The British media and travel industry are finally coming to realise that Slovenia is very special. After a recent family holiday, Richard Morrison of The Times called it the hidden jewel of Europe. A waiter there told him: `In five years, Slovenia will be as popular with you English as Tuscany.' And Morrison added: `I fear he may be right.'

John and Katinka Ardagh, who have known Slovenia well for 30 years, write: This country of two million people is one of the most beautiful and civilised in Europe. In the 1990s it escaped the violence and chaos in the rest of Yugoslavia, to the south; today it is happy in its well-deserved independence and democracy. Economically it has long been the most advanced of all the former "Socialist" countries, and it is now in the first group scheduled to join the EU. For a holiday r has everything, from Alps to Adriatic beaches, plus old baroque awns, and spas. Piran is an enchanting little Venetian city. Slovenes are multilingual, bursting with poetry and music. There are plenty of btels up to western standards, scores of charming farm guest houses, modestly priced, and a few converted castles and manor houses. Some of these have been nominated by readers. Prices have been rising, but are still well below Austrian and Italian levels.