TRAVEL

Home & Away with Robert WalsheLiving

According to research conducted by ESPA*, busy lifestyles, rising disposable incomes and consumers staying single and childless for longer are just some of the reasons why the spa market is proving extremely popular with both sexes.

The research also found that 88% of people visit a spa for relaxation and stress management purposes, 22% for pain management and 19% for the social experience. Two Hastings hotels, the cul-loden Estate and Spa and the Slieve donard resort and Spa, offer a range of stress relief packages for males and females including the ESPA Stress reliever which restores equilibrium and brings about deep relaxation and the ESPA Muscle relax-ing Massage which soothes away aches and pains using a blend of essential oils. There are also a number of treatments specifically de-signed for male guests such as The irish Man which is a cleansing and nourishing treatment using hot towels and aromatherapy to leave the skin feeling revitalised and celtic recovery which is a unique full body massage and a deep cleansing facial to leave the skin glowing. www.hastingshotels.com

Weekend Hotspot - The Marcliffe Hotel,

Aberdeen The Marcliffe is a luxuri-

ous 5 star hotel just outside of Aberdeen on the city’s western edge, less than a half-hour from the airport. Stewart and Sheila Spence bought the property in 1979, and the hotel remained in Queens Terrace until 1983, when they moved the hotel to Queen’s road, to the site of the Queen’s Hotel, which they had owned since 1973 and re-named it The new Marcliffe. on completion of the building at Pitfodels, the hotel moved from Queen’s road in november 1993 to

be opened shortly after by then Soviet Premier Mikhail gorbachev. This traditional three-story manor house was constructed around a courtyard set amongst eleven acres of woodland and natural garden. The new Marcliffe balances a feeling of countryside seclu-sion with a relaxed city vibe providing the perfect place to stay while exploring the north East of Scotland and the glorious royal deeside. The rooms and suites iare-country house chic all indi-vidually designed to provide a stylish and restful sanctu-ary like feel. in the public areas the swish oriental rugs on stone floors and tra-ditional tartan sofas with a scattering of antiques sets the tone perfectly. The staff are polite, attentive and ex-tremely welcoming, making everybody feel at home and relaxed. The conservatory brasserie boasts a range of local grampian produce from the tastiest Aberdeen Angus beef to game, fish and shellfish hence its popular-ity with locals. The propri-etor Stuart Spence an avid fisherman, sourced jumbo red crab on the Barants Sea in northern russia and ex-clusively through a London based supplier offers cus-tomers the finest shellfish I have ever experienced on a special A La carte menu.

To compliment the cuisine, the well stocked wine cel-lar and a range of 100 malt whiskies and cognacs is im-pressive. The Marcliffe also has an adjoining spa with an extensive menu of treat-ments offering everything from luxurious facials and massages to hard-working anti-aging and cellulite bust-ing treatments. Pregnant la-dies and new mummies are also catered for.

The ‘new Life’ pregnancy massage is suitable after the first trimester and aims to maintain skin tone deeply relax muscles and help to

relieve the lower back. The Marcliffe is also the ideal spot to explore this beauti-ful part of Scotland, nearby attractions include Bal-moral castle and dunnottar castle.

There are also a range of activities to throw yourself into from golf to fishing. Aberdeen is known as the “granite city” because of the use of this local stone in the buildings of the town. Also well known for its parks and garden like quality the city to this day dominates the royal Horticultural So-ciety’s Britain in Bloom con-test winning ten different times. The heart of old Ab-erdeen lies across the Brig o’Balgownie (one of the oldest bridges in Britain), where you will find King’s college and its famous dome-crowned tower.

Aberdeen is widely known as the ‘oil capital of Eu-rope’, thanks to the discov-ery of north Sea oil back in the 1970s. This find trans-formed the city from one of the poorest in the UK to one of the richest and its latest investor donald Trumps planned £1 billion golf com-plex (the ‘world’s greatest golf course’) built on the Menie Estate in Aberdeen-shire is due to open soon. in fact for those keen to test their prowess on three of Scotland’s internationally-

renowned championship links golf courses, Marcliffe offer three nights B+B with full a la carte menu on offer for one night of your choice. This exciting package fea-tures one round at royal Aberdeen golf club; 18 holes at Murcar golf club; and 18 holes at cruden Bay golf club - all challenging and extremely scenic ven-ues for the golf lover. on a Monday to Thursday inclu-sive basis, you can book a single rate Executive or de-luxe room - with your part-ner, friend, husband or wife staying free. This special offer includes bed and a full Scottish breakfast. www.marcliffe.com

Weekly Best BuyTravelmood have just re-

leased some amazing deals on worldwide holidays rang-ing from the beaches of Thai-land to the famous shopping

malls of dubai. Take advan-tage of these great offers and visit any of these beau-tiful resorts’ Lucia from only €1249pp, Thailand from only €1299pp

dominican republic from only €1329pp with the popu-lar dubai & Maldives from only €1749pps. www.travel-mood.ie People now have their pick of departure air-ports for holidays to the Al-garve, thanks to concorde Travel giving travellers the opportunity to tailor make their holidays by flying from Dublin, Cork, Kerry and Knock airports. The popular resorts include Vil-amoura, Albufeira, the exclu-sive Valle do Lobo, Praia da rocha, Portimao, Alvor and Lagos. www.concordetravel.ie . Take in some of the fin-est sights that india has to offer with a fantastic 13-day

escorted tour from gohop.ie, ireland’s leading online travel company.

This tour happens only once a year and is your chance to visit the state of rajasthan, the golden Tri-angle and of course the tiny desert town of Pushkar for the annual Fair where an as-tonishing 50,000 camels and their minders converge. This is a fantastic adventure and you can be a part of it from only: €1390pp (including flights) or €1930pp (includ-ing flights) departing on 14th november 2012. www.gohop.ie

Robert Walshe is a free-lance contributor / broad-caster and Travel Editor for River Media newspaper titles across the island of Ireland. www.robertw-alshe.com

Pet’s Corner... with Kathleen Murray

Home and Away ExtraCelebrity chef Kevin Woodford is teaming

up with Stena Line to serve up a number of tasty suggestions for travelers.

Woodford is currently one of the celebrity chefs on iTV’s This Morning with present-ers Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield and will be working with the ferry company over the coming months across all five of its irish Sea routes. The Liverpudlian chef is best known for his live presentation of the

award-winning ‘Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook’ TV show and the BBc’s ‘ready Steady cook’.

The culinary partnership was set up as part of Stena Line’s plan to develop its onboard food offering for customers and comes on the back of company research which shows that quality food provision scores consistently in the ‘Top 5’ require-ments of an enjoyable ferry travel experi-ence.

n Miss Northern Ireland Finnoula Guinnane at the Culloden Estate and Spa, with Ulster Rugby’s Robbie Diack, Johann Muller and John Afoa.n Marcliffe Hotel Aberdeen Scotland.

WAlKIng in the summer is very different to walking in the winter. in the cold weather there are not so many beach goers. it’s easier to pick a time and possibly not meet anyone during the course of the walk... or maybe just a few that you know already from being a beach walker.

in the summer it can be more hectic. There are children playing in the sand and in the water. There are games of frisby or football and worst of all for the dog walker..... there are picnics.

Lots of people are on holiday and take their dog with them

so there are unfamiliar dogs to get past as well. When you know a dog you know if it’s friendly or not but if you meet a dog that you don’t know then you don’t know whether it will be friendly to you and your dog or attack you. The best way to stay safe and stay out of trouble on the beach in the summer (in general) is to start off in the right way. it all starts before you leave the house.

Take your dog out to the gar-den to do its toilet business. if it doesn’t want to go then maybe try playing a game with it so that the excitement will make it stop in the middle of

the game and do it’s business. Excitement is mostly what makes dogs go to the toilet on the beach. There is no need for a dog to go to the toilet at the beach in general but if you get caught out then it is vitally im-portant that you clean up after your dog. There are little poop bags on a roll that attach to your lead that are very handy. You can buy them in a pet shop. Alternatively, you can just bring any plastic bag with you in your pocket. You may need to bring a couple just in case. it’s your dog so it’s your poo.

As there are still no bins at

many beaches you can put the bag in any public bin you find or take it home with you (which is disgusting and there should be no need to do that). This does not only apply to beaches. Anywhere you take your dog for a walk should be left the same way it was when you arrived. no rubbish and no poo.

There is nothing more upset-ting or offensive to people than to see a dog go to the toilet on a grassy or paved area that is shared by others and then to see the owner just leave what fell out of the dogs be-hind lying on the road behind

them as if it was totally accept-able. Leaving poo lying around spreads diseases for animals and people alike. Pick up your dogs poo. People notice these things even though they may not say anything at the time to the person that walked off from the scene of the dump.

This is something that gives dogs a bad name. Back to the beach. Make sure your dog is calm when it gets out of the car, this may take a while in the beginning. Keep it on a lead if it is not 100% under your con-trol. if it does everything you say then keep it beside you for the first 5 mins or so and then

give it permission to have a run around.

if you see another dog or a person out for a walk then call your dog back and put it on the lead until the other per-son has passed or just keep the dog beside you. release it when the others have passed and then you and your dog will enjoy your walk and other peo-ple will feel respected.

How to negotiate the beach in summern Clean up your dog’s business - pet shops sell poop bags.