Hibernation. It’s a thought. It’s chilly out, and sometimes it seems the most
sensible thing would be to draw the curtains, turn the heating right up and
set the alarm for April.
At least, that’s how it might seem until you’ve read our top 40 winter days
out, and realised that rather than snoozing indoors, you could be basking in
warm outdoor pools, strolling among snowdrops, dancing to Irish fiddles,
sipping whisky, throwing snowballs, hunting fossils, being pulled by
huskies, angling for the moon or eating seven puddings at a sitting.
Here’s our wildly subjective agenda for your best winter ever. There’s enough
to keep you going from Boxing Day to the first sign of spring. Now get out
there and enjoy yourselves.
1 BEST THRILL RIDE
Sliding down a hill on your mum’s tea tray is all very well, but for proper
winter adrenaline, you need the Cairngorm Sleddog Centre, near Aviemore
(07767 270526, www.sled-dogs.co.uk ).
Here you’ll join sled-racing champ Alan Stewart and his team of powerhouse
pooches for a 25mph hurtle through hairy-chested Highland scenery. A ride
costs £50, or £35 for children aged 6 and over; a yard tour is £8/£4. If
Scotland is a bit of a trek for you, husky-sledding is also available at
Eagle Heights in Kent (01322 866577, www.thehuskyexperience.co.uk
).
2 BEST HOT SPRINGS
When the Thermae Spa opened last summer in Bath, it was the first time in 30
years that bathers could enjoy the sacred, sulphurous spring waters that
bubble up beneath the city at 45C. The main complex feels a bit sterile,
however – a multistorey swimming pool with spa trimmings. So, for a properly
seductive wallow, grab a friend (or 10) and book the Cross Bath, housed in a
gorgeous Georgian hall nearby. Its oval pool accommodates up to 12 bathers:
a 90-minute session costs £12pp, with private hire available from £132. Call
0844 888 0844 or visit www.thermaebathspa.com
.
3 BEST SWAN SONG
Nothing evokes winter like wild swans touching down after their epic migration
from the Siberian tundra, 4,000 miles away. Britain’s most spectacular swan
lake is at Welney wildfowl reserve, in Cambridgeshire (www.wwt.org.uk/welney
), where 1,500 whoopers and Bewick’s swans swoop out of the sunset every
evening to roost, scrapping for space with overwintering waders, geese and
ducks. Discover their stories at a floodlit feed outside the main hide, with
wardens on hand to commentate. Feeds take place four nights a week until
February 24; £5.85, children £3.
4 BEST MIDWINTER MADNESS
The bonkers behaviour of eccentric Englanders doesn’t let up just because it’s
nippy. This winter’s mad bag of weird country customs includes human
scarecrow impersonation at the Straw Bear Festival, in Whittlesey (January
11-13, www.strawbear.org.uk ), and
angling for the moon at the Slaithwaite Moonraking Festival, near
Huddersfield (February 9-16, www.slaithwaitemoonraking.org
). Our favourite event, though, is the Haxey Hood game (January 5, www.wheewall.com/hood
) in North Lincolnshire. Refereed by a whip-wielding “fool” and 11
belligerent “boggins”, it involves a mass mudwrestle through the fields, as
villagers bid to scramble a sackcloth hood to their preferred hostelry.
You’d better take your crash helmet.
5 BEST FIRESIDE FEAST
Sautéed wild mushrooms on toast, Ingram Valley lamb with rosemary jus and
sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce. Mmmmm. For a tummy-toasting
winter feed in snug surroundings, book for dinner in the treetops at Alnwick
Garden, Northumberland. Alnwick is the Duchess of Northumberland’s place,
and its Treehouse restaurant (01665 511852) has hobbit-style turrets linked
by aerial catwalks, twisty lime branches corkscrewing through the walls, and
what might be Britain’s riskiest open fire. Dinner is served Thursday to
Saturday only; from £30 for three courses.
6 BEST SPARKY SCIENCE
Among the battery of interactive science centres nationwide, Magna (01709
720002, www.visitmagna.co.uk )
makes the biggest bang. Housed in the cavernous shell of the Templeborough
steelworks, in Rotherham, it’s full of stuff to spark young imaginations:
flight simulators, farting machines, flaming tornados. But the real star is
the foundry itself, a Blade Runner universe lit with sci-fi neon. Next month
sees the launch of Torch Quest, a torchlit treasure hunt through the shadowy
works; and don’t miss the Big Melt show, when a firework inferno recreates
the world’s fastest arc furnace. Admission costs £9, children £7.
7 BEST CHILLY DIP
You’ve got to be mad to go swimming outdoors at this time of year. Clearly, a
lot of people are. For fun, top event is the Loony Dook (www.theloonydook.co.uk
), held on New Year’s Day at Queensferry, in Edinburgh, which this year saw
500 fancy-dressed loons launch themselves into the freezing Forth for
charity – one way to clear a hangover. If you find you actually like it, get
along to the 2008 World Winter Swimming Championships, to be held at Tooting
Bec Lido, in London, February 8-10. There’ll be serious competitors from
Russia and Canada, but beginners are welcome: to register, visit www.slsc.org.uk
. The water temperature is expected to be 3C, though they’ll break the ice
for you if it freezes. Good luck.
8 BEST URBAN JUNGLE
A wander through the 11 Victorian glasshouses at the Botanic Gardens in
Glasgow offers instant winter escapism – it’s a headlong plunge into
steaming, teeming Amazonia. Start among the eye-catching orchids of the
forest canopy, then move into the immense palm house for an insect’s-eye
view of sunlight filtering down through a tangle of lianas and bananas.
There is also the tropical pond house, with dripping moisture and water
lilies as big as your head. Admission is free; 0141 334 3354, www.glasgow.gov.uk
.
9 BEST FOSSIL HUNT
How about this for a day out with the kids – dinosaur-hunting in Jurassic
Britain? That’s what’s in store on a family fossil safari from the Charmouth
Heritage Coast Centre, in Dorset (01297 560772, www.charmouth.org
). This is the prime time for fossils – every winter, storms smash in and
dislodge treasures that were locked into the cliffs 185m years ago. You
might even find the fang of a pliosaur, a vicious 30ft reptile nicknamed the
tyrannosaurus rex of the sea. Warden-led fossil-hunting sessions are planned
throughout the season: £7, children £3.
10 BEST SNOW HOLE
Explore your inner Ranulph on a weekend holed up in snowiest Snowdonia with
High Trek (01286 871232, www.hightrek.co.uk
). Ian Whitehead, an escaped accountant, has 20 years’ experience of
mountain guiding, and his winter-skills courses at Deiniolen explain how to
use ice axes and crampons to avoid plummeting off a frozen hilltop. You’ll
conquer some of Britain’s most spectacular summits, and maybe even dig your
own snow-hole shelter. The three-night breaks, on assorted dates, cost £325,
including bunk bed, meals, kit and instruction.
11 BEST INGLENOOK
The perfect winter pub needs three things: frothing ales, flickering
candlelight and flaming logs in the hearth. Oh, and preferably a fat slab of
wilderness outside the door, so you can stumble in, apple-cheeked, on a
frosty afternoon. The Olde Gate, at Brassington, Derbyshire (01629 540448),
is just the job. Selected as a winter favourite by Good Beer Guide guru
Roger Protz in Sunday Times Travel last week, it also has suet pudding and
beams plundered from Armada galleons. Wide green Peak District pastures are
yours for the hiking.
12 BEST SNOWBALL FIGHT
Snow is an almost mythical commodity in Kent these days, but fear not,
snowball-flingers. There are 100 tons of guaranteed white stuff waiting at
the Snow Park in Strood (0870 034 4437, www.thesnowpark.co.uk
). Smart-thinking bosses at the dump-truck attraction Diggerland have
blasted a hillside with real snow, and offer an 80-metre ski slope, a
toboggan run, tubing and free-range snowman-building. It’s open weekends
until mid-March, and daily during school holidays; admission costs £10pp,
with an extra charge for kit hire and ski and snowboard lessons.
13 BEST PANCAKE RACE
Speedy egg conveyance – either in spoons or frying pans – seems to be a
uniquely British pursuit, but where did the Shrove Tuesday pancake race
originate? According to tradition, the market town of Olney,
Buckinghamshire, in 1445, when an absent-minded housewife dashed to church
for the Shrovetide service, still with pan in hand. Olney’s tossers continue
to race to this day: 415 yards, pinny and headscarf mandatory, and a kiss
from the verger for the winner. This year’s run is on February 5 (www.sideburn.demon.co.uk
).
14 BEST FROZEN WATERFALL
It takes a proper cold snap to produce it, but Ashgill Force in Cumbria is
worth the wait. Deep in the North Pennines, near Alston, England’s highest
market town, the falls freeze into a 70ft column of glitter on a chill
winter morning – possibly the most spectacular icicle you’ll ever see.
Crunch there across snowy pastures from Garrigill, or just park up on the
B6277 at Ashgillside – you can walk right behind the frozen cascade.
15 BEST SLEDGING SLOPE
This one’s sublimely simple. Grab yourself a sledge (or a fertiliser bag, or a
bit of ex-fencing), find the nearest incline, and chuck your legs in the
air. For extra atmosphere, choose a hill with a romantic folly on top – such
as Broadway Tower, in the Cotswolds, or Old John, in Bradgate Park,
Leicestershire. In London, Parliament Hill has been a popular piste for
generations. And hard-core hurtlers could try Urra Moor, in Bilsdale, North
Yorkshire: it offers three graded runs, from beginner to bonkers.
16 BEST OLDE ENGLAND
Town of Elgar, Tolkien and Narnian lampposts... is there any more nostalgic
nook in England than Great Malvern? Full of crooked little curio shops and
steamy wee tearooms, and bathed in sepia-tinted light by its authentic
Victorian gas lanterns, the town looks beguiling on a misty winter’s eve.
The Malvern Hills, original land of hope and glory, are within yomping
distance – afterwards, repair to the Nags Head, on Bank Street (01684
574373), for coal fires and conversation.
17 BEST SNOWDROP WOOD
Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire, Mount Grace Priory, Yorkshire, Anglesey Abbey,
Cambridgeshire... it’s no coincidence that Britain’s best snowdrop shows
happen at spiritual sites. The flower was once sprinkled through churches
every Candlemas to honour the purification of Mary. So where better to
wander among carpets of the pearly blooms than romantic Walsingham, in
Norfolk, “England’s Nazareth”, site of a medieval shrine to the Virgin? The
abbey’s mazy riverside woodlands open for snowdrop walkers throughout
February; to check dates, call 01328 824432.
18 BEST OUTDOOR ART
The 100 cast-iron paddlers in Antony Gormley’s Another Place, gazing stiffly
out to sea on Crosby Beach, on Merseyside, were saved from eviction earlier
this year – and if you’ve not yet been to commune with them, you should. The
sculptures, scattered along a couple of miles of the foreshore, and
inexorably appearing and disappearing with the tide, look even more
unearthly in the ethereal sea fog of a winter dawn – or at dusk, with Bootle
docks blazing satanically in the background (www.merseywaterfront.com
).
19 BEST COMFORT FOOD
You want spotted dick. You want jam roly-poly. You want syrup sponge. At this
time of year, you want puddings – so the place to come is the Pudding Club,
22-year-old champion of the great British pud. Meetings, open to nonmembers,
are held most Fridays at the Three Ways House hotel, in the Cotswolds
village of Mickleton (01386 438429). After an aperitif with the Pudding
Master, you get a light main course, then seven traditional afters, all for
a trifling £28. You’ll need the weekend to sleep it off.
20 BEST AIR SHOW
The revival of the red kite is our most exciting conservation success story,
and winter is the prime time to see these red-bellied raptors in action.
Fully 6ft across, and dizzying in their agility, the birds begin their
courtship rituals in February. They fly head-to-head at breakneck speed,
twisting apart at the final moment; or lock their talons and windmill down
towards the tree line. The Chiltern Hills are a big stronghold, and there
are guided kite-spotting walks most weeks this winter (free; www.chilternsaonb.org
). For a guaranteed sighting, head for the daily feeds at Gigrin Farm, near
Rhayader, in mid-Wales (£4, children £1.50; 01597 810243, www.gigrin.co.uk
).
21 BEST BEDSIDE FIRE
Here’s a recipe for winter romance: a cosy room in a snug old inn, with you
and your loved one lounging on a four-poster bed in the glow of a real fire.
The lovely Inn at Whitewell (01200 448222), in the Forest of Bowland,
Lancashire, keeps Irish peat fires burning merrily in the grates of seven of
its bedrooms; doubles start at £137. Hot stuff.
22 BEST WHISKY TOUR
At Glengoyne distillery in the Campsie Hills, just 15 miles north of Glasgow,
you can have a nose around and a dram for just £4.50, but, for the
enthusiast, nothing can match the full-day, £100 masterclass. They’ll take
you through the process from grain to gulp, with an in-depth tour, a tasting
by the waterfall, lunch, a blending session, a tasting by the casks, a
personalised bottle of your own 10-year-old malt blend... and some more
tastings. Might be an idea to get a cab back to town. Book on 01360 550254.
23 BEST WATER PARK
Forget the frost outside and pretend it’s still splashing-around weather. It’s
a permanent 31C at WaterWorld (www.
waterworld2000.co.uk ), in Hanley, Staffordshire, which claims to be
Britain’s biggest indoor water park, pulling in 400,000 visitors a year. It
certainly has the slides, pools and rides – 30 of ’em, including the 375ft
Nucleus, the UK’s first indoor water rollercoaster – as well as a wave pool,
a toddler’s area, bubble pools and water cannon. Don’t expect
sophistication, but the kids will love it. Admission from £7, children from
£4; closed Monday to Wednesday in term time.
24 BEST SNOWY STROLL
Nothing is more drab than a grey winter. We want the white stuff – and our
best chance of getting it, according to the Met Office, is in the
Cairngorms. The prime candidate there is Tomintoul, high amid the
2,500ft-plus peaks: there’s snow on the ground around here on most days
between January and March. Wrap up warm and head out onto the spectacular
Glenlivet estate – there’s a network of marked trails, with maps available
from the office in Tomintoul or at www.glenlivetestate.co.uk
. Afterwards, warm up with a single malt by the fire in the snug lounge bar
of the Glen Avon Hotel.
25 BEST STARRY SHOW
Clear, dark winter nights mean the year’s finest stargazing – but you can
never be sure when the clouds will roll over, and, good Lord, it’s parky out
there. Better bet, then, to learn your onions first in the warmth of the
South Downs Planetarium, in Chichester (www.southdowns.org.uk
). Its Stars on Frosty Winter Nights shows, in February, will tell you
exactly what to look for that night – including 2,000 stars (Orion is
dominant), the planets and maybe even a comet or two. Admission is £6,
children £4; book on 01243 774400.
26 BEST ROOM FULL OF BOOKS
No better way to while away a lazy winter day than in an agreeably
traditional, faintly fusty library, surrounded by knowledge, warmth and
hush. And no better place to do it than in Manchester’s scandalously
underappreciated Central Library, on St Peter’s Square. The nobly domed
Vincent Harris building, the roll call of famous users (Anthony Burgess,
Vikram Seth, Ewan MacColl, Morrissey), the top-notch arts and music
collections... you could keep your brain busy for a lifetime here, let alone
a day.
27 BEST MUD BATH
There’s nothing quite like it for cooling the blood, they say, but with the
rasul treatment at the Serenity Spa at Seaham Hall, in County Durham, you
can expect the opposite: a copious smearing with warm goo in a steamy room,
guaranteed to get you glowing. And going – it’s designed as a sensuous
experience for couples. From £75 for two; 0191 516 1550.
28 BEST WINTER WARMER
Any beer-drinker worth their hops relishes the stronger, darker ales brewed
specially for the chilly months – so what could be better than having dozens
in one place? Manchester’s National Winter Ales Festival (January 16-19) is
the big one, with 200 brews on offer at New Century Hall, but our favourite
is the more intimate Cambridge Winter Ale Festival (January 24-26), with a
couple of thousand visitors expected to sup the 60 or more beers on tap in
the University Social Club, tucked away off Mill Lane. Other good winter
sessions include Derby (January 3-5) and Exeter (January 11 and 12). Details
for all are at www.camra.org.uk .
29 BEST FROSTY FLUTTER
You don’t have to be a connoisseur of the turf to savour the carnival
atmosphere at Kempton Park’s Boxing Day races: it happens to be a cracking
day out, as well as the jump season’s premier winter meeting. Last year,
25,000 came to Sunbury, in Middlesex, in festive mood to see the six starts,
culminating in the race that Desert Orchid made his own, the King George Vl
steeplechase. Everyone’s welcome – there are trilbies and trainers, families
and hard-core fans. Tickets start at £10; www.kempton.co.uk
.
30 BEST FIRESIDE FIDDLE
Well, fiddles everywhere, really (and flutes, pipes, guitars and accordions):
in cosy pubs, in cafes, in shops and in the street, Temple Bar Trad music
festival, in Dublin, will leave you reeling. Starting on January 23, it’s a
five-day bonanza of Ireland’s finest folk, with established acts, impromptu
sessions in the area’s many bars, and plenty for kids, too – storytellers,
children’s bands and bodhran workshops in the Ark centre, and a treasure
hunt on Sunday. It’s craicing. Prices vary (most kids’ stuff is free); visit www.templebartrad.com
for details.
31 BEST ART
Pick of the season’s exhibitions will be a refugee from an even harder winter.
From Russia, at the Royal Academy, in London, draws on the collections of
the Hermitage, in St Petersburg, and the Pushkin and Tretyakov museums in
Moscow, to bring together the cream of Russian and French painting from 1870
to 1925 – which means Kandinsky and Malevich alongside Renoir, Gauguin and
Matisse. It’ll be monumental. The exhibition runs from January 26 to April
18; tickets £11 on the door or at www.royalacademy.org.uk
.
32 BEST NATURAL WONDER
Introduce your children to the facts of life by letting them witness a real
live birth – during lambing time (February 9-17), that’s what’s on offer at
Willows Farm Village, in Hertfordshire. Cleverly synchronised tupping means
45 ewes should give birth over the nine days, and children are encouraged to
watch and learn, with farmers explaining the process. Most love it: for
squeamish ones, there are 300 more animals to see and pet, as well as indoor
and outdoor play areas, and rides. Admission costs £10.95, children £9.95
(at other times, from £2.95/£4.95); visit www.willowsfarmvillage.com
.
33 BEST HOT TUB
It’s a freezing winter day, edging towards dusk. You’re outside. In a pool. On
a clifftop. Hypothermia? No, heaven: the water’s a gorgeous 34C. This is the
spectacular infinity pool at the St Brides hotel’s marine spa (01834
815075), perched high over the beach at Saundersfoot, Pembrokeshire. Entry
is pricey for nonresidents, at £45 for 90 minutes, Beaming: Wicklow Head is
taking guests (37) but as night falls and the steam rises, it’s
unforgettable, too.
34 BEST LITTLE RAILWAY
Steam in the air, snow on the ground: for sheer atmosphere, a wintry ride on
an old-fashioned railway takes some beating. Of the dozens around the
country, our favourite is the Ffestiniog (www.festrail.co.uk
), which winds up 710ft from Porthmadog to Blaenau through gorgeous
Snowdonia (a return for one adult and child costs £16.95). There are Santa
specials for the kids on December 22 and 23, hosted trains with in-carriage
guides in January, and daily services through February half-term. Heated
carriages, too. If that’s too far, look for your local steamies at www.heritagerailways.com
.
35 BEST UNDERGROUND ADVENTURE
While the freezing wind blows a gale across the dales, down underground the
temperature never drops. Okay, it’s only 9C, but that’ll still feel warm
compared to up top. Now is the perfect time for caving, and the limestone of
the Peak District, honeycombed with holes like a Crunchie bar, is the place.
Peak Activities (01433 650345) runs day and weekend trips for beginners and
families deep into some of the best systems, such as Carlswark and Giant’s
Hole, from £99pp. For something less arduous, go to a show cave: you’ll find
a nationwide list at www. visitcaves.com.
36 BEST NEW MUSEUM
After a two-year, £22m transformation, the reopenedLondon Transport Museum is
unrecognisable – and unmatched. For transport-obsessed boys (let’s be
honest, it’s always boys), attractions include a stock of original vintage
climb-aboard trains and buses, a chance to drive a Tube or boat, and lots of
whizzy computer simulations. For grown-ups, the biggest treats are the
exquisite posters, designed by the likes of Man Ray and Edward McKnight
Kauffer, and the cool Upper Deck cafe, which overlooks the wintry
busker-driven frolics taking place in the Covent Garden piazza. Admission is
£8, children free.
37 BEST WEATHER-WATCHING
If you want to see those wild winter storms blow in, you’d better get yourself
a lighthouse – they were built to withstand whatever the Met Office can
throw at them. There are plenty that let out their keeper’s cottage, but all
too few that let you stay in the tower itself: one of the best is Wicklow
Head lighthouse, a snug 200-year-old octagonal stone tower perched high over
the Irish Sea. You’ll need good legs: the kitchen is 109 steps up. It sleeps
up to six, with weekend breaks starting at £576; to book, go to www.irishlandmark.com
.
38 BEST BRAIN FOOD
Martin Bell, Helen Dunmore, Nicholas Crane, Stuart Maconie and the Sunday
Times writers Michael Portillo and Christina Lamb: in its fourth year, the
Winter Words literary festival, amid the stunning Highland scenery of
Pitlochry, in Perthshire, has started to pull in some interesting names.
There’ll be stimulation at the lectures, degustation at the literary
lunches, and possibly a touch of Highland inebriation, too. January 24-27;
for details, visit www.pitlochry.org.uk
.
39 BEST SPRAY-DRENCHED CAFE
For anyone but extreme-sports maniacs, surfing in winter is a spectator sport,
and there’s no better place to watch than from the warmth of the Beach Hut
at Watergate Bay, in Cornwall (01637 860543). It has chic surf-bum decor,
great bacon butties and heart-attack hot chocolate (with mountains of
cream), but the best thing is the view: a panoramic vista of the vast
Atlantic breakers thundering into the beach and the cliffs, with the
hard-core year-round kitesurfers, landboarders and wave-skiers of the
next-door Extreme Academy providing the entertainment. It makes you feel
cold just watching them.
40 BEST SALES SHOPPING
The architecture’s naffola Tesco rustic, but the brands (90 of them, including
Jimmy Choo, Karen Millen, DKNY, Paul Smith, Church’s Shoes, Agent
Provocateur) are the business, and prices are rock bottom. Bicester Village,
in Oxfordshire (www.
bicestervillage.com ), is a sort of bourgeois Bluewater, a retail
“community” populated entirely by designer outlets that knock out reductions
of 60% and more on high-street prices. From today to the end of January,
it’s sale time, so there are discounts on the discounts. If you think you’re
above this, think again. Ooh, those bargains.
