From May to September at venues along the 95 miles of Jurassic Coast from Exmouth to Studland Bay, towns and communities will be participating in and enjoying a wide range of events to celebrate England’s only natural World Heritage Site. It is billed as the greatest ‘rock’ festival in the history of the world.

Recently we have had was “No Trousers on the Tube” Day which was held as part of the international “Global No Pants on the Subway Day.” Maybe you wouldn’t have gone to see that one but there are lots of “interesting events” that happen each year that will give a good day out.

Farmhouse Breakfast Week (22 – 28 January 2012) is the time that hundreds of events take place across the country celebrating the most important meal of the day.

As Christmas in the UK rapidly approaches, and kids are starting to write their letters to Father Christmas. December 6th is still the main day for gift giving and merrymaking in much of Europe.

We understand that many of you will be struggling to find things to do with your kids today, as a result of the strikes in many schools across the country. Here’s a few fab ideas…

Mistletoe is great for warming up winter with kisses – so wrap up warm and make your way to Tenbury Wells Mistletoe Festival on 3rd December 2011, National Mistletoe Day!

Starting today, the chocolate festival in Brugge begins: Choco-Laté is a chocolate festival like no other. It is truly the place to go for everyone who is mad about chocolate.

Although many parts of Thailand have been affected by floods, they are expected to recede in a few weeks, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) team have welcomed guests at this week’s World Travel Market with smiles and enthusiasm, despite the damage that the floods are causing back home.

When Dubrovnik was part of Yugoslavia, it was one of the most popular of destinations for Brits to visit. The split up of the country set visitor numbers tumbling. Now they are on the rise again as new visitors find – and previous ones rediscover – just what a beautiful city this is.

Starving after a long hard day of meetings in Edinburgh, for which I had left my house at 5am that morning, I got on the train in Edinburgh back to Crewe. I knew it was going to be a long, hard day, so had deliberately booked into first class – that way, I could sit back, relax and enjoy a hot meal and a drink and reflect over the days events in peace.Couldn’t I?

When you’re looking for something to do with kids during the summer, bear in mind that certain places have “kids go free” offers in August. The cost of taking a couple of under-twelves to places can really mount up so here is a list of some organisations that have such schemes.

Around 1.4 million visitors come to Wrexham each year to enjoy the town and the surrounding attractions.
Why?
One reason they might come this year is because it is the Wrexham Year of Culture and has a whole year of events planned. Included in that is the fact that this year in August the National Eisteddfod [...]

It is often said that it is the little things that you remember. And tell others. Quite the worst customer service I’ve had in a long, long time made me quite embarrassed at how some overseas visitors saw what happened at the weekend.

Cathrene returns to the tip of Cornwall with Poppy to explore more of this great holiday destination

Just opened is a new experience in the North West, WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre in Burscough near Ormskirk: – a canoe safari. In June 2010, WWT Martin Mere started work to create 2.4 hectares of new reed bed, wet woodland and wet grassland (swamp) to offer families and adults a safe and fun way to explore wetlands and its rich biodiversity in a canoe.

For as long as I can remember, Jodrell Bank played a large part in my life. It was where my parents would take my brother and I at the weekend, where we went on school trips, and, in the past couple of years, proved to be a great place to simply go and think. There is something awe-inspiring about such an enormous telescope situated in the middle of the Cheshire

I kid you not!

A few weeks ago, I took a trip back in time: 330 million years ago, during the Lower Carboniferous – Britain was located just south of the equator and Derbyshire was a series of tropical seas, crisscrossed by deep water gulfs, shallow lagoons with fringing and patch reefs.

In most parts of the world, Saint Valentine’s Day on the 14th of February, and is the celebration of Love and Affection. Traditionally (and commercially!) it is marked by the exchange of flowers, chocolates and greeting cards, but is now also used as an excuse to have a romantic weekend away.
There are many facts and figures about the history of St Valentine’s Day, which I am not going to bore you with, however I would like to offer a few alternatives for this over-commercialised day: Forget the gifts and flowers, the weekends away and the social obligation of a romantic meal out in an over-priced and over-flowing restaurant this Valentine’s Day, and stray from the norm.

If you can’t beat the snow, join it!

Thats what lots of people decided to do last weekend and, this weekend, even more may venture north. A Nevis a week ago, over 800 Skiers/Sledgers/Snowboarders opted to “Go with the snow” taking to the slopes which opened for snowsports a fortnight earlier than planned on 4-5 December 2010.

Marian Austin, Nevis Range MD commented, “We hadn’t planned to open until Saturday 18 December as we were, and still are, in the midst of our maintenance period. However, with the early snowfall the conditions had been improving steadily and a good base of snow has now built up across most of the ski area. We were all delighted with the weekend and the conditions were described as being brilliant for so early in the season, with hardly any queuing.”

So it looks as though this weekend many are opoting to do the same judging by the number of last minute bookings that are being received. For those it’s a chance to get some practice earlier than usual and without the hassle of having to dig out a passport. Be aware though that due to the ongoing construction work there will still be no Equipment Hire or Snowsports School. Thereafter Nevis Range plans to open fully for its winter season on Saturday 18 December.
On the other side of the country in the Glencoe area, they are also reporting a surge in last minute bookings having has a good weekend last week.

The seasoned traveller is used to dealing with many obstacles: Landslides up mountains, floods, broken down cars, rough weather in the Irish sea….. but how do you feel about taking a jet ski from China to Japan?! (see direction #43)
Google, from Japan to China by Jetski
Or Kayaking over the Pacific Ocean from Sydney [...]

Autumn leavesAutumn. Sigh…. My favourite time of the year! Clear blue skies (sometimes), crisp morning frosts and leaves varying so much in colour and contrasting with the skies that artists struggle to reproduce this wonderful time of the year on canvas!
In a country which offers such a large variety of geological/topological [...]

On Saturday before last, I took my mother and Sami (a Finnish guest) to the North West Food Lovers Festival at Tatton Park. With 120 delicious food and drink stalls selling the best produce available from across Cheshire and surroundings, it promised to be good day out (in addition to convincing a foreigner that we [...]

Despite having visited, and lived in, many wonderful cities in Europe, if you were to ask me what my favourite city was, I would always say Chester. It has everything: over 2000 years of history, beautiful architecture representing over a thousand years of building, countryside appeal and (for those who want it!) a world-famous racecourse and ample shopping!

Three women, one dog, a geology hammer and a long weekend

At the end of May I turned 32. No biggie (well, a bigger number than I would am comfortable with!) but, in February, some friends and I thought it would be nice to get away for a few days. May is a good time to visit Glen Coe and, since the Open University Geological Society had organised a couple of days “geologizing” in Glen Coe, that’s where we headed.

Once again, I am going to relate what I am learning in my Geology studies to today: the Summer Solstice.
As you might remember from your science classes at school, our planet takes just over 365 days to orbit the Sun, a process upon which our calendar year is based. The Earth’s axis is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees: different parts of the Earth receive varying amounts of sunlight during the year, giving us our four seasons. The Summer Solstice, on the 21st June, represents the longest day of the year.

£100 for a long weekend (four days) away? Yes, it is possible! We found a basic (but extremely clean) campsite just outside Bristol, which only cost £15 for three nights.  After pitching the tent, we went for a quick walk in the surrounding woodland, before bed. The next day (Saturday) we set off for the [...]

The recession, an exchange rate which make England look cheap to the rest of Europe and a rise in unemployment is leaving most of the country wondering whether they can even afford a holiday in 2010.  I am one of those people and add a dog to the equation (with kennels costing from £14/night!) and [...]

I awoke this morning to the roaring of bomber planes attacking my house…. By the time my brain was functioning, I realized that in fact World War III had not commenced: The Thundersprint has started!
The Thundersprint is one of the biggest Motorcycle events in Europe : Which basically means an enormous motorcycle party, the hub of which is contained in the large Marks & Spencer car park in the centre of Northwich, but the whole town is blocked off to vehicles for the event (in addition to a shaking house as I live on the main street into Northwich from the M6!). Even Lidl has Motorcycle equipment on offer for the event, and many local businesses remain open!