The Tate has four art galleries around the UK, including one in Liverpool, one in the famed cornish artist hangout of St Ives in the South West of England; but is best known for it’s two London galleries – Tate Modern and Tate Britain. Serviced City Pads, the London accommodation booking service would suggest that a holiday in London wouldn’t be complete without a visit to one of the two Tate galleries situated on the banks of the River Thames.

But what is on at the Tate galleries that you will be able to see once you have booked your serviced apartment in London?

Perhaps the event of this year is the Gauguin exhibition which runs from the end of September until the end of January 2011. This promises to be a stunning exhibition of impressionism, sculpture and symbolism from one of the worlds most famous modern artists of the twentieth century. Gauguin was a world traveller and you will find images derived from his time spent living in Paris, Peru and Martinique – some rather exotic places that inspired some incredibly exotic art.

So, you are planning your trip to London and of course, planning to go and to see the Gauguin exhibition at Tate Modern, but where should you book your accommodation in London with Serviced City Pads? As both Tate galleries are situated in Central London, we would suggest either booking a London West End hotel or a serviced apartment in Mayfair or Covent Garden (a Kensington apartment would be a great option as well).

If you are planning to stay in London with your family, you may find a serviced apartment to be beneficial due to economic and security reasons – one serviced apartent generally works out to be cheaper than booking multiple hotel rooms in London, and it means that you and your children can stay together rather than the kids being in separate rooms at the end of the corridor.

If you are visiting London on your own or with your partner, then a hotel in central London would be just as good an option as booking a serviced apartment in London with Serviced City Pads. Smaller groups generally have more choice for their stay in London.

Since 1861 when the society was only 6 weeks old, the EPS has had an annual open exhibition. It is one of the most highly regarded international exhibitions in the UK, typically attracting over 3000 entries from all around the world. Unlike some exhibitions, they only accept what can be displayed, around 200-220 prints, which makes it highly competitive to gain acceptences. Serviced City Pads supply apartments throughout Edinburgh.

This trend goes some way towards explaining why the consistently excellent entry for the Edinburgh Photographic Society’s international exhibition, which only accepts prints, is down for the fourth year in a row – its 1,755 entries being just over half of the 3,477 it attracted in 2006.

One of the most arresting images is the sensitively composed, superbly lit Gypsie Girl by Andrea Martini of Italy, which won one of the three Federation Internationale be l’Art Photographique (Fiap) gold medals. Surrounded by a stack of rough-looking broom heads the crouching girl is pictured with her arms wrapped protectively around her naked figure, doe-eyed look on her grubby face. Selector Judy Boyle said ‘The lighting focuses the viewers eye on the main subject, which makes this a first-class environmental portrait’. Serviced City Pads short and long stay reservations team can be contacted on 0844 335 8866.
Among an excellent selection of animal shots, the brilliantly captured Great Gey Owl by Mick Durham of Scotland was highly commended. Picked out against a white backdrop, the owl, looking like an aeroplane about to take off, stares full on at the viewer, its penetrating black pupils in its yellow eyes at the centre of a stunning splayed-winged form.

Durham’s similarly razor-sharp Brown Hare in Morning Dew is so close up you feel you could almost touch the fleet-footed animal, which is picked out amid the long, droplet covered glass, yellow buttercups and the smudged whites and pinks of daisies. Apartment accommodation in Edinburgh through Serviced City Pads.A contrasting soft focus lends an ethereal quality to English photographers Peter Ree’s Venice Dawn – a painterly portrait of Italy’s lagoon city, seen in a misty haze. Awarding it Fiap robbon, selector Steven Le Provost said it has ‘bags of atmosphere’.

One of the most natural-looking images is of a thick-armed man, crouching on one knee amid the straw of a farm shed, being kissed by a gorgeously golden-coloured sheep. The Kiss, David Wheeler of England, which was awarded a Fiap ribbon, has a warm, earthy feeling.

Forty three per cent of the entries were mono, with arguably the best being the seemingly casually composed Fiap gold-medal winning Bike Rack, by Alan Brown of England. In it, a bicycle leaning on a street sign forms th focal point of a snowy landscape, with nine black slabs evenly spaced out behind it, and a flat-roofed, academic-looking building and trees half-obscured in a whitened background. It is simple but stunning.Serviced City Pads supply apartments in Edinburgh.

Finally a photograph which captures the innocent excitement of youth amid the contrasting warmth of a sandscape. In He Tripped and Fell Down, by Tak Cheong Pun of Macao, five youngsters charge down a rich ochre sand dune, with another falling headfirst downhill – big splodges behind them and long shadows in front. The image is energetic and playful – full of joy and life.