Find places to visit in Britain by name, location, type of attraction, or other keyword.
This listings directory of over 950 entries is being phased out.
It now excludes places and things of interest in the North of England, including Yorkshire.
These can be found in ABAB’s Places.
Places to visit in England’s East Midlands are currently being moved to ABAB’s Places.
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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.
Leicester
Calke is a mansion and estate on the site of a 12th century Augustinian abbey. The present Palladian style mansion is a consequence of reconstruction work dating from 1701, built around an Elizabethan house. The estate ultimately came into the hands of the Harpur-Crewe family and was acquired by the National Trust in a state of decay. The Trust has preserved the house pretty much in the condition it was found, packed full of artwork and stuffed animals, with an appearance largely unchanged since the late Victorian period - including the children's' nursery. It is a curious and fascinating time capsule. Outside are gardens, outhouses and extensive grounds, including a nature reserve.
Note: Entry to the house is by timed ticket.
Culzean Castle and Country Park is an enormous estate, once the seat of the Kennedy family, which includes woodland and seashore walks, a walled garden, large pond, various structures and follies in the grounds, an astonishing children's' adventure playground and the castle itself, perched on a clifftop. Actually, it's not really a castle, but a large stately house redesigned by Robert Adam and built between 1777 and 1792. The top floor was gifted to the Supreme Head of Allied Forces in Western Europe, later 34th President of the United States of America, Dwight D Eisenhower, to be used in his lifetime. It is now a hotel.
One of the Royal Parks. Green Park is extensively used for sunbathing and picnic in good weather. One of its features are the Memorial Gates, dedicated to five million people from the Indian Sub-Continent, Africa and the Caribbean who served or lost their lives in the two World Wars. Keep your ears peeled for Royal Artillery Gun Salutes. It’s also a nice walk between The Mall and Green Park tube station and fun to walk round the roads surrounding Clarence House and St James’s Palace.
Post code is approximate.
One of the Royal Parks. You could lose yourself wandering around Greenwich anyway where, in addition to pay-to-visit attractions like the Cutty Sark, there are free places like the Queen’s House and the National Maritime Museum to see. Greenwich Park, once part of the grounds of Greenwich Palace (birthplace of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I), overlooks the Thames and is packed with things of interest. There’s a deer park, orchard – and it is home to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian (which you need to pay to visit). Less well known is Elizabeth’s oak, alleged scene of Tudor picnics and what-not, and a Saxon cemetery.
Post code is approximate
Hampstead Heath is a vast park, a slice of ancient countryside, covering 790 acres in north London. It includes woodland and heathland as well as ponds and leisure facilities. Notable features are Parliament Hill, well-known for its views of London and kit-flying, the Hampstead Heath Barrow, or Tumulus, once thought to be the burial place of Queen Boudicca and Kenwood House, an 18th century mansion famous for its art collection and concerts. The heath was once renowned as a lair of highwaymen; today, it is popular with walkers, runners and families.
Hampstead Heath is managed by the City of London Corporation. It is accessible from a variety of places - the address given is a guide only. Click on the link to the City of London website and download a useful map.
Hampstead
The Helix is a large community park between Falkirk and Grangemouth, bisected by the Forth and Clyde Canal, formed from regenerated land and including a lake, wetlands, walking and cycle paths, cafes and a visitor centre. But its most famous feature is the Kelpies, two massive steel sculptures of horses heads, inspired by industrial horse power and mythical creatures. The Kelpies can be seen from the M9, but are best viewed from the park.
Falkirk
One of the Royal Parks. Hyde Park borders Mayfair and Park Lane, with the Wellington Arch and Hyde Park Corner in the south and Marble Arch, close to where the Tyburn Tree once stood, to the north. Hyde Park often plays hosts to concerts and is famous for Speakers’ Corner – a traditional place where anyone can spout about anything they like (provided it’s legal); Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and George Orwell are all known to have used the area to demonstrate free speech. At its southern end, you’ll find the Diana Princess of Wales Fountain. You can go horse riding in Hyde Park – and you’ll sometimes see the Household Cavalry exercising its horses there.
Post code is approximate.
One of the Royal Parks. Kensington Gardens is connected to Hyde Park, which it was once part of – and, frankly, it’s hard to know where they each start and end. Technically, I believe the border is the bridge, Serpentine Bridge, which divides the Serpentine and Long Water lakes. Kensingtomn Gardens includes the Peter Pan Statue, Albert Memorial and Serpentine Gallery. At its western end is Kensington Palace. By the way, strangers to the park may be surprised by the thousands of wild, green, parakeets that flock there; temperate Britain is, of course, well-known for its tropical birds.
Primrose Hill is a grassy hill north of Regent’s Park, which offers great views over London and which has given its name to an adjacent, affluent, residential area. It's separated from Regent’s Park by Prince Albert Road and London Zoo and is a great place to watch the sun rise and set - or firework displays at New Year. Like Regent's Park, Primrose Hill was once part of a royal chase and is now managed by The Royal Parks Authority. The top of hill is about 200 feet above sea level and is one of 6 protected viewpoints in London. At one time, duels and prize-fights took place there and, apparently, medieval soothsayer Ursula Southeil, aka Mother Shipton, predicted dire consequences if London’s urban sprawl were to engulf it. Whatever, it is now a sacred place to Druids, some of whom believe the hill is an ancient site. However, this might only date from the 18th C, when a learned Welsh stonemason, Edward Williams (Iolo Morganwg) decided it was special.
Primrose Hill was purchased from Eton College in 1841 to extend the parkland available to the poor of north London for open-air recreation. On the summit is a York stone edging with a William Blake inscription: “I have conversed with the spiritual sun. I saw him on Primrose Hill.” An oak tree, ‘Shakespeare’s Oak’, was planted in 1864 in a ceremony watched by a large number of working people to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth. A replacement tree was planted in 1964.
Regent's Park
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