TRAVEL

Home & Away with Robert Walshe

The new house of Waterford Crystal centre in Waterford city, which opened in late June, has already attracted over 70,000 visitors. Commercial di-rector David McCoy says there has been a “fantastic response” from local people, tourists and the travel industry – especially in the United States. Over “80 per cent” of visitors, so far, have been from overseas. The new facility, located on The Mall, was developed as a response to the closure of the old glass-manufacturing plant at Kilbarry in 2009. Gatwick Airport’s new owners have announced plans to open a mid-market hotel in the North Terminal. Subject to planning approval, work on the 192-bedroom ‘Hampton by Hilton’ property will start next year to be completed in time for the 2012 London Ol-ympic Games. The hotel will be created on the site of Long-bridge House, which until now has been under-utilised office space. Northern Ireland travel-lers will have a smile on their faces when they take a look at Stena Line’s Rail and Sail fares. Customers can let the train take the strain and visit the city of their choice in Britain from as little as £25 single with leading ferry company Stena Line and First ScotRail.Customers can jet across the Irish Sea in style from Belfast to Stranraer on the Stena HSS and then hop on the train from Stranraer to a range of des-tinations in Britain, including the shoppers’ paradise Glasgow from just £25 single, the univer-sity city of Dundee from just £29 single or England’s capital city London from just £46 single. By using Stena Line’s Rail and Sail fares customers sit back and enjoy the ride as they travel to their selected destination. www.stenaline.co.uk/rail

LivingTURKEy has topped the poll as the fa-vourite holiday destination in the Conde Nast Readers’ Travel Awards 2010. Turkey received top marks for range of accommodation and value for money while Istanbul scored fifth after Venice, New york, Paris and Rome as the best city des-tination. Turkey has also topped the poll with Sunway holiday-makers as bookings for 2011 are up 20% on last year. www.sun-way.ie

Weekend HotspotMiddlethorpe Hall is a William

III country house close to york city set in 20 acres of gardens and parkland. Built in 1699 it was once home to the Terry chocolate fam-ily and the famous diarist Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. In the 1970s it was york’s top nightclub called Brummell’s. After a period of neglect, Middlethorpe Hall was purchased and restored by His-toric House Hotels.owners of Llan-dudno’s Bodysgallen and Hartwell House in Buckinghamshire. In more recent years all of these proper-ties became the property of the National Trust by donation, with all profits benefiting the houses and the charity. There’s an abun-dance of pretty, colourful fabrics, marble fireplaces and the house is now decorated with antiques and fine pictures carefully chosen as consistent with the period of the house.

All the rooms are en suite and fur-nished in a country house style and the panelled offerings are lit by tall sash windows, with lovely views over the gardens & formal avenue. In fact the gardens and parkland have also been restored including a white garden, a walled garden, a small lake and some beautiful specimen trees. There are several room types at Middlethorpe Hall ranging from single to a deluxe suite. Ten of the rooms are in the main house, seventeen in the 18th Century classical courtyard, as well

as a garden suite and two suites in an adjacent cot-tage. The spa is housed in a Grade II listed cottage, which has been carefully restored and modified to house a large indoor swimming pool, spa bath, steam room and sauna, gymnasium and three beauty treatment rooms. The oak room restaurant is an oasis of calm and I found the experience to be wonderful. The chef has designed a menu to suit all palates, with an emphasis on fresh local produce including sea bass, cod, beef and yorkshire venison when in season. Fresh vegetables are chosen as the perfect accompani-ment. Middlethorpe stands close to york racecourse, an easy 10-minute drive into the city, where truly his-torical streets are filled with good shops and wonderful sights, such as the Minster, Lord Burlington’s Assembly Rooms, Fairfax House and the National Railway Museum. Driving south from the hotel, you’re quickly in open country or on the outer ring with its fast connections to motorways. Castle Howard, Harewood House and Beverly Min-ster make wonderful excursions. www.middlethorpe.com

Weekly Best BuyInghams is running a fresher’s’

week for ski beginners on January 22nd and March 19th in Courcheval,

Val Thorens in France and Zermatt in Switzerland. Deals including flights, accommodation, ski equip-ment, lift passes and tuition from €809pps half board. www.inghams.ie The leading members of Irelands Blue book are busy with their win-ter/spring offers and it’s a case of three,two,one at the Wineport Lodge, near Glasson, Co Westmeath, where you can stay for three nights for the price of two and have one dinner and a 30-minute treatment for €220pps, in November.

Meanwhile Barberstown Castle will host a Wine Tasting with Bode-gas Valdemar Winery on November 12th.The evening includes dinner, accompanying wines and a discus-sion on wines by Cristina Alvares Flores who is one of Rioja’s young-est and most dynamic winemakers. This package also includes bed and breakfast in the historic Barbers-

town Castle. Cost: €149.00 per person sharing. One of my favourite Blue Book properties in the quiet of rural Co. Sligo where Coopershill are offering 2 nights B&B and 1 x 4 course dinner for . €239 pps. www.irelands-blue-book.ie Crystal Skis 2010 / 2011 brochure offers skiers exceptional value this coming season. To

celebrate they are offering fantastic early bird specials that are sure to put a smile on your face this winter. Book before 30th November 2010 to bag yourself the ultimate winter ski bargain. Package includes; Flights, Transfers, Lift pass for the duration of the holiday, Ski or snowboard hire for the duration of the holiday. Accommodation package and board they have boughtIn-resort service. New to skiers this year, Crystal Ski will fly from Dublin to Innsbruck, departing at 0645 Saturdays and ar-riving back into Ireland 1115. This flight is a must for those who want to hit the slopes early! www.crys-talski.ie

Robert Walshe is a freelance contributor / broadcaster and is guest travel writer for River Media newspaper titles across the island of Ireland

Pet’s Corner... with Kathleen Murray: Animal Behavioural Therapist

with Kathleen Murray

n Middlethorpe Hall gardens and grounds.

n Middlethorpe Hall, York.

n Middlethorpe Hall fourposter bedroom.

Home and Away Extra

A dog that’s good with children?FAMILIES that have young children often ask “What is a good dog to get for children?” The answer is “any dog” or “no dog“. There is no single dog breed that is better than others for children.

Even if a dog is brought up in a family with children there is no guarantee that the dog will always be safe around them. Children are a nightmare for some dogs. If the child is young, it will not have a clue about how to behave around dogs. It will pull the dogs hair, poke its eyes or nip it.

Children need to be constantly su-pervised in the presence of a dog. Dogs need to be constantly super-

vised in the presence of children also. A calm, quiet dog, sleeping on a mat, could end up biting the face of a child if the child tripped on the mat and fell on the dog suddenly. The dog would not only get a fright, it would be hurt.

It would also be disorientated be-cause it was asleep and may think it was being attacked. A normal dog, under these circumstances could easily turn around instinctively and “attack back”. A dog is an animal, it will react like an animal. It cannot be blamed for this. If you take an animal into your home then you are responsible for its actions. You can-not leave it to its own devices and hope for the best.

This is not fair to the dog or the child. Dogs must learn how to han-dle certain situations. It doesn’t come naturally to them. Children must learn that dogs are not cuddly toys that they can trust. Children and animals must be taught to re-spect each other, so if the child or dog is too young, then constant adult supervision is a must.

Children and dogs are like mag-nets to each other so work needs to be done to ensure the safety of both. Children can be very cruel when they are about two or three years old. This is a natural development but it needs to be checked so that the child learns to share with others and become a “good citizen”.

Young dogs go through the same so they need to be taught also. If you put these two untamed young lives together, unsupervised, you will have trouble.

Children need to be constantly supervised in the presence of a dog. Dogs need to be constantly supervised in the presence of children also.

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