Looking for something different in the Twixtmas and New Year period?

Former Milking Parlour near Wookey Hole Caves and Cheddar Gorge New Year £584pw for four

A former milking parlour sleeping four near the Somerset village of Wookey and the famous caves at Wookey Hole and Cheddar Gorge is available for New Year week from Monday, 29th December.

When the children aren't busy exploring the caverns underground they can play table tennis in the games room alongside the cottage. The cathedral city of Wells and Glastonbury with its tor are also within easy reach for days out.

Newly converted using sympathetic local materials and preserving many original features, the smartly furnished cottage has oak beams and high vaulted ceilings. It’s priced at £584 for each week through West Country Cottages, to book call 01803 814000 or visit www.westcountrycottages.co.uk.

The Milking Parlour sleeps 4 for year 2014 | Helpful Holidaysphoto of Holiday cottages in Wookey, Somerset | The Milking Parlour sleeps 4 for year 2014 | Helpful Holidays

Spend Christmas and New Year on Exmoor at Pipistrelle Cottage £497 per week for four

A stylish barn conversion for four at Kentisbury Ford on the edge of Exmoor National Park, North Devon is available for Christmas and New Year weeks from Saturday 20th and 27th December.

Inside Pipistrelle Cottage is fresh and bright with an open plan living area, striking blue and white seating and beamed ceilings throughout making a welcome return after a day out. The coast is around five miles at Combe Martin. It’s priced at £497 per week (£124 pppw) during the festive season; to book call 01803 814000 or visit www.westcountrycottages.co.uk.

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Shop While You Pit-Stop This Christmas! Welcome Break Is 2014’s Go-To Destination For Last Minute Gifts

Welcome Break, the friendly and helpful motorway services provider, has released its Last Minute Gift List for Christmas 2014, with ideas designed to soothe the minds of weary travellers who need to shop while they pit-stop this festive season.

The volume of drivers stopping at a Welcome Break service station over Christmas has increased year-on-year over the past four years, and last year an incredible 43,000 cars used Welcome Break on Christmas Day, alone.

All 27 Welcome Break sites will be open for the full 24 hours of Christmas Day, so this means they are a remarkable and highly valuable resource for those travelling between their families and friends on the big day, or even those who have to work on Christmas Day.

Keeping this in mind,Welcome Break has put together a list of the Top 10 gifts that can be bought now at its sites nationwide, from a range of popular and high end brands like Starbucks, Baylis & Harding, Burt’s Bees and Hope & Greenwood.

There’s sure to be the perfect gift for everyone you can think of, be they a beauty mad teen or the foodie who appreciates the finer things in life:

1. For the coffee addict: Starbucks red Rudolph mug (£12.95) with Christmas coffee (£5.95 for 250g)
2. For the niece and nephews: Top Trumps sets (two for £10 at WH Smith)
3. For the beauty addict: Baylis & Harding Beauticology Gingerbread foot set (£8 at WH Smith)
4. For those with a sweet tooth: Krispy Kreme festive dozen (£10.95 for 12)
5. For the foodie: Heston from Waitrose Chocolate Christmas Cake (£16)
6. For the worn-out parent: Hope & Greenwood cuddle up Christmas set (£12 from Waitrose)
7. For the kids: Wallace Christmas Bear (£10 from Waitrose)
8. For the gardener: Royal Horticultural Society Wax Lyrical candle and diffuser gift set (£11.25 from Waitrose)
9. For the little princess: Tangled DVD (£9.99) and Brave DVD (£9.99, both from WH Smith)
10. For the host: Christmas rose gift (£6 from Waitrose)

Rod McKie, who is the CEO of Welcome Break told That's Christmas: “With more and more people travelling between friends and relatives on December 25th, we've seen visitor numbers increasing to the tune of around 12% year on year. When you throw increasingly busy lifestyles into the mix, then it’s understandable that Welcome Break is becoming a top destination for last minute shoppers who want to find high quality gifts on the last leg of their Christmas journeys.

“Fortunately the increasingly wide range of premium brands we have on site at Welcome Break, like Starbucks, Waitrose, and WH Smith, all offer a vast range of gift options so our customers are sure to find something for everyone.”

EDITOR: WH Smith, forecourt and toilet facilities will be open at every Welcome Break on Christmas Day for the full 24 hour period. Starbucks and Waitrose will be open, but please be aware that times will vary from site-to-site, but the core hours will be 8am – 10pm. But all sites will have hot drink facilities available whatever the individual store opening times.

Items mentioned above will, of course, be subject to availability. Stock and pricing may vary from store to store

Welcome Break has recently announced a new partnership with the Subway, and branches have opened at ten Welcome Break locations to date. It has also partnered with salad bar brand Tossed and has two units now open at Birchanger Green and South Mimms. Welcome Break also operates 29 Days Inn and Ramada hotels across the UK motorway network.

To find out where the stores and hotels are located, please visit http://www.welcomebreak.co.uk.

That's Christmas has a sneaky idea. If you suddenly realise that you are short of a present, perhaps something is broken, or you find out at the last minute that your family's version of Uncle or Aunt Scrooge,  after years of declining invitations to spend Christmas with you has, with the assistance of some Christmas Spirits (Scotch or Gin, perhaps?)  why not get in your car, go to the nearest Welcome Break facility, buy a suitable replacement or emergency Chirstmas present and you'll be the family Christmas hero for years to come!

And all with the help of those unsung heroes and heroines, the Welcome Break staff who will be sacrificing some of their Christmas Day to make sure that your Christmas Day goes well.

Germany tops the league for Christmas markets and delicacies

A survey for Europe’s top ferry operator, DFDS Seaways, shows that we Britons think Germany has the best Christmas markets, with Munich and Cologne topping the city leader board as first and second respectively.

37% of those polled rated German Christmas markets as the best, which was head and shoulders above the UK with 8% of the vote. Belgium came third with 6% of the vote and France only received 3%.

Bruges came third overall as being the city with the best Christmas markets with just over 6% of the vote. This wasn't true for all ages, however, as Paris came top of the list with younger people aged 16-24 years old, with a fifth of respondents citing the French capital as the best festive city, compared to just 1% of older people aged 55 years old and over.

Why visit?
When asked what would motivate people to visit a European Christmas market, going away as part of a mini break came out as the most popular choice (48%), followed by the desire to experience local traditions (37%) and a quarter (24%) cited indulging in European delicacies, that are not widely available in the UK, as a key motivator.  Interestingly, one of the most popular reasons given by the younger generation (16-24 year olds) to visit was to have a ‘magical experience’, with 41% giving that as a key motivation, compared to just 29% of those aged 55 years old and over. Over a quarter (28%) of those surveyed also said that buying presents was a key reason for visiting the markets.

UK knowledge of European delicacies
Most people were able to identify where traditional European delicacies originated from, with German Stollen being the most recognisable with 83% of the vote, followed by France’s Pain D’épices (82%) and Dutch Advocaat had 51% recognition. Generally, people over 34 years old had a greater recognition of the traditional foods from other European countries than their younger counterparts. For example, 83% of the older generation of 55 years and older had heard of Advocaat, compared to only a quarter (27%) of 16-24 year olds. Similarly, more than two-third of the over 45s were familiar with Panettone, compared to just a quarter of 16-24 year olds. Denmark’s Ris a l’amande was the least known treat with only 6% of respondents having even heard of it.

Max Foster, passenger director at DFDS Seaways, says: “Over the last few years we have noticed a greater interest in European Christmas markets and I was not surprised that nearly three quarters of those asked would like to visit one. One of the great things about travelling by car and ferry is that there are no luggage restrictions, so picking up special presents and delicious Christmas food and drink is easy. With our ferry routes into Holland and northern France, travelling to the European Christmas markets is also easier and more affordable than you might think, and we have some great Christmas market short breaks available on our Newcastle to Amsterdam service.”

DFDS Seaways operates 50 sailings a day between the UK and France, as well as daily sailings between Newcastle and Amsterdam, providing flexible crossing times and convenient travel options. All DFDS Seaways ferries are equipped with a range of high quality onboard facilities so your holiday starts as soon as you board the ferry.

www.dfds.co.uk.

Christmas in Shrewsbury - #oneoffstory

Shrewsbury’s first Christmas video, promoting it’s unique offer, was unveiled by Shrewsbury Business Improvement District (BID) at the town’s Christmas Cracker Event on Wednesday 19th November.

The film was projected onto the front of the Museum and Art Gallery in the town’s Market Square as part of a unique lighting display by Andy McKeown at the Lights Switch-On.

The video is now available to watch on the Original Shrewsbury YouTube channel and here at That's Christmas.

The film illustrates Emily Hurdiss’ Christmas story as she shops along the snowy streets of Shrewsbury and enjoys a series of ‘will they, won’t they’ close encounters with a handsome young man.

With the strap line ‘Let Your Christmas Story Start Here’ the film invites viewers to share Emily’s Christmas story whilst showcasing a selection of town centre shopping and leisure businesses and famous Shrewsbury sights with a sprinkling of Christmas magic.

The two minute film has been directed by local filmographer, Aaron Child, and features Emily Hurdiss and James Mitchell, having both grown up in Shrewsbury and now pursuing acting careers in London.

The soundtrack comes from Gareth Rhys Jones, winner of Shrewsbury BID’s competition to create the accompanying music for the video. Following its use on the video, Gareth is releasing the song on 1st December which will be available to download on iTunes, Amazon as well as other online retailers.

Kirsten Henly, Shrewsbury BID Manager, said: “We are lucky in Shrewsbury to have so much local talent on which to draw, including Aaron for the filming and Andy McKeown for his projection at the Lights Switch-On.

“Our first video ‘Summer in Shrewsbury’ attracted more than 26,000 views, so we’re hoping to build on its success with this latest film, which is packed with beautiful shots of the town, as well as local businesses and local people playing their parts in it. The nation is gripped by how brands are connecting emotionally with audiences at Christmas through creative marketing campaigns and our ‘one-off story’ presents Shrewsbury and its festive offer with a mix of magic and humour."

What’s in your Christmas dinner?

For most of us, Christmas is a time for presents, parties and piling on the pounds. But despite it only coming once a year, December 25th can be a daunting day for the more health-conscious.

LloydsPharmacy Online Doctor decided to do a little investigating to find out just how nutritious – or potentially artery-clogging – some of our favourite festive nibbles and tipples really are:-

Champagne
Champagne contains about the same amount of calories as a chocolate Digestive biscuit, which makes it one of the lighter Christmas tipples. But studies have shown that the carbon dioxide it contains can get you drunk quicker. If you’re feeling a little tiddly after a couple of glasses, have a glass of water and eat something to line your stomach.

Mixed nuts
Don’t be fooled – a pot of mixed nuts might be high in protein, but they're also very calorific and tend to come covered in salt and oil.

Turkey
Turkey is low in fat, high in protein, and contains a lot of B vitamins. It also contains tryptophan, which – when consumed with carbohydrates – produces melatonin, inducing that familiar Christmas day drowsiness.

To make your meal a little healthier, try removing the skin before you eat the turkey and bear in mind that light meat tends to be less fatty than dark meat.

Roast potatoes
Before they’re cooked, potatoes are almost fat free! To keep them as healthy as possible, cut them into large chunks (the bigger they are, the smaller their overall surface area, meaning less fat is absorbed). You can also switch goose fat for unsaturated vegetable oils.

Brussels sprouts
Sprouts contain lots of fibre, vitamin C, vitamin K, and carotenoids (which are great for keeping your eyes healthy). They also contain high levels of raffinose, which cannot be broken down by the stomach. In the lower intestine, raffinose is fermented by bacteria, leading to the production of smelly gases!

Gravy
Make your grave healthier by using the water you’ve cooked your vegetables in, and skimming any fat off the meat juices before adding them.

Stuffing
A traditional chestnut stuffing will pack a nutritional punch. Chestnuts are low in fat, high in vitamin C and potassium and are a healthy, tasty alternative to sausage meat.

Cranberry sauce
Cranberries are a brilliant source of antioxidants, as well as vitamin C and fibre. Cut down on added sugar and additives by making it yourself.

Christmas pudding
Though Christmas pudding is packed with sugar, it’s also low in fat and high in fibre, and contains lots of B vitamins, potassium and calcium. Boost the health benefits of your pud by making it yourself (shop bought will contain more fat and sugar).

Eggnog
Any drink that contains sugar, cream and booze is unlikely to get the seal of approval from a doctor! But there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of indulgence on Christmas Day. Just make sure you enjoy your eggnog in moderation…

Chocolate
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a bit of chocolate. But if you’re worried about overdoing it, you can always swap your white or milk chocolate for darker varieties that contain less fat and sugar, and more antioxidants and essential minerals.

That's Christmas would like to thank Dr Tom, the LloydsPharmacy Online Doctor for his invaluable help in putting this article together. https://onlinedoctor.lloydspharmacy.com.

When animals got prezzies!

The animal residents at Drayton Manor Zoo had a pleasant surprise earlier this month, when they all received a little something from Santa himself.

They all got early Christmas gifts, when the great man himself paid a visit to the 15-acre attraction on Wednesday 17th December, as part of its Animal Enrichment programme.

There was a wide variety of festive gifts for the animals, from rabbit for the leopards, mealworms for the meerkats.

The gibbons and parrots had nuts and seeds respectively.

Joyce Roberts, who is the manager of the zoo told That's Christmas: "Christmas is the season for giving and we wanted to make sure our residents at the zoo weren't forgotten, either!"

She went on to say: "The animals have given families who have visited the zoo a day out to remember and they definitely deserve their gifts!”

Drayton Manor Theme Park’s Magical Christmas event will be open from the 27th – 31st December and Europe’s only Thomas Land™ attraction will open on Saturday 14th February 2015 for a fun-filled February half term, closing on Sunday 22nd February. The 15-acre zoo will also be open. For further information about Drayton Manor Theme Park or to pre-book discounted entry tickets visit www.draytonmanor.co.uk or call 0844 472 1960.