Travel expert reveals the UK’s best staycation venues that rival trips abroad
Demand for holidays in the UK has been rising significantly over the course of the past few weeks, as Brits increasingly come to realise there’s actually a hell of a lot more to our homeland than we previously thought.
We should be on holiday right now. That’s what we keep telling everyone.
But, here we are.
Instead of striding into the airport at the crack of dawn, ordering a pint in the terminal (a rare isolated setting where it’s actually acceptable to sip lager at 7am) and leaving our stresses on the runway as we climb in the the clouds, we’re sat at home – staring longingly at our calendars, imagining what could have been.
As a nation, we spend a great portion of waking life looking to get out of the country – so being told to sit tight on our own island has been causing more than a touch of cabin fever.
It wasn’t until last week that we finally got some sweet relief.
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The Foreign Office confirmed they would be waiving their warning on avoiding non-essential international travel from July 6.
As lockdowns ease in Europe, overseas flights have started to take off again, and some countries have vowed Brits will be permitted to enter without being subjected to quarantining.
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It’s promising news. But understandably, some still aren’t comfortable with the idea of mingling in a crowded cabin of recirculated air at 38,000 feet. Even with masks.
Insurance companies are also reluctant to offer cover whilst pockets of coronavirus continue to erupt – a trend many experts expect to see long into the future as separate societies blend again.
Demand for holidays in the UK has been rising significantly over the course of the past few weeks, as Brits increasingly come to realise there’s actually a hell of a lot more to our homeland than we previously thought.
Charlotte Craig, owner of award-winning travel agency Paper Plane in Manchester, can vouch for that.
“A lot of people don’t travel in the UK,” Charlie tells The Manc.
“They’ll go down to London for weekends to see friends or visit their parents in the countryside, but a lot don’t travel within UK hotels as often as abroad.
“This has massively opened people’s eyes as to what’s possible.”
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According to Charlie, “the world and his wife” have settled on Cornwall as their UK holiday destination for 2020, and many locations in this neck of the woods are already fully-booked or have their hosts (who usually rent out their properties for summer) still inside enjoying their properties for themselves.
But whilst a trip to the Cornish country might be the default setting for domestic breaks in Britain, it isn’t necessarily the best.
Charlie says there’s a raft of incredible hotspots elsewhere – some of which are just a short drive from our doorsteps…
Certain places in the UK appeared to be tailor-made for reuniting with lapsed friends.
We’ve spent more than 13 weeks separated from pals dotted around the country. But there’s seemingly a number of superb spots in which to arrange a memorable rendezvous with the old gang.
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Suffolk, for instance, is a solution some might not have previously considered.
“Most people in the UK want a holiday where you’re not too far from the coast and have a pool… but those places are becoming more and more difficult to find,” Charlie explains.
“But I’ve had a few customers who’ve absolutely loved Sufflolk – which has a gorgeous coastline and isn’t as busy as going down to Cornwall. It’s also a slightly shorter drive – about 4.5 hours from Manchester.”
There are more than a few places in which to kick back with mates on the Eastern coast – but there’s one that comes highly recommended.
“Wilderness Reserve in particular is full of spectacular standalone properties and farmhouses,” Charlie tells us.
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“You can get a chef in if you want, there’s a pool on site, you’re in a massive forest area with bikes you can use, and it’s only 15 mins to the coast.
“It’s the perfect five-night stay with mates you’ve not seen for a few months or years.
“It’s all your own space for you to do as you like with.”
For some, the great appeal of holidaying abroad is the prospect of clapping eyes on untamed landscapes and treating your palate to fresh food and drink.
As it turns out, you can do both just a few miles south.
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“There’s a wonderful spot in Hampton in Arden – towards Birmingham – that does a three-day package for midweek or weekend including wine tasting and farm to table food,” Charlie explains.
“It’s all authentic and feels like a real luxury experience.
“We might not be able to go to the Tuscan Vineyards right now, but you can still do wine tasting in a beautiful garden in the UK.”
As an added extra for booking Hampton Manor with Paper Plane, you’ll get a personalised cocktail each at the Maker’s Table, followed by cream tea included in your stay.
Britain is brimming with cortisol right now. The past few weeks have placed an unimaginable amount of pressure on our minds and bodies – heightened further by the forced cancellation of our cathartic getaways.
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According to Charlie, though, there are places to get royally pampered in the UK – soothing the senses without the pressure-filled preamble of passport control.
“I’m desperate for a massage at the moment and I know I’m not the only one,” laughs Charlie.
“There’s a place just outside Ripon called Grantley Hall where you can enjoy complete relaxation.
“It’s a very classic building that’s been converted into a hotel. It’s ideal for spa lovers.
“Another great thing about this place is that their protocols are brilliant for COVID. They’ve got a spa and they’re working on slots so people can use areas at specific times. You’ve also got outdoor hot tubs, pools, saunas and steam rooms.
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“They’ve got the Shaun Rankin restaurant there and also an Asian restaurant which reminds me of Tattu in Manchester.
“A lot of my friends have booked to go and want to head back again. It’s 90 minutes from Manchester; an easy one-night stay or equally suitable for a long weekend.
“There’s lots of really nice walks around there, too.”
Ramblers and explorers have been dealt a big blow by having their trip-of-a-lifetime to far-flung foreign lands delayed.
In the meantime, however, there’s an enormous amount to discover in the British countryside. And you can even enjoy a bit of luxury whilst you’re at it.
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“The Cotswolds, I could talk about forever,” says Charlie.
“But there’s one particular place I really love called The Fish Hotel.
“They have these hilly huts with private hot tubs on the deck. There’s loads of spots in the surrounding area to go for nice walks and enjoy being in nature, but you can enjoy a bit of privacy and luxury as well.
“Some people don’t feel comfortable in larger spas, and this is a nice alternative.”
Families, in particular, may want to remain in Britain in the summer.
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Thankfully, Charlie says the options for couples and kids in the UK are plentiful.
“For families, I’d really recommend the Lake District,” she says.
“There’s a spot called Another Place which is perfect for couples with kids.
“I’m also a big believer in the Yorkshire Dales. There’s some gorgeous places there that have proven very popular in the past four weeks; more so than hotels.
“The Malabar, too, is really good for family holidays.
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“You get your own barbie, there’s tonnes of fields around and it’s very popular with families for birthdays and stuff.
“If you’ve got your own place, you’ve got the cooking facilities and that type of thing so you don’t have to worry about anyone else using them.”
Summer festivals have been wiped off the calendar almost entirely in 2020.
But you can still enjoy the good old Glamping experience regardless.
Just an hour away from Manchester is Gisburne Park – a popup glamping location which offers family-friendly holidays during the week and an adult-only space on weekends.
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Based in the Ribble Valley, Gisburne Park is tucked away inside a thousand acre private estate – with fully-furnished tents (double beds, king-sized duvets and electric power) alongside dining areas, BBQ pits and a swimming pool.
Jet-setting will technically be possible again in a matter of days. But if you aren’t quite ready to battle your way through busy airports, you can relax in the knowledge that Britain has more than enough to offer – no matter what sort of getaway you’d been hoping for.
“The UK is going to be massively popular this summer,” Charlie informs us.
“We cover every type of trip abroad at Paper Plane, but if a staycation is what you’re looking for, you can have a truly wonderful holiday here at home.”
Learn more about booking a staycation with Paper Plane Travel by visiting their website.
Feature
7 serene spas in the North West where you can swim, soak, and switch off
Daisy Jackson
Whether you’re planning a romantic overnight escape, a catch-up with friends, or simply craving a few hours of uninterrupted peace, the North West is home to some of the UK’s most impressive spas.
From sprawling countryside retreats with outdoor thermal gardens and swim-up bars, to stylish city sanctuaries hidden in the heart of Manchester, there’s a spa to suit every kind of relaxation.
We’ve rounded up some of the very best spas across the North West and just beyond, each offering something a little different, whether that’s lakeside hot tubs, award-winning wellness facilities, luxurious spa suites, or unique experiences you won’t find anywhere else.
So switch your phone to silent, grab your robe, and prepare to discover the spa breaks that are truly worth checking into.
1. Manor House
The new ‘secret garden’ pool at Manor HouseCosy relaxation pods at Manor House, a top North West spa
If you like your wellness with a side of whimsy, Manor House is the spa break you need to get on your wishlist.
This beautiful garden spa is like a maze of flowers and hedges that hide all sorts of hot tubs, saunas, swimming pools (and TWO swim-up bars), relaxation pods, steam rooms, and more.
There’s a cold plunge pool with spring flowers wrapped around it, a lawn for sunbathing if you’re lucky, and a traditional Finnish sauna overlooking it all, plus a sunken, circular hydrotherapy pool, a cosy summer house with noise-cancelling headphones you can plug in to, a gently heated panoramic laconium, hammocks, squishy sunbeds, swing seats, and so much more.
There’s even a new sauna that looks like a potting shed, so you can sit like a content little garden gnome while all your worries and tensions melt away.
Spa visits from £79, overnight packages from £279 – find out more HERE.
2. Carden Park, Cheshire
The indoor pool at Carden Park looks out over the spa gardensCarden Park’s award-winning North West spa garden
A heated outdoor pool, thermal pods, hot tubs, saunas, an all-weather champagne bar, fire pit, indoor pool, treatment rooms, relaxation rooms, Finnish sauna, bio sauna, salt steam room, aroma steam room, two restaurants, bars, golf, sculpture park, tennis courts, lake deep breath…
That’s just a taster of all the facilities on offer at Carden Park, a spa hotel in Cheshire that’s been named the best in the UK at the AA awards.
The rooms within the hotel have undergone a refurb in recent years and are now just as beautiful as those award-winning spa facilities, while the on-site restaurant The Vines has scooped a third AA Rosette.
Spa experiences start from £89 per person, with overnight packages from £170. See more HERE.
3. Ye Olde Bell Hotel & Spa, Nottinghamshire
Ye Olde Bell’s amazing mineral coal saunaThe outdoor pool at Ye Olde Bell spa
This gorgeous spa hotel has an amazing indoor-outdoor pool, with loads of massage jets and other features to relax with, plus heated outdoor loungers, different saunas and steam rooms, foot spas, and more.
At Ye Olde Bell, can even experience every season inside, with an artificial snowstorm to cool down after a sauna session, and an indoor beach to relax on.
A highlight is the medieval-looking stone bath, where mineral coals are lowered into a water bath by a mechanised iron bucket, releasing bursts of steam, and there’s a wooden fan you crank yourself to push the heat back down.
The rooms vary from traditional countryside hotel rooms to cosy lodges.
Spa days start from £90, while spa breaks with an overnight stay begin at £160. See more HERE.
4. The Gilpin, Lake District
A private hot tub at The Gilpin spa suitesA different hydrotherapy pool at The Lake House at The Gilpin
This Lake District spa hotel is pretty special, with a couple of spa options to suit every taste.
Up at the main hotel, you could book yourself a stay in one of the luxurious and modern spa suites, which come with their own sauna, steam room, treatment space, hot tub, and rainfall showers INSIDE your suite, as well as a private hot tub on the decking outside.
Or you can head down to the fairytale lakeside setting of The Lake House, where wood-fired hot tubs sit on the waterside and have beautiful views down the valley.
You can read more about a stay at The Gilpin HERE.
The spa at King Street Townhouse in ManchesterThe spa at King Street Townhouse in Manchester
It’s hard to believe this serene spa is right in the heart of Manchester city centre, tucked down just metres from the rat race.
King Street Townhouse’s exceptional spa is the perfect place to relax and unwind, with facilities like a steam room, sauna and relaxation room, plus plenty of treatment options.
There’s a menu of exclusive ESPA treatments have been designed to ‘melt away stress and restore your glow’.
Some packages even include a scoop of ice cream after your massage, which is a nice touch.
Spa visits start from £100, – there are also memberships available. Click HERE to find out more.
6. Moddershall Oaks, Staffordshire
Moddershall Oaks spa. Credit: Supplied
A little further afield but worth the drive for the big relax at the end of it, Moddershall Oaks is a luxury country retreat with first-class indoor and outdoor spa facilities.
Spa treatments take place in the cosy former farmhouse, while the spa itself is surrounded by woodland and centred around a 25 sq metre heated outdoor pool.
The outdoor spa also includes a relaxation lounge, kelo sauna, drench bucket and a private spa pool, while inside you’ll find an indoor swimming pool, a steam room, a hydrotherapy pool, an experience shower, and reflexology footbaths.
There’s even a sleep lounge where you devices are banned, so you can proper switch off and have a snooze.
There are loads of spa packages available starting from £120, plus overnights from £260. See more HERE.
On arrival, the theme of Mottram Hall is grand – you drive past 270 acres of landscaped gardens, check in inside the Grade II-listed manor house, then head across to the luxurious £15m Champneys spa.
The spa facilities at Mottram Hall include a 20 metre swimming pool, a hydropool, thermal suites, and a cold room, plus an outdoor hydropool so you can soak beneath the stars or in the sunshine.
And if you like a more comprehensive wellness day, they’ve got a fantastic gym, a golf course, and a padel court too.
Spa visits start from £59; spa breaks with an overnight stay and meals from £220 per person.
‘Rooted in India, made in Manchester’ – Punjabee Deli has big designs on the local food scene
Danny Jones
Launching a few months ago, this recently opened Indian deli, cafe, eatery and hangout concept is still in its infancy, but the brains behind this are not the new kids on the block here in Manchester: welcome to Punjabee.
Founded by Sapna Kumar, a familiar face on market stalls across Greater Manchester and across the North West, not to mention the owner of the well-known dessert brandVanilli’s, she’s one of the biggest characters you’ll ever meet.
And, you know what? Sometimes you have to be. This second-generation Indian-Mancunian is a would-be mother to many, as she considers lots of her loyal customers part of her extended family.
And now it’s time to put herself first for once. As she puts it, she’s no longer content just serving up everything for everyone else on a platter for free. Now she’s “ready to spice things up.”
No stranger to a soundbyte or a pithy tagline of her own – after all, she’s been working in this business for well over a decade now – the food speaks for itself, and as well for the vision of this place as she does.
Quite literally putting the bee in Punjabi (you’ve got to admire pun-game like that), this local-born mum of three and extremely dedicated indie trader is as much tied to her Manc soul as she is to herIndian heritage, and she’s all about bringing a ‘home to the plate’ approach.
Remember that scene in Ratatouille where the food critic eats that simple dish, and it takes him right back to his childhood and that feeling of being back in your kitchen/living room? That’s precisely the feeling she’s going for. In fact, we’d argue she’s already achieving it.
Many of her relatively small but equally hard-working crew are not only young people looking to get experience, but also existing hospitality staff who were left out of a job due to the ongoing cost of living crisis and obstacles facing the entirefood and drink sector.
But in the matter of just a few weeks, they’ve been trained up to help make authentic butter chicken, daals and pasandas that people take home for a truly hearty tea, samosas, pakoras, bhajis, Punjabi pasties, all of which are gradually drawing in more and more regulars each week, and so much more.
The mixed Indian snack selection alone is great value for money, and their stuffed lunch wrap for just a fiver is one of the best deals you’ll find anywhere in town on your dinner hour.
In fact, all the well-packed portions aren’t just well-presented in pristine air-tight packaging; they’re also super filling and satisfying, from the wide variety of homemade curries to the fruity lassis canned in-house. Everything is made in the prep kitchen around the corner, before being fridged next door.
You can tell how much experience this outfit has when it comes to catering and scaling up operations, as Sapna is also the baker behind Vanilli’s spin-off,Cake Bar Co., which she started during the pandemic on top of her other projects simply out of boredom.
The girl seemingly doesn’t sit still for even a second, at least not when she’s running these entrepreneurial arms, anyway.
Credit: The Manc Group
Her plans for thedeli and currently daytime-only eatery serve as yet more proof; the team are looking to deck out the space even further, with a bigger cabinet of wooden shelves to turn their already charming deli corner into an even fuller shop.
And then there’s a larger room downstairs of what used to be an old hairdresser’s: she’s keeping coy on that front for now, but let’s just say there’s a great bit of space to work with.
One thing we really appreciate is her acknowledging that going out for a meal, a drink, or even just a coffee is more expensive than ever.
With that in mind, she’s taken her mum’s sage advice and is keeping prices as low as possible, with the likes of the cheap bites at noon, chai for just £1 or totally FREE from 11:30am-2:30pm – an offer that is already starting to draw in steady crowds of meeting up even for a chinwag.
The stylish and colourful nook with bench-seating, cushions, coffee tables, decorated shelving and traditional jaali-style windows that simultaneously transports you elsewhere while making you feel like you’ve been invited into her front room for a brew and a bite to eat.
Let’s be honest, there are few better feelings than that kind of welcome.
Speaking to The Manc, she can never resist a good bit of wordplay, telling us: “We’re putting the chai [tea], back in community” – of which, like everything else, is all made completely in-house, by the way.
Whilst trying to restore that sense of kindness and compassion that she fears might be slowly slipping away, she also says she’s not scared of mixing up the market anymore, both literally and figuratively.
Once a mainstay of the Ancoats Makers’ Market among many others, not to mention the vendor we know to boast two stalls at Stockport’s monthlyFoodie Friday event, she started with a love for baking and made it into a successful passion project.
Now she’s turned making small little pots of curry for her peers on artisan stalls and farmers’ markets into her next venture, and she no longer feels like she’s here to compete: “I am the competition”, she says, “and I’m ready to stir the pot.”
You’d be forgiven for getting slight Heisenberg vibes for a second there, but trust, if you pop intoPunjabee and meet this vibrant, funny and extremely driven woman in person, you’ll see for yourself that she’s all about positivity, moving forward and maximising good vibes.
She’s even looking into karaoke and supper clubs, as well as extending the opening hours on Friday evenings, on top of already being open seven days a week.
Whether you’re stopping by for a cup of chai or taking out, you won’t be disappointed.
She still remembers playing ‘kerby’ out on the streets of Manchester and people gathering to eat their favourite scran, the sense of occasion people felt when paying a trip to the old Italian-style patisserie that they eventually took over.
Something that really stuck with us was this overarching idea that “through food we come together”, and she’s absolutely right.
We can’t wait to see how this place grows over the next year, and we sincerely recommend you come along to Radium Street and give it a try.
Lastly, we’ll sign off by telling you one final thing: translated into English, Sapna means ‘dream’, and this lady sure is thinking big.
The Manc -
30th June 2020 
