Places to visit, of interest or beauty, in Britain’s countryside.
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 »
This little tale provides a heady mix of rural nostalgia, history, one of London’s best views, a mysterious bump in the ground and a touch of culture, before ending up in a haunted pub. In the event, the stroll was more of a stumble. The last time I’d visited Hampstead Heath, a vast open space,
A stroll across Hampstead Heath Read More »
It is Monday, 19th August, 1745. A lone rowing boat makes its way up Scotland’s Loch Shiel, heading for Glenfinnan. Sitting in the stern is a young man, not yet 25 years old, tall, good-looking. He is Charles Edward Louis Philip Casimir Stuart, son of James Francis Edward Stuart and grandson of the deposed King
Glenfinnan, for Jacobites and Potterfans Read More »
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 »
Rosslyn Castle can’t seem to make up its mind how it wants to be spelt. It appears as both Roslin and Rosslyn – clearly the same name; the nearby village is Roslin and the infamous Chapel is invariably Rosslyn. In any event, Rosslyn Castle is often overlooked by those making a pilgrimage to the better-known
Stay at Rosslyn Castle Read More »
Whernside, one of the Yorkshire Dales’ Three Peaks, is often thought to be relatively uninteresting walking country compared with its partners, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent. This is unfair. Whernside can be bleak, but there is plenty to see. If you stick to the popular path, the going is easier than on either of the other two
Time to go for a walk. So here’s Pen-y-Ghent, one of the Three Peaks of the Yorkshire Dales. To get the full set, you need to conquer Ingleborough and Whernside too. Some folk hike scramble or totter up all of ‘em in a single day, a distance of about 24.5 miles; it’s a challenge. Before
Perambulating Pen-y-Ghent Read More »
Legendary Britain is a more illusive place than it once was. But there are still places where it is sometimes hard to tell where fact ends and fiction begins. Mysterious Glastonbury Tor, a natural feature rising some 500 feet above the watery Somerset Levels, has been a sacred site since before the Romans came. It
A journey to Glastonbury Tor Read More »
My female reader of a certain age may recall the scene in the film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), in which Kevin Costner in the title role bathes naked under a waterfall. He is surprised by the fragrant Maid Marion, played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and the rest is inevitable. With all due respect
Before anyone gets carried away with gratuitous salacity, the Seven Sisters are chalk cliffs on the south east coast of England. Do not confuse them with another Seven Sisters, an area of London in N15, near Tottenham. Exciting and attractive though the latter undoubtedly is, today – today we’re striding out across the cliffs, perforce
On top of Seven Sisters Read More »
Just past Stoney Cross, in a woodland clearing down a leafy lane off the busy east-bound A31 in Hampshire, is a memorial to one of England’s least popular kings. We are told that William II, known as ‘Rufus’ and who ruled from 1087-1100, was a really nasty piece of work – a cruel, merciless, tyrant
We needed to get out. You know how it is; one of those days when the list of jobs can go hang, because it’s just too good to waste time doing something you should be doing. “Where shall we go, then?” “Somewhere with snow.” “Like…?” “I dunno. Nowhere too strenuous. You choose”. “What do you
Everywhere in Britain, we walk in the footsteps of the past; it’s just not always that obvious. However, a relatively short, lung-bursting, stagger up to St David’s Head (Penmaen Dewi) in Pembrokeshire will take you to a reminder of a 5th century saint, the remains of an Iron Age settlement and field systems, a feature
Driving through Cannock Chase, a lovely area of heath and woodland in Staffordshire, I was surprised to see a sign pointing to the Katyn Memorial. Katyn Forest is about 1600 miles away, near Smolensk, in Russia. There, in 1940, more than 4,500 Polish nationals were murdered by the NKVD, the Soviet Union’s sinister security police
