Índice para December/January 2022 em Discover Britain

CASTLE COMBE Wiltshire The Cotswolds is an area of England not left wanting in terms of picture postcard villages, yet Castle Combe lays claim to being the fairest of them all. The ubiquitous honey-coloured stone is on display in mismatched cottages of every description, yet it is the sheer care that goes into their upkeep that makes this a particular stand out. Immaculately tended hanging baskets adorn every street, while ivy and other climbing plants gives the place a pleasingly lived-in quality and echoes the leafy nature of the surrounding Wiltshire countryside. And if the bridge over By Brook isn’t the most quintessentially English view, you can have your money back. The medieval Market Cross marks the centre of village life, with the elegant Castle Inn and the lively White…

Asked to bring a Welsh castle to mind, most people would imagine something like Caernarfon, Conwy or Harlech – brutish Middle Age archetypes of mighty, grey fortresses that glower out to sea, seemingly ever-ready for battle. What they would not imagine is a mellow red gritstone palace of almost breathtaking beauty, rising elegantly out of delicate Italianate terraces and baroque topiary gardens which would not look out of place in a fairy tale. Yet this is the scene that awaits at Powis Castle. Found deep inland on the mid-Wales Marches, near Welshpool, just a stone’s throw from the border with England, Powis’ romantic charm masks a history that is no less fraught with struggles for power than Caernarfon, Conwy or Harlech. The latter form part of the famous Iron Ring…

When a chance meeting brought together Romantic poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth for the first time in 1795, the pair struck up a poetic and personal relationship that would forever change the discipline of poetry. And the timeless beauty of the southwest of England played no small part in their achievements. Twenty-two years after that meeting, Coleridge rented a charming cottage in Nether Stowey, near Bridgwater in Somerset, and lived there with his young wife Sara and baby son, Hartley. The move was driven by the poet’s desire for a simple life of walking, writing and gardening – and he found it. During his three years in Somerset, he would ramble for miles each day across the Quantock Hills and Exmoor – the summits of which offer spectacular…

Mine of information The author of Cornwall’s Tin Coast [Issue 223] must be from a different planet as he does not know of the excellent 1975 Poldark series. The actors were superb. Demelza really did appear to be a raggedy young boy in the first series and Ross was no pretty boy, but someone worn out by the war. The two actors who played those parts in the second series were just tolerable. Cornish friends agree with this assessment – our first love will always be the 1975 series. Cornwall was the real star in both series. Eileen Fiell, Invermere, BC, Canada The author was aware of the 1975 series, just unsure whether anyone remembered it as fondly as you did, Eileen! At least we can agree that Cornwall stole…

Eight Windsor Grey horses gracefully pulling the gilded four-ton State Coach; a sorrowful bugle call of The Last Post soaring through London’s silent streets; a riot of military drums conjuring up the patriotic spirit of a nation at war: time your visit to Britain with one of many royal ceremonies and these unique sights and sounds will bring our nation’s rich military, religious and political history to life. The year’s first major royal ceremony is Royal Maundy. This religious service takes place on Maundy Thursday, a name that derives from the Latin word for command – mandatum – and refers to the instruction to “love one another” that Christ gave his disciples after washing their feet at the Last Supper. By the 5th century AD, church leaders were honouring this…

Why Hastings? Situated on England’s south coast, Hastings is where the lush beauty of the High Weald tumbles down into the English Channel. For many, however, there is only one reason to visit: history. As the heart of 1066 Country and later one of the Confederation of Cinque Ports, it has been at the forefront of English history for almost 1,000 years. Nevertheless, Hastings is by no means a perfect place and even the town’s own tourism website describes it as “an oyster that comes with its own grit”. In places, the harsh realities of living in a modern seaside town rub up against the trapped-in-amber period aesthetics of the Old Town and the council’s occasionally awkward attempts at gentrification or cultural events aimed at luring DfLs (“Down from London”-ers,…

“Our delicious brioche-style buns are still made using Sally Lunn’s 17th-century secret recipe” Simon Lloyd-Williams General Manager, Sally Lunn’s Historic Eating House There is something magical about working in Sally Lunn’s. It is Bath’s oldest house, a museum, and one of the world’s most famous eating houses. My favourite part of the job is working on the restaurant floor and sharing Sally’s story – and buns – with each guest. Sally Lunn was a Huguenot refugee, who overcame great adversity to reach Bath in 1680. She found work at a bakery in Lilliput Alley and over time developed her signature bake. Our delicious brioche-style buns are still made using her secret recipe. The medieval wall inside our little museum often surprises visitors. Excavations in 1985 also revealed some finds dating…

Exactly 200 years ago, a group of 43 Scottish merchants came together to form the Glasgow Institution for Promoting and Encouraging the Fine Arts in the West of Scotland. What the venture lacked in terms of a snappy title, it more than made up for in ambition. The group, which included the politician John Buchanan and the head of the council (or “Lord Provost”) John Thomas Alston, knew that Glasgow could only compete with Edinburgh, and other world cities, if they had a cultural offering to match. The institution would only muster two exhibitions – a grand debut featuring more than 250 artworks in August 1821 and a smaller offering in May of the following year – but many of the artists that came together would be involved in the…

Good news was hard to come by during the Second World War, which makes ploughman Gordon Butcher’s 1942 discovery in a Suffolk field all the more remarkable. While working the winter soil of fields belonging to Sydney Ford, Butcher first caught a glimpse of one of the most unexpected hoards of Roman silverware to be found in Britain. Experts were unconvinced that the Mildenhall Treasure would have appeared in a Suffolk field in the manner that it did The pair were apparently impressed but not overawed by their find, which eventually numbered 34 components: plates, bowls, platters, and a number of spoons, some with unusual dolphin-shaped handles. Ford was an agricultural engineer by trade and enjoyed collecting unusual antiques, so he simply carried the pieces back to his farmhouse in…