Below is a guest post from Kett Country Cottages in Norfolk. Let us know what you think — it’s always interesting to get a different point of view, and we’re hoping to do more of these in future. Looking for more ideas? You can read our Norfolk holiday guide on the main Holiday Cottages site.

We all enjoy the traditional Christmas feast with our family, but what else is there to do if you decide to go on holiday in Norfolk this festive season? Going on holiday to this part of England can add some extra excitement to your family Christmas, so go out and have an adventure this year!

1. Going for a Christmas swim. In Norfolk, the glory of the North Sea is there for all to enjoy, with a number of hardy folk jumping into the sea over Christmas time. There are 3 on consecutive days, so you can go to one or all of them, depending on your tolerance for cold.
   • Hunstanton Round Table Christmas Day Swim (Hunstanton, 25^th December at 11am)
   • Cromer Boxing Day Swim (Cromer, 26^th December at 10am)
   • Overstrand Boxing Day Swim (Overstrand, 26^th December at 11am)
2. Enjoy a Christmas Spectacular. In Thursford, you have the opportunity to enjoy one of the most popular Christmas shows, which features carols, dancers, beautiful costumes and wonderful music. It’s an event the whole family can enjoy. (Shows every day at 2pm and 7pm until the 23^rd December)
3. Take a trip on a heritage railway. A number of different lines throughout Norfolk, including the Poppy Line, are running festive services where you can enjoy a train journey to see Santa, travelling through the countryside while munching on mince pies.
4. Visit a Norwich Christmas Market. There are a large number of special Christmas Markets happening throughout Norwich, which each offer a unique range of little gifts and treats for the whole family to enjoy when you return to your Christmas holiday cottage. In the Mall, you can find the Norwich Christmas Craft Fair (From 9am every day until 24^th December)
5. Attend the Pantomime. This year Sleeping Beauty is playing at the Norwich Theatre Royal until the 14^th of January, so you can take the whole family to enjoy the fun and laughter of a panto featuring well-known actors, and songs that everyone can sing along to.
6. Take a guided walk or tour. Some of the most interesting sights in Norfolk can only seen if you know where to look and a guide can help you find them. There are a number of different guided tours happening, including:
   • Victorian Ghosts, a walk hosted by the Man in Black, who will tell you the unusual stories that aren’t told on most ghost walks. You can also finish off in the festive spirit with some mulled wine (Adam & Eve Pub, Norwich, 22^nd December at 7pm)
   • The Boxing Day walk at Fairhaven Woodland and Water Garden, will allow you to get a guided tour around this beautiful garden from its head gardener, ending with mince pies and mulled wines (South Walsham, 26^th December at 11am)
7. Watch Morris Dancing. This traditional English dancing is being performed by the Kemps Men of Norwich, including their Mummers Dance. This is a fun event that the whole family can watch and enjoy. (Banningham Crown Pub, 26^th December at 12 noon)

Cedric Le Borgne 'Les Voyageurs'

Deadgood Studio 'Rainbow'

Jaques Rival 'I Love Durham'

This weekend I went to the Lumiere festival in Durham. It was a wonderful event which showed off this beautiful city to its best advantage. Light art illuminated prominent parts of this historic place, such as Kingsgate bridge transformed into a huge illuminated waterfall entitled ‘Splash’ by artist Peter Lewis and engineered by Water Sculptures. Martin Warren lit up three more of Durham’s bridges, Cedric Le Borgne suspended brightly illuminated sculptures of men above a particularly narrow cobbled street giving a magical essence to the walk. These, along with many more made for a really enjoyable experience and would also encourage me to visit again, even without the festival.

A small drive away in Northallerton are these 4 cottages which sleep 2-4. These former farm buildings have been imaginatively converted into 4 well equipped and attractive holiday cottages. Original beams have been retained and there is central heating for year round appeal. All the cottages have TV with Freeview, video and radio cassette/CD player, fully equipped kitchens with washer/dryer, fridge/freezer, dishwasher and microwave, cots and highchairs. The cottages are set in peaceful countryside and have magnificent views. They are perfect if you want to combine a visit to Durham, with great walks and even a drive over to the seaside with Whitby within easy reach.

Londonderry picture by Flickr user ifyr

Londonderry is to become a City of Culture in 2013 and has announced plans to upgrade its rail services, improve cultural venues and build six new hotels in preparation.

It has unveiled a programme of events throughout the year, including a music and dance festival, contemporary visual art events, theatre productions, and a comedy festival. The famous Turner Prize and the Stirling Awards will be held in the city, and it is also set to hold WOMAD (World of Music and Dance) and FLEADH, Ireland’s biggest Irish and Celtic music festival.

Martin Bradley, chair for the City of Culture, said: “It will tell a new story and completely regenerate the city. We can celebrate the history and give young people a whole new outlook.”

Last month a bomb was left outside the City of Culture offices, however he reassured visitors about the safety level of the city: ”Unfortunately there was one small incident, but because events are so seldom here they make the headlines. It is an extremely safe city. We have a very low crime rate compared to other UK cities.”

And properties in the region are also being let out for longer. Miles Kevin, head of Knight Frank’s residential development team in the South West, says that existing holiday property owners should be optimistic:

“The number of letting weeks has increased significantly in recent years. Five or six years ago, it typically was around 25 weeks but now it runs for around 32 weeks, driven in part by people opting to take long weekends earlier and later in the year – in the softer climate of Devon and Cornwall, this can be as late as November. The signs suggest that holiday properties will remain in demand as the economy improves.”

Knight Frank has also seen a rise in the number of people considering a second home as a stable, long-term investment. Many holiday home buyers are approaching retirement age and looking for a wise use of equity released from selling the large family property; some relocate to the area and live in their property while they search for a new primary residence. There has also been a rise in the number of buyers who see a second home as a mixture of business and pleasure, planning to use the property themselves for leisure as well as to rent it out.

“Current yields for new-build properties in prime (coastal, or historic town) pockets of the South West are healthier than ever,” says Miles Kevin. “We are seeing some of the schemes we’re selling achieve a yield of up to eight per cent. For example, a two-bedroom flat with a modern interior in Newquay, Cornwall, can command £1,000 or more a week during July and August. However, a less-modernised property might only bring in £650. The holiday letting market looks for quality and will not put up with ‘Granny’s furniture’ any more, so a newly built, well furnished property often better fits the bill.”

Why not keep your feet on the ground at this Helpful Holidays property in Bisland, North Cornwall, which sleeps up to 7 people. This delightful property has big rooms, good and comfortable furniture (including antiques), good pictures, and superb views. With its own terrace/patio, good-sized lawn divided from fields by ha-ha, it’s all very secluded. Inside there is an elegant living room with woodburner, fine grandfather clock, TV/DVD, good books and games for cold nights in or if the weather is not too favourable. There are four large and light bedrooms, a well-equipped fitted kitchen/diner with dishwasher, washing machine, tumble drier, microwave, fridge-freezer; dining table overlooking the terrace and garden.

Now that spring is in the air the New Forest would be a good place to visit for a romantic break or family holiday.  With idyllic woods and open moorland across 90,000 acres of National Park and 43 miles of coastline, it has a lot to offer. You can go on some extremely picturesque walks through ancient woodland where ponies, cattle and deer roam over wild heathland. The National Park is only 90 minutes from London Waterloo but so far away in terms of city life’s stresses and strains.

For the more adventurous amongst you, there are a range of water sports on the Beaulieu River and Go Ape’s extreme high-wire forest fun is not easily forgotten.

Beaulieu is famous for its National Motor Museum, which features more than 250 vehicles from every era and Paultons Park has become a family favourite for its many rides and activities as well as the soon-to-open Peppa Pig World attraction. At Longdown Activity Farm children can learn about the animals and you can hold and fly some of Britain’s most beautiful birds of prey at Amews Falconry.

Another appeal of the New Forest is that it’s only a short drive from the woodland heart to the coast to enjoy some fish & chips and crabbing at Lymington. A great starting point for any visit is the New Forest Centre at Lyndhurst where you can find everything you need to know, and during the summer you can also jump on the New Forest Tour bus to guide you around coast and forest scenery from 15 feet up!

How about this lovely cottage that sleeps up to 5 and is situated along a quiet residential lane in the village of Sway, on the southern edge of the New Forest, four miles from the coast at Lymington and the same distance to Brockenhurst. Newly built and carefully designed to incorporate many period features, combined with quality fixtures and fittings. The ground floor is completely open plan for informal living and the cottage offers light and bright holiday accommodation. Lovely in the summer with the French doors and stable doors open to the garden, warm and cosy in the winter with a wood burning stove for snug evenings around the fire.

As things begin to thaw, the daffodils are beginning to bloom to signal the arrival of Spring. In honour of these yellow beauties there will be the Daffodil Festival at the 12th century listed church of St Mawgan in Meneage on the 19th and 20th February. The church will be open from 10.30am until 4.30pm both days and is free to enter. Light refreshments will be available including pasties and home made soup at lunchtime and tea and cakes all day.

Perfect for a couple, is this cottage in Mawnan Smith from Helpful Holidays. It’s in a brilliant position for visiting many fine gardens (four within a 3 mile radius) and Helford Passage. Use of owners’ large, extremely well kept garden (table/chairs) full of interesting shrubs, flowers, lily pond and productive kitchen garden carries on the garden/floral theme.

January started with testing out my culinary skills at the Ashburton Cookery School in Devon.

A survey in February showed high speed rail was more important to people than airport expansions.

The Shambles in York was voted most picturesque street in March. There was also trouble on the railways with a Network Rail threatened strike.

Easter was a staycation preference in April.

There were many family fun festivals between May and August.

Even before the Royal wedding announcement we found out how the Royals are key to UK tourism.

27 West Country beaches were awarded blue flags in August, showing that the West Country is a great place to visit!

We were given tips on how to give tourists a better welcome during the Olympics.

Taxing times for holiday rental businesses.

The famous Exmoor Food Festival was in October, tickling visitor’s taste buds!

Bonfire Night had many events to travel to, including the flaming barrel run in Ottery St. Mary’s!

It got very cold in November and December as part of the big freeze.

The year ended with a little early Christmas cheer for the travel industry!

So there’s a pick of the Holiday Cottages blog coverage of events and news over the year. For travel news pertaining to outbound travel don’t forget to check out our sister site’s blog, Villaseek. There will be a run down of the year’s news on there very soon also!

Some people are moaning that this is a bad case for businesses, but for the UK holiday cottage market this will be a brilliant time of boom! The weather at that time of year is often rather lovely with the first signs of sunshine that always gets our hopes up for a hot summer to come.

The date has been talked about in many of the papers and online so far already, so I imagine people will be booking their time off work and looking for a holiday cottage, so get in quick for the best deals on our main site holidaycottages.cc go soon! Remember that we have holiday cottages across the UK, so if you can think of a place, I’m confident we’ll have a cottage there or close by! If you’re looking further afield and plan to travel abroad, our sister site, villaseek.com has a large array of holiday villas also!

So having a well chosen selection of books (as well as DVDs and games) in a holiday property can contribute a lot to a holiday. Bookshelves tend to acquire a life of their own, with visitors donating books they’ve brought and read. That can lead to a wonderfully mixed selection of books reflecting all sorts of tastes and interests. Even so, it still helps a lot if at the heart of the collection is a core of books appropriate to the property. Books about the area, of course, whether guide books, local history or fiction. But also books that can help visitors appreciate aspects of country life they might otherwise miss.

For instance, a couple of new books from Britain’s Wildlife Trusts do this in quite different ways. The first is a guide designed to help you get closer to nature, called 152 Wild Things to Do. Divided into four seasonal sections, it lists places to visit (mostly wildlife reserves owned by the Trusts), activities for both adults and children, and skills you can acquire.

In spring, if you’re in Wales you could visit Silent Valley nature reserve. Or you could cook nettle soup. “Healthy, delicious and found absolutely everywhere, nettles are a wonderful leaf that can be cooked up into a wholesome soup. Food that’s free and full of goodness – perfect! You’ll need to pick the tender tops of young nettles in the spring.” It goes on to a full Nigella-style listing of ingredients (including optional wild garlic leaves), cooking instructions and a final flourish: “You could stir in some crème fraîche or serve with a swirl of cream and some crusty bread.”

In summer, you could go wild swimming or glow-worm spotting; in autumn, you could go blackberrying (and make jam), discover Tolkien’s inspiration or see Britain’s largest butterfly. And in winter… well, buy the book and give it as a present, or just for yourself to spur inspiration and booking another cottage holiday.

In all there are – as you would expect – 152 recommendations, so there’s plenty to keep you busy. The book is probably aimed mostly at parents hoping to occupy children and stir an interest in nature and the countryside, but there’s plenty for everyone. It serves as an introduction to a number of small, lesser-known nature reserves and the colour photography is beautiful. It’s a book that deserves a place on every holiday cottage bookshelf.

Rather more traditional is Nature Tales, from  the same source. It’s a compilation of nature writing spanning the last three hundred years, with a forward by Sir David Attenborough. “This wonderful collection of some of the greatest nature writers in Britain’s history is a pleasure to read from start to finish and a valuable addition to any naturalist’s library,” says Sir David. Quite so, but don’t let that reference to a naturalist’s library make you think this is some learned, stuffy book. Quite the reverse, because it’s the ideal accompaniment to a cup of tea and a digestive, with most of the items no more than two or three pages long.

The book is organised in themed sections – By river and sea, From my window, Nature trails, and so on – each with items from across the 300 years. So an entertaining piece by Bill Oddie – one of the longest items at nine pages – is preceded by the 19th century novelist Richard Jefferies and followed by Nan Shepherd, a wonderful descriptive writer who died in 1981 at the age of 88. There are brief notes on each contributor, which might well lead you to follow up on their other writings.

Even more than in a naturalist’s library, this book belongs in every holiday cottage. And it, too, would make an excellent birthday or Christmas present for any nature-minded reader.

152 Wild Things to Do, published by Elliott and Thompson Ltd, £12.99,
Nature Tales, published byElliott and Thompson Ltd, £18.99