60th birthday gift ideas: seven proper presents to chip in for

Mr & Mrs Smith lists the cheapest double at about £446 a night with breakfast, so £500 is a night for two at the New Forest hotel it describes as the only privately owned five-star in the UK. There are 72 rooms, 35 of them suites, a spa with indoor and outdoor pools, a nine-hole golf course and a cookery school. The treehouse suites in the woods have their own hot tubs.

Skip it if you want a fixed package with the hotel's name on it: these are money vouchers, and the voucher page does not state an expiry date, so ask the hotel on 01425 282 212 before you buy.

The £446.26 room rate is Mr & Mrs Smith's lowest double in the next 60 days with no dates entered, shown on 19 October 2026. Real rates depend on the date.

Sources: Chewton Glen: gift vouchers · Mr & Mrs Smith: Chewton Glen (rates, rooms, treehouse suites)

A Champagne reception as they board, then a seven-course lunch cooked to order, the sommelier's choice of wine, British cheeses with port, Fortnum & Mason tea and petits fours, and strolling musicians, all while the train runs a circular route and brings them home. The 2027 lunches run on the West Highland line from Glasgow and Edinburgh and to Cornwall via Dawlish from Cardiff, Bristol and Taunton.

Skip it if they live far from the boarding stations, or hate dressing up: smart day wear is expected and jeans and trainers are out. Nobody gets off; the whole day is on board.

Red Letter Days sells a different Northern Belle voucher, a five-course dining trip for two, at £890 valid 12 months; dates must match the voucher's value.

Sources: Luxury-Trains.co.uk: Northern Belle dining excursions · Luxury-Trains.co.uk: Northern Belle celebrations and gift vouchers · Red Letter Days: Northern Belle five-course dining experience for two

Three nights at a bed and breakfast on a wine estate in Beaune, with three breakfasts and two lunches, guided visits with transport, at least four wine tastings, an aperitif in the estate's grotto, and a walk round its vineyard and truffle plantation. There is a pool, a jacuzzi and gardens for the afternoons. It is the Côte d'Or, so the famous villages are on the doorstep.

Skip it if they want every meal covered: dinners are not included, nor are wine purchases or getting to Beaune. Pets are not allowed.

Winedering prices in euros (€1,100 a person, the same for a double or single room). We converted at the European Central Bank's reference rate for 19 October 2026, £0.84205 to the euro; your card's rate will differ.

Sources: Winedering: 3-night Burgundian wine escape at La Terre d'Or, Beaune · Winedering: Côte d'Or wine holiday packages · European Central Bank: euro reference rate for sterling (19 October 2026)

The gift that keeps paying out: free entry for two to more than 500 houses, gardens and coastlines, free parking at most National Trust car parks, the Handbook, and the magazine three times a year, for the rest of their lives. At sixty, with time opening up, it turns every weekend drive into a day out. Annual joint membership is £168, so it pays for itself in about eighteen years.

Skip it if they already pay annually and have done for years: the Trust lists a senior lifetime rate (£2,280 joint) and a senior annual rate for members over 60 with three years' continuous membership, so check whether they qualify before you pay full price.

The senior lifetime prices (£1,815 individual, £2,280 joint) are listed, but the page does not say exactly who qualifies for them. Ask the Trust before buying.

Sources: National Trust: join (membership types and lifetime prices) · National Trust: gift membership