Best of British

• 21 Indulge yourself at the Chocolate Boutique Hotel
  Set in a grade-two listed building in Bournemouth's elegant West Cliff district, just a few minutes from the town centre and the award-winning beaches, the Chocolate Boutique Hotel boasts of being the...

• 22 The Isles of Scilly: a right royal choice?
  Usually stars and celebs go all out to choose the most exotic locations possible for getaways, holidays and honeymoons, but rumour has it that everyone's favourite royal couple are shunning the usual distant...

• 23 The castle gems of the Emerald Isle
  From Cork to Antrim, from Mayo to Offaly, practically every Irish county boasts its castle, and the country is dotted with these great monuments. Whether you choose to go visiting the romantic ruins of...

• 24 Europe dons white for winter
  All across Europe, from Bruges to Copenhagen to Zurich, snow and ice are the protagonists, and white is being worn by cities, towns and villages. Picturesque scenes from the fairytale land of Bavaria,...

• 25 Europe gets ready to greet 2011
  Forget the world recession and other worries. The night of December 31st is a time to dream; it's a time to focus on the positive and the world of possibilities ahead. Above all, it's a time to join with...

• 26 Ecohotels: environmentally sound holidays
  Sail along the River Amazon at 10 kilometres an hour, admiring the verdant tropical scenery of the planet's 'green lung'. Enjoy the natural peace and tranquillity as the sun sets over the Amazon jungle....

• 27 Celebrate the start of winter at Stonehenge
  A host of myths and legends surround the iconic stone circle located in the south west of England. Some tales include elements of the Arthurian legends, with Merlin in the role of architect; others claim...

• 28 London's a favourite with Spanish shoppers
  Shopping is big business for the Spanish. In a recent survey by the web portal Tripadvisor, of the 730 Spaniards questioned, 42% described shopping as a passion, while a mere 10% thought of it as an obligation....

• 29 Spend the night with a ghost in Scotland
  

• 30 English pubs: not just beer and peanuts
  It may be hard to imagine Prince Charles knocking back a pint, but it was His Royal Highness who inspired the Pub is the Hub  initiative whose aim is to put the country pub back at the heart of rural...

• 31 Staying with the stars
  Maybe it's their own tendency to demand the little – and sometimes not so little – luxuries when they themselves travel; maybe it's just a whim, or another outlet for their creative talents;...

• 32 Halloween: scary stuff from around the world
  It doesn't matter whether you call it All Saints, All Souls, the Day of the Dead, Witches' Thanksgiving or Halloween, for most of us – stars and celebrities included – October, particularly...

• 33 London's legendary Savoy Hotel reopens its elegant doors
  In 1889, the British capital's first luxury hotel opened. Emulating the modern facilities found in American hotels, the Savoy was the first establishment in London to boast electric lifts – known...

• 34 The New Seven Wonders of the World in a spectacular set of images
  A global poll conducted three years ago set out to choose a new set of modern world wonders. The idea originated from Swiss filmmaker Bernard Weber, who launched the proposal in 1999 with the intent of...

• 35 Discover the world's most unusual bookshops
  As Bastian Balthazar Bux, the young hero of Michael Ende's Neverending Story realised, a bookshop can be the jumping off point for a great adventure. That's true whether it's a little local shop like The...

• 36 Torquay pays homage to the 'Queen of Crime'
  Torbay's sun-trap horseshoe of water is warmed by the Gulf Stream and protected from inland cold by the high ground of Dartmoor, earning it the name of the English Riviera. Little wonder, then that the...

• 37 Spoil yourself with a luxury train tour of the Highlands
  Of the few named trains still in service around the globe, the Royal Scotsman is one of the elite group operating in old Europe. It may not be surrounded by quite the aura of legend that encompasses the...

• 38 'Impressionist gardens' on display in Edinburgh
  If you ask someone which artist they think of in connection with gardens, the chances are that the name they'd give would be that of Impressionist master, Claude Monet. And, indeed, many of Monet's works...

• 39 A welcome in the hillsides of Braemar
  Each year, through from spring through to autumn, villages and towns across Scotland hold competitions with demonstrations of skill, strength and endurance that have their origins in clan gatherings going...

• 40 Up, up and away at Bristol Balloon Fiesta
  Back in early September 1979, when a small group of balloonists gathered together at Ashton Court, Bristol, in the south west of England, little did they realise their activities would herald the start...