Inhoudsopgave van January/February 2026 - Britain

Our beautiful cover this issue is unashamedly nostalgic, marking 100 years since Britain’s iconic red phone boxes first brightened our streets. Much more than reminders of a bygone age, these beloved kiosks stand as symbols of British ingenuity – now reinvented as miniature libraries, tiny cafés, art installations and more (p53). A red phone box on a village green is a quintessentially English sight, evocative of the world of Agatha Christie and her mild-mannered sleuth Miss Marple. On p24, we trace the settings of classic crime fiction, from Christie’s Devon to the scholarly streets of Inspector Morse’s Oxford. Our travel features this issue explore more landscapes rich with character, from Somerset (p14) – home to mystical Glastonbury Tor, steeped in Arthurian legend – to the Cairngorms (p66), where a night’s…

Goldsborough Hall, once home to Princess Mary, King Charles’ great-aunt, is one of the most private, exclusive and beautiful places to stay in Yorkshire, overlooking 12 acres of historic gardens and tranquil parkland, and with fine dining in a three AA-rosette restaurant. Enter our new competition to win a luxurious stay for two at this very special stately home, to enjoy two nights in a sumptuous Emperor Suite, a full Yorkshire breakfast each morning and a gourmet three-course dinner on one evening. This Grade II-listed 17th-century mansion was home to Princess Mary throughout the 1920s and has been lovingly restored to its former glory by the current owners to befit the elegance, indulgence and sheer opulence of a royal residence. The 17 en-suite guest bedrooms and suites span the upper…

An eye on the Eye With its curved Edwardian facade rising above the South Bank, the London Marriott Hotel County Hall is a landmark in its own right – and now boasts a host of newly designed rooms that perfectly frame some of London’s most iconic landmarks, from the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben to the London Eye. The showpiece, the Big Ben Balcony Suite, is a generous series of rooms that includes an elegant lounge, dining area and not one but two balconies overlooking London’s most recognisable clock tower. From this elevated perch, guests can take in sweeping vistas of the Thames, its bridges and the slow glide of riverboats below. Inside, the decor playfully riffs on classic British style, with a vintage London map reimagined as wallpaper,…

Some are born into greatness – or rather, a country house in the Peak District – and others have a house in the Peak District thrust upon them. In 1989, Sir Richard FitzHerbert, 9th Baronet faced the latter when he inherited Tissington Hall, near Ashbourne, from his uncle Sir John FitzHerbert, aged just 25. “I had only met him six times in my life, mainly at funerals,” he remembers. “I knew nothing about the land – I was working as a wine merchant.” He spent a year commuting from London to Derbyshire, after which “I realised that the rest of my life would be in Tissington, running the house and the estate. One thing has led to another and here I still am, 37 years later.” The FitzHerbert family have…

STAR LETTER HOORAY FOR THE HATTERS I enjoyed your article about the hat shop [Vol 93 Issue 5]. English eccentricity at its best! I am partial to wearing a Panama hat myself. Perhaps when my current one is past its best I will purchase it from ‘T. Snook Hatters’. Thanks BRITAIN, for including personal stories that I don’t read anywhere else.  David Shaw, by email Our star letter wins a mulberry and rosemary candle from Wild England, a deliciously scented, sustainable range of stylish toiletries and fragrances from Dorset, whose organic scents are inspired by the wild beauty of the countryside and coast (£42, wildengland.uk). REMEMBER, REMEMBER Our article on Bonfire Night (Vol 93 Issue 6) sparked childhood memories for many readers. Here are some of your Facebook comments: @Bertram Sitford…

The fact that Somerset is known as ‘the land of the summer people’ isn’t because of the thousands of music lovers who make a regular pilgrimage to this large rural county for the Glastonbury Festival. It’s because of the Levels. Before this flood-prone, low-lying corner of southwest England was drained – first by Roman engineers and now by mechanical pumps – its marshy, tidal land would disappear beneath an inland sea in winter, forcing people out to higher ground until summer rolled around and they could return to live and farm there again. Today, the Levels flow out in an otherworldly mosaic of woodland, orchards, rivers and rhynes (man-made ditches) between Glastonbury, Wells, Bridgwater and the Bristol Channel. Coursing through villages with evocative, watery names like Huntspill, Bawdrip and Black…

The love story of Alf Edwards and Caroline Palmer is not the product of a scriptwriter’s imagination but a real-life ‘below stairs’ romance To fans of Downton Abbey, it’s a story that might sound familiar. Just before the First World War, a new valet arrives to serve the owner of a stately pile in Yorkshire. There, he falls in love with a conscientious kitchen maid, in service since her teens. After overcoming an obstacle or two, they marry, move into a cottage on the estate, and their kindly employer stands sponsor to their first-born son. But what makes the story of Alf Edwards and Caroline Palmer so special is that it’s not the product of a scriptwriter’s imagination, but a real-life ‘below stairs’ romance. And even better, one that can…

Hancy a taste of the paranormal with your pint? There is nowhere better to search for a good ghost story than in the comfort of an ancient British pub. Cue phantom hands squeezing your shoulders; strange knockings behind the bar; exploding beer glasses; headless horsemen rushing past outside. The older and creakier the pub, the better. Take the Spaniards Inn, in Hampstead, London, as famous for its ghosts as for its literary heritage. Mentioned in both Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Charles Dickens’ Pickwick Papers, here you’ll get the full coach and horses of swashbuckling spooks. The inn may be so named because the Spanish Ambassador to the Court of King James I of England used it as his country residence. In the lawless 18th century, the clientele was less illustrious;…

Every year on Shrove Tuesday in the small Buckinghamshire town of Olney (pronounced ‘ow-nee’), the humble pancake becomes king. From the Lord Lieutenant of the county to thousands of cheerful townsfolk – and even a pair of kilted pipers – the community gathers to witness a quirky local event: the town’s annual Pancake Day race. As with many time-honoured customs, the origins of this eccentric ritual are not traceable, and the locals choose to celebrate a version that dates back to 1445. Picture the scene: a flustered housewife uses up her stock of eggs, flour, milk and butter to make a pancake mixture on the last day before Lent. Suddenly, she hears the church bell toll, summoning the faithful to the Shriving Service, which grants forgiveness in readiness for Lent.…

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of ‘Queen of Crime’ Agatha Christie – from natural causes rather than any ‘murder most foul’ that her iconic fictional sleuths Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple might have been called upon to investigate. Remembered in particular for her 66 detective novels, 14 short story collections and the world’s longest-running play, The Mousetrap, Christie remains even now the best-selling novelist of all time with more than two billion copies of her books on bookshelves across the world. How did the author so ensnare us? Intriguing plots that thicken in deceptively genteel settings of country houses, English villages or exotic destinations provide clues. But it’s her two eccentric protagonists, recreated countless times on stage and screen, that really lure us in. Retired Belgian…

The word ‘Cairngorms’ is synonymous with mountains – unsurprising given that five of the UK’s six highest mountains are found here – but a journey around this 1,748 square mile national park (Britain’s largest) soon reveals the varied landscapes within it. Wide, whisky-coloured rivers and fertile valleys; dark-green swathes of fragrant pine forests; heather-clad hills grazed by sheep; scraggy peatland moors; and pretty villages full of independent shops and cosy places to eat. And above all of this, a vast sky that – on a clear night, at least – glitters with more stars than you can even try to count. “Scotland, along with Sweden and Norway, has the most dark sky areas in Western Europe,” Nicole Gildea tells me. Nicole and her husband Iain run stargazing evenings from their…