Win a serene spa break for two at Hoar Cross Hall in Staffordshire | Travel

The clue

We’re on a treasure hunt. Friend should accumulate the letters I question for in just about every clue and make them into the title of our ultimate halt. If he succeeds, he’ll earn one of two prizes.

Clue one particular: “I’m handing this to you on a silver plate, Buddy. In his twenties, a Texas governor stayed just northwest of right here so, way too, a foreseeable future air drive secretary. But this city is regarded for far more than its American mates. Pilot us safely and securely to its market place cross and help you save letters 6 and 7 of its identify.”

Clue two: “Now, I’m spoon-feeding you! Eleven miles northeast lies a 2nd city. Disregard its northern industrial estate — we should have been there in November 1979. As an alternative, common sense requires we see the statue of its political-theorist son.” Help you save letter 6 of its name.

Clue 3: “Dig deep and drive to a village wherever builders have been coining it, 17 miles east-southeast of the statue. Conserve the previous letter of the village title.”

Last clue: “Enough roaming — X marks the place in a area two miles southeast of the village. Add that X to the letters you’ve been hoarding and you have acquired the identify of a 2nd village, 50 percent a mile northwest of the field.”

“What connects all 4 sites?” I inquire Pal on arrival. “Americans?” he ventures. I roll my eyes and give him second prize (I’ll continue to keep the frascati for myself). “Think of it as a crucial,” I convey to him. “One just like it unlocked the mystery of this field.”

“A hammer?” he splutters as he unwraps it.

“Think yourself lucky,” I notify him. “An American would give you a full sack of them.”

The questions

1. What is the name of the second town?

2. What’s the name of the next village?

The prize

The winner and guest will love a two-night, complete-board Serene Spa Escape at Hoar Cross Hall in Staffordshire — one particular of The Sunday Times Best Spots to Keep of 2021. It occupies a 19th-century mansion eight miles north of Lichfield, and has just had a £14 million makeover.

Down below stairs is a condition-of-the-artwork spa, a person of the most significant in Europe. The winner and guest will have total entry to the services, as perfectly as a a person-hour cure every on their first working day and a one particular-hour massage each on their 2nd. Lunch will be served in Hugo’s spa restaurant and two three-course dinners for two in the Ballroom.

This 12 months the estate is celebrating its 150th anniversary, and to mark the event Hoar Cross Hall is giving a two-evening Grand Getaway package that involves a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne and a two-hour Elemis encounter-and-overall body treatment. For specifics see baronseden.com.

The prize ought to be taken just before July 1, 2023, subject to availability and excluding community vacations.

Can’t see the opposition type? Enter at thesundaytimes.co.united kingdom/wherewasi

Last week’s prize

The solutions are Leadenhall Road and Brick Lane. Nicola Grey of London wins a magnificent split for two at the Grove in Hertfordshire.