Visitors to Bali can look forward to a new urban resort in Kuta later this year. Mamaka by Ovolo is the first property from the design hotel collection in Indonesia, and the first one to open outside Australia and Hong Kong.

On the site of the former Citadines Kuta Beach Bali, the resort is due to open in late 2020 with 191 rooms and suites.

Part of the Ovolo Collective, a collection of unique hotels inspired by their location, the new property is set to include traditional Balinese textiles and influences from across Balinese culture, as well as a rooftop pool club looking out over Bali’s western beaches.

New easyHotel for Madrid

A city break in Madrid is set to get even more affordable with the planned opening of a new property from budget chain easyHotel.

Part of the company’s European expansion plans, the Madrid site will be the second in the country after Barcelona, part of 40 across the UK, Europe and Dubai. 

The 230-room hotel is due to open during the 2021-22 financial year, on Calle de Mendez Alvaro, a short walk from the city’s Atocha station, served by Spain’s high-speed rail network.

Easyhotel also reopened its flagship hotel on London’s Old Street last year and has recently acquired the Ibis Palais des Congres in Nice too, now rebranded as part of the chain.

Literary gardens

The RHS is celebrating two different literary icons this spring and summer, starting with a Celebration of Wordsworth which runs until April 30.

Marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of William Wordsworth, the four RHS gardens will feature ‘a host of golden daffodils’, paying tribute to the line of his famous poem I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud.

The exhibition will also feature the role of daffodils in art, culture and religion, along with a Golden Mile of narcissi at Harlow Carr in Yorkshire, plus 32,000 cyclamineus daffodils in the Pinetum at Surrey’s RHS Wisley.

The gardens will also be helping to bring new film The Secret Garden to life, in time for its release on April 13, running to July. There will be a trail of six hidden keys to lead families to areas of the RHS Gardens that they may not have previously explored, as well as workshops and other creative activities.

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