Planning your summer travels in Britain and want to take your precious pooch along with you? The experts at Country Cottages have rounded up the best places for a dog-friendly break in the UK Sponsored post Best places for a dog-friendly break in the UK by Country Cottages For lots of pet owners, leaving our pet pooch at home whilst we enjoy a cottage holiday in the UK is simply unthinkable. Pets are precious, and shh don’t tell, but many of us prefer our pets to our partners!  So holiday without them? No way! The good news though is that being a nation of pet lovers, the UK is home to ma ..read more

St Patrick – the patron saint of Ireland – is steeped in mythology. St Patrick’s Day on 17th March commemorates St Patrick (17th March is believed to be his death day) and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, although today it is more about celebrating the culture and heritage of the Irish in general. Today St Patrick’s day is a public holiday and celebrations involve public parades, festivals, céilidhs and wearing green and shamrocks. St PatrickHere are some more facts about St Patrick that we think we know to be true. 10 facts about St Patrick you might not know: 1 It is thought St P ..read more

To mark this year’s International Women’s Day, we unearth Britain’s pioneering women and celebrate their legacy Powerful women have driven British history. From Queen Elizabeth I’s golden age to the long and successful reign of late Queen Elizabeth II, female leaders have matched and often surpassed their male counterparts. Yet aside from famous figures, many others have broken the boundaries imposed on their sex and blazed a trail in their fields, only for their achievements to be largely forgotten. So, to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, we’ve gone in search of great Brit ..read more

Explore Britain’s best romantic literary escapes, inspired by the poetry, love stories and lives of some of our most-loved literary heroes EMILY BRONTE’S WUTHERING HEIGHTS Explore the rambling, desolate moors of Yorkshire like Heathcliff and Cathy once did and discover the romance of this wild barren landscape that dominates Emily Brontë’s beautiful novel of love and revenge, Wuthering Heights. Said to be set around the village of Haworth, recreate famous scenes on a walk around Top Withens, the ruined farmhouse that is also said to have inspired the Earnshaw family home. W ..read more

As the first saints’ day on the calendar, along with delightful displays of Wales’s symbolic daffodil, St David’s Day heralds spring. But how much do you know about the real St David, the 6th century bishop who gives Wales’s national day its name? 1. The nickname ‘Taffy’ for a Welshman links back to St David as the original and ultimate Welshman – the term dates back to the 17th century and derives from ‘Dafydd’, the Welsh for David. 2. The shrine of St David at his cathedral – located in Britain’s smallest city, St Davids in Pembrokeshire – was thought of so highly by Pope Callistus ..read more

Historic Middlethorpe Hall & Spa offers country-house comfort close to the city. Here’s your chance to win a stay there Middlethorpe Hall & Spa is housed in a 300-year-old red brick and limestone building, in a style influenced by Sir Christopher Wren, and set in 20 acres of grounds just outside York city centre. In 2024, Middlethorpe Hall celebrates its 40th anniversary as a hotel. One of the National Trust’s three Historic House Hotels, it offers 29 individually decorated bedrooms, an award-winning two AA Rosette restaurant and a boutique spa with its own indoor pool.  Credit: A ..read more

This issue, our travel special focuses on somewhere close to our editor’s heart: Yorkshire. I was at university in Yorkshire when I fell in love with my (now) husband, so it is still a very special place for us but I’m not the only one to have fallen for its charms. The city of York, which I was lucky enough to revisit for this issue’s city guide is one of Britain’s most popular tourist spots and even when its cobbled lanes are crammed with visitors, you can’t help but swoon at its timber-framed buildings. Of course, when it comes to Yorkshire, we can’t not mention All Creatures Great and Smal ..read more

Few cities wear their past with as much pride as York, says Sally Coffey. Here is our guide to the best things to do in York The best things to do in York If you had to name a British city with a chocolate-box image, York would surely be it. The undisputed ‘capital’ of Yorkshire, York itself is not only insanely pretty, but its location between the Yorkshire Moors, Wolds and Dales mean it’s well placed to reach many of the county’s other beauty spots. Packing a lot into its petite frame – including numerous museums and other visitor attractions that play on its tangled past – as well as some o ..read more

Scotland’s King Robert the Bruce did what few imagined possible and freed Scotland from its English overlords, for a while at least, writes Diana Wright Words by Diana Wright In August 1274 London rejoiced over the spectacular coronation of England’s warrior-king Edward I. Little could the ‘Hammer of the Scots’ have known in that moment of glory that just one month earlier – and with no such fanfare – a child had been born who would challenge his voracious territorial ambitions and free Scotland from English rule: King Robert the Bruce. A portrait of King Robert the Bruce on display at the Pal ..read more

Tina Walsh takes us on a gentle journey through Herriot Country in Yorkshire, and the All Creatures Great and Small filming locations, TV’s most heart-warming drama Words by Tina Walsh Herriot Country James Alfred Wight, who wrote under the pseudonym James Herriot, the beloved Yorkshire vet and best-selling author known to millions around the world, was born in Sunderland in northeast England in 1916.  He studied veterinary surgery in Glasgow, Scotland, before accepting a position in 1940 at a practice in the market town of Thirsk in North Yorkshire and so his future was set.  Barrin ..read more