By Alyssa Dunlop
How’s your Monday? In light (or lack thereof) of this post-festive winter period, I will guess painfully mediocre. If your January was anything like mine, you might be suffering through dark, rainy days and resolutions that were abandoned by January 3rd. Whilst we’d all love to hop on a flight and escape these dreary winter blues, it’s not always that easy to run away from your problems. But fear not, this article outlines several places here in the UK that you can feasibly explore over free weekends. In the words of Hugh Grant in Love Actually, “We may be a small country, but we’re a great one, too. The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, and [previously redacted] fun weekend getaways”.
So, without further ado, here is the Gazette’s Guide to Stay-cations:
Let’s go to the beach
Now I know what you’re thinking, “unknown Gazette writer, why would I visit a beach town in the winter?”. And to that I say – going to the beach in winter is what makes people cool (someone tell Victoria her Secret’s out).
Brighton & Hove
Home to Quadrophenia, one of the UK’s biggest pride festivals and some dude named Angus that likes snogging(?), this area of the UK’s coast is easily one of the top choices for a jam-packed, enjoyable weekend and the best place to cool off. Not sold by my flowery language? Let me break it down for you:
Cost: ~£10 via train
Travel time: ~1 hour
What to do: visit the lanes, stroll along the pier, grab fish & chips by the beach, ice-skate at the Royal Pavilion (dare I go on, a beach day kind of plans itself).
Whitstable
For the old souls who may struggle to keep up with the nouveau-hipster buzz of Brighton, I have just the place for you. This calm, charming town in Kent is the perfect place to close your eyes and reset. And bonus, unlike the similarly sounding “Whitby”, this town does not have a history with vampires.
Cost: ~£15 via train
Travel time: ~1 hour, 20 minutes
What to do: visit Whitstable Harbour Market, a coastal walk along Seasalter beach, wander by the fisherman’s huts and again – fish and chips! If you’re lucky, you might even see some snow on the beach…
Into the Woods
I wish… more than anything… more than life… more than jewels… to get away from pigeons being the only stupid bird I see on a regular basis. Seriously. And when did squirrels get this comfortable? They’re just rats with big tails. Anyway, what we clearly need sometimes, living in London, is to reconnect with real nature.
New Forest
You’ve surely heard the name but maybe wrote it off as a place to visit when you’ve reached certified yummy mummy status with a consultant’s salary. Whilst a whole weekend away may not be the most student friendly, I have done my research and believe all of us deserve to feel like we don’t rely on Unidays once in a while…
Cost: ~£10 train to Brockenhurst
Travel time: ~1 hour, 30 minutes
What to do: Take a stroll through one of the many forest trails (Tall Trees Trail, Whitefield Moor, Blackwater), browse in Brockenhurst village, cycle through the forest, pub lunch anyone?
Epping Forest
I know what you’re thinking, Epping is fully the end of the central line, I thought we were getting OUT of London? But hear me out, Epping Forest does not feel like London and is London the same way Surrey is.
Cost: <£10 (tube to Epping/Loughton via central line)
Travel time: <1 hour (just depends on where you start from)
What to do: walk through… Epping Forest… (surprise!), picnic at High Beach, muck around at the Epping Forest Visitor Centre, discover the lost ponds and I don’t know just… vibe.
And if you find that the woods aren’t for you, just play Out of the Woods your whole journey home.
New city, New me
For those who can think of nothing worse than spending a weekend with a shoddy Wi-Fi signal, I’ve got you covered. It’s not too late to reinvent yourself in a new city (I think deadline is like June you’re good).
Edinburgh
I once heard an influencer pronounce it Eden-burg. That’s all I have to say about this one, fully just speaks for itself.
Cost: <£100 return trip via National Rail (yes this one’s a little more expensive, but worth staying the whole weekend)
Travel time: ~4 hours direct (bring a book)
Things to do: I mean what is there not to do here, but for completeness, some highlights include walking the Royal Mile, visiting Dean Village, hiking to Arthur’s Seat, exploring Edinburgh Castle and eating as much as you can bare (food is genuinely insane here).
Oxford
Guys, you’re going to have to get over that rejection at some point, how about… this winter!
Cost: ~£25 via National Rail (and bonus, it’s GWR which is objectively the best)
Travel time: ~1 hour
Things to do: Harry Potter walking tour (life’s too short not to have fun), punting on the River Cherwell, stroll through Oxford Botanical Garden, browse through the Bodleian Library and go shopping (it’s still a city you know).
________________________________________
And there you have it! Congratulations to those of you whose attention span made it to the end of this article. I hope at least one of these locations tickled your fancy. Just be sure to bring a camera (and an umbrella, since we’re still in the UK)!
