British Isles
Abseiling on the Isle of Wight, horse riding on Exmoor and strolling on the
pier are among this week’s peak season ideas. If you have two children to
amuse, PGL Travel has a special rate of £449 for both of them for a week at
some of its adventure centres, including the Isle of Wight, Brecon
Beacons and Perthshire. The price includes a week’s full board
and activities ranging from abseiling, canoeing, climbing and zip-wiring to
quad biking. 0870 0507507
Equine Adventures offers the chance to canter across Exmoor on a week’s
holiday at a farm with views to the North Devon coast. Arrive on a Sunday to
meet the 25 horses and enjoy dinner before being matched with your mount the
next morning. The week costs £530 with full board and laundry (£295 for
nonriders who can enjoy exploring the moor and nearby beaches). 0845 1306981
A Devon cream tea awaits you at Yapham Cottages on the Hartland Peninsula in North
Devon, followed if you wish by a walk through the fields to the coast
path and picturesque village of Clovelly. A beamed and heated cottage for a
couple costs £399 for a week from August 10 and £310 from August 31. In
addition to the tea, home-cooked meals can be ordered. 01237 441916
Drakes, the boutique, beachfront hotel in Brighton that has sea-facing
rooms with views of the pier, includes cooked breakfasts in its prices and
greets short-break guests with a cocktail. Two-night breaks from Sundays to
Thursdays cost from £195. 01273 696934
Golfers inspired by the thrilling finish to the Open Championship – or those
who enjoy a peaceful setting – can stay in a flat on a country estate home
to Archerfield golf course, East Lothian, and adjacent to Muirfield.
It sleeps two and costs £450 for a week from August 11, 18 and 25 with
Ecosse Unique. 01835 822277
Opening on Monday is the latest Malmaison Hotel, in the building in Reading
originally designed by Brunel as the Great Western Railway hotel – now with
food to shame any BR buffet. Opening rates for rooms for two are £99 a
night. 0845 3654247
Short haul
A choice of peak-season deals is on offer to resorts on the north coast of Crete,
with flights from Gatwick. Leave on August 3 and a fortnight’s self-catering
near Hersonissos, at the Kosma Sun Apartments with a pool, costs £289 with
Olympic Holidays; depart on August 17 and Thomas Cook has a week at the
Danelis Apartments, Malia, from £349. 0870 4294242/ 0845 0702530
A flat in an imposing farmhouse with a large pool near Cortona in the
southeast of Tuscany is available with holidaylettings.co.uk from
August 17 to September 13. It sleeps up to four and costs £330 a week.
Travel extra. 01865 201444
A family-run pension with a pool and rooftop restaurant, ten minutes’ walk
from the still charming fishing village/resort of Kalkan on the Turquoise
coast of Turkey, is available with Jewel in the Crown. A week’s B&B
from August 6 costs from £319 with flights from Gatwick or Manchester. 0870
0672352
Self-catering breaks in four-star flats in Corralejo on Fuerteventura
are among deals available with Portland Holidays. Fly from Birmingham on
August 14, stay in the Oasis Papagayo Apartments for a week and pay from
£320. 0870 5002200
Head off in search of the sun on a sevennight holiday at Salina Bay, Malta,
staying in the four-star Soreda Hotel. Prices through lastminute.com start
at £499 and include half board and flights from Gatwick, departing on August
14. 0870 4439902
Long haul
A four-star holiday in The Gambia from £499 for a week or £599 for a
fortnight is on offer with The Gambia Experience. Fly from Gatwick on August
7 for B&B at the Sunbeach Hotel with a large pool beside the ocean. 0845
3302087
The Mermaid Hotel, a popular three-star on the beach at Kalutara, Sri Lanka,
with a pool and club with many facilities, is on offer with Hayes &
Jarvis. An all-inclusive deal for nine nights from August 27 costs £659,
flying from Heathrow. 0870 8503565
The annual snake-boat race, with decorated vessels representing 30 villages,
is the highlight of a week’s tour of Kerala with Pettitts. It
starts with a flight from Heathrow on August 26, takes in Tiruvalla and
Kochi and costs £1,090, staying in family homes and hotels, including some
meals. 01892 515966
All prices per person and based on two sharing unless stated otherwise.
A top night at The Savoy
Enjoy a cut-price break in London in five-star style or take advantage
of one of the best budget deals in town.
The Savoy Hotel is offering a taste of luxury at the special rate of £99 a
night, including continental breakfast, until September 3, a saving of £79.
At the other end of the scale, Imperial College is charging just £37 a night
for en suite rooms in its halls of residence next to the Royal Albert Hall
and just a short stroll from Kensington Gardens. The cost includes full
English breakfast. The newly decorated single rooms have a two-star rating.
Rooms with shared facilities cost only £27 a night and still include
breakfast. Snacks and light meals are also available on the college’s
campus.
These are just two of the deals on offer in the capital over the summer.
During August the award-winning four-star City Inn Westminster, close to the
River Thames and behind Tate Britain, has a weekend rate of £54.50 a night
including full breakfast.
Stay at the three-star Thistle Victoria Hotel, within walking distance of
Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament and other famous landmarks, for
£39.50 a night room only. The offer is valid any night of the week
throughout next month.
Families are catered for with a special deal at the four-star London Marriott
Hotel Maida Vale. The price of £236 is based on two adults and two children
sharing a room for two nights any day of the week next month. Breakfast is
included for the adults only.
Superbreaks: 01904 644455; Imperial College: www.wotif.com/hotel1588
Provence: the corner of France for ever close to British hearts
Recommending Provence in a travel feature might seem a cliché, thanks
in part to the works of Peter Mayle and countless TV documentary makers, writes
Tony Dawe, but thousands of British holiday-makers will be heading to the
region in the south of France this summer.
They will be drawn by the calm of the countryside, with fields of purple
lavender and golden sunflowers sweeping to the horizon, by the atmosphere of
ancient towns and villages, by the beauty of the lakes and mountains.
Hundreds more will dream of joining them – and here is their chance with a
selection of August holidays, ranging from five-star hotels to camp sites
and accessible by road, rail and air.
Midway between Avignon airport and the ramparts of the city, with its famous
pont and Pope’s Palace, is Les Frênes, an extended château and part of the
Stein Hotels group, where three, five and sevennight packages start from
£100 (€150) a night. The three-night deal includes B&B, one
dinner, a full day’s wine tasting and local tour. More meals and tours are
included in the longer packages. Flybe has flights from Southampton to
Avignon from Fridays to Mondays, and from Exeter three days a week.
Aix en Provence rivals Avignon as the most fascinating city in the region,
with its fountains, thermal baths and Cézanne’s house – and Railbookers has
packages there in August. Three nights’ B&B at the bright and
spacious Aquabella Hotel, with a pool in the old town, costs from £269, with
Eurostar travel from London and onward trains from Lille or Paris.
Vacansoleil has camping holidays available in dramatic countryside south of
the Lac de Sainte Croix and Verdon Gorges. Les Prés du Verdon site has an
outdoor pool, playground and snackbar. Ten nights from August 9 for a family
of up to six in a fully equipped tent costs £618 including a Dover-Calais
ferry crossing with car. A week from August 24 will be £320.
Between the lake and Aix, VFB Holidays has a restored stone farm building for
four with a garden and pool for £1,222 for a week from August 4. A flat for
two and villa for six in the region are also available for the same week.
Among properties available for the last two weeks of August with Vintage
Travel is Maison de Guerin, near Ste Colombe, with three bedrooms, a pool,
terraces and views of Mont Ventoux. It costs £1,495 for a week.
lesfrenes.com – 00 334 90311793; railbookers.com
– 0844 4821010; www.vacansoleil.co.uk
– 0870 0778779; www.vfbholidays.co.uk
– 01452 716840; vintagetravel.co.uk
– 0845 3440420
