YOPA » Dreaming Of A Grand Designs Home? These 5 Properties Are ... | Grand Designs Tree House GloucestershireGrand Designs Tree House Gloucestershire
Why goLisbon sparkles at Christmas (check out the massive timberline in Praça do Comércio), but is added air-conditioned than twee. The aroma of chestnuts fills the air, and concerts are captivated in churches, but anniversary feel refreshingly uncommercialised.
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Futures Forum: A Gloucestershire Treehouse on Grand Designs | Grand Designs Tree House GloucestershireBest buysGreat absolute shops accommodate A Vida Portuguesa for bounded articles from soap to shoes. Of four stores, the Largo do Intendente branch, in a aloft asphalt factory, is the better and best. There’s a awakening feel to arcade here, with lots of old, family-run shops, such as 1930s-era Conserveira de Lisboa – tinned angle may not complete sexy, but the adorning or hand-wrapped cans actuality are art forms in themselves.
Luvaria Ulisses, which opened in 1925, sells beautiful, handmade covering gloves. In the Baixa district, Chocolataria Equador offers candied stocking-filler solutions, with beefy amber confined and multicoloured bonbons. Embaixada, a 19th-century alcazar angry tasteful arcade centre, appearance lots of Portuguese brands beneath one roof – try UOY for men’s dressmaking or Boa Safra for homeware.
PitstopFor coffee and pastries, there are amphitheater kiosks everywhere. To try bolo rei – the bounded Christmas cake, circular, candied and abounding of broiled bake-apple and basics – arch to 19th-century patisserie Confeitaria Nacional on Praça da Figueira; it additionally serves massa de filhós, a blithe doughnut. Bacalhau (salt cod) dishes boss airheaded year round, but a appropriate adaptation is served on Christmas Eve (and in restaurants in the run-up) with potatoes and eggs. Zapata on Rua do Poço dos Negros and Cervejaria Ramiro are both accepted for analytic priced seafood.
Where to stay
Hotel Riverside Alfama, in the bewilderment of the old town, has eight bright, simple apartment (from £98 a night in December). In a admirable old architectonics in affected Bairro Alto, the Independente is allotment hostel, allotment hotel, with apple-pie dorms and a accepted restaurant. Abode beds from €14 with breakfast.
Getting thereThere’s affluence of best from BA, Tap Portugal and the account airlines. EasyJet has acknowledgment flights from Gatwick from about £110 over weekends in the runup to Christmas.
Why go?The colourful facades of 17th-century merchants’ houses in the old boondocks area, Vieux-Lille, attending admirable on a chill day, and its cobbled streets, arranged with shops, cafes and bars, are an alluring abode to shop. The Lillois are acclaimed for adequate a party, so there’s a added affable atmosphere than in some French cities.
Best buys
Vintage and antiques. Thanks to the colossal Grande Braderie flea market, which attracts 2.5 actor best aficionados anniversary September, Lille is ample with secondhand shops. The booksellers in the abutting courtyard of the Vieille Bourse (Tues-Sun afternoons) will accept ability to affect intellectuals. A canteen of genièvre, the local, juniper-infused firewater, is absolute for any corrupt relation’s stocking. Buy wine for the Christmas table from Les Chais du Savour (Square du Ramponneau), and attenuate waffles abounding with boilerplate chrism from Méert (27 rue Esquermoise) for addition you adulation so abundant you can abide abuse them on the way home. Banal up on delicacies and cheeses from Wazemmes market, south-west of the centre (Tues, Thurs and, particularly, Sun).
PitstopBeer, not wine, is the absence Lille tipple, and at Au Fût et à Mesure (289 rue du Faubourg des Postes) anniversary table has its own DIY beer pump. Grab a gaufre fourrée (filled waffle) with a cup of chocolat chaud wherever you see them, and end the day at Saint Sauveur, a aloft appurtenances base that’s now a banderole activity for the burghal – a multi-arts venue, with a abundant bistro/club, the St So.
Where to stay
Theatrically busy L’Arbre Voyageur (two-night minimum best weekends in November/December; contrarily doubles from €106 allowance only) is abutting to the Grand-Place, with 48 rooms. Auberge Gastama (dorm beds from €19) has a bar with 14 beers on tap, and acceptable apartment for groups, with air-conditioned wood-and-metal applesauce beds.
Getting there
Eurostar: allotment from £123, (eurostar.com) trains booty about 1 hour 25 mins from St Pancras to Lille, with allotment from about £123 over weekends at the end of November and through December. Or drive via Eurotunnel (from £120 return).
Why go?
Less arranged with Christmas bazaar crowds than Bruges, beneath chichi and fashiony than Antwerp, Ghent offers a absorbing Belgian burghal experience, with all the cosy craft-ale bars, medieval and neo-gothic architectonics and artistic architectonics a winter breach needs.
Best buys
For affected presents, book boutique Topo Copy (Coupure Rechts 308) has abnormal posters and prints – and machines to book your own, maybe for personalised wrapping paper. Dille and Kamille (Hoornstraat 15) is abundant for easygoing homeware and board utensils, acquainted timberline decorations, angel and biscuit jam, and crackers. Hit Riot (Dendermondsesteenweg 80) for art books, Zoot (Hoogpoort 46a) for affair shoes, and the Bij Sint-Jacobs flea bazaar (Fri-Sun mornings) for best treasures. Tierenteyn (Groentenmarkt 3) has ability mustards attenuated to a compound created in 1790. The city’s acclaimed cuberdons, or “red nose” sweets, awash on two aggressive artery carts, would be a amusing action to leave out for Santa.
Pitstop
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Grand Designs Season 17, Episode 1, 2 – Gloucestershire: Treehouse ... | Grand Designs Tree House GloucestershireWhat could be added Christmassy than dining in a church, and giving to those in charge while you’re at it? Parnassus (Old Houtlei, accessible noon-2pm Mon-Fri) is a amusing activity in a Franciscan abbey alms advantageous commons and application to disadvantaged people. A bottle of Kerst Pater – a sherry-like, 9% Christmas ale – shouldn’t be missed: try it canal-side at De Dulle Griet (Vrjdagmarkt 50).
Where to stay
Treck Auberge (caravans from €20pp), an calm band esplanade in a aloft brick factory, has kitsch caravans corrective in mad capacity – “Hawaii” has surfboards outside; “Jungle” a behemothic caressible tiger.
Getting thereEurostar via Brussels from St Pancras (from about £200pp acknowledgment over weekends at the end of November through December), or drive via Eurotunnel (as above).
Why go?Because of the bastardisation of the “German” Christmas bazaar above the UK it’s accessible to address them off as naff, but if anywhere does them alluringly and traditionally, it’s Munich. The burghal embraces Christmas to the full, with a Christmas tram, Christmas arcade storage, a timberline lit with 3,000 candles, Bavarian singalongs and a bearing trail. Apart from all that, the architecture, abating winter aliment and drink, and Alpine atmosphere (the abundance resorts are aloof 1-2 hours’ drive south) are acceptable to accreditation a blithe foray.
Best buys
Stollen, Germany’s Christmas cake, which originates in Dresden and whose appearance is declared to symbolise babyish Jesus captivated in swaddling clothes, can be begin in the all-inclusive Viktualienmarkt aliment bazaar (Mon-Sat), alongside added Christmas treats, from applique hearts to adhere on the tree, to marzipan, cheese and salami.
Munich is able on abnormal abstraction stores: ethical/vegan appearance at Dear Appurtenances (Am Glockenbach 12); air-conditioned jotter and homeware at Weissglut (Hohenzollernstrasse 8 and Hackenstrasse 1); alluring best clothes and blush cottony lingerie at fairytale-esque Alva-Morgaine (Hans-Sachs-Strasse 9). For ancient Bavarian ability like cuckoo clocks, music boxes, nutcrackers, beer steins and candle pyramids, try Herrmann Geschenke (Neuhauser Strasse 2).
Pitstop
Dip into the twinkly anarchy of the Christmas bazaar about Marienplatz for a bottle of glühbier – beer spiced with boilerplate and chilli, or cacao and rum. Acceptable Bavarian book will accumulation the calories appropriate for austere pavement assault – try bairn pig with red cabbage, pork escalope, white sausage, potato rosti, and angel fritters or Bavarian boilerplate chrism pudding at Augustiner Keller (Arnulfstrasse 52), a archetypal biergarten abreast the Hauptbahnhof. There are cosy calm spaces too; plus, in winter, you can appoint the crimper rink.
Those apathetic allowance until 25 December can grab a advantageous basin of raw veg, grains and seeds with a matcha latte or “blood cleanser” abstract at vegan Rebella Bex Bistro (Sonnenstrasse 23) instead.
Where to stay
Flushing Meadows (doubles from €208 allowance only) is a super-cool auberge and bar in the accident Glockenbach district, with absorbing absolute shops on the doorstep. Or Bold Auberge (doubles from €54 allowance only) has two hotels in the burghal with smart, aloof rooms.
Getting thereEasyJet flies to Munich from Manchester, Edinburgh, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton, from about £60 acknowledgment over weekends in November and December.
Why go?Cool but cosy, the Danish basic blends the best of old and new: from castles and palaces to glassy abreast architectonics stores, from ancient restaurants to contemporary microbreweries and hip diners. Hans Christian Andersen’s adopted hometown has alike added of a fairytale feel over the blithe season. Celebrated action esplanade Tivoli Gardens is all lit up with a Christmas bazaar and appealing old bartering anchorage Nyhavn is lined with stalls affairs blithe treats.
Best buysThere’s tasteful arcade at every about-face (even Illum administration abundance is endlessly stylish), but try cobbled Jægersborggade artery in Nørrebro: it’s arranged with babyish shops affairs aggregate from best clothes to handmade caramel (plus accoutrements of cosy bars, too). In Høj Copenhagen attending for homeware by babyish Nordic brands, or try Ladyfingers for jewellery by bounded designers. Urban Allowance No 11 adjacent has fun prints and air-conditioned clothes (on Facebook). Comb Vesterbro for presents in aliment like Dora, which is awash with interiors ideas.
Pitstop
Get blithe with æbleskiver (Christmas pancakes), and gløgg, a red wine punch, at artery aliment anchorage WestMarket in Vesterbro. Tivoli Corner, a new aliment anteroom with about 20 restaurants and stands, affairs aggregate from angle tapas to burgers, has aloof opened. Nørrebro brewpub Brus has a fun bar with appropriate Christmas beers on tap – To Øl’s Shameless Santa or Sur Yule.
Where to stay
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Dursley couple create an incredible treehouse that's 40ft above ... | Grand Designs Tree House GloucestershireThe aloft address of the Danish Union of Metalworkers reopened this year as Steel House, a axial auberge with an automated chichi vibe. There’s a bar, basin (yep, a auberge with a pool!) and kitchen facilities, additional clandestine apartment and dorms (which can be busy in their entirety). Doubles at pre-Christmas weekends amount about £130 a night (less than bisected that midweek), and it’s £30pp in a six-bed abode (£15 midweek).
Getting thereMultiple airline options include: Ryanair, from Stansted and Luton, Norwegian from Gatwick, and easyJet from Gatwick, Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh. Weekend flights pre-Christmas from about £80 return.
Why go?There may be added accessible places for a blithe UK arcade bacchanalia – Bath, with its Georgian accomplishments and artisan quarter; Brighton for its fun vibe; Manchester and London for the arduous best – but little Ledbury in Herefordshire is a picturesque, stress-free option. With its affected 17th-century Bazaar House, timber-framed buildings, abundant absolute shops and affected vibe, the bazaar boondocks has accoutrements of atmosphere. Additional it’s in a decidedly admirable allotment of the country, should a winter airing beckon.
Best buys
Hus & Hem is arranged with admirable Scandi homeware and accouterment (plus there’s a appropriate Christmas allowance – analysis out the awakening board santas by Kay Bojesen). The tiny Three Counties Cider Boutique has over 100 to accept from and you can try afore you buy. Browse Tinsmiths for aboriginal artisan prints and admirable quilts, and Letterpress posters by bounded close Tilley Printing. The Three Counties Bookshop on the High Artery caters for all bookish needs, and amuse sweet-toothed accompany with a little article from The Velvet Bean Chocolates adverse Homend Arcade Mall – the handmade truffles are fabricated with chrism from bounded farms.
PitstopLedbury has some ablaze old apprenticeship inns. On a cobbled street, the 16th-century Prince of Wales is a locals’ favourite, with acceptable pub grub, a best of absolute ales and ciders, and a continued gin menu. The Seven Stars is one of the oldest pubs in town, and has a abundant restaurant and its own farm.
Where to stay
At The Seven Stars there’s bound weekend availability in three apartment in November and December (doubles from £69 allowance only, £90 Fri and Sat). The Talbot – addition celebrated pub, with a wood-panelled dining allowance – has added six bedrooms in the Old Stable Cottage, bringing the absolute to 13 (from about £150 B&B at the weekend in November and December).
Why go?Combine full-on Christmas acclamation with arcade on blithely lit lanes abounding of absolute retailers, or in the abounding bright arcades. The division brings affluence of camp nightlife, such as the Gatsby Club 1920s winter brawl (£18, 25 November), or Christmas cine nights at Sloans bar (£15.95 for two including hot snack). The hunky abundance backdrop aural accessible ability bolsters its appeal.
Best buys
The West End is arranged with absolute stores, such as 150-year-old Napiers the Herbalists (61 Cresswell Street), with its admirable ambit of accustomed face articles and teas, including the abstracted Superbitch brew. At 388 Byres Road, aces up a asset pudding candle from Shearer Candles, accustomed in 1897. Appealing Ashton Lane, acclaimed for its pubs, looks admirable with Christmas lights, and has little allowance stalls over the blithe weekends, as does Merchant Square in town.
The giftshops of the city’s galleries and museums are a abundant antecedent of presents. Try the Gallery of Avant-garde Art (Royal Exchange Square) for mugs, accoutrements and socks adorned with art masterpieces; Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Architectonics (Argyle Street) for arts and crafts prints and jewellery; or acquisition aggregate from all the museums calm at the Glasgow Museums Abundance in the St Enoch Centre. In Finnieston, The Boutique of Interest (1058 Argyle Street) has some absorbing cardboard build-your-own Scottish accommodation kits, arbitrary wrapping paper, and bangles fabricated from skateboards.
PitstopFairy lights add a twinkly Christmas blow at the Stravaigin (28 Gibson Street), whose blithe December cafeteria card (book ahead) includes Lebanese mutton borsch and clementine and almond trifle. Post-shop, hit the whisky bar of baking Òran Mór (Byres Road) for a abating malt, or the Ben Nevis (1147 Argyle Street), which has alive folk acts (Weds, Thurs and Sun) and a roaring accommodation fire.
Where to stayZ Auberge (December weekend doubles from £105 allowance only) has apparent brick bench and wood-panelled bedrooms.
Why go?
The best adult Christmas lights in Europe – swaths of chandeliers and crystals rather than aflame reindeer – brighten avenues of palaces and cathedrals about the Austrian capital, and the admirable barrio of the tree-lined Ringstrasse about the old centre. There are blithe concerts and choir recitals all over the burghal – abundant Peterskirche is the best atmospheric. There are abundant Christmas markets, too, which the authorities are attempting to accumulate tasteful and tat-free, and an addition Winter at the MQ accident in the architectonics division to annul them, with avant-garde pop-up confined and music.
Best buysCakes, sweets and annoying treats! At the Address boutique (Stephansplatz 7) buy nougat waffles with a account of St Stephen’s Cathedral; savour Lipizzaner assurance from the eponymous abundance (Stephansplatz 6), sweets fabricated of nougat, marzipan and chocolate; or candied rose petals, chocolates and accomplished sachertorte from the admirable Demel (Kohlmarkt 14).
Viennastore (Herrengasse 5) has fun souvenirs, such as appropriate amateur breading bowl for authoritative wiener schnitzel, Gustav Klimt pencil cases, and Mozart-shaped cookie cutters.
Head to the seventh commune for abnormal accouterment stores. A accumulation could accomplish use of Lucie (€35pp for a accumulation of 6-8) who runs themed three-hour arcade tours such as “young designers in hip areas”.
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Dursley home on TV's Grand Designs tonight | Gazette Series | Grand Designs Tree House GloucestershirePitstop
A hot bag of buzz chestnuts from a angle will alone sustain you for so long. The burghal is acclaimed for its coffee houses and pastry shops. Hop into a roastery for a alleviative – Naber (Wipplingerstrasse 25) has four types of espresso; Wiener Rösthaus (Tigergasse 33) is olde worlde; and Bistro Schwarzenberg (Karntner Ring 17), the oldest “concert cafe” on the Ringstrasse, is a song of marble, assumption and glass. Listen to alive piano while sipping a coffee topped with aerated cream, and amount up on cheese strudels, dumplings and goulash.
Where to stay
At MuseumsQuartier, in the 25 Hours Auberge (two-night minimum break end of November and December, from about €170).
Getting thereEasyjet flies from Gatwick, Bristol, Edinburgh, Manchester and Luton to Vienna from about £200 acknowledgment over November and December weekends.
Why go?Of all Italian cities, Naples does Christmas with the best appetite – the celebrated centre sparkles with blithe lights, artery musicians army actuality for the division ... and this is the home of the presepe, or Christmas crib. Year round, craftsmen assignment on their bearing achievement – which is proudly displayed in squares and churches. See celebrated examples at the architectonics of San Martino – Presepe Cuciniello has added than 450 figures. Neapolitans booty adroitness seriously, in aggregate from cossack to food, so visitors will acquisition great-quality gifts, and eat able-bodied here, too.
Best buys
Don’t go home after some bearing figurines – via San Gregorio Armeno is “crib street”, lined with stalls and shops affairs all address of bassinet arena essentials and added decorations (spot annihilation from pizza makers to politicians and footballers amid the babyish Jesus’s entourage). Via Toledo is the capital arcade street, with the admirable art deco Galleria Umberto I arcade. All the high-end artist shops are actuality (and markets affairs fakes), but arch to family-run Scriptura on via San Sebastiano for soft, handmade covering bags, purses and jackets at reasonable prices; or to Finamore for elegant, handmade shirts and accessories for men.
Naples is one of the best foodie cities in Italy: banal up on top bounded wines, limoncello, cheese (squidgy addle mozzarella) and bologna at delis such as Charcuterie Esposito, or amber at Gay Odin – it has been in business back the 19th aeon and has eight shops about town.
PitstopLike best of Italy, Naples is fuelled by coffee – bottomward an espresso at celebrated Gran Caffe Gambrinus or the beneath acclaimed (and cheaper) Caffe’ Mexico on Piazza Dante. In a burghal that’s alike with pizza, the best is amaranthine – Sorbillo in the old centre or Pizzeria Cafasso on via G Cesare are accepted with locals – and artery aliment candy such as arancini (fried rice balls) or deep-fried courgettes are everywhere. Attending out for blithe foods at bakeries about town, such as strufoli (dough assurance decrepit in honey) and roccocó (a hard, doughnut-shaped biscuit).
Where to stay
Casa del Monacone (doubles from £46) is a admirable B&B in a aloft abbey in the axial Sanità area. It has bound weekend availability in November and December, but affluence midweek, and is abundant value. Attico Partenopeo (doubles from £110 at weekends) is a B&B in a 15th-century building, with a abundant roof terrace and eight adequate rooms
Getting thereOptions accommodate easyJet from Bristol, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted, from about £75 acknowledgment over weekends in the countdown to Christmas.
Why go?The fairytale atmosphere of Amsterdam comes to activity in winter. The canals – with balmy lights lining the bridges – attending decidedly bewitched on a chill evening, while the aphotic copse interiors of the city’s amber cafes are hardly so inviting. It’s the absolute ambience to get into the blithe spirit – and affect some Christmas shopping.
Best buys
For a mix of boutiques, best and specialist shops – with stopoffs in galleries, confined and cafes – arch to De Negen Straatjes, a abridged of nine streets in the aqueduct commune amid Herengracht and Keizersgracht. For the best of Dutch design, admirable ability and big-ticket appliance to ogle, bead by Droog. 290sqm is addition abstraction abundance affairs different and limited-edition products, from accouterment and accessories to bikes and books. Stocking fillers can appear in the anatomy of stroopwafels (caramel waffles), artisan gouda (head to De Kasskamer), and tasteful jotter from affordable homeware abundance HEMA.
PitstopIn De Negen Straatjes, stop by chichi and basal Bistro Libertine for a bottle of wine and a pizzetta. In the evening, analyze above the acceptable burghal and cantankerous the Ij to Amsterdam Noord for a meal in Auberge de Goudfazant, in a aloft car garage. Afterwards, arch to De Ceuvel, a cafe, bar, accident breadth and “urban oasis” in a aloft shipyard.
Where to stay
The Hoxton is a air-conditioned but agreeable auberge that draws calm the history of Dutch aqueduct abode architectonics with the country’s architectonics ancestry (doubles from €119 including breakfast bag). Aloof east of the burghal is Volkshotel, a active auberge with a rooftop restaurant and club (from about €238 for a two-night weekend allowance alone in December).
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Dursley couple create an incredible treehouse that's 40ft above ... | Grand Designs Tree House GloucestershireGetting thereEasyJet has flights over December weekends for about £90-£150 acknowledgment from Bristol, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and London airports including Southend. Flybe operates from East Midlands, Exeter, Doncaster, London City, Manchester and Southampton from about £125 return. Acknowledgment trains with Eurostar via Brussels from £185.
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Grand Designs: Spray Foam Tree House | Home Logic | Grand Designs Tree House Gloucestershire["933.14"]
Dursley couple create an incredible treehouse that's 40ft above ... | Grand Designs Tree House Gloucestershire["434.56"]
The story behind a 'treehouse' near Stroud, will feature on Kevin ... | Grand Designs Tree House Gloucestershire["736.23"]
YOPA » Dreaming Of A Grand Designs Home? These 5 Properties Are ... | Grand Designs Tree House Gloucestershire