Medieval plazas, fortresses like film sets and seafood straight out of the net feature in your pick of these lesser-known destinationsI stopped in Salamanca for lunch when driving from Madrid to Lisbon and ended up staying there for a week, caught up i…
English Heritage trials quiet ‘contemplation hour’ at monastic sites
Visitors to places such as Rievaulx Abbey will be encouraged to focus on appreciating the peace and tranquillityModern visitors to monastic ruins are more often than not on their phones or chatting to each other, or thinking about work and what’s for t…
Eccentric poets, exotic flora and wild seas: a car-free break on the Llŷn peninsula
There’s much to delight in this part of north-west Wales, including dazzling scenery you’ll see from the slow train on the wayLlywelyn the Great built the huge gatehouse of Criccieth Castle on the coast of north-west Wales in the 13th century. Owain Gl…
National Trust: outcry at plans to fence-off Wiltshire park for private tenant
Critics say loss of public access to 31 acres of Dinton park goes against charities’ core valuesFor years, the rolling landscape of Dinton park has been a favourite haunt of dog walkers, runners and seekers of tranquility. When it snows children sledge…
The Lost Leonardo: has a new film solved the mystery of the world’s most expensive painting?
Is the $450m Salvator Mundi a fake? This film – featuring tearful sycophants, sneering experts, dodgy dealers and a secretive superyacht – may finally settle the great da Vinci controversyIt is almost exactly 10 years since Salvator Mundi was unveiled,…
Muppets creator Jim Henson’s London home gets blue plaque
US puppeteer behind Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock honoured with plaque at former Hampstead homeJim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, has been honoured with a blue plaque at his former London home.The US puppeteer, acclaimed for his work on Sesame St…
Porcelain seized by Nazis goes up for auction in New York
Prized collection smuggled out of Vienna by Jewish couple in 1930s expected to fetch more than $2mA collection of prized Meissen porcelain smuggled out of Vienna after its Jewish owners were forced to flee the Nazis and later procured for Hitler before…
All God cons: camping in churches has a record year as UK staycations boom
As conventional campsites fill up, more holidaymakers are discovering the joys of ‘champing’ – and silent nightsPenny Thomas has always favoured adventure holidays over lying on a beach. But this year, with UK destinations in such demand during the pa…
From the Thames to the Tyne: what to see and do on five of Britain’s great rivers
Instead of the coast, try a leisurely trip on our great rivers, for memorable sights, activities and food along their banksWe want our waterways to be the life-giving arteries of our country, not its sewage pipes. Whether boating on them, walking their…
Toledo’s last swordmakers refuse to give up on their ancient craft
Famed since Roman times, the Spanish city’s artisans are all but extinct. But a reprieve is at hand from the TV and film industryIts sturdy presence has threaded through more than 2,000 years of history, fuelled by fans that were said to have ranged fr…