Britain on the Cheap

Can you think about summer holidays in the cold? Parkdean has an early-bird offer if you book by Jan. 31–up to £70/$107 off a July or August holiday at one of their holiday parks. They have 24 holiday parks in coastal, country and woodland locations throughout the UK in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Norfolk, South Wales and Scotland. With the savings, a modern two-bedroom holiday home in Cornwall, for instance, would be £379/$581 for a family of four staying for seven nights.

Win a two-night stay at The Ritz, London, through Britain Magazine. In celebration of its special London issue, the winner and guest will stay in an Executive King Room and receive breakfast on both mornings and a three-course dinner on one of the evenings in the Ritz Restaurant. For a winner who lives outside the UK, British Airways will fly the winner and guest to London in premium economy in the World Traveller cabin. Deadline is March 9.

British Airways is having a winter sale to London, with a $699 economy round-trip from JFK to Heathrow. This includes all taxes, fees and charges, and you need to book by Jan. 24. If you’d like to book the flight and three nights at the Tavistock, it’s $842 pp, for stays now through March 31.

The Royal Oak Foundation, the American arm of the National Trust, wishes everyone a happy holiday with a lovely photo gallery of National Trust gardens in the snow and frost. Enjoy 14 images from The Telegraph, sweeping from Kent to Suffolk to Northumberland.

It’s easy to slip back a century or so for the holidays when you visit Blists Hill Victorian Town in the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site, Shropshire. On Dec. 10-11 and 17-18, Blists Hill Town residents will be celebrating in 1800s style, with Christmas songs and stories, Punch and Judy and a magic show. Sing along with carolers and brass bands around the town.

You can shop for traditionally made cast-iron paperweights and doorstops, handmade plaster decorations and rocking horses, produced in the Gorge by skilled artisans.

Families can visit Father Christmas and help Bob Cratchet find the Twelve Days of Christmas that Mr. Scrooge has hidden around the town. On The Green, children can pet Father Christmas’ reindeer before their epic journey around the world on Christmas Eve. £14.95/$24 adults, £11.95/$18 for 60 plus, £9.95/$17 children 5- 18 years in full-time education and under 5s free; some activities are additional. New: a family ticket for two adults and two children at £45/$76.

Now’s the chance to snap up 2-for-1 tickets to “Dickens and London” at the Museum of London. Opening Dec. 9, this will be the largest exhibition marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. Regular adult tickets are £8/$13, or £7/$11 advance purchase.

The exhibition will examine the central relationship between Dickens and London,  the city that inspired much of his work. He called London his magic lantern.

Step back into 19th-century London and learn about Dickens’ difficult childhood, including working in a blacking factory while his father was locked in a debtor’s prison. Discover the latest innovations of his day, including steam boats, railways, the electric telegraph and the penny post.

Some of the highlights:

• Original and rarely seen manuscripts of his most famous novels, including Bleak House and David Copperfield.

• Dickens’ writing desk and chair, showcased as part of an audio-visual experience.

• The only surviving costume of the famous clown, Grimaldi.

• Dickens’ bank ledger.

• Excavated items from Jacob’s Island, depicted by Dickens in Oliver Twist.

• Manuscript pages describing the East End opium den featured in Dickens’ last, unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

• William Powell Frith’s portrait of Dickens.

Plus, find out the differences between London after dark today and in Dickens’ time in a specially commissioned film, The Houseless Shadow, by documentary filmmaker William Raban.

Special events around the exhibition, which continues through through June 2012:

• Dec. 9, Dickens and London LATE, with festive food and live music from the London Gay Men’s Chorus.

• Dec. 17, Dickens fact from fiction: Holborn at Museum of London Docklands.

• Dec. 17, Dickens fact from fiction: Southwark at Museum of London Docklands.

• Dec. 28, Dickens’ Children at Museum of London.

• Dec. 30, Meet Mr Dickens at Museum of London Docklands.

• Jan. 23, Dickens on Screen at Museum of London.

The Best Western Webbington Hotel & Spa in Somerset has a special rate of £35/$58 per room per night. The Edwardian manor house, with an on-site spa, fully equipped gym and indoor pool, looks across the Mendip Hills. It’s near Bristol, Abridge Medieval Town, Weston Super Mare beaches and Wells Cathedral.

Enjoy a free room upgrade and bottle of champagne at Stapleford Park, an 18th-century mansion and sporting estate in Leicestershire. The hotel is celebrating its election into the exclusive Pride of Britain Hotels collection with this offer, worth £109/$177, until Nov. 30. A night’s B&B for two costs £180/$298 at the hotel, set amid 500 acres of parkland designed by Capability Brown, near Melton Mowbray. It has a championship golf course, an AA two-rosette restaurant and Clarins spa, and its country pursuits include falconry, archery and shooting.

Fancy a bottle of bubbly? If you spring for a vintage bottle of Dom Perignon Vintage 2002 champagne at the list price of £179/$296, the 15th-century Swan at Lavenham in Suffolk will toss in free accommodation and breakfast now through Dec. 22, excluding Saturdays. You’ll save about £21/$33 for two at the newly refurbished historic hotel in a medieval village. The half-timbered inn retains its ancient oak beams and inglenook fireplaces.

Save 20% on seven nights at Victoria Cottage in the riverside village of Lyng, Norfolk, during November. The cottage, close to Norwich and good for walking, cycling and bird-watching, is now £253/$418 per week, saving £63/$104.