Britain July August 2022

BRITAIN
FIND YOUR
6
THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE
Big WIN
HISTORY HERITAGE TRAVEL CULTURE
revealed
a luxury stay
in the Scottish
Highlands
Back with a bong after its KING

ARTHUR
magnificent restoration Searching for
Camelot on
the magical
COURT
COURTSHIP & Cornish coast
Becoming Anne Boleyn
HOME
GROWN
+
Meet the Queen’s
2,000 years of
British gardens Swan Marker
Step back in time
in St Albans
England’s prettiest
seaside resorts
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EDITOR'S LETTER
Bong! Time’s up on the
5-year restoration of Big
Ben. is issue we delve
into the fascinating
history of this great
British landmark, and speak to the team
that worked on the once-in-a-lifetime
project (e Time Machine, p23).
We time-travel back to the glory days
of another landmark, Hampton Court
Palace, once home to Henry VIII, which
stands on a scenic stretch of the ames
(Down by the River, p14). And Henry
also makes an appearance in our history
piece, Becoming Anne Boleyn (p31): the
pair first met at court 500 years ago.
Elsewhere in the issue, we follow the
King Arthur trail through the romantic
14
landscapes of North Cornwall (Searching
for Camelot, p66). From mystical Tintagel
to the wilds of Bodmin Moor, tales of
the legendary king linger – but are they Richmond’s bustling riverside
31
CONTENTS
truth or fairytale?
 e ceremony of Swan Upping might
also seem like the stuff of fairytales, but
this centuries-old tradition is still going
strong. We join the Queen’s official Swan VOLUME 90 ISSUE 4
Marker as he dons his swan’s-feather hat,
ready to cast off (A day with David
Barber, p80). Enjoy the issue!
FEATURES
Natasha Foges 14 DOWN BY THE RIVER
Between Richmond and Hampton Court is a storied
Editor stretch of the River Thames, whose banks are lined
For the best articles straight to your inbox, with grand houses and royal parks
sign up to our free BRITAIN newsletter at
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23 THE TIME MACHINE
Big Ben has been under wraps for five years, its iconic
bell silenced. This year, restored to its former glory, the
D TL S E GA MI LWA/SIR RAH LUAP/S E GA M I S R E N ROC 4/ I N I L L E R OIZI R U A M © :SOTOHP
@BRITAINMAGAZINE world’s most famous clock shows its face again

FACEBOOK/BRITAINMAGAZINE 31 BECOMING ANNE BOLEYN
Five centuries after her first appearance at the court of
@BRITAIN_MAGAZINE her future husband, we chart Anne Boleyn’s glittering
rise and dramatic fall
BRITAIN
FIND YOUR
6
THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE
38 COAST ALONG
The England Coast Path wil be completed this year,
Big
HISTORY HERITAGE TRAVEL CULTURE
revealed
WIN
a luxury stay
in the Scottish giving access to some of Britain’s loveliest spots, from
soaring cliffs to quaint fishing vil ages
Highlands
Back with a bong after its
magnificent restoration
46
KING ARTHUR
Searching for Camelot on
55
DIGGING THROUGH HISTORY
the magical Cornish coast
COURT &
COURTSHIP
Becoming Anne Boleyn +
From medieval herb gardens to the futuristic Eden

Meet the Queen’s
Swan Marker
Step back in time
in St Albans Cover image: Big Ben’s new
England’s prettiest
spots by the sea look is revealed
© Chris Mouyiaris/AWL Project, how has the form and function of Britain’s
Images Ltd gardens evolved through the ages?
JULY 2022 USA&CAN $7.99
 
FEATURES THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE
55 LAND OF LEGENDS
Scotland’s magical landscapes are home to countless
BRITAIN is the official magazine of
VisitBritain, the national tourism agency.
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myths, passed down through generations of The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd,
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66 SEARCHING FOR CAMELOT Assistant Editor Henrietta Easton
46
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The timeless myths and legends of King Arthur and Group Sales Director Catherine Chapman
Head of Sales Operations Jodie Green
his brave knights endure in the magical landscapes of Advertising Manager Daisy Welch
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Visit No. 1 Royal Crescent
in Bath this Summer
Experience life as a Georgian as you step inside our

authentic house with its dressed interiors.
Our immersive experience reveals what it would have
been like for a family renting a house for the season,
and the lives of those that served them. Enjoy a special
Jane Austen tour on the last Friday of every month.
Come and see how the Bridgertons lived!
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YOUR LETTERS
Write to us with your thoughts on the magazine and memories of Britain
STAR LETTER ON THE BRONTË TRAIL IN THE LIMELIGHT

visited many of the places associated Your article about West End theatre [Vol 90
with them. Oakwell Hall, the Fieldhead Issue 2] brought back warm memories of a
of Charlotte’s novel Shirley, is a gem, a dear friend who passed away in 2016. He had
beautiful 16th-century manor house with worked as an actor and director in London,
a panelled hall, set in an attractive formal and for over twenty years he and his wife
garden. In the late 1920s there was a plan escorted groups of eager Vancouverites for ten
to dismantle the Hall and send the stones days of sightseeing and theatregoing in
to the USA where it would be erected. London. I participated in a dozen of these
However this scheme was thwarted. I love excursions, and have visited every one of the
the place, have visited it many times over theatres you highlighted, along with many
the years and know others, and nothing would please me more to
every nook and visit them again. London’s theatre scene is the
cranny. Sometime most remarkable and diverse in the English-
I will go again! speaking world.
I was delighted to see an article on the Thank you for the Barbara-Anne Eddy, Vancouver, Canada
Brontë family [Vol 90 Issue 2], a family to memories.
which I have some connections. My Great- Brian Arundel,
Great-Great-Grandmother Elizabeth Hirst Siegen, Germany
was a friend of Mrs Patrick Brontë, and I
like to think that perhaps the children of
both ladies played together whilst their
mothers talked. Passed down in the family Our star letter wins a copy of English Garden
is a remark made by an ancestress that the Eccentrics by Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, which
Brontë sisters were “queer lasses”. chronicles 300 years of extraordinary and
I am a Brontë enthusiast, and have quirky English gardens (£30). yalebooks.co.uk
TASTY TREATS CHEESE PLEASE

My sisters and I attended St. Peter’s School Just finished the excellent article on Leicester
for Girls in the 1950s. Our greatest delight [Vol 90 Issue 1]. It mentions that Stilton
was when our dear maid Violet would make cheese originated in Wymondham in
/ N O T H G I E H L E I N A D / K COT S R E T T U H S / E C N I V N AT S I R T / N I AT I R B T I S I V © :SOTOHP
B B O R N YL O R A C YB E CA LAP E H T TA A E T MOR F EGA M I E K A C / K C I N R E K N H O J
us delicious ‘British’ teas. My mouthwatering Leicestershire 300 years ago. The village of
memories are wonderful still. Would you Stilton, however, is 34 miles away in
ever consider publishing a magazine devoted Cambridgeshire. The owner of a coaching
to the recipes you have already produced; inn on the Great North Road got the cheese
and perhaps (wishful thinking) add a few from a relative in Wymondham and sold it to
more delectable ones, please? his many guests that stopped there. These
Katherine Brown, Toronto, Canada guests spread the word about the delicious
cheese from Stilton.
BRITAIN replies: We’re glad you like the recipes, Robert Ward, Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA
Katherine! We’d love to collate them one day.
BRITAIN replies: You’re right, Robert!
Strangely enough, Stilton can no longer be
WRITE TO US! By post: Letters, BRITAIN, The Chelsea Magazine Company, Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TQ made in the village that gave it its name: by
Via email: editor@britain-magazine.com FOLLOW US! Twitter:@BritainMagazine Instagram: @britain_magazine law it can only be made in Derbyshire,
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BritainMagazine Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/britainmagazine
Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.
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HISTORY / NEWS / REVIEWS / INSPIRATION
The
BULLETIN
Sparkling treasures, summer opera and
a new view of an old masterpiece
EXHIBITION
The golden touch
The glittering treasures discovered in 1939 at Sutton Hoo, same 7th-century East Anglian workshops, and this year for
Britain’s most famous Anglo Saxon archaeological site, the first time treasures of both hoards wil be reunited in a
revolutionised the way that we see that period of history special exhibition. From sparkling gold and garnet jewellery to
forever. In 2009, the largest hoard of Anglo Saxon gold ever intricate weaponry fittings, Swords of Kingdoms: The Staffordshire
found was unearthed in Staffordshire, bearing a remarkable Hoard at Sutton Hoo (until 30 October) wil reveal the Anglo
resemblance to the items found at Sutton Hoo. Historians Saxon period as a golden age of craftmanship.
now believe that many of the artefacts were made in the www.nationaltrust.org.uk/suttonhoo
 
ANNIVERSARY
Birthday flowers
Once the tallest building in the world,
commissioned by William the Conqueror,
and now regarded as one of Europe’s finest
Gothic buildings, Lincoln Cathedral
celebrates its 950th birthday this year. The
cathedral’s popular Flower Festival (4–8
August) will mark this milestone with
stunning displays blossoming in every
corner of the cathedral. The special theme
of ‘Vision’ will pay homage to the history of
this iconic building and the visionaries who
F E S T I VA L have shaped it through the ages. OPENING
Opera extravaganza lincolncathedral.com
Bath time
The fun and frothy works of the legendary Cementing Bath’s status as one of Britain’s
Victorian operatic duo Gilbert and Sullivan richest cultural and historical cities, the
are perfect for summer. Returning to the newly opened World Heritage Centre,
genteel spa towns of Buxton and Harrogate bursting with interactive exhibits and
for its 28th year, the International Gilbert displays, will be a hub for visitors and
& Sullivan Festival is an all-singing, locals alike. Make it your first port of call,
all-dancing spectacle (30 July–21 August). whether you’re in town to visit the world-
Known as the ‘friendliest opera festival in famous Roman Baths, to track down
the world’, it is a joyous celebration of Bridgerton locations or to walk the city’s
Britain’s most iconic musical partnership. honey-hued streets in the footsteps of Jane
With crowd-pleasing favourites such as The Austen. Fans of the latter visiting in
Pirates of Penzance alongside the exciting September may find themselves swept up in
and rarely performed Utopia, Limited, the the annual Jane Austen Festival (9-17
festival will stage something for everyone. September), which draws Austenites from
Whether new to opera or a G&S SHOPPING all over the world for guided walks,
aficionado, you’ll be singing all the way concerts and – of course – costumed balls.
home: guaranteed.
gsfestivals.org
Pretty as a picture www.bathworldheritage.org.uk;
janeausten.co.uk
There’s plenty of garden inspiration this
issue (see p46), so here’s hoping for a
sunny summer. We can’t always rely on the
/S E K OTS E NAJ 1202/T H G I R W N I AW SUGN A/T S U R T L A N O I TAN © :SOTOHP

English weather, but we can let the
/Y H P A R GOTOHP R E H CTELF YD N A/ E GA M I 0 6 3/ S E G A M I Y TTOTS JD

sunshine in and the flowers bloom with the
botanical bounty on offer at the Royal
G N I K N H O J D I V A D / M O C . Y H P A R G OT O H P H T I M S K C I N
Botanic Gardens at Kew. Our pick of their
floral-inspired products is this delightful
set of jigsaw puzzles (£21.99). The three
100-piece jigsaws feature uplifting
summery scenes illustrated by Emily
Taylor, and once completed, the tins can be
used as decor – and perhaps even filled
with your home-grown blooms.
shop.kew.org
 
ART
A new view of the Thames
The largest known painting by the English artist John Constable Whitehall: the Opening of Waterloo Bridge, 1817, that the hidden details
has been restored to its former glory – and has simultaneously were exposed, showing how the skyline has been transformed in
revealed a long-lost view of the Thames, delighting conservators the last 200 years. The work wil now return to Anglesey Abbey in
and historians alike. It was only when layers of dull varnish were Cambridgeshire, where it wil take pride of place in a special display
removed from the painting, entitled Embarkation of George IV from of Constable’s works. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/angleseyabbey
 
READING CORNER
Take inspiration for your
British adventures from
these great reads
Britain’s Sacred Places:
A guide to ancient and
modern sites that stir
the soul by Martin
Symington (£14.99,
Bradt). A fascinating
guide to places of both
Serve with ripe religious and secular
pilgrimage in the UK.
fresh strawberries and
a drizzle of honey for Miss Wilmott’s Ghosts
by Sandra Lawrence
the perfect summer (£25, Blink). The
pudding eye-opening story of
one of Britain’s most
RECIPE famous female
horticulturalists,
Lavender and Honey Panna Cotta wrongly remembered
as malicious and
difficult.
Serving up history, quality time and a touch of decadence, the National Trust’s cafés are an The Lost Diary of
essential stop on any visit, and National Trust Favourite Recipes: Over 80 delicious classics Samuel Pepys by Jack
from our cafes (National Trust Books, £14.99) will allow you to take a little piece of this Jewers (£16.99,
wonderfully British institution home with you. Moonflower Books).
In his debut novel the
Ingredients: historian reveals the
life of the famous
2 sheets of gelatine 1 tsp vanilla extract diarist – after he put
down his pen.
300ml (½ pint) double cream 60g (2¼ oz) honey, plus extra to serve
Rogues, Rebels and
120ml (4fl oz) milk 200g (7oz) strawberries, hulled and chopped Mavericks of the
3 sprigs of lavender/1–2 tsp dried lavender flowers 2 tbsp strawberry jam Middle Ages by John
Brunton (£20,
Amberley Publishing).
Method: A juicy history of the
criminals, heretics and
T I M S O A L O / N O S B O D S E M A J / S E G A M I T S U R T L A N O I TAN © :S OTOH P
Put the gelatine in a shallow dish, cover with cold water and leave to soften for 5 minutes. audacious pioneers of
Warm the cream, milk, lavender and vanilla in a saucepan over a low heat and slowly the Middle Ages.
bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat and leave the pan on the hob for 5 minutes, squeezing
the lavender flowers from time to time to extract as much flavour as possible. Turn off the A Very British Picnic by
heat and stir through the honey. Remove the gelatine from the water and squeeze to Lucy Davies (£17.95,
remove excess water. Add to the warm cream mixture and stir until the gelatine has Hoxton Mini Press).
completely dissolved. Strain the cream mixture through a sieve into a jug, then divide Nostalgic images
between four 150ml (5fl oz) pudding moulds. Leave to cool, then place in the fridge and capture the wonderful
leave to set for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Britishness of the picnic,
To make the compote, mix the chopped strawberries and strawberry jam together in a and those that brave it
bowl. To serve, dip each mould, one at a time, into a bowl of just-boiled water, count to no matter the weather.
four, gently loosen around the edges of the panna cotta with a fingertip and turn out on to
a serving plate. Spoon over a portion of the compote and drizzle over a little honey.
 
Book by
August 31, 2022
and save
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escorted tours exploring the
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Country House Christmas
From $3,990pp | Departures: 30 Nov 2022 and 6 Dec 2023
Christmas in England conjures up images of Dickensian London and A Christmas
Carol or tradional country houses where families gather around roaring fires.
We celebrate the spirit of Christmas past and catch a glimpse of fesvies of
mes gone by as we travel from London to the pastoral Home Counes. We enjoy
enchanng visits to magnificent properes which are specially decorated for
the season, from the royal residence of Windsor Castle to Blenheim Palace, the
birthplace of Winston Churchill. To complete our fesve getaway we experience
the magic of Christmas at Kew and also visit the lovely city of Oxford, where we
indulge in the quintessenally Brish tradion of aernoon tea and have me for
some Christmas shopping.
What’s Included  Travel to and from all excursions
 Return airport transfers from London  All excursion costs
Heathrow*  Porterage where possible
 3 nights at the Macdonald Windsor Hotel *supplement applies for transfers from all other airports
 2 nights at the Hartwell House Hotel Special extras included in your
 Welcome drink and canapés itinerary
 Full English/Connental breakfast each day  Audio guided tour of Windsor Castle
 3-course table d’hôte dinner on 3 nights  Guided walking tour of Oxford A portfolio of over 600 luxury, self-catering
at the hotels (with aer-dinner tea and  Aernoon tea at the Randolph Hotel
 Fesve lunch* at Waddesdon Estate
holiday homes in the UK and Northern Ireland
coffee)
 1 dinner at a local restaurant  Private carol singing performance at the
Macdonald Windsor Hotel 01386 897 959
 Services of a tour director throughout
your stay
*Please inform us at the me of booking of any special dietary
requirements. ruralretreats.co.uk
T&Cs. For the latest applicable terms and condions, please refer to our website: www.albionjourneys.com/
terms-and-condions. Just Go Holidays Ltd trading as Albion Journeys. USA address: 27 North Chestnut Street,
New Paltz, NY 12561, USA. Do you have a property you would like to let
UK registered address: 1st Floor, 111 High Street, Cheltenham GL50 1DW, United Kingdom. with Rural Retreats? If so, please get
1-866-834-8358 (US toll free) in touch with one of our experienced
Property Managers today.
? info@albionjourneys.com albionjourneys.com newowners@ruralretreats.co.uk
www.britain-magazine.com BRITAIN 13
 

Down by
I N I L L E R O I Z I R U A M © : OTOH P

the River
Between Richmond and Hampton Court is a storied stretch of the
River Thames, whose banks are lined with grand houses, royal parks
and Henry VIII’s favourite palace
WORDS EDWARD AVES
 
 
ALONG THE THAMES
Previous page:
Richmond’s pretty
riverside has been a
popular spot since
Victorian times
Left: The magnificent
entrance to Hampton
Court Palace
Right: Rowing boats
T he picturesque stretch of the Thames between
Richmond and Hampton Court has provided
refuge from the bustle of London life for
centuries. After attracting the patronage of the
Tudor royals – their legacy is preserved in the jaw-dropping
magnificence of Hampton Court Palace – the area became
a fashionable retreat for the city’s nobility, who built grand
houses along its riverbanks. By the mid-18th century, poets
stretch downstream to Teddington, catering to the crowds
of boater-hatted young men and women who would rush
down from the city to meet and mingle on the water.
It’s a gentle saunter from the riverside into Richmond
Park, a vast expanse of undulating grasslands spotted with
dense woods, where herds of fallow and red deer – at
current count over 600 – have roamed freely since the time
of Charles I. First-time visitors are often amazed to find
to rent by and artists were likening it to Arcadia, the pastoral Utopia such untamed wilderness so close to London.
Richmond Bridge
of ancient Greece. In the 19th century, the riverside was The Arcadian riverscape of yesteryear is best preserved
opened up for all to enjoy, and today a stroll through this a mile and a half south of Richmond in a pair of fine
verdant slice of the city ranks high on any Londoner’s list mansions, set in verdant meadows, on opposite sides of
of soul-quenching urban escapes.
Just 15 miles upstream from central London (15 minutes
T T E L L A H A R UA L © : N O I TA R T S U L L I /YMA LA/VO K U H C U Y K O K N I D / E N A L RE T E P © :SOTOHP by train), well-to-do Richmond owes its name to Henry
VII, who erected a sumptuous royal palace on the river
and christened it after his Yorkshire earldom. Richmond
Palace was a favourite winter residence of Elizabeth I, who
died here in 1603 – her body was carried downriver to
Westminster Abbey by barge – and though mostly
demolished, its turreted gatehouse still survives, tucked
into a corner of Richmond Green. This expansive open
square, lined with Georgian terraces, was once a jousting
ground, and the sporting tradition lives on today – cricket
has been played on the green since at least 1730.
It’s a short stroll down pretty Old Palace Lane to
Richmond’s bustling riverside, where all manner of boating
expeditions – from paddle steamer cruises to rowing boat
rental – are on offer. Yet, even on the busiest weekend, the
scene doesn’t compare with the heyday of the late-Victorian
boating craze, when up to 3000 river vessels crammed the
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ALONG THE THAMES
Clockwise from top the Thames. Grandest is the red-brick, Jacobean Ham visit is a theatrical experience. The rooms feature
left: The Gallery at House, famous for the extravagant interiors created by the elaborate tracery and colourful stained glass; as the sun
Strawberry Hill resourceful Elizabeth Dysart, Duchess of Lauderdale – said moves around the house, each has its moment to shine –
House; Henry VIII to have been simultaneously Oliver Cromwell’s lover and a what Walpole called his “moving pictures”. After dinner
created Bushy Park
as a hunting ground financial donor to King Charles II – and virtually in the Great Parlour, the host would lead his guests
for Hampton Court; unchanged in 350 years. upstairs to the show-stopping Gallery – a visual feast of
Ham House was From Ham House, the quaint Hammerton’s Ferry will crimson damask wallpaper and gilded fan-vaulting – to
designed by architect whisk you across the river to Marble Hill House, a graceful gossip about court, as music drifted up from the cloister
William Samwell Palladian villa newly reopened after a stunning restoration. (now a delightful café) below. The scene is easy to picture,
Marble Hill was designed for Henrietta Howard, a former never more so than during the house’s occasional candle-
mistress of the Prince of Wales (later George II), who lit evenings, when staff dress up as characters from The
captivated society with her intelligence and wit. Henrietta Castle of Otranto, Walpole’s Gothic romance that inspired
S E IVAD S I R H C / S E G A M I T S U R T L A N O I TA N /Y M A L A / N I VAG A I L U J / G N U H C T TAM © :SOTOHP cultivated a circle that included Alexander Pope – who a new literary genre.
helped create the gardens – and Jonathan Swift; her parties A mile upriver, a series of locks at Teddington mark the
were said to rival those at court for their lavishness. end of the tidal Thames – said to be the point where the
Restoration has returned the house’s interior to its original river changes colour (casting off its city brown for a
lustre – a highlight is the sumptuously gilded Great Room country green). It’s also a place of pilgrimage for fans of
– and reinstated the gardens to their 18th-century prime, Monty Python, who filmed their famous fish-slapping
complete with grotto and nine-pin bowling alley. dance – a surreal spectacle of pilchards and pith helmets
Beyond the bustle of central Twickenham lies the most – by a lock-keeper’s cabin here.
idiosyncratic of the area’s mansions. A whitewashed Continuing onwards, Kingston upon Thames played a
fantasy of fairytale towers, pinnacles and battlements, central role in England’s early history. In the 10th century,
Strawberry Hill was the summer residence of 18th-century Cyningestun (as it was then) lay on the boundary of the
man of letters Horace Walpole, youngest son of Sir Robert kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia, prompting Æthelstan to
Walpole, Britain’s first prime minister. Walpole eschewed choose it as a symbolic location for his coronation as King of
the Palladianism of the day in favour of a new “Gothick” the Anglo-Saxons in 925. Two years later, he went on to
style – in so doing pioneering Gothic Revival, a movement conquer Northumberland, uniting England for the first time.
that would dominate architecture for the next 150 years. Today, Kingston is an attractive market town, with a
Strawberry Hill was built to entertain, and even today a reminder of its Anglo-Saxon days – a short hop from the
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ALONG THE THAMES
Left to right: The Privy after a failed final entreaty to the cold-hearted king for her
Garden at Hampton life. Spectre or not, the temperature does seem to drop a
Court was installed notch or two as you step down the corridor.
by King William; The chaos at court is brought vividly to life in the
The King’s Staircase
at Hampton Court Council Chamber, where you can listen to an audio
features murals by re-creation of Henry’s embattled councillors snarling at
Antonio Verrio and each other as they plot the succession. And don’t miss the
an intricate wrought exquisite Chapel Royal, where in happier times Henry and
iron balustrade by Catherine gave thanks for their marriage – the stunning
Jean Tijou
blue and gold ceiling, unchanged since Tudor times, is one
of the highlights of the entire palace.
Perhaps more than anywhere else, the gargantuan scale
of the Tudor court is evident in Henry’s VIII’s Kitchens,
where cooks would toil in ferocious heat to churn out
up to one thousand meals a day. The king himself would
usually dine privately, gorging on feasts of up to forty
Each of Henry’s six wives lived dishes – an appetite that sent his waistline soaring from a
trim 32 inches in his twenties to a doublet-popping 54
for a time at Hampton Court, and inches at the end of his life.
That any of the Tudor palace survives is no thanks to
the tumult of his later years still William and Mary, who instructed Sir Christopher Wren
resonates through the apartments to demolish it and rebuild it in Baroque style. The project
ran out of steam after Mary’s death, but their grand state
apartments brought the palace a new lease of life.
ancient Market Place, the Coronation Stone is a sarsen William was also responsible for the exquisite Privy
block supposedly used as a throne during the crowning Garden, which stretches from the South Front to the river.
ceremonies of Æthelstan and six more Saxon kings. A manicured masterpiece of order and harmony, it’s just
Back across the river, vast Bushy Park – second largest of one of many highlights of the grounds – never lovelier than
the royal parks after Richmond – was created by Henry in early July, when the RHS’s Hampton Court Garden
VIII as the hunting grounds for Hampton Court, and Festival takes root along the banks of the Long Water.
remains home to several hundred free-ranging red and This year promises a rose tea garden in commemoration of
fallow deer, including a few ghostly white specimens that the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
seem to have stepped out of a fairy tale. Fittingly, perhaps, Finally, no visit to Hampton Court is complete without
because the park is indeed a magical place, especially getting lost in the famous maze – if in doubt, adopt
atmospheric on misty mornings. Paddington Bear’s cunning strategy and lay chunks of
Wartime history buffs may like to head to the northern marmalade along your path to enable a speedy exit.
Shaef Gate, where a memorial recalls the three months in
1944 when this corner of Bushy hosted the Supreme
Headquarters of the Allied forces – it was from here that
General Eisenhower masterminded plans for D-Day. But THE PLANNER
don’t delay, for to the south, beyond the park’s Lion Gate,
Hampton Court awaits. GETTING THERE restaurant and bar and a leafy
Originally built for Cardinal Wolsey, Hampton Court was There are regular trains courtyard terrace too.
a royal residence up to the reign of George II, although will from London Waterloo to www.harbourhotels.co.uk
of course forever be associated with Henry VIII, who prised Richmond (15min) and to
it from Wolsey as he cast him from grace. The king spared Hampton Court (35min). WHERE TO EAT
no expense in transforming it into a lavish royal abode. www.thetrainline.com AND DRINK
Each of Henry’s six wives lived for a time at Hampton The Roebuck pub, dating back
Court, and the tumult and tragedy of his later years WHERE TO STAY to the 1500s, enjoys one of the
resonate through what remains of the Tudor apartments. The Richmond Harbour most unspoiled views in London
Henry ordered the construction of the magnificent Great Hotel & Spa is set in a stately from its lofty perch on
Hall, where banquets were put on for hundreds of Georgian mansion with tasteful Richmond Hill: the perfect place
courtiers. While smitten with Anne Boleyn, her emblems contemporary interiors and a for a pint or a pub lunch.
were integrated into its design, yet he expunged almost all fabulous spa where you can www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk
S E CA LAP L AYOR C I R OTS IH © :SOTOHP

trace of her after her demise. In the Great Watching unwind after a day spent
Chamber, courtiers received the tragic news of Jane
Seymour’s death days after she gave birth to a long
strolling the riverside. The
rooms are luxurious with a i FURTHER
INFORMATION
hoped-for son in 1537. And, famously, the ghost of bohemian edge, enlivened with www.visitrichmond.co.uk;
Catherine Howard is said to stalk the Processional Gallery, local art on the walls and vibrant www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-
where the unfortunate queen – barely out of her teens textiles. There’s a buzzy court-palace
– was dragged screaming by guards back into house arrest
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For more on historic
Hampton Court,
see britain-
magazine.com
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The
Time Machine
The world’s most famous clock has been under wraps for four years, its iconic bell
S E GA MI LWA/ S I R A I Y UOM S I R H C © :OTOHP
silenced. This year, restored to its former glory, Big Ben once again shows its face
WORDS: ROSE SHEPHERD
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A t 12.01pm on August 21, 2017, something

went missing from the soundscape of London.
The 13.7-tonne bell that had tolled the knell
of passing day for 154 years, through the
reigns of six monarchs, fell silent, to be heard only on
Remembrance Sunday and New Year’s Eve, as work
began on the restoration of the most recognised clock
tower on the planet.
this was to be Pugin’s last project. “I never worked so hard
in my life for Mr Barry,” he wrote in February 1852 to his
friend John Hardman, “for tomorrow I render all the
designs for finishing his bell tower & it is beautiful & I am
the whole machinery of the clock.”
Aged just 40, Pugin was descending into madness,
possibly from mercury poisoning. He would die that
September, never to see his plans realised for this beacon
Previous page: Big
Ben's new face,
under scaffolding
since 2017, has now
been revealed
Clockwise from left:
Augustus Welby
Northmore Pugin; a
1953 song about Big
Since then, hundreds of specialist craftsmen and women of democracy and symbol of the Mother of Parliaments. Ben, made famous
by Vera Lynn; an
– stonemasons, glass artists, painters, gilders and His letter was only partially coherent. “What he image of 'the Great
horologists – have brought their skills to the meant to write, in his deluded state,” Bell' from the
£80 million conservation project. according to Rosemary Hill, author of Parliamentary
The clock and tower have stood God’s Architect: Pugin and the Archives; a sunset
the test of time remarkably well, Building of Romantic Britain, “was view from
Westminster Bridge;
despite decades of wear and tear, that he was to design the cleaning the tower's
bomb damage, snow and ice, mechanism… But what he clock face in 1930
wind and rain, the ‘pea actually wrote was the truth.”
soupers’ of Victorian times, Big Ben is pure Gothic, pure
and modern air pollution. Pugin, and it is his monument.
The effects of such pitiless Big Ben, or ‘the Great Bell’,
conditions were keenly felt by the largest of the tower’s five
conservation teams, working bells, was cast in bronze at the
at dizzying heights on narrow Whitechapel Bell Foundry in
gangways, when, in 2018, East London, established in
with the cold snap known as 1570, whose name resonates
the ‘Beast from the East’ on the from Philadelphia to St
rampage, the temperature Petersburg. The Whitechapel
dropped to -8C, only to soar to foundry cast the bells of St Clement
45C in the following year’s heatwave. Danes of Oranges and Lemons fame.
Originally named St Stephen’s Tower, It cast the original Liberty Bell, symbol
and rechristened the Elizabeth Tower in of American Independence, and the 9/11
2012, to mark Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Bell, a gift from the City of London to the people
Diamond Jubilee, the edifice colloquially known as ‘Big of New York.
Ben’ was largely the creation of the driven genius The Whitechapel Great Bell was not, however, the first
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, his most iconic to be hung in Pugin’s tower. In 1856, with the building
contribution to Charles Barry’s Palace of Westminster incomplete, a bell cast by John Warner & Sons of Stockton
and its crowning glory. on Tees, Co. Durham, made its debut. Predicted to bong in
Completed in 1859, standing 96 metres tall, with 334 the key of E, it required “six or eight lusty artisans” to tug
steps from ground to belfry, and with the world’s largest at the clapper rope. “The vibration penetrates every vein in
and most accurate four-faced striking and chiming clock, the body,” The Times reported, “it strikes every nerve, it
DID YOU KNOW?

 The tower's clock is adjusted using pre-decimal pennies. Adding one penny  The latin inscription under the clock face translates as ‘Lord, keep safe our
to the pendulum causes the clock to gain two-fifths of a second in 24 hours Queen Victoria the First’
 Strong wind on the clock hands can affect the clock’s accuracy  A special light above the clock faces is lit when parliament is in session
 Big Ben’s bongs were first broadcast by the BBC on 31 December 1923,  The clock is hand-wound three times a week. Each winding takes about
and the tradition continues on New Year's Eve to this day 1.5 hours to complete
 The origin of the bell's nickname is not known for sure, though some  The Elizabeth Tower contains its own prison cell, originally designed for
believe it was named after Benjamin Caunt, a heavyweight boxing champion unruly Members of Parliament
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YR A R B I L E R U T C IP SN AV E YR A M/ S E V I H CRA YR AT N E M A I L RAP/S E GA M I N A M E G D IRB/NO I T C E L L OC NOSKCAJ RETEP/NR A E L D N A K O OL/Y M A L A/ R E K OR B E GA M I / E L C I N O R H C © :SOTOHP
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Clockwise from above: attacks and tries every fibre in the muscle, it makes your Winston Churchill and Baroness Thatcher.
Big Ben is broken up bones rattle and your marrow creep.” There is a unique, portentous stillness, after the chiming
to be recast in 1858; It was as well, then, that, after 11 months, the infernal of the Westminster Quarters, an attenuated moment of
the clock shows bell cracked beyond repair. Its lighter replacement arrived anticipation, felt most keenly at midnight on December 31
different times
during repairs in from Whitechapel by Thames barge, crossing Westminster as the bell musters itself to usher in a new year. As Virginia
2022; the clock face Bridge in a carriage drawn by six white horses, as crowds Woolf describes it in Mrs Dalloway, “one feels… a
has been restored to flocked to see it. Initially, it was judged particular hush, or solemnity; an
its original colours;
a conservation to be little better than its predecessor,
its song “so unearthly, sepulchral and
From November 1863 it indescribable pause; a suspense…
before Big Ben strikes. There! Out it
worker inside the
clock tower miserable, that one would suppose it sounded for five miles in boomed. First a warning, musical;
was tolling the funeral dirge of the
whole human race”. all directions, until that then the hour, irrevocable. The leaden
circles dissolved in the air.”
After it, too, cracked, repairs
rendered it more subdued, and from
day in 2017, when it was The timekeeping is a wonder of the
clockmaker’s art. Designed by
November 1863 it rolled out its solemn as if Father Time himself Edmund Beckett Denison, a lawyer
pronouncements for five miles in all
directions, until that August day in had fallen mute and amateur horologist, with
Astronomer Royal Sir George Airy,
2017 when, for Londoners, it was as if the clock was constructed by Edward
Father Time himself had fallen mute. John Dent, and completed on his death by his stepson,
Big Ben sends shivers down the spine when it gives voice – Frederick Dent, with innovative modifications that would
and when it does not, whether the clock has been stopped for set a new standard for tower clocks. The dials, seven
maintenance, or for reasons of deep historical significance. metres in diameter, are works of art, framed in cast iron,
The bell intoned for the state funerals of Edward VII, George glazed with 324 pieces of opal glass. The gun-metal hour
V and George VI. It maintained a speaking silence for two hands, 2.7 metres long, weigh some 300kg; the copper
years in the First World War, and for the funerals of Sir minute hands, 4.2 metres long, weigh 100kg.
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Clockwise from above: The entire apparatus has had to be dismantled piece by “To have had our hand on every single nut and bolt is a
The dials on the one-thousand piece, for shipping to the Cumbria Clock huge privilege,” said Ian Wentworth, Parliamentary
clock faces have Company in the Lake District village of Dacre, for Clock Mechanic. “It’s going to be quite emotional when
been glazed with
324 pieces of overhaul, before being reinstalled. With the progress on it’s all over – there will be a sadness that the project has
beautiful opal glass; schedule, by summer Big Ben should finished, but happiness that we have
a view of Big Ben and
the Houses of
have been reconnected to the original “We transplanted the got it back and everything’s up
Parliament from
London's Southbank
clock mechanism, ringing out
regularly once again. The entire heart of the UK up to and running.”
At the beginning of 2022, as the
project has clearly been an intense
journey for all concerned. Cumbria. For two years scaffolding came down, the clock
revealed bolder, brighter faces,
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime we had that heartbeart painstakingly recreating Charles
opportunity,” said Keith Scobie-Youngs,
Cumbria Clock Company director. ticking away in our Barry’s colour scheme. Alexandra
Miller, Senior Project Manager at
“We transplanted the heart of the
UK up to Cumbria. We were able to test room” Cliveden Conservation, led the team
responsible for the restoration of the
assemble the time side, the heartbeat, and put that on test in clock faces. “This was one of the most humbling and
our workshop, so for two years we had that heartbeat ticking career-defining projects we have been fortunate to be part
away in our test room, which was incredibly satisfying.” of,” she said. “It cements my lifelong relationship with my
beloved hometown of London.” The blackened metalwork
of the dial, hands and roman numerals have been returned
VISITING THE ELIZABETH TOWER to the original Prussian blue and gold, with new, white
opalescent glass, while the gilt cross and orb at the tip of
With the restoration scheduled for completion this summer, once the the tower glisten as in Victorian times, a source of
site is cleared Parliament wil resume ownership of the building and immense pride.
start to prepare its internal spaces forfuture use, handing over to teams “A clock always absorbs a bit of the person working on
delivering the visitor experience. Preparations, including the installation it,” Keith Scobie-Youngs has poetically reflected, “and
and testing of exhibitions and tour routes, are expected to complete in Cumbria will now be linked to this clock for ever.”
the winter, before tours begin early in 2023. www.parliament.uk Or, as Pugin put it, “It is beautiful, and I am the whole
mechanism of the clock.”
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LANDMARKS
For more iconic

London landmarks,
see www.britain-
magazine.com
S E GA MI L WA/S I R A I Y U O M SIR H C/ R OL YAT A C I S S E J/T N E M A I L R AP KU © :SOTOHP
 
Association
of Anaesthetists
Heritage Centre
Telling the remarkable story of anaesthesia

From its first public
demonstration in
1846 to modern day
anaesthetists working
in the aftermath of wars
and terrorist attacks. The
Anaesthesia Heritage
Centre is located in
central London and is
free to enter.
The Association of Anaesthetists Heritage Centre is open Monday to Friday 10:00 – 16:00 (closed bank holidays). Last admission is 15:30.
www.anaesthetists.org/heritage
 
Becoming
HISTORY
ANNE BOLEYN
S N E D R AG D NA ELT S A C REVEH © :E G A M I
Five centuries after her first appearance at the court of her future husband,
Henry VIII, we chart Anne Boleyn’s glittering rise and dramatic fall
WORDS NEIL JONES
 
HISTORY
Previous page: The
'Hever Rose' portrait
of Anne Boleyn by an
unknown artist, c.1550
Clockwise from far right:
Blickling Hall; Hever
Castle; Henry VIII by
Hans Holbein the
Younger, c. 1543-47,
on display at
F
Petworth House
ive hundred years ago, in 1522, Anne Boleyn

made her first recorded appearance at the
English court of Henry VIII. A mock castle
called Château Vert had been created as a
centrepiece for an evening pageant at which eight
satin-clad gentlewomen cast as ‘virtues’ waited for eight
gentlemen, including the king, to storm the towers and
liberate them from ‘vice’. Anne was given the role of
Perseverance, a rather appropriate choice, as history
would prove.
The story is well known of how Anne boldly schemed
to become Henry’s second wife, and in doing so
precipitated religious turmoil that divided the country for
generations to come. Yet, she has always been the most
enigmatic of the king’s six wives. Now, a new exhibition
at her childhood home, Hever Castle in Kent, throws a
spotlight on her family background and early influences
to help explain what made her into the woman who so
famously caught Henry’s eye.
Becoming Anne: Connections, Culture, Court (until
early November) is spread across several of the castle’s
rooms including the Book of Hours Room, featuring
Anne’s two beautifully illuminated prayer books. Artefacts
range from portraits and letters to a recreation of the
Château Vert pageant set.
The Boleyn family had risen to wealth and status
through a combination of trade, court advancements and
astute marriages. It was Anne’s great-grandfather Geoffrey
who bought Blickling Hall in Norfolk, where she was
probably born around 1501, and Hever Castle where she
spent much of her early childhood. Her parents – courtier
and diplomat Sir Thomas Boleyn and Lady Elizabeth
Howard, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Norfolk – had five
children, though two sons died young. Anne was
sandwiched between her surviving younger brother George
and older sister Mary.
“Thomas Boleyn was a humanist and believed in
educating his daughters to a similar level to his sons,”
Hever’s Assistant Curator Kate McCaffrey says. He
arranged for Anne, aged 12, to polish her education at one
of the great centres of European culture, the court of
Archduchess Margaret of Austria, Regent of the
Netherlands, who delightedly reported of her charge: “I
At an evening pageant, her first
appearance at the court of Henry
VIII, Anne was given the role of
Perseverance, an appropriate choice
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HISTORY
33
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Y M A L A/ N O S I VAD N O J/ R E L T U B W E R D N A/Y T T I W E KCI R R E D /S E GA M I TSURT L A N O I TAN © : S E G A M I
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HISTORY
Y M A L A/S C I P E T R A/S N E D R A G D N A ELTS AC RE V E H /S E GA M I TSURT L A N O I TAN © S E G A M I
find her so bright and pleasant for her young age.” Anne manners that she proceeded to deploy, along with her witty Clockwise from above:
duly showed off (with apologies for her spellings) her intelligence, to distinguish herself from other women at The Arrest of Anne
growing French skills in a letter to Thomas that is court. “You would never have guessed she was just an Boleyn at Greenwich,
recreated and recited in Hever’s exhibition. English girl, instead you would have taken her for a fine by David Wilkie
Wynfield, 1872;
In 1514 Anne was then sent to Paris, to the court of French lady,” it was observed. portrait of Anne
Louis XII and Mary, Henry VIII’s sister, and when Louis A brunette of middling height, Anne was not Boleyn at Knole
died a few months later she stayed on until 1521 to attend conventionally beautiful, but she exuded sexual allure, house; Anne's Book
Queen Claude, the young wife of his successor Francis I. with dark eyes that it was said “she well knew how to use of Hours is on display
While at these ‘finishing schools’ abroad Anne became with effect.” During her appointment as a lady-in-waiting at Hever Castle
an accomplished singer, dancer and musician, developed a to Henry VIII’s queen, Catherine of Aragon, numerous
love of visual arts, and was exposed to the reforming men fell under Anne’s spell, among them Henry Percy, heir
religious currents sweeping across the Continent. She to the earldom of Northumberland. However, an official
returned to England at the end of 1521 full of chic French match was blocked and Anne was briefly banished to
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HISTORY
Hever “whereat she smoked [fumed].” to annul the king’s first marriage and the devoutly Catholic
By 1526 King Henry himself had turned his roving eye Catherine refused to go quietly. Anne complained about
upon Anne. He had already taken and discarded her sister delays: “I have been waiting long, and might in the
Mary as his mistress, but Anne proved a far wilier meanwhile have contracted some advantageous marriage.”
proposition, flirting yet refusing to submit to him despite a To help matters along, and drawing on her interest in
stream of gifts and lovelorn letters. She wanted more than the radical religious ideas that were to blossom into the
to be a royal mistress and, constantly pressed by Henry, Protestant Reformation, Anne gave Henry a copy of
finally delivered a shocking ultimatum: she would only give William Tyndale’s controversial The Obedience of a
herself to him physically as his wife. The king, desperate Christian Man that argued the King, not the Pope,
for a male heir that it seemed unlikely Catherine of should have authority over the Church. Seemingly endless
Aragon, now in her 40s, would provide, decided to take a political wrangling continued, but eventually Henry
gamble on the more nubile Anne. married an already-pregnant Anne in secret in January
Unfortunately, and perhaps inevitably, the Pope declined 1533 – four months before his marriage to Catherine
 
Clockwise from far
right:an engraving of
the execution of
Anne Boleyn on 19
Mày 1536 at the
Tower of London;
miniature portraits
of Anne will be on
display at Hever's
exhibition; Anne
Boleyn condemned
Anne’s triumph was short-lived.

e feistiness that Henry had
once found so bewitching now
began to grate
was annulled – and, having broken with Rome, he went
on to declare himself supreme head of a newly established
Church of England.
Long sought, Anne’s triumph was to last just three years.
Her feistiness that Henry had once found so bewitching
now began to grate. When Anne, jealous over his pursuit of
an attractive young woman at court in 1534, “used words
to the King which he did not like,” he told her she had to
turn a blind eye and remember “he could humiliate her in
only a moment longer than it had taken to exalt her.”
The royal couple’s relationship, always tempestuous,
ultimately failed over the continuing absence of a male
heir. Anne’s first pregnancy had disappointingly resulted
in the birth of a girl, Elizabeth, and she suffered two
stillbirths and a miscarriage, prompting an
unsympathetic Henry to mutter, “I shall have no sons by
her.” The queen had made many enemies, not least for
her callous attitude to Catherine of Aragon, and there
were plenty of courtiers willing to whisper against her in
BOOK AHEAD
the king’s ear for her part in causing the political and
religious upheavals of the last decade.
Matters came to a swift and brutal conclusion in 1536
when trumped-up charges were laid against Anne: of
adultery with four men at court, incest with her brother
George, and treason. She denied all charges, typically
dismissing one alleged lover on the grounds that he “was
the worst dressed man in the Palace,” but she was
imprisoned nevertheless in the Tower of London and
brought to trial. Despite her “wise and discreet answers”
she was sentenced, like her co-accused, to be executed.
Back in the Tower she nervously joked, “I heard say the
executioner was very good and I have a little neck.”
Anne faced her execution on Tower Green on 19 May
Y M A L A/ E GA MI C I S S A L C/ELCI NORHC © S E G A M I
1536 with remarkable courage and composure. She had
boldly played for high stakes and lost. Yet, mindful
perhaps of her daughter’s future safety, she avoided any
protests and instead prayed for the king, “for a gentler nor Becoming Anne: Connections, Culture, Court is at fascinating book to accompany the exhibition
more merciful prince was there never.” That daughter, Hever Castle & Gardens until early November. and wil also be talking about Anne on 10
Elizabeth, would go on to become one of the most Hever’s Assistant Curators Kate McCaffrey August as part of Hever Festival Theatre’s
spectacular of England’s monarchs, the unexpectedly and Dr Owen Emerson have co-authored a programme. www.hevercastle.co.uk
glorious legacy of a doomed royal marriage.
 
HISTORY
For more on
the life of
Anne Boleyn visit
www.britain-
magazine.com
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ENGLAND’S COAST
38 BRITAIN
D T L S E G A M I L WA/ A V O K A S I A I D A N © : O T O H P
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ENGLAND’S COAST
Coast along The England Coast Path will be completed this year,
giving access to some of Britain’s loveliest spots, from
soaring cliffs to quaint fishing villages
WORDS KEITH DREW
A s a nation, the English do like to

be beside the seaside. So it’s apt
that the new England Coast Path
will become the world’s longest
coastal walking route when it’s completed
later this year. Combining various national
trails with new waymarked routes, the path
dips, weaves, and climbs its way around
almost 2,800 miles of glorious coastline.
The path passes through 23 English
counties, taking in smugglers’ coves in
Cornwall, puffin-topped cliffs in Cumbria,
Northumberland’s crumbling castles and
much more besides. We’ve cherry-picked the
most stunning stretches, as well as the best
places to stay along the route (p45).
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ENGLAND’S COAST
Kent
The coast that frames the southeast of England is full of surprises.
The geography can be intriguing: Samphire Hoe is technically the
newest part of the country, a nature reserve constructed from 4.9
million cubic metres of chalk marl that was excavated during the
creation of the Channel Tunnel. The landscape can be downright
strange: the surreal thumb of shingle that makes up Dungeness
(right) is often described as Britain’s only desert. For the most part,
the terrain is pancake-flat, but the coast rises famously at the White
Cliffs of Dover, where there are spectacular views across the English
Channel. Being so close to the continent has left its mark on Kent. In
Sandwich, Dover, Hythe and New Romney, the county has four of
the original five Cinque Ports, a confederation of harbours that
protected England against invasion from France; elsewhere, you’ll
find Roman forts and Norman castles and, in Folkestone, a moving
memorial to the Battle of Britain.
Northumberland
Stretching up to the present-day border with Scotland, Northumberland has always
been a frontier region, and its turbulent past is writ large in the magnificent castles
that dominate this part of the English coastline. The skeletal ruins of Dunstanburgh
Castle are eerily evocative, especially when one of the area’s regular sea mists
descends. But it is Bamburgh Castle, which presides over a magnificent sweep of
golden beach from atop a granite outcrop, that steals the show. The coastal path is
usually quiet wherever you go along this stretch, but for true tranquillity you should
head to Lindisfarne, or Holy Island (above). Known as the Cradle of Christianity in
England, the monastery here was home to St Cuthbert and is only accessible (via a
causeway) at low tide.
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ENGLAND’S COAST
L A N O I TA N / D TL S E GA M I LWA/ R E G D E L K C I N / AVOK A S I A I D A N © :SOTOHP
Yorkshire
The Yorkshire coast runs from Bridlington in the south to Staithes in the
north. Here, the England Coast Path trundles in and out of traditional
fishing villages – where you can try traditional fish and chips – and through
historic towns, most notably Scarborough, Britain’s original seaside resort.
Whitby (above) is famous for its appearance in Bram Stoker’s Dracula – and
R O L L E M A N R U P A N N A/ S E G A M I T S U R T
the ruins of its 7th-century abbey look like they’re straight off the pages of a
Gothic horror story – but was also the home of Captain James Cook, whose
expeditions all set sail from the Yorkshire coast. Away from the towns, there
are beaches and bays, huge cliffs and tiny rockpools, and the moody
presence of the dramatic North York Moors, which reaches down to the
shoreline at Ravenscar and picturesque Robin Hood’s Bay, a photogenic
collection of cobbled streets backed by precipitous hills.
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ENGLAND’S COAST
Cornwall
The county of Kernow – as it’s known in the local
language – has the longest coastline in Britain and
the warmest weather in the country. You’re
following the route of the South West Coast Path
here, one of the world’s finest long-distance walks,
which writhes its way around England’s southwest
corner. This is a coast of two halves. The north is a
wild and windswept run of ragged cliffs and
hunkered-down fishing villages; folklore fills the
salty air around Tintagel, which has been entwined
with the legend of King Arthur since the 12th
century (see p66), while the spectre of the county’s
tin-mining past looms large at Wheal Coates and its
iconic chimney-topped engine house. The south is all
sheltered coves and rambling seashore, punctuated
by the occasional tree-lined estuary and pretty little
harbours like Fowey and Polperro (above).
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ENGLAND’S COAST
Norfolk
There’s a little bit of everything on the Norfolk coast.
Cumbria
Cumbria’s watery attractions more famously lie inland,
Fishing villages give way to seaside resorts, stately homes but the coast here is worth exploring just as much as
sit behind vast expanses of butter-coloured beaches, there the meres, tarns and waters of the Lake District. With
are pine woods and salt marshes and red-and-white- the opening of a new section of the England Coast Path
striped cliffs, and the wildlife is wonderful throughout. in February 2022, walkers can now enjoy one of the
The historic Georgian market town of Holt makes a best views in the county – a far-reaching vista from
good base for coastal rambles, while buzzing Great Millom over the Duddon Estuary to the high fells
Yarmouth offers a throwback to the bucket-and-spade beyond. The Cumbrian coast combines Roman ruins
breaks of yesteryear. Elsewhere along the coast, you’ll see and historic harbours, and features salt marshes,
fishing boats bobbing about in the harbour at Brancaster farmland and dunes. It’s at its wildest around St Bees
Staithe and puppy-eyed seals lolling around on the spit at Head, where a red sandstone bluff supports northwest
Blakeney Point. There’s architectural interest, too, in England’s only colony of cliff-nesting seabirds, a
Palladian-style Holkham Hall, the seat of the Earls of cacophony of kittiwakes, fulmars, guillemots and
Leicester, and in the flint cottages that lend a charming puffins. The path can easily be broken up into three or
air to pretty settlements like Wells-next-the-Sea. The four day-hikes, although tired legs can always hop a
beach at Wells is superb, backed by colourful stilted huts ride on the train: the trail shadows the scenic Cumbrian
(below), while the beach at Holkham is surrounded by coastal railway for several sections between
purple sea lavender and golden dunes. Whitehaven and Green Road.
Y M A L A / L L A S R E M O G S I R H C / Y H C N U P / D O O W K C I R E D E R F / K E S A W N A I T S A B E S / S E G A M I S R E N R O C 4 © :S OTOH P
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ENGLAND’S COAST
Dorset
The Dorset coast is special. But then it has been over 200 million
years in the making. The entire length of the county’s coastline –
For more from Lyme Regis up, down and around to Old Harry Rocks – is a
coastal beauty spots UNESCO World Heritage Site, and walking the England Coast
around Britain, Path here is a lesson in geology. This is the Jurassic Coast, a
see www.britain- shoreline created when the Pangaea supercontinent began
magazine.com fracturing in two, and much of modern-day Britain lay under a
tropical sea. Lyme Regis, in particular, is a rich hunting ground for
fossils: crinoids, calcified ammonites and the bones of giant marine
reptiles. There are natural landmarks galore – from the red striated
cliffs at Burton Bradstock to horseshoe-shaped Lulworth Cove and
the soaring limestone arch of nearby Durdle Door (below) – and
beautiful beaches at Swanage, Weymouth and Bournemouth,
fondly nicknamed ‘Bournebados’ by the locals thanks to its long
swathe of sand and sunny climate.
K C OTS YL L I B /YM A L A/ 3102 S E GA M I N I T S U A T TA M / E E B H S A K R A M/ WA H S E B O I N / L L I N R A C H T ES/TR U B N O M IS © :SOTOHP

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Coastal havens
Six wonderful places to stay beside the seaside
The Nare, Cornwall The Rose, Kent The Victoria, Norfolk
The Nare is a traditional country house hotel by the sea on This formerly down-at-heel pub in Deal has been immaculately The Holkham Estate borders one of the country’s loveliest
Cornwall’s stunning Roseland Peninsula. Its rooms are renovated, and is now a jewel of a B&B with eight bedrooms. stretches of coast and is home to one of its finest stately
elegantly appointed, with printed wallpapers, Persian rugs and Each room is different, but all are equally show-stopping, with homes, Holkham Hall. The 19th-century Victoria inn on the
luxurious textiles. Days are pleasantly spent on the beach or in dense, cocooning colours on the walls, vintage furniture and estate has luxurious rooms decorated in country-house
the glorious gardens, and there are plenty of spaces to relax in rich velvets. Dotted with houseplants, books and magazines, style. In the excellent restaurant, reminders of the country
the hotel too: sink into a comfy armchair in the lounge to read the rooms are a home away from home. Downstairs is the pursuits of hunting, shooting and fishing are everywhere,
the papers or indulge in afternoon tea. In the restaurant, cosy restaurant, which majors in British cuisine with a twist from the antlers on the wall and the tweed-attired waiters to
smartly attired waiters serve up the likes of Portloe lobster, – slow-roasted pork belly with Bramley apple, perhaps, the menu, where beef and game from the estate and fish
and crêpes Suzette are flambéed at your table. followed by marmalade on toast ice cream. and samphire from the coast are much in evidence.
www.narehotel.co.uk www.therosedeal.com www.holkham.co.uk
Lympstone Manor, Devon Alexandra Hotel, Dorset Seaham Hall, County Durham
This imposing Georgian country house sits on a sloping lawn Sitting atop the cliffs of Lyme Regis, the Alexandra enjoys One of the North East’s finest spa hotels, this handsome
overlooking the mouth of the Exe estuary, where the sunsets unparalleled views across this fabled stretch of coast, which Georgian mansion has a historic pedigree: Lord Byron was
are legendary. The interiors have been decorated with was immortalised in Jane Austen’s last great novel, Persuasion married to Annabella Milbanke here in 1815. The airy rooms
contemporary verve, with statement chandeliers and works (filming has recently taken place in the town for the new are decorated with splashy colours and vibrant textiles, and
by local artists enlivening the light-fil ed rooms, while cosy big-screen adaptation). This is every inch the genteel English there are two restaurants. The new Bungalow Suites come
shepherd’s huts overlook the hotel’s vineyard. It’s just a seaside hotel, with its neat-lawned garden dotted with complete with hot tub and firepit; floor-to-ceiling windows
stone’s throw to the estuary, source of the mussels and deckchairs, elegant interiors and an orangery restaurant with allow you to soak up the coastal views. The main event is a visit
scallops served up in the Michelin-starred restaurant, helmed lovely views of the sea. The hotel has direct access to the to the luxurious spa, which has 17 treatment rooms, reached
by Michael Caines, one of Britain’s most celebrated chefs. beach and wil pack a lunch for you to take exploring. by an atmospheric, dimly-lit walkway over running water.
lympstonemanor.co.uk www.hotelalexandra.co.uk www.seaham-hall.co.uk
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R E L L I M N H O J/S E GA M I TSURT L A N O I TAN © :OTOHP
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History
WORDS LIZ PICKERING
 
GARDENS
icture the perfect English magnificent cloistered gardens with vineries and orchards, Previous page:
garden. What do you see? The a vegetable garden, and a herb garden close to the Colourful summer
classic cottage garden, a jumble of rambling infirmary. A fascinating example has been excavated at blooms line the
borders at Nymans,
roses, hollyhocks and scented honeysuckle; Mount Grace Priory in Yorkshire. West Sussex
the manicured emerald lawn of a stately home, An authentic medieval garden has been recreated at Clockwise from right:
dotted with topiary; or the rolling parkland, lakes Tretower Court in Powys, surrounding a courtyard house Levens Hall's
and follies of an 18th-century landscape garden? built in the 1460s. The garden nestles against the medieval gardens were first
Designs have waxed and waned over the centuries, but house, stone tower, and remains of a motte and bailey laid out in 1694;
Westbury Court's
the best gardens reflect the passions and innovations of castle, offering an unusually intimate view into the past. Dutch water garden;
their time. “The history of garden design reflects our The Renaissance brought with it romance and courtly the gardens at
changing attitudes to nature,” says Pam Smith, the love. The garden came to be seen as a sort of paradise in Kenilworth Castle
National Trust’s Senior National Consultant for Gardens which to recline with an instrument or woo a lady. The were created by
& Parklands. “Are we afraid of it and need to keep it at Renaissance influence continued into the Tudor period but Robert Dudley; the
fountain garden at
arm’s length by creating enclosed, safe spaces such as it was a time of great change. Henry VII established himself Tretower Court
gardens within castle walls? Do we want to control nature firmly in power after years of warfare between the ruling
to create idyllic countryside houses of York and Lancaster.
views, as did ‘Capability’ Brown?
Or do we garden with the grain The Renaissance brought He rebuilt Richmond Palace in
the style of a French château and
of nature, encouraging nature- romance: the garden was a grew the first knot garden, a
friendly solutions such as
meadows in our gardens?” paradise in which to play an low-lying pattern of dwarf
evergreens, edged with sand and
As far as we know, gardens
first came to Britain with the instrument or woo a lady decorated with three-
dimensional heraldic beasts.
Romans, and included an area It was his son, Henry VIII,
for food and medicine as well as formal gravelled walks, who really took the idea of ‘power gardening’ and ran
box hedging and spaces for statues and seats. The classical with it. He was the first to emphasise the garden’s
influence has cropped up many times since then. purpose for leisure, building bowling alleys, tiltyards for
When the Normans invaded England, they brought with jousting, and butts for archery, all surrounded by raised
them a cultural revolution of language, art, architecture, viewing galleries for his adoring subjects.
and – you guessed it – gardening. In Elizabethan times gardening was even more
Monasteries and manor houses dictated garden style in excessive, characterised by low-level mazes, complex knot
medieval times. Gardening was still mostly concerned with patterns filled with flowers, topiary, terraces, alleys and
Y M A L A/OMIKC OTS/3891 Y E N N A H EKI M/T SURT E GAT I R E H HSIL GNE/D N A L G N E CIR OTSIH/WD A C )8102 ( THGIR YPOC NWORC © :SOTOHP
feeding people and treating illness. Monasteries often had Italianate obelisks.
While no Tudor gardens remain intact, a faithful
reconstruction can be seen at Kenilworth in Warwickshire.
Originally created in 1575 by Robert Dudley to impress
his Queen, the castle became a ruin and the garden was
lost to the world for 400 years. Using historical records
and state-of-the-art archaeology, the garden has been
restored to its former glory, with carved arbours, a
bejewelled aviary and an 18-foot-high marble fountain.
Gardens became increasingly formal through the
following two centuries. They took their lead from French
gardens, in particular the Sun King’s jardins at the new
Palace of Versailles. Our own James I employed Salomon
de Caus to work on a number of royal gardens, and later
Charles I employed Salomon’s younger brother, Isaac, to
add further continental touches. The French influence can
be felt at Levens Hall in Cumbria, whose gardens were laid
out by Guillaume Beaumont, gardener to James II, in
1694, and have remained largely unchanged ever since; the
topiary here is thought to be the world’s oldest.
Garden trends have usually been led by the monarch of
the time. Once the Dutch rulers William and Mary took
the throne the French influence diminished, though
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GARDENS
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It was landscape gardening on an epic scale. Whole villages
and rivers were moved to make way for the creator’s vision
Clockwise from above: gardens remained formal. The Dutch baroque style had Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and Sir Humphry Repton
The Temple of plenty of water features, all very symmetrical with stately became synonymous with dignified English landscape
S E C A L AP L AYOR CIR OTS IH/HTI MS BAO J/ R E L T U B W E R D N A/Y E C A L SIR HC/S E GA M I TSURT L A N O I TAN © :SOTOHP
Apollo at Stourhead; walks, statues and geometrically elaborate parterres. The design. Uncluttered expanses of rolling parkland were
irises at Sissinghurst Dutch also introduced plate-bande, where plants are thinly tastefully dotted with serpentine lakes and clumps of trees:
Castle; Painswick's
rococo garden and distributed with bare soil in between, to show off their the perfect landscape for the 18th-century pursuits of
Red House; the rarity and quality. hunting, shooting and carriage-riding.
pagoda at Kew Westbury Court in Gloucestershire is the only restored It was landscape gardening on an epic scale. Whole
Dutch water garden in the country, complete with canals, villages and rivers were moved to make way for the
elaborate fountains and formal walks, and the borders creator’s vision. Stourhead in Wiltshire, designed by Henry
laid out authentically plate-bande. Visitors flock to see Hoare in the 1740s, was at the forefront of the new style.
the 150-year-old giant tulip tree that flowers at the end The River Stour was dammed to form a great lake and
of June. each view was designed to look like a painting by Claude
The 18th century saw a move away from rigid formality Lorrain, dotted with temples and Gothic ruins.
to a more natural style, spearheaded by the architect and The more bizarre side of Georgian gardening arrived
designer William Kent, who “leaped the fence, and saw that with the fashion for rococo, at its peak between 1730 and
all nature was a garden”. Designs were inspired by the 1770. It was an architectural style that spilled over into
idealised landscapes of antiquity, and included temples, gardens in the form of shell-studded grottoes and
statues and lakes. Kent’s garden at Rousham in Oxfordshire artificial caves twinkling with imported ores and
is virtually as he left it: a stage-set design where every path stalactites. Painswick in the Cotswolds is one of the best
culminates in the drama of a statue or building. surviving examples.
In the second half of the 18th century, the names When you add to this the Anglo-Chinese fashion, as
 
GARDENS
For more glorious

gardens, see
www.britain-
magazine.com
 
can be seen in the unusual pagoda at Kew, it amounts to a In the early decades of the 20th century, the trend- Above: An elevated
rather strange hotchpotch of inspiration. Most of it can be setters included Lawrence Johnston, Norah Lindsay and view of the
put down to the grandiose whims of the aristocracy, at a Vita Sackville-West. The latter created the famous garden impressive
time when wealthy young men were sent on a Grand Tour at Sissinghurst in Kent. While her diplomat husband Rainforest Biome at
the Eden Project,
to see the great buildings and landscapes of the world worked abroad, Vita Sackville-West worked on her garden, Cornwall
before they settled down. inspired by Lawrence Johnston’s one at Hidcote Manor,
The Victorian era heralded a new way of thinking. The and wrote numerous gardening books and articles.
Industrial Revolution was underway, the empire was Sissinghurst is the epitome of the fashionable Edwardian
flourishing, and there was an explosion of interest in plants garden, particularly known for its White Garden with a
and gardening. Formal parterres were filled with brightly profusion of white blooms, lilac and silver foliage,
coloured bedding plants, as seen at Hughenden in compartmentalised by box hedging.
Buckinghamshire, and gardens featured impressively Later in the 20th century and into the 21st, it is
constructed rockeries and exotic blooms from Latin debatable whether there is any one overall theme for
America and South Africa, grown in technologically modern gardens. The Prince of Wales has been a champion
advanced greenhouses. of organic gardening for many years, and that movement
By the 1880s people had grown tired of the gaudy flower has seen great success across the country, in agriculture as
borders. William Robinson is usually credited with the well as gardening.
beginnings of the move back to nature. He created his own The ultimate example of environmentally aware,
gardens at Gravetye Manor in Sussex, now an elegant hotel sustainable gardening can be seen at the Eden Project in
and restaurant where guests can roam the restored garden. Cornwall. So ambitious, its giant biomes each create a
Gertrude Jekyll, John Ruskin and William Morris went world within a world, and explore the global human
further in their ambition to reclaim a ‘lost’ way of life: a journey from wildness to domestication.
backlash against Victorian mass production. Jekyll worked Perhaps the best thing about 21st-century gardening is
S E K L U O F N I T S U J © :OTOHP
with the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, who designed gardens the knowledge of all that has gone before. Accumulated
as a series of ‘rooms’. Jekyll blurred the hard edges by using technologies, botany and design are available for every
a soft fringe of plants. A good example of their partnership person’s own use and interpretation, both affordable and
can be seen at Hestercombe Gardens in Somerset. free from pressure to conform.
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ROUSHAM HOUSE & GARDEN
Family run self-drive hire business since 1969
• Cars • Mercedes • BMW Mini • Hybrids
Rousham represents the first phase of English landscape

design, and remains almost as William Kent left it, one of
the few gardens of this date to have escaped alteration.
Many features which delighted 18th century visitors to Choose your size or style of vehicle to rent and either collect direct
Rousham are still in situ, such as the ponds and cascades in from any of our 12 sites or, if you are flying into Gatwick or Heathrow –
let us meet you at the airport.
www.kendallcars.com
Venus’s Vale, the Cold Bath and seven-arched Praeneste,
Townsend’s Building, the Temple of the Mill, and, on the
skyline, a sham ruin known as the ‘Eyecatcher’.
OPEN: Daily from 10am, last admission 4.30pm. No
children under 15 and no dogs. Entry fee £8 per person. T: +44 1483 574434 • E: info@kendallcars.com
Tel: 01869 347110 Head office: 34 Aldershot Road,Guildford GU2 8AF
Rousham, Bicester, Oxfordshire OX25 4QU Branches in: Ash, Camberley, Canterbury, Chertsey, Guildford, Leatherhead,
www.rousham.org New Malden, Raynes Park, Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Woking.
Tour of English Castles & Mansions

A magnificent journey through the South East of England and the Heart of England
Join us on a small group tour unlike any other
A 9 day tour in the South East of England with the option to extend to 14 day
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(Days include 3 days international travel) • 5 nights in Canterbury and 4 nights in Worcester
No daily unpacking and packing!
Don’t forget our popular
Tour of the English Cotswold,
our Isle of Wight, our
English Channel Isles and
our Isles of Scilly
MIX & MATCH!
for an extended vacation
Enjoy you own Private Tours Customize your private tour
with family or friends. in the Garden of England.
Ask for more information A gardeners paradise
For brochures and more information on the above call Barry Devo on 330 284 4709 EDT Canton OH
email barrydevo@prepcotravel.com or visit www.prepcotravel.com and click on Start Planning
 
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 
LAND OF
Scotland’s magical landscapes are
home to countless myths, passed
down through generations of
storytelling Scots
WORDS HELEN OCHYRA
 
SCOTTISH FOLKLORE
here’s nothing like a good old yarn, a story

to tell around the fire as darkness descends or
around the table as bread is broken. The best
date back centuries, perhaps even longer, and
have passed into folklore. Tales as old as time, and
as memorable once heard as the most haunting of music.
Scotland is home to more than its fair share, and these are
some of our favourites.
Fingal’s Cave
Strange octagonal basalt columns stretch up from frothing
waters to a dark and knobbly ceiling, their lines
regimented enough to suggest sculpture via machine, or at
least human hand, rather than nature herself. And yet
stranger still than this cave on the island of Staffa is the
story of Ossian, an epic cycle of poems published by writer
James Macpherson in the 18th century. Was Macpherson a
fraud, or was he a translator of ancient mythological tales
passed down by generations via oral history? The debate
about the origin of these poems rages still, but the story of
giant Finn MacCumhaill has passed into popular
mythology, as the story of Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway and
its alleged ‘other end’, seen here at Fingal’s Cave.
The cave itself is said to have been created by Finn
MacCumhaill (or MacCool) as part of a causeway across
the Irish Sea, thrown down to get him across the water for
a fight with Scottish giant Benandonner. It is said that
when Finn saw the size of Benandonner he fled back to
Ireland and disguised himself as a baby. When
Benandonner followed him and saw what he thought was
a baby, he fled in turn, imagining how large the baby’s
father must be. He tore up the causeway as he went,
leaving only the two ends as we see them today.
Science tells us a different tale, of volcanic activity and
cooling lava, while composer Mendelssohn gave us the
Hebrides Overture, inspired by the sound of the ocean Canal. It’s also said one can be heard at ruined Vayne Previous page:
beating against the columns and echoing back across the Castle in Angus, where a hoof-print in the sandstone According to legend,
arched roof. Discover the cave for yourself on a boat trip marks a spot near the riverbank where the kelpie can be Fingal's Cave is the
with Staffa Tours (www.staffatours.com), departing from heard at dawn and dusk. other end of
M A L Y N N E K/DN A L TOCSTISIV /Y M A L A/ E I L S E L N I L OC/D TL S E GA MI LWA/SIR RAH LUAP © :SOTOHP

Ireland's Giant's
Oban, Mull or Iona. Causeway
Left to right: Sunrise
The kelpies The Loch Ness Monster
Surely the most famous – and infamous – Scot of all time,
over Urquhart Castle
and Loch Ness; The
What’s that, down by the water? A plaintive cry can be the Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie, has captivated and Kelpies in Falkirk
were designed by
heard on the breeze, as if perhaps a man or woman is mystified visitors to the loch for centuries. She is said to sculptor Andy Scott
drowning out there in the dark expanse of the loch. But inhabit the icy depths of the loch, swimming in the very
beware, legend has it that the sound comes not from a darkest and deepest of waters, a marine creature of
human being but from a water horse, or kelpie, and that indeterminate form. Is she a dinosaur? A beast? Or simply
this mystical Celtic creature seeks to drown those who a figment of many overactive imaginations?
come too close – it is said to possess the strength of 100 The first recorded tale of Nessie comes from the 6th
horses. There is a secret method of taming the kelpie century, when Irish monk St Columba travelled to
though: tear off its bridle and it will bow to your Inverness to visit the King of the Picts. He is said to have
command. You’ll meet these beautiful but deadly beasts at encountered a fearsome creature who had been terrorising
the Helix sculpture in Falkirk, their 30-metre-high heads the locals, commanding her to stop and using the sign of
rearing up in glistening steel above the Forth and Clyde the cross to banish her back to the waters of Loch Ness.
 
e water horse, or kelpie, is a mystical Celtic creature that
seeks to drown those that come too close, and is said to possess
the strength of 100 horses
 
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The monster did as she was told, and yet sightings of her
continue, with hundreds of eyewitness accounts recorded
over the centuries. And with waters some 800 feet deep
and 23 miles long to hide in, whatever you believe about
Nessie, you can’t argue with the fact that a very large beast
could indeed be hiding in the loch’s dark waters.
Robert the Bruce and the spider

When a spider weaves a web, they face disappointment.
They may fall, or fail, or find themselves somewhere they
didn’t want to be. And yet they continue, and often they
triumph. This was the lesson Robert the Bruce learned
from a spider in a cave on the island of Arran. In 1306
Robert was crowned King of Scotland, but his first year
was a disaster. Defeated repeatedly by the English, Robert
retreated to Arran and to the cave now known as King’s
Cave. While regrouping here he watched a spider, spinning
its web, falling and getting back up again. Emboldened by
the creature’s tenacity, Robert rose once again to fight the
English, ultimately winning at Bannockburn in 1314.
The Corryvreckan
Amid the wild navy-blue waters that churn between the
islands of Jura and Scarba lies one of the world’s largest
whirlpools, the Corryvreckan. Flat calm at certain tides, at
others this white-capped maelstrom seethes with power, its
roars heard some 10 miles away, its waves reaching up to
15 feet in height.
The whirlpool’s name comes from folklore, and a
Scandinavian prince named Breacan who wanted to marry
the daughter of the Lord of the Isles. He must have been an
undesirable groom, since the Lord of the Isles tasked him
with proving his love by keeping his boat steady in the
whirlpool for three days, an impossible feat that saw him and
his boat sink without trace, into the cauldron, or “corry”.
Centuries later the whirlpool almost claimed another
famous victim, the writer George Orwell, who was holed up
on Jura writing his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, and while
taking a boat trip with his son, almost drowned here.
Dangerous waters, undoubtedly, but you can visit safely on a
boat trip with Jura Boat Tours (www.juraboattours.co.uk).
The selkies
A human on land but a seal in water, the immortal selkies
Above:The selkies are
most associated with
are said to swim in the ocean around Orkney and Shetland, the Western Isles,
slipping ashore to capture human hearts. Emerging from especially Orkney
Left: The treacherous
the water and shedding their skin, the selkies can take Corryvreckan
either male or female form but are eternally elegant and whirlpool is the third
seductive, seeking out romantics and stealing their hearts largest in the world
Y M A L A/ N E D S U O H LEG I N / R E T XAB N OSAJ © :SOTOHP
before disappearing back to sea forever, leaving their

desperate lovers bereft and broken-hearted. To return to
sea a selkie must slip back into their seal skin, stashed
somewhere in secret during their time ashore. Tales abound
of skins stolen by mortal partners, thus trapping the selkie
on land, and of children born to human-selkie couples who
vanish off to sea with their selkie parent.
 For more on beautiful Scotland, see www.britain-magazine.com
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HOW TO ENTER
the heart of the Highlands on the magnificent Morvern mountains, the sunlight catching the For your chance to win this fantastic prize
West Coast – one of the world’s most peaks. If you look for long enough they blend go to www.britain-magazine.com/
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A framed
document
hanging in
Ilfracombe’s little town
museum charts 28
ILFRACOMBE Heedless of the
dangerous waters,
smugglers were rife,
ferrying contraband
into town by means of
different spellings of the town’s name, from
Alfreincoma in 1086 to Ilfracomb in 1675.
This pretty Devon harbour town underground tunnels. Their hiding places and
haunts can be found all over town, such as
The unusual moniker describes a place (‘the has been a magnet for summer the George & Dragon, the town’s oldest inn,
wooded valley where Alfred dwells’) that’s a
world away from today’s bustling harbour
visitors since Victorian times which dates back to 1360. The inn still has its
original oak door and beams, thought to have
town, whose hillside is steeply stacked with WORDS NATASHA FOGES been salvaged from local shipwrecks, as well
colourful houses. as a number of resident ghosts – one of many
Dating back some 2,000 years, the worship for fishermen, is Britain’s oldest buildings around town said to be haunted.
remains of a hillfort stand on a green- working lighthouse, its rooftop beacon Today, the harbour is smuggler-free but
cloaked headland known locally as ‘the welcoming sailors home for over 650 years. still a working quay, brimming with
sleeping elephant’ for its distinctive shape. Remains of the ships that didn’t make it maritime charm. Catches of crab and lobster
From this lofty viewpoint over the harbour home litter the sea bed, including the are landed daily, and there’s an array of boat
(atop the elephant’s head) it’s plain to see London, which was carrying prisoners, trips on offer, including cruises that take in
why the settlers chose this strategic location. possibly slaves, from the West Indies and was the dramatic coastline up to Exmoor and
Through the centuries the townspeople wrecked in a ferocious storm in 1796. day-trips to the legendary Lundy Island,
made their living from the sea, and by Numerous relics from the ship have washed once a base for pirates and smugglers. Today
N O I T C U D O R P D R AYL CAB/KC OTSI © :OTOHP
medieval times Ilfracombe was substantial up on nearby Rapparee Cove, from coins to it’s a tranquil place, famous for its puffins.
enough to send six ships to Edward III for his bones. Of the three chests of gold that were Boat trips also give the best views of Verity
war with France in 1346. The town became a on board, only two were ever found. at the harbour mouth. This 66ft-high steel
thriving trading port, a safe haven from the Above: A view of Ilfracombe’s picturesque harbour and bronze sculpture by the artist Damien
unpredictable, stormy waters of the Bristol Next page, from left: Ilfracombe’s rocky coastline; the Hirst was loaned to the town for 20 years in
Channel. Perched high above the harbour, hilltop St Nicholas’ Chapel, Britain’s oldest working 2012. Depicting a naked pregnant woman
tiny St Nicholas’ Chapel, originally a place of lighthouse; the Verity statue guards the harbour holding aloft a sword while carrying the
 
WEEKENDER
scales of justice and standing on a stack of grand Ilfracombe Hotel three years later
law books, it’s said to be an allegory of truth that really cemented Ilfracombe’s status as a TRAVEL ESSENTIALS
and justice. The statue divided locals when it fashionable holiday resort. Once boasting
first arrived, but seems to have won most luxuries including a ballroom and a private GETTING THERE
round, as well as attracting its fair share of sea promenade, the hotel attracted Trains run from London to Exeter, where
curious visitors. important guests such as the wealthy you change to the Tarka Line to Barnstaple, with
Ilfracombe’s first tourists were drawn by American Vanderbilts and the Prussian bus or taxi connections to Ilfracombe. Or there’s a
the fashion for seawater bathing in the 1820s. prince Wilhelm, later Kaiser Wilhelm II. direct coach service from London Victoria to
Welsh miners were employed to hand-carve Locals tell the story of how in 1878 ‘Kaiser Ilfracombe. Devon Ghost Tours run historical walks.
six tunnels through Ilfracombe’s hillside (you Bill’ had an altercation with a boy named www.thetrainline.com; www.nationalexpress.com
can still see the pickaxe marks), allowing Alfie on the beach, who punched the Kaiser
access to a beautiful sandy cove with three on the nose after he refused to stop WHERE TO STAY
tidal bathing pools – two for ladies and one throwing stones – an event that supposedly The Carlton Hotel, right next to the Tunnels
for gentlemen. A bugler sat between the two sparked his animosity towards the English Beaches, has comfortable, modern rooms and
P A EH EVETS/KC O T S R E T T UHS/S E G A M I OTOFS C/KC OTS I/Y M A L A/ K C OT S A R E M A C N I © :SOTOHP

sections and would blow an alarm if a man and, as legend has it, fuelled the grudge that helpful, friendly staff who are full of advice on what
was caught peeking. led to the First World War. to see and do. The food is excellent too.
The Tunnels Beaches elevated Ilfracombe All that’s left of the landmark hotel today www.ilfracombecarlton.co.uk
from a sleepy fishing village to a popular is the old laundry, which now houses the
seaside resort. Today the tunnels are lined excellent Ilfracombe Museum, crammed to WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK
with information panels and memorabilia the rafters with curiosities, from collections Maddy’s is the locals’ choice for fish’n’chips.
that whisk you back to the town’s heyday. of butterflies and taxidermy to Victoriana, For fine dining, Thomas Carr 1873 was awarded a
Amusing guides to Victorian etiquette include ship models and a rare collection of Michelin star in 2021 and has a 6-course tasting
instructions such as ‘Great care must be taken photographs of First World War servicemen menu. At the 16th-century Hele Corn Mil , scones
not to splash the ladies [while boating], either and women from the town. It encapsulates and cakes are homemade with stoneground flour
in first dipping the oars or subsequently’ and the appeal and spirit of Ilfracombe: no longer from the mil . www.thomascarrdining.com;
advice for boys (‘Lower your voice sometimes; the height of fashion, maybe, but quirky, www.helecornmil .com
everyone is not deaf’) and girls (‘When you colourful, and full of stories.
talk, keep your hands still’). FURTHER INFORMATION
It was the arrival of the railway line to  For more on what to see and do in Devon, see www.visitilfracombe.co.uk
Barnstaple in 1854 and the opening of the www.britain-magazine.com
 
Join our 2022/2023 small group tours in
TheAnFour Cners of Cnwa
Historic County in the Southwest of England
Like all our tours, no daily packing and unpacking, just leisurely daily excursions from a base hotel
2, 5, or 8 day pre-organized, custom-built and private tours.
Including Poldark and Doc. Martin locations plus ask for more information on our
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Transfers from anywhere in Britain plus international flights if needed.
Relaxing Coastal Viages Rain Fests and oer wonders

Castles & Mansions f a pint and Fish and Chips The traditional Cnish Cream Tea at e Eden Project
IMAGES COURTESY OF LOUISE WEST
Your specialist for Vacations and Tours in Britain
Call or email Barry Devo for brochure. Call 330 284 4709 EDT Canton OH
Email barrydevo@prepcotravel.com or visit www.prepcotravel.com and click on Start Planning
Enjoy a day out 1,400 years in the making

Kids Go
FREE*
until 31 October 2022
*Visitor entry. T&Cs apply
NEW visitor experiences, tours and exhibition for 2022

Less than an hour from London • Search ‘Canterbury Cathedral’
 

P O S S E J T TA M © :OTOHP

Searchin or
CAMELO T
The timeless legends of King Arthur and his brave knights live
on in the magical landscapes of North Cornwall
WORDS NATASHA FOGES
 
RURAL BRITAIN
e British Isles are scattered

with sites linked to the
Arthurian legend, but few
places can rival the romance
and mystery of Tintagel
K nights and dragons, warriors and wizards,

swords and stones: the ancient myths and legends
of King Arthur are tales of storybook valour that
have sparked imaginations for centuries.
The timeless stories are known the world over. Brave
King Arthur presides over the chivalrous Knights of the
Round Table in the court of Camelot, defeating the
legend of King Arthur forms a large part of Tintagel’s
allure. It’s no surprise that over the years, devotees of the
legend have traced Arthur’s story to other sites nearby. The
King Arthur trail weaves through the fabled Cornish
landscape, joining the dots between the Arthurian myths
and bringing them thrillingly to life.
In the pretty town of Tintagel – where inevitably the
Previous page: The
dramatic ruins of
Tintagel Castle
Opposite, clockwise
from top left: King
Arthur's Great Halls;
the Gallossculpture;
the footbridge
leading to Tintagel
invading Saxons and rescuing many a damsel in distress. shops on the high street are not short of Arthurian Castle; Boscastle's
Mortally wounded in battle, Arthur is taken to the knick-knacks – you can visit King Arthur’s Great Halls. Witchcraft Museum;
mysterious Isle of Avalon, where the ‘once and future king’ This handsome stone building may have little claim to Dozmary Pool on
has slumbered with his knights ever since. authenticity, but fans of the legend will find a meticulously Bodmin Moor
The British Isles are scattered with sites linked to the assembled tribute to the court of Camelot, built in 1933 by
Arthurian legend, but few places can rival the romance and Frederick Thomas Glasscock, a custard millionaire. A
mystery of Tintagel, on Cornwall’s wild north coast. passionate student of Arthurian legend, Glasscock built
Perched high on a craggy, sea-lashed headland and accessed
via a dramatic footbridge, the ruined castle here swirls with
the stories of Arthur’s magical conception. It’s not hard to
imagine the life of the heroic king beginning here, in this
mystical and elemental place.
According to the account of the 12th-century historian
Geoffrey of Monmouth (see box, p71), it was at Tintagel
that the wizard Merlin disguised King Uther Pendragon as
Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, so that Uther might seduce the
duke’s wife Igraine, leading to Arthur’s birth. Arthur later
became the king of Britain after the murder of his father…
and the rest is history (or not).
Geoffrey of Monmouth probably drew on Tintagel’s past
as a seat of Cornish rulers when writing his fanciful tales.
From the 5th to the 7th centuries there is evidence of a
thriving and prosperous settlement at Tintagel, which traded
closely with the Mediterranean world. It was likely to have
been a stronghold of the ancient rulers of Dumnonia (Devon
and Cornwall), one of several royal sites across Britain.
Geoffrey of Monmouth’s book was read far and wide,
and Tintagel’s new-found literary fame almost certainly
swayed Richard, Earl of Cornwall to build his cliff-top
castle here in the 1230s; it is the relics of this ancient
fortress that you can see today.
History and legend have become intertwined over the
centuries, imbuing the ancient site with drama and
intrigue. Look out for Gallos, a larger-than-life bronze
sculpture inspired by Tintagel’s ancient royal rulers, and
Arthur himself; and on the beach below the castle, Merlin’s
Cave, where the wizard is said to have hidden the young
Arthur and prepared him for kingship.
Whether fact, fiction or somewhere in between, the
 
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RURAL BRITAIN
69
BRITAIN
L L IH A L E A H C I M © :NO I TA R T S U L L I / N E D L O H MI J/P O S S E J T TA M/Y M A L A/NOSTOH NELEH/P OLLOG NH O J/ R E K OR B E GA M I © :SOTOHP

In romantic Boscastle, thatched cottages cluster around a harbour
that was once a hive of wreckers, smugglers and witches
 
RURAL BRITAIN
Left:The pretty the building as the headquarters of the Order of the

fishing village of Fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table. He
Boscastle was commissioned a sequence of over 70 stained-glass
supposedly home to windows depicting the myths, as well as recreations of
witches, who enticed
sailors with the King Arthur’s throne and ‘Round Table’.
promise of 'selling As Cornish legend has it, the real Round Table is buried
the wind' deep below an ancient circular earthwork called Bossiney
Mound, less than a mile from Tintagel. It can only be seen
on Midsummer night, when it is said to rise, shimmering
gold, and illuminate the sky for a moment before sinking
once more into the depths.
A tranquil walk through a wooded valley cut through by
the River Trevillet leads to St Nectan’s Glen, where a
spectacular waterfall gushes through a narrow fissure in the
rock and plunges 60ft to the basin below. In this enchanted
place the Knights of the Round Table were said to have
been blessed before setting off on their quest for the Holy
Grail. Over the years it has evolved into a spiritual and
sacred site, reputedly the haunt of fairies and piskies. The
trees here are hung with ribbons, crystals and other tokens
left by the thousands of pilgrims who visit every year.
There are more tales of wonder at the romantic village of
Boscastle, where whitewashed thatched cottages cluster
round a harbour that was once a hive of wreckers,
smugglers – and witches. In days of old, the local ‘witches’
were in the business of ‘selling the wind’ to sailors. They
would capture the wind in knots of rope, and the sailors
would then buy the charmed rope to blow their ships’ sails
on their way. The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in the
village, established 70 years ago, tells the story of the
Boscastle witches and other magical tales.
DID KING ARTHUR REALLY EXIST?

The question of whether or not Arthur truly existed continues to
puzzle historians. One view is that Arthur lived at the end of the 5th
century and was a warrior, not a king; following the retreat of the
Romans from Britain, he united the Celts against the Saxon invaders.
Most believe that Arthur is a composite of several historical and
mythological characters, embellished and romanticised with the retell-
ings of successive authors. The first writer to tell Arthur’s story was the
12th-century monk Geoffrey of Monmouth, who in his History of the
Kings of Britain presented the tale of King Arthur as fact, and intro-
duced key elements such as Arthur’s father Uther Pendragon, his wife
Guinevere, the wizard Merlin and the sword Excalibur.
Geoffrey begins his History with a dedication claiming that the
book is merely a translation of a “very ancient book”, but this was
a common claim at the time to add authenticity to new writing.
Whatever the truth, medieval readers eagerly swallowed the story,
K COT S R E T T U H S/T H G I L G N I L L E VA R T © :OTOHP

and heroic King Arthur entered public consciousness.
More romantic, whimsical twists to the tale – Camelot, Avalon, the
Holy Grail, and Lancelot, Gawain and Galahad – came later, woven
out of folklore. Works such as Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur
in the 15th century and Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King in the
19th century further embellished the legend to fit the social and
political mood of their time.
BRITAIN 71
 
RURAL BRITAIN
Left to right: Seaside A few miles inland from Tintagel along winding country
cottages in Boscastle; roads is Slaughterbridge on the banks of the River Camel,
the Cheesewring where Arthur is said to have met his end in the Battle of
stone circle on Camlann. A 6th-century inscribed stone is reputed to
Bodmin Moor;
the waterfall at St mark the spot where he was fatally wounded by the
Nectan's Glen poisoned sword of his nephew, Mordred. The Arthurian
Centre here is staffed by enthusiasts, and there’s an
exhibition, archaeological site and tearoom.
While some claim Tintagel as the legendary site of the
court of Camelot, there are other local rivals. The
medieval market town of Camelford is a front-runner
thanks to its similar name and its proximity to the site of
the last battle, but this charming place has no plausible
connections to the legend.
Bodmin Moor, a vast expanse of heathery moorland
dotted with mysterious stone circles and cairns, gives rise
to yet more tales of Arthur. The still and silent waters of
Dozmary Pool are said to be where King Arthur’s magical
KCOT S R E T T U H S / L E A H C I M R A C T E N AJ/Y M A L A/ N A M P AHC D I VAD/KC O T S R E T T UHS/NOSTOH NELEH © :SOTOHP

sword, Excalibur, was forged by ‘The Lady of the Lake’.
As he lay dying after the Battle of Calmann, he divested
himself of his sword, symbol of his earthly power, asking
one of his loyal knights, Sir Bedivere, to return it to the
lake. As soon as the knight hurled Excalibur in, a white
arm reached up to grab it.
And what of the fabled Isle of Avalon, to which the ‘once
and future king’ was borne on a barge after his final
battle? Avid Arthurians claim the Isles of Scilly, off
Cornwall’s southwest tip, as the legendary site.
Whether noble King Arthur and his brave knights were
a work of pure make-believe, or whether there’s truth in
the tales of the distant warrior-king, we will probably
never know. But thanks to our enduring love of a good
story, in this mystical corner of Cornwall the legendary
king has taken on a life of his own.
For more on the enduring legends of King Arthur, see
72 BRITAIN
 
RURAL BRITAIN
THE PLANNER
GETTING THERE
Trains from London Paddington run to Bodmin
Parkway (4hr). You can book a taxi to take you to Tintagel,
15 miles away. Alternatively, take a tour of the King Arthur
Trail with Unique Cornwall Tours or Cornish Heritage Safaris.
www.thetrainline.com; www.uniquecornwalltours.com;
www.cornishheritagesafaris.co.uk
WHERE TO STAY
The Port William Inn near Tintagel is a boutique
8-bedroom inn whose pretty bedrooms are decorated in
breezy nautical tones. It overlooks Trebarwith Strand, a
dramatic sweep of beach, and floor-to-ceiling windows in the
excellent restaurant allow you to take in the majestic views. On
chilly days, a cosy woodburner keeps it snug, while on summer
evenings the panoramic terrace is a magical place to watch the
sun set. theportwilliam.co.uk
WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK
The Harbour Light Tea Garden in Boscastle is a lovely spot
for a Cornish cream tea. For the proper country pub experience,
seek out the Blisland Inn on Bodmin Moor, where Toby jugs
hang from the beams and there are traditional pies on the
menu. After lunch, explore the picture-perfect village, whose
parish church the poet John Betjeman claimed was the prettiest
in England. For fine dining, book a table in the Georgian dining
room of the Wellington Hotel in Boscastle. Dishes might include
West Country mussels with white wine and garlic or Cornish
venison with Pont-Neuf potatoes, watercress and a pepper
sauce. www.wellingtonhotelboscastle.com
FURTHER INFORMATION
www.visitcornwall.com
BRITAIN 73
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CITY GUIDE
TOP 10
ST ALBANS
Just 20 minutes from central London, this charming city in
Hertfordshire is bursting with history
S
WORDS NATASHA FOGES
et high on a hil , St Albans’ city centre St Alban’s shrine, in the Cathedral, is a

is a historical gem, its Roman remains must-see. Made by piecing together over
vying for attention with its charming 2,000 fragments of the medieval shrine
medieval streets. Lying on the river Ver, after it was demolished during the
Verulamium (as it was then known) was built Reformation, it is visited by thousands of
in AD 50 and was the third-largest town in pilgrims every year.
Roman Britain, encircled by stone walls. Wander the town's cobbled streets and
The city takes its name from St Alban, there are reminders of the past everywhere
Britain’s first saint, who in 209 AD gave up his you look. The city’s new Blue Plaques
life for his faith after meeting a priest who scheme celebrates one-time residents, from
taught him about Christianity. Alban protected John Ball, leader of the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt,
the priest, who was fleeing from persecution, to the physicist Stephen Hawking. And don’t
by exchanging clothes with him and allowing miss the array of ancient Roman sights
him to escape. The authorities decreed that around Verulamium Park. You can even do
since Alban was offering himself up as the as the Romans did and watch a
YAK ZIL © :NO I TA R T S U L L I
priest he would suffer in his place unless he performance at the ancient Roman Theatre:
disavowed his faith. Alban refused and was a lovely way to soak up the atmosphere of
executed on a hil top outside the city walls. this uniquely historic place.
 
CITY WALLS
In picturesque Verulamium Park lie the
remains of the Roman city walls, which
were built between 265 and 270 AD to
defend the city. The walls can still be
traced for most of their two-mile
circuit, in parts reaching an impressive
four metres in height.
www.english-heritage.org.uk
VERULAMIUM MUSEUM
This engaging museum is crammed with ancient treasures including the
Sandridge Hoard, a collection of Roman coins that was unearthed by a metal
ST ALBANS CATHEDRAL
detectorist in 2012 just north of St Albans. Recreated Roman rooms make Originally founded in 793, this
for an immersive experience, filled with some of the finest mosaics outside of medieval masterpiece wasn’t com-
the Mediterranean. pleted until 1115, when it became
www.stalbansmuseums.org.uk England’s first Benedictine abbey.
It houses a stunning collection of
medieval wall paintings, England’s
longest nave and the shrine to St Alban,
which has attracted pilgrims for over
1700 years.
www.stalbanscathedral.org
N OSTAW LUAP/S E GA M I TSURT L A N O I TAN/ Y H P A R GOTOHP EVI TA E RC LK /Y H P A R GOTOHP E K R U B NEHPETS © :SOTOHP

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CITY GUIDE
SHAW’S CORNER
Six miles from St Albans is this Edwardian villa, the playwright
George Bernard Shaw’s home for over 40 years. The gardens are a
delight, their herbaceous borders vibrant with alliums, foxgloves
and delphiniums in summer. Don’t miss Shaw’s writing hut, which
revolved to that he could follow the sun as he worked.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk
CLOCK TOWER
The city’s 15th-century clock
tower is still used today. The
only medieval town belfry in
England, locals once used it as a
way to declare their resistance against the
power of the abbot of St Albans. The
Tower allowed the town to sound its own
hours, ringing for the last time in 1901 for
Queen Victoria’s funeral. Climb the stairs
for sweeping city views.
www.stalbansmuseums.org.uk
ST MICHAEL’S
CHURCH
The beautiful ancient church of St
Michael’s was built over the site of an
ancient Roman basilica and has a strong
claim to being the oldest site of known SHOPPING DISTRICT
Christian activity in the British Isles. It is
thought to be where Alban was tried for St Albans is heaven for shoppers, its winding streets lined with independent
being a Christian before being executed boutiques. The traditional street market, which takes place on Wednesdays
outside the town walls. and Saturdays, dates back to the 9th century, and was granted a Royal Charter
www.stmichaels-parishchurch.org.uk in 1553. Stalls sell everything from bread and local cheeses to clothing and crafts.
www.enjoystalbans.com
 
HATFIELD HOUSE
East of St Albans is this magnificent
stately home, famous for its association
with Elizabeth I, who was brought to live
here as a 3-month-old baby. Elizabeth
was reputedly sitting under an oak tree in
the grounds when she received the news
that she was Queen of England.
www.hatfield-house.co.uk
ROMAN
THEATRE
The arena of the
ancient Roman Theatre ST ALBANS
MUSEUM
of Verulamium is unique,
being a theatre with a stage & GALLERY
rather than an amphitheatre,
the only example of its kind in The city’s imposing Georgian
Britain. Built in 140 AD, it could seat Town Hall now houses a
up to 2,000 spectators and would museum where you can explore
have been used to stage wild beast the old Assembly Rooms, once
shows, wrestling and dancing. It still used for parties and balls, and
hosts performances all summer long the town’s former courtroom
during the Roman Theatre Festival. and cells. There’s also a lively
ovo.org.uk/roman-theatre programme of exhibitions
and events.
www.stalbansmuseums.org.uk
THE PLANNER
GETTING THERE overlook the garden and lake. There's an excellent afternoon tea, book a table at the elegant Sopwell
Regular trains run from London St Pancras restaurant too. For a more luxurious stay, try Sopwell House, whose superior cakes are made by the
station to St Albans (20min). www.thetrainline.com House, a Georgian country-house hotel on the in-house pastry chef. For a sweet treat after visiting
outskirts of town with a celebrated spa. the cathedral, try The Pudding Stop, half-café,
WHERE TO STAY www.stmichaelsmanor.com; www.sopwellhouse.co.uk half-bakery, which serves a memorable sticky toffee
St Michael’s Manor, which dates back over 500 pudding. www.lussmanns.com; www.sopwellhouse.
Y M A L A / G G I B M A D A © : OTOH P
years, is set in five acres of private gardens and is within WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK co.uk; thepuddingstop.com
easy reach of Verulamium Park and the cathedral. The Right by the cathedral, Lussmans is a bright and
30 rooms are all individually styled; those in the garden airy restaurant with a menu of crowd-pleasing
wing are traditional with contemporary touches, and classics, from shepherd’s pie to duck confit. For i FURTHER INFORMATION
www.enjoystalbans.com
 
THIS BEAUTIFUL EARTH - CREATED FOR A PURPOSE
There are in the world today many fears and anxieties The Holy Bible is the inspired Word of the Living God.
for the future of humanity and of life upon earth. There Its pages reveal that He is in control and that there is
is concern over the loss of natural habitats and natural a solution to these problems. He, as the Creator, has
resources. There is concern for the climate and frequency a Purpose with the earth, which is altogether logical.
of natural disasters. There is grave concern that war and The Bible reveals how it is possible to have a part in
the use of destructive weapons will escalate. His Plan.
Please send for free copies of:-
Jesus Christ – His Life and Work
The Second Coming of Jesus Christ
The Kingdom of God
What is the Christian Hope?
The Local Secretary,
The Household of Faith,
11, Maplebeck Road,
Arnold, Nottingham.
NG5 7JT
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80 BRITAIN
INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW
A day with...
DAVID BARBER
The Queen’s Swan Marker talks us through a typical day of Swan Upping, an ancient
summer tradition used to monitor the welfare of the swans in the River Thames
5.30am: On a Swan Upping day their legs. Once the data has been
– which takes place in July every collated the family is released back
year – I have an early alarm call and to the water and the process
we take breakfast at 6.15am. After continues as we travel upstream. I
breakfast I ensure all the uniforms have a keen interest in wildlife and
are correct, and then I might have have always worked in the marine
an early morning interview for industry on the Thames. I used to
television or radio before we board help my predecessor rescue swans
the coach that takes the Swan and move them from various regatta
Uppers to their river destination for courses. He taught me a great deal
the day. Swan Upping dates back to about swans and when he retired my
the 12th century, when swans and name was put forward for the
cygnets were served at banquets and position. I was very proud to be
feasts. The Crown bestowed the appointed The Queen’s Swan
right to own swans to many wealthy Marker in 1993.
people and Swan Upping was a
form of census of the ownership of 11am: We stop at pre-arranged
these swans. Today there are only locations throughout the day, where
three organisations who can claim we meet primary school children.
ownership of mute swans in the Swan Upping these days is about
United Kingdom, excluding The conservation and education, and we
Queen. They are the Abbotsbury teach them about the importance of
Swannery and the Vintners’ and what we do, covering everything
Dyers’ livery companies, who have from the ecology of swans to the
owned swans since the 14th and type of boats we use. The children
15th century respectively. Today, love it – particularly when they are
swans are not eaten but are legally able to see a very young cygnet up
protected, and Swan Upping now close. Seeing their amazed faces is
focuses on conservation. my favourite part of the day! Her
Majesty The Queen has also joined
9am: I usually speak to the media before they board their own press us to meet schoolchildren and, along with the Princess Royal in
boat, and then all the boats will depart together. We have 19 Swan recent years, to watch the Swan Upping on several occasions.
Uppers in total; this includes the Swan Uppers from the Vintners’ and
Dyers’ livery companies. The first boat to see a family of swans will 1pm: There are often press interviews to be done when we stop, and
cry ‘All Up!’ which is a signal that we need to get the boats into then lunch will usually be a seated affair, served at a riverside
position. The boats circle the family of swans and gradually move restaurant; the Swan Uppers spend the mornings rowing and catching
closer together until we can lift the adults and their cygnets from the swans which can be rather exhausting, so the break for lunch is
water. The main challenge is to have a successful catch; as you can always appreciated! Then, we’ll continue upriver.
imagine, catching a family of swans is not easy and all six boats must
work together as a team! 5pm: After we have finished the day’s work, we all sit down and have a
well-deserved pint. Although the Swan Upping is only for five days
10am: The family of swans is taken ashore where they are checked for every year, I run a boat yard at Cookham on Thames and, whether it’s
injuries or signs of ill health; we often find swans caught in fishing for a swan rescue organisation, Natural England or members of the
tackle. The most rewarding part of the job is being able to de-tackle a public, I deal with some form of swan issue every day of the year.
young cygnet that has been caught in fishing line. The cygnets will be Swan Upping will take place from 18 to 22 July this year. Locations
weighed and measured, and a small identification ring is placed on and timings will be published on www.royal.uk/swans in June.
 
THE GREAT
BRITISH QUIZ
Do you know your Blenheim from your Beaulieu? Put your knowledge
of Britain’s stately homes to the test in our new quiz
starred in both Brideshead Revisited and a) Lyme Park
Bridgerton? b) Stansted Park
c) Petworth House
Beaulieu in the New Forest in
Hampshire is home to an important What is the name of the house
museum specialising in what? below, set in countryside surrounded
a) natural history by Neolithic standing stones?
b)cars a) Shibden Hall
c)cameras b) Avebury Manor
What is the name of the ‘real c) Chartwell
Downton Abbey’ (above)? Which palace in Oxfordshire
(below) was Winston Churchil ’s
Which red-brick palace, set in ancestral home?
parkland in London, was the birthplace
of Queen Victoria?
Which stately home, seat of the
Marquesses of Bath, opened the UK’s
first safari park in 1966?
Can you name Henry VIII’s
Which Derbyshire house (below) favourite palace, built on the Thames
was home to Georgiana Duchess of by Cardinal Wolsey in 1514?
Devonshire and Deborah Mitford? What is the name of Her Majesty
NOT S E W A M M E/Y ECA L SIR HC/S E GA M I TSURT L A N O I TA N / K U .OC.063 TOOH S .W W W © :SOTOHP

The Queen’s house in Norfolk? Unscramble O BRAY WEB BUN
to find a stately home in Bedfordshire.
Anne Boleyn grew up in a moated
castle in Kent. What is it called? In which Scottish stately home did
the romantic poet Walter Scott live?
a) Mount Stuart
b) Glamis Castle
c) Abbotsford
Which Kent stately home was
rescued by Olive, Lady Bail ie, an
American-born heiress, and shares its
name with a northern English city?
The Cheshire house above was
Designed by John Vanbrugh, Pemberley in the BBC adaptation of
which grand Yorkshire stately home Pride & Prejudice. What is its name?
drofstobbA )c 51 yebbA nruboW 41 truoC notpmaH 31 ronaM yrubevA )b 21 kraP emyL )a 11 eltsaC reveH 01 mahgnirdnaS 9
ecalaP miehnelB 8 srac )b 7 drawoH eltsaC 6 eltsaC sdeeL 5 htrowstahC 4 taelgnoL 3 ecalaP notgnisneK 2 eltsaC erelchgiH 1 :SREWSNA
 
The Cotswold Sculpture Park
Offering unique sculptures for your garden and interior spaces
The Cotswold Sculpture Park works closely with a vast array of wonderful sculptors to provide wonderful
sculptures for private and public spaces.
The exhibition which is located in the beautiful Cotswolds is home to 10 acres of land which is beautifully enhanced
with sculptures - their website boasts an impressive number of sculptures which are all available to buy.
A family run business which provides a personal touch, the Cotswold Sculpture Park has helped enhance garden
and home spaces all over the world with wonderful and unique sculptures in all material and sizes.
Visit their website
www.cotswoldsculpturepark.co.uk
The Cotswold Sculpture Park cotswold_sculpture_park
 
THEATRE
AT ITS
BEST
MADE IN
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON,
SHARED ACROSS
THE WORLD
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BRITAIN

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