10 of the best things to do in the Cotswolds

As midnight approaches, dark groups huddle on the freezing slope of one of the seven hills overlooking the soft yellow lights of the city of Edinburgh.

£28, Hardie GrantThe second cookbook from food writer Dina Begum is a love letter to Bangladesh. Alongside the selection of tempting recipes are detailed ingredient notes, explanations of distinctive spice blends and advice on traditional preparation and serving, all accompanied by evocative photography of busy street-sellers, verdant landscapes and market produce. Some recipes do feature fish and vegetables native to Bangladesh that might be harder to find in the UK, but the author suggests accessible substitutions for those unable to find a Bangladeshi grocery store.

According to professional travel organisation, European Best Destinations, the Portuguese island of Madeira is the best place to see the annual New Year’s Eve fireworks display. The travel experts polled a panel of 11,963 travellers from 112 countries, mainly from the United Kingdom (22,42%) and the United States (18,91%) and found the top destination to count down the 2024 New Year is Madeira, followed by Marbella (Spain) with London ranking number three. Here are the top ten.

British skies dazzle when the sun sinks, and there are a handful of dark sky reserves and discovery sites where the lack of light pollution can help stargazing enthusiasts feel that bit closer to the universe. Take a winter stomp across freezing moors or a late-night summer drive up to a remote hilltop to find a sky full of stars with distant planets glittering overhead on clear nights. Often, there’s no need for a telescope either — star clusters such as Pleiades and Hyades, the Milky Way, nebulae and shooting stars can often be seen with the naked eye or with the help of a pair of cheap binoculars and stargazing apps such as Stellarium Mobile.

Now that the northern hemisphere is firmly in the cooler months of the year—and it’s only getting colder—it’s time to talk fleece. For bitter winter chills, fleece is hard to beat because the fabric is made to be both lightweight and incredibly insulating. And in recent years, fleece technology has improved so much that the variety on offer is now immense both in quality, style, and price. If you thought that Colorado bros have the market cornered with their Patagonia zip-ups, it’s time to reconsider the category altogether.I was previously super hesitant about fleece because, for most of my life, I assumed its pieces all looked the same. But while shopping in Manchester last year, I came upon a button-up fleece chore jacket with a rounded collar from UK-based Universal Works that changed my mind about what fleece could look like. But in speaking with Universal Works design director and co-founder David Keyte about the material, I learned that the name is actually a catchall that could mean different things depending on where you are. “There really are so many different fleeces,” Keyte says. “It’s an amazing technical invention that replaced knitted wools and cottons to become a flexible layer of clothing that moves with the body and is warm. Fleece became the modern version of those traditional fabrics, but it’s made of synthetic fibers that hold warmth and are lightweight.”My jacket is a wool-blend fleece (that almost looks like boiled wool), which Keyte says is great for heat regulation. I use it from fall on; either on its own or layered underneath a heavier coat when it gets bitingly cold out. But regardless of which brand or style you go for, that’s kind of the benefit of fleece when it comes to outerwear or as a shirt or sweater: They offer enough warmth when worn on their own, but most are light enough to be another protective layer to partner with heavier items for harsher winter days. Here, you'll find our picks for 28 fleece items that will serve you well from now through spring.

It’s believed that the Norwegians invented modern skiing as we know it, and the first destination ski resort was Switzerland’s St. Moritz around 1864—more than half a century before the oldest operating mountain in the U.S. opened. It was the ski loving but mountain-challenged British that popularized the very notion of the ski vacation, traveling to the Alps for food, fun and skiing.

If we adopted a child’s-eye view of the world, how would we choose to have fun? It’s likely to be about more than the usual incentives, such as an ice cream, suggests research from Nature Communications. According to the journal, children as young as four seek experiences that deliver positive results, guide action, answer questions about the world — and are just plain fun. Whether it’s getting up-close with crustaceans on a rockpooling adventure, diving into a good book at a literature festival, learning to surf, taking to the stage or gazing at the stars, these 12 UK-based experiences deliver hands-on learning and creativity. 

Ask any Jamaican when the best time to visit the island is and why, and they’ll probably give a list of reasons to visit all year round. 

It’s been a busy year for the capital’s luxury hotel scene. A string of high-profile, and often high-priced, openings was crowned this autumn when the long-anticipated Raffles London at the OWO flung open its doors, taking over the building that once housed the Old War Office. Beyond such headline-grabbing launches, the accommodation offering in the city remains in rude health, with plenty of character available for travellers looking beyond the very top end of the market. There are boutique hotels squirrelled away in Georgian townhouses, budget pads in the midst of Piccadilly and huge complexes offering a world of bars, restaurants and entertainment across multiple floors. 

The Maldives or Barbados? Even muttering their names can unknot the most tense of shoulders.

The eclectic city of Istanbul, the fantastical rock forms of Cappadocia, the ancient ruins of Ephesus, and the glimmering Mediterranean and Aegean coastlines are Türkiye’s biggest draws, but each region of the country has something distinct to offer.

On Antigua, there’s “365 beaches, one for every day of the year.” It’s a long-standing motto that keeps tourists coming to the shores of this dual-island country (along with neighboring Barbuda). Antigua is the bigger of the two, covering 108 square miles and more beaches than you’ll likely be able to squeeze into one visit, from the easternmost secluded white sands of Halfmoon Bay, to Galley Bay Beach, known for its surf-friendly waves and sea turtle hatchlings.