Ah, the sweet smell of spring is finally here. Flowers are beginning to bloom, the sun has started to shine and there is hope on the horizon for a great British summer!
I’m sure you’ll agree that spending so many months at home has only made our adventurous, curious hearts grow fonder with a passion for travel and exploration.
I will appreciate my upcoming travel trips so much more, and it has only made my job as travel Editor, and the content in our latest issue, seem even more special than usual!
Lockdown might have put a stop to many things, but it certainly hasn’t stopped the travel industry preparing to ensure a super fun and warm welcome once it is safe for visitors to return. From new hotels and luxury spas, exciting holiday resorts full of adventure and off-grid activities, luxury boutique stays in acres of unspoilt countryside and coastline, brand new attractions to immersive one-of-a-kind experiences – it seems there has perhaps never been a better time to explore the British Isles!
With so much ‘British staycation’ wanderlust flying about we couldn’t resist compiling our Ultimate British Bucket List. Deep in the West Dorset countryside we Meet the Makers behind the world’s only vodka made from cows’ milk. We uncover 10 of the most wonderful places to visit in Yorkshire and discover that there’s much more than just Cheddar Cheese and ancient apple orchards to Somerset’s epicurean offering in The Rise of Food and Drink. In search of beautiful destinations where social distancing is made easy, you won’t find better than a remote Sea Garden Cottage on the white sandy shores of Tresco island, a luxury family stay in the heart of Suffolk’s rolling countryside at The Ickworth or a whisky tour around the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, Islay - the Lord of the Isles.
Wherever, and whenever, you next plan to take a holiday in the British Isles, we hope British Travel Journal continues to deliver as your indispensable travel magazine, and wish you a safe and seamless journey full of wonderful memories.
“ The most overachieving small producer I meet is Roger Saul - former founder of the Mulberry designer label... born in Somerset ” porridge) that are stone-ground in the traditional way, but organic venison and walnuts (‘With 300 trees, we’re the biggest organic walnut farm in the country, if there are any other organic, because it takes so long’). And while the 300-acre Sharpham Park isn’t open to the public, its organic produce is sold at Waitrose and Sainsbury’s supermarkets or, when freedoms allow, can be enjoyed close to the source at the Sharpham Pantry Restaurant or Harlequin Café in Kilver Court, essentially a designer village that Saul founded on the edge of Shepton Mallet in 2011. For a British organic food trailblazer, he’s remarkably humble. ‘Provenance, I think, today couldn’t be more important,’ he says as we lunch on his spelt pasta range,’ And we always want to know where our food comes from. And if it’s organic, from my perspective, it’s 100 times better for you. WHERE TO VISIT – SOMERSET CIDER BRANDY somersetciderbrandy.com – THATCHERS CIDER thatcherscider.co.uk – BROWN & FORREST SMOKERY brownandforrest.co.uk – YEO VALLEY ORGANIC FARM CAFÉ yeovalley.co.uk/come-and-visit-us – CHEDDAR GORGE CHEESE COMPANY cheddaronline.co.uk – SHARPHAM PANTRY RESTAURANT kilvercourt.com/cafe-and-restaurant/ sharpham-restaurant HARLEQUIN CAFÉ kilvercourt.com/cafe-and-restaurant /local-cafe It is a 90-minute train journey from London’s Paddington Station to Somerset (Bath) with Great Western Railway. Fly into Bristol or Exeter airport or take the M5 motorway. visitsomerset.co.uk greatwestway.co.uk BritishTravelJournal.com 89
