Holiday cottage news and editorial

Hardy’s (holiday?) cottage

The thatched cottage in Dorset where Thomas Hardy was born and wrote some of his best known works – including Under the Greenwood Tree and Far from the Madding Crowd – may be let out to holidaymakers in winter months.

The two-bedroom cottage in Higher Brockhampton, near Dorchester, was built by Hardy’s great-grandfather in 1800, and is owned by The National Trust. It’s currently open to the public between April and October, but the charity is considering renting it out to help pay for its upkeep and improvements.

“A key issue is the conservation of the building itself, which lies cold and empty over the winter,” said Helen Mann, the Trust’s property manager for west Dorset.

“If people stayed here during this time it would help conserve the building, and the income would allow us to improve the visitor experience in summer. The cottage would be furnished with fascimile fittings to look as it was during Hardy’s childhood in the middle of the 19th century.”

If the plans go ahead, guests would be encouraged to live as the writer did – electricity would be metered while points would be gained for writing poems and diaries, and baking loaves in the wood-fired oven. There’d be no television, and to keep warm, guests would have to huddle round the fire and use extra blankets.

Mike Nixon, of the Thomas Hardy Society, said: “Providing safeguards are in place to protect the cottage, we’re fairly relaxed about it. It costs a lot to run so we can see why they want to do it.”

A decision is expected early this year following consultation with local people.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Search for holiday cottages
in The South West

The Tale of Miss Potter

A blockbuster about Beatrix Potter’s life – shot in the Lake District and starring Renée Zellweger as the children’s author and Ewan McGregor as her publisher – is in cinemas, and a free ‘movie map’ is available for anyone inspired to visit the area.

Made by the Cumbria Tourist Board, it spotlights favourite attractions, including Potter’s farmhouse home in Hawkshead, and the World of Beatrix Potter in Bowness-on-Windermere, plus sites featured in the film – Miss Potter – and the writer’s stories.

Visit Esthwaite Water, setting for The Tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher, or the Tower Bank Arms, seen in a sketch in The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck.

Beatrix Potter enjoyed childhood trips to the Lake District – the holiday home her family used at Windermere is on the map – and eventually bought 4,000 acres of farmland there with the money made from her books, which were inspired by the landscape.

www.visitmisspotter.com

Search for holiday cottages
in The Lake District

Origins of Narnia

C.S. Lewis’s links with Ulster are often forgotten, but the writer – famous for his Narnia books, including The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – was born in Belfast and drew inspiration from the Irish landscape.

A free 26-page brochure by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board talks about his early influences, pinpoints city sites linked with Lewis, and includes a wider map showing places – including rugged coastal locations in County Antrim, and the Mourne Mountains of County Down – which were the models for the imaginary land of Narnia.

“I have seen landscapes which, under a particular light, made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge,” said Lewis, of his native country.

Tel 028 902 31221
www.discovernorthernireland.com

Search for holiday cottages
in N. Ireland

Tour d’Angleterre

For the first time ever, the Tour de France cycle race – the world’s largest annual sporting event, which attracts around 15 million spectators – starts in London in July, with the first leg finishing in Canterbury.

It will be the biggest sporting event held in the capital before the Olympics, and is expected to generate £116 million for London and Kent.

An estimated two million visitors are expected for the ‘Grand Depart’ – 6 to 8 July – which includes an opening ceremony, a ‘prologue’ five-mile lap of the capital, and the first stage of the race.

The prize for each stretch is the famous yellow jersey, and the first will be won by the cyclist who pedals fastest from central London – past Big Ben and St Paul’s Cathedral, through Deptford, Dartford, Tunbridge Wells and Ashford – to Canterbury Cathedral. Around 200 of the world’s best cyclists will compete.

Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, said: “The Tour de France is so much more than just a cycle race, creating a carnival atmosphere wherever it visits.”
www.letour.fr

Search for holiday cottages
in the South and London

Britain – one of the best

Britain is up there with Australia, Canada and Thailand as one of the world’s best holiday destinations, according to 33,000 travellers in 170 countries – and that many people surely can’t be wrong?

The Lonely Planet Bluelist 2007 (£14.99) gives the lowdown on the 11 favourite countries as voted by readers, and Britain is a hot pick.

“Brits are looking again at what they have at home and making the most if it,” says the book. “Staying in a restored manor house or mill, cottage or castle, owned by the Landmark Trust or National Trust, helps preserve unique buildings and provides a great backdrop for a trip.”

It includes Lonely Planet writers’ tips for 2007. These include Cornwall, with its array of attractions including the Eden project, Tate St Ives, and the Lost Gardens of Heligan. Its defining experience is St Michael’s Mount, an island with ‘an impossibly picturesque jumble of stone buildings and cobbled streets capped by a Benedictine priory and a castle.’

Northern Ireland is another hotspot – “Freed from the spectre of the gun by ceasefires and political agreement, it’s abuzz with life: the cities are pulsating, the economy thriving”.

More coffee table book than rucksack-filler, this large guide is full of colour photos, plus top ten lists in categories such as best value destinations, cities, eccentric accommodation and oddball markets.

“It’s a snapshot of the best in travel in the coming year,” said Tom Hall, of Lonely Planet.
www.lonelyplanet.com

Olympic boost

Tourism could provide up to 70 per cent of the £2 billion which is expected to be generated by the 2012 London Olympics – “It’s the biggest opportunity for British tourism in a generation,” said Shaun Woodward, tourism minister.

After the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, international visitors doubled in the following decade, said Tom Wright, chief executive of VisitBritain, which recently released figures for 2006 showing visitor numbers were up by eight per cent on the previous year.

Picture perfect

Budding artists might be interested in five-night painting courses on north Devon’s Hartland Peninsula, where they’ll work on land and seascapes in oil and acryllic. Led by fine arts graduate and Leeds University lecturer Roy Evans, each course is aimed at amateurs and has a maximum of eight places. For £550 you get tuition and full board accommodation in Yapham holiday cottages, and non-participants can stay for £395. It’s possible to do a shorter three day course for £330.

Dates are 25-30 March, 25-30 April, 14-18 May, 21-24 September and 1-5 October.
Tel 01237 441916

www.yaphamcottages.com