Rural Cheshire

Cheshire is the polo playground of the County set, where you don't need to be minted to enjoy the oldest pukka chukkas in Britain!

Stately homes with epic estates abound across its acres of tranquility, so it will come as no surprise that more millionaires live in this captivating corner of England than anywhere else in the country. Here more champagne is quaffed than anywhere else in Britain too. Even the nation's most northerly commercial vineyard thrives at Cheshire's Carden Park!

You don't have to be a millionaire to enjoy the glitterati lifestyle in Cheshire. You can stay at historic houses like Broxton Hall, Crabwall Manor, Rowton Hall, Peckforton Castle, Crewe Hall, and Willington Hall, which offer palatial pleasures, exquisite elegance and inexpensive indulgence.

Outside, idyllic England flourishes on the leafy, green-baize flatlands of the Cheshire Plain dotted with tiny unspoiled villages (Malpas, Marbury, Grappenhall, Lymm) and gorgeous little market towns (Nantwich, Tarporley, Frodsham, Sandbach, Knutsford), each blessed with
beautiful parish church and traditional inn. Try the Bells of Peover and you'll see what we mean.

This is definitely close encounters of the tender kind country, with hideaway-hotels and idyllic, off the beaten track inns. This is romantic liaisons, candle-lit dinners, and crackling log fires territory too, where you slip into sleep to the sounds of the seasons...You have been warned!

More Bridget Jones than Lara Croft? Walking in England's Garden County is a stroll in Lyme Park, or a wander through woodlands at Delamere Forest for arboreal bliss.

Cheshire was made for lovers and garden afficionados alike. High-in-the sky Beeston Castle though is something else, where not even Rapunzel's fairy-tale follicles are going to help you reach this 13th century citadel! It's a cliff-hanger of a hike, but spectacular views reward the effort! Triumphant, treat yourself to lunch at the Pheasant Inn high in the hills nearby, where watching sunsets is certainly something to write home about.

Real Laras though should head for the Sandstone Trail, the undulating hills of the Peak District, or the ultimate challenge - the Trans Pennine Trail as it passes through Warrington and the Cheshire countryside. Yellow-jersey professional or occasional peddler? Cheshire Cycleways suit all bicycle buffs.

Nautically inclined? Cheshire takes to the waterwith ease whether cruising canals, sailing on meres or rowing regattas. Bonkers about bunkers? Pack your clubs. Cheshire is eighteenhole heaven. Fabulous fairways abound. Tee-off at Carden Park, designed by golf-great, Jack Nicklaus, melt your maschie at Mere, putt into Portals or have a mulligan at Mottram. Fore! The British Open drives onto nearbyWirral in July 2006. Mark your card now for a niblick trip to Hoylake!

Be warned! Alfresco escapades sharpen the taste buds and Cheshire tempts with seductive local fare - heavenly crumbly cheese, celestial confectionary, idyllic ice-cream and divine wine.

Well, this is Alice in Wonderland eat me, drink me territory home to Cheshire-born author, Lewis Carroll. Naughty nutrition was never nicer. Indulge! relaxation