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February 28th, 2010 Alex
Nestled in the Derbyshire Peak District, near the honey pot village of Castleton, there lies the Devil’s Arse. Emerging from it is the Peakhole Water, which flows down through the village and into the River Noe. Because of the attraction of the Devil’s Arse and other nearby caves, as well as the appeal of the beautiful village of Castleton, the Peak District cottages available in and near the village are in high demand.
The Devil’s Arse itself gets its name due to the fart-like noises that the cave produces from within. As water splashes inside the cave, the echoes are transformed by the bizarre acoustics of the rock structure to make it sound to those on the outside like the cave has a problem with flatulence.
There are plenty of stories about the cave, and it has an interesting history too. It’s said to be the place where thieves’ cant, a secret language used by thieves to communicate in public without raising the suspicions of guards, was invented during a meeting between Cock Lorel, the leader of rogues and thieves, and the King of the Gypsies. This story probably comes from the fact that the deepest, darkest, dankest depths of the cave were used by bandits for hiding.
The cave was also the last place in Britain where troglodytes, people who lived in caves, existed. Up until 1915 they lived in houses built inside the mouth of the cave and made a living of making rope.
The cave was officially known as the Devil’s Arse right up until 1880, when Queen Victoria paid a visit to a concert. It was renamed “Peak Cavern” in order to stop her from being offended, but recently, people staying at holiday cottages in the Peak District have been able to enjoy the Devil’s Arse under its older, far ruder name.
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February 27th, 2010 Alex
Burnham-on-Sea is well known for being a seaside resort which families travel to year after year, and there are plenty of good reasons why. It’s mainly because of the wealth of accommodation and activities in the area which make for great family holidays, meaning that kids and adults alike never run out of things to do.
The first and most popular attraction is quite easily the beach. It’s miles long, and great for walks to get you hungry for a lunch or supper of tasty fish and chips. Beach holidays are popular all over the UK, but beach resorts like Burnham-on-Sea epitomise the British seaside experience.
The next attraction still involves the beach, and is geared much more towards children. It is, of course, sand castles. Building up massive, towering castles on the beach can keep kids occupied for hours, leaving parents free to relax in the sun. Once they’ve finally finished building, a donkey ride along the beach will finish up a day full of popular seaside activities.
Seaside resorts inevitably mean amusement arcades along the seafront, and Burnham-on-Sea is no exception in this regard. Try your hand at various games, competing against or co-operating with your family. Just be careful not to spend too long in these places, or you’ll quickly find you’re out of change and the sun is already setting.
Burnham-on-Sea has its own unique attraction too, found nowhere else in Britain. There’s a lighthouse there which stands on nine wooden legs. It’s a very strange sight when you compare it to the traditional stone lighthouses that people are familiar with, and plenty of people visit it every day throughout summer.
When looking for somewhere to stay in Burnham-on-Sea, most people might think of hotels or self-catering apartments, but holiday parks add even more things to do to your trip, and so prove popular with loads of families, who won’t just return to Burnham-on-Sea year after year, but will return to the same park year after year as well.
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February 26th, 2010 Alex
One of the most famous features on the Isle of Sky, the largest and most northern island in the Hebrides, is the Storr, a huge and rocky hill that looms over the Sound of Raasay. The island, and especially the Storr, has long been an attraction for people enjoying self catering in Scotland.
The Storr itself is a massive outcrop of rock that emerges suddenly from the smooth grassland that surrounds it. It’s a popular attraction for walkers, climbers, and people who enjoy looking at large outcrops of rocks.
Easily the most popular, dramatic and famous sights of the whole region though, are the strange, upright pinnacles of rocks which jut out of the ground in an area just in front of the Storr known as the Sanctuary. These attract most visitors, and people are happy to spend an entire day of one of their cottage holidays in Scotland wandering around, looking at these large, natural wonders. It’s unsurprising, given how impressive they are in person.
The largest and best known of these is Old Man Storr, a huge pinnacle that stands head and shoulders above the others.
The whole of the Storr has also been turned into a massive art display at one point by NVA, a Scottish natural arts company, in collaboration with various artists and musicians. Photos of the area have won awards, unsurprising given the beauty of the landscape. In the hands of a skilled photographer, the area can be presented in fantastic ways, as many visitors to the island find.
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February 24th, 2010 Alex
Just one and a quarter miles away from Land’s End, the westernmost point of England, there is a rocky outcrop that spells danger and death to ships and sailors. It’s called the Longships, and the number of shipwrecks there has made it into an excellent diving location, as there’s plenty to see, but that’s of little comfort to the people on board the boats. The lighthouse has become a popular sight amongst those on cottage holidays in Cornwall.
In 1795 a lighthouse was built on the island, its purpose, as with all lighthouses, to warn ships away from the rocky outcrop. It was an excellent plan, and saved many lives. The only problem with it was that the highest point of the rocks, where the lighthouse was built, was only forty feet above sea level. The lighthouse itself was another forty feet, and because the Atlantic isn’t the calmest of waters, eighty foot waves weren’t such a rare occurrence that this didn’t cause problems. In high seas, the lighthouse wasn’t visible, and its light didn’t shine out to warn ships of the danger nearby. This was hardly ideal.
Because of the dangers of high seas to both this light house and the ships that couldn’t see it, Trinity House ordered another built in 1869. Trinity House are the public, non-departmental body that oversees the building and maintenance of lighthouses, lightvessels and buoys. They also, since their use become standard, ensure that maritime radio and satellite communication systems are operating. They do all of this in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar, but not Scotland, Northern Ireland or the Isle of Man.
This new tower was first lit in 1873, but that didn’t stop the S.S. Bluejacket being wrecked on the rocks right by the light house on a clear night, nearly taking the light house with it. Luckily, the lighthouse remained, and has so up until the present day, though it became unmanned in 1988.
As was mentioned above, the Longships are a very interesting place for diving. This is partly because the number of shipwrecks there, from both before and after the building of the lighthouse, has made it a historically interesting place. It’s also because the rocks themselves are filled with gullies and canyons, and absolutely teem with marine life.
Many places, especially houses or cottages on the nearby Cornish coast, use Longships in their name, recognising the fact that looking out to see the rocks has become something of an attraction for tourists. It’s not uncommon to see Cornish Holiday Cottages like “Longships View” around the coastline.
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February 12th, 2010 Nikki
This weekend, why not step outside and take a brisk walk along Dunstable Downs, Bedfordshire? This beautiful countryside will provide an exhilarating walk for you and your family if you are looking for things to do in Bedfordshire. Along the way you will discover diverse wildlife, Iron Age hill forts and burial mounds but make particular effort to look out for Five Knolls, a scheduled ancient monument which is the largest round barrow cemetery in Bedfordshire. Lying on the edge of the Downs, there are visible burial mounds which are seen as bumps belonging to the late Neolithic and bronze age. Drovers Way is part of a network of tracks and paths which were traditionally used to take livestock to market by Drovers. Wildlife is especially interesting as the chalk grasslands support a wide range of rare wild flowers and butterflies like the chalk hill blue and Duke of Burgundy.
But if you and your family are looking for something a bit more exciting then Dunstable Downs can facilitate, set so high, it provides a fantastic opportunity for kite flyers and Para gliders and has become famous for it. The National Trust has a Visitors Centre at the very top of the Downs where you can buy a kite and get some advice on constructing it and also tips on how to fly it. Their selection offers something for beginners right up to professionals so there is something for all levels. Anyone that is on a Bedfordshire Holiday shouldn’t be allowed to leave until they have flown a kite on the Dunstable Downs. The challenge has been set.
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February 8th, 2010 Nikki
The Red Squirrel has been decreasing in numbers for years and fewer than 140, 000 individuals are thought to be left. Approximately 85% reside in Scotland but the remainder are scattered across other parts of the UK. A large part of their decrease is due to the introduction of the grey squirrels from North America, these grey squirrels carry a deadly virus for Red Squirrels, Squirrel pox, and as a result it is illegal to bring in a grey squirrel to red squirrel territory.
The Isle of Wight, a firm favourite for holiday makers staying in a bed and breakfast Isle of Wight, is an important strong hold for Red Squirrels as the solent acts as a barrier to keep the grey squirrel out. The woodland on the island can provide habitation for around 3, 500 red squirrels and they now occupy broadleaved woodland across the island.
The Wight Project, is a charity based on the island working to help keep Red Squirrels from extinction. They tackle anything to do with squirrels from contentious planning applications to campaigning for ‘Squirrel road crossings’. From fundraising to sponsorship they also offer Squirrel Events throughout the year for people on Isle of Wight breaks or locals who have an interest in the beautiful red squirrel. It is a sad fact that a large percentage of people, especially the younger generation, have never seen the Red Squirrel, the only squirrel native to the UK. Chances to see them in their native environment through event walks and talks with the likes of The Wight Project should be taken at any given opportunity and if there is a chance you could help to keep charities like the Wight Project going through help with funding and sponsorship then it would be greatly beneficial to the Red Squirrels.
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February 1st, 2010 Alex
Plenty of places in the UK are rumoured to be full of ghosts and other forms of paranormal activity, but what many people fail to realise is just how many ways to explore these rich, unearthly tapestry there are, especially for holiday makers. Sussex is a great place for those looking to have an otherworldly experience.
The number of abbeys in the county is the first sign that there should be plenty of tortured spirits around, due to so many of their inhabitants being horribly killed at various points in history, often on the behest of a king or through religious conflict. As I’m sure you’re aware, people being put to death by kings are some of the most likely to have unfinished business and wander around posthumously. There are plenty of paranormal groups who investigate these places and allow guests to join them for a fee, meaning you get all the benefits of their ghost hunting equipment on your Rye holiday.
There are also plenty of ghost walks around castles (another source of gruesome deaths) or other areas of ethereal note, many of which are available for people of any age. It’s an interesting addition to a holiday, and something that many people take part in during their stay in East Sussex hotels.
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January 30th, 2010 Alex
A popular activity among tourists visiting any destination is exploring the history of the place, but some areas can offer a lot more with regards to this than others. For instance, those who are visiting the Isle of Wight for an Isle of Wight holiday in the near future will no doubt be astounded to find out that very recently (the end of December last year) a three thousand year old bronze dagger was found in a field on the western side of the Island.
It’s never been contested knowledge that the Isle of Wight has been inhabited throughout most of the period in which humans have lived in Western Europe, and so this find is not interesting because it brings new evidence to light; it is interesting because the dagger was then donated by the man who found it (using a metal detector) and the owner of the land it was found on to the Isle of Wight Council’s Museum of Island History.
This means that anybody visiting the island can see this spectacular find for themselves, and the amount of people coming to see it should prove a boon to Isle of Wight hotels. Archaeological finds and artefacts have always been a draw to tourists. Think of the pyramids in Egypt or the Great Library of Alexandria. The Isle of Wight may just have found their own big draw to match these two.
Posted in Destinations, attractions, isle of wight | 1 Comment »
January 27th, 2010 Alex
There are loads of reasons that people go to Scotland, but one that’s drawn people from all over the world again and again and again is the possibility of having a sighting of the Loch Ness Monster. Big game hunters, journalists, scientists and interested members of the public have all been amongst those to engage in the hunt for Nessie.
The rumours started in 1933, when a holidaying couple, the Spicers, saw the head and neck of an animal waddling over the road ahead of them, carrying a dead animal in its mouth. They couldn’t see the body as it was obscured by the brow of a hill, but their letter in a newspaper about this encounter was the beginning of seventy seven years of sightings, investigations, explanations, scepticism and hoaxes. People still visit the loch during cottage holidays in Scotland, hoping to be the next Spicers.
Numerous sonar searches and investigations have taken place around the loch, and many sonar “sightings” of Nessie have been recorded, which strange six metre animals being detected moving around the depths. Odd sounds, similar to those used in echo location have also been recorded by sub-surface microphones.
Of course, the most famous sightings are those that have been recorded on film as either photos or videos, and if you want a chance of taking one of those, you don’t have to have a fancy submarine, a camera and a trip to one of the holiday cottages in Scotland.
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January 24th, 2010 Alex
Holidays often provide the opportunity to see outlandish events or practises. Millions of people travel around the world each year to see or take part in various festivals. Pamplona attracts people for its bull running, Rio de Janeiro isn’t alone in pulling in visitors for its Mardi Gras festival, the Lantern Festival in China gets a lot of attention, and even places as small as Mousehole see an influx of tourists to see their Christmas lights. But if you were on a family holiday in Cornwall on the 17th of January, you’d have been able to pop into a whole variety of churches and seen the ceremonies being performed for Plough Sunday.
Admittedly, this isn’t a service that is unique to Cornwall, but there aren’t many places that still have an actual plough brought in for the service. At Helston-St Keverne this year, though, the local Young Farmer’s Club did exactly that.
The plough was led up the aisle, much like a bride would be, and then the ceremony began. Through the various words that are exchanged back and forth, the farmer’s respect for God and hope for a bountiful harvest is established, and the plough is blessed by the priest. It’s similar to most other religious ceremonies, and bears a bizarre amount of similarity to a wedding, with the farmer who owns the plough responding back to questions asked by the priest.
If this sort of thing sounds right up your aisle, then it’s a shame you’ve missed it this year. There were plenty of cottages in Cornwall available that you could have stayed in. Still, there’s always next year, eh?
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