Places to visit in South East England. South East England is the most densely populated, and most prosperous, region in Britain outside London. It stretches from Kent in the east through East and West Sussex to Hampshire and the Isle of Wight along the coast and also includes Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. There are two national parks, the South Downs and the New Forest, pretty villages and historic cities like Canterbury and Oxford. Castles, stately homes and gardens are almost everywhere – Windsor Castle, Blenheim Palace and Wisley, for example – and theme parks like Legoland. Maritime Heritage can be found at the revived naval docks of Portsmouth and Chatham. The weather is often good too. The drawback to the south east is that it is busy – and can be expensive.
Stowe is one of those marvellous monuments to profligacy. It is a great 17th and 18th century mansion, now a school, surrounded by an exquisite landscape that nature only had a passing hand in creating. Stowe School is a public school, and therefore private. The gardens were given to the National Trust, so privately owned, …
You know you’re getting on in years when your kids suggest visiting a garden for pleasure. It’s even worse when they know the names of the plants. Anyway, after far too long apart, the Memsahib and I made the great trek in a south-easterly direction to meet the no longer nippers for a weekend. The …
Sometime ago, I posted an article about a nondescript memorial on a country lane in Hampshire to a Royal Air Force pilot who crashed and died nearby in 1940. It may not have been a very grand memorial, but it touched me that someone – unrelated to the young man – had taken the trouble …
We did. A few other people came along too. Actually, we didn’t only go to London; we went to Slough. And Windsor. And London again. As the Coronation of Charles III was a moment in time, it seems appropriate to share a few inadequate photographs of this experience with you, dear reader, as well as …
The tiny, downland, Church of Coombes is one of the most extraordinary English churches I have ever seen. There are thousands of medieval churches in Britain, each one illuminating parts of our nation’s story. Though not a religious man, I am a long-standing member of the “Oh Look, There’s a Church, Let’s Go in” Club …
In contrast with the north and west of the island, the Roman way of life was more firmly entrenched in the south and east of Britain. One feature of this was the greater number of villas, rural buildings in Roman style that ranged from the relatively humble to the decidedly palatial. Most of these …
Many people – mostly those that haven’t been there – believe that South East England is busy and crowded, with little remaining countryside of any note. They are right about it being busy – South East England is the most populous part of the UK – but they are wrong about the countryside. Leith Hill, …
Richborough has always fascinated me. Caesar may have landed near Deal but it was at Richborough, a century later, that the story of Roman Britain really began. It was in this corner of Kent that part of Emperor Claudius’ 40,000 strong invasion force landed in 43 AD. They quickly established a beachhead, throwing up defensive …
The Venerable Bede tells us that, in 597 AD (1425 years ago in 2022), St Augustine landed on the Isle of Thanet, in Kent, with some forty companions. Their purpose was to spread the news of eternal joy in heaven and an everlasting kingdom with the living and true God. In those days, the most …
We strolled to Walmer Castle from Deal in September sunshine. Infamous as the place where the Duke of Wellington died, Walmer Castle was one of Henry VIII’s so-called ‘device forts’, a network of artillery strongholds built to protect England against possible French invasion. Naturally, we have retained a few of these, just in case. Walmer …
In the story of the Mary Rose, we took a brief look at the history of the famous Tudor warship, said to be a favourite of Henry VIII’s, that sank without warning on 19 July 1545, with the tragic loss of about 500 lives. Now, we hear a bit about her recovery, her treasures, what …
Every now and again, something takes our breath away. I thought I knew roughly what to expect when visiting the Mary Rose Museum. I broadly knew the story: the 16th century English warship, a favourite of Henry VIII’s, that sank with the tragic loss of most hands. I remembered when she was raised from the …
England’s King Henry VIII is usually thought of as the nasty big bloke with all the wives; the chap who officially stopped his subjects being Roman Catholic, gave them the Church of England instead and closed down all the nice monasteries. He is not usually seen as a builder – but he was; picture him …
This is HMS M.33, a relic of another time – yet a time of not so very long ago – and of almost-forgotten battles. M.33 was a monitor, essentially a floating gun platform. Designed to operate in shallow waters, close to shore, she was one of almost 40 monitors ordered to be built at the …
