British Isles

Cosy hotels, flats and cottages in spectacular surroundings are waiting for visitors eager for a warming new year break. The four-star Groes Inn, with log fires and hearty food in the foothills of Snowdonia, near Conwy, North Wales, has two-night breaks for the next couple of months from £130, with dinner, B&B - and a third night from £32.50.

A four-night break for the next two months at Beachcombers Apartments near Watergate Bay, North Cornwall, costs from £129, based on four sharing the two-bedroom flats. The deal with breaksincornwall.com also includes dinners at nearby restaurants: three courses at Beaucliffes on one night and six at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen on another.

Room rates, already at half-price at Linthwaite House, the boutique hotel overlooking Windermere, get lower the longer you stay between January 1 and February 11. This reduces the cost of a three-night stay to £127.50 a person and a week to £277.50. Guests are required to book at least one dinner in the hotel. 015394 88600

Among properties at reduced rates in South Devon with Toad Hall Cottages next month are a cottage for up to three in a hidden valley near Salcombe and a lodge for five with sea views near Dartmouth. Prices are £156 and £195 for three nights; £224 and £275 for a week. 01548 853089

A detached cottage for a couple - and up to two dogs - in moorland above Stanbury, near Haworth, West Yorkshire, is on offer for a week from January 3, 10 and 17 with Yorkshire Cottages. It costs £192 a week and is on a path leading to Top Withens, reputedly the setting for Wuthering Heights. 01228 406701

Stay for three nights for £99, with a fourth night free, in 12th-century cottages at the Celtic Haven Resort near Tenby in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Facilities include a leisure club with indoor pool, spa, nine-hole golf course and all-weather tennis courts. 01834 870000

Short haul

Forget freezing Britain and think of sunshine in the Canary Islands with these offers in three-star hotels with On the Beach: a week's B&B from January 20 at Tropical Hotel, Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, from £224 and a week's room-only stay from January 26 at the Blue Star Hotel, Puerto Rico, Grand Canary, from £214 - both with flights from Gatwick.

A novice or an experienced diver? Regaldive has offers for both in January. A week's B&B at the Rosetta Hotel, Sharm el-Sheikh, and a learn- to-dive course costs £599; half-board for a week and three days' diving at Lahami Bay in Hamata, the most southerly resort in Egypt, is from £781. Both prices include return flights from Gatwick. 01353 659999

Savings of 25 per cent are on offer for stays at the Quinta da Encosta Velha golf and leisure resort in the western Algarve from January 5 until mid-March. A week in a two-bedroom townhouse now costs from £160 a person based on four sharing. Flights are extra. 0800 6226120

ITC Classics also has savings on stays at the five-star Aphrodite Hills Resort, with an 18-hole golf course, tennis academy, spa and beach clubs, near Paphos, Cyprus. A week's B&B in the next two months costs from £680 with BA flights from Gatwick and transfers. 01244 355527

Two-night breaks from tomorrow until mid-March are on offer at Hotel Cléry, a small and elegant château a short drive from Boulogne and the Opal Coast. Half-board for the first night, B&B for the second and a ferry crossing from Dover to Calais costs £155, based on four travelling, and £173 if two travel with Escape to Enjoy. 0870 2642644

For £569, Iglucruise.com has an 11-night cruise from January 31 on MSC Poesia with ports of call including Barcelona, Casablanca, Tenerife, Funchal and Civitavecchia (for Rome). The price includes return flights to Genoa, entertainment, meals, taxes and fees. 020-8544 6447.

Long haul

Sunshine is guaranteeed on the coast of Kenya, where Monarch Holidays offers a week's break from £499. Fly from Gatwick on January 12 for B&B in the Reef Hotel on Nyali Beach. 0871 4238642

A week in the Caribbean is only £50 more with Hayes & Jarvis. This holiday starts with a Virgin Atlantic flight from Gatwick on January 27 and is based at Harmony Suites, with a pool, dive centre and waterside restaurant on Rodney Bay, St Lucia. 0871 6640246

All prices on this page are per person and based on two sharing a room unless stated otherwise.

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