Torquay and Devon Holiday Blog » tlh leisure resort

Steve Laister and Friends at the Toorak Hotel

Nigel Beck — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:32:01 +0000

Steve Laister

With all this gloom and doom we deserve a chuckle or two. The unforgettable Steve Laister, winner of the national ‘Comedian of the Year’, is both talented as a singer and comedian. He will be entertaining the residents of Torquay with a full supporting cast at TLH Leisure Resort on Saturday 10^th March.

The cabaret dinner will be held at the stylish Toorak Hotel which is one of the four hotels on the seven-acre resort in Torquay. The three course dinner in the Abbey restaurant will be prepared by head chef Nick Coombes and combines all that’s best about Devon produce including the chef’s ‘To Die For’ homemade fudge.

The entertainment is in the intimate venue of the Arlington suite hosted by Steve Laister and joined by comedy magician Keith King, comedian Tank Sherman and the vocal talents of Zoe Harris.

If you’re looking for a ‘grown up’ night out why not enjoy a perfect mix of good food and wine, cabaret, comedy and magic at the Toorak Hotel?

Tickets available at £24.95pp from the Toorak Hotel on 01803 400400 or email toorakreception@tlh.co.uk

Steve Laister and Friends at the Toorak Hotel is a post from: Torquay and Devon Holiday Blog

Belly Dance Break

Vicky — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:35:02 +0000

Not sure about booking the male stripper for your hen night?

As brides we want a fun and memorable occasion for the last fleeting moments of our ‘freedom’. The lively and even racy nights with flowing alcohol may not be up everyone’s street. Some may just want a simple and quiet dinner with the girls or a weekend away of pampering or encountering a new experience with close friends. There are so many hen experience packages available from cocktail making, learning to surf and even learning a new dance.

Trying out Belly dancing would be an amazing experience and something a little different from the usual pampering hen party weekends.

Afra - Silk Wings

Hosted by International dance teacher Afra Al Kahira, you and the girls can enjoy a new and exciting Learn to Belly Dance break at the Toorak Hotel. The break includes welcome drinks, tuition, dinner and a talk on the history, costume and styles of belly dancing. On the Saturday night, you will be entertained with a GALA show, featuring performances by Afra and invited guests in a variety of different styles. At the end of the weekend you will be able to put all of your skills learnt together to perform a routine.

What a better way to surprise your guests and even your husband on the big day! If that sounds scary, maybe persuade your girl friends to perform instead!

Check out the TLH website for more details or call 01803 400500.

Belly Dance Break is a post from: Torquay and Devon Holiday Blog

War Horse Putting Dartmoor On the Map

Nigel Beck — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:59:02 +0000

Dartmoor is set to become a must see destination in 2012 thanks to the release of the new Spielberg film War Horse.

The film is released in the UK on 13th January and focuses on the moving story of a Devon farm boy who joins the army in an effort to search for his horse, Joey, after he is sold into the cavalry and shipped to France during the First World War. The Michael Morpurgo story has already been adapted for the stage and has been a hit in London’s West End. The ambitious film will definitely be a tearjerker and early reviews tip it for an Oscar.

Steven Spielberg spent many weeks on Dartmoor, back in August 2010 and by all accounts was spellbound by its beauty, saying, “I have never before, in my long and eclectic career, been gifted with such an abundance of natural beauty as I experienced filming War Horse on Dartmoor.”

In fact, South Devon has been the site for scenes shot in many films and TV shows. Torquay and indeed the English Riviera as a whole have inspired such hits as Fawlty Towers as well as being the backdrop for such things as Miss Marple, Churchill: The Hollywood Years (Christian Slater & Neve Campbell…), Blackball (Paul Kaye, Vince Vaughn, Johnny Vegas…) and TV programmes such as the BBC’s The Zoo Keepers (filmed at Paignton Zoo) and Channel 5′s Milkshake Monkey (Children’s prog, 2009). Those of us on the wrong side of 40 will also no doubt remember the Onedin Line, shot in Dartmouth! And bringing us bang up to date, we have Channel 4’s The Hotel causing quite a stir and the recent episode of BBC’s Sherlock showed Dartmoor in all it’s haunting beauty.

Some of these locations are on your doorstep when you stay in Torquay and even those in more rural locations are still only within a short driving distance. You too can experience the beauty that Devon has to offer, visit the sites and inspiration for so many films and set the scene for your own great holiday by staying at TLH Leisure Resort , so well placed for access to many parts of Devon and Cornwall. Why not come down and plan your own location break? There’s nothing quite like visiting the places you’ve seen and enjoyed on the big screen.

Take a look at your holiday options here or call 01803 400500 to find out more.

War Horse Putting Dartmoor On the Map is a post from: Torquay and Devon Holiday Blog

Anyone for Tennis at the Toorak Hotel Torquay?

Nigel Beck — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:31:16 +0000

January is traditionally the time to plan and scheme for the year ahead. It’s all so easy whilst curled up with a cup of tea in a nice comfy armchair! You imagine what the ‘new you’ may be capable of. Are you going to get fit, lose weight, book a holiday or try something new?

Well TLH Leisure Resort in Torquay has a whole range of special interest breaks for 2012, which may just tick all these boxes. You get to come on holiday to the lovely English Riviera, maybe learn or improve a skill or hobby and you could even become fitter and leaner in the process.

Our professional tennis coach, Heath Parkin

Amongst some of the breaks on offer are a series of Tennis Breaks at the hotel group’s 3 star Toorak Hotel. Tennis Pro and LTA coach Heath Parkin hosts the weekend breaks which include an amazing 11 hours of coaching.

The weekends are ideal for improvers or intermediate players, looking to improve their technique, rather than complete beginners. The tennis courts are set in a stunning location at Torre Abbey Meadows overlooking the sea and conveniently directly opposite the hotel.

Your break starts at 6pm on the Friday with a ‘meet the coach and welcome drinks’ session, followed by dinner. Then it’s down to the serious business of drills and practice, with coaching starting at 10am on the Saturday. All the key strokes are covered and the day ends with competitive drills and match play tips.

Sunday’s coaching will reinforce these skills, but there will be more emphasis on tactics which will nicely set everything up for a competition towards the end of the day, either singles or doubles depending on numbers.

Superb indoor pool

It’s not all about the tennis though – you can enjoy the superb food and comfortable surroundings of the Toorak plus take advantage of the fantastic on-site leisure facilities of TLH Leisure Resort, including the 25 metre indoor Aztec Pool complex, gym and spa, as well as nightly entertainment.

If you’re sat in your comfy armchair reading this now and imagining how you may clean up at the local tennis club this summer, or are looking to resurrect your rusty backhand, then this is a perfect weekend break for you!

Tennis Breaks are on the following dates: 4-6 May, 13-15 July and 28-30th September.

Prices from £185 pp for 2 nights dinner, bed & breakfast and including all coaching.

Call 01803 400500 to book or find out more here.

Anyone for Tennis at the Toorak Hotel Torquay? is a post from: Torquay and Devon Holiday Blog

The Kids Got Bowls!!

Terri — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:45:46 +0000

One rainy evening in October, just as we had started our indoor season and were re-acquainting ourselves with long lost teammates and fast carpets, three likely lads strayed in from the rain. They were all teenagers and they stood and watched us for a few minutes before one youngster asked if anyone could have a go. So, I told them to kick off their shoes, I grabbed some spare bowls and one of our under 25’s who was lounging at the bar, and got them all started on a spare rink.

They played for about an hour and it was pretty obvious that there was one in the group who was very interested as he listened to our under 25 star who explained line, delivery, mat laying, jack casting and some of the things that beginners need to know.

After an hour they all disappeared except for the one 14 year old, who stayed on to watch us all again. He also turned up every night for the next week for a ‘practice’.

Since then this lad has been sponsored for his membership and his rink fees, he’s been bought his shoes and bowls by his Dad. Other members have given him measures, towels, chalk etc., and within a couple of weeks he was completely kitted out with whites and greys, and a bowls bag for all this new equipment, most of which was bought in the bowls shop at TLH Leisure Resort.

This youngster is now a ‘super–sub’ playing when any team needs a player in the evening leagues. He has played in several friendly games and has also played in the John Parrot and Wessex League. He is so keen and so eager to do well, he even sits by the green in the evening if he is not playing, and keeps the scorecards for the teams that are. His parents are delighted he has an interest but perhaps do get concerned when we are sitting in the corner doing his homework whilst he plays bowls.

He is so keen to progress that he has even asked to be involved in the School of Excellence that is to be held at ISCA in February.

I am sure that this young man will develop into a very good bowler – and later, perhaps in a couple of years we will all be reading about him. That is my prediction.

But what I really want to say, is a huge thank you to my club, and the wonderful members who have sponsored and encouraged this young man. In a time when human nature is set for self-preservation I applaud you all for the consideration, encouragement and expertise you have given to this one individual. Torquay United IBC, you should be proud of yourselves.

That’s all folks

Dru Close

The Kids Got Bowls!! is a post from: Torquay and Devon Holiday Blog

Dancing Duo

Vicky — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 09:35:56 +0000

Henry and Jeannie Clark, known as Dancing Duo, are among the latest additions to our dance hosts at TLH Leisure Resort and will be at the Toorak Hotel this December and again in March. The couple have been running dance breaks and evening classes around South Devon for over 12 years.

It was the dire need for a hip replacement some years ago which stopped his dancing, that led to a new retirement career fro Henry and his wife Jeannie. By running dances, he reasoned, they could still keep in touch with their many friends in the dancing world.

So from small beginnings, with afternoon tea dances, the hobby shared by the couple has grown into a rewarding business with a busy schedule.

Nowadays, seasoned dancer (on two artificial hips) Henri and Jeannie often partner single people in their dances, while Henry simultaneously plays the very best of CD music for Ballroom, Latin and Social Sequence dancing.

The Torquay based couple are great believers in making every dance evening feel like a special event with an ambience created by themed stage decorations and attractively dressed tables around the ballroom. The music is always carefully selected to appeal to enthusiastic dancers at all levels.

Up to six dance holidays a year and even their more local dances, attract support from far and wide. Henry and Jeannie aim to provide ‘quality dancing with an element of fun’. By mixing closely with their dancers, they both encourage great social evenings. Only the best hotels with good well-sprung dance floors are selected for their breaks in coastal resorts such as Newquay, Dawlish, Bournemouth and now the Toorak Hotel in Torquay.

Before their retirement hobby became a new career, Henry was a farmer at Staverton near Totnes and Jeannie, a former journalist and public relations officer in TV and publishing, was a hotelier in Totnes.

You can join Dancing Duo at the Toorak Hotel on the 11^th December for 3 nights and again on the 12th March for 4 nights. To find out more visit www.tlh.co.uk/dancing

Dancing Duo is a post from: Torquay and Devon Holiday Blog

The only way is Fit Camp!

Lee — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:02:41 +0000

Beach running

Anyone who has been watching ITV’s The Only Way is Essex (TOWIE) will no doubt been familiar with Gemma and Arg going to Boot Camp to help with them their weight issues.

Anyone serious about weight loss and getting started with a healthier lifestyle should take a look at a new Fit Camp break in Torquay, taking place in January 2012.

The Carlton Hotel & Spa, part of TLH Leisure Resort, have brought in Jon Sims who is one of Devon’s top personal trainers and food nutritionists, to run a 5-day intensive health and fitness “fit camp”.

Activities include Kettlebell, Zumba, Aerobics, circuit training and yoga, all held by professional trainers and under Jon’s watchful eye! All food and snacks for the week are provided to make sure you are getting the best start to your new healthy lifestyle. Plus there will be workshops and plans for you to take home to keep you on track.

So if you want to really make a change in 2012, have a look at the details on our website.

Places are limited, so book early!

The only way is Fit Camp! is a post from: Torquay and Devon Holiday Blog

Half Term Family Holidays at TLH Leisure Resort Torquay

Vicky — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:30:10 +0000

Well if this heatwave lasts you could be in for a truly amazing October half term holiday in Torquay! I may be a little optimistic with the weather forecast, but even if it’s not as warm and sunny as it is this week, you can be sure of plenty to keep the whole family happy at TLH Leisure Resort this October.

If you’re looking for a bargain (and frankly who isn’t these days) then TLH’s group of 4 hotels has some great offers to tempt you. All children under 5 stay free in their parent’s rooms, no matter what time of year you come, but your under 10s can also stay for free with us on selected dates. With 2 nights midweek at just £106pp at the Dewent Hotel, then it makes an October family break an affordable option.

A truly all-weather resort, TLH has Kids and Teens clubs offering a full programme of daytime activities or you could take advantage of our TLH Guest Discount card and visit some of Torbay’s amazing attractions. And whilst the children make the most of the indoor pool complex, Aztec Falls, the grown ups can retreat to the Aztec themed Spa and Gym or perhaps try an exercise class in the Aztec Fitness Studio. After dark sees a variety of evening entertainment, including discos, cabaret and comedians, appealing to the whole family.

Of course, October means Halloween and TLH’s Spooky Weekend provides a suitably chilling edge to your weekend away with Halloween themed games, activities and entertainment. The English Riviera’s many attractions also have spooky events planned over this period. Why not plan to visit Kent’s Cavern, Paignton Zoo and Babbacombe Model Village, to name but a few, whilst you’re here?

So, what’s not to like?! An October break can be the perfect time to regroup as a family and prepare for the pre-Christmas onslaught! Take a look at www.tlh.co.uk or call us on 01803 400500.

Half Term Family Holidays at TLH Leisure Resort Torquay is a post from: Torquay and Devon Holiday Blog

Holidaying with Teens

Vicky — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 09:11:34 +0000

It seemed to happen overnight and in my experience happened earlier with my daughter than with my son. I’m talking about the transformation from a loving, engaged, pliable child into a grunting, grumpy, awkward teenager.

courtesy of Tom Clare

This ‘morphing’ process takes it toll, not least on family life. Days out, family celebrations, shopping trips, all become fraught as your teen either refuses to participate or grudgingly joins you and makes everyone’s life a misery. One of the worst casualties, sadly, is the ‘Family Holiday’. Once a joy to plan, involving trips to the beach, a token visit to a fairground and even something cultural, as long as copious ice cream was promised, has now become a battle, almost certainly resulting in tears, tantrums and hitting the drinks cupboard – and I’m not talking about the teenagers!

So, what’s to be done? How can you recreate that blissful, carefree family holiday of old? Well, for starters it’s probably not going to happen in exactly the same way, but you can replace it with another kind of holiday, equally as fun and as memorable. The key is compromise and to treat your teen more like the adult they are shortly about to become.

Here are a few tips:

Include your teenager in the ‘where to go’ discussion. Listen to their ideas, you may be pleasantly surprised!
Choose somewhere with lots to do. It doesn’t have to be an exotic location, but it does have to have lots of options. Boredom will lead to strife! Some exciting activities, coupled with plenty of ‘chill out’ time is a good idea.
Let them have their own bedrooms. Privacy is hugely important to teens and the prospect of sharing with parents and/or younger siblings is enough to send them running. It needn’t be expensive. Look out for teen booking offers where discounts apply if they share their own twin room.
Children and adults of all ages love a good waterslide or swimming pool – combine with other teenagers, preferably of the opposite sex and you’re on to a winner!
Relax on the food front. Half board accommodation can be off putting for some, but at least your teen can choose from the menu themselves and eating in a restaurant environment means they can dress up for dinner (popular with girls I’ve found).
In my experience, teenagers love to be as lazy and as undisciplined as we do on holiday. Allow them the freedom to choose their own activities at their own pace. If lolling around poolside plugged into their iPod is what they want to do – so be it – it’s their holiday too!
Evening entertainment can be a bonus, as long as you’re not watching their every move! Somewhere where they can enjoy themselves but within a stone’s throw of Mum and Dad can be good (plus they know you’ll be there to fund their insatiable appetite for fizzy drinks all night!).
Booking an ‘on-site’ experience means you don’t have to worry if your teenager disappears for a few hours. They have probably found some like- minded soul of the opposite sex (see point 3!) who are on holiday at the same place. And they’ll soon be back when they need food/drink/money!

If you consider a hotel and self-catering complex, like TLH Leisure Resort in Torquay, you can cheerfully tick off all the above points. And if you’ve missed out on a fabulous summer holiday experience (as we did this year, due to endless wrangling and arguing over where to go!), then October half term may be the perfect time to get your ‘Family Holiday’ back on track! With a teen sharing their own room offer and children under 10 going completely free when staying 4 or more nights it needn’t break the bank.

Finally just a word of hope. Almost as quickly as they become grumpy teenagers, they turn into witty, fun young adults -you may even find that your teenager becomes the perfect holidaying companion!

Holidaying with Teens is a post from: Torquay and Devon Holiday Blog

Strictly Come TLH!

Kazzy — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:20:31 +0000

Learning something new after the age of, well let’s be honest, any age where you are no longer a child, can be quite a daunting experience. But it really needn’t be. With programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing increasing the popularity of dancing tenfold, more and more people are taking to, or wanting to take to the floor.

TLH Leisure Resort in Torquay offers ‘Learn to Dance’ holidays which includes fantastic coaching and facilities to dancers of all abilities – from those who are experienced to complete beginners. Instead of us telling you why TLH offers some of the best dance holidays in the UK, we asked Mrs Preece, a guest who has recently started learning to dance with us, to tell you her story of dancing at TLH.

“I have been keen to learn to dance for years, I danced a little as an early teenager but ballroom dance is completely new to my husband; I did have to work on him a bit to get him to come along. We were looking specifically for a dance break and I searched the internet for dance holidays and found your website easily with plenty of information. As we are living in nearby Exeter the journey would be short and convenient for us.

We have been to two dance holidays so far at TLH Leisure Resort and have booked two more for in the near future. We started with Pam Peters in June of this year, and attended another dancing break with Linda & John West last month. As we have only been dancing for three months we found the latter break much more challenging but still very enjoyable. We are progressing well with our dancing, my husband and I are now at the same level and it works very well, and most importantly, my husband now loves it! We found that we were able to bring back the steps we learnt at our recent break in August and use them in our weekly dancing classes that we now attend at home.

We love the TLH dance breaks for several reasons. Firstly there is so much dancing available over the stay and the tuition is a fantastic bonus. The hosts have been friendly and welcoming towards us even though we are still both quite novice dancers. They were willing to give lots of help and advice and are always very encouraging. We love that we get to meet like minded people over the weekends, it’s great making new friends.

The facilities are very good, especially the pool complex and the Aztec Bistro is also very nice. I have not yet had chance to take advantage of the Spa facilities as we are always occupied with dance in some way. The Hotel food is very enjoyable; there is always a great selection and plenty of it and the staff are very pleasant and helpful. We do look out for other dancing breaks around the UK, however we do so much enjoy the facilities that TLH has to offer it’s hard to find the same combination elsewhere.”

So really, you don’t need to take our word for it.

For further information and details on our dance breaks click here, or call our reservations team on 01803 400500.

Strictly Come TLH! is a post from: Torquay and Devon Holiday Blog