News

With the arrival of the new year comes cold weather, biting winds, and a lack of sun (in our corner of the world). But it does also offer a glimmer of excitement: it's the time when we announce our brand new tours for the upcoming season - which we know you've all been waiting for with bated breath...(!) Luckily the wait is over, and we're delighted to announce some superb cycling and walking holidays, which will be joining our ever-expanding range of fab tours in Britain and Europe.

As always, we've put lots of work into designing these new trips. We are very thorough when putting together new holidays: studying and plotting maps, walking or cycling the proposed routes, researching local points of interest, unearthing the hidden gems of the area in question that don't feature in standard guide books, visiting prospective hotels, and writing detailed Route Directions and Adventure Handbooks (packed full of history, trivia, local legends and our top tips on things to see and do along the way). As we're all about the personal touch here at The Carter Company, it's important to us that our holidays feel like they've been designed with thought, care and a real attention to delightful details. That's what sets us apart from the bigger tour operators out there.

So without further ado, here are our NEW FOR 2016 self-guided cycling holidays and walking tours.

Cycling

1. Whistle-stop lochs and glens is a gentle bike holiday offering a unique chance to experience the dramatic and beautiful lochs and glens of the Trossachs, whilst cycling on virtually flat and traffic-free terrain.

2. Lochs and glens to Edinburgh offers the chance to visit two fantastic Scottish cities: Glasgow before setting off, and Edinburgh at the finish line. In between, there's the small matter of some of Scotland's most majestic landscapers - the Trossachs National Park, and the Highlands. It's a stunning trip. Also available as a 6 night tour for those who like to cycle at a speedy pace.

3. Best of Holland combines what we think are the most interesting and picturesque cycle routes in the country, with our favourite boutique hotels hotels, to create the ultimate luxury gentle holiday on two wheels.

4. Whistle-stop Cotswolds has always existed as a holiday, but we've completely redesigned it for 2016 - with new routes, new hotels and new adventures around each corner! It may be short and it can be as laid back as the moment requires, but it encapsulates all that is so appealing in this much loved corner of England.

Walking

1. Seashores and moors is full of variety, taking in the wild moors of Exmoor and the North Devon coast. Parts of the route are more challenging than our standard 'gentle' walking holidays, but the rewards are well worth the effort: breathtaking coastline, charming rural villages in unspoilt locations, dramatic deep-cut valleys and wild, expansive moorland.

Ahh, 2016, a New Year, and a fresh start... or is it? Sometimes after a festive period of sitting around eating chocolates and watching TV, we arrive back at work in front of our desks feeling like we never really left our chairs. If that's you, fear not! You're not alone. And there's also something you can do about it: get out there on a walking holiday! We were in the Yorkshire Dales to ring in 2016 and enjoyed some fabulous walks. Walking holidays really are the perfect antidote to the sedentary confines of the office. Let's blow those cobwebs away! Here are our suggestions...

1. The Welsh Coastal Path

Fresh sea-spray and a blustery ocean breeze come free of charge on the Ceredigion Coast, which makes for an excellent walking holiday destination. This area is also famed for its fabulous variety of flora and fauna, with dolphins often spotted just off the coast and a huge array of wildflowers to discover.

2. Exmoor National Park

Our brand new 'Seashores and moors' walking holiday offers the chance to explore both the unspoilt Devon coast and the wild moors of Exmoor. This is fast becoming a favourite trip amongst our team here at HQ, and there's the optional add-on of taking an Exmoor 4x4 Safari with knowledgable local guides. See local wildlife such as horses, deer and birds of prey, traverse fords and byways, and discover dramatic moor scenery and hidden valleys on this action packed adventure.

3. World heritage at Hadrian's Wall

Fancy walking Hadrian's Wall but want to stay in nice boutique hotels? Despite the sheer number of walking holiday tour operators offering this route, it's nigh on impossible to find one that avoids crabby hotels (I know, we couldn't believe it either!) So we've stepped in and designed a superb tour along what is Europe’s largest surviving Roman monument. Traverse some of Britain's most ruggedly beautiful landscape in a remarkable and dramatic walk through history. This is a coast to coast route in the North of England - so it's guaranteed to blow those cobwebs away!

A new exhibition has just opened at the Design Museum in London, celebrating bicycles and the people who ride them. We hear it's absolutely tip top! The Guardian, Time Out and The Times all gave it brilliant reviews.

The exhibition celebrates the diversity of contemporary cycling in Britain from every day commuting to Olympic level competition and looks at where design and innovation may take the riders of the future.

Highlights of the exhibition include Sir Chris Hoy's track bike from the 2012 Olympics, a number of record-breaking Bradley Wiggin's bikes, the earliest prototype Brompton in existence and a workshop that profiles a number of independent British bike producers, so you can see what goes into the making of a proper British bicycle... No wonder it's been referred to by one reviewer as 'bicycle porn'!

There's also a film of high-profile bike lovers sharing their hopes and dreams for cycling in the future including Norman Foster and Paul Smith. Be sure to check out the atrium of the museum, where you'll find the specially-commissioned Ben Wilson bicycle sculpture, the 1.5 gallery for cycling films, and the website for dates of cycling related talks and events happening in conjunction with the exhibition.

Here at The Carter Company, we recently celebrated our best year ever with a team trip to Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, the luxury hotel which is home to Raymond Blanc's Michelin-starred restaurant in Oxfordshire. Many of our customers stay here for a night or two on their luxury cycling holidays and walking tours; or sometimes they choose to spend an additional night here at the beginning or end of a tour if they are in the area. It has a fabulous reputation for food, a small selection of individually designed rooms, and a rather splendid garden. We were well aware of the existence of the garden, but we didn't realise quite how special it was. It was certainly a good thing we arrived early enough to explore it fully, and we would strongly recommend anyone else visiting to do the same.

The orchard, beautifully maintained and evidently pruned by a serious expert, was dripping with deliciously ripe apples ready for picking. The organic kitchen garden, which supplies the restaurant and cookery school, was bursting with a colourful array of remarkable vegetables, herbs and edible flowers. The nasturtium crop in particular was quite spectacular (and they tasted pretty good too!) The greenhouses contained some very unusual-looking squash and pumpkin specimens, as well as numerous chilli plants and other less-recognisable potted chaps... and the 'mushroom valley' is a must-see - especially if there's a gardener nearby, who can explain the quite amazing story of how they cultivate all the fungi they use for cooking in the kitchens.

The real jewel in the crown for us though, and completely unexpected, was the Japanese tea garden. Inspired by a trip to Japan, it was Raymond himself who commissioned a local architect to design a little tea house - with an English thatched-roof twist - for the space. Having visited many gardens in Japan ourselves, it really captures that same sense of serenity and contemplative calm that Japanese gardens seem to emanate.

The gorgeous English water garden is the last gem to discover on your way to the restaurant, framed by golden and red autumnal leaves, and with a rather cute old stone stairway in the far corner, leading you up to the main building.

It goes without saying that the food was fab and the rooms we looked at really impressed us, as always. If you're thinking of doing a cycling holiday or a walking trip in the Cotswolds or Oxford next year, we strongly suggest booking in a night at Le Manoir - it won't disappoint!

Wendy, our brilliant and ever-adventurous founder, recently walked the entire length of the Dales Way. When she returned from the trip, she was positively bouncing off the walls about it. So naturally we needed to write a blog post about it, and share Wendy's pearls of wisdom for anyone thinking of doing a walking holiday along the Dales Way. If you'd like some help planning a trip there, please do get in touch with us.

Here are Wendy's top picks from walking along the Dales Way:

• The unspoilt gorgeous countryside, with sheep-clad hills and the occasional lonely farmhouse dotted here and there. There's barely a modern development along the whole length of the 81 mile walk, from Ilkley all the way to Windermere in the Lake District.

• Mile upon mile of beautifully maintained stone walls defining fields, ownership boundaries and the big views; sometimes serving other uses too... we'll leave you to discover those for yourself(!)

• The village of Dent, a picturesque cobbled village known for its mad knitters in times past and home to current day craftsmen too. Visit the shop on the green, 'Sofie’s Wild Woollens'. Here you can buy garments with hand-felted buttons

• The tea shops! Of course we love tea here at The Carter Company, so it would be amiss of us not to mention these. Standouts were Betty's in Ilkley, the Three Hares in Sedbergh and The Artisan Bakery in the Mill Yard in Staveley, with its award winning Treacle Bread. Delicious.

• Characterful pubs with great atmosphere and food. Favourites were The Dalesman Inn in Sedbergh; the Craven Arms in Appletreewick, which is still lit by gas lamps with divine views across the Wharf valley; and the Red Lion in Burnsall, adjacent to the stunning river bridge there.

If all this has whet your appetite, head over to our Facebook page to check out the full album of photos. Toodle pip!