Raffles ticketyboo
THE Raffles Grand Hotel d’angkor in Siem Reap, Cambodia, reopens on Tuesday after a six-month restoration. The facade of the colonial-era landmark in Siem Reap’s leafy French Quarter, has been returned to its 1930s splendour, while interiors and guest rooms have been gently brought into the 21st century. B&B doubles cost from £160. See raffles.com. RIVERS are at the core of our nation, irrigating our landscape and nourishing our souls. Their soothing presence is worth celebrating, especially when they offer multiple recreational possibilities too.
Bank job Riverside rambling
Stomping along a footpath or a towpath, watching out for kingfishers and having picnics by limpid pools or thundering waterfalls... These pastimes have accounted for many a happy hour. Wherever you are in the UK there is bound to be a watercourse near you worthy of a wander. And here are a couple of fine examples.
For winter wildlife, follow the river Parrett from Langport through the Somerset Levels – floodplains which are covered in great bedsheets of water in winter and therefore attract all sorts of migrating birds. For something a bit more picturesque in all weathers, head up the river Dove in
Derbyshire’s Peak District, a babbling brook with stepping stones and picnic spots.
By contrast, for sheer wilderness, there’s not much than can beat hiking along the Sligachan river on the Isle of Skye, where it divides the Cuillin mountains, and then returning to Seumas’s Bar in the Sligachan hotel afterwards for a restorative cullen skink – soup made with smoked fish, leeks and potatoes. See sligachan. co.uk/seumas-bar.
Gone floating Boat hire
Several of our biggest rivers are navigable, and a lot of those have hire boats available for multi-day exploration. Particularly the Thames, but also the Severn and the Ouse, plus the rivers of the Norfolk Broads. On the Thames, hirers can navigate from Lechlade in the Cotswolds all the way through past Oxford, Henley and Windsor.
This offers a mixture of rural and city cruising, and the chance to eyeball some of the finest riverside properties in the land.
There are five potential start points – Windsor, Marlow, Benson, Reading and
Eynsham, close to Oxford. A sample week’s hire package on a modern cruiser that sleeps two costs from £819 from waterwaysholidays.com.
Alternatively, rent a narrowboat up on the river Ouse on a short break from Ely, famous for its cathedral, to St Ives – a beautiful historic town with regular markets and a splendid 15th century bridge and chapel over the river, one of only three such surviving in England. Four days on a narrowboat that sleeps four costs from £1,099. See drifters.co.uk.
Day tripper Sightseeing cruises
spectacular spec scenery around the Crook of Dee and through the Eaton Estate, home to the Wherever there is a city on a big river there Duke Duk and Duchess of Westminster. Prices is likely to be sightseeing river cruises. from £15. See chesterboat.co.uk.
Shrewsbury, York, Chester, Bath, If you want something suitably posh on Newcastle... they all have them. And in many the Thames for a special occasion, then the cases, come winter time, the cruise operators eleg elegant Genevieve is a 40ft stern saloon offer extra incentives to come aboard. launch, lau all polished mahogany and teak,
buis built back in 1914.
In London, City Cruises has afternoon tea cruises, dinner cruises and live entertainment She is based at a boatyard near Henley. showboat cruises. On board the tea cruise, And An a half-day cruise lead-in price is from passengers will be served a glass of sparkling g £450 £4 for up to ten people, inclusive of boat wine and a selection of sandwiches, cakes, captain cap and light refreshments. See pastries and scones with lashings of jam and vintagethamescharters.com. vin cream, from £32, see citycruises.com.
The same operator does a similar dinner cruise in York. Over in Chester you can take a two hour cruise out of town through rural
Cheshire along the river Dee to the celebrated d
Iron Bridge at Aldford.
The river meanders through some
GGT The Th Gone Wye and fishing the Usk
The h huge success of Paul Whitehouse and Bo Bob Mortimer’s TV series Gone Fishing is on only slightly to do with the angling and a