UK holidays: deals of the day

Treat a loved one to a night of romance at a Lancashire hotel where Edward Prince of Wales and Mrs Simpson once stayed. Farington Lodge, a listed Georgian country house near Preston, is offering a one-night break with dinner and breakfast, as well as a bouquet of flowers and bottle of champagne on arrival for £145 (for two people). It is available until the end of the year. Book through Classic Lodges (0845-603 8892; http://www.classiclodges.co.uk/Farington_Lodge_Hotel_Preston/).

Seven nights from December 22 in ‘Tigh na Beithe Cottage’ now costs £495 (saving £100). This property, which sleeps four, is located in the pretty lochside village of Killin. The cottage, which has fishing rights on the River Lochay, is backed by the Lawers mountain range. Price includes central heating, bed linen and towels and well-behaved pets are welcome. Book through Ecosse Unique (01835 822277, www.unique-cottages.co.uk)

Save 25 per cent on weekly or short-break bookings at Sternsmill Cottage, on the outskirts of the village Quatt in the Shropshire countryside. The 19th-century cottage accommodates four people, and has access to fine walks along the River Severn and the Severn Valley Steam Railway. A three-night break currently costs £169.75 (including discount and booking charge).

Book through National Trust Cottages (0844 8002070; www.nationaltrustcottages.co.uk). Valid until December 15.

Eastern Lodge, a Victorian bed and breakfast sleeping six on the South Devon coast (01752 871450; www.easternlodge.co.uk) is offering exclusive use for a small group of family and friends over New Year. The package costs £295 per person, including three nights' accommodation, breakfast each morning, a Devon cream tea, four-course candlelit dinner on December 30, a New Year's Eve Party at the nearby Ship Inn in Noss Mayo, and dinner on New Year's Day. Available from December 30 to January 2.

A seven-bedroom property in Northumberland is available via Owners Direct (www.ownersdirect.co.uk/england/e2414.htm) for £499 for three nights. Luxuriously furnished and close to a sandy beach and restaurants, the house on the coast near Alnwick sleeps 14.

A three-night February half-term break for a family of four costs £58 (saving £58) at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Parks (0843 208 0368, www.woolacombe.com/bp). Book and pay in full by November 30 and enjoy this deal on a three-night weekend, or four-night midweek breaks, starting on February 18 or 21. Accommodation is in centrally-heated apartments and facilities include pools, cinema, 10-pin bowling and a nine-hole golf course, as well as children’s clubs and nightly entertainment.

Save £740 when renting a seven storey windmill in Norfolk this Christmas. Sleeping 15 people, the property has 360 degree views, internal beams, oak floors, a wood stove, open fires and the former workings of the old mill. Rent through HomeAway Holiday-Rentals (www.HomeAway.co.uk/p98330) for £2,960 per week.

Described as having "the best sited hot tub in Europe", Honeysuckle House cottage in the Scottish Highlands (along with its sister cottage next door) is available from December 20 to 28, for £1650 for the week (or £206 per person based on eight sharing). If you take both cottages, you will get £600 off the normal price through One Off Places (01967 402226; One Off Places)

Condor Breaks (www.condorbreaks.com) is offering a three-night break any time up to December 21 from £189 per person, including ferry and car from Weymouth, in time for the La Fête de Noué Christmas festival in Jersey. A three-night break over the same period with Fly Jersey (www.flyjersey.com) will cost from £269 per person, including flights, car hire and airport parking at Gatwick. Both breaks include three nights' accommodation based on two sharing on a bed and breakfast basis at the four-star Radisson Hotel.

Winter sun: deals of the day
City break holidays: deals of the day
UK holidays: deals of the day
Cruise holidays: deals of the day

Got a deal or discount for a UK holiday or attraction? Email ukdeals@telegraph.co.uk with no more than 50 words, following the format in the deals outlined above.

City transport 'needs improving'

City dwellers believe transport and traffic are the key elements that need to be improved to make their towns better places in which to live

City dwellers believe transport and traffic are the key elements that need to be improved to make their towns better places in which to live, a survey has shown.

Those polled put public transport, road links and parking ahead of the environment, safety and health as the first things they would improve and change if they ran a big city.

Nearly 60% of respondents cited traffic and transport as their number one city priority, with the general environment and cleanliness seen as the next most important thing.

Based on responses from hundreds of urban professionals from the UK and around the world, the survey came in a report prepared for the Philips company by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The report also said: More than half of those polled would pay more, in tax or other ways, to get better roads and public transport. Citizens are happy now but worry about the future strain on public services.

Almost 60% reckon life in their cities is getting better, but older respondents are more likely to say life is getting tougher. Many over-60s would prefer to move out of the city;

Civic authorities need to look to their own inhabitants to develop infrastructure innovation. Citizens experience city life daily, they have better knowledge of these systems and what works, so local authorities should be more prepared to cede more to citizens and develop partnerships.

Iain Scott, senior editor in the EIU's business research division, said: "We were surprised at the perceived importance of transport issues to citizens. They rate transport above access to quality healthcare and decent childcare and education when deciding what makes a city an attractive place to live."

He went on: "Despite how much city dwellers enjoy their quality of life, they are generally doubtful that their cities will be able to cope with pressures in future.

"Policymakers will therefore need to get better at proving that they have the long-term vision and resources to ensure that standards of liveability can be maintained."

UK airports enjoy 'top approaches'

Barra Airport has been listed in the world's top 10 most stunning aerial approaches

Two UK airports - one a busy inner-city hub, the other featuring a beach runway - are among the world's top 10 most stunning aerial approaches in a list published on Sunday.

London City Airport provides "a highly scenic approach over world-famous London landmarks", said jet booking company PrivateFly.com which drew up the list.

The other UK entry in the top 10 was Barra airport in Outer Hebrides where planes land on the beach and flight times vary according to the tide.

London City was described as providing "amazing views" of the 02 arena in Greenwich, with the runway described by pilots as "an aircraft carrier" for being relatively short and surrounded by water.

At Barra, "visitors and cockle-pickers share the use of the beach".

Electric car completes epic journey

AP

The SRZero became the first electric car to travel from Alaska's Prudhoe Bay to the world's southernmost city of Ushuaia in Argentina (AP)

An electric sportscar developed by British engineers has finished a remarkable road trip on the Panamerican Highway, travelling from near the Arctic Circle in Alaska to the world's southernmost city without a single blast of carbon dioxide emissions.

Developed by engineers from Imperial College London, the SRZero sportscar ran on lithium iron phosphate batteries powering two electric motors with a peak output of 400 horsepower during its 16,000-mile journey.

Powering up was a joy at times, the team said - such as in Chena Hot Springs, Alaska, where they started their trip on July 3 after charging the batteries using geothermal energy.

"The SRZero was literally being charged from energy taken straight out of the earth with absolutely zero CO2 emissions," Alex Schey, a mechanical engineer who organised the trip, wrote in his blog that day.

Finding places to plug in along the way became a major challenge as the team passed through 14 countries in 70 days of driving.

But every time the driver hit the brakes - and there was plenty of that as the team made its way through the Rocky Mountains, Mexico and Central America and then through South America - the car recovered kinetic energy, extending its capacity to drive as much as six hours and more than 250 miles on a single charge.

This was no clunky science project - all that horsepower enabled the car to reach 60mph in just seven seconds and reach top controlled speeds of 124mph, the team said.

It pulled into the city of Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego, on Tuesday afternoon.

"The success of efforts like this should motivate us to follow this road that we believe is as possible as it is necessary - that of searching for progress for our societies without putting at risk the environment," the governor of Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province, Fabiana Ros, said as she greeted the team.

Andy Hadland, the team's spokesman, said he hoped the trip would change the image of electric cars and inspire young people to become engineers and develop their own projects.

Big Apple 'a juicy treat for shops'

Britons should head to the Big Apple for big bargains on Christmas shopping, according to a survey

Britons should head to the Big Apple for big bargains on Christmas shopping, according to a Post Office survey.

Some items in New York, including jeans, toys and toiletries, are up to 55% cheaper than in London, the poll revealed.

A Jet Pack Buzz Lightyear toy costing £50 in London is just £24.27 in New York, while a pair of Levi's 501s set Londoners back £50 but are just £22.29 in New York.

The survey also showed that a 50ml Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream costing £23 in London would be £11.79 in New York.

Bargain hunters are also helped by the fact that the duty free allowance for UK citizens travelling from the USA to the UK rose earlier this year from £340 to £390.

But the survey also showed that while fashion items are invariably cheaper in New York than in London, prices for perfumes and beauty products are often higher.

The Post Office's head of travel money, Sarah Munro, said: "The duty free allowances now mean holidaymakers can bring back higher-priced gifts like the Apple iPad.

"Remember too that additional savings can be made by shopping in stores like Bloomingdales and Macys, which offer a 10% discount to UK visitors to offset the 8.8% New York sales tax."

She went on: "There are great savings to be made in New York provided that shoppers have done their homework in advance and don't assume that everything will be cheaper.

"Although most items are cheaper, the savings vary and we did find examples of popular Christmas gifts that were more expensive in New York. So it will pay to check carefully before splashing the cash."

Salt stockpiles 'enough for winter'

Philip Hammond is confident that there is enough road salt in the event of severe winter

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has said he was confident there was enough road salt in the event of severe winter weather.

He said that some salt had been imported from overseas and that a "strategic stockpile" was available if local councils ran into salting difficulties.

"I think we'll be able to cope. I am pretty confident we'll be OK," said Mr Hammond in an interview on ITV's Daybreak programme.

He said it was expensive to import salt from abroad and that there was a need for better productivity from the two main UK suppliers of road salt.

Mr Hammond said: "If local councils do have problems we can top them up."

Asked about potholes in roads, Mr Hammond said that the budget for dealing with this problem had not been cut and that £84 million from the previous Labour government had been ring-fenced.

But Mr Hammond added: "There is a huge issue with the backlog of maintenance on local roads."

AA president Edmund King said: "We welcome the Government's recommendation that local highway authorities should hold 12 days' salt supply, as last winter many had only six day's supply, which led to chaos on many local roads.

"Three quarters of AA members in a Populus poll of 20,109 last January said that their local authorities had not done well in gritting minor roads during last winter's snow, so we hope to see a better performance this year."

Work begins to remove M4 bus lane

Work to remove the bus lane on the M4 is set to begin

Work to remove an unpopular bus lane on a busy motorway is getting under way.

The 3.5-mile lane on the M4 near Heathrow Airport west of London was introduced in 1999 by then Transport Secretary John Prescott.

But it was rarely used and not always enforced, and the current Transport Secretary Philip Hammond announced earlier this autumn that the lane was being suspended until the 2012 London Olympics.

The Highways Agency will begin work on Monday night and traffic is expected to be able to use the lane later this week.

Mr Hammond said: "Scrapping the M4 bus lane is symbolic of this Government's decision to end the war on the motorist. It ends the injustice suffered by thousands of drivers who sit in traffic next to an empty lane day in day out.

"We will monitor the suspension over the next 18 months, but my intention is to scrap the lane permanently after the London 2012 Olympics are over."