editor's letter

The current crisis has made armchair travellers of us all. Now is the time to draw on uplifting memories of holidays past, and to dream of future trips. In this issue we explore some old favourites, such as Cornwall, whose quaint villages and timeless landscapes are always balm for the soul (A Roseland romance, p14). England’s cathedrals have withstood world wars, plagues and any number of tumultuous events with stony stoicism; we celebrate their enduring beauty in a dedicated feature (To be a pilgrim, p24). And with Britain’s stately homes forced to close their doors for the duration of the pandemic, we’ve taken solace in exploring their literary counterparts (Fact or fiction, p56), and managed a pre-lockdown peek at Dumfries House (A princely plan, p40), which was saved for the nation by…

your letters

A VIRTUAL VISIT Ever since I fell in love with your country as an Erasmus student in 1992 I travel to the UK several times a year. However, due to Corona, my Easter plans had to be cancelled. I am afraid my summer plans will not go through either: East Sussex with the children and my parents. With a dear friend I had also planned a two-day garden visit… Even our London-Oxford school trip in May with 90 students had to be cancelled! Going to the UK is like oxygen for me. Your July number [Vol 88 Issue 3] was therefore a real treat. I really enjoyed 1066 Country, A Tale of One City (London), Churchill at Home (I do love Chartwell!), Alice in Wonderland (Oxford), Harrogate (visited with my husband a couple…

heavenly broadstairs

I stumbled upon your magazine this past summer in a little variety store near my home. How delighted I was when browsing through it to come across the article on Broadstairs, Kent [Vol 87 Issue 4]. Going to England has been a lifelong dream of mine and I was finally able to fulfil that dream in May 2019. My aunt lives in Broadstairs and so we spent a few days there visiting her and the surrounding area. We stayed in a beautiful little B&B overlooking the sea. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking! Never had I experienced such a feeling of the waves, the smell of the sea air and the glorious beauty of the scenery. We managed to take in a little art gallery and I was lucky to find the most perfect…

the bulletin

THEATRE Domestic dramas From James Corden's winning turn in One Man, Two Guv'nors to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, National Theatre Live have been scouring their illustrious archive and handpicking productions for you to stream online for free. Every Thursday night at 7pm BST your new theatre fix awaits you on their YouTube channel; you can watch it anytime over the following seven days. You can also put your knowledge to the test with two National Theatre at Home quizzes, with questions posed by famous thespians, also accessed via YouTube. www.youtube.com/user/ntdiscovertheatre CULTURE Virtual museums With heavy hearts, the country’s museums have closed their doors. But they’re still welcoming us inside to explore their collections and exhibitions. You can find the British Museum on the Google Arts and Culture app, which allows you…

reading corner

The Crown in Crisis: Countdown to the Abdication by Alexander Larman (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £20). The crisis caused by Edward VIII’s marriage to Wallis Simpson in 1936. One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time by Craig Brown (Fourth Estate, £20). A hilarious new biography of the Fab Four, whose music touched so many, including Queen Elizabeth II. Codebreaking Sisters: Our Secret War by Patricia and Jean Owtram (Mirror Books, £8.99). A courageous story told by the only living sisters to have signed the Official Secrets Act. Circles and Squares: The Lives and Art of the Hampstead Modernists by Caroline Maclean (Bloomsbury Publishing, £30). How a small London suburb launched an entire art movement. Warrior: A Life of War in Anglo-Saxon Britain by Edoardo Albert & Paul Gething (Granta Books, £9.99). An exploration of…

a roseland romance

In 1926, while on a tour of the country that he would later describe in his classic travelogue In Search of England, the writer HV Morton visited a small Cornish village, St Anthony-in-Roseland. “I took the map,” he wrote, “and one name curled itself around my heart. I do not think that in the whole length and breadth of England there is a more beautiful name… St Anthony-in-Roseland.” Morton rented a pink thatched cottage and explored the ragged contours of the Roseland Peninsula, enthusing over every village and cove. Almost a century on, the Roseland is still a magical place that rewards visitors with a sense of discovery. Bordered by the Fal estuary to the west and the Atlantic to the east, this secluded enclave offers an enchanting mix of rocky…