Kent is a really amazing place in the country. It has wonderful countryside, great towns and also has fantastic links to other parts of the country, especially London.
One of these great Kent towns is Ashford. Ashford is a market town near Canterbury, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells and Hastings. Ashford is also a short distance from Folkstone, where the Eurotunnel trains depart to Calais.
Smallhythe Place
Smallhythe Place is an early 16th Century house that was once the home of Victorian actress Ellen Terry. You can visit the cottage which contains many interesting theatre related items collected by Ellen Terry throughout her career. There is also a barn theatre which puts on shows, lovely gardens to stroll through and a small exhibition about shipbuilding which took place when the cottage was built.
Kent and East Sussex Railway
The Kent & East Sussex Railway stakes claims to being the world’s first light railway. The railway was originally opened in 1900. The line possesses tight curves and steep gradients. This is typical of small railways built to bring trains to sparsely populated areas and small villages. In the 1950’s, the original railway met its demise but the great work of dedicated volunteers seen the railway open back up in 1974 as an attraction. The railway runs from Tenterden to Bodiam Castle
Godington House
Godinton House is an ancient estate set in lovely formal gardens. It is one of the most fascinating houses in Kent, with items from the 14th Century on display. Once you have seen the house, you can explore the amazing gardens.
The Chapel Down Winery
The Chapel Down Winery is home to the largest producer of wines in England. Visitors can check out the Wine and Food Store where they'll locate the best Kentish and English food and drink available. Guided tours of the vineyard and winery are available from March to October plus tasting and vineyard walks throughout the year.
Ashford Designer Outlet
Ashford’s Designer Outlet is one of the most spectacular places to shop. The outlet is home to over seventy stores that offer massive savings on many famous named brands.
As you can see, Kent and in particular Ashford has a lot to offer visitors.
Like most big UK cities, Leeds has some great shopping destinations, an abundance of different themed restaurants, cafes, bars and a thriving nightlife.
The city of Leeds is the only city outside London to have its own ballet, opera house and repertory theatre.
Unique to Leeds is the Royal Armouries, where visitors can admire the best of British military arms and armour from yesteryear.
For shopaholics Leeds boasts to have over 5 miles of shopping streets and has one the United Kingdom's largest pedestrianised areas for shoppers to go about their business traffic free.
Making Leeds one of the best shopping districts in the UK, so much so, shopping in Leeds made it into one of the top thirty things to do in the United Kingdom by the Rough Guide to Britain group.
Elland Road is another top tourist destination in Leeds, although the team that plays there (Leeds United) are loathed by others in the UK due to Britain's competitive football rivalry.
Leeds Carnegie, Leeds Rhinos and Yorkshire County Cricket Club all play their home matches at the impressive Headingly Stadium and sports complex.
The area is also peppered with championship golf courses and some of the best mountain biking trails the UK has to offer.
The Queens City Centre Hotel in Leeds
The Queens hotel in Leeds city centre is the 14th most popular hotel in the city according to Tripadvisor.
The hotel has received 445 customer reviews in Tripadvisor and has an average rating of 4 out of 5.
Guest reviews revealed
- 175 guests thought the city centre hotel was excellent
- 162 guests thought the Leeds hotel was very good
- 53 guests thought the city centre hotel was average
- 32 guests thought the city centre hotel was poor
- 23 reviews rated the hotel as terrible
The reviews reveal the hotel is very popular among guests with only a low portion of visitors having a not so good experience.
The Queens hotels in Leeds city centre may not have made the top ten list however, due to its location, facilities and room rates this hotel has to be taken seriously by visitors coming to the city.
Room rates for the Queens hotel in the city centre fluxuate much depending on factors such as demand and availability.
The formal Queens Grill Restaurant is very popular among tourists and locals alike as is the more mellow Queens Bar.The hotels fine dining options in the Queens Grill Restaurant and the Queens bar make the Queens popular with locals as well as tourists.
There are many Leeds conference venues in the city but with 16 meeting rooms and space for over 600 delegates make the Queens hotel in Leeds popular among big businesses.
A must see city for city break enthusiasts!
- Location:United Kingdom, Leeds
- Mood:accomplished
So, in the first of an occasional City Links series, here is Cardiff Links, a quick guide to useful web resources for the city of Cardiff.
First up, we have the relatively new Guardian site, guardiancardiff . As you'd expect from a Guardian site, it's beautifully designed - with crisp, clean graphic design and the Guardian Local colour scheme (this differentiates the local news sites from the main Guardian site). The site is updated regularly with well-informed and non-sensationalist content. It's kind of amazing that local news sites like this have taken until now to appear. It's the perfect combination of media design and content smarts with local outlook. Gone is the parochial vibe we'd come to expect from local news. guardiancardiff - we salute you.
Next, we have the official tourist site for Cardiff - visitcardiff.com - this is an exemplary tourist site (and I should know, because I trawl thru hundreds of the things, always on the lookout for cool new destinations. And because it's a compulsion. Call it travel OCD!) Visit Cardiff's site is inviting, well designed, strikes just the right note of informality, and - wonder of wonders - is an official tourist site with timely updates about the city that are interesting and relevant.
And finally, Wikipedia. For all that people criticise it, I find it a great starting point when researching places. For instance a quick read of the Wiki page on Cardiff leads to a fascinating read (with great pictures) on Cardiff Castle, then ... well, I'd best stop there because I could be here all day Wiki-surfing.
And that's the first in the series of City Links posts. Hope you've enjoyed it :) and if you're off there, remember to book your accommodation in Cardiff before you set off, in order to avoid disappointment!
This has led many people to move deliberately to Solihull, and in particular some of its nicer suburbs, such as Shirley. Many well known people now live in the leafy borough of Solihull including Richard Hammond [of Top Gear], Scotland International footballer James McFadden, and comedian Stewart Lee.
But it is not the famous people that make a town what it is, it is the whole, and since the population of Solihull began to grow the people have demanded the facilities that any other town of it's size would expect. There are now not just shops, but restaurants and hotels in Solihull, which add to the fact that people now come to Solihull, and not just for the night, before the commute the very next morning.
Solihull's now merged Football team the Solihull Moors are now trying to make the their way up the slippery pole that is known as the Pyramuddle [the English League Structure]. Things are looking up for the town, the community and eveything involved in Solihull.
With a new film just having been released Robin Hood has sprung back into the media limelight, thus it is only apt to showcase the area of England with which he is most closely associated, Nottinghamshire.
Although greatly reduced in size [1.63 sq mls] since the days of yore, Sherwood Forest still exists, and the visitors centre welcomes thousands of tourists every year. It is due to the efforts of the local council and Natural England that so much of this ancient piece of England's Heritage has survived the continuing encroachment of urbanization.
It was from here that Robin and his band, ventured forth to "rob from the rich in order to give to the poor", so the saying now goes. In the late 12th century this would have been a very dangerous place, and it wouldn't have been an easy feat living in a forest and evading the "forces of law and order". However, no matter how closely grounded in truth, the story of Robin Hood is, it has since grown it's own legs, and has now evolved into something larger than the original story, and it is more important in its own right as a symbol for what the English nation sees in itself.
Though surrounded by several small villages places to stay in the vicinity are few and far between, so in order to visit the forest and all the local Robin Hood attractions it is necessary to explore the hotels in Nottingham, and travel around the area on a daily basis, or just to see the Robin Hood attractions of the city of Nottingham itself.
But Cardiff is officially the home of Doctor Who, and its spin-off Torchwood. The programme is entirely made in the BBC Cardiff studios and on location in and around the city.There is a permanent Doctor Who Exhibition at the Red Dragon Centre in the City. Which is open all year round and is regularly updated.
In a addition to Doctor Who, Torchwood is not only made but set in Cardiff, following the operations of the Cardiff branch of the British Government Extraterrestrial division.
If you're a Doctor Who/Torchwood fan why not spoil yourself by taking a weekend break in the city, there are several Doctor Who themed tours, or you could just explore the city by yourself.
There's no need to worry about trying to find yourself a hotel in Cardiff as there are plenty of options, from the luxuriant to the basic, city-centre to out of town. Mid-price to extravagant.
Cardiff is the place!
The statue, which was completed only 1998, is a massive 66 feet tall, and welcoming approximately 90,000 travelers on an average day.
But you can't fully appreciate such an immense structure from afar, neither from the road nor on the television, you have to stand next to it, under it. You have to feel the same force of wind it does. You have to be there.
But this isn't all there is to do in England's capital of the North: Newcastle.
In keeping with the architecture of the 'Angel', Newcastle has many other notable landmarks, the world famous Tyne Bridge, which was inspired by the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Hell Gate Bridge in New York.
For a more modern touch, just down the river, and only opened in 2001 is the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, this much futuristic building, in juxtaposition with more classical Tyne Bridge, it shows a striking diversity in this city for both old and new.
There are many fine places to stay so that you can enjoy your time in the North. Most of Newcastle upon Tyne Hotels, are in easy reach of both the city centre and the major tourist attractions.So what are you waiting for get out there and book your holiday in Newcastle, as soon as you possibly can, and you to will be welcomed by an angel.
Headingley Stadium is now home to three clubs playing three different sports, Yorkshire CC in cricket, Leeds Rhino's in Rugby League and Leeds Carnegie in Rugby Union. Although a single stadium, not all the sports are held on the same field, nor necessarily at the same time. There are two different fields which both share facilities in common in a stand between the fields.
This is also a regular venue for Test Match & One Day International cricket, involving England.
Also close by is Elland Rd, the home of Leeds United FC, who although in the European Cup not too long ago, are slowly making their way back up the leagues to the position they have normally held - in the Top Division of English Football.
If you don't go for the high profile matches there is also a team in the Local amateur leagues, this is a team made up students from Leeds Metropolitan University, they, of course, play in Headingley.
Hotel accommodation is plentiful in the area, everything from the bargain hotel to something with a bit more luxury, is within strolling distance, so needn't worry about getting there and away if you want to see more than one event.
Leeds Castle
Leeds Castle is funnily not in Leeds, it sits in the beautiful country side of Maidstone, Kent. Surrounded by 500 acres of fantastic woodland area and next to a fantastic looking blue moat that right round the side of the castle. The castle it’s self is open all year round for visitors showing off all its attractions like the excellent gardens along with checking out all the history and heritage. There’s also a restaurant for tourists so if you get hungry you know where to go. This place has it all you would be wishing you were staying here. Fortunately you can stay in a hotel in Maidstone.
There’s a wide stretch of different wildlife that you will also spot when at Leeds castle, birds of prey soar on the wind during our falconry displays, you will see the swans enjoying the fantastic moat and peacocks also like to tour round the grounds of the castle.
If this place ticks all the boxes for you then you could even have your wedding here as well as conferences and meetings. It doesn’t matter what time of year you get married at this place it still looks amazing with the garden full of colours all year round. And it the male members of the wedding party wanted a quick break in the morning to settle nerves then there’s a brilliant 9 hole pay and play golf course that offers stunning views of the castle.
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