IWM Duxford is mainly an aviation museum housed on a historic RAF airfield, which was also used by the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War. It houses the Imperial War Museum’s huge collection of historic aircraft and other large items, such as tanks. Permanent exhibitions include the American Air Museum, Battle
Shaftesbury’s Gold Hill is a magnet for visitors and one of the most famous and photographed streets in Britain. It appears in countless guides and is generally believed to have been launched on an unsuspecting universe via a 1973 television advert for Hovis bread. The advertisement was an early directing endeavour by Ridley Scott before
Mitchell’s Fold Stone Circle is just inside the English border with Wales, a 3,000-year-old relic of the Bronze Age, constructed of dolerite stones from Stapeley Hill nearby. There are 15 stones arranged in a rough circle, with a couple more prominent than others. It is thought there were once 30 stones, that the tallest had
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The church of St Dunstan in the East is essentially an atmospheric garden inside the ruins of a medieval-Baroque church destroyed during the Blitz. The church dates from 1100 and was part of the community for some 800 years. It was severely damaged in the Great Fire of 1666 and repaired, with a new tower
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20 Forthlin Road is Paul McCartney’s former Liverpool home, where he spent his teenage years with his father, Jim, and his brother, Mike. This is where Paul and John went when they ‘slagged off’ from school to play the guitar and compose, later joined by George Harrison. Several of the Beatles’ hits were written at
Ingleborough is one of the Yorkshire Dale’s Three Peaks (the others being Whernside and Pen-y-Ghent) and the second highest at 2,372 feet (732 metres). There are good paths to the top from most directions, the most popular being from Horton in Ribblesdale, Ribblehead, Ingleton and Clapham. Ingleton and Clapham offer good parking and a selection
Bletchley Park was the home of the top-secret code breakers of World War Two, whose work had a profound impact on the war. It has been claimed that their success in intercepting enemy signals and breaking codes shortened the war by two years. For years, very few people knew about their work, most famously centred
The Norfolk village of Weeting was originally divided into two parishes, All Saints and St Mary’s. In about 1699, the tower of one church collapsed and the parishes were united. It is generally assumed that it was St Mary’s that survived – and that is certainly the dedication of Weeting’s church today – but it
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Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery contains almost 5,000 German and Austrian graves. Following an agreement between the UK and what was then the Federal Republic of Germany in 1959, the German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgraberfursorge) made arrangements to transfer the graves of German servicemen and civilians who had died in Britain during World
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The spire of Salisbury Cathedral is a landmark for miles around. At 404 feet (123 m) high, it is the tallest in Britain. The first cathedral, however, was completed in 1092 at the now deserted site of Old Sarum, about 3 miles to the north of ‘new Sarum’ – modern Salisbury. Work on the present
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The small village of Harby in Nottinghamshire is just a few miles west of the City of Lincoln. Harby’s main claim to fame is that it was where Eleanor of Castille, wife of King Edward I of England, died on 28 November 1290, aged 49. There is little to see. It is thought she had
The site of Hardknott Roman Fort (Mediobogdum) is one of the most spectacular in England. The fort was built in the 2nd century AD, probably by men of the 4th Cohort of Dalmatia, to protect the trade route across the fells to/from the vital port of Ravenglass (Glennaventa). The ruins, which consist of well-marked layouts
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