City
Hotels
London's latest additions
The coolest Malmaison of all opened in London at the end of November, bringing the number of UK hotels in the group to seven. It is located in Charterhouse Square near Smithfield market, and has 97 individually designed bedrooms and suites. The Malmaison brasserie and Bar serves French cuisine.
Meanwhile, just round the corner on Clerkenwell Road, a warehouse is being converted into another design hotel and restaurant. Opening in April, The Zetter will have 59 rooms including seven roof-top studios with floor-to-ceiling windows and patios.
Where to book: Malmaison: 020-7012 3700. From £99 per room per night. The Zetter: 020-7324 4444. From £125 per room per night.
At home with Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf fans can now stay in one of five new flats in the house in Hyde Park Gate where she lived until the age of 18.
Where to book: At Home in London (020-8748 1943). From £75 per room per night B&B.
Hotel for Harrogate
The Hotel du Vin & Bistro group has opened its latest branch in Harrogate. The hotel has 43 attractive bedrooms and loft suites and guests can visit the in-house gym before a sumptuous dinner in the hotel's Bistro.
Where to book: 01423 856800, hotelduvin.com. From £95 per room per night.
Restaurants and nightlife
Eating out in Glasgow
Terence Conran's Zinc Bar & Grill is the city's newest culinary addition, now open in Princes Square, close to Conran's other Glasgow dining venue, Etain.
Where to book: 0141-225 5620, conran.co.uk.
Music at Number 10
Number 10, a music venue, restaurant and private members bar, opens at 10 Golborne Road in London W10 in February. The eccentric decor somehow combines dada magazines, a 1950s ski chalet, and a railway canteen. The equally quirky dishes include scotch quails' eggs with sun-dried tomatoes, cress and homemade salad cream.
· 020-8969 8922, number10london.com. About £30 per head excluding wine.
Docklands warehouse
1802 is a bar and restaurant in a converted warehouse next to the Museum in Docklands on West India Quay. Katarina Todosijevic, formerly of the Red Room and Butler's Wharf Chophouse, serves up traditional British fare such as Cornish crab and Scotch salmon.
Where to book: 0870 4443886.
Shopping
Browsing at the Bullring
Europe's largest retail development - the size of 26 football pitches - opened last September.
Further information: 0121-632 1500, bullring.co.uk.
Lincolnshire outlet
Reopening in spring after redevelopment, Springfields Shopping near Spalding will have 38 acres of factory outlets set in one of the UK's premier show gardens.
Further information: springfieldsshopping.co.uk.
Attractions
Bath's new spa
The Thermae Bath Spa, which opens in spring, should become Britain's most famous spa, thanks to its 2,000-year-old predecessor. But unlike the Roman watering place, the new spa will boast a rooftop pool, two thermal baths with mineral-rich waters, spa facilities with over 50 different treatments, and a restaurant offering healthy eating.
Where to book: 01225 331234, thermaebathspa.com.
Countryside
Hotels
Herts and minds
The Grove is an 18th-century house in 300 acres of Hertfordshire parkland just outside Watford. The stylish hotel opened in September with interiors designed by Fox Linton; facilities include a championship golf course, spa and restaurant. All 227 rooms have views over the gardens; some have their own terraces.
Where to book: 01923 807807, thegrove.co.uk. From £240 per room per night.
Castle retreat in Dartmoor
Bovey Castle is in the Dartmoor National Park overlooking the river Bovey. This spring, it opens as a sporting retreat. Attractions include 14 miles of fly-fishing and an 18-hole golf course. Owner Peter de Savary, who transformed Skibo castle in Scotland, plans to add a spa, equestrian facilities, falconry, and tennis courts.
Where to book: 01647 445016, rhactiv.co.uk. From £145 per room per night.
Festivals
Walking
In June, the Isle of Man introduces an annual Walking Festival. Stay here during the festival from £322pp for six nights in a choice of B&B hotels, including Gatwick flights and a Festival Package of walks, maps, island transport, and entrance to the Blister Ball on the final night.
Where to book: Travel Services 01624 661177, isleofmantravel.com/specialevents.
Dates: June 27-July 2.
Food and drink
Cumbria's first Food & Drink Festival aims to promote food diversity around the county.
Further information: 01931 711141, cumbriafoodfestival.net. Dates: May 1-9.
Attractions
Treetopia
The Alnwick garden treehouse opens in July, with a complex of suspended walkways, adventure play area and alternative classrooms. The world's largest tree house development, covering 3,500sq m, can hold 300 adults and children. Alnwick garden is 6km from Alnwick station and 90km from Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Further information: 01665 511350, alnwickgarden.com. Entry: adult £4, child £3.50, groups £3pp, schools £1.20pp.
Snow in Kent
Diggerland opened a new Snow Park at Stroud in December with real snow - 100 tons produced daily -guaranteed through winter and spring. Tuition, and an area for experienced skiers and boarders, is available.
Further information: 0870 0344437, thesnowpark.co.uk. Open: 10am-10pm daily. Entry: £2.50, plus about £1 a lift.
Seaside
Where to stay and where to eat
Rick Stein's new productions
Rick Stein, owner of the famous Padstow Seafood Restaurant, is investing £1.6 million in a hotel and restaurant in Newquay. Rocklands Hotel, above Tolcarne Beach, will open in a year's time, but the restaurant and bar will be ready by late summer.
Where to book: 01841 532700, rickstein.co.uk.
Dallas comes to Norfolk
Cliff Barns, named after the character from the Dallas TV soap, is a kitsch new property near Downham Market, less than 10 miles from Old Hunstanton beach. The house is luxury ranch mixed with Mexican hacienda - think Aztec rugs, plaid and denim, Western saddles, rock fireplaces, and antique chandeliers. Add to this a modern kitchen and bathrooms. The ranch sleeps 18 in six double bedrooms and a kids' bunkhouse (sleeps six). There's five bathrooms, a shower room, hot tub and sauna plus a landscaped garden.
Where to book: 01366 328342, cliffbarnes.com. From £2,550 per weekend for the whole house (about £142pp).
Sporting attraction
Jersey surf
The family-friendly Merton Hotel has introduced a surfing break at St Ouen's Bay, with its five miles of sand and Atlantic rollers. Instructors from the Jersey Surf School provide tuition for beginners to experts.
Where to book: Jersey Tourism (01534 500700). From £236pp for three nights B&B, including car hire, and two-day surf course.
Dates: May 28-September 30.
Arts
Fashion in Northumbria
FAB is a new event that sees designers working at neoclassical Belsay Hall with its 30 acres of garden. This year's artists include Stella McCartney, Jean Muir, Paul Smith, Alexander McQueen and Zandra Rhodes. Each will re-invent a room or garden area, taking their inspiration from either the building or garden.
Further information: 01661 881636, english-heritage.org.uk.
Dates: May 29-September 30.
Roman heritage in Alcester
The Roman town of Alcester, just outside Stratford-on-Avon, opens its new Heritage Centre in April.
Where to book: 01926 410410, warwickshire.gov.uk.
Vivienne Westwood at the Victoria and Albert Museum
The V&A is to launch a major exhibition - the largest ever dedicated to a British designer - featuring over 150 of her creations.
Where to book: 020-7942 2211, vam.ac.uk. Dates: April 1-July 11. Entry: £8 adult, £5 student, £18 family.
