Four autumn breaks in the British countryside
With piles of leaves to jump in and wild blackberries to forage for, autumn is the ideal time to take a break in the British countryside. Here are four of our top suggestions.
For family walks
Set at the foot of Cader Idris (above) in Snowdonia, Ffynnon hotel is the ideal location from which to stride straight into the Welsh mountains. This is superb walking country, with beautiful views and without the crowds of the Lake District. Ffynnon is a comfortable and stylish base and "if guests don't manage to drag themselves outside they can raid the library, order afternoon tea or watch the latest DVDs on flat-screen televisions", says Rhiannon Batten in The Independent. The hotel welcomes families, providing children's meals, toys and games and a baby-listening service.
• Suites cost from £120 including breakfast. To learn more, call 01341-421774, or visit www.ffynnontownhouse.com.
For little chefs
Put your children to work and let them buy you a spa treatment at Swinton Park Hotel in North Yorkshire. This hotel near Ripon offers daily cookery classes for children aged six and upwards. Enrole your children and you are entitled to 20% off treatments in the hotel spa. If the weather allows, outdoor entertainment includes bicycle hire and kite flying, says Christopher Middleton in The Daily Telegraph. And the hotel's birds of prey centre will be putting on a Halloween owl spectacular on 25 and 26 October.
• The Half-Term Heaven package costs from £230 per room per night, with adults half board and children full board. For more, visit www.swintonpark.com, or call 01765-680900.
For wine lovers
With wild ponies roaming the grounds, a great restaurant and "a row of designer wellies stood to attention" in the hall, Hotel TerraVina has everything you need for a great country break, says Susan d'Arcy in The Sunday Times.
The rooms are spacious and comfortable, but it is the hotel's restaurant that is its showpiece. It produces great food from local produce and all in full view of the patrons via the open kitchen. "The nightly clean-down has become something of a floor show," says d'Arcy. Meanwhile, three-time runner-up in the Best Sommelier of the World competition, hotel owner Gerard Basset hosts regular wine weekends at the hotel, and is on hand to advise you on what to choose from the glass-walled wine cellar.
• Double rooms cost from £130, room only. See www.hotelterravina.co.uk, or call 023-8029 3784 for more.
For ghost-hunters
Home of the Chillingham phantom, Chillingham Castle in Northumberland is a great location for a Halloween break.
The old dairy has been turned into a six-person self-catering apartment, with guests sleeping in the former milkmaids' rooms – which are just far enough to be safe from the ghost at night, but close enough to add an extra edge to an evening of ghost stories.
But if that's not scary enough for you, then for £20 you can go on a night-time ghost tour of the castle and its grounds.
• Prices start from £64 per person per night. Contact 01668-215359, or visit www.chillingham-castle.com to learn more.
