Antique gifts

With the pound down in value against the dollar and the euro, many will resist the temptation to visit the Christmas markets in Europe or the shops in New York and will settle instead for some of Britain's more charming and historic cities. To encourage them, many hotels are offering special rates from now until early December.
Few will need an incentive to visit Bath, famous for its thermal spas and enticing array of shops. All the leading brands are there, plus jewellers, antique shops and galleries, often hidden down cobbled passageways. Lakeland, the creative kitchenware shop in New Bond Street, is full of items you never knew you needed, while Minerva Chocolate in Cheap Street has 40 different delicacies you know you shouldn't eat.
A Christmas market with 120 chalet-style wooden stalls opens in the centre of the city on November 27 and continues until December 7. Afternoon tea can be enjoyed in the elegant surroundings of the Pump Room or Sally Lunn's Refreshment House, where the famous Bath bun can be sampled in the city's oldest house.

The centrally located Royal Hotel has a promotional rate from now until early December of 49 a night for dinner, bed and breakfast, while Bailbrook Lodge, a Georgian country house one and a half miles away, offers B-B and a glass of champagne from 41 a night

Weldon, N.C. The small Halifax County town of Weldon is hoping to bring in new business by renovating old abandoned mills.Crews in Weldon are busy putting the finishing touches on the old cotton mill, renovated by a private developer, which is expected to open early next year as an antique mall and artisans gallery called Riverside Mill.Town leaders say it is part of a plan to revitalize the area along the Roanoke River in hope of it becoming a tourist destination. The river seems to be the flow of life for the town, Town Commissioner Andy Whitby said.The town has received a $30,000 grant from the North Carolina Rural Center for planning to revitalize the area along the river. Once the plan is in place, it will receive an additional $100,000 to implement it.The river and businesses along it, Whitby said, will be a key toward bringing people and revenue to Weldon. I want to see Weldon as a very prosperous community with all of these buildings built up, he said

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