Eight top British houses and homes

Landscapes as green and lovely as everyone says. Literary giants in Dublin; Titanic history in Belfast. A pint and good craic in a traditional pub. The lure of Celtic legends.

”Hong Kong is a photographer’s dream,” says Geraint Rowland. “It’s got impressive architecture and the busy streets teem with life, day and night.” The Wanderlust Travel Photo of the Year winner was blown away by the territory. As part of their dual-destination photo commission, the four winners of the UK’s biggest travel photography competition were first guided around Hong Kong and its many islands. They soon discovered there were plenty of opportunities to point their lenses, whether the neon skyscrapers, the old neighbourhoods from which the city evolved or one of the 260 outlying islands, whose slower pace of life, unusual wildlife and natural landscapes offer a contrast to that famous urban bustle.

It’s no longer something to keep hidden.

A recent report released from travel marketing engine Sojern, analyzed travel trends from January 2015 to April 2016 and found the top international destinations for U.S. travelers as well as the top emerging and declining international spots.

Passengers on a 12-hour British Airways flight from the Caribbean to London over the weekend were fed a single piece of KFC chicken each after a catering mishap left the plane without regular meals, the travel website One Mile At A Time reported.

There are few tourism destinations out there that have avoided the scourge of high-rise condos, Quarter Pounders, and traffic lights. And if that destination happens to be our planet at its most beautiful? Forget about it.

Glasgow has a rich history and culture, with plenty of attractions to explore like the Glasgow Cathedral and Necropolis, or the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. The city also offers lively nightlife, excellent shopping opportunities, some of the best live music venues in Scotland, an ever-growing selection of world-class restaurants and cafes, and an array of cultural activities like theatre, dance, and art galleries. These Glasgow Airbnb rentals put you close to everything.

For five days of the year each summer, the somewhat soulless exhibition centre in Earls Court is transformed into a giant pub (pictured above). Or at least that’s what it feels like. Gone are the trade stalls and suited delegates, replaced by an army of (mostly bearded) volunteers manning hundreds of kegs, dispensing beers few people have ever heard of to thousands of squiffy punters – a lot of whom are wearing traffic-cone hats or sombreros for no apparent reason.

Britain is a nation bursting with song. While this most musical of islands has nurtured numerous world-class singers and bands, it almost bursts with festivals and concerts all year round. Here's five favourite escapes for music fans. Add yours below.

From cricket at Lords to darts in Lakeside and boxing in London, here's ten of our favourite British sporting breaks. Share your own below.

Most people come to Swakopmund, a Bavarian-style town surreally out of place on the edge of the Namib Desert, to explore the vast dunes. Few who visit know that the sandy Atlantic shallows of nearby Walvis Bay are also home to 2500 cape fur seals – one of the country’s last remaining colonies – as well as a resident population of diminutive benguela dolphins.

Get up close to nature with our pick of the ten best wildlife sites across the UK, and let us know your own top British wildlife experiences below.