Best for foodies
There’s nothing like top quality cuisine and fine vintage wine to fan the flames of romance. The Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons is a gorgeously tranquil manor house set in 17^th century walled gardens in which an array of organic ingredients is nurtured especially for your plate. Multi-Michelin-starred chef Raymond Blanc anticipates your every wish, creating a gastronomic experience to be savoured at each turn. Wines are expertly matched with the food, and there is a choice of dining rooms, from the formal to the more relaxed patio with garden views. And, if you need to sleep off you foodie indulgences they have several cosy rooms in the main house available for guests. The surrounding Oxfordshire countryside offers theatre-going and shopping, horse-riding and fishing. Le Manoir is unsurprisingly very popular and hotel deals in UK food hotspots like this one get snapped up quickly. So plan well ahead if it’s for a special anniversary

Best for culture creatures
London is a romantic city in all seasons, whether you’re taking in the artistry of Turner at the Tate, or rustling a bag of roasted chestnuts by the Thames. For thrills, try a high-speed boat tour on the river, where you’ll be especially pleased to have someone to hold on to. Boats leave at a pier next to the London Eye, and take in all the sights along the river. Afterwards you can relax in a private champagne capsule on the London Eye, or just hold hands and stroll up Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath, which is free and offers an equally stunning vista. Later, seek out sultry saxophone sounds in Soho, where venues such as Ronnie Scott’s and Jazz After Dark offer casual but chic spaces to melt away by candlelight, and are surrounded by livelier entertainments should you still seek to party the night away. The ultimate way to get back to your hotel has to be a rickshaw ride through the capital’s brightly-lit historic streets.

Best for outdoors
There’s no need to “wander lonely as a cloud” to stumble across a host of golden daffodils, buttercups and forget-me-nots. The Lake District offers some of Britain’s quaintest lakeside spots alongside its grandest valley views. But this wonderfully picturesque part of the UK also offers some of the greatest walks and scrambles in the country. Try the Langdale valley, where you can climb Crinkle Crags and Bowfell, offering views of all the giant fells in the Lake District. You can sample a glass of ale or fine scotch at the Hiker’s Pub at the Old Dungeon Ghyll after your walk. And there’s no need to sacrifice comfort for camping either. The latest ‘glamping’ offering from Long Valley Yurts will keep everybody cosy and warm: the local site offers sheeps’ wool-insulated yurts with Moroccan rugs and lanterns, and comfortable beds of course.

This post was written on behalf of Marriott Hotels

Of London’s 5 airports, Gatwick and Heathrow are the two largest and busiest, with thousands of passengers arriving and departing each day. Most international carriers and international flights to and from London operate out of these terminals. So which airport should you choose when you fly into or out of London?

If you have a choice of the two, there are a number of factors to consider. Here is some basic information on each airport to help you determine which airport is best suited to your holiday and travel needs.

Heathrow Airport

• Heathrow is located 15 miles west of Central London, and is the world’s busiest international airport.
• Two Piccadilly Line tube stations serve the airport – the underground tube is the cheapest way to get to or from all London airports.
• Travelers can also choose from two train services – the Heathrow Connect and the Heathrow Express. There are also National Express buses to deliver passengers to and from London.
• If you’d like to drive to the airport there is also a range of Heathrow airport parking options to choose from – long stay, short stay, business, valet as well as a number of pick up and drop off zones.

Gatwick airport

• Gatwick is located 30 miles south of Central London, and is widely regarded as smaller and better organised than Heathrow.
• An efficient monorail makes the 2-minute journey between the two terminals.
• The Gatwick Express links the South Terminal with Victoria. It’s a non-stop 30 minute journey that runs every 15 minutes.
• Southern Trains also run services to Victoria via East Croydon and Clapham Junction, leaving four times an hour.
• easyBus is another transport option, offering low-cost frequent airport transfer service non-stop from London and Gatwick with prices from £2. Buses depart every 15 minutes at peak times and run throughout the day and night from both North and South terminals to Earls Court/West Brompton in central London.
• If you want to drive to the airport, there are a number of Gatwick airport parking options to choose from – whether you need a short or longer term arrangements.

Frequent flyers are divided on their preference for Heathrow or Gatwick. For many, the advantage of choosing Heathrow is that you can buy a travel card at the airport to cover you for your entire London trip. For others, Gatwick’s smaller size and better organisation makes it easier to navigate. It often takes less time to clear customs at Gatwick than Heathrow, making it a quick and hassle-free airport experience.

If you’re flying into or out of London, consider which airport better suits you. Remember, if you are travelling through both terminals, Gatwick and Heathrow are 40 miles apart, so make sure you give yourself at least a 2 hour connection time to make the trip between the two.

What’s your preference? Gatwick or Heathrow?

Unfortutely it can’t be too active, well by that I mean I can’t do any repetitive knee movements (well not for the next 6 months). I injured my knee training for the South Downs Randonnee in 2007 and I ended up having to have a lateral release, real life example here. I’ve had to have one operation and am waiting on the other now, with a 12 month recovery period. Anyway the South Downs Randonnee is a 100 mile mountain bike ride from Winchester to Eastbourne across the south downs way and has to be finished in around 12 hours.

My second big event was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa which was simple amazing. It is just short of 6000m and took 7 days to complete the climb. I’m one of the above in the photo, that was an additional bet for a few additional pounds.

But now I am stuck for what to do? So far I have thought of maybe climbing Mount Cho Oyo, or infact summiting any mountain naked, walking the Bering Straight, or canoeing the Amazon, your ideas and suggestions below please.

We had a fantastic room which was on split floors, the lower smaller floor had a chaise longue and small eating area within the bay with large windows allowing us to overlook Kensington Palace and the green grass of Hyde Park. There was great view of the park from both the upper and lower floors, but unfortunately it was raining rather hard so we didn’t make the morning run around the park trails.

We were immediately amazed by the service from the moment we walked in. From being called your name at all times with such friendly staff and a hand written welcome letter from the hotel’s manager Andrew Pike, it is this sort of attention to detail that allowed the Milestone to be voted for the best service in the world and No.1 British hotel by Conde Nast.

The hotel is grade 2 listed and was originally built as two townhouses, the first known, Kensington House was built around 1689. It is amazing to think how big these houses would have been, to be able to be converted into a hotel which houses 45 bedrooms, 12 suites and 6 two bedroom apartments! AND this doesn’t include the spa, swimming pool, gym, kitchens, bars and entrance halls etc.

We didn’t get to try the internal Cheneston’s restaurant as we were hungry for a nice prime fillet steak. The concierge recommended Brasserie Chez Gerard which was a perfect choice as a) The steak was absolutely fantastic and b) It was only a 2 minute walk along Kensington High Street.

From the hotel all the main museums were only a short walk away so we decided to go and visit the National History Museum. Even after about 10 trips there I am still amazed by the dinosaur skeletons which are still in amazing condition after millions of years. Unfortunately we couldn’t visit the new Darwin Exhibition as it’s not opening until Friday this week. Due to the time it took to go around we were a bit too tired to see the Wildlife photographer of the year exhibition so we need to plan a return visit shortly. Maybe we can coincide this with Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland Outdoor Ice Skating

There is some very interesting information at Safespeed and at abd.org.

The story started on the 24 September 2005 when on my way to a friends wedding in Cirencester in Wiltshire. I could even remember the recent M4 protests that were happening recently at the time over the speed cameras on this road.