This sybaritic stuff would surely be despised by the more ethereal Nightingale Light Centre:

This sybaritic stuff would surely be despised by the more ethereal Nightingale Light Centre: “a playground of love, healing, inspiration, peace and rejuvenation at all levels”. We had read about Shambhala in Places To Be (Coherent Visions, £5.50), a new guidebook listing all manner of places providing holidays with a spiritual dimension, from Benedictine retreats to b&bs with crystal healing on the side. Increasing numbers of people, argues its editor, Jonathan How, are recognising the need to give themselves time and space to explore the deeper questions.Places To Be casts its rainbow net rather wider than The Good Retreat Guide (Rider, £11.99), Stafford Whiteaker’s older and more established directory The result is some unexpected entries. Go to Badger’s Rest in Cumbria, and you can order a champagne picnic and a balloon trip, as well as take away “your own personalised menu.. attractive enough to frame”. Where was she?Serahsee ran the Shambhala Healing Centre, a discreet spiritual supermarket where you could be pummelled and pampered, explore previous lives (if you had any), have your energies realigned, or be put in touch with your spirit guide or angel – a breakthrough which, according to the brochure, “will open doors and explore realms you have not thought possible”. In the distance, the friendly train chugged off to the distant fleshpots of Penzance It was windy.

Nobody was there.
We were waiting for the appearance of a woman called Serahsee – a name, we later learnt, revealed to her in meditation by her spirit guide But Castle Cary that day was devoid of guides of any sort. Or so my friend Bunny Page and I told ourselves as we stepped anxiously down at the tiny, deserted railway station of Castle Cary, the only passengers to do so. We found ourselves in the middle of a broad, grey vista of hills and fields. A place like Glastonbury is a place apart, stiff with spiritual significance – the alleged burial place of King Arthur, the site of a fabulous ruined abbey and a vanished church said to have been built by Joseph of Arimathea You expect a bit of a schlep to get there. Tennis weekends at Basingstoke are also available, with prices starting at £179.. YOU CAN’T go all the way to Glastonbury by train, and somehow you wouldn’t expect to: that would be far too mundane.

Prices for a week, inclusive of travel, range from £499 in December to £599 in March/April. Perhaps providence, a more severe critic than Roger or Alison, was trying to tell me something? Was it time to invest in a set of golf clubs? Not yet awhile. Just wait until I get on court with my new magic, and the balls start flying!! Roger Taylor Tennis Holidays, PO Box 3555, Wimbledon, London SW19 5XT (0181-947 9727). You can play as little or as much as suits your fancy, and I found it best to pace myself by shortening one of the twice-daily sessions.On the last day the frame of my techno-marvel of a racquet cracked and I had to dump it mournfully in the bin. As in philosophy, the basics are indistinguishable from the most advanced moves, so however well you know the theory it’s always good to re-rehearse fundamentals under the benevolent eye of an expert. At 6.30pm the amplified mullah wails, sirens sound the reprieve, and presumably everyone races for the kitchen.Among we tennis players, nobody leapt to county standard and we all fell about at the sight of our mistakes on the video screen But it was an enjoyable and useful week. There’s not a lot of choice as far as wine is concerned, and Flag beer comes at about £l.20 for a small bottle, but that’s standard in dryish Islamic countries.Our trip coincided with Ramadan, when the faithful go without even a glass of water for 12 hours every day, and have to carry on cheerfully serving us our food and drink, which they did with great good grace.