Now, though, leaving Britain is so easy, so cheap and so routine, there’s got to be a damn good reason to stay. Reasons like these — the latest and finest examples of how the smarter sections of the British hospitality trade have spectacularly raised their game to meet our new world-class expectations. Britain’s best in 2005 aren’t just convenient places to spend a few days out of the office, but experiences and destinations that will leave your friends wondering why they were struggling through the airport on Friday night, while you were already unpacking your bags.

From chic country houses to Michelin-starred pubs, there have never been so many new and exciting spots to put on your weekend wish-list. After Cool Britannia, another phenomenon has popped up on the radar — Must-See UK. So grab the diary, scratch out those Euro-breaks, and See Britain First.

NEW WATER GARDEN

The Alnwick Garden (01665 511 350, www.alnwickgarden.com; opening times vary between 10am and 6pm, adults £6, children free), in Northumberland, is surely set to be the UK’s favourite destination garden. Apart from opening Europe’s largest tree house this year, it has also unveiled a series of amazing water sculptures built into the curves and swirls of yew hedges in its Serpent Garden. The eight works by the world-renowned William Pye (whose aquatic art has been commissioned by everyone from Prince Charles to Cardiff station) include what appears to be a ball of water in a reflective pool and glass walkways where water explodes onto the underside of the path as visitors pass by.

The owner, the Duchess of Northumberland, has also courted controversy with her new Poison Garden, featuring cannabis, opium poppies and magic mushrooms, as well as . . . wild lettuce. Okay, that may sound rather tame, but it can grow to 6ft and has a narcotic sap. Why not stay at Seaham Hall (0191 516 1400, www.seaham-hall.com; doubles from £195, B&B), about a 40-minute drive south? It has its very own William Pye vortex water sculpture, in the driveway.

This summer will also be your first chance to see the revitalised gardens of Trentham (01782 657341, www.trenthamleisure.co.uk/Italian garden.html; opening times 10am- 5pm, adults from £4, children from £2.50), near Stoke-on-Trent. Originally designed by that landscaping legend Capability Brown and Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parliament, the 750 acres have been given a £100m makeover and a 21st-century twist, and the gardeners now claim it to be the UK’s most beautiful Italianate garden.

NEW COUNTRY PAD

Hotel Endsleigh (01822 870248; doubles from £200, B&B), a rambling, Grade I-listed, 19th-century mansion outside Tavistock, will be the British hotel launch of the year when it opens in August. Why? Because it is the Devonian country cousin of Cornwall’s Hotel Tresanton. Tresanton is the UK’s trendiest bolt hole, universally regarded as having redefined the English country-house weekend, destroying its dinner-jacketed, deaf-colonel image in favour of something much more contemporary and child-friendly. But while Tresanton is sleekly seasidey, Endsleigh, the former country seat of the sixth Duke of Bedford, is a much grander affair. Owner Olga Polizzi promises interiors that will weave Regency pastiche and modern design into the house’s quirky features, which include a veranda made from sheep’s knuckles (yes, sheep’s knuckles).

And it’s not just the house that’s grand: its 108 acres of sprawling gardens, in the Tamar valley just beneath Dartmoor, are also Grade I- listed, with glorious grass terraces, romantic shell houses and an internationally renowned arboretum. Pack your Hunter wellies along with your Jimmy Choos.

NEW WILLY WONKA

Johnny Depp will inject Willy Wonka with his own brand of cheekboned charm this summer when he stars in Tim Burton’s cinematic version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The movie will arrive on our screens on July 15. By happy coincidence, this year will also see the opening of The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre (01494 892192, www.roalddahlmuseum.org; times and prices yet to be confirmed), in the author’s home town of Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. On June 11, the museum’s doors, shaped and scented like huge chunks of chocolate, will swing back for the first time, promising interactive games for the youngsters and one of the most complete literary archives in the world for the adults.

NEW LONDON

For a full five months, Soho Hotel (020 7559 3000, www.firmdale.co. uk; from £267), the first five-star property in the seedy centre of town, was the “place in which to preen”.

Then, in February, the glamorous Courthouse Hotel (020 7297 5555, www.kempinski.com; from £225) opened, just up the road in the former Great Marlborough Street Magistrates’ Court, and stole its crown. Sip a cocktail in the holding cells where Mick Jagger and John Lennon were confined. It has to be said, these are more claustrophobic than cosy if your party exceeds four, but the main bar is suitably
spacious, while the old courtroom No 1 is now an upmarket restaurant where you dine between the judge’s bench and the witness stand.

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