Departure loungin’
VIRGIN is launching a Departure Beach in Barbados where travellers check in, drop luggage, print boarding passes – then relax on the sands until it’s time to go to the airport. There is a lounge, free wifi, bar and restaurant and plush changing rooms. Entry is free for customers at Savannah Beach and those on a Virgin cruise – and it’s £25pp for other customers. See virginholidays.co.uk. FORGET feeling cold and cramped under canvas. It’s all about glamping with top comforts on gorgeous sites – and you can take the pooch along too.
Downward dog Henllan, Carmarthenshire
The Ceridwen Centre is a family-run, small organic farm, complete with animals, in rural west Wales. And there is self-catering accommodation of all shapes and sizes, plus a yoga centre for anyone who prefers their dogs to be downward facing.
The farm is in the valley of the river Teifi, famed for its fishing. Blue flag beaches, woodlands, castles and beautiful countryside are around every corner.
This was once the centre of the Welsh wool industry, with 30 working mills. One is now the National Wool Museum, within walking distance of Ceridwen.
For dog owners, the choice is going to be tipi, yurt or hop shack, with two-person yurts costing from £146 for two days.
Well-behaved dogs cost £10 but also must remain downward facing. So not on the furniture. See ceridwencentre.co.uk.
Top doggy Newquay, Cornwall
Real Glamping at the Fir Hill is nestled in woodlands surrounding the Porth Reservoir. It is three miles from the adventurous surfie resort of Newquay on Cornwall’s rugged north coast.
Nearby Watergate Bay and Fistral Beach are both dog-friendly, all year round. The yurts are set in 62 acres of a historic estate, and are totally off-grid, so lights, wifi and showers are all run from sunlight and logs.
The yurts, which sleep six, have their own kitchen and wood-burning stoves, and there is a barn for reading, meditating and yoga. Two yurts are allocated to visitors with dogs. It costs from £700 per week. See glampingly.co.uk.
Snoop around Bickleigh, Devon
One of the network of Featherdown Farms, pioneers of glamping, Billingsmoor Farm is in rolling Devonshire countryside on the Prince of Wales’ Duchy of Cornwall estate.
You are 15 miles from Exmoor, 20 miles from Dartmoor and 20 miles from the soft sands of Exmouth beach, which are all great dogyomping locations.
On this organic farm, 200 Friesian cows are milked twice a day and there are kunekune pigs and pet sheep in the animal paddock, so dogs have to be kept on leads.
Accommodation is in safari lodge tents that sleep six, each with a panoramic view, with a kitchen area and flushing toilet, and showers in a communal block. Some have hot tubs and hammocks too.
It costs from £299 for a three-night break, £6 per night per dog. See featherdown.co.uk.
Collie wobbles Holme Lacy, Herefordshire
Church camping, or champing, is a form of glamping in very vintage stone tents, aka churches. And it is an intriguing new use of wonderful old, mostly deconsecrated, buildings. Holme Lacey’s St Cuthbert’s sits on a bend in the River Wye, its interior filled with carvings, stained glass windows and an unusual 17th century font.
The river is on your doorstep. Hereford, with its cathedral, is just up the road and Hay-onwye with all its second-hand bookshops is a bit further away.
This is the sort of place where a dog could be very welcome if you are easily spooked, and you can have two with you free of charge.
Try a spot of champing from £49 per adult per night. See champing.co.uk.
Barking mad Bridport, Dorset
The High Cross Camping Coach is a delightfully eccentric place to stay. This Victorian railway carriage is set in a garden with an Edwardian Living Van next door, once used by workmen mending roads, and pulled by a steam roller.
The Camping Coach is full of period detail, heated by an Art Nouveau wood burner, with a kitchen and bathroom, flushing toilet and electric shower. Your dog may not appreciate the detailing but he or she will love the Jurassic Coast five miles away.
Treat yourself to fish and chips at West Bay’s popular harbour, try crab fishing or go hunting for old bones – well, fossils – at Charmouth. It