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A PLACE AWAY FROM IT ALL Always wanted to seriously get away from it all? Well here is something with a difference – a place quite literally in the middle of nowhere – probably best suited to lovers, good friends or a loner who just doesn’t want to be disturbed. Enter Dunan Bothy on Ardtalnaig Estate in Scotland. Described as a one bedroom mountain Bothy which is a Scottish word for a wee cottage, it sleeps one or two people in serious rural surroundings. Imagine this?
Located on over 8,500 acres of private estate in Perthshire, with orchards, scenic mountains and heather moorland to explore, it is a magical place where dreams can take shape, love get renewed and friendships strengthened plus the chance of seeing some incredible birdlife including the majestic Golden Eagle if you get lucky. This is truly a remote mountain bothy or in everyday terms a character filled self catering cottage. The accommodation comprises a mezzanine bedroom (double bed or two single beds) a bathroom with bath, an open plan kitchen and comfortable lounge. A wood burning stove supplies heat and atmosphere, whilst the Raeburn range provides hot water, heating and cooking facilities. There is no electricity, so lighting is via oil lamps and candles. Basic kitchen equipment and food are provided, but as with all things you can basically get what you want ranging from a luxury hamper of goodies to basic supplies depending on what your budget allows.
Located 5 miles from
the nearest road, access to Dunan Bothy definitely needs a 4 x 4 vehicle. If
you don't have a 4 x 4, transport can be arranged for arrival and departure days
but anything outside this time is at an additional charge. Not for those who are
used to nipping down the road for a hamburger, this is a place to recharge the
batteries forget about anything techno savvy and settle in for a serious chill
out. If all this sounds a bit much to cope with one can still enjoy the fantastic private estate in a little bit more comfort and practicality at Ben Lawers View Cottage which is a three bedroom cottage that sleeps six on the same estate. Comfortable and cosy here you don’t have to cope without electricity and you even get a Nespresso machine in the kitchen to have your early morning caffeine fix. Located on the south side of Loch Tay, with superb views over the water to Ben Lawers., it’s suitable for families, friends, golfing parties and groups looking for activity breaks such as walking, fishing and watersports. With a large kitchen with all mod cons and an open fire place, central heating and great drives to nearby attractions it works well as a holiday destination.
For more info on the bothy, the cottage and the Ardeonaig Hotel and Restaurant check out: www.ardtalnaigholidaycottages.co.uk and www.ardeonaighotel.co.uk
NEW HAPPENINGS IN THE UK
In May 2010,
the sixth
ABode
will open in Chester and
will include a restaurant created by Michael Caines and bespoke art collections
in each room by celebrity photographer Brian Aris. von Essen hotels will be opening their first London based property in 2010 with Hotel Verta in Battersea, near The London Heliport, just as is Hotel Rafayel, a 65-room luxury eco-hotel which just recently opened in the same development area. Located inside the eco-friendly hotel is MyChelle’s Baketique , a cupcake shop run by New Yorkers Michelle Husserl, who uses farm-fresh ingredients and recyclable packaging to bake cupcakes like margarita, lemon meringue, carrot, fig, and peanut butter and jelly. Chino Latino at London Park Plaza Riverbank in London offers a new afternoon tea menu with a sushi inspired twist. Finger sandwiches have been ditched for sushi rolls with the same filings – cucumber, egg, salmon, mayo plus ginger and chilli cheesecake, certainly makes this an original type of tea for sure. Grays Court Tea Rooms are York’s newest tearooms in a building which dates back to 1080 and contains a number of public rooms, including a 90ft oak-panelled gallery. From traditional English to authentic Italian, the newly opened La Bottega delle langhe Italian cafe hand picks fresh Italian cheese, meats and bakery products delivered straight from Italy to their doorstop in York. Google Street View has just recently added castles, country houses and outstanding landscapes. 20 National Trust properties have been added. The images were taken late last summer using the Google Trike – a three wheeled bike with a Street View camera mounted on it, perfectly suited to collecting images in places not easily accessible by car.
The London Silver Vaults are now the world’s largest one-stop shop for fine antique and modern silver, jewellery, vintage watches and clocks. The Vaults’ 30 shops are open Monday–Friday 9am–5.30pm, Saturday9am–1pm.The Boxing Clever exhibition runs 1 June–30 September. London Silver Vaults, 53–64 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1QS Tel: +44 20 7242 3844 Website: www.thesilvervaults.com
A new adaptation of E. Nesbit’s novel The Railway Children will be performed this summer at a unique venue – the former Eurostar terminal at London’s Waterloo Station. The auditorium will be created especially for this production, with the audience seated either side of the railway track. The action will take place both on the track and on the platforms. The production, which uses the old Gentleman’s saloon carriage from the original classic film, will also feature a period steam train from the National Railway Museum in York.
Tickets will cost from £20.50 to £45.50, and £1 per ticket will be donated to the Railway Children Charity which aims to help homeless and runaway children throughout the world. The Railway Children will run from 4 July to 4 September at the Waterloo Station Theatre (the entrance is near the corner of York Road and Mepham Street). Waterloo Station, London SE1 8SW Tel: +44 871 297 0740 (box office) Website: www.railwaychildrenwaterloo.com
The UK’s largest gardening show takes place in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace. This year, the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show will be celebrating its 21st anniversary with a festival of Home Grown Britishness. The show, which is organised by the Royal Horticultural Society, will also feature five gardens that address issues such as biodiversity, composting, saving energy, reducing our carbon footprint and using raw and recycled materials. Hampton Court is beside the River Thames to the south-west of London. There are direct train services from London Waterloo. The journey takes 35 minutes.This year’s Hampton Court Palace Flower Show runs from 6 to 11 July. Tickets cost from £14 to £32. Hampton Court Palace, East Molsey, Surrey KT8 9AT Tel: +44 844 209 1810 (tickets) +44 20 7649 1885 (public information) Website: www.rhs.org.uk/hamptoncourt
Mull is the third largest island in Scotland. It has a rich cultural heritage, land and seascapes and wildlife. It is one of the best places to see rare sea eagles, and is a good base for boat trips to the surrounding islands, including Staffa, where Fingal’s Cave formed from giant basalt columns inspired Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture. Mull celebrates the composer with an annual Mendelssohn Festival (27 June–3 July, www.mullfest.org.uk), now in its 21st year. The Mull Highland Games take place in Tobermory on 23 July.
The Great Yorkshire Show, held in Harrogate in the north of England, is a major agricultural show and a celebration of farming and the countryside. Every year the show attracts more than 12,000 entries across the competitive classes which include cattle and pigs, showjumping and sheep-shearing, wood-carving and beekeeping. More than 5,000 of Britain’s best cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry compete for the championship awards, while the Cock O’ The North Showjumping Championship attracts international riders. Attractions this year also include demonstrations of country skills and crafts, fashion shows, the Bolddog Lings motorcycle display team, and a new look Garden Show. The Great Yorkshire Show is on 13–15 July, admission £18 in advance, £21 at the gate, children £8 (£10), family tickets £47 (£55). Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate, Yorkshire Tel: +44 1423 541222 (tickets) Website: www.greatyorkshireshow.co.uk
Vintage at Goodwood is a new summer festival that will combine music, fashion, art and design in a celebration of British cool from the 1940s, ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. Vintage at Goodwood will feature bands, DJs, collectors, vintage clothing from each decade, as well as contemporary bands and brands inspired by Britain’s rich creative heritage. Goodwood Estate is in the South Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Admission charges to Vintage at Goodwood are £55 a day, £135 for the weekend and £150 for weekend camping and general admission. Vintage at Goodwood, 13–15 August Goodwood House, Goodwood, Chichester, West Sussex PO18 0PX Tel: +44 1243 755 055 (tickets) Website: www.vintageatgoodwood.com
The Savoy hotel in London is scheduled to reopen this summer after a £100-million restoration. This is the most expensive hotel refurbishment in London’s history. Designer Pierre Yves Rochon has been responsible for an extensive restoration programme. The Savoy will have a new two-bedroom Royal Suite. The River Restaurant and the 58 River Suites with views over the River Thames are being completely remodelled. The Savoy Grill will reopen and be run by Gordon Ramsay Holdings. There will be a new Beaufort Bar for champagne and cocktails, and a Savoy Tea Shop. A winter garden gazebo beneath an ornate glass dome at the Thames Foyer will serve afternoon tea. There will be a glass enclosed fitness gallery and a rooftop swimming pool, which will be one of only two in the city. The Savoy opened in August 1889 and closed for renovation in December 2007. César Ritz, who later founded the Ritz Hotel, was one of the Savoy’s first managers. Auguste Escoffier was one of the Savoy’s first chefs. Room rates at the Savoy will start from around £350 per room per night and reservations will be taken three months before the hotel reopens. The Savoy, Strand, London WC2R 0EU Tel: +44 20 7836 4343 Website: www.the-savoy.com
Colleges at Cambridge University are now offering visitors accommodation on a bed and breakfast basis during the holidays when students are not in residence. Visitors can choose from a range of room styles. There are no single room supplements to pay and the colleges are in central locations. Visitors can book online for rooms in 19 colleges, some of them dating from the 15th century or earlier. They include Corpus Christi, St Catharine’s, Christ’s, Jesus, Downing, Sidney Sussex and Trinity Hall. Cambridge, 80km (50 miles) north of London, has been a seat of learning for over 700 years. Conference Cambridge, 12c King’s Parade, Cambridge CB2 1SJ Tel: +44 1223 768740 Website: www.stayinacambridgecollege.com Facebook: ConferenceCambridge
Tate Modern is to hold London’s first major exhibition devoted to the work of Paul Gauguin in over half a century. Tate Modern is open daily 10am–6pm (to 10pm Fri and Sat), admission free. Gauguin: Maker of Myth runs from 30 September 2010 to16 January 2011, admission £13.50. Tate Modern, 53 Bankside, London SE1 9TG Tel: +44 20 7887 8752 Website: www.tate.org.uk London sightseeing Sixties-style Small Car Big City is a new company offering guided sightseeing tours of London in classic Mini Coopers. The cars are driven by chauffeurs dressed in period ’60s clothing and the cars’ sound systems play ’60s music. There are six tours on offer. They last from 30 minutes to two hours and cover the major tourist attractions including Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral. Prices start at £18 per person. The Mini Monopoly tour costs £178 per car, takes two hours and covers the sights featured on the Monopoly board game from the Angel in Islington, to Mayfair and Whitehall. For the Italian Job tour, Three Mini Coopers race from London’s financial district, over the Thames, through the West End and down the King’s Road. Guides will wear all-in-one blue jump-suits and white protective helmets. Website: www.smallcarbigcity.com Want to hire a castle? Forter Castle, a 16th-century fortified tower in Perthshire, Scotland, is available for hire for holidays and weekends. The tower was originally built in 1560 during the lifetime of Mary Queen of Scots. It was destroyed by the Duke of Argyll in 1640 and has been completely restored using traditional materials. There is now room for 12 guests in rooms spread over five floors, reached by a stone spiral staircase. There are four-poster beds, free-standing cast-iron bathtubs and a grand banqueting hall. Each room has been personalised with antiques, paintings and objets d’art from around the world and traditional techniques have been used where possible. The castle has its own chapel where couples can get married. The castle costs £3,950 to hire for one week (Friday to Friday) and £2,950 for the weekend (Friday to Monday). Forter Castle, Glenisla, Nr Blairgowrie Perthshire, Scotland PH11 8QW Website: www.fortercastle.com Get eco friendly in Wales Glan Morfa cottages are new environmentally-friendly holiday homes in Llangaffo on the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales. The cottages are heated solely by solar and wind power and use a reed bed system to dispose of waste water. They have been built on land that is an official Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The 15 hectares (37 acres) provide a habitat for wildlife that includes ponies, rabbits, hares, many species of birds, butterflies and wildflowers. There are two stocked fishing lakes, a bird hide and signposted walks. One of the first guests to stay at the cottages recorded 43 different species of birds during their holiday. The seven cottages are named after local birds. Kestrel and Raven cottages both accommodate six people. Kestrel has two sitting rooms, a wood-burning stove and a terrace. Goldfinch Cottage sleeps four, Swallow Cottage and Robin Cottage sleep three and Wren Cottage sleeps two. Swan Cottage, which sleeps six, is suitable for wheelchair users. The cottages offer views across the Malltraeth Estuary and down to the Lleyn Peninsula. Prices start from around £300 per week. Glan Morfa Cottages, Llangaffo, Anglesey Website: www.menaiholidays.co.uk DID YOU KNOW? SCOTLAND OPENS ITS DOORS September is Scotland’s month for Doors Open Days, when visitors are offered free access to buildings across Scotland that are not normally open to the public. |
No other houses
within miles, no electricity, it’s all about the Scottish countryside, changing
weather, magnificent views, peace and quiet and the opportunity to get a serious
reality check. This has got to be some of the most unique self catering
accommodation to be found in Scotland.
