Explore Winnie the Pooh country

Site of the "North Pole" As described in the Winnie the Pooh stories by A.A. Milne - situated in Ashdown Forest.
 Credit Pete Wise http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1384986 

There is a new Winnie the Pooh movie coming to our theaters this summer. But did you know that the Hundred Acre Wood, Pooh and Christopher Robin where real? 

Christopher Robin was Christopher Robin Milne, the son of the Author of the original stories, A.A. Miilne. Winnie the Pooh was Christopher's toy bear and many of the other characters that feature in the stories were based on the toys that Christopher had. 

You don't need to travel to the U.K. to see the original Winnie the Pooh bear, he is on display at the New York Public Library along with Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet and Kanga, but if you want to see where the came from and visit  the Hundred Acre Wood you'll need to head to Ashdown Forest in East Sussex.

Ashdown Forest is a medieval hunting forest created at the time of the Norman conquest in 1066 and was used by the nobility and Kings of England up until Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn, one of Henry's Wives grew up at Nearby Hever Castle.  England's first blast furnace was built here in 1496, marking the beginning of the country's modern iron and steel industry. Another author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator Sherlock Holmes of  lived on the edge of the forest. Today it's recognized as an area of special scientific interest as well as being protected for conservation and protection as it hosts some of Europe's most threatened species and habitats.

Many of the places in the Pooh stories relate directly to places in the forest, Hundred Acre wood is, in fact the Five Hundred Acre Wood. Gills Lap is Galleon's Leap and just 200 meters north of there you'll find the 'Enchanted Place'. Eeyore's Sad and Gloomy Place", you'll find at Wrens Warren Valley, and let's not forget the bridge where Pooh played Poohsticks. Pooh Sticks Bridge  is outside of the forest at Posingford Wood, near Chuck Hatch.

You can pick up a map of Pooh Walks from the Ashdown Forest Centre

Less than an Hour from London, Ashdown Forest and the surrounding countryside makes for a great day out of London. just watch you don't trip over a Honey Jar. 

Dine with a member of the Royal Family with this amazing Royal wedding package

Picture Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Westminster_Abbey_-_West_Door.jpg

A six-night Royal Wedding package that includes hosted tours by first-hand family members and associates of the royal family. 

Guests will visit Kensington Palace, Chartwell, Spencer House, Althorp and Westminster Abbey. They will meet a member of Winston Churchill’s family when they tour Chartwell, his family home in Kent and lunch at the family’s current private house. They will enjoy a private visit and lunch at Althorp, the ancestral home of Diana Princess of Wales’ family since 1508. The lunch will be hosted by a member of the Spencer family. 

On the eve of the wedding, guests will dine with a member of the royal family, at their private London townhouse. They will be able to watch the wedding processions on 29 April from the roof terrace of the Institute of Contemporary Art that overlooks The Mall that leads to Buckingham Palace. Dinner that night is at Kensington Palace.

The wedding takes place at Westminster Abbey and guests will visit the Abbey with the Dean of Westminster the morning after the wedding. 

The Royal Tour package also includes visits to the British Museum, the Wallace Collection and dinner at the Mandarin Oriental at either Bar Boulud, London or Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. 

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the late Princess Margaret first learned to dance in the hotel’s ballroom. Prince Charles and Princess Anne visited the tea rooms as children and more recently, the Queen and Prince Philip were guests at Baroness Margaret Thatcher's 80th birthday party. Sir Winston Churchill lived at the hotel when his London house was being refurbished.

The Royal Wedding Tour package, 26 April–1 May, is priced from £13,560 for one person or £22,560 for two people sharing the same accommodation.

Los Angeles to London for less than $421 including taxes

Picture credit: wikimedia.org by Kglavin, crop by Wangi

Hot off the press....

We have found some amazing fares to London using direct British Airways flights. Travel Monday - Thursday until the end of April. 

Space is limited and we suspect it will sell out fast. 

From Los Angeles $421.00 Round trip including all taxes and fuel surcharges.

Delight in Flowers

The Wildlife Trusts Lush Garden" (Show Garden) designed by Stephen Hall. Silver Flora award. Credit: Troika

2011 marks the 98th  anniversary of the start of the world famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show.  


Established in 1913, on the grounds of the Chelsea  Royal Hospital in London, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show has become one of the most celebrated annual events in the world and  the  showcase for horticultural excellence, attracting visitors and exhibitors from across the globe.  


Since its beginning, the show has gone from strength to strength and grown from 244 exhibitors in 1913 to over 600 today, including gardens, nurseries, floristry, educational displays and trade stands. It now attracts 157,000 visitors every year.  


Throughout its history, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show has witnessed numerous changes, but has always provided a showcase for the gardening fashions and trends of the day. Show gardens have mirrored the changing enthusiasms of the garden designers, from the Japanese and topiary gardens of the early days, through the rock garden craze during the war years, the paved back yards and cottage gardens of the 1980s to the contemporary, sculptural gardens of the present day.  


Enjoy the world's most famous flower show, located at Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London, is a celebration of the highest quality horticulture and is a feast for your imagination, bursting with inspiration for you to take home.

Be the first to view the unveiling of new plants and learn from some of the world's best designers at the Chelsea Flower Show. This yearly event attracts worldwide attention and is the perfect addition to your London vacation. While in London dine at gourmet restaurants and shop in designer boutiques. The combination of London sights and the Chelsea Flower Show make for a wonderful vacation package.

For more details about just one of our Chelsea Flower Show options.. Click here

Romance in the City of Bath

Royal Crescent, Copyright : - Bath Tourism Plus / Colin Hawkins

With royal romances very much a hot topic in the news at the moment, the City of Bath and the surrounding area is claiming to be the perfect place for those special couples in question to take a luxurious romantic break.

Bath offers all the ingredients for a very special romantic break including luxury hotels, a superb range of restaurants for candlelit dinners, a vibrant and cosmopolitan retail scene and a year-round calendar of events.

Here is just a taster of the things Bath has to offer for those who really want to spoil their own prince or princess…

Bed fit for a king
To ensure a wonderful night’s sleep, choose from one of the many hotels and guesthouses in Bath – with glorious four posters featuring in many of the rooms. Perhaps a suite at the Macdonald Bath Spa Hotel or a secluded private section of the Royal Crescent Hotel would suffice? The £15,000 Ammique bed in the Honeysuckle room at the Bath Priory Hotel will definitely fit the bill. This amazing bed has a special suspension system designed for the perfect sleeping position regardless of weight, shape and movement.

The Pump Room, Bath, Copyright : - Bath Tourism Plus 

Serenaded by strings
Afternoon tea in the stunning Pump Room with the Trio playing in the background is like stepping back in time to the romance of Bath’s Georgian heyday. The Pump Room, the social heart of Bath for 200 years, is the place to taste the waters which have played such an important role in the city’s history since Roman times.


Candle-lit dinner
With a wealth of top quality restaurants you will be spoilt for choice when looking for an intimate candlelit corner to dine in style. Try local favourite the Moon and Sixpence specialising in modern British and international cuisine, or for the ultimate indulgence, book a table at Lucknam Park Hotel just a few miles from Bath and enjoy fine dining at this Michelin starred restaurant.


Seeing the sights
As the only city in England to hold the title of UNESCO World Heritage Site, Bath boasts splendid Eighteenth Century architecture set against a backdrop of some of the most picturesque countryside in Britain. Simply strolling around the perfectly preserved streets provides the most romantic sightseeing for couples.


Float in the clouds
At Thermae Bath Spa visitors can lie back in the naturally warm and soothing waters in the rooftop pool and look up at the stars glistening above. Health and wellbeing have been Bath’s forte since Roman times and many hotels provide pampering and preening to order with some even offering couples’ treatments for total togetherness.


A lovebird’s excursion
A hot air balloon ride, gliding over the city and adjoining countryside with a glass of champagne would melt any girl’s heart. Or perhaps a very special outing aboard the luxurious Orient Express where splendour, impeccable service and the finest food are the order of the day. With a little forward planning, a box at the charming Theatre Royal or a concert in the Assembly Rooms during one of the music festivals would make an unforgettable evening.


Naughty but nice
Temptation is all around on the charming streets of Bath. Flower stalls with red roses, handmade chocolates and sinfully silky underwear are all available in specialist and designer stores throughout the city. Bath’s reputation as a fashionable city is due mainly to its vibrant retail scene with a high level of independent shops offering opportunities to find special souvenirs and indulge your princess with some retail therapy.


Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend
For diamonds and other trinkets, a visit to Mallory’s on Bridge Street is recommended. This fourth-generation family business buys diamonds directly from Antwerp and designs and manufactures rings but also carries a vast stock of watches, rings and luxury goods. Personal and unhurried service, typical of Bath shops, scores a hit with visitors looking for something very special.

View of Bath, Copyright : - Bath Tourism Plus 

Hand in hand
Stroll hand in hand through the picturesque parks and gardens within the city or head out into the charming countryside around Bath. The National Trust Skyline Walk is a six mile circuit of the city with magnificent views and benches for romantic moments. Or a stroll along the Kennet and Avon Canal is easy walking on the flat to the George Inn at Bathampton or beyond. There are numerous country pubs with welcoming roaring fires and cosy corners to reward romantic walkers with a wholesome pub lunch.


Tie the knot
Bath has returned to its roots as the most romantic city in the UK. In the Eighteenth Century it became a magnet for fashionable society where Bath played a pivotal role in the marriage market. Today it is once again attracting romantics from all over the country. Over fifty percent of the weddings that take place in Bath are for people who do not live in the city. Unique historic venues like the Assembly Rooms, the Pump Room or even the world-famous Roman Baths, are among some of the premises in Bath and North East Somerset that currently hold wedding licences.


Ever been to bath? Got any tips or suggestions? Where do you think the most romatic place in Britain is? We welcome your comments and suggestions below.

Monsters from the Jurassic age

Triceratops, a herbivore from the Cretaceous Period
© Natural History Museum

The  Natural History Museum is to hold a major exhibition about dinosaurs this summer. The Age of the Dinosaur is an interactive exhibition designed to take visitors on a journey through millions of years to life on earth with the gargantuan and now extinct reptiles. It will show visitors what life on earth was like more than 65 million years ago in swamp-like Jurassic lagoons and Cretaceous forests. Visitors will encounter plants and animals that are now extinct, including life-size animatronic dinosaurs as they navigate the mysterious places where insects, mammals and lizards once lived.

The Natural History Museum is located in Adjacent to the Science Museum and close to  The Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, Central London. There is easy access to the area on the tube and buses and entry to all three is free, so it's a great way to spend a day or two if your on a budget. Take a box lunch and on a nice day you can enjoy your meal in the gardens outside the Museum. 


While the museums are free, some special exhibitions, including The Age of the Dinosaur do make an admission charge. The Age of the Dinosaur runs from 22 April to 4 September .

View Larger Map



Have you been to the South Kensington Museums? We welcome your thoughts, ideas and comments below.

BA puts Britain on Sale

British Airways are currently promoting Sale fares to the UK from as low as $199.

These are amazing fares if your looking to travel to Britain (or Europe) Between January and April. The fares are good for travel until April 12th. The small print in the BA advertising does warn you that the headline fare is "one way based on round trip travel" and, of course taxes and fees are not included. Weekend supplements (Thursday to Sunday) also apply. There are a limited amount of these fares on flights, and once they have gone.. they have gone! All bookings must be made by Jan 11th.

So, what does the $199 headline fare actually mean when you come to pay the bill. We did a little research and found that the lead price (from New York) comes to $583.00 for a round trip ticket with the government fees and taxes included. Still pretty good. The equivalent fare from Los Angeles is $708.00, from Chicago O'Hare $658.00 and $708 from Seattle. Children under 12 may get a discount of up to 20%.

The fares require an advance purchase of 7 days and the Sunday night rule applies (The earliest return would be the Monday after you arrive). The tickets are non-refundable and heavy penalties apply to any changes you make. 

While the availability appears to be good right now, these fares are sure to disappear fast as flights get booked. So if you planning that trip don't delay to take advantage of these fares. Call or email us today. 

We'll also help you plan the rest of your vacation from tours and tour guides to hotels, transportation and sightseeing. 

UPDATE:
It would appear that Virgin Atlantic are matching some of these BA Fares. In some cases the Virgin Atlantic Fuel Surcharge is Lower, making the total cost even cheaper.  Don't waste your time hunting around looking for the best fare. We'll do the work for you.

In addition to charges made by the airlines, Pinnacle Travel Services may charge a Ticketing or Service fee.   

The Vikings fight again in York

Take yourself back to the year 1014AD when King Ethelred was on the English throne and fighting repeated Danish invasions. 

His unlikely ally is Olaf Haraldsson, a young Viking adventurer and heir to the throne of Norway. The two have already crushed the Danish force in London, pulling down London Bridge and capturing the Viking fortress, but Olaffs hunger for battle is undiminished. He scours the English countryside for the Danish warbands and any who might harbour them, coming at last to the outskirts of Jorvik.

 The annual JORVIK Viking Festival is a city-wide celebration of York’s Viking heritage. The festival attracts Viking re-enactors from across Europe and offers a programme of family-friendly events, lectures, guided walks and battle re-enactments.


The 2011 festival in February will re-enact events of the early 11th century  In the Festival’s finale Olaf Haraldsson, will lead a fight against the Danes with hundreds of armed warriors, fireworks and a boat burning at York Maze.

There will also be cultural events with specially commissioned theatrical performances and music, combat training and the chance to see some archaeological discoveries from recent excavations. 


Picture Credit - Visit Britian

Royal Weddings - Britain then and now

HRH Prince William and Kate Middleton

On the day Prince William walks down the aisle in April, the world will be a very different place to when his parents married in 1981.

Then of course there were no emails; mobile/cell phones were in their infancy, and The Tweets was the name of a band whose “Birdy Song” peaked at Number Two in the UK pop charts that year, and became a big hit across the dance-floors of Europe (as well as topping a chart of the most annoying songs of all time).

But it isn’t just the virtual world that has changed, Westminster Abbey may be little altered from 30 years ago, but the rest of the capital, and indeed many other UK cities, have changed beyond belief. 

When Charles and Diana wed at St Paul’s Cathedral on 29 July 1981, the recently opened NatWest Tower (now called Tower 42) was the tallest building in the UK, but only stood at 183metres/600 feet high – now Renzo Piano’s Shard by London Bridge has just become the tallest building in Britain, having topped Canary Wharf’s One Canada Square, and when completed in 2013 The Shard will stand at 1017 feet.

In the month of the wedding, the London Docklands Development Corporation was established, with the aim of regenerating the old docklands in East London, which had fallen into disuse.   Canary Wharf was not due to be completed for another ten years, while the Docklands Light Railway and London City Airport were not in operation for another six years.  (The Museum of London Docklands is an excellent place to find out more about this area).

And the East End of Brick Lane, Shoreditch and Hoxton, with its vibrant markets, lively bars and art galleries, now one of the top spots for visitors to London, certainly wasn’t on the average itinerary of 30 years ago.

The South Bank of the Thames has also completely changed.  In 1981 American actor Sam Wanamaker was still campaigning to build a replica of  Shakespeare’s Globe (building work didn’t start till 1993) while the 02 Arena, which has just posted record ticket sales of £60.3 million and celebrated its third year in a row as the world's most popular music venue, was just  a site of contaminated land,  on the Greenwich Peninsula.  And if you climbed to the top of St Paul’s in 1981, there was no Millennium Bridge to see, and what was to become the Tate Modern was just an old disused industrial building:  1981 was the year thatBankside Power Station closed due to increased oil prices, making other methods of generating electricity more efficient, but it was nearly another 20 years before the art gallery opened on the site, in May 2000.  One of London’s most popular tourist attractions, the Tate Modern is now looking to build a major new extension with the aim of it opening in 2012, and 2011 exhibitions include the first major exhibition of Joan Miro’s work in almost 50 years. 

In London, it was another five years before Phantom of the Opera fans started queuing round the block for returned tickets – while Cats had just opened two months before, in May 1981. Meanwhile Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap had been playing to audiences in London for a mere 30 years.  Musicals are still pulling in the crowds – Legally Blonde has been running for a year and is currently booking till October 2011; Priscilla Queen of the Desert is approaching its second birthday while coming up next year is Shrek the Musical – previewing from the week after the Royal Wedding;  while a new musical adaptation of the classic weepie, Love Story,  opens this week.

After the royal wedding in 1981, the family assembled on the balcony of Buckingham Palace before cheering crowds in the Mall, but that was about as close as visitors could get to the palace:   nowadays the summer opening of the Buckingham Palace State Apartments is a staple of the tourist calendar, but they only opened to the public in 1993, to help raise money for rebuilding of damaged areas of Windsor Castle after the fire there.  In 2011 the Apartments will be open from 1 August to 25 September.

LIVERPOOL

Around the country, other major cities were also about to undergo a major revival.   Liverpool of course was already famous as the home of the Beatles and of Liverpool football club – but it was also home  to derelict dock buildings, and it would be another two years before work began on transforming the Albert Dock buildings.  Today it is one of the top destinations for visitors in the city, with the Beatles Story, the Merseyside Maritime Museum and the Tate Liverpool  (exhibitions there next year include the first major exhibition of the popular Belgian Surrealist Rene Magritte in the UK in almost 20 years) as well as being a great place for restaurants and cafes.  And next summer, the new Museum of Liverpool is due to open nearby at Pier Head.

MANCHESTER

Two days before Charles and Diana walked down the aisle, Ken and Deirdre Barlow were married – okay so Coronation Street, celebrating its 50^th anniversary this week, isn’t real, and this was a fictional wedding, but Manchester where it is filmed has also changed radically since the soap wedding.  Like London, the docklands of Manchester, which closed in the early 1980s, have been transformed, Salford Quays now offering museums and galleries like The Lowry, and the Imperial War Museum North.  And Canal Street, now the hub of nightlife in the city, only really became established in the late 1980s/early 1990s as THE place to go in the city.  In 2011, those looking for “higher” culture than “Corrie” will want to check out the third Manchester International Festival, from 30 June – 17 July, “the world‘s first festival of original, new work and special events” which takes place biennially.  Those put into the romantic mood by the Royal Wedding may like to check out the World Premiere of Ghost The Musical, at Manchester Opera House from 28 March to 14 May. 

BIRMINGHAM AND NEWCASTLE/GATESHEAD

Birmingham has also changed with the city centre being pedestrianised, the opening  of the Symphony Hall in 1991 and the revamped Bullring, with the iconic Selfridges, completed in 2003;  while Newcastle and Gateshead, on opposite sides of the River Tyne have also been completely transformed, with the opening of The Baltic Centre of Contemporary Art, in a former flour mill, in 2002, the building of The Sage Gateshead and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge “ the world's first and only tilting bridge”.

GLASGOW

In Scotland, Glasgow has cemented its long-standing reputation for shopping with designer stores and malls, and added theGallery of Modern Art and the Burrell Collection to the popular Kelvingrove  – which itself has recently undergone a major refurbishment.  The Glasgow School of Art has been on the cultural map for decades but the contribution of its architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh has been accentuated over the last decade or so and the Mackintosh Trail is now firmly on the visitor map. 

And next year there is a major new reason to visit the city – the opening of the new Riverside Museum, designed by Zaha Hadid (architect of the Aquatic Centre in the Olympic Park) in the early summer.  It will be the new home for the city’s world-class transport collection, and be located where the River Clyde meets the River Kelvin at the heart of Glasgow Harbour.  Visitors will enter a vast free-flowing space, split over two floors and showcasing more than 3,000 objects from locomotives, trams and cars to ship models and motorbikes.  The majority of the objects will fall into one of the museum’s 150 ‘story displays’, which will tell the personal stories behind the objects and introduce hundreds of individuals: from bicycle-makers and tram conductresses to shipyard workers and fire fighters.

CARDIFF

In the Welsh capital, the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation was set up in 1987 to regenerate the docklands there, with theWales Millennium Centre, opened in 2004, among the main attractions of the area, while the Millennium Stadium opened in the City Centre in 1999 – now offering both world class sport and concerts.

But it is not just the buildings in Britain that have changed in the last 30 years, the lifestyle of the Brits, and therefore visitors to the UK, has also changed. 

FOOD

Take food for example:  in 1981 Jamie Oliver, aged six, was only just old enough to eat school dinners, let alone try to change them,  while Gordon Ramsay was still at school, and still hoping to be a professional footballer . And in the 1980s people would go to pubs just to drink, not to eat as well:  The Eagle in Clerkenwell, London, generally acknowledged to be the first gastropub, didn’t start offering good food in a pub setting for another 10 years or so.   The food “revolution” began in the capital but has since spread round the country so every region has good food in pubs and restaurants, not just in cities but in seaside resorts and country towns.   Cornwall, for example, used to be one of the top destinations for visitors, but food would probably not have been one of the main attractions:  now Rick Stein has made Padstow a foodie destination in itself while all round the coast at towns like St Ives and Fowey, visitors can enjoy excellent food along with the views.

HOTELS

Hotels have also changed, with the opening of new boutique hotels such as the Malmaison and Hotel du Vin chains round the country offering stylish, informal places to stay, and the introduction of spas to many hotels. Increasingly visitors expect to get active on holidays – with the result that activity centres have also mushroomed and offer a much wider range of things to do, such as coasteering, which took off (like its participants) in places like Pembrokeshire, west Wales,  in the 1990s.

FREE ENTRY

Nowadays we take our free museums and galleries for granted, but the government only introduced free entry for all the national collections in 2001. We also now demand a good café or restaurant along with our exhibitions – and the period has seen a sea-change in the offering:  it was in the 1980s that the V and A controversially advertised itself as an “An ace cafe with quite a nice museum attached'.  Nowadays, for example, the Portrait Restaurant offers fabulous views over Nelson’s Column and the London skyline from the National Portrait Gallery, as does the Tower Restaurant over the Edinburgh skyline from the National Museum of Scotland and the café at Tate St Ives, over the rooftops of the town and the surfers on the beach, to name just a couple.

GARDENS

Britain is known worldwide for its gardens, and of course some of the greatest are centuries old -but 30 years ago two of the most popular were not yet developed.  Alnwick Garden in Northumberland is only 10 years old, while the idea of the Eden Project came about in the 1990s during the restoration of the nearby Lost Gardens of Heligan by Tim Smit.  And in the year that Charles and Diana married, Tony and Eira Hibbert bought Trebah in Cornwall  as their retirement home “where they could eke out their last few years in peace and quiet and where there would be no work, no worries and no responsibilities. They discovered, too late, that under the jungle that had grown up lay the remains of a once famous garden.  They were persuaded to give up the first 3 years of retirement to restore it.

What are your memories of the wedding between Charles and Diana? Did you visit that year? Will you visit again for this wedding? What changes have you noticed on your visits? Your thoughts and comments are welcome below.

Article and picture courtesy of Visit Britain 

Cunard's 3-Day Sale: starts Wednesday!

On 1 January, Cunard made its inaugural debut at the 122nd Pasadena Tournament of Roses® Parade, winning the prestigious Queen’s Trophy for best use of roses. And on 13 January the youngest fleet at sea - QUEEN VICTORIA, QUEEN MARY 2, and on the occasion of her maiden call, the new QUEEN ELIZABETH, will meet for an historic Cunard Royal Rendezvous in New York Harbor.

2011 is an exciting year to sail on the QUEENS of Cunard. To celebrate the New Year, Cunard are offering savings up to $1,500 per stateroom* on Northern Europe voyages. Plus, On Board Credit up to $300 per stateroom^ and a Reduced Deposit.* Cunard's 3-Day Sale offers you the perfect opportunity to return to the elegance of a Cunard voyage, or to discover it for the first time.

QUEEN ELIZABETH voyages from $1,437*
QUEEN VICTORIA voyages from $1,437*
QUEEN MARY 2 voyages from $1,221*

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