Today marks the annual return of one of the best meteor showers to our night skies. The Geminids, named after the constellation of Gemini the twins, from which these ‘shooting stars’ appear to emanate, start to appear from December 7th and continue for ten days with the peak occurring on the night of the 13/14th. The folowing night is likely to be good too. At the peak of their activity, you might see a couple of slow-moving shooting stars every minute, many of them brightly coloured.

Watching from your back garden is all very well but to get the best view, you need to go somewhere dark. Truly dark skies are becoming less and less common but here are a clutch of ideas of where to spend a night wrapped in a blanket watching one of nature’s most spectacular light shows.

Darkest Norfolk

Bed and breakfast at Fieldview, in the dark heart of north Norfolk, is done a little differently than at other B&Bs. For a start, when most holidaymakers are tucked up in bed, Fieldview’s visitors are wide awake and out in its back garden looking through telescopes.

You don’t need a telescope to watch meteor showers and in fact, given that they span a wide arc of the night sky, looking with the naked eye is by far the best. But, the advantage of being here is that you can use the telescopes in between bouts of shooting star watching. Simon Batty and Christine Parker who run Fieldview will be happy to point out some other astronomical delights in between the oohs and aahs of spotting the bright trails of the Gemininds. Fieldview has six telescopes including one with a 14.5 inch mirror – which will let you get great views of distant galaxies and, closer to home, the planets of our solar system.

Rooms from £27 per person per night. 01328 820083, www.fieldview.net

The North York Moors

It doesn’t get much darker at night than on the North York Moors and few places to stay are more remote than Finkle Barn in the amusingly named Great Fryup Dale. Finkle Barn is a 200-year-old converted cow byre and has great views over the valleys of this remote area. It is a good trek to the nearest village so it offers near perfect viewing conditions for meteors – and everything else in the night sky as a matter of fact. Pack a pair of binoculars to make the best of this place.

£381 for a week self catering. English Country Cottages, 08700 781100, www.english-country-cottages.co.uk

Beachy Head

According to the Met Office, the south coast of England is the least cloudy part of the UK, worthwhile to know if you’re planning to watch the skies. This is a combination of its southerly latitude and because clouds tend to form over land rather than at sea.

Eastbourne holds the record for cloudless skies during the daytime (383.9 hours of sunshine in July 1911) so it’s a good bet that the skies will be clearer there than elsewhere come the critical moment. Beachy Head is an obvious location in the area, away from the lights of the town itself – just be careful not to lose your footing while gazing at the skies.

A night in an Eastbourne B&B will set you back from £20 to £40. Book through Visit Eastbourne, 0871 663 0031, www.visiteastbourne.com.

Lundy Island

This island, populated by puffins and very little else, off the north coast of Devon is the ideal place to watch the shower. Its remoteness from the mainland means that the skies are nice and dark. The Landmark Trust operates 23 properties on the island and several of them are still available for breaks beginning on 10 December. By staying, you’ll also be contributing to the fund to restore the island’s main access road, which is in urgent need of repair.

Various prices, Landmark Trust, 01628 825925, www.landmarktrust.org.uk

Jodrell Bank

The visitor centre at the famous radio telescope, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary, is holding a Geminids party on Friday 14th December. You can also use some ogf the centre’s telecopes (optical ones) to look at the planets at the same time. Adults £2.50 and children £1.50 (weather permitting, tel 01477 571339 for details).

Family rooms, sleeping four, are available at the Travelodge Knutsford M6, some six miles away from Jodrell Bank for £50 a night. Travelodge Knutsford M6, 0871 984 6153, www.travelodge.co.uk

Harris

The Western Isles are another dark outpost of the United Kingdom. Am Bothan is an independent hostel sleeping up to 21 in various bunk rooms overlooking the Sound of Harris. The is a remote, rocky wilderness and a pair of binoculars will prove invaluable – not only for looking up at the skies but also for spotting the local wildlife: seals, otters, golden eagles and much more.

Beds from £12-14 per night. Am Bothan, 01859 520251, www.ambothan.com

Mark Frary is co-author of The Origins of the Universe for Dummies, an easy guide to cosmology and the Big Bang. It's is available at a discount through Times Books First.