UK & IRELAND SEASONS destinations
TOP TIP It’s not too late to book the Terracotta Warriors exhibition, running until October 28 in ’Tis the Liverpool
Sell the UKseason and Ireland at any time of the year, writes Laura French @laurafrench121
SPRING Summer t’s a common irony that you Blackpool Illuminations, a see the origins of what they’re wildlife is at its most active, with Isee less of your own country free event approaching its eating, suggest some wild prices for a five-night trip from than you do the rest of the 140th year that sees the city’s foraging. It’s become something £750 per person in September world, especially when you’ve six‑mile promenade shine like of a trend of late, with hotels and October. got the word ‘travel’ in your a kaleidoscope with more than offering experiences ranging job title. 500,000 lasers, lights and lamps. from garlic-picking to mushroom- w WINTER But while jetting off to exotic, This year’s switch-on will see hunting. Browse Christmas markets: far-flung islands and picture- Britney Spears entertaining Haven has opened up the Winter in the UK is magical, with perfect beaches is still pretty crowds as the city’s key experience to families on a colourful Christmas markets, cosy dreamy, the UK and Ireland landmarks start to glow, with budget with foraging trips led pop-up bars and heart‑warming have their own prizes to offer Shearings offering tours to by rangers across its parks. carol concerts giving you an up too – and it’s not only in the experience it from £172 per The option joins several other excuse to sell a UK city break summer months that they come person for five days, including an autumnal activities on Haven’s with a twist. into bloom. From light shows evening tram ride and a visit to Nature Rockz programme, Bath has become something in winter to flower festivals in Liverpool. including fire-lighting, nature of a go-to for December with spring, carnivals in summer to Visit Tennerfest: It’s the food trails and survival skills its giant Christmas tree and blooming: watching: Christmas markets in winter, that really shines in autumn, workshops, at several of its rural German-style market huts selling The Eden Project Wimbledon en
v our home shores are radiant with freshly harvested produce properties including Haggerston quaint little handicrafts, drinks year‑round – if you know where filling restaurants across the Castle in Northumberland and and gifts. Titan Travel packages to go and when. country. For the best way to Allhallows in Kent. it up with a visit to see the autumn winter To help you wise up on exactly experience it all, Premier Holidays Cruise the Hebrides: Don’t thousands of Chinese lanterns that, we’ve rounded up some recommends heading to the overlook the more ‘summery’ that illuminate the grounds of the best holidays across our Channel Islands during Tennerfest activities. Autumn is an ideal of Longleat House over the
; AELTC/JON BUCKLE; ha glorious region, helping you sell – a six-week food festival that time to get out there and explore Christmas weekend, with prices it to clients in every season – sees restaurants, hotels and cafes the UK’s lush greenery without from £1,149 per person for five starting with what’s still in store in both Jersey and Guernsey the crowds, and you can find days (departing December 23). for the rest of this year. serve low-cost, fixed-price menus some excellent bargains in the York is just as spectacular, with , luke rogers to showcase local cuisine. cooler months. the annual St Nicholas Christmas w AUTUMN “From Jersey Royal potatoes St Hilda Sea Adventures Fair bringing even more charm Experience Blackpool to fresh seafood, home-grown offers an autumn discount on its to the city’s medieval, cobbled eden project
/ Illuminations: Crisp blue skies, produce to delicious ice cream, Scottish Castles and Sheltered lanes – all spiced mulled wine, red-leafed trees and bright green you can try all sorts of local food, Sea Lochs cruise around the sweet treats and twinkling lights fields – autumn in the UK can be with menus from just £10,” says Hebrides – taking passengers spilling out from traditional spectacular, and there’s plenty Beverley Scarr, short-haul general along the Sound of Mull via sea wooden chalets. isitengland : v s going on to help you make the manager for the operator. lochs, ancient castles and whisky Leger Holidays combines it twitching: twinkling: Bath most of it. Go foraging: If clients want to distilleries – at a time when the with a visit to the Christmas- Haven’s Nature Rockz Christmas Market
PICTURE Among the highlights is take things back one step and hills are alive with colour and the themed Dickensian Festival
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in Grassington and the Christkindlmarkt in Leeds, where stollen, bratwurst, gingerbread and glühwein are stacked high on stalls straight out of Frankfurt (four days from £279 per OF THE person). Celebrate Hogmanay: The fun BEST doesn’t end with Christmas, 3 though. In the lead-up to New FESTIVALS Year’s Day, you’ll find one of Notting Hill the UK’s biggest festivals: sambridge Carnival Scottish Hogmanay. gareth With feather- Edinburgh is at the heart of / bedecked the revelry with 150,000 people
costumes, a flocking to see its festivities, tourism huge colourful including a huge torchlit parade and procession and all-out fireworks jerk chicken display on New Year’s Eve, plus a
stalls en masse, fancy-dress plunge in the icy cold jersey PICTURE: Notting Hill River Forth on New Year’s Day. ABOVE: The Tennerfest food Carnival is Contiki, Busabout and Topdeck festival in Jersey and Guernsey about as all offer packages for younger close to the clients wanting to see it in style, left: Blackpool Illuminations Caribbean as while Shearings offers a trip to you can get experience the celebrations in without leaving Inverness with afternoon tea, sunny London. champagne, cocktails and a This year: gourmet dinner, complete with August 26-27. all the bagpipes and dancing you’d expect at one of Scotland’s The Hay biggest parties. Festival Get spooked: It’s not only about offers a Jack the Ripper and flamboyant costumes, carnival- gardens across the country, from Spring sees the festive period, of course. Haunted London trip, taking style street parties and Guinness Chatsworth to Chelsea, get out Wales’s biggest Winter is an ideal time to try daredevil clients on a guided This year’s Blackpool aplenty. Just put March 17 in your their glad rags and put on their literary festival something a little different, and tour around the East End of the diary for next year. flower shows. descend on London is chock-full of spooky city to learn all about the area’s Illuminations switch- Go on an egg hunt: Easter has Great Rail Journeys offers a Hay-on-Wye night-time tours that you can sell bloody history. The tour costs on will see Britney its own set of festivities, with Cornwall Spring Flower Show with talks, when the evening temperatures from £37 per person, including Spears entertaining annual family-friendly egg hunts trip for guests wanting to see the readings and start to drop. Evan Evans Tours a fish-and-chip dinner, and runs the crowds at castles, palaces and National daffodils, magnolias and myriad everything else Trust properties across the UK, other flora filling Cornwall’s book-related. but for those wanting to make picturesque Boconnoc Estate Next year: a full getaway of it, suggest in April, combining it with visits May 23 to a trip to Butlin’s. Its three to the Eden Project and the June 2. from November 1 to March 31. It’s resorts will be hosting various Lost Gardens of Heligan, and also probably not the first activity activities in 2019 including an adding in a ride on the Bodmin & Edinburgh your clients might think of, which all-singing, all-dancing Easter Wenford Steam Railway (from Fringe Festival makes it a good one to push. Parade, a chocolate-filled arts £595 per person, departing Theatre, music, and crafts session and an egg April 5, 2019). dance and, of w SPRING hunt. Guests coming at this time Just Go Holidays, meanwhile, course, comedy Drink a Guinness in Dublin: of year will also be able to see takes clients to the Cotswolds on – it wouldn’t St Patrick’s Day merriments the Spring Farmyard, home to a gardens and villages-themed be summer bring clients flocking to donkeys, rabbits, piglets and trip as part of its new National without the Ireland, and there’s a variety of other cute creatures (prices Trust range, stopping at Hidcote Edinburgh commissionable trips on hand in from £94 per person based on and Snowshill Manor Garden Fringe, so the capital. Contiki and Topdeck four sharing a two-bedroom and exploring the grey-stone, use it to sell lead the pack, taking clients from apartment in Minehead, for a trip quintessentially English towns this charming London to Dublin with a guide on starting on April 5, 2019). that scatter the region, with left: city. This year: Spring prices from £510 per person Fairground hand to help them get the most See the UK in bloom: August 3-27. at Butlin’s out of their visit and live it up is also the time when the UK’s self‑drive or £655 by coach (for Minehead Irish-style with colourful parades, gardens burst into colour, and four nights’ half-board).
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SUMMER Left: Rooms with a guided tour of the Watch Wimbledon: Nothing says Buckingham 39-acre garden plus a stay at the Palace summer quite like strawberries Nothing says summer four-star Cavendish Hotel, from and cream, with Murray on £135 per person on select dates quite like Wimbledon, far Left: the big screen and crowds Snowdonia in August and September. thronging under a sunny sky. with strawberries and Edinburgh Tattoo: More than Tickets for the real deal aren’t cream, and Murray 13 million people have attended easy to come by, so suggest a on the big screen the Royal Edinburgh Military pre-arranged package from the Tattoo since it began in 1950, likes of Newmarket Holidays for and Newmarket Holidays says those wanting to do it without its tours centred around the the hassle. The operator offers festival are among its most a seat on No 1 Court over Finals popular UK summer breaks. weekend, with ample time to stroll Leger Holidays, Shearings and around the grounds, combining Super Break all offer it too, it with a visit to Royal Windsor while Fred Olsen Cruise Lines the next day (departures from all pairs it with the Orkney Islands, over the country; 2019 dates and Isle of Mull, Belfast and beyond prices yet to be announced). on an eight-night cruise (from Take a hike: From the Peak £1,329 per person via Saga District to the Lakes, the UK Holidays, departing August 13, is blessed with places to get mountains of Brecon Beacons offers tours to both, with prices idyllic Craflwyn Hall country and the gardens – home to more 2019). Expect military bands, outdoorsy and there’s no better National Park and the iconic from £309 per person for its house (August 31 departure). than 350 types of wild flowers, singers, dancing troupes and the time than summer to get out and peaks of Snowdonia. While Snowdonia tour taking in the Tour Buckingham Palace: The 200 trees and a three-acre lake poignant refrain of the lone piper enjoy it all. Wales is chock-full going it alone is totally doable, a summits of Glyder Fach, the Queen’s home opens its doors – spring into bloom. Super Break against a castle backdrop at one of hiking trails, not least among guided tour can make it that little Nantlle Ridge and Snowdon, and to the public in summer when offers a mini-break to see it all, of Scotland’s top events, running the sweeping, lake-studded more accessible. HF Holidays staying at the National Trust’s the family aren’t in residence, packaging a ticket to the State from August 3-25 this year.
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