homes

WE DO like to be beside the seaside and you can be in the UK’s most-booked holiday home.

Located in Bude in Cornwall, you’ll find one of the most popular holiday homes in the entire country – and once you get a glimpse of the inside you’ll know why.

The holiday home called No 1 sits right by the beach and even has its own beach access.

Holidaycottages.co.uk analysed data from across total booking numbers, website views and the percentage of five-star reviews, and No 1 came out on top.

The home features two light and airy bedrooms with wood panelling and king size beds, one of which can be split into two single beds.

One of the bedrooms also has an en suite with a shower.

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There is an open plan living area, with a kitchen and dining space including two leather sofas and a Smart TV.

In the kitchen there are all the appliances and more that you would want for a stay, as well as a breakfast bar that seats four people.

The lounge area boasts amazing views of the beach too.

As for outside space, there are two spots to choose from.

At the front of the apartment there is an outside terrace with views of the sea and at the back of the apartment there is a private patio with a shower.

And for a touch of luxury, there is even a private sauna.

One recent guest, Marion, said: “Watching and listening to the waves a stone’s throw from an amazing apartment was a grand way to spend the week, the view is spectacular and yes, we did venture into sea!”

No 1 sleeps up to four people and a three night stay in January costs from £781, which is £65 per person, per night.

The house also overlooks Crooklets Beach, which is a popular spot among surfers and has a cafe as well as a kids’ play area.

If you wanted to, there are also huts for hire and showers for rinsing off the salty water and sand.

One recent visitor said: “Lovely beach with a mix of pebbles at top and then into sand so lots of fun for the children.

“Great rock pools and rocks to climb around.”

Another visitor said: “The beach was lovely and quiet.

“Parking very close by and a cafe and also a restaurant serving pub-style food and pizza.

“At the beach there is also a coastal path along the cliffs above and a World War II pillbox built into the cliffs.”

Alternatively, neighbouring Crooklets Beach is Summerleaze Beach – another popular spot as there is plenty of space for families to spread out and lifeguards are present.

Between the two beaches you will find Bude Sea Pool, which is ideal for swimming in when the sea is too rough.

In the town, you can explore a number of independent shops and boutiques, as well as cosy restaurants and pubs.

If you fancy a bite to eat then head to Rosie’s Kitchen, which serves smoothies, milkshakes, coffee, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

For example, you could opt for Rosie’s Breakfast with butcher’s sausage, smoked bacon, fried egg, black pudding, field mushroom, hash brown, half-roasted tomato, baked beans and bread for £12.

From 12pm onwards you could even have some bubble and squeak, with two fried eggs and chimichurri for £14.

A beer will set you back £5 and a small glass of wine £4.90.

And golf fans can even head to Bude and North Cornwall Golf Club.

If you are looking for something more historical to do, then head to The Castle Bude, which was built nearly 200 years ago in 1830 and is home to a museum, art gallery and a cafe.

It is also free to visit the castle.

For more inspiration on trips to Cornwall, one Sun reporter visited the county and said that it rivalled New Zealand with pirate towns and fairytale islands.

Plus, the fairytale town dubbed ‘Cornwall on the East Coast’ with a pretty fishing harbour and no loud arcades.

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Book a dreamy couples’ getaway.

The Challoners, East Sussex

Deputy Editor Gayle Schoales, husband Nick and their Jack Russell Dixie cosied up in an idyllic rural retreat.

THE PAD

It’s hard to imagine a more romantic setting than The Challoners: two timber-clad cabins in a lush walled garden festooned with fairy lights, buried deep in the rolling fields of the East Sussex Weald.

Beautifully decorated and stocked with everything you could think of (from torch to telescope), this adults-only, dog-friendly bolt-hole is brimming with rustic-chic charm.

The shepherd’s hut sleeping quarters – with roll-top bath and luxe bedlinen – is more boutique hotel than glamping spot, while the second hut has a fully equipped kitchen, the comfiest of corner sofas and separate shower room.

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Both huts have underfloor heating to keep you toasty in colder months, plus there’s a firepit in the garden for stargazing.

EXPLORE

You’re in 1066 country – where the Battle of Hastings was fought – so there’s no shortage of history around these parts, and 14th-century Bodiam Castle, three miles away, is well worth a visit.

Climb the battlements and spot medieval graffiti before posing by the moat for the perfect Insta shot.

Adult entry costs £12 (Nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/sussex/bodiam-castle).

Eleven miles away, the pretty market town of Tenterden has a tree-lined high street full of independent shops and tea rooms – pick up hand-crafted toffee-cream vodka for £26 in the kitsch Mr Taylor’s Drinks Emporium, and quirky art and beauty bits from local creatives in Ethel Loves Me (Ethelloves.me).

Fancy a ramble?

You’re spoiled for choice, but the stunning Bedgebury National Pinetum And Forest, seven miles away, is hard to beat.

Entry is free (Forestryengland.uk/bedgebury).

REFUEL

Country pub of dreams the Salehurst Halt is a leisurely 25-minute stroll across the fields, with a buzzy atmosphere, live music on weekends and top-notch seasonal grub.

We loved the corn and manchego hash browns, £8, and The Double Buck burger with two venison patties, brie, blackberry hoisin and caramelised onion, £19 (Salehursthalt.co.uk).

Sunday lunch at The Abbey Hotel in the nearby town of Battle is a local institution – and for good reason.

Our thyme-roasted beef with all the trimmings was the stuff of legend, £21, while a Dixie-approved doggy roast is £5 (Abbeyhotelbattle.co.uk).

Afterwards, take a 30-minute drive to Rye’s medieval cobbled lanes to browse the boutiques and customise your dream hot chocolate at Knoops.

The 70% cocoa blend with orange, cinnamon and whipped cream will blow your mind, £6.50 (Knoops.com).

DON’T MISS

Chug your way back in time on the Kent And East Sussex Railway’s lovingly restored steam train, which runs between Tenterden and Bodiam.

Adult tickets cost £29.50 (Kesr.org.uk).

BOOK IT

Stays for two at pet-friendly The Challoners, Robertsbridge, cost from £119 per night (Cottages.com).

The Terrace Rooms & Wine, Ventnor

Assistant Editor Claire Frost and her partner Steve found a foodies’ delight on the Isle of Wight.

THE PAD

Husband and wife team Tom and Ashley have created a sea-view haven that might be even better in the off-season, thanks to its cosy lounge where you can curl up with a book and house pooch Ronnie.

The six individually designed bedrooms all feature a wine fridge and a decor of soft greens, dusty pinks and wood panelling, plus super-king Hypnos beds and La-Eva toiletries.

Every evening, sommelier Tom leads a super-interesting tasting where you can learn about some of the 900-plus bottles lining the walls of the wine room.

Later, sip your fave, along with a cheese and meat platter, £12, in front of the fire.

Come morning, breakfast is a four-course (and super-pretty) affair including poached fruit topped with yoghurt and home-made salted coconut granola, and local MasterChef-worthy egg, bacon, tomato and mushroom.

EXPLORE

With the shingle beach just across the road, you can stroll along the coast on a 20-minute amble to the cute village of Bonchurch and pop into tiny Bonchurch Pottery for a unique mug, £14.95.

Or hire an ebike from Route Fifty 7 through The Terrace for £25 a day, and speed your way up and down the isle’s hills, stopping at the awe-inspiring 22-acre Botanic Gardens.

Entry costs £13.50 (Botanic.co.uk).

Later, reward yourself with a Winter Warmer session at Slo-mo, 30 minutes’ drive away at Tapnell Farm.

Sweat it out in the wood-fired Nordic sauna, before a bracing dip in the lake.

Recover (and warm up again!) in the hot tubs and “floating” sauna.

Hour sessions cost £15 (Slomo.me/slomo-tapnell-winter-warmer).

REFUEL

Pop into London House bakery for pillowy chocolate and strawberry muffins, plus to-die-for sausage rolls, both £3.50.

For dinner, make a beeline for Pan-Asian Smoking Lobster and its insanely good glazed yellowfin tuna, £15, char-siu Iberico pork, £14, and moreish peanut noodles, £6 (Smoking-lobster.co.uk).

Or try Stripped for a Med-inspired menu that includes a huge sharing platter, £54, piled high with chicken skewers, lamb kebabs and garlicky home-made Romanian sausages (Stripped-brasserie.co.uk).

The best thing? All are within easy walking distance of your room.

DON’T MISS

Stop by Harvey Browns farm shop en route to the ferry for delicious Briddlesford Farm cheese and Godshill Orchard chutneys (Harveybrowns.co.uk).

BOOK IT

Double rooms at The Terrace cost from £250 B&B, including wine tasting (Theterraceventnor.co.uk).

Ferry crossings with Wightlink from Portsmouth to Fishbourne cost from £81 per car (Wightlink.co.uk).

IF you’re dreaming of going somewhere picturesque and peaceful, there’s a certain stunning cottage calling your name.

Residing in one of Wales‘ beautiful peninsulas, the white-washed home – known as Bwthyn Trehilyn – is incredibly popular for holiday bookings.

This isn’t only because it boasts six bedrooms, scenic views and the perfect step away to disconnect from the hubbub of busy, daily life.

It just so happens to be owned by a famous TV star.

Comedian, actor and television presenter Griff Rhys Jones took ownership of the now-beautiful cottage when it was in a rather derelict state.

It was once part of a collection of stone properties that collectively formed a working Pembrokeshire farm.

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But now Bwthyn Trehilyn is enjoying a new lease of life as a holiday rental, thanks to becoming the fifth property renovated by Griff.

Under the Thatch, a company who curate collections of the most refined holiday homes in Wales, announced Bwthyn Trehilyn as the top-selling accommodation for 2025.

Visitors adored the charm of the building, as well as its thoughtfully updated interiors including its adjoining servants’ wing, a former mill, and a granary.

Interior designers did their best to keep some of the interior’s original character, incorporating vintage furniture relevant to the period and restoring wooden ceiling beams.

Though one of the main sells for travellers was its location, being only a short walk away from the Abermawr beach.

The beach features a private lake, ideal for watching a stunning rural sunset melt into the water or an evening of fishing.

It only took a stroll through the area back in 2004 for Griff to decide he just had to snap up the cottage and return it to its former beauty.

The most sought-after postcode in the UK has been revealed, with properties selling in this desirable town 15 times faster than the national average of 38 days

There are some charming areas nestled across the UK, but there’s one that has been crowned as the most desirable postcode. To such an extent that buyers looking to relocate to the destination must be quick, as homes sell almost immediately due to the high demand.

To reveal the UK’s most desirable postcodes, housing competition, security and crime rates, education quality, and employment opportunities were all analysed to create a desirability guide. The research, conducted by Origin, highlighted the top 10 postcodes that achieved balanced results across all evaluated factors.

This disclosed that the most sought-after postcode across England, Scotland and Wales was SP9 in Tidworth, Wiltshire. The quaint town, with its charming high street, is set within the sprawling countryside, with the Salisbury Plain and the River Bourne nearby, for that quintessential English allure.

One notable landmark includes St Mary’s Mortuary Chapel, which one visitor noted on TripAdvisor: “A lovely little church not far from Tedworth House. The building is beautiful, and you can look inside. I often take a look when walking in the area. There is a guest book you can sign, and it’s also really interesting to see where visitors have come from!”

There are plenty of sporting events and activities to enjoy in this small town, with the Tidworth Garrison Golf Club, Tidworth Polo Club and Saddle Club. It also boasts the 19th-century Tedworth House and a variety of shops catering to all necessities.

Moreover, it’s nestled among a stunning array of historical landmarks, such as Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, Avebury Stone Circle, Old Sarum Castle and Sidbury Hill, further enhancing its appeal to potential buyers. Properties in this area typically spend an average of just a mere 2.5 days on the market before being snapped up, selling 15 times faster than the national average of 38 days.

Tidworth also boasts a low crime rate of 35.1 incidents per 1,000 residents and is home to top-notch local schools, with an impressive 89% achieving a ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ rating. Additionally, the robust local job market is a magnet for professionals, especially those in the defence sector, with security hubs like Porton Down and Boscombe Down providing ample job prospects.

Top 10 most desirable postcodes:

1. SP9 – Tidworth, Wiltshire
2. GU46 – Yateley, Hampshire
3. G44 – Southside, South Glasgow
4. CA27 – St Bees, West Cumbria
5. LL78 – Isle of Anglesey, Wales
6. CF44 – Aberdare, Wales
7. SE2 – Abbey Wood, South East London
8. SW6 – Fulham, Greater London
9. S10 – Broomhill and Crookes, South Yorkshire
10. NE6 – Walker and Byker, Tyne and Wear

Victoria Brocklesby, COO at Origin, commented: “At its heart, a home is an investment in quality of life, and there are so many factors that contribute to making a property desirable, from the local community to the quality of the schools.

“Having helped homeowners elevate their properties for over 20 years, we also know that a beautiful home with a high-quality finish is equally as important to buyers. All the areas in the list boast a host of incredible properties, from idyllic country residences to ultra-modern luxury apartments, making them the perfect locations for those seeking their dream home.”

Do you have a travel story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

Rights groups say the demolition order, which will affect 100 Palestinian homes, is an attempt to ‘cage in’ Palestinians.

The Israeli military will demolish 25 residential buildings in the occupied West Bank’s Nur Shams refugee camp this week, according to local authorities.

Abdallah Kamil, the governor of the Tulkarem governorate where Nur Shams is located, told the AFP news agency on Monday that he was informed of the planned demolition by the Israeli Defence Ministry body COGAT.

Faisal Salama, the head of the popular committee for the Tulkarem camp, which is near Nur Shams, said the demolition order would affect 100 family homes.

Israel launched Operation Iron Wall in the occupied West Bank in January. It says the campaign is aimed at combating armed groups in refugee camps in the northern West Bank.

Human rights organisations have warned that Israel is using many similar tactics it used in its genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza to seize and control territory across the occupied West Bank.

“This is part of a wider campaign that has persisted for about a year, targeting three refugee camps and demolishing or damaging a total of about 1,500 homes in the past year, and forcibly displacing 32,000 Palestinians,” said Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from the West Bank’s Ramallah.

Palestinians and human rights organisations say such demolitions are an attempt to “cage in” Palestinians and alter the geography in the West Bank, she added.

On Monday, a dozen displaced Nur Shams residents held a demonstration in front of armoured Israeli military vehicles blocking their way back to the camp. They protested against the demolition orders and demanded the right to return to their homes.

The head of the Palestinian National Council, Rouhi Fattouh, said that the Israeli decision is part of “ethnic cleansing and continuous forced displacement”, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

‘Social death’

Omer Bartov, a professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, told Al Jazeera that Israel was “dehumanising” the Palestinian population in the occupied West Bank.

“[It is creating] a growing situation of social death, which is a term that was used to describe what happened to Jewish populations in Germany in the 1930s. That is, that your population, the Jewish population of Israel, increasingly has no contact with the people on the other side, and it exists as if they don’t exist,” he said.

“It dehumanises the population because you treat it as a population that has to be controlled, and it dehumanises the people doing it because they have to think of that population as being lesser than human.”

Aisha Dama, a camp resident whose four-floor family home, housing about 30 people, is among those to be demolished, told the AFP she felt alone against the military.

“On the day it happened, no one checked on us or asked about us,” she said.

“All my brothers’ houses are to be destroyed, all of them, and my brothers are already on the streets,” said Siham Hamayed, another camp resident.

Nur Shams, along with other refugee camps in the West Bank, was established after the 1948 Nakba, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes in what is now Israel.

With time, the camps they established inside the West Bank became dense neighbourhoods. Residents pass on their refugee status from one generation to the next.