Choose the right hotel near Edinburgh airport carefully and you might find a few appreciated extras. A relaxing swim before you slip into a spa pre-evening flight, perhaps, or an excellent breakfast to fill you up ahead of your journey – or even a round of golf to kick-start the trip. You might consider staying for…
Johnny Depp has found bliss 5,364 miles away from Hollywood. The “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor is enjoying life away from the spotlight in the English countryside — a far cry from the flashy showbiz lifestyle he came to know so well. “I just love places with character. I have various houses in various places…
Venice has a similar overnight tax, ranging from €1 to €5 depending on the star rating of your accommodation, which is payable for up to five days. But the city is also trying to push through a controversial day-tripper tax of up to €10 per person; this was supposed to come into effect in January…
Manchester’s music scene is thriving and there’s a diverse range of venues in the city, from intimate rooms at the back of historic pubs to huge concert halls. The Manchester Arena, near Victoria railway station in the city centre, is the UK’s biggest indoor arena and hosts some of the world’s top performers as well…
Be sure not to miss the circular Circus, with a group of vast plane trees at its centre. Note the carved motifs on the houses’ facades, some of which are masonic, and the acorn finials on the roofline, which reference Bath’s mythical founder Bladud, who looked after pigs (pigs like acorns). Just a few…
Manchester’s city centre is strewn with attractive hotels, from five-star cocoons of luxury and hip aparthotels in former mills to budget beds and seductive hideaways. It makes things easier when you’re planning weekend of, say, exploring the high street shops of pedestrianised Market Street, restaurants along King Street, bars of the Northern Quarter, clubs in…
This hotel across the road from Balliol college is best known for the paneled Morse Bar, where they used to ‘serve a decent pint’ to the great Inspector, invariably paid for by his sidekick, Lewis. Key staff are characterful. Ask for a room with a view: Martyr’s Memorial or Ashmolean. At dinner, expect a salmon…
Contemporary and period style blend seamlessly at this family-friendly Brockenhurst spa hotel: fireplaces, stained-glass windows, a coat of arms, and acorn and oak-leaf patterned doors provide an air of English country house, while a modern wing houses the spa and bedrooms. As well as a swimming pool, the spa includes hydrotherapy pools, thermal rooms, a…
To stay in a castle is to wake up in one of England’s fascinating feats of history. Battlements, suits of armour, moated forts, heavy drapes, four-poster beds, charming follies and banquets are the stuff of medieval dreams, and where these features have been present, they have been well maintained. You’ll often find that castle breaks…
There are b&bs – clean, adequate – that do the job, and then there are b&bs that lift your spirits and make you feel as though you’ve discovered a gem. Not necessarily flashy with spa-baths and piles of cushions, but they have those thoughtful touches that make you feel the owner cares you have an…
There is no more relaxing form of travel than rail, and no better way to enjoy the beauties and sights of a country than through a carriage window. When it came to seeing landscapes, Robert Louis Stevenson thought “none more vivid… than from a railway train”. Britain has hundreds of attractive rural railway lines offering…
Thyme is a cluster of honey-stone properties in postcard-pretty Southrop. It’s a ‘village within a village’ says owner Caryn Hibbert, who has devised it as a dreamy, other-worldly haven. It is a profoundly peaceful place (very beautifully devised so that the spirit of the various buildings have been honoured) making it one of the most…
Prestonfield is hidden in lush grounds a short drive from the city centre, and it is the swankiest, most swoon-some country house hotel imaginable. With swags and columns, brocades and velvets, rich colours and intimate corners, it is wildly opulent; drama, theatre, romance and passion hang heavily in the air. Service is utterly spoiling from…
The best dog-friendly hotels in the UK
In those heady early days of infatuation, romance can be found wherever you go. Love is blind to candlewick bedspreads, rude waiters and stale cigarette smoke. Indeed, in Paris these are essential ingredients for your first weekend break together. It’s almost ironic that the honeymoon should be your ultimate romantic blow-out, at a stage when you…
Is your idea of the perfect romantic weekend in Scotland snugly seductive or outrageously opulent? More ‘Sex in the City’ or ‘Monarch of the Glen’? Should there be candlelight, moonlight or city lights? Scenery, saunas, or shopping? Happily there places that offer all that and more – often in the same place. And then there’s…
This grand hotel, the medieval family home of the Earls of Lonsdale, offers authentic country house living in stately surroundings: vast rooms, scattered antiques and a well-worn but comfortable, informal and inviting air. There’s a vaulted library with an honesty bar, plus a self-operated sauna. Outside there’s a small, heated pool, but the real joy…
Dating back to the 14th century, this magnificent former monastery, which has been a hotel since 1896, stands on the cliffs overlooking the Ionian Sea in Taormina, with Mount Etna to its right and the city’s ancient Greek theatre to its left. Although Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts added a good dollop of 21st-century luxury…
Walk the winding paths of the South Pennines A visit to the Calder Valley inevitably means long, moody walks. From Hebden, take the well-trodden path up to Heptonstall a mile away, where Catherine is often shot visiting her daughter’s grave. In real life, the graveyard is also the resting place of American literary icon Sylvia…
This modern hotel has everything you would expect from the brand, with bells on. Although predominantly aimed at business travellers, the location, range of rooms and services, luxurious spa and well-regarded restaurant make it the perfect choice for travellers who like to know exactly what they’re getting. The wellness offering is brilliant, making it one…