The Wrap
Our journal of all things cashmere

A cycling holiday can be a great way to get to know a new destination, make new friends and even drop a few pounds: did you know that cycling at a moderate pace burns 600 calories an hour? You certainly don’t have to be super-fit – all but the most hard-core tours factor in plenty of time to explore the sights and try out local restaurants. Here are five of the latest cycle tours to catch our eye.

North Yorkshire 

Rockliffe Hall, a five-star resort hotel on the banks of the River Tees, has recently introduced a three-night/two-day cycling break

Today is the first day of Wimbledon. It isn’t just SW19 that goes tennis crazy at this time of year – all over London there are barmen concocting Wimbledon cocktails, patisseurs fashioning tennis balls out of cake, and restaurants broadcasting live matches. Here’s our pick of this summer’s Wimbledon winners.

Wimbledon afternoon tea at Ampersand Hotel, SW7

In addition to the traditional sandwiches and scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream, the Ampersand’s Wimbledon teas come with tennis balls made from coconut mousse and mango passion fruit jelly on a lime sponge tennis court, and miniature tennis rackets made from gingerbread.

Fancy getting away from it all but can’t spare the £39,000 a night it costs to rent Richard Branson’s legendary Necker Island?  Here are five less expensive ways of playing Robinson Crusoe this summer.

You don’t even have to leave the country to enjoy this lake island (above) at Swinton Park castle hotel.

Much as I love the Chelsea Flower Show, it’s not a great place to ‘simply be’ – as anyone who has ever spent half an hour queuing for a jug of Pimm’s knows. So instead of joining the crowds in SW3 this year, I went to Aberdeenshire and had this glorious glen garden all to myself.

You might not think it if you live in or near a city, but the UK has some of the least light-polluted skies in Europe, with the very darkest areas officially designated Dark Sky Parks and Dark Sky Reserves. Park or Reserve, they’re all fantastic for stargazing, or what the marketing folk call ‘astrotourism’. Combine them with a great hotel, and you’ve got a recipe for a stellar weekend.

The whole of Brecon Beacons National Park (above) was designated a Dark Sky Reserve in 2012 and on a clear night you can see all the major constellations, the Milky way, bright nebulas and – if you’re lucky – shooting stars.

Give me a nice warm hotel over a Mongolian yurt any day. But I have to admit that ‘glamping’ offers something a hotel can’t: the luxury of getting close to nature, with nothing to interrupt the peace and quiet but the pop of a champagne cork and the crackle of a wood burner. Here are five yurt camps on our current lust list, all available for exclusive use.

Trossachs Yurts, Stirling

The term ‘glamping’ was made for this three-yurt camp just outside the National Park near Stirling.

I admit my head was turned for a while by Poldark’s Cornwall, but my true love will always be Gabriel Oak’s Dorset, and I can’t wait for the new screen version of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd to open tomorrow. If the film inspires you to get to know Hardy country better, here’s where to start.

Dorset County Museum

Dorset County Museum in Dorchester has one of the world’s largest collections of Thomas Hardy memorabilia, with more than 7,000 items and a reconstruction of the author’s study.

You don’t have to sign up for a traditional evening class: there are lots of more interesting ways to become a connoisseur. Here are five of our favourite.

With Richard III safely reburied, it’s time to turn our attention to another historical figure: Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington. It’s the bicentenary the Battle of Waterloo this summer and a whole raft of events, exhibitions, tours and even a re-enactment are planned to mark it. Here are just some of the ways we can all get in the spirit.

Take a Saga Tour

Saga’s ‘Journey through History: Waterloo to Agincourt’ tour (above) begins in Kent with a walk led by a guide from the local Shorncliffe Trust. The Kent coast is studded with Martello Towers built as a defence against Napoleon, though they were never needed.

From Friday, visitors to The Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace will be able to view Henry VIII’s recently discovered gardening manual. It’s part of an exhibition called ‘Painting Paradise: The Art of the Garden‘, and perfectly timed to coincide with the reopening of some of our favourite gardens across the country. Team a visit with a stay at a great hotel nearby – or in some cases, in the garden itself. Here are four to get you in the mood for spring.

Bowood house and Gardens

The magnificent gardens at Bowood House in Wiltshire won the HHA/Christie’s Garden of the Year Award last year.