A market town and tourist getaway, Kendal lies in the Kent Valley under the eastern fells of the Lake District. The town’s cottages, mansions and old traces of industry are built from rusticated limestone with a solemn grey tone, earning Kendal the nickname Auld Grey Town. In the Lake District, walking trips have to be …
Steeped in history, the city of Lancaster has royal ties stretching back to the House of Lancaster in Medieval times. Under the title of Duke of Lancaster, Queen Elizabeth II still has large holdings in this picturesque patch of Northwest England. Lancaster has a sophisticated character that comes partly from the local pale sandstone used …
At the eastern flank of the Peak District National Park, Matlock is a town famed for its Victorian spa and the spinning industry launched by Sir Richard Arkwright in the 18th century. The Derwent Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and within minutes you’ll be at the Cromford Mills, where Arkwright invented the modern …
This New Town in Shropshire has lots to keep you inspired, especially if you’re fascinated by England’s industrial past. Telford is a jumping off point for the World Heritage Ironbridge Gorge, where Quaker entrepreneurs kick-started the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. On the vertiginous banks of the River Severn are old mines, blast furnaces …
The county town of Essex sits at the confluence of the Rivers Can and Chelmer. Being 30 miles from the centre of London, Chelmsford has a population of commuters working in London’s City and Docklands, but has also been a big regional employer since Guglielmo Marconi established his Wireless Telegraph Company here. For heritage, Hylands …
A historic market town, Ludlow is crowned by a Medieval castle once home to Tudor monarchs. The town is on high ground on the east bank of the River Teme, and along with its castle has one of the loveliest parish churches in England. In Medieval times Ludlow was on the Welsh Marches, and much …
Not far north of Leicester, Loughborough is a university town in the Charnwood Forest. Loughborough University has ballooned in the last few decades, to the point where one in four residents in Loughborough is a student. The town has an international reputation for its bells. The John Taylor & Co Bell Foundry is the last …
In the 19th century the fishing village of Cleethorpes on the Humber Estuary was transformed into a bathing resort for holidaymakers coming by train from Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Lots of the things that attracted Victorian tourists to Cleethorpes remain today, like the big beach, pier, boating lake, promenade and string of well-kept seafront gardens. On …
Up to the 1980s coalmining was the backbone of this city in West Yorkshire. The landscape had been mined since the 15th century, around the time Wakefield witnessed a decisive battle during the Wars of the Roses. The open cast collieries that used to scar the countryside have been flooded and turned into nature reserves …
Comfortably inside the London’s M25, Watford is a market town that developed during the Industrial Revolution and was absorbed by the capital in the 20th century. The town is on the banks of the River Colne and is as green as it gets, with sweeping parks like Cassiobury, once the site of a Tudor palace. …