Brochures of the week

Can't decide if you are an Epicurean or an exercise obsessive? Take a look at these two brochures: Winetrails Gourmet Holidays, and Slim and Beautiful in Austria.

"Schlank & Schon" (that's "slim and beautiful" in German) features on its cover the sort of lady who would make the perfect candidate for the next Oil Of Ulay commercial.

Dressed in virginal white, she splashes her angelic face with sparkling water and sports the ecstatic expression of a person experiencing an extreme, endorphin high.

Not so the Winetrails brochure. Its cover depicts a rustic scene of rolling hills and grape-gathering in a blurred painting which begs the reader to sit back and enjoy the fruits of someone else's labour.

From the pages of Slim and Beautiful leap a plethora of Scandinavian lovelies discovering the four pillars of the Slim and Beautiful philosophy: nutrition (just about), exercise (lots of it), relaxation (yes please), and beauty care (necessary massage for those overworked muscles).

Of these four, the Winetrails brochure concentrates very much on the 'nutrition'. With "Gourmet, wine and walking holidays in some of the world's most spectacular wine regions", its food and wine are deemed "paramount to the success of the trip". As for the walks, these comprise a few modest trails running between one vineyard and another.

Designed "for people of average fitness", a five hour walk normally covers ten miles or less. Each of the European destinations from Andaluca to the obligatory Tuscany is given a glossy double-spread with pictures of round, happy people enjoying the fat of the land.

On the other end of the specialist holiday scale Slim and Beautiful lists every spa, hotel and health farm in Austria worthy of an alternative therapy certificate.

The Slim and Beautiful brochure is available from the Austrian National Tourist Office: 0171 6290461.

Winetrails: 01306 712111.