Mr & Mrs J have gone ‘by the seat of their pants’! They had 3 nights booked in a hotel Hanoi and are ‘playing by ear’ after that. Very brave!

Mr & Mrs D are on an organised tour starting in Hanoi and taking in Ho Chi Minh city and a short flight to Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

I’m sure both couples will be having a holiday of a lifetime.

Where are you going next? I hope we can see you off at Gatwick after a relaxing night at Springwood.

Mombasa is Kenya’s second largest city and lies on an island in a natural harbour on the Indian Ocean coast. It’s most well known for its magnificent beaches which stretch for miles in each directions North and South. The majority of getaway guests come on package holidays for the quite a few beach resorts which inevitably line the shores, but there is ample potential for person travel as there’s a range of accommodation options and a lot to see and do aside from the attractions of the beach.

The wettest and most uncomfortable time of year is typically March to May possibly, but the rest from the year frequently has plenty of sunshine and is uniformly hot.
Off shore from several from the beaches are many coral reefs. These might be explored at low tide when the pools and reef edge provide encounters with hundreds of colourful fish and marine invertebrates. The snorkelling is fairly good, but the reefs closest to Mombasa have been somewhat damaged by more than fishing, the careless use of nets and dynamiting. Far better snorkelling and diving possibilities exist to the South of the city at several well protected marine parks and reserves within the Shimoni area.

The waterfront across the island city of Mombasa looks out over waters which have witnessed classic dhows ply to and fro by means of the ages. North Easterly trade winds allowed dhows laden with goods from Arabia to arrive and then leave once more with the South West monsoon. Ocean going dhows are a rarity nowadays, but coastal dhows can still be witnessed sailing around Mombasa and up and down the coast inside the lagoons.

Mombasa’s Old Town, with its narrow winding alleys and heavy wooden doors, is worth exploring: right here the influence of Arab traders along with the Swahili culture is most evident. Fort Jesus, more than 4 hundred years old, dates back to Portuguese control over the trade routes and acts as a museum. Additional afield as well as a half day trip away, are the Gedi ruins, which date from the Shirazi or Persian era.
Mombasa’s numerous fruit and vegetable markets along with the curio shops in around Biashara Street and Moi Avenue within the modern day city centre are very good for browsing and purchasing. Wooden carvings, curios, traditional musical instruments, kanga (skirts) and kikoi (men’s sarongs) are probably the most popular items to search for.

Inside reasonable driving reach of Mombasa lie three essential national parks. Shimba Hills National Park, up on the undulating and slightly cooler hills with the same name, towards the South of the city will be the closest of Kenya’s wildlife parks to the sea. Right here you’ll find herds of elephants and rare antelopes like roan and sable, with their magnificent swept back horns.

To the North West, on either side from the principal highway to Nairobi, are the twin wildlife parks of Tsavo East and Tsavo West. Big numbers of tours go to each these well-known parks and they’re usually the first areas that guests to Kenya see any wildlife. The distances could be large and occasionally lengthy intervals can go by devoid of seeing anything in any way, but the effort and expense is really worth it, particularly if the option is taken of staying a evening or two at 1 with the two park’s effectively equipped game lodges. Pools typically attract various game proper in front of the lodge verandahs.

Corfu lies on the northwest coast of Greece and has turn into a single from the most sought right after destination inside the Ionian Islands. It’s well known as 1 of the 1st Greek islands to be exposed to mass tourism, with several of its normal bays now scarred and damaged by multitudes of inexpensive hotels, booze bars and deafening discos. Even so, there are still sufficient peaceful spots and unspoiled beaches which attract visitors to this enchanting island.

There’s a striking contrast amongst contemporary Corfu Town, which is noted for its cosmopolitan functions, and also the peaceful inland farming communities that are far removed from the tourist trail. The isolated West, and Southwest regions, provide untamed, all-natural beaches set in dazzling scenery. In these elements, it can be effortless to find a quiet, deserted bay to invest every day or two, even inside the height with the holiday season. Numerous tourists merely do not don’t stray far from their package tour hotels on the east coast and if they do, it’s only for a brief pay a visit to.

Kerkyra, Corfu Town, the capital of Corfu resembles a piece of Italy. Its old quarter was constructed in the fourteenth century by the Venetians and is deemed to be a single of the most stylish and striking towns in Greece. The narrow streets showcase light coloured houses with roofs of red tiles. Cafes and restaurants can be identified inside the centre with the town and it’s easy to wander close to this area at a leisurely pace because the streets are site visitors totally free. Boutiques and great souvenir shops may also be discovered in this location.
The hustle and bustle of modern day Corfu could be found inside the tourist resorts which are found North of Corfu Town. Right here you will find quite a few quickly food outlets, noisy music bars and pubs that attract lively drinkers. However, Kalami, Agi and Agious Stefani, although touristy, nonetheless retain conventional Greek charm. Here it’s achievable to eat locally caught fish, dolmades and souvlaki and take pleasure in the clear, warm waters of the Ionian.

Inside the southern portion of Corfu there is a beautiful beach at Paramona which lies peacefully beneath the village of Agios Matthaios. This can be a suberb location having a small variety of hotels and apartments, several restaurants and tavernas. A couple of minutes walk from right here, bordered by olive groves, are the isolated beaches at Prasoudi and Skidi.
Lefkimi is however yet another village in the south nevertheless it is far more inaccessible therefore it has retained some classic Greek charm. Here, donkeys are still used as transport and some of its inhabitants still wear conventional dress. Its remoteness from the tourist mecca, no doubt, has helped it keep its charm.

Here we aim to keep our visitors updated with all the comings and goings that happen around our bed and breakfast in Gatwick Airport. Customer service is always at the top of our agenda at Springwood Guesthouse and we delight in adding the extra little touches that make our guests stay special.  We are now carrying this across to our website so that visitors and potential visitors can read up and discover more about our elegant hotel.

Please stay in touch and check back here regularly as we will be updating these pages frequently.

Join Our Network

We are growing our social network on the Internet and would love for any of our guests that have a Facebook account to visit our page.  You can visit our Facebook page by clicking here.  We would much appreciate visitors liking us on Facebook and of course we will return the favour upon request.

We also have extensive reviews on Trip Advisor and welcome guests to leave us a review. You can visit our Trip Advisor page here.  We appreciate all of our guests and are always hugely grateful when we receive reviews.

Morocco, for the first time visitor, typically conjures up pictures of bustling bazaars, towering minarets, hubble bubble pipes and white washed buildings set against the blue Atlantic. Marrakech, Fez and Casablanca are household names even to people that have never contemplated going there. Morocco, obviously, has the typical beach resorts, blue seas and surf that can be discovered in a hundred other tourist destinations around the planet. Even so, there is certainly far more to Morocco than this brief assortment of apparent attractions may well suggest: the High Atlas, with surprisingly green valleys, forests and snow covered peaks delivers wonderful hiking territory and the country has many seriously fascinating archaeological internet sites.

The seaside resort of Asilah or Arzila was built by the Phoenicians sometime about 1500 B.C. as a trading post and has been constructed on and more than numerous times given that, as a procession of civilisations have prospered and declined in an inevitable sequence. Today, the resort region has been sensitively created to blend in with all the remaining antiquities as well as the locals have a extremely hospitable and welcoming attitude towards tourists.

Rabat’s Bab Rouah gate was a single from the city’s original 5 entrance gates constructed within the twelfth century. The gate is large, but ornately decorated and leads to quite a few rooms, such as a gallery that showcases the perform of Moroccan artists. The capital city’s Citadel of Chellah gardens are a bit recognized place exactly where hundreds of flowers burst into bloom during the Moroccan spring. An intricately decorated gate leads guests into the gardens along with the grounds are the home to a number of Roman ruins. Nearby Mamora forest has cork, pine, wild pear and eucalyptus trees and can be a well-liked location for hiking and wildlife watching.

Just a little South of Casablanca, on the Atlantic coast, is actually a fortress constructed in 1710 called the Boulahane Kasbah. The interior from the Kasbah is lined with mosaics and beautiful decorations along with a winding staircase leads to an expansive search out over the city.
Marrakech has its El Bahia palace, constructed in the early nineteenth century as a house for the concubines of Sultan Ahmed Ibn Moussa. The palace consists of 160 rooms, courtyards, fountains and gardens. Just outside the city are the tombs of about 200 from the Saadian dynasty, which dates back for the sixteenth century. The tombs were sealed up and forgotten till rediscovered and restored by Basic Hubert Lyautey in 1917 as an essential era within the history of Morocco.

The most extensive limestone cave system in North Africa is found close to the town of Taza. This is the Friouato cave method. The access shaft is about one particular hundred meters deep and guides will take you on a tour with the cave’s rock formations such as stalactites and stalagmites.

In Timanafa National Park is located a volcanic landscape which was formed in the 1730s from a volcanic eruption. It makes up a quarter with the island so it’s tough to miss. Inside of the national park are situated the Montañas del Fuego (Mountains of Fire) plus a visitor’s centre which has displays explaining how the park was formed and also the animals and plants that are present in this barren environment.

You can find other volcanic features that will be explored on the island. One particular of these is Cueva de Los Verdos that is a series of caves and tunnels formed by a river of lava. These caves are the venue for normal orchestral performances, throughout the year, because the acoustics supply an astounding impact. Nearby could be found Jameos Del Agua that is a lava tunnel that has collapsed as a result opening it for the sky.

Forty species of birds, three species of reptile and six of mammals might be located on this barren land. The Massif de Famara is a reserve only 600 metres wide and fourteen kilometers extended nevertheless it is property to some endangered species, namely vultures, Barbary falcons and ospreys.

There is a marine park for the north of the island known as Chinijo Archipelago that is residence to 228 species of fish which are identified around the a lot of islets. Bird breeding colonies are also present, such as the white-faced storm petrel, the Cory’s shearwater, the small shearwater and two other species of petrel. Fish eagles, the Eleonora’s falcons, the Egyptian vulture or ‘guirre’ make their homes on the islands. There are also fourteen species of terrestrial invertebrates that are endemic for the islets.

These islands could be visited by charter boat and snorkelling and diving tours are also arranged. The all round mild climate is conducive to underwater activities and the undersea laval formations offer an fascinating environment for exploration. Fish species for example trumpet fish and grouper are generally spotted. An array of soft coral can also be abundant in this undersea globe.

The normal globe of Lanzarote will not finish with underwater exploration but an array of whale species use the island, each as a house and part of migration routes around the world. The commonest are long finned whales, pilot whales and Sei whales and also the smaller bottlenose dolphin. It really is possible to book a charter boat and go out and search for these brilliant marine mammals.

The Cactus Garden is rather an unusual sight on the island. It was designed by an artist known as Cesar Manrique in an old quarry that was when used to extract volcanic rock and ash. It really is now house to 1400 clearly labelled species of cactus grown on terraces.
A panorama of Lanzarote’s normal wonderland can be viewed from a amazing vantage point, accessible by car, known as Mirador Del Rio which rises out of the landscape to 479 metres.

Marine reserves on the coast assist to defend some of the world’s biggest barrier reefs and the snorkelling, diving and beaches stay the country’s main draw cards. Dolphins and turtles can quickly be observed on boat trips or by kayak inside the transparent waters along the coast and amongst the many palm fringed islets.
About forty % of Belize’s land location is protected as national park or forest reserve as well as the prospective for enthusiastic bird spotters is large with nearly six hundred recorded species of birds like tiny, brilliantly coloured humming birds and noisy macaws and toucans. There’s a wealth of other less effortlessly visible wildlife including spider and howler monkeys, armadillos and sloths as well as ubiquitous butterflies amongst a panoply of tropical insect life.

Belize is portion of the Yucatan peninsula, which it shares with its larger neighbour Mexico, and like that better known nation, is peppered with ancient Mayan websites. A number of of these, such as Lamanai and Altun Ha are effectively really worth exploring.

Belize sees almost a million guests a year today as well as the tourism dollar may be the young country’s most significant source of revenue as well as getting its most significant supply of employment. The inevitable conflict amongst protecting the atmosphere as well as the pressures from developers keen to exploit it has become fairly severe. It’s challenging to know at this stage whether the goose that lays the proverbial golden egg is going to obtain cooked within the laying method.

As in numerous other nations with an appealing coast, the conflict is greatest here, with nearly eighty % from the coastal strip already sold to condominium and resort developers. The country’s infrastructure is not nevertheless sufficient to cope together with the demands with the growing numbers of tourists, especially the ones that arrive by cruise ship.
Luckily there is evidence that the folks of Belize are becoming increasingly mindful from the long term consequences of over improvement. They are beginning to make progress in creating a far more conscious environmental policy. Guides are trained and licensed to teach tourists concerning the fragility of the coral reefs and rainforests; beach resorts are increasingly constructed to utilize solar powered lighting and lodges are constructed using recycled hardwood timber.

The Belizean motto written on its flag reads “Sub Umbra Florero”, which signifies “Under the shade (of the mahogany tree), I flourish”. Sadly, the variety of mahogany trees is significantly much less than before, but the motto is taken seriously by Belizeans within the recognition that they’ve a duty to protect their country’s remaining all-natural assets.

For those who prefer driving the Springwood Guesthouse offers short and long stay parking in Gatwick.

The island can be a haven for both outdoor activities and much more sedentary indoor attractions. Diving and snorkelling are common all year round. The very best attractions are inside the north with the island where steep drop-offs and caves abound. Well-known areas are Cirkewwa and Oawra Point. There is a night dive internet site which can be very magnificent and is named Wied Iz-Zurrieg.
Most of the beaches surrounding Malta could be identified on the northern side with the island and the very best ones are Golden Bay, Armier Bay, Ghajn Bay, Mellieha Bay and Ghain Tuffieha Bay. Much more remote sandy beaches, and really unspoilt, are Ir-Ramla and Il-Wamra. There is also an inland sea known as Il-Owra which can be filled with stunningly clear water and steep cliffs, supplying a pool which is really secluded.

The abundance of wind across the island has led to windsurfing becoming a popular pursuit as well as the best areas are Mellieha Bay, St Paul’s Bay and Bahar Ic-Caghag. For the duration of April and September, boating enthusiasts also can watch or participate in rowing regattas which take location inside the Grand Harbour. You can find excellent facilities at the Port Valletta Yacht Club, which might be enjoyed by the sailing fraternity and there is also a marina available for overnight stays.
On best of all of the modern day day pursuits, you can find some conventional lifestyles nevertheless in existence on the island. Spread along the most southerly aspect and situated in bays and inlets could be identified the fishing villages of Marsaxlokk, Marsacala and Birzebbugia. The gaily painted boats, draped in nets, jostle for space along the waterfronts, even though the locally owned tavernas serve up fresh fish every day.

Indoor actions are offered in the winter months and amongst October and Might performances are held at Manoel Theatre, which is Malta’s national theatre situated in Valletta. It has the capability to hold an audience of 600. It’s the second-oldest theatre in Europe and was constructed in 1731. It delivers performances for music lovers and for theatre, opera and ballet goers. The admission ticket covers entry towards the tiny museum which showcases the theatre’s historic past. The lunchtime performances on Wednesday are specifically properly attended and also the Christmas pantomime can be a popular occasion.

For individuals who appreciate socialising, the towns of Paceville and St Julians are at the centre of weekend night life scene and play a vital role in modern day Maltese culture. Restaurants, bars and clubs can be found in all shapes and sizes, and they cater for various pockets and tastes. Stuffed olives, artichoke fritters, whitebait fritters and classic bean paste (Bigulla) are items that may possibly appear on a menu.