Getting the flavour of…
Magical Savannah
Few cities in America cast a “spell” like Savannah, says Dirk Standen in the Financial Times. Its old centre has a “weird magic”, with its red-brick Georgian mansions, “lush, overgrown” courtyards and “hushed squares where the sunlight glimmers through dense tangles of Spanish moss”. But the city (the oldest in Georgia) has its lively side, with a sleek contemporary art gallery, the SCAD Museum of Art and plenty of “idiosyncratic” shops, including antiquarians (Arthur Smith, Arcanum), “overstuffed” booksellers
(E. Shaver, The Book Lady) and interiors shops (Asher + Rye, The Paris Market). Stay at the Perry Lane Hotel, which has a good rooftop bar, and explore Savannah’s thriving dining scene, being sure not to miss The Grey, a former Greyhound bus terminal where chef Mashama Bailey offers “dazzling” takes on local culinary traditions.
Finland’s wonderland city
Regularly voted their favourite city by Finns, Tampere, about 110 miles north of Helsinki, is an enchanting place for a family holiday, says Michael Hodges in The Sunday Times. At its centre is “a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-like wonderland” where old industrial buildings now host lively museums, restaurants and the like, and there’s nature all around – forests crisscrossed by hiking paths, and two great lakes with “pristine” beaches and waterside saunas, which are particularly wonderful in winter. The symbolist frescoes in the cathedral will have children transfixed, and you can watch a “brilliant” production of The Snow Queen on ice at the Nokia Arena. But perhaps the surest hit of all is the world’s only Moomin Museum, where the model scenes from Tove Jansson’s children’s books are a “delight”.
An idyllic escape in Kent
Forget Gloucestershire, Cornwall and Derbyshire – if you’re a Londoner looking for an easy, bucolic escape from city life, head for the Kentish High Weald, says Annabelle Thorpe in The Daily Telegraph. With its rolling hills and pretty medieval villages, this swathe of Kent’s deep south is vaguely reminiscent of the Cotswolds, but has none of its “Boden-and-Bolly smugness”, nor its tourist crowds. The Weald’s best-known attraction is Sissinghurst, where Vita Sackville-West created her “gorgeous” garden, but there’s much else to see in the area, including Scotney Castle (a romantic ruin), Pashley Manor (with its classic English gardens), Bewl Water (a reservoir with an aqua park, which is great for children) and Kent’s original winery, Biddenden Vineyards. There are excellent pubs, too, some – such as The Bell in Ticehurst – with “chic” rooms, and no end of wonderful village-to-village walks to enjoy.