A tour through Britain's glories
We live on a small island, but in terms of spectacle and diversity, few places on earth can match it. From grand country houses and mysterious ancient monuments to chocolatebox villages, soaring cathedrals and magical open spaces, a journey through Britain is a vivid tour through some of the greatest wonders of history and nature.
Of course, we don’t all have the time to pack up the car and set off on an odyssey around this green and pleasant land. But we have been able to compile a dazzling armchair journey for you, a trip through many of the riches of Britain that won’t cost you a penny in petrol, train fares or entrance fees. We will take you from spectacular Stirling Castle, with a history dating back to the 1100s, to the bluebell woods of Hertfordshire, the shimmering waters of the Lake District to the summit of Mount Snowdon.
So without further ado, let’s set off… and uncover some of the treasures on our doorstep.
1 ASHRIDGE FOREST BLUEBELLS A nature trail of 1½ miles starts from the Bridgewater Monument, winding through a forest of silver-grey trunks and wild flowers. Ivinghoe Beacon lies about 2½ miles north of the monument. From the summit there is a panorama of the vale below and to the east, a lion cut into the white chalk of Dunstable Downs, advertises Whipsnade Zoo.
2 THE HEPWORTH WAKEFIELD A cluster of 10 boxy shapes of different sizes, with jagged roofscape and irregular windows, the art gallery has its footings deep in water, and might be a Cubist’s take on a moated fortress. Opened in April 2011, it houses the collection from the original Wakefield Art Gallery, with works by Giacometti, Brancusi, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, in 1,600 square metres of sublime, lightfilled space.
3 SLEDMERE HOUSE, YORKSHIRE Richard Sykes began building Sledmere House in the mid- 1700s, but it was largely the creation of Sir Christopher Sykes, a wealthy MP for Beverley, in the 1780s and 1790s. A catastrophic fire broke out in 1911, but when the 7th Baronet, Sir Richard Sykes, came of age in 1926, he ordered a complete restoration in keeping with the Georgian age, complete with ornate plasterwork and Adam-style ceilings.
4 HADRIAN ’S WALL To protect the northerly frontier of Roman Britain, starting in AD 122, Emperor Hadrian ordered the building of a 73-milelong wall from Wallsend to Bowness. It stood over 6 metres high and 3 metres wide. Today, one of the finest stretches of the wall is at Cawfields, where the old quarry reveals a dramatic cross-section of the dolerite ridge.
5 SNOWDON ’S SUMMIT Formed by volcanic forces, the mountains of Snowdonia – the ‘Land of Eagles’ – were once as high as the Himalayas. Ice Ages have sculpted their stark contours, and Snowdon’s summit is a spectacular vantage point, with views south to Cadair Idris and west to Ireland. It can be reached, as it has been since 1896, by a heroic little mountain railway.
6 SYON HOUSE , BRENTFORD The house is bursting with history and design prowess. The gardens were sculpted by Capability Brown and the ceiling of the Red Drawing Room was painted by Giovanni Battista Cipriani. The highlight of the park is the conservatory – built in 1826 and designed by Charles Fowler, it was an inspiration for the Crystal Palace 25 years later.
7 TRAQUAIR HOUSE A quaint, turreted mansion in the Scottish baronial style, Traquair, in Peeblesshire, was home to the Stuarts from 1491, passing to Henry Maxwell, a cousin, in 1875. Built on the site of a hunting lodge used by Scottish kings, it is Scotland’s oldest inhabited house. Home to the family of Catherine, 21st Lady Traquair, it also houses a brewery.
8 RUTLAND WATER When Rutland water was created in the 1970s, it was western Europe’s largest man-made lake, covering some 3,100 acres, or four per cent of England’s smallest county. On the lake’s southeastern shores, Normanton Church is a poignant reminder of the impact the rising waters had on the community. Just the tower and clerestory remain visible above the waterline.
9 HERSTMONCEUX CASTLE The castle, in Hailsham, East Sussex, was built in around 1441 for Sir Roger Fiennes, treasurer to Henry VI. Its walls are made from red Flemish brick with stone dressings. The Royal Greenwich Observatory took up residence in 1946, departing in 1988. A medieval festival is held there every August.
10 LAYER MARNEY TOWER Marney was Henry VIII’s Lord Privy Seal and Captain of the Horse. In 1520 he began to build a palace to rival Hampton Court, but on his death in 1523, and that of his son’s two years later, the work on the tower, near Colchester, was unfinished. Its four flanking turrets rise over seven floors, higher than any preceding Tudor mansion. Gothic in outline, its decoration is Renaissance.
11 PONTCYSY LLTE AQUEDUCT In 1805, 8,000 people attended the opening of the ‘stream in the sky’, over the valley of the River Dee. Sir Walter Scott declared this extraordinary edifice, the work of Thomas Telford and William Jessop, the finest work of art he had ever seen. Once filled, it was left to stand for six months to ensure it was watertight. The aqueduct cost £47,000 (about £3m today), and is Britain’s longest at 307 metres long, and highest, standing 39 metres above ground.
12 St GOVAN ’S CHAPEL The steep, roughhewn steps that lead down a fissure in the cliff to this obscure place in Pembrokeshire are many: there are, in fact, around 70 of them. In the 13th century, the tiny vaulted chapel was built over a cave that once sheltered Govan, a 6th-century monk, about whom little is known: according to one legend he was Gawain, one of King Arthur’s knights.
13 STIRLING CASTLE A monumental survivor of centuries of siege, this magnificent edifice stands on volcanic rock and looms above the plain. Residents have included Edward I on his invasion in 1296, the Stuarts, Mary Queen of Scots and her son, James I of England. A £12m restoration programme will return six apartments back to their Renaissance splendour of the mid 1700s.
14 MAPPERTON HOUSE AND GARDENS Elizabethan in origin, the house was remodelled in the 1660s for Richard Brodrepp, who added two stable blocks and a dovecote. Only the gabled north wing reveals the building’s Tudor beginnings. Built of Ham stone, Mapperton House, in Dorset, is at one with the landscape.
15 RICHMOND PARK The deer are the stars of Richmond Park, London’s largest open space. The highest point in the park is King Henry’s Mound, where the view extends to St Paul’s Cathedral more than 10 miles away. Ponds and woodlands abound and the whole park is graded a site of Special Scientific Interest and a National Nature Reserve.
16 ANOTHER PLACE, CROS BY BEACH, ME RSEYSIDE This installation of 100 cast-iron identical male forms, titled Another Place, is the work of the artist Antony Gormley. The statues are casts of his body, each weighing 1,430lb. The artwork was destined for New York in 2006, but thanks to a successful appeal, has found a permanent home on Crosby Beach.
17 FORTNUM & MASON CLOCK The clock, 4ft tall and weighing four tonnes, is a modern addition, dating from 1964. Eighteen bells chime every 15 minutes and a pair of mechanical figures, Mr Fortnum and Mr Mason, emerge on the hour. Fortnum’s reputedly invented the Scotch egg in 1738, and in 1886, was the first British store to sell Heinz Baked Beans.
18 THE HOUSE IN THE CLOUDS A weatherboarded ‘cottage’ under a steeply pitched roof, in the model resort of Thorpeness, perches 26 metres on top of a five-storey house. The cottage is a folly, designed to hide an unsightly tank that supplied the village with water. Stuart Ogilvie began work on it in 1910, and said it was his ambition to create a holiday village ‘for people who want to experience life as it was when England was Merrie England’.
19 LUD’S CHURCH Hidden deep in a forest in the Peak District, the 18-metre nave of Lud’s Church only sees the light of day on Midsummer Day. The church might have been consecrated to Lud, a Celtic deity. The space is narrow, in places only 2-metres wide, yet it was still possible for about 200 people to congregate in these confines. That it is hard to find, even with a map, makes this place all the more intriguing.
20 HOLKER HALL In the ownership of the Preston, Lowther and Cavendish families since the 17th century, Holker, in Cumbria (pronounced Hooker) has never been bought or sold, but subject to alternation and in the wake of a fire in 1871, partial rebuilding. The bedroom where Queen Mary, consort of George V, slept appears just as she left it. The gardens and parklands are ravishing.
21 CARDIFF CASTLE In 1865 the 3rd Marquis of Bute (Lord Bute’s bedroom, shown below) began to transform the castle and unleashed William Burges upon it. Burges was extremely lavish and his fascination with Moorish design is in evidence in the spectacular Arab Room. A short walk from the castle and city centre is Bute Park, by the River Taff, Sophie Gardens and Pontcanna fields.
22 RING OF BRODGAR The most fascinating thing about this ring of standing stones is not what we know, but what eludes us. Survivors of a possible 60, 27 stones form a near-perfect circle almost 103.6 metres across in the parish of Stenness, between the lochs of Harray and Stenness. The stones have been dated from 2,500 to 2,000 BC and vary in height from 2.1 metres to 4.7 metres.
The Most Amazing Stately Homes In Britain, £14.99, and The 100 Most Amazing Places In Britain, £20, both published by Reader's Digest, are out now.
Of course, we don’t all have the time to pack up the car and set off on an odyssey around this green and pleasant land. But we have been able to compile a dazzling armchair journey for you, a trip through many of the riches of Britain that won’t cost you a penny in petrol, train fares or entrance fees. We will take you from spectacular Stirling Castle, with a history dating back to the 1100s, to the bluebell woods of Hertfordshire, the shimmering waters of the Lake District to the summit of Mount Snowdon.
So without further ado, let’s set off… and uncover some of the treasures on our doorstep.
1 ASHRIDGE FOREST BLUEBELLS A nature trail of 1½ miles starts from the Bridgewater Monument, winding through a forest of silver-grey trunks and wild flowers. Ivinghoe Beacon lies about 2½ miles north of the monument. From the summit there is a panorama of the vale below and to the east, a lion cut into the white chalk of Dunstable Downs, advertises Whipsnade Zoo.
2 THE HEPWORTH WAKEFIELD A cluster of 10 boxy shapes of different sizes, with jagged roofscape and irregular windows, the art gallery has its footings deep in water, and might be a Cubist’s take on a moated fortress. Opened in April 2011, it houses the collection from the original Wakefield Art Gallery, with works by Giacometti, Brancusi, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, in 1,600 square metres of sublime, lightfilled space.
3 SLEDMERE HOUSE, YORKSHIRE Richard Sykes began building Sledmere House in the mid- 1700s, but it was largely the creation of Sir Christopher Sykes, a wealthy MP for Beverley, in the 1780s and 1790s. A catastrophic fire broke out in 1911, but when the 7th Baronet, Sir Richard Sykes, came of age in 1926, he ordered a complete restoration in keeping with the Georgian age, complete with ornate plasterwork and Adam-style ceilings.
4 HADRIAN ’S WALL To protect the northerly frontier of Roman Britain, starting in AD 122, Emperor Hadrian ordered the building of a 73-milelong wall from Wallsend to Bowness. It stood over 6 metres high and 3 metres wide. Today, one of the finest stretches of the wall is at Cawfields, where the old quarry reveals a dramatic cross-section of the dolerite ridge.
5 SNOWDON ’S SUMMIT Formed by volcanic forces, the mountains of Snowdonia – the ‘Land of Eagles’ – were once as high as the Himalayas. Ice Ages have sculpted their stark contours, and Snowdon’s summit is a spectacular vantage point, with views south to Cadair Idris and west to Ireland. It can be reached, as it has been since 1896, by a heroic little mountain railway.
6 SYON HOUSE , BRENTFORD The house is bursting with history and design prowess. The gardens were sculpted by Capability Brown and the ceiling of the Red Drawing Room was painted by Giovanni Battista Cipriani. The highlight of the park is the conservatory – built in 1826 and designed by Charles Fowler, it was an inspiration for the Crystal Palace 25 years later.
7 TRAQUAIR HOUSE A quaint, turreted mansion in the Scottish baronial style, Traquair, in Peeblesshire, was home to the Stuarts from 1491, passing to Henry Maxwell, a cousin, in 1875. Built on the site of a hunting lodge used by Scottish kings, it is Scotland’s oldest inhabited house. Home to the family of Catherine, 21st Lady Traquair, it also houses a brewery.
8 RUTLAND WATER When Rutland water was created in the 1970s, it was western Europe’s largest man-made lake, covering some 3,100 acres, or four per cent of England’s smallest county. On the lake’s southeastern shores, Normanton Church is a poignant reminder of the impact the rising waters had on the community. Just the tower and clerestory remain visible above the waterline.
9 HERSTMONCEUX CASTLE The castle, in Hailsham, East Sussex, was built in around 1441 for Sir Roger Fiennes, treasurer to Henry VI. Its walls are made from red Flemish brick with stone dressings. The Royal Greenwich Observatory took up residence in 1946, departing in 1988. A medieval festival is held there every August.
10 LAYER MARNEY TOWER Marney was Henry VIII’s Lord Privy Seal and Captain of the Horse. In 1520 he began to build a palace to rival Hampton Court, but on his death in 1523, and that of his son’s two years later, the work on the tower, near Colchester, was unfinished. Its four flanking turrets rise over seven floors, higher than any preceding Tudor mansion. Gothic in outline, its decoration is Renaissance.
11 PONTCYSY LLTE AQUEDUCT In 1805, 8,000 people attended the opening of the ‘stream in the sky’, over the valley of the River Dee. Sir Walter Scott declared this extraordinary edifice, the work of Thomas Telford and William Jessop, the finest work of art he had ever seen. Once filled, it was left to stand for six months to ensure it was watertight. The aqueduct cost £47,000 (about £3m today), and is Britain’s longest at 307 metres long, and highest, standing 39 metres above ground.
12 St GOVAN ’S CHAPEL The steep, roughhewn steps that lead down a fissure in the cliff to this obscure place in Pembrokeshire are many: there are, in fact, around 70 of them. In the 13th century, the tiny vaulted chapel was built over a cave that once sheltered Govan, a 6th-century monk, about whom little is known: according to one legend he was Gawain, one of King Arthur’s knights.
13 STIRLING CASTLE A monumental survivor of centuries of siege, this magnificent edifice stands on volcanic rock and looms above the plain. Residents have included Edward I on his invasion in 1296, the Stuarts, Mary Queen of Scots and her son, James I of England. A £12m restoration programme will return six apartments back to their Renaissance splendour of the mid 1700s.
14 MAPPERTON HOUSE AND GARDENS Elizabethan in origin, the house was remodelled in the 1660s for Richard Brodrepp, who added two stable blocks and a dovecote. Only the gabled north wing reveals the building’s Tudor beginnings. Built of Ham stone, Mapperton House, in Dorset, is at one with the landscape.
15 RICHMOND PARK The deer are the stars of Richmond Park, London’s largest open space. The highest point in the park is King Henry’s Mound, where the view extends to St Paul’s Cathedral more than 10 miles away. Ponds and woodlands abound and the whole park is graded a site of Special Scientific Interest and a National Nature Reserve.
16 ANOTHER PLACE, CROS BY BEACH, ME RSEYSIDE This installation of 100 cast-iron identical male forms, titled Another Place, is the work of the artist Antony Gormley. The statues are casts of his body, each weighing 1,430lb. The artwork was destined for New York in 2006, but thanks to a successful appeal, has found a permanent home on Crosby Beach.
17 FORTNUM & MASON CLOCK The clock, 4ft tall and weighing four tonnes, is a modern addition, dating from 1964. Eighteen bells chime every 15 minutes and a pair of mechanical figures, Mr Fortnum and Mr Mason, emerge on the hour. Fortnum’s reputedly invented the Scotch egg in 1738, and in 1886, was the first British store to sell Heinz Baked Beans.
18 THE HOUSE IN THE CLOUDS A weatherboarded ‘cottage’ under a steeply pitched roof, in the model resort of Thorpeness, perches 26 metres on top of a five-storey house. The cottage is a folly, designed to hide an unsightly tank that supplied the village with water. Stuart Ogilvie began work on it in 1910, and said it was his ambition to create a holiday village ‘for people who want to experience life as it was when England was Merrie England’.
19 LUD’S CHURCH Hidden deep in a forest in the Peak District, the 18-metre nave of Lud’s Church only sees the light of day on Midsummer Day. The church might have been consecrated to Lud, a Celtic deity. The space is narrow, in places only 2-metres wide, yet it was still possible for about 200 people to congregate in these confines. That it is hard to find, even with a map, makes this place all the more intriguing.
20 HOLKER HALL In the ownership of the Preston, Lowther and Cavendish families since the 17th century, Holker, in Cumbria (pronounced Hooker) has never been bought or sold, but subject to alternation and in the wake of a fire in 1871, partial rebuilding. The bedroom where Queen Mary, consort of George V, slept appears just as she left it. The gardens and parklands are ravishing.
21 CARDIFF CASTLE In 1865 the 3rd Marquis of Bute (Lord Bute’s bedroom, shown below) began to transform the castle and unleashed William Burges upon it. Burges was extremely lavish and his fascination with Moorish design is in evidence in the spectacular Arab Room. A short walk from the castle and city centre is Bute Park, by the River Taff, Sophie Gardens and Pontcanna fields.
22 RING OF BRODGAR The most fascinating thing about this ring of standing stones is not what we know, but what eludes us. Survivors of a possible 60, 27 stones form a near-perfect circle almost 103.6 metres across in the parish of Stenness, between the lochs of Harray and Stenness. The stones have been dated from 2,500 to 2,000 BC and vary in height from 2.1 metres to 4.7 metres.
The Most Amazing Stately Homes In Britain, £14.99, and The 100 Most Amazing Places In Britain, £20, both published by Reader's Digest, are out now.