The centuries-old tradition that enables women to propose to their boyfriends on 29th February once left any man that refused a marriage offer on this day having to pay a hefty fine!These days there’s no obligation to say ‘yes’, but pick the right spot and he’ll be powerless to refuse.

Here are VisitEngland’s top romantic proposal packages and special locations. Now all you need is that diamond…

Propose to your lover at Lover

There is no more romantic setting than the New Forest for women to make the most of their traditional leap year rights and pop the question to their Valentines. The outstanding natural beauty – with idyllic woodland glades, charming towns and villages and miles of golden, sandy beaches – make it the perfect backdrop for any marriage proposal. It is also home to a place named Lover. You’ll find this peaceful forest hamlet at the northern tip of the New Forest. Lover Post Office used to do big business with cards sent from here in order to get the ‘Lover’ postmark. Why not get down on one knee and propose to your lover at Lover?

Woo at the zoo

Walk on the wild side and take your man to London Zoo, if you want somewhere unusual to propose. Check out the Titi monkeys at the ZSL London Zoo Rainforest, who really know what love is all about. They have incredibly strong bonds with one another, live in pairs and spend most of their time with their tails intertwined. Now that’s love!

Meanwhile, Blackpool Zoo is offering ladies a chance to pop the question at the sea lion show. Book a slot and at the end of the show stand up in front of the crowd and declare your love! If you’re shy, choose a little more privacy by venturing into the beautiful Lemur Wood to go down on one knee in the idyllic surroundings, if you don’t mind an audience of lemurs!

Be a Lady in Shining Armour

Create your own fairytale – complete with knights, damsels and jousting, at Warwick Castle. Its new proposal package offers loved-up lasses the chance to pop the big question on Leap Day, at one of the site’s most romantic spots – The Mound, commanding views over the Castle, historic Warwick and the Warwickshire countryside, or The Waterwheel on the River Avon. The package costs £29.02 per person and includes a glass of Champagne each and and two standard daytime admission tickets.

Don’t tell the groom… propose on a sand dune by the sea

Imagine this… a crisp spring day, the sound of the sea and golden sand. If you’ve dreamed of declaring your love on a beach, The Gallivant Hotel and Beach Bistro in Camber Sands are urging ladies to stop the prodding and take over the proposal duties themselves by popping the question. Every couple that gets engaged on the dunes can claim a complimentary glass of champagne at the hotel on the 29th when the big question has been asked. If you fancy getting married on the spot where you propose, surprise the groom with the venue as well and you can get a whopping 30% off your wedding. Continue with the beach theme and organise your wedding at the hotel where you can take your vows on the beach and enjoy a chic beach wedding at the hotel.

Take a loveboat for lovebirds

London RIB Voyages are transforming their famous speedboats into loveboats. Declare your love in style as you travel down the River Thames at 35 knots. Feel the wind in your hair, drop to one knee, pop the question and grab a kiss under Tower Bridge as you experience a quirky river tour of London’s historic sites. To make it extra special why not have a celebratory meal and book the River to Restaurant experience? Hightail it through London before a super swish drop off at a riverside restaurant for that perfect celebratory meal.

Cost of rib voyage from £60 per couple. The River to Restaurant service runs by private charter and is available all year round. The flat fee is £365 per boat, per hour.

Extreme romance orchestrated by cupid

The Scarlet Hotel in Cornwall will be pulling out all the stops for the 29th February and has recommended three memorable proposal packages plus ‘cupid’ will be on hand throughout the day to make sure that any proposals go smoothly and will be giving a bottle of natural fizz to every lady that proposes on the 29th. Choose from:

· Soak in a log fired seaweed hot tub overlooking the beach with a glass of fizz in hand. The team will leave you in peace for you to pick your moment to pop the question.

· A delicious, fire-side private dinner in a cliff top bell tent. The hotel chefs will prepare a three-course meal and arrange a bottle of fizz for you to enjoy in this special location.

· A candle-lit serenade for your loved one to guarantee a memorable proposal. The hotel’s cloister garden will twinkle with candles under the night sky and a talented acapella singer will help to set the mood with songs of your choice.

Prices start from £390-£430 per room depending on your choice of proposal package. Price is based on 2 people sharing a room on a dinner bed and breakfast basis. N.B Proposal packages are subject to availability and are dependent on the weather- there is a Plan B if the weather does take a turn for the worse!

Enjoy some exclusivity in a luxury country retreat

Any lady planning to propose at The Feathers hotel in Woodstock, Oxfordshire on 29th February will have exclusive use of the cosy Winter House, where they can snuggle-up under reindeer furs and indulge in a romantic candlelit dinner. The three-course dinner will be accompanied by a bottle of Laurent Perrier Rose Champagne and served by the couple’s personal butler. During the dinner, a rolling photo montage of the couple’s favourite memories will play on a large screen, so they can take a dreamy trip down memory lane to warm up their loved one before popping that all-important question. Guests can then cuddle-up in one of the Romantic Feature Suites for an overnight stay and wake up to a full English breakfast in bed the following morning.

Overnight package is £265 per person (including overnight stay, three course meal, Champagne, and breakfast). This package will be running throughout the year, from 29 February. It will be limited to one couple per night obviously to ensure “exclusivity”, but the package can booked any night of the year for 2012.

29th February: some ideas for ladies looking to propose in 2012 is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

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Useful links:
Cornwall hotels
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Win a Cornish garden break for two! is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

However, if you’re looking for a holiday destination with really quick broadband and don’t want to be sat indoors next to the wi-fi box, then head for the area around St. Newlyn East in Cornwall which is trialing a 4G Internet connection giving speeds in theory between 100Mbits and 1Gbit.

In reality speeds rarely reach the theoretical maximums, but residents and holiday makers in the area have reported steady speeds of 7Mbits which is still significantly quicker than most residential Internet connections!

The only hitch is the trial is currently only planned to run until June this year but has already been extended and might well be extended through the Summer again as the company behind it “Everything Everywhere” test the technology further. The village is around 2 miles south of Newquay in Cornwall.

More Newquay links:
Holiday cottages around Newquay
Visitor attractions around Newquay

Cornwall gets 4G Internet for smartphones & tablets is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

Useful links:
Cornwall hotels
Cornwall B&Bs
Cornwall self-catering
Cornwall attractions

Amazing aerial tour of Cornwall is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

Useful links:
London hotels
London B&Bs
London self-catering
London attractions

Thinking of camping at the Olympic Games venues? Think again! is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

Love staying in Bath

With three quarters of the hotels in Bath offering four poster beds, there is no shortage of romantic accommodation in and around the city, and with prior arrangement, many will lay on extras such as flowers, chocolates or champagne in the room on arrival for that special occasion. The Georgian Stables at Smallcombe House offers romantic and quirky accommodation with a double bedroom, a chic lounge in the former tack room and a state of the art shower room. This delightful suite is accessed via a horse ramp and charming cobbled yard, which is for the exclusive use of guests.  For a country retreat, the appropriately named Kissing Gate Cottage exudes romance, providing an idyllic setting for a special break. The charming cottage is tucked away on a quiet country lane and has open log fires – perfect for snuggling up together on a cold evening.

Love food and drink in Bath

Bath has a vibrant restaurant scene with a huge choice of eateries from Indian to Italian and Mediterranean to Moroccan. There is something for everyone, including a wealth of inviting restaurants perfect for an intimate candlelit meal for two.  For a special occasion where better than the Dower House at the 5 star Royal Crescent Hotel, the picturesque setting of the Lime Lounge in Margaret’s Buildings, or for a traditional Bath favourite, the popular Beaujolais Bistro. For somewhere to eat followed by a leisurely stroll in the country there are plenty of cosy country pubs nearby to choose from including The Northey Arms in Box and The Wheelwrights Arms in Monkton Combe, all within an easy drive of the city centre.

Love romantic experiences in Bath

Bath is brimming with things to do; seeing the iconic Royal Crescent, Pulteney Bridge and Circus, or visiting the famous Roman Baths. For something different a stroll along the Kennet and Avon Canal couldn’t be more romantic, or the Skyline Walk with six miles of marked trails offering views of valleys, woodlands, patchwork meadows and beautiful Georgian cityscape.  The Thermae Bath Spa is a popular choice with couples who want to experience the country’s only natural thermal waters.  What could be more romantic that watching the sunset from the stunning roof top pool whilst overlooking the city below?

Love romantic locations in Bath

Being a leap year, 2012 may see many ladies who are looking for that perfect place to pop the question!  Bath has its fair share of locations that make it an ideal and very special place to propose. Take to the air from Royal Victoria Park in a Champagne hot air balloon flight; propose on the 18th Century Palladian Bridge at Prior Park Landscape Gardens; book a private tour to the very top of the church tower at Bath Abbey where arrangements can be made for a bottle of Champagne and chocolates to be waiting for the happy couple; or pop the question over afternoon tea at the Pump Room while being serenaded by the Pump Room Trio.

Love splashing out in Bath

For those lucky enough to have no limit to their budget and really wanting a treat, there are plenty of options for lavish accommodation in and around the city. Stay in one of the most luxurious suites in the Macdonald Bath Spa Hotel and have your very own butler attending to your every need.  For those who prefer the feel of a country house hotel, stay at the delightful Lucknam Park Hotel and Spa situated just 6 miles from Bath and set amongst 500 acres of tranquil parkland and countryside.

Useful links:
Bath hotels
Bath B&Bs
Bath self-catering
Bath attractions

Visit Bath where love is always in the air… is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

The New York Times’ number one bestselling book ‘1000 Places To See Before You Die’, which had sold more than 3 million copies worldwide and been translated into no less than 25 different languages, will feature the Lake District in its next edition.  It was first published back in 1993 and, now in its second edition, will feature 200 new entries (including the Lake District), 28 new countries and 600 full-colour photographs.  The second edition will be published in the UK next month.

Paul Johnson is a Director at Kendal Holiday Cottages.

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The Lake District becomes one of the ‘1000 Places To See Before You Die’ is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

Having connections with the area, I have to admit that Southwell does have a certain charm, ableit you require a mortgage the size of the national debt to buy a decent house there, but beyond little technicalities like that what is so special about it?

The Minster: Probably the one thing that makes this posh village/town of Southwell stand out more than anything else is the Minster and Cathedral. Just like the grand cities of York and Winchester, somehow way back in the mists of history (about 900 years) Southwell managed to get itself a Minster although perhaps not quite the same size as York. This is quite a coup considering the size of the place and as the Southwell Minster web site it is really quite impressive!

As with all grand minsters, they now have an associated school with very good results, and if you get into the choir then you’re guaranteed a place. Don’t worry if your kids aren’t the next Alid Joans, there are a couple of other very good schools in Southwell.

So is Southwell really that special? It would perhaps depend on what you’re looking for, but having a Minster towering about the town centre is certainly a good way to impress the Jones’ when they come round. Just make sure you’re driving a Range Rover or similar to fit in.

Can Southwell in Nottinghamshire really be the next York? is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

The first part of this rollout covers an even stranger region of central Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea, although details as to exactly why they’ve chosen some of the richest parts of the capital are unclear.

Assuming O2 manage to pull this off in the next 200 days, in theory at least you’ll be able to take your laptop, smartphone or tablet anywhere in Greater London and receive completely free wi-fi.

Whats’ the catch? There doesn’t really appear to be one, although as you might guess there’s a limit on the amount of data you can download each month, but no contracts & no fees makes this still worthwhile.

The people who should be most worried about this as BT Openzone and The Cloud who charge people for wi-fi access or require you to be an existing Internet customer in the case of BT. Whether the network will be able to cope in the same way as the latter will remain to be seen as O2 haven’t always had the best reputation for keeping things going.

The costs: O2 haven’t released any exact figures, but taken as part of their nationwide planned rollout of a similar service, it could cost several million. The most likely source of income from this is businesses offering the service (aka. paying O2) and having their logos appear on the login page.

Will it be used? One thing that has surprised both BT and The Cloud is how little people actually use roaming Wi-Fi, but considering the % of the population with an iPhone or similar this really shouldn’t be that surprising to them. Plus patchy coverage means many simply switch to the fixed data-rate plans of their mobile providers…eg: the one offered by O2 as a bolton for £5/month.

Other London Wi-Fi: If Boris Johnson and Virgin get their act together travellers in London will soon be able to get free Wi-Fi on their buses too. Initially this will be 1/2 meg for non-Virgin customers and 10Mbit for customers, or at least that’s the hope.

Nokia are also looking to expand in the capital with around 12,000 hotspots planned after a recent trial of free Wi-Fi over Christmas. These should start popping up around early 2012 but no exact news on where they’ll appear yet.

London Links:
Visitor attractions in London
Hotels in London (many offering Wi-Fi internet)

O2 to offer free Wi-Fi across London is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

For those in the United Kingdom this would be a hard task – not having enough quirky sports, but choosing whether snail racing, clog cobbing or worm charming should be included especially with the fierce rivalries between regions of the countries.

Naturally Gurning should be included, although your writer might have a small bias there as it evolved in Cumbria, but we’re sure the The Biggest Liar In The World would be able to convince the Olympic organisers that bog snorkelling was being practised by the ancient Greek’s 4000 years ago…honest gov’.

After much debate, argument and worries about starting a new civil war, here are at least some of the sports we thought would be worthy of the Olympics 2012.

1) Watching paint dry might seem to be rather a wildcard choice, but considering the number of people who utter the phrase “I’d rather watch paint dry”, it would seem this one could become very very popular.

The task will require significant mental strength or at least that’s what the organisers of the world’s first “World Watching Paint Dry Championships” claim, but we’re pretty sure we can find some really boring people who’ll send our contestants into a zombie-like state…at least until that becomes banned under “external influences” regulations, like doping in athletics.

To the rest of the world we say bring it on, although secretly we’re a little worried about the Russians who seem to be able to do the stoney faced look rather well – could be the new cold war Olympic rivalry returns?

2) Snail racing could be a good place to find contestants for the paint drying competitions as anyone who’s “quirky” enough to watch a snail for half an hour move up a course towards a lettuce has to capable of staying awake during the previous competition.

Snail racing itself is a very competitive sport and there have even been alligations of doping although we’re not exactly sure whether feeding the snail organic vs non-organic lettuce would really have a significant effect. Of course one part of the Olympics requires lots of sponsorship money, but there’s ample opportunity here from the various supermarket brands proving their spinach makes you go faster (don’t think about that too much!) to Florette who try to make lettuce interesting with their various rather curious adverts.

3) Stinging nettle eating is a sport we’re sure we’ll excel at although there might be some competition from our European neighbours. However who else in the world would be crazy enough to try to eat these plants, or even produce a tea from them – see we’re sure fire winners!

The whole sport essentially started, at least according to those who take part, when two Dorset farmers had an argument about who’s nettles were the tallest, with one farmer declaring that if his weren’t the tallest he’d eat them. Presumably that’s how it turned out and thus the competition was born. The world championship nettle eating competition now takes place annually at the Bottle Inn within the small village of Marshwood, Dorset.

4) Egg Jarping is a sport even I’d never heard of until now, but in essence it is similar to conkers except you use hard boiled eggs…a natural progression, we guess. However since this County Durham sport is still fairly underground and presumably takes place in sheds and abandoned coal mines around County Durham we can be pretty sure no one else will even attempt to field a team – unless some sneaky country tries to send in spies in the form of pigeon racing enthusiasts.

Surprisingly, the people of Peterlee have managed to keep all hints about this contest secret, at least until now, but they still have one public showing each Easter Sunday at Peterlee Cricket And Social Club. Naturally most of us are at that point stuck in traffic, queuing to get into some visitor attraction or down the pub being one of the busiest holidays of the year, so the people of Peterlee would be perfect to sneak into the Olympic squad.

Who says the Olympics only takes place in London…

5) Black Pudding Throwing allows us to redress the balance of the London vs rest of the country balance for the UK Olympics in 2012 as this rather curious sport takes place around various locations in Lancashire. The idea like all good ideas is very simple – you hurl a Black Pudding at a Yorkshire Pudding which is sat on the roof of a pub and presumably the one who dislodges the black pudding is declared the winner.

We might have some competition from a number of European nations on the throwing the pudding while trying not to partake in the temptations of the pub, but even if we lost this one it’s for sure got to be one of the best Olympic venues around.

In case you’re wondering:

- Apparently according to legend this began during the War of the Roses when parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire were at war, and they ran out of ammo. So with each of these being popular foodstuffs in the aforementioned counties it seemed a natural way to settle things….and of course the fact that there was a pub there had nothing to do with this we’re sure.

- Black pudding ingredients you might want to lookup on Wikipedia Black pudding page but we suggest only well after you’ve had your dinner. And yes, it does taste really nice assuming you were brought up in the northern parts of England (or if you like Haggis).

More to come: There are lots more sports we can include here so watch out for part 2 of this series…

A few more useful UK links:
Tourist attractions from around the UK (including quirky locations)
Hotels and B&Bs in Britain
Holiday cottages and apartments in Britain

5 quirky British sports we think should be in the Olympics is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog