Steam and sparkle: 6 of the best Christmas railway journeys in the UK

As options for the traditional chalet ski break have dwindled and prices risen, venturing to Europe’s far corners and beyond for a ski break can reap rewards. Costs are often lower, while luxury accommodation can be similarly priced to budget options in mainstream European ski resorts. As well as being potentially cheaper, skiing in territory off the beaten track can offer a rich cultural experience, plus better flight routes, less crowded slopes, sunnier days and a friendlier welcome.

Cheltenham also known as Cheltenham Spa, is located on the edge of the Cotswolds, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in Gloucestershire England.

Moving to a new country can be daunting, especially if you don’t speak the language.

Amsterdam has desperately been trying to shake off its ‘party capital’ image - with limited success.

When people think about beers in New York City, most people think of the buzzy craft breweries of Brooklyn and yes, they are excellent but one of the best places to drink in NYC is in lower Manhattan, where excellent beer bars are mere blocks from each other and you can enjoy yourself with a semi-relaxed NYC style of quiet that the East and West Village, The Bowery and Alphabet City neighborhoods afford. Here are some of my favorite places in drink in Lower Manhattan.

Long before she entered the tent as the elegantly erudite judge of The Great British Bake Off, Prue Leith was already enjoying a fascinating career: Born in Cape Town, South Africa, she studied at the Sorbonne in Paris before opening a Michelin-starred restaurant in London. Among her many, many roles in the decades since, she has written a dozen cookbooks and nearly as many novels, opened several culinary schools, and sat on the board of British Railways and Orient Express.

In Britain, the Sunday roast is sacrosanct. Gathering together around a beautifully cooked joint of meat, with lashings of gravy, vegetables and billowing Yorkshire puddings, is, for many, the weekend’s social highlight. And where better to do to this than the pub? Not only do you avoid the washing-up but, centuries after the French dubbed Brits les rosbifs, you get to enjoy the roast at its most modern. In recent decades, Britain’s best pub chefs have, by focusing on seasonal ingredients, rare-breed meats and painstaking preparations of roast potatoes or root vegetables, brought a fresh glamour to this Sunday afternoon ritual.

This cheery diner might be located deep in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, but it’s immensely popular, particularly with families. It’s both child- and dog-friendly, and there’s an enormous play area out front. Once you’ve finished snapping photos of the kitsch interiors, sink your teeth into a mushroom Swiss burger or enjoy a refreshing glass of sarsaparilla from the restored 1940s soda fountain. 

Fireside lunches in cheerful pubs are one of the great pleasures of the UK winter, and this score of snug venues all come with somewhere to stay as well as cobweb-clearing walks from the door.

here are two ways for a walker to work up an appetite. Tramp over moorland and collapse into a pub to scarf a pile of carbs. Or do a gentle pastoral ramble, so you have enough energy to appreciate the awaiting food. As my Bowland outing was going to conclude at the Parkers Arms – the UK’s no 1 gastropub, its 12th best restaurant and gold medallist at the British Pie Awards – I tried the easy option. That walk can be found here. It’s a pleasant, well-trodden route but, frankly, lazy. How can you justify a full-on feast without burning off a few calories?

The highest echelon of hotels know how to take an experience and bed it into something that lives on in the heart. The world’s finest perfumiers do a remarkably similar job. So it’s fitting that - increasingly - the two are coming together as hoteliers create brilliantly evocative scents - and perfumiers pay homage to their favorite hotels creating an experiential circle of glorious memories.

Over the last decade or so, Lisbon has emerged as one of Europe’s top tourist destinations.