Wandering through Stanbrook Abbey Hotel’s fragrant lavender garden our eyes were drawn to a wall of memorial plaques.Upon reading them, we discovered we were in the final resting place of 141 Benedictine nuns who once called this peaceful part of Worcestershire home.Time-wise, the dearly departed ranged from ‘‘Monica Mordle, died 6 December 1878, aged 66’’ to ‘‘Margaret Mary…
I found myself following in the slipstream of socialite Paris Hilton when staying overnight at Silverstone, the home of motor racing. During this summer’s British Grand Prix, the famous ‘It Girl’ performed a dj set at the Hilton Garden Inn’s rooftop bar, then posed for photos on the balcony of one of its track-facing rooms.Three weeks later, my…
BREXIT and the pandemic did not make life easy for any of Britain’s hotels.Brockencote Hall was no exception, but it has now capitalised on an unexpected opportunity that the double whammy threw up.The Worcestershire hotel, renowned for its grand rooms and fine dining, found itself switching from a largely European workforce to a British oneAnd…
In room 108 of the Relais Henley is the royal coat of arms of King Charles I, who stayed there in 1632.The room next door, 109, was frequented by John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough, the great general whose victories included Blenheim in 1704.And room 107, on the other side of 108, is where my wife…
If Mick Jagger or Keith Richards ever fancy a Cotswold escape they should look no further than this charming cottage.That’s because it is within walking distance of the Rollright Stones, some old ‘rockers’ that are even more ancient than members of the band of the similar name!Called Cotswold Cottage, for want of a better name, the…
Each year, the small, picture-postcard Derbyshire Dales village of Tissington is invaded by 50,000 visitors over just seven days.The hoards are attracted to Tissington’s six wells which every Ascension Day are decorated (or ‘dressed’) with flower petals, as well as cones, mosses, seeds and beans.In a laborious process, each petal is placed individually – overlapping like tiles on a roof…
It was a ‘knight’ to remember as tales of dragons and princesses were told in the grounds of a medieval castle.For starters, Zog and Princess Pearl climbed out of the pages of Julia Donaldson’s best-selling children’s book to recall how they became flying doctors.Then, as bedtime grew near, a sword-wielding knight recalled a tale of another fire-breathing friend which enthralled young listeners and – like all the best pantos – amused mums and dads, too.Accident-prone Zog and Pearl…
The eccentric old woman who lived alone in a cave aroused the suspicion of villagers. They suspected witchcraft and started blaming her for everything from ill health and failing crops to wifi outages and Brexit! Hearing their pleas for help, the Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey sent Father Bernard into the witch’s lair, armed only with…
Spending peaceful evenings gazing up at the stars I came to understand the appeal of Sherwood Forest to Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men. After a hard day robbing from the rich to give to the poor the outlaw would rest under the branches of the Major Oak (or inside the tree if…
There can be few more appropriately named streets than the two we came across on a weekend away – Happy Land and Bow Wow. The former, in the Wiltshire village of Ashton Keynes, overlooks a playground where our two children spent a (for want of a better word) happy half hour. The latter is a…
Holidaying Hack 