Gorgeous Getaway - Jollydays Glamorous Tents

 

 

Welcome to Jollydays, the ultimate glamping experience, and probably the closest you'll ever get to a magical tent in this boringly muggle world. Set in a pristine 200 acre forest in North Yorkshire, the divinely decorated luxury tents are sprinkled throughout the fairytale wood, their simple exteriors giving no hint to the incredible space and comfort within. Beautiful big-top draped ceilings hide bedrooms with plush four poster beds, clawfoot tubs complete with plentiful, piping hot water and spacious living areas for general lounging about.

 

For sustenance, wander down to the local organic farm store for ingredients, or avoid cooking altogether by ordering in a "dinner pot", a beautifully prepared, locally-grown meal left on your doorstep. Need a little snack and warming brew during a long day of forest tramping? Instead of a lobby, Jollydays has an adorable  "tea tent" serving hot tea and creamy cakes throughout the day.

 

I suggest exploring the nearby river Derwent (Otters!), visiting the adjoining ancient battlefield (ghost stories!) and finishing the day with a long, hot bath and drinks by candlelight. Peace and quiet, the sweet smell of the forest, stars at night and birdsong in the morning. Muggles or not, it's sure to be a perfectly magical weekend...

 



Gorgeous Getaway - Balleswidden Cabin, Cornwall

I love luxury as much as the next person, and there's certainly a time and a place for unbridled opulence. But sometimes, I just want to get away from everything and everyone. Escape from the entire world and hole up somewhere simple, beautiful and lonely with a stack of books and a good view. This weeks gorgeous getaway looks like my idea of heaven for a bit of peace and quiet. 

I really love Cornwall - I've written about it before and I'm sure I'll write about it again. This lovely little cottage near Penzance looks simple and unassuming at first glance, but it's deceptively spacious inside, and fitted with every luxury you could need for a quiet weekend. Cozy bedroom under the eaves, clawfoot tub, walls of well worn books and that invitingly worn red chesterfield.  Full of character, but not too pokey -  I particularly love how the floorboards were swept up on the beach from an old shipwreck. Unless they're haunted by the souls of dead sailors, who  cause them to creak at night. Maybe I'm not so keen on them after all. But no matter, there's so much else going for it - a hamper of delicious local food on arrival, a pleasant 20 minute walk to the village and the coast, and an awe-inspiring view across the wild fields that lead down to the sea. I think it's particularly perfect for dog lovers like myself - you can take Fido for long tramps across the countryside and bracing beach swims, before trundling home to curl up by the fire.  I would suggest you stock up on supplies - involving a lot of sweets, fashion mags and bubble baths - and eat and sleep your way through a gloriously quiet weekend.

Gorgeous Getaway - Ca Maria Adele, Venice

I know it's the fashionable thing to absolutely hate Venice - the crowds, the smell, the very difficultness of it all - but I can't help myself. I'm just not very cool - I love it. Granted I've never been in the high season - my memories of the city are early, misty winter mornings and empty, snaking alleyways. Pink, Turner-esque sunsets setting the city aglow in the evenings until a dense, chilling fog settles over the lagoon. See how ridiculous it makes me sound? That's Venice - it is ridiculous, and you have to just embrace the sinking, sea-soaked, sordid mess of it all and be overcome with the sheer weight of history and intrigue around every corner.

It may be a circle of hell in high summer, but I think in late January it's utterly magical, a place outside of time, to escape and hide out for a few days in a fantasy of gilded opulence. And next time I visit, I'm more than a little tempted to stay here...

...In the hotel Ca Maria Adele, a stylishly re-imagined 16th century palazzo in central but civilised Dorsoduro.

I can't say that this whole place doesn't terrify me slightly. Well, more than slightly. You just know there's a dwarf in that red bedroom waiting to jump out and stab someone. Also that doge fellow on the wall is clearly up to no good. But who cares! It's so ridiculously dark and opulent, so unabashedly straight out of the Venice of the imagination, that I think it's fabulous. Look at all those dark corners and shadow-throwing lights!  It looks incredible - though I'm sure a weekend would be plenty of time to enjoy its charms. Any longer and you'd need to recover with a long respite somewhere bright white and minimalist to cleanse the senses of all that velvet.


top photo via pinterest

Gorgeous Getaway - ACE Hotel, Palm Springs

We're staying in the desert for this week's Gorgeous Getaway, with a trip to the wonderful ACE Hotel in Palm Springs.

Just a few minutes walk from downtown, set against the backdrop of the barren San Jacinto mountains and the big, brilliantly blue desert sky, the ACE Hotel is the desert motel of your dreams. A tired old Howard Johnson's was stripped down and re-imagined as a casual and chic getaway - from the breezy, whitewashed rooms hung with canvas drapes, to the sunsoaked terraces, retro pool and bar area, laid-back natural spa and deconstructed, 60's style diner serving delicious locally grown delicacies. The whole feeling is very chilled out, sunwashed and effortlessly cool.

I love the perfect little touches, like the soft, fluffy white beds and louver panelling in the rooms, the outdoor fireplaces scattered around the pool area for cool nights, the fleet of retro bikes for touring the area, and of course the fact that you can bring your dog - one of my top priorities. Reclining on a sun lounger with a good book and tiny bikini is so much nicer with your best friend draped across your feet.

If there's one (tiny) downside to all this cool, clever style, it's that the crowd can sometimes run into the trust-fund hipster vein, so be warned if you have a short fuse when it comes to ironic headwear. One morning at breakfast in the fabulous diner, a twenty-something fellow shuffled in wearing a grotty, artfully disheveled caftan,  morose-looking model in tow. Reclining languidly at his corner table, he perused the stocks page of the Wall Street Journal and sipped coffee in silence across from the bored and hungry-looking girlfriend. Most days, it would have been a struggle for me to keep from throwing a bread roll at the back of his head and shouting "Get a job!" Yet my french toast was so delicious, the coffee so divine, everything bathed in such a bright, clear desert light, that even I looked on the world of slumming hipsters with a more tolerant slant on that glorious weekend....

Have you ever seen a desert sunset? What's your favorite, easy, weekend getaway where you can relax and recharge? Are you allergic to hipsters? Share your thoughts below!

Gorgeous Getaway - The Bluebell Wood, Gloucestershire

With all this talk of spring flowers, how about a getaway that has you sleeping in a bluebell wood in full bloom?

Bluebells are an obsession of mine - I think there's nothing as magical as a beech wood speckled with gentle spring light, and carpeted with the fragrant blue carpet of delicate blooms. So one day, sometime in April, I want to spend a weekend at The Bluebell Wood, where a vintage shepherd's hut has been beautifully renovated and set in a sun-dappled clearing in a Gloucestershire forest, whose floor erupts into a bluebell wonderland every spring.

I'm not usually one for rustic camping and such, but I think it might just be worth it in this case - toasting marshmallows on a smokey campfire at night, while badgers and deer wander peacefully about the bracken, then crawling into comfy, fluffy bed, and waking from a wonderful night's sleep to nothing but the sound of birdsong and the heavenly scent of bluebells. Yes, I think I could just about manage...

Gorgeous Getaway - M/V Aria

I don't really even know what else to say about this one. It's a tiny, luxury floating hotel traversing the Peruvian Amazon. Glass fronted cabins. Impeccable design and craftsmanship. A bird's eye view of the jungle, sans snakes and slithery things. I don't really need to talk it up, do I? Meet the M/V Aria. And forget everything I've said before - THIS is my perfect murder mystery setting. It's all that glass. And the crocodile-infested waters. Perfect ingredients for foul play. Or just a really dreamy vacation.

Gorgeous Getaway - Ceylon Tea Trails, Sri Lanka

Ceylon Tea Trails is a working tea estate which sits 4000 above sea level, amid the misty hills and emerald tea fields of central Sri Lanka. Guests are housed in one of the four impeccably restored colonial tea planter's bungalows, scattered from 5 to 15 km apart and linked by winding trails and paths through the verdant fields and hills, each tucked into its own private hillside and valley.

Each turn-of-the-century plantation cottage contains several beautiful guest rooms and suites, with colonial antiques, deep clawfoot tubs, wood panelled dining rooms and living areas straight out of a Somerset Maugham story. There's a fire in the library for chilly nights, tea is served on the veranda overlooking the misty mountain lake, and each bungalow's swimming pool is fed by the soft, sweet water of mountain springs.

Oh and each of the houses has its own butler. Allowing you to say, probably for the first and last time in your life, "We'll take tea in the summerhouse today". Surely you've always wanted to say that? I know I have. I adore tea, so this would be akin to a religious experience for me, and one of the places I'd like to visit most in the world.

Of course the one thing that could improve the whole experience would be if there were elephants peacefully mingling throughout. Perhaps the butler could arrange it?

What's your dream luxury destination? Is tea involved? I'd love to hear about it below.....

Gorgeous Getaway - Bastide d'Esparon

I'm having one of those weeks where work just starts to pile up quicker and quicker until it all looks awfully unsurmountable, and I want to A) not get out of bed in the mornings, or B) pull an Agatha Christie-style getaway and disappear for a week or two, just vanish off the face of the earth and let everything get on without me for a bit.

I've been mostly choosing option A) lately, but if I were to finally just pack it all in and bolt, I'd make for a tiny mountain village deep in the Languedoc-Roussillon countryside, and rent this beautiful old stone house known as Bastide d'Esparon. Surrounded by national park, lush forest and dramatic gorges, it's a perfect spot the hide out from the world. A walk down the rocky pathways to the crystal clear river and bobbing about lazily in the cool water will be as much excitement as I'll allow. The rest of the time will be spent catching up on sleep in the particularly inviting looking daybed on the sunny terrace, or enjoying obscene amounts of local cheese at the beautifully rustic dining table.
If you could escape anywhere for a week of peace and quiet, where would you choose?

Gorgeous Getaway - Hotel Tresanton

This week we're off to the seaside. One of my happiest childhood memories is of a quiet spring's vacation in St Mawes, a tiny fishing village in Cornwall that looks like something from a 1920's children's book, all jagged coastline, brightly colored umbrellas and brilliant white cottages sprinkled on the grassy hills.

We packed for picnics down in the coves with bottles of fizzy Orangina, blocks of crumbly cheese, fat bundles of green grapes and crumpled packets of salt and vinegar chips. All day was spent wading in little tide pools, ankle deep in the freezing water, searching for shells and urchins til hands and feet were numb. Every afternoon we scrambled up the hill to the castle on the point, and played hide and seek in the ancient stone staircases that led down to the cliffs below. The ice cream sold along the causeway was a pale gold color and tasted like frozen clotted cream. The season was still quiet and cool, and the masses of tourists that flock to the coast in summer were absent. In short, it was a lovely time. I plan on returning.


Hotel Tresanton sits in the middle of the town overlooking the beach, tucked snugly into the hillside, and from the outside looks simple and chic, all whitewashed stone and potted palms. Venture inside and it becomes the epitome of understated elegance, luxurious and impeccable but entirely in keeping with the casual, seaside feel of the setting. The first true boutique hotel in Britain, it was bought in the 90's by Olga Polizzi and personally redesigned with immaculate taste. The rooms are airy and serene, with cozy overstuffed chairs to curl up and read in and big deep baths to soak away your evenings.

The terrace looks the same as I remember, all palms and fig trees and iron railings glinting in the sunshine, like something out of an Agatha Christie story. You half expect to see Poirot eating his breakfast very tidily at one of the tiny tables. There's a cozy but stylish bar and a much lauded restaurant, as well as an original 1930s Italian yacht for trips around the Roseland Peninsula. Who could turn down a breezy spin along the coast, all polished wood and bright, white sails, cocktail in hand and wind in hair?


The overall mood is very casual and chic, and the beautiful art deco tiling throughout adds to the 1930's feel of the place. I'd have to bring a selection of hats with me to fully embrace this. I also love that the hotel is very welcoming to children and families, with no fashion mag sterility in it's attitude or design. There's even a perfect little summerhouse in the garden, which is probably intended for children, but which I would immediately take over for myself.

Do you have a favorite childhood holiday memory? I want to hear about it below! (Mine weren't all seaside reveries in case you were wondering. There was a fair share of mind numbing road trips across the midwest scattered in there as well.)