Take Me There
Cornwall has no shortage of sleek seaside retreats but now it's Devon's turn to get in on the act with the reopening of the Salcombe Harbour Hotel. The new owners have spent millions turning this tired hotel into a luxurious waterfront retreat, with a spa and a restaurant overseen by Michelin-starred chef Alex Aitken. The style throughout is crisp and nautical, and many of the bedrooms have balconies overlooking Salcombe estuary. Poolside cabanas, a cinema room and a Crustacean Bar serving up seafood complete the picture. The hotel opens on 15 August with rooms from £295 per night (salcombe-harbour-hotel.co.uk)
It's a good time to… take a literary break
Hotel du Vin has teamed up with Random House to introduce a series of writing courses hosted by top authors, as well as literary events and a book of the month club. The Writers' Academy will launch in September at Hotel du Vin, Harrogate, with an introduction to crime writing hosted by the lecturer and playwright Henry Sutton and SJ Watson, author of the thriller Before I Go to Sleep (20–21 September, thewritersacademy.co.uk). Future Hotel du Vin weekends will be dedicated to different literary genres, with an introduction to writing children's literature taking place in Brighton in January.
It's not the first time the publishing and hotel industries have joined forces. In the 1930s Foyles began a series of literary lunches at the Dorchester, and more recently the Radisson Blu Edwardian became the first UK hotel to launch a book club.
If reading rather than writing is more your thing, the Turnberry Resort in Ayrshire, Scotland has made a fixture of its popular reading weekends hosted by the journalist Damian Barr. The next one takes place on 18-20 October and features a guest appearance from novelist Patrick Gale (turnberryresort.co.uk/reading-weekend).
Give me a break: the week's best deals
Family adventure Book a family adventure holiday at Preseli Venture in Pembrokeshire for four people or more and one child goes free. Prices at the activity centre are from £479 for adults and £375 for children for a five-day break, starting on 26 August. Activities on offer include coasteering, surfing and sea kayaking with beach campfires in the evening and lodge accommodation (preseliventure.co.uk)
Ibiza clubbing Hit the closing parties in Ibiza this September with a week's holiday from £339pp. The offer is with British Airways and includes seven nights' self-catering accommodation at the three-star Aparthotel Reco des Sol in San Antonio – home to clubs Es Paradis and Eden, and the famous Café del Mar – and return flights from Gatwick (ba.com/holidayfinder)
