Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for england
Steaming the Lake District
By Linda Tancs
Prized as one of the most beautiful of the English lakes, Ullswater boasts stunning mountain scenery to its south and an enviable display of Wordsworth’s daffodils on the west shore in spring. So it’s no wonder that Ullswater Steamers is such a popular attraction for cruising the second largest lake in the Lake District. Their five heritage vessels (one, dating to 1877, believed to be the oldest working passenger vessel in the world) ply eight of the nine miles’ length of the lake, stopping at four piers. Operating year round, cruise times vary from 20 to 120 minutes.
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A Heavenly Estate in the Forest of Dean
By Linda Tancs
Best known for its gardens and Roman temple complex, Lydney Park is a 17th-century country estate surrounding Lydney House, located at Lydney in the Forest of Dean district in Gloucestershire, England. You might call it a heavenly place, given that its ownership descends from William Bathurst, a composer of church hymns. Open only from April to June (and some select days thereafter), the spring gardens are abloom with flowering cherries, magnolias, scented spring flowering shrubs, azaleas and rhododendrons, to name a few. Excavation on the estate in 1805 also exposed evidence of settlements dating back to 100 B.C., a Norman castle and extensive ruins of a Roman camp including a temple.
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Home of the Pencil
By Linda Tancs
England’s Lake District might be best known for its inspiring vistas, but it’s also the home of the world’s first pencil. The North Lakes region, in particular, boasted a graphite mine in Keswick which would have served as the source of the pencil industry over three centuries ago. Nowadays you can enter a replica of that mine to visit the Derwent Pencil Museum. Inside you’ll find gems like secret WWII pencils with hidden maps, the Guinness World Record for the largest color pencil (measuring almost 26 feet), the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee pencil and miniature pencil sculptures.
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Cornwall’s Hobby Horse
By Linda Tancs
May Day is the biggest day of the year in Padstow, a tiny fishing village on the north coast of Cornwall, England. Reputedly the oldest folk festival in the country, the Obby Oss Festival celebrated there involves two separate processions making their way around the town, each featuring a person dressed as a hobby horse (‘obby ‘oss). The origins of the Cornish celebration are unknown, but it is believed to relate to the Celtic festival of Beltane, the spring festival dedicated to the return of the Celtic sun god, Bel. In each procession, the ‘oss is followed by a teaser (who taunts the ‘oss) and many dancers. In the older procession, the participants wear white outfits with red sashes and conduct themselves with much revelry. In the early 20th century, the temperance movement instigated a second ‘oss, characterized by more sober participants wearing white outfits with blue sashes. The two processions parade independently until late afternoon, when everyone gathers at the maypole in the town square.
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Veteran Trees at Hatfield
By Linda Tancs
Just 21 miles north of London, England, Hatfield House is a fine Jacobean house and garden in a spectacular countryside setting in Hertfordshire. Blessed with an extensive parkland, three separate walks range in length from just over one mile to just over three miles. The medieval grounds, site of the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth I, boast ancient oak, hornbeam and beech pollards. One ancient oak in the park reputedly marks the place where the young Princess Elizabeth first heard of her accession to the throne. Hatfield House is nowadays the home of the 7th Marquess and Marchioness of Salisbury and their family. The pedestrian entrance to Hatfield Park is opposite Hatfield railway station. The fast train from Kings Cross to Hatfield takes 20 minutes.
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East Anglia’s Waterfront Town
By Linda Tancs
Steeped in history, Ipswich is a waterfront town in East Anglia. The county town of Suffolk, it’s the oldest Anglo-Saxon town in England. The town was granted a royal charter in 1200 and has been closely linked with the discovery of the New World and with historical figures such as Cardinal Wolsey and Charles Dickens. The town’s unique and free museum delves into Suffolk’s past from the Iron Age to the Romans and Saxons. Woolly mammoths were believed to have lived in the Ipswich area until 11,500 years ago, a fact commemorated by the life-size model that serves as a mascot in the museum.
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Augmented Reality in Newark
By Linda Tancs
The National Civil War Centre in the Nottinghamshire town of Newark in England presents a unique perspective on the nation’s Civil War. Staunchly Royalist from the war’s beginning, the market town has over 5,000 artifacts from the conflict, including the cannon ball that punched a hole in the spire of St. Mary Magdalene (one of the country’s largest parish churches). You can watch the story of the Civil War unfold on your smartphone or tablet device with augmented reality technology that will guide you through the town on the National Civil War Trail. If you don’t have a smartphone or tablet but still want to explore the trail, then pick up a paper version at the Centre.
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The King of Castles
By Linda Tancs
Once the royal seat of the Kings of Northumbria, England’s Bamburgh Castle is one of the largest inhabited castles in the country. Perched 150 feet above the sea on a bed of volcanic dolerite, it has dominated the Northumberland countryside and coastline for over 1,400 years, making it an attractive backdrop for many U.K. TV shows as well as Hollywood films. Among its 14 exhibition rooms over 3,000 items are on display, ranging from arms and armor to fine porcelain, china, artworks and furniture. Acquired by the First Lord Armstrong, it remains a family home that was opened to visitors in the mid-1900s.
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1,300 Years of Faith on Tower Hill
By Linda Tancs
All Hallows by the Tower is the oldest church in the City of London, founded 300 years before the Tower of London by the Abbey of Barking in A.D. 675. Due to its proximity to the tower, it had handled (as one might suspect) many temporary burials for those beheaded at Tower Hill in bygone days. It survived the Great Fire of 1666 and extensive bombing during World War II and witnessed happier occasions like the marriage of U.S. President John Quincy Adams. You can download an audio tour on your smart phone, take a free guided tour between April and October or arrange a guided group tour at any time of the year.
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An Anglo-American Gem in London
By Linda Tancs
Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, spent nearly 16 years at 36 Craven Street near Trafalgar Square in the heart of London. The terraced, Georgian house, built circa 1730, is both architecturally and historically significant. Structurally, it holds a Grade I listing and retains a majority of original features, like the central staircase, lathing, 18th century paneling, stoves, windows, fittings, beams and brick. Historically, Franklin worked there during Revolutionary War times, and the dwelling served as the first de facto U.S. Embassy. Open to the public since 2006, the house is the world’s only remaining Franklin homestead.
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