We travelled on Friday evening by train from Derby to Exeter St David's station with two nights at the Mercure Rougemont Hotel slap bang in the centre of town opposite Central station. Using some Accor loyalty points the hotel costs us a little over £75.00 for the two nights - a 4* bargain! On Friday night we enjoyed dinner at Cote Brasserie, for some French cuisine, on Cathedral Green. This was our first visit to a Cote Brasserie and we really enjoyed the ...

Every holiday, however long (or short), has to begin somewhere and only once we had arrived at Gatwick Airport and checked in at the Sofitel in the North Terminal did our Norwegian break really start. Having received some travel vouchers from my uncle and aunt the previous Christmas we decided to upgrade from our normal Premier Inn type of accommodation with the stay at the Sofitel. The hotel is very 'international' and probably, like ourselves, most people are h...

It is a very long way to get to, but it was well worth the all travelling to enjoy a cheeky weekend break in Cornwall. The trip was really all about ticking off another item of Heather's 'to do' list as she had never visited Lands End but as ever we managed to pack a few extra things into a couple of days. Leaving Derby at around 1630 on the Friday it was a five and a quarter hour trip to St Austell with the through CrossCountry service travelling via Bristol, Ex...

I cannot remember when I last visited Hastings, but it was certainly a long time ago. Our Friday evening journey from Derby to Hastings took about three and a half hours on three different trains. Our Guest House accommodation, The Senlac, was actually quite good - albeit the street did seem a little bit rough on first impressions - the room was fairly large, very clean and looked freshly refurbished. Our friends, Tim and Georgie, had arrived before us and source...

My one and only previous visit to Belvoir Castle was about 35 years ago with my mum and brother and on that trip we never actually got in to see the castle. Probably during the summer school holidays, my mum had booked us on a bus trip from Leicester to Belvoir Castle, sadly when we got there the trip did not actually include entrance to the castle or grounds. I can not remember what we did to entertain ourselves for a few hours in the car park as my mum did not ...