avoiding getting miserable during their long, dark winters. It’s something we don’t have to think about. One way they achieve this is to light distinctive candles in their shops and homes. If you visit a bakery in Stockholm, they’ll invariably have a candelabra, with candles burning, on the counter of the shop – all the time. They also have a warm light hanging in the window of the shop, to draw people in. The climate dictates that they live behind closed doors through the winter then, the second spring arrives, they celebrate being outdoors.

I noticed that they enjoy eating plenty of eggs, dill, sour cream, and smoked salmon and because they are challenged by not having an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables, they really make the most of the ingredients they have easy access to, using many spices, berries and nuts. Another Swedish tradition that I enjoy is their full-on afternoon tea, with cakes and buns full of marzipan and cream, and coffee. They are totally set up for this in their cafes and it’s interesting because they are, on the one hand, very focussed on eating healthy foods like whole grains, rye and seeds in their breads, porridges and cereals, and then they have these amazing, big afternoon teas, to keep them going through their cold, dark days.

I always pack a scarf when I go away. I pack a very thin scarf to keep in my handbag so that if it’s cool, I can wear it around my neck; and if I go into a church, I can wear it around my shoulders. Wearing a scarf makes you look a bit more elegant, too, I think. My favourite local brand is Cosi Textiles,  known for their luxury, sustainable,  handwoven, Mongolian cashmere  in incredible colours. I also pack lavender oil because it’s a great antibiotic and it helps me sleep. I always pack a preventative cold medicine, called Ease A Cold, Cold and Congestion, which contains Echinacea, Zinc and Valerian.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, my highest point in terms of travel was when I took our three kids, aged three, seven, and 10, to live in a hamlet in the south of France for three months. We arrived at Easter, and I put them into a local school there. On the same trip, in Paris, we visited one of my girlfriends and used her car to drive around Paris looking at all the landmarks featured in the Madeline [a series of books which followed the daily adventures of Madeline, a 7-year-old girl attending a boarding school in Paris with eleven other girls, under the care of their teacher, Miss Clavel]. We sent the photos of the children in front of the landmarks back home to friends. I also enjoyed the moment in Paris when I was dragging my reluctant seven-year-old son through the Musée d’Orsay and he was suddenly so excited to see the painting “Whistler’s Mother” because at that time he had been obsessively watching “Mr Bean” episodes, and “Whistler’s Mother” had featured in one of Mr Bean’s comedy sketches. It grounded an otherwise boring experience for him.

Somewhere on Phillippa’s bucket list

I’d like to travel to Eastern Europe and visit Serbia and Croatia and Albania. I’d really like to go bush walking in Albania, following in the footsteps of my 19-year-old daughter who visited Eastern Europe and I am envious of her photos of the stunning countryside. Albania is not too widely travelled and not too expensive, either. I’d also like to follow in my daughter’s footsteps and visit Morocco, too. At the moment, I seem to travel vicariously, through my daughter.