Swindon

Swindon is a large town in South West England, in the county of Wiltshire. It was originally a small market town, used mainly for barter trade up until 1848. As Swindon grew, this part of the town became known as the ‘Old Town’. This ‘Old Town’ part of Swindon is packed with courtyards and alleyways filled with a mixture of traditional and trendy shops, pubs, cafes and restaurants.

In 1840, with the arrival of the Great Western Railway, Swindon grew rapidly. A whole ‘new’ town was built. It lay between the railway works and Swindon Hill. This ‘new’ town is now modern day Swindon’s town centre. The town centre is also the retail centre of Swindon. Parts of the city centre have been pedestrianised to allow people to enjoy the shops either in the indoor shopping centre or in the surrounding area. Some of the UK’s best known high street names have stores in Swindon’s city centre.

What to do in Swindon

Visit the Steam museum, a museum which tells the story of the impact the Great Western Railway had in the area, including the growth of Swindon in the 1800s. The museum is housed in a restored Grade II listed railway building that was in the heart of the Swindon railway works in its heyday. The museum brings to life the workers and the trains that were an integral part to Swindon’s development.

Swindon Museum & Art Gallery is located in the Old Town. It is home to many displays about the local history in the area as well as one of the best collections of 20th century art by British artists outside London.

Swindon Town Gardens is one of the town’s most attractive and popular places. The gardens are carefully laid out and contain some nice walks lined with trees and colourful flowers. In the summer, local bands and orchestras play in the Victorian bandstand. Concerts are also held in the Town Gardens.

Lydiard House & Park is ancestral home of the Viscounts Bolingbrook. The house contains many of the original furnishings, ornate plasterwork as well as portraits and other paintings collected by the family over the years. The estate also has stunning walled gardens which are definitely worth a walk around.

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Where to stay in Swindon

Swindon is a great place to have a short break away and there are plenty of hotels in Swindon to choose from should you decide to visit. Several well known hotel chains have properties in Swindon including VILLAGE, Best Western, Holiday Inn and more. There are also many B&B’s and Inns should you prefer to support small local businesses.

Things to do in Ashford, Kent

Kent is a really amazing place in the country. It has wonderful countryside, great towns and also has fantastic links to other parts of the country, especially London. One of these great Kent towns is Ashford. Ashford is a market town near Canterbury, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells and Hastings. Ashford is also a short distance from Folkstone, where the Eurotunnel trains depart to Calais.

Smallhythe Place

Smallhythe Place is an early 16th Century house that was once the home of Victorian actress Ellen Terry. You can visit the cottage which contains many interesting theatre related items collected by Ellen Terry throughout her career. There is also a barn theatre which puts on shows, lovely gardens to stroll through and a small exhibition about shipbuilding which took place when the cottage was built.

Kent and East Sussex Railway

The Kent & East Sussex Railway stakes claims to being the world’s first light railway. The railway was originally opened in 1900. The line possesses tight curves and steep gradients. This is typical of small railways built to bring trains to sparsely populated areas and small villages. In the 1950’s, the original railway met its demise but the great work of dedicated volunteers seen the railway open back up in 1974 as an attraction. The railway runs from Tenterden to Bodiam Castle.

Godington House

Godinton House is an ancient estate set in lovely formal gardens. It is one of the most fascinating houses in Kent, with items from the 14th Century on display. Once you have seen the house, you can explore the amazing gardens.

The Chapel Down Winery

The Chapel Down Winery is home to the largest producer of wines in England. Visitors can check out the Wine and Food Store where they'll locate the best Kentish and English food and drink available. Guided tours of the vineyard and winery are available from March to October plus tasting and vineyard walks throughout the year.

Ashford Designer Outlet

Ashford’s Designer Outlet is one of the most spectacular places to shop. The outlet is home to over seventy stores that offer massive savings on many famous named brands.

 Ashford is a town that has clearly a lot to offer and if you factor in the surrounding Kent area, its a pretty special place to visit.

Warrington

Warrington is a town in the county of Cheshire in North West England. Warrington sits on the banks of the River Mersey and lies 16 miles east of Liverpool.

Warrington was founded by the Romans during their conquering of Britain. The Romans seen thisspot as an ideal crossing point on the River Mersey. The Industrial Revolution allowed Warrington grow both commercially and residential. Warrington became a manufacturing town with a large steel industry as well as many others. Warrington flourished as the River Mersey was made more accessible, with canals being built to help navigate through the Mersey.

Places of Interest

Parr Hall and Pyramid are two of the North West’s leading arts and entertainment venues, hosting many well known music, comedy, dance, drama, theatre performers. The Pyramid is also a great place to get involved in a variety of community classes and workshops from dancing classes to learning how to draw or paint.

Warrington Museum and Art Gallery underwent a refurbishment and reopened last year. In the museum you can expect to find many treasures from the natural world. Rare rocks, fossilised footprints, glittering gems and Warrington’s very own ‘Dinosaur’ are displayed all year round. Other exhibits change throughout the year, featuring some works of famous modern day artists.

Walton Hall is located three miles from Warrington town centre and is set amongst thirty acres of beautiful parkland. In the thirty acres includes the Walton Hall Garden’s. These gardens are beautifully landscaped and are great fun for families. There are great country walks to be found in the gardens. Golf enthusiasts can play a round at the championship standard Walton Hall Golf Club designed by David Thomas and Peter Allis. Walton Hall also has a zoo, great entertainment for the kids. The zoo is home to many birds and animals.

Warrington is also famous as a sporting town. The town’s premier sport is Rugby League. The town’s Warrington Wolves is one of the most famous Rugby Leagues in the country, being the only team to have played every season in the top flight of rugby league. The Warrington Wolves won the Challenge Cup for two years running 2009 and 2010 and won the Super LeagueLeaders Shield for the first time in 2011.

Places to Stay

Warrington has many plenty of places to stay whether you are visiting the area for leisure or business and to suit your budget. There is several luxury 4 or more star hotels in Warrington as well as some quaint and friendly B&B’s located throughout the town, making your stay in Warrington as enjoyable as possible.

Unique Hotels - Woodlyn Park

Woodlyn Park is in the middle of a working farm near the Wiatomo Caves and has a number of unusual lodging experiences for you and your family to try out. Join Billy Black and the team at their famous Woodlyn Park to experience New Zealand traditional crafts and shows and stay in some of the most unique stays not only in New Zealand but possibly the whole world.

Woodlyn Park has 4 amazing unique stays:

Plane Motel

A 50's Bristol Freighter Plane fully refurbished into 2 beautiful self contained accommodations. This plane was among the last allied planes out of Vietnam. Could possibly be the only accommodation of its type in the world? Beautifully decorated this unique accommodation is surprisingly affordable.

Train Motel

The Waitomo Express is a 1918 Rail Carriage superbly refurbished. The carriage has 2 separate sleeping rooms, perfect for family stays. The Waitomo Express sleeps up to 6 people with 1 Double Bed, and 2 sets of single bunks.

Underground Motel

The “Hobbits” are 2 units containing a kitchen and their very own shower and toilet facilities. The Hobbits can hold up to 6 guests in each unit. The 2 units available each have a separate room with two sets of bunks and a double bed in the main living area.

Boat Motel

The “Waitanic” is a converted WWII patrol boat. The boat was originally named “The Motunui” and used for anti submarine patrols during WWII. The Waitanic has 5 separate rooms including “The Captains Room which is a luxurious suite.

Unusual Hotels - Jumbo Stay, Sweden

Another hotel in Stockholm but this one is not underground. Doesn’t sound very unusual so far but this hotel is set in a 1976 converted jumbo jet and is located at the Stockholm Arlanda Airport.

The hotel offers several room options from single to quad dormitory options, all with separate shared shower and toilet facilities.

The hotel also has a luxury suite which has been fitted in the planes converted cockpit with an en-suite bathroom and panoramic views of the airport.

The upper deck lounge is now where the bar and cafe can be found and is open to non-residents.

Unusual Hotels - Sala Silvermine, Sweden

I’m sure sleeping 155 metres underground isn’t to everyone’s liking but at the Sala Silvermine hotel, they offer just that. The hotel offers normal accommodation too. There are single, twin and double rooms above ground but what makes this hotel unique is its mine suite.

The mine suite is 500ft underground and can only be accessed via a mine-shaft lift. The room is lit by candlelight, has a double bed, modern chairs and table but unfortunately no en-suite bathroom. A toilet is available 50m from the mine suite and showers are available above ground. There is no mobile phone coverage whatsoever; the only communication to the outside world is through the intercom to reception.

Upon arrival you get a guided tour of the underground level. For this it is better to wrap up warm as it is only 2 degrees Celsius (don’t worry, the suite is warmed to 18 degrees). The guide then takes you to your room where you are greeted with a basket containing cheese, biscuits, fruit, sparkling wine and chocolates. In the morning you will be served breakfast by one of the hotel staff. After breakfast you will be taken to ground level via the mine-shaft lift.

One of the UKs top city break destinations - “ Leeds

Leeds is one of the most popular city break destinations in the UK amount UK citizens and international tourists.

Leeds holds its own against the bigger cities in terms of attractions, things to do and nightlife.

Amazingly, Leeds is the only UK city outside the capital to have its own repertory theatre, ballet and opera house.

Leeds is also the home of the Royal Armouries museum were visitors can examine the exhibits of yesteryears war efforts.

For shopaholics Leeds boasts to have over 5 miles of shopping streets and has one the United Kingdom’s largest pedestrianised areas for shoppers to go about their business traffic free.

Voted as one of top 30 things to do in the UK by Rough Guide to Britain – making Leeds one of the UKs top shopping haunts.

Leeds is also famous for its sporting heritage with world renowned Leeds Football Club who ply their trade at Elland Road Stadium.

Other large sports teams in Leeds are Leeds Rhinos who play in the Rugby League, Leeds Carnegie who play in rugby union and Yorkshire County Cricket club who play cricket. All the above play in the Headingly Stadium sports complex.

The area is also peppered with championship golf courses and some of the best mountain biking trails the UK has to offer.

Most popular hotel in Leeds city centre - The Queens

According to Tripadvisor reviews Leeds is the fourteenth most popular hotel in the city.

Out of four hundred and forty-five reviews the hotel scored an impressive 4 out of 5 by guests who have previously stayed there.

 Guest reviews revealed

• 175 guests thought the city centre hotel was excellent
• 162 reviews rated the hotel as very good
• 53 guests thought the Leeds hotel was average
• 32 reviews rated the hotel as poor
• 23 guests thought the Leeds hotel was terrible

The reviews reveal the hotel is very popular among guests with only a low portion of visitors having a not so good experience.

The Queens hotel in Leeds city centre may not have made the top ten list however, due to its location, facilities and room rates this hotel has to be taken seriously by visitors coming to the city.

Room rates for the Queens hotel in the city centre fluxuate much depending on factors such as demand and availability.

The formal Queens Grill Restaurant is very popular among tourists and locals alike as is the more mellow Queens Bar.The hotels fine dining options in the Queens Grill Restaurant and the Queens bar make the Queens popular with locals as well as tourists.

There are many Leeds conference venues in the city but with 16 meeting rooms and space for over 600 delegates make the Queens hotel in Leeds popular among big businesses.

For city break tourists Leeds is a must visit destination.

The QueensCity SquareLeedsLS1 1PJ