Britain on the Cheap

Rambling in Britain this summer? You’ll want to check out the 300-plus houses, cottages, camping barns and bunkhouses across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the Independent Hostels UK network (IHUK)—rates start at £7/$10 per person per night. Most provide self-catering facilities and are suitable for singles, couples and groups. Check online or buy [...]

Wicked Campers is offering its quirky, spray-painted Toyota vans from £251/$374 for a four-day hire. The package includes the two-seater campervan, pick-up and drop-off in London, insurance in the UK for one driver aged 25 and over, unlimited mileage and 24-hour roadside assistance. You might want to check out: The World Worm-Charming Championships June 26 [...]

Dragon Trails is offering a 20% discount on its walking holidays in West Wales for the week of June 26- July 3. The price is now £376/$541 pp for seven nights exploring of the scenery and wildlife of the Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion Coasts and the Preseli Mountains, source for the Stonehenge Bluestones. Singles, couples and [...]

WHOOSH! The UK’s first Flow Rider, an artificial standing wave 12 meters wide, is now up and splashing at Retallack Resort & Spa, near Wadebridge, Cornwall. Riders, who must be 52″/132cm tall, will draw on a mixture of surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, and wakeboarding skills, and Flow Riding instructors can help out. Fees are $40/£25 for [...]

Ahoy, Vikings! Immerse yourself in 960 AD at Arbeia Roman Fort, South Shields, and spend a weekend learning what Vikings ate, how they dressed and what they thought of the North of England. The free Viking Invasion will be April 10-11, with a chance to hear and smell Viking England.

Tourism Tyne and Wear’s Discover Pass is back, with more than 60 discounts and total savings of $471/£300+ on entry to such attractions as Blue Reef Aquarium in Tynemouth and Dunes Adventure Island in South Shields. This is more than twice the savings available in 2009. The Discover Pass, just $3/£2, is available from Tourist [...]

Wightlink, which operates ferries from mainland UK and the Isle of Wight, has a special Biker Bargain from $48/£30. The cost includes passage for the rider and pillion passenger, or a motorcycle or scooter and combinations, plus trailer up to 1 meter long.

Visit County Durham has already planned out its Eastertide with Outdoor and Active Week April 5-11, part of National Outdoor Adventure Week. Up to 17 outdoor and adventure activities are free or low-cost, such as guided mountain biking, orienteering, guided walks and hiking, landscape photography and high ropes activity courses. Many self-catering cottages, guesthouses, hotels [...]

Are you infatuated with Emma, Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility? Then the new Wayfarers’ Jane Austen walk through Hampshire may be for you. The walk, rated easy at six to 10 miles a day, will stop at Steventon, home to Jane’s father’s rectory; the village of Chawton, later home of Jane [...]

A family of four can save $69/£42 at the Torridon Hotel near Achnasheen in Wester Ross in the Scottish Highlands. The hotel, three times voted Scotland’s top activity hotel, is also adding a free one-hour archery lesson or half a day’s mountain bike hire for families of up to four booking a two-night stay. Or, [...]