Plenty of rooms at the gin
Overseas cashpointer For more great holiday ideas, see page 41
trout too. If you’d like to chance your arm with the salmon fishing then try the River Tummel, a less expensive tributary of the Tay. For non-anglers the river passes through the highland resort of Pitlochry, with all its boutiques, concerts and restaurants. GO: The East Haugh House Hotel – Scottish Fishing Hotel of the Year – at Pitlochry offers salmon breaks on the Tummel, including a day’s fishing with guide and tuition, and an overnight stay for two, from £679. See easthaugh.co.uk.
Float tip Coarse fishing in France
There is an eccentric lake in northern France which is simply heaven for fishing-mad families. The THE Hotel du Vin chain has opened Slingsby Gin suites this summer. There will be plenty of plants to flavour the gin, apothecary-style jars of dried botanicals, copper planters and, most importantly, a free Etang du Ponteil at Pressac in western France, just south of Poitiers, is home to roach, carp and pike, as well as small shoals of human beings – thanks to 20-plus floating cabanas bobbing around the lake’s edge. So you can stumble out of bed, open the door and cast your line, almost in one movement.
There is a family-oriented swimming pool on the shore, along with a restaurant. Also a real oddity are the floating barbecue grill huts which can be punted across to whoever wants to rent them for dinner. For non-anglers, Poitiers and the science-based theme park of Futuroscope are within striking distance. GO: A floating cabana that sleeps five (there are also lodges on land) in Pressac’s Village Flottant costs from £570 for six nights, and fishing equipment is rentable on site. See village-flottant-pressac.com. in-room gin bar with bottles of Slingsby London Dry and Rhubarb Gin, plus premium tonics. The suites, from £244 a night, are at hotels in Wimbledon, Brighton, Birmingham, York and Harrogate until September. A river of other-worldly blue, the Soca in Slovenia was where the Chronicles of Narnia films were shot. Rare marble trout live there in pools lined with white sand. Set against the backdrop of the Alps, in an impossibly green valley, you’d think that digital trickery was at work around this luminous river until you see it for yourself. Rainbow trout, brown trout and grayling are here too, as well as in adjacent rivers. For non-anglers there is lovely hiking to alpine meadows and visits to vineyards just across the border in northern Italy. GO: a five night break, with four days of guided fishing, staying half-board in the Hotel Hvala in Kobarid costs from £1,070, including flights and car hire. See gofishingworldwide.co.uk. ATM Hunter IOS & Android Free
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