Autumn escapes

SCOTTISH WALKS

Visit the Scottish Highlands when the colours of autumn are on show. Wilderness Scotland offers a guided walking break exploring Applecross and Torridon.

Highlights include a walk in Beinn Eighe Nature Reserve; a high-level trail from Bealach na Ba, the highest road in the UK, across the mountain tops; hiking in the Beinn Damph Forest; strolling along the Torridon coastline looking out for otters, sea eagles and herons, and an exhilarating walk among the dramatic towering peaks.

The four-night break costs from £725 per person, including most meals, all transport during the trip from Inverness, and walking guide. Scheduled guided departures on 21 September, 16 October and 23 October.

01479-420020, www.wildernessscotland.com

APPLE DAYS

Autumn means apples and what better way to mark Apple Day – 21 October – than to learn how to bake apple oat crumble, an apple, stout and cheese loaf and apple juice, potato and caraway rolls?

Stay at Manor House Stables, near to Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, and you can join owner Sherry Forbes on one of her apple-themed day courses and workshops featuring fruit taken from the Manor House orchards. Courses include Apple Day Jams And Preserves (22 October), Apple Day Baking (24 October), and Apple Day Chocolate Making (26 October).

Available for short breaks and weekly hire, autumn prices at Manor House Stables start at £330 for The Bothy, sleeping up to three, and £360 for The Hayloft, sleeping up to four, for three nights’ self-catering.

01526-378717, www.manorhousestables.co.uk

Left: take a hike in Glen Torridon, Scotland. Right: Manor House Stables, Lincolnshire

WATCH THE BIRDIES

The Olde House, near Wadebridge, North Cornwall, has just opened its brand-new bird hideŸoverlooking 15 acres of wetlands, which link to neighbouring Walmsley Bird Sanctuary. This time of year, the region attracts rare migrating birds, including theŸAmerican bittern and the glossy ibis. Some of the most common visitors to the site include flocks of ducks such as widgeon, shoveler, gadwall and teal; winter swans; lapwing; golden plover; little egret and geese. Overall the sanctuary attracts around 40 different species.

The Olde House offers self-catering accommodation on its 550-acre working farm. A one-bedroom cottage sleeping two people for two nights costs from £180 in September and October; seven nights from £380.

0844-770 0420, www.theoldehouse.co.uk

GRAPE ESCAPE

It’s grape-picking time in France, and Les Sources de Caudalie, a privately owned luxury hotel just south of Bordeaux, offers a two-night Grape Harvesting stay from €1,400 for two. The hotel is set deep in the family’s Grand Cru vineyard, Smith Haut LaŽ tte, and guests get to cut vines with a vineyard manager, learn the secrets of making wine with a cellar master and visit the Château, followed by a wine tasting. A crate with three bottles of Château Smith Haut LaŽ tte red or white 2012 will be sent to your home.

www.sources-caudalie.com

FESTIVAL WITH FIZZ

Join in the festivities in Spain as locals celebrate Catalonia’s Cava Week, from 7 to 15 October. This free week-long festival kicks off with the procession of the Cava Queen as children follow closely behind with some of the season’s prized grapes. Once the Queen has had a glass of the first press of the season the festivities really begin, with dinners, a massive bicycle race, an art exhibition, Catalan folk music concerts and, of course, wine tastings. Stay close to the action by staying in Barcelona at the Hotel Neri in the Gothic quarter. Scott Dunn offers four nights from £980 per person including BA flights and private airport transfers.

020-3411 8427, www.scottdunn.com

Left: Castel Monastero in Tuscany, Italy. Right: Hotel Neri, in Barcelona's Gothic quarter

ITALIAN JOB

Catch the start of the mushroom and truœ e season in Italy – go foraging on a ‘mushroom walk’ at Castel Monastero, Tuscany. From mid-September, visitors can search nearby areas for truffles and porcini mushrooms, followed by a tasting menu at lunchtime.

Castel Monastero, set in a landscape of hills and vineyards, has two restaurants, with a menu created by Gordon Ramsay alongside the Resident Chef of the resort. Three-night luxury breaks with Western & Oriental in September cost from £1,030 including breakfast, flights and transfers.

020-7666 1218, www.westernoriental.com

BAREFOOT WALKS Celerina in the Engadine valley, Switzerland, has created four barefoot walks from 2.8km to 6km, across meadows, streams and forests of larch and Swiss pine. Grand Hotel Kronenhof, 5km from Celerina, has a two-night package, valid until 19 October, including dinner, bed and breakfast, 10% off spa treatments and use of local railways. From £550 for two. www.kronenhof.com

FOODIE FESTIVAL During Guernsey’s Tennerfest (1 October to 11 November) more than 100 restaurants in Guernsey, and its sister islands Sark and Alderney, offer menus starting at £10. Four nights for the price of three at the Atlantic Hotel, cost from £300 per person: 01534- 744101, www.theatlantichotel.com www.tennerfest.com



FLOWER POWER The Harrogate Autumn Flower Show takes place at the Great Yorkshire Showground from 13 to 15 September. Expect displays, expert advice, a marquee with cookery theatre and a vegetable competition. Stay at Rudding Park Hotel from £72 per person per night for dinner, bed and breakfast: 01423-871350, www.Žhotels.com  www.flowershow.org.uk