Gondolas and Mumm in Brum | uk breaks |

1 Forget Venice … drive a gondola for the Midlands

Just one meeting centre, provide to me … the extremely unlikely mix of gondola flights and Birmingham happens to be an actuality: you can simply take an intimate ride across the waterways of Brum, champagne at your fingertips, from Don Salvo (0121 643 4000;
donsalvo.co.uk
), an Italian cafe in Mailbox shopping and leisure complex. The gondolier will steer your own genuine Venetian vessel past landmarks such as Brindleyplace business area together with International Convention Centre. One Hour such as a bottle of fizz prices £100.

Stay at Simpsons (0121 454 3434;
simpsonsrestaurant.co.uk
), a Michelin-starred restaurant with areas, in Edgbaston, simply beyond your area. In addition to Oriental, French and Colonial themed spaces, it has a decadent Venetian area – the original black-and-gold hand-painted sleep was created there – at £160 per night for two.

2 Forget the Maldives … walk on white sands in Wales

Wear dense adequate tones and four levels of woollies and you will not be in a position to tell the difference between Whitesands Bay in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park additionally the white sands regarding the Maldives. It is one of many greatest shores in south-west Wales, with peachy easy, sand supported by going lawn and dunes. Merely use a bikini below your garments, combine a tropical cocktail within Thermos and recreate the heady intoxication for the honeymooners’ hideout.

Wales is means ahead of the Maldives when considering surfing: TYF (01437 721611;
tyf.com
) supplies half just about every day searching for £40pp, such as hire of an ultra-sexy winter months wetsuit.

Fake the magic of diving without threat of the bends with a low-tide paddle within the shallows: you will see the fossilised stays of a primitive forest and also the wreck of a tugboat that moved aground in 1882.

Stay in motif with an Indian mind massage therapy (£15) within huge Georgian residence Lamphey Court Hotel (01646 672273;
lampheycourt.co.uk
) near Pembroke; increases from £105.

3 Forget the Danube … Be lured by the lake shirts

‘feel seduced from the crazy madness of its top hits, succumb on the temptations of its meandering middle section …’ a poem stimulated of the elegant rhythms with the Danube perhaps? Nope, just the marketing spiel from the Teesside traveler panel. To lure people to the ‘hundred miles of puzzle’ from the north-eastern region, much more famous for Heartbeat than heart-throbs, the visitor board offers River Tees Fantasy (0870 077 3000;
riverteesfantasy.com
) week-end bundles on area, including the ‘passionate Break’ which provides two evenings’ half-board, with six-course Rivers of Europe diet plan and champagne at Blackwell Grange Hotel, a 17th-century residence in Darlington, for £110pp.

4 skip florence … get gourmet in Cornwall

Champagne and chocolates are very sickly-sweet and clear: food enthusiasts know sardines, sausages and standard ale are what down-to-earth lovers really should nourish mutual hankerings. There’s no must get across seas for delicious roadtrips of gluttony; you’ll be able to enjoy pleasing neighborhood produce and divine drink tastings within great britain.

Trenython Manor (01726 814797;
trenython.co.uk
) was built for the Italian general Garibaldi features retained an Italian character with lavish Latin design. Its TM restaurant features claimed an AA rosette, Peard’s Bistro provides fresh shellfish and lobster and friends will receive a Cornish hamper with local sardines, Trenance delicious chocolate and Boddingtons jam. This premium getaway package with two evenings’ half-board, including hamper, costs £399pp before 30 April.

Then take a gastro tour into the house regarding the well-known Eden sausage: Charles Harris butchers, the St Austell Brewery and Camel Valley vineyard (0120 877 959;
camelvalley.co.uk
) in regional Nanstallon. Tastings and tours you shouldn’t begin until April, you could check out the store throughout every season, or the resort will arrange exclusive tastings of wines on demand.

5 Forget paris … Promenade in Blackpool

Blackpool is likely to be even more ooh eck than ooh là là, nonetheless it shares numerous crucial parts with Paris – you’ll be able to spend starry evenings walking beneath a popular tower, sample famous neighborhood delicacies, see ladies skipping by in miniskirts. So the Parisians may take it off with more design – the tower is actually bigger therefore the legs less wobbly – but Blackpool is not without their charms.

Bring your hotpot to a new boutique hotel to avoid the superclub/Funny Girls/kiss-me-quick world, however may fall foul of tacky innuendos, with all the Big One, the Pleasure seashore and a trip on an ass becoming the primary tourist attractions.

No. 1 Blackpool (01253 343901;
numberoneblackpool.co.uk
) is actually a design-led B&B from the South Shore. Ensuites have actually free-standing Jacuzzi bathrooms, DVDs and brown record flooring – no chintz or battleaxe landladies around the corner. Doubles from £100 per night, including break fast.

6 Forget the Serengeti… continue safari in Kent

If you would like start to see the huge Five but cannot extend to a luxury safari holiday in Africa, you’ll catch the character of a Serengeti adventure listed here in britain. We’re not talking squirrel stalking or spying magpies via your binoculars – you can easily feast your eyes on leopards, elephants and lions in Port Lympne Zoo (01303 264647;
totallywild.net
) near Hythe, Kent. Brand-new because of this 12 months, the safari tours allow visitors to roam through 350 miles of organic book on a trailer towed by a tractor. Go to the largest family gorilla house in the world – Palace of this Apes – and discover the largest breeding herd of black rhino outside Africa. Entry is actually £12.95 per sex, there’s an African-themed Valentine’s supper on 11 March, £49.95 for 2.

Savannah lodges surrounded by baobab trees it isn’t, but the new Yew and Ewe freehouse (01797 344215;
yewandewe.co.uk
) in Romney Marsh provides simply styled spaces and meals made with regular, local services and products it is possible to scoff alfresco throughout the sun rooftop. Kingsize increases, £30pp per night.

7 Forget Verbier … Ski Scotland

Let’s be honest, if you’re at risk of an enchanting break about hills, your own fluffy head is more more likely packed with dreams of fireside rugs, shared hot toddies and steaming bathrooms than major down hill activity. In which case the ski regions of Scotland should more than suffice. First-class black runs and yards of powder it may lack, in Aviemore possible après-ski in a genuine pub in the place of a snobby, designer-priced bar – there are enough icy works ready to accept justify the excursion. Always check snow circumstances on
cairngormmountain.com
, a funicular pass up the hill costs £8.50 per adult, just about every day skiing lift move costs £25 per adult.

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Redeveloped a year ago, the Aviemore Highland hotel (0845 125 5455;
aviemorehighlandresort.com
) includes a three- and four-star hotel, plus attractive elegant solid wood lodges dotted through a historical Caledonian pine woodland. Doubles from £55 B&B.

8 Forget the Golden Gate … Cross Tower Bridge

According to an important therapy test, ladies are much more likely to accept to a date with some one they came across on a higher bridge, because they connected the excitement they felt to becoming because of the man rather than the fact they were in an elevated, vertigo-inducing place. Put this result to good utilize by walking your own beau to the top of Tower Bridge, London (
towerbridge.org.uk
) on Valentine’s day, whenever from 5-10pm you’ll climb the first Victorian stair case on lofty heights associated with North Tower, and view all smog and views for the town from glass- covered paths. Entry is actually £4pp, including one cup of fizz at the very top.

Catch the San Fran hippy vibe during the easygoing Portobello Gold (020 7460 4910;
portobellogold.com
). spaces tend to be basic but there’s a jungle-style conservatory dining room, a drink number plumped for by the wine-writer co-owner and plenty of artwork regarding the wall space. Doubles from £65.

9 Forget Sydney … notice the songs in Newcastle

Not simply may be the Tyne Bridge modelled on Sydney’s Harbour Bridge, however now the city gets the new Sage Gateshead music hallway (0870 703 4555;
thesagegateshead.org
), an architectural victory to take on the Opera residence. Crafted by Norman Foster, the undulating sterling silver slug of a building, which opened in December, is made from glass and steel and it is a big benefit within the regeneration for the town.

On Valentine’s night you will see country rock/acid jazz act monster Sand conduct (tickets £16pp), next stay-in Newcastle’s very first boutique resort, the gray Street resort (0870 412 5100;
greystreethotel.co.uk
). It is a quality II-listed building that exposed after this past year in a vintage bank, with huge rooms in simple colours. Increases from £89 per night.

10 disregard the north lighting … look at the new North Star

Alot more reliable versus aurora borealis, landmark sculpture B with the Bang should probably end up being clinging away from City of Manchester Stadium as soon as you visit, though certainly their threatening-looking surges did fall-off last month. Created by the Thomas Heatherwick Studio to commemorate the 2002 Commonwealth Games, it absolutely was stimulated by Linford Christie’s report that the guy begins their races in the ‘B of this bang’, and is today the highest sculpture in the country.

Go star gazing, subsequently stay at the fresh Radisson Edwardian (0161 835 9929;
radissonedwardian.com/manchester
), whose lavish decor attributes movie stars in the musical assortment – Louis Armstrong’s signature is built into a wall. Areas come from £149 per night.