Places to visit, of interest or beauty, in Britain’s countryside.
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 […]
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South East
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
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South East
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
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News
Motivated by Jo Williams’ suggestions for five easy walks in the Lake District, a bright April morning found the ABAB team resolutely heading in the direction of the northern English Lakes, with the ultimate destination being Cat Bells. Look elsewhere for furry friend gadgets. Cat Bells, or Catbells, is, for the benefit of the uninformed,
The Sussex village of Wilmington lies about 6 miles north west of Eastbourne. Marked out on the side of nearby Windover Hill, just to the south of the village, you will find Wilmington’s Giant, or the Long Man of Wilmington as he’s generally known, a mysterious 235’ high figure of a man. Actually, the figure
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South East
England, unlike Wales, is not a mountainous country. Indeed, it is fair to say that other countries, with the possible exception of Holland, have mountains that come in larger sizes than England’s. But England does have some fairly serious lumps of rock and Helvellyn is one of them. At 3,117 feet (950 metres), it is
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North West England
A Bit About Britain is delighted to welcome Jo Williams, traveller and blogger at Lost Wanders, and Jack Russell expert, as a guest writer introducing readers to five easy walks in the Lake District. 5 easy walks in the Lake District Get out of London and England has some amazing countryside waiting to be explored.
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North West England
David and Marilyn had just been touring Norfolk and told us about St Benet’s. “It’s exactly the sort of place to be featured on ABAB,” Marilyn enthused. I had never heard of it; so of course, whilst making a progress through East Anglia, we decided to drop in. The once great fortified abbey of St
Frankly, you’ll be spoiled for choice if you’re looking for things to see and do in North East England. From dramatic, wild coast and countryside, to wildlife, castles, Roman remains, the simple grandeur of Durham and the culture and vibrancy of Newcastle upon Tyne, there is something for everyone. To start you off, here is
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North East England
South West England has two main draw-backs: it is popular and, as it’s on the west, it can suffer from wetness – particularly at its extremities. Other than that, it has pretty much everything, including mystery, prehistory, history, cuteness, grand vistas, impressive buildings and plenty of things to do. For an introduction, see A Bit
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South West
There’s no shortage of things to do and see in Britain. But if you were visiting for the first time, what would you recommend? Here are a few arbitrary suggestions, in no particular order, just to get the ball rolling: Get out of London Many visitors to Britain head straight for London. It is one
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British Stuff
A Bit About Britain’s geomorphological expert will know that erratics are rocks that have been transported by a glacier, and left behind when the ice has melted some distance from where they started. It’s a descriptive term, because ‘erratic’ means “uncertain in movement, irregular in conduct, habit, opinion” (Oxford dictionary of English) and rock erratics