1. ALPA 12TC CAMERA

Which is best – film or digital? Who cares, this Alpa 12TC camera can take both. It has a professional quality 60MP digital sensor and shoots on to large-format 6×9in roll film. How ace is that? Price on application, www.alpa.ch

2. FUSION GARAGE JOOJOO

This tablet has the Apple iPad in its sights. Running the Linux OS, it lets you get on the internet in just nine seconds, according to the makers. It can also play Flash videos online, unlike the Apple machine. £320, www.thejoojoo.com

3. LP6.1 TURNTABLE

In this age of MP3 files, only the most serious of audiophiles perseveres with vinyl. But when you see beautiful objects like this turntable, it’s easy to see why. £1,200, www.opera-consonance.com

4. HANSPREE HANNSBOOK NETBOOK

With everyone launching tablet computers, netbooks may appear to be falling out of favour. But this new Windows 7 machine packs everything you need and only weighs just over a kilo. £260, www.hannspree.com

5. DEVIALET D-PREMIER AMPLIFIER

Digital music can sound tinny. High-end French hi-fi firm Devialet changes that with its brilliant but expensive digital-to-analogue D-Premier amplifier. £12,000, www.absolutesounds.com

ED SHEERAN IS LATE – not due to any diva-ish behaviour, but because he has broken his glasses. “I stepped on them half an hour ago,” he says, apologising profusely. “And I’ve been trying to fix them ever since.”

Such a statement is Sheeran all over – he might be a buzz name in music but he is disarmingly down-to- earth. Asked for his influences, he points to disbanded group Nizlopi (the one-hit wonders behind the JCB Song) rather than any major stars. Only 19, Sheeran had an early start in the music business – born and brought up in Ipswich, the ginger-haired cat-lover started playing the guitar as a kid and wrote his first song by 13. “It was the typical ‘I’m a normal teen, do you know what I mean’ stuff,” recalls Sheeran, wincing.

Nowadays his songs are catchy, classic singer- songwriter fare with wit – and even some beatboxing – that helps them stand out. Backed by his accomplished guitar playing, they take on everything from alienation in the big smoke on The City to the dominance of stage school-educated popstrels on Don’t Tell Me, I Won’t Tell You. “That was written after being told my songs weren’t good enough. It was a middle finger up at the people who said that, basically.”

Those particular music execs might soon be eating their words. Although Sheeran remains unsigned, the hype around him is growing. Playing 300 gigs in a year has brought Sheeran a word-of-mouth following, with over 10,000 friends on MySpace. “If you do gigs and people see you and they like you, they’re more likely to buy your music,” he reasons. “I sell ten times as many CDs out of a rucksack at gigs than I do on iTunes.”

Those gigs, meanwhile, have taken him to some weird and wonderful places – including Jamie Foxx’s house. Sheeran played a private gig at the Hollywood star’s home after a recording session, and Foxx has become something of a role model. “He’s such a nice guy, all about family,” says Sheeran. “He’s got the money and fame but he’s kept his roots.”

With other celeb fans including Pixie Lott and Elton John and an imminent record deal, Sheeran’s own money and fame are only a matter of time.

Lauren Cochrane

Clockwise from Top:

Quenching Sorbet-Crème from the Vinosource range by Caudalie, £20, available at John Lewis stores www.johnlewis.com | Anew Platinum anti-ageing serum by Avon, £31, www.avonshop.co.uk | Rejuvenating Night Cream by Emma Hardie, £56, is available from this month exclusively at Space NK Apothecary stores or at www.emmahardie.com | Glossimer in 148 Petit Pêche lip gloss by Chanel, £19, for nearest stockist call +44 (0)20 7493 3836 | Eye shadow palette in 09 Koju by Suqqu, £38, is exclusive to Selfridges, www.selfridges.com | Ceramide Plump Perfect Ultra Lift and Firm Eye Cream SPF15 by Elizabeth Arden, £37, is available from larger Boots stores, www.boots.com | Guerlain’s lipstick Rouge G de Guerlain, £27, stockist information +44 (0)1932 233 887 | English Pear & Freesia cologne, £32, by Jo Malone, www.jomalone.co.uk | Foundation compact by Edward Bess, £44, launches exclusively in the UK at www.zuneta.com

JULIANNE MOORE IS A RARITY: a movie star who is among the great talents of her generation yet courageous enough to seek out offbeat independent films. Sitting on the terrace of the Four Seasons hotel in the hazy LA sunshine, she is cool and composed and without any of the intensity of her screen characters. She is effortlessly elegant in a bottle-green silk top over narrow midnight-blue cargo trousers and spiky black heels, with her trademark glossy red hair swept back into a ponytail. Her make-up is light and her pale, freckled skin is remarkably smooth apart from faint lines around her mouth and eyes, noticeable only when she smiles.

She is about to turn 50. The thought alone would incite most A-List Hollywood actresses to run for the hills, or the nearest plastic surgeon. Try finding a decent role for an actress over 50 that hasn’t been snapped up by Meryl Streep. But the tentative tone in which I broach the subject makes Moore laugh. “I will be 50, yeah,” she says. “It’s an interesting place to be. Middle age is about having more of your life behind you than ahead of you, so you have to go, ‘Wow!’ I think you’re really conscious about your mortality.

“I’m always interested in those people who claim: ‘I don’t feel old. I feel like I’m 19!’ I say, ‘Seriously?’” Moore stops. “I’m going to get maudlin here. Our life expectancy is, what, 80? That means, if you’re lucky, you have 30 years left. Women in their early forties talk about how they’re not middle-aged. How long are they expecting to live? If you’re lucky you get to live to your eighties; if you’re unlucky, like my mother, you don’t. I don’t think that you should be behind or ahead in your actual life,” she adds reflectively. “The trick hopefully is to be present.” And ‘present’ she certainly is. Recently described by Vogue as ‘the most glamorous grown-up on screen’, Moore is now becoming one of a handful of older actresses, including Streep, Helen Mirren and Susan Sarandon, who are constantly in demand.

She began her career in 1983 playing minor roles, before joining the cast of the soap opera As the World Turns, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award five years later. Her big-screen success came relatively late in her thirties, with The End of the Affair in 1999, (based on the Graham Greene classic, co-starring Ralph Fiennes) and Magnolia (the same year, co-starring Tom Cruise). She was praised for her portrayal of a betrayed wife in Far from Heaven (2002), winning several awards as best actress, in addition to Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. Last year she was nominated for a Golden Globe for A Single Man. Her co-star Colin Firth won the Bafta for Best Actor.

So far she hasn’t won the ultimate prize, an Oscar. But she doesn’t seem worried. “I should have won for all my films,” she jokes. “No, no, I think the unfortunate thing about the Oscars is that there are more losers than winners.” There are expectations in the industry that both Moore and her co-star Annette Bening will get nominated next year for The Kids Are All Right, which is released next month. If people think that a movie is good, that’s great,” she says graciously.

With career success came an immediate sense of dissatisfaction – even urgency – because Moore also wanted a family. She is happily married to indie filmmaker Bart Freundlich, whom she met while he was directing her in The Myth of Fingerprints – he was 26 and she was 35 when they began dating in 1996. In a recent interview she said, “We’ve been together for so long and I still find it incredible. I love Bart, but he also interests me. And that makes a big difference.” They wed in the garden of their New York home in the presence of their children,12-year-old son Caleb and seven-year-old daughter Liv.

“The fact that, by 50, I have done both is great. As an actress you get these kind of facile questions about aging and what it means to age. I think you just become more aware of how fortunate we are to have got here and lived to 50.” She didn’t get into the business for the glamour – she simply wanted to act. She is one of the few middle-aged stars who is refreshingly unfussed about clinging to youth and has, so far, resisted the temptations of plastic surgery. Her forehead moves (she doesn’t have the tell-tale frozen ‘Botox’ look).

“I don’t understand how an immobile face is a beautiful face. I did think for a while that maybe I should get boobs, but then I rejected the idea because it seemed like major surgery. You want to hold people to standards that are human and attainable and naturally beautiful, rather than thinking we have to be something we’re not. The analogy I use is ancient Chinese feet-binding. At what point did they decide that small feet were more beautiful? People started making them smaller and smaller until they were stumps. I feel we have decided that being expressionless and young- looking is the most beautiful thing and, in pursuit of that, it becomes more and more exaggerated.”

It’s 8am on a Sunday morning – pretty early for such a passionate polemic. But it was the only time that Moore could fit the interview into her hectic schedule to discuss The Kids Are All Right. Are you usually up at this time I ask her? “I have children so I’m often up early – although my son Caleb is 12 so he’s heading into the teen sleeping thing. My daughter Liv still gets up early, but I can sleep late if I’m allowed.”

The film is a moving and funny story about a middle-aged gay couple with growing children – Moore (an unfulfilled housewife) and Annette Bening (her wage-earning doctor partner) – whose lives are thrown into disarray when their two teenage kids decide to seek out their anonymous sperm-donor father (Mark Ruffalo).

Moore hopes audiences will see past the stereotyping. “This is a portrait of a conventional long-term marriage. These people have been together for maybe 20 years and they made a decision to be together, to have children. They have one working parent and one stay-at-home parent, which almost nobody in the world does anymore. Out of necessity people have two working parents. The kids are getting ready to leave home and my character is like, ‘Oh my gosh, what have I been doing for the last 18 years?’ The film explores what a long-term relationship is. What it means to stick it out with somebody, to forgive people’s mistakes, to guide them toward growing up and leaving after you’ve been so attached.”

What did her children think about her taking this role? “My children have grown up in a world where they know people who have two moms or two dads, and they believe it’s possible to get married to a man or a woman. There was an article in the New York Times that talked about ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ (the US military policy, currently under review, restricting the military from outing gay personnel). The article argued that it was a dangerous idea because what changes peoples’ prejudices is first-hand experience. I agree. If you’re in an army unit and you realise the guy next to you is gay, then suddenly he’s not different, he’s just this soldier who you know. It’s the same thing with a gay family or a gay marriage. Once that’s part of your milieu, it’s not different anymore. Familiarity builds tolerance.

“But I also believe that movies reflect popular culture more than they influence it. Twenty years ago this movie would have been risqué. The reason a movie like this can get made today is because it’s something that’s happening in the world around us – and this family is actually very conventional and bourgeois.

“I related to the film most as a parent. I don’t have teenagers yet, but we’re heading into adolescence with my son. In six years, he’s going to go to college and six years is no time…” Moore pauses, momentarily contemplating the reality of her children leaving home, and then casts her glance over to the teenage girl reading a book in the corner of the room. In my family, we don’t have the luxury of one parent staying at home and I have had to bring my teenage daughter along with me today. Moore is friendly and has been chatting with her. “Where do you want to go to college?” My daughter explains that she intends to go to university in England even though we live in Los Angeles.

The actress pulls an anguished face. “It’s too far,” she tells her. “I say to people all the time: ‘Don’t go very far away because you will want to come back. My family was living in Germany and I went back to the States.

I couldn’t come home on the weekends and it’s a difficult transition. So listen to your mother.” The death of her own mother in April last year was devastating for Moore. Ann, 68, suddenly fell ill and died within hours. “I was on a plane on my way there when she passed away,” she says a touch sadly. “It’s been tremendously difficult. She was Scottish and I look just like her. Life and family can be difficult and challenging but it can also be amazing.”

In recent years she has curtailed the amount of films she makes to spend time with her children. The family live in an elegant brownstone in the fashionable Meatpacking district of Manhattan. She is often photographed in the streets in jeans and an army jacket walking her kids to school.

“We have a very solid family life,” she says. “And I want to be with my husband and kids as much as I can. There are some celebrities who take their children everywhere with them, despite having to pull them from school and friends. Because of my own childhood experiences, I try to work in New York or I work during the summer when my family can come with me. The days of me doing a film where I need to be away for months during the school year are over. I couldn’t imagine having to be away from my children for several months in a row.”

She claims she has “a very low-key and pedestrian life”, but has never been happier. When she was in her twenties, she got married straight out of university, “was consumed by work, smoked a lot and didn’t have much of a life”. By her thirties, she quit smoking, went into therapy and got divorced. She had vowed never to marry again, but she changed her mind following therapy and went on to marry Freundlich in 2003. “For me the only reason to get married was my children,” explains Moore. “I had a therapist who said marriage is really a container for a family, and that made sense to me.”

She and Freundlich work hard to instil a sense of privilege and good fortune into their children: “The kids go to a Quaker school and their father and I believe in community and making sure you give to people less fortunate than you. We talk about responsibility a lot.” Are they aware of her fame? “I think they see it as separate from me. I always say, ‘I’m not on the cover because I’m famous. It’s my job, I’m in a movie.’I stress work and accomplishment, and not celebrity.”

Who is the tougher parent of the two? “When I was young my father gave me money and my mother gave me permission. My father would say, ‘Here’s $50, but you can’t leave the house’. My mother would say, ‘You can go out but I’m not going to give you any money’. I see that with my children too – but there’s almost no way to even delineate what we both do because we flip-flop on different things. It’s odd but that’s what happens in a family.”

The children of army parents – Moore’s father was a military lawyer, her mother a psychiatric social worker – she and her brother and sister moved around constantly, both in and outside the US, living in Germany for much of her teens, attending nine schools in all. “It’s a terrible way to grow up!” she says, letting out a horrified laugh, then casting around for positives. “You get close to your family. It’s not something I recommend, but it made me who I am. It gave me a sense of resilience and worldliness. I’d come back to the States and people wouldn’t know a thing about European culture: they hadn’t travelled.”

Her nomadic childhood taught her to be adaptable and various influences primed her for acting. The eldest of three children, she was an obsessive reader, which she says has been a huge advantage in ensuring she can pick a good script. “Acting and reading are very similar. You’re right in the middle of it. You’re creating it, you’re almost the conduit for the story. It’s really exciting getting lost in a story. That’s when I’m happiest.”

As a child Moore was skinny, with glasses, red hair and freckles. “I was a complete geek. You know, there’s always the kid who’s too short, the kid who wears glasses, the kid who’s not athletic. I was all three”.

She was teased at school (inspiring her in adulthood to write a children’s anti-bullying book called Freckleface Strawberry). Then when the family moved to Germany and Moore attended Frankfurt’s American High School, she had her hair cut and bought contact lenses. “People were suddenly much nicer to me,” she recalls. “It was shocking, emotionally.”

She says she saw her hair as just an outward manifestation of a deeper sense of difference. “American redheads don’t get called ‘ginger’. I was stunned by how much people get teased in the UK for red hair. But, if you’re going to put a redhead on stage, there has to be a reason.” So why didn’t she colour her hair? “I never did; I don’t know why. I only dyed it recently when I did Blindness, and I was convinced the character had to be blonde. But I hated it. I didn’t think it would bother me. I thought being a redhead was visible, but I didn’t feel like myself.”

For an actress who has always been seen as cerebral, Moore has done her fair share of erotic scenes – from The End of the Affair with Ralph Fiennes to intense love scenes with Mark Ruffalo and Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right. Do they get any easier as she gets older? “Mark is a really good friend – so that made it easier.

My husband hasn’t seen the film yet. But I try not to talk about the sex scenes in a film. It’s always an issue. Nobody likes it, so basically the less I talk about it, the better. I just act like it’s not happening. And afterwards, I am just like ‘I don’t remember doing that.’” She didn’t know Annette at all except from awards ceremonies, “so we just knew each other slightly. But we’ve both been married for a long time, so it’s something that we have familiarity with. She’s incredibly talented and was very passionate about the part.”

So she has the career, the marriage, the children – what’s left to achieve? Moore laughs. “There are some things I still want to achieve, though nothing I feel like sharing at this point. But overall I’d say, so far so good. Freud says you need love and work, a family and a job to give you balance. One element can’t possibly give you everything. My husband and I try to spend time alone, but it is hard because the kids ask, ‘Why are you going out? You went out last night.’ We try to make time for each other, take trips together. I wouldn’t call it a struggle, but it’s not easy. It’s what anybody I know who has a family and a career deals with. It’s a challenging balance. I feel fortunate that I have both and I work hard to maintain them.”

The Kid Are All Right is released next month

THE RED STONE MOUNTAINS rising out of the desert in the film Lawrence of Arabia make a compelling case. Jordan is a popular destination for climbers, with over 300 routes to suit all levels of experience.

With the summer heat cooling down, and the days still long enough to take advantage of, autumn is perhaps the best time to visit. There are plenty of opportunities to take excursions guided by local climbing specialists. Companies such as Jordan Beauty Tours offer eight-day climbing round-trips from the capital Amman.

The week-long excursions are perhaps the best way to see all that Jordan has to offer. The majority of trips take you hiking over hills, climbing up boulders, slipping through ravines and around the inspiring World Heritage site of Petra.

And for those visitors who wish to give their climbing fingers a rest, there are plenty of opportunities to bathe in cooling pools and lakes, especially at the climbing hotspot that is Wadi Rum. Matthew Priest An eight-day climbing trip (excluding flights) costs £528 per person. +962 3 215 4 999, www.jordanbeauty.com

[London]

Air meals

DINING OUT IS REACHING DIZZYING NEW HEIGHTS. Dinner in the Sky is the latest must-do experience for the adventure-hungry or super-rich. For £10,000, you can host your own sky-high, black-tie dinner party with gourmet grub and spectacular scenery. Perching around a massive table, 22 diners are suspended in mid-air by a crane with their feet dangling in the breeze and exposed to the elements. Three intrepid chefs serve the food from the middle of the table.

There have been dining events in Paris, Brussels, New York, Edinburgh and Budapest. Now Dinner in the Sky is coming to London on 20 September at the Southbank Centre. For a special members’ reduced-price of £60 per person, you can dine over London’s iconic skyline.

Based in Belgium, the floating restaurant can be driven to any destination in the world. David Ghysels, the Belgian organiser, says that diners are bored with run-of-the-mill restaurants, and experimental entrées alone aren’t enough: “It’s a little surreal, but we realised people wanted to try something different. So we came up with this idea – the sky’s the limit!”

Forbes magazine ranks Dinner in the Sky among the world’s most unusual restaurants, alongside Dans Le Noir in Paris and London, which literally leave their clientele in the dark. Set in a pitch-black room and run by blind or visually impaired waiters, the idea is you have to rely on touch, taste and smell.

Like Dans Le Noir, this is an intriguing culinary experience for those who expect more from their restaurants. But it’s definitely not for the faint-hearted. Get ready to take to the skies.

Britt Collins

To book tickets, visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk

[ LONDON ]

MAKE A DASH FOR DISHOOM

BOLLYWOOD MOVIES have a term for the sound of a punch: ‘dishoom’. You might think that a smack isn’t quite what you want from an Indian restaurant, but this new venue between London’s Leicester Square and Covent Garden is certainly a slap in the face for the boring old curry houses.

What Dishoom has proved in a very short space of time is that it is possible to get freshly made food, served speedily, at reasonable prices (most mains around the £7 mark), with plenty of vegetarian options. What makes it fun is its theme: harking back to the old Bombay cafés originally set up by the Parsee community, the interior is decorated in a retro vibe, with photos of the owners’ grandparents, for instance, and vintage ad posters. Robina Dam
Dishoom, 12 Upper St Martin’s Lane, WC2, www.dishoom.com

MEXICAN WAVES OF QUALITY

SLOWLY BUT STEADILY, MEXICAN FOOD IN LONDON has moved away from being synonymous with Tex-Mex. That’s no small thanks to the Wahaca chain – set up by Tomasina Miers, a winner of the Masterchef TV cooking contest. Although they have seasonal specials that change, there would be an uprising if they tried to ditch the churros with chocolate, the pork pibil or the fish tacos. After the original Covent Garden site came branches at Westfield London shopping centre and Canary Wharf; now its new Soho site, due to open its doors right at the beginning of October, is set to become its largest and most environmentally friendly yet. RD
Wahaca, 80 Wardour Street, W1, www.wahaca.co.uk

Top tables

THE INNOCENT SMOOTHIE BRAND started off as three lads from university who dropped corporate careers to get juicing. Now they’ve opened their first-ever pop-up restaurant in Shoreditch’s Tramshed, called the 5 for 5 Café. All meals will be a fiver and help with the five-a-day fruit and veg effort – and will be perfect for vegetarians. The menu will be overseen by pretty young TV chef Gizzi Erskine. You can’t book ahead, but at the very least get it in your diary as it’s only around between 1 and 9 October. www.innocentdrinks.com/5for5

CHOC FULL

YOU BETTER LIKE CHOCOLATE. Everything on the menu at the Rabot Estate café in London’s Borough Market has it in, including the confit duck salad and the salmon sandwich. Rabot Estate also supplies the cacao for the Hotel du Chocolat chain (with branches in bmi destinations Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham and Norwich). Rabot Estate, 2 Stoney Street, SE1, www.rabotestate.com

FASHION HAS A NEW STAR in the shape of David Koma. A 24-year-old Georgian on only his third collection, his sculptural, glamorous designs have already been worn by a whole host of A-listers. Remember Beyoncé and Cheryl Cole in that black dress, with metal details? That was Koma. How about Rihanna’s bright orange number, worn with sexy boots? Koma again. The list of fans is growing longer too – with Lady Gaga and Megan Fox also wearing his designs.

Such success so soon could be put down to Koma starting early. At an age when most boys were still playing with toys without a care in the world, he was already designing. “I started drawing dresses when I was about eight,” he says. “Then I went to art school when I was 10.”

Born and brought up in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, Koma’s entrance to art school coincided with his family’s move to St Petersburg. He then fast-tracked his way into the fashion industry, becoming something of a Russian It-Kid as a teenager. “I know it sounds weird, but at 15 I thought I was really cool so I did my own show at St Petersburg Fashion Week,” he laughs. “Then I did two more collections and Moscow Fashion Week in 2002 when I was 17, setting up my own studio.”

Koma grimaces slightly when remembering all of this – for him, success in fashion started with a move to London, and a degree at the city’s Central Saint Martins college. “It was time to start from zero again,” he says. “I closed my studio and was just a normal fashion student.” Completing a BA in design without the usual foundation course, Koma then moved on to the masters degree. Presided over by Professor Louise Wilson (and with alumni including Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane and Giles Deacon, plus half the staff of brands like Balenciaga and Lanvin), the course is notoriously tough. “The MA was my goal from when I was about 14, and Louise was my idol,” says Koma. “It was hard, but if you enjoy what you do, you love it.”

Indeed – Koma passed with flying colours, winning the Harrods Best Designer award upon graduating. And, despite his Georgian and Russian heritage, he has been taken firmly under the wing of London’s fashion scene – with his clothes selling in exclusive boutique Browns Focus and a turn on the catwalk as part of the Topshop-sponsored New Gen shows come September. “I do feel part of a new generation,” he says, name- checking other London rising star Mary Kratrantzou as a friend. “Because, as a graduate of the MA, I am.”

Not that this fashion prodigy has forgotten his roots. Koma goes back to visit Tbilisi with his family most summers and his designs are stocked in three eastern European boutiques. He is now a major star in Georgia – even beyond his immediate family. “My grandmother is my biggest fan and she keeps all the cuttings on me,” he smiles. “I did Georgian TV a while back, just to make her happy. Then the press in Georgia went crazy.”

It’s sure to get even crazier in Georgia and beyond as Koma’s career develops. His autumn/winter collection, inspired by the graphic work of Italian Futurist artist Fortunato Depero, develops his signature sculptural shapes and has scored him prestigious stockists including Harrods and Joyce in Hong Kong. For Koma, however, his work is all about appealing to the women wearing his clothes – whoever they may be. “They can go out and can feel strong but they come home and be a nice girlfriend, or a good mum,” he says. “Beyoncé is strong when she is [stage persona] Sasha Fierce, but I have met her and she’s really sweet and humble. That contrast is good.” Indeed – you might say it is his winning formula.

KOMA’S GUIDE TO TBILISI

METEKHI CHURCH
This is a beautiful Georgian church. Church is quite important in Georgia because it is a very religious country. I have childhood memories of this one and always go back when I am there. It does not have stained glass but it is grey and simple, elegant and sharp.

OLD TBILISI
There are lot of small paths in the Old Town. It’s very up and down, and quaint. It’s full of bars and restaurants. When you go there, you might think people in Tbilisi only eat and sit out at tables next to a bar!

TSISKVILI

This is a good restaurant, I love it. When I spend a week in Georgia, I will go there maybe four or five times. Avoid the main restaurant. Instead, go to the more informal part. You can bring your own beer and they have kebab, dim sum… all types of food!
Right bank of River Mtkvari, +995 (32) 530 797, www.tsiskvili.ge

KUS LAKE
This translates as ‘turtle lake’. There’s not that much to see but I really like it. There’s a bit by the lake that they have renovated with a swimming pool, fountains and a bar. You can get a sun lounger and drink coffee all day. It’s very hot in Tbilisi in the summer.

[ZURICH]

FIND HIGH-ART GRAFFITI IN A GALLERY

Jean-Paul Basquiat started as a New York graffiti artist before breaking into the high-art world. And like Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain, he died at the age of 27, having already achieved artistic greatness. To mark what would have been his 50th birthday, Fondation Beyeler in Basel, close to Zurich, has organised the biggest retrospective of his work ever shown in Europe.

Until 5 September. Fondation Beyeler, Baselstrasse, Basel, www.beyeler.com

[MANCHESTER]

LOOK BACK ON AN AMAZING CAREER

The first major exhibition of his work, this is a rare chance to see inside the astonishing archive of Philip Townsend – one of the photographers who was at the heart of the Swinging London scene. He was the first person to shoot the Rolling Stones, after randomly meeting their manager in a Monte Carlo café, before going on to capture Grace Kelly, Twiggy, the Beatles and fashion shows at Mary Quant’s. Unlike the tightly framed portraits of David Bailey, Townsend places people in their environment, giving a strong sense of the time. 18 September – 7 November.

The Lowry, Salford Quays, +44 (0)843 2086005, www.thelowry.com

[LONDON]

THE NEW SEASON HITS THE RUNWAYS

London Fashion Week is back again. Showcasing the delights of next year’s spring/summer collection, runways will be rumbling with the visions of such British luminaries as Paul Smith and Matthew Williamson, while a tribute to Alexander McQueen, who died earlier this year, will show on Monday 20. You can see the work of rising star David Koma, whom we interview on p66; and if you stay at the May Fair hotel, you can get a free bottle of wine and earn double Diamond Club destinations miles.

17-22 September. www.londonfashionweek.co.uk

[BERLIN]

LISTEN TO MUSIC IN AN AIRPORT

Bringing together the annual Berlin Festival, the Popkomm trade fair and the city’s world-famous nightclubs for the first time, Berlin Music Week is this autumn’s hot ticket for music lovers. Held at Tempelhof Airport, it will see acts like Fat Boy Slim and 2Many DJs (aka Soulwax) flying the flag for electronic music, while over 40 clubs in the city centre will also hold events.

6-12 September. www.berlin-music-week.de

[LONDON]

SEE SOME FANCY FOOTWORK

Shoes is a witty and affectionate dance revue, examining the nation’s infatuation with footwear. The story charts the history of the shoe obsession, from Louboutin highs to Crocs lows. Don’t expect just ballet shoes either; the cast of 12 dancers have their work cut out incorporating a dazzling array of footwear, with anything from flip-flops to Uggs. Laughter is guaranteed, as the production is composed by Richard Thomas, the man who brought you Jerry Springer – The Opera.

3-11 September, tickets start at £10. Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Rosebery Avenue, EC1, +44 (0)844 412 4300, www.sadlerswells.com

BOOKING AHEAD

[ 15 October ] GET CULTURED IN COPENHAGEN

During Kulturnatten, the Danish capital’s night of culture, visitors get free entry to a huge number of museums, galleries and exhibitions from 5pm to 2am. The local trains, buses, metro – even boat taxis – are free to use too. www.kulturnatten.dk/en

[ 23-29 October ] BE ENGAGED IN LONDON

The Inside Out Festival takes place across London in collaboration with nine universities and numerous important thinkers. Learn about music theory, the ‘literature of New Labour’ or how to publish your first novel. www.insideoutfestival.org.uk

[ 21 October – 3 November ] WATCH MOVIES IN VIENNA

Vintage cinemas in the Austrian capital’s city centre will be the setting for the 50th anniversary of the Viennale, Austria’s leading film event. Expect showings of new art films from around the world. www.viennale.at

SUMMER MAY HAVE COME TO AN END but there’s still time to get on your bike before the autumn chills set in. Denmark is one of Europe’s best cycling destinations, with more than 11,000 kilometres of cycling tracks, and the charming craggy island of Bornholm is one of its hottest spots for two-wheeling. Just three hours by train and ferry from bmi destination Copenhagen, it’s a seriously beautiful place, known for its sleepy fishing villages, pine forests and sandy beaches.

Starting in the island’s capital of Rønne, which is chock-a-block with cycle-hire shops, visitors can head north towards the imposing ruin of Hammershus, the largest fortification in northern Europe. Hardcore cycle nuts can pedal all the way from here to the white sands of Dueodde, in the far south, along a 105-kilometre cycle path that hugs the rocky coastline of the east.

Less experienced riders, in search of an easier life, will love the Baltic coast south of Rønne – known as the Bornholm Riviera – for its gentler slopes and marvellous views. It’s the most stunning stretch on the island, and many local artists have their studios here, most of them open to visitors all year round.

Whatever route you take, you should make sure to stop occasionally for pickled herring on rye bread and other local fishy specialities. Or you could take a fishing line and catch dinner for yourself.

Good food, culture, fishing: a cycling trip to Bornholm has everything you could want, including a get-out-clause. If the going gets tough on the hilly bits all local buses have handy cycle racks on the back. Sarah Warwick

A seven-day trip (excluding flights) costs £930 or €1,110 from Upplevelsepaket package tours, including accommodation, food, maps and all gear hire. +46 (0)506 12500, www.upplevelsepaket.se