dogs

HAVING a cosy weekend away to look forward to makes winter all the more exciting.

But it’s especially fantastic when you can save an extra 15 per cent on your stay with The Inn Collection Group.

Claim an extra 15% off (+ dogs stay free) with code ICG_WOOF15

Whether you’re after a coastal escape to a seaside castle, a Snowdonia staycation with waterfalls on your doorstep, or an Edwardian manor with manicured gardens – we’ve got you covered.

We’ve hand-picked these UK breaks in spots like Yorkshire, Wales and the Lakes because they make for fantastic winter escapes, plus all of them are dog-friendly, too.

If you do bring the pooch along, they can even have a bite to eat from Sir Woofchester’s dog menu, where they can have their own mini roast dinner, fish and chips or even a Paw Star dog martini.

Here’s the winter staycations you can book today and bag an extra 15 per cent off – plus bring the dog along for free.

SNOW WAY

UK holiday parks BETTER in winter with 30C waterparks, forest pubs & £3pp a night

HOLY COW

I stayed at glam farm resort from Made in Chelsea with huge roasts & ‘pig’ pods

The Wateredge Inn, The Lake District

If you’re looking for a budget-friendly base to explore the Lake District, The Wateredge Inn in Ambleside is a great pick.

This waterside pub with rooms sits right on the shoreline of Lake Windermere, with a waterfront dining terrace perfect for a pint with a view.

In the restaurant, dine on everything from hot honey chicken burgers (£18.95) to ‘our famous lasagne’ (£17.50) – just make sure to save room for the sticky toffee brownie sundae for dessert (£8.50).

Rooms start from £80.10 per night on a B&B basis.

Claim an extra 15% off (+ dogs stay free) with code ICG_WOOF15

The Swallow Falls Inn, Snowdonia

Sitting steps away from a waterfall in Snowdonia National Park, The Swallow Falls Inn is worlds away from the everyday grind.

The charming inn provides your pick of 39 cosy rooms to return to after a day’s exploring the outdoors, plus a pub with a popular Thursday steak and wine night (£25pp).

The hotel is only two miles away from Betws-y-Coed, a gorgeous village with dense forests and lakes sitting on the Conwy Valley railway line.

Rooms start from £85.50 per night on a B&B basis.

Claim an extra 15% off (+ dogs stay free) with code ICG_WOOF15

The Tynemouth Castle Inn

This sprawling Castle Inn has stood overlooking the the shore of Tynemouth‘s Longsands Beach for over 80 years.

There’s 72 plush bedrooms here, with the option to stay in a sea-view rooms, offering you a front-row view to glorious seaside sunsets.

Whether you’re up for a breezy winter beach walk, or prefer dipping into the shops and cafes in the charming local village, it’s a great spot for a calming weekend away.

Rooms start from £89 per night on a B&B basis.

Claim an extra 15% off (+ dogs stay free) with code ICG_WOOF15

The Ripon Inn, North Yorkshire

Stay in a restored Edwardian hotel in the North Yorkshire countryside, just steps from the charming city of Ripon and its impressive cathedral.

The property sits on six acres of beautifully landscaped gardens, giving making it feel like a country manor retreat. Inside is all grand staircases and original fireplaces, as well as a stylish, botanical-themed bar.

This hotel prides itself on its hearty Sunday roasts, which are served carvery-style with a selection of tender meats and giant Yorkies.

Rooms start from £89 per night on a B&B basis.

Claim an extra 15% off (+ dogs stay free) with code ICG_WOOF15

The Stables, Whitby

Visit the scenic North York Moors with a stay at this 17th century farmhouse-turned cosy countryside inn.

Stay in a courtyard room with far-reaching field views, and enjoy traditional meals in The Stables, the warm and friendly on-site Yorkshire pub.

You’ll be based in Whitby, with its picturesque seaside harbour, Gothic abbey ruins and dramatic coastal paths on your doorstep.

Rooms start from £84 per night on a B&B basis.

Claim an extra 15% off (+ dogs stay free) with code ICG_WOOF15

Discount code: ICG_WOOF15 expires on 30/11/2026 11:59pm (BST)
Terms and Conditions:
Valid for stays from 11/09/2026-03/10/2026 for stays arriving before 17/03/2027. Special rate includes: 15% off our flexible Bed & Breakfast rate and up to two dogs per room, per night free of charge. Subject to availability and choice, excludes black out dates.

Prices correct at the time of publication.

Rachel felt a little unwell in the Canary Islands hotel they were staying in in October – then suddenly collapsed

A British mum who thought she had come down with a nasty cold collapsed and died while on holiday abroad. Rachel Weston, 42, was away with her husband, Mark, 41, and two friends when she started to feel unwell.

The carer, from Bury, Greater Manchester, went to a pharmacy and at first seemed to be getting better. However, her condition then deteriorated, leading the couple to arrange emergency flights back home for the next day.

But Rachel then suddenly collapsed in their hotel room in Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote. Hotel lifeguards tried to help before paramedics turned up, but tragically she couldn’t be saved.

Local reports say Rachel suffered a cardiac arrest, though an underlying medical cause hasn’t been publicly confirmed. Mark said: “My world was completely turned upside down with the sudden and heartbreaking loss of my gorgeous wife, Rachel, while we were on holiday.

“Rachel and I were together for 11 years and one day – sadly only married for two of those years, but every single day was full of love, laughter and partnership.”

Rachel was a loving stepmum to Mark’s three children, Steven, 22, Charley, 19, and Mikey, 15. Mark described his late wife as “the absolute heart of our home”, adding that she had poured herself into helping him raise the children.

The couple tied the knot on May 11, 2024 after a memorable on-stage proposal at a Bowling for Soup concert. Mark contacted the band’s frontman, Jaret Reddick, before its December 2022 show in Torquay and was invited on stage during Punk Rock 101 to ask Rachel to marry him.

Rachel worked as a carer at Regency Care Home and had devoted her professional life to looking after others. She was also deeply attached to the couple’s two dogs, Maisie and Padmé. Mark said: “Losing her so unexpectedly is a total nightmare.

“Between planning the funeral and keeping life steady for the kids, it’s a massive weight to carry.” Rachel’s funeral is due to take place on November 6. Mark has launched a fundraiser in memory of his “beautiful wife” to help cover the costs.

He has requested that mourners wear something purple, which was Rachel’s favourite colour. To donate to the fundraiser, visit the GoFundMe web page here.

When federal prosecutors charged 28 California immigrants with illegally registering to vote, they invited friendly media outlets to document the early morning arrest of one suspect.

At a news conference in Los Angeles this week, First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli intoned that the defendants’ alleged crimes proved President Trump’s long-held conspiracy theory that voter fraud threatens democracy and that noncitizens are voting by the boatload. Mug shots of the accused — lawful permanent residents, some of whom said they didn’t recall registering to vote — were displayed as if they were part of a Mafia-like conspiracy.

It all felt staged for maximum humiliation.

So what happened to a Costa Mesa woman who registered her dog to vote and attempted to cast ballots for it in two elections?

There was no perp walk for Laura Lee Yourex, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. No melodramatic news conference from Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer.

Nah, Spitzer dismissed Yourex’s case after she paid $1,500 for four electronic billboards along the 22 and 55 freeways. They feature a photo of her late boxer Maya Jean sporting an “I Voted” sticker alongside a warning — “Don’t be a dog. Voter Fraud is a Crime” — and the district attorney’s election fraud hotline number.

Yourex’s attorney has said she was trying to expose flaws in the state’s voter registration system by showing that even a dog could cast a ballot, a gimmick for which Spitzer had little sympathy.

He’s usually the modern-day equivalent of a hanging judge, the type of hard ass who wants his prosecutors to not only throw the book at defendants but also to bury them with a library. In an email, he told me that his office has successfully prosecuted two other voter fraud cases during his eight years in office and is pursuing three current ones. But as serious as voter fraud is, Spitzer has never preened in these cases the way Essayli has.

The Republican stalwart declined to comment on Essayli’s approach, saying he’s “not privy to any of the evidence in those cases.” When I asked why he chose a chuckle-inducing billboard as Yourex’s punishment, he argued that it successfully “address[ed] the harm that is done when engaging in this type of criminal behavior.”

Leave it to the Trump administration to make Spitzer — whose campaign slogan for his 2022 reelection was “#NoLAinOC” — come off as a big ol’ liberal softy. But when it comes to voter fraud, at least he’s meting out penalties that fit the crime, while Essayli is once again making Trump his North Star, not the Constitution.

The defendants charged with voter fraud deserve punishment, if they are indeed guilty. But as my colleagues Brittny Mejia and Kevin Rector reported, citing election experts, cases of noncitizens registering to vote are often a result of administrative error or confusion on the part of immigrants, for example, if they accidentally check a box at the DMV.

Essayli’s record as Trump’s top lawman in Southern California — he can’t even call himself the region’s U.S. attorney, since he hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate — is so laughable that I wouldn’t believe him if he claimed that water is wet.

His prosecutors have gone after activists involved in protests against Trump’s masked deportation goons with shoddy charges that were dropped, rejected by grand juries, ridiculed as “amateur hour” by a federal judge or resulted in not guilty verdicts. He’s a lackey who silently stood and watched last year as FBI agents tackled Alex Padilla during a news conference in Los Angeles just because the U.S. senator dared to challenge then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s ludicrous defense of mass immigration raids. He’s a coward who regularly declines to talk to press outlets — including The Times — that don’t think Trump is the greatest president in history.

Unsurprisingly, my request to interview Essayli — or at least receive emailed answers to questions including whether every felony defendant gets arrested with a phalanx of armed officers surrounding their home, whether that’s occurred in other voter fraud cases and whether his office regularly releases mug shots of felony defendants — went unanswered.

Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer said his office is pursuing three voter fraud cases.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Mejia and Rector spoke to some of the accused immigrants and their families swept up by “Operation Protect the Vote,” who were bewildered as to what they had done wrong and why the U.S. Justice Department was swinging such a heavy hammer against them. They shouldn’t be.

What Essayli is doing in the name of rooting out voter fraud isn’t about upholding the law. It’s about validating Trump’s xenophobia. The show trials the defendants will probably face are not about getting rid the worst of the worst, as Trump long claimed. It’s about casting suspicion on all immigrants, legal and not.

What’s especially ironic — no, disgusting — about Essayli’s claims that immigrants who wrongly register to vote are disenfranchising American citizens is that the portrait of this country’s biggest election scofflaw hangs in every federal courthouse. It was Trump who wanted Congress to stop the electoral college from formalizing his 2020 loss to Joe Biden, claiming that Democrats stole the White House from him, and provoked a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol.

But facts have never stopped Essayli from making a pendejo out of himself. His pathetic, dangerous charade reminds me of an infamous voter fraud case from 30 years ago. I wrote about it this summer when Trump first announced he was going to sic the Justice Department on noncitizens who were supposedly voting en masse.

Back then, Loretta Sanchez forever changed O.C. politics when she beat Republican Rep. Bob Dornan by fewer than 1,000 votes. Like Trump, Dornan claimed he lost because of immigrants who illegally voted. Like today’s GOP, sympathetic prosecutors and lawmakers at the local and federal levels spent way too much time and taxpayer money looking into the baseless allegations.

Just as Operation Protect the Vote has already shown this year, with only 28 charged out of about 23 million registered voters in California, Sanchez’s 1996 victory was not achieved through a vast immigrant voting conspiracy.

At least in the Dornan fiasco, Republicans finally dropped their investigation and moved on. The few immigrants who did vote improperly had their ballots tossed but otherwise faced no legal problems.

I doubt Trump and Essayli will give up so easily. That would require humility, mercy and the ability to admit they’re wrong.

But hey, if a dog can cast a vote in California, I guess anything’s possible.