The Roman town at Wall (Letocetum) began as a marching camp as the Romans extended their conquest of Britain, north and west. It was built by the 14th Legion (legio XIV Gemina) in around 50 AD, just a few years after the invasion of 43 AD. It was a staging post along Watling Street, from
Penrith Castle has an intriguing heritage. It was built by Ralph Neville (1364-1425), 1st Earl of Westmorland, possibly on the site of a Roman fort. Neville was granted the manor of Penrith in 1396 and, as warden of the West March, he was responsible for the defence of this area against the Scots. The castle
Lindisfarne’s parish church of St Mary’s is thought to stand on the site of the wooden church built by St Aidan in 635 AD. The oldest part, the wall leading into the chancel, is Saxon work – so St Mary’s can lay claim to being the oldest human structure on the island. Mostly, the church
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The Bat and Ball, Hambledon, sits on a junction between the villages of Hambledon and Clanfield, though is marginally closer to the latter. It is a wonderful location – though not actually in the village of Hambledon – and the pub, as well as serving excellent ale, is famous as being ‘the cradle of English
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The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is world-famous and a World Heritage Site located in 300 acres beside the River Thames between Richmond and Kew in south-west London. It boasts 6 glasshouses, the great pagoda, a range of landscapes and the “largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world”. Of the greenhouses, the
The Craven and Murgatroyd Limeworks, better known locally as the Hoffman Lime Kiln, is just north of Langcliffe between the Settle-Carlisle railway and Stainforth Scar. It is a disused Victorian industrial complex that includes the remains of two separate but adjacent limeworks – the Murgatroyd and the Craven Lime Company works. The remains of the
Hutton-le-Hole is a picturesque, unusual and historic small village on the southern fringe of the North York Moors National Park. It is all very neat: the Hutton Beck bubbles and winds through the middle of the village and between attractive stone cottages, criss-crossed by footpaths and wooden bridges, and sheep roam at will everywhere. Now
A gilded bronze statue of radical republican Thomas Paine stands in his Norfolk birthtown, Thetford, ironically on King Street. It was erected, amidst some controversy, in 1964. Arguably, Paine is Thetford’s most famous son. He was born there in 1737, dying in Greenwich Village, New York, in 1809. Paine inspired and participated in the American
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This is the house built by Robert Burns’ father, where Robert Burns was born in 1759. It consists of a kitchen, parlour, byre (cowshed) and barn and Burns lived here until he was seven. On Burns’ Night, a special celebration is held in the cottage. Well, you would, wouldn’t you? Combine a brief visit with
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Aira Force is a relatively modest, but spectacular, waterfall with a 65 foot drop set amongst what was once fairly cultivated parkland. The waterfall starts where the Aira Beck tumbles off the high fells vertically in a noisy gush of white foam, on its way down to Ullswater. ‘Aira’ allegedly comes from the Old Norse
Kew Palace is the smallest of all the royal palaces. It was originally known as The Dutch House and was built in 1631 as a private house for a wealthy London silk merchant, Samuel Fortrey. George II and Queen Caroline were first attracted to ‘little Kew’, thinking it a perfect lodging for their three eldest
Alnwick Garden was created by the Duchess of Northumberland in 2001. It is unique and designed to be unconventional. As well as traditional features like a rose garden and an ornamental garden, it has the beguiling (and dangerous!) poison garden, a bamboo labyrinth, an astonishing ‘grand cascade’ – and the biggest tree house you’ve ever
