Getting the flavour of…
Ranching and riding in Mexico
Drive inland on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, and you will feel as though you’re travelling into the old West, says Sara Wheeler in The Economist’s 1843 magazine. And in a remote valley southeast of Ensenada, there is a family-run, 10,000-acre cattle ranch that doubles as a hotel. Rancho Meling is a simple place, but it has “magnificent” views of the mountainous hinterland, as well as a swimming pool and horses and bikes that guests can ride. For even better hiking, head to the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir National Park, where condors swoop over acres of pine, fir, cedar and cypress; the peaks rise to 3,000m; and the skies are some of the clearest on Earth. Mexico’s National Astronomical Observatory is sited here, and visitors are admitted for tours. Rancho Meling (+52 646 120 2590, www.ranchomeling.com) has rooms from £55 a night.
A gourmand’s Cumbrian idyll
The best restaurant in the UK – according to The Good Food Guide – Simon Rogan’s L’enclume has turned the Cumbrian village of Cartmel into “an epicentre for epicures”. Happily, the village is also “a dream of a place”, says Vincent Crump in The Sunday Times, with a beautiful medieval priory, a 14th century gatehouse owned by the National Trust, and a racecourse often said to be the prettiest in the UK. There’s much to do nearby too – such as riding the Lakeside and Haverthwaite steam railway, or visiting Blackwell, the UK’S finest Arts and Crafts mansion. L’enclume lets rooms in “cottagey” places in the village itself; and guests who book one can skip the long waiting list for the restaurant. Doubles from £129 b&b (01539-536362, www.lenclume.co.uk).
Drinking with monks in Munich
For fans of German beer, two Benedictine monasteries within easy reach of Munich are pilgrimage destinations with few equals, says Andrew Eames in The Independent. Weltenburg has the oldest monastic brewery in the world, dating from 1050, and its big, tree-shaded courtyard, where crowds gather to drink at weekends, enjoys views of an “almost comically scenic” stretch of the Danube. (From here, it’s just a short boat ride, through a spectacular limestone gorge to the “elegant” imperial city of Regensburg.) Still more popular is Andechs, whose beer garden, the Bräustüberl, has a million visitors a year. If you’re keen to enjoy its lovely Alpine views and wander its cobbled pathways in peace, then book one of the monastery’s comfortable guest rooms. Last orders is at 8pm (the monks need time to pray), and most drinkers leave soon after. Andechs (www.andechs.de) has rooms for g35 per night.