Inspiration for an idyllic
From marvelling at the wild flowers in the Yorkshire Dales to stargazing in Scotland, author BRIGID BENSON selects some favourite and inspirational breaks from her new book
ATMOSPHERIC: Avebury’s stone circle, Wiltshire, is a Unesco World Heritage site Fields of gold await in Swaledale and Arkengarthdale. Come summer, Yorkshire’s most northerly valleys are a perfect pastoral vision of hay meadows enclosed by dry stone walls, swaying buttercups and ground-nesting birds such as lapwing and curlew.
Hills, moor and scree, where hardy Swaledale sheep thrive, surround ancient villages and hamlets named by Viking settlers hundreds of years ago.
To see the wildflowers at their peak visit before mid-July but remember to respect the farmers’ crop by keeping to public footpaths.
Swaledale Museum (01748 884 118/swaledalemuseum.org) at Reeth is charming. Set in a former Methodist school room, there’s an intriguing display on local history.
Spend the night in the pretty Swaledale Museum Cottage in Reeth. Doubles from £70 per night (two sharing), self-catering.
Stay:
Wiltshire is home to the world’s largest stone circle near the pretty village of Avebury. Arrive at high noon on a summer’s day and you’ll join the trudge of coach loads of tourists doing the rounds but wait until dusk or dawn and the Unesco World Heritage Site will be quite a different experience. Unlike Stonehenge, you can touch the stones and walk between them.
Visit the house and grounds of the National Trust’s Avebury Manor and Garden (01672 539 250/ nationaltrust.org.uk), which is home to the Alexander Keiller Museum. It tells the story of Keiller, an archaeologist and heir to a marmalade fortune, who funded scientific research and the restoration of Avebury’s stones to their prehistoric appearance.
Just a short distance from the stone circle and the market
Stay:
Situated in the picturesque Ribble Valley, Clitheroe, the food capital of Lancashire, offers sophisticated independent stores and country markets on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Beyond the town, ducks dabble in the splashy beck that gurgles through lovely Waddington village, home to communal gardens commemorating the Coronation of 1953. From here the road rises to Waddington Fell in the former
VISITING Istanbul? Then follow Rihanna’s example last summer and hunker down at the W Istanbul (wistanbul.com).
The R&B singer stayed in the top-floor Extreme Wow suite accessed by its own lift and with a bar, huge round bed and in-room Jacuzzi. However, even W’s standard rooms have something special about them.
One of Starwood’s contemporary “W” group, carrying the people-pleasing motto Whatever/ Whenever, this elegantly restored 136-room Ottoman townhouse mixes local antique artefacts with a minimalist dark-wood décor and off-beat colours such as fuchsia, burnt orange and pink neon. Even the