Places to visit, of interest or beauty, in Britain’s countryside.
North-West England’s River Lune meanders around 50 miles from the Cumbrian fells to Lancaster. It seems attractive and tranquil, a mixture of woodland, meadows and beckoning hills, punctuated by attractive stone-built villages. Yet, once upon a time, it must have been a very different, possibly even violent, place – because it possesses an apparently disproportionate […]
The Castles of the Lune Valley Read More »
The story of the Witches of Pendle is one of the most sinister and troubling tales to come out of Lancashire. It does not feature cackling old hags riding broomsticks across the night sky, but real living beings, victims of time and circumstance. The broad facts are well-known locally, but lest you be unaware, in
The Witches of Pendle Read More »
We set off with friends David and Cecile (and Hamish the dog) to visit Swaledale’s corpse trail. It is one of their favourite walks and the views are terrific. You may know of Yorkshire’s Swaledale, but I suppose I had better explain what a corpse trail is: so here goes. Once upon a very long
Swaledale meadows and the corpse way Read More »
A meeting of the Ways and Means Committee decided that a visit to Ravenglass and its steam railway was required. Dissent would not be brooked. Reports of riding the Ravenglass and Eskdale railway were examined. Indeed, a stationary lurking locomotive had even been spotted a couple of times, at Ravenglass and Eskdale (respectively). But the
Ravenglass to Eskdale and return Read More »
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,
Time for a walk in the Yorkshire Dales. We will stroll from the old market town of Settle, up into the hills and do a circuit of around 5 miles. The route will take in the lonely starkness of Attermire Scar, the Victoria and Jubilee Caves and, along the way, encounter preparations for war. This
Attermire and the caves Read More »
Mitchell’s Fold Stone Circle is one of those places you think you should have arrived at much sooner than you do. “We must have passed it. Maybe I should turn round”. Surely, supernatural forces were at work, discombobulating me as I (unsuccessfully) navigated the car along narrow border lanes between England and Wales. In fact,
The Stone Circle at Mitchell’s Fold Read More »
Pendle Hill looms over East Lancashire between the towns of Clitheroe and Nelson. With its distinctive humpback shape, visible for miles around from all directions, it is a local landmark, rising from an area of green beauty. The district is dotted with tiny hamlets and farms, divided by ancient drystone walls and full of folklore
Test your lungs on Pendle Hill Read More »
I seem to have been passing through Rutland, England’s smallest county, for years. It just happens to be in the way when taking a particular route to or from the Deep South and the East Midlands. A leg of this journey is along the scenic A606 road between Stamford and Nottingham, which I can highly
A break in Rutland Read More »
Britain has 29 World Heritage Sites. The United Kingdom has 30, including the Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast in Northern Ireland but excluding overseas territories. It would have been 31, but Liverpool’s maritime mercantile city was, sadly, stripped of its status in 2021. Don’t let that put you off; Liverpool is more than worth spending
World Heritage Sites in Britain Read More »
Some years ago, we spent a happy couple of days with good friends in the Eden district of Cumbria. For many, Cumbria means the Lake District – which is, of course, a wonderful place; but there is more to the county than that. Eden, named for the river that flows north through it to the
A walk in Smardale Gill Read More »
The Weald is an area of outstanding natural beauty in South East England that, broadly speaking, stretches through the counties of Surrey, Sussex and Kent, between the chalk of the North and South Downs. It is characterised by small farms and fields, sunken lanes, gentle hills, deep deciduous woods, pretty picture-box ridge-top villages and attractive
A walk in the Weald Read More »
The Hospital of St Cross and Almshouse of Noble Poverty, to give the institution its full name, is almost nine centuries old and said to be England’s oldest charitable body. Never heard of it? Neither had I – until reading about it in Ian Marchant’s delightful book, ‘The Longest Crawl’. This is an account of
The Hospital of St Cross Read More »
People often compare the relative merits of Britain’s two largest membership heritage organisations, the National Trust and English Heritage. In fact, there are several heritage organisations in the United Kingdom that offer membership, the main ones being Cadw, Historic Houses, Historic Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland – as well as English Heritage and
English Heritage or the National Trust? Read More »
