Vacations Blog

Birmingham is a vibrant city in the English county of the West Midlands and it is a really popular vacation destination and  day trips. The city has an incredible selection of superb attractions including many churches which have Grade I status and other important buildings as well as many museums and galleries, including Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery.

Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery is an art gallery focusing on contemporary art which is situated in the building which was once the Oozells Street Board School in Brindleyplace, but it was not always in such surroundings.

The gallery was founded in nineteen sixty four by Angus Skene and 4 artists.  The 4 artists were; Sylvani Merilion, Jesse Bruton, David Prentice and Robert Groves. Angus Skene had acquired and the two of them talked about the numerous problems suffered by local artists, which included the extreme lack of venues and support for local artists.  The discussion resulted in the basic concepts for Ikon which was to be a “gallery without walls”.

Skene initially funded the project, which consisted of exhibitions in such varied venues as cinemas and post offices in a motorcycle sidecar. The idea was to allow the general public more access to art.  In order to keep the overheads down staffing duties was by the family, friends and the founding artists who did not charge. In 1965 the Gallery established itself in a glass walled stall in the Bull Ring shopping centre.

During the next couple of decades the Ikon Gallery moved from location to location until 1997 when it bought, with help from the National Lottery Fund, the current premises, the former Oozells Street Board School. recently the Gallery has held a selection of exhibitions and its continuous ability to excel has led to it becoming surprisingly popular, to such an extent that it opened another gallery in 2006, Ikon Eastside in  Digbeth.

If you are thinking about taking a Birmingham vacation we hope that you would think about visiting the Ikon Gallery. Also it is important to know that although there are many guest houses and hotels in Birmingham finding Birmingham bed and breakfast can sometimes be rather difficult. Because of this it is vitally important to book your accommodation at the earliest opportunity. You should be aware that Birmingham’s international airport is about eight miles east of the center of the city just off the A45, near the M42. You will discover that there is a number of guest houses near to the airport.

Scotland offers the most glorious countryside in Great Britain making it a popular vacation destination. Countless visitors decide upon Edinburgh as their main destination, while some choose something a bit different. The following article looks at Scottish vacations and a variety of things to do when in Scotland. The article also examines the Wickerman Festival.

With such an incredibly diverse countryside the list of activities is endless. Mountain climbing is highly popular, as are hill walking vacations. The most popular holidays are fishing or golf. With the country of Scotland being the birthplace of golfing it should not surprise you that that you are hardly ever too distant from at least one excellent golf course. With the Rivers Spey, Tweed and Tay you are guaranteed of a superb days fishing. But what if you want an altogether different vacation?

An increasing number of people are choosing music festivals their yearly holiday. Although nearly all music festivals are incredibly large with a focus upon making money, there are a small selection of music festivals suitable for the family, for example Tartan Heart and the Wickerman Festival.

The Wickerman Festival is an yearly music and arts festival is held on farm land close to Dundrennan in Dumfries and Galloway about 5 miles from Kirkcudbright in Scotland. The festival celebrates the classic cult British movie, “The Wicker Man which the stars Sir Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland and Ingrid Pitt.

The first festival took place in July two thousand and two and was put together by a local man called Sid Ambrose. With little experience of putting together a music festival it is surprising that it still exists today, especially when you consider the present economic climate. Wickerman has changed each year and, like the movie, has a cult following.

Wickerman is hugely family friendly it has a great many child orientated activities for example, numerous fairground rides, a mountain biking trail, various workshops and face painting. This fact can be verified easily by searching MSN, Yahoo or Google for Wickerman photos 2009 or simply pop along to the official Wickerman Festival Gallery.

Close to the festival site is Kirkudbright where you will discover many locations used in the film for example Harbour Cottage (the bakery) and High Street Gallery which was used for May Morrison’s post office and sweetshop. You will find that there are many places worth visiting in the area and it is really worth taking a short break here so that you may visit all of the visitor attractions. Popular destinations in which to stay include Castle Douglas and Dumfries. Bed and breakfast accommodation in Scotland is nearly always excellent and is also fairly priced and far less expensive than staying in a hotel.

I was waiting to book my holiday till around Christmas time this year, so that I could take the family on a nice holiday to the Caribbean. I just managed to grab a fantastic holiday to St Lucia at the last minute, and we went to St Lucia last year. If i hadn’t had so much to do when i came back from my holiday, i would have written about this sooner. However now I am booking a holiday back to the same place, I thought I would share my experience with you.

As we landed at St Lucia International Airport, we got a taxi and headed straight to our hotel. We were staying at the Le Sport hotel and the rooms were gorgeous. The Beach and the forest in the centre of the island, were the two main places we spent most of our time.

Now although I knew that there was a Volcano on the island, I had never really thought that we could go and see it. The Last time i went to a Volcano was in Greece, near the island of Kos. The St Lucia Sulphur Springs is the only Drive in Volcano in the world. This Volcano is Dormant, so there is nothing for you to worry about, just that if the smell of sulphur fades, this means the Volcano is preparing to Erupt!

There are points in the Crater where the water and mud is boiling. It is because of this that walking through the Volcano is a No, when a tour guide was showing people around, he fell straight into a boiling puddle. After the Tour guide had his mishap (he didn’t die by the way) walking was no longer allowed, and you could only drive. There were some truly amazing colours layered all the way around the Volcano, and the smell of Sulphur was extremely strong. This sort of opportunity shouldn’t be passed up, so definitely give it a go. So I am definitely going back there to visit the Volcano again.

For St Lucia holidays, Barbados holidays and Christmas holidays, you should consider contacting a tour operator immediately.

Vacations in England seem to be increasingly popular at the moment, probably due to the present depression and the weak pound. The United Kingdom has large selection of top class vacation destinations including London (the capital of England) and other interesting cities plus a fine collection of seaside resorts such as; Blackpool, Bognor Regis, Great Yarmouth and Margate. One city commonly overlooked is Plymouth in the south of England.

At first glance Plymouth appears a little plain and principally modern, but looking a little bit deeper and you will soon discover that the city of Plymouth has a rich history and a long association with the sea. As far back as the sixteenth century there has been a port in the town. In 1588 Sir Francis Drake set sail from the town’s port to attack and defeat the Spanish Armada. Another moment in history occurred in 1620 when the port served as the last embarkation point for the Pilgrim Fathers on their journey to North America.

It is possible to take inexpensive weekend city breaks in Plymouth by booking rooms in Plymouth bed and breakfast rather than booking rooms in a posh hotel. A quick search on Google will reveal that rooms are available from as little as £29 a night and some places offer dinners at a very reasonable cost, commonly equal to, or cheaper than local restaurants.

Tourist Attractions In Plymouth

There are many interesting places in the town which are worth a visit. Popular visitor attractions include; the old quay at Sutton Harbour, the National Marine Aquarium, the Barbican district and Merchant’s House Museum. A boat cruise around the naval base is an excellent way to spend some time and if you have more time why not take a day trip to other places close to Plymouth, for example; Buckland Abbey, Mount Edgcumbe or Saltram House.

Saltram House is a lovely Tudor Mansion which is found 2m from the town of Plymouth, Mount Edgcumbe is another fine example of a Tudor house with parklands, coastal paths and landscaped gardens, and Buckland Abbey, about 6 miles away from Plymouth, is a Cistercian abbey which was at one time by Francis Drake and was at a later date converted into a family home.

If you are in the process of deciding upon taking a vacation in Plymouth it is incredibly important that you book your  accommodation as early as possible as, unfortunately Plymouth hotels tend to be alarmingly busy and are often fully booked months in advance. If you are a large group you might find that apartment accommodation in Plymouth prove to be reasonable alternative to bed & breakfast in Plymouth. If you are visiting the UK from overseas then why not consider making a reservation for a room in hotels in London to take in the attractions of the capital city of England also.

The capital city of England and Great Britain, London, has vast variety of fascinating visitor attractions, from the very ancient to very recent additions. The majority of the visitor attractions are recognised all over the globe (for instance, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament). Amongst the youngest are the Millennium Bridge, London Aquarium, Millenium Dome and the London Eye.

The Merlin Entertainments London Eye (to give it its full name), is more commonly named, just, the London Eye or,occasionally, the Millenium Wheel (because of the fact that it was constructed for part of the Millenium celebrations). The London Eye was officially opened by the then English PM, Tony Blair, in the evening of December 31 unfortunately there were technical safety problems leading to the public not gaining access until March. At that time it was the world’s largest Ferris wheel having a height of 443 feet.

The enormous wheel is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames in Jubilee Gardens looking down upon the Houses of Parliament below. From within one of the thirty two pods towering over the whole of London you can view a large number of London landmarks, the already mentioned Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s, Westminster Abbey and Hampton Court Palace are just a few, what a fantastically unique way to see nearly all of London and, more thank likely, one of the reasons it is one of the most popular paid for tourist attraction in London.

The London Eye’s first flight is at 10am but the ticket office opens half an hour earlier.  The Eye closes at 9.30 pm between July and August, 8 ‘o clock at night between April and October and at 9 pm for the other months of the year.

Visitors arriving in a car will be pleased to discover that there are three close by car parks. For coach parties there are parking facilities very close to the Eye (Telephone:) +44 (0)870 990 8886) for info.

The best method to get to the London Eye is via the London Underground, just get off at one of the following tube stations; Embankment, Westminster, Charing Cross, or the closest Waterloo. You can also travel by boat, get off at Waterloo Millennium Pier.

Finding bed and breakfast accommodation in London is as simple as popping over to Bing, Google or Yahoo (or any other popular search engine of your choice. Whichever you prefer you are guaranteed to find the perfect accommodation in London because the city must have the most guest houses, hotels and bed and breakfasts than any other. Luxurious accommodation to the cheerful and cheap, huge corporate hotels to the smaller boutique hotels and lots more.

When most people debate having a UK vacation they mostly just mention resorts close to the sea such as Blackpool, Margate, Bognor Regis and Great Yarmouth. Occasionally people may discuss having a short break in a specific English county for example the county of Devon in the south of England but not very often do they consider taking a short break in the city of Exeter. The following article discusses various reasons why an Exeter vacation is a wise idea.

The most important reasons for having a holiday in Exeter is that there is budget accommodation available with Exeter bed and breakfast accommodation available for approximately twenty five pounds a night and many rooms around the £40-50 ballpark.

Obviously there should be more than a minimal price to attract you to visit a city and Exeter certainly has lots to offer the possible tourist. You will find that there are a great many top class visitor attractions in the center of the city and even more not too far away and if this is not enough then the city of Plymouth is but a short distance and you will discover that there is also low cost bed and breakfast in Plymouth and even more fantastic visitor attractions. Also you will discover plenty of astounding sites to visit all along the nearby coast.

Where To Stay In Exeter

The Drewe Arms
This accommodation is superb, the rooms are budget but the building is a picturesque seventeenth century thatched inn situated on the famous Two Moors Way (a walkers route). Please take notice that it is about fifteen miles away from Exeter city center. If you need more luxury the inn also offers four-poster rooms.

The Crawford Hotel
This hotel accommodation is much closer to Exeter’s city center, about 1.6 km. It is a 2 star hotel with comfortable en suite accommodation and, crucially, you can access your room twenty four hours a day, which is superb if you are going to be getting back very late or if you may need to access the room at various times through the day. You will find there is Free wireless internet access in the public places of the hotel.

Visitor Attractions

In the city of Exeter there are just a few of tourist attractions worth visiting including; Rougemont Castle, St Peter’s Cathedral and the Royal Albert Museum. As I said earlier there is a small collection of nearby seaside resorts to see the most beautiful being the pretty villages of Sidmouth, Seaton and Beer.

Further away, between Exeter and Plymouth is the sparsely populated moorland of the Dartmoor National Park with the general area having several visitor attractions to visit including A La Ronde, Buckland Abbey and Buckfast Abbey on the main road, to Plymouth. Along the way you will pass the Torbay area, which is made up of Brixham, Torquay and Paignton and is often referred to as the English Riviera.

Exeter really is a excellent place in which to take a vacation however why not have a think about having a twin destination vacation and spend a few of nights/days in a luxurious hotel in Plymouth and tour the gorgeous countryside and coast in between the two cities?

Glasgow is the largest, and most lively, city in Scotland with excellent opportunities for shopping plus an amazing night scene. For the more artistic tourist there are many places to go especially in the West End which features tea rooms, boutiques, bars, cafés, restaurants and clubs as well as some upmarket Glasgow bed and breakfast accommodation. In the article which follows I will discuss 3 attractions in Glasgow which should be of special interest to those who enjoy all things artistic; the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the Burrell Collection and the House For An Art Lover:

The Burrell Collection

Sir william Burrell and his wife gifted the Burrel Collection to the city of Glasgow in 1944 and the collection can be viewed at Pollok Country Park which is located in the south of the city This magnificent collection of works of art consists of more than 9,000 items. The collection is very diverse containing a selection of modern sculptures as well as an Islamic art collection. Visitors can view works of art by a variety of artists including Degas and Cezanne. As well as paintings and sculptures you is able to enjoy the spectacular collection of English furniture, tapestries, alabasters and stained glass. As well as all this, the Burrell Collection also contains a most important collection of art from medieval times plus collections from ancient Egypt & China.

The House For An Art Lover

House For An Art Lover is one of Glasgow’s most popular tourist attractions. The house is of an Art Nouveau design originally designed by Glasgow’s most famous architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh who was aided by his talented wife.

In actual fact the design was an entry for a competition of 1901 to create a design for a ‘House for an Art Lover’, but, the entry from the Mackintosh couple was disqualified because of late submission. Fortunately, more than 100 years later the house is located in Bellahouston Park due to the efforts and hard work of the architect Professor Andy Macmillan and the engineer Graham Roxburgh. Construction commenced in 1989, ceased for a short amount of time but restarted in nineteen ninety four due to a collaboration between the Glasgow School of Art and the Glasgow City Council.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

The Kelvingrove Art Gallery is Glasgow and Scotland’s premier museum and art gallery, and it houses one of Europe’s great civic art collections, but also it has been voted one of the most popular free to enter attractions to be found in Scotland.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is located on the banks of the River Kelvin,  in the West End of Glasgow, on Argyle Street. The gallery was constructed using the traditional red sandstone in a Spanish Baroque style. The gallery was designed by E.J. Milner Allen and Sir John W. Simpson and first opened its doors in 1901. The collections in the museum were originally from the old Kelvingrove House Museum in Kelvingrove Park and the McLellan Galleries.

If you are considering a city vacation in Glasgow you will discover plenty of online hotels and guest houses providing Glasgow bed and breakfast accommodation. You will find a broad selection of Glasgow hotel accommodation at http://www.glasgowhotelscotland.com/