As I drove through the beautiful woodland lined driveway of Foxhills Golf and Country Club I caught glimpses of lush green fairways and pristine greens. I suspected I was in for a treat. When I rounded the bend and came face to face with Foxhills Manor House I knew for sure. Foxhills golf club in Surrey is the perfect venue for a winter weekend getaway and I spent a fabulous couple of days there with the girls last month.
I recently spent a literary weekend break in Paris exploring the haunts and hangouts of Paris’ glittering literati. From cafes and cemeteries to bookstores and Bouquinistes I utterly indulged my inner bookworm. This alone made it a weekend to remember but our library themed suite made it the Man Booker prize winner of brilliant weekends! Read on for details…
Long-haul adventures are always exciting but I love exploring the UK too. We’re lucky to have an amazing choice of unique destinations filled with history, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, World Heritage sites and a quirky charm that only the UK can offer. This year has seen me exploring Ilfracombe and the craggy coasts of beautiful North Devon in south west England. I’ve also been somewhere I’ve wanted to visit for the longest time. The Cotswolds has eluded me until this year when I finally got to visit the area. We did it in style with a stay at The Wood Norton Hotel in Evesham a luxury Cotswold Hotel.
My first family holiday in North Devon was when I was three years old. It was 1967 and my Dad drove my Mum, me, my baby brother and my grandparents from Hove all the way down to Devon in a blue VW Dormobile. Apparently we did cool things before we even knew they were cool!
We stayed in a caravan at Woolacombe Sands and spent our days on the wide sandy beach. I remember my Grandad bringing me a crab he’d caught in a bucket and being absolutely terrified of it. We had donkey rides and ice creams, played in the sea and built sandcastles. Happy days.
Things to do in North Devon and why it makes the perfect family holiday destination…
In April I went back to North Devon for another family holiday. Mr Jones, my son, his girlfriend and their four-month baby Jack came too. This time I was the grandparent! What goes around eh… Our base for the week was Horizons in Ilfracombe, North Devon, a modern, seaside themed apartment overlooking the town’s pretty harbour.
Barbados in February. Does it get any better? White powdery sand, turquoise seas, wall-to-wall sunshine, rum punch and reggae. That’s what I was expecting from my first visit to Barbados in the Caribbean when we jetted off from a cold, grey Gatwick last month. The island was happy to oblige and ticked all the boxes but she also threw in a few happy surprises including the wonderful Barbados boutique hotel Cobblers Cove and further round the island the wild and dramatic scenery of the East Coast beaches.
Who doesn’t love a weekend exploring a new place, especially when it’s home to a quirky pier, a lighthouse and rows of colourful beach huts. Add in the Salthouse Harbour Hotel and the company of my daughter, Amy, and that ticks all my boxes. We set off to the English county of Suffolk to visit Southwold and Ipswich on a girly weekend.
