Christmas might be hurtling towards us but there’s still plenty of time for dating before the festivities take over!  And you still have seven weeks to get to know some of our wonderful members before Santa comes tumbling down the chimney, so login to DatingAgency.com and see who’s online. You never know, you might be enjoying a mince pie with one of them on Christmas Day!

November is the time to….

Get Down To Some Jazz Take your date to boogie to some bebop and get down to some big band swing at London’s Jazz Festival from Friday 13th November to Sunday 22nd. There’s performances from John Scofield, Bobby Hutcherson Quartet, Dave Markee & The Jazz Collective, Clare Teal, Grand Canyon and Dave Lewis among others. For the full lineup and tickets visit London Jazz Festival

See Marilyn & Ella An unusual theatre production hits the West End this November called Marilyn & Ella which tells the story of the extraordinary friendship between Marilyn Monroe and Ella Fitzgerald in 1950s America at a time when black music and black singers weren’t welcome on the mainstream theatre and club stages. It’s on at the Apollo Theatre and you can read all about on the DatingAgency.com Blog.

Get Friendly With Fungi Autumn is the perfect time for a fungi foray and by November the prized morel season is just beginning, so take your date and forage for brunch together on a guided mushroom hunt. There are hundreds of fungi walks on at the weekends all over the UK – and even on London’s Hampstead Heath. A quick Google search will help you locate one near you, or you can contact the Fungus Society of Great Britain for further information.

Go To A Book Signing It’s a bit of an unusual date but if you both love the author or celebrity, go to a book signing together and out for a bite to eat afterwards. All the celebs, TV personalities and sporting heroes are doing the rounds in the run-up to Christmas including the newly crowned Formula One Champion Jenson Button who is signing copies of his new book My Championship Year in Bristol on Friday 20th November; and Gardener’s World Joe Hashman will be chatting to fellow gardeners and signing copies of his new book On The Plot With Dry Nails at Milton Keynes on November 29th. Find what’s on near you at Waterstones

Eat At The BBC Good Food Show This touring show has everything for foodies including Masterchef Live, cookery demonstrations from TV chefs James Martin and Michel Roux Jnr among others, tastings and advice for unusual Christmas tipples, plus you can sample tapas sized dishes from ten of London’s best restaurants including Le Caprice, Launceston Place and Skylon in the Restaurant Experience. It’s on at London’s Olympia from 13-15th November and Birmingham’s NEC on the 25-29th November. Tickets cost £18 in advance from BBC Good Food Show.

Visit The Classic Motor Show Whether your passion is for ‘70s Fords or vintage Bentley’s, there’ll be 1000s of classic cars at Birmingham’s NEC from November 13th-15th. You can learn how it’s done in the restoration theatre, take a drive in your dream classic car, find out about the many car and bike clubs across the UK, and take part in the 30th anniversary of the Lancia Delta! Tickets cost £21.00 in advance for the Friday (£23.00 on the door) and £16.00 in advance (£18.00 on the door) on the Saturday and Sunday. See Classic Motor Show for all the details.

Experience Bath’s Mozartfest Classical music fans should head to Bath for their 19th Mozart Festival taking place between the 13th and 21st November. There’ll be a visit from the English Chamber Orchestra, a recital from one of the great pianists of our age Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and a gala evening with Dame Felicity Lott, Sir Thomas Allen and Malcolm Martineau. You can find out what’s going on and purchase tickets at Bath Mozartfest.

Visit A Christmas Market Graze on cinnamon biscuits, sup mulled wine and bring in the festive cheer together at a Christmas market. There’s several taking place from mid-November onwards in Bath, Winchester, Worcester, Canterbury, Leeds, Belfast, Oxford, Portsmouth, Bury St Edmunds, plus London’s Oxford Street and Hyde Park. To find one near you visit Christmas Markets

Celebrate National Curry Week Treat your date to a curry during National Curry Week on the 22nd to 28th November. Organised by the folks who make Cobra lager, the participating restaurants donate a percentage of your bill to The Curry Tree Charitable Fund which tackles poverty and suffering across South Asia. To find your nearest participating restaurant visit National Curry Week

Rob and Emma Green from Green's Restaurant, Whitby

Whisk your date off for lunch or dinner at one of this year’s award-winning restaurants.

The winners of this year’s numerous restaurant and hotel awards have been announced, and here are the ones you need to know about.  Bon appetit!

Green’s Restaurant & Bistro, in Whitby, North Yorkshire

If you’re looking for somewhere to take your date in North Yorkshire, head to Green’s Restaurant & Bistro in Whitby. Not only has chef Rob Green been crowned National Seafood Chef of the Year, but the restaurant which he runs with his wife Emma won the ‘Taste of Yorkshire’ award at the White Rose Awards organised by the Yorkshire Tourist Board.

The restaurant always has a menu brimming with bounty from the surrounding coast.  Rob keeps in daily contact with the skippers of the local trawlers to get the best of ‘The Catch of the Day’, which he collects fresh each morning from the Quayside a few minutes away from the Restaurant – and even the name of the boat which caught the catch is on the menu.  Of course all the meat is local too – and even the flour for their homemade bread hails from the county.

A two course menu costs £33.95 and a three course menu £40.95.  To book telephone 01947 600284 or make a reservation online at http://greensofwhitby.co.uk/.

Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms, Nottingham

Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms is Nottingham’s only Michelin starred restaurant and it has now been crowned the 4th best restaurant in the UK at Restaurant Magazine’s National Restaurant Awards earlier this month, just days before it was awarded the prestigious 5 AA Rosettes – the highest accolade from the AA and the only restaurant to achieve the award this year.

A winner of the prestigious Roux scholarship in 1999, Sat Bains opened the restaurant with his wife Amanda in 2002 and won the county’s only Michelin star in 2003.  It was awarded the best UK Restaurant of the Year 2007, and in 2008 Observer Food Monthly voted it Best Restaurant of the Year and number 1 in their ‘50 Sexiest Places to be Fed’.

Sat’s cuisine is based on a philosophy of taste, texture and temperature, and diners can choose from a 5, 7 or 10 course tasting menu.  Throughout Autumn you can also take advantage of one of their Dinner, Bed and Breakfast Packages for £120 – £140 per guest for a Double or Superior room, the 7 Course Tasting menu and of course breakfast.  For reservations telephone 0115 986 6566 or email info@restaurantsatbains.net.

Gidleigh Park, Devon in Dartmoor National Park

Gidleigh Park is a luxury hotel set in 107 acres within the beautiful Dartmoor National Park.  The hotel has won a series of awards this year including gold in the ‘Hotel of the Year’ category at this year’s Enjoy England Awards, silver in the Green Tourism award, 4 Red Stars in AA Inspectors’ Choice, and Condé Nast Johansens Awards for Excellence ‘Connoisseurs List’.

The restaurant holds two Michelin stars and since 1994 the critically acclaimed chef Michael Caines MBE, has been at the helm.  Special offers this Autumn include a garden tour and 2 Michelin star lunch, or a fungi foray and lunch costing £57 and £65 per person respectively.  Up until the 31st November you can also enjoy a special autumn mid-week lunch for £25 for two courses or £33 for three.  For further information telephone 01647 432367 or visit http://www.gidleigh.com/.

The Kitchin, Edinburgh

The Kitchin run by chef Tom Kitchin and his wife Michaela won it’s first Michelin star in 2007 just six months after it opened.  This year it has won a host of awards including second place in Eat Out magazine’s best restaurants in the UK, and the Best in Scotland at the National Restaurant Awards.

Situated in the Commercial Quay in Leith, Edinburgh, the Kitchin’s motto is from nature to plate, and if you’ve ever seen Tom on Saturday Morning Kitchen or The Great British Menu, you’ll know just how passionate he is about this ethos.  The set lunch menu offers three courses for £24.50, whilst main on the a la carte menu are around £30.  To book telephone 0131 555 1755 or email info@thekitchin.com.

Hardwick Restaurant in Abergavenny, Wales

The Hardwick Restaurant owned by chef Stephen Terry is the winner of the Good Pub Guide’s Dining Pub of the Year 2010 for Wales. Stephen makes sure The Hardwick is a place where everyone feels welcome, whether it’s for a quick pint or meeting friends and family for lunch.  So you’ll find ham, egg and chips on the menu alongside roasted Gower Peninsula Sea Bass  – yet the ingredients will be of equal qaulity.

Main courses range from £14 – £25, or you can have the set lunch menu for around £20 per person.  Telephone 01873 854220 or email info@thehardwick.co.uk to make a reservation.

The Vineyard at Stockcross, Newbury

The Vineyard scooped the Hotel Restaurant of the Year title at this year’s Restaurant Awards, and came 6th in the top 100 UK restaurants. This 5-star country hotel has 49 beautiful individually designed rooms and a 2 star Michelin restaurant, so it’s a beautiful destination for lunch, dinner of a weekend away.

The restaurant is now run by French chef Daniel Galmiche who has been described as the ‘king of contemporary French cooking’.   Mains on the lunch menu cost around £20 and the taster menu is £100.  Telephone 01635 528770 or visit http://www.the-vineyard.co.uk to book.

Paul McCartney plays at London's O2 in December

Paul McCartney plays London’s O2 Arena on December 22^nd and tickets go on sale at 9am this Monday, October 26^th!

Paul McCartney has announced his first European tour since 2004, taking place at seven arenas across the continent and ending with his first ever public performance at the O2 Arena.  Of course you would have to be dating a very special someone to take them to this, but it would certainly be a date they’d never forget!

The Good Evening Europe Tour will be visiting Hamburg, Berlin, Arnhem, Paris, Cologne and Dublin, with the final date at London’s O2 Arena on December 22^nd.

“This is my chance to bring our current show home to where it all began, and I’m very much looking forward to ending the year on a high,” says Paul.

And what a year 2009 has been for the ex-Beatle.  He was nominated for two award at the Grammys and performed I Saw Her Standing There with Dave Grohl.   In April he played in New York at the David Lynch Foundation’s benefit concert with Ringo Starr joining him on stage for a special finale.  He made his first US festival appearance headlining the Coachella Festival; and performed at the opening of The New Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas – a gig which sold out in seven seconds and set a new sales record with tickets selling at a rate of 600 a second!

So, you’ll need to be at the ready at 9am on Monday 26th October if you would like tickets to this London gig!   Tickets cost £55 – £125 and are available from the www.theo2.co.uk website or by calling 0844 856 0202.  You can also buy them from www.ticketmaster.co.uk, but make sure you register with the site first for priority access if you are buying online.  You can also try the 24hr Credit Card Hotline on 0871 230 1103.

If you don’t have any luck buying tickets, you can re-live Macca’s magic with Good Evening New York City – a multi-disc CD/DVD featuring performances recorded at New York’s Citi Field from his Summer Live ‘09 tour (sleeve pictured above) which is out on November 23rd and available for pre-order from Amazon for £15.98.

Whitesands Bay near St David's, Pembrokehire

Pembrokeshire’s unspoilt landscapes, beautiful coastline and picturesque villages make it a wonderful destination for a day out with your date or a short break with friends.

With beautiful beaches, local produce, rich history and numerous cycling routes there’s plenty to do on a short break or day out with your date in Pembrokshire.  And now the summer is over you might be able to bag yourself a bargain on a holiday cottage rental.

With 186 miles of coastline mostly within the National Park, it’s possible to stroll for a morning without seeing another soul.  Once autumn arrives you can walk your dog along the long sandy beaches and discover small private coves.  Ramblers can enjoy coastal paths and spot seal pups on isolated beaches, before finding a fireside table at a local pub for a spot of lunch.

Inland the peaceful river estuaries and wooded valleys stand out against the rugged Preseli Hills, and if you and your date enjoy cycling, there are many quiet lanes and tracks to lose yourself in.   The Pentre Ifan is a stone age burial chamber high up in the Preseli Hills about 4 miles from Newport and 10 miles from Cardigan.  This impressive monument is a must-see at sunrise or sunset when its huge stones are dramatically profiled against the colourful sky.

Also clsoe to Cardigan are the 12th century ruins of St Dogmaels Abbey, and further up coast near Buckspool is  St Govan’s Chapel – a 13th century stone dwelling built almost at sea-level on the rocky coastline.  Rich in Arthurian Legend you have to descend 52 steps to reach the shelter that was built over a holy well, and it is said that if you make a wish there, it will come true as long as you don’t change your mind before you turn back!

Other historic places to visit include the reconstructed Iron Age Fort at Castell Henllys and Carew Castle, both of which can be found within Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.   St Also worth seeing is David’s Cathedral, which has been described as one of Wales’ greatest monuments and since it’s a mile or so from the sea, it qualifies as the smallest city in Britain.  In Tenby, the Museum and Art Gallery are open daily, and you can view the Last Invasion Tapestry in Fishguard’s Old Town Hall which is 30 metres long and portrays what happened when Britain was last invaded in 1797.

The region has an abundance of local produce including fabulous seafood, Welsh cheese, lamb and lava bread. You will also find a delightful selection of wines, liqueurs and non-alcoholic drinks at the Cwm Deri Vineyard in Martletwy, which can be tasted, bought in the shop and then enjoyed in the restaurant.

You can find out more about the region at www.visitpembrokeshire.com or telephone 08705 103103 for a free guide from the tourist office.

Hayward Gallery, London

If you’re dating in London you’re surrounded by modern art, so spend some time wandering around a gallery together before finding somewhere for a bite to eat.

If you both enjoy art, a wander around a gallery is a great way to spend some time together and it’s bound to give you plenty to talk about!   If you’re dating in London or visiting the capital, you’re spoilt for choice with many galleries staying open late into the evening or putting on music performances in their cafes and bars.

Here’s a run-down of some of London’s must-see modern art galleries.

Last year’s big news was the opening of the Saatchi Gallery in new premises in Chelsea. Housed in a magnificent new home at the Duke of York’s HQ on the King’s Road, it is now one of the largest contemporary galleries anywhere in the world, and admission to all shows is completely free.  The current exhibition (on until January 2010) is Abstract America containing work from Kristin Baker, John Bauer, Tom Burr, Mark Bradford and Joe Bradley among others.

Whitechapel Gallery in the East End of London has recently exapanded its premises so there’s now a cafe and bar where music and film events take place into the evening.  There’s a saxophone jazz quartet in October, film nights and workshops for the public at this contemporary gallery.

The ever controversial Turner Prize is on at the Tate Britain until January 2010, and whilst you are there, you can also see the Turner & The Masters exhibition.

Of course  no one even vaguely interested in contemporary art should miss it’s sister gallery, the Tate Modern on Bankside.  The building itself is splendid enough to justify a visit, and its riverside setting gives wonderful views. All permanent exhibits are free, but temporary shows charge admission and even the restaurant is pretty good!   On until January 2010 is Pop Life; Art In A Material World, looking at art from the 1980s onwards which  includes work from Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami.

Another mainstream modern art venue on the South Bank is the Hayward Gallery, renowned and reviled in equal measure for its brutalist post-war architecture.  The current exhibition looks at 50 years of the influential American artist Ed Ruscha.

Other galleries worth a visit include the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts), the Barbican, and the Camden Arts Centre who put on innovative multi-media exhibitions throughout the year. Smaller public galleries dedicated to modern art include the delightful Serpentine in Kensington Gardens, while in a stylish marriage of form and function, the Design Museum casts new light on everyday objects and inventions that shape our lives.