Having grown up in a country abundantly supplied with tropical fruit, I am a sucker for a breakfast spread that includes good examples of fruits not readily available at home. Yes, you can buy mango in Sainsburys, but is it really tasty mango? Is it the best example of mango?

No.

And don’t get me started on papaya!

Madeira is amply supplied with many, many delicious tropical fruits, all of them ripe, ready and totally tasty. In Funchal, at the Castanheiro hotel, the display of fresh fruit was astonishing in its variety and quantity. There were the standard melons – honeydew and watermelon – orange slices, kiwis, pineapple and bananas but added to these were huge trays of dark orange papaya, fabulously sweet mango, custard apples (which I know as chirimoya), chunks of ruby pomegranate, passionfruit and something we had never seen: tamarillo halves.

We know tamarind as an ingredient for Indian cuisine (and as an ‘agua’ in Mexico) but neither of us had seen this. Not the same as tamarind! It looked a bit like a firm, smallish Italian tomato (the oval ones), dark reddish-green in colour, with tart flesh and a bitter skin.

The Castanhiero is a medium sized establishment, in a few older buildings behind the main square. With no views from the hotel, they rely on a roof terrace (pool and bar), but this was closed – apparently, it gives lovely views over the city and sea. Our room was vast, the staff were all lovely and there are nice public seating areas (inside and out) (but not on the roof terrace).

There was quirky furniture, old and modern, and a spa in the basement with an indoor salt pool, sauna and steam room, plus treatments.

It was quiet, the food was good at breakfast, OK at supper and the house wine in the bar was variable depending on colour and style. We would stay there again as the location was excellent (even without the sea views). But we wouldn’t have more than breakfast there.

Madeira is a place to eat seafood – or so you would think. The fish market (another Funchal ‘top ten’) revealed a lot of black scabbard fish, some tuna and a few random others ( brightly coloured parrot fish and possibly some large bream among them).

Black scabbard fish is a Madeira specialty, particularly with a banana and passionfruit sauce. We tried it: it was fine. Not our favourite.

The tuna was amazing. We also tried the only local shellfish: limpets.

Our second hotel, half-way up the hill, was the 20-room Socalco Nature which is connected to some big name chef. The location is incredible, with spectacular views. Our room was small but perfectly formed with a deep window seat from which to watch the sea. The hotel grows many of its own herbs and vegetables (they make a big fuss about this) and the areas around the rooms are planted with herbs and vines.

They serve homemade cake and tea every afternoon, the breakfasts are fantastic (no buffet but large and varied and yes, the fruit was excellent). Supper was good. We had the four course menu, with an ‘interesting’ first course, a nice fish course, a decent lamb shank and a nice dessert. They also had excellent wines – at 48 euros a bottle (for the cheaper of their own wines) we chose something else from the mainland which was great.

It was peaceful and worth returning to.

Our final hotel was the Quinta do Furao, which seems to be a bit of an institution on the northeast coast. It has phenomenal views, perched as it is on the cliffs, and is, again, surrounded by vineyards.

Our room was in the more modern wing (a bit of an unattractive addtion) and took advantage of the views. It was comfortable, had a good buffet breakfast and OK food but it felt slightly resort-y. I think they deal with the package industry as there was a Tui bus there at one point. All a bit ‘join our cooking classes’ or ‘come have a cocktail’ (not free) or ‘sit in our piano bar’ (he wasn’t that great). Onsite they have a pizzeria, a restaurant, a ‘pub’ plus bar snacks at the bar.

It was a very mixed clientele, from avid walkers in serious walking boots and significant day-packs, to the less fit, more rotund loungers. Definitely catering for the ‘more mature’ crowd, given the sound track they had on every evening. If both Roger and I can hum along to most of the songs, you know it’s not a place for the more ‘hip’. And the music was relentless (I have no idea why they feel the need for constant music).

While we enjoyed it, I am not sure we would return here.

Given the gradients of some of the roads, a reasonable car is a must. We hired a Renault Clio and it coped magnificently with everything but there were only two of us and we shared a suitcase. Larger groups would need a bigger engined car.

All in all, we had a great week. We wanted winter sun and we definitely got that. The walking was amazing but possibly not best suited to our vertigo issues and we didn’t eat or drink anything that really wowed us.

Other than the wonderful fruit!

Roll on the Canary Islands.