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Cotswolds and Somerset
The rolling green swards of Gloucestershire and Somerset , a
wedge of land linking the Midlands with the West Country, encapsulate a
vision of rural England which has very largely survived the inroads of
modern urban culture. The relatively remote settlements may not, for the
most part, be peopled by shepherds and farmers, but the landscape has
preserved its slumberous charm, and wears a mellow tranquillity which
has even seeped into the towns which grew rich on its wealth. Occupying
the eastern side of Gloucestershire, the Cotswolds , in particular, show
plenty of evidence of past prosperity, not least in the beautiful old
mansions and churches endowed from the fortunes made through the
medieval wool trade. Moreover, the remarkable continuity of Cotswold
architecture has created villages as picturesque as any in England,
though the resulting tourist deluge makes some spots nightmarish in
summer. Tourism is less of a nuisance in the south of this region,
around the busy market town of Cirencester , once an important Roman
stronghold and still an important transport hub.
To the west, the land drops sharply from the Cotswold escarpment down to
Cheltenham , an elegant Regency spa town most famous these days for its
horse racing. The town's reputation as a bastion of blue-stockinged
conservatism is fairly passé now, and it has developed a more
sophisticated veneer in recent years, boasting some of the best
restaurants and nightlife in the region. Cheltenham would also make a
good base for visits to Gloucester , with its superb cathedral and
rejuvenated harbour area, and Stroud , where the much praised Museum in
the Park has recently opened. The Vale of Gloucester follows the route
of the River Severn northeast towards Worcestershire, the stone cottages
of the Cotswolds giving way to the thatched, half-timbered and red-brick
houses which are characteristic of Tewkesbury , a solidly provincial
town with a magnificent abbey.
South down the M5, Bristol is the biggest city in these parts, and one
of the most go-ahead, cosmopolitan places outside London. Its dynamism
and flare has saddled it with dense traffic and some pretty hideous
postwar architecture, but all is compensated for by its surviving traces
of every phase in its long maritime history. Bristol is within reach of
old-fashioned seaside resorts - more alluring for their nostalgic
atmosphere than for their swimming possibilities - and only a few miles
from Georgian Bath , whose symmetrical honey-toned terraces contribute
to its operatic setting. The proximity of urban grace to panoramic
splendour is characteristic of much of Somerset , as in the exquisite
cathedral city of Wells , lying on the edge of the Mendip Hills. The
landscape assumes more dramatic lines west of here, where the hills are
pocked by cave systems, as at Wookey Hole , and sliced through by the
Cheddar Gorge . The ancient town of Glastonbury lies close at hand, a
site steeped in Christian lore and Arthurian legend, and popular with
New Age mystics. To the west, Bridgwater and Taunton lie at the southern
end of the Quantock Hills , where Coleridge and Wordsworth roamed, a
time recalled in Coleridge's old house at Nether Stowey .
The line between London's Paddington station and Bristol provides the
backbone of the rail network through this region, though you could also
make use of the London-Oxford-Worcester line which runs through Moreton-in-Marsh,
in the middle of the Cotswolds. There are also direct lines to
Cheltenham and Gloucester, and these towns form the hubs of bus routes
which connect nearly all the places covered here - though beware that
services in the Cotswolds can be extremely sketchy, with little running
at all on a Sunday. Your own transport would be ideal for exploring this
area, while the M4 and M5 motorways are useful through-routes for longer-distance
jaunts.
Cumbria and the Lakes
The Lake District is England's most hyped scenic area,
and for good reasons. Within an area a mere thirty miles across, sixteen
major lakes are squeezed between the steeply pitched faces of England's
highest mountains, an almost alpine landscape that's augmented by
waterfalls and picturesque stone-built villages packed into the valleys.
Most of what people refer to as the Lake District - or simply the Lakes
- lies within the Lake District National Park , England's largest
national park, established in 1951. This, in turn, falls entirely within
the northwestern county of Cumbria , formed in 1974 from the historic
counties of Cumberland and Westmorland, and the northern part of
Lancashire. Consequently Cumbria contains more than just its lakes,
stretching south and west to the coast , and north to its county town of
Carlisle , a place that bears traces of a pedigree that stretches back
beyond the construction of Hadrian's Wall. To the east, Penrith and the
Eden Valley separate the lakes from the near wilderness of the northern
Pennines.
Everywhere in the Lakes and Cumbria is connected by local bus , with
Stagecoach in Cumbria the biggest operator. Their Explorer Tickets (one-day
£6.50; four-day £15) are valid on the entire network and can be bought
on the bus, while other bus-and-boat combination tickets offer a variety
of good deals. All routes are all spelled out in detail in the free
Lakeland Explorer timetable , available on board buses or from local
tourist offices. Even more comprehensive is the Getting Around Cumbria
and the Lake District timetable book produced twice a year by Cumbria
County Council and available from tourist offices throughout the region.
Or call Traveline (daily 7am-8pm; tel 0870/608 2608, ), which can advise
about all the region's bus, coach, rail and ferry services.
For more information about all aspects of the National Park, visit ;
while the official site of the Cumbria Tourist Board is .
Devon and Cornwal
At the western extremity of England, the counties of
Devon and Cornwall encompass everything from genteel, cosy villages to
vast Atlantic-facing strands of golden sand and wild expanses of granite
moorland. The combination of rural peace and first-class beaches has
made the peninsula perennially popular with tourists, so much so that
tourism has replaced the traditional occupations of fishing and farming
as the main source of employment and income. Enough remains of these
beleaguered communities to preserve the region's authentic character,
however - even if this can be occasionally obscured during the summer
season. Avoid the peak periods and you'll be seduced by the genuine
appeal of this region, which beckons ever westwards into rural
backwaters where increasingly exotic place-names and idiosyncratic
pronunciations recall that this was once England's last bastion of
Celtic culture.
Although the human history of the region has left its stamp, it is the
natural landscape which exerts the strongest pull, and not just in the
beauty of the long, deeply indented seaboard. Straddling the border
between Devon and Somerset, Exmoor is one of the peninsula's three great
moors, its heathery slopes much favoured by hunting parties as well as
by hikers. For wilderness, however, nothing can beat the remoter tracts
of Dartmoor , which takes up much of the southern half of inland Devon.
The greatest of the West Country's granite massifs, most of Dartmoor
retains its solitude in spite of its proximity to the only major cities
at this end of the country, either of which would make a good touring
base. Of the two, Exeter is by far the more interesting, dominated by
the twin towers of its medieval cathedral and offering a rich selection
of restaurants and nightlife. Much of the city was destroyed by bombing
during World War II, though the largest city of Devon and Cornwall,
Plymouth suffered far worse, the consequence of its historic role as a
great naval port. Bland postwar development inflicted almost as much
damage as the Luftwaffe, although enough of Plymouth's Elizabethan core
has survived to merit a visit, and the city, by capitalizing on its
maritime associations, has succeeded in reviving its port area.
The coastline on either side of Exeter and Plymouth is within easy reach.
Warmed by the Gulf Stream, and enjoying more hours of sunshine than
virtually anywhere else in England, this part of the country can
sometimes come fairly close to the atmosphere of the Mediterranean, and
indeed Devon's principal resort, Torquay , styles itself the capital of
the "English Riviera". St Tropez it ain't, but there's no denying a
certain glamour, far removed from the old-fashioned charm of the seaside
towns of East Devon , or the cliff-backed resorts of the county's
northern littoral.
Cornwall too has its pockets of concentrated tourist development -
chiefly at Falmouth and Newquay , the first of these a sailing centre,
the second a mecca for surfers drawn to its choice of west-facing
beaches. St Ives , too, has long attracted the crowds, though the town
has a separate identity as a magnet for the arts. Despite the tourist
incursions, this county is essentially less domesticated than its
agricultural neighbour, in part due to the overbearing presence of the
turbulent Atlantic, which is never more than half an hour's drive away.
The restless waves give Cornwall's old fishing ports an almost embattled
character, especially on the north coast, where the fortified headland
of Tintagel - the most famous of the many places hereabouts to boast a
connection with King Arthur and his knights - and the clenched little
harbour of Boscastle are typical of the county's craggy appeal, but the
full elemental power of the ocean can best be appreciated on the twin
pincers of Lizard Point and Land's End , where the splintered cliffs
resound to the constant thunder of the waves. And there's another factor
contributing to Cornwall's starker feel - unlike Devon, this county was
once considerably industrialized, and is dotted with remnants of its now
defunct mining industries, their ruins presenting a salutary
counterpoint to the tourist-centred seaside towns. One disused clay-pit,
though, is the site of one of Cornwall's biggest success stories of
recent times, the Eden Project , which imaginatively highlights the
diversity of the planet's plant-systems, with the help of science-fiction
"biomes" where tropical and Mediterranean climates and conditions have
been re-created.
The best way of exploring the coast of Devon and Cornwall is along the
South West Coast Path , Britain's longest waymarked footpath, which
allows the dauntless hiker to cover almost six hundred miles from the
Somerset border to the edge of Bournemouth in Dorset. Getting around by
public transport in the West Country can be a convoluted and lengthy
process, especially if you're relying on the often skimpy bus network.
By train, you can reach Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance, with a
handful of branch lines wandering off to the major coastal resorts -
though there's nothing like the extensive network the Victorians once
enjoyed.
East Anglia
Strictly speaking, East Anglia is made up of just three
counties - Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire - which were settled by
Angles from Holstein in the fifth century, though in more recent times
it's come to be loosely applied to parts of Essex too. As a region it's
renowned for its wide skies and flat landscapes, and of course such
generalizations always contain more than a grain of truth - if you're
looking for mountains, you've come to the wrong place. That said, East
Anglia often fails to conform to its stereotype: parts of Suffolk are
positively hilly, and its coastline can induce vertigo; the north
Norfolk coast holds steep cliffs as well as wide sandy beaches; and even
the pancake-flat fenlands are broken by wide, muddy rivers and hilly
mounds, on one of which perches Ely 's magnificent cathedral. Indeed,
the whole region is sprinkled with fine medieval churches, the legacy of
the days when this was England's most progressive and prosperous region.
Of all the region's counties, Suffolk is the most varied. Its undulating
southern reaches, straddling the River Stour, are home to a string of
picturesque, well-preserved little towns - Lavenham and Kersey are two
excellent examples - which enjoyed immense prosperity during the
thirteenth to sixteenth centuries, the heyday of the wool trade.
Elsewhere, Bury St Edmunds can boast not just the ruins of its once-prestigious
abbey, but also some fine Georgian architecture on its grid-plan streets.
Even the much maligned county town of Ipswich has more to offer than
it's generally given credit for. Nevertheless, for many visitors it's
the north Suffolk coast that steals the local show. In Southwold , with
its comely Georgian high street, Suffolk possesses a delightful seaside
resort, elegant and relaxing in equal measure, while neighbouring
Aldeburgh hosts one of the best music festivals in the country.
Norfolk , as everyone knows thanks to Noël Coward, is very flat. It's
also one of the most sparsely populated and tranquil counties in England,
a remarkable turnaround from the days when it was an economic and
political powerhouse - until, that is, the Industrial Revolution simply
passed it by. Its capital, Norwich , is still East Anglia's largest city,
renowned for its Norman cathedral and castle, and for its high-tech
Sainsbury Centre, a provocative collection of twentieth-century art. The
one part of Norfolk which has been well and truly discovered is the
Broads , a unique landscape of reed-ridden waterways that has been over-exploited
by farmers and boat-rental companies for the last twenty years. Too far
from London to attract day-trippers, the Norfolk coast - with the
exception of touristy Great Yarmouth and, to a lesser extent, the
Victorian resort of Cromer - remains one of the most unspoilt in England,
with Blakeney Point and the surrounding marshes among the country's top
nature reserves. Meanwhile, sheltering inland, is an outstanding stately
home - Blickling Hall - plus a couple more within easy striking distance
of the steady resort of Hunstanton .
Cambridge is, however, the one place in East Anglia everyone visits,
largely on account of its world-renowned university, whose ancient
colleges boast some of the finest medieval and early modern architecture
in the country. The rest of Cambridgeshire is dominated by the landscape
of the Fens , for centuries an inhospitable marshland, which was
eventually drained to provide rich alluvial farming land. The one great
highlight here is the cathedral town of Ely , settled on one of the few
areas of raised ground in this region and an easy and popular day-trip
from Cambridge.
Heading into the region from the south, almost inevitably takes you
through Essex , though there's little here to divert you. Not properly
part of East Anglia, but generally lumped together with the region,
Essex's proximity to London has turned many places into soulless
commuter towns with only the historic town of Colchester being really
worth a detour.
East Midlands
Many tourists bypass the four major counties of the East
Midlands - Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and
Lincolnshire - on their way to more obvious destinations, and although
there's much to savour it's true they miss little of overriding interest.
Nottingham, Leicester and Northampton - three of the four county towns -
share a long and eventful history, but have been badly bruised by
postwar town planning and industrial development. Embedded in the
modernity, however, are a few historical landmarks - an especially fine
church in Northampton, the castle in Nottingham, and traces of Roman
baths in Leicester - but by and large these are the frills rather than
the substance, though Nottingham does have an aesthetic edge. And if few
would describe this trio of towns as especially good-looking, the
countryside surrounding them can be delightful, with rolling farmland
punctuated by wooded ridges and flowing hills, all sprinkled with
prestigious country homes, pretty villages and old market towns. In
Nottinghamshire, the star turn is Hardwick Hall , an especially
beautiful Elizabethan country home, but Byron's Newstead Abbey runs a
close second. Furthermore, the eastern reaches of the county hold two
appealing market towns - Southwell and Newark - whilst west
Leicestershire weighs in with the fascinating mansion of Calke Abbey .
East of Leicestershire, the easy countryside rolls over into Rutland ,
the region's fifth and smallest county, and here you'll find two more
pleasant country towns, Oakham and Uppingham , though tiny Lyddington is
even more picturesque. Rutland benefits from the use of limestone as the
traditional building material and so does Northamptonshire . Here, the
rural parts of the county are studded with handsome, old stone villages
and small towns - most notably Fotheringhay and Oundle - plus large
country estates, the best known of which is Althorp , the final resting
place of Princess Diana.
Lincolnshire is very different in character from the rest of the region,
an agricultural backwater that remains surprisingly remote - locals
sometimes call it the "forgotten" county. This was not always the case:
throughout medieval times the county flourished as a centre of the wool
trade with Flanders, its merchants and landowners becoming some of the
wealthiest in the land. Reminders of the high times are legion,
beginning with the majestic cathedral that graces Lincoln , a dignified
old city which, with its cobbled lanes and ancient buildings, well
deserves an overnight stay. Equally enticing is the splendidly intact
stone town of Stamford , but the county's urban attractions pretty much
end there. Out in the sticks, the most distinctive feature is The Fens ,
whose pancake-flat fields, filling out much of the south of the county
and extending deep into East Anglia, have been regained from the marshes
and the sea. Fenland villages are generally short of charm, but the
parishchurches , whose spires regularly interrupt the wide-skied
landscape, are simply stunning, the most impressive of the lot being St
Botolph's in Boston .
In north Lincolnshire, the low-lying chalky hills of the Lincolnshire
Wolds contain the county's most diverse scenery, including a string of
sheltered valleys concentrated in the vicinity of Louth , an especially
fetching country town. To the east of the Wolds is the coast , whose
long sandy beach extends, with a few marshy interruptions, from
Mablethorpe to Skegness , the main resort. The coast has long attracted
thousands of holiday-makers from the big cities of the East Midlands and
Yorkshire, hence its trail of bungalows, campsites and caravan parks -
though, to be fair, chunks of the seashore are now protected as nature
reserves.
As for public transport, travelling between the cities of the East
Midlands by train or bus is simple and most of the larger towns have
good regional links, too; but things are very different in the country
with bus services very patchy.
Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire
The distant past is perhaps more tangible in Hampshire,
Dorset and Wiltshire than in any other part of England. Predominantly
rural, these three counties overlap substantially with the ancient
kingdom of Wessex , whose most famous ruler, Alfred, repulsed the Danes
in the ninth century and came close to establishing the first unified
state in England. Before Wessex came into being, however, many earlier
civilizations had left their stamp on the region. The chalky uplands of
Wiltshire boast several of Europe's greatest Neolithic sites, including
Stonehenge and Avebury , while in Dorset you'll find Maiden Castle , the
most striking Iron Age hill fort in the country, and the Cerne Abbas
Giant , source of many a legend. The Romans tramped all over these
southern counties, leaving the most conspicuous signs of their
occupation at the amphitheatre of Dorchester - though that town is more
closely associated with the novels of Thomas Hardy and his distinctively
gloomy vision of Wessex.
None of the landscapes of this region could be described as grand or
wild, but the countryside is consistently seductive, its appeal
exemplified by the crumbling fossil-bearing cliffs around Lyme Regis ,
the managed woodlands of the New Forest and the gentle, open curves of
Salisbury Plain . Its towns are also generally modest and slow-paced,
with the notable exceptions of the two great maritime bases of
Portsmouth and, to a lesser extent, Southampton , a fair proportion of
whose visitors are simply passing through on their way to the more
genteel pleasures of the Isle of Wight . This is something of an
injustice, though neither place can compete with the two most
interesting cities in this part of England - Salisbury and Winchester ,
each of which possesses a stupendous cathedral amid an array of other
historic sights. Of the region's great houses, Wilton, Stourhead,
Longleat and Kingston Lacy are the ones that attract the crowds, but
every cranny has its medieval church, manor house or unspoilt country
inn - there are few parts of England in which an aimless meander can be
so rewarding. But if it's straightforward seaside fun you're after,
Bournemouth leads the way, with Weymouth and Lyme Regis heading the
ranks of the minor resorts, along with the yachties' havens over on the
Isle of Wight.
London
With a population of just under eight million, London is
Europe's largest city, spreading across an area of more than 620 square
miles from its core on the River Thames. Ethnically it's also Europe's
most diverse metropolis: around two hundred languages are spoken within
its confines, and more than thirty percent of the population is made up
of first, second- and third-generation immigrants. Despite Scottish,
Welsh and Northern Irish devolution, London still dominates the national
horizon, too: this is where the country's news and money are made, it's
where the central government resides and, as far as its inhabitants are
concerned, provincial life begins beyond the circuit of the city's
orbital motorway. Londoners' sense of superiority causes enormous
resentment in the regions, yet it's undeniable that the capital has a
unique aura of excitement and success - in most walks of British life,
if you want to get on you've got to do it in London.
For the visitor, too, London is a thrilling place - and since the
beginning of the new millennium, the city has also been overtaken by an
exceptionally buoyant mood. Thanks to the lottery and millennium-oriented
funding frenzy of the last few years, virtually every one of London's
world-class museums, galleries and institutions has been reinvented,
from the Royal Opera House to the British Museum. With the completion of
the Tate Modern and the London Eye, the city can now boast the world's
largest modern art gallery and Ferris wheel; there's also a new tube
extension and the first new bridge to cross the Thames for over a
hundred years. And after sixteen years of being the only major city in
the world not to have its own governing body, London finally has its own
elected mayor and assembly.
In the meantime, London's traditional sights - Big Ben, Westminster
Abbey, Buckingham Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London -
continue to draw in millions of tourists every year. Monuments from the
capital's more glorious past are everywhere to be seen, from medieval
banqueting halls and the great churches of Sir Christopher Wren to the
eclectic Victorian architecture of the triumphalist British Empire.
There is also much enjoyment to be had from the city's quiet Georgian
squares, the narrow alleyways of the City of London, the riverside walks,
and the quirks of what is still identifiably a collection of villages.
And even London's traffic pollution - one of its worst problems - is
offset by surprisingly large expanses of greenery: Hyde Park, Green Park
and St James's Park are all within a few minutes' walk of the West End,
while, further afield, you can enjoy the more expansive parklands of
Hampstead Heath and Richmond Park.
You could spend days just shopping in London, too, hobnobbing with the
upper classes in Harrods, or sampling the offbeat weekend markets of
Portobello Road and Camden. The music, clubbing and gay/lesbian scenes
are second to none, and mainstream arts are no less exciting, with
regular opportunities to catch brilliant theatre companies, dance
troupes, exhibitions and opera. Restaurants, these days, are an
attraction, too. London has caught up with its European rivals, and
offers a range from three-star Michelin establishments to low-cost, high-quality
Indian curry houses. Meanwhile, the city's pubs have heaps of atmosphere,
especially away from the centre - and an exploration of the farther-flung
communities is essential to get the complete picture of this dynamic
metropolis
Intruducing the City:
Stretching for more than thirty miles at its broadest point, London is
by far the largest city in Europe. The majority of its sights are
situated to the north of the River Thames, which loops through the city
from west to east. However, there is no single predominant focus of
interest, for London has grown not through centralized planning but by a
process of agglomeration - villages and urban developments that once
surrounded the core are now lost within the amorphous mass of Greater
London.
One of the few areas that you can easily explore on foot is Westminster
and Whitehall , the city's royal, political and ecclesiastical power
base, where you'll find the National Gallery and a host of other London
landmarks, from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. The
grand streets and squares of St James's , Mayfair and Marylebone , to
the north of Westminster, have been the playground of the rich since the
Restoration, and now contain the city's busiest shopping zones.
East of Piccadilly Circus, Soho and Covent Garden are also easy to walk
around and form the heart of the West End entertainment district,
containing the largest concentration of theatres, cinemas, clubs, flashy
shops, cafés and restaurants. To the north lies the university quarter
of Bloomsbury , home to the ever-popular British Museum, and the
secluded quadrangles of Holborn's Inns of Court, London's legal
heartland.
The City - the City of London, to give it its full title - is at one and
the same time the most ancient and the most modern part of London.
Settled since Roman times, it is now one of the world's great financial
centres, yet retains its share of historic sights, notably the Tower of
London and a fine cache of Wren churches that includes St Paul's
Cathedral. Despite creeping trendification, the East End , to the east
of the City, is not conventional tourist territory, but to ignore it
entirely is to miss out a crucial element of contemporary London.
Docklands is the converse of the down-at-heel East End, with the Canary
Wharf tower, the country's tallest building, epitomizing the pretensions
of the Thatcherite dream.
Lambeth and Southwark comprise the small slice of central London that
lies south of the Thames. The South Bank Centre, London's little-loved
concrete culture bunker, is enjoying a new lease of life thanks to its
proximity to the new Tate Gallery of Modern Art in Bankside, which is
linked to the City by a new pedestrian bridge.
The largest segment of greenery in central London is Hyde Park, which
separates wealthy Kensington and Chelsea from the city centre. The
museums of South Kensington - the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Science
Museum and the Natural History Museum - are a must; and if you have
shopping on your agenda, you'll want to check out the hive of plush
stores in the vicinity of Harrods.
The capital's most hectic weekend market takes place around Camden Lock
in North London . Further out, in the literary suburbs of Hampstead and
Highgate, there are unbeatable views across the city from half-wild
Hampstead Heath, the favourite parkland of thousands of Londoners. The
glory of South London is Greenwich, with its nautical associations,
royal park and observatory (not to mention its Dome). Finally, there are
plenty of rewarding day-trips along the Thames from Chiswick to Windsor
, most notably Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle.
Northeast
For England's northeastern region - in particular the
counties of Northumberland and Durham - the centuries between the Roman
invasion and the 1603 union of the English and Scottish crowns were a
period of almost incessant turbulence. To mark the empire's limit and to
contain the troublesome tribes of the far north, Hadrian's Wall was
built along the seventy-odd miles between the North Sea and the west
coast, an extraordinary military structure that is now one of the
country's most evocative ruins. When the Romans departed the northeast
was plunged into chaos and divided into unstable Saxon principalities
until order was restored by the kings of Northumbria, who dominated the
region from 600 until the 870s. It was they who nourished the region's
early Christian tradition, which achieved its finest flowering with the
creation of the Lindisfarne Gospels on what is now known as Holy Island.
The monks abandoned their island at the end of the ninth century, in
advance of the Vikings' destruction of the Northumbrian kingdom, and
only after the Norman Conquest did the northeast again become part of a
greater England.
The Norman kings and their immediate successors repeatedly attempted to
subdue Scotland, passing effective regional control to powerful local
lords. Their authority is recalled by a sequence of formidable
fortresses, most impressively those at Bamburgh, Alnwick and Warkworth ,
and also by Durham Cathedral , the magnificent twelfth-century church of
the prince bishops of Durham, who ruled the whole of County Durham. Long
after the northeast had ceased to be a critical military zone, its
character and appearance were transformed by the Industrial Revolution .
Coal had been mined here for hundreds of years, but exploitation only
began in earnest towards the end of the eighteenth century, when two
main coalfields were established - one dominating County Durham from the
Pennines to the sea, the other stretching north along the Northumberland
coast from the Tyne. The world's first railway , the Darlington and
Stockton line, was opened in 1825 to move coal to the nearest port for
export, while local coal and ore also fuelled the foundries of
Middlesbrough and Consett, which in turn supplied the ship-building and
heavy-engineering companies of Tyneside. The region boomed, creating a
score of sizeable towns, amongst which Newcastle was pre-eminent - as it
remains today.
Most visitors dodge the industrial areas, bypassing the towns along the
Tees Valley - Darlington, Stockton, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool - on
the way to Durham . From Durham it's a short hop to Newcastle , an
earthy city distinguished by some fine Victorian buildings, the
revitalized Quayside and a vibrant cultural scene and nightlife. North,
past the old colliery villages, the brighter parts of the Northumberland
coast boast some fine castles, as well as Holy Island , the extravagant
ramparts of Berwick-upon-Tweed , a string of superb, if chilly, beaches,
and the desolate archipelago of the Farne Islands . Inland there are the
scenic Durham dales and the harsh landscapes of Northumberland National
Park , a huge chunk of moorland and tree plantations that edges the most
dramatic portion of Hadrian's Wall. The wall itself is easily visited
from the appealing abbey-town of Hexham , just half an hour from
Newcastle.
If there are two or more of you, it's well worth getting hold of a
Northumbria Tourist Board Powerpass (£1) from any of the region's
tourist offices, which gives two-for-the-price-of-one entry to many
attractions, including Beamish, Bede's World and Segedunum. For all
public transport enquiries in the northeast, contact Traveline (daily
7am-8pm; tel 0870/608 2608, ); or log onto Nexus, the local transport's
website, which has a useful journey planner option ( ). The Northeast
Explorer Pass (1-day; £5.25) gives unlimited travel on local buses - buy
it on board any bus. The main long-distance footpath through the
northeast is the Pennine Way , which crosses Hadrian's Wall and climaxes
in a climb through the Northumberland National Park and Cheviot Hills.
Less demanding is the 63-mile St Cuthbert's Way , which links Holy
Island with Melrose, where St Cuthbert started his ministry, just across
the border in Scotland.
Northwest
Within the northwest of England lie some of the ugliest
and some of the most beautiful parts of the country. The least
attractive zones of this region are to be found in the sprawl connecting
the country's third and sixth largest conurbations, Manchester and
Liverpool, but even here the picture isn't unrelievedly bleak, as the
cities themselves have an ingratiating appeal. Manchester , in
particular, surprises many who don't expect to see beyond its dour,
industrial heritage. Where once only a handful of Victorian Gothic
buildings lent any grace to the cityscape, Manchester today has been
completely transformed by a rebuilding programme that puts it in the
vanguard of modern British urban design. Liverpool , set on the Mersey
estuary, is perhaps less appealing at first glance, though Georgian town
houses, grand civic buildings, its twin cathedrals and a burgeoning café
scene soon change perceptions. To the south, Cheshire boasts the county
town, Chester , with its complete circuit of town walls and partly Tudor
centre. This is as alluring as any of the country's northern towns,
capturing the essence of what has always been one of England's
wealthiest rural counties.
Lancashire , which historically lay directly to the north of Cheshire,
reached industrial prominence in the last century primarily due to the
cotton-mill towns around Manchester and to the thriving port of
Liverpool. Today, neither of those cities is part of the county, having
been excised when England's first substantial county boundary changes
since the Domesday Book were enacted in 1974. The urban counties of
Merseyside and Greater Manchester chopped off the southern section of
Lancashire while Cumbria grabbed a substantial northern chunk leaving
Lancashire little more than half its former size. Its oldest town, and
major commercial and administrative centre, is Preston - home of the
national museum of England's national game, football - though tourists
are perhaps more inclined to linger in the charming towns and villages
of the nearby Ribble Valley . Meanwhile, along the coast to the west and
north of the major cities stretches a line of resorts - from Southport
to Morecambe - which once formed the mainstay of the northern British
holiday trade before their client base disappeared on cheaper, sunnier
holidays to Florida and the Mediterranean. Only Blackpool is really
worth visiting for its own sake, a rip-roaring resort which has stayed
at the top of its game by supplying undemanding entertainment with more
panache than its neighbours. For anything more culturally invigorating
you'll have to continue north to the historically important city of
Lancaster , with its Tudor castle. Finally, the semi-autonomous Isle of
Man , only twenty-five miles off the coast and served by ferries from
Liverpool and Heysham (or short flights from Liverpool), provides a
terrain almost as rewarding as that of the Lake District but without the
seasonal overcrowding.
Oxford and around
Arching around the peripheries of London, beyond the
orbital M25, the "Home Counties" of England form London's commuter-belt.
Beyond the suburban sprawl, however, there is plenty to entice the
visitor. The northwestern Home Counties - Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and
Hertfordshire - are at their most enticing amidst the Chiltern Hills , a
picturesque band of chalk uplands whose wooded ridges rise near Luton,
beside the M1, and stretch southwest, petering out beside the River
Thames near Reading. The hills provide an exclusive setting for many of
the capital's wealthiest commuters, but for the casual visitor the
obvious target is Henley-on-Thames , a good-looking old town famous for
its Regatta and with a good supply of accommodation. Henley is also a
handy base for further explorations, with the village of Cookham - and
its Stanley Spencer gallery - leading the way, though Reading is also of
interest as the host of two of Europe's most prestigious music festivals.
The Chilterns are traversed by the Ridgeway , a prehistoric track - and
now a national trail - that offers excellent hiking. However, the finest
portion of the trail is further to the west, across the Thames, on the
downs straddling the Berkshire-Oxfordshire border. Here, the Ridgeway
visits a string of prehistoric sites, the most extraordinary being the
gigantic chalk horse that gives the Vale of White Horse its name. The
Vale is dotted with pleasant little villages, and both Woolstone and
plainer Uffington have places to stay; but neither is it far to the
university city of Oxford , which, with its superb architecture, museums
and lively student population, can keep you busy for days. Oxford is
this region's star turn and it's also close to Woodstock , the handsome
little town abutting one of England's most imposing country homes,
Blenheim Palace .
To the northeast of Oxford, beyond the Chilterns, the plain landscapes
of north Buckinghamshire hardly fire the soul, though modest Buckingham
is pleasant enough and it is also within easy striking distance of Stowe
Gardens , which hold a remarkable collection of outdoor sculptures,
monuments and decorative buildings. Travel east from Buckingham and you
soon reach Bedfordshire, mostly flat agricultural land with a hint of
industrial Midlands. It is not a county you'd cross England to visit,
but Bedford is interesting for its John Bunyan connection and possibly
useful for its hotels and restaurants.
Hit Bedfordshire and you're on the edge of the East Midlands, but travel
back towards London and you'll cross Hertfordshire. The prime target
here is St Albans , an ancient and dignified town with Roman remains and
a superb cathedral - but marooned amidst a knot of motorways and new
towns on the fringes of London.
The area covered in this section of the website is threaded by five
motorways , the M25, M4, M40, M1 and A1(M). These give swift access from
all directions, though drivers will need a detailed map to successfully
explore the rural nooks and crannies. Long-distance buses mostly stick
to the motorways, too, providing an efficient service to all the larger
towns, but local services between the villages are patchy, sometimes
non-existent. There are mainline train services from London's Paddington
station to Oxford, Henley-on-Thames and Reading, and from London's St
Pancras to St Albans and Bedford. These main routes are supplemented by
a number of branch lines, the most useful of which links
Henley-on-Thames with Cookham.
Surrey, Kent and Sussex
The southeast corner of England was traditionally where
London went on holiday. In the past, trainloads of Eastenders were
shuttled to the hop fields and orchards of Kent for a working break from
the city; boats ferried people down the Thames to the beach at Margate;
and everyone from royalty to cuckolding couples enjoyed the seaside at
Brighton, a blot of decadence in the otherwise sedate county of Sussex .
Of the three, Surrey is the least pastoral and historically significant
- the home of wealthy metropolitan professionals prepared to commute
from what has become known as the "stockbroker belt".
The late twentieth century brought big changes to the southeast region.
In purely administrative terms the three counties have become four,
since local government reorganization split Sussex into East and West.
More significantly, many of the coastal towns have faced an uphill
struggle to keep their tourist custom in the face of evermore accessible
foreign destinations. To make matters worse, Brighton , long known as "London
beside the sea", now matches the capital with one of the highest
proportions of homeless people in the country.
The proximity of Kent and Sussex to the continent has dictated the
history of this region, which has served as a gateway for an array of
invaders, both rapacious and benign. Roman remains dot the landscape -
the most spectacular are at Bignor , near Arundel - and many roads,
including the London-to-Dover A2, follow the straight lines laid by the
legionaries. When post-Roman Christianity spread through Europe, it
arrived in Britain on the Isle of Thanet - the northeast tip of Kent,
although older orders already existed among the Celts in the north and
west of the country. In 597 AD Augustine moved inland and established a
monastery at Canterbury , still the home of the Church of England and
the county's prime historic attraction. (Surprisingly, Sussex was among
the last counties to accept the Cross - due more to the region's then
impenetrable forest than to its innate ungodliness.)
The last successful invasion of England took place in 1066, when the
Normans overran King Harold's army near Hastings , on a site now marked
by Battle Abbey . The Normans left their mark all over this corner of
England and Kent remains unmatched in its profusion of medieval castles,
among them Dover 's sprawling cliff-top fortress guarding against
continental invasion and Rochester 's huge, box-like citadel, close to
the old dockyards of Chatham , power base of the formerly invincible
British Navy.
Away from the great historic sites, you can spend unhurried days in
elegant old towns such as Rye, Royal Tunbridge Wells and Lewes , or
enjoy the less elevated charms of the traditional resorts, of which
Brighton is far and away the best, combining the buzz of a university
town with a good time atmosphere and an excellent range of eating
options. Dramatic scenery may be in short supply, but in places the
South Downs Way offers an expanse of rolling chalk uplands that, as much
as anywhere in the crowded southeast, gets you away from it all. And of
course Surrey, Kent and Sussex harbour some of the country's finest
gardens , ranging from the lush flowerbeds of Sissinghurst to the great
landscaped estates of Petworth and Sheffield Park .
West Midlands and the Peak District
WEST MIDLANDS AND THE PEAK DISTRICT
READ IT HERE
The factories of the West Midlands were the powerhouses of the
Industrial Revolution and Birmingham , Britain's second city, was once
the world's greatest industrial metropolis. Long saddled with a
reputation as a culture-hating, car-loving backwater, Birmingham has
redefined its image in recent years, initiating some ambitious
architectural and environmental schemes, jazzing up its museums and
industrial heritage sites and giving itself a higher profile on the
nation's cultural map than it's ever had before. It's not an especially
good-looking city, it must be admitted, but it does hold several
excellent attractions and it's certainly lively, with nightlife
encompassing everything from Royal Ballet productions to all-night raves,
and a great spread of restaurants and pubs in between.
The counties to the south and west of Birmingham - Warwickshire,
Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire - comprise a rural
stronghold that maintains an emotional and political distance from the
conurbation. The left-wing politics of the big city seem remote indeed
when you're in Shrewsbury, but in fact it's only seventy miles from the
big city. For the most part, the four counties constitute a quiet,
unassuming stretch of pastoral England whose beauty is rarely dramatic,
but whose charms become more evident the longer you stay. Of the four
counties, Warwickshire is the least obviously scenic, but draws by far
the largest number of visitors, for - as the road-signs declare at every
entry point - this is "Shakespeare Country". The prime target is, of
course, Stratford-upon-Avon , with its handful of Shakespeare-related
sites and world-class theatre, but spare time also for the diverting
town of Warwick , which has a superb church and a whopping castle.
Neighbouring Worcestershire , which stretches southwest from the urban
fringes of the West Midlands, holds two principal places of interest,
Worcester , which is graced by a mighty cathedral, and Great Malvern , a
mannered inland resort spread along the rolling contours of the Malvern
Hills - prime walking territory. From here, it's west again for
Herefordshire , a large and sparsely populated county that's home to
several charming market towns, most notably picture-postcard Ledbury and
Hay-on-Wye ; the latter has the largest concentration of second-hand
bookshops in the world. There's also Hereford , where the remarkable
medieval Mappa Mundi map is displayed, and pocket-sized Ross-on-Wye ,
which is within easy striking distance of an especially scenic stretch
of the Wye River Valley . Next door, to the north, rural Shropshire
weighs in with Ludlow , one of the region's prettiest towns, awash with
antique half-timbered buildings, and the amiable county town of
Shrewsbury , which is also close to the hiking trails of the Long Mynd .
Shropshire has a fascinating industrial history, too, for it was here in
the Ironbridge Gorge that British industrialists built the world's first
iron bridge and pioneered the use of coal as a smelting fuel. These were
two key events in the Industrial Revolution and, appropriately, the
Gorge's industrial heyday is recalled by a phalanx of first-rate museums.
To the east of Shropshire, sprawling north of the Birmingham
conurbation, is Staffordshire , where Lichfield makes a good hand of its
links with Samuel Johnson , while Stoke-on-Trent remembers the good
times, when its potteries dominated the world market, in an excellent
museum and several heritage sites - and factory shops. Beyond lies
Derbyshire , whose northern reaches incorporate the region's finest
scenery in the rough landscapes of the Peak District National Park . The
latter offers great opportunities for moderately strenuous walks, as
well as the diversions of the former spa town of Buxton , the limestone
caverns of Castleton and the so-called "Plague Village" of Eyam . In
addition, there's the grandiose stately pile of Chatsworth House and
Haddon Hall , an exceptionally fascinating old manor house.
Birmingham, the region's public transport hub, is easily accessible by
train from London Euston, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, York and a score
of other towns. It is also well served by the National Express bus
network, with dozens of buses leaving every hour for destinations all
over Britain. Local bus services are excellent around the West Midlands
conurbation and very good in the Peak District, but fade away badly in
amongst the villages of Herefordshire and Shropshire.
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