Best of British: camping holidays

Blackberry Wood, Sussex


This much talked about campsite thoroughly deserves its good reputation. And at 25 minutes' drive from Brighton at the foot of the South Downs, it's very convenient if you happen to live in London. Pitches are set in private clearings with names like Minty, Fruity and Boho. The native deciduous woodland is magical and the fact that camp fires are positively encouraged is testament to the friendly owners' love of proper camping and toasted marshmallows.

Price: £5 per tent, £7 per person per night (high season).
Facilities: Toilets, basic energy saving showers, logs for sale, bonfire pits.
Website: www.blackberrywood.com 

Camping wild, Dartmoor and Scotland

Dartmoor National Park is the last place in England where you can legally camp wild. Spending one or two nights on the open land here is perfectly acceptable provided that you choose your spot sensibly. Don't pitch your tent on farmland, on moorland enclosed by walls, within 100m (328ft) of a road, on flood plains or on archaeological sites. Camping beneath scarred tors as the wind rakes across the moors is great fun and you'll share your campsite with wild ponies.

In the Scottish highlands and islands, there's no greater pleasure than sharing the heather-sprayed hillsides and shimmering lochs with a loved one under canvas. Just don't forget your torch, midge net and repellent - the small, biting insects can make spring and early summer miserable if you don't have the right kit. Be sure to check you're not camping on private land.

Price: Free.
Facilities: None.
Websites: www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk and www.outdooraccess-scotland.com 

Great Langdale National Trust Campsite, Lake District


Sitting rather smugly a saunter from some of the most sublime scenery in the Lake District, Great Langdale's a cracker. As you'd expect from the National Trust, the whole thing's wonderfully efficient, well-appointed and rather tasteful. Find a woodland pitch in the lee of the postcard-friendly Langdale Pikes and then set off to explore some of the best walks in the Lakes.

Price: £10.50 per pitch (includes one vehicle, one person and a small tent) (high season).
Facilities: Toilets, showers, basins, laundry, drying room, washing-up facilities, disabled facilities, electric hook-ups, kids' playground, shop.
Website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-global/w-localtoyou/w-northwest/w-lakedistrict-feature/w-northwest-lakedistrict_camping/w-northwest-lakedistrict_camping-langdale.htm 

Three Cliffs Bay, Gower, near Swansea

A room with a view - well, a tent with one, anyway. This campsite peers gingerly down over Three Cliffs Bay, an arc of sand embraced by green-topped cliffs. It truly has one of the best views of any campsite in the UK. It can get blustery on the exposed cliff-top so bang your pegs in deeply to avoid losing your tent and your dignity.

Prices: £15 per small two-man tent.
Facilities: Toilets, showers, laundry, washing-up facilities, disabled facilities, electric hook-ups, shop.
Website: www.threecliffsbay.com 

Glenbrittle, Isle of Skye, northwest Skye


Placed between the lapping waters of Loch Brittle and the Tolkien-esque rocks of the Black Cuillin mountain range, Glenbrittle campsite is pure magic. Scale the rocks, stalk red deer or swim in the fairy pools - vivid blue swimming holes at the foot of the Cuillins.

Price: £5 per adult per night.
Facilities: Toilets, showers, shop.
Website: www.dunvegancastle.com 

Vintage Vacations, Isle of Wight 

Bequiffed 1950s enthusiasts take note. There's no need to let the pompadour droop on a camping trip. Vintage Vacations offers American trailers and slick Airstream caravans for fun, surprisingly comfortable breaks. The Airstream is a cool classic - if James Dean were a caravan (sorry, Jimmy!), he'd be one of these. Silver, smooth and so shiny you can fix your 'do in the reflection on their aluminium skins, the 10 caravans occupy a farmer's field on the Isle of Wight.

Hotel Una, Brighton

Perfectly placed in Brighton's Regency Square, Hotel Una is a cosy boutique hotel spanning three floors of a Georgian townhouse. Open since 2006, each of its 20 rooms are named after rivers of the world and decorated with an individual twist. WTG's Caroline Lewis takes a look.

Hotel Una is located in one of the most regal spaces in Brighton – the large rectangle of Regency Square, right off the seafront and smack in the middle of Georgian architectural supremacy.

Behind a sensually lit facade, sits a tiny reception and an even smaller lift. But inside, wood panels and elegant lighting make sure everything looks sleek rather than stuffy. It's small scale but neatly done. 


Despite the majorly modern interiors, Hotel Una has remained true to its heritage and situation - contemporary lighting, original artwork and avant-garde furniture haven't done away with the Regency architectural feel.

Once I was whisked up and installed into 'Wista', one of the luxury rooms, I began to feel at home. The room was like a city apartment with separate bedroom, enormous TV and lengthy sofa. Aside from the duvet (give me some goose down and I'm anyone's), favourite features had to be in the bathroom - sparkly black walls, Molton Brown goodies and a hugely oversized shower head. In the morning, an over-eager chambermaid burst in, in search of either a clean room or a glimpse of me in a towel. I think I'll go for the former.

In other parts of the hotel, 'Eden' is one of the largest rooms. It has the fortunate position of overlooking the sea through windows that are both high and wide, making it beautifully bright and breezy. If this wasn't enough, the view out to sea can be admired from inside the freestanding bath that's perched close to the window. More? It has a balcony, the bed is super kingsize and the sofa is upholstered in finest dark brown leather. The current guests had initially booked for two nights but were still there after six.

'Danube' can have similar superlatives applied - it's another with the tempting bath-with-sea-view option. 


Views aside, down in the basement there are rooms that have their own private mini spa. Spacious 'Aragon' and secluded 'Belise' have private saunas and whirlpool baths and the resident masseuse will come to you for treatments that include hot-stone and Thai massage.

Hotel Una's self-declared Premier Room is 'Quaile' - and it's a truly luxury suite. Attributes include a full home cinema plus leather recliners, a private bar with complimentary spirits and an Illy espresso machine and a large meeting table for eight.

There is a small dining room at Hotel Una where you'll feel cosy rather than cramped - but if you prefer, fill out the form and have your breakfast brought to you. The choice is impressive but, for the best porridge you'll ever eat, go for the Scots porridge with maple syrup. Served up on a huge tray at the time you choose, I opted for a leisurely 9am. Leaving that duvet was a struggle. 


Hotel Una also has a (contemporary-styled, of course) bar that's open for non-residents till 11pm and for residents all night. Stop for coffee in the day or a sophisticated drink at night. An exclusive range of spirits is stocked, including a fine selection of cognacs such as Hennessy Paradis.

The owners have worked hard to create an atmosphere that makes you feel decadently relaxed and sumptuously comfortable. Their aim is to make you want to keep staying that one extra night. And with the stylish surroundings, unbeatable location and friendly staff, you might just want to.

Lang Co joins world’s most beautiful bays

Vietnam’s Lang Co Bay is part of an elite group, having joined the Most Beautiful Bays in the World Club, the club’s general secretary Bruno Bodard told Thanh Nien’s correspondent in Paris.

The certificate will be awarded on Friday at the club’s fifth annual conference at one of the world’s most beautiful bays in Setúbal City, Portugal. 


Lang Co in central Thua Thien-Hue Province is the third bay in Vietnam, after Ha Long and Nha Trang bays, to be honored by the club.

The other two bays selected for this year’s list were Pemba Bay in Mozambique and Cartagena Bay in Colombia.

The club currently has 30 member bays.

According to Bodard, next year the club will hold its conference in the northern Vietnam province of Quang Ninh where Ha Long Bay is located.

Lake of lost love

Many Vietnamese know the famous song Huyen thoai Ho Nui Coc, Legend of Coc Mountain Lake, by Pho Duc Phuong.
It tells the story of a young man, Coc, who fell deeply in love with Cong, a rich girl. But Cong’s family didn’t approve of her love for a poor boy, so the young couple eloped to the rural areas of what is now Thai Nguyen Province in the northern mountains.


Sadly, Cong’s family followed them and took Cong back. Coc died of a broken heart and his love was so strong that he became a mountain, now known as Coc Mountain. Then Cong cried so long and hard that her tears formed the nearby Cong River, where she also died.

In the 1980s, an artificial reservoir was built at the site 15km from the heart of the town of Thai Nguyen. The 25-kilometer lake is now the area’s most beautiful tourist attraction, with nearly 90 islands spread over its clear waters. The islands and surrounding area boast lush eucalyptus forests and wild storks.

The lake is located in Dai Tu District’s Tan Thai Commune, 90km from Hanoi. From the capital, take National Highway 3 to Thai Nguyen Town where a small road leads through Thai Nguyen’s famous tea plantations to the lake.

Driving down the road at the southern end of Ho Nui Coc, you can feel the stillness of the night and listen to the crickets’ songs.

Villas and stilt houses on the northern side of the lake offer rooms for visitors. Boats big enough for 30-40 people can be hired to cruise the lake and visit Cai Island, where more than 2,000 artifacts from various ethnic minorities are on display.

You can also rent a canoe to watch the sun rise or set over the lake. Canoeing is also the perfect way to explore the lake’s many deserted islands.

thanhniennews.com

Homely comfort

A café-restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 2 offers a relaxed setting for quiet enjoyment of good food and drink.

There is nothing about its facade to suggest that the Mekong Merchant Café is anything special, or even that it is a café or a restaurant or a bar. But it is that very aspect of not being pretentious that appeals.


Located in District 2’s An Phu Ward, the café offers the perfect ambience to relax and unwind after a hard day’s work. From National Highway 1A, the section near Saigon Bridge, turn and go into the Thao Dien residential quarter of An Phu Ward and you will see it at 23 Thao Dien Street.

The restaurant is separated from the street by a low fence and its front yard is shaded by a tropical almond tree with a large canopy. Its underplayed facade belies the café’s interior design, which is beautiful. Many architecture and home décor magazines have featured this café.

The café is designed as a garden house, so the homely feel is very strong. One cannot fail to be calmed by its quiet and cool atmosphere. The Nipa palm leaf-tiled roofs, walls painted with dark colors, windows with knobs, and an old tiled yard covered with moss reflect a beguiling old-age beauty.

The furniture arrangement that seems carefully haphazard is another appealing feature enhanced by tables and chairs made partly of water hyacinths. The farthest room has much space for black and white photographs of streets and local people’s everyday lives. In front, household products such as furniture, baskets and flower pots are displayed and sold.

Given the special ambience, the Mekong Merchant Café is reasonably priced. Prices for foods and drinks range from VND10,000-40,000 (US$0.6-2.2) each.

Run by a British expatriate who has a similar establishment in District 2, the café can seat more than 100 people. It opens every day from 7 a.m.-11 p.m.