The Glorious River Thames

At 215 miles in length the iconic waterway has long been a source of transport, trade and inspiration. It makes its way through fi ve counties — Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire — and into London

Aspects Of English Towns

Wetherby, Yorkshire History and Hospitality on the Great North Road.

Askrigg And The Yorkshire Dales

Looking for a holiday cottage for a quiet week in the Yorkshire Dales was proving a vexing experience.

Elihu Burritt: An American's View Of Victorian England

It is always interesting to read what others think of us. In recent years we have had Bill Bryson giving us his thought-provoking views on England and the English, but a century and a half ago one of his compatriots did the same thing, albeit for a specific area of the country.

Beautiful In Black And White

England’s landscape and landmarks as they have never been seen before

All The Fun Of The Fair

There is nothing quite like the joy of a brightly painted, brilliantly lit English fair with excited children grasping their candyfloss sticks and toffee apples, young men trying to win a prize at the darts stall and impress their girlfriends by handing them a giant cuddly toy and dads sportingly agreeing to take a turn on the big wheel even though they are still feeling the effects of a heavy lunch. Yes, we just love all the fun of the fair.

Sticky Toffee Cartmel

Visitors to the Lake District can be crudely classified into two broad types: there are the fell walkers, climbers, canoeists, sailors and other outdoor enthusiasts, and then there are the gentler souls who follow the Wordsworth trail, who haunt tea shops, go on shopping crawls and crowd onto steam trains and lake cruises. And there’s nothing wrong with either of these types…

Walking The South Downs Way

My daughter was the catalyst for my passion for walking after I retired and moved to West Sussex from Somerset to be near her and my two sons. After the normal settling in process I was feeling restless and bored, wondering what to do with my new freedom, and with a niggling guilt that “I should be doing something”. She showed me an article in a magazine about a local ramblers group, saying “You would love this, Mum!”

The Roads of Old England

Our motorway system means that today we think little of embarking on a journey across the country, confidently expecting to reach our destination the same day. Our ancestors would have taken weeks to complete such a trip, in considerable discomfort. Off the motorways, our roads follow routes laid down hundreds of years ago, and alongside them are fascinating objects which survive to tell the story of road development.

Aspects Of English Towns

BUXTON — A Derbyshire Gem and an Opera Festival too!

A Case of 'War Worry'

Centenary of the First World War

The Secret Gardens of Sandwich

Whilst walking along the picturesque quayside in Sandwich, Kent, the visitor may encounter the beautiful Secret Gardens, tucked away behind part of the ancient town walls. The gardens surround the majestic Salutation manor house, designed and built by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1911-12. Lutyens designed many English country houses, and was renowned for his ability to ingeniously modify time-honoured architectural styles to meet the demands of his era. In Another Six English Towns (BBC Books, 1984), the English architectural historian Alec Clifton-Taylor wrote that Lutyens must surely be recognised as “the greatest English architect of the last hundred years at least”.

Portrait of a Village

The Longest Village in England.

Reaching For The Skies

Inspired by the brothers of an airman who was killed in a raid over Germany in 1944, a Lancaster bomber is being painstakingly restored as a memorial to his courage and sacrifice.

Passchendaele

“…It was the last ball of the over. The blacksmith glared at the umpire…took another reef in his belt, shook out another inch in his braces, spat on his hand…grasped the ball tightly in his colossal palm and…marched off…over the brow of the hill. At last, after a long stillness, the ground shook, the grasses waved violently, small birds arose with shrill clamours…and the blacksmith, looking more like Venus Anadyomene than ever, came thundering over the crest…It was the charge of Von Bredow’s Dragoons at Gravelotte over again.”