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Looking for a cosy UK weekend getaway this winter? This award-winning country pub ticks all the boxes, our writer Sam Kistamah found out on a recent stay there

Approaching The Gunton Arms, we quickly realised it’s not your average local. It is a pub, but one set in a 1,000-acre deer park near Cromer in rural Norfolk, kitted out in furnishings to rival posh department store Liberty and with walls covered in art by the likes of Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst. And there’s a restaurant that’s in the Michelin Guide too. The deer park surrounds the 18th-century Gunton Hall, and The Gunton Arms was originally a farm that became the second house to Gunton Hall.

After careful restoration by art dealer Ivor Braka (hence the amazing collection), The Gunton Arms opened as a pub with bedrooms in 2011, and earlier this year was listed in the top 20 of The Good Food Guide’s best British pubs.

The food at The Gunton Arms

The Elk Room restaurant is dominated by a giant Irish elk skull, which hangs over an open fire. That’s where chef Stuart Tattersall cooks local fare, including venison from the deer park and beef from the Blickling Estate. Being four miles from the coast, The Gunton Arms also offers seafood, including a popular Cromer crab pasta dish.

We began with fried cod cheeks with caper and bronze fennel mayonnaise, and mixed beets with pickled walnuts and Binham blue. We loved the tender nuggets of cod with their zingy sauce, and the sweet beets were beautifully contrasted by creamy blue cheese and tangy slivers of walnut.

For mains, we devoured the sirloin steak, which had been perfectly cooked on the fire, and came with roast potatoes and a jug of Béarnaise sauce, and the roasted halibut special, accompanied by a buttery spinach and chive sauce and tasty Portland cockles. As keen dessert fans, we inhaled the Norfolk treacle tart with clotted cream and buttermilk pudding with honeyed fig.

The next day, we had lunch at The Gunton Arms’ sister pub The Suffield Arms, which serves outstanding Mediterranean tapas. Highlights included the corn ribs with mojito mayonnaise, and the white Andalusian prawns with garlic and chilli.

The rooms at The Gunton Arms

There are 16 rooms and we stayed in the stunning Rocksavage suite, which gave us some major inspiration for our own home renovation with its muted tones and carefully chosen pieces of art and dark wood furniture. Everything, from the marble bathroom with its roll-top tub to the sumptuous bed, oozed elegance. While the suite was traditionally decorated, we appreciated the Nespresso machine and Roberts radio, and the Norfolk Natural Living toiletries were a nice touch too.

What is there to do around The Gunton Arms?

You can explore the deer park but we were told not to approach the herd as it was rutting season when we visited – we loved watching them from the pub garden while enjoying a glass of chilled Gavi. The pretty seaside town of Cromer is a 10-minute drive away, and the pub is an ideal base for visiting the beautiful North Norfolk coast. With its towering sand dunes, Holkham Beach is a must-see spot that’s loved by the royals as it’s close to Sandringham.

How much does it cost to stay at The Gunton Arms?

Rooms at The Gunton Arms start from £145 per night.

Prague has been crowned the cheapest Christmas market destination in Europe with £2 pints and £74 hotels, and it’s also one of the most photographed festive spots on the continent

If you’re on the hunt for the ultimate Christmas market to explore this December, then you’re in luck. Hoppa has done the legwork for you and identified the most affordable destination to soak up the festive atmosphere.

The airport transfer experts have scrutinised dozens of European winter holiday spots, considering factors such as average accommodation costs, Tripadvisor reviews, and even the price of a pint.

And the European location that offers the best value for money this Yuletide is…Prague!

I agree with them after visiting the scenic city of Prague two years ago during the Christmas period. The Old Town Square has an iconic Gothic Church, a 20-Metre Christmas tree and is the most festive place I’ve ever experienced.

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It truly comes alive in December when the Christmas lights sparkle, locals sing traditional Czech carols and chalets sell everything from Trdelník (chimney cake) to hand-painted Czech Marionettes and puppets.

In addition to a visually stunning Christmas market, you’ll find an impressive 4,811 attractions to keep you entertained. With a score of 7.5 out of 10, the average cost of a 3-star hotel in Prague is a mere £74, and a pint will set you back just £2.17, according to secretldn.com.

The square is lined with eateries where you can sit back, enjoy reasonably priced food and drink, and indulge in some people-watching. Dinner with drinks typically costs between 250-400 CZK (roughly £8 to £14), with street food being even more affordable.

You can enjoy traditional dishes like Goulash, Svíčková (beef in cream sauce) or Vepřo knedlo zelo (pork, dumplings, sauerkraut) washed down with mulled wine, beer or Tatratea : A popular tea-based spirit.

In fact, the Christmas market is so picturesque that it’s been dubbed the most photographed Christmas market in Europe by various media outlets and Prague City Tourism.

There’s still ample time to visit – the market operates annually from late November until early January, transforming the square into a magical scene dominated by the towering Gothic spires of Týn Church and the Astronomical Clock.

One of the best aspects is that despite being only a two-hour flight from the UK, once you set foot in the Old Town Square, it feels as though you’ve travelled back in time. And you can get there for as little as £27 return (if you book well in advance), leaving plenty of spare change for a few £2 pints of beer.

The 10 most budget-friendly European winter getaway destinations:

Prague, Czech Republic.

Bansko, Bulgaria.

Sofia, Bulgaria.

Budapest, Hungary.

Tallinn, Estonia.

Kraków, Poland.

Tirana, Albania.

Belgrade, Serbia.

Bratislava, Slovakia.

Vilnius, Lithuania.

ONE lesser-visited region in Spain has been named as one of the best places to visit next year.

It has a main city that holds bull racing events along with huge valleys, mountains and even a desert.

Conde Nast Traveller declared Navarra, also called Navarre, as one of the ‘Best Places to Go in Spain and Portugal in 2026’.

The publication said: “We often make a point of covering lesser-known sites in every region and in 2026 we want to encourage readers to check out a new project focused on rural areas in Navarra.”

The landlocked region located in northern Spain, shares borders with the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain.

Its capital, Pamplona, is home to around 200,000 residents.

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And it’s famous for its San Fermín festival which is celebrated each year from July 6 to 14 with parades, music, dancing, and bullfights.

The most well-known event is called Encierro or Running of the Bulls.

It involves hundreds of people running in front of six bulls down a stretch of narrow streets which ends in Pamplona’s bullring.

The city also has a pretty Old Town, Cathedral, the Renaissance-like fort Ciudadela, Plaza del Castillo, and the Museum of Navarre.

It’s not just Pamplona, there are other smaller cities within the region, like Barañáin, Burlada, and Estella-Lizarra.

The region was even once an independent kingdom and known as the Kingdom of Navarre.

Eventually it as split with Lower Navarre merging into France, and Upper Navarre becoming a province of Spain.

Aside from the cities, Navarre also has a semi-desert region called Bardenas Reales which is around 162 square miles.

The desert has plenty of hiking trails and places to go biking – but unique rock formations aren’t to be climbed on themselves as they are part of an eco-system.

In contrast, part of Navarre encompasses the Pyrenean valleys.

It has high mountain peaks like Mesa de los Tres Reyes as well as green valleys, forests and even caves.

During the winter, the Pyrenean valleys become a great and popular spot for skiers.

From Navarre, travellers can easily get to other cities like San Sebastian and Bilbao, Madrid and Barcelona.

Here’s where to find the lesser-visited Spanish holiday destination that is now home to some of the best beer in the world…

A lesser-known holiday spot in Spain was last year declared home to the greatest beer in the world.

For four days last summer, professional beer sommeliers and experienced brewers gathered in Estoril, Portugal, for the World Beer Challenge.

The international contest declared which beers were the greatest in the world across a number of categories.

One of the winners of the 2024 gongs was Spanish beer Ambar Especial, which picked up a perfect 100/100 score from all 125 judges, who came from 29 different countries.

The beer is made in the city of Zaragoza in Spain and claimed the gold in the International Lager category at this year’s event.

It’s a city that is often overlooked by people heading to north Spain, with visitors more commonly heading to places like Barcelona, or the beaches of San Sebastian.

Plus, here’s another Spanish region undiscovered by Brits despite seaside views and ancient Roman cities.

And the Spanish coastal region with fewer than 2,000 Brits a year that has ‘endless’ beaches.

SIMON Cowell could be locked in another copyright row after it emerged a group of British rockers also share the same name as his newly formed group.

Tattooed Scottish band December Tenth told the music mogul to get his lawyers to call them over the name dispute.

This week Netflix announced his new show Next Act will feature his latest band – December 10.

The seven-piece group – which conissits of Nicolas Alves, 16, Cruz Lee-Ojo, 19, Hendrik Christoffersen, 19, John Fadare, 17, Josh Olliver, 17, Danny Bretherton, 16, and Seán Hayden, 19 – released their new music earlier this week.

But they have an unexpected rivalry in the form of the Glasgow-based metallers, who are named after the date their pen pal was executed on death row.

They have challenged Simon after he and Netflix announced the new boy band with a very similar name to their group.

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In a post on social media the lead singer of the band said: “It came to light over the last few days that Simon Cowell, Netflix and Universal Music, are involved in a new boy band that share, to some extent, our name December Tenth.

“Now if anyone in Simon’s team, Universal or Netflix, would like to get in touch with ourselves and our legal team they can do so.

“I would like to point out, the hundreds of new followers we have over the last few days are most welcome, but I’m not entirely sure they are all genuine.”

The band, who formed in 2020, have also been swamped with messages with confused boy band fans who mistakenly followed them online.

He added: “Our social media accounts have blew up and we had no idea why. It turns out that Simon Cowell has released a new Netflix show, called “December 10”.

“We are now being inundated with well wishes from fans of the show thinking we are that band.”

It’s not the first time Simon has faced issues over a pop group’s name.

In 2011 X Factor was forced to change their girl band Rhythmix to Little Mix after a disabled children’s charity in Brighton with the same name threatened them with legal action.

Dec. 11 (UPI) — Time magazine on Thursday named the architects of artificial intelligence as the 2025 Person of the Year.

While no one specific person was singled out by the magazine for the annual honor, the cover story for the edition featured interviews with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Baidu CEO Robin Li.

Time editor in chief Sam Jacobs, in a letter to readers about the selection, said no one had a greater impact on individuals than those who created AI.

“This was the year when artificial intelligence’s full potential roared into view, and when it became clear that there will be no turning back or opting out,” he wrote.

“For these reasons, we recognize a force that has dominated the year’s headlines, for better or worse. For delivering the age of thinking machines, for wowing and worrying humanity, for transforming the present and transcending the possible, the architects of AI are Time’s 2025 Person of the Year.”

The Person of the Year edition of the magazine features two covers this year — one depicting builders on scaffolding constructing the letters “AI” and another showing several tech leaders sitting on a steel beam above a cityscape, reminiscent of an iconic 1932 photo of construction workers eating lunch on a steel beam. The edition goes on sale beginning Dec. 19.

Time also named YouTube CEO Neal Mohan as CEO of the Year; Leonardo DiCaprio as Entertainer of the Year; A’ja Wilson as Athlete of the Year; and KPop Demon Hunters as Breakthrough of the Year.

THERE’S a theme park in Europe named the word’s best – but it isn’t Disneyland Paris.

The huge Europa-Park in Germany was named Best Theme Park in the World at the Golden Ticket Awards.

It is the 10th time it has won the award – and with 100 attractions, I wasn’t surprised.

I visited the mega theme park last year, and was left seriously impressed by the scale of it.

Stretching across 230 acres, across the park are 15 country-themed lands placed on different destination around the world.

The area of Greece feels like you are in Mykonos, while the Switzerland area is like being in the heart of the Alps.

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There is a St Marks Square in Italy, as well as a pizzieria, while there are lands based on Norway, the Netherlands and Spain as well.

There is an England themed land too, which yes, has a British pub.

The extravagance of the park reminds me of a family-friendly Las Vegas, without the casinos and neon lights or course.

Among the 100 attractions are 13 rollercoasters, my favourite being new Voltron Nevera in the Croatia section.

Created by Mack Rides – behing Thorpe Park’s Hyperia – it has a record-breaking 105-degree beyond-vertical launch, the steepest in the world.

It is easily one of the most innovative roller­coasters I’ve experienced, not to mention the most terrifying.

The park also has Rulantica, a huge waterpark with 50 slides and attractions.

Heated to 32C, it even opened a new outdoor pool this year, which has a massive swim up bar with 150 seats.

And if that wasn’t enough, there are a whopping 50 restaurants and bars at Europa-Park – my favourite being the mad Eatrenalin.

Sat at a “floating chair” I was transported to different rooms for different dishes while surrounded by immersive displays.

It combines gourmet cuisine with modern technology – and I was sold.

Europa-Park is constantly expanding too – back in June, the new Wild West themed land Silver Lake City opened.

Along with four themed diners, there is even a 630-bed Tipi Town accommodation village.

Next year will see the opening of the Riverside Western Lodge, with another 120 rooms.

It might not have the recognition of Disneyland, but with so much for all ages, Europa Park should top any theme park-lover’s list.

It’s not just me who was impressed, with one money-saving mum saying it was perfect even in half term holidays.

Content creator TheTravelMum said: “The theming is incredible, and the queue times are absolutely amazing.

“A lot of the smaller rides only have one minute queues.

“The park is fantastic for thrillseekers but at the same time it caters to the little ones,

“This place is fantastic value.”

Entry to the park costs £52 for adults and £44 for children (4–11) and seniors.

Despite being in Germany, the park is near the border of France and Switzerland, so the nearest airport for Brits is Basel.

Return fares in November start from £39pp.

A member of the UK armed forces who died in Ukraine has been named as Lance Corporal George Hooley of the Parachute Regiment.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Defence said the 28-year-old was killed in a “tragic accident” while observing Ukrainian forces test “a new defensive capability, away from the front lines”.

Paying tribute to the paratrooper in the Commons on Wednesday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “His life was full of courage and determination.

“He served our country with honour and distinction around the world in the cause of freedom and democracy, including as part of the small number of British personnel in Ukraine.”

Sir Keir said he had placed L/Cpl Hooley’s name on record in the Commons “to express our gratitude and respect, and to affirm that his service will never be forgotten”.

Defence Secretary John Healey shared his condolences with L/Cpl Hooley’s family and colleagues.

He wrote on X: “He served our country with distinction. His tragic death reminds us of the courage and commitment with which our outstanding armed forces serve every day.”

The BBC understands the incident is not thought to have been caused by hostile fire.

A military source told the BBC two Ukrainian personnel were believed to have died in the incident, and several more were injured.

The weapons system being tested was said to be an armed interceptor drone, according to unconfirmed reports.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence has been approached for comment.

It is not known what L/Cpl Hooley’s role was in the country. This is the first time the presence of paratroopers in Ukraine has been confirmed.

The UK government has never disclosed the number of service people in Ukraine, but has previously acknowledged a small number is there to support Ukrainian armed forces and provide security to diplomatic personnel.

The Parachute Regiment is an airborne infantry regiment of the British Army.

It has not been confirmed in which battalion L/Cpl Hooley served. The first battalion is under the direction of special forces, while others are part of the Army’s rapid response formation.

It is the first death of a UK service member in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.

The Parachute Regiment said it was mourning the death of the 28-year-old, who joined the British Army in November 2015.

He joined the Regiment in June 2016 after completing his training at the Infantry Training Centre Catterick in North Yorkshire, it said in a statement on social media.

Sir Keir told the Commons he had met Ukraine’s President Zelensky in Downing Street on Monday, alongside France’s President Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, as efforts to negotiate an end to the war intensify.

“We must redouble our efforts,” he told the House.

“The UK, Europe and our allies will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine, stand up to Putin’s aggression and work to deliver a just and lasting peace.”

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, also speaking in the Commons, said: “The thoughts of the whole House will rightly be with family of Lance Corporal Hooley, who tragically died supporting Ukraine in her fight for freedom.”

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who welcomed Healey to Washington DC for defence talks on Wednesday, also paid tribute to L/Cpl Hooley, saying: “It is a reflection of the sacrifice and commitment that so many make around the world.”

A series of meetings to bring the war to an end have taken place in recent weeks, following interventions from US President Donald Trump and a range of European leaders.

Sheinelle Jones is taking the chair next to Jenna Bush Hager on the fourth hour of “Today,” the NBC News program announced Tuesday.

The brand extension of the NBC News morning franchise, which airs daily at 10 a.m., will be renamed “Today with Jenna & Sheinelle” on Jan. 12. Hager has handled the hour alongside guest hosts since Hoda Kotb left “Today” in January.

Jones, 47, will step back from her duties on the program’s third hour which will continue with Craig Melvin, Al Roker and Dylan Dreyer.

The Kansas native was on leave from “Today” for much of this year due to the death of her husband Uche Ojay, who suffered glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. She returned to the program in September.

Jones, a mother of three, has been a fixture on “Today” since 2014. She joined the program as a co-anchor for the Saturday edition after nine years as a local morning TV anchor in for the Fox station in Philadelphia. She became a co-host for the third hour in 2019.

The fourth hour of “Today” is a breezy, daytime talk show with advice and celebrity conversation. NBC News launched the hour in 2007 with Ann Curry, Natalie Morales and Kotb as co-hosts.

The program gained a cult following when it was co-hosted by Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford, and evolved into a wine mom gathering. Gifford left the program in 2019 and was succeeded by Hager.