luxurious

WHETHER you’re slogging it to Cornwall like writer Ellie O’Mahoney, or journeying to Scotland like Editor in Chief Sinead McIntyre, find a sleepover fit for a king en route.

Living in London, we dread the long drive back from my mum’s in Cornwall – on a bad day, it can take eight hours.

So, for a half-term treat, we check into historic pub The Crown, sitting on Chertsey high street in Surrey, not far from the M3.

Tucking into pea, wild garlic and ham soup with house focaccia, £8, and pork, honey and mustard sausages with mash and greens, £16.50, soon melts away memories of roadworks and brake lights.

As does a rhubarb rosé aperitif, £11, while the kids wolf down the pub’s signature cheeseburger and fries, £9.

Delicious sticky toffee and banana pud with salted caramel ice cream, £6, almost defeats us before we stroll over to the pub’s modern extension.

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While the exterior has the air of a municipal building, our room is fab.

The bed is huge and the kids’ sofa beds are, according to my eight year old, the “comfiest in the world”.

A jar of insanely good brownies, Cadbury’s hot-choc sachets and the “borrow box” full of age-perfect reads, including Percy Jackson and Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, plus playing cards and mini Jenga, also go down a treat.

The kids even have their own TV!

The decor is anything but childish, though, with an air of 1950s university lounge, complete with a cream Roberts Radio.

The only thing to improve?

The skylight with no blind directly over the kids’ beds means we all wake up at sunrise.

French toast with mascarpone and raspberries, £10, soon hits the spot, however, and with Thorpe Park just five minutes’ drive away, there’s really no excuse not to drop in.

It’s just a good job my husband left some time after brekky before braving 80mph coaster Stealth!

Family rooms at The Crown, Chertsey, cost from £150 B&B (Crownchertsey.co.uk).

Entry to Thorpe Park for adults and kids over 1.2m costs from £32 (Thorpepark.com).

Lake District Layover: The King’s Arms, Cumbria

Half an hour off the M6, in the tranquil Lake District village of Hawkshead, this pub offers a top-notch reset on our way to Scotland.

The eight beautifully decorated bedrooms are all named after kings.

Ours, the King Charles, has a super-king-size bed, window seat and ensuite, where a drench shower and local toiletries are a welcome refresh.

Across the hall, my 15-year-old twins sprawl out in the twin King William room, digging into home-made biscuits.

The pub is as traditional as they come, and we enjoy drinks and card games before dinner, which is royally good.

All ingredients are locally sourced, so the menu changes with the seasons.

We loved the smoked haddock scotch egg with curry alioli and puffed wild rice, £12, and king scallop with kashmiri sauce, £13, while the fisherman’s pie with spinach and asparagus, £24, makes for a delicious main, as does beef cheek with confit chateau potatoes, £27.50.

The beef suet sticky toffee pud with spiced whisky sauce, £12, is also a delight.

Come morning, yoghurt, muesli, mini pastries and an incredible full English leaves us stuffed all the way to Aviemore.

Double rooms cost from £113 B&B (Kingsarmshawkshead.com).

NEWLYWED model Roxy Horner soaks up the romance during her honeymoon on the Orient Express.

The 34-year-old took a bath as she and comedian hubby Jack Whitehall, 37, travelled from Venice to Paris.

Posting snaps of the train and dining carriage, Roxy wrote online: “Having a bath on a train is so romantic.”

The couple, who are parents to Elsie, two, married at a lavish ceremony in the Cotswolds last month.

We revealed earlier this month how Roxy wowed onlookers with her dazzling diamond wedding rings after marrying Jack Whitehall.

Mum-of-one Roxy showed off her multi-layered rocks while on a night out with Laura Whitmore at the launch of blow-dry specialist Duck & Dry at The Whiteley in Notting Hill.

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The show-stopping multi-stone ring boasts a huge pear-shaped diamond sat next to a white gold oval eternity diamond ring, thought to cost around £13,300.

The 34-year-old looked stunning in a casual combo of flared diamante jeans, a nude crop top and leather jacket as she posed with the former Love Island presenter.

With her long blonde hair down in waves, she accessorised with red lips, tanned heels and the eye-popping jewellery.

Pregnant Laura matched her look in a leather jacket and red lipstick with her hair slicked back.

Writer Ali Graves renewed her vows after 20 years, on the most luxurious Caribbean island with her 3 kids in tow

You’d be forgiven for thinking that holidaying with the kids means giving up luxurious touches for standard family friendly resorts – complete with watered down cocktails and mediocre rooms – but you’d be wrong, as I was about to discover.

A very comfortable nine-hour flight with British Airways, across the Atlantic to the Beaches resort in Turks & Caicos soon blew that theory out the window for me. We travelled as a family of five and despite the ages in our party (ranging from 12 to 46), there was one universal expression as we set sandy foot onto property… wide-opened mouths of delight.

Our first taste of the Turks & Caicos

White sands, crystal-clear turquoise waters and a perfect, 28ºC breeze quickly told us that we had truly landed in paradise.

Beaches is a sister resort to Sandals and offers all the same luxurious amenities, but with a bonus – they’re family-friendly, so the little ones can come too. This isn’t their own spot, there’s another Beaches in Jamaica, too.

Turks & Caicos is made up of 40 islands and cays (small, sandy islets) but only nine are inhabited. Providenciales Island is the main centre, with our hotel located at the western end Grace Bay Beach – 12 miles known as the most beautiful white sand beach in the world. It borders the Princess Alexandra National Park and, for ocean lovers, it’s the perfect spot for snorkelling by Bight Reef Coral Gardens.

The perfect place to say ‘I do’ – again

Of course an island this beautiful is also a perfect destination for a wedding, honeymoon or – as my husband and I did – a Retying the Knot ceremony. We celebrated our 20-year anniversary while visiting and it was a privilege to mark this in style, and with staff so loving and attentive, there was nowhere more perfect.

We arranged this ahead of visiting and throughout the lead up, the lovely wedding team – especially Erika and Maureen – stayed in touch to arrange flowers, photographers and music choices, cake flavours and cocktails.

We chose a dreamy beach location, and the pictures are the best souvenir ever. I was pregnant on our first honeymoon so you could say I’d waited 20 years for my island cocktail! To sip on those exotic flavours while falling in love all over again, with our children by our side, was nothing short of heavenly.

From family adventures to adults-only relaxing

But this island is not just for weddings and newlyweds. In fact, who you’re here with – whether you’re a couple, a family with little ones or teens – will help you decide where is best to stay on site. The resort is split into five ‘villages’ – Key West Village (where we stayed in a plush two-storey, two bed concierge suite), Caribbean Village, Italian Village, French Village and new from last month, Treasure Beach Village. Each has their own ‘personality’ from family-style fun with quizzes, dance competitions, a swim-up bar and water aerobics in the Italian Village, to smaller, intimate pools and a quieter vibe in Key West, including adults-only pools and jacuzzi spots. Treasure Beach packs quite the luxurious punch with an infinity pool that drops into picturesque views of the Atlantic and fine dining options.

Luxury options at the restaurants

Beaches is all-inclusive, covering food, drink entertainment and water sports. And the food is exceptional, with something for every palate. If you fancy chilli cheese dogs, fries and pizzas washed down with a snow cone then you’re covered, but if sushi, steaks and lobster with fine island wine are more your vibe then it’s all here.

I have two tips on the food front. First, don’t miss the only restaurant you’ll need to book: Kimonos. This Teppanyaki-style, interactive dining experience is so much fun, with singing chefs and electric energy, and the meats are exceptional, too. Our personal favourite though, was Pinta in Treasure Beach Village which offered a worldwide cuisine menu – the pork belly poke bowl, roast pumpkin tacos and apricot rum punch will live rent free in my head for years to come.

Try the resort coffee too – Jamaican Blue Mountain. It’s cultivated in the high-altitude Blue Mountains and it’s a spectacular wake-up call at breakfast.

Red Lane Spa is located in two places on the resort – in Key West and in French Village – and is a paradise within paradise. My daughter and I chose tropical facials and left floating, with scents of mango and pineapple, and a bag of treats to bring home, too.

How to book this Turks & Caicos resort

Seven nights at Beaches Turks & Caicos in a Two Bedroom Concierge Suite costs from £7,449 per adult and £1,025 per child, based on two adults and two children under 12 sharing, including all-inclusive accommodation, concierge service, return flights, resort transfers, kids clubs, waterpark access and more. To book, call 0800 597 0002 or visit www.beaches.co.uk.