An old market town of cobblestone streets and cultured Georgian townhouses, Ashbourne is just a mile shy of the south boundary of the Peak District National Park. You couldn’t be in a better position to see the best of the southern White Peak, a green landscape with imposing limestone formations. Dovedale and its grass-topped ravine …
An ancient town and port on the River Taw, Barnstaple received its charter from the Anglo-Saxon King Æthelstan in 930. The pedestrian streets and alleys of the town centre are brimming with old landmarks like almshouses, a Norman castle mound and a quayside merchant’s hall, all on the Barnstaple Heritage Trail. Barnstaple is a few …
A port town on the North Sea with 1,400 years of history, Hartlepool was born around a 7th-century monastery. By the 19th and early 20th century Hartlepool had become crucial for its shipbuilding industry and because of this the town was a victim of a rare bombardment by the Imperial German Navy in 1914. Following …
Stranded among the drained marshes and peat bogs of the Somerset Levels, Glastonbury is a town on dry ground below the mysterious Glastonbury Tor hill. For a millennium Glastonbury was the scene of an abbey of serious power, still impressive nearly 500 years after it was suppressed and left in ruins. The abbey has spellbinding …
The county town of Buckinghamshire is on the edge of the Chiltern Hills in the Aylesbury Vale’s verdant farmland. Aylesbury has some strong regional attractions like the County Museum, along with a state-of-the-art theatre that opened in 2010. The children’s author Roald Dahl was a Buckinghamshire resident and is remembered with a wonderful hands-on children’s …
The United Kingdom has long excelled in dramatic and colorful history. To this day, the many castles and manors scattered across the country are windows into the past. Scotland, in particular, is an outstanding example, where mostly medieval castles can be seen in their full glory, often surrounded by the untamed and rugged Scottish landscape. …
The Welsh capital city of Cardiff has a lot to offer tourists who are willing to look further some of the more popular attractions in the UK. A gateway to the South Wales countryside, the city is surrounded by natural beauty. It also features its own vibrant nightlife thanks to regeneration efforts, and a modern …
York is one of England’s most historic and iconic cities to visit. This charming, walled city can trace its history far back to the days of the Vikings and to the Romans before that, and the cobbled streets are awash with ramshackle rows of houses and elegant buildings that are perfect for a day’s walking. …
A little way in from Windermere’s northernmost bay, Ambleside is a tourist haven in the heart of the Lake District. England’s largest lake is effortlessly close, for cruises and water activities, while on land you can hike in scenery that sparked the imaginations of people like William Wordsworth. The poet’s home at Rydal Mount has …
In the southeast of Greater Manchester, Stockport is a historic market town that was swept up in the region’s textile industry in the 18th and 19th centuries. In this time Stockport became the capital of the UK’s flourishing fur felt hat industry, which was pumping out millions of hats for export each year. A former …