The rise in staycations, brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, has opened many more eyes to Britain’s amazing travel destinations.
Some are discovering for the first time, as British Travel Journal readers have always known, that our beautiful countryside, sandy shores, spectacular landmarks and world-class hotels are far from a 'second choice' holiday option. Our latest issue - brimming with inspirational travel ideas from around our glorious island - should be enough to convince even the most hardened of international traveller, that a holiday in the British Isles won’t feel like a compromise. That’s why this year we’re offering a special discount on our ‘gift’ subscriptions for families and friends (p68), spreading the word, and hoping that this surge we are seeing in popularity for UK travel experiences will be here long after the virus has gone.
Staying in the UK comes with many bonuses too, like not having to worry about what to do with our beloved four-legged friends, as we discover in our Dog-Friendly Holidays feature (p76), and giving back to our spectacular scenery and wildlife in the next of our sustainable travel series, Discovering Nature (p44).
We hope you will be feeling on top of the world with our selection of Britain’s Best Panoramas (p48), and you might enjoy painting them too, so we show you how in Nurture your Creativity (p71). We offer a taste of the New Forest in our Interview with Head Chef, Luke Matthews (p54) and discover more spectacular scenery, heading west to Wild Wales (p26), before turning south to the Polperro Heritage Coast, spending 48 Hours in Fowey (p63). Other featured destinations this issue include The Charm of Clovelly, (p88) and Scotland’s Isle of Arran where we head to Meet the Makers of Isle of Arran Gin (p58).
If you're not feeling ready to travel just yet, we hope this issue helps keep your dreams of future travel plans alive - and that planning ahead will help to give you the confidence you need for a safe and memorable trip away soon.
Finally, we're delighted to have been nominated this year for 'Best Consumer Travel Magazine' in the 2020 British Travel Awards, and would love your help to try and win! Please vote for us from our direct page britishtraveljournal.com/vote.
We look forward to continuing to share our travel adventures together.
BEST MOUNTAIN SNOWDON
BEST MOUNTAIN SNOWDON Although there are hills everywhere you look in Wales there aren’t that many mountains. Snowdon, the tallest at 3,560 feet is the most popular because it has a mountain railway that will take you to the top if you’re not up to the 5 to 7-hour ascent. There are more dramatic ranges – the Brecon Beacons (which are just under 3,000 feet) form a four-mountain horseshoe that resemble the Drakensbergs in South Africa. But Snowdon dominates in terms of visitor numbers. Moreover the view from the top – Ireland on a clear day - is unmissable. The team that conquered Mount Everest in 1953 trained on Snowdon and stayed at the Pen Y Gwryd Hotel nearby. Today the hotel has a room filled with Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay memorabilia. snowdonrailway.co.uk BEST GARDENS POWIS CASTLE Both Chirk Castle and Plas Newydd in North Wales have splendidly cultivated gardens but the stately formal gardens of Powis Castle near Welshpool are unique in Wales. Using terraces and perfectly clipped hedges, Powis Castle presents a hanging garden in classic French baroque style. There was originally a Dutch water garden too, but that was converted into the Great Lawn in the early nineteenth century. Although Powis Castle itself is full of treasures – some bequeathed to Lord Powis by Clive of India whose son married into the Powis family – it is these rare gardens and the surrounding deer park that make the castle essential viewing. The Bothy, an Edwardian cottage within the grounds is now a National Trust holiday cottage meaning you can have the gardens to yourself after all the visitors go home. nationaltrust.org.uk/powis-castle 30 BritishTravelJournal.com
BEST MUSIC WELSH NATIONAL OPERA Welsh National Opera, based in Cardiff operates out of the Wales Millennium Centre, a dramatic modern building that dominates Cardiff Bay. WNO was started 75 years ago and has since developed a splendid choir and an expertise in the Italian and Russian repertoire. The company almost always open their new productions in the Millennium Centre and then tour them round Wales and into various venues in England. WNO has also toured to La Scala, to Paris and Tokyo. At the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, the New York Times called it "one of the finest operatic ensembles in Europe". The company has had a long relationship with Bryn Terfel who refused all offers to sing Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger until he had debuted the role with WNO in their new Cardiff home in 2010. wno.org.uk BritishTravelJournal.com 31
