Clik here to view.
A boutique hotel an hour from Florence, La Tabaccaia, has just opened, camping has a "new" concept, plus deals of the week
Take me there: Castelfali, Tuscany
A tobacco factory in a medieval Tuscan village has been given a new lease of life as a boutique hotel. Set on the Castelfalfi estate an hour from Florence, La Tabaccaia has been sensitively restored, retaining features such as exposed beams and intricate tiled ceilings. German tour operator TUI has converted the old village and farm buildings on the sprawling 800-year-old estate into holiday apartments and villas. Developments include a golf course, deli and trattoria where you can sample the estate's wine and olive oil. This summer sees the opening of an outdoor pool and spa, and there are plans for a restaurant in the 14th-century castello. Doubles from €108. (castelfalfi.co.uk)
It's a good time to… get back to basics
Word reaches me of a new camping "concept" which has launched in the New Forest. Embers (emberscamping.co.uk), outside Beaulieu, offers a "contemporary yet classic camping experience". The concept? Find a field, charge people a small amount of money to put their tent up in it and provide hot showers, a shop and the chance to build a campfire. I'm sure it will be a big hit, but as concepts go, it's not exactly reinventing the wheel. One could argue that before the arrival of the "glampsites" with their £90-a-night yurts and eco pods, this is what camping has always been about. Still, working on the basis that every trend inspires its own backlash, it was only a matter of time before campsites started marketing themselves on the luxuries they don't provide.
Go Green Adventure Camping (gogreenadventurecamping.co.uk) is a new website dedicated to rooting out such back-to-basics sites. Aimed at experienced and well-equipped campers, most of the venues listed are orchards and working farms, with no more than five pitches allowed. Facilities are simple, if they are provided at all, but if hanging out in a wood-fired hot tub with a bunch of Hoxton hipsters is not your idea of the perfect camping trip, then it might just be worth a look.
Give me a break: the week's best deals
Home New Forest inn The Angel & Blue Pig is a newly refurbished 13th-century coaching inn in Lymington with just 12 boutique-style bedrooms, a cosy bar with leather sofas and log fires, and a restaurant. To celebrate its opening, the pub is offering £25 off its room rates, bringing the starting rate to £54 a night. Quote OPENINGS25 when booking to enjoy the offer, valid until the end of April (angel-lymington.com)
Away Cut-price Corfu CV Travel has launched a number of spring-booking incentives, including half-price deals on selected Corfu villas this April. The price of a week's rental of Villa Haroula, a pretty cottage for four with private pool in St Stephano on Corfu's north-east coast, has been cut from £1,100 to £550 on 22 and 29 April, including car hire but not flights (cvtravel.co.uk)