The world in a book

NEW from The Lonely Planet publishing people is the Kids Travel Book, which covers every country on the planet with facts on sports, wildlife, how people live, food, and quirky insight, plus high calibre photographs and illustrations. 

UK £14.99/AUD $29.99/ USD $20.00

www.lonelyplanet.com/kids/books

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Picture Credit: www.lonelyplanet.com

Accessible days out in the South West

FAMILIES in the South West can get out and about this year with a visit to some of the region’s best family-friendly and accessible attractions, reviewed on The Rough Guide to Accessible Britain: Family Days Out microsite. 

The website - http://www.accessibleguide.co.uk/family-days-out.html - features over 100 reviews of accessible family-friendly attractions  - all visited and assessed by disabled people and their families. 




They include reviews of places to visit such as Bicton Park Botanical Gardens (pictured here at left is the Italian Gardens)

and

Haldon Forest Park. 

Both are in Devon.


The microsite have been developed in association with Motability Operations, the company that operates the Motability Car Scheme for people with a disability. 

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Picture Credit: "Cover" courtesy Rough Guides"; "The Italian Gardens, Bicton Park, Devon" by Lynda Poulter via Wikimedia Commons

This really is eating out!

IF your idea of eating out is grilling Welsh Black Beef Burgers on a barbecue in the Brecon Beacons or frying mackerel on a Dorset beach, Pitch Up, Eat Local by food and travel writer Ali Ray could be for you.

She spent five years travelling the country meeting the UK’s local producers, finding the best home-grown ingredients, and learning how to cook regional dishes.

Her book includes more than 60 family-friendly recipes – from a Herdwick Lamb Curry from the Lake District to Yorkshire Rhubarb Crumble – that can be cooked on gas hobs, barbecues, or fires.

Pitch Up, Eat Local is collaboration between AA Media and The Camping and Caravanning Club.

AA Publishing, £16.99.

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Picture Credit: Alisdair Cusick

Find the best in Barbados

WRITTEN by a local, 101 Things to Do and Places to See in Barbados covers 38 glorious beaches, the locations and descriptions of 40 attractions, 23 activities to keep families entertained, a guide to local cuisine, a list of major annual cultural and sporting events, a map, and more than 30 colour pictures of the island.

‘Everyone thinks that Barbados is all about blazing sun, pearly white sand and crystal clear water,’ says the author, Russell Streeter. ‘But there’s so much more to the island. Barbados has a great story to tell; a story of new arrival, of hope and opportunity, of military dominance, of resilience and ingenuity.

‘I wrote this book to let people know about the best that Barbados has to offer holidaymakers. I want people to feel like regulars, even on their first trip.’

The book is available from Amazon.co.uk, £9.99 paperback and £5.99 in Kindle format.

www.amazon.co.uk/101-Things-Places-See-Barbados/dp/1505261651

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Picture Credit: "Barbados beaches 2007 033" by Veronidae - Own work via Wikimedia Commons.

2015 brochure from West Country Cottages

WEST COUNTRY COTTAGES has published its 2015 brochure featuring some 130 holiday homes in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, the New Forest, and Somerset. Sleeping two to 11 guests, properties range from romantic retreats to converted barns and large family houses in coast, country, and village settings; more than 50 are pet-friendly.

Weekly prices range from £234 in the low season up to £2,247 for a large holiday home in peak periods.

West Country Cottages, which celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, is part of the Helpful Holidays Group.

For a free copy of West Country Cottages 2015, brochure call 01803 814000, e-mail holidays@westcountrycottages.co.uk or go to www.westcountrycottages.co.uk

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Cricket … in Croatia

LONDON film producer and art dealer Anthony Stancomb and his wife Ivana didn’t have an easy time of it when they exchanged the grey clouds of England for the bright skies of Vis, an apparently idyllic island in Croatia.

Their efforts in making friends were rejected, and the authorities blocked their projects. They were not welcomed with open arms. 

Their breakthrough came when Anthony began to tell the islanders about cricket. 

He explained the game – no mean achievement – and over time had enough enthusiasts to form a Croatian 11, famed from one end of the country to another, if not at Lords.

His memoir – Under A Croatian Sun – is a tale of cricket, being a Brit abroad, and daily life on an island in the sun, complete with dodgy business deals, local gangsters, family rivalries, and love affairs. If you enjoyed, as they say, A Year In Provence and Driving Over Lemons, this could be your ideal holiday read.

John Blake Publishing, £7.99

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The mag that helps …

HELPFUL HOLIDAYS, the West Country self-catering specialist, has produced its first customer magazine for holidaymakers staying in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, and Dorset.

The free, 84 page magazine is being mailed to Helpful Holidays’ customers and will be placed in all its properties to inspire holidaymakers to explore the area. It’s also available from selected West Country foodie outlets.

Copies can also be downloaded from www.helpfulholidays.com.

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The books we leave behind …

A GOOD read is one of the essential ingredients for a relaxing holiday, but some 600 books and 1,400 kindles are left on British Airways planes every year.

The most common is The Holy Bible, accounting for six percent of books left on board. Some of the more unusual books which have been found include notebooks, personal diaries, wedding sketchbooks, and even a cheque book!

British Airways has compiled a list of the top ten books most commonly left on flights over the past three months, as inspiration for good holidays reads this summer:

1. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn (Fiction, Thriller)

2. King and Maxwell Series, David Baldacci (Thriller)

3. The Fault in our Stars, John Green (Novel)

4. Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty (Business/Economics)

5. Alex Cross, Run, James Patterson (Thriller)

6. The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton (Novel)

7. Michael Lewis, Flash Boys (Non-fiction)

8. Fifty Shades of Grey (Freed), EL James (Erotica)

9. Arthur Conan Doyle, The Complete Sherlock Holmes (Novel)

10. The Racketeer, John Grisham (Thriller)

Novels are the most common type of book found on flights (22 percent), followed by crime thrillers, study and learning books, travel books, non-fiction and business, and economics. The least likely genre to be left behind are 'chick flicks'.

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Tales from the bar

Scotland's Pubs & Bars: A Story to Tell features intriguing and surprising tales about the country's pubs, bars and inns.

Download the free from iTunes or Google play, or visit www.scotlandspubsandbars.co.uk.

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BA’s top 40 countdown

THEY say life begins at 40, and for many, holidays also get better with age. A  British Airways survey found  that being active, having the money to travel, and being commitment-free were among the top reasons why travel gets better with age,

To celebrate its 40^th anniversary, British Airways has compiled its list of the top 40 travel experiences.

1.       Make a friend for life at one of Ibiza’s legendary clubs – Pacha, Space, DC10….

2.      Wear something risqué to the Berlin Love Parade

3.      Climb Sydney Harbour Bridge

4.      Recreate the scene from ‘Big’ on the giant piano at FAO Schwarz in New York

5.      Hit the beach for a ‘full moon party’ in Koh Phangan, Thailand

6.      Have a selfie with Mickey Mouse and gang at Disney World,       Florida

7.      Dedicate a day to the Aquaventure Waterpark at the Atlantis in Dubai

8.     Go BASE Jumping in Angel Falls, Venezuela

9.      Belly dance in Morocco

10.  Have a tattoo by Kat Von D at ‘High Voltage’ in Los Angeles

11.   Propose at the ‘Love Lock’ bridge in Paris

12.  Go to the Soundwave Festival in Croatia

13.  Bungee jump from the world’s most terrifying spot - The Nevis, Queenstown, New Zealand

14.  Have a shot of Absinthe in the Moulin Rouge in Paris 

15.   Hike the 26 mile Inca Trail in Peru

16.  Learn to tango in Buenos Aires

17.   Take a surfing lesson in Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii

18.  Work a season at a Kibbutz, Israel

19.  Enjoy a rooftop cocktail at Bar 360 in Dubai

20. Go full throttle with a 4x4 experience in Fraser Island, Australia

21.  Go ‘loco’ at ‘Coco Bongos’ in Cancun

22. Experience Amsterdam

23. Experience Bangkok

24. Take a 829ft ‘Sky Jump’ off the Stratosphere, Las Vegas

25.  Go to a foam party in Ayia Napa, Cyprus

26. Do a ‘Sex and the City’ weekend with the girls in New York

27.  Go on a stag night to Prague

28. Salsa with a stranger at the Rio Carnival

29. Party on the piste at the ‘Snowbombing Festival’ in Mayrhofen, Austria

30. When it opens this summer, take on ‘Zumanjaro: The Drop of Doom’ - the world’s largest roller coaster in New Jersey

31.  Go on an ‘Inbetweeners’ inspired boat party in Malia

32. Go zip lining in Costa Rica’s Selvatura Park

33. Cheer as an aircraft flies over you at Bora Bora beach, Ibiza

34. Dress Harajuku style in Shibuya, Tokyo

35.  Embarrass yourself in front of strangers on the mechanical bull in the Saddle Ranch, Los Angeles

36. Cut loose at the Burning Man festival in Nevada

37.  Feel out of place at spring break in Tijuana, Mexico!

38. Before high blood pressure becomes a problem, take a rickshaw ride in Delhi

39. Gorge in Dylan’s Candy Bar in New York

40. Visit the world famous San Diego Zoo

To coincide with the airline’s anniversary, Amberley Publishing has released British Airways: An Illustrated History by Paul Jarvis (£17.99).

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Go slow in Suffolk

THE wool trade once made Suffolk one of England's richest counties, and today's visitors seeking a quintessential East Anglian experience will not leave feeling short-changed. Suffolk, low-lying but rarely flat, is a landscape dominated by its countless villages, each with their own church, and by its Anglo Saxon heritage.

Suffolk is the latest title in Bradt's Slow Travel series. It has been written by Laurence Mitchell, a freelance travel writer and photographer who, when not wandering around his home patch of East Anglia, specializes in places well off the beaten track.

Price: £9.99.

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