Your weekend away: Need to unwind? Recharge your batteries? Have fun? Well, take a break... on your doorstep

Your weekend away: Need to unwind? Recharge your batteries? Have fun? Well, take a break... on your doorstep

PUBLISHED: 17:45 EST, 8 February 2013 | UPDATED: 18:51 EST, 10 February 2013

Six of the best breaks with a difference

One: Take tea with llamas

Something different: Sample falconry at Swinton

Enjoy a very unusual cream tea on a llama walk from Devon's Newcott Farm. As you stroll across Dartmoor, the llamas carry a pack containing a traditional tea for you to have alfresco. Stay in the farm's Wren Cottage from £190 for two nights in March, including the llama walk. Tel: 01364 631489, www.newcott-farm.co.uk.

Two: Learn polo

Take a lesson at the Guards Polo Academy at Coworth Park, Ascot, Berkshire. Training is provided by expert players and prices start from £160 for an hour-long class. Stay at Coworth Park from £258 a night. Tel: 01344 638530, www.coworthpark.com.

Three: Discover falconry

Sample this ancient art at Swinton Park near Ripon, Yorkshire.

The Falconry Experience, in which you learn to handle birds of prey, costs £71 with lunch for two. Rooms from £255 a night, full board. Tel: 01765 680900, www.swintonpark.com.

Four: Dig up the past

Step back in time on this archaeological break at Hell Bay Hotel on Bryher, Isles of Scilly. Explore historical sites including royal castles as well as Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements with a guide. A four-night break between 15 and 19 March costs £730 per person, including travel from Penzance. Tel: 01720 422947, www.hellbay.co.uk.

Five: Solve a murder

Become a sleuth at a dinner hosted by The Killing Game. From 16-17 March a fictional family birthday at New Hall Hotel in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, will end in murder and you have to work out whodunnit. From £152.50 per person. Tel: 03300 882851, www.killinggame.co.uk.

Six: Become a blacksmith

Ferric Fusion in St Clears, Carmarthen, teaches you to turn molten metal into beautiful baskets and candlesticks. A 2-day course from 23-24 March is £260 per person, www.ferricfusion.co.uk. Stay at Lolfa Cynin, doubles from £69 a night. Tel: 01994 232773, www.lolfacynin.co.uk.

Romantic weekend away at Pennyhill Park

Romance in the air: Pennyhill Park Hotel & Spa, Bagshot

Check into the 19th-century Pennyhill Park and you'll step into a haven of quintessentially English elegance and luxury. From the impeccably polite, liveried staff, to the entrance hall complete with overstuffed sofas and a crackling log fire and the 123 acres of manicured parkland around the hotel, it's like having access to your own country house â€" albeit one with an incredible spa.

There are no less than eight pools, ranging from the blue oasis of the main one, which plays underwater music as you swim leisurely laps, to a heated outdoor pool.

You can bask in steam rooms and saunas, lounge on heated beds, relax in hydrotherapy tubs where powerful jets of water melt away everyday stresses, take refreshing ice-cold dips or pick from an indulgent menu of treatments. 

After a hard day at the spa you can refuel with a Michelin-starred feast at the Latymer restaurant, where chef Michael Wignall has created a ten-course tasting menu. Alternatively, chill out in your room, pick a movie from the DVD menu and order in popcorn to create your own private cinema.

Visit the sets starring on TV. This Week: The Historic Dockyard, Chatham

Location

The Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, has become a mecca for TV dramas thanks to its well-preserved buildings and access to water. It's currently featuring regularly in Call The Midwife on BBC1 and on ITV's Mr Selfridge.

The Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, is currently featuring regularly in Call The Midwife and Mr Selfridge

What To See

The place is a treat for lovers of all things waterborne. Learn about the history of the docks or clamber aboard three different warships, including Cavalier, a World War II destroyer. The Dockyard is open from next weekend, 10am-4pm, with a family ticket costing £47. www.thedockyard.co.uk.  

How To Get There

Follow the brown tourist signs from junction one of the M2/A2. Chatham is about an hour from Victoria station by train.

Where To Stay

cast of Mr Selfridge visited four-star Bridgewood Manor, Chatham. Double rooms from £75 a night, www.qhotels.co.uk. The two-star St George Hotel, Chatham, has single rooms from £39 a night, www.laterooms.com.

The cast of Mr Selfridge visited four-star Bridgewood Manor, Chatham