Perhaps this explains why the new Dean Street Townhouse, in the heart of London, has been almost fully booked since it opened just under three weeks ago. The hotel goes for sentimental Britishness in a big way, from the pair of Georgian buildings in which it stands, to the drawing-room ambience at reception, to the nursery-food menu and Brit-art in the restaurant. Happily, it does so in a way that also appeals to Brits ? there is style and substance at the heart of this hotel. ( Read more... )
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How to do it: Ski clubs, including Plas Y Brenin and Cardiff Ski Club, have been known to turn up and ?daisy chain? portable rope tows together to form a make-shift ski resort. But even if there?s no lift, there?ll be plenty of people scurrying up the slopes at the first sign of snow.

Further info: The Storey Arms Outdoor Education Centre (01874 623 598) can give reports on the snow conditions, and is the place to head for ( Read more... )
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In recent years, of course, attitudes have softened: indoor gyms and leg-warmers; juice bars and macrobiotic diets. Which makes Nicholas Gray's job all the more difficult. As chief executive of what is argu-ably Britain's last old-school health "clinic", Gray presides over an establishment that, at least on paper, is in danger of becoming an anachronism.

Shrubland Hall, a late 18th-century pile in rural-ish Suffolk, has been occupied by various incarnations of the Baron de Saumarez since ( Read more... )
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City dwellers who hanker after life in the saddle can get 10 per cent off introductory riding lessons at six centres in the capital by booking through Hoof, the London 2012 Olympic Legacy Project (hoof-in-town.com/learntoride.html). Adults and children can take part, and prices start from £12 for 30 minutes.

NORTH

Sound and Communication is the theme at Locomotion: the National Railway Museum at Shildon (01388 777999; locomotion.uk.com) in daily-changing ( Read more... )
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Every man needs a hobby, a focus for all that potentially unruly energy, a way of passing time that includes some jargon, the chance to immerse oneself in a body of arcane knowledge and, preferably, regular opportunities to swap cash for assorted hardware. I'd tried stamp collecting, bodybuilding and DIY, and now I was heading towards Vinopolis, the city of wine located on the south side of the River Thames next to Southwark Bridge - to try my hand at wine appreciation.

It was a dreary ( Read more... )
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This week, after a gestation period that began a decade ago, the Boscombe surf reef officially opened for business. As a previous editor of Australian surfing magazines, and having spent the last 20 years travelling the globe surfing waves in Hawaii, Tahiti, Indonesia and South Africa, I'd thought I'd seen it all. But when a local council invests more than 3m to produce an artificial reef for surfers, I had to don my wetsuit, crank up my Australian accent and see just what the world's newest surf ( Read more... )
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Cider and unusual varieties of apple can be sampled and bought at Kent Life's Apple and Cider Festival (kentlife.org.uk) on 10 and 11 October.

Apples are also the theme of another festival at Brogdale (brogdale collections.co.uk) on 17 and 18 October. There will be hundreds of varieties on display from the National Fruit Collection, with many to taste and buy.

Hever Castle (hevercastle.co.uk) celebrates the season with its Autumn Garden Weekend on 17 and 18 October. ( Read more... )
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And so we collect our 1970s Type II Westfalia with pop-up roof from the charming and laid-back Steve and Elaine, both wearing beatific smiles.

"Huck" looks the part. Steve gives me a quick tour of the vehicle, issues some vague advice about having to "search about a bit" for reverse gear, and then we're off.

Twenty minutes later I'm having to "search about" for reverse gear. To describe it as elusive would be something of an understatement. At the very least ( Read more... )
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How to Enter

It couldn?t be easier to enter, simply fill in your details and upload your picture of your favourite place in South East England. The best picture will win our great prize. So what are you waiting for? Get snapping!

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The North Yorkshire coastline is eroding and, in the process, strewing the area with fossils. It wasn't until we walked into Whitby Museum that I realised we were staying on Yorkshire's very own Dinosaur Coast. We had actually come to Whitby because we knew it packs a lot in for its money. Sea and sand and Captain Cook and all those fish and chips. In the Abbey, on East Cliff, Caedmon composed one of the earliest recorded examples of Old English poetry. The windswept cliff-top ( Read more... )
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Full metal racket

If you haven't had enough of fighting robots on TV, head for Ironbridge Gorge Museums in Shropshire next weekend. The first-ever Enginuity Robot Crusade features awesome heavyweight 'bot battles over Saturday and Sunday. Each day kicks off with a three-way melée, the winners of which will clash head-to-head until only two survivors remain to fight for the title of Grand Champion on Sunday afternoon. The combatants include stars of the automaton world such as Shredder ( Read more... )
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Head for the Royal & Derngate in Northampton next Sunday, 25 October, for The Annual Arnold Festival (royal andderngate.co.uk), to celebrate music by the town?s famous son, Sir Malcolm Arnold. Carnival of the Animals and his Fourth Symphony will be performed.

Flame & Thunder is the action-packed day of motorsport stunts and drag racing taking place at Santa Pod Raceway (santapod.co.uk) near Wellingborough on 31 October. Jet vehicles, monster trucks and motocross will ( Read more... )
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In Cumbria, neatly designed camping pods have been introduced at three sites run by the National Trust (ntlakescampsites.org.uk). These carpeted, wooden half-cylinders are cleverly insulated with wool to retain heat in cool weather; a layer of foil above keeps indoor temperatures down on hot days. Each pod also has its own veranda.

You simply rent the space and bring your own camping equipment. There are currently pods at Wasdale (01946 726220) and Great Langdale (01539 437668), and there ( Read more... )
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An antique-filled, luxury bolthole in a picture-perfect Cotswold village, this former workers' cottage dates back to 1890. Surrounded by bucolic countryside, it is charming and homely inside, with floral and leaf-sprig wallpaper and romantic brass beds. In summer you can relax in the fragrant garden, but in winter this is a perfect hideaway: curl up in front of the roaring log fire with a good book.

Candlewick Cottage, Painswick, Gloucestershire (O1637 881942;

The sisters already own one of the UK's first family hotels, Cornwall's Bedruthan Steps, which was built in the 1960s. They opened this 21st-century sibling, overlooking Mawgan Porth, on 1 September. It's an angular building designed by Jon Capel, and full of well-framed vistas. From reception, an infinity pool stretches out to a view of the Atlantic. Modern sculptures and paintings line the walls.

Ecology is a passion for the sisters. Solar panels heat both indoor ( Read more... )
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Bull Barn Cottage, Yorkshire

As the name suggests, this cosy retreat is more like a cottage than a farm building, though it has, in fact, been sympathetically converted from a 17th-century barn. The cottage's contemporary interior features an open-plan kitchen and living area, modern bathroom facilities, and three bedrooms. The one thing it lacks is a proper garden, but with the Yorkshire Dales on your doorstep, you won't have trouble finding space to roam.

Yes, back in 1989, as an unpopular British government blamed everyone else for its difficulties and a miserable recession lurked around the corner, former accountant Nigel Chapman opened the doors of Woolley Grange in Bradford on Avon for the first time. His pioneering idea? A country-house hotel that welcomed children, rather than seeing them as an inconvenience likely to interfere with the grown-ups' weekend away. And it worked: what started as 15 rooms in this Jacobean manor ( Read more... )
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To order room service, 24-hour or otherwise, you really need to stay in a hotel. But what if you could arrange to have a luxury home at the disposal of you and your loved ones, with the option of chefs and silver-service waiters at your beck and call? Now that would be room service worth having.

Carrington House is a self-catering property that bears all the hallmarks of a good hotel, the only catch being that you have to rent it all out at once. The Grade II-listed property ( Read more... )
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WHY GO NOW?

There is no shortage of cultural events in Durham, particularly during the university term, including plenty of concerts in the cathedral (look out for the University Choral Society concert on 21 June). The traditional 169th Regatta takes place on the river Wear on 14-15 June.

BEAM DOWN

Durham is on the East Coast Main Line between Darlington and Newcastle; there are fast and frequent services from London King's Cross and Edinburgh on GNER, plus ( Read more... )
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Last year, almost 900,000 visitors stepped from their cars and coaches to get closer to the neolithic wonder. An enriching experience, set to become better still when a new visitor centre opens next year. It is tantalising, though, to be so close to the stones, yet unable to wander through them and wonder at the forces that brought them here. Since 1978, they have been off-limits because of worries about vandalism and erosion caused by rising visitor numbers.

How much ( Read more... )
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