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.
This is HMS Queen Elizabeth. She and her sister ship HMS Prince of Wales are the largest warships the Royal Navy has ever had, and their home port is HM Naval Base Portsmouth, on England’s south coast. Portsmouth is well-known for its naval heritage: this is, after all, the home of Horatio Nelson’s flagship, HMS […]
A tour of Portsmouth Harbour Read More »
South East
Royal Osborne House is unlike most palaces and stately homes you will ever visit. There is no lengthy history, no convoluted ownership; Osborne House was the creation of Queen Victoria and her beloved husband the Prince Consort, Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. They designed it as their personal seaside retreat and family home on the
Queen Victoria’s Osborne House Read More »
South East
They used to build big ships on the New Forest’s tranquil, pretty, Beaulieu River. Men of war that formed part of the Royal Navy’s wooden walls, when Britannia ruled the waves: vessels 150 feet, or more, in length, with 70 menacing cannons poking through gun-ports and crewed by hundreds of officers and men; ships that
How often do you walk into a pub mentally dwelling on things like wizards and talking lions? Be honest now. If you need help with this, try stepping over the threshold of Oxford’s Eagle and Child, because it was a favourite watering-hole of close friends JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. Disappointingly, there’s nothing obviously magical
Aslan and Gandalf go for a pint Read More »
South East
To the north of Portsmouth, on England’s south coast, is Portsdown Hill, a long chalk elevation that dominates the city and harbour 400 feet below. And on the top of Portsdown Hill, the Victorians placed five large forts – from east to west: Fort Purbrook, Fort Widley, Fort Southwick, Fort Nelson and Fort Wallington. Redoubts
The folly of Fort Nelson Read More »
South East
The tiny village of Arisaig, nestling on an inlet along the beautiful Morar peninsula, has a wonderful little museum. The Land, Sea and Islands Visitor Centre tells visitors all about the local flora and fauna in this relatively remote part of West Scotland. But it also includes a fascinating section on one of Britain’s clandestine
Tracking down Britain’s secret SOE Read More »
East of England History London North West England Scotland South EastYou will find Britain’s memorial to JFK at Runnymede, an area of meadow land on the banks of the River Thames in the county of Surrey. The 35th President of the United States of America was gunned down in Dallas aged 46 on 22 November 1963, having been in office for less than 3 years. His
John F Kennedy memorial Read More »
South East
It is said that Magna Carta, an agreement which is more than 800 years old, helped lay the foundation for our modern freedoms and liberal democracy. The tour ‘bus pulls up with a hiss of brakes next to a nondescript, but pleasant, meadow alongside the Thames in Surrey. “This is where the barons forced wicked
Runnymede and Magna Carta Read More »
South East
I was looking for Geoffrey Chaucer’s Granddaughter – as you do. In the process, I discovered a unique church and the last resting place of Jerome K Jerome. Let’s start with Chaucer’s granddaughter, Alice de la Pole. Alice was quite a lady, a duchess, with extensive lands in the Thames Valley, East Anglia and overseas.Â
Visiting Alice de la Pole and St Mary’s, Ewelme Read More »
South East
Tucked neatly away in the Weald of Kent is a little dream medieval moated manor house called Ightham Mote. It is closer to the hamlet of Ivy Hatch than to the village of Ightham. Before we go any further, let’s make it clear that Ightham is pronounced ‘item’. Of course it is. It is derived
Ightham Mote, medieval, Tudor and American Read More »
South East
Peeking past the porter’s lodge is looking through a window into another world; a world of privilege, beauty, tradition, history and at least a thousand stories. Here is a bit about Balliol College, one of more than thirty academic communities that make up the University of Oxford. Across the quad from the porter’s lodge, cascades
You’ll find a curious thing at the end of a little path beside the school in the Kent village of Chiddingstone. It’s a great lump of sandstone, formed about 135 million years ago when this part of the world was a swampy mess. And this large rock is called the Chiding Stone, because (so they
Chiddingstone’s Chiding Stone Read More »
South East