locals

I BET you’ve heard of Istanbul – but did you know a short boat ride from the city there is a hidden gem island?

Meaning ‘Big Island’ in Turkish, Büyükada is the largest of the three Princes’ Islands in the Sea of Marmara, which is near Istanbul.

Despite being the largest, the island itself only spans two-square-miles.

And from Istanbul, you can hop on a ferry (there are two different companies that head there) with tickets ranging from £2.50 to £3.20 per way and taking between 45 minutes and an hour and a half to get there.

Tie in your visit to Buyukada, with the other two islands – Heybeliada and Burgazada – before heading back to Istanbul.

As for what to see and do on Buyukada, until recently the only public transport on the island were horse-drawn carriages.

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But now, thanks to the island becoming more popular with tourists, you can hop on a number of electric buses – with no cars allowed on the island.

At the north end of the island, you can expect to see streets lined with 19th century, wooden villas.

Famous ones in particular include the Con Paşa Mansion, which was built by a Venetian merchant and Mizzi Mansion, which boasts a red brick tower.

Make sure to stop by the Nizam neighbourhood too, where you’ll find more Ottoman era villas including white buildings draped in vibrant, purple flowers.

The area isn’t too big, but do make sure you head down Cankaya Caddesi which is often named the most beautiful street in Turkey.

History fanatics should also drop by Trotsky House, which is where Leon Trotsky lived in exile between 1929 and 1933.

On the other hand, the southern end of the island is mostly home to great walking and hiking routes, thanks to being home to the Büyükada Ecotourism Area.

You’ll find Mediterranean pine forests and the island’s highest peaks to explore.

You’ll also find Prinkipo Greek Orphanage, which is the largest wooden building in Europe and the second largest in the world.

The island is home to some beautiful beaches as well, including Aya Nicola Beach.

For around £6.40, you can hire a lounge chair with an umbrella and also access showers and changing rooms, making it the ideal spot for a beach day.

Alternatively, you could head to Viranbağ Plajı, which also boasts a restaurant.

While you do have to pay an entry fee to the beach (which usually is a few quid), it is often less crowded than other spots on the island.

A popular way to explore the entire island is by hiring a bike – and thanks to its size, it only takes a couple of hours to cycle around.

The best way to get to the island is by flying to Istanbul and then taking a short and scenic ferry ride across to the island itself.

Flights to Istanbul cost from £108 per way in July.

And if you want to extend your time on the island, you can stay in one of the hotels or guesthouses.

For example, there’s Hillora Hotel Buyukada, which has views, a sauna, a sun terrace and a garden.

Plus it is just a six-minute walk from the beach.

The hotel costs from £149 per night.

For something more historical but also cheaper, head to Büyükada Anastasia Meziki History Mansion, which has its own restaurant, bar, terrace, patio and mountain views.

The hotel even has a hot tub to relax in.

Rooms at the hotel cost from £86 per night.

It is easy to see why people love the Northumberland village so much. The centre is quaint and pretty, the beach sandy and impressive, and the castle perfectly preserved and towering

Has there been a run as dominant as this in the history of British seasides?

Once again, Bamburgh has been named the best coastal town or village the UK has to offer, bringing the run of victory to six in a row in the Which? annual survey.

It is easy to see why people love the Northumberland village so much. The centre is quaint and pretty, the beach sandy and impressive, and the castle perfectly preserved and towering.

In a gushing show, 5,320 Which? readers handed Bamburgh perfect marks for its seafront, scenery and beach. “It is a wonderful historic village with miles of sand and glorious views,” one happy visitor enthused.

Another said: “Bamburgh Castle, a stunning building, is the core of the village and leads through the sand dunes to an extraordinary beach, which never fails to captivate us.”

And a third agreed: “It’s just gorgeous and is as good now as it was years ago; it’s not been spoiled by commercialisation. What made it successful then has been retained.”

But amid all of the enthusiasm for the settlement of 300 people, not everyone is convinced by its dominance of the Which? survey. In fact, a number of locals are fed up with the limelight that is being cast on Bamburgh.

“I wish they wouldn’t do things like this. All it does is make rich southerners read it and then decide to buy a holiday house there, pushing up house prices and pushing out actual locals,” one irked person wrote online.

Another chimed in: “Peace and quiet?! Not on a sunny summer’s day. The village (it is not a Town) is rammed with vehicles and visitors.”

The gripes are consistent. Back in 2022, when Bamburgh’s reputation as the best of the best was still being forged, resident John Graham shared his frustrations. He said: “When the sun is out the place can be overrun. In the day, you get the ice-cream brigade leaving their rubbish everywhere and in the evenings the drunken louts have their fun.

“On an average morning in the summer, I pick up five or six burnt-out disposable barbecues and half a dozen or so bin bags full of bottles and cans.”

One business owner said it is really sad to see a big increase in litter being dumped in the sand dunes below the castle. They added: “A friend of mine summed up the problem quite well the other day when he said it’s like over-fishing.

“Pubs and hotel owners might be enjoying the money rolling in, but the more people who come here, the more damage is done to the environment.”

I visited last summer and was not overly impressed by what I found. One major issue was the cars. On a hot June day, the stream of traffic on the arterial road that runs through Bamburgh’s centre is relentless. The closest train station is seven miles away in Chathill, and the buses are sporadic, so any hopes of embarking on a relaxing, car-free day trip will prove difficult.

For me, the real issue with Bamburgh is its vibe. Central to the charm of Britain’s great seaside towns is a slightly edgy, salty quality in some way connected to large quantities of sailors. Bamburgh, with its Farrow and Ball doors and memorial benches, has none of this.

The stars of the show in Bamburgh are the beach and the castle. It is undeniable that the combination of the two — how the 1,400-year-old fort hangs above the broad, sandy shore — is magnificent. You won’t find me criticising Bamburgh Castle.

The beach, however, is arguably a little one-note. Once you’ve waded out half a mile to get to a patch of water deep enough to paddle in, you’ll be frozen by a North Sea that rarely swells itself into anything remotely as interesting as what you’d find on the UK’s Atlantic coast.

If you’re in search of a very long beach, Camber Sands near Rye in East Sussex not only enjoys a lot more sunshine — as one of the sunniest places in the country — it also has superior sand dunes, particularly so if you’re a teenager interested in launching yourself off their summits.

Walking into the Orangery at Teffont House during the golden hour, the restaurant is glowing. Sunlight falls across cocktails the colour of spun sugar, spills on to a terrace trailing constellations of fleabane, and bounces off spoons sinking into raspberry trifles. What really gives the room its sparkle is none of these things, however, but the fact it’s packed with local people. On a warm June evening this new hotel, 10 minutes’ drive from the Wiltshire village of Tisbury, already feels embedded in village life.

It’s the latest venture of the Beckford Group, which runs a small clutch of West Country inns and restaurants, including the Talbot Inn in Mells and the Beckford Canteen in Bath. The company has carved a niche in modern rural hospitality, teaming unflashy furnishings (all chalky pink and moss green paintwork framed by antiques and contemporary art) with menus designed for greedy locavores and pricing that delivers an unstuffy demographic. Underpinning all of this is an ability to tap into local communities to create soul. With this, the Beckford Group’s first hotel, it is making that connection more explicit by labelling it as a “village”, rather than a country house hotel.

Rather than just point visitors towards nearby Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral or Stourhead Gardens, the guest guide recommends the village pilates teacher, and local people are actively encouraged to use the hotel’s walled garden and croquet court. Hospitality should flow both ways, explains Charlie Luxton, one of the group’s founders, when I meet him in the hotel’s bar. “There’s no sweeping drive taking you away from everything; the drive is the road into the village,” he says.

What a drive it is. Snaking down from the wide, open chalk downs of Cranborne Chase, the roads successively narrow. By the village of Teffont Evias itself, it’s down to a single track, tracing the line of a rare chalk stream and a long caterpillar of cloud-pruned hedging past rose and hollyhock-frilled cottages, deep in the Nadder valley.

Teffont House sits elegantly at the village’s heart. Part genteel stone dower house, part cuckoo clock, it was built in the 17th century but altered, in then voguish Swiss style, in the 19th century, its sedate bone structure spiked with gothic windows, chalet-style eaves and surprise carvings.

Inside are 17 bedrooms. Mine, number seven, looks out over the walled garden towards the church through soaring arched windows. Instead of oversized minibars and fluffy robes there are proper cups and saucers on a silver tea tray, a tiny decanter of vermouth with two vintage glasses and, in the bathroom, botanical Bramley toiletries.

Luxton tells me he drew inspiration from French auberges. “They are often owned by the same families for generations,” he says. “We can’t recreate that history but we can create that feeling. We come from a pub background, so we’ve taken what we’ve learned and become a bit smarter here. You can dress up and get a cocktail but it’s still low-key.”

Exploring the garden after dropping my bags, I discover two summer houses being installed: one stocked with watercolours and sketchbooks, the other with telescopes for making the most of the Nadder valley’s dark skies. Behind the kitchen garden, in a treatment cabin in the orchard, I have a facial that leaves me feeling as rosy-cheeked as the apples that will soon grow on the newly planted trees.

Georgia, my therapist, shares her Nadder valley tips. The hotel has two mapped walks, she says: one a village loop and one a five-mile ramble to sister inn the Beckford Arms (stroll over for lunch and the hotel will pick you up afterwards). Other options include a 45-minute hike to Dinton Park via an old coffin path over Teffont Common; order one of the hotel’s picnic lunches and sit in the shade of an oak tree for views of neoclassical Philipps House between bites of smoked trout and watercress sandwiches.

Visiting during a heatwave, I abandon my walking boots and drive over to Tisbury the following morning. Just 10 minutes away, this large village is Wiltshire’s answer to Bruton in Somerset, with an excellent bookshop, butcher and deli, a community-run pool and direct hourly trains from London. It’s also home to a gallery and cultural centre, Messums West, where the vast 13th-century monastic tithe barn at its centre is hosting artist Andrew Amondson’s Forest Cathedral installation before it tours England’s gothic cathedrals next year.

Entering its yawning shade from the bright sunshine, the exhibition feels appropriately jungly in the still heat, and calmingly meditative. A soundscape loops a soporific medley of rushing water and bird calls, and kinetic leaf sculptures sway overhead, casting dappled sunlight on to the barn’s ancient timber ceiling.

On the way back to the hotel, I detour via Old Wardour Castle. This hulk of a hexagonal 14th-century fortress was blown up during the civil war and now stands as a picturesque ruin surrounded by landscaped parkland. Swallows fly in and out of the castle’s ravaged windows as I step inside its shell, while below it a fishing lake shimmers with waterlilies. A handful of visitors huddle in the cool, ferny damp of the castle’s 19th-century grotto, but I sit beneath an old cedar instead, watching the hot breeze stirring the branches and drowsily sweeping slits of sunshine across the shade.

The day is unfolding at a similarly snaily pace back at Teffont House, where guests are ordering slices of Victoria sponge or gentleman’s relish on toast soldiers from a “four o’clock” menu. Soon, Luxton hopes, guests will gather for five o’clock sherries, announced by the sounding of a brass gong. “That’s the fun of a small hotel,” he says. “You can do little things that surprise people.”

The big surprise at dinner is how many local people are there. Joining them for three courses, I wolf my way through a lightly spiced venison carpaccio dotted with sharp little kea plums, crisp-skinned chalk stream trout with buttery greens and a sauce peppered with briny little beads of roe, and a single, perfect scoop of strawberry sorbet.

Afterwards I wander up to the top of the garden. Dusk is falling, the moon rising and the soft clink of glasses from the terrace is harmonising with the calls of song thrushes. A sheep bleats somewhere in the distance, lights glint on in a cottage down the valley and, behind me, the woods on the ridge are darkening. Enfolded in the village, I feel truly part of it – albeit just for a night or two.

The trip was provided by Teffont House. Double rooms start at £155 B&B

Every morning Marisol Winfrey Herrera’s three-and-a-half-year-old daughter Jo reminds her to turn off the tap while washing her hands and brushing her teeth.

When they leave home, she reminds her mother to keep a bottle of ice with them to offer it to homeless people, who they sometimes find wilting in the Tucson heat. At first, they press the ice-filled bottles on the homeless folks to help them revive, then they offer the water to drink and hydrate. At her daycare, Jo is taught water-saving habits to combat Tucson’s soaring heat.

It is what prompted Herrera to join No Desert Data Center, a residents’ group that opposes two large data centres coming up on either side of Tucson – the $3.6bn project on the city’s southeast edge and a $5bn project on its northwest side in the town of Marana, together known as Project Blue.

The group believes these would consume more water and power than the city set in the Sonoran Desert can afford.

“We are in the middle of a 30-year drought, which is now an extreme drought,” says Lisa Shipek, co-executive director of the Watershed Management Group, a Tucson-based nonprofit.

“Water was a unifying theme in our campaign. The Colorado River cuts are looming, and this project would take water away,” Herrera told Al Jazeera.

Water flows in the Colorado River, which provides much of Tucson’s water through the Central Arizona Project canal system, have dropped by 20 percent since the year 2000 compared with water flows in the 20th century due to climate change, melting snow caps and warmer weather, making water cuts to Tucson imminent as the state could face as much as 77 percent water cuts.

“We say Not One Drop for data centres,” says Herrera, speaking of the campaign’s particularly emotive appeal for residents as water cuts get deeper and temperatures rise, with Tucson recording the warmest weather in 125 years last July and August.

Beale Infrastructure, a San Francisco-based company that is owned by investment management company Blue Owl in New York, had asked the city of Tucson to acquire 290 acres that were outside city limits for Project Blue. That would make it the city’s largest water consumer and among its largest power consumers. Beale did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

But at city council meetings, City Councillor Kevin Dahl began seeing hundreds of residents turn up to express their opposition to the project.

“Not for many issues do we get so much response,” he said. Herrera was among those who went.

Pitting environment against unions

At council meetings, Beale executives proposed that Project Blue could be the economic engine the city needed. It would create a few thousand jobs for construction workers, ironmongers, plumbers and other such workers during the construction of the project and a few hundred after that.

“Sometimes people travel as far as Phoenix for work,” Dahl said about Arizona’s largest city, which is nearly a two-hour drive from Tucson.

The project could bring jobs closer. Beale also expected the project to generate nearly $250m in taxes for the city, county and state in the first 10 years.

This left councillors with a difficult decision to make, weighing the project’s economic benefits against allocating it a share of the city’s increasingly scarce water and power.

Activists also raised concerns about whether Tucson Electric Power (TEP), the power utility, would raise rates for consumers so it could expand capacity to provide power for Project Blue. After raising rates by 10 percent in 2023, TEP proposed a 14 percent rate hike in June 2025 for grid upgrades made in the previous year.

Lee Ziesche, an activist from the Democratic Socialists of America who is campaigning to make TEP a public utility, said Project Blue could “lead to higher temperatures and higher rates” because of the heat island effect of the air conditioners and higher rates for power.

She often hears from residents that a rate hike would make it hard to pay bills or put on air conditioning, even as the number of 100-degree Fahrenheit (37.8 degree-Celsius) days has increased in Tucson, which is among the hottest cities in the United States.

The same concerns of needing ramped-up air conditioning would plague data centres too, experts say.

“The viability of data centres in Arizona will always be subject to climate change and heat risks,” says Kate Gordon, chief executive of California Forward, a think tank that works on a sustainable economy.

“The heat in Arizona makes energy less efficient, and servers heat up, so projects will need higher amounts of water and cooling, which developers have to balance against a possibly lower real estate and labour cost,” she said. “I am always amazed at how climate does not figure in business plans.”

Dahl and Andres Cano, a supervisor in Pima County, in which Tucson is located, had discussions with Beale representatives.

“We thought they would go elsewhere if the city did not acquire the land” for the project, Dahl said. Cano also came away with the same impression.

In August 2025, Tucson councillors voted unanimously not to acquire the land for the project or provide it with water and power. In December, Cano became one of only two supervisors in Pima County to oppose the project, and it was approved for construction in an unincorporated part of the county.

“It will create short-term construction jobs for what will ultimately be a project with few wins,” Cano said. “This pitted the environment and unions, but industry is not for unions. This will have just about 100 jobs when it is done.”

With no access to Tucson’s water supply, Beale decided to cool its servers with air conditioners rather than water and use a closed-loop water system, so it would recycle and reuse water.

But Vivek Bharathan, a spokesperson for the No Desert Data Center, said using air conditioners would increase power usage.

Nearly half of TEP’s power comes from fracking, he says. Data centre demand will only mean “more fracking somewhere else, climate and health consequences all along the way”.

The state’s largest data centre

Even as Project Blue was making its way through a fraught approval process, Beale announced another data centre project in the neighbouring farming town of Marana. It was to be spread over 600 acres (242 hectares), twice the size of Project Blue. The area was spread over two farm plots, one owned by the Mormon church and the other by a family trust of city council member, Herb Kai.

This project, too, is slated to bring thousands of construction jobs to a farming town as well as tax revenues.

But when Jackie McGuire, a mother of three and former Wall Street banker, heard about it, she and other residents launched a campaign to stop the land from being rezoned for a data centre. Residents wanted Marana to stay a farming town.

McGuire, who works as a research analyst, said the data centres’ servers and large air conditioners that would be installed to keep them running would raise the project’s cost and make Marana unbearably hot.

Temperatures rose by up to 2.2F (1.22C) downwind from data centres in the Phoenix area, a study published in May had found.

“The heat generated will be like one to two million space heaters,” McGuire says. “It can go up to 112 degrees [44.4C] here already. The heat island effect could make Marana uninhabitable.”

The Marana data centre will be provided power by TEP and Trico, which announced a 7.23 percent rate hike in January.

McGuire and other residents campaigned to have a referendum on whether the land could be rezoned for a data centre. Their plea was not successful, and the city council approved the rezoning of the land.

But the experience of the campaign had invigorated McGuire, and she decided to run for city council herself. The central issue of her campaign is to bring transparency to the data centre’s functioning.

Even as the campaigns in Pima County and Marana raged on, La Osa, the state’s largest data centre project, took shape in Tucson’s neighbouring Pinal County. The 3,300-acre project by the Vermaland real estate group was expected to house 59 data centres and two of its own natural gas facilities, as well as a utility-scale battery storage system.

But residents worried about noise pollution from protracted project construction and a possible increase in power costs.

“I’m worried about the constituents in that area, about the power bills going up, even though you’re saying that they’re going to pay for it,” Pinal County Supervisor Rich Vitiello said in a board of supervisors meeting on May 27.

In the face of such opposition, a La Osa lawyer spoke at the meeting to say the project had been scaled down and would now house 11 data centres from the 59 planned earlier.

‘A straw to the aquifer’

Sharing limited water has long been an emotive issue in the state, and the looming Colorado River cuts and data centre projects have brought such concerns to a head.

Arizona fought one of the longest-running cases, stretching more than three decades, in the US Supreme Court over the sharing of Colorado River water with California. Eventually, Congress adjudicated to provide California with a greater share of the water, which turbocharged its economic growth.

“No water can flow into Tucson and Phoenix unless California gets its full share,” says Jason Robison, co-director of the Gina Guy Center for Land and Water Law at the University of Wyoming College of Law.  “Arizona has always been in a tough spot.”

It strengthened the state’s long-held tradition of conservation.

“Arizona communities have been preparing for the drought conditions we see today since 1980,” a spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Water Resources said in an emailed response.

Authorities have curtailed lawns in Tucson, he said, and educational campaigns of the kind Herrera’s daughter underwent are the norm.

It has meant that groundwater reserves go deep, and homeowners are assured of a water supply before it is given to data centres or farms.

“The use by data centres is low compared to farm use, especially alfalfa and hay,” says Eric Kuhn, retired general manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District and co-author of Science Be Dammed: How Ignoring Inconvenient Science Drained the Colorado River.

However, “data centres are not under the same rules to replenish water” as other industries, says Sharon Medgal, director of the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arizona. “So it adds a straw to the aquifer.”

Arizona’s governor, Katie Hobbs, who is up for re-election in November, has represented to the Bureau of Reclamation that the state is home to essential industry, including semiconductors, space and data centres, and so needs a higher share of water from the Colorado River. Water, as well as its use for data centres, has been an important issue in primary races across the state.

Construction began for Project Blue at the end of April. No Desert Data Centers’ activists arrived just after dawn to protest. Within days, they found subcontractors bringing in water to control dust on site from construction. County authorities cited Beale.

Then Beale began digging wells on site after reportedly receiving permits allowing that from the Arizona Department of Water Resources. This is likely for 31,000 gallons  (more than 117,000 litres) a year, which is just enough for toilets and kitchens and will likely be recycled for reuse after.

“This may not yet be a winning story,” Bharathan, the spokesperson for the No Desert Data Center, said. “But it is a continuing story.”

LOOKING forward to a seaside staycation with the family this summer?

It can be hard to know where to book your next UK seaside holiday. With many Brits picking the same overcrowded spots, you can soon feel like you’re fighting for every square inch of sand on the beach.

Luckily, there are plenty of off-the-radar stunning seaside towns and villages where you can enjoy a summer holiday without the crowds.

We’ve gathered travel insiders from Cornwall, Devon, Norfolk and Kent to share their favourite lesser-known holiday spots – with cheap pints, quiet beaches and stays from £30 a night.

Norfolk

Travel Reporter, Jenna Stevens

I grew up on the North West Norfolk coast, going quay jumping and crabbing after school with my friends.

Over the years, I’ve seen tourists flock to the same overcrowded spots time and again, while some of the prettiest towns and villages stay pretty much deserted.

While Cromer and Great Yarmouth make for great cheap and cheerful holidays, there are much prettier and less crowded options further west along the coast.

Wells-next-the-Sea is the picture-perfect seaside town. Walking down the high street, Staithe Street, feels like stepping back in time.

You’ll wander past an old-fashioned butcher’s, bakery and greengrocers on your downhill stroll towards the sea – plus plenty of trinket shops selling seashell earrings or buckets and spades.

The high street leads to the picturesque quay, where the Victorian Granary gantry jets out over the water, and you can watch fishermen haul in fresh catches throughout the day.

Here you’ll find the old-fashioned Pop Inn Amusements, a sweet shop selling giant lollies and classic sticks of rock, plus my favourite surfer dude-feel coffee shop, Wills of Wells.

Not to mention the fact that there’s a massive, golden, award-winning beach lined with colourful beach huts backed by a sprawling pine forest.

There’s a large beachside cafe too, plus you can stay by the sea at the Pinewoods Holiday Park, with camping and touring pitches from £30 per night.

While Wells is absolutely worth visiting, tourists have certainly caught on to its charm.

Further into West Norfolk, there are small towns and villages that offer true peace and quiet – where your only neighbours are grazing sheep.

Some of these best-kept secrets are Fring, Shernborne, Wolferton and Anmer.

They’re the kind of remote, rural villages perfect for a countryside walk where you won’t pass anyone but horse riders out on a hack.

Stay at nearby Bircham Windmill, where there are camping pitches for £36 a night.

In fact, this site makes for a fantastic family day out, where you can bake your own bread from scratch for £3.95 and climb up to the top of the mill for stunning views of the surrounding villages and fields.

Although it’s quiet, there’s plenty more to do nearby. Bottle feed lambs and hand feed deer at Snettisham Park, tour the royal grounds of Sandringham Estate, or sit down for a pint of local ale in the gloriously British pub The Rose and Crown.

Devon

Travel Reporter, Cyann Fielding

Devon or Cornwall? I’m here to tell you don’t need to look further than Devon – with fewer crowds, heaps of beaches and the quaintest of villages, nothing quite beats it.

As a born and bred Devonian, one spot I will always shout about is the English Riviera.

Formed of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, the coastal towns boast an unusual micro-climate for the UK that has allowed palm trees to thrive.

Named after the French Riviera, you can expect a similar vibe but for a fraction of the price.

Stay at the newly opened £20 million seafront Hotel Indigo by IHG in Torquay from £74 per night (and there are dog-friendly rooms) – you can’t get closer to the sea with only a road separating you from the beach.

From the hotel, stroll down to Abbey Sands Beach, where you will find red-pink sand backed by a green area and the famous Torre Abbey, which you can visit for £11pp.

On the other side of Abbey Sands, walk around the harbour, which is currently under development to make it into a swish seaside hub of restaurants and cafes.

Drop by Pier Point for some fish and chips on the way – which are often voted best in the country.

For more traditional and quieter seaside towns, head to Dawlish or Teignmouth, where you will find seaside arcades and cheap cafes selling freshly made Devonshire delicacies such as pasties and cream teas.

It’s not all about the seaside in Devon, though – Dartmoor National Park sprawls over 368-square-miles with over 160 rocky tors, ideal for lengthy country walks with dramatic views.

One of the most accessible spots is Haytor, where you can head up to the tor from a car park – and don’t worry, it isn’t too steep a climb – and then nearby check out Haytor Quarry, which appears frozen in time with disused machinery still present.

Keep an eye out for wild ponies too, of which there are about 1,500.

For a historic spot – head to Exeter – a university city with a sandstone cathedral and bustling high street.

The city even has links to Harry Potter as J.K. Rowling once studied there, and it is thought that she based Diagon Alley on Gandy Street in the city centre.

For another unique spot, pop to Totnes – a town that has often been noted for its hippie lifestyle, free of big brands and chains.

Drop by on a Friday or Saturday to catch the antiques and food market, for bargain finds and huge Lebanese wraps setting you back a tenner (but big enough for two!).

In the North of the county, head to Woolacombe for the perfect holiday park break.

You could head to Golden Coast Holiday Park, for example, which costs from £219 for a seven-night break for a family of four – so just £7.83 per person per night.

The beach stretches over three miles, and there is an abundance of holiday parks around the town, many of which have evening entertainment, hot tubs on chalet decks and indoor and outdoor pools.

Kent

Deputy Travel Editor, Kara Godfrey

Kent has seen a huge resurgence in recent years, aided by the pandemic, which saw thousands of people leave the Big Smoke for sunnier and sandier climes.

As one of the many who did so, I’ve since lived in both Folkestone and Margate, which are both on the rise as trendy destinations.

(I have a soft spot for both Whitstable and Deal as well, although both are much more established seaside towns).

When it comes to Margate, there are two new boutique hotels, Fort Road Hotel and No.42 Guesthouse, which have opened in recent years, the latter of which has a fantastic rooftop bar in the summer.

I love heading to the George & Heart pub just outside of the Old Town, or Rose In June for a cosy pub pint.

If you want a bit of weird and wonderful, make sure to hit up the Shell Grotto – whose origin remains a mystery – or the Crab Museum, free to visit and the largest crab museum in Europe.

Both the Turner Museum and Dreamland are free too, so you can easily visit on a budget.

The tidal lido is worth the trek, and you’ll be joined more by locals than tourists, but hop in before warming up with a coffee and sauna session.

But to me, Folkestone is winning on all sides.

It’s 52 minutes by train from London; you’ll never have to fight for space on the massive beach; it has the UK’s biggest beach sauna; it has so much art, including a Banksy – the hooks are endless.

Live music takes place at the Harbour Arms most weekends, and I highly recommend the Sunset Sessions at The Tasting Rooms for three courses and live jazz for £35.

Chase it with some oysters and a glass of champagne in The Lighthouse Champagne Bar – and you can even see France on a clear day.

Perhaps controversial, but even the touristy Good Yard food market is well worth a visit. No tourist traps here!

For an affordable place to stay, The View Hotel Folkstone has rooms from £67 per night.

Cornwall

Travel Writer, Katy Bright

Growing up in Cornwall, I’ve always had plenty of pretty places to explore. If I had to plan the perfect day in my home county, here are some places I would not miss.

Start the day off right with one of the best breakfasts around. Bude cafe The Coffee Pot offers £5 breakfasts with bacon, eggs, sausages and a hash brown, which cannot be faulted.

I may be biased, but I think Boscastle truly is one of the most beautiful places in the UK.

It’s a peaceful seaside sanctuary with a fascinating witchy history and beautiful walks, such as the one to Willapark Lookout.

Plus, it offers some of the best pub grub around – you’ve got to try the Cobweb Inn’s steak and ale pie (£13.95). Wash it down with a traditional Cornish ale.

Many tourists, of course, flock here, so it is important to learn to avoid the tourist traps.

Newquay, one of the most popular holiday destinations in Cornwall, is just way too busy during school breaks.

If you’d like to visit, I would definitely recommend going outside of the school summer holidays, when it is quieter, and the queues are much less manic.

If you are a coffee or matcha fanatic, Blend makes some of the best drinks I’ve ever tasted. Their banana bread iced matcha is a personal favourite of mine.

Something we all look for in a holiday to Cornwall is the best spots with a pint and a view – and my top pick for this is Trebarwith Strand’s, Port William.

A pub perched over the sea, it even offers cosy rooms for guests to stay in.

If you visit between mid-April and early May, you’ll be in my home county for one of my favourite events of the year.

Although it sits right on the border of Cornwall and Devon (so some may be a bit offended by me putting it in this list!) Strawberry Field Lifton’s ‘Tulip Fest’ makes for a very wholesome day out.

Picture a field full of half a million multicoloured tulip bulbs. There is something about walking around a field of endless tulips that just feels so whimsical.

An underrated place to stay is Whitsand Bay Fort holiday park. It’s very highly rated in online reviews, and it’s no surprise to me as a local – this is one of the best places to stay around.

Open all year, it offers both rooms and tent pitches with amazing views of Whitsand Bay. Pitches start at £15 a night, making it a super affordable and proper Cornish alternative to other popular places to stay.

THE Algarve is known for its beautiful beaches, so much so that lots get very busy during the summer.

If you want the beauty of Albufeira and Lagos but with much fewer crowds, consider the city of Tavira instead.

The little-known Portuguese town of Tavira has whitewashed houses with terracotta roofs and what all the Brits like from a holiday, plenty of golden beaches.

Not only is it on the coast, but thanks to its spot either side of the River Gilão, Tavira is nicknamed the ‘Venice of Portugal’.

It’s also so pretty that it’s often described as the Algarve that “locals keep to themselves”.

If you’re in search of a pretty swim spot, you’ll have to head to Tavira Island just outside of the Ria Formosa Natural Park.

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The island is protected by Portuguese law, but can still be visited by holidaymakers.

It also has an impressive sandy beach that stretches on for over six miles; here, holidaymakers can rent parasols, sunloungers, kayaks, and paddleboards.

According to The Algarve Tourist Guide: “Tavira Beach is considered to be one of the best beaches in the Algarve Region.”

The main beach on the island is Blue Flag so it’s ideal for swimming, and won’t be as crowded as those in the west of the region.

Lots of visitors say that they didn’t expected the island to be so “beautiful”.

Others call the beach “unspoiled” and has “no problem with crowds”.

Another spot on the island is Barril Beach, which is home to an Anchor Cemetery where abandoned anchors from the tuna fishing era are displayed on the sandbank.

The nature reserve is also home to around 20,000 different species of birds, including pink flamingos.

From Tavira, it can be reached on foot over the bridge, or hop on the regular ferry.

Taviro is cheaper than other spots in the Algarve too – if you head to the historic Rua dos Pelames you’ll find bars where you can pick up vinho verde for just a few euros.

For food, head to Restaurant O Noel, a family-run taverna serving up fresh seafood from tuna steak to squid.

You can pick up a huge sharing plate of Algarvian clams for around €12 (£10.35).  

For shopping, there’s the Mercado Municipal de Tavira, a food market which is fully stocked before 11 o’clock in the morning.

And dotted about are little boutiques, independent markets and shops around too.

With TUI, holidaymakers can stay at the AP Maria Nova Lounge Hotel.

It has three swimming pools, two restaurants, two bars, a spa, gym and pretty rooms with terraces and balconies.

In July, a seven-night stay starts from £684 for a twin room with bed & breakfast including flights from London Stansted to Faro Airport.

Faro to Tavira is a 35-minute drive.

WANDERING through the garden of Wastwater Cottage, the only sounds I hear are birdsong, the occasional bleat from a Herdwick lamb and the brook at the end of the garden.

The 15th-century four-bedroom farmhouse is the perfect pick for an off-grid break in the British countryside.

My partner Owain and I had initially come to the Lake District with the ambitious plan of tackling some of the biggest mountains in the national park.

But upon arriving in the Cumbrian village of Boot, we were immediately sidetracked.

On our doorstep were two fantastic pubs — The Boot and Brook House — as well as a gift shop and the oldest working water mill in the UK.

Our accommodation was via Bridge End Farm Cottages, which has several luxury self-catering homes in the Eskdale Valley — one of the UK’s best Dark Sky spots.

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Our cottage featured rear doors on to a garden, which meant twinkling stars could be easily admired at night.

And each morning we would tuck into breakfast croissants outside as we watched birds of prey hunting on the mountain in front of us.

Inside were stacks of boardgames, as well as Sky TV and a grand piano.

But the highlight of the property was undoubtedly its location.

From our doorstep, we could embark on dozens of walks over the Western Fells.

These include one from spectacular Wastwater lake, the deepest in England, to Stanley Ghyll waterfall — or another up England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike.

We started our weekend by following the brook down to the River Esk, walking through luscious green forests that are home to native red squirrels.

Children will be sure to love the stepping stones across to the opposite bank.

Of a warm summer’s day, there are also dozens of natural swimming pools to cool off in after a day exploring.

If you head in the opposite direction from the cottage, you can take a footpath up to the ancient White Moss stone circle and enjoy spectacular views of Scafell Pike — without the challenging four-hour hike up to its summit.

En route, we passed hundreds of the Herdwick sheep that live on the mountains year-round.

It turns out this hardy breed was saved from decline by Peter Rabbit author Beatrix Potter, who bred her own flocks in the area.

From here we made a descent into Eskdale, which is a slightly larger village about three miles from Boot.

The village is home to a fantastic — and unexpected — Japanese garden, adorned with maple trees and exotic plants.

An ornate footbridge over a pond is the centrepiece, and despite being on the steep side, the walk around takes only 15 minutes.

With slightly sore legs, we decided to take the vintage steam train from Eskdale back to Boot and our holiday home.

The Eskdale-to-Ravenglass railway was built in 1873 to transport iron ore mined in the valley to the coastline, but nowadays the trains run daily as an attraction, with afternoon tea available to pre-book.

In a charming tradition, passengers must flag down the driver to board, which really adds to the fun.

If you do want to travel somewhere that’s not reachable on foot, car is by far the easiest method of transport. We used Turo (think Airbnb for cars) to rent a vehicle at a much lower cost than a mainstream service.

Driving around, you’ll likely see some pretty cool spots.

Our route took us via the UK’s steepest road, Hardknott Pass — and about halfway up we came across a fabulous 2nd-century Roman fort.

It was well worth getting out to explore, as its walls are the best preserved of any ancient fort in Britain — and free to admire.

For nature lovers, the wonderful Lake District Wildlife Park, just over an hour away from the cottage by car, is home to more than 100 species of birds and mammals, both native and exotic.

Grizedale Forest is definitely one for the kids, featuring a Gruffalo orienteering trail, plus a Go Ape high-ropes centre and the Grizedale Observatory.

There are also boat trips across Windermere, which run every day from Ambleside.

The latter is close to the Beatrix Potter Museum and boasts dozens of boutique shops and cafes.

One of the beauties of staying in the Eskdale Valley is you can tick off all these main attractions but still stay away from the crowds.

As one local whispered to us about the valley’s beauty and tranquillity: “Don’t tell anyone about it.”

I hope she’ll forgive me before I return.