Van fans in Hawaii
CARAVAN Club members can now take in Hawaii and New Zealand – while leaving their caravan at home. The club is adding far-flung trips by air for next year with eastern Canada andYellowstone Park also among highlights, plus seven European tours including Slovenia and Croatia. Membership costs £48 a year. For details on holidays and joining see caravanclub.co.uk. CHECK out the top 10 hotels under £100, picked by Tom Bell, editor of the Sawday’s British Hotels and Inns guide. At the top of Regency Square, looking down to the sea, this cute hotel with an arty vibe is bang in the middle of town.
There’s good food, great staff, a relaxed atmosphere and a playful feel. Expect stripped boards, exposed brick walls and a chic restaurant with open kitchen. Bedrooms come in different styles – some have pop art murals and others have Regency colours. Plus there is a new super-cool batch with baths in the rooms. NICELY PRICED: From £95 per night, based on a double room and including breakfast. BOOK: sawdays.co.uk/artistresidencebrighton, 0207 931 8946. This attractive townhouse hotel stands yards from the gates of the Burghley estate. Interiors offer a mix of English quirkiness and splendour – there are armchairs by the fire in the bar and hanging lamps in the colourful restaurant.
The food is fresh, local and seasonal, including game from the estate. Walk it off with a stroll through historic Stamford and come back to country-house bedrooms that mix cool eclectic Indian furniture with English decorum. NICELY PRICED: From £100 per night, based on a double room and including breakfast. BOOK: sawdays.co.uk/thewilliamcecil, 01780 750 070. A recent refurbishment has brought a stunning new look to this little hotel across the road from Camber Sands.
Snug cabin rooms are clad in wood with brass lamps hanging from the ceiling, baby Hamptons have daybeds and marble bathrooms and the deck rooms have doors on to private terraces. Then come the garden rooms, with double-ended baths.
Most of the food in the airy restaurant is sourced within ten miles and there is tea and cake “on the house” every afternoon. And treat yourself to a pamper session at the cute beach hut treatment room. NICELY PRICED: From £95 per night, based on a double room and including breakfast. BOOK: sawdays.co.uk/thegallivant, 01797 225 057. Come for Scandi chic on a smart estate. Rooms are scattered in pretty buildings on the hill and suites are fancier, with claw-foot baths and wood burners. They spiral around a lodge where the bar is the hub – sofas galore, with glass walls that open on to a terrace.
There’s a games room plus tennis, archery, clay pigeon shooting, quad biking – even Segways. As for the food, eat in the bar, the restaurant or on the terrace. NICELY PRICED: From £99 per night, based on a double room and including breakfast. BOOK: sawdays.co.uk/thefishhotel, 01386 858 000. This inn has a rustic style and serves some seriously good food. It sits on the Hereford to Ledbury road and is owned by William and Kate Chase, farmers who turn their potatoes and apples into Chase vodka and gin.
Interiors mix up old and new, with timber frames and cool Union Jack sofas in the bar, then a white marble fireplace in the theatrical dining room.
Bedrooms have warm colours with crisp linen and the fine bathrooms have cosy robes
Local ales and a roaring fire await you in the bar, while the Chase distillery is up the road, with tours easily arranged. NICELY PRICED: From £90 per night, based on a double room and including breakfast. BOOK: sawdays.co.uk/theverzon, 01531 670 381. This is a handsome townhouse hotel with a chic contemporary style – all airy inte interiors, cool colours and smart fabrics. A At its heart it’s a cool little cafe bar wh where you can order a coffee, bowl of sou soup, afternoon tea or cocktail. Y You will find a mirrored ceiling in the ele elegant bar, a seriously stylish restaurant wit with green leather booths and a terraced cou courtyard you won’t want to leave. R Rooms are just as good, with beautiful lin linen and excellent beds. Two have fre free-standing baths, another has a panel of original wallpaper that was dis discovered when refurbishing. There is also terrific bistro-style food to enjoy downstairs. NICELYNI PRICED: From £72per night ba based on a double room. BOOK: