Brochures of the week

Selling Denmark to the British is a struggle because we think of it as being slightly dull and very expensive. Neither prejudice is really correct but I'm not sure if the latest brochure from the country's tourist board does much to change our perceptions.

Shot to look like a Calvin Klein perfume advertisement (on the cover is the perfect Danish family dressed in white and with sun-bleached fair hair; inside are lots of romantic close-ups of freckle-faced kids), Denmark is presented as a place where you can relax, be yourself.

The brochure starts off with a fictional diary entry which records details such as "afternoon was a little aimless, just walking about and poking our heads into some shops. It turned out the grocer has a sister who lives not three streets away from us at home. Seems she married an Englishman." So, the message seems to be, Denmark is not only soporific, it's also familiar and welcoming if you're English - but will this persuade anyone to book a holiday there? However, the brochure is certainly elegantly and expensively designed and photographed, with lots of useful dates and contact numbers. Take a look for yourself.

More pristine people and hotels are featured in the New England Country Homes brochure. Selling holidays in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, it's packed with pictures of clean lakes, unspoilt forests and beaches, old lighthouses and fantastic properties for hire (although staying in some of the more isolated ones would be scary, in my opinion).

This really is a wonderful brochure that leaves you in no doubt that Americans have a far superior standard of living than all us poor Europeans and their holiday homes are to die for.

Denmark: contact the Danish Tourist Board (0171 259 5959) New England Country Homes (01798 869096).