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10/06/2005: "Top Five English Sunsets"
Holidays don't always have to be a flight away, some of the most beautiful spectabcles are here in our country, in places rarely visited by the holidaying masses. Take a look at this list of the best places to watch the sun go down this summer...
The White Horse, Brancaster Staithe, Norfolk
For shimmering tidal salt marshes, visit this much-loved north Norfolk inn. Look out to Scholt Head island from a decked terrace or tuck into fabulously fresh seafood in the conservatory restaurant (Thornham oysters, crab and mussels and locally smoked fish).
The terrace is popular in the evenings, when golfers, sailors, twitchers and walkers (the White Horse is right on the North Norfolk Coast Path) have worked up a thirst.
Stay in one of the 15 chic and contemporary rooms - including five family rooms - or the brand new Room at the Top, which is split-level and has its own telescope. The White Horse (01485 210262; www. whitehorsebrancaster.co.uk). Weekend B&B from £125 per person, two nights minimum.
Oloroso, Edinburgh
Edinburgh Castle is on one side, the Firth of Forth on the other, and if the weather closes in, the floor-to-ceiling windows ensure you can still gaze out over the buzzing city.
So discreet is the entrance to this smart, modern restaurant, slap bang in the town centre, that you'd never stumble on it. Oloroso enjoys a top-floor location on a street corner in New Town, where locals shoot the breeze over cocktails on the terrace. Oloroso (0131 226 7614; www.oloroso.co.uk), 33 Castle Street, Edinburgh. Stay at the Glasshouse boutique hotel, (0131 525 8200; www.theetoncollection. com), 2 Greenside Place, Edinburgh. From £165 per night B&B.
Redroofs at Oldfield, Maidenhead
As the sun makes its descent, this idyllic riverside scene - a pretty Victorian bridge, a tiny island, grebes, geese and rowing boats from Maidenhead Rowing Club gliding by - really comes into its own.
Breakfast is offered in a double-height Great Hall, and each of the eight bedrooms is individually furnished with an eclectic array of antiques. You can even have a blissful La Stone massage or reiki treatment.
The biggest treat, though, is going to dinner by water to The Fat Duck at Bray or The Waterside Inn, both of which are nearby. Redroofs at Oldfield 01628 621910; www.redroofsatoldfield.co.uk), Guards Club Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire. From £85 per night B&B for a double.
Tresanton St Mawes
The view from this classic Cornish hotel is sheer romance. Built on a hillside, it overlooks the harbour in the tiny fishing village of St Mawes towards St Anthony's Lighthouse and the Roseland Peninsula.
Its rooms are the epitome of seaside chic but pricey - around £280 a night. But anyone can book dinner, or just drop in for a Tresanton Martini on the terrace - designed to look like the deck of an ocean liner.
The Rising Sun (01326 270233, www.risingsunstmawes.co.uk), the Square, St Mawes, £55 per person B&B.
Weston Park, Staffs
From the sweeping lawns down to formal gardens and parkland, the fabulous setting of this 17th-century ancestral seat of the Earls of Bradford affords a breathtaking sunset scene.
The stately home has 28 bedrooms for guests with a yen for romance and history. Summer packages include dining beneath the gaze of several Van Dycks, and a choice of open-air performances in the grounds (designed by Capability Brown). On balmy July evenings, you can enjoy a Proms concert with the English National Orchestra or performances of Pride and Prejudice.
Weston Park (01952 852100; www.westonpark.com). One-night package with champagne reception, three-course dinner, performance in the grounds, B&B, from £170 per person.
(this article was taken from thisistravel.co.uk)
