Hitzacker is one of those idyllic red-brick, north German towns that seem to have been purpose built for the tourist trade. Its 18th-century timbered houses and narrow streets attract thousands of visitors each year.

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Abode with me: Galway's House Hotel

Going for it in Galway

The Hedonist: What to see and where to be seen

Danny Nightingale (right) with his wife and father

Army urged to drop retrial of SAS sergeant, Danny Nightingale

MOD lawyers pressed on with prosecution of soldier over souvenir pistol despite medical report that could exonerate him

John Sweeney, who has exposed human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, accompanied students from the London School of Economics, where his wife lectures

Review: Panorama - North Korea Undercover documentary

The BBC defended its Panorama film about North Korea as being “strongly in the public interest”. One certainly imagines a lot more members of the public were interested after the row over the methods employed in filming it, which included its excitable reporter John Sweeney growing a beard and — if you buy the line of attack mounted by academics at the London School of Economics — using innocent students as camouflage.  But the question only the film itself could answer was whether it actually contained anything that would interest the public — this being the kind of country where they may let the occasional Trojan horse in but never, ever leave it unattended long enough for the occupants to climb out and get up to mischief.  

Postcard from... Italy

Tonight, reality drama Made in Chelsea returns to our screens for a fifth series in all its champagne-swigging glory. As much as we have enjoyed watching Jamie Laing's attempts to woo west London, it's the awkward silences that have made us switch off. Monday, E4, 10pm

The Fashion Audit: MIC mania/ French fancies/ Jaeger's new crib

We're not sure about… MIC mania

The Big Six: Peruvian pit stops

Andean-style furnishings, hot springs and private beaches

Get your passports out! Forget the snow and winter's relentless icy grip, where are the best getaways for a warming early break?

Ranging from 20C to a blistering 31C, Sophie Lam and Ben Ross have suggestions for holidays to thaw your spirit

Win an epicurean two-night spa break in a luxury York country house hotel worth nearly £800

Middlethorpe Hall and Spa is a York institution: a gorgeous red-brick William and Mary country house, built in 1699 and lovingly refurbished into a sumptuous, historic hotel. 

The Weekend's Viewing: subtitles are the modish accessory of the moment

Spiral, Sat, BBC4 // The Spa, Sun, Sky Living

On the case: FBI agents investigate a jewellers in Jersey City

$200m credit card fraud: Gang of 18 are charged

Thousands of false identities used in elaborate scam

Rooms with a view: The Caley's exterior

Room Service: The Caledonian, Edinburgh

Parisian chic on Princes Street

We're buying... I should Coco

The Fashion Audit

We love... Modern nostalgia

How To Be Beautiful: Scrub up nice

Exfoliation is just about the only thing you can do to feel instantly better about the state of your physical being.

<p>1. Reboot Five days from £495, rebootdorset.com</p>
<p>This boot camp serves nutritious food as a core part of the fitness plan. A week's stay includes plenty of exercise and healthy living workshops.</p>

The 10 Best fitness boot camps

Whether you want gentle instruction or need a sergeant-major shouting to get you going, try an exercise break

Career Services

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Lake Como and the Bernina Express
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Prague city break
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Budapest city break
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Paris by Eurostar
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Beards, brawn and body art

Beards, brawn and body art

Meet London’s new batch of male models
Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

British love of shows such as The Bridge, Borgen and The Killing shows no sign of fading
Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?

The Great Green Wall of Africa,

Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?
Laughter Inc: the cheering growth of the chuckle industry

Laughter Inc

The cheering growth of the chuckle industry
The bad science scandal: how fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research

The bad science scandal

How fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research
To the manor born: The female aristocrats battling to inherit the title

Female aristocrats battle to inherit the title

A passionate protest is gathering pace among the women of Britain's aristocracy, who believe that men should no longer automatically inherit the family pile and title.
Love struck: Photographs of JFK's visit to Berlin 50 years ago reveal a nation instantly smitten

In pictures: JFK's visit to Berlin in 1963

Photographer Ulrich Mack accompanied Kennedy on the entire trip. The results are an astonishing record of a watershed moment.
Eat shoots and leaves: Mark Hix gets creative with fresh peas, mangetouts and sugar snaps

Mark Hix gets creative with English peas

English peas and their offsprings, such as mangetouts and sugar snaps, are great tossed into a salad, says our chef.
Ceviche with a smile: Chef Martin Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends

Chef Martin Morales: Ceviche with a smile

Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends
Incredible edible: Guerrilla gardeners are planting veg for the masses in West Yorkshire

Incredible edible: Guerrilla gardeners

Holly Williams joins the volunteers who have turned a small town into a thriving community with a guerrilla gardening scheme that has provided a blueprint for sustainability.
Seasoned to taste: The restaurants that draw happy diners back year after year

Seasoned to taste: Food institutions

In an industry famed for short-lived success and pop-up pretenders, it takes something special to stick around.
Anatomy of a waiter: Service staff spill the secrets of their trade

Anatomy of a waiter: Staff spill their secrets

Next Sunday is the first ever National Waiters' Day. To celebrate, we share tales from the restaurant trenches by those in the front line.
Drink in the sun: The season's best wines

Drink in the sun: The season's best wines

From complex English sparkling wine to juicy Sicilian reds...
Iran election: Farewell Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, we’ll miss you – but not that much...

Robert Fisk

Farewell Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, we’ll miss you – but not that much...
India sends its final telegram -(Stop)-

After 163 years India sends its final telegram -(Stop)-

Mobile phones and the internet have superseded the once-essential service