Posts Tagged ‘Travel tips’

Nottingham City Breaks

March 18th, 2010

Bring to mind Nottingham and most folk think of the legend of Robin Hood, his band of merry men  and the Sherrif of Nottingham and though this attracts increasing numbers of visitors yearly there is much more to the area than meets the eye. Infact Nottingham is home to a respectable selection of interesting local attractions making it an excellent place for a a weekend city break and the following article examines the city and a few of visitor attractions in and around Nottingham, and also some hotels offering Nottingham B&B.

Nottingham is located in the county of Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England, UK. As well as Sherwood Forest, the legend of Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham, the city is also renowned for the lace making industry especially during the period known as the Industrial Revolution when it gained a superb worldwide reputation.

Nottingham Lace Market

Once the heart of the worldwide lace industry, at the time of the British Empire, the Lace Market in Nottingham is, now, a protected heritage area. The area  is home to many superb examples of industrial architecture of the Nineteenth Century. The Lace Market wasn't like a normal market, rather than having stalls and their stall holders, it was a collection of salesrooms and warehouses selling and displaying lace. After the collapse in the lace industry the area became derelict but, nowadays, the vast majority of the old warehouses have been restored and renovated for other purposes for instance photographic studios and the likes. The Lace Market is a popular tourist attraction.

Galleries of Justice & Shire Hall

Not too far from the Lace Market is the Galleries of Justice in Shire Hall. Shire Hall is a Georgian-built building featuring Neoclassical columns, pilasters and dome. The front of Shire Hall has, if you look at it closely, a misspelled word Goal instead of Gaol. Shire Hall has 2 excellently preserved Victorian courtrooms plus old cells, bath house, a women's prison, a prisoner's exercise yard and an Edwardian police station.

Nottingham is a fantastic place to have a vacation. There is lots to see and do around the city and a huge number of visitor attractions not too far away. Places well worth a visit include; Wollaton Hall, Hardwick Hall and Newstead Abbey.

As is common in all England bed and breakfast, Nottingham accommodation is usually of superb quality at a fair price and many folk choose to stay in Nottingham for part of their vacation and then somewhere else for the remaining days.

Vacation In Scotland With A Difference

March 13th, 2010

The country of Scotland has some of the most glorious scenery in the U.K. making it the greatest vacation destination. Countless numbers of visitors to Scotland choose Edinburgh as their main destination, whereas others decide upon something a little different. The article below examines vacations in Scotland and some of the things to do when in Scotland. The article also examines the Wickerman Festival.

With such a diverse countryside the list of things to do is endless. Mountain climbing is tremendously popular, as are mountain biking vacations. The most popular vacations are fishing or golf. With Scotland being the place of origin of golfing it should not be surprising that you are hardly ever too far from a minimum of one excellent golf course. With the Rivers Tay, Tweed and Spey you almost guaranteed of an incredible days fishing. But what if you fancy something a little different?

A growing number of families are making music festivals their annual vacation. Even though most music festivals are incredibly large with a focus upon making money, you can find a small selection of family music festivals, such as the Wickerman Festival and Tartan Heart.

The Wickerman Festival is an annual music and arts festival is held on a farm close to Dundrennan in Dumfries and Galloway about 5m away from the town of Kirkcudbright in Scotland. The event celebrates the cult classic British film, “The Wicker Man” which the stars Sir Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland and Ingrid Pitt.

The very first festival was held in the month of July 2002 and was organized by local guy, Sid Ambrose. With no experience of putting together a very large event it is a surprise that it is still held today, especially when you think about the present economic climate. Wickerman has changed each year and, like the film, has a cult following.

Wickerman is hugely family friendly it features many activities for children including, a mountain biking trail, a fairground, workshops and face painting. This can be easily proven by by visiting a search engine and searching for Wickerman Festival photographs 2009 or simply visit the official Wickerman Festival Gallery.

Near to the festival site is the small village of Kirkudbright where you will find many of the locations used in the film including Harbour Cottage which was used for the bakery and High Street Gallery which was used for the post office and sweetshop. You will find that there are a great many places worth visiting in the region and it is well worth having a short vacation here so that you can visit all of the visitor attractions. Common places in which to stay include Castle Douglas and Dumfries. Bed and breakfast accommodation in Scotland is nearly always first class and is also priced very reasonably and less costly than staying in a hotel.

Pet Friendly Places To Book In The City Centre Of Birmingham, United Kingdom

March 12th, 2010

The city of Birmingham is the second largest (by population) in England, has witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of folk taking vacations there. With such an immense population Birmingham has a prestigious selection of top notch entertainment complexes, venues, tourist attractions and the like. Besides this the city of Birmingham has much more to entice visitors, for example the considerable industrial past and a number of beautiful parks and gardens.

Over the last few years considerably more tourists are taking vacations with their pets if you are such a person or you are considering such a break then you might already know that accommodation which allows pets are few and far between and finding a place to book is often an absolute nightmare. Keeping this in mind I have created a listing of Birmingham pet friendly accommodation.

Macdonald Burlington Hotel

If you in need of a pet friendly guest house with a central local then it could please you to learn that the Macdonald Burlington is a 4 star hotel which is approximately 2 minutes from New Street Station.  Found alongside an NCP car park this accommodation has over a hundred rooms.

The Britannia Hotel
The Britannia Hotel is a 3 star establishment located opposite  New Street Rail Station with 195 rooms right in Birmingham city centre.

Radisson Sas
The Radisson Sas Hotel is a three star establishment roughly a couple of minutes walk the city centre. 500 metres from New Street Rail Station. The Radisson Sas features over two hundred rooms and makes no charge for pets.

The Ibis Birmingham City Centre
The city centre Ibis Hotel is rated at two stars. With one hundred and fifty nine rooms this hotel does not charge extra for having a pet in the room.

Crowne Plaza Hotel
The Crowne Plaza Hotel is rated at four stars. Featuring nearly 300 rooms this hotel is located on Holliday Street a handful of minutes from the centre.

The Malmaison
The Malmaison Hotel is rated at three stars, a few minutes from the city centre of Birmingham, the hotel features just less than 200 rooms.

Ibis Hotel At Holloway Circus
The Holloway Circus Ibis offers two star accommodation. With only 51 rooms it is vital that you know that this Ibis hotel says in their hotel policies that they may charge extra for pets.

Etap
The Etap Hotel is a pet friendly hotel. With 250 inexpensive rooms the Etap Hotel is situated around half a mile away from the exact centre of the city.

Novotel
The Novotel Hotel is rated at four stars situated on Edward Street with a little less than 150 rooms.

The Paragon
The Paragon Hotel is a 3 star establishment with two hundred and fifty rooms just a little more than half a mile from the very centre of the city.

If you are looking to book pet friendly bed & breakfast in Birmingham you will see the accommodation mentioned above (or you can use the search box to check availability) at Birmingham Hotels