The Mediterranean’s Newest Luxury Family Resort Is About To Open

Borgo Egnazia Hotel Villas Spa & Golf Resort, positioned to become one of the leading luxury family resorts in the Mediterranean, is proud to announce the opening of its eagerly anticipated OurSpace Children’s Club.

Opening in June 2010, Borgo Egnazia’s OurSpace Children’s Club offers a full range of childcare for children aged 8 months to 13 years. It is one of only a handful of Children’s Clubs in the world catering to the very young, as well as teenagers. The OurSpace specialists are friendly, multilingual, and most importantly, highly trained and qualified. For children under the age of two, there is one nanny for every two toddlers; ratios which ensure children are looked after every minute of the day, and with a maximum of just 45 children, personal attention is guaranteed.
With the family facilities opening just in time for the summer holidays, Borgo Egnazia will showcase an array of accommodation for all ages.

Divided into three areas, the Resort features a luxury 63 room hotel with a 2,000m² Raison d’Etre spa (perfect for Mum); an 18-hole Championship golf course (great for Dad); 28 three-bedroom private villas with pools and butler service; and the piece de resistance for families: a traditional Apulian Village, with 91 one and two suite townhomes; a beach club, Italian cooking school, and of course, designed to keep the children and parents happy, the OurSpace Children’s Club.

OurSpace activities, run by UK-trained specialists, take place in the indoor Children’s Club located next to the family-friendly swimming pool within the Village. There is an additional dedicated outdoor area, a walled, secret garden where a 300m² ‘lost city’ will entice and excite the little ones with zipwires, climbing frames and swinging bridges.

Activities include cooking lessons, arts and crafts, watersports, tennis and golf lessons; there are computer and console games for the older ones, and soft crèche areas for toddlers, whilst fun archaeological digs in the neighbouring ruins of Egnazia will ensure dressing up as a Greek goddess or Roman warrior has never been so true to life!

Essential Italy are pleased to offer the following spring weekend offer at this fabulous hotel in Southern Sardinia.

OFFER: £285 for 2 nights half board 30 April – 02 May, 2010 (2 persons). A saving of £75.

Hotel Is Morus Relais – http://www.essentialitaly.co.uk/is-morus.php

With the beach right on its doorstep and surrounded by pine woods, Is Morus Relais really takes some beating. Comfort and elegance go hand-in-hand to give a wonderful feeling of being in a beautiful ‘lived-in’ country house. The 59 rooms and suites are located both in the main building and in cottages or villas dotted around the lush gardens, most having balconies or private patios. The hotel has been tastefully furnished with wonderful ‘cotto’ floors and unique wooden furniture – much of which has been hand crafted exclusively for Is Morus.
Outdoor activities such as tennis, mini golf and mountain biking are offered as is golf at the 18 hole course (just a 10 minute ride away) and horse trekking at the Is Molus horse riding ranch. The gourmet restaurant offers superb cuisine on the romantic terraces overlooking the sea.

Location: Santa Margherita di Pula – near Cagliari, Cagliari airport 40kms

Offer: £285 for 2 nights half board in park-facing room 30 April – 02 May, 2010 (2 persons). A saving of £75.

Alsace is well known for its beautiful scenery, good food (it has more Michelin starred restaurants than any other region of France other than Paris), wine, and welcoming people. Now it also has a growing reputation as a golf holiday destination. For the 2010 season the region has produced a new golf brochure (Let’s Go(lf) in Alsace) which includes information on a selection of Alsace’s attractive, uncrowded and value for money courses which are ready to welcome golfers of all standards from the UK.

Listed amongst the thirty most outstanding courses of continental Europe and ranked No 2 in France by the authoritative Peugeot Golf Guide is the 18-hole, championship standard, par 72 Kempferhof course (www.golf-kempferhof.com) at Plobsheim, 15 km from Strasbourg. It was designed by the famous course architect Robert Von Hagge and is set in over 200 acres. Adjoining the course is the 29 room Kempferhof Hotel, located in a 17th Century stately home. The accommodation includes five suites, each one being dedicated to a famous movie star.

Golfers who like a challenge should head for the Golf de Soufflenheim course (www.golfclub-soufflenheim.com) designed by former Masters Champion Bernhard Langer. The course, within easy reach of Strasbourg, has 18 lakes and is set in 270 acres of peaceful, undulating countryside. However bring extra balls as Soufflenheim has the reputation of being the third most difficult course in France! The course hotel has 15 rooms and there is a club house restaurant and bar. Golf coaching is available for children aged 8-18.

Golf de la Wantzenau (www.golf-wantzenau.fr)is also close to Strasbourg and is an 18-hole course which offers free lessons on Sundays and has a specially designed training school for under 18’s. The course has a clubhouse with a restaurant and bar plus a pro shop selling all the necessary gear. For beginners there is a compact four hole course and synthetic and grass practice areas.

The Ammerschwihr Trois-Epis course (www.golf-ammerschwihr.com) is only 10 km from Colmar and is situated in a beautiful setting, surrounded by vineyards and forests. The undulating 18-hole par 72 course is 5,386 yards in length and offers a range of different challenges. There is also a 9-hole compact course plus driving range and a Pro Shop and restaurant. The four-star Domaine du Golf Ammerschwihr Trois Epis hotel is next to the course.

The Alsace Golf Club course at Rouffach (www.alsacegolfclub.com) has a links feel and beautiful panoramic views of the Vosges Mountains and the stunning Alsatian wine route. The par 72 18-hole course has a practice area with three practice holes and a driving range and the clubhouse is set in a historic water mill complex.

A favourite family orientated course is Golf des Bouleaux (T: 3389555507; E: info@golf-bouleaux.asso.fr) at Wittelsheim close to Mulhouse. The par 72, 18-hole course has an academy which runs lessons for both adults and children. It was built in 1984 and claims to be the cheapest golf course in Alsace! The course has over 90 acres of breathtaking countryside and a delicious restaurant offering a wide variety of dishes and Alsatian specialities.

Another course just 30 km from Mulhouse is the Golf de la Largue (www.golf-lalargue.com) which was built in 1988. It has an 18-hole par 72 course and a 9-hole practice course designed in the heart of a magnificent forest surrounded by ponds and lakes and crossed by the river La Largue. The club features one of the best restaurants in the region and Le Petit Cohlberg hotel is a short drive from the course.

Golf Planet Holidays (www.golfplanetholidays.com 01277 824100) offers a four night self drive break at the Kempferhof Hotel from £599 pp. The price includes two rounds of golf at Kempferhof, one at Golf de la Wantzenau and one at Golf de Soufflenheim, bed and breakfast accommodation based on two people sharing and Eurotunnel travel for a car and passengers.

Independent travel to Alsace from the UK is easy with Air France flights from London City to Strasbourg while British Airways and Easyjet fly from Heathrow and Gatwick respectively to the European Airport near Mulhouse.The increasingly popular train takes just over five hours from London to Strasbourg( Eurostar to Paris and the TGV Est to Strasbourg,Colmar and Mulhouse).

For more information on golfing in Alsace visit www.golfsinalsace.com or to discover all that the region of Alsace has to offer visit www.tourism-alsace.com. Copies of the new Lets Go (lf) in Alsace brochure are available from both organisations.

The award-winning country house hotel, Headlam Hall, is to be the base for a range of Golf Coaching Breaks and Holidays this year.

Guests will have the chance to improve their game whilst enjoying a relaxing short break at Headlam Hall, one of the north east’s leading country house hotels. Headlam has a £2.5 million Spa, tennis court, croquet lawn, and is situated in 250 acres of rolling Teesdale countryside, near the market town of Barnard Castle.

Headlam Golf Course, which lies adjacent to the hotel and spa, is a superb USGA specification 9-hole course set over mature rolling pasture land, with an abundance of natural features. There is also a 10-bay covered driving range, a chipping area and practice putting green. The resident professional is Steven Carpenter, who has been qualified and teaching for over 20 years in both the UK and Germany.

The two night Golf Coaching Package is available throughout 2010, and includes accommodation in a double or twin room, full English breakfast daily, two-course a la carte dinner each night, 3 ½ hours’ golf tuition, and unlimited use of the excellent 9-hole course and the hotel’s spa facilities. The tuition can include long game, short game and putting, and 9 holes on course with the Pro for visualisation, golf strategy and shot execution, is per couple and is taken in 30-minute sessions.

Book to stay at Pine Cliffs Residence before 15 January 2010 for a stay between 15 May and 15 October 2010 and you will save 20% off the cost of your accommodation. To qualify for this offer you just need to pay 50% before 15 January 2010, and name changes are not allowed once the deposit has been paid.

All Pine Cliffs Residence apartments are fully air-conditioned/heated and feature a fully equipped kitchen, washing machine, and dryer. Layouts range from two to three bedrooms and offer assorted views over the resort of the golf course, the superb garden areas or the surrounding mountains.

At the resort guests can escape from it all and unwind with a range of massages and body treatments from the à la carte menu at the Health Club, improve their swing on the landscaped driving range, take a round on the cliff-top nine-hole golf course, play a match on the newly-refurbished tennis courts, take a dip in one of five swimming pools or simply stroll along the beach, accessible by a discreet lift set back in the cliffs, which is unique to the resort. Pine Cliffs offers a wide variety of bars and restaurants to choose from and the resort’s restaurants all have special children’s tableware as well as healthier menu options. In three of the restaurants, the O’Grill, Corda Café and Jardim Colonial, a special dinner buffet is prepared for kids every evening.

Pine Cliffs Resort is just 25 minutes from Faro airport and flights are available with Aer Lingus from £40 return www.aerlingus.com flying from London Gatwick.