Inhaltsverzeichnis für September/October 2018 in Britain

Britain has sweltered in a heatwave this summer: a source of much delight to us sun-starved Brits. This issue I jumped at the chance to escape our (rather warm) London HQ to head for the fresh air and open spaces of the capital’s charming villagey enclaves ( London Villages, p67), with forays into town to take part in the time-honoured ritual of a Prom ( Royal Albert Hall, p55). The glorious sunshine has seen a steep rise in British staycations, a trend that’s nothing new: our Georgian forebears liked nothing better than to seek out the country’s most picturesque corners ( No Place like Home, p27), and who can blame them? If you too can’t get enough of Britain’s stately homes, you are in for a treat. We’ve gone grand…

Shadow Warriors by Gordon Thomas and Greg Lewis (Amberley, £9.99) The gripping story of women of the UK and US secret service branches during the Second World War. The Story of the English Garden by Ambra Edwards (Pavilion, £25) A celebration of the outdoors, drawn from the National Trust archives. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Michael Smith (Unbound, £16.99) Linocut illustrations add an enchanting element to this new translation of the Arthurian romance. The World in Thirty-Eight Chapters by Henry Hitchings (Pan Macmillan, £16.99) Life lessons from Samuel Johnson, essayist and compiler of the first decent English dictionary, published in 1755. Durham Cathedral: The Shrine of St Cuthbert by Michael Sadgrove (Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers, £5) A handy guide to the history and architecture of a Norman…

WHERE TO STAY The Gothic Temple at Stowe is available as a holiday let. It has a spiral staircase, roof terrace and Gothic windows providing glimpses of Stowe’s grounds, to which guests have access at any time of the day or night. www.landmarktrust.org.uk WHERE TO EAT You can dine in style at Cliveden House, or book an afternoon tea, served in the Great Hall. www.clivedenhouse.co.uk WHAT TO DO Waddesdon Manor This splendid house holds a precious art collection. Open Wednesday to Sunday until late October, then it reopens, dressed for Christmas, in mid-November. www.waddesdon.org.uk Claydon The Verney family seat since 1620, with wonderful interiors. Open daily except Thursdays and Fridays until early November. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/claydon Stowe Capability Brown’s pioneering landscaped park is a delight. The gardens are open daily. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/stowe Bletchley…

On 20 May 1867, Queen Victoria, dressed entirely in black, laid the foundation stone of what was to become the Royal Albert Hall. The ceremony took place in a vast marquee packed with 10,000 people, jostling for a glimpse of the Queen, who had rarely been seen in public since her beloved husband’s untimely death a decade earlier. Reports of the event said the Queen spoke ‘indistinctly, slowly and with great emotional strain’. Using a golden trowel, she planted the stone and announced that the building was to be known as the Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences, a change from the planned name, in memory of her husband. At the official opening of the building four years later, the Queen was so overcome with emotion that she could…

Ballygally Castle Hotel A 17th-century castle sitting above the sands of Ballygally Bay on the Antrim coastline. The traditional afternoon tea is one of many highlights – there's even a Game of Thrones version, with Jon Snow cakes and mini dragon’s eggs. www.hastingshotels.com/ballygally-castle Causeway Hotel The closest hotel to the Giant’s Causeway offers great sea views, with all 28 of its handsomely appointed rooms located on the first floor. The building itself dates back to the mid-1830s, so it has been looking after Causeway visitors for almost two centuries. www.thecausewayhotel.com Bushmills Inn An atmospheric former coaching inn full of Irish character, with open fires and beautiful grounds. It’s excellently located for visits to the Old Bushmills Distillery, and has 41 rooms and suites to choose from. www.bushmillsinn.com Shola Coach House…

WHERE TO EAT The café in the Artists’ Village at Compton – home to the Watts Gallery of Victorian art – is known for its speciality Welsh rarebit: cheese on toast with a twist. www.wattsgallery.org.uk WHERE TO STAY Denbies Farmhouse B&B offers stunning views of the surrounding vines, laden with plump grapes in the autumn, while modern-day pilgrims can rest up at the Canterbury Cathedral Lodge, right next to the historic building. www.denbies.co.uk; www.canterburycathedrallodge.org FURTHER INFORMATION www.pilgrimswaycanterbury.org…

Mary’s crazed scientist and his human-patchwork offspring was an instant hit, retold in plays, cartoons and cheap reprints It was a dark and stormy night. Perhaps the darkest and stormiest the literary world has ever known, when a small group of friends holed up in Geneva were challenged by Lord Byron to a ghost story competition as lightning flashed outside. Nineteen-year-old Mary Godwin’s ‘waking dream’ would later become Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus, arguably English literature’s first work of science fiction. Mary’s crazed scientist and his human-patchwork offspring was an instant hit, retold in plays, cartoons and cheap reprints. A Gothic tale, based on the work of Italian physician Luigi Galvani, Frankenstein’s multi-layered social awareness is hardly surprising given Mary’s own background. Daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication…

LETTER OF THE MONTH PAGES OF INSPIRATION When I saw the latest issue (Vol 86 Issue 4), I was immediately drawn to the headline about the Brontë sisters. It took me back 20 years to a visit to Haworth with my father, now deceased, and his sister. We went for a lovely walk in the area before heading into town. The article on Wordsworth also took me back to visits to the Lake District. A trip to the Lakes wouldn’t be complete without stopping at The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop. Sometimes my Christmas treat from my aunt is a box of that delicious gingerbread. The article on mazes reminded me of going to Hampton Court and trying out their maze. The photo of Conwy Castle in ‘Welsh Escapes’ reminded me of…

Cothele, Cornwall There are five trains a day from Plymouth in Devon to Calstock station (journey time 30 minutes). You can then take the pretty mile-and-a-half footpath up the River Tamar to the house. The house is open daily until the end of October; the garden and estate are open year-round. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cotehele Montacute House, Somerset Yeovil Junction station is 7 miles away and there is a direct train every hour from London Waterloo (journey time 2 hours 30 minutes). The house, garden and café are open year-round. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/montacute-house Knole, Kent There are several direct trains every hour from London Charing Cross to Sevenoaks station (journey time 35 minutes), just over a mile from the house; there’s also a slightly longer direct service from London Blackfriars. The park is open daily;…

Londoners often claim their city is made up of a series of villages. While this might be hard to believe when you’re surrounded by a maelstrom of traffic on Piccadilly Circus, pockets of tranquillity can still be found, in the charming villages that were absorbed into London’s urban sprawl in the 18th and 19th centuries. First recorded as Dilwihs in a charter in AD 967, Dulwich in southeast London is one of the capital’s oldest villages. True to its name, which means ‘the meadow where dill grows’, the area’s leafy lushness is its main draw, from the expansive Dulwich Park, where highwaymen once preyed on the local nobility, to Dulwich Wood, where Charles I liked to hunt deer. In 1605, Edward Alleyn, a colourful theatre impresario and Queen Elizabeth I’s…

GETTING THERE Great Western Rail runs trains from London Paddington to Truro (5 hours), from where there’s a twice-hourly train to Falmouth (20 minutes). Alternatively, you can fly from London Gatwick to Newquay (1 hour 10 minutes) and take trains or buses from there. www.gwr.com; www.flybe.com EAT, DRINK, SLEEP For a sophisticated seafood menu, try Oliver's restaurant, while for hearty Cornish pub classics you can’t go wrong at The Chain Locker; you can also spend the night here, in one of six beautiful bedrooms overlooking the harbour. After dinner, head to Dolly’s bar, set in an upstairs room of a Georgian townhouse and bursting with 1920s paraphernalia and more than 200 types of gin. www.oliversfalmouth.com; www.chainlockerfalmouth.co.uk; www.dollysbar.co.uk FURTHER INFORMATION www.falmouth.co.uk…

Our restaurant overlooks Dundee’s waterfront, home to the first V&A Museum outside of London. That’s something as a city we’re all incredibly proud of. The McManus museum is a great place to spend time. The Victorian gallery holds a good selection of fine art. I love to shop locally at the fishmongers, as well as Scott Brothers Butchers, which is well known for selling Dundee’s original street food, the Dundee Peh (pie). One of my favourite things to do is walk along the sandy beach at Broughty Ferry. It’s just a 10-minute drive from Dundee city centre and has a lovely seaside feel, a great contrast to the city. On the weekend we’ll go to the historic Broughty Castle Museum – if you climb to the top, you get the…

OPEN HOUSE Norfolk gem Norfolk might be spoilt for country homes, but we can't get enough of them. Raynham Hall has been the home of the Townshend family for 400 years. The 17th-century house has close royal ties: one of the Townshends escorted King Charles II back to England from the Netherlands when he returned to reclaim the throne in 1660. Charles II later visited Raynham and slept in the bedroom used by the current Lord and Lady Townshend. Today’s tours, taken by Charles, the 8th marquess, and his wife Alison, include history and anecdotes (the next tour date is September 5). The couple also hold recitals, open to guests, throughout the year (Sept 15 and Sept 16). www.raynhamrecitals.co.uk STAY Book ahead Set to open this summer, the University Arms…

November isn’t just a time for remembrance, but also a time for celebration. In the spirit of excitement, pomp and pageantry, Britain’s biggest indoor tattoo (a type of military show) returns to Arena Birmingham on Saturday 24th November at 6pm and Sunday 25th November at 2pm and during November and December the world famous Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines perform their spectacular Christmas concerts. Britain’s biggest indoor tattoo, with over 1,000 performers, will return to Birmingham bringing together military and other marching bands, exciting displays including field gun and many other performers to the Arena Birmingham (formerly the Barclaycard Arena). They will all join forces for this year’s Birmingham International Tattoo on Saturday 24th November at 6pm and Sunday 25th November at 2pm. Experience over three hours of pageantry…

On 8 February 1587, Mary Stuart came to a sticky end. Dignified, she uttered her last words: ‘Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit’ (in Latin) and awaited her fate in the stocks at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire. She had been imprisoned for 19 years. Her second cousin, Elizabeth I, had seen her as a threat to the English throne. The executioner’s first blow met the back of Mary’s head. The second severed most of her neck, except for a string of tissue which the executioner finished off with his axe. Holding her head up, he proclaimed: ‘God save the Queen.’ Then: thud. Mary’s head fell to the ground. As the executioner clutched her wig, Mary’s terrier shot out from under her skirt, no doubt in shock, like…

GETTING THERE Trains run every 15 minutes from London Victoria to West Dulwich and from London Bridge to North Dulwich. For Blackheath, take a train from London Victoria (every 30 minutes), and for Barnes, there are frequent services from London Waterloo. www.thetrainline.com WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK The Grade II-listed Crown and Greyhound pub, once frequented by Charles Dickens, is a focal point of Dulwich Village, though to locals it’s known simply as ‘The Dog’. In Blackheath, the Hare and Billet does a slap-up Sunday roast. For a fine cup of tea, try Orange Pekoe, a refined tearoom in Barnes. www.thecrownandgreyhound.co.uk; www.hareandbillet.com; www.orangepekoeteas.com WHAT TO DO Dulwich Picture Gallery Despite its small size, the gallery holds more than 600 works, including an astonishing collection of Old Masters. There are engaging…

As twilight gathered on 29 December 1170 and the monks began singing vespers, the peace of Canterbury Cathedral was violently shattered. Four knights had come looking for the Archbishop, Thomas Becket. “Here I am, not traitor to the king, but a priest of God. Why do you want me?” Becket responded, standing his ground despite being urged to flee by fellow clergy. Moments later the Archbishop was dead, struck down in a frenzy of swords. God-fearing folk across Europe held their breath at the news. Miracles were reported at Becket’s tomb. Within little more than two years, Thomas was declared a saint and pilgrims flocked to his Canterbury shrine. Yet ever after it has been debated what had motivated Becket to oppose the king – and had Henry II really…

It is said Dundee is famous for the three Js: Jute, Jam and Journalism. While the last is very much still in evidence in the city – DC Thomson, which publishes The Sunday Post (as well as the popular comics Beano and The Dandy), is still going strong – jam is now made only by Mackays in Arbroath (17 miles away), while the demise of the jute industry, as well as other once-thriving industries such as shipbuilding and whaling, saw the city’s fortunes decline from the early 20th century onwards. Since then, Dundee has worked hard to shake off its post-industrial despair and it looks like it’s finally working. In 2014, Dundee was named the UK’s first UNESCO City of Design, heralded for its innovations across several fields, including medical…