He is 6ft 3″, lives in the middle of an amusement park and has been laughing in hysterics for 76 years. It’s the famous Laughing Man at Pleasure Beach Blackpool and, for the first time in his life, he is getting completely transformed into a new festive guise… The Laughing Santa! The transformation marks the opening of Nickelodeon Land for 12 Days of Christmas this December.
Introduced to Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1935, the Laughing Man rocked back and forth in his special Laugh Booth outside the parks Funhouse attraction. He has since moved and can now be found in the amusement park by the new Nickelodeon Land area. If you’ve never seen him before, just watch the video below:
Cedar Court Grand Hotel & Spa has become York’s first 5 star hotel and the only AA 5 star rated hotel in Yorkshire. In addition, The Grill Room at The Grand restaurant has been awarded two prestigious AA Rosettes for the outstanding quality of its culinary offering. There are just 90 other AA 5 star hotels in the UK and, excluding The Grand, only 23 outside London.
The £25m Cedar Court Grand Hotel & Spa opened in May 2010 following the extensive refurbishment of the former North Eastern Railway headquarters – one of York’s most iconic Edwardian buildings.
The Bronte Parsonage Museum dedicated to the life and works of the Bronte sisters and now they need help to buy an remarkable original miniature manuscript written by Charlotte Bronte when she was just 14 years old.
Entitled Young Men’s Magazine Number 2, the 4000 word, 19 page manuscript is part of a series of six, with four of the other publications in this series already owned by the Bronte Parsonage Museum.
Director of the museum is quoted as saying the manuscript is “the most significant [Bronte] manuscript to come to light in decades“, which is not surprising as it both contains hints towards some of Charlotte’s later work and is also rather amazing due to the tiny size of the publication at just 3.5cm by 6.1cm (1.4in x 2.4in).
Sotheby’s in London are due to auction Young Men’s Magazine Number 2 on the 15th December with a guide price of £300,000 although due to the rare nature of this item, the price may well go well above this.
So now the museum has the remaining 3 weeks to find £300,000 to have a chance of securing one of the most culturally important Bronte treasures to come onto the market in many years.
It may be small, but Glasgow’s latest luxury hotel – Grasshoppers Glasgow – is wowing guests with its stylish contemporary rooms, stunning views overlooking Glasgow, and eye catching displays of Scottish art, including photographs by former Buzzcocks drummer John Maher.
The new penthouse house hotel was officially opened this week by Councillor Gordon Matheson, leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau.
The 30 bed boutique hotel is located on the sixth floor of the city’s historic Caledonian Chambers building, overlooking Central Station, built by celebrated Glasgow architect James Miller, the visionary behind many of Glasgow’s best loved buildings. The derelict top floor of the building was painstakingly refurbished and transformed into a £1.25 million boutique hotel, in a joint venture with Network Rail.
The hotel’s central location, sandwiched between Buchanan Street and the International Financial Services District, and its focus on service, style and value – rooms are available from just £85 per night – are proving to be a winning formula with business travellers and holidaymakers.
Finding the perfect UK holiday for all of the family to enjoy may seem as if it is a daunting task at the planning stage but with a little organisation it can be done. Everyone has different expectations of the family break and it is important from the outset that this is taken into consideration. The following step by step guide should help you navigate the minefield:
Step one: Involve everyone who is going to go on the holiday, even the dog if he is coming too. Sit down and talk through what everyone wants to do. It might be hard to get everyone together but it will be worth it in the long run.
Step two: Decide on the perfect holiday spot. With a fantastic wealth of inland, coastal, rural and urban desinations there is no reason why a perfect spot cannot be found. In fact with a little careful planning you can often access all types of great holiday locations within easy reach of each other.
Step three: Let everyone have a day for their chosen activity. Whilst the kids might complain at the idea of trudging through a city gallery or museum they will be far less fractious if they know that the next day they will be zip lining down the side of a castle. Adults too will be more likely to throw themselves into hectic action packed activity if they know a relaxing end is in sight.
Step four: Have some alone time planned in too. Mum may well appreciate a trip to the nearest luxury Health Spa, Dad might pop along to the local golf course for a round or two (on the green or in the bar) and kids might just want to lie in or play with a computer for a few hours. Everyone should get the chance to be a little selfish.
Step five: Make sure you do not end up with a complete home from home and all the chores that involves. Eat out whenever you can and enjoy the local produce; every area has food and drink it is proud of. Hire a luxury car. Book a dream cottage. Remember this is a holiday not a hardship and you deserve to treat yourself to some of life’s little indulgences.
The best holidays combine the needs of all the family and leave everyone feeling refreshed and relaxed. By following this simple guide you will go some way to achieving that.
If the British Travel Awards are to be believed, the best seaside town in the UK is St. Ives in Cornwall, with Whitby in North Yorkshire and Bournemouth in Dorset picking up 2nd and 3rd places respectively. But those of us familiar with the UK coastline know that there are many more gems dotted along its 7,723 miles and, worthy winners though those three are, it’s all a question of taste.
Some will prefer the brashness of Blackpool, others the bustle of Brighton. Every seaside town has its own unique charm and we’d like to hear what your favourite is and why! Post a comment and let us know…
London is sometimes seen as a place where people just don’t interact, but for a couple of days this week at least a lady called Amma of India (meaning “mother”) sought to fix this by simply giving hugs to over 6000 strangers in the capital.
Amma, who’s real name is Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, was born in Southern India to a low cast family and only educated until 9 years old. She then followed the traditional route of leaving school to help her family, where she would search for food scraps to feed her animals.
She however defied some Indian traditions and being a naturally caring person, would give a hug to anyone who needed it regardless of cast or gender – the latter being very frowned upon. Over time she saw the extreme poverty of those around her and eventually became a Hindu spiritual leader.
Amma is most famous for the most simple of acts – giving anyone and everyone a hug. This week she was in London where people queued up from all around the country to receive a 2 minute hug from Amma. Judging by the response on this BBC video of Amma of India, most found this act a very moving experience.
For more details of when Amma will be back in the UK again, see the official Amma of India UK web site.
Over-55 empty-nesters are apparently clamouring for festive breaks in UK hotels. So say Shearings Holidays, at least. They (the grandparents, not Shearings!) want the freedom to enjoy Christmas in their own way and be pampered, rather than pressured. Many decide on a particular hotel and go back year after year.
Shearings say the trend has grown rapidly over the past five years. Many of their customers are now making a festive UK hotel break an annual holiday tradition. The company’s booking data shows that some customers have been away every Christmas for the last 12 years, many to the exact same location, showing that tradition is still important.
What are you going to be doing this Christmas? Staying at home or going the route of an increasing number of grandparents?
There are smiles all around this week at the Gwel an Mor luxury resort in Portreath, Cornwall as they have been honoured with 3 major new awards to add to their trophy collection.
At the Cornwall Tourism Awards 2011, organised by VisitCornwall, Gwel an Mor won the prestigious Gold title in the ‘Holiday Village of the Year’ award, as well as picking up a special award for ‘Outstanding Customer Service’. On the same evening they also won the Diamond award for ‘The Best Holiday Park in Cornwall’ for the fourth year running at the Hoseasons’ annual awards dinner.
Things are certainly looking up for the resorts as the news has come on the back of Cornwall being named the Best UK Region at the recent British Travel Awards.
The Winter Festival (26th November 2011 to 25th January 2012) brings together three of Scotland’s most culturally significant celebrations: St Andrew’s Day, Hogmanay and Burns Season. The festival will kick off with the lead up to St Andrew’s Day on 26th and 27th November 2011 with the Visit for Free weekend which this year will entail free or discounted entry to even more of Scotland’s best-loved visitor attractions. Popular Historic Scotland attractions, such as Edinburgh, Stirling and Urquhart Castles, will again take part with Camera Obscura, Discovery Point, Glasgow Science Centre and the Scotch Whisky Experience among those joining in this year.
There is also the launch of an international photo competition via the Blipfoto website to find the best image of the global celebrations, as well as the world’s biggest online ceilidh.
On the 30th November 2011, St Andrew’s Day parties and celebratory events will be taking place the length and breadth of the country and all across the globe.
He is 6ft 3″, lives in the middle of an amusement park and has been laughing in hysterics for 76 years. It’s the famous Laughing Man at Pleasure Beach Blackpool and, for the first time in his life, he is getting completely transformed into a new festive guise… The Laughing Santa! The transformation marks the opening of Nickelodeon Land for 12 Days of Christmas this December.
It may be small, but Glasgow’s latest luxury hotel – 
Finding the perfect UK holiday for all of the family to enjoy may seem as if it is a daunting task at the planning stage but with a little organisation it can be done. Everyone has different expectations of the family break and it is important from the outset that this is taken into consideration. The following step by step guide should help you navigate the minefield:
If the 
London is sometimes seen as a place where people just don’t interact, but for a couple of days this week at least a lady called Amma of India (meaning “mother”) sought to fix this by simply giving hugs to over 6000 strangers in the capital.
Over-55 empty-nesters are apparently clamouring for festive breaks in UK hotels. So say 
There are smiles all around this week at the 
