Listings

Abbey Park is Leicester’s premier park and opened in 1882.  It includes gardens, lakes, a café, sports pitches and facilities for bowling, tennis and boating.  It is a place for families and lies about a mile north of the city centre.  The River Soar divides it into two distinct parts – a Victorian park with shrubberies, boating lake and miniature railway, and the western part which includes the remains of the 12th century Leicester Abbey, where Cardinal Wolsey died and was buried, and the ruins of the 17th century Cavendish House, a mansion which was Charles I’s HQ before the Battle of Naseby.  It was destroyed and plundered by Royalist troops.

Popular Suffolk seaside sailing town, famous for its fresh fish sold from the seashore, the Scallop sculpture by Maggi Hambling and the Aldeburgh Festival, started by the composer Benjamin Britten, who lived in the town and whose house, the Red House, can be viewed. The main concert venue is at Snape Maltings, just up the road. Aldeburgh also boasts a fine Tudor Moot Hall and a Napoleonic Martello Tower - the latter is not open to the public, but is available for holidays. Aldeburgh is a fairly buzzy place, with a variety of shops, pubs, restaurants and a cinema.

Alloway Auld Kirk, the ruined old church at Alloway dates from the 16th century, though the site could be much older. It is most famous now due to it being featured in Robert Burns' poem 'Tam o' Shanter' (1791), as the place where witches and warlocks gather. The churchyard is fascinating and includes the graves of Burns' father, William Burnes, and sister, Isabella Burns Begg. Combine with a visit to the Robert Burns' Museum, his birthplace, Burns Monument and Brig o' Doon.

Begun in the early 18th century as the seat of the Worsley family, Appuldurcombe was once the grandest house on the Isle of Wight. Sir Richard Worsley, the 7th baronet, gained notoriety for a 1782 court case in which his wife, Seymour, admitted to having had 27 lovers.  Appuldurcombe was a masterpiece of English Baroque architecture. Following war damage, it is now a graceful shell, but still retains some of its former dignity and many fine architectural details. The celebrated landscape designer 'Capability' Brown enhanced the rolling grounds in the 1780s. Now, they're a great place for a picnic.

Photo via Pixabay

Ashdown Forest is a 6,500 acre area of Outstanding Natural Beauty 30-or-so miles south of London, near East Grinstead. It was a hunting forest in medieval times but is now largely accessible to the public, with a myriad of walks, open spaces and wonderful views. Though it does contain woodland, most of it is actually heathland, a rare and protected habitat. Its most famous resident was Winnie-the-Pooh.