Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for england
England’s Independent Lighthouse
By Linda Tancs
The oldest working light on the Norfolk Coast and the only independently operated lighthouse in the U.K. is Happisburgh Lighthouse. The red and white-banded structure is 85 feet tall and its lantern is 134 feet above sea level with a range of 18 miles. There are 96 open steps up to the service room and 16 steep steps to the lantern, which are enclosed. Aside from public open days, private tours can be arranged. Book early to avoid disappointment.
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Equestrian Splendor in Lincolnshire
By Linda Tancs
A hallmark of England’s social season, Burghley Horse Trials in Stamford ranks within the U.K.’s top 10 national sporting occasions by attendance. An average of 80 of the world’s top competitors gather at the annual event held at Burghley House, a grand Elizabethan mansion. It’s one of only seven CCI 5* events worldwide, the star rating denoting the highest standard of event (technically and administratively) and the most challenging test of horse and rider. This year’s event runs from September 4 to 7.
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A Light for Padstow
By Linda Tancs
Trevose Head Lighthouse is a lighthouse on Trevose Head on England’s north Cornish coast. Just west of the town of Padstow, it was built to bridge the gap in lighting between Land’s End and Lundy. The headland lies in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and about 79 acres are part of the Constantine Bay Site of Special Scientific Interest for its sea cliffs, maritime grassland, heath and wet habitats. You’ll find a variety of plants, marine wildlife and wildflowers along trails like Booby’s Bay walk.
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Unspoiled in Cornwall
By Linda Tancs
Largely unspoiled, Polperro is a quaint fishing village on the south coast of Cornwall, England. It’s dreamy for shutterbugs, picturesque as it is with cottages clinging to steep hillsides around a small harbor. That’s probably why it’s regarded by many as one of the most beautiful villages in Cornwall. It’s also well known for its smuggling history. By the late 18th century, much of the success of the smuggling trade through Polperro was controlled by Zephaniah Job, a local merchant who became known as “the smuggler’s banker.” You’ll find the village’s fishing and smuggling history recounted at the heritage museum.
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Bath’s Tower on a Hill
By Linda Tancs
A key landmark in Bath, England, Beckford’s Tower was commissioned by William Beckford in 1827. Originally built to house his extensive art collection from the family’s fortune, the 120-foot neoclassical tower on Lansdown Hill ultimately fell into disrepair before a structural restoration in the late 1990s. Today’s Grade I-listed building features a tour allowing visitors to climb the spiral staircase, examine the museum collection, explore the Victorian cemetery and descend to the hidden grotto used by Beckford to access the tower. An add-on adventure allows small groups to climb to the tower’s lantern. The lantern is at the top of the tower with 154 steps to the start of the lantern tour and over 50 steps within the lantern.
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Barnard’s Silver Swan
By Linda Tancs
The Bowes Museum is an art gallery in the town of Barnard Castle, County Durham, in northern England. Opened in 1892, it was built to house the art collection of John Bowes and his wife Joséphine Benoîte Coffin-Chevallier. Not your average-looking gallery, it’s housed in a magnificent French-style château, boasting exhibitions of art, fashion and design. Its biggest boast may be the Silver Swan, an automaton dating from the 18th century acquired by John Bowes from a Parisian jeweler in 1872. The swan, which is life size, is a clockwork-driven device that includes a music box. It performs daily at 2 p.m. and additional times during holidays.
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The House of Tudor
By Linda Tancs
One of Britain’s best preserved medieval homes, Haddon Hall is a timeless treasure in the Peak District. Occupied today by Lord and Lady Edward Manners, its Tudor charm remains intact owing to the fact that the family chose instead to live at Belvoir Castle for over 200 years, saving the property from the modernizing effects of the Georgian and Victorian periods. As a result, the medieval banqueting hall remains furnished with its original Dais table, behind which hangs a tapestry gifted to the family when King Henry VIII visited. Another gem, the parlor, boasts its glorious Tudor painted ceiling of Tudor roses and heraldic paneling. On the first floor, the Elizabethan rooms culminate in the spectacular Long Gallery, considered to be one of the most beautiful rooms in England. Visitors can explore these rooms, and other treasures, like the walled gardens.
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Large Girth in Lincolnshire
By Linda Tancs
One of Britain’s greatest trees is the Bowthorpe Oak near Bourne in Lincolnshire. It ranks as the U.K.’s largest girthed oak tree at around 44 feet. Of unknown age, the pedunculate oak is estimated to be over 1,000 years old. You’ll find it at the aptly-named Bowthorpe Oak, a private family farm where you can visit the oak as well as see traditional breeds of livestock including Pedigree Lincoln Red cattle, Jacob sheep and Berkshire pigs. They’re open to the public throughout the summer on weekends.
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Cadbury World
By Linda Tancs
Uncover a world of chocolate at Cadbury World, a visitor attraction in Bournville, Birmingham, England, run by the Cadbury Company. Bournville is called a “factory in a garden,” a place where employees lived and worked, a concept unheard of in Victorian times. The factory is not part of the tour, but visitors get a sense of chocolate-making operations through demonstrations at the Chocolate Making Zone. Of course, you’ll get some free chocolate to enjoy as well.
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Shakespeare Played Here
By Linda Tancs
The Guildhall of St. George is a Grade I-listed building in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England. Founded in 1376 as a religious fellowship, it’s the largest surviving medieval guildhall in the country. It was the site of a theatrical production at least as early as 1445, when a nativity play was produced. Its biggest claim to fame, though, is the contention that even Shakespeare performed there. Recent academic research supports the local tradition that Shakespeare played there with the Earl of Pembroke’s Men in 1593, when London theaters were closed because of plague. Performances at the guildhall became so popular that a new theater was built in the 1700s. Today the guildhall is used as a public space for performances, lectures and entertainment.
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