TRAVEL
Home & Away with Robert Walshe Travel advice website Trip Advisor is being investigated by the advertising watchdog over allegations that not all its reviews are genuine. A formal complaint was lodged with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in Britain over Trip Advisor’s claim that it publishes “reviews you can trust”. The allegation is that some of the reviews may not be “real or genuine”, an ASA spokesman said. TripAdvisor says its website attracts 45 million unique visitors every month and contains more than 50 million reviews. Many of the reviews are posted by site users and help advice customers about hotels and restaurants. Three of London’s trendiest hotels, the Sanderson, St Martins Lane and the newest, the W Hotel are set to be taken over by Middle Eastern investors, according to a report in The Times. The luxury 192-room W hotel in Leicester Square, which only opened in February, is already a popular celebrity hang-out.
Weekend Hideaway
Housed in a carefully restored 16th century manor house, Langshott Manor Hotel is set in three acres of gardens surrounded by splendid countryside and only an 8-minute taxi ride from London’s Gatwick Airport. This immaculately furnished hotel where top end designer fabrics, solid wood furniture, original period features and stylish furnishings and artworks have earned Langshott Manor a first class reputation. The 22 rooms are divided between the manor house and three smaller houses on the hotel grounds. Some rooms have four-poster beds and all have private bathrooms with marble fittings, flat-screen TVs and complimentary wireless Internet access. In fact all of the bedrooms are superbly furnished, providing a comforting atmosphere for your stay. Garden view rooms are also available in the main house and mews with spe-
cial features such as a four poster bath. The historic building that is Langshott Manor has retained much of its original charm and is hugely complimented by the ground. The Mulberry Restaurant at Langshott offers fine dining with a contemporary English and Mediterranean flare. Using local suppliers and carefully selected ingredients, the award winning food on offer is of an exceptionally high standard and is complemented by only the finest wines To start, I had the salad of crab and for mains I savored every minute of the Tottingworth Fillet of Beef, Smoked bone marrow completed by artisan cheese & port. Reception drinks by the way can be taken into oak paneled lounges, the gallery or onto the award winning gardens before or after dinner. The hotel is an 8-minute taxi ride from Gatwick Airport and a perfect gateway to the nearby Surrey hills. There is an array of more active pursuits within a convenient distance from the Manor. Both Thorp Park and Chessington World of Adventures are located within 20 miles, and there is also the Bluebell Railway Museum and Gatwick Aviation Museum which may be of interest. For those with an interest in The Arts, the Harth and the Archway Theatre in Horley regularly perform plays and host Workshops The Lingfield Park Racecourse is one of the finest in the country. Set in the countryside, it features National hunt and flat racing and is home to the prestigious Derby Trial. The Full English package at Langshott is valid until Dec 6th and includes dinner (to the value of £30 pp), a luxuriously appointed bedroom and breakfast from £89 per person. Or if you are using Gatwick as a transit and find the airport parking expensive you start or end your trip in a very stylish and civilised way
Pet’s Corner...
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including 8 days parking from £150 per room! Langshott Manor was everything I had hoped it would be and I look forward to my return. www.alexanderhotels.co.uk/langshott
Weekly Best Buy
Book a return flight from Dublin to Stockholm or Copenhagen with Scandinavian Airlines from September 1st to 30th and nab yourself a free city card to explore these great cities. A Copenhagen and Stockholm City Card lets you discover these popular Scandinavian capitals with free transport, free entry to museums and attractions, and much more. City cards are worth up to €48 and include airport transfers, transport, guide books and entrance into up to 80 museums and attractions. If you want to get to know Scandinavia’s top cities, get a city card. SAS fly twice daily from Dublin to Copenhagen and 5 times a week from Dublin to Stockholm and Oslo.
anor. October is shott M t Lang the time to n ra u sta find extraorerry Re n Mulb dinary value in cruising, especially on this one from Holidaymakers are Cruiseholidays. ie, sailing spending more money on Royal Caribbean’s Splenon top-end excursions, dour of the Seas from Venice according to global tours to Malaga. The ship will visit and experiences website Dubrovnik, Malta, Cartagena Viator, which says luxury and Gibraltar on the way. The VIP tours and excursions cost, from €599pps, includes are outselling standard an overnight in Venice and tours. General Manager flights too. From Russia with of Europe and Asia Dan Love is the theme at the WestHart said high end bookbury Hotel in Dublin during ings had more than douthe Dublin Theatre Festival bled year on year.” This from September 29th to Ocis an interesting trend tober 16th. Stay a night in the to observe when everyhotel and you can have a Rusone is obviously thinking sian inspired meal and tickets more carefully than ever for Donka: A letter to Chekhov about every purchase,” with breakfast for €299 for two. he said. “Experiencing www.doylecollection.com the destination is at the heart of any holiday and Robert Walshe is a freelance doing this in the most contributor / broadcaster and exciting possible way is guest travel writer for River evidently becoming more Media newspaper titles across of a priority.” Meanwhile the island of Ireland airlines flying to and from
UK airports managed to improve their punctuality in the last quarter despite a growth in the number of flights. According to figures for April to June, released today by the Civil Aviation Authority, significant improvement was seen on scheduled flights at Gatwick, Stansted and Luton and on charter flights at Gatwick and Manchester compared to last year’s second quarter. Across the 10 airports monitored, 82% of scheduled flights were classified as being ‘on-time’, four percentage points higher than the 78% recorded in the second quarter of 2010. The average delay fell by three minutes to 11 minutes.
with Kathleen Murray
Is winter coming early? with Kathleen Murray: Animal Behavioural Therapist
Some say it’s going to be a very cold winter, others say that the weather can’t be predicted beyond 10 days at any given time. Being right is not the problem, being prepared is. If we are going to have a long cold spell then now is the time to start making provisions for that. Food supplies, medical supplies and fuel will be the most important. Being in the middle of a recession doesn’t help as money is very tight for some. What can we all do to help each other? How can we help animals? Animals feel the cold as much as we do. Luckily for some their winter coats get thicker and protect them, but for others this is not the case. Dalmations for example don’t have a thick winter coat. They get very cold in winter and need protection from draughts etc. They need a small, draughtproof, preferably warm place to sleep at night indoors. Lots of other animals are the same.
Home and Away Extra
Small, cosy, den like spaces that are draught free are good places for animals that feel the cold. These places can be in a corner of the shed, in a back porch, in a utility room, small toilet area, or in the kitchen. Wild animals often make a cosy den for themselves under a big tree among the roots so the can crawl in and curl up, dry and draught free. In wintertime sometimes the wild animals do better than the domestic ones because the wild ones know how to make dens and already have their territory sorted out. Domestic animals depend on people to provide shelter for them and this is a cause for concern, as many of these domestic animals and farm animals are living with owners that are not aware of their needs (through inexperience or just don’t care). Many domestic and farm animals are owned by alcoholics, drug addicts and people in do-
mestic violence situations or have relationship problems where the animals needs are not top of the list. There are people that have had an animal for many years and are now struck down financially and can’t provide for their animal the way they did before. This is traumatic for both the person and the animal as neither of them want to be parted from the other. Strong bonds have formed and it would be tragic to split them up. In cases like this, other people can help by noticing the problem in the first place. Proud people will not be telling you their financial problems, so noticing if someone is struggling a bit is important.
Visit them and bring “treats for the animal”. A bag of dog food or cat food would help. Farm animals can get help from the Department of Egriculture so find out what can be done. The “Early Warning System” is there for that purpose. Pets don’t fare so well sometimes as assistance is not as forthcoming. If some incredibly organised people are already making their Christmas Present list then a big bag of dog food or cat food would be very much appreciated by pet owners that are struggling to keep their pet. A voucher from the vet would also make a great present as they may not be able to afford to have their pet neutered and will certainly not be able to feed the many offspring that will follow if they don’t neuter it. Try to keep potential problems from becoming a reality for the sake of the animal and the owner. Animal charities have many educational leaflets. Put some in with a present or just leave some lying around so that people can read them and learn how to be a good owner, especially now through the winter months ahead.