Britain on the Cheap

Save 20% on holiday homes on the South Devon coast in September with Toad Hall Cottages.

• Seascape, walking distance to Thurlestone Sands, sleeps six, with a garden and furnished patio. Weekly rental is £396/$608 (saving £99/$152) until Sept. 24, then £260/$399 the following week (saving £65/$100).

• Maelcombe House is the wing of an Edwardian mansion with sea views at East Prawle, Devon’s southernmost tip. The house, sleeping six, is on 25-acre grounds down to a beach. Guests share an indoor heated swimming pool and all-weather tennis court. Cost is £498/$764 per week (saving £124/$194) until Sept. 24, then £383/$584 the following week (saving £96/$146).

The Best Western Orton Hall Hotel in Peterborough is offering a £45/$63 room rate in the 17th-century manor house, once the home of the Marquesses of Huntly. The hotel, set in 20 acres of parkland, has a swimming pool and the Old Ramblewood Inn pub in the former stables. Nene Park, with two 18-hole golf courses and a water sports center, is next door.

Superbreak is offering some fall ticket/overnight packages for O2 Arena events in London, from the outrageous Ozzy Osborne to a 25th birthday bash for Les Miserables.

• Ozzfest, Sept. 18, £105/$163pp - Ozzy will be accompanied on the main stage by Korn, Murderdolls and Skindred and others. Ozzfest will take over the entire O2 complex, with a Village Of The Damned for fairground rides, stalls, tattooists and acts on the second stage. The package includes one night at the Custom House hotel in Docklands with breakfast and a lower-tier ticket to the show, based on two sharing.

• Les Miserables 25th Birthday Anniversary Concert, Oct. 3, £129/$200pp – This 25th birthday is tipped to be on an even grander scale than the 10th birthday party at The Royal Albert Hall. Look for more than 300 actors and musicians and the casts of the original production at the Queen’s Theatre, the new 25th anniversary production at the Barbican and members of the original 1985 London cast. The package includes one night at the Novotel Excel hotel with breakfast and a lower-tier ticket to the show, based on two sharing.

• Disney On Ice, Oct. 23, £330/$513 for a family of four – A celebration with 65 Disney characters, including, of course, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio and all the Disney Princesses. The package includes one night at the Novotel Greenwich hotel, based on two adults and two children sharing a room, with full buffet breakfast and lower-tier tickets.

• ATP Tennis, Nov. 21, £199/$309pp – The climax of the men’s professional tennis season returns to The O2. Global superstars including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, along with defending champions Nikolay Davydenko and the Bryan Brothers, will battle it out throughout the year across 62 tournaments and four gruelling Grand Slams in order to qualify for this prestigious season-ending showdown. Only the world’s best eight singles players and doubles teams will compete. The package includes one night at the Ramada Suites in London Docklands with breakfast and a lower-tier ticket to the tennis, based on two sharing.

ACP Rail is offering a free extra day of travel in Scotland when you buy a BritRail Freedom of Scotland TravelPass now through Sept. 30. The BritRail Free Day offer is valid in standard class adult and child fares, for either four days within eight days or eight days within 15 days–plus the bonus extra day.

Have you always wanted to see inside the great buildings and tiny houses of London? Maybe the Old Palace in Croydon where Elizabeth I visited the bishops, the Studios at Kensington Court Mews or Benjamin Franklin’s House in Westminster?

Now’s your chance with the free Open House London, the capital’s great architectural showcase Sept. 18-19. More than 700 buildings will be open, covering a spectrum of styles and periods. Plus a range of neighborhood walks, architects’ talks and cycle tours all over London.

Some sites require advance bookings.

To get the most of the weekend, you may want to order the Open House London 2010 Programme. The downloadable PDF version, electronic-version only is £3.50/$6; the printed version is £6.50/$9.

von Essen’s Hunstrete House is offering an August Bank Holiday deal of £199/$309 per room, with a traditional cream tea on the terrace on arrival, a three-course dinner from the table d’Hote menu, full English breakfast and VAT. Guests are also offered a free upgrade subject to availability.

Set in 71 acres of woodland between Bath and Wells, Hunstrete House was recorded in William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book and has a lineage from King Athelstan, 963 AD, to the Popham family that held it during the past four centuries. You can explore buried ruins and a folly from an unfinished grand mansion.

The offer at this Georgian manor house hotel is valid Aug. 30 and 31. Prices are based on two people sharing.

If you’re looking for a late deal on a place to bunk after the Notting Hill Carnival, one of Europe’s biggest festivals, SACO serviced apartments are set to save you £110/$171 per night for the August Bank Holiday. The Carnival is Aug. 29-30.

A one-bedroom apartment, sleeping two, in Holborn costs £139/$216 per night, down from £249/$387. A studio apartment, sleeping two, in Fleet Street is £130/$202 per night, down from £220/$342.

Both locations are on the same Central tube line as Notting Hill Gate and are 15 minutes from the carnival on the underground. The offer is valid Aug. 27-30 inclusive with a minimum two-night stay.

von Essen’s Thornbury Castle in Gloucestershire, the only Tudor castle in England to be opened as a hotel, is offering a three-for-two special for the August Bank Holiday. The deal, valid Aug. 27-29, is £560/$870 for three nights in a classic room or £760/$1,180 for a deluxe room, including breakfast.

Once a residence of Henry VIII, Thornbury’s has its own vineyards and the largest bed in the UK–10 feet wide. There is falconry, archery, croquet and laser clay pigeon shooting on the property.

Looking to splash out a bit this holiday season? The Orient-Express has planned special excursions and day trips aboard British Pullman and Northern Belle trains throughout the UK from the end of November through New Year’s.

Day trips begin with brunch and a Bellini on the outward journey and a four-course meal with champagne and wines for the return journey.

• The Lincoln Christmas Market is Europe’s largest traditional festive market, with more than 300 stalls. The city also has carolers in Victorian dress. Dec. 3 departure from London Victoria starts about $530 pp.

• Bath Christmas Market has more than 100 stalls, surrounded by the historic Bath Abbey and Roman Baths. Dec. 1 departure from London Victoria starts about $500 pp.

• Blenheim Palace excursion includes a guided tour. About $500 for the Dec. 2 departure from London Victoria.

• New Year’s Eve Dinner will unfold aboard both the British Pullman and Northern Belle. On the Northern Belle, guests will start off the evening with a champagne dinner, then disembark to welcome the New Year at midnight before returning home. About $380 pp for Dec. 31 departure from Liverpool or Manchester.

On the British Pullman, there will be a five-course meal with champagne, wines and liquors, then at midnight, guests will hear the stirring sounds of a lone piper. About $530 for Dec. 31 departure from London Victoria.

It’s not too early to think about Halloween in the UK. The Royal Oak Foundation, the U.S. affiliate to the National Trust, has scouted out scary happenings at medieval castles and venerable estates, and suggested nearby overnights at National Trust properties. Royal Oak members receive access to more than 300 historic houses without paying an admission fee.

• Anglesey Abbey, Gardens and Lodge Mill in Cambridgeshire is celebrating Freaky Friday: Wild About Cooking 2 p.m. Oct. 29, Kids can join the chef making spooky treats. Reservations required; £5/$8 per child. You can book Coach House Loft, a converted apartment over the coach house at the historic Peckover house. Coach House sleeps five and guests get a key to the Peckover house gardens.

• Arlington Court and the National Trust’s Carriage Collection in Devon is sponsoring a pumpkin-carving competition 2 p.m. Oct. 29. You can overnight at Woolley Lodge, a former gardener’s cottage on the edge of the Arlington estate. The lodge sleeps three.

• Belton House in Lincolnshire is staking out the “Hubble Bubble, Toad’s in Trouble” family fun trail, a pumpkin trail for little ghosts and goblins. The events are 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 23-24, with a costume contest, face painting, spooky stories and Halloween treats at the restaurant. £1.50/$2.50 per trail, and £3/$5 for face painting. The Old Rectory, a late 18th-century Regency rectory is near the tiny church of Bratoft village. The expansive house sleeps 11 and is a good base for visiting Gunby Hall, Tattershall Castle and Belton House.

• Bodiam Castle in East Sussex invites little ones to take up the Spooky Challenge, tracking down the resident ghost and other creepy characters lurking around the castle. Halloween Happening is 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Oct. 23-31, with a charge of £2/$3. Up to five can sleep in the Keeper’s Cottage in Woolbending, Sussex, a former gamekeeper’s house built in the 1600s.

• Chartwell in Kent will light up the Halloween Twilight Trails 4 p.m.-6 p.m. Oct. 27-29–keep an eye out for ghosts and ghouls. The brave will make it back to the restaurant for pumpkin soup and hotdogs. £10/$16. Laundry Cottage is part of a converted 15th-century stableblock within the grounds of Igtham Mote, a 14th-century moted manor house. The cottage sleeps four and has a private garden.

• Lanhydrock in Cornwall will celebrate Pumpkins and Ghouls 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Oct. 30-31, with pumpkin carving and a ghostly tour through the haunted great wood. £6/$10 per adult and £4/$7 per child; booking is essential. Cutmadoc, sleeping six, is a cottage hidden in a secluded garden on the Lanhydrock’s estate.