Darina's black book: The addresses, the products, the style...

A few of Darina's favourite thing.

Wine

I drink all-natural wine. Colm McCann was our sommelier in Ballymaloe House for many years and he works with le Caveau in Kilkenny and they probably have the best list of natural wines in the country.

These are wines that have been grown in soil that has not been sprayed or had any chemical interference. Sometimes they are a challenge, because it is a different taste. Pheasant Tears is a favourite wine of ours from Georgia.

■ Pheasant’s Tears Rkatsiteli (€22.50) @ www.lecaveau.ie

Style

At this stage, I find I am buying less clothes than I used to, but there are a number of places that I do shop. There is one called Egg and another called Eskandar in London.

They tend to be clothes that are comfortable and flowy. My aunt Florence said to me a while ago “I haven’t seen your waist in years”! ■ Freya dress (£380) @ www.eggtrading.com

Glasses

I have lots of glasses of course. I quite often get them from a shop in London called Cutler and Gross.

■ Dark Turtle Optical Glasses (€325) @ www.cutlerandgross.com

Fitness

I just bought an electric bike and I am so excited! I have two horribly fit sisters and they think of nothing to cycle 25km. We went off to Mr Roycroft in Skibbereen and bought an electric bicycle and I am absolutely thrilled with it! I love cycling.

I love the feeling of the wind in my hair and I feel like I am 18 again. It makes me very giddy! ■ Townmaster E-bike (€1490) by Insync @ www.westcorkcycles.ie

Beauty regime

I love fragrances by Jo Malone. It’s my little squirt of choice. I am a disaster as far as putting on creams and all of that. I know that there are lots of gorgeous natural products being made now though, like Modern Botany and Wild and Precious, so if I were to use it would be them. .

■ Red Roses Cologne (€109) @Brown Thomas.

Travel

India is like a home away from home for us. We go to a little town in Madhya Pradesh called Maheshwar. There is a hotel called Ahilya Fort which overlooks the Namada River and all you can do while you are there is relax.

I absolutely love it there. Years ago we used to travel all around, but now we just love this place. We completely chill, do little trips to the villages and sit and read.

■ www.ahilyafort.com

Gadgets

I’m absolutely not a gadget person so I tend to keep kitchen equipment to essential, in order to avoid clutter. However, one good buy in my book is what we call a pan-grill.

This is a black-ridged, cast-iron pan which I find gives a super result for vegetables, fish meat and polenta. For me it’s one of the few bits of indispensable kitchen equipment.

■ 26cm cast iron grill pan (€140) by Le Crueset @ Arnotts