CAERLEON, WALES – In a land full of sweet surprises, this tiny village may be the sweetest of them all. "Caerleon is beautiful. Caerleon may be the loveliest village in all of Wales. If you’ve not seen Caerleon, then you’ve not seen Wales."

CARDIFF, WALES – A small dusting of sugar that had dropped from the Welsh cakes I so exuberantly devoured settles on my black trousers and a young server offers to sweep away the sweet residue with a small brush.

KETTLEWELL, ENGLAND – Long before Helen Mirren became the queen of our hearts with her Acadamy Award-winning portrayal of the British monarch in The Queen, she already ruled the silver screen thanks to her many other excellent performances. One of her most memorable was in the delightful flick Calendar Girls.

WHITBY, ENGLAND – It was midday by the time we arrived in this pretty Yorkshire fishing town nestled by the North Sea. We had worked up a considerable appetite on our drive from historic York, so, we asked a local man where we might find the best fish and chips?

LONDON – Long before you see Borough Market, you smell it. Good smells. Like the kind produced by hot loaves of freshly baked bread left to cool on a rack outside one of the market's 80 stalls. Or sharp ones that come wafting from a cheese shop at the rear of the outdoor food emporium. And sweet ones rising from a table covered in chocolate truffles.

YORK, ENGLAND – We asked the old man sweeping the stoop outside his medieval shop on one of this city’s famed narrow streets what the area was called. “Shamble." he replies.

CHAGFORD, ENGLAND – The ancient wooden doors of St. Michael the Archangel Church were left wide open the day we stopped to tour this former tin mining town. So we poked our heads inside but recoiled almost immediately.

LONDON – Bond, James Bond. So many people come to England each year looking for anything associated with the suave super spy known to millions of adoring fans simply as 007. And with each new episode and each new Bond (currently it’s heartthrob Daniel Craig who’s playing 007 and still beating off evil agents and beautiful women) more new fans are born and more new film locations emerge for Bond tourists to discover.

Inebriation, ammunition, a blazing bonfire, and a beauty queen. Throw in a healthy dose of pagan mysticism — and barrels-full of cider — and you, my friend, have got the recipe for one rockin’ wassail, as I discovered on a visit to this delightful West Country hamlet one wintry January night.