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Best of the rest
By Malcolm Rogers
 ACCOMMODATION
Hotel of the week
Marlfield House Co. Wexford boasts four poster beds, gilt mirrors galore,
feathery down pillows, bathrooms you can get lost in, antiques, curios
and peacocks strutting around the garden.
You’re probably getting the picture — this is about as far
away from a multi-chain hotel as you can get.
Marlfield still has the extravagant decor installed by Mary Bowe in 1989.
With the aid of architect Alfred Cochrane, a master of lavish interior
design, she extended the original Regency house.
Daughters Margaret and Laura Bowe now run the house, with acclaimed chef
Colin Byrne at the helm in the kitchen.
It’s worth the journey to the south-east to sample his food in the
sumptuous surroundings of his conservatory restaurant, complete with mirrored
ceilings.
Dinner costs from e50-70. Sunday lunch is generally e45.
This is the Irish country house experience writ large — the house
elegant and interesting, the Wexford countryside enticing.
Marlfield House, Courtown Road, Gorey, Co. Wexford
Tel 00 353 53 942 1124
www.marlfieldhouse.com
(Member of Relais & Chateaux)
Single rooms from e120, mews e210, superior rooms e250, state rooms e405.
ACTIVITIES
Say cheese in Cavan
At Corleggy Farmhouse on the River Erne in Co. Cavan, cheese maker Silke
Cropp will show you how she takes raw milk from local herds of goats,
cows and sheep to make her award-winning cheeses.
Stay at the charming Olde Poste Inn nearby.
One-day Summer Cheese School at Corleggy Farmhouse (00353 49 52 2930,
www.corleggy.com) e150 including
lunch and wine.
The Olde Post Inn www.theoldepostinn.com tel 00 353 47 55555 rooms from
e60.
Ryanair www.ryanair.com flies to
Belfast.
Car hire with Holiday Autos (0871472 5229, holidayautos.co.uk)
from £22 per day.
Stay in a brewery
The small medieval town of Bamberg in northern Bavaria has an impressive
11 breweries — and you can stay in one.
The Fassia Brewery has comfortable rooms and its own brew-pub.
The town’s signature brew is a dark, smoky concoction called rauchbier
— try it at the Heller Brewery with some smoked sausage.
In between sightseeing, you can pop into some of the 150-plus other pubs.
Fassia Brewery tel 00 49 95126516, www.faessia.de),
doubles from e60.
Air Berlin tel 0871 500 0737 www.airberlin.com
flies Stansted-Nuremberg.
Return U-Bahn/train to Bamberg.
High in the saddle in France
From beginners to experienced horse people, Les Juliannes Riding Centre
in the Tarn is the business.
Stay two minutes from the riding centre in a rustic 17th century farmhouse
and gather round the refectory table in the evening to swap riding stories
and enjoy leisurely dinners of regional cuisine.
A week costs from £470 pp sharing, including riding lessons, seven
nights’ half-board with wine at the farmhouse with outdoor pool
and return ferry crossings (Dover-Calais) for car and passengers.
Web: www.inntravel.co.uk/horse/tarn.htm
Exercise and gourmet cuisine
Fish and Pips have announced their summer programme of activities in the
Méribel Valley, France.
The activities, from hill-walking to canyoning (traversing cliff faces
by a mixture of climbing down and across the mountain face and wading
in ice-cold rock pools) take place against a backdrop of Alpine scenery.
Once the exercise is over for the day you can enjoy authentic Savoyard
cuisine washed down with a collection of handpicked, chateau and domaine-bottled
wines.
From June to September a week at the four-bedroom Chalet Le Christophe
(sleeps eight) costs £985.
Price includes seven nights’ catered chalet accommodation (daily
breakfast, picnic lunch and evening meal four days a week, plus unlimited
beer, wine and soft drinks throughout) and activity programme for up to
eight adults.
Flights and transfers arranged on request.
Tel 01483 421 777 www.fishandpips.co.uk
Get active in the Alps
Visit the Alps in June or early July with specialist family operator Esprit
and the kids go free.
The offer, for holidays to Kaprun in Austria, Chamonix in France and Saas
Fee in Switzerland, means that a family of four can spend a week in the
mountains for around e717 in total.
Activities include rock climbing, kayaking and mountain biking.
Price includes seven nights’ accommodation with breakfast, children’s
high tea and adult dinner six nights per week.
Tel 01252 618 300, www.esprit-holidays.co.uk
 Choosing
cruising
Saga, the leading tour operator for over-50s, has launched a selection
of ‘newcomers’ cruises, for those who haven’t taken
to the ocean wave before.
The taster cruises include Flavours of France and Belgium, a five-nighter
leaving from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, June 29.
Prices begin at £734 per person.
Saga is also offering a choice of five seven-night newcomers cruises to
the Norwegian Fjords, departing Dover and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
For example, the Norway’s Coastal Splendours cruise departs Dover
on September 2, 2008.
Prices for the seven-night trip from £999 per person.
Meals and entertainment are included.
Tel 0800 056 5880 www.saga.co.uk/travelshop
Bite the Big Apple
Worldwide Holidays is offering an eight-night holiday to New York departing
24 May.
Great sightseeing opportunities in the city, plus a rail trip up the Hudson
River Valley to explore the countryside north of New York city.
Price £1,253 per person includes return flights from Heathrow
and Manchester to New York, accommodation at The Hotel Newton, Upper West
Side of Manhattan Island, breakfasts and five dinners at local restaurants
and the services of a tour leader. Tel 01707 331133 www.ramblersholidays.co.uk
Pasta and pesto
New company Italian Hideaways is offering gourmet cookery holidays to
the region of Bergamo.
The eco company specialises in cookery holidays using only local, seasonal
and fresh ingredients.
Guests are accommodated at the newly-refurbished Villa Casa Gli Amici
del Bosco, a hillside property.
In addition to cookery courses and tours, Italian Hideaways also offers
skiing, cycling, walking, horse riding, golfing and shopping.
A weekend break costs approximately £850 per person, based on two
sharing. www.italianhideaways.co.uk
Flights to the region (Milan and Bergamo) are available from British Airways,
Ali Italia, Ryanair, Jet2 and BMI Baby with prices from approximately
£60 return.
Turkish delights
Turkey specialist Exclusive Escapes has added another course for its Method
Putkisto yoga and pilates holidays at the Dionysos Hotel on the Lycian
Coast.
The additional week’s course will run from May 3.
Method Putkisto is one of several learning holidays offered by Exclusive
Escapes, with a new creative writing course also at the Dionysos and a
Turkish vegetarian cuisine break at Yediburunlar mountain lodge available.
Tel: 020 8605 3500 or log-on to www.exclusiveescapes.co.uk
Prices from £1,200 per person (with no single supplement) including
flights from Heathrow, Gatwick or Manchester to Dalaman, transfers, seven
nights’ half-board accommodation, a day’s luxury gulet cruise
and all instruction.
Portuguese pilates
Algarve Retreats are offering pilates breaks at the luxury Oceânico
Estrela da Luz resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal from £325.
All packages include accommodation for four nights and a variety of pilates
and exercise classes
www.algarve-retreats.co.uk
NEWS
La Palma flights
Secret Destinations has launched direct flights to La Palma from Manchester
and Gatwick every Monday throughout the year.
A full range of self-catering accommodation is available through Secret
Destinations, from apartments and cottages to fincas and villas with pools
in La Palma and their tailor-made holiday service can also arrange flights,
car hire and holiday insurance.
Tel 0845 612 9000. www.secretdestinations.com
Irish holiday homes
The Irish company Holiday Homes Direct which launched in January 2007
now has over 1,000 privately-owned holiday homes listed on the site.
www.holidayhomesdirect.ie
Holiday Homes Direct have 1,000 properties listed on the site in over
40 countries (including, of course, Ireland) and offer a great choice
of holiday accommodation from apartments, self-catering holiday homes,
villas with private pools to remote farmhouses, gites and even some ‘cave’
houses.
Scandinavian flights are tops
Scandinavian Airlines Economy Class on intercontinental flights has been
ranked number one for the first time in the latest Global Airline Performance
(GAP) report.
Check-in, boarding and departure, cabin features and seating were among
the four categories for which SAS were awarded the accolade. |
