The teahouse serves a fabulous afternoon tea with traditional Javanese snacks cooked to order, cakes and fresh local tea and coffee, in an attractive Javanese setting, with very pleasant staff. Then wander round the hotel which is full of artefacts and historical and cultural treasures.

www.tuguhotels.com
Jl. Tugu no. 3, Malang, Indonesia
+62 341 363891
Google map: bit.ly/VPZVtb

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A beautiful picturesque area in central Bali. It is still very underdeveloped, no mass tourism or big hotel chains. A quiet little gem and a refreshing change from the more touristic areas of south Bali and Ubud. A beautiful locally run place is called Sawah Indah villa, absolutely gorgeous, (check out the tiling in the bathrooms) tastefully decorated and they offer reasonably priced tours to Mount Agung. There are also other options in Sideman but I must say this is my favourite. The food is nothing to shout about in Sideman, but I am a veggie so my options are limited. I would definitely recommend eating local food rather than western food, which is not very inspiring. If you get the opportunity to go to a ceremony at the local temple, don't miss it. A truly magical place, lots of great gentle walks through the rice fields and the view of Mount Agung will take your breath away.

www.sawahindahvilla.com
Br. Tebola, Sidemen, Karangasem 80846, Indonesia
+62 878-6235-9383
Google map: bit.ly/TZbMFI

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It is a lovely peaceful guesthouse, perfect for an idyllic break away from the crowds and is located in Greece, on the beautiful mount of Pelion, in a village called Portaria. Klio, who runs the guesthouse, is the perfect host and had a lot of suggestions for day trips in the surrounding area, which has many interesting sights.
Αmazing landscapes full of forests, breathtaking views over the sea, spectacular beaches and many picturesque villages in the area.
The hotel is surrounded by a nice garden. All the rooms of Klio are very clean and built according to the traditional style of Pelion.
It is uses a stone which is produced only on this mountain.

www.klio-pelionportaria.gr
+30 24280 99222

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Marrakesh offers so many choices, that it was hard to decide, but Riyad Al Moussika has been the right one.
We spent a weekend in this spot of beauty and we were totally satisfied. I share completely all the positive reviews and me too I highly recommend this place.

www.riyad-al-moussika.com
62, derb Boutouil - Kennaria
Marrakech
+212 524 389067
Google map:

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I spent with my husband four nights in Muhlisbey Hotel. On arrival we were offered free tea, water or coffee. Front desk staff gave us all the information we were looking for and took excellent care about our needs all the time. The room was really small but you are not here to stay in the room! They were very clean and tidy, furniture and equipment is new, hotel was fully restored and open in last month. The location is just in the heart of old Istanbul city. It takes only five minutes walk to Blue Mosque as well as Hagia Sofia. It is the perfect base point for exploring Istanbul due to the tram, bus and Orient Express connection. I would recommend Muhlisbey Hotel to all who would like to have value for their money! You will feel really welcome there!

muhlisbeyhotel.com/
Cankurtaran Mah. Tevkifhane Sok. No:12 Sultanahmet 34122 İstanbul
+90 (212) 518 00 30
Google map: bit.ly/Rw4e1g

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McCarthy’s Bar* says this is the best bar in the world. Outside it looks like my old cub-hut, inside the floorboards are bare. The pictures tell the stories: a young Queen Elizabeth II; framed WWI dreadnoughts; and, still arousing, a fifties-era Vargas pin-up girl in a negligee. Noël Coward, Kipling and King George V drank here. No longer a colonial capital, Levuka is quiet now; offshore is Wakaya, the hideaway island where the unfortunate Keith Richards fell out of a tree.

*page 119


Stay:
Royal Hotel. Sensational! Genuinely unchanged since colonial days. Fiji's oldest hotel. In the snooker room you can easily imagine the joking and laughter of long-departed flying-boat crews - their pictures are still on the walls. Real value - a few £s a night.

Eat
Whale’s Tale
Good local dishes. Try breadfruit here, it’s good.

Ovalau Club, Totogo Lane, Levuka, Ovalau, Fiji.

goo.gl/maps/a68Fv

(No findable phone number, or website, or email - it's that kind of place!)

Royal Hotel
Robbies Lane, Levuka
www.royallevuka.com
Phone: + 679 344 00 24

Whale's Tale
Whale's Tale
Beach St. Centre of town.
Phone: + 679 344 0235

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The Belvedere in Stonehaven offers shelter and a hot meal on a dark winter’s afternoon: a most welcome sight after our nippy adventure along the coast. We celebrated our third wedding anniversary by clambering around the algae-covered Dunnottar Castle, which stands on a craggy rock that juts out into the ocean. We discovered dripping caves and gazed over the misty North Sea, then booked in to a cosy, well-heated room. Large windows, with a view onto the garden, filled the room with fading orange sunlight. In this serene setting, with our tea and biscuits, we felt no need to turn on the flat-screen TV or use the wifi.

www.belvederestonehaven.co.uk/
41 Evan Street, Stonehaven, Kincardineshire
+44(0)1569 762672
Google map: bit.ly/QF8efI

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It is a very clean hostel with private rooms with their own bathroom. We had a triple room with bathroom for 240 RMB. The staff are friendly and there is always lots going on. You can book tours through the hostel to see the Terracotta Warriors or Han Yang Lee museum which is smaller but much quieter but in a beautiful setting. You can buy western food here or try local Chinese restaurants nearby for a quarter of the price.

www.itisxian.com/English/
Nanxin Street, Xincheng, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China, 710002
+86 29 8728 7772
Google map: bit.ly/U1zGRF

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A recently rescued old boozer in a spectacularly remote Yorkshire dale, the Queens Arms is the kind of village pub you dream about. Great local beer and the kind of fabulous food which if it came out of a suburban kitchen would require much deeper pockets. Upstairs, four cosy, immaculate bedrooms with beams and crisp white cotton linen and outside any number of stunning walks from the door.

www.queensarmslitton.co.uk
Litton, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 SQJ +44(0)1756 770096
Google map: bit.ly/XT9a31

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With the Red Lion at Stiffkey, North Norfolk, you get the best of both worlds. Newly built, eco-friendly modern accommodation with power showers, warm heating and comfortable beds and a pub, dating back to the 1600s whose character is allowed to speak for itself with flag-stoned floors, ancient beams and log fires. Mussels are a speciality here, not just the classic white wine and garlic, but more adventurous choices such as mussels with curried potato and spinach. There’s nothing better than a wind-swept walk along the sea-marsh, accessible straight from the pub and coming back to a plate of mussels in front of a roaring log fire, washed down with a pint of Norfolk Wherry, knowing a comfy bed awaits. Dogs allowed.

www.stiffkey.com
44 Wells Road, Stiffkey, Norfolk NR23 1AJ
+44(0)1328 830552
Google map: bit.ly/TkWSJY

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I stayed at the beginning and end of my recent stay in Turkey. The first time I was "upgraded" to a beautiful beautiful room! On the end stay, it was a regular room, but still very nice - and good value for the price. The staff were incredible, courteous, and helpful. The location - across from the Four Seasons Hotel could not have been better. The rooftop restaurant with a fantastic view had a very good breakfast buffet and good dinner as well. I would definitely stay again.

muhlisbeyhotel.com/
Cankurtaran Mh., Tevkifhane Sokak 12, 34122 Istanbul, Turkey
+90 212 518 0030
Google map: bit.ly/T9nCMR

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It's a pub with rooms in a pretty honey-stone village just outside Yeovil, and a walk from NT property Montacute; the perfect stop-off if you're doing the trek to the far West Country from London and don't want to do it all in one go. The Mason's Arms is a friendly, proper pub rather than a gastropub with designer pretensions, with hearty food and its own microbrewery (the beer was delicious, but the quantities the landlord makes are so small, you'll rarely find it anywhere else). The rooms have some luxury extras that you don't usually find in a pub stay (robes, decent toiletries), especially considering the price - £85 for a double, which included a great breakfast.

www.masonsarmsodcombe.co.uk/
41 Lower Odcombe Yeovil BA22 8TX, United Kingdom
+44(0)1935 862591
Google map: bit.ly/ScxjeO

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Not far from the beaches and birdwatching of the Norfolk coast, few drinkers in the bar or diners in the busy restaurant at the Gin Trap realise that there are three traditional bedrooms with luxury en suite bathrooms available at this friendly country pub. In winter we've stayed there and returned from walks along the beach at Hunstanton to a roaring fire, and in summer we've sat in the sunny garden over a drink before an excellent meal with local specialities like samphire (and advice on how to eat it). I like the proper vegetarian items at breakfast - pancakes with blueberries or French toast with fresh fruit - alongside the more traditional menu.

www.gintrapinn.co.uk/
6 High Street, Ringstead, Norfolk PE36 5JU
+44(0)1485 525264
Google map: bit.ly/S7JbA2

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An amazing pub with whisky themed rooms in the heart of malt whisky country. For a whisky fan you could not ask for more - great atmosphere, delicious food, comfortable rooms and probably the largest selection of glenfarclas single malts in the world. And it's located right on the Speyside way long distance walking route so you can use your own steam to visit many of the local distilleries. What a place to have a few drams and rest your head for a night! Found it so good had my wedding celebration there! Wow!

www. mashtun-aberlour.com
8 Broomfield Square, Aberlour, Speyside, Scotland, AB38 9QP
+44(0)1340 881771
Google map: bit.ly/XvVP0q

Nearest train station: Elgin

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The Wheatsheaf hotel and pub in Virginia Water is set in an ideal location as it is right by Virginia Water Lake and Windsor Great Park. It is cosy with its open fireplaces and it has a large beer garden at the back. The inn welcomes families for dining and staying. Traditional, freshly cooked English food and light bites are available.
For a bit of history, King George III and Queen Charlotte are known to have stayed at the inn in the early 1800s.

www.chefandbrewer.com/pub/wheatsheaf-hotel-virginia-water/c4306/
London Road, Virginia Water, Surrey GU25 4QF
+44(0)1344 842057
Google map: bit.ly/RPdXMJ

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Fab country pub. While on our way home we stopped off for a drink, but the warm log fire and the snow falling outside lured us to stay the night. Friendly staff, tasty food in a cosy ambience combined for a lovely spur of the moment night away.

www.castleinndartmoor.co.uk/
Lydford, Devon, EX20 4BH
+44(0)1822 820241
Google map: bit.ly/TUdgBx

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Absolutely fantastic pub with rooms. Top notch food, lovely and comfy rooms, often a guy playing piano in the bar, and breakfast to die for. Owner Philip is a delightful host.

www.thedevonshirearms.com
Long Sutton, Langport, Somerset, TA10 9LP
+44(0)1458 241271
Google map: bit.ly/WnfL4b


Yeovil nearest station

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You must book a room with a view of the dale. The spectacular view alone would be enough to make this pub a contender for the best in Britain. On our first visit we only stopped for a drink in the beer garden – but then couldn’t resist the homemade soup. Since then we have returned a number of times and stayed overnight. We’ve never yet been disappointed with the food, drink or the welcome.

www.monsalhead.com/
Monsal Head, Bakewell, Derbyshire DE45 1NL
+44(0)844 288 739
Google map: bit.ly/U9dXJC

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How do you turn a three night break into a week long holiday? You can't, but The Glenuig Inn in Glenuig on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula in Scotland came close. With a restaurant serving local food so fresh it slaps you in the face, simple but classy en-suite rooms and an en-suite ocean with a landlord come walking/kayaking guide to boot it is easy to fill long summer days and cosy winter nights feeling quite isolated from the world. It's also close to the gateway to the Ferries and Islands.
You can kayak with basking sharks, walk to deserted crofting villages and inaccessible bays or just sit and watch the golden eagles soaring. The finest kippers I have ever eaten from a local smoke house started the days with a mouthful of heaven and I even managed to catch my own supper. It has also been built, and is run, to the highest eco friendly standards. Everything is recycled except for the experience.

www.glenuig.com
Lochailort, Inverness-Shire, Scotland PH38 4NG
+44(0)1687470219
Google map: bit.ly/UP1aOT

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This fine pub fits into a bend in the young River Esk – you can enjoy looking at the wildlife from the open terrace in the summer. Inside there’s a traditional bar and a superb restaurant featuring locally produced cuisine. Try the jugged hare then follow it with celebration of rhubarb – crumble, syllabub, jelly and sorbet, the ultimate pudding! Upstairs there’s a spacious family room sleeping four – you can put the kids to bed then spend the evening sampling the landlord’s personally collected stash of malts.

www.theboardinn.com/Site/Home.html
Lealholm, Whitby, North Yorkshire, Y021 2AJ
+44(0)1947 897279
Google map: bit.ly/UP1xJ2

stay@theboardinn.com

Lealholm is in the North Yorkshire National Park and has its own railway station

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