Iceland is a magical country that is located in the North Atlantic, a two-hour 20-minute flight north of London. It was settled by Norsemen, who established a legislative assembly in 930. It was under Danish rule from 1380 to 1918, gaining independence in 1918 and becoming a republic in 1944.

The landscape is dominated by glaciers, snowfields and lava beds with many volcanoes and hot springs — the chief source of domestic heat. The population of 276,000 people live mainly along the south-west coast.

We visited it for four days in March 2002. The weather was unbelievably cold and I've never seen so much snow and ice in my life, but I loved every minute of our trip. The scenery was utterly gorgeous and I went slightly overboard with the camera, as you will see here.