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Horoscopes Sept. 14, 2024: Emma Kenney, enjoy the ride
Five islands off the coast of the UK you can visit without needing your passport
ARE you looking for an island escape with beautiful beaches and stunning scenery, but don’t want to have to go abroad?
Then you’re in luck because there are plenty of islands dotted around the coast of the UK – and you won’t even need to dig out your passport to visit them.
Anyone in the UK can enter a country within the Common Travel Area without their passport.
The Common Travel Area includes England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland and other crown dependencies like Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.
While you may be able to travel to these countries without having to show a passport, it’s best to bring a form of photo ID just to be on the safe side.
Sark, Channel Islands
Just a 50-minute ferry from Guernsey, Sark is often known as the “jewel of the Channel Islands” – and it’s easy to see why.
Only 20 miles from France, famous French author Victor Hugo once called it a ” sort of fairy castle, full of wonders”.
The tiny island is home to just 562 people, with cars banned across the two-mile destination.
Most people travel around by bike, although you’re likely to spot a tractor ‘taxi’ or horse-drawn carriage on your travels.
The popular route to take is across Le Coupee ridge, connecting Big Sark and Little Sark.
Expect a mix of English and French culture, despite the majority of its history being under English rule, apart from a brief period in the 1500s when it was captured by France as well as being occupied by German soldiers for five years during WWII.
There are a number of attractions for tourists to explore, including Sark Henge, a much smaller version of Stonehenge, as well as Sark Observatory for stargazing and the War-Time Exhibition.
The Isle of Erraid, Scotland
The tiny Inner Hebridean Isle of Erraid is a tidal island, just off the tip of the Ross of Mull.
For an hour or two either side of low tide, the Isle of Erraid is linked to the mainland by a broad expanse of sand that you can cross.
But Erraid’s major claim to fame is its inspiration for the famous novel Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Erraid is one of the driest and sunniest places in Scotland, with less than 1,000 millimetres of rain and 1,350 hours of sunshine annually, so you’re virtually guaranteed great days out on the beach.
It’s also a haven for birds including corncrake, lapwing, peregrine, hen harriers and sandpipers and you’ll also see plenty of deer, hedgehogs and Black Face sheep.
Brownsea island, Dorset
Said to have inspired well-known children’s author Enid Blyton, Brownsea Island is the largest island off the coast of Dorset
After glimpsing Brownsea Island, Blyton wrote about Whispering Island in the Famous Five book, Five Have a Mystery to Solve.
Nowadays, the island is owned by the National Trust and said to be a wildlife haven, home to red squirrels, a variety of exotic birds, bats, and deer.
Accessible from Poole Harbour, passengers will need to board a small foot ferry to reach Brownsea which takes around 20 minutes and costs £13.
In addition to the ferry ticket, holidaymakers will also need to pay an admission fee to visit the island which is £.950 for adults and £4.75 for kids (although it’s free for National Trust holders).
There’s a visitor centre on the island where holidaymakers can learn about Brownsea’s wildlife, including its population of red squirrels.
Daily guided tours also take place on the island at either 11.30am or 1.30pm, holidaymakers can also hop on a shuttle bus service to tour the island too.
Anglesey, Wales
With over 125 miles of unspoilt coastline, in Anglesey you’ll find rugged cliffs, uncrowded sandy beaches and clear water.
The calm and shallow waters are ideal for a gentle swim, or for little ones to enjoy a paddle.
The whole island has been designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty so you can also explore the lush countryside.
If you walk along the Holyhead Mountain coastal path you’ll get to see dramatic cliffs, spectacular bird life, a lighthouse, and Roman forts.
Traeth Llanddwyn, found in Anglesey, has won praise online because of its golden sandy beaches and clear waters.
It’s a Blue Flag beach, so you can expect it to be clean and well-looked after too, with more than 3.5miles of sand.
While there aren’t lifeguards, there are free toilets, as well as BBQ areas, picnic benches and food trucks in the summer.
Unst, Scotland
Unst is roughly 178 miles away from the Scottish mainland.
There are thought to be just 600 people living on the tiny island, making it the most northerly inhabited place in the UK.
Unst has just one pub, one hotel, one school, three shops and a lone bus route.
Skaw Beach, the most northerly in the UK, is packed with golden sand, and it’s backed by a meadow that’s home to an array of wild flowers in the spring and summer.
Because of its shape, the beach is fairly sheltered from the winds.
There are limited facilities at the beach, so holidaymakers should aim to pack everything they need before visiting.
Despite its remote location, around 100 people have reviewed the beach on Google, with one person writing: “Wild and wooly, with nobody around. The water was freezing, as you would expect.”
A Brit is the leader of a remote island in the middle of the ocean – and claims it’s the smallest country in the world.
Michael Bates became the leader of “Sealand”, a platform 7.5 miles off the Suffolk coast when his dad Roy died in 1991.
Other little-known islands to visit in the UK
Staycations are becoming increasingly popular with Brits who aren't keen on forking out for flights and hotels abroad, and luckily enough there are plenty of little-known islands to visit.
- Caldey Island, which lies just off the coast of Tenby in Pembrokeshire, is owned by monks and is home to a grand monastery. The island welcomes daytrippers from Easter until the end of October, but it is closed to visitors on Sundays.
- Foulness Island, which sits just off the coast of Essex, is home to 150 residents. Brit holidaymakers can visit the English island on the first Sunday of every month. To step foot on the island, visitors will need to complete a registration form on the Foulness Island Heritage Centre website before arriving.
- During World War II, Cramond Island was fortified in preparation for an enemy invasion. While it was left unscathed at the end of the conflict, it was abandoned. Today the island, just outside of Edinburgh, remains as it was left all those years ago – waiting for a war that never arrived.
Inside Coronation Street star Lucy Fallon’s £300 per night holiday at luxury getaway – and Molly-Mae’s a fan
INSIDE Corrie star Lucy Fallon’s luxurious rural escape at Molly Mae’s favourite getaway.
Mum-of-one Lucy checked into the infamous Soho Farmhouse which boasts a hefty £300-per-night price tag.
The members’ club is set in 100 acres of Oxfordshire countryside with lavish bedrooms, a pool, spa and gym.
The celebrity hotspot offers everything from food and drinks, wellness experiences and outdoor activities and is also frequented by Molly-Mae, 25.
Molly-Mae recently took to Instagram to share a pic of herself at the exclusive wellness retreat reflecting on her time since her shock breakup with Tommy fury.
She captioned the post: “Thank you for being the best online friends I could’ve ever wished for (heart emoji)”
Corrie star Lucy, 28, followed suit and took to social media to share a series of snaps from her getaway with footballer boyfriend Ryan Ledson and son Sonny Jude.
The actress took snaps of the lavish bedroom kitted out in elegant decor, outdoor bath and the stunning surrounding countryside.
She captioned the post: ” A wholesome few weeks.”
The soap star recently revealed she was pregnant with her second child.
Lucy shared the happy news last month alongside an adorable video.
Lucy told her shocked fans: “Half way there.”
Her famous pals rushed to comment on the great news, with Amy Walsh writing: “Awwww congratulations beautiful.”
Tanisha Gorey remarked: “The best news EVER.”
While Helen Flanagan told her: “Love you Lucy xxx”
Lucy is best known for playing Bethany Platt on the ITV soap and met boyfriend Ryan through friends back in 2017, the couple then had baby Sonny together last January.
Ryan is a British professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Preston North End.
Lucy previously quit Weatherfield in 2020 after five years, but returned last year.
In an a video posted last year Lucy can be seen beaming from ear to ear as she is seen backstage
In the clip, she says: “Hello everyone, it’s me, Bethany!
“It’s my first day back filming today. I’m very excited and a little bit nervous.
“I can’t wait for you all to see what Bethany is up to.”
Fans of the show were left ecstatic as they raced to the comments section to share their excitement about the impending arrival of the character.
One wrote: “Cannot wait for this! I do hope Bethany and Sarah still fight like cat and dog, that was always so entertaining!”
A second shared: “FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS BACK!!”
As a third added: “Love her!! Can’t wait to see her back onscreen.”
My sister was never seen again after disappearing down foggy path – ’17-hour window’ means ‘we KNOW she was murdered’
FOR 33 years, the family of Nicola Payne have been desperate to find out what happened to the 18-year-old after she vanished in the fog down a Coventry path.
Some 17 hours before cops started searching for the new mum, Nicola had her final chat with dad John Payne on Friday, December 13, 1991, around 7pm.
Nicola was staying at her boyfriend Jason Cooke’s house with their seven-month-old baby Owen, and had planned to make the 11-minute walk to her parents’ house on Saturday to fetch clothes – but she never made it.
The Cooke family, who didn’t help with extensive searches for the teen, told West Midlands Police Nicola left the home in Winston Avenue at 12.15pm to make the short journey to Woodway Close.
And as she headed through the Black Pad, Nicola never came out the other side.
Despite multiple witnesses and sightings placing Nicola leaving the Cooke’s home on foot, a Payne family source told The Sun they are convinced something happened to her in the 17 hours since they last heard from her.
She had left her dad on Friday and was off to have a takeaway and games night with boyfriend Jason, his parents, brother Michael Cooke and an uncle.
Michael had previously made advances towards Nicola at his own stag do, The Sun can reveal.
And it was something Nicola is understood to have told Jason about in the weeks running up to her suspected death.
Tragic ‘Nic’s’ family are now certain she was murdered before the Cookes said she left the address the following day.
But former Detective Chief Inspector Martin Slevin told The Sun his team were “not able to establish that anything untoward had happened to Nicola” in the Cooke’s home.
Martin said: “We thoroughly explored every single piece of intelligence and hypothesis about potential sightings and what may have happened to Nicola between Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.
“We had a number of witnesses, one of who knew Nicola well, who gave evidence that they saw her in Winston Avenue going onto the Black Pad on that day.
“So we’ve got to go with that hypothesis.
“There were a number of hypotheses put forward about what may have happened to Nicola, what took place at Winston Avenue on the Friday night and on Saturday morning.
“We interviewed everybody that potentially could have held information about any incident that may have taken place in that house that night and in the morning.
“And we were not able to establish that anything untoward had happened to Nicola.”
“Positive sightings” of Nicola at midday on Saturday were also held-up.
Martin added: “We had significant information and public comment about what might have happened to Nicola over that time period.
“[I told Nicola’s parents at the start], ‘we might never be able to give you answers to what actually happened to Nicola on that day or that time period’.
“And of course, because we didn’t secure a conviction, we’re not able to, with a degree of 100 per cent confidence, say that this is definitively what happened.”
ARRESTS
A total of eight people have been arrested in connection with Nicola’s disappearance over the span of three-decades.
A major breakthrough didn’t however come until 2015 when brothers-in-law Nigel Barwell and Thomas O’Reilly were charged with her murder.
Despite mass evidence being put forward at trial – including a tent found with hairs in it that were “900million times more likely to belong to Nicola than anyone else” – the case fell apart.
Barwell and O’Reilly denied all the charges and maintained that they had been in Barwell’s Capri in Rugby, Warks, where they had driven for a drink-up.
No witnesses however, could place the men or the car where they said they were, former DCI Slevin said.
And in a case against them, one person reported hearing a female scream and seeing men coming out of the bushes near the Black Pad on that Saturday lunchtime.
While others reported a blue Ford Capri being nearby at the same time.
Barwell was also said to have known Nicola because he was pals with Michael at the time he made advances and was also at the stag.
But after deliberating for three days, the jury returned a unanimous not guilty verdict.
SEARCHES
West Midlands Police did not have a good reputation at the time, with the Serious Crime Squad having been disbanded in 1989 following a series of wrongful convictions, including the Birmingham Six.
Coventry was in the midst of a crime wave and had suffered 17 murders in 20 months.
But once the police believed this was a case of abduction, they began what was the biggest search carried out by the force, including heat seeking equipment, helicopters and sniffer dogs.
In 1996 cops excavated the garden of a property in Woodway Lane, acting on a tip-off, but after 12 hours of searching nothing was found.
Some five years later, part of the Oxford Canal, in Ansty, was dredged up after a witness came forward with fresh information, but again nothing was found.
Nicola Payne's disappearance will stay with the people of Coventry forever... until the family get answers
BY Morgan Johnson, News Reporter
NICOLA Payne’s disappearance shook the Coventry community back in 1991 and will continue to do so until the family get answers.
Being from the city, hearing about Nicola’s story was a part of growing up and something you would be told about to ensure your safety.
Whether it was driving past the road Nicola lived on or going past the Black Pad, the aftermath of her vanishing was always present.
Parents, grandparents and great-grandparents throughout Coventry knew someone close to the case.
Despite being a city, it’s a small place and you’re never far away from someone who went to school with Nicola or even lived on the same street as her.
I remember being told about Nicola for the first time and couldn’t understand what happened and why no definite answers could be given.
It continues to shock me today.
Years later, I became a News Reporter for the Coventry Telegraph and reported on the unsolved mystery ahead of the 30-year anniversary.
‘Nic’s’ family held a vigil and walked the path, in Henley Green, she would have at just 18 years old.
Her family has accepted she is no longer alive but they still need justice for Nicola.
This December marks 33 years since Nicola last hugged her baby boy, spoke to her mum and dad, laughed with her brothers and had fun with pals.
Her world stopped on December 14 and it’s left a huge impact on the city.
Someone knows what happened to her and should come forward so her family, and son, has closure.
In 2007 it is announced that the case was to be re-examined and Nicola’s parents John and Marilyn re-appealed for those with information to come forward.
Marilyn sadly passed away in March last year before finding out what happened to her daughter.
A statement was also read on behalf of Nicola’s son Owen, who was 16 at the time.
A year on, excavations began at the garden of a house in Winston Avenue, again, drawing a blank.
For the next six years, the force searched multiple grounds to try and make headway.
Coombe Abbey Woodland soon became a point of interest after a witness called to say she saw two men acting strange.
Those two men turned out to be Barwell and O’Reilly.
Searches at Coombe continued throughout the trial and up until 2020 with specialist divers combing the fishing lake.
FAMILY APPEAL
With no new leads, no body and the case only being reviewed every two years by West Mids Police, there doesn’t appear to be grounds for optimism.
But Nicola’s dad and four brothers renewed their efforts to find fresh clues by appearing in a four-part TV documentary last year.
Martin, who was on the case for seven years, said they are right to believe Nicola’s body can still be laid to rest and that her killers can be brought to justice.
A reward of £100,000 is currently being offered to anyone with information.
Southampton vs Man Utd LIVE SCORE: Ten Hag’s men hoping to bounce back against beleaguered Saints – latest updates
MANCHESTER UNITED return from the international break determined to bounce back from their Liverpool pummelling as they take on Southampton today in the early kick-off.
Goals from Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah saw the Red Devils receive a 3-0 thrashing from Arne Slot’s red army.
But Erik ten Hag‘s men will be expected to return to winning ways against a Saints side who have lost all three of their opening Premier League matches.
- Kick-off time: 12:30pm BST
- Live stream: Discovery+
- TV channel: TNT Sports 1
- Southampton XI: To follow
- Man Utd XI: To follow
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