Opening Soon! Brought to Edinburgh by Gardener’s Cottage in partnership with Collective, an organization redeveloping the City Observatory into a new home for art. It’s built on a cantilever so the restaurant is suspended over Calton Hill’s northwest slope and will make for mega-watt views.

Head to Norfolk, then go Alpaca Trekking. An alternative way of traipsing the bridleways and coastal paths at Well-next-the-Sea and Stiffkey. You are not riding the Alpaca, just leading it around! Picnics are encouraged, so are sliced apples as a post-trek Alpaca treat.

Come along to the 12th Derby Folk Festival that is held annually in October. With venues all across the city, the Cathedral to the City Marquee, it is a full-on Folk Takeover. Late Night Ceilidh Bop in the ballroom of the Old Bell Hotel then potter round the Craft Fair in the Market Place.

Do the Tissington Trail, a fantastically rural, and pretty manageable 13-mile stretch of former railway from Ashbourne to the picture-perfect spa town of Buxton. Top and tail the trip with a stay at the Cow at Darlbury Lees the night before, then at the Old Hall the following eve, post-cycle.

A quintessentially British hotel that was first opened in 1834. It has very recently been revamped (only re-opening in August 2018, after a four-year closure) by swanky architect John Simpson. Each ‘suite’ comes with a private library, curated by Heywood Hill, a rather smart bookshop in Mayfair.

A stone cottage, built in 1836, sat at the foot of Calton Hill on Edinburgh’s Royal Terrace Gardens, that was originally home to the gardener. The cottage has now been transformed into a restaurant dedicated to seasonal cooking that sounds a bit too good to be true – it’s very happily, not.

The Brighton Belle, once the most famous electric train in the world is back on track after going out of service in 1972. 'The Bringing Back The Belle' project has successfully restored the train, whose Art Deco carriages were each designed by a different British design house.

Hikari Bike have invented a superb solution to the problem that no matter how vibrantly your front and back bike lights beam at night, you remain invisible when approached you side-on. The ultra-bright, waterproof and USB-rechargeable LED cable is woven through the spokes to lend an almighty beam.

Patron saint of office afternoon snacks McVitie's have had a rummage through their packaging greatest hits archive and come up for air clutching the 1980s wrapping for Digestives, Penguins and Ginger Nuts. They now adorn a brand new range of airtight vesels to keep your cookies crunchy.

British brand Swan, has extended its successful Retro range to include a fairly fancy slow cooker. Whats great is that the cooker has a removable ceramic pot, which be taken straight to the table for doling out to empty and expectant dishes. Comes in retro shades, Campari Orange to Duck Egg Blue.

Published by Rough Trade Books this is a fairly ironic – and very funny – short story. It's the story of one man's dream to edit a groundbreaking poetry anthology, of how that dream was actually a lot of work, what with reading many bad poems & also competent ones and handwriting rejection letters.

‘Full Windsor’ is Mark Windsor’s outdoors & cycle kit company. He now designs, prototypes and manufactures solutions to practical head-scratchers. ‘The Muncher’ is a 10-function tool, a bit like a Swiss Army knife. As well as a spoon, fork and knife, it can screwdrive, peel, cord-cut and fire-start.

A fish-shaped flagon! This coddy carafe, designed by cheap-and-cheerful Danish retailer Flying Tiger, doesn't offer the same acoustic fun as a glug-glug jug, but what it lacks in sound it makesu p for in portability. Thanks to the cork-stopper, you can take it on picnics. Buy in pistachio or pink.

Put out a bowl of cheap red wine and add a few drops of dish soap. The flies are attracted to the fermented grape goodness and the dish soap makes it impossible for them to fly away. 

Corn starch is a good way to kill off an ant colony without poison. Sprinkle the starch over the area frequented by the ants. They will then carry it off to the nest to eat and since they cannot digest it, the colony will eventually die. It takes some time but it's better for pets and children. 

The Ordinary calls its products ‘clinical formulations with integrity’. It is basically skincare without the thrills (and mark-up) that comes with fancy packaging, making the products affordable. Order online, as the London stores are small and get quite busy.

Music Magpie buys your old CDs, DVDs, and even books. Simply scan or type in the barcode and it gives you a price. You then box up your goods and organise a collection. Prices tend to vary from a penny to a few pounds so it's worth doing it if you are having a big clearout.

Over time and frequent use, wooden chopping boards can look a bit the worse for wear and leave lingering smells from foods such as garlic and onions. To counteract this, clean your board with lemon and bicarbonate of soda; repeat if necessary.