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Popular Off the Beaten Path | Other Off the Beaten Path Tips | All Tips (560) All over the UK are these amazingly beautiful but very modest churches. Every village has at least one.
Not only are they interesting architecturally, being old stone buildings - but they are wrapped in mystery and the history of Britain, as the country see-sawed between catholic and protestant faiths.
Some even have incredible carved gargoyles depicting Pagan imagery - quite incongruous to modern christian worshippers but fascinating ... recording the shift from a pagan to a christian religion in the 5th and 6th centuries AD.
It is amazingly enriching to find and walk amongst these old churches ... often the doors are open ... pay your respects and get a feel for the country.
The grounds are also rich in stories of life and death ... these were the very centres of community life.
This church has a Yew Tree in its churchyard, like so many, but this one is the oldest living thing in Europe!!! Leave a Comment
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well worth a visit. the royal Observatory on top of the hill, registred as World Heritage, Maritime Greenwich situated on the River Thames and the historic landmark of the Cutty Sark the last surviving tea clipper.
it is the home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Meridian Line, Longitude 0" Leave a Comment
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Britain Is An Island, Remember!
Such a beautiful coastline too. So diverse and ever changing but often unspoilt and retaining charm lost inland.
From little fishing ports, smugglers coves and estuaries of silt, to the white cliffs of Dover, via sandy beaches, rocky headlands and lighthouses. This is Britain.
Imagine being a Roman, a Viking, or a Bronze-Age Trader ... this is how you first saw the island of Britain! From the sea!
The British Empire (sorry) was founded upon a military navy ... Britain is patriotic beyond belief about "ruling the waves" ... and from Victorian times to the present day, the British love to visit the sea side.
It may now be tacky novelties and candy floss, bingo arcades and concrete flood walls but even the "seaside resorts" hold a charm.
To get to know Britain / United Kingdom, you have to explore the coastline and understand how this "living on an island" effects are psychy, today. Leave a Comment
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Now that arrival in the UK is easy by plane, that sense of visiting an island is largely lost.
There is the Chunnel too, sneaking you into the country without a hint of water (Channel Tunnel from France). Even the ferries are floating casinos, distracting you from the coastline.
So, in search of the "island life" we head to smaller islands around the UK ... Orkney Islands (70 of them), Isle of Skye, Isle of Wight, Man, Mull ... the list goes on.
Here life is a little slower, friendlier, more "traditional". Here we feel "at home" - both relaxed and enchanted.
So, to discover far more about life in Britain and Ireland, the celtic, viking and fishing past ... visit the little islands of the British Isles. This picture is taken on Skye, but is typical and could be many other places too.
Step off the beaten path and you are rewarded by a feeling inside far stronger far more durable than any picture memory. This is life! Leave a Comment
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North of London you get to the Fenlands ... from Cambridge up to Kings Lynn and Lincoln / Boston.
This is flat land ... farm land ... drained and often below sea level.
The countryside is characterised by dark, rich soils (sadly not as dark as in my youth), drainage dtches (dykes) and fields of crops, vegetables and flowers.
Old "windmills" litter the landscape - these were wind pumps to drain the land and keep sea water at bay, as well as grain mills to process the rich wheat grown.
The land is also planted with sugar beat, leading to some nasty smells from Sugar processing factories, and potoatoes. Flowers and market gardens also are popular ... good area to buy fresh produce.
As well as Cambridge, check out Ely*(Cathedral) and Thetford (home of flint knapping and Queen Boudica). Lots of interesting places to see in Norfolk and Suffolk, like Grimes Graves* (neoloithic flint mines) and West Stow (Anglo Saxon village).
The landscape has a strong resemblance to the American mid west, and this is enhanced by a strong US presence (largely due to the airfields - since the second world war) and the fairly isolated / rural lifestyle of folk here.
Further East you have Norwich and the Norfolk Broads (beautiful) and the coastline around Hunstanton is sandy and unspoilt (the Queen has Sandringham Palace here).
All in all, a forgotten area of England well worth getting to know.
Grimes Graves are over 4000 years old, pre-dating metal. Neolithic people mined the valuable flint from cramped underground tunnels using antler picks. Excavated flints were knapped to produce highly important cutting tools, before metal was introduced. Open to the public. NW of Thetford on the A134 to Downham Market. See weblink.
Ely Means Eel Island - showing how the area was once wild fen marshland - hard to capture by invading tribes. Eels would have been part of the local diet. Ely Cathedral is impressive -one of the Middle Ages greatest engineering feats. Leave a Comment
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The United Kingdom was the last destination on my six-week, 16-country tour of Europe I took in 1982. Because it is an English-speaking country, we were free to wander around London on our own, rather than take the guided tours that were mandatory in other places.
My brother Jeff and I were walking around London, visiting the sights, and one of the sights we were anxious to see was Saint Paul's Cathedral. When we arrived, there was a small group of people starting to assemble around the perimeter of the cathedral. We were informed that the Queen was going to attend a function at the cathedral in about an hour's time, so we decided to wait for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the Queen. Since we arrived early enough, we were able to get an excellent spot right on side of the street. Finally, after about an hour, the Queen arrived, her car passing just a few feet from where we stood on the curb.
By enlarging the picture, Queen Elizabeth II can just be seen behind the man in the back seat. Leave a Comment
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Beamish is an open air museum which was opened in 1970. It shows the history of the people of the North East of England between 1825 –1913. This was an important time for the area. In 1825 the area was rural and thinly populated but the industrial revolution and very importantly the coming of the railway changed that dramaticaly and by 1913 the area had its industrial peak. It is not a tradition museum, many of the houses and other buildings have been moved to the site from other places in the area and replaced in the museum. All the houses, shops and other buildings are filled with machinery and objects of the time. The guides are in period costume. It was wonderful to go into the old store and see how the “supermarket” of that time was. The Beamish museum covers 300 acres of lovely countryside with the buildings spread around it.
The North of England Open Air Museum
Beamish,
County Durham, DH9 0RG Leave a Comment
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The little town of Cockermouth in the Lake District is a lovely little market town dating from the 12th century. It was here in a lovely Georgian townhouse on the main street of the town that the poet William Wordsworth was born on the 7th of April 1770. The house had been built in 1745 and it originally belonged to the sheriff of Cumberland - Joshua Lucock. A few years later it was owned by Sir Janmes Lowther who was a politican and landowner. He let the house to John Wordsworth who was his estate and law agent. John Wordsworth moved into thehouse with his 17 year old bride Ann. john was a lwayer and so one of the most important men in the town. In the 8 years after her marriage Ann Wordsworth gave birth to 5 children - William was her second child and the family's only daighter Dorothy was born on CHristmas day in 1771. Ann died in 1778 aged only 30. William was sent to Hawkeshead school with his elder brother and Dorothy was sent to relatives in Halifax. In 1783 the father John died of a fever and the children left the house forever and were cast on the mercy of family.
The house went to the National Trust in 1938, saved from demolition by local people who raised the money to save it. The house is now furnished in an 18th century style with a number of the poet's personal effects on show.
location: West end of Main Street Cockermouth
open April to October weekdays from 10.30 to 16.30
(open Bank Holidays and all saturdays and sundays in June, July and August) Leave a Comment Phone: 01900 824820
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This is a beautiful little city with a long history. It dates back to the 8th century, it was a retreat for John (later Bishop of York) - he was canonized for his powers of healing. It is a beautifull town with lovely little Medieval and Goergian houses and a marvellous minster which was founded in 937 by Athelstan ,King of Wessex. It is on the place where the church that John of Beverley had chosen to be his final resting place in 721. It really is beautiful and it can see from far away. Leave a Comment
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This lovely little town, which is mentioned in the Doomesday Book, is situated high above the river Nidd. The ruined castle, of John of gaunt, is in a lovely garden setting. the walk through the town down to the river is through lovely little streets lined with 18th century houses. Going down is not bad but the climb up is steep BUT well worth the effort. Leave a Comment
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