Diana Soutar specializes in vacation home rentals...

Diana Soutar specializes in vacation home rentals in England’s Cotswolds. Stone farmhouses with modern comforts. Central heating, washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerators, radios, color TV, crockery, sheets, blankets, towels, pillows. Milk and newspapers delivered daily. The butcher drops by twice a week with his mobile shop. You’re about 95 miles from London Airport, 50 miles from Oxford and Bristol. Rates: From 40/205 per week. Accommodations for two to nine guests. One cottage was converted from an old dairy building (three bedrooms, three baths, a sitting room facing open fields, the Malvern Hills). Contact Diana Soutar, The Moretons, Bredon, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire GL20 7EN, England.

Week’s Best Buy

Here’s a tour that’s hard to beat: For only $60 a day you can vacation for three weeks on Australia’s Gold Coast. Price includes round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, San Francisco or Seattle along with a studio apartment (swimming pool, spa, tennis), transfers and baggage handling. For $77 a day this same discount club adds New Zealand (visits to Auckland as well as Sydney, Cairns and the Gold Coast). For a few extra bucks they’ll add Hawaii, Tahiti, Fiji. Contact Worldwide Discount Travel Club Inc., 1674 Meridian Ave., Miami Beach, Fla. 33139 or telephone (305) 534-2082. Dozens of other packages, including cruise discounts.

For Skiers

Greyhound will be working with United Airlines this winter on trips from Denver’s Stapleton Airport to major ski resorts. Daily service round trip to Winter park ($22), Keystone ($24), Copper Mountain ($30), Breckenridge ($32), Vail ($36). One-way fares also on sale. Service operates Dec. 15 through April 19. Latest buses with reclining seats. For reservations call toll free, (800) 445-5287.

Country Inns

A new catalogue naming more than 2,000 country inns, lodges, guest houses and B&Bs; sells for $4.95. Lists accommodations in every state. Everything from simple B&Bs; to fine lodges (featuring restaurants), a couple of dozen working plantations, Gold Rush hotels, boarding houses. Listings divided by region: the West, Midwest, the South, the mid-Atlantic states and New England. Facilities are grouped in alphabetical order. For copies of the “Inn-Link Catalogue of Country Inns, Bed & Breakfasts, Lodges and Guest Houses,” write to P.O. Box 8480, Roanoke, Va. 24014 or check with your bookstore.

Theater Tour

Times art writer Barbara Isenberg will be off to London Dec. 27, leading another tour for theater buffs. Performances of “Chess” (the new hit musical by Tom Rice), Christopher Hampton’s “Les Liason Dangereuses,” Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest musical, “Phantom of the Opera,” and Arthur Miller’s “The Archbishop’s Ceiling.” Other activities at Stratford-on-Avon, a concert at the Royal Albert Hall, discussions with theater figures in London and an exhibition of Rodin sculpture and drawings. The package runs $2,295, including the round-trip flight, nine nights at the Waldorf Hotel, sightseeing, admissions, a farewell dinner. Return to Los Angeles is set for Jan. 6. Other details from Cyndy Jackson or Barbie Ellisen at Exclusive Travel, 3345 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles 90010. Telephone (213) 437-0070.

Castle Hotel

A professor from Massachusetts Institute of Technology has converted a castle into a hotel/restaurant near Hexham in northeast England. Claims it’s “one of a kind.” Langley Castle dates from 1350. The crown confiscated it when former owners were executed in the Tower of London. This was in 1715. Langley rises on 10 acres of wooded grounds. Eight luxury suites, each with private bath. Choices of canopied beds, half-testers. Reasonable rates (about $52.50) include a full English breakfast, but with the dollar fluctuating this could change. Details from Prof. Stuart Madnick, Langley Castle, Langley-on-Tyne, Hexham, Northumberland NE47 5LU, England.

Reader Recommendations

Canada--Dorothy Greene, Laguna Hills: “Stayed at the B&B; of Violet Sorenson, 1150 Lynn Valley Road, North Vancouver. Convenient to transportation. Had a separate small house. Stocked every day with supplies for our breakfast. Price was $118 Canadian for four people.”

Canada--Don Pope, Sun City: “Impressed with the Jasper House bungalows on Highway 93, Box 817, about 2 1/2 miles south of Jasper, B.C. Cabin fronted on the Athabaska River. One of 41 units surrounding a well-kept wooded area. Our two-bedroom, one-bath cabin with a large living room and completely equipped kitchen for three adults was $62 U.S.”

Utah--Ernest Hochstadt, Laguna Hills: “A wonderful inn in Utah on the way to Salt Lake City going north or Bryce Canyon going south. An antique buff’s dream come true. Excellent restaurant. Rates from $26 up including a gourmet breakfast. Write to Cedar Crest Lodge, Box T, Sterling, Utah 84665.”

Costa Rica--Anita Irwin, Venice: Recommends Hotel Amstel, Box 4192, Calle 7, Ave. 1 and 3, San Jose, Costa Rica. Approximately $20/$30; Costa Rica Inn, P.O. Box 10282, San Jose, Costa Rica. A pension. “Friendly, helpful owners. Approximately $10 single.”

Spain--J. Ramsay, Laguna Niguel: “A one-bedroom, fully-furnished apartment on the beach along Spain’s Costa del Sol. Sleeps four. View of Gibraltar. Price, $200 per week. Contact Jim and Christine Lanigan, 19 Abbott Road, Wellesley Hills, Mass. 02181.”

Maine--Marlene Webb, Gardena: “Bufflehead Cove B & B, a 100-year-old Dutch colonial on five acres. Double rates, $35 to $55. Lower in the off season. Box 499, Kennebunkport, Me., 04046.”

California--”Stayed in a beautiful 1880s Victorian farmhouse, Overview Farm, 15650 Arnold Drive, Sonoma, Calif. 95476. With a full breakfast, $85. This was once part of the Preckles estate. Large rooms, beautifully decorated.”

California--Ginny Olney, Torrance: “La Residence Country Inn, 4066 St. Helena Highway, Napa, Calif. 94558. Can’t wait to return. Rates: $65 to $115. I know your readers will enjoy this place.”

California--Helen Hagstrom, Rancho Palos Verdes: “Found one of the most outstanding restaurants ever. It’s Et Erna’s Elderberry (a combination of nouvelle and European cuisine). Truly an act of love. Set in the mountains. Ambiance of a southern French estate. Antiques, crystal, silver, candlelight, landscaped gardens with fountain. Our six-course dinner, prix fixe $28, was superb. Service excellent. Address: Et Erna’s Elderberry Restaurant, Victoria Lane, Oakhurst, Calif. 93644.”

France--Jessie G. DeMassa, Huntington Beach: “Recommends Hotel de France, 41 Rue Marechal Foch, Cherbourg, France. Nice, clean hotel over 100 years old. Restaurant adjacent offered one of the finest meals I’ve ever had. Room and dinner 152.50 francs (about $23).”

France--Myles and Linda Clowers, San Diego: Recommend the Franceshrinkers, a subsidiary of the Britishshrinkers in England. The program only began this summer. Day trips originate in Paris. We took one to Burgundy region. But highlight was the overnight trip to Loire River Valley where we toured over 10 chateaux and were treated with superb food and excellent guide. Burgundy trip $78 per person, Loire $187 per person.”

England--Shirley and Don Kingdon, Los Angeles: “Believe it or not, the Holiday Inn at Plymouth on Armada Way, 65 for two, no breakfast. The Falcon restaurant at Bude, Cornwall, charming 200-year-old hotel, 26 for two with wine. The Manor House at Castle Combe, Chippenham, Wiltshire. 77 for two with breakfast, a highlight of our trip. Brown’s Hotel on Albemarle Street in London, another elegant, classy splurge, 130 for two, no breakfast.”