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…
”Look, Daddy,” said my three-year-old son during our visit to Bodmin Jail, ”that man is ironing that lady’s hair.” He was starring at life-size models recreating the moment a certain James Holman killed his wife by striking her a blow with a smoothing iron. Holman was hanged for the crime at the jail in 1854. ”He’s straightening…
Railway enthusiasts or young fans of Thomas The Tank Engine can live the dream at a new holiday home in Worcestershire. Platform Three, in Malvern Link, is part the former station master’s house and our two children loved playing the ‘Fat Controller’ as the trains pulled up right outside. During our weekend stay, they never…
EVER wandered what the difference is between a full Welsh breakfast and a full English breakfast? Well, the Welsh version comes with a side dish of live singing. That was our experience, anyway, when we spent the weekend with Stephen and Lynne Groves at their B&B in the small market town of Talgarth, ‘’the jewel…
It was a freezing February evening but for once my bald head was not in need of any woolly protection. I was relaxing under the stars in the hydrotherapy infinity pool at Rudding Park hotel, near the Yorkshire gem of Harrogate, its jets gently pummelling my back. The steam from the water was making little…
Britain’s 25,000 B&Bs are today (March 24) celebrating the renaissance of their £2 billion ‘’cottage industry’’. It’s the inaugural National B&B Day and the small, independent accommodation providers are uniting to mark their vital role in the UK’s cultural life, ahead of what could be a bumper summer. The concept of a reliable, comfortable place…
It was like a scene from the classic but gory animated film Watership Down… A large family of rabbits were happily hopping about and munching the grass around our holiday home when suddenly a cat appeared. The rabbits scattered into the bushes but one baby bunny was too slow and was last seen flailing in…
Want the fun of a trampoline and a high ropes course without the fear of bouncing / falling to the ground? The answer to your prayers lies at a UK first attraction in the Lake District. Treetop Nets, near Windermere, is a mix of giant trampolines, bridges, walkways, slides and tunnels all made from ropes…
