Welcome to recommends

THIS week I am tootling off to North Yorkshire with my brood of children to the delightful coastal village of Runswick Bay. For those who say I should holiday in Scotland, I will be at Gairloch in May and footling around the Highlands and Islands in a camper van in July.

This week, I'd like to clarify a couple of things that may not be clear about Recommends. Firstly, the Best of the Best on the back page.The categories featured are among those most regularly recommended in the 11 months since Recommends was launched – yes, it really is that long ago, and look out for a Happy Birthday Recommends next month.

The idea of Best of the Best is to highlight your most popular choices, and to give you the chance to offer new suggestions in these areas. So, if you are fed up reading about the Anstruther Fish Bar and L'Alba D'Oro, e-mail us your own ideas – for fish and chips or any other category. All new recommendations will be taken into account and the top five reordered as a result.

Second, the weekly prizes – wine on Page 2 and food on Page 3 – go to the person who makes the recommendations. There was one occasion when a farm shop that was recommended thought it would get the wine, so perhaps it isn't clear enough – the wine winner is the recommender, not the recommended!

Also, the Page 2 winner gets SIX bottles of wine – one of the winners, rather churlishly, said in his day, a case of wine meant 12, not six bottles. I resisted the temptation to tell him where he could stick the bottles.

Please remember, we cannot be held responsible for disappointment arising from our recommendations – but please do tell us if you are let down.