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Dorset’s take on the Mediterranean

Mudeford feels like one of England’s best-kept secrets, the sort of place visitors from abroad might never imagine exists here. Golden sand and sparkling water give it an almost Mediterranean feel, while Hengistbury Head adds beautiful coastal walks and wide-open views. Our perfect day is simple: arrive early, wander along the headland, let the children play on the beach, then stop at one of the relaxed cafes for lunch or an ice-cream. My tip is to take the little ferry across the harbour – it turns an already lovely day out into a proper seaside adventure.
Priti Singer

Lancashire’s Forest of Bowland

The Forest of Bowland covers a staggering 312 square miles of moorland, forests and valleys, dotted with the occasional village. It may be one of the best places for peace and quiet in England, and is also a Dark Skies area. It’s perfect for walkers and cyclists. I visited Gisburn forest (where I only met two other people during a five-hour hike); Barley village, which attracts lots of walkers who climb Pendle Hill; and, for spectacular scenery, a trip through the Trough of Bowland is a must. For town life, I’d recommend Skipton, a 35-minute drive away, which has it all with a castle, canal and plentiful shops and restaurants. It’s also the southern gateway to the Yorkshire Dales.
Cat

Crabbing and clean beaches in Suffolk

Walberswick is popular with walkers and birders, and young families who come here to relax and go swimming on the clean beach or crabbing in the creek. A brilliant way to arrive at the town is on the rowing-boat ferry (March to November) across the River Blyth from Southwold. It’s been in the same family for five generations. We had great seafood at heritage pubs like the Anchor and the Bell. Across the water, there’s a lot of wonderful fish shops and the famous Harbour Inn.
David Innes-Wilkin

In search of the Lundy Bunny, Devon

Lundy, off the north Devon coast, offers a hidden adventure for all ages by following the treasure trail of 27 Lundy letterboxes spread over the island. Some are wooden boxes, some metal, but they are all hidden. There’s a set of clues to follow, and stamps collected including the elusive Lundy Bunny. My two preteen boys and I loved our exploration of this remote granite island, binoculars and compass in hand, identifying letterboxes, birds and wildlife during our magical trip there.
Carol Godsmark

A spectacular rail trip in County Antrim

No trip I’ve made as an adult has matched the buzz of my annual childhood day trip from Derry to Portrush. The Troubles were at their peak but Portrush was still largely unscathed and had a totally different atmosphere to Derry. The journey was completed by train from Coleraine, and what a train journey it is. The train hogs the coast the whole way and we would be beside ourselves when the big dipper of Barry’s Amusements came into view. We would spend the morning on the beach, fish and chips for lunch and a few hours in Barry’s before heading home. Tuscany may be beautiful but do they sell sticks of rock?
Eve Kearney

An arty town in Shropshire

Foxholes campsite sits on a hill above the arty west Shropshire town of Bishop’s Castle. The views across the Shropshire hills are splendid, and a 10-minute walk through fields leads you past a stone Buddha into the town stretched along a medieval high street. Visit the House on Crutches museum to get a feel for Shropshire rural life history, and be sure to check out its two brilliant pubs: the Three Tuns is probably Britain’s oldest licensed brewery, having started in 1642, while the Six Bells provides an unpretentious family-friendly welcome. For us, though, the highlight was the Chai Shop and its charismatic owner Tahira. She serves delicious Indian snacks like bhajis and dal as well as traditional Indian sweets.
Matt Lunt

Camping in south Wales

We’re by no means an experienced camping family, but we pitched up on Rhydywernen Farm near Brecon after the last August bank holiday and were able to feed goats that were as happy and hoppy as it gets. Before falling asleep to the whisper of a nearby stream and mini-waterfalls, we spent time stargazing as there was no light pollution – it felt we were somehow closer to the stars. A cool stream helped soothe us after a day of hiking on Pen y Fan, the tallest peak in Britain south of Cadair Idris in Eryri (Snowdonia). We had only just bought a tent that summer and then we fell in love with Wales, so we keep coming back for more.
Izabela

Northumberland’s atmospheric border town

Berwick-upon-Tweed is one of those places that feels more dramatic than its size suggests. I have visited twice, and I loved simply walking around, camera in hand. Its slightly strange sense of being a border town seems to permeate everything. Stand beside the River Tweed and you can see three bridges together: the old Berwick Bridge, the elegant Royal Tweed Bridge and the great Victorian railway viaduct of the Royal Border Bridge. Add the Elizabethan walls, the North Sea and castle ruins, and Berwick feels perpetually poised between countries, centuries and land and sea. It makes a wonderfully atmospheric short break.
Susanna Callaghan

The natural wonders of the Wirral

The Wirral and its country park, south-west of Liverpool, is a brilliant under-the-radar place for a UK summer holiday, full of walks and beaches. Birkenhead Park is 57 hectares (140 acres) of meadows, fields, gardens, woodland, lakes and structures – we had picnics and family treasure hunts last summer. Opened in 1847, it inspired the 19th-century US landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted in his design of New York’s Central Park, so close your eyes and imagine you are in the Big Apple! Since 1995, it has been listed as a Grade I landscape by English Heritage. With its paths, fossil-hunting areas, bike trails and dramatic sunsets, Wirral country park helped us entertain our teenagers. Thurstaston beach and Port Sunlight village are great options too.
Nicoletta

Winning tip: Caribbean vibes on the Isle of Mull, Inner Hebrides

David Balfour’s Bay is a remote and breathtaking sandy bay with clear turquoise waters and pristine white sands in a stunning setting – the tidal island of Erraid, just off south-west Mull. The play of bright sunshine on crystal clear water and waves is dazzling – it’s a literally brilliant place to visit. Throw in a few palm trees and, on a clear day, you could imagine you were in Barbados – and the sea temperature can reach a pleasant 18C in August and September. To reach the bay, walk from lovely Knockvologan beach at low tide. This scenic walk can be extended to explore the north side of Erraid, where there are magnificent views of the Sound of Iona. Just be careful of tides so you don’t get caught there – a swim back is invigorating – as I found out after an overlong afternoon snooze when some lapping waves woke me up.
Peter

IT is the dancefloor hit that was the late Queen’s favourite song.

But we can reveal Abba’s Dancing Queen — released 50 years ago this week — almost had a completely different name and made the Swedish foursome cry the first time they heard the final edit.

In an exclusive interview to mark half a century of the song, which has been streamed more than two billion times and was voted the UK’s favourite dancefloor filler, ­historian Carl Magnus Palm explains that Abba still have unheard songs.

But friend of the band Carl fears the world will never hear them.

And he insists that members Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Frida Lyngstad have no interest in reforming.

Carl, who has known the band for 25 years, told The Sun: “Dancing Queen was one the songs that Abba are most proud of as its sound was so unique at the time they wrote it.

“But the lyrics didn’t come until a long time after the melody was formed.

“They told me that for weeks they sung nonsense words over the chorus.

The working title was ‘Boogaloo’ as they were the words they sung instead of Dancing Queen for a long time.

“I’m not sure it would’ve been the hit it is today if they had stuck with that. When they eventually found the lyrics and the song was finished, some of the band were reduced to tears, they found it so beautiful.”

On the prospect of them reforming and releasing of new songs, he added: “They seem very firm that they are going to enjoy their retirement and that they’ll be no more new music.

“However, I know there are a few songs which have never been heard. They were written for their last album and didn’t make the cut.

“They won’t even tell people the names of the tracks. I guess while they remain unreleased there is always a chance of new music. It’s not impossible but unlikely.”

Carl revealed that the famously private Swedish group remain close but rarely socialise together.

And he said they shed tears of joy when they saw their younger selves in hologram form at London’s Abba Voyage show.

Carl also said that songwriter Bjorn is working on a new musical with the help of AI and an unnamed “British female artist”.

Abba formed in 1972 and went on to become one of the world’s biggest acts, selling more than 50million records.

Dancing Queen alone — which was released in August 1976 — has sold more than 4million globally and has two billion downloads on Spotify.

The song was not only voted the UK’s favourite Abba hit of all time by Radio 2 listeners in 2024 but was voted the nation’s favourite dancefloor song ever.

But Carl, who got close to the band having been a historian and author on their music for 25 years, told how the song could have been so different to the track we all love.

He said: “Abba had a big hit with Waterloo in 1974 but the reality was everything after that for a while had been a flop in the UK and they put great store by what was a success in ­Britain.

“They wondered whether part of it was down to getting distracted in the songwriting process. So in the summer of 1975 they went to a tiny cabin in the Swedish archipelago island of Viggso near Stockholm.

“Bjorn and Agnetha, who were married at the time, had a property there and they had this small two-bedroom guest cabin with an indoor porch.

“I was lucky enough to be allowed to go there. They set up Benny’s piano and two chairs and started to write a melody.

“No one could reach them there, so they could focus. For the first time Bjorn brought an electric guitar and amp instead of his acoustic guitar because he told me he’d been listening to lots of American dance music like Stevie Wonder and George McCrae’s Rock Your Baby.

“They then came up with this melody. It was the beginning of Dancing Queen. For ages the lyrics were ­gibberish — English words with no meaning or cohesion. I heard them. The chorus was simply ‘Boogaloo’.

“In the next few weeks they went back to the mainland and laid it all down.

“Benny and their manager wrote the lyrics about this 17-year-old ­clubbing girl.

“They gave no suggestion it was based on Agnetha and Frida — just a fictitious young clubber. They told me that they got rid of some extra verses, which the fans never heard.

“I’m glad they did as originally the first two lines to the song were going to be ‘Baby, baby, you’re out of sight. Hey, you’re looking all right tonight’.

“They knew people would have hated that so they cut it out.

“It was a good job because I doubt it would’ve been the hit it is today with those as your opening lyrics.”

Carl also told about how the band became emotional when the song was finally cut.

He said: “Bjorn and Benny told me there were absolutely ecstatic. They finished it late at night and Bjorn was desperate to play it to someone. Agnetha was asleep at home so he went to his sister’s place instead, and they played this tape over and over again.

“Bjorn went home to Frida, who he was married to then, and played it.

“She told me she put the tape in the tape machine, pressed the play button, and she thought it was so beautiful that she started to cry.

“Agnetha has since told me she had chills and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up when she heard it.”

The video for the song was recorded in a “matter of hours” on a low budget.

When released, Dancing Queen spent six weeks at No1 in the UK and topped the charts in 15 different countries.

According to Carl, Abba loved the song so much they always tried to play it as their final tune of every encore at live shows.

It gained fans from all over the world, including the King and Queen of Sweden and the late Queen ­Elizabeth, who regularly said was her favourite song.

Virgin Radio DJ Chris Evans once recalled performing a DJ set at a ­private royal party.

When Dancing Queen was played, the Queen reportedly remarked to her guests: “I always try to dance when this song comes on because I am the Queen and I like to dance”.

Carl added that the band were moved by having the late Queen as a fan, saying: “They were all very touched.”

However, Bjorn told him that he was “puzzled” by the fact Dancing Queen is seen as a dancefloor song as “he still thinks it’s too slow to dance to”.

In 1979, Bjorn and Agnetha split and two years later Frida and Benny did the same. It saw the band go on an indefinite hiatus.

But in 2021, they returned with new material and album Voyage.

A year later, interactive experience Abba ­Voyage opened in London — showing the band as holograms from their pomp.

Carl added: “They loved Abba ­Voyage and they went to the opening. Bjorn told me it was like watching a band he used to know from decades ago.

“He said it was like an out-of-body experience.

“There were tears of happiness when they saw it, definitely.”

Carl, who first got to know the band when they worked with him to release his 2001 book Bright Lights Dark Shadows: The Definitive Bio- graphy Of Abba, said that the likelihood of there being any reunion is very slim.

Carl added: “They are winding down now.

“They like their privacy. They have grandchildren. They are in their 70s and 80s.

“The chance of a reunion is very slim I think. But it’s not impossible. There are still the songs that didn’t make it on Voyage, but they are showing no signs of wanting anyone to know what they are.

“They are still close but they don’t really socialise. They are all living very low-key lives.

“It is only Bjorn who is working. He is working on a musical — using the help of AI — with a British female singer, whose name they have not told me.

“One thing I know for sure is that when they recorded Dancing Queen on that tiny porch they would never have dreamed it would still be as relevant and popular today — 50 years on.”

• Bright Lights Dark Shadows: The ­Definitive Biography Of Abba by Carl ­Magnus Palm is available now.

One former resident of Weatherfield could be about to make a shock return to Weatherfield, more than a decade after she departed the ITV soap, and fans have “worked out” how

One former resident of Weatherfield could be about to make a shock return to Coronation Street – almost 15 years on from her departure. Fans are convinced Amber Kalirai is making a comeback.

In the latest scenes on the ITV soap, Alya Nazir (Sair Khan) has decided to sell her share of the Speed Daal restaurant, leaving her colleague Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) a little surprised to say the least. Leanne’s new boyfriend Idris, who turned up as Alya’s long-lost cousin before hastily announcing he was in fact her long-lost uncle, seems determined to get his hands on it.

But now, fans have claimed that they would like to see Amber Kalirai, the daughter of shopkeeper Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin), make a comeback and snap up the business for herself.

One fan wrote on X:”Totally random Amber Devs daughter should be the new speed daal owner,” and the idea quickly spread across social media.

Taking to Facebook, one fan said: “Wouldn’t it be interesting if the new co owner of speed daal was Devs daughter Amber,” and another said: “Be good to see her back, she is never mentioned.”

A third wrote: “Great little actress. I would love to see her back in Corrie!” and a fourth said: “Loved her-underrated character-stood up to Dev.” A fifth simply demanded: “Bring Amber back!”

Amber was played by actress Nikki Patel, 36, who made her debut on Coronation Street in 2005 and stayed with the programme for four years.

In the summer of 2011, Amber made a comeback and stayed for just under a year, bowing out in March 2012. During her final few months on the cobbles, Amber made friends with Rosie Webster (Helen Flanagan) and Sophie Webster (Brooke Vincent), who fell for her in what was a case of unrequited love.

In the end, though, unable to mend her already-tricky relationship with stepmother Sunita Alahan (Shobna Gulati), she got a job in London and has not been seen since.

When Sunita was killed off after being trapped in the fire at the Rovers Return in 2013, Amber was informed but was unable to attend the funeral as she was travelling with her new boyfriend.

Away from Coronation Street, Nikki has appeared in Waterloo Road, Holy City and Call The Midwife but has also performed in numerous plays, and, earlier this year, announced that she had written a new BBC sitcom titled The Patels, which, if commissioned, will focus on two Gurajti women who must put their difference aside for the sake of their sons.

Speaking to Female Pilot Club, she explained: “There are some heavy issues that they’re talking about but they do it in such an accessible, beautiful way, with a normalised family, which could be difficult. And that’s kind of presented in a dramatic setting.

“I just want to be part of a conversation with that community, potentially help people, [because] there are families going through this right now now where the kids are afraid to be and show who they really are.

“And I think it’s so sad and it’s crazy to me … so I kind of want to be part of a change. Maybe that’s really big wishful thinking. But like I said, comedy is a way to try and do that.”

Coronation Street airs weeknights at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITV X.

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ITV fans are in for a treat as a new five-part thriller with a stellar cast is set to air very soon

ITV have shared a dramatic first look at what fans can expect to see in its upcoming series.

The Party is a five-part thriller following the lifelong friendship between journalist Martin Glimour (Luke Evans) and wealthy politician Ben Fitzmaurice, played by Downton Abbey’s Tom Cullen.

When Martin, who’s been raised by working-class mum Sylvia (Joanna Scanlan), gets a scholarship to an elite boarding school where he meets Ben, the pair forge an unbreakable bond.

As Martin is given a sense of belonging with Ben and his family, he remains loyal to them without question. That is until three decades later when things take a drastic turn.

A synopsis for the ITV show reads: “Martin is invited to Ben’s lavish birthday party at the Fitzmaurices’ country pile. The news of the Conservative leader’s resignation threatens to derail Ben’s Party, as he considers announcing his intention to stand.

“Martin fears the publicity that Ben’s bid would bring, dredging up the secrets of their past with tragic consequences. The drama moves between the shocking events of the Party and the police investigation that follows, with flashbacks to Martin and Ben’s lives at school, university and London party days.

“What unfolds is a gripping exploration of identity, privilege and devotion, combined with a tender ode to anyone who has fought to live authentically.”

Now, ITV have shared some images from the upcoming drama as one shows Martin looking with a concerned look on his face while the shirt he’s wearing is covered in blood.

Another snap shows him in the same clothes, although this time, it seems as though he’s speaking to the police in a questioning room. It raises the question of whose blood that is and what crime has been committed.

Other images include Martin and Ben having an intense conversation with one another at a bar, Ben waving to the crowd on a platform with a woman and a snap of the two main stars in their younger years at school. It wasn’t long before people commented on the first glimpse at the upcoming series, with many sharing their excitement.

One person said: “Incredible! Two supremely talented actors.” Someone else wrote: “We are beyond excited!” Another added: “I loved the book. Luke is surely an amazing Martin.” While a fourth commented: “So excited about this!!”

The Party will air this autumn on ITV1, STV, ITVX and STV Player.

Bookmakers have suggested Sally Nugent is the frontrunner for the BBC Breakfast position

Bookmakers have tipped Sally Nugent to take over from Naga Munchetty on BBC Breakfast.

Naga announced last month that she was vacating her seat on the sofa, having been with the BBC morning programme since 2009, and now talk has turned to who will replace her.

Coral has now shared some odds and Sally – who is already one of the presenters on the programme – is the clear frontrunner for Naga’s job.

She currently has odds of 1/2, with Coral’s John Hill saying: “Sally Nugent is already a familiar face on BBC Breakfast, and our odds makes her the clear favourite to replace Naga Munchetty on the popular early-morning programme.”

Sally started her career at BBC Radio Merseyside and also worked at BBC North West Tonight and BBC News.

She became a part of the BBC Breakfast team as a sports presenter and then in 2021 it was announced that she was going to be a regular presenter from Mondays to Wednesdays. She usually hosts the programme alongside Jon Kay.

Other TV stars whose names are in the mix include BBC Morning Live host Helen Skelton, who is currently at 5/1 to succeed Naga when she bids farewell to the programme.

Sarah Campbell, who already hosts the programme, has odds of 7/1, while former BBC Breakfast business presenter Steph McGovern is on 6/1. Journalist Tina Daheley is listed at 8/1, while Emma Vardy and Luxmy Gopal, both hosts on the show, are at 10/1 and 12/1 respectively.

Broadcaster and newsreader Victoria Derbyshire is also considered a potential candidate for Naga’s role, and is currently at 14/1.

Naga confirmed last month that she was leaving BBC Breakfast and that she will assume the role of presenting 5 Live Breakfast five days a week from January.

“It has been a privilege to be part of the BBC Breakfast TV team for the past 17 years, working alongside an incredibly talented and hard-working group of journalists who are not only outstanding colleagues but also great friends,” she said in a statement.

“Presenting a flagship programme on 5 Live is an opportunity that was simply too good to pass up. It will take a huge amount of work and require 100% of my focus and energy, and I’m really looking forward to throwing myself into the role.”

BBC Breakfast airs from 6am on BBC One.

For a true sense of getting away from it all, few things rival an island escape. We’d love to hear about your favourite under-the-radar islands in Europe, whether it’s a remote Scandinavian archipelago or an airport-free Mediterranean outpost that’s managed to avoid the package holiday crowds.

The best tip of the week, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet wins a £200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays property – the company has more than 3,000 worldwide. The best tips will appear in the Guardian Travel section and website.

Keep your tip to about 100 words

If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words we will be judging for the competition.

We’re sorry, but for legal reasons you must be a UK resident to enter this competition.

The competition closes on Monday 17 August at 10am BST

Have a look at our past winners and other tips

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Paddleboarding the Esk in North Yorkshire

It’s early afternoon on an unusually hot and sunny Yorkshire day. I’m standing on my paddleboard on the tidal section of the River Esk, near Whitby’s New Bridge, as cars stream across. The 28-mile-long Esk is special, as it is the only major river in Yorkshire that flows directly into the North Sea.

Ahead of me is a bustling marina, the famous abbey and the West and East piers. The town is full to the brim with visitors in search of the best fish and chips, amusement arcades and tales of Dracula and Captain Cook. Later, in the autumn, goths in their finery will parade the cobbled streets.

Here on the river, however, it is tranquil. A salmon leaps from the water to my right, bubbles rise from the seaweed beneath my board, and to my left, the riverbank absorbs abandoned boats into its grassy knolls. On an evening paddle, you might spot the crews from one of the town’s three main rowing clubs (Whitby Coastal, Friendship or Fisherlads).

You can launch from the slipway at the far end of the marina back car park near Coates Marine. Arriving by train or bus, it’s a few minutes’ walk from the station. Launch about one and a half hours before high tide and head right towards the New Bridge and Ruswarp. Be mindful, this section of the river is tidal and water levels do drop.

After taking in the magnificent view, I turn and paddle towards Ruswarp, a couple of miles inland, passing under the Larpool Viaduct, which carries the 22-mile Cinder Track. Branches of willow trees droop elegantly into the water offering welcome shade. Swans glide past and Highland cattle graze nonchalantly in the fields. A couple hike the path that runs alongside the river.

I first paddled on the Esk with my young sons in 2006. Twenty years later, it still remains a peaceful, hidden gem. We hired kayaks from Ruswarp Pleasure Boats (established 1874) just above the weir, which also rents rowing boats and now paddleboards. For a £5 fee, it offers a private jetty to launch your own craft, which is ideal as access to the river is very limited along this stretch. There is free parking on the roadside here, and with the number 95 bus stop (Arriva) nearby, public transport is an option. Paddle up to Perry’s Plants garden centre at Briggswath just before Sleights and then turn back.

You’ll pass the Waterside restaurant and Whitby Wellbeing’s wild sauna along the way, so family and friends can eat, sweat or dip while you float along, letting the river carry your worries away. Afterwards, nip to Botham’s in Sleights for some Resolution tea and lovely iced lemon buns. I promise, it’ll be a grand paddleboarding day out in Yorkshire.
Jo Moseley is the author of Stand-Up Paddleboarding in Great Britain

Wild camping on the Dart in Devon

On the uplands of Dartmoor, two tributaries – the East Dart and West Dart – join beneath ancient woodland at the well-named hamlet of Dartmeet. They entwine as the River Dart, which flows for 47 miles from open moor into steep wooded valleys and passes peat bogs and tors, oak forest, market towns and rolling pasture before it runs into the sheltered waters of the south Devon coast.

Its upper reaches retain a pristine wildness that feels increasingly rare in southern England. The Dartmoor national park is criss-crossed by some of the cleanest bodies of water in the country, home to salmon, sea trout and otters, while the wooded valleys below are rich remnants of ancient temperate rainforest.

The Dart’s name is thought to derive from an old Celtic word meaning “river where oak trees grow”, and the lower banks are indeed lined with native oak trees, thick with mosses and ferns. It may be one of Britain’s smaller protected landscapes, but Dartmoor feels remarkably untamed. You can cross it on foot in a few days, yet it’s surprisingly easy to lose yourself in the rolling mists, twisting woodlands and miles of open moorland of this ethereal landscape.

It’s that sense of freedom that keeps drawing me back. I love nothing more than stuffing a tent into my rucksack and heading out on foot for a riverside camp, following the Dart and its web of streams and creeks until I find a quiet bend or grassy bank for the night. I fall asleep to the steady rush and rumble of the water and wake up early for a swim in one of its deep, crystal-clear pools before packing up and walking on.

I can roam about like this because Dartmoor is the only place in England where wild camping is legally permitted. In the national park, “backpack”, or wild camping, is allowed for one or two nights in some areas, provided you stay away from roads and settlements and leave no trace of your visit.

Sometimes, I have company on the riverbanks. I’ve huddled in bivouac bags with friends and woken totally covered in sparkling droplets of dew. I’ve camped on the water’s edge and woken in the middle of the night to what sounded like an invading army around my tent. It turned out to be a troop of scouts, arriving spectacularly late at their campsite and gamely pitching flimsy-looking tents by the light of their headlamps. And once, at dusk, I think I glimpsed the sleek head of an otter slipping into the current. But more often than not, once evening falls and I sit by the door of my tent watching the water darken, I have the Dart all to myself.
Sian Lewis

Fishing on the Dove in the Peak District

There’s a trout rising upstream from where I am standing on the bank of the River Dove in Beresford Dale, on the border of Staffordshire and Derbyshire. I mark the spot – just beyond that overhanging tree branch – and rue the fact that it will make casting a fly without getting snagged tricky. I need to get into the river and wade over to the other bank for a clear shot. But it’s a steep drop to the water and the pools look deep in this stretch; deep enough to go over my chest waders. I walk back downstream to a spot where I can safely enter the fast-flowing river, but realise it’s going to be a long wade upstream. Too long and splashy, which will disturb any fish and scatter them. So, I get out again and walk back to where I first spotted the feeding trout. I am caught in indecision, and repeat this pattern several times before giving up on this particular quarry.

The meander at this section of the river has formed a little peninsula, and standing in the middle of it is a fishing hut, where I go to drink a coffee and consider my tactics. This isn’t any old fishing hut, however. This one is a substantial structure, built from stone, with pillars framing the door and with an inscription in Latin, “Piscatoribus Sacrum” (Sacred to all Fishermen).

In the lintel stone is a cypher of intertwined letters: CC and IW, for Charles Cotton, the poet who built this “little fishing house” on his estate in 1674, and Izaak Walton, who wrote The Compleat Angler in 1653. Cotton added “Instructions how to angle for a trout or grayling in a clear stream” to accompany the fifth edition of Walton’s book, considered to be the first technical manual of fly-fishing and one of the most reprinted books in the English language.

The River Dove is the spiritual home of fly-fishing because of Walton and Cotton, and it still holds a mythical place in fishers’ minds. As someone who grew up on the Staffordshire-Derbyshire border, and fished the Dove where it joins the River Trent at Newton Solney in my youth, I was well aware of the river’s special status. But, at that age, I wasn’t about to give myself the extra homework of reading a 17th-century treatise on fishing and nature. Instead, an English teacher who fished furnished me with the only line I needed to know: “you will find it one of the purest crystalline streams you have seen.”

The stretch of the Dove I’m fishing – called the Temple beat after Cotton’s fishing house – races and tumbles through a narrow tree-lined dale hemmed in by limestone crags. Near the bridge above a section known as the Pike Pool, a family is splashing and paddling in the early summer sunshine. There’s a popular 4-mile loop that starts at Hartington village, and the path is too busy with walkers to fish, so I enter the river at the bridge and wade and fish “the vale it winds through like a snake” until I spot the rising trout and stop for my coffee break.

Later that day, I lose all sense of time in the hypnotic flow of catching and releasing a series of small wild brown trout. Just beyond the fishing house, someone has carved a large hole into the base of a dead oak tree, the perfect place to sit and watch dippers skit along the banks and damselflies dance upon the surface. A little further on, a large Hereford cow is drinking from the river, framed by overhanging trees and with a verdant conical hill in the background. The scene strikes me as being a pastoral masterpiece, much like The Compleat Angler.
Andy Pietrasik

A day ticket on the Temple beat can be booked through Fishing Breaks from £65

Sourcing the Severn and Wye in mid-Wales

It will prove to be the best of hikes, and in some ways the worst. I start out early from Eisteddfa Gurig on the A44, hoping to get going while the day is cool. My plan is to visit the sources of two of Britain’s greatest rivers – the Severn and the Wye which, by a fluke of geography, lie a couple of miles apart on a mountain ridge in mid-Wales.

The path leads me up Pumlumon Fawr, a 752-metre (2,467ft) massif with magnificent views to the Irish Sea. The day is scorching hot and the bald sheep-nipped hills look only an inch of topsoil away from becoming a desert. Of the two rivers, the Severn gets the finer start in life. There is a marker post next to a deep, dark pool of water that is being squeezed from the bog. In ancient times, humans worshipped springs, but there are no garlands here, only a few sea shells carried upstream by hikers from the Bristol Channel on the 224-mile (360km) Severn Way.

A short walk downstream brings me into a deep valley where the Severn, already gathering force, bounces through ferny glades. It feels as if someone is caring for this river, determined to give it a good start in life. There is a useful car park further down the valley, but I cut away through the forest to find the origin of its twin, the Wye.

I have hopes of a dip in a mountain pool, but there are misgivings. Arguably the loveliest river in Britain, the Wye has been hitting headlines for a severe decline in water quality. Dead salmon have been found, algal blooms reported. Campaigners, however, have scored a major victory in creating a charter of rights, including the right to flow and be free of pollution. Significant authorities, including Powys and Herefordshire, have adopted it. There is hope.

The first omen is the defunct Nant Iago lead mine, a reminder that human impact on the environment is nothing new. Government statistics show that about 900 miles (1,500km) of our rivers and estuaries are still contaminated by 19th-century mines. I skirt around the old workings and walk up the valley. In the wrinkles of this hillside, the Wye has a moorland birth, a harsh ordeal. No sooner has the clean, bright water started out than it’s being crapped in by sheep and messed about by humans. Any thought of a dip in a pool, or even a sip from the source, is brutally quashed.

The moorland/forested contrast with the Severn is not unplanned: scientists have been controlling and assessing these non-identical twins since a time when flood risks and algal blooms were not issues. Whatever their conclusions, however, our expectations of rivers remain pitifully low. In 17th-century Britain, by contrast, salmon were so plentifully available for people to fish for themselves that there was little market for them.

I carry on down the Wye Valley Walk, a 136-mile route whose leaping salmon logo is looking sadly inappropriate. After a few miles, I turn west up a side stream that has a toxic reddish tint. Only a Martian would take a dip. This has become a grim trudge, but finally, up a side valley, I stumble on deep pools alive with tiny frogs. Spruce and pine have been planted. There are orchids and bog asphodels. Then, a magnificent golden-ringed dragonfly settles next to me. My spirits are restored. Maybe the Wye can bounce back. I set off for nearby Llangurig where there’s a pub, the Bluebell Inn, and a tearoom.
Kevin Rushby

Canoeing the Tay in Perthshire

The Tay is Scotland’s longest river (117 miles) and Britain’s mightiest, discharging more water than the longer Thames and Severn combined. Rising on the slopes of Ben Lui in Argyll, gathering strength from Highland burns before widening through Perthshire and eventually reaching the North Sea at Dundee.

It’s the middle stretch, from Killin to Dunkeld through Highland Perthshire, that I love best. At Killin, we’ve happily lost whole afternoons to picking wild raspberries, skimming stones and climbing trees. My boys climbed their first Munro here, Ben Lawers, when their legs were much shorter. We should have had beautiful loch views from the top, but reached the summit in cloud instead. They loved it.

Further along the banks at Lawers and Kenmore is where my sisters and I head for restorative escapes: alternating freezing loch swims with a hot tub has become our preferred form of therapy.

I’ve often walked by the river, but was curious to see it from a different angle: by canoe. Aberfeldy is a two-hour drive north from Edinburgh, so it’s an early start for me and my son Louis, 15. We’re welcomed at Beyond Adventure with coffee and a briefing, then transferred upriver with two long orange canoes and our instructor, Kevin Meldrum.

Our route begins on the River Lyon just before its confluence with the Tay. In this calm eddy, we get a quick lesson in paddling and turning the boat. Louis is 6ft-plus and I am not, which seemed a recipe for paddling in circles. Kevin keeps us right, and Louis soon learns to calmly counteract any erratic paddling on my side. We meet the Tay over a gentle rapid and begin paddling downstream. We settle into the river’s rhythm, learning to read the current and steer around camouflaged anglers patiently waiting for salmon, and spotting herons standing guard in the shadows.

The banks of the Tay are changing, thanks to the returning beaver population. We don’t spot any (they emerge at dusk), but we do see evidence of stripped bark and felled trees by the river. Paddling into a tree-lined eddy, we admire a carefully constructed beaver lodge.

We pull the canoes ashore on a little island for a picnic lunch, and as we eat our sandwiches, there’s a flash of iridescent turquoise. My first ever sighting of a kingfisher.

It’s great to be on the water with a guide who knows the river so well. At each stretch of rapids, we’re set a route, and navigate each one facing downstream, still smiling. As we return to Aberfeldy, we paddle under General Wade’s Bridge, unchanged since it was built in 1733. We’ve been on the water for three hours, but it feels all too soon when we approach the Beyond Adventure base. Reluctant to leave, we find a deep, peaty pool for a swim.

Heading home, we stop for a pizza (a teenage second lunch) and cold drinks at The Taybank in Dunkeld. Watching the Tay flow past the beer garden, I realise the river looks different to me now. Once you’ve travelled with it, it’s hard not to wonder what’s waiting around the next bend.
Ailsa Sheldon
Beyond Adventure offers half-day discovery canoeing tours from £63 adults, £47.25 children, £199.50 for a family (two adults, two children)

You don’t always have to travel far from home to have an adventure or a truly memorable break. We want to hear about your favourite holiday in the UK – particularly in more under-the-radar destinations, such as less-visited beach resort, a town that deserves to be noticed or in a remote area of coutryside. Or perhaps it involved a fun or unusual activity that has stayed in the memory.

The best tip of the week, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet wins a £200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays property – the company has more than 3,000 worldwide. The best tips will appear in the Guardian Travel section and website.

Keep your tip to about 100 words

If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words we will be judging for the competition.

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The competition closes on Monday 10 August at 10am BST

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The Odyssey actor said he loved the ‘creamy shredded chicken dish’ for its taste and ‘sentimental reasons’

Tom Holland’s been doing the rounds promoting Spider-Man and The Odyssey this month, and during an appearance on the podcast Dish, he shared a classic 60s dinner that holds a special place in his heart – and it could boast a number of health benefits.

Holland, who plays Telemachus in Christopher Nolan’s film, recorded the episode with hosts Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett the day after England played against Mexico in the World Cup. Starring alongside his wife in the film, Zendaya, who plays Athena, he raved about a dish called Chicken Véronique.

And according to WebMD, one of its ingredients, chicken, could help with weight management and, as a result, reduce the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure. The health experts explain: “Research suggests that 25-30 grams of protein per meal can help us feel more full.

“Protein-rich meals can make us feel fuller despite us eating less, which helps to promote better weight management. Healthier weight leads to improvements in risk factors for heart problems, such as high triglyceride levels and high blood pressure.

“A food rich in protein, chicken can help with weight management and reduce the risk of heart disease.”

The health experts also note that chicken is a lean protein that provides the amino acids our bodies need to build and maintain muscle, which becomes more important as we age. A higher-protein diet can also help support bone density.

Because of this, eating chicken can help keep muscles strong and bones healthier. This can lower the risk of injuries and conditions like osteoporosis.

So the chicken in Tom Holland’s dish could actually provide some benefits to our health. But as with everything, always make sure you are having a healthy and balanced diet, as while a dish may include a healthy ingredient or two, it doesn’t always make the dish itself healthy.

‘

During the podcast, Holland’s younger brother, Sam, who is a chef, shared a pre-recorded video, explaining that their mum and Granny Tess “cooked Chicken Véronique and an apple crumble on a beach in Thailand for the cast and crew of Impossible”.

Now, 15 years later, and it’s “our favourite family meal” especially after Tom has a “long stint away” filming, Sam said, calling it a dish he loves for many “sentimental reasons.”

Tom shared the same memories, re-calling: “We were making a movie in Thailand. It was my first ever film. It was a real family.

“The crew were such lovely people, and we would always go down to this beach called Memories Beach. Cast and crew would be down there every weekend – all weekend.

“We started cooking down there, we became friends with the people that ran the beach bar, and they would let us cook. The English guys would cook one week, and then the Italians would cook the next week.

“Naomi Watts was the star of that movie. So, my granny roasted two chickens in her oven at her house in Thailand. She then drove it through the jungle to this beach, because you had to kind of go down this dirt road for about 25 minutes.

“She made Chicken Véronique. It’s like a kind of creamy shredded chicken dish, but then you peel and roast the grapes. And then you shred the potatoes. It’s absolutely delicious.

“So now if I’ve ever been away and I come home to the family house for dinner, that’s always what we always have.”

Host and chef Angela Hartness replied: “Now you’ve mentioned it’s a really old, classic French dish. And one that you’d have had in the ’60s.”

While they did not cook the classic dish during the podcast, they did cook a dish Tom called a “treat” – spicy pork and pineapple skewers with Greek salad.

Spicy pork & pineapple skewers – full recipe

Ingredients

• 500g pack British diced pork shoulder
• ½ supersweet medium pineapple
• Vegetable oil, for griddling
• 1 satsuma, halved
• 2 salad onions, thinly sliced

For the marinade

• 1 satsuma, juice
• 2 clove/s garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp Cooks’ Ingredients Turkish Pepper Flakes
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Soak 8 wooden skewers in cold water for at least 30 minutes to prevent them burning. In a mixing bowl, combine the marinade ingredients and add a few cracks of black pepper. Add the pork (halve any large pieces) and stir to coat. Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, or preferably overnight.
2. Peel, core, then cut the pineapple half into 24 chunks. Thread 3-4 pieces of pork and 3 pieces of pineapple alternately onto each skewer and discard any remaining marinade.
3. Heat a griddle pan over a medium-high heat, brush the pan lightly with oil, then cook half the skewers for 12-15 minutes, turning twice, until the pork is cooked through with no pink meat, juices that run clear, and is charred in places. Keep hot, while you cook the second batch.
4. Char the satsuma, cut-side down, on the hot pan. Serve the skewers scattered with the salad onions and the warm satsuma juice, squeezed over at the table. Perfect with a leafy salad on the side, if liked

Angela Hartnett serves this recipe with a village Greek salad. You can find check out the recipe for that and handy cooking tips and tricks on the Waitrose website here.

WITH the summer holidays in full swing, many Brits are swapping their passports for a classic road trip.

Rising travel costs and endless airport queues have seen more and more Brits opt for a staycation this year.

The UK’s best road trip routes have officially been ranked, as a record number of Brits ditch trips abroad for the UK’s best scenery.

From beautiful coastlines, to tranquil national parks, these 10 scenic routes showcase the highlights of the British countryside.

Lake District Scenic Loop, England

The Lake District’s Scenic Loop, catching the very best of the region’s mountaineous terrain and glacial lakes, ranks as Britain’s favourite road trip.

Driving routes such as the Keswick-Borrowdale-Buttermere loop, or the larger Ambleside-Keswick-Ullswater circuit, are road trip favourites, letting you enjoy the very best of the landscape.

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North Coast 500, Scotland

Scotland’s famous 516-mile-long North Coast 500 ranks second, praised for its dramatic scenery.

Boasting historic castles and stunning beaches, this sprawling route offers a phenomenal snapshot of the Northern Highlands.

Atlantic Highway, South West England

The Atlantic Highway, the scenic 70-mile stretch from Barnstaple in North Devon, to Newquay in Cornwall, takes third place.

Travellers taking this coastal route can take in the beautiful beaches, spectacular cliffs, and enjoy delicious seafood on the way.

Snowdonia’s Coast Way, Wales

Spanning roughly 49 to 80 miles along the region’s western coastal mountains, Snowdonia’s Coast Way boasts views of sandy beaches and historic mountains.

With frequent sightings of dolphins, porpoises and seals, along with seaside towns to enjoy, this scenic route places fourth.

Yorkshire Dales Scenic Drive, England

A drive through the Yorkshire Dales takes you through an area renowned for its pretty villages and windswept moors.

Placing fifth, the route’s combination of greenery and the inviting valleys of Wensleydale, Swaledale, and Wharfedale, keep Brits coming back year after year.

Jurassic Coast Trip, South Coast of England

Achieving sixth place, the 95-mile-long Jurassic Coast route takes holidaymakers straight through England’s first natural UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This road trip shows off England’s best geological features, stretching between Old Harry Rocks in Dorset and Exmouth in East Devon.

Causeway Coastal Route, Northern Ireland

The Causeway Coastal Route shows off Northern Ireland’s rocky terrain between the cities of Belfast and Derry.

Considered one of the most scenic drives in the world, and full of opportunities to explore castles, beaches and historic towns, Ireland’s coastal journey ranks seventh.

Dartmoor Explorer Route, Devon

The open moorland and historic villages of Devon’s Dartmoor National Park is a great way to enjoy the south of England’s gorgeous scenery.

Placed at eighth, a drive through the ancient woodlands takes you to the heart of Devon.

Pembrokeshire Coastal Drive, Wales

Spanning as far as 180 miles, a road trip through Pembrokeshire Coast National Park places ninth.

This route guides you through the best west Wales scenery from rugged sea cliffs, medieval castles, and harbour towns.

Hadrian’s Wall Route, Northumberland

The 73 mile coast-to-coast route, stretching from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Cumbria, is a beautiful way to enjoy this artefact of the Roman Empire.

Ranking tenth on the list, this road trip offers stunning viewpoint hikes and historic market towns.

Winning tip: Northern Ireland

Inspired by Dervla Murphy’s A Place Apart

Dervla Murphy’s A Place Apart persuaded me to see Northern Ireland differently. Cycling through the country during the Troubles, she looked beyond headlines to find generosity and ordinary lives. Following in her footsteps, you can walk the walls of Derry and stand beside the Giant’s Causeway, where the landscapes are every bit as striking as she described. Yet it is the people you remember most. Conversations begin easily in pubs and cafes, with local people quick to recommend a favourite beach or walk. I went looking for the places Murphy described. I left with the conversations she promised I’d find.
James

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Inspired by Priscilla Morris’s Black Butterflies

I read Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris during a long, hot Covid afternoon and was immediately intrigued by the city of Sarajevo. The book is set during the siege, but I was captivated by the description of the buildings mixing east and west. Last year, I finally went and experienced the beautiful city for myself. The surrounding mountains and the old town, mixed with haunting memories unapologetically left in view by way of bullet holes in buildings and “roses” in the pavement [to mark where mortars fell], gave off a unique atmosphere. There are hints of old Eastern European glamour, Middle Eastern rituals and precious hope for the richness of a hard peace to remain in place. It’s a place that took my heart and showed me that it’s OK, things change but we carry the memories for a reason.
Louise

Porquerolles, France

Inspired by Georges Simenon’s My Friend Maigret

As a Georges Simenon fan, I had always enjoyed the novel My Friend Maigret, set on the island of Porquerolles off the French Mediterranean coast. Nearing 80 years old, I decided it was now or never to visit and resolved to travel by train. So, it was Eurostar to Gare du Nord, RER across Paris to Gare de Lyon, then on to Toulon (despite missing my booked train), a slow train to Hyères, a bus to the port and a boat to Porquerolles. Visiting the sites described in the novel was such a pleasure. I became “Porquerolled” and an addict of the unique atmosphere (and the island wine).
Leigh

San Francisco

Inspired by Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City

It has to be Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series. Originally a daily serial in the San Francisco Chronicle, these wonderful novels paint the city as a place of kindness, beauty and pleasure. It made me and my wife Nic commit to two years of saving so we could live like the Barbary Lane gang for a fortnight. San Francisco didn’t disappoint. Weird, gorgeous and fascinating, it’s a city that rewards ambling and curiosity, just as Maupin suggests.
Fraser

Orkney, Scotland

Inspired by Amy Liptrot’s The Outrun

I read The Outrun by Amy Liptrot and went on to have a wonderful three-week holiday in Orkney and Shetland. I travelled solo and met the best of people. I stayed in Amy’s mum Jane’s B&B and she took me birdwatching. It was a time to recover from a challenging year and enjoy the peace and beauty of the islands while never feeling lonely. I spent a week in the Papay hostel and walked all around the island. My sister lives in Shetland now and I plan to return soon.
Amanda

Bognor Regis, England

Inspired by RC Sherriff’s The Fortnight in September

The Fortnight in September by RC Sherriff, written in the heyday of British seaside holidays, harks back to a time when resorts like Bognor Regis were magical summer destinations that an ordinary family would look forward to all year. The descriptions of the bandstand, beach and lovely walks inspired a trip to Bognor to retrace the family’s steps. Bognor may have seen better days, but it was a perfect base for days out in the Sussex countryside, and there’s still little to beat a stroll along the promenade of this fading seaside town, sun shining and ice-cream in hand.
Patricia

Provence, France

Inspired by Émile Zola’s Contes Choisis

While studying French A-level back in the 80s, I read Émile Zola’s Contes Choisis short stories, which made me long to explore Provence. I loved the book, and its visual descriptions made me hanker to see the area for myself. More than 10 years later, I finally got to visit the area, by which time I’d also discovered the works of Cézanne and Matisse. Provence was a glorious feast for all the senses. I have visited a few times now and am always impressed by the beauty. I still have my book, and it is a wonderful reminder of the inspiration of A-levels.
Sandra

The Apennines, Italy

Inspired by Eric Newby’s Love and War in the Apennines

Eric Newby’s Love and War in the Apennines inspired my wife and I to spend a month hiking in the mountainous area running the length of central Italy. Newby’s praise for the brave honest people who sheltered him, as a fleeing prisoner of war, in stone cottages and freezing farmyard barns was uplifting. They helped him learn Italian, and the book also delights in showing how he met his wife Wanda, an Italian-Slovenian woman, while hiding from the Nazis. Newby depicts loving, tight communities in towns like Fiumalbo, which we enjoyed visiting and where we were given a warm welcome. When we mentioned Signor Newby and showed his book, we were met with smiles by local people. It felt like we were part of an appreciative, heartfelt legacy created by the writer and those he met.
Peter

Naples

Inspired by Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend

In 2018, after devouring the novel My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, my lifelong friend and I decided to visit Naples. The book explores two childhood friends who bonded and grew up in various edgy neighbourhoods around Naples in the 50s, exploring social class and poverty. Naples has always had a bad press, focusing on crime and shabbiness. We had wonderful times visiting the places mentioned in the book. We felt safe, were welcomed and fed. Chiaia is mentioned in the book as a waterfront renowned for its promenade along Via Francesco Caracciolo.
Carol

Prince Edward Island, Canada

Inspired by LM Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables

My favourite childhood books, read countless times, were the Anne of Green Gables series by LM Montgomery, set in a rural community on Prince Edward Island, Canada. The snowy winters, enchanting woods, winding country lanes, and red sandstone cliffs along the coast captured my imagination, leaving a lasting impression. At the age of 44, I made the journey there myself. My first day was a bitter disappointment, with torrential rain and thick mist obscuring the island’s beauty from dawn until dusk. However, the second day more than made up for it. Under clear skies, I enjoyed a perfect coastal boardwalk, a truly magical visit to Green Gables itself, and finished the day with a wonderful lobster meal.
Katharine

This popular tourist town started as a small fishing village and is now an iconic British location

Summer is here and the temperature is rising. If you’re like me and live in a city with no easy access to the beach, fleeing the urban sprawl for a seaside town is a very tempting idea. It was this idea that struck my boyfriend and I a few weeks ago when we decided to get out of London for the day and head to the coastal city of Brighton for some fresh air and sunshine.

I had visited before, but never as an adult. On the weekend we decided to take our trip, temperatures in London were forecast to soar above 30°C, and it felt like the perfect excuse to escape the capital and breathe in some fresh sea air.

Brighton may now be one of the UK’s best-known seaside destinations, where millions flock every summer but it didn’t always feel that way.

From fishing village to tourism hotspot

In the 18th century this once small fishing settlement began to become a tourist destination for Britain’s wealthy. At the time, there was a belief that sea air, bathing in the ocean and even drinking seawater could have health benefits – and so Brighton became one of the UK’s first wellness retreats.

It was also a favourite of King George IV who created the Royal Pavilion – one of the city’s most iconic landmarks.

He’s not the only member of the elite who loved Brighton.

The city’s mix of history, creativity and seaside charm continues to draw artists and performers and it is easy to see why.

The city of Brighton has long since been a haven for famous creatives. From DJ Fatboy Slim to Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, Brighton has been home to all sorts of famous people.

When the railway arrived in the 19th century, it became more accessible for people from London (like my boyfriend and myself) which helped Brighton become even more popular now.

Today, Brighton is still an incredibly popular place to visit – and the railway is still letting Londoners flock to the sea in droves, as we found out.

Joining the crowds

The moment my boyfriend and I arrived at London Bridge to catch our train,it became abundantly clear we had no chance of getting a seat. It seemed almost everyone in London had decided to spend the day by the seaside.

The carriages were so rammed that the train bypassed several stops and took us directly to Brighton. As we travelled towards the coast alongside droves of heat-weary Londoners, I quickly realised that spending the day on the beach was not at the top of my agenda.

For one thing, I hadn’t brought a swimming costume. For another, I’m from New Zealand, where beaches are often made up of pristine white sand and, even at the height of summer, can be blissfully quiet.

The prospect of squeezing onto Brighton’s pebbles alongside thousands of strangers held absolutely no appeal.

Instead, we hopped off our train and headed for North Laine.

And escaping them

Tucked away in the heart of Brighton, North Laine is a vibrant maze of colourful streets and winding lanes packed with independent shops, boutiques, cafés and restaurants.

While much of the bank holiday crowd had gravitated towards the seafront, North Laine felt noticeably calmer.

We wandered through the lively streets, dipping in and out of shops as we went. There was everything from jewellery and homeware to driftwood art and vintage clothing, with something to suit almost every taste.

For me, it was the perfect way to while away an afternoon — and a far more appealing alternative to fighting for a patch of pebbles.

After a few hours of browsing, we had worked up an appetite and began the hunt for somewhere to eat.

We settled on Mange Tout, an independent French restaurant tucked away in North Laine.

Having travelled from London during a bank holiday heatwave, we had prepared ourselves for a scramble to find a table or the prospect of being added to a lengthy waiting list.

Instead, we had our pick of tables.

We sat outside in the glorious sunshine, watching the world drift by. It felt worlds away from the mayhem we knew was unfolding on the seafront.

For lunch, my boyfriend ordered a breakfast bun while I tucked into moules marinière. We washed it all down with a couple of drinks — we were on holiday, after all.

Seeing the sea – and the surprise cost

After lunch, we decided we couldn’t visit Brighton without at least catching a glimpse of the sea.

We made our way back through North Laine towards the coast, stopping in several shops we had overlooked during our first walk.

Eventually, the ocean came into view.

I had expected the beach to be busy, but the sheer number of people sprawled across it had to be seen to be believed.

As far as the eye could see in both directions, the pebbled shore was packed with sunbathers, paddlers and groups sheltering beneath umbrellas.

Out at sea, jet skis darted back and forth while one particularly intrepid snorkeller ventured further and further from the shore.

In the distance, the outline of a wind farm stretched across the horizon. Curious to get a closer look, we decided to head down the pier.

Entry to the pier cost £1 each — another surprise — and as we made our way along it, we passed through an enormous arcade roughly halfway down. It was one of two arcades on the pier and, much like the beach, it was absolutely heaving.

The space was dark, deafening and so stifling that I felt as though I had tumbled straight off the pier and into the water below. Horrified, I quietly turned to my boyfriend and asked: “Why does this even exist? Who comes to the beach just to be inside?”

He immediately replied: “How often do you think the weather is actually good here?”

He had a point.

The pier was certainly an experience — although not one I would particularly rush to repeat. That said, if I were seven years old, I imagine it would feel utterly magical.

There were fairground rides, candy floss and doughnuts, all accompanied by the sound of waves lapping beneath your feet. Sadly, I’m 31, and the thrill of a fairground ride is well and truly lost on me.

Will I ever return?

Once we reached the end of the pier, we agreed it was time to make our way back to London.

But not before making one final stop in North Laine for a well-earned end-of-day pint.

Brighton’s beach may be its biggest draw, particularly when temperatures climb above 30°C, but for me, the city’s real charm was found away from the packed pebbles.

And while I may not have been tempted to join the crowds on the beach, I’ll happily return to explore more of Brighton’s vibrant streets.

Sun and citrus in the south of France

The town of Menton on the French Riviera is beautiful at any time of the year but becomes even more of a treat during the annual Lemon festival (Fête du Citron, 10-28 February 2027). Its microclimate, courtesy of the Alps to the north blocking colder winds, gives Menton lemons a distinct fragrance, flavour and quality that set them apart. For me, the event transformed a damp cold UK winter into a fortnight of colour, taste and light. There were food tastings, salads made with lemons, tarts, cakes and pies all full of zesty colour and flavour at stalls and markets in the town. There are sculptures made from citrus fruit, parades and exhibitions in the Golden Garden of Light (Jardins Biovès). More than a food festival, it’s a celebration of what nature can give to the world.
April

Veneto’s Tiramisù World Cup

Last autumn, I discovered there is an annual Tiramisù World Cup. I was staying in Treviso (the lovely town near Venice where the dessert originated) during the three-day event featuring tastings, demonstrations from local chefs and a judging contest involving the public. There’s also folk music in the streets, and restaurants offer promotional prices on set meals from about €20 for two courses. In fact, sitting in a mini gondola, prosecco in one hand, bowl of tiramisu in the other, gliding along a canal past ornate houses while the distant snow-capped mountains of the Dolomites sparkled in the sunshine, certainly aided my appetite for food and life.
Peter

A cheeky celebration in Tuscany

The Gota Cotta festival in Tuscany (4 October) is a celebration of local meat – pork cheeks. It was a niche product, falling out of favour, but a group of local butchers created the festival to celebrate the local delicacy. It takes over the medieval hilltop town of Colle di Val d’Elsa in Siena province with stalls selling everything from pasta to gelato – all made with pork cheek. There’s also excellent wine and craft beers … all in the most beautiful setting.
Rebecca Nicholl

Switzerland knows its onions

I stumbled across Zibelemärit, Bern’s annual onion fair, on a chilly November morning. The old town was packed with farmers selling beautifully braided onions, garlic and seasonal produce. The streets were filled with tempting aromas from stalls frying onion tarts and serving steaming bowls of onion soup and cafes selling sweet onion-shaped pastries. A mug of warming glühwein was the perfect accompaniment. It was a wonderfully local event and chatting to growers about their harvest made me feel part of a genuine celebration of Swiss farming traditions. Zibelemärit takes place on the fourth Monday in November.
Susanna

The Italian town devoted to leeks

You have to admire the town of Cervere in Piedmont, south of Turin, which is so devoted to its leeks that it has erected a permanent pavilion called the Palaporro (porro is Italian for leek) for its annual festival, called Fiera del Porro Cervere (7-22 November). Book ahead for the sit-down tasting menu, or buy leeky treats such as gratin and risotto to take away, as we did. During the sagra, the town centre is packed with stalls, many heaving with the distinctive bunches of extra-long local leeks. Our favourite part was taking a shuttle bus down to the sandy leek fields in the valley, where enthusiasts explained the traditional cultivation techniques.
Martha

Farmers and brass bands in North Yorkshire

Malton is a little village in North Yorkshire that punches way above its size when it comes to food festivals. The annual festival is worth a visit in late spring (29-30 May 2027), but so are the monthly farmers’ markets that bring together incredible local suppliers and makers. Plus, there’s a good chance of hearing a top-class brass band while you mooch and taste. Bloomin’ marvellous!
Beth

Newcastle’s battle of the food vendors

Wylam Brewery’s street vendor food battles in Newcastle upon Tyne showcase local independent eateries serving their bestselling dishes to win a chance at being crowned the culinary King of Newcastle at the final Battle Royale (28 & 29 August). The competitions are wittily titled, for example Lord of the Wings for the chicken wings competition (23 & 24 October) and Argie Bhaji (27 & 28 November) for Indian street food. The concept is simple: each event offers different cuisines from pizza to pan-Asian to plant-based. The winner of each event is the vendor with the most pre-paid tokens. Set in the idyllic Exhibition Park, with DJs playing into the night, locals know not to miss these summer festivals.
Carly Bamborough

‘A proper northern’ affair in Bolton

Bolton food & drink festival (28-31 August) is brilliant because it feels properly northern: busy streets, good smells, live music and families everywhere. It is not trying to be too polished, which is why it works. You can wander from stall to stall, try something different, grab something sweet for the kids and still feel like you are part of the town. The best bit is the atmosphere. Chefs, local businesses, music and people all come together in one place. It is simple, affordable and full of energy. For a family day out, it is hard to beat.
Nicholas Pearce

The pride of Plymouth

Plymouth Flavour Fest, at the end of May each year, ranks among the finest food gatherings I’ve experienced anywhere. Boutique delicatessens form neat rows, with smartly dressed stallholders presenting produce with infectious pride. Pies, salamis, chillies, confectionery, preserves, hot food – all the good stuff laid out irresistibly. Take a cool bag and budget for things you never knew you needed. Plymouth’s Armada Way is perfect for the event, never claustrophobic when busy. A short stroll takes you to the Hoe, perfect for munching on a treat overlooking one of the finest harbours in the world. Good food brings out the best in people and, for a few hours at least, the world is put to rights.
Grant Wyness

‘Ireland’s culinary playground’

Every October, the charming fishing town of Dingle transforms into Ireland’s ultimate culinary playground. The Dingle food festival (2-4 October) brings more than 60 venues to life for the famous Taste Trail, where pubs, galleries and shopfronts serve up local seafood, artisan cheeses and much more. Add bustling market stalls, cookery masterclasses and workshops, live street music and a strong zero-waste ethos, and you’ve got a weekend that celebrates the best of Irish food, drink and hospitality, all with Irish small-town warmth.
John O’Kelly

There are few pastimes more relaxing than messing about on the river. Whether it’s paddling along an urban waterway, navigating a historic canal in a narrowboat, spotting the wildlife on an estuary walk, or a towpath bike ride, we’d love to hear how you like to spend time on your favourite river or canal in the UK or Ireland.

The best tip of the week, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet wins a £200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays property – the company has more than 3,000 worldwide. The best tips will appear in the Guardian Travel section and website.

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BEACH? Check. Cheap booze? Check. Quick flights and nice hotels? Check, check.

We know what makes a good holiday, and it’s all of the above. But where can you find all of these things, and still get deals for as little as £159 per person?

The Sun’s team of travel experts have named some of their top places to go for a beach holiday, whether you love a bit of culture or just time sunning it up by the pool.

Along with cheap flights, hotels and cocktails, none of these will break the bank – and they come expert approved.

Urla, Turkey

Brits love a bit of Turkish coastline, with millions of us visiting the country’s beach resorts each year. But when I told friends I was visiting the coastal town of Urla in Turkey’s Izmir region (pictured above) a couple of summers ago, I was met with blank faces.

Unsurprising then, that there were hardly any Brits wandering the quaint streets of the town, which looks out over the Aegean sea.

Featured as one of Conde Nast Traveller’s Places To Visit in 2024, we swam in the sea at a local beach club during the day and hit up a couple of the local vineyards, then gorged on delicious food and cocktails at night.

And it really is delicious food, as the town is home to several restaurants that feature in the fancy Michelin food guide. However, that doesn’t mean you have to pay Michelin prices everywhere – this is after all, an article about cheap destinations.

At the Bulls**t Pub near the seafront, you can get a burger and fries with a small beer for 450 Turkish lira (£7) and at the highly rated Evba Urla neighbourhood restaurant, you can get a huge Turkish breakfast for the same price.

Accommodation varies in prices, with several chic boutique hotels as well as family guesthouses from £500 a week for a family of four in August, while airlines offering flights include Pegasus, easyJet and SunExpress from £132 return in late-August. – Caroline McGuire, Head of Travel (Digital)

Djerba, Tunisia

With eight miles of powdery soft white sands lapped by azure blue waters, Sidi Mahres on the Tunisian island of Djerba could give the Caribbean a run for its money.

And yet the island just off the coast of the North African country offers incredible value for money with 4* hotels a fraction of what you’d pay in Europe.

You’ll also get so much more than just a great beach here. From the bustling souks to Djerbahood – a maze of winding lanes covered in vibrant street art – there’s plenty to keep the culture vultures happy too.

The island’s hotel zone has plenty of all-inclusive hotel options – I stayed at the beachfront 5* Radisson Blu Palace Resort & Thalasso.

With huge pools, four restaurants and three bars it also has the biggest Thalasso spa on the island for the ultimate pampering.

Seven nights’ all-inclusive is from just £488pp with easyJet Holidays, including flights from the UK, luggage and transfers. – Lisa Minot, Head of Travel

Gran Canaria, Spain

If I’m heading to the beach, it needs to be hot enough for me to catch a killer tan.

That’s why Gran Canaria ranks highly for me as a beach destination.

The Spanish island’s proximity to the Western Sahara means temperatures are usually soaring and sunshine is pretty much guaranteed year round. Plus, it’s fly-and-flop heaven.

The last time I visited, I spent the majority of my time on a sun lounger with a book, having cocktails handed to me every hour by a doting poolside waiter. It was pure bliss.

With the southern side of the island completely geared up for holidaymakers, you may not be getting the most authentic foods and experiences, but the positive of that is being able to stick to what you love.

Fancy sushi for dinner? There’ll be a restaurant nearby. Want to spend all-night partying with fellow holidaymakers? Take your pick of beach bars and clubs.

TUI has package holidays from £487pp in August for a family of four. – Sophie Swietochoswki, Assistant Travel Editor

Agadir, Morocco

Warm in winter, surfing every morning and mega cheap shopping – what’s not to love about Agadir?

I rave about Morocco when it comes to affordable holiday destinations, and in particular love Agadir and Taghazout which are known for their epic surf scene, with beaches far quieter than its Spanish counterparts.

I stayed at the adult-only Pickalbatros White Beach Resort resort (from £484 for three days & flights with TUI) where my days were spent lounging by the pool.

There was no fighting for sunbeds because there’s so many to choose from, and once I was in position with a good book, skillful rollerblading waiters whizzed cocktails to me and pool staff tried to tempt me into aquarobics.

Outside the resort, you can explore the souks for homeware that is a fraction of the price in the UK, or go on tours of Agadir Oufella fortress and the marina.

Or just sit by the beach and watch people taken out by waves – whatever takes your fancy. Package holidays are crazy cheap too. I’m talking seven night breaks for £159 each, including flights in winter. – Kara Godfrey, Deputy Travel Editor

Île de Ré, France

This dinky French island – connected to the mainland via bridge – feels like it’s trapped in a long-gone era with its traditional restaurants serving fresh seafood, the charming harbour littered with bobbing sail boats and its towering fort that was built back in 1625.

Cars are permitted on the island, but the best way to get around is by bike – you could easily cycle around the periphery in four hours, stopping off at authentic bars and gorgeous beaches as you go.

If escapism is what you’re after, that’s exactly what you’ll get. The streets rarely feel overcrowded and the laissez-faire attitude of those that live there is contagious.

Make sure to potter into the chic main town of Saint-Martin-de-Ré. The UNESCO-listed World Heritage site is simply gorgeous with rows of old-fashioned houses with pastel-coloured shutters overlooking the cobblestone streets.

If you’re into seafood, you’re in luck. This island is THE place to sample oysters.

La Cabane du Feneau (reachable by bike) is a renowned oyster hut, buried in the salt marshes, that serves them freshly-shucked with quality views to match the quality food.

Eurocamp has 7-night breaks in one of their 2-bed lodges at their La Grainetiere park on Ile De Re in the last week of July for £917. – Sophie Swietochoswki, Assistant Travel Editor

Sardinia, Italy

Between the end of last year and the beginning of this year, Sardinia was named several times as the place to go in 2026.

The small limestone island looks as if it has been carved out of rocks from the ocean floor, sitting closer to Africa than mainland Italy – and as a result, you can expect a dry, warm climate and the smell of fresh herbs across the island.

While lots of Brits head to Olbia in the north, the south of the island around the capital – Cagliari – is the real gem and boasts less crowds, especially when staying at the adults only Baia di Chia Resort.

Lounging by the pool with a spritz in hand while overlooking the bay, I made the excellent decision of ordering a freshly-made pistachio tiramisu straight to my sunbed.

While indulgent and comforting it was the perfect holiday treat to enjoy while soaking up the 38C sun.

If you were to do one thing, make sure you walk along the beach to Torre di Chia – a historic defensive tower that sits on top of a hill with the ocean directly below.

Baia di Chia Resort has 7 nights on a half board basis plus flights from £1267pp in September, based on two people sharing. – Cyann Fielding, Travel Writer

Valetta, Malta

Funnily enough, I also found myself strangely at home in Malta – if I wanted to, I could find English breakfast at any hotel, red telephone boxes, and a pub called The Queen Victoria. 

The good thing about a country that is relatively tiny is that a normal taxi ride to another city takes about 10 minutes and is roughly €5. 

Don’t expect sandy beaches in Valetta – but it still has beautiful, if not slightly rocky, swimming spots such as St Elmo Bay (or take a day trio to Gozo if you really crave soft sands).

Bar-hopping in the centre of Valletta during happy hour was my happiest time though, where I found mojitos for under €10 (£8.50) or €2.50 (£2.13) cold pints.

Don’t be fooled by the miniature size of this island – you’ll find plenty to do no matter your interest, from culture to coast and history to great grub. 

Holiday Pirates has 7-night package holidays in August from £399pp for a family of four, a short drive down the coast from Valetta in St Pauls Bay. Dharshinee Krishna Naidu, Travel Writer

Marsa Alam, Egypt

There can’t be many beaches in the world where you can step off a wooden pier into waters where you can swim with dugongs – gentle giant sea cows – and wild sea turtles.

Marsa Alam is the new kid on the block on Egypt’s Red Sea coast.

Further down the coast from Hurghada, its own airport with direct TUI flights each winter mean you’ll spend less time in transfer buses.

And the joy of the newly built all-inclusive resorts on this stretch of coastline – including the Jaz Elite Amara where I stayed this year – is their great value for winter sun with temperatures averaging 22C to 26C even in February.

With wide, sandy beaches and calm seas where you can snorkel for free to explore the colourful corals and marine life, it offers Maldives-style water fun for far less.

Seven nights’ all-inclusive at the Jaz Elite Amara is from £1,105pp with TUI in November, when there are average highs of 27C. – Lisa Minot, Head of Travel

Crete, Greece

Crete has long been a favourite European island destination for Brits, but instead of heading to the busy resorts in the west, travel south to Ella Rocrita Resort.

This family-friendly resort sits on a portion of the coast that feels untouched, with miles of hills and olive groves surrounding you.

On the resort itself, you can stay in a villa-style suite with a swim up room, creating you only little slice of the Greek haven.

You won’t be short on pools, as across the resort there are different sized pools with different features depending on if you are with the kids or your partner.

I spent an entire day lounging at the spa, where I dipped in and out of different hydrotherapy pools, steam rooms and saunas.

The best spot? Head up to the roof where you will find a pool that sits at the highest point in the resort, overlooking the surrounding hills, beach and lagoon littered with flamingos.

Travel Supermarket has package holidays from £459pp for a family of four in late August. – Cyann Fielding, Travel Writer

Cape Verde

Cape Verde has been a household name in the UK for around 10 years now, thanks to its year-round sunshine, relatively short flight time and affordable all-inclusive hotels.

It is certainly the place for those seeking winter sun, with the average highs reaching 24C in December and thanks to its proximity to the equator, temperatures don’t diffier too much in mid-summer.

Skin-scorching sun isn’t the only reason to pay a visit to the Portuguese-speaking country, though.

For those who like a bit of adrenaline, there’s kite-surfing along the aptly named Kite Beach (you’ll need strong arms), plus quad-biking on
the desert landscape that makes up the bulk of the inner island.

The beautiful beaches, as well as adventure activities and
watersports, were all within a short drive of our hotel, the Riu
Palace Santa Maria, south of the island of Sal and near the idyllic
beach town of Santa Maria.

My favourite spot was the excellent rustic beach bar called Ole Brazil
selling the best caipirinhas I’ve ever drunk for £3.50.

And right next door is the popular LobStar restaurant, which is
perfectly placed to receive the best of the daily catch brought in by
the local fishermen every afternoon.

TUI has package holidays from £692pp for a family of four this August.. – Caroline McGuire, Head of Travel (Digital)

Marbella, Spain

Everyone knows the party town of Marbella – but let me pitch it to you as a place to go when the beach clubs are closed.

This is when you see the real side to the Spanish city, where the cobbled streets are quiet and the flowers are still in full bloom.

Take your time browsing the shops for clothes and trinkets, without the crowds, and walk into wine bars, no reservations required.

We stocked up on foodie bits to take back for a hotel picnic, which included a €2.50 (£2.13) bottle of wine which was remarkably delicious.

The Hard Rock Hotel I stayed at is all kinds of fun – think music-themed massages and doughnuts on guitar walls – and its less than £100 a night off season.

Throw in some £16.99 Ryanair flights to Malaga and you’ve got yourself a bargain break. – Kara Godfrey, Deputy Travel Editor

Kalamata, Greece

You’ve dug out your swimsuit, rushed down to the beach and leapt into the water… only to find its freezing cold. Not in Kalamata, however.

The sea is one of the warmest in Greece due to the shallow waters of the Messinian Gulf. 

Escape the hot Greek sun by jumping head first or spend the days lounging under the sun with a cold beer in your hand.

Aside from smoky Kalamata olives, my favourite thing about hitting the beach in the southern Peloponnese region is the food culture, which costs less than a Boots Meal Deal back home.

I spent my afternoons gorging on grilled sardines laid on sourdough with a touch of lemon or finding street vendors that have charcoal grilled sweetcorn. 

What’s better than being in a Mediterranean paradise with a full stomach and a frosty drink in your hand?

Love Holidays have 7-night package holidays from 349pp for a family of four this August.  – Dharshinee Krishna Naidu, Travel Writer

Winning tip: a boat tour in County Fermanagh

The MV Kestrel has been taking boat tours out from Enniskillen on Lower Lough Erne for as long I can remember. We were brought out as primary schoolchildren on a geography field trip and I was recently a passenger for a civilised stag party. It’s popular for a reason: the tour (adults £15, under-12s £11) passes the old alma mater of Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett (Portora Royal School), and stops at the sixth-century monastic settlement on Devenish island. The silence out here has to be heard (or rather not heard) to be believed. The lough is beautiful regardless of the weather – and with this being Fermanagh, if you don’t like the weather just give it 10 minutes.
Tom

A fun-packed day on Glasgow’s riverside

My family loves a day trip to Glasgow’s Riverside Museum (free entry) on the north bank of the Clyde, quite near the Kelvingrove art gallery. It’s a great place for all generations to explore, and we love that it has interactive displays for children and a wealth of detail on Glasgow’s technological and industrial past for adults. Quite often there will be pop-up events, and the museum regularly runs holiday activities and workshops for families. It also has a purpose-built skateboarding spot outside and just over the Govan footbridge, there is the Maple Leaf, a newly opened artisan bakery that produces Scotland’s best croissants.
Katie

Bowled over by Bolsover in Derbyshire

I’ve lived 30 minutes from Bolsover Castle (adults from £15.38, children from £7.65, free for English Heritage members) for more than three years, but only decided to visit when trying to entertain my visiting parents and nephews (aged from two to 75). It was brilliant. The site has gardens and ruins to explore, a wall you can walk on and a castle to climb, but we also loved the interactive activities. In the basement, my nephew was wide-eyed at how his voice echoed through the chambers.
Sarah Rose

A wetland wonder in London

Not many Londoners know that there is a real treasure of a nature reserve just 20 minutes from the city centre by tube, perfect for a free family day out. The Walthamstow Wetlands is a protected area in the Lee valley, easily reached via Tottenham Hale station. I often spend a day there with my kids in spring and summer. We make up a picnic together, take a bird guide, a flask of tea and a pair of binoculars each. That, and a sense of curiosity and appreciation, is all you need for a great family day out. My teenagers especially enjoy the circular bird walk, viewing platforms and hides to enjoy unusual wildlife. There are also guided walks and talks about the wildlife.
Nigel

Inspired by a family reading of Laurie Lee’s As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, we decided to follow his footsteps and have a walking day in the Cotswolds. It was brilliant. The sweet rolling hills stretching from Broadway to Bourton-on-the-Water are easy on the feet and easy on the eye for youngsters, parents and grandparents alike. The paths are well signposted and straying into little villages like the Slaughters – with their honey-coloured houses, village greens, pubs and tea rooms – is a joy. And don’t miss the National Trust’s Hidcote and Upton House for heavenly buildings, gardens and views over the Cotswolds.
Nicoletta

Be inspired by Isaac Newton in Lincolnshire

The National Trust’s Woolsthorpe Manor (adults from £15, children from £7.50), with its mix of history, science and a great picnic spot, has everything for a brilliant outing. It’s where Isaac Newton grew up and sheltered from the plague, and the house tells this story in a fascinating, family-friendly way. The gardens are a beautiful and peaceful spot to enjoy an ice-cream – next to the famous apple tree, of course. The discovery centre’s activities and experiments are brilliant for budding scientists of all ages. It’s our favourite stop off the A1 – a lovely day out which packs a punch for its small size.
Laura K

A quirky destination in the Yorkshire Dales

The Forbidden Corner (adults from £16.99, children from £14.99, pre-booked tickets only) on the Tupgill Park estate on the eastern edge of the Yorkshire Dales offers a day of mysteries and surprises. We loved exploring its maze of tunnels, secret doors, strange statues and hidden passages. It’s wonderfully quirky and just as entertaining for adults as for children. We also walked round the estate, discovering the herb garden and Fish Temple. We enjoyed a picnic, but you could eat in the cafe or restaurant.
Susanna B

A magical woodland in Gloucestershire

Puzzlewood (adults from £9.90, children from £8.50) is one of our favourite hidden gems in the UK. Within the ancient Forest of Dean, this magical woodland feels as if you’ve stepped into a fairytale. Our children loved winding through the twisting paths, clambering over mossy rocks and discovering hidden corners, while we enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere and spotting TV and film locations. There’s also a small farm, picnic areas and a cafe, making it easy to spend the whole day here. If your family enjoys outdoor adventures with a touch of magic, I can’t recommend Puzzlewood highly enough.
Susanna Callaghan

A country park in Bedfordshire

Rushmere country park in Bedfordshire is our favourite summer day out. Our boys love the woodland play areas and den-building, while the walking trails through the trees are perfect even on hot days because there is plenty of shade. We usually take a picnic and stay the whole day there without spending very much at all. There are wildlife trails, cycling routes and lots of open space for football or games. It feels miles away from everyday life, and is perfect for families wanting an affordable summer adventure.
Nicola Hart

Fruit-picking in Surrey

When my family needs an easy summer day out, we head to Crockford Bridge farm in Surrey to fill our baskets with juicy strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb before rewarding ourselves with homemade gelato from local favourites Gelateria Danieli, served in the Wilding Barn. There are up to 24 flavours – some made using fruit grown on the farm – plus excellent vegan sorbets. Afterwards, the children can burn off any remaining energy in the playground. We leave with sticky fingers, punnets of fruit and the feeling we’ve made the most of a summer afternoon.
Carrie

Pining for the Latvian coast

Saulkrasti’s long beaches and scented pine forests are an hour from Riga on the frequent local train. The forests come right down to the long, long sandy beach and the relaxing and well-marked trail takes you the 4km from Saulkrasti station through the trees to the big dune and blue river at Balta Kapa. We enjoyed a July picnic in the forest and occasional dips in the Mediterranean-warm Baltic, before returning happy to Riga.
Bruce

Brittany’s cool sandy beaches

We went on a lovely family holiday on the Côte Emeraude in Brittany last August. It was perfect weather, in the low twenties. We stayed in an Airbnb in Dinard with our three-year-old. It was the perfect starting place for day trips to this lovely part of Brittany. Just opposite St Malo, but less touristy, it has amazing family-friendly beaches, crepes and cidre, fun street parties and cool sandy beaches. There are also great art galleries and markets. You can get to St Malo easily from Paris on the train.
Gaia

A Finnish beach – with volleyball and a sauna

I was lucky enough to chance upon Yyteri beach while cycling around south-west Finland last summer. I intended to spend a day there resting from the saddle but found it so relaxing and uplifting I stayed a week. Being around 3km long meant the sands were never crowded. I was asked to join a local beach volleyball team who then invited me for a sardine, song and sauna evening later on! The beach is also right next to the Yyteri nature trail, which had spectacular sand dunes. Impromptu swim and song parties start at midnight as the sun sets – don’t be afraid of joining in!
Pete

Exploring the far north-east of Norway

In June, I spent a week way up in Varangerfjord in north-east Norway with four friends, where we took a 10-minute boat trip to the island of Hornøya (booking required, from £95 per person with Explore 70 Degrees or Skua Nature). Another day trip involved taking the road leading north to the abandoned fishing village of Hamningberg with its pristine timber homes, left untouched by German troops in the second world war as they retreated in 1945. The village became deserted in the 1960s as fishing from its small harbour became unviable and there are free-roaming reindeer along the roadsides. And in Vardø itself is the magnificent Steilneset Memorial commemorating the 91 people, mostly women, burned at the stake for witchcraft in 1621.
Natalie Keene

A family beach break in Poland

My kids and I spent a glorious week in Poland last August, enjoying the fine white sand beaches of Sopot, a 20-minute train or taxi ride from the beautiful Hanseatic city of Gdansk. We enjoyed strolling the Sopot pier (the longest wooden pier in Europe at 511.5 metres) and sampling pierogi on Monte Cassino Street, with its crooked house. OK, the Baltic Sea was a bit “refreshing”, but it was a small price to pay for such a fun (and good value) beach break.
Kate

Spectacular vistas on Donegal shores, Ireland

If you want quiet unspoilt beaches alongside spectacular scenery, you can’t beat the Fanad peninsula in Donegal, where my father grew up. The Rathmullan and Ballymastocker beaches on Lough Swilly are long strands of pale sand. The road between them offers spectacular vistas as the lough heads into the Atlantic. Visit Fanad Head lighthouse before settling on the peaceful Atlantic beaches of Ballyhiernan. For somewhere just a little busier head farther west to the Gaeltacht village of Downings. As you travel you’ll be able to admire the lovely mountainous landscape affording views across the Mulroy and Lough Swilley estuaries and the Atlantic.
Brendan

Geothermal joy in Iceland

Although Iceland is expensive, we found many attractions in the northern town of Akureyri to be good value. Staying at Saeluhus hotel in one of its bungalows we had a great view across the spectacular Eyjafjörður fjord, which teems with whales in the summer. City buses are free, so travelling around town is easy. We found the Forest Lagoon to be a haven of peace, unlike Reykjavik’s more crowded Blue Lagoon. It’s a set among trees, with blissful pools, saunas and swim-up bars. Even cheaper is the municipal geothermal pool, brimming with activities. The city is walkable and friendly, dotted with cool restaurants and cafes.
Hannah Angle

Blissful rain in northern Spain

A workmate in Madrid came back from his June holiday in Gijón, on Spain’s north coast, and announced with glee that it had rained all seven days of his break. Desperate to escape the oven that is Madrid in July, we followed suit. Unfortunately it only rained on three of our days but it coincided with the Semana Negra literary festival, which was a great way to spend those wet days (including an interview with John Banville in which he detailed his hatred of summer!) It never gets cold up there in July, but one day it reached 27C and some of the daytime events were cancelled due to “extreme heat”. We stayed at the Silken Ciudad hotel (doubles from £300 for 2 nights).
Eve

Baltic beauty and Hanseatic history in north Germany

The beautiful Hanseatic town of Greifswald on the River Ryck is only a few miles from the Baltic coast along a well-kept path. As well as a quiet and extensive beach, the village of Wieck also features both ancient and modern attractions: a state-of-the-art flood barrier system; and the ruins of the 12th-century Eldena Abbey, which local Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich introduced into many of his landscapes, no matter where they were situated geographically. From Greifswald, the local train takes you parallel to the coast to the bustling port of Stralsund, with yet more majestic gothic brick churches, and a ferry across to the island of Rügen – a popular destination in its own right.
Barbara Forbes

Winning tip: soft white sands of southern Sweden

Sitting on the soft white sand of Sandhammaren beach in the far south of Sweden last summer, gazing out at clear aqua marine waters made me feel as if I was on a Greek island – without the stifling heat. The beach is on the south-eastern tip of Skåne province and offers so much more than swimming and sunbathing. We explored the nature reserve behind the beach, home to elk and a wide range of birdlife. The 19th-century lighthouse is open for guided tours and there’s a pop-up kiosk for drinks and snacks, such as sardine rye bread and sandwiches for under £5. The beach stretches forever up the coast and nearby Löderups Strandbad made for a great base – a peaceful seaside location full of white wooden cottages. We shared some mornings with stray elks and deer before heading on to the sands.
Nicholas

A brand new famous face from Strictly makes their debut on Celebrity Gogglebox this week

Celebrity Gogglebox has signed up a Strictly Come Dancing favourite and her long-term partner for the new series.

The Channel 4 spin-off programme returned to screens last month for its eigth series, welcoming back firm favourites, such as Vernon Kay and Paddy McGuinness, Nick Grimshaw and niece Liv, and Denise Van Outen and Johnny Vaughan.

There are several new additions to the new series too, including Olivia Attwood and her mum Jennifer, Harry and Matt aka Nitro and Legend from Gladiators.

And now, it’s been confirmed that radio DJ and The Saturdays singer Mollie King will make an appearance on Friday’s episode (July 9) with her partner, former cricketer Stuart Broad.

Mollie is best known for being a member of chart-topping girl group The Saturdays. She also appeared on Strictly in 2017 and partnered with AJ Pritchard. Mollie was eliminated in the semi-final in December, finishing in fifth place.

As well as telly work, Mollie also has her own BBC Radio 1 alongside Matt Edmondson, in which they co-host from Mondays to Thursdays. Talking about her Gogglebox appearance, Mollie said: “Getting to do Celebrity Gogglebox with Stuart was such a lovely experience.

“Between juggling busy schedules, there’s nothing I enjoy more than switching off together in front of the TV, so it felt really special to share a little bit of that with viewers.”

Mollie added: “We had so many laughs filming it and, although I can’t promise we agreed on every programme, we had the best time.”

Meanwhile Stuart said about his appearance: “Celebrity Gogglebox was a genuinely enjoyable experience and a chance to show what Mollie and I are really like when the remote control is up for grabs. We had plenty of opinions, a few disagreements and a lot of laughs along the way.”

Other new faces on the latest series of Gogglebox include Strictly star George Clark and content creator Max Balegde comedian and actor, Julian Clary and actor and television presenter, Nigel Havers.

Talking about being on Celebrity Gogglebox Strictly 2025 finalist George Clarke also said: “I loved it, mainly because it gave me a full excuse to take the mick out of Max on national TV.

“He reacts to everything, so you’re never bored. It’s so easy to get into as well, you just sit there, say exactly what you’re thinking, and before you know it, we’ve gone completely off track!”

Coronation Street legend Nigel Havers also shared: “It’s a dream come true working with Julian on Gogglebox. I can’t think of a better way to spend an evening… (Julian wrote this).”

Celebrity Gogglebox airs every Friday at 9pm on Channel 4.

Enjoying the local produce is one of the great pleasures of travel – and a trip that coincides with a food festival is a win-win. We’d love to hear about foodie festivals you’ve discovered on holiday in Europe or the UK – from tiny village affairs to well-established events that draw the crowds, tell us where you went, what you ate and why it was so good.

The best tip of the week, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet wins a £200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays property – the company has more than 3,000 worldwide. The best tips will appear in the Guardian Travel section and website.

Keep your tip to about 100 words

If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words we will be judging for the competition.

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The competition closes on Monday 13 July at 10am BST

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As someone with Cypriot roots and distant Greek heritage, I’m often asked the question: which is the best island? People lean in, expecting a secret – some tiny, untouched haven, known only to locals. My answer is always the same: Crete. With its fiercely proud identity, warm communities and exceptional food, it feels both deeply Greek and entirely itself.

For our anniversary weekend, my husband and I head to Lassithi, in the island’s far eastern corner. As a chef and food writer, I’m drawn to the area’s reputation for exceptional produce: Sitia extra virgin olive oil, creamy xigalo cheese, mountain honey and an abundance of excellent tavernas.

After an early start, we check into our hotel and freshen up. The Sand Suites is a new, adults-only retreat with just seven suites and a pathway leading directly to the wide, sandy Almyros beach and its clear shallow waters. Our suite is a serene hideaway with a private pool overlooking dramatic mountains.

For our first evening, we head to Karnagio in the pretty harbour town of Agios Nikolaos, a 10-minute drive up the coast (or a 45-minute walk). We’re told it offers the perfect introduction to the flavours of Lassithi. Despite a warning from Dimitri, the knowledgable manager at the Sand Suites, we order far too much food. We begin with Cretan classics: dakos (barley rusks softened with grated tomato, olive oil and mizithra cheese), alongside mizithropitakia (delicate mizithra-filled pies). More plates arrive. Spring onion-topped fava, tender horta (wild greens dressed generously with lemon), followed by melt-in-the-mouth sauteed lamb with locally made pasta and torched anthotyro cheese. Weeks later, and I am still thinking about that lamb.

Eventually, we admit defeat. Unfazed by the unfinished dishes, the waiters arrive with a tray of complimentary sweets. Then comes a small carafe of raki. “Only if you join us,” I tell our waiter in my Cypriot-Greek. He needs little encouragement. “Yamas!” we declare, raising our glasses before downing the fiery spirit. The glasses are refilled. I know I’ll regret it in the morning, but we drink again, buoyed up by good food and excitement.

The next morning, fuelled by a delicious breakfast of fresh juice, coffee, pastries and freshly cooked eggs, delivered to our room, we jump in the car and drive half an hour south-east down the coast to Evotry, a roadside bakery that we are told to visit early to stand any chance of getting the best of the day’s bakes. Inside, it is a treasure trove: cakes and biscuits, alongside trahana (cracked wheat fermented with yoghurt), are all made by Stefanos and his wife Maria. Like many families in Greece, they press their homegrown grapes each September to make petimezi – a dark, naturally sweet grape molasses. As well as being sold in bottles, it also forms the base of many of their bakes, most notably kalitsounia (traditional Cretan sweet cheese pies). Found all around Lassithi, here they are distinct: Stefanos does not use refined sugar, relying solely on his petimezi for sweetness. We leave with a box and some cookies, and regret travelling with hand luggage only.

En route to our next stop of Mochlos, we are told about a 3,000-year-old olive tree so make a detour. The road climbs into the mountains, winding and steep. The tree is exactly as expected – vast and commanding, yet somehow gentle, like a great grandmother rooted in the landscape. We sit beneath its branches and eat the kalitsounia, surrounded by birdsong and the hum of bees.

We carry on east to Mochlos, a peaceful fishing village steeped in Minoan history on the far side of Mirabello Bay, and settle into Ta Kochilia, a waterfront taverna, for lunch. Octopus hangs drying in the sun; the sea sits just beyond the edge of the path. We keep things simple: grilled squid, horiatiki (Greek salad) and bread with local olive oil. The squid is tender, slightly charred, perfect. As always, there is fruit at the end, followed by something sweet – here, halva dusted with cinnamon – and strong Greek coffee, which briefly resets us before we continue inland.

After a 10-minute drive into the hills above Mochlos, we arrive at Nektaria’s Kitchen, an open-air cookery school where every detail, from the rustic tables and benches built by Nektaria’s father Tassos, to the wood-fired oven and herb-filled demonstration kitchen, feels considered.

On Nektaria’s website a range of four-hour cookery classes are on offer, from vegetarian and meat menus to olive oil tours and local wine tastings. However, I get the impression that whatever it is you want to learn, Nektaria will be able to teach you.

Over coffee, we chat with Nektaria, her partner, her father, her best friend. We are offered homemade treats: more kalitsounia, this time perfumed with orange blossom, and mounds of biscuits – spiced melomakarona and almond honey patouda, both traditionally made for celebrations. A slow-cooked joint of pork is pulled out of the wood oven to entice us to stay and join them for a meal later on. And while the food is delicious, it is Nektaria herself who is the star of the show. Having left a career in finance just four years ago, it is clear what she has created is less a cookery school than a gathering point – a life reorganised around food, hospitality and community.

We begin our last full day in quaint Kritsa, one of Crete’s oldest villages, just a 15-minute drive inland from our hotel. A winding main street is dotted with a range of shops, traditional cafes and a fascinating natural history museum and tapestry centre.

We begin at the women’s cooperative, where biscuits and cakes are being prepared for nearby restaurants. A demonstration is also being set up in the outdoor kitchen and dining area. We stock up on boxes of syrupy sweet pastries and a bag of skioufichta, a type of rolled Cretan pasta, ready to recreate the lamb dish from Karnagio on our return home.

Our penultimate stop is an olive oil tasting at the family-owned Mourello, where visitors can book a range of olive oil experiences. Escaping the midday heat, we’re seated in a cool, quiet room overlooking valleys of olive groves. Over two hours, Eleni guides us through her family’s growing, harvesting and pressing process in such detail that I leave feeling I could semi-confidently turn my hand to making my own olive oil. We taste and compare different grades and types. Mourello’s Vedema oil is outstanding – peppery, punchy and silky. We leave with several bottles under our arms.

For our last evening we drive up into the hills again to the village of Kroustas. Sitting at 520m above sea level, the view over Mirabello Bay is dramatic. We’ve booked a table at Xatheri, a destination restaurant that feels deeply rooted in family life and is much loved in the area. Chef Konstantinos has built the menu around recipes from his parents and grandmother, who we are told has just stopped by to check in on service. We start with one of her recipes, dolmadakia, small, delicate stuffed vine leaves. Goat stew arrives rich and slow-cooked, tossed through spaghettoni and topped with aged graviera cheese. And finally gamopilafo, also known as “wedding rice”, which feels appropriate given it’s our anniversary. It is deeply comforting and impossibly rich.

Despite protesting, dessert appears – a generous slice of galaktoboureko, a just-set vanilla cream encased in crisp syrupy filo, which is somehow light enough to avoid being cloying. There is dessert wine, then raki, of course. We leave not just full, but slightly reoriented – already thinking about returning to this calm corner of Crete.

The trip was provided by Simpson Travel , which offers a week at the Sand Suites from £1,124pp B&B, including flights and car hire

Celebrity Gogglebox fans were left baffled after a famous face failed to make an appearance on the programme

A familiar face on Celebrity Gogglebox was missing from the latest instalment.

The Channel 4 spin-off show returned to screens on Friday (July 3) for a brand new episode, welcoming back firm favourites, such as Denise Van Outen and Johnny Vaughan, Nick Grimshaw and niece Liv and pals Richie Anderson and Ellie Simmonds.

There are several new additions to the new series too, including Olivia Attwood and her mum Jennifer, and Harry and Matt aka Nitro and Legend from Gladiators.

Finishing off the line-up are Strictly star George Clark and content creator Max Balegde, as well as comedian and actor, Julian Clary and actor and television presenter, Nigel Havers.

But for the latest instalment of the beloved show, instead of comedians Babatunde Aleshe and Mo Gilligan – who film in South London – making an appearance, Mo was with fellow comedian and I’m A Celebrity star Eddie Kadi, with Babatunde absent.

Reacting to Babatunde being missing, one confused person wrote on X: “Where’s @BabatundeComedy tonight @MoTheComedian?” Meanwhile on Gogglebox’s Instagram, Mo shared a video of him and Eddie which also left fans puzzled by Babatunde’s absence. “BABATUNDE?! WHERE THE HELL IS HE?!” declared a second fan. A third wrote: “Where’s Babatunde?”

Meanwhile, talking about being on Celebrity Gogglebox, new star Olivia Attwood said it “was chaotic but in the best possible way”. She explained: “It’s not often that we agree on things which I think the viewers may find entertaining.

“My family are huge fans of the show so it’s a real honour to be a part of such an iconic British programme.”

Strictly 2025 finalist George Clarke also said: “I loved it, mainly because it gave me a full excuse to take the mick out of Max on national TV.

“He reacts to everything, so you’re never bored. It’s so easy to get into as well, you just sit there, say exactly what you’re thinking, and before you know it, we’ve gone completely off track!”

Coronation Street legend Nigel Havers also shared: “It’s a dream come true working with Julian on Gogglebox. I can’t think of a better way to spend an evening… (Julian wrote this).”

Celebrity Gogglebox airs at 9pm on Friday at Channel 4

Why Milos is unforgettable

We first noticed Milos as we travelled home from Crete, flying directly above it and deciding that was where we must go next. It didn’t disappoint. The island was calm, peaceful and strikingly beautiful. Milos isn’t well known, but it should be; the true home of the Aphrodite of Melos, displayed in the Louvre, Paris as the Venus de Milo. The northern coast was spectacular, shaped by volcanic activity and particularly picturesque. Sarakiniko is the perfect stop for photographs with its white rock. Truly an unforgettable trip.
Chris Rimell

Chasing waterfalls on the Pelion peninsula

We visited the incredibly beautiful Pelion peninsula in east, central Greece, and based ourselves in the tiny town of Damouchari, staying at the Kastro Studios above the village shop with a prime position overlooking the harbour and a one-minute walk to the white pebble beach. We swam in the harbour and off the beach, snorkelling with interesting fish and crustaceans, and took a very hot walk (take plenty of water) along the coast to the Fakistra beach where we cooled off under a waterfall and my daughter spent the afternoon doing handstands in the sea. Our walks included eating home-cooked meals at tiny roadside restaurants and drinking very strong coffee under a 1,000-year-old plane tree in a village square. A perfect, slow and really memorable trip full of exploration and fun.
Layla Astley

Beach boat trips on Symi

Getting the ferry from hectic Rhodes, we had heard that something special was waiting for us on Symi. Tucked away just off the Turkish coastline, this hidden little island in the Dodecanese was the perfect place to switch off for a week. Every day was a different boat trip to a new beach, such as Marathounda Bay, with its free-ranging goats searching for scraps between the sunbeds and stones. However, the true highlights were the shaded tavernas found on the edge of each shore where we refreshed ourselves to our hearts’ content with seafood, salad and a cold Mythos.
Steve

Strolling around Venetian palazzos on Syros

Syros – the administrative capital of the Cyclades – is a wonderful place. Between relaxed strolls around Venetian palazzos (large houses) and swimming off the rocks in Ermoupoli, we got a bus to the other side of the island to Galissas beach. Here, after asking locals, we made an anecdotal map and hiked to Agios Stefanos, a chapel in a cave almost in the sea. Watching the sunset there was a magical experience. The story goes that a fisher was saved here from being dragged under the sea by a giant octopus, after praying to Saint Stephen, and so he built this chapel to thank him.
Rosie

The healing power of Hydra

After my mum, June, died, our family decided to go somewhere warm of heart and chose Hydra in the Saronic Gulf, off the east coast of the Peloponnese. Still rumpled from our flight, we took a ferry from Piraeus and sailed off towards a kindly family hotel, the Hydroussa. A tiny, car-free island with a long history was explored in an afternoon. We mostly just took dips (in the clearest seas I’ve ever swum in), read, ate, remembered and gently healed.
Dawn

An archaeological gem near Preveza

The little-known archaeological site of ancient Kassopi was one highlight of our visit to the charming little port of Preveza, on the central west coast. The mountainside was drowning in wildflowers, and the bees, butterflies and lizards were our only companions – apart from the warden who seemed agreeably surprised to see us. We had the entire site to ourselves and wandering through the remains of the city and its third-century BC theatre, with an azure sea in the background, was an unforgettably romantic and quintessentially Greek experience. Later that day, we went dolphin-watching in the Ambracian Gulf, followed by wonderful Preveza prawns for dinner.
Gerald Willmore

Back in time on Antiparos

Most guidebooks recommend doing a day trip to Antiparos from Paros, its much bigger neighbour, but we stayed for five days – the best decision of our trip to the Cyclades. Like stepping back decades into a much less-touristed Greece, the island has a modest beauty and peaceful aura that charmed and calmed us. We stayed in Statheros Garden and enjoyed morning dips in the turquoise waters at Panagia beach, just a few metres away. Paros is only a few minutes away by ferry so there’s plenty of scope for exploring beyond beautiful Antiparos Town and Sifneiko bay.
Alice

Amorgos is as epic as in the Big Blue

The Big Blue is a film I have watched countless times and seeing the 11th-century monastery of Amorgos rise out of the rock face as Eric Serra’s soundtrack kicks in has stayed with me. Seeing it in real life when I travelled to this most charming of Greek islands was truly unforgettable.
Ed Simpson

A true adventure on Kefalonia and Ithaca

As a boy, I went to Kefalonia with my parents and stayed in the fishing village of Fiskardo in the north. Beautiful beaches, fantastic food and sun aplenty, yet a highlight for me was hiring a small motorboat with my father and darting across the bay to the island of Ithaca. We may have got a little carried away exploring, leading to us running out of fuel and having to be rescued! Nevertheless, it was a true adventure. My father passed in 2022, and our speedboat adventure is a memory I hold dear to this day.
Dan Law-Jones

Winning tip: wildlife deep in the Vikos gorge

We’ve just returned from a road trip in beautiful northern Greece, a highlight of which was the awe-inspiring Vikos gorge – the deepest gorge in Europe by ratio of depth to width. We frequently saw tortoises trundling along on our hiking route through the gorge, and also had a brief encounter with a horned viper (one of Europe’s most venomous snakes), underlining the array of wild creatures that are resident here, which include brown bears, wolves, Egyptian vultures and wild boar. We enjoyed the tranquility of the Voidomatis Springs, a crystal clear pool at the bottom of the gorge. It’s a perfect place for a dip if you’re feeling brave – the water is a bracing 4-7C year round!
Beatrice