Travel

Out to play: the UK's best day trips, activities and nights out this week


Anish Kapoor at Houghton Hall, Norfolk

The latest show by the artist known for his large-scale abstract sculptures includes the famous five-metre-high dish-shaped Sky Mirror, and a series of anatomically influenced pieces, called Grace, Liver and Sophia, carved from pink marble. There are 24 sculptures on show, along with a selection of drawings and smaller works from Kapoor’s 40-year career. Originally due to open in March in the grounds of 18th-century Palladian house Houghton Hall, the exhibition was delayed by coronavirus, and will nowrun until 1 November. Other than the shop, cafe, and the Stone Hall and Red Saloon rooms, the house itself remains closed.
£16 adult, under-18s free, houghtonhall.com

Platform at Argyle Street Arches, Glasgow

Platform food and drink venue in Glasgow, UK.

From slow-cooked beef brisket curry with Asian slaw to miso-glazed aubergine with rainbow pickles, plus falafel bowls, fish tacos and more, Platform has extended its capacity to create a huge street-food-style venue with table service(350 seats across a 35,000 sq ft space). There is ample room for social distancing at this venue underneath Glasgow Central station. Navigating the post-lockdown diningscene, Gallus Pasta, Tiny Dancers and Ginger & Chilli are among traders creating dishes (ordered via an app or the website), initially every Friday and Saturday from noon until late. There’s also an onsite brewery serving local ales and inventive cocktails, plus a series of special events (to be announced).
platformgla.co.uk

National Trust houses

Petworth House, West Sussex.
Petworth House, West Sussex. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Seven National Trust properties in England and Northern Ireland are open once more – as part of a phased reopening strategy. Tickets need to be pre-booked for timed entry (released online weekly, from £5 adult, £2.50 child). Many of the trust’s parks and gardens are already open and more of the buildings are expected to follow later in the year. Houses already welcoming visitors include Tudor manor Barrington Court in Somerset with its rose, iris and lily gardens; Venetian palace-style Kingston Lacy in Dorset (varied grounds from Japanese and kitchen gardens to heathland and iron-age hill forts); Regency-era Lyme in Cheshire; Oxburgh in Norfolk; Petworth in West Sussex​; the Argory in County Armagh and Packwood in Warwickshire.
nationaltrust.org.uk

Kayaking on Beaulieu River, New Forest

Kayaking at New Forest Activities

Home to kingfishers, deer and moon jellyfish in the summer months, the Beaulieu River is a wildlife-rich nature reserve and private estuary near Lyndhurst in Hampshire. Family-friendly two-hour kayaking trips exploring the waters – where the New Forest meets the Solent – include a training session with paddling techniques before exploring hidden creeks surrounded by oak woods, saltmarshes and historic villages (from £37pp, age 12+). Distance covered depends on the tide. Dogs also welcome.
newforestactivities.co.uk

Gulliver’s Valley, South Yorkshire

Dinosaur models and visitors at a Gulliver's Valley theme park.

Loosely based on the 1726 novel by Jonathan Swift, family-friendly theme park Gulliver’s has opened a fourth site close to Rotherham, its largest to date. Aimed at 2 to 13-year-olds, Gulliver’s Valley has more than 50 rides and attractions across multiple themed areas, including Western World, Toyland, Smuggler’s Wharf, Lost Jurassic World and Lilliput Land (masks required on rides, day tickets from £21, under 90cm free). Indoor rides are expected to open later in the year. To extend the fun for a weekend break, the park has onsite accommodation (from £199 a night for a family of four) in self-catering lodges, treehouses and family bunk rooms, all a few minutes’s drive from the nature reserves and watersports centre of Rother valley country park .
gulliversvalleyresort.co.uk

Coastal horse riding, Exmoor

Horse Rider at Tarr Steps, in Autumn, Exmoor National Park, UK
Photograph: Jim Johnston

With trails around moorland, ancient woods and coastal hills – and more than 300 miles of bridleways – Exmoor national park is a great option for an equestrian adventure. It’s also home to Exmoor ponies, a native British species that still roams semi-wild in herds, grazing the rough pastures. There are various options to explore on a rather more tame horse, with Exmoor Riding Centre (from £30pp), depending on age and experience – from small ponies for little children and short routes for beginners, to half- and full-day trips with plenty of trotting and cantering, for more seasoned riders.
exmoorridingcentre.co.uk

Shelter Hall Raw, Brighton

Shelter Hall Raw, Brighton

This pop-up food hall – inside a Victorian-era rotunda – on the seafront brings together a mix of stalls run by local chefs. Pizza and gelato from Fatto A Mano, vegan burgers from Smorls, and hot sub sandwiches, homemade pies and black pudding scotch eggs from GB Charcuterie, are among current offerings. Later in the year, there are plans to host live music in the venue, which is currently open 11am-11pm daily (midnight Friday-Saturday, 9pm Sundays), with seating inside and out. Sessions Market, the company behind the hall, aims to support young chefs through its Sessions Academy, working with them on food concepts and investing to help them to set up shops of their own – and allocating them space in the food hall in the future.
shelterhall.co.uk

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