In review: Weekend Journals, Oxfordshire

The most recent addition to the 'Weekend Journals' stable, ‘Oxfordshire’ offers inspiration for design-conscious travellers, with a pick of the most exciting boutique hotels, galleries, independent shops and newly opened restaurants in the county. Rather like having a local at your shoulder, advising you where to go, the guide uncovers some hidden gems amongst the 40 venues featured. Even though this Oxfordshire edition covers our neck of the woods (and we are very proudly featured!), there were still a couple of unknown destinations for us to discover, proving the guide appeals to both locals and visitors alike.

Designed to be collected - to keep and display - rather than as a functional, throw-away guidebook, the book is a joy to behold. While writer and stylist Milly Kenny-Ryder provides the text, her brother Gabriel captures the the venues with his stunning photography, and Milly's husband, designer Simon Lovell marks the books with a stamp of minimalist, contemporary style.

We sat down with Milly and asked her to reveal how the team creates 'Weekend Journals'...

Simon and I were very lucky to have the opportunity with my blog to go on an extended 5 month honeymoon, back in 2015. When we returned home to London we wanted to cement our amazing travel memories with a book about a travel destination we both cared about, so we took on the project of producing a beautiful book on Cornwall and enlisted the skills of my brilliant photographer brother Gabriel. Following the unexpected success of that first book we have continued sharing our love of travel (and weekend destinations) with further additions to the collection.

I am a restless researcher and traveller, always on the look out for exciting places to visit and share, so new destinations come to me quite naturally and organically. Originally the Weekend Journals were about places that meant a lot to us (Simon’s maternal grandmother is from Cornwall, and our mother's family come from Provence ) and we then continued with counties that I felt weren’t represented in a beautiful and exploratory way.

Obsessive travelling and talking to small-business owners, Instagram scrolling and travel article reading. I write a lot of lists, and tear out a lot of articles but find the most reliable knowledge and tips come from like-minded people who I meet through my work, or seek out at independent and artisan cafes, restaurants & galleries. We are all interested in design and beautiful spaces but it’s definitely not the most important element - first and foremost everywhere we feature has to be a place we would recommend whole-heartedly to a friend - because the venue is special, unique or has an interesting story. We like to promote all kinds of businesses - from tiny coffee roasters to grand luxury hotels.

Our print runs are quite limited, partly to keep the books current and exclusive. But sometimes they sell out faster than planned and then we might do a small extended print run or new edition. Our popular Cornwall book has had three reincarnations and we are in talks about a fourth edition.

We used to all go together and the schedules (planned meticulously by Simon) were exhausting but great fun. Nowadays Gabriel and I tend to visit almost everywhere together, or we make sure we have both seen / experienced a place before it is confirmed for inclusion. Sometimes we visit somewhere a few times to ensure it is worthy of a place in a book. We usually only include 40 venues so only our favourites make it in. We do get on well, but we do also disagree but being a small family team means we can be nimble and productive, and, as we have now produced 7 books together we know each other's strengths (and weaknesses).

As a food photographer and restaurant reviewer I rarely eat in the same place twice, which can be a shame but it does mean I’ve tried most of the foodie newbies. My all-time blow out meal favourite is Hélène Darroze at the Connaught - satisfying my French food craving and also providing pretty plates for me to photograph. Agora is one of my recent favourites - a Mediterranean fire-fuelled eatery in Borough Market. I often choose travel destinations abroad around one restaurant I want to try - for example, I made a pilgrimage to Frantzen in Stockholm a few months ago.

We want every book to have a variety to suit every kind of traveller. Affordable and blow-out, everyday gems and occasional treats. Our books feature everything you might want from a weekend minibreak from an artisan bakery to beautiful gardens to walk round, restaurants, hotels, museums and galleries and more. There are surprises along the way which keeps us entertained and excited! Often the most unexpected finds are the small, new companies that haven’t got the budget to market themselves - it is so rewarding to boast about them on their behalf!

The guide to Provence was inspired by our grandmother - who is from that part of France. It was lovely to make something permanent that recognised all our wonderful childhood memories, but for now our priority is to champion special pockets of the UK. I’d love to showcase Wales and Northern Ireland and it would be great to do Kent too. There aren’t enough visually-led, non-paid guides to British destinations so we are more than happy to fill that role!